阅读理解训练FindingtheMainIdea.docx

1、阅读理解训练FindingtheMainIdeaFinding the Main Idea: the authors message about the topic. Where are the main ideas found?It is easy to identify a main idea that is directly expressed in the text. Main ideas are often found at the beginning of paragraphs. The first sentence often explains the subject being

2、 discussed in the passage. Main ideas are also found in the concluding sentences of a paragraph. The main idea can be expressed as a summation of the information in the paragraph as well as a link to the information in the next paragraph.The main idea is not always clearly stated. It is more difficu

3、lt to identify a main idea when it is inferred or implied. It can be implied through other words in the paragraph. An implied main idea can be found in several ways. Several sentences in a paragraph can imply the main idea by introducing facts about the topic before actually stating the topic. Impli

4、ed ideas can be drawn from facts, reasons, or examples that give hints or suggestions concerning the main idea. These hints will be clues leading you to discover the main idea in the selected text. Try the passage below to see if you can pick out the main idea.To many parents, the infants crying may

5、 be mainly an irritation, especially if it continues for long periods. But crying serves important functions for the child as well as for the parents. For the child, crying helps improve lung capacity and the respiratory system. Perhaps more important, the cry serves as a signal of distress. When ba

6、bies cry, they indicate that they are hungry or in pain, and this is important information for parents.Use the hints below to determine the correct main idea of this paragraph.After reading a paragraph ask, What point is the author making in this passage?Ask the following questions: Who - Does this

7、passage discuss a person or group of people? When - Does the information contain a reference to time? Where - Does the text name a place? Why - Do you find a reason or explanation for something that happened? How - Does this information indicate a method or a theory?How can I determine if I have sel

8、ected the correct main idea of a paragraph?If you are able to summarize the information in the passage in your own words,you have absorbed the correct main idea. To accomplish this goal, try the steps listed below after reading a short section of your textbook. Write a short summary in your own word

9、s about what you have read. Does your summary agree with this general topic? Does your summary contain the same ideas being expressed by the author? Could you write a headline (or textbook subheading) that would express your summary in less than five words?If you are able to rephrase your choice of

10、a topic sentence into a question and then determine if the passage answers your question, you have been successful at selecting a main idea.Answers: 1 The clouds were dark purple.2 Thunder becamelouder and louder.3 The raindrops fellone after another. The main idea sentence of a paragraph tells what

11、 the paragraph is about. The other sentences are details. Read the story and find the main idea.1. When you take a multiple-choice test, do you ever change your answers? Some scientists think that it is a smart thing to do. They found out that most students who change their answers make the right de

12、cision and make better scores on their tests.The story mainly tells _ how to study for tests what scientists think about answers how to score better on a multiple-choice test which answers to change on a test2. Because lambs are sometimes eaten by coyotes, ranchers may hunt or trap the coyotes. Howe

13、ver, killing coyotes may upset natures balance. Scientists have found a way to protect sheep without killing coyotes. Coyotes are fed lamb meat treated with a drug. When they eat the meat, they get sick. Later, coyotes wont even go near lambs. Theyll hunt rabbits instead.This story mainly tells _ wh

14、y coyotes prefer rabbits to lambs why killing coyotes upsets natures balance how scientists protect sheep and coyotes what kind of people dont like coyotes3. Dolly Madison was the wife of President James Madison. She was quite a brave First Lady. When the White House burned down, Dolly rescued impor

15、tant government papers. She also saved the portrait of George Washington that hangs in the East Room today. This story mainly tells _ who Dolly Madisons husband was how the White House burned down about Dolley Madisons courageous acts where the portrait of George Washington hangs4. Every year hungry

16、 deer do millions of dollars worth of damage to young pine trees. Scientists in Washington have found a way to protect the trees. They use a substance called selenium. Selenium produces a bad smell when dissolved. A bit of this element is put in the ground near trees. Rain dissolves the selenium, an

