1 主旨大意是文章的核心，包括对 title, main idea 或者 main purpose 的判断选择，也会以“ mainly tell about” 一类的形式出现。做这类题时，仔细阅读文章或段落的首尾句是关键。多采用浏览法，一般不需逐句细读，只选读文章的首段、尾段，或每段的首句和尾句，重点搜索主题线索和主题信息。但是当讲述一个故事时，则要抓住每段文字的关键句。2 (2011· 江苏卷 )We know the famous ones — the Thomas Edisons and the Alexander Graham Bells — but what about the less famous inventors? What about the people who invented the traffic light and the windshield wiper( 雨刮器 )? Shouldn't we know who they are?3 Joan McLean thinks so. In fact, McLean, a professor of physics at Mountain University in Range, feels so strongly about this matter that she's developed a course on the topic. In addition to learning “who” invented “what” ， however, McLean also likes her students to learn the answers to the “why” and “how” questions. According to McLean, “When students learn the answers to these questions, they are better prepared to recognize opportunities for inventing and more motivated to give inventing a try.”4 Her students agree. One young man with a patent for an unbreakable umbrella is walking proof of McLean's statement. “If I had not heard the story of the windshield wiper's invention ，” said Tommy Lee, a senior physics major, “I never would have dreamed of turning my bad experience during a rainstorm into something so constructive.” Lee is currently negotiating to sell his patent to an umbrella producer. 5 So, just what is the story behind the windshield wiper? Well, Mary Anderson came up with the idea in 1902 after a visit to New York City. The day was cold and stormy, but Anderson still wanted to see the sights, so she jumped aboar...
