明白了考察“段落”主旨之后，我们就可以像小学语文一样，进行概括段落大意的训练了。接下来我们必须清楚一个问题：什么是主旨?我对主旨下了这样的定义：

　　主旨=主题+方向+关系词(无词阅读法的“三要素”)例1：《新概念第四册》第二课的第一段：

　　Why you may wonder should spiders be our friends? Because they destroy so many insects， and insects include some of the greatest enemies of the human race. Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world. They would devour all our crops， and kill our flocks and herds， if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals. We owe a lot to the birds and beasts who eat insects but all of them put together kill only a fraction of the number destroyed by spiders. Moreover， unlike some of the other insect-eaters， spiders never do the least harm to us or our belongings.

　　这段话首句的主题很明显讲的是“spiders”，方向是“friends”(正向)，合在一起就是主旨“蜘蛛是朋友”。从第二句话开始出现的关系词Because、and和Moreover都是在维持着首句的方向，所以即使关系词后面的具体内容由于存在生词(devour， flocks， herds等等)而看不太懂，也不会影响我们对段落主旨的把握。

　　如果用直白的语言来解释“主题+方向+关系词”这三个要素，那就是：“主题”等于这段话讲的是个什么事物(spiders);方向是该事物是好是坏(friends);关系词(Because、and和Moreover)就是维持或者改变方向的一些标志。一旦我们善于把握这“三要素”，那么阅读速度将变得立刻提高，因为除了这“三要素”之外的细节如果包含着个别生词，我们也可以忽略不计了，从而实现了“无词阅读”的境界。

　　如何掌握主旨(How)

　　阅读英语段落的时候，应该是“匀速阅读”还是“变速阅读”呢?当然是“变速阅读”!这样我们才能做到阅读时的详略得当。但是，“变速阅读”是“先快后慢”还是“先慢后快”呢?这就要从英语的思维方式说起。

　　英语倾向于先说重要的还是先说次要的?我们来看看英语与汉语的思维方式差异。

　　汉语族人的思维方式是“螺旋式”的，喜欢画龙点睛，我们称之为“Save the best for the last”。而英语族人的思维方式是“直线式”的，喜欢直入主题，我们称之为“Say what you want to say， then say why”。

　　这样一比较，大家应该马上明白了阅读英语段落的要领：变速阅读，先慢后快，精读首句，浏览全段。据统计，70%-80%的英语段落都是首句是主题句。所以，以后阅读英语段落，应该先精读首句(把握首句的“主题”和“方向”)，再浏览全段(把握全段的“关系词”)，才能实现快速阅读。而很多同学以前阅读的时候，要么就是倾向于到段落结尾找主题句(这主要是受了汉语思维方式的影响)，要么就干脆把有限的精力平均分配到一段话内部的每个单词和每个句子，而忽略了主次关系，没有详略得当地阅读。

　　例2：

　　All these activities may have damaging environmental impacts. For example， land clearing for agriculture is the largest single cause of deforestation; chemical fertilisers and pesticides may contaminate water supplies; more intensive farming and the abandonment of fallow periods tend to exacerbate soil erosion; and the spread of monoculture and use of high-yielding varieties of crops have been accompanied by the disappearance of old varieties of food plants which might have provided some insurance against pests or diseases in future. Soil erosion threatens the productivity of land in both rich and poor countries. The United States， where the most careful measurements have been done， discovered in 1982 that about one-fifth of its farmland was losing topsoil at a rate likely to diminish the soil’s productivity. The country subsequently embarked upon a program to convert 11 per cent of its cropped land to meadow or forest. Topsoil in India and China is vanishing much faster than in America.

　　精读首句：主题是“environmental impacts”，方向是“damaging”(负向)，主旨是“环境影响是破坏性的”。浏览全段：举例关系词For example本身就说明是在维持着首句的方向，而且四个并列的分句也证明了这一点。那么，即便是后面的具体内容不看了，只要没有出现大的转折关系，这段话的主旨就肯定是首句的“环境影响是破坏性的”。

　　例3：

　　Drama is sometimes seen as a branch of literature because plays，like literature， are often printed in book form. However， there is an important difference between the two forms. Unlike a novel，a play is written to be performed， and the script of a play is not a finished work;it is an outline for a performance. The physical production of the play--the scenery， lighting，and costumes--will affect the performance， and so will the actors. How the actors interpret their roles greatly influences the play’s effect on the audience.

　　精读首句：主题是“drama”和“literature”，方向是“a branch”，主旨是“戏剧与文学的相同点”，而且因果关系词because和类比关系词like都是维持方向的。浏览全段：转折关系词However说明方向发生了改变，说明主旨是“戏剧与文学是不同的”。对比关系词Unlike也证明了比较的是不同点。所以，第二句话是该段的主题句。

　　当然，“主题+方向+关系词”这三个要素在一个段落里面并非一定同时存在。例如，有些说明性段落里面可能只有主题，没有方向。还有很多段落是没有关系词的。但是，总体上来说，这三个要素是我们理解一个段落主旨所必需的最基本条件，需要我们尽量把握。