The Brief Strategies of Reading Comprehension

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The Brief Strategies of Reading Comprehension

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Xin Qiao Middle School Bi Yongjun
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Proposition types of Reading Comprehension
1?questions of details 2?words in
context 3?questions of inference 4?main idea
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questions of details
?Scan the whole passage, grasp the chief idea,
and understand the passage structure as well as
detail. ?Take advantage of elimination techniques
to eliminate some improper choices, and the
choice left will be the best answer. ?Make use
of the question forms.
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Question forms

• 1.Which of the following is TRUE according to the
  passage?
• 2.Which of the following is NOT TRUE according
  to the passage?
• 3.What happened to sb. in the text?

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For example

• Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to
  the passage?
• A.U2 is good at playing classical music.
• B. The new album is available on the Internet.
• C. The people who made comments are fans of U2.
• D. U2s upcoming tour may be a great success.

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2. Words in context
?Make full use of the familiar information to
guess and judge the meaning of a word ?Get the
meaning of a word through casual relationship,
comparison, definition, explanation, word-form
and retelling.
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Question forms
1.Which of the following is the closest in
meaning to the word? 2.The word could best be
replaced by 3.In the paragraph, the word
means (refers to ) 4.According to the
passage,probably means 5.The author uses the
word to mean
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1.He says I have slandered him but , on the
contrary, I have always spoken well of him.
??,??
2.Johnson surprised his fellow students all the
time. He isnt some stuffy guy, though he wears
his neat gray beard and conservative
(traditional) clothes. The word stuffy in the
paragraph means _______. A. old-fashioned
B. respectable C. narrow-minded D. fat
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• 3. The house looked quite normal outside, but
  inside it was very exotic with fascinating
  objects on display. As he began putting them into
  his bag, a god came into the room. It stopped
  when it saw Buster, then wagged its tail madly
  and went over to him, licking his outstretched
  hand. Good boy, Buster whispered. What a great
  guard dog you are --- trying to lick me to
  death.
• Which of the definitions is closest in
  meaning to the word exotic in the third
  paragraph?
• A. Messy and untidy. B. Rich and
  expensive.
• C. Comfortable and calming D. Foreign and
  unusual.

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?Infer the implication and the article
source. ?Infer the authors intension and
attitude. ?Infer the logical relationship.

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Question forms

• 1. We can infer from the passage that ___ .
• 2.The story suggests that _______ .
• 3.We can conclude from the passage that ____ .
• 4.Which of the following might / probably
  happened later ?
• 5.From the passage we can tell / learn ______ .
• 6.The writer of the passage considers it ______.
• 7. Which of the following indicates / implies___?

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Practice
1. Did you ever hear a strange sound coming from
the wall? Did it sound like a clock? If so, it
may have been made by a beetle. Long ago people
thought the ticking meant that someone was about
to die. Thus the beetle is called "the deathwatch
beetle." The sound of this beetle ________. A.
pleased people. B. surprised people.
C. frightened
people. D. excited people.
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2. It is said that people should take a lesson
from the clock. The clock passes the time by
keeping its hands busy. People who do what the
clock does also pass the time by keeping their
hands busy and not by sleeping the time away.
You can tell that busy people______ A. act like
clocks.
B. sleep the time away.
C. don't do what clocks do.
D. don't have hands.
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3. It is fun to turn over a big rock on the
beach. Make sure you turn the rock back to the
position it was in after you moved it. If you
dont turn it back over, all the sea animals
under it or clinging to the underside will die.
You can tell that rocks ________. A. hurt sea
animals B.
protect sea animals C. wont be found on beaches
D. cant be found on beaches
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4. How to get the main idea?
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Characteristics of this kind of questions

• 1.The viewpoint is the authors own viewpoint.
• 2. The viewpoint may be advocated by the author,
  or it may be others which the author will
  refute.
• 3.There is only one proper viewpoint of the
  author.
• 4.The sentence is of generality, summary and
  abstract.
• 5.It has a complex structure.

