六级阅读由10%的快读阅读，5%的简答题和20%的深度阅读构成，而深度阅读是六级考试重心之一，包括两篇文章，做题时间为20分钟左右，最多不能超过 25分钟，否则会影响六级考试其它题型解答的时间。
考生在面对六级阅读词汇量大、句子结构复杂、题材多样化这样的难题时，如何能准确解答关键在于两点：一是如何在阅读过程中准确在文中标记出需要查找的内容的具体位置;二是如何在阅读完题干之后能迅速在文中根据记忆或者阅读时的标注找出相关内容。如果第一方面做的很好能大大减少第二步所花的时间。
六级深度阅读以议论性的文章为主，文章脉络清晰、整体框架明确。而且，议论性的文章并不一定要100%全部读懂，没有必要把每一句话的意思都弄清楚，把每一个细节都掌握。4-5个问题不可能覆盖文章中每一个细节、每一句话。解题过程中，只要找到答案，因此六级阅读的解题过程中，通常采用的解题方法是——
(1)浏览题目，推测全文主题
阅读理解的五道题目之间通常都会有隐含的逻辑联系，所以通过第一遍的初步浏览，有助于把握文章所谈论的主题，作出简单设想和推测。如
1. The phrase “emanate from” in Paragraph 1 most probably means “________”.
2. Which of the following is mentioned as one of the causes of bad breath?
3. According to the passage, alcohol has something to do with bad breath mainly because________.
4. Mouthwashes are not an effective cure for bad breath mainly because________.
5. We can infer from this passage that________.
第1、5题分别为猜词题和推论题，没有提供任何信息。不过第2、3、4题都提到了 bad breath (难闻的口气，口臭)，因此文章谈论的主题就非常清晰，对于后面的理解和解题会有帮助。
(2)判断题型，确定题干关键词
六级的深度阅读主要考查主旨题、细节题、猜词题、推论题和态度题等五种题型，重点考查细节题。细节题的关键词主要有三类(1)显性关键词：大写、数字、连字符单词、序数词等;(2)实意动词;(3)核心名词和生词。这一步对于接下来的浏览文章圈定关键词至关重要。
(3)跳读文章，寻找关键词
浏览文章切忌试图弄懂文中的每一个单词。如果逐句翻译会影响做题的速度，而且会忽略各题区域的寻找。跳读的目的是要整体把握一下文章脉络，找到每道题目中的关键词，从而可以确定每道题目答案的所在位置。答案在文中一般情况都是依次而下顺序出现。
(4)理解区域，排除干扰项
根据第三步寻找的区域，进行深度的翻译和理解，比较选项与文章的信息，注意选项的同义改写、主动被动转换，同时要当心偷换概念、以偏概全等陷阱，依据选项一般不过于绝对(如出现never, only, all)等原理，排除干扰项，最终确定答案。
Passage One
For hundreds of millions of years, turtles (海龟) have struggled out of the sea to lay their eggs on sandy beaches, long before there were nature documentaries to celebrate them, or GPS satellites and marine biologists to track them, or volunteers to hand-carry the hatchlings (幼龟) down to the water’s edge lest they become disoriented by headlights and crawl towards a motel parking lot instead. A formidable wall of bureaucracy has been erected to protect their prime nesting on the Atlantic coastlines. With all that attention paid to them, you’d think these creatures would at least have the gratitude not to go extinct.
But Nature is indifferent to human notions of fairness, and a report by the Fish and Wildlife Service showed a worrisome drop in the populations of several species of North Atlantic turtles, notably loggerheads, which can grow to as much as 400 pounds. The South Florida nesting population, the largest, has declined by 50% in the last decade, according to Elizabeth Griffin, a marine biologist with the environmental group Oceana. The figures prompted Oceana to petition the government to upgrade the level of protection for the North Atlantic loggerheads from “threatened” to “endangered”—meaning they are in danger of disappearing without additional help.
Which raises the obvious question: what else do these turtles want from us, anyway? It turns out, according to Griffin, that while we have done a good job of protecting the turtles for the weeks they spend on land (as egg-laying females, as eggs and as hatchlings), we have neglected the years spend in the ocean. “The threat is from commercial fishing,” says Griffin. Trawlers (which drag large nets through the water and along the ocean floor) and longline fishers (which can deploy thousands of hooks on lines that can stretch for miles) take a heavy toll on turtles.
Of course, like every other environmental issue today, this is playing out against the background of global warming and human interference with natural ecosystems. The narrow strips of beach on which the turtles lay their eggs are being squeezed on one side by development and on the other by the threat of rising sea levels as the oceans warm. Ultimately we must get a handle on those issues as well, or a creature that outlived the dinosaurs (恐龙) will meet its end at the hands of humans, leaving our descendants to wonder how creature so ugly could have won so much affection.
1. We can learn from the first paragraph that ________.
A.human activities have changed the way turtles survive
B.efforts have been made to protect turtles from dying out
C.government bureaucracy has contributed to turtles’ extinction
D.marine biologists are looking for the secret of turtles’ reproduction
2. What does the author mean by “Nature is indifferent to human notions of fairness” (Line 1, Para. 2)?
A.Nature is quite fair regarding the survival of turtles.
