雅思快速定位法——段落+词汇

　　雅思阅读考试中，要求考生的不只是上千上万的词汇量，同时还有速度。如何能够在1个小时内，高效率的完成40个问题，就得需要考生们对问题答案所在位置的快速精准定位。本文中，将以剑桥雅思4中的几篇文章为例，给考生们讲解快速定位法。

　　段落定位要求考生在拿到一篇文章后，首先要对文章进行略读，读文章标题，每个段落的首尾句，掌握文章的大意，了解每段在讲什么，有助于下一步看问题的时候可以先确定这个问题的段落位置。

　　词汇定位要求考生在对文章略读后，看问题，并划出定位词。定位词在之前《雅思阅读之定位》一文中已经讨论过，主要是一些名词。结合对每段意思的掌握，确定好问题的段落位置后，再通过划出的问题中的定位词在段落中定位答案的最后位置。

　　我们以剑桥4 Test1 Passage2进行演练：

　　1. 略读题目和段落

　　Title: What do whales feel?

　　An examination of the functioning of the senses in cetaceans, the group of mammals comprising whales, dolphins and porpoises.

　　从对标题的阅读中，我们可以了解到这篇文章要讲的是鲸的感官，the senses of whales. 在这里我们可以预测下感官有哪些，同时可以对下面文章的内容进行预测。

　　Paragraph1:

　　Some of the senses that we and other terrestrial mammals take for granted are either reduced or absent in cetaceans for fail to function well in water. For example, it appears from their brain structure that toothed species are unable to smell. Baleen species, on the other hand, appear to have some related brain structures but it is not known whether these are functional. It has been speculated that, as the blowholes evolved and migrated to the top of the head, the neural pathways serving sense of smell may have been nearly all sacrificed. Similarly, although at least some cetaceans have taste buds, the nerves serving these have degenerated or are rudimentary.

　　从首句的主干中得出一些感官在退化，消失或者在水中已失去了功用。紧跟在这句话后面的是个for example, 说明后面再举些这类型的感官。最后一句以similarly开头，说明即使最后一句也是一个例子，然后是个名词taste buds, 说到了味觉，用了degenerated, rudimentary描述这个味觉，rudimentary大多数考生不认识，但degenerated可以根据构词法推出是退化。

　　Paragraph2:

　　The sense of touch has sometimes been described as weak too, but this view is probably mistaken. Trainers of captive dolphins and small whales often remark on their animals responsiveness to being touched or rubbed, and both captive and free-ranging cetacean individuals of all species appear to make frequent contact. This contact may help to maintain order within a group, and stroking or touching are part of the courtship ritual in most species. The area around the blowhole is also particularly sensitive and captive animals often object strongly to being touched there.

　　首句一看就知道这段是讲触觉，touch, 并且发现有个but转折，在转折前说触觉有时被描述为很弱的，转折后说这是错误的，表明这段后面要具体证明这一观点。最后一句也是在具体讲解触觉这个感官。

　　Paragraph3:

　　The sense of vision is developed to different degrees in different species. Baleen species studied at close quarters underwater-specifically a grey whale calf in captivity for a year, and free-ranging right whales and humpback whales studied and filmed off Argentina and Hawaii-have obviously tracked objects with vision underwater, and they can apparently see moderately well both in water and in air. However, the position of the eyes so restricts and field of vision in baleen whales that they probably do not have stereoscopic vision.

　　读首句就可看出这段讲的是视觉。最后一句提到了baleen whales的眼睛位置限制了它们的视觉域，they probably do not have stereoscopic vision.

　　Paragraph4:

　　On the other hand, the position of the eyes in most dolphins and porpoises suggests that they have stereoscopic vision forward and downward. Eye position in freshwater dolphins, which often swim on their side or upside down while feeding, suggests that what vision they have is stereoscopic forward and upward. By comparison, the bottlenose dolphin has extremely keen vision in water. Judging from the way it watches and tracks airborne flying fish, it can apparently see fairly well through the air-water interface as well. And although preliminary experimental evidence suggests that their in-air vision is poor, the accuracy with which dolphins leap high to take small fish out of a trainers hand provides anecdotal evidence to the contrary.

　　首句有on the other hand表转折，说明要和上段有联系，接着往后看又说到了眼睛的位置，这次说的是most dolphins and porpoises, they are not like the baleen whales, they have stereoscopic vision forward and downward.

　　Paragraph5:

　　Such variation can no doubt be explained with reference to the habitats in which individual species have developed. For example, vision is obviously more useful to species inhabiting clear open waters than to those living in turbid rivers and flooded plains. The South American boutu and Chinese beiji, for instance, appear to have very limited vision, and the Indian susus are blind, their eyes reduced to slits that probably allow them to sense only the direction and intensity of light.

　　首句一读的话会发现一个重要的词汇habitats. 在这句之后又有了for example, 同时看到了vision, 说明这段讲vision和habitats的关系。