短文聽力測試的解題方法和技巧很多，主要有以下幾點。

第一，學會科學預測，了解短文的大致內容。

科學預測以了解短文的大致內容是提高短文聽力成績的一個必要前提和方法。預測的根據是給出的選項。請看下列一篇短文之各題的選項：

                    1. A. She cannot eat for some time.          B. She suffers from bad headache.

                        C. She often feels sick.                         D. She cannot stand noise.

                    2. A. No, but she tried to bear it.             

B. No, she was too busy to go to the doctor.

C. Yes, she tried some medicine.

D. Yes, she went to a lot of hospitals.

3. A. It takes a long time to stop the pain.

    B. The illness can be cured thoroughly.

    C. The illness needs an operation.

    D. The illness can be controlled.

由于三題的眾多選項中有headache, sick, doctor, medicine, hospitals, pain, illness, operation等詞的出現，可以斷定這一篇與醫生、病人和疾病有關的短文，因此聽短文時要特別注意，病人得了什么病，癥狀是什么，怎么治病。這樣就避免出現措手不及。事實上，這是一段醫生與病人間的對話，三個問題分別是：

                            1. What does the patient mainly complain about?

2. Did the patient try to deal with her illness?

3. What does the doctor say about the illness?

         值得一提的是，由于短文的選項較多，有時且較長，要在聽短文前讀完各個選項在時間上較緊張，而且并非所有的選項都有較強的信息提示，因此，從各選項中斷定不了短文的大致內容也不必慌張。

        第二， 聽清主題句，把握中心思想。

        反映短文主題的句子就是主題句。聽懂主題句非常重要，因為短文中的具體內容都是圍繞著主題句而展開的，它往往包含有重要的信息。聽清了主題句就易于聽懂下文的內容，以便獲取其他重要的細節，從而把握短文的主題思想。百分之八十以上的主題句出現在文章的文首，即：文章的第一句話。當然，也有主題句位于文章的末尾或貫穿于其中。由于在聽錄音時不知道文章何時結束，因此，重點聽清第一句話尤其重要。請看下面一篇短文的原文：

        In order to learn a foreign language thoroughly, four things are necessary. Firstly, we must be able to understand the language when we hear it spoken. Secondly, we must be able to speak it correctly ourselves. Thirdly, we must be able to read the language. And fourthly, we must be able to write it. We must be able to compose sentences that are grammatically correct. We must know how to arrange sentences in paragraphs, so as to write a good letter or composition.

There is no easy way to have success in language learning. A good memory is a good help, but it is not enough simply to memorize rules in a grammar book. It is not much use learning by heart long lists of words and their meanings. We must learn words not by themselves, but in sentences. We must learn by using the language. Practice is very important.

Questions:

1. What is very important in learning a foreign language?

2. What is the first step in learning a language?

3. How should words be learned?

這是一篇小小的議論文。短文的第一句話就是主題句。聽清了這一主題句，對下文的內容既易推測又易聽清。不難推測，短文接下來就會提到學好一門外語的四個方面。推測得更深一點的話，談到學好外語應注意的問題也在意料之中。果然，短文的第一段和第二段分別提到了這兩個方面。由此，答題的信息很容易就獲取了，答對問題也有了保障。因而，聽清主題句對全文的理解起著舉足輕重的作用。