B.Turtles are by nature indifferent to human activities.
C.The course of nature will not be changed by human interference.
D.The turtle population has decreased in spite of human protection.
3. What constitutes a major threat to the survival of turtles according to Elizabeth Griffin?
A.Their inadequate food supply.
B.Unregulated commercial fishing.
C.Their lower reproductively ability.
D.Contamination of sea water
4. How does global warming affect the survival of turtles?
A.It threatens the sandy beaches on which they lay eggs.
B.The changing climate makes it difficult for their eggs to hatch.
C.The rising sea levels make it harder for their hatchlings to grow.
D.It takes them longer to adapt to the high beach temperature.
5. The last sentence of the passage is meant to ________.
A.persuade human beings to show more affection for turtles
B.stress that even the most ugly species should be protected
C.call for effective measures to ensure sea turtles’ survival
D.warn our descendants about the extinction of species
Passage Two
There are few more sobering online activities than entering data into college-tuition calculators and gasping as the Web spits back a six-figure sum. But economists say families about to go into debt to fund four years of partying, as well as studying, can console themselves with the knowledge that college is an investment that, unlike many bank stocks, should yield huge dividends.
A 2008 study by two Harvard economists notes that the “labor-market premium to skill”—or the amount college graduates earned that’s greater than what high-school graduate earned—decreased for much of the 20th century, but has come back with a vengeance (报复性地) since the 1980s. In 2005, The typical full-time year-round U.S. worker with a four-year college degree earned $50,900, 62% more than the $31,500 earned by a worker with only a high-school diploma.
There’s no question that going to college is a smart economic choice. But a look at the strange variations in tuition reveals that the choice about which college to attend doesn’t come down merely to dollars and cents. Does going to Columbia University (tuition, room and board $49,260 in 2007-08) yield a 40% greater return than attending the University of Colorado at Boulder as an out-of-state student ($35,542)? Probably not. Does being an out-of-state student at the University of Colorado at Boulder yield twice the amount of income as being an in-state student ($17,380) there? Not likely.
No, in this consumerist age, most buyers aren’t evaluating college as an investment, but rather as a consumer product—like a car or clothes or a house. And with such purchases, price is only one of many crucial factors to consider.
As with automobiles, consumers in today’s college marketplace have vast choices, and people search for the one that gives them the most comfort and satisfaction in line with their budgets. This accounts for the willingness of people to pay more for different types of experiences (such as attending a private liberal-arts college or going to an out-of-state public school that has a great marine-biology program). And just as two auto purchasers might spend an equal amount of money on very different cars, college students (or, more accurately, their parents) often show a willingness to pay essentially the same price for vastly different products. So which is it? Is college an investment product like a stock or a consumer product like a car? In keeping with the automotive world’s hottest consumer trend, maybe it’s best to characterize it as a hybrid (混合动力汽车); an expensive consumer product that, over time, will pay rich dividends.
6. What’s the opinion of economists about going to college?
A.Huge amounts of money is being wasted on campus socializing.
B.It doesn’t pay to run into debt to receive a college education.
C.College education is rewarding in spite of the startling costs.
D.Going to college doesn’t necessarily bring the expected returns.
7. The two Harvard economists note in their study that, for much of the 20th century, ________.
A.enrollment kept decreasing in virtually all American colleges and universities
B.the labor market preferred high-school to college graduates
C.competition for university admissions was far more fierce than today
D.the gap between the earnings of college and high-school graduates narrowed
8. Students who attend an in-state college or university can ________.
A.save more on tuition
B.receive a better education
C.take more liberal-arts courses
D.avoid traveling long distances
9. In this consumerist age, most parents ________.
A.regard college education as a wise investment
B.place a premium on the prestige of the College
C.think it crucial to send their children to college
D.consider college education a consumer product
10. What is the chief consideration when students choose a college today?
A.Their employment prospects after graduation.
B.A satisfying experience within their budgets.
C.Its facilities and learning environment.
D.Its ranking among similar institutions.
