标题解题法
推测文章标题题目的问题比较简单，如
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
The best title for this passage would be .
做这种题和做文章主旨大意题是一样的，只要抓住文章中心思想，就不难对上答案。所不同的是推测文章大意题的选项是一个句子，或较长的词组，因而较易理解，较易和文章的中心思想对上;而推测文章标题的选项只有几个词，是对文章中心思想的高度概括，因而较难理解。一般说来，一篇阅读理解文章要么出现推测文章标题的问题，要么出现推测文章大意题，不可能两种问题同时出现，因此，可放在最后，等做完这篇阅读理解的所有问题后再做，这样可以依靠前几题提供的线索来判断。
1.文章标题题目相当于文章主旨题
问标题的题也是一种主旨题，与主旨题的做题方法和技巧完全一样。二者的差别主要体现于选项的形式：主旨题的答案通常以一句话表示，而问标题的答案大多为一个名词词组。
例
The origin of America's colour problem today lies in a great crime against humani-ty,committed long ago. The black population is a little over twenty million, or one-tenth of the whole. Nine tenths of the black people are the offsprings of Africans brought to American as slaves in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Nearly all their offsprings were kept in legal slavery in the south until 1865. The background of complaints cannot easily be wiped out,and it has been kept alive by unpleasant memo-ries from a more recent period. During the last hundred years of British rule steady and increasing flow of Africans were carried across the Atlantic to the West Indies and the American mainland, there to be sold as slaves. The ships were designed so as to provide space for the greatest possible number of human beings on the westward journey,and
to carry freight on the return. The colonies protested constantly against this immoral activity but their attempts to stop it were in vain. The census of 1790 reported a total of about 700,000 slaves in the United States, of whom 300,000 were in Virginia, 200,000 in the Carolines 100,000 in Maryland. Before 1800 every state had prohibited the traffic,though it continued illegally. In 1763--1767 a line had been drawn by two English surveyors, Mason and Dixon, dividing the commercial or farming states to the north from the plantation states to the south. The main part of the line followed the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, though Delaware was included in the northern region. In the states north of the Mason-Dixon line slavery had been effective-ly abolished by 1800 ,but it continued in the southern states.
The best title for this passage might be
A. Slavery in the Southern States of America by 1800
B. A Great Crime against Humanity
C. Descendents of Black People in America
D. The Background of the Colour Problem in America
显然文章第一句The origin of America’s colour problem today lies in a great crime against humanity，committed long ago.(美国种族问题的根源是很久以前他对人类犯下的极大罪行。)是全文中心思想旬。对照选项，D.The Background of the Colour Prob-lern in America这一标题概括了这一中心思想。
2.归纳各段落大意
例
A rapid means of long-distance transportation became a necessity for the United States as settlement (新拓居地) spread ever farther westward. The early trains were impractical curiosities, and for a long time the railroad companies met with trouble- some mechanical problems. The most serious ones were the construction of rails able to bear the load, and the development of a safe, effective stopping system. Once these were solved, the railroad was established as the best means of land transportation. By 1860 there were thousands of miles of railroads crossing the eastern mountain ranges and reaching westward to the Mississippi. There were also regional southern and west-ern lines.
The high point in railroad building came with the construction of the first trans-continental system. In 1862 Congress authorized two western railroad companies to build lines from Nebraska westward and from California eastward to a meeting point, so as to complete a transcontinental crossing linking the Atlantic seaboard with the Pa-cific. The Government helped the railroads generously with money and land. Actual work on this project began four years later. The Central Pacific Company, starting from California, used Chinese labor, while the Union Pacific employed crews of Irish labourers, The two groups worked at remarkable speed, each trying to cover a greater distance than the other. In 1869 they met at a place called Promontory in what is now the state of Utah. Many visitors came there for the great occasion. There were joyous celebrations all over the country, with parades and the ringing of church bells to honor the great achievement.
The railroad was very important in encouraging westward movement. It also helped build up industry and farming by moving raw materials and by distributing products rapidly to distant markets. In linking towns and people to one another it helped unify the United States.
The best title for this passage would be
A. Settlements Spread Westward
B. The Coast-to-Coast Railroad: A Vital Link
C. American Railroad History
D. The Importance of Railroads in the American Economy
A为本文细节，因此不对。C说的是美国铁路史，而本文仅从一个侧面反映美国铁路的发展，因此C也是错的。D泛指美国铁路，而原文三段只是指transcontinental rail-way在美国经济上有重要作用，所以也错了。只有B可以做本文的标题，因为它恰如其分地涵括了本文的中心思想：横贯美国的铁路在开发西部、发展工农业生产和统一美国等方面起到了纽带作用(a vital link)。
标题必须反映文章的中心大意，而且只能反映文章的中心大意，这就要求选项的归纳范围要恰如其分，既不能只提及文中的一个细节，也不能将文章以外的内容概括其中。
3.总结
做标题的关键是能找出恰如其分概括文中所阐述的内容的题目，不能以偏概全。
要提高解答这类题目的能力，可以从以下几个方面人手。
(1)树立大局观念。阅读理解就像下围棋，要从大处着眼，小处着手。注意不要纠缠于个别的字句，大可大刀阔斧，进行宏观俯视。要交叉使用略读(skimming)和查读(scanning)两种方法，把握文章的中心思想。
(2)分析结构特点。文章都有一定的结构，诸如演绎法、归纳法、层层深入法等等。
在把握文章大意的基础上，注意分析文章各个部分之间的逻辑关系，有助于发现作者的真正意图，从而找出最恰当的标题。
(3)增强判别能力。作者在论证一个观点时，有时会从反面或侧面提供证据;或者找到一个相反的观点，进行分析驳斥，先破后立;或者引经据典，他山之石可以攻玉;或者在绕了很大圈子后才亮出最终观点等等。这时需要提高警惕，沉着应战，去伪存真，去粗存精，正确理解文章的主旨。
