閱讀理解是考查考生語言知識綜合運用能力的試題。它要求考生既能掌握閱讀材料的主旨大意，又能掌握說明主旨大意的事實細節；既能理解具體事實，又能理解抽象概念；既能理解字面意思，又能理解深層含義；既能理解單個句段意義，又能理解通篇邏輯關系。要達到這樣的要求我們有必要研究一下閱讀題的題型結構，縱觀近幾年高考閱讀題，我們可以把閱讀題型分為兩大類：主觀題和客觀題。主觀題包括：詞義判斷題、主旨大意題、邏輯推理題、標題判斷題、作者意圖判斷題； 客觀題是指細節信息判斷題。
（１）詞義判斷題是檢查考生對生詞的理解判斷能力，在確定詞匯的內涵時候我們可借助上下文判斷與確定語意最接近的詞匯或句型，根據語意的遞進、轉折、對比等特定語境確定應選的詞匯；可借助過度詞根據前后的句意反差，確定有關詞匯或句型，還可以根據語段之間的邏輯關系，確定有關詞匯。以2004年高考題天津卷為例，第70小題是一道詞義判斷題，需要考生根據上下文對詞義加以判斷，考生需要閱讀collisions前后的語句，即：“Researchers are worried about the increasing pressure on pilots and ground controllers. And increasing collisions, occurring at or near an airport, have called attention to the need for more aids to aviation control.”可以得知，航班的大量增加給飛行員及地勤人員造成很大壓力，這就自然導致機場及周邊地區不斷增長的飛行事故。本題答案A項是最貼切的。又如：第62小題考查詞義判斷題。原文第五節中，年輕有為的Schipper回憶起，她五年前和Gould相見時的情況時說，“…Shane had come along to talk to us and watch us train. It seemed as if we had long been good friends. I don’t know why. We just started talking and it went from there.”那時，她們互相交談，Shane還看她們訓練，好像她們已是多年的老朋友似的。Schipper解釋她都不清楚為什么她們從交談中產生了解和友情。故it 意為the friendship最貼切。
（２）主旨大意題通常是指考查文章的中心思想， 考查文章的主題、立意、中心觀點、基本觀點。不少文章一開頭便展示文章的的主題， 如新聞報導等；，有些文章中心思想常常貫穿于全文， 要弄清文章的中心思想，考生必須具備歸納和概括方面的能力。例如：
On the evening of June 21, 1992, a tall man with brown hair and blue eyes entered the beautiful hall of the Bell tower Hotel in Xi’an with his bicycle . The hotel workers received him and telephoned the manager , for they had never seen a bicycle in the hotel hall before though they lived in “ the kingdom of bicycles “.
Robert Friedlander , an American , arrived in Xi’an on his bicycle trip across Asia which started last December in New Belhi , India .
When he was 11 , he read the book Marco Polo and made up his mind to visit the Silk Road . Now , after 44 years , he was on the Silk Road in Xi’an and his early dreams were coming true .
Robert Friedlander’s next destinations (目的地)were Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Urimqi, etc. He will complete his trip in Pakistan.
考題 The best headline ( 標題) for this newspaper article would be __________ .
A. The Kingdom of Bicycles B. A Beautiful Hotel in Xi’an
C.Moarco Polo and the Silk Road D. An American Achieving His Aims
（３）邏輯推理題需要考生理解字面的概念，又要掌握主要情節之間的邏輯關系，既需要依據語篇的信息去分析推斷，又需要結合地理、人文、科普等常識去分析判斷。邏輯推理題要求考生根據作者的寫作脈絡，對未發生或已發生的動作給予判斷推測。解題時應考慮原因與結果之間的聯系、人際之間的各種關系、事件發展的可能與歸宿以及英美社會風情與民族的心態。例如：天津卷第71題，這是一道邏輯推理題。根據短文的陳述，A、B項與短文基本內容不符。短文對航空運輸的現狀作了詳細闡述后，在最后一節特別強調飛行員與地勤人員的溝通必須引起重視。應該說，此題選D項在情理之中。又如：Emma hart Willard was an American pioneer educator . In her time colleges and universities were men , and women were not permitted to attend . Emma received advanced education at home from her father and became a school teacher at twenty . She continued to teach at school for several years after her marriage , and began offering college lessons in her home to women students . Later she founded a school in New York State , which was the first school of higher education in the U.S A. for women . Emma Willard also tried to persuade New York State to pass a law to allow women to attend public colleges and universities , though that did not come about until after her death . Some years later people remembered her for her life-long efforts and elected her to the U.S.A. Hall of Fame in 1905.
