（一）考点类型
针对整篇文章的主题进行提问。一般主题句出现在首段的居多，其次是末段，有时甚至需要结合不同段落的主题进行综合概括。
【真题回现】
第1段：All around the world, lawyers generate more hostility than the members of any other profession—with the possible exception of journalism. But there are few places where clients have more grounds for complaint than America.
第2段：During the decade before the economic crisis, spending on legal services in America grew twice as fast as inflation. The best lawyers made skyscrapers-full of money, tempting ever more students to pile into law schools. But most law graduates never get a big-firm job. Many of them instead become the kind of nuisance-lawsuit filer that makes the tort system a costly nightmare.
第3段：There are many reasons for this. One is the excessive costs of a legal education. There is just one path for a lawyer in most American states: a four-year undergraduate degree in some unrelated subject, then a three-year law degree at one of 200 law schools authorized by the American Bar Association and an expensive preparation for the bar exam. This leaves today’s average law-school graduate with $100，000 of debt on top of undergraduate debts. Law-school debt means that many cannot afford to go into government or non-profit work, and that they have to work fearsomely hard.
第4段：Reforming the system would help both lawyers and their customers. Sensible ideas have been around for a long time, but the state-level bodies that govern the profession have been too conservative to implement them. One idea is to allow people to study law as an undergraduate degree. Another is to let students sit for the bar after only two years of lawschool. If the bar exam is truly a stern enough test for a would-be lawyer, those who can sit it earlier should be allowed to do so. Students who do not need the extra training could cut their debt mountain by a third.
第5段：The other reason why costs are so high is the restrictive guild-like ownership structure of the business. Except in the District of Columbia, non-lawyers may not own any share of a law firm. This keeps fees high and innovation slow. There is pressure for change from within the profession, but opponents of change among the regulators insist that keeping outsiders out of a law firm isolates lawyers from the pressure to make money rather than serve clients ethically.
第6段：In fact, allowing non-lawyers to own shares in law firms would reduce costs and improve services to customers, by encouraging law firms to use technology and to employ professional managers to focus on improving firms’ efficiency. After all, other countries, such as Australia and Britain, have started liberalizing their legal professions. America should follow.
In this text, the author mainly discusses_______.
[A]flawed ownership of America’s law firms and its causes
[B]the factors that help make a successful lawyer in America
[C]a problem in America’s legal profession and solutions to it
[D]the role of undergraduate studies in America’s legal education
解析本题是考查篇章主旨的主旨大意题，应根据文章中几个段落的主题进行综合概括。该文章属于问题评述型文章，在首段和第2段作者指出法律界存在的问题；第3～5段分析了原因：法律专业的学习花费过高，其行会的限制性所有权结构使得非律师者不能持有律师事务所的股份，导致费用高、创新缓慢；第6段针对这些问题提出了解决方法。因此，文章采用了提出问题——分析问题——解决问题的结构，[C]是对本文大意的最好概括，故为答案。[A]属于以偏概全，第5～6段提到的律师业行会的限制性所有权结构的缺陷仅为原因之一，不能概括文章大意，故排除；[B]和[D]属于无中生有，原文未提及，故均可排除。
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，也可能需要从其他上下文中寻找或总结。
【真题回现】
第1段：It used to be so straightforward. A team of researchers working together in the laboratory would submit the results of their research to a journal. A journal editor would then remove the authors’names and affiliations from the paper and send it to their peers for review. Depending on the comments received, the editor would accept the paper for publication or decline it. Copyright rested with the journal publisher, and researchers seeking knowledge of the results would have to subscribe to the journal.
...
In the first paragraph, the author discusses_______.
[A]the background information of journal editing
[B]the publication routine of laboratory reports
[C]the relations of authors with journal publishers
[D]the traditional process of journal publication
解析本题是考查段落主旨的主旨大意题。首段中used to be和几个句子均含有的would等词都表明该段说的是过去的情况。首句指出过去学术成果出版的特点——直接、简单；第2～4句介绍了过去学术成果出版的三个步骤；第5句指出这种出版方式让出版商享有版权。因此首段主要讲述的就是过去学术成果出版的流程，故答案为[D]。[A]属于以偏概全，“期刊编辑的背景信息”只是局部信息，不能说是首段讨论的主题；[B]忽略了关键的时间限定词“过去的”，与首段主题不对等；[C]也属于以偏概全，“作者与期刊出版商之间的关系”只是局部信息，不是首段讨论的主题，故均可排除。
题目要求为文章选择合适的标题。选择文章标题也是对文章主题的判断，因为标题能直接反映出文章的主题。需要注意的是，文章的标题常以名词词组的形式来表达。
【真题回现】
第1段：When Liam McGee departed as president of Bank of America in August, his explanation was surprisingly straight up. Rather than cloaking his exit in the usual vague excuses, he came right out and said he was leaving “to pursue my goal of running a company.” Broadcasting his ambition was “very much my decision,” McGee says. Within two weeks, he was talking for the first time with the board of Hartford Financial Services Group, which named him CEO and chairman on September 29.
