说明文的阅读方法
说明文用平实的语言客观地解释或探讨各种问题，如机器的制造过程、自然或社会现象产生的原因、工程项目的规划或问题的解决方案等等，介绍自然科学、社会科学领域的最新成果，社会经济发展过程中出现的新生事物等等。说明事物可采用多种方式：例如举例、分类法或类比、对比法，给事物下定义或分析事物产生的原因以及后果。举例说明文使用例子说明事物阐明观点；分解展开法着重于事物的区别、差异，分类展开法则强调事物的相似之处；类比说明事物如何相似，对比说明事物如何不同；因果说明文表明事物发生的原因及结果。除了用文字说明以外，说明文中常常使用数据、图片等资料。
无论采用什么说明方法，作者都是为了说明事物的本质特征、清晰地展现所说明的事物。
因此，阅读说明文的关键是：抓住事物的特点，即抓住说明对象的本质特征。
下面具体看看两篇说明文。
（05 重庆卷 B 段）
Reading is very important to help you learn English. To learn as much as you can from reading, you need to read different kinds of English. This book provides not only different kinds of English but also a good way to check your reading ability.
There are four parts in the book:
Part 1 is Messages: In this part somebody wants to send information in writing to somebody else.
There is a test on timetables and a test on text messages.
Part 2 is People: In this part all the tests are about people. For example, there is an informal letter between friends. There is formal (正式的) English in biography (传记) . There is a job application as a model to help with your writing, as well as testing your reading.
Part 3 is Places: In this part, too. Many different kinds of English are shown, some informal and some formal. There is the informal English of a holiday postcarD．There is also the formal English in a letter of complaint.
Part 4 is Things: You will find some descriptive writing in this part. There are descriptions of clothes and of a computer.
You can do these tests in any order you like, or you can do all the tests with a formal or informal text.
I enjoyed writing this book and I hope you enjoy using it.
解析：这篇文章使用浅显平实的语言详细介绍了这本书的4个部分的内容。说明的重点在书的内容，这本书的特征体现在它的内容。抓住了这一特点，也就读懂了这篇文章，再来做理解题，就容易多了。看看相关的理解题：
59．We can find the introduction to a product in .
A．Part 1 B．Part 2 C．Part 3 D．Part 4
60．Which of the following is most probably written in informal English?
A．A letter of complaint. B．A computer handbook.
C．A letter to a frienD． D．A story of a president.
61．The passage is most probably written for .
A．test designers B．students C．test-takers D．teachers
62．What is the best title of the book?
A．Test Your Reading B．Help with Your Writing
C．Learn Different Kinds of English D．Practise English in Different Ways
（参考答案：DCBA）
（05 山东卷 E篇）
A device that stops drivers from falling asleep at the wheel is about to undergo testing at Department of Transport laboratories and could go on sale within 12 months.
The system, called Driver Alert, aims to reduce deadly road accidents by 20%--40% that are caused by tiredness. Airline pilots can also use it to reduce the 30% of all pilot-error accidents that are related to fatigue.
Driver Alert is based on a computerized wristband．The device, worn by drivers or pilots, gives out a sound about every four minutes during a car journey. After each sound the driver must respond by squeezing the steering wheel(方向盘). A sensor in the wristband detects this pressing action and measures the time between the sound and the drivers response.
Tiredness is directly related to a drivers response time. Usually, a watchful driver would take about 400 milliseconds to respond, but once that falls to more than 500 milliseconds, it suggests that the driver is getting sleepy.
In such cases the device gives out more regular and louder sounds, showing that the driver should open a window or stop for a rest. If the drivers response continues to slow down, the sounds become more frequent until a nonstop alarm warns that the driver must stop as soon as possible.
The device has been delivered to the departments laboratories for testing. If these tests, scheduled for six months time, are successful, the markets will bring the product to market within about a year.
解析：这篇文章说明Driver Alert这一驾驶员警报装置。抓住了它的工作原理、功能作用就抓住了它的本质特点。3.4.5自然段是理解的重点：开车时驾驶员腕带上的警报会每隔4分钟发出声音，驾驶员听到声音按压方向盘作出反应。传感器会探测到从听到声音到作出反应之间的时间差，如果这个时间差大于500毫秒，说明驾驶员疲劳打瞌睡。了解了这个装置的特点，就读懂了这篇文章。看看理解题：
72．According to the text, Driver Alert _____.
A．aims to reduce tiredness-related accidents
B．has gone through testing at laboratories
C．aims to prevent drivers from sleeping
D．has been on sale for 12 months
73．How should a driver respond to the sounds from Driver Alert?
