2010年12月的大学英语四级考试已经结束了。很多同学在走出考场之后都表达了这样两个感觉：一是题目不算太难;二是时间比较紧张。

　　自从06年6月新四级开考以来，不论题目难度如何，同学们都普遍感觉时间紧张，这也是切合了四级大纲的考查要求。但是如何在有限的时间内，多做题，做对题，不再感觉自己做题总是那么仓促呢?其实，不论是从试卷的构成，还是从各项题型的特点来看，提高阅读理解的速度和效率是一个重要途径。

　　今天笔者想和同学们讨论一下本次考试中的快速阅读部分，这是我们同学最感到头疼的，至于这种阅读到底该怎么处理，这里有几个原则要介绍给大家，只要同学们在平时的训练过程中把握这样几个原则，就一定会有意想不到的效果：

　　一、 文章不多读，不细读;

　　二、 选项不多看，不分析;

　　三、 定位到原文，要准确;

　　四、 看到即所选，要核对。

　　下面，笔者就以刚刚结束的四级考试中的快速阅读为例，探讨一下阅读与解题的方法。

　　第一题： What is the author‘s profound belief?

　　A. People instinctively seek human nature in different ways.

　　B. People should spend most of their lives in the wild.

　　C. People have quite different perceptions of nature.

　　D. People must make more efforts to study nature.

　　拿到这个题目之后，我们很容易根据题干中的“the author’s profound belief” 很容易定位到文章第一节的最后一句 It is my profound belief that not only do we all need nature， but we all seek nature， whether we know we are doing so or not. 定位准确之后，我们就牢牢把握这一句定位之处，答案就在这里面。但是我们仍然没有必要对这一句进行仔细阅读，把握一个原则“看到即所选”，也就是看到什么选什么，找看到的关键词汇和哪个选项重叠就可以了。我们看到了“we need nature”， “we seek nature”， 好了，看选项中，有重合度的，只有A选项一个。B选项讲的是lives，wild，没有重合度;C和D两个选项虽然有nature，但是C说的是perceptions，D说的是study研究，都与原文的need，seek，不重合。大家千万不要多花时间去分析原文的意思是什么，每一个选项的意思是什么，那样只会浪费时间，对于解题没有意义，也不是我们正确的快速阅读解题方法。

　　故本题答案为：A

　　第二题： What does the author say people prefer for their children nowadays?

　　A. Personal freedom.

　　B. Things that are natural.

　　C. Urban surroundings.

　　D. Things that are purchased.

　　题干中的prefer，nowadays，可以帮助我们定位到原文第二节的最后一句上。最后一句很长，但是前半句是列举，后半句有个“that is to say”提示我们是总结，那么答案就处在最后半句“things that can be bought， rather than things that can be found”里面了。这时候我们来重合一下，发现只有D选项中的purchased与定位之处的bought是重合的，其他三个都不重合。

　　故本题答案为：D

　　第三题： What does a study in Sweden show?

　　A. The natural environment can help children learn better.

　　B. More access to nature makes children less likely to fall ill.

　　C. A good playground helps kids develop their physical abilities.

　　D. Natural views can prevent children from developing ADHD.

　　题干关键词很明显，a study in Sweden， 定位到第四节开头一句，而题干中的show与第一句中的indicate意思完全相同，更确定了答案就在indicate之后的宾语从句“that kindergarten children who could play in a natural environment had less illness and greater physical ability”，我们这时候看到了less illness，看到了greater physical ability，这时候与选项重合，发现A和D都与我们看到的内容毫无关系，而B和C中分别出现了ill和physical abilities，这时候需要我们进一步区别B和C两个选项，稍加观察我们就会发现，C中的a good playground是原文中没有提到的，类似于我们传统阅读中常见的偷换概念现象。需要说明的是，这样的选项设置方式在近几年考试中屡有出现，但是几乎每套试卷上只会出现一个题目。

　　故本题答案为：B

　　第四题： Children who have chances to explore natural areas ______.

　　A. tend to develop a strong love for science

　　B. are more likely to fantasise about wildlife

　　C. tend to be physically tougher in adulthood

　　D. are less likely to be involved in bullying

　　本题题干中的explore natural areas很明确对应了文章第六节第一句话Most bullying is found in schools where there is a tarmac playgrounds; the least bullying is in a natural area that the children are encouraged to explore.这句话的后半句重合了我们的题干，也就是定位之处，答案就在后半句里面，我们看到了the least bullying，而选项中提到bullying的，只有D一个。

　　故本题答案为：D

　　第五题： What does the author suggest we do to help children with ADHD?

