雅思考试阅读部分的阅读量是相当大的。再加上题目的数量大和难度高，使得大多数考生无法在要求时间内做完阅读部分的题目。

　　无论什么英语阅读考试，有一个问题始终会有所争议——先看文章，还是先看题目。有些考生是先把文章精读一遍再去看题目，而有些考生是先浏览题目，再看文章。孰是孰非，争论不休。

　　之所以有这样的讨论，重要原因在于，很多同学认为文章中的每个段落、每个句子甚至每个单词对于阅读理解而言都同等重要。是不是这样呢?我们一起来看一个雅思考试中所出现的段落。

　　Privately held companies are voluntarily adding more scrutiny, as well. In a recent survey that drew responses from 1400 CFOs in such businesses, 58 percent said they are responding to new corporate-governance standards. Of those, 36 percent are creating or expanding internal auditing, according to Robert HALF management Resources. An American company with $3 billion to $4 billion in revenue typically has about 16 internal auditors. The job is often a training ground for future management positions, but those who stay in the field and become directors earn an average of just under $100,000. The IIA offers certification for internal auditors, but many firms do not require it.

　　参考译文：

　　私营公司现在也开始更加注重企业的内部审计工作。调查结果显示，一项对1400位公司首席财务执行官的调查结果显示，有58%的企业正在采取措施以符合系的公司管理标准的要求。当然，根据罗伯特哈夫管理资源公司(Robert HALF management Resources)的说法，36%的公司正在建立或是加大内部审计工作的力度。一般来说，营业额在30亿到40亿美元的一个美国公司就会有16个内部审计员。这种职位通常都是晋升为管理阶层的一个过渡，但是从事此项工作并最终成为主管的人员年薪都可达到100,000美元左右。IIA负责颁发内部审计员资格证书，但很多公司其实并不需要这种认证。

　　这段话的每一句的含义，我们现在都了解了。很明显，这段话的特点是几乎每句话都出现了具体的数字。那么作者写这段话的目的是什么呢，是要强调这些数字的重要性吗?显然不是。这些数字本身并没有什么实际意义。提出这些数字的目的，只是为了体现出“私营公司现在也开始更加注重企业的内部审计工作”。大家可以体会一下是不是这样。

　　显然，句话是全段的核心，其他句子都是从某一个侧面支持或论证这句话的。

　　我们来梳理一下阅读这段话给我们的启示。

　　2 段落由两个部分组成，即重要的内容，和次要的内容。

　　2 我们以后可以把重要的内容叫做主题，而次要的内容叫做支持性的细节。因为雅思考试阅读部分的文章都是论说文，即以说理为主，说明为辅。

　　2 一般而言，雅思考试文章的一段话中只有一个主题。

　　2 细节支持主题，是为主题服务的。

　　2 具体的数字这种内容在段落中的作用一般应该是支持性的细节。

　　介绍了有效地找出段落主题句的重要性。那么具体怎样操作呢?

　　我们先来看一下主题句的特点：

　　2 内容：一般比较抽象概括

　　2 位置：一般出现在两个位置的可能性：每段话的开头和结尾。

通常而言，主题句就是一段话的句。后面的句子一般为支持性的细节，以解释、发展或是支持主题句所表现的主要论点。

　　…

　　The recent string of corporate scandals provided a rude awakening to the importance of these internal checks. In the case of WorldCom, it was internal auditor Cynthia Cooper who blew the whistle on the company for inflating profits by $3.8 billion. She didn’t intend to be a hero, she said to Time magazine when it named her one of its Persons of the Year. She was just doing her job.

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　　Chief constables had disapproved of the use of league tables. They complained that they provoked unfair criticism because they did not compare like with like. Mr. Denham said the graphs were easier to comprehend than tables. “As people get familiar” with this type of graphical presentation they will realize it contains a lot of data that can be understood after an initial glance. “ The spidergrams are based on five indicators: reducing crime, investigation crime, public safety, deployment of resources and the view of a focus group of local citizens.

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　　有时候主题句也会出现在整段话的。这样的结构安排，通常出现在一个讨论困难的、不为大众所接受的话题或者文章的主要目的是为了说服读者接受某种结论的段落中。因为先把道理说清楚，那么读者就会比较容易接受新的观点和看法。

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　　If the wind becomes gusty after a period of calm, you should seek shelter. The sky needs careful watching too. Gradual darkening and “boiling” clouds should quicken your pace. Lightening and thunder are common enough storm indicators, but few people realize that the brightness of the lightening is not nearly as important as the number of lightning flashes. The signs of an oncoming storm are many, and a person’s life may depend on his ability to interpret them,

　　…

　　主题句也可能在段落当中:

　　From one perspective, this huge customer base represents a hair-raising social liability. Surgical and hospital costs fro regular heart transplants run as high as $500,000. these procedures haven’t burdened the medical system so far – but only because the supply of transplantable hearts has been limited to about2000 a year. Abiomed plans to price its heart between $75000 and $10000 initially, and with volume production, the price could fall as low as $10000.However, even at the lower price, artificial hearts are an issue that will lead into moral quicksands, says medical ethicist David Steinberg of the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass. What happens, Steinberg muses, “if heart replacement – and intervention directly and visibly linked to who will live and who will die—becomes available only to those who can afford it?”

