考研英语阅读文章一般在400～500字左右，如此短的文章中夹杂着生僻的单词和疑难句，从而使得阅读工作变得异常困难。那么在这其中，我们应当怎么做呢？ 在此建议大家使用如下的方法：
1、扫读文章，了解基本内容、作者立场和文章结构。一般而言，我们所要阅读的内容集中在文章首段、各段首尾句和转折句处。
2、仔细读题目，划出“标杆词”——最独特的词组、数字或符号（如生词、拼写较长或很短的词、大写的词、斜体词、百分比、年代或日期、货币代号等）。
3、扫视全文，一旦找到和题目相对应的信息，立马放慢速度，直到所读意群表达意思与题目无关为止。
4、对比选项，选出最适合的答案。
5、在定位的同时，要结合自然段定位的原则辅助定位。
下面我们结合真题来进行一下具体讲解。
真题解析（2000年 Text1）
A history of long and effortless success can be a dreadful handicap， but， if properly handled， it may become a driving force. When the United States entered just such a glowing period after the end of the Second World War， it had a market eight times larger than any competitor， giving its industries unparalleled economies of scale. Its scientists were the world's best， its workers the most skilled. America and Americans were prosperous beyond the dreams of the Europeans and Asians whose economies the war had destroyed。
It was inevitable that this primacy should have narrowed as other countries grew richer. Just as inevitably， the retreat from predominance proved painful. By the mid1980s Americans had found themselves at a loss over their fading industrial competitiveness. Some huge American industries， such as consumer electronics， had shrunk or vanished in the face of foreign competition. By 1987 there was only one American television maker left， Zenith. （Now there is none： Zenith was bought by South Korea's LG Electronics in July。） Foreign made cars and textiles were sweeping into the domestic market. America's machine-tool industry was on the ropes. For a while it looked as though the making of semiconductors， which America had invented and which sat at the heart of the new computer age， was going to be the next casualty。
All of this caused a crisis of confidence. Americans stopped taking prosperity for granted. They began to believe that their way of doing business was failing， and that their incomes would therefore shortly begin to fall as well. The mid-1980s brought one inquiry after another into the causes of America's industrial decline. Their sometimes sensational findings were filled with warnings about the growing competition from overseas。
How things have changed！ In 1995 the United States can look back on five years of solid growth while Japan has been struggling. Few Americans attribute this solely to such obvious causes as a devalued dollar or the turning of the business cycle. Self doubt has yielded to blind pride. “American industry has changed its structure， has gone on a diet， has learnt to be more quick witted，” according to Richard Cavanagh， executive dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. “It makes me proud to be an American just to see how our businesses are improving their productivity，” says Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute， a think tank in Washington， DC. And William Sahlman of the Harvard Business School believes that people will look back on this period as “a golden age of business management in the United States。”
51. The U.S. achieved its predominance after World War II because ________。
［A］ it had made painstaking efforts towards this goal
［B］ its domestic market was eight times larger than before
［C］ the war had destroyed the economies of most potential competitors
［D］ the unparalleled size of its workforce had given an impetus to its economy
52. The loss of U.S. predominance in the world economy in the 1980s is manifested in the fact that the American ________。
［A］ TV industry had withdrawn to its domestic market
［B］ semiconductor industry had been taken over by foreign enterprises
［C］ machine-tool industry had collapsed after suicidal actions
［D］ auto industry had lost part of its domestic market
53. What can be inferred from the passage？
［A］ It is human nature to shift between self-doubt and blind pride。
［B］ Intense competition may contribute to economic progress。
［C］ The revival of the economy depends on international cooperation。
［D］ A long history of success may pave the way for further development。
54. The author seems to believe the revival of the U.S. economy in the 1990s can be attributed to the ________。
［A］ turning of the business cycle
［B］ restructuring of industry
［C］ improved business management
［D］ success in education
第一步，扫读文章，确定文章的写作对象——美国的工商业在二战后由兴旺到衰退再到复兴的过程。
第二步，仔细审题，确定关键字。（见题目）
51题，询问的是二战后美国达到了主导地位，原因是什么？根据二战的信息，我们定位在第一段。使用排除法，容易排出ABD选项，A选项中 painstaking错误，因为文章是说的effortless，是一个“不费力的过程”，而此处是说“痛苦”显然错误。B选项比较对象发生了错误，文章是说“和任何的竞争者相比，大八倍”，而选项是说“和自己以前相比，大八倍”。D选项中unparalleled，原文不是修饰workforce，而此处却修饰workforce，故而错误。由于考研四选一，故而可以直接选C.C选项是文章第一段最后一句的同义诠释。
52题，20 世纪80年代，美国在世界经济方面丧失了主导地位，主要表现在下面哪一事实。A选项，重叠原文不难发现，文中说，电视制造业已经消失。但是选项却说“退回了国内市场”。B选项，文中中“半导体业将会成为下一个受害对象”。选项却说，已经被国外市场所吞并。C选项，望文生义，原文中的on the ropes是岌岌可危，但是选项却当成了自杀性行为，故而错误，排除法，D选项正确。
53题，通过使用自然段定位法，不难定位在第三段。推理题型。根据小技巧，我们正确答案定位于BD之间，D选项在文中首句出现，但是偷换了概念，首句使用的词语是long and effortless 但是被替换成了long，故而错误，所以答案就是B了。
54题，作者将90年代美国经济的复苏，归因于——。这里再次使用小技巧（众人皆醉我独醒）将答案定位于Few Americans attribute this solely to such obvious causes as a devalued dollar or the turning of the business cycle。重叠选项，仅有A是符合题意的。
通过上述的分析，同学们不难发现，考研的文章有时也仅仅是“纸老虎”。只要我们从现在开始坚定地锻炼基本功，扎扎实实地掌握考研必备的知识点，冲击高分就不再是梦想。