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Question forms

1. The subject of the passage is ____.

2.The main idea is _____.
3.The passage mainly talks about _____.
4.What topic is treated in this passage?
5.The title is _____.
6.The best headline for the passage would be ____.
7.Which title best gives the idea of the passage?
8.Whats the topic of the first paragraph?
9.The point of the passage is that _____.
10.Whats the main point the writer is trying to
make in the last paragraph?
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How to get the main idea of a passage?
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Details
Paragraph ideas
Passage idea
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• 1
• ? Magellans men were the first to
  make the trip around the world. It took them more
  than two years to do so by ship.
• ? Magellan was from Portugal, but he
  sailed for the King of Spain. On September 20,
  1519, he left Spain with five ships and 240 men.
  After passing the trip of South America, they
  reached the Pacific Ocean, on which they sailed
  more than one year. Very often they could not see
  a piece of land for months and they suffered
  greatly from the lack of food and fresh water.
  Many of them died of hunger and diseases. They
  even had to live on sawdust. Finally in April
  1521, Magellan got to the Philippine Islands,
  where he was killed. His men fled and continued
  their voyage across the Indian Ocean. It was with
  the greatest difficulty that they passed the Cape
  of Good Hope. By the time they returned to Spain
  on December 21,1521, seven out of every eight men
  had died.
• ? Magellans voyage proved that men
  could sail around the world and that our earth is
  but a huge ball.
• Which of the following do you think is the
  best title for this passage?
• A. Magellans death
• B. Going Around The World
• C. The World Is Round
• D. Magellans Voyage

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• ? Magellans men were the first to make the trip
  around the world. It took them more than two
  years to do so by ship.

Magellans voyage was the first trip around the
world .
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1. time

• ?Magellan was from Portugal, but he
  sailed for the King of Spain. On September 20,
  1519, he left Spain with five ships and 240 men.
  After passing the tip of South America, they
  reached the Pacific Ocean, on which they sailed
  more than one year. Very often they could not see
  a piece of land for months and they suffered
  greatly from the lack of food and fresh water.
  Many of them died of hunger and diseases. They
  even had to live on sawdust. Finally in April
  1521, Magellan got to the Philippine Islands,
  where he was killed. His men fled and continued
  their voyage across the Indian Ocean. It was with
  the greatest difficulty that they passed the Cape
  of Good Hope. By the time they returned to Spain
  on December 21,1521, seven out of every eight men
  had died.

2. ships and people
3. route
4. Sufferings and difficulties
The process of Magellans long difficult voyage
a. Lack of food and freshwater
b. Hunger and diseases
c. Deaths
5. success
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• ?Magellans voyage proved that men could
  sail around the world and that our earth is but a
  huge ball.

Magellans voyage proved the earth is round.
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• ?Magellans men were the first to make
  the trip around the world. It took them more than
  two years to do so by ship.
• ?Magellan was from Portugal, but he
  sailed for the King of Spain. On September 20,
  1519, he left Spain with five ships and 240 men.
  After passing the tip of South America, they
  reached the Pacific Ocean, on which they sailed
  more than one year. Very often they could not see
  a piece of land for months and they suffered
  greatly from the lack of food and fresh water.
  Many of them died of hunger and diseases. They
  even had to live on sawdust. Finally in April
  1521, Magellan got to the Philippine Islands,
  where he was killed. His men fled and continued
  their voyage across the Indian Ocean. It was with
  the greatest difficulty that they passed the Cape
  of Goed Hope. By the time they returned to Spain
  on December 21,1521, seven out of every eight men
  had died.
• ?Magellans voyage proved that men could
  sail around the world and that our earth is but a
  huge ball.

Paragraph 1 Magellans voyage was the
first trip around the world .
Magellans voyage
Paragraph 2 The process of Magellans long
difficult voyage
Paragraph 3 Magellans voyage proved the
earth is round.
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• 1
• Magellans men were the first to make
  the trip around the world. It took them more than
  two years to do so by ship.
• Magellan was from Portugal, but he
  sailed for the King of Spain. On September 20,
  1519, he left Spain with five ships and 240 men.
  After passing the trip of South America, they
  reached the Pacific Ocean, on which they sailed
  more than one year. Very often they could not see
  a piece of land for months and they suffered
  greatly from the lack of food and fresh water.
  Many of them died of hunger and diseases. They
  even had to live on sawdust. Finally in April
  1521, Magellan got to the Philippine Islands,
  where he was killed. His men fled and continued
  their voyage across the Indian Ocean. It was with
  the greatest difficulty that they passed the Cape
  of Good Hope. By the time they returned to Spain
  on December 21,1521, seven out of every eight men
  had died.
• Magellans voyage proved that men
  could sail around the world and that our earth is
  but a huge ball.
• Which of the following do you think is the
  best title for this passage?
• A. Magellans death
• B. Going Around The World
• C. The World Is Round
• D. Magellans Voyage

(too narrow)
(too broad)
(too narrow)
(proper)
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SUMMARY

• Strategies
• 1. Study the questions and understand them.
• 2. Find out key words or sentences in the
  context and analyze them carefully.
• 3. Delete the impossible choices if necessary.
• 4. Judge the remaining choices and make a choice
  that you think is the best.

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• Practice
• A passage from the College Examination

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HOMEWORK Finish the passages of reading
comprehension in the Model Test paper after
class.