第三部分 概括大意与完成句子
I. 题型介绍
本部分为一300词左右的短文，要求应试者根据文章做两部分题：
概括大意：从选项列表中选出指定段落的标题；
完成句子：将所给的四个带空格的句子填写完整，答案从选项中选出。
II.考查目标：考查应试者抓大意、找细节的能力。
III.解题技巧
概括大意部分
概括大意题型的实质是给每段文字“命”一个小标题，即确定每段文字的主题思想。
反映作者观点、论点或主旨的这个句子通常叫做主题句。主题句往往体现了每一段或整个文章的主题思想。
要概括出每段的段落大意，就必须先找到每段的主题句。
做题步骤：
1.看文章大标题
2.理清段落中句子之间的相互关系，四种方法找到段落主题句
3.小标题与大标题对照
四种方法找到段落主题句:
★ 段首句为主题句；
Heartbeat of America
1. New York -- the Statue of Liberty, the skyscrapers, the beautiful shops on Fifth Avenue and the many theaters on Broadway. This is America's cultural capital. It is also her biggest city, with a population of nearly 8 million. In the summer it is hot, hot, hot and in the winter it can be very cold. Still there are hundreds of things to do and see all the year round.
2. Manhattan is the real center of the city. When people say "New York City," they usually mean Manhattan. Most of the interesting shops, buildings and museums are here. In addition, Manhattan is the scene of New York's busy night life. In 1605 the first Europeans came to Manhattan from Holland. They bought the island from the Native Americans for a few glass necklaces worth about $26 today.
3. Wall Street in Manhattan is the financial heart of the USA. It is also the most important banking center in the world. It is a street of "skyscrapers." These are those incredible, high buildings, which Americans invented, and built faster and higher than anyone else. Perhaps the two most spectacular skyscrapers in New York are the two towers of the New York World Trade Center. When the sun sets, their 110 floors shine like pure gold.
financial
money
monetary
banking
capital
fund
4. Like every big city, New York has its own traffic system. Traffic jams can be terrible. It's usually quickest to go by subway. The New York subway is easy to use and quite cheap. The subway goes to almost every corner of Manhattan. But it is not safe to take the subway late at night because in some places you could get robbed. New York buses are also easy to use. You see more if you go by bus. There are more than 30,000 taxis in New York. They are easy to see, because they are bright yellow and carry large TAXI signs. Taxis do not go outside the city. However, they will go to the airports. In addition to the taxi fare, people give the taxi driver a tip of 15 percent of the fare's value.
traffic jam
transportation
5. Central Park is a beautiful green oasis in the middle of New York's concrete desert. It is surprisingly big, with lakes and woods, as well as organized recreation areas. New Yorkers love Central Park, and they use it all the time. In the winter, they go ice-skating, and in the summer roller-skating. They play ball, ride horses and have picnics. They go bicycling and boating. There is even a children's zoo, with wild birds and animals.
6. Along the east side of Central Park runs Fifth Avenue, once called "Millionaire's Row." In the 19th century, the richest men in America built their magnificent homes here. It is still the most fashionable street in the city, with famous department stores.
7. Broadway is the street where you will find New York's best-known theaters. But away from the bright lights and elegant clothes of Broadway are many smaller theaters. Their plays are called "off-Broad-way" and are often more unusual than the Broadway shows. As well as many theaters, New York has a famous opera house. This is the Metropolitan, where international stars sing from September until April. Carnegie Hall is the city's more popular concert hall. But night life in New York offers more than classical music and theater. There are hundreds of nightclubs where people go to eat and dance.
★ 段尾句是主题句；（finally, in summary, to sum up, in conclusion, at last, hence, thus, therefore, so, as a result, consequently ）
Why Does Food Cost So Much?
Vegetables and chicken cost more when they have been cut into pieces by someone other than the one who buys it. A family should expect to pay more when several "TV dinners" are taken home from the store. These are fully cooked meals, consisting of meat, vegetables and sometimes desert, all arranged on a metal dish. The dish is put into the oven and heated white the housewife is doing something else. Such a convenience costs money. Thus, as economists point out: "Some of the basic reasons for widening food price spreads are easily traceable to the increasing use of convenience foods, which transfer much of the time and work of meal preparation from the kitchen to the food processor's plant."
thus 信号词
so
therefore
hence
as a result
consequently
Transport and Trade
Transport also prevents waste. Much of the fish landed at the ports would be wasted if it could not be taken quickly to inland towns. Transport has given us a much greater variety of foods and goods since we no longer have to live on what is produced locally. Foods which at one time could be obtained only during a part of the year can now be obtained all through the year. Transport has raised the standard of living.
★ 段中一句概括性的句子为主题句，概括全段的中心思想
Why Does Food Cost So Much?
Who then is actually responsible for the size of the bill a housewife must pay before she carries the food home from the store? The economists at First National City Bank have an answer to give housewives, but many people will not like it. These economists blame the housewife herself for the jump in food prices. They say that food costs more now because women don't want to spend much time in the kitchen. Women prefer to buy food which has already been prepared before it reaches the market.
Alaska
In 1896 gold was discovered near the Klondike River in Canada just across the Alaskan border. Thousands of Americans rushed to the region on their way to Klondike; some never returned. Alaska was never completely cut off again, although even today transportation is a major problem. There are only two motor routes from the U.S. mainland, and within the state, every town has its own airfield. Planes fly passengers, mail and freight to the most distant villages.
★ 段落中无主题句，通过对段落论述的中心或焦点进行提炼。跳出具体细节，从整体上把握段落，概括出全段的大意。
Hurricane
Did you know that before 1950 hurricanes had no names? They were simply given numbers. The first names were simply Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc. But in 1953, female names were given because of the unpredictability factor of the storms. In 1979, realizing the sexist nature of such names, the lists were expanded to include both men and women.
Carl Sagan
I first met Sagan at a meeting of the AAAS--- the American Association for the Advancement of Science --- where he took part in a session on the Viking Mars Project. When Viking landed on Mars in 1976, it was at a site he had helped select. Then I interviewed him in Washington, D.C. after Mariner had sent back spectacular pictures of the Martian surface. Sagan had acted as a head of one of Mariner’s imaging teams. The interview, “Close-up Photos Reveal a Turbulent Mars.” appeared in Popular Science in September, 1972.
Alaska
The gold that changed life so suddenly for Alaska was soon ended, and although many stories about mining camps have become part of American literature, the gold from Alaskan earth contributed less to economic progress than the fish from Alaskan waters. The fish caught in a single year range in value from $80 million to $90 million. Fur-bearing animals are plentiful in the forests and streams, and valuable fur seals inhabit the waters. After fishing, the state's chief industry is lumber and the production of wood pulp. In recent years, Alaska's single most important resource has become oil. The state also has large deposits of coal, copper, gold and other minerals.
