第一段:In the early 1960s Wilt Chamberlain was one of only three players in the National Basketball Association (NBA) listed at over seven feet. If he had played last season, however, he would have been one of 42. The bodies playing major professional sports have changed dramatically over the years, and managers have been more than willing to adjust team uniforms to fit the growing numbers of bigger, longer frames.該段有三句話,一二句話從時間上進行對比,說明現今NBA里個子高的人很多;第三句話是對這一現象的總結,身高變化了,因此想著要改變統一制服的尺寸以適應身高的變化。千萬不要被這一段迷惑,主題遠不是如此。
第二段首句:The trend in sports, though, may be obscuring an unrecognized reality: Americans have generally stopped growing.該句話一定注意轉折詞though,上述現象掩蓋了一個事實:美國人停止增長了---這才是文章的主旨。
中間各段落(瀏覽)三:Growth, which rarely continues beyond the age of 20, demands calories and nutrients – notably, protein – to feed expanding tissues.這句話在說人的身體增長考的是一些營養物質。這是屬于細節內容。四:Genetically speaking, there are advantages to avoiding substantial height.該段是說長得沒有那么高還是有好處的,接下來肯定是具體闡述好處。
末段:Genetic maximums can change, but don’t expect this to happen soon. Claire C. Gordon, senior anthropologist at the Army Research Center in Natick, Mass., ensures that 90 percent of the uniforms and workstations fit recruits without alteration. She says that, unlike those for basketball, the length of military uniforms has not changed for some time. And if you need to predict human height in the near future to design a piece of equipment, Gordon says that by and large, “you could use today’s data and feel fairly confident.”句首的but表明身高在基因上不會盡快發生變化,因此接下來又接著闡述制服短期內不用改變,總之是在圍繞第二段的主題人的身高基本停止增長這一主題在說。
因此,總結來看,這篇文章首先擺出例子(但與主題相反)---though引出主題---論述主題---重申主題。這樣在做主題題目時,就會易如反掌。35. The text intends to tell us that----[A] the change of human height follows a cyclic pattern. [B] human height is becoming even more predictable. [C] Americans have reached their genetic growth limit. [D] the genetic pattern of Americans has altered.全文在圍繞人身高停止增長,很容易選出C;A選項說到人體身高的變化遵循周期;B在說人的身高是具有可預測性的,涉及到預測的只有末段,而且說得是要想預測參照最近身高標準就行;D說法錯誤。