17、d the trees absorb it. The bad smell keeps the deer away until the trees are fully grown.This story mainly tells _ how much damage deer do to trees how trees can be protected from deer what selenium is why deer eat pine trees5. In real life, rattlesnakes try to avoid people and seldom attack. Most p

18、eople are bitten only after they step on these snakes. A rattlesnake may not even inject its poison when it bites. In fact, more Americans die from insect stings than from snakebites!This story mainly tells _ how rattlesnakes arent as dangerous as everyone believes why insects kill people when rattl

19、esnakes use their poison how snakes bite6. Imagine testing glass by throwing chickens at it? Sometimes fast moving airplanes fly through flocks of birds. If the birds hit the windshield of a plane, the glass could shatter and cause a crash. Airplane manufacturers have made a chicken cannon that fire

20、s rubber chickens at glass windshields. If the windshield doesnt break when the rubber chicken hits it, the designers know that the glass can withstand the force of a real crash.This story mainly tells _ why birds can be dangerous to airplanes how a chick cannon tests glass how big a bird has to be

21、to damage an airplane how the chicken cannon works7. The diamond is a hard element that can cut through almost any metal. That is why it is often used for industrial purposes. Whole diamond stones are set into tools. Dust from crushed diamond stones is used for coating the edges of tools. Care must

22、be taken when exposing diamonds to extreme heat because heat can turn them into graphite. Graphite is the soft material used in the manufacture of lead for pencils.This story mainly tells _ how to turn a diamond into a graphite how diamonds are used in industry how diamond dust coats tool edges when

23、 diamonds are used in pencils8. Alfred Nobel invented dynamite to help builders, but it was used for war, which made him feel very guilty about the misuse of his invention. He was a rich man, so he set up a $9 million fund. Today the fund is used to reward people who have improved human life. Nobel

24、Prizes are awarded in six fields, including peace, medicine, and chemistry.This story mainly tells _ what the Nobel Prizes are awarded for why Nobel founded the Nobel Prize fund how much money was set aside for rewards what invention Alfred Nobel created9. The temperature of Antartica once fell to 1

25、28 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. In the summertime, temperatures average well below freezing. Most of the land is covered with ice that is up to 2 miles thick. Only a few strong mosses and sturdy spiders can live on this big block of ice. Since very little snow or rain falls there, Antartica is a d

26、esert.This story mainly tells _ about a desert with extremely cold temperatures which plants and insects live in Antartica how much snow and rain fall there how low the temperature once fell10. The Marines had a problem in World War II. Orders were sent in code, but the enemy kept learning the code.

27、 Nothing could be kept secret. Then someone thought the Navajo soldiers could help the Marines. Since very few other people could speak Navajo, this language was used as a code. No one on the enemy side knew Navajo, so the messages stayed secret.This story mainly tells _ how Navajo people kept secre

28、ts when the secret code was used how the Marines used Navajo as a code why the original code had to be changed11. Sharks have a keen sense of hearing and can smell blood from almost 2,000 yards away. Sharks also have a special system of channels in their skin that helps them feel the vibrations of a

29、 splashing swimmer. We know that in clear water, sharks can see dinner from about 50 feet away. If you ever spot a shark, always swim away smoothly!This story mainly tells _ how well sharks hear why sharks have poor vision how sharks sense food when to swim away smoothly12. Trousers are a recent sty

30、le in the history of fashion. Men wore tights under short, loose pants until the early 1800s when the first real pants for men appeared. Until the 1940s few women wore long pants. During World War II, women factory workers started wearing long pants. The fashion caught on.The story mainly tells _ th

31、at long pants are a somewhat new fashion when men stopped wearing pantaloons who wore tights why women dont wear trousers13. A scientist believes that millions of animals have died every 26 million years. He thinks that comets are responsible for those deaths. Comets would explode on impact as they

32、slammed into Earth. Dust from the explosions blocked light and heat from the Sun. Plants and animals on Earth could not withstand such conditions, so they died.This story mainly tells _ how often animals died why comets may come near Earth where the dust comes from about a possible cause of animal dea