概括大意与完成句子这一题型在过去的职称英语等级考试中是分开考的，这次则把这两种题型放到一篇文章中去考。这两种题型均属于阅读理解简答题(Short Answer Questions)，与传统阅读理解简答题不同的是，它不需要考生写出问题的答案，而是给出了几个选项，让考生从中选择搭配。
概括大意题主要考查考生归纳段落主题思想的能力，完成句子主要考查考生掌握短文细节内容的能力。这两种题型，基本能够考核各种阅读技能。解答这类题目时，既要学会抓住文章的中心大意，找出关键词，又要能够运用多种阅读技巧，从句子、语篇的层次把握文章的重要事实和细节。请看例题。
The Price of idleness
Household devices waste a lot of energy doing nothing
1 Electrical devices such as CD players, videos and burglar alarms are consuming more energy in stand-by mode than when they are actually being used.
2 Maria Sanchez and her colleagues from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, tested more than 50 small electrical appliances, from computers to doorbells, electric movers, VCRs, and pool pumps. In the current issue of Energy Policy, they report that about half of all consumer electronics energy is used in stand-by mode. This costs American consumers $1 billion a year in wasted energy.
3 The researchers say that while electronic devices are lying dormant (休眠状态), running their clocks, maintaining internal memories or displaying their settings, they consume around 40 terawatt hours of electricity in the US every year -- enough to power a city such as Chicago or London. Many machines' use almost as much power on stand-by as when working. For example, it takes 15 watts to play a typical CD, but an average of 11 watts to keep it on stand-by. Satellite TV systems use 14 watts when active and 14 watts on stand-by. Given the long hours these systems spend idling, each uses far more power in stand-by mode than when actually working.
4 Bad design is largely to blame, says Sanchez. In a separate survey of CD players last year, her colleague Wolfgang Huber found that two machines with similar features used 28 watts and 2 watts respectively on stand-by. "For most products, we believe that stand-by power can be reduced to one watt or less," says Sanchez.
5 She backs proposals to set up a national labeling system to promote machines that meet this standard. Such a system could reduce stand-by power consumption in the US by 50 per cent, says co-author Alan Meier -- more than 20 terawatt hours per year. Last month, electronics company Philips announced the launch of a device that can dramatically reduce the power used in stand-by mode.
1 Paragraph 2 ____________
2 Paragraph 3 ____________
3 Paragraph 4 ____________
4 Paragraph 5 ____________
A Factor Leading to Energy Waste
B Home Appliances
C Proposals to Cut Energy Consumption
D Energy Consumption Test
E Terawatt Hours
F Nonessential Electricity Use
5 In the US the home appliances use _____________
6 The energy wasted by the electronic devices in the US is sufficient to ___________.
7 It is found that power waste is mainly caused by _____________
8 Philips started to develop a device that can greatly reduces _______________
A bad design
B the total energy of the country
C power a large city
D the most energy
E wasted energy
F stand-by power consumption
这是一篇关于家用电器在休眠状态下耗电情况的文章，属科普类。文章内容不难。共分五个自然段，300多词。文章后面第一题至第四题，要求考生给第二段至第五段各选一食小标题；第五题至第八题要求考生从所给的六个选项中为每个句子选一个正确选项，来完成句子。
我们先看概括大意。在做概括大意题时，首先要找的是每段的主题句。文章的第一段总领全文，说的是当今一些家电设备，如CD播放机之类，在闲置状态下，会浪费很多的电能。
作者在第二段的一开始就介绍了科学家Maria Sanchez和她的同事做的一个实验，他们检了50多种小家电，看看它们的耗电情况。后面讲的是实验结果等。显然，该段的第一句为主题句，概括了这一段的主要内容。根据这一线索，在选项中，我们发现选项D(“能量消耗试验”)的意思与此相符。因此，选项D为本题的答案。
再看第三段。本段第一句接上一段的内容进一步说明一些电器设备在休眠状态下每天的耗电量。接下来是举例说明。本段第一句同样也是本段的主题句。所给出的几个选项中，哪个选项的意思与这一句话的意思相近呢?显然，选项F(“无谓的耗电”)与本句意思相同，故为正确答案。
文章的第四段进一步阐明导致电能被白白浪费掉的主要原因，作者引用科学家Sanchez的话，认为家电设备设计不合理是一个重要因素。第四段的第一句也是本段的主题句。选项A的意思是“导致电能消耗的因素”，与本段第一句意思相符，故为正确答案。
细心的读者会发现，文章第五段的第一句又是该段的主题句，根据这段中出现的 proposal这个词就不难发现选项C为正确答案。
关于完成句子这部分的解题技巧，我们强调指出的是，应根据要完成的句子的前半部分的信息，回到短文中查找这个句子的出处，然后再仔细阅读每个句子，这样会很容易地找出答案。根据这个办法，我们发现第五题的答案为选项D，第六题的答案为选项C，第七题的答案为选项F，第八题的答案为选项E。