考研英語閱讀的文章來源于國外期刊或雜志。眾所周知這些文章浸染了西方式的寫作傳統(tǒng)——觀點鮮明，邏輯嚴密，全文只有一個主題思想。而這種主題思想是以核心概念的形式體現(xiàn)出來的。我們在閱讀文章時，若能有意識地尋找核心概念，就會提高解題速度和準確率。
　　 一、什么是核心概念?
　　 文章的核心概念，即全文論述的中心，又名中心詞，通常以名詞或名詞短語的形式出現(xiàn)。核心概念不一定是一個，有時是兩個，此時要注意兩個概念之間的區(qū)別和聯(lián)系。
　　 二、如何找核心概念?
　　 一般來說，文章的每一自然段都會含文章的核心概念，抓住出現(xiàn)頻率比較高的名詞或名詞短語即可。有時，這個名詞會以同義詞、指代關(guān)系的形式出現(xiàn)，需要引起我們的注意。
　　 三、核心概念的形式?
　　 分為文章的核心概念和段落的核心概念兩種。文章的核心概念遍布全文，段落的核心概念屬于每一自然段內(nèi)部的核心論述對象。
　　 四、核心概念的作用?
　　 找出文章的核心概念會提示主旨題(問main idea)的答案。文章與段落的核心概念并用，也會提示大部分事實細節(jié)題和例證題(問example)的答案;對比四個選項，含有核心概念的通常為正確答案。
　　 我們以2007年考研英語真題閱讀理解Text 4為例：
　　 (文章的核心概念用黑體表示，段落的核心概念用下劃線表示)
　　 It never rains but it pours. Just as bosses and boards have finally sorted out their worst accounting and compliance troubles, and improved their feeble corporation governance, a new problem threatens to earn them – especially in America – the sort of nasty headlines that inevitably lead to heads rolling in the executive suite: data insecurity. Left, until now, to odd, low-level IT staff to put right, and seen as a concern only of data-rich industries such as banking, telecoms and air travel, information protection is now high on the boss’s agenda in businesses of every variety。
　　 Several massive leakages of customer and employee data this year – from organizations as diverse as Time Warner, the American defense contractor Science Applications International Corp and even the University of California, Berkeley – have left managers hurriedly peering into their intricate IT systems and business processes in search of potential vulnerabilities。
　　 “Data is becoming an asset which needs to be guarded as much as any other asset,” says Haim Mendelson of Stanford University’s business school. “The ability to guard customer data is the key to market value, which the board is responsible for on behalf of shareholders。” Indeed, just as there is the concept of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)， perhaps it is time for GASP, Generally Accepted Security Practices, suggested Eli Noam of New York’s Columbia Business School. “Setting the proper investment level for security, redundancy, and recovery is a management issue, not a technical one,” he says。
　　 The mystery is that this should come as a surprise to any boss. Surely it should be obvious to the dimmest executive that trust, that most valuable of economic assets, is easily destroyed and hugely expensive to restore – and that few things are more likely to destroy trust than a company letting sensitive personal data get into the wrong hands。
　　 The current state of affairs may have been encouraged – though not justified – by the lack of legal penalty (in America, but not Europe) for data leakage. Until California recently passed a law, American firms did not have to tell anyone, even the victim, when data went astray. That may change fast: lots of proposed data-security legislation is now doing the rounds in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, the theft of information about some 40 million credit-card accounts in America, disclosed on June 17th, overshadowed a hugely important decision a day earlier by America’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that puts corporate America on notice that regulators will act if firms fail to provide adequate data security。
　　 評析：這篇文章的核心概念即“數(shù)據(jù)泄漏，因此要保護數(shù)據(jù)”。第一段提出文章主題，第二段描述問題現(xiàn)象，第三段說明要保護，第四段提出信任與數(shù)據(jù)保護的關(guān)系，trust成為段落中心詞，末段提出要立法解決，legal成為段落中心詞。
　　 36. The statement “It never rains but it pours” is used to introduce
　　 [A] the fierce business competition。
　　 [B] the feeble boss-board relations。
　　 [C] the threat from news reports.[D] the severity of data leakage。
　　 評析：本題答案D。諺語的目的自然是引出主題，找含有核心概念的選項即可。
　　 38. In bringing up the concept of GASP the author is making the point that
　　 [A] shareholders’ interests should be properly attended to。
　　 [B] information protection should be given due attention。
　　 [C] businesses should enhance their level of accounting security。
　　 [D] the market value of customer data should be emphasized。
　　 評析：本題答案B。提出GASP，自然是證明主題“數(shù)據(jù)保護”。注意D選項雖有data，但其重心落在the market value上面，偏離主題。
　　 39. According to Paragraph 4, what puzzles the author is that some bosses fail to
　　 [A] see the link between trust and data protection。
　　 [B] perceive the sensitivity of personal data。
　　 [C] realize the high cost of data restoration。
　　 [D] appreciate the economic value of trust。
　　 評析：本題答案A。作為事實細節(jié)題要定位段落，A選項既含有段落中心詞，又含有文章核心概念，體現(xiàn)了細節(jié)題既要服從段落主題，又要服從文章主題的原則。
　　 40. It can be inferred from Paragraph 5 that
　　 [A] data leakage is more severe in Europe。
　　 [B] FTC’s decision is essential to data security。
　　 [C] California takes the lead in security legislation。
　　 [D] legal penalty is a major solution to data leakage。
　　 評析：本題答案D。原因同39題一樣。