许多学生认为，动辄900-1000字的阅读文章对于只有150和250字的雅思作文借鉴意义不大，事实上，两者在主题、构思、句式、用词等方面有着很大的相似性。

　　1. 主题性

　　阅读文章和雅思写作题目涵盖的范围比较广，具有极强的主题性，其重合话题有：环境、社会、教育三大方面。阅读文章的内容能帮助考生更好地理解题目的文化背景，积累观点素材，在备考过程中，考生可以将这两项结合起来。

　　剑四test 2的reading passage 1“Lost for Words”极好的回答了雅思一道较难的文化类考题：what are the reasons for the loss of many cultures and languages? How to solve this problem?”

　　许多学生因为缺少对这一背景的了解而无从下手，我们完全可以看看这篇阅读文章提供了哪些素材：

　　1 “What makes a language endangered is not just the number of speakers, but how old they are. If it is spoken by children, it is relatively safe。”

　　2 “…people reject the language of their parents… It begins with a crisis of confidence, when a small community finds itself alongside a larger, wealthier society…”

　　3 “Quite often, governments try to kill off a minority language by banning its use in public or discouraging its use in schools, all to promote national unity。”

　　4 “… They cannot refuse to speak English if most commercial activity is in English…”

　　这些都是十分准确而又全面的回答，说明了许多语言丧失的原因，甚至连语言丧失对于文化的连带影响也有所涉及：“Language is also intimately bound with culture, so it may be difficult to preserve one without the other。”

　　这篇文章在后文也对怎样解决这一问题做出了回答：“ …a growing interest in cultural identity may prevent the direst prediction from coming true….’apprentice’ programs have provided life support t several indigenous languages。”

　　值得注意的是，这篇阅读文章的结构是遵循“背景—原因—解决方式”的架构来安排的，对于写作结构也有很好的架构作用。