　　2 标志词：有些词汇对于我们正确判断一段话的主题是至关重要的。在雅思考试的文章中，主要有两类：强转折性的词、表示重要性结构的词和表示人物观点结论性的词。

　　那么这些标志词的具体特征和作用怎样呢，

　　上一讲我们讲到可以利用句子在段落中的位置来判断段落的主题句。其实除此之外，段落中的关键词也是确定主题句的重要线索。这一讲中，我们会重点分析这个问题，希望同学们以后能够培养起对这些词汇的“敏感的感觉”，学会To be efficient地阅读。

　　2 标志词：文章中有些词汇对于我们正确判断一段话的主题是至关重要的。在雅思考试的文章中，主要有三类：强转折性的词、表示重要性结构的词和表示人物观点结论性的词。

A. 强转折性的词

　　强转折的词主要包括but, however, yet, in fact等。这种词一方面表示其前后连接的内容是相反的关系。另一方面，强转折的词强调的是后面的内容，所以but之类的词后面的内容应该是我们阅读的重点。特别是如果这种词出现在一段话的中前部，那么此句多半是整段话的论点，也就是整段的主题句。

　　需要注意的是，像although, though, despite, in spite of, albeit, while这种词不同于强转折的词，

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　　Congress can pass laws, regulators can beef up enforcement, and shareholders can demand more accountability. But when it comes right down to it, making sure a company is operating well is really an inside job. That’s where internal auditing comes in. It doesn’t sound glamorous, but it’s an expanding field beckoning to people with a lot of pent up we-can-do-better energy. Internal auditors keep an eye on a company’s “controls”-not just financial systems, but all sorts of functions designed to make the business run smoothly and protect the interests of shareholders.

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　　All good fun. But in the aftermath of the Columbia disaster, the value of commercial research on missions has come into question. STS-107-the final flight of the Columbia-had 80 experiments on board, including five that were conducted by the astronauts for private companies, funded almost entirely by NASA. One was for International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), which extracted the smell of a rose in space and was back seeking new scents. The other commercial experiments involved studies of ways to fight fire using fine Water mist, grow proteins with greater resilience to disease, manufacture crystals for such uses as hydrogen fuel storage and advance cancer-cell research. Is all this worth pursuing in space?

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　　B. 表重要性的结构

　　Are Americans a nation of frivolous divorcers who selfishly pursue the bluebird of happiness, oblivious to their children’s needs? Divorce opponents like Judith Wallerstein seem to think most parents see divorce as a marvelous opportunity for the whole family. How immature do they think people are ?All over America, unhappy spouses lie awake at night wondering if they and their kids can afford divorce financially, socially, emotionally. Where will they live, how will they pay the bills, will the kids fall apart, will there be a custody battle, what will their families say? The very fact that so many people leave their marriage for a future with so many pitfalls proves that divorce is anything but a whim. Most people I know who split up (not to mention my ex and me) spent years working up to it.

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　　The truth is that the economic boost from spinoffs, is untraceable. The Berlei bra, for instance, uses a Dupont material called CoolMax, which was derived from a fabric developed to improve thermal clothing by Outlast Technologies in collaboration with NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The proportion of Berlei bra sales accurately described as a NASA “spinoff” is anyone’s guess, but critics say returns can’t even come close to covering the cost of a shuttle flight.

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　　“The very fact that”这样的结构通常用来提示重要内容的出现。所以当类似的结构出现在段落首末位置的时候，该句极有可能是全段的主题句，也就是主题句。类似的结构还有”The point/problem/concern/idea/key factor is that…”, “what matters/accounts is…”, “what is extraordinary is…”等等。

　　C. 表示人物观点结论性的词:

　　…

　　The Welsh forces in Dyfed-Powys and Gwent both had impressively shape spidergrams thanks to comparatively good records on reducing and investigating crime. The force with the most dimming graph was Avon and Somerset, which was once regarded as a metropolitan force but had been grouped under the new scheme with areas including Norhampton shire and West Mercia which have much lower crime levels. Avon and Somerset, which includes Bristol, pointed out that graph reflected the fact that the force and suffered form a wave of street crime that had subsequently been greatly reduced.

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　　类似的结构还有believe, suggest, conclude, hold, show, reveal, find, find out, discover等。