　　A. Find more effective drugs for them.

　　B. Provide more green spaces for them.

　　C. Place them under more personal care.

　　D. Engage them in more meaningful activities.

　　本题题干中的缩写ADHD在文中第三节和第八节都提到了，但是大家要明白在出题过程中有个顺序出题原则，可以帮助我们自然段定位。第四题的定位之处在第六节，本题的ADHD不可能对应第三节，我们应该到第八节中去寻找。第八节第一句就出现了这个关键词。答案定位在第二行“Yet one study after another indicates that contact with nature gives huge benefits to ADHD children.”中。我们看到了benefits，还看到了contact with nature，选项A说的是drugs药物，C说的是personal care关怀，D说的是meaningful activities有意义的活动，都与我们看到的无关。而B选项中的provide green spaces就是一个简单的同意转换，和我们所看到的contact with nature是一样的内容。

　　故本题答案为：B

　　第六题： In what way do elderly people benefit from their contact with nature?

　　A. They look on life optimistically.

　　B. they enjoy a life of better quality.

　　C. They are able to live longer.

　　D. They become good-humoured.

　　当我们的目光从第八节往下扫的时候，就看到了第九节中出现了old people是与本题题干中的elderly people相对应，在这个句子中，我们看到了is in quality rather than quantity of years这个部分，中间有quality和quantity，当然，这中间有个否定转折关系rather than而不是，说明quality是要强调的内容，quantity不是强调内容。但是我们又发现了，这个思考过程根本就是多余的，四个选项中涉及到这两个词语的只有B选项中有quality;quantity根本没有涉及。所以，不要多想，不要思考。

　　故本题答案为：B

　　第七题： Dr William Bird suggest in his study that ______.

　　A. humanity and nature are complementary to each other

　　B. wild places may induce impulsive behaviour in people

　　C. access to nature contributes to the reduction of violence

　　D. it takes a long time to restore nature once damaged

　　本题题干中Dr William Bird是个明显的关键词，它的位置出现在第十一节的开头，位置也很明显，我们定位到William Bird说的话中：“A natural environment can reduce violent behavior because its restorative process helps reduce anger and impulsive behavior.” 在这个句子里，我们看到了reduce violent behavior，看到了reduce anger and impulsive behavior。选项中A和D两个明显没有涉及，答案就在B和C中了。B中出现了impulsive behavior，和我们看到的内容重合，C中出现了reduction of violence 也与我们看到的内容重合，这种现象是命题者在故意设置一点点障碍，就如我在第三题中提到的那样。遇到这种情况我们不要害怕，只需要稍微比较B和C两个选项的区别，这时候发现B中的induce是“诱导，导致”的意思，纯粹是从词形上来迷惑我们，因为它比较类似我们看到的那个单词“reduce”。

　　故本题答案：C

　　最后三题完成句子，是我们同学觉得好做，但是最不容易得分的部分。在文章中很容易找定位点，但是同学们找到定位点的时候通常不加思考，只是被找到答案的兴奋所围绕，或者是由于前面做题的速度较慢，此处已无时间去思考。就导致我们忽略一个很重要的问题：出题者在命题时会进行同意转化。也就是说，出题者会改变句子的结构，导致文中找到的单词或短语放在这儿之后，意思是正确的，但是形式不对，依然要被扣掉一部分分数，那就有点遗憾了。对于完成句子，大家要注意这样几点：

　　一、句子要看全，看清与原文表述的区别;

　　二、尤其注意介词和动词不定式的互换;

　　三、尤其注意形容词和副词形式的互换;

　　四、语言简洁，答案不要超过五个单词。

　　下面我们就来看一下这三个题目。

　　第八题： It is extremely harmful to think that humanity and the world can be ______.

　　本题题干定位在第12节，第二句讲了the error，该句最后一部分提到了humanity and the world，原句为“that humanity and the natural world are separable things is profoundly damaging”，我们看到了separable things，这个结构放在原文是正确的，但是由于句式有一点小小的改变，我们也可以用形容词形式separate做表语。

　　故本题答案为：separate 或者separable things

　　第九题： The author believes that we would not be so civilized without ______.

　　本题定位在第14节：Without the wild world we are not more but less civilized. 本题简单，没有在题干上设置难度，直接引用原文即可。

　　故本题答案为：the wild world

　　第十题：The five suggestions the author gives at the end of the passage are meant to encourage people to seek ______ with the natural world.

　　本题题干定位在最后的黑体字部分，Five ways to find harmony with the natural world.

