主题词的特点，概括来说有两点：一是出现频率高;二是词义复现。抓住了主题词，在选择答案时尽量选择含有主题词的选项，正确的几率就会高。但是，并不是所有出现频次高的词都能当作主题词，主题词通常是语篇中的名词、动词、形容词。

　　名词表主题

　　When it comes to the slowing economy, Ellen Spero isn’t biting her nails just yet. But the 47yearold manicurist isn’t cutting, filing or polishing as many nails as she’d like to, either. Most of her clients spend $12 to $50 weekly, but last month two longtime customers suddenly stopped showing up. Spero blames the softening economy. “I’m a good economic indicator”, she says. “I provide a service that people can do without when they’re concerned about saving some dollars.” So Spero is downscaling, shopping at middle-brow Dillard’s department store near her suburban Cleveland home, instead of Neiman Marcus. “I don’t know if other clients are going to abandon me, too,” she says.

　　文中划线名词短语为考生提供了复现信息，即使没完全读懂，考生也能确定本段的主题是讲疲软的经济状况，每句话都没离开这个主题。

　　动词表变化

　　All of this caused a crisis of confidence. Americans stopped taking prosperity for granted. They began to believe that their way of doing business was failing, and that their incomes would therefore shortly begin to fall as well. The mid 1980s brought one inquiry after another into the causes of America’s industrial decline. Their sometimes sensational findings were filled with warnings about the growing competition from overseas.

　　动词是各种变化最明显的体现，它可以表明文中所述情况、作者态度以及情感的变化等。本段中出现的划线动词都体现了一个从好到坏的变化趋势，再结合文章话题，可以确定本段讲到了美国经济霸主地位的丧失给人们的信心带来的消极影响。

　　形容词表态度

　　Even before Alan Greenspan’s admission that America’s red hot economy is cooling, lots of working folks had already seen signs of the slowdown themselves. From car dealerships to Gap outlets, sales have been lagging for months as shoppers temper their spending. For retailers, who last year took in 24 percent of their revenue between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the cautious approach is coming at a crucial time. Already, experts say, holiday sales are off 7 percent from last year’s pace. But don’t sound any alarms just yet. Consumers seem only mildly concerned, not panicked, and many say they remain optimistic about the economy’s long term prospects even as they do some modest belt tightening.

　　形容词是作者对所论述话题的态度的直接体现。以此段为例，前半部分都是关于美国经济不景气的描述，如果只看到这些，一定会认为下文也应该是一些消极方面的描述。但在But转折之后，出现了一系列的形容词，这是词都具有积极的感情色彩，与前面的情况形成鲜明的对比，表明了作者的态度，也是本段段落中心的体现。