阅读理解Part A试题在考查内容上大致可分为五种类型：1)主旨大意题；2)事实细节题；3)语义理解题；4) 观点态度题和5)推理判断题。按出现频率由高到低分别是：事实细节题、推理判断题、主旨大意题、语义理解题和观点态度题。
下面我们来分别评述各类题型的命题特点与解题思路。

(一)主旨大意题
1．主旨大意题的种类及题干表现形式
1）从考查的对象上划分，主旨大意题可分为两种：
A篇章主旨：针对全文的主题进行提问。主题句出现在首段的居多，其次是末段或为几段主题的综合。
B段落主旨：针对某一段或几段的主题提问。主题句可能是段落的首句、末句，也可能不在此(几)句，需要从上下文中寻找或总结。
2）从考查的内容上划分，还可分为主题类(内容)(考查文章或段落的主旨大意)、目的类(考查文章或段落的写作目的)和标题类(要求考生选出文章的最佳标题)三种。
主旨大意题经常用main idea, main point, key point, main topic, mainly discuss, mainly explain, is mainly about; purpose; best title等词语来表达。比如：
(1)What is the main idea of the passage?
(2)What is the key/main point of the passage?
(3)The passage is mainly about ____.
(4)The passage is mainly concerned about ____.
(5)The passage mainly discusses ____.
(6)This passage was written to explain ____.
(7)The passage mainly deals with ____.
(8)What conclusion can be drawn from the passage?
(9)Which sentence best summarizes the article?
(10)The purpose of this passage is ____.
(11)The passage is intended to ____.
(12)In this passage the author tries to ____.
(13)Which of the following could be the best title for the passage?
(14)The best title for the text may be ____.

2.主旨大意题的命题规律
1）段首、段尾句常考：段首、段尾句一般表达了文章的中心思想，或者就是该段的主题句，对全文或全段起着提纲挈领的作用。
2）语义转折处常考：尤其是段首的语义转折，其后面往往是作者真实的写作目的或基本观点，即文章的中心思想所在。
3）因果句常考：因果句通常可以表现出作者的意图、观点甚至全文的主题，因此成为考点。

3.主旨大意题干扰项与正确选项的特点
1）干扰项特点：
A局部信息：涉及文章的某一细节，犯了以偏概全的错误。
B涉及某一自然段的大意，而非整篇文章的中心思想，犯了归纳不够的错误。
C选项概括范围太宽，其内容超出文章阐述的部分，犯了归纳过头的错误。这类干扰项常常在提问文章标题的题目中出现。
D与文章内容毫不相干或与文章内容相悖。
2）正确选项的特点：
A含有抽象名词和概括性词语的选项往往是正确答案。一般来说，句子中含有approach, concept, chance, opportunity, various, both, general, many, difficult(y), way, necessary, necessity, importance等词的是正确答案。
B这类题的答案往往在内容相近的选项中。
C较全面、有针对性地表达文章中心思想的选项一般是答案项。

4．主旨大意题答题技巧例解
这类题型主要测试考生对文章某一段或全篇大意的把握。做这类题时，首先要找到主题句。但考研题中很少直接考主题句，主题句的作用在于帮助我们正确理解文章，然后经过分析、推理得出正确答案。
1）时间紧迫的情况下，只读首尾段，答案很可能就在这些段落中。例如：
Bill Gates, the billionaire Microsoft chairman without a single earned university degree, is by his success raising new doubts about the worth of the business world's favorite academic title: the MBA (Master of Business Administration) ...
Q: What is the passage mainly about?
[A]Why there is an increased enrolment in MBA programs ____.
[B]The necessity of reforming MBA programs in business schools ____.
[C]Doubts about the worth of holding an MBA degree ____.
[D]A debate held recently on university campuses ____.
答案是[C]。文章的第一段(上文)第一句作者就点明了本文的主题是对MBA价值的怀疑，即答案[C]。

2) 注意文中出现频率高的单词。 这些关键词在文中多次出现，常常是表达主题的主要措辞。例如：
Early in the age of affluence that followed World War II, an American retailing analyst named Victor Lebow proclaimed, "Our enormously productive economy... demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption.... We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing rate."
Americans have responded to Lebow's call, and much of the world has followed. Consumption has become a central pillar of life in industrial lands and is even embedded in social values. Opinion surveys in the world's two largest economies-Japan and the United States-show consumerist definitions of success becoming ever more prevalent.
Over-consumption by the world's fortunate is an environmental problem unmatched in severity by anything but perhaps population growth. Their surging exploitation of resources threatens to exhaust or unalterably spoil forests, soils, water, air and climate.
Ironically, high consumption may be a mixed blessing in human terms, too. The time-honored values of integrity of character, good work, friendship, family and community have often been sacrificed in the rush to riches.
Thus many in the industrial lands have a sense that their world of plenty is somehow hollow-that, misled by a consumerist culture, they have been fruitlessly attempting to satisfy what are essentially social, psychological and spiritual needs with material things.
Of course, the opposite of over-consumption-poverty-is no solution to either environmental or human problems. It is infinitely worse for people and bad for the natural world too. Dispossessed peasants slash-and-burn their way into the rain forests of Latin America, and hungry nomads turn their herds out onto fragile African grassland, reducing it to desert.
If environmental destruction results when people have either too little or too much, we are left to wonder how much is enough. What level of consumption can the earth support? When does having more cease to add noticeably to human satisfaction?

Q: It can be inferred from the passage that ____.
[A]human spiritual needs should match material affluence
[B]there is never an end to satisfying people's material needs
[C]whether high consumption should be encouraged is still an issue
[D]how to keep consumption at a reasonable level remains a problem
答案是[D]。这是一道需经过推理的主旨大意题(当然也可以归为推理判断题)。浏览全文我们会发现，一些词连续多次出现，如"consumption"，"consume"，"consumerist"，"over-consumption"。由此可知，文章大意与"consumption"有关。[A]、[B]均未提及，可以排除；[C]虽然提及"consumption"，但文中没有说是否鼓励高消费仍然是一个问题；文章最后一段说If environmental destruction results when people have either too little or too much, we are left to wonder how much is enough. What level of consumption can the earth support? When does having more cease to add noticeably to human satisfaction? 大意是：如果人们拥有太多或太少都会使环境遭到破坏，那么到底拥有多少才是足够的呢?地球能支撑什么样的消费水平?拥有多少才能满足人们的需要呢?可见作者是在说怎样维持合理的消费水平仍然是一个问题, 这正是本文的主题，因此正确答案为[D]。

3)从选项内容判断答案。一般来说，那些概括全文，含义深刻，说明道理的选项是答案。例如：
The attention-getting property of commercials can be seen by observing one-to-two-year-old children who happen to be playing around a television set. They may totallyignore the programming. However, when a commercial comes on, their attention is immediately drawn to it because of its dramatic sound quality.
Q: In the passage, the author is trying to tell us ____.
[A]how TV ads vary vocal sounds to attract attention
[B]how the loudness of TV ads is overcome
[C]how advertisers control the sound properties of TV ads
[D]how the attention-getting properties of sounds are made use of TV ads
答案是[D]。[A]属于具体细节；[B]、[C]与文章主题不相关。文章通篇讲的是电视台为提高收视率而播放高音量的广告，[D]正是对全文的全面概括，是文章给读者传递的主要思想。