在英语试卷中，阅读理解在分数上占到了40分，所以起到至关重要的作用。可以毫不夸张地说，如果阅读理解没有做好，那么就很难在考试中取得高分。既然阅读理解如此重要，我们应该如何提高阅读理解的解题速度和解题正确率就成为一个非常现实的话题了，笔者在常年的教学经验中总结出了一套行之有效的“四步曲法”，在攻克阅读理解题这一堡垒上非常有实用价值，下面具体从四个步骤来展开：
第一步：通读全文，把握文章大意
拿到阅读篇章，第一步就是要求通读全文，力争把握文章体裁和脉络，做到能够回答when(故事发生的时间)、where(故事发生的地点)、who(文章的主人公)和what(文章讲述了什么事情)等问题。
如下面一篇文章：
The lottery of the World Cup draw has handed Asia a golden opportunity to make its wonderful performance yet on the global football stage. December last year, the draw of the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals was as kind as it could have been to three out of four of the Asian teams who will do battle in Japan and South Korea in the summer.
China, Japan and South Korea cart all hold realistic hopes of advancing from what are likely to be closely fought first round groups. Only Saudi Arabia has been left with what looks like an impossible task, after being pooled with Germany, Ireland and African champions Cameroon.
China's debut (the first appearance) in the World Cup finals will provide the highlight for the Asian teams, after they were lined up to face Brazil, Turkey and Costa Rica. “We know Brazil will be difficult but that is okay,” said China's Yugoslav coach Bora Milutinovic. Brazil may have struggled through the South American qualifying competition but few doubt they will be a much more dangerous outfit by the time the action gets underway particularly if star striker Ronaldo completes his comeback from injury. “Brazil are still Brazil,” acknowledged Milutinovic. “You can never write them off. ”
For Milutinovic, the match against Costa Rica will be a special occasion. The central American team is one of the four sides he has previously coached at World Cup finals and the team's current coach, Alexander Guimaraes, is one of his former assistants.
Being joint hosts, South Korea and Japan, “were equally smiled upon by the gods of fortune. South Korea, in particular, will be optimistic about its chances of progressing from a group that includes highly-rated Portugal, the United States and Poland. Japan, likewise, will feel it has a chance against Belgium, Russia and Tunisia. However, both coaches-the Korean's Dutch coach, Gus Hiddink and Japan's French coach, Philippe Troussier-played down the suggestions that a place in the second round is assured because no one can predict what will happen before the matches.
在通读全篇文章后，应该知道本文主要讲述的是2002年韩日世界杯分组情况及东亚球队--中国、韩国和日本对分组情况的反应。其中涉及到了三支球队的主教练米卢、希丁克和特鲁西埃的态度。
在第一步阅读文章时，笔者反对字斟句酌，花大量的时间去搞懂生僻单词、词组和专有名词的意思。因为这样一来影响解题速度，而且实际上有些生僻单词、词组及专有名词与题目毫无关系，所以也没有必要搞懂它们的意思。如此文中Bora Milutinovic、Gus Hiddink、Philippe Troussier三位教练的名字我们根本没有必要花时间去搞懂它们的中文翻译，只要大致上知道他们是中国、韩国和日本队的主教练就行了。
第二步：细读题干，查寻转换内容
把握文章大意后，我们必须把注意力集中到文章题目上来，对于题干内容，我们必须要提炼出最能够说明问题的词、词组或者句型，然后再在这个基础上从文章中找出同义词、词组或者句型，这一遍带着目的读文章必须是字斟句酌、非常仔细。
就如上面一篇文章，我们看到下面有一个Question:
According to the above passage which team seems to have the greatest difficulty in progressing from the first round?
A. China B. South Korea C. Japan D. Saudi Arabia
解答此题时首先应该认真读一遍题干，提炼出最有说服力的词语或结构，在这里无疑是have the greatest difficulty, 那么带着这个词组有目的性地再读文章，不难发现文章第二段第五行an impossible task与这个词组有同样的意思，找到了表达同种意思的不同搭配这一步就算大功告成了，答案为D。
在带着关键词进行阅读时我们务必要注意这样一条原则，即一定要转化，千万不要希冀在文章中找到与题干主要内容一模一样的单词或词组。如题干中是hard，可能在文章中你会发现是no easy job, difficult等单词、词组。殊途同归，其实变化也就暗示你已经找到了正确答案。
第三步：扫读语块，搜索有效信息
刚才我们已经在文章中找到了与题干吻合的单词、词组或者句型，然后我们不能沽名学霸王，而应该乘胜追击，在这个吻合单词、词组或者句型周围扫描，力争找到能够说明问题，帮助我们选择正确答案的信息。
如刚才那一道题目，我们以an impossible task这个词组为中心进行扫读，发现在这个有效信息的前面有Only Saudi Arabia这个字样，那么这就是能够说明问题，帮助我们选择正确答案的信息。完成这点，那么这一步就顺利结束了，我们已经能够看到胜利的曙光了。
值得一提的是，有些有效信息并不一定在前面，也可能在后面。有些有效信息在不远处，而有些有效信息遥遥相望，但它肯定在文章中存在着，我们只需要练就发现有效信息的火眼金睛就OK了。
第四步：查读题项，定位正确答案
在第三步搜索到有效信息的基础上，我们进入了最后的攻坚阶段，即临门一脚、找出正确答案的阶段，在这一阶段，我们有时会发现问题解决起来非常简单，如上面一题，根据有效信息Only Saudi Arabia我们可以轻而易举地得出正确答案D. Saudi Arabia。但有时我们会发现一波三折，在这里我们还需要进行转换，即同种意思的不同表达形式，如我们通过前面几步得出的有效信息是: have a good time, 而题项中却没有，只有enjoy oneself，显然，这就是正确答案，因为两者都是“玩得很高兴、很快乐”的意思。
下面我们再以一道题目来阐述一下“四步曲法”的运用：
Question: Why did the coaches of both South Korea and Japan play down the suggestions that a place in the second round is assured?
A. Because they know they will meet with some strong teams in the first round.
B. Because they know they will meet with some teams that are rather weak but they want to save their face.
C. Because they know football is football and no one knows the results until the games are played.
D. Because they want to make their opponents confused before the games.
第一步： 通读全文，明白本文大意讲述的是韩日世界杯亚洲队伍分组情况。
第二步： 细读题干，查寻到转换内容是：play down the suggestions，再在文章中发现最后一段最后一句played down the suggestions that...有同样意思。
第三步： 扫读语块，搜索有效信息是because no one can predict what will happen before the matches。
第四步：查读题项，定位正确答案为C。因为C项的意思完全与有效信息相同，只不过是表达方式有些变化而已。
当然，“四步曲法”也不是在解答阅读理解题时百试不爽，遇到考查文章标题和中心大意的题目时，我们还是应该用传统的立足整体、概括全文的方法。如同样是考查上面文章的一道题目：
Question: Which is the best title of this passage?
A. Asia has a chance in the World Cup
B. South Korea and Japan will join forces to host the World Cup
C. China is expected to do well in the World Cup
D. Bora's comments on the World Cup finals
此题不能在文章中直接找到对应句，而是从全文看出此篇文章讲述在2002年韩日世界杯亚洲队伍分组形式很有利，所以有机会取得好成绩。那么，选择答案A也就是顺理成章的事情了。
虽然考查文章标题和中心大意的题目很难直接运用“四步曲法”，但也可以帮助我们选出正确答案。
巧用“四步曲法”在英语阅读理解中，你会发现把复杂的事情弄简单了，从而轻松克服阅读难关，在英语考试中取得理想成绩。
文/朱建焕
