[策略聚焦]

一篇英语文章通常是由多个段落组成的。只要读懂了每个段落的意思，就读懂了整篇文章。怎样才能既快捷又准确地捕捉段落大意（skimming for the main idea of a paragraph）呢？

1. 抓主题句。通常每个段落都有主题句，而且多出现在句首，有时也在句末，间或出现在段落的中间。它是一个段落的提纲，是透视一段内容的窗户，所以找出了主题句，也就掌握了段落大意。

2. 抓关键词。有时候，段落中没有明确的主题句，此时可从某些关键词语中概括推断出其大意。关键词对段落具有画龙点睛的作用。

3. 综合概括。当文章中既无主题句，又无关键词可依托时，就必须综合分析本段的各个句意和细节，在此基础上概括并推断出段落大意。

抓段落大意时，最忌讳的是以偏概全，只根据只言片语，便认定它是本段的中心内容和主题思想。应该全面分析和综合理解整段内容，在诸多信息中权衡孰重孰轻，然后再作定夺。同时要防止舍本逐末，抓了芝麻，丢了西瓜，把无关紧要的细节当作段落大意。

[技能实践]

快速阅读下面的段落或文章，并回答文后的问题。

A

With the changes in their social roles, women’s positions in the family have been improved as well. Husband and wife are now equal in the family. They deal with problems of daily life together, and share happiness with each other. In today’s families, women are not usually the ones busy with dinners and washing.

What’s the main idea of the passage?

________________________________________.

[技能点拨] 

Husband and wife are now equal in the family。第一句是本段的主题句，其中in the family和improved是关键词，但它还不是段落大意。综合后面几句的内容，可知第二句才是对本段内容的高度概括，因此是本段的段落大意。

B

In the West, having a successful lifestyle often means having material goods such as a large house (or two), a large car (or two), private schooling for the children, designer clothes, foreign holidays in exotic locations (winter and summer), all mod cons (现代化设备). However, it could be argued that this emphasis on financial and material success can lead to people becoming locked into （受困于） an unfulfilling lifestyle, though a luxury one, working harder and harder to become more and more successful financially in order to buy more and more luxury items.

What does the author want to tell us in this paragraph?

A. The advantages of success.   

B. The disadvantages of success.

C. A successful lifestyle.        

D. Hard work leads to successful life.

[技能点拨] 

抓关键词和综合概括。本段分两个部分，第一部分就是第一句，告诉读者西方人关于成功生活方式的概念。但是第二句以however开头，话锋一转，指出这种以金钱和物质为基础的成功观念将会导致一种永远不满足的物质追求（unfulfilling lifestyle），越来越卖命，结果是……。可见这里主要谈的是成功背后的不利因素，所以答案是B。