閱讀文章的段落結構

一般來說，每一類文體或每一位作者都遵循著大體一致的組織原則。了解這些原則就可以加深對文章的理解和加快閱讀速度。而文章是由段落組成的，因此，理解文章應從理解每一段的段落結構開始。因為六級閱讀的篇章不長，因此理解段落的結構對做六級閱讀有很大的作用，可以快速地找到中心思想和具體的事實與細節。一般有以下幾種結構：

一、時間順序

事件的發生、發展過程都是有時間的。在頭腦中有了一個明確的時間順序，也就是事件的連續性，有助于快速地理解和抓住中心思想。例如：

A small， hand - propelled German submarine ， the Brand-taucher， sank in 1851 in sixty feet of water ， with her captain ，Wilhelm Bauer， and two crew members aboard. Her hull immediately began to collapse under the pressure of the sea. CaptainBauer ， who had built the tiny craft， knew that if he could keep his two companions from panicking while allowing the water to rise steadily inside her ， the interior and exterior pressure would equalize and they would be able to open the hatch and got out. They did.

二、地點順序

一切事件的發生、發展過程都有不同的地點，把這些地點聯系起來，同樣有助于快速地抓住中心思想，找到具體的事實與細節。

三、事件的重要性的順序

有些段落的細節構成常常是次要的放在前面，重要的放在最后。了解重要性的先后次序同樣有助于我們快速地找到并抓住中心思想。

四、對比法

文章中為了描述一種不熟悉的事物或觀念，常常把它們與我們所熟悉的事物或觀念想對比，或者把過去的事物與現在的事物相對比。如果熟悉作者的這種筆法，有助于使我們快速地捕捉到中心意思和具體細節。下面的例子中，有三個方面進行了比較：

While there are many differences between high school and college ， I'd have to say that the most important ones all involve freedom. Everyone has to attend high school ， at least until tenth grade ， so very often you find classes where the students aren't serious about learning. College is exactly the opposite. People are there voluntarily because they want to learn and improve themselves. As a result college students are much more serious and interested. Another major difference is that colleges don' t enforce arbitrary rules. In high school you need a pass to be in the hallway during class， and you can' t leave a classroom without permission. On the other hand ， college students can go where they please.

五、因果關系

在說明文或議論文中，事物的因果關系常被用來作為展開段落的方法。先講原因，后給結果或者是先給結果，后講原因。還有一些段落在原因顯而易見的情況下可以只集中說明結果；相反，還有一些段落則只涉及原因，例如：

My grandfather's farm has become much easier to manage in recent years. His prize Holstein cows ， for example ， are now milked by automatic pumps rather than by hand. Also ， the eggs his hens lay are hatched in incubators instead of by the hens themselves. The temperature and humidity in the hen houses are controlled by thermostats， not by Nature' s whim； and the amount of food his chickens get each day is determined by a computer rather than by a farmhand's estimates. All that is left for grandfather to go ， he jokes， is to sit back and pay the huge electric bills.

六、分類

分類是根據事物的特點分別歸類。這樣組合段落的目的是為了分清每一種類的性質。例如：

In ferreting the interests of people in space， we are aware that there are probably three reasons. Firstly ， it is a plan of looking for other places to hold the overcrowded population on this

earth. Secondly ， it is the curiosity of mankind to urge the scientists for the research work， because they desire too eagerly the coming of the day when they can travel freely in space. Thirdly， we are reminded of the mineral sources which are not sufficient to provide for the needs on the earth， so we try every effort to go to other planets in the hope for searching for new resources.

七、一般到個別

大多數的段落以主題句開頭，開門見山，點明主題，然后給出具體細節，或是用理由和實例來論證主題。例如：

My ambition is to go to college， but my environment does not allow me to do so. My father has been in some difficulty in supporting me even in the middle school， so it is certainly a greater difficulty for him to pay my expenses in college. And I have five brothers in schools. If I go to college， the burden will be too heavy for my father. Moreover， I am poor in science， and perhaps this will prevent me from being successfully assigned the entrance of a college.

八、個別到一般

這種段落是先給出具體細節，或是以理由和實例開頭，而后用概述全段意思的一般性評論作為段落結尾。

此外，還有定義法，這種方式是對某些詞、術語或抽象概念下定義。使用段落下定義往往先把一個詞限定為總屬詞類的一項，再把這個詞項和同類中的其他項目相區別。