During Emma Willard’s lifetime , women in the USA __________ .
A. were not allowed to receive higher education
B. Went to separate colleges and universities
C. Started to enjoy equal rights to education
D. Began to right for the right to higher education
答案： D 。
這是一篇人物傳記， 記述Emma是在家里接受她父親的教育，數年后她創造美國第一所 女子高等學校，而后又一直爭取讓婦女得到與男人同在校接受高等教育的權利。通過這些事實說明當時的美國婦女開始為爭取與男子享受高等教育的權利而斗爭，因此，答案D正確。
（４）標題判斷題目的在于考查考生略讀文章，領會文章大意及高度抽象概括能力。文章的標題往往可用很少的幾個詞加以概括，考生逾越文章的細節與段落，以語篇的中心內涵為依托構成了標題選擇的獨特視角。這種題型的提問方式有：1. The title that best expresses the idea of the passage is _______ ; 2. The paragragh could be entitled _______ ; 3. Which of the following titles best sums up the whole passage ? 4. A good title for this passage would be _________ ; 5. A suitable title for this passage would be _______。 以下是一個標題判斷題的例子。
Shu Pulong has helped at least 1,000 people bitten by snake . “ It was seeing people with snake bites that led me to this areer , “ he said .
In 1963 , after his army service , Shu entered a medical school and later became a doctor of Chinese medicine . As part of his studies he had to work in the mountains . there he often heard pf people who had their arms and legs cut off after a snake bite in order to save their lives .
“ I was greatly upset by the story of an ole farmer I met . It was a very hot afternoon . The old man was pulling grass in his fields then he felt a pain in his left hand . He at once realized his had been bitten by a poisonous snake . In no time he wrapped a cloth tightly around his arm to stop the poison spreading to his heart . Rushing home he shouted ‘ Bring me the knife !’ Minutes later the man lost his arm forever.”
“ The sad story touched me so much that I decided to devote myself to helping people bitten by snakes , “ Shu said .
The best title for this newspaper article is __________ .
A. Astonishing Medicine B. Farmer Loses Arm
C. Dangerous Bites D. Snake Doctor
（５）作者意圖題是指考查考生對作者言外之意的理解，這通常不在文中明確表達出來，而是含在文章之中。請看下面的例子：
Like alcohol and drugs , TV can be enormously destructive to personal relationships . Look at our society , you do not need to be a psychiatrist (精神病醫生)to know that TV has played an important role in the increase of violent crimes in our country .
Many people will disagree with what I have written and pint out that TV is a wonderful tool for education and does a super job of reporting news , and they have a point . But it’s very difficult to use the TV wisely . How can you get your children away from the set when their father can find nothing better to do ? It seems as if he has no control over his own environment because TV comes before everything .
What is the writer’s attitude towards TV ?
A. Positive （肯定的） B. Indifferent ( 中立的)
C. Indefinite （不定的） D. Negative (否定的)
通過閱讀文章，可以看出作者并非全部否定電視的益處，其態度是辨證的， 雖然電視帶來好多弊端，但它也有好多益處。所以選擇B。
(6)客觀題的信息可以從文章的字面上獲得，文章中的信息表述有時不與考題提供的信息表述不同，有時正話反說，有時利用不同表達方式。考生應從細節上加以判斷，實際上，這種題又叫細節判斷題。如天津卷第５６小題，原文第一節中“…they migrate-all the way to California or Mexico and back”,以及原文第二節“Every year in the late summer…Those heading for Mexico go first for the Louisiana-Mississippi area, then fly across the Gulf of Mexico into Texas. Once in Mexico, they settle themselves in one of about fifteen places… Each place provides a winter home for millions of monarchs. ”中，可以得知，選項A、B、D所指的地點均為monarchs南遷中途徑的地區。而文中One in Mexico, they settle themselves….Each place provides a winter home for…，則表明C是正確選項。又如第 57小題，原文最后一小節：“Scientists learn about monarchs’ migration by catching and making marks on the insects. By re-catching （=catch again） a monarch with such a mark and noticing where it came from (=examining its routing),the next scientist can get to know things like the butterfly’s age and its outing.”十分清楚地表明黑脈金斑蝶遷飛路線是通過給它們身上所作的記號中得知。顯然A項是惟一正確的答案。