A．By sounding a warning. B．By touching the wristband．
C．By checking the driving time. D．By pressing the steering wheel.
74．We can learn from the text that the driver needs to stop for a break when his response time
is _____.
A．about 400 milliseconds B．below 500 milliseconds
C．over 500 milliseconds D．about 4 minutes
75．When the driver gets sleepy while driving, Driver Alert _____.
A．moves more regularly B．stops working properly
C．opens the window for the driver D．sounds more frequently and loudly
（参考答案：ADCD）
【实战演练练习十九】（05辽宁卷 D篇）
While income worry is a rather common problem of the aged, loneliness is another problem that aged parents may face. Of all the reasons that explain their loneliness, a large geographical distance between parents and their children is the major one. This phenomenon（现象）is commonly known as Empty Nest Syndrome（空巢综合症）.
In order to seek better chances outside their countries, many young people have gone abroad, leaving their parents behind with no clear idea of when they will return home. Their parents spend countless lonely days and nights, taking care of themselves, in the hope that someday their children will come back to stay with them. The fact that most of these young people have gone to Europeanized or Americanized societies makes it unlikely that they will hold as tightly to the value of duty as they would have if they had not left their countries. Whatever the case, it has been noted that the values they hold do not necessarily match what they actually do. This geographical and cultural distance also prevents the grown-up children from providing response（回应）in time for their aged parents living by themselves.
The situation in which grown-up children live far away from their aged parents has been described as distant parent phenomenon, which is common both in developed countries and in developing countries. Our society has not yet been well prepared for Empty Nest Syndrome.
68．According to the passage, the loneliness of aged parents is mainly caused by _________.
A．their earlier experience of feeling lonely
B．the unfavorable living conditions in their native countries
C．the common worry about their income
D．the geographical distance between parents and children
69．Many young people have gone abroad, leaving their aged parents behind, to _________.
A．live in the countries with more money
B．seek a better place for their aged parents
C．continue their studies abroad
D．realize their dreams in foreign countries
70．If young people go abroad, _________.
A．they do not hold to the value of duty at all
B．they can give some help to their parents back home
C．they cannot do what they should for their parents
D．they believe what they actually do is right
71．From the last paragraph, we can infer that ________.
A．the situations in the developed and developing countries are different
B．Empty Nest Syndrome has arrived unexpectedly in our society
C．children will become independent as soon as they go abroad
D．the aged parents are not fully prepared for Empty Nest Syndrome
【实战演练练习二十】（05辽宁卷 E篇）
There are two kinds of physical activity which require special training. The first demands exact careful movements of the muscles（肌肉）. This kind of activity must be strictly controlled because even a slight movement in the wrong direction will lead a mistake. To type quickly, for example, a person needs training; the slightest movement of a finger in the wrong direction may cause a spelling mistake. A dancer who has to dance on the point of her shoes or turn around on one foot must be trained for a long period of time before she can sense her own center and balance herself. You may have seen a girl walking on a rope across an empty space, which, too, requires a lot of practice.
The second kind of physical activity needs greater strength or extra effort. Most of us get tired if we try to run half a mile without stopping, but a specially-trained person can do this without much effort. Three years ago, some scientists carried out experiments, which produced meaningful and unexpected results. They wanted to find out whether a certain amount of physical exercise would injure those suffering from heart problems. They selected some male patients and trained them in continuous bicycle riding. They were surprised to find that the harmful effect of given amount of physical effort was actually less on the hearts of these trained patients than on those of the patients who were not similarly trained．This is important because it shows that regular physical exercise enables us to make better use of the oxygen（氧气）we breathe in and that this training, in fact, reduces the amount of work our hearts do. Many tasks which are hard for untrained people are not hard at all for trained people.
72．The first kind of physical activity must be strictly controlled because _________.
A．a mistake in the wrong direction is dangerous to the fingers
B．a wrong movement in a direction will cause no mistakes
C．a movement in the wrong direction will cause a mistake
D．a slight movement of a finger will lead to a mistake
73．What must a dancer do before she can balance herself?
A．She must dance on the point of her shoes.
B．She must receive long-time training.
C．She must turn around on one foot.
D．She must perform again and again.
74．The experiments done by some scientists showed that ________.
A．some male patients were asked to ride bicycles regularly in the experiments
B．the physical exercise had more harmful effect on the hearts of the untrained patients
C．the physical exercise was harmless to the male patients with heart trouble
D．the physical exercise could be helpful for the patients to take in more oxygen
75．What would be the best title for this text?
A．Training Our Bodies B．Physical Activities
C．Movement Training D．Extra Body Effort
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