“阅读理解”是体现英语教学大纲教学目的的一面“镜子”，是集语言习惯、语法、词汇、短语等基础知识为一体、综合考查考生初步运用英语能力的有效手段。自英语新中考以来，此类试题增加了阅读分量，扩大了选材范围。测试题型主要有“判断正误”、“选择正确答案”、“根据短文回答问题”、“根据短文完成句子或短文”等。测试的方向由时间、地点、姓名、身份、职业、动作、人物等一些细节问题，改为测试对全文整体意义的理解程度；由考查短文的表层现象改为考查对文章深层含意的理解和逻辑推理判断能力。这种实质上的变化对考生提出了更高的要求，稍有不慎，就会失分。下面我们将通过四组练习，来具体说明猜测词义、
句意，推断主题与主题思想及理解细节的方法与技巧。
第一节猜测词义与句意
根据短文内容，写出划线部分单词、短语或句子的意思。
（1）
The world is not only hungry ，but it is also thirsty for water．This may seem strange to you，since nearly 70％of the earth's surface①is cove red with water．But about 97％of that is sea water，or salt water．Man can only drink and use the other3％—the fresh water from rivers，lakes，underground，and other sources．And we cannot even use all of that．Even worse，some of it has been made dirty．
However，as things stand②to day，this fresh water is still enough for us．But our need for water is becoming larger and larger quickly—almost day by day．We should take steps to deal with this problem now and in this way we can get away from a serious world-wide water shortage③later on．
We all have to learn how to stop wasting our valuable④water．One of the first steps is to develop ways of reusing⑤it．To day in most large cities water is used only once and then sent out into a sewer system⑥．From there once it returns to the sea or runs into underground places．
But even if every large city reused its water，we still would not have enough ．All we'd have to do to make use of sea water in the world is to remove⑦the salt．If we take these steps we 'll be in no danger of drying up．
① ② ③
④ ⑤ ⑥
⑦
（2）
Granny GREen lives outside Moscow ．Her only son was sent to Afghanistan（阿富汗）and was killed in action①there ．Soon after that her husband lost his job．The old man was always worried about food and clothes．And on a winter night he went out alone when his wife was asleep．The next morning he was found dead in a cold lake． And his worn-out coat was hung on a tree not far away．The old woman was so sad that she nearly took he rown life②．
Things got worse and worse after that．She always lived in hunger and cold．She had hoped that the government（政府）could help her，but she failed．
It was a cold windy night．The old woman couldn't fall asleep at all．She had to get up．She decided to write a letter to God，asking for help．She wished God to give her 100 roubles（卢布），so she could buy some food for herself．When she finished writing it，she found she had no stamp．She had to put the letter at a crossing the next morning ．
Luckily a policem an foun d the letter．He read it to his com rades．They were all so moved that they gathered③tog ether 50 roubles and sent it to the poor old woman．
At first Granny GREen was happy．But after she counted the money，she became angry and said，“I'm told that all things that are touched by policemen will be only a half left！”
1．① ② ③
2．From the last sentence“I'm told that all things that are touched by policemen will be
only a half left！”we can know ．
A．policemen are very kind
B．policeman are honest
C．policemen are dishonest
D．policemen will get all things that they touch
（3）
In our coun try every school has a library．You have read many interesting books． You borrow them from the school library，I am sure．Perhaps you also borrow books from the public library．Sometimes you get books from your parents or friends as presents，I think．Besides，if you like reading and want to learn know ledge，I'm sure that you'll buy books yourself．
Have you ever thought of how books are made？Well，after the draft①of a book is written ，it passes through the hands of many people．Every one of them has to work carefully，for there must not be any mistakes in the books．It is checked several times by the different people before it is printed．
Millions and millions of books and magazines are published②in our country every year．So people have plenty of things to read．We all like reading．Let's take good care of our books．
1．① ②
2．The underlined sentence in the second paragraph（段）“it passes through the hands
of many people”means that ．
A．everyone wants to read the draft
B．one sends the draft to another
C．it needs a lot of hard work to get perfect（完美）
D．none of them can decide whether to publish the book or not
（4）
A forest is a large area of trees．Forests are very important．They provide①both shelter②and food for animals and insects③．Birds make their nests④intrees．Small animals and insects build homes in the hollow⑤of the trees．The leaves，fruits and flowers are food for them．
People in poor countries burn wood as fuel⑥．We cut down trees to make furniture（家具）and paper．Oil and coal⑦come from the plants and animals that died millions of years ago．We use most of the land in the world for farming and building of cities．Many animals die because we take away their shelter and food．We must stop cutting down the forests．Animals and plants share⑧the earth w ith us．
① ② ③
④ ⑤ ⑥
⑦ ⑧
（5）
Have you ever heard of the saying“If you want a friend，be one．”？What does it mean ？
There are many different things that you can do to make friends．You may find out what they are if you watch someone make friends．
Here is how one new teacher made friends with the students in her class on the first day of the school．When the bell rang ，the teacher smiled at all the students． Then she said，“Good morning ．How nice it is to have all of you in my class this year！I want to know each of you very much．I am sure we will enjoy working together．”
The teacher smiled，used a pleasant voice，and acted in a friendly way．She told the students her name and wrote it on the blackboard．Then she told them something she liked to do and hoped to do with them during the year．The students knew that she liked many of the same things they liked．Everyone felt that she meant what she said．Each of them wanted to know her better and be her friend．
1．The saying“If you want a friend，be one．”means ．
A．if you want to make friends with others，you should be one of them
B．you can make friends by doing the things that a friend does
C．you can easily make friends with one of the others
D．you can make one good friend，if you want to
2．“Everyon e felt that she meant what she said”means that ．
A．every student in her class felt that she really liked them
B．everyone in her class understood what the teacher said
C．all t
he students thought it was nothing telling them these things
D．everybody felt tired when they heard w hat the teacher said
Keys：
（1）①表面②维持现状③缺少④有价值的，宝贵的 ⑤再利用 ⑥下水道 ⑦除去
（2）1．①行动②自杀③凑
2．C
（3）1．①草稿②出版
2．C
（4）①提供 ②栖身地 ③昆虫 ④巢 ⑤洞穴 ⑥燃料 ⑦煤 ⑧共享
（5）1．B 2．A