第2段：McGee says leaving without a position lined up gave him time to reflect on what kind of company he wanted to run. It also sent a clear message to the outside world about his aspirations. And McGee isn’t alone. In recent weeks the No.2 executives at Avon and American Express quit with the explanation that they were looking for a CEO post. As boards scrutinize succession plans in response to shareholder pressure, executives who don’t get the nod also may wish to move on. A turbulent business environment also has senior managers cautious of letting vague pronouncements cloud their reputations.
第3段：As the first signs of recovery begin to take hold, deputy chiefs may be more willing to make the jump without a net. In the third quarter, CEO turnover was down 23% from a year ago as nervous boards stuck with the leaders they had, according to Liberum Research. As the economy picks up, opportunities will abound for aspiring leaders.
第4段：The decision to quit a senior position to look for a better one is unconventional. For years executives and headhunters have adhered to the rule that the most attractive CEO candidates are the ones who must be poached. Says Korn/Ferry senior partner Dennis Carey, “I can’t think of a single search I’ve done where a board has not instructed me to look at sitting CEOs first.”
第5段：Those who jumped without a job haven’t always landed in top positions quickly. Ellen Marram quit as chief of Tropicana a decade ago, saying she wanted to be a CEO. It was a year before she became head of a tiny Internet-based commodities exchange. Robert Willumstad left Citigroup in 2005 with ambitions to be a CEO. He finally took that post at a major financial institution three years later.
第6段：Many recruiters say the old disgrace is fading for top performers. The financial crisis has made it more acceptable to be between jobs or to leave a bad one.“The traditional rule was it’s safer to stay where you are, but that’s been fundamentally inverted,” says one headhunter.“The people who’ve been hurt the worst are those who’ve stayed too long.”
Which of the following is the best title for the text?
[A]CEOs: Where to Go?
[B]CEOs: All the Way Up?
[C]Top Managers Jump Without a Net
[D]The Only Way Out for Top Performers
解析本题是考查文章标题的主旨大意题。文章前三段讲述最近高层管理者跳槽的情况很普遍，而且是在没有找到下家的情况下就贸然跳槽；第4～5段转而论述辞去高级职位而去寻找更好的工作并不是常规做法，并且分析了这种做法的弊端；第6段又回到目前的情况，强化文章观点：没有找到下家就跳槽并不丢人。由此可知，[C]是文章的最佳标题。[A]和[B]是利用文章中反复出现的CEO所设置的干扰项, CEO只是高层管理者跳槽的目标，而不是其现在的职位，因此不是主题词；[D]说法过于绝对，且不足以概括全文。
考查文章或段落的写作目的。任何文章都有一定的写作目的，如果文章的主题是客观地存在于文章中，那文章的写作目的则很可能会带有作者明显的主观色彩。判断写作目的时一定要清楚作者对文章主题（所涉及的人或事物）的态度。此类题的题干表现形式多为What’s the author’s purpose in writing this passage?需要指出的是，近几年考研试题中没有再出现过此类直接考查目的的主旨大意题。
【真题回现】
第1段：Taste is such a subjective matter that we don’t usually conduct preference tests for food. The most you can say about anyone’s preference, is that it’s one person’s opinion. But because the two big cola companies—Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola are marketed so aggressively, we’ve wondered how big a role taste preference actually plays in brand loyalty. We set up a taste test that challenged people who identified themselves as either Coca-Cola or Pepsi fans: Find your brand in a blind tasting.
...
末段：While both groups did better than chance would predict, nearly half the participants in each group made the wrong choice two or more times. Two people got all four samples wrong. Overall, half the participants did about as well on the last round of tasting as on the first, so fatigue, or taste burnout, was not a factor. Our preference test results suggestthat only a few Pepsi participants and Coke fans may really be able to tell their favorite brand by taste and price.
The author’s main purpose in writing this article is to_______.
[A]argue that taste testing is an important marketing strategy
[B]emphasize that taste and price are closely related to each other
[C]recommend that blind tasting be introduced in the quality control of colas
[D]show that taste preference is highly subjective
解析本题是考查文章写作目的的主旨大意题。文章开头提出，人们对味道的感觉是一个很主观的事情，并引出组织味觉测试来确定不看标签是否能猜对品牌（如可口可乐和百事可乐）。结论表明只有很少的百事可乐或可口可乐的爱好者能真正通过味道和价格辨别出他们喜爱的品牌，从而与文章开头提出的观点保持一致。由此可知，作者写这篇文章的观点在于表明味觉很主观，个体差异性大，故答案为[D]。[A]论证味觉测试是一个很重要的营销手段，[B]强调味道与价格的关系，[C]建议可乐质检的时候采用蒙瓶试饮，这三项在文章中均未提及。