参考答案
1.B 2.D 3.B 4.A 5.C 6.C 7.D 8.A 9.D 10.B
点评
Passage One
本文是环保类题材的文章，主要谈论由于人类活动(海洋捕捞、近海活动)以及气候变暖等因素，海龟数量急剧下降。
首先根据题干信息，分别将5个题目进行定位。第一、二和五题有着明确的定位信息，而第三、四题的关键词是Elizabeth Griffin和global warming，五道题目分别定位在第一段、第二段首句、第三段、末段和末段结尾句。接下来是理解定位，排除干扰项。52题是推论题，四个选项初看都像是正确答案，但通过理解，发现文章第一段都在谈论人们在保护海龟方面付出的努力，而最后一句中all the attention 是对前面的总结，而正确选项B中efforts替换原文中的attention，dying out替换原文中的go extinct，运用同义替换原则。又如第55题，对于global warming的影响，错误项BCD中均有提到eggs, hatch, grow, beach等相关核心词，但由于细节表述有误，因此需要考生仔细阅读辨析后排除错误答案。
而最后一题对应文章末句 “Ultimately we must get a handle on those issues as well, or a creature that outlived the dinosaurs (恐龙) will meet its end at the hands of humans, leaving our descendants to wonder how creature so ugly could have won so much affection.” 考生需要在短时间之内分析这个长句的句子结构，理清句子思路。而该句的关键是or，如果两边成分一致表示“或者”，如果成分不一致，表示“否则”，而这里应该是后者。that outlived the dinosaurs (恐龙)是定语从句修饰a creature, leaving our descendants to wonder是分词作定语，修饰前面整句话，how引导宾语从句。
Passage Two
此文是典型的教育类文章，在六级考试中，教育类文章一般会深入探讨教育体制和教育弊端。这篇阅读有一个new idea是即使大学教育是一种高消费，但作者仍鼓励和支持人们进入大学深造，把大学作为一种投资和商品的结合;这与以往六级阅读大走“批判路线”有所不同。总体来说，这篇阅读比上篇阅读要简单一些，因为较好定位。文章一共5段，每一段对应一道题。
要做好这篇文章需要把握两点：1. 明确本文中心：即作者对于花钱上大学的态度(肯定or否定);2. 定位到原文后做题时，即使不太确定整句话的意思，但只要注意几个关键词就大功告成。 如第57题定位于第一段But之后，虽然是个长句，但是主要抓住关键families can console themselves with the knowledge that college is an investment that should yield huge dividends，而最重点就是yield huge dividends，可见作者是持肯定态度的，从而排除了ABD这三个持否定态度的答案。又如第58题，考生可能对“labor-market premium to skill”理解不透，不过没有关系，考场上只要看懂earn这一词，还有decrease这一词，就明白这句话谈论的是有关收入earning。本篇较为容易的题有59、60、61题，59题靠2个数字就可解答出正确答案，而60、61题基本上答案就是原文中词汇。
09年6月深度阅读七个核心词汇分析
account
n. 账户，描述
vi. 解释; 说明(for)
vt. 认为
account三个意思中“账户”为基本含义，ac-前缀，意为“一再”，count=number数，同根词有accountant(会计人员), discount(折扣)，反复清算，一再校对即为账户。阅读中account用作动词最为常见，account for表示“解释，说明”，也可译为“导致”，同义词组还有lead to(导致)，contribute to(为…作贡献，导致), be responsible for(为…负责，导致), give rise to(使…发生，导致), give birth to(生育，导致)。
extinct
adj. 灭绝的，破灭的，过时的，熄灭的
前缀ex-为“出、外”，词根tin，同tain，为“掌控，握住”，同根词有obtain获得，sustain持续。Ex + tin + ct = 失去控制，在掌控之外，引申为灭绝的，过时的。六级阅读中extinct还有形式的变化，extinction灭绝，extinguish vt. 使熄灭，扑灭，使…不复存在;extinguisher n. 扑火者，灭火器，同时还要区分一个近义词extinctive, 意为tending to extinguish or make extinct。
prompt
adj. 迅速的，准时的
vt. 促使，提示，推动
前缀pro-进行，支持，向前，词根mpt拿、采取，“采取果断行动、迅速的或使…向前→促进”。Pro-前缀在阅读中应用广泛，例如prolong →pro(向前)+long(a. 长的)→向前伸长→延长，promote →pro(向前)+mote(=to move移动)→使职位向前移动→提升，propose →pro(=forward) +pose(=to put)→to put forward →把自己的意见呈上前→提议， provoke →pro(=forth)+ voke (=to call叫)→上前叫板→挑衅。
neglect
v. 忽视，忽略
neg-作为前缀表示否定，lect为词根表示“选择、收集”的含义(如select, collect)→没有做出适当的选择→忽视。同义词有overlook, disregard, ignore(ig-否定前缀+nore=知道→不知道→忽视提示)，brush/set/wave away。
outlive
v. 比…长寿
out-为前缀，表示“超过，过度”，六级同学需要掌握此前缀的单词还有outskirts(out-前缀，skirt意为边缘，因而城市边缘的外围，即为郊区)，outweigh比…重要。
decrease
n. & v. 减少，下降
前缀de-有down, complete 的意思，也可引申为否定的意思，例如deliberate v. 考虑，字根来自拉丁文名词 libra(天平,磅)(英文 pound可写成lb.,便是源自于此) →将事物定下来掂算重量→考虑。Decrease由前缀de-和increase的词根组合而成，意为“下降”，同义词有decline, descend, fall, diminish等。
indifferent
adj. 冷漠的;漠不关心的
indifferent = in + different，in-否定前缀，different不同，“无论怎样都感觉不到什么不同”→漠不关心的。The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.我们对作为同类的其他人所犯下的最大罪过不是憎恨，而是漠不关心，那是不近人情的本质。注意be different from与…不同，be indifferent to对…漠不关心