　　原文中的find被本题题干的seek取代，但是属于简单的同意转化。直接引用原文即可。

　　故本题答案为：harmony

　　总的来说，本次快速阅读难度平稳，适合大纲的要求。同学们要把握快速阅读的核心在于“寻找”，而不在于“理解”，就不会停留在“思考”之中，就会消除时间的紧迫感。

　附:快速阅读原文如下

　　A Grassroots Remedy

　　Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. To this end， we walk the dog， play golf， go fishing， sit in the garden， drink outside rather than inside the pub， have a picnic， live in the suburbs， go to the seaside， buy a weekend place in the country. The most popular leisure activity in Britain is going for a walk. And when Joggers (慢跑者)jog， they don‘t run the streets. Every one of them instinctively heads to the park or the river. It is my profound belief that not only do we all need nature， but we all seek nature， whether we know we are doing so or not.

　　But despite this， our children are growing up nature-deprived(丧失). I spent my boyhood climbing trees on Streetham Common， South London. These days， children are robbed of these ancient freedoms， due to problems like crime， traffic， the loss of the open spaces and old new perceptions about what is best for children， that is to say， things that can be bought， rather than things that can be found.

　　The truth is to be found elsewhere. A study in the US： families had moved to better housing and the children were assessed for ADHD - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (多动症). Those whose accommodation had more natural views showed an improvement of 19%; those who had the same improvement in material surroundings but no nice view improved just 4%.

　　A study in Sweden indicated that kindergarten children who could play in a natural environment had less illness and grater physical ability than children used only to a normal playground. A US study suggested that when a school gave children access to a natural environment， academic levels were raised across the entire school.

　　Another study found that children play differently in a natural environment. In playgrounds， children create a hierarchy(等级)based on physical abilities， with the tough ones taking the lead. But when a grassy area was planted with bushes， the children got much move into fantasy play， and the social hierarchy was new based on imagination and creativity.

　　Most bullying(恃强凌弱)is found in schools where there is a tarmac(柏油碎石)playgrounds; the least bullying is in a natural area that the children are encouraged to explore. This reminds me unpleasantly of Sunnyhill School in Streetham， with its harsh tarmac， where I used to hang about in corners fantasizing about wildlife.

　　But children are frequently discouraged from involvement with natural spaces， for health and safety reasons， for fear that might get dirty or that they might cause damage. So， instead， the damage is done to the children themselves; not to their bodies but to their souls.

　　One of the great problems of modern childhood is ADHD， now increasingly and expensively treated with drugs. Yet one study after indicates that contact with nature gives huge benefits to ADHD children. However， we spend money on drugs rather than on green places.

　　The life of old people is measurably better when they have access to nature. The increasing emphasis for the growing population of old people is in quality rather than quantity of years. And study after study finds that a garden is the single most important things in finding that quality.

　　In wider and more difficult areas of life， there is evidence to indicate that natural surroundings improve all kinds of things. Even problems with crime and aggressive behavior are reduced when there is contact with the natural world.

　　Dr William Bird， researcher form the Royal Society fro the Protection of Birds， states in his study， “A natural environment can reduce violent behavior because its restorative process helps reduce anger and impulsive behavior.” Wild places need encouraging for this reason， no matter how small their contribution.

　　We tend to look on nature conservation as some kind of favour that human beings are granting to the natural world. The error here is far too deep： not only do humans needs nature for themselves， but the very idea that humanity and the natural world are separable things is profoundly damaging.

　　Human beings are a species of mammals (哺乳动物). For seven million years they lived on the planet as part of nature. Our ancestral selves miss the natural world and long for contact with nonhuman life. Anyone who has patted a dog， stroked a cat， sat under a tree with a pint of beer， given or received a bunch of flowers or chosen to walk through the park on a nice day， understands that.

　　We nee the wild world. It is essential to our well-being， our health， our happiness， without the wild world we are not more but less civilized. Without other living things around us we are less than human.

　　Five ways to find harmony with the natural world

　　Walk： Break the rhythm of permanently being under a roof. Get off a stop earlier， make a circuit of the park at lunchtime， walk the child to and from school， get a dog， feel yourself moving in moving air， look， listen， absorb.

　　Sit： Take a moment， every now and then， to be still in an open space. In the garden， anywhere that’s not in the office， anywhere out of the house， away from the routine. Sit under a tree， look at water， feel refreshed， ever so slightly renewed.

　　Drink： The best way to enjoy the natural world is by yourself; the second best way is in company. Take a drink outside with a good person， a good gathering： talk with the sun and the wind with birdsong for background.

　　Learn： Expand your boundaries. Learn five species of birds， five butterflies， five trees， five bird songs. That way， you see and hear more： and your mind responds gratefully to the greater amount of wildness in your life.

　　Travel： The places you always wanted to visit： by the seaside， in the country， in the hills. Take a weekend break， a day-trip， get out there and do it： for the scenery， for the way through the woods， for the birds， for the bees. Go somewhere special and bring specialness home. It lasts forever， after all.