4.既理解个别句子的意义，也理解上下文之间的意义关系
阅读理解不能仅仅停留在句子水平上。有的读者对一篇文章的一些个别句子好像是理解的，但由于不能理解它们与上下文中其他句子的逻辑关系，因而整篇文章讲的是什么则不能准确掌握。在阅读理解测试中，考核这一阅读技能的题目是大量的，而且题干的形式和措词没有固定形式，但从考核目标和内容来看，这一类题目往往要求读者准确理解一些有关联的句子之间的种种逻辑关系。例如：
1. Which of the following may cause/lead to ... according to the passage?
2. Sb. is asked/advised to do sth. Because ________.
3. The aim of... is/was ______.
4. The best solution for ... seems to be ________
5. is specifically mentioned in paragraph ... as an example of _______.
6. The author argues that a teachers chief concern should be ________
7. According to the passage/author, people differ in their opinions about .
8. encourages the use of sth. so that _______
9. According to the passage the new device proved to be _________
10. Which of the following best characterizes the main feature of?
例1
Do you find getting up in the morning so difficult that its painful? This might be called laziness, but Dr. Kleitman has a new explanation. He has proved that everyone has a daily energy cycle.
During the hours when you labor through your work you may say that youre hot. Thats true. The time of day when you feel most energetic is when your cycle of body temperature is at its peak. For some people the peak comes during the forenoon. For others it comes in the afternoon or evening. No one has discovered why this is so, but it leads to such familiar monologues as: Get up, John! Youll be late for work again! The possible explanation to the trouble is that John is at his temperature-and-energy peak in the evening. Much family quarrelling ends when husbands and wives realize what these energy cycles mean, and which cycle each member of the family has.
You cant change your energy cycle, but you can learn to make your life fit it better. Habit can help, Dr. Kleitman believes. Maybe youre sleepy in the evening but feel you must stay up late anyway. Counteract your cycle to some extent by habitually staying up later than you want to.
If your energy is low in the morning but you have an important job to do early in the day, rise before your usual hour. This wont change your cycle, but youll get up steam and work better at your low point.
Get off to a slow start which saves your energy. Get up with a leisurely yawn and stretch. Sit on the edge of the bed a minute before putting your feet on the floor. Avoid the troublesome search for clean clothes by laying them out the night before. Whenever possible, do routine work in the afternoon and save tasks requiring more energy or concentration for your sharper hours.
1. If a person finds getting up early a problem, most probably
A. he is a lazy person
B. he refuses to follow his own energy cycle
C. he is not sure when his energy is low
D. he is at his peak in the afternoon or evening
本题在形式上是一个条件句，但实质上是要读者搞清楚人们能否早起同什么有关。也就是说，本题要求找到文章的第一句和其他有关句子的联系。文章的第二句说，有人可能会把这说成是懒散，但 Kleitman博士却另有解释。 因此选项A显然不对。再根据文章第二段中John的自言自语，以及紧接着的解释：John is at his temperature-and-energy peak in the evening.依此推理，不能早起，则很可能和这个人的能量周期有关。因此选项D应是正确答案。
2. Which of the following may lead to family quarrels according to the passage?
A. Unawareness of energy cycles.
B. Familiar monologues.
C. A change in a family members energy cycle.
D. Attempts to control the energy cycles of other family members.
本题的关键是看懂文章第二段的最后一句，同时联系本段的第四旬和第五旬的意思。该旬的直接意思是如果丈夫和妻子能明白能量周期是怎么回事，以及家庭每个成员有什么样的周期，很多家庭争吵就会停止。也就是说，家庭争吵的发生是因为丈夫和妻子不了解能量周期是怎么回事，更谈不上了解每个家庭成员有什么样的能量周期了。因此A项：Unawareness of energy cycles应是正确答案。
3. If one wants to work more efficiently at his low point in the morning, he should _______.
A. change his energy cycle
B. overcome his laziness
C. get up earlier than usual
D. go to bed earlier
本题要求读者找出文章第三段中的最后两句，并联系本段开头两旬的意思，作出正确判断。 文章第三段开头说，虽然你无法改变自己的能量周期，但你可以使你的生活适合这一周期。Dr. Kleitman认为经常性的行为能起作用。最后两句又说，rise before your usual hourwork beaer at your low point.因此选项C是正确答案。
4. You are advised to rise with a yawn and stretch because it will ______.
A. help to keep your energy for the days work
B. help you to control your temper early in the day
C. enable you to concentrate on your routine work
D. keep your energy cycle under control all day
本题问的是因果关系。回答这一问题的关键是看懂文章最后一段的第二句和其他句子的联系。首先要注意这一段的第一句Get off to a slow start which saves your energy，也就是说早上慢慢起床可以节省能量。紧接该句的三个句子都是慢慢起床的具体做法。因此选项A是正确答案。例2
We all know that the normal human daily cycle of activity is of some 7-8 hours sleep alternating with some 16-17 hours wakefulness and that, broadly speaking, the sleep normally coincides with the hours of darkness. Our present concern is with how easily and to what extent this cycle can be modified.
The question is no mere academic one. The ease, for example, with which people can change from working in the day to working at night is a question of growing importance in industry where automation calls for round-the-clock working of machines. It normally takes from five days to one week for a person to adapt to a reversed routine of sleep and wakefulness, sleeping during the day and working at night. Unfortunately, it is often the case in industry that shifts are changed every week; a person may work from 12 midnight to 8 a.m. one week,8 a.m. to 4 p.m. the next, and 4 p.m. to 12 midnight the third and so on. This means that no sooner has he got used to one routine than he has to change to another, so that much of his time is spent neither working nor sleeping very efficiently.
The only real solution appears to be to hand over the night shift to a number of permanent night workers. An interesting study of the domestic life and health of night-shift workers was carried out by Brown in 1957. She found a high incidence of disturbed sleep and other disorders among those on alternating day and night shifts, but no abnormal occurrence of these phenomena among those on permanent night work.
This latter system then appears to be the best long-term policy, but meanwhile something may be done to relieve the strains of alternate day and night work by selecting those people who can adapt most quickly to the changes of routine. One way of knowing when a person has adapted is by measuring his body temperature. People engaged in normal daytime work will have a high temperature during the hours of wakefulness and a low one at night; when they change to night work the pattern will only gradually go back to match the new routine and the speed with which it does so parallels, broadly speaking, the adaptation of the body as a whole, particularly in terms of performance. Therefore, by taking body temperature at intervals of two hours throughout the period of wakefulness it can be seen how quickly a person can adapt to a reversed routine, and this could be used as a basis for selection. So far, however, such a form of selection does not seem to have been applied in practice.
1. The best solution for implementing the 24-hour working system seems
A. to change shifts at longer intervals
B. to have longer shifts
C. to employ people who work on night shifts only
D. to create better living conditions for night workers
本题考核读者对文章具体内容的理解。这需要联系和概括第三段的第一句和第四段第一句的意思。第三段第一句说，要真正解决这个问题似乎只有把夜班活固定地交给一批长夜班的工人去干。第四段第一句又说，这种专人干长久的夜班的方法看来不失为最佳的长远之计。所以选项C是正确答案。