Matching Headings技巧全解

曾经是三大经典题型之一的段落标题配对题（Matching Headings）近年来在雅思考试中呈现没落的趋势。2017年之前原本几乎每场考试必考的本题型，从2018年开始至今，已经在考试中越来越少见，几乎要退出重点题型的队伍。尽管如此，超级学长的老师仍然认为，这种题型在雅思考试中所占有的一席之地短期内还不会被剥夺。首先，段落标题配对题是雅思阅读考试的众多题型中少数几种专门考察对于文章段落大意的理解的主旨题型；其次，对于段落标题配对题题型做法的正确理解和熟练掌握，有助于帮助考生从整体上把握文章和段落的大意，对于解决其他的细节题型，如是非无判断题（True/False/Not Given）、段落细节配对题（Matching Details with Paragraphs）等会起到举足轻重的作用。

 

解决段落标题配对题最重要的方法是超级学长的老师在前面的论文中提到过的略读（Skimming）方法，在使用此种方法阅读文章时，可以跳过不能快速理解的生词和插入语、括号内信息等细节的描述，抓住句子的主干，从而理解句子乃至段落的大意。在此基础上，如果看到段落中存在能够概括整段意思的句子，可以找出来作为主题句。

 

之前听到过很多人说在判断段落大意时只需要找到中心句（Topic Sentence）即可。而中心句通常出现在每段的第一句或者最后一句或者第二句，所以只需要看这几处就可以。因为西方作者的写作思路比较简单，通常在段落的开头会进行总起，提出全段论点，后面再用例证来论证论点；或者在段落中先进行例证，再在段落的结尾进行总结；或者在开头处承上启下或提出一个错误论点，第二句才真正提出论点。

 

实，在雅思的阅读文章中，有很多如此展开的段落，但是超级学长的老师认为这样的寻找段落大意的方法有失严谨。因为除了上面说到的三种情况之外，还有一种可能性就是在段落中作者没有用任何一个单一的句子来总述主旨，段落的主旨大意还有可能需要依靠对于全段各句的大体理解才能够准确判断。而在略读完全段之前，考生也很难判断到底该段中是否会有明确的中心句存在。如剑桥雅思真题集5 Test 3 Passage 2的B段：

 

Up to now, people have blamed this loss of delta land on the two large dams at Aswan in the south of Egypt, which hold back virtually all of the sediment that used to flow down the river. Before the dams were built, the Nile flowed freely, carrying huge quantities of sediment north from Africa's interior to be deposited on the Nile delta. This continued for 7,000 years, eventually covering a region of over 22,000 square kilometres with layers of fertile silt. Annual flooding brought in new, nutrient-rich soil to the delta region, replacing what had been washed away by the sea, and dispensing with the need for fertilizers in Egypt's richest food-growing area But when the Aswan dams were constructed in the 20th century to provide electricity and irrigation, and to protect the huge population centre of Cairo and its surrounding areas from annual flooding and drought, most of the sediment with its natural fertilizer accumulated up above the dam in the southern, upstream half of Lake Nasser, instead of passing down to the delta.

 

在上面的段落中，中心句并没有出现在第一句、第二句或者最后一句中。该段的主旨信息“Interrupting a natural process”是需要依据各句的意思综合考虑和判断才能够得出的。

 

另外，在有的文章中，需要判断主旨的段落并非单一的自然段，而是由好几个自然段组成的大段。在判断这样的大段主旨时，单看其中一段的意思是不够的，而需要将各段的中心句都找到之后，整合在一起来判断完整的段落大意。如剑桥雅思真题集5 Test 4 Passage 1的A段：

 

The market for tourism in remote areas is booming as never before. Countries all across the world are actively promoting their 'wilderness' regions - such as mountains, Arctic lands, deserts, small islands and wetlands — to high-spending tourists. The attraction of these areas is obvious: by definition, wilderness tourism requires little or no initial investment. But that does not mean that there is no cost. As the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development recognized, these regions are fragile (i.e. highly vulnerable to abnormal pressures) not just in terms of their ecology, but also In terms of the culture of their inhabitants.

 

Tourists are drawn to these regions by their natural landscape beauty and the unique cultures of their indigenous people. And poor governments in these Isolated areas have welcomed the new breed of 'adventure tourist', grateful for the hard currency they bring. For several years now, tourism has been the prime source of foreign exchange in Nepal and Bhutan. Tourism is also a key element in the economies of Arctic zones such as Lapland and Alaska and in desert areas such as Ayers Rock in Australia and Arizona's Monument Valley.

 

该段由两个自然段构成，在理解第一段的时候如果错把第一句话当作是全段的主旨，外加错误理解了句中“remote”的含义，很多同学会误认为答案是“The expansion of international tourism in recent years”。但是通过全面的阅读我们可以了解到，第一个自然段主要是在定义fragile regions的概念，第二个自然段第一句话中提示我们本段是关于旅游者们到这些fragile regions旅游的原因。因此“Fragile regions and the reasons for the expansion of tourism there”才更能准确概括全段大意。

 

这种题型的难点主要在于思路上的转换。在以细节题为主的雅思考试中，主旨题更能体现考生把握全局概念的能力，所以超级学长的老师再次提醒各位雅思考试，在雅思阅读中，一定要按照文章所述的雅思阅读匹配题的核心技巧来答题。