閱讀測驗是很多考生畏懼的英文題型之一，其實閱題測驗的的解題並不難，因為外國人寫文章都愛用破題法，只要看第一段即可知道文章大概在講什麼內容。例如在此篇文章的第一段中，有提到“Pilgrims” (1620年移居美國的英國清教徒)、 “Mayflower” (五月花號)、“historians”(歷史學家) 、“boat lovers”(船隻愛好者)，所以文章一定跟” 歷史學家與船隻愛好者都想知道更多關於1620年搭乘五月花號移居美國的英國清教徒的故事”有關。
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For generations, historians and boat lovers have been trying to |
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learn more about the brave ship that brought the Pilgrims to America. |
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The task is a difficult one because Mayflower was such a common |
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name for ships back in early seventeenth-century England that there |
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were at least twenty of them when the Pilgrims left for the New World. |
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An exact duplicate of the Mayflower has been built in England |
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and given to the people of the US as a symbol of good will and |
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common ancestry linking Britons and Americans. The Pilgrims’ |
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Mayflower apparently was built originally as a fishing vessel. It seems |
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to have been 90 feet long by 22 feet wide, displacing 180 tons of |
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water. The duplicate measures 90 feet by 26 feet, displaces 183 |
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tons, and has a crew of 21, as did the original vessel. The new |
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Mayflower has no motor but travels faster than the old boat. |
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What happened to the historic boat? So far as can be told, the |
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Mayflower went back to less colorful jobs and, not too many years |
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later, was scrapped. What happened to the beams, masts, and |
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planking is questionable. In the English city of Abingdon, there is a |
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Congregational church that contains two heavy wooden pillars. Some |
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say these pillars are masts from the Mayflower. A barn in the English |
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town of Jordans seemed to be built with old ship timbers. Marine |
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experts said these timbers were impregnated with salt and, if put |
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together, would form a vessel 90 feet by 22 beet. The man who |
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owned the farm when the peculiar barn was built was a relative of the |
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man who appraised the Mayflower when it was scrapped. |
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So the original Mayflower may still be doing service ashore while |
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her duplicate sails the seas again. |
