新题型自从2005年出现以来已经走过了十几个年头，其实已经不是新面孔了，只是没改名字，看似新。尽管如此，还是有很多考生对新题型毫无头绪。实际上，我们只需掌握新题型的考查本质，问题就迎刃而解了。2005年前，考研英语的试卷是有五篇传统阅读理解的，那为什么要将PartII：Reading部分一分为二呢?这就可以体现出新题型考查的本质与传统阅读不同，不需要看懂文章，否则不需要改革，考传统阅读即可。
填空式阅读是在一篇文章中挖五个空，在文章下面有A-G七个选项，考生需要在7个选项中选择5个填入文章空白处，这7个选项是一句话，几句话或者一个段落。换句话说，选项需要与空前空后的句子产生联系才能保证填入空格后文章通顺，故填空式阅读的考查本质为：衔接手段。
衔接手段一：数字衔接
考研英语中出现的文章大多为学术性议论文，在议论文中出现数字，通常是作为论据证明作者的观点，而且也不会一篇文章中全是数字论据，故出现数字，应该要连在一起。应用到填空式阅读中，若选项中出现数字，那么填入的空格前后也需要有数字。
例如2013年G选项：
The problem is not necessarily the amount of available funding. (44) _____________. This is an adequate amount so long as it is aimed in the right direction. Social scientists who complain about a lack of funding should not expect more in today’s economic climate.
[G] During the late 1990s,national spending on social sciences and the humanities as a percentage of all research and development funds—including government,higher education,non-profit and corporate—varied from around 4% to 25%; in most European nations,it is about 15%.
G选项中出现了各种各样的数字：4% to 25%，15%，故填回原文时也需要找一个空前空后有数字的，44空前空后都出现了amount，故44空选G。
衔接手段二：指代
指代也是句间衔接的一种方式，指代有两大特点，承前指代与就近指代，承前指代意思是，如果一句话出现指代，指代的对象应该在前面，而就近指代意思是指代的对象不会离代词太远，故指代是非常好用的解题手段。在填空式阅读中，指代有两种用法：
1. 选项中出现指代，去空前找指代对象
例如2012年A选项：
All animals download,but only a few upload. Beavers build dams and birds make nests. Yet for the most part,the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods—paintings,sculpture and architecture—and superfluous experiences—music,literature,religion and philosophy. (43) _____________.
[A] Of course,it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills,but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.
A选项中出现了指代these superfluous things，去空前找superfluous things，只有43空空前出现了superfluous，故43题选A。
2. 空后出现指代，去选项里找指代对象
例如2015年43空：
Conceived in this way,comprehension will not follow exactly the same track for each reader. What is in question is not the retrieval of an absolute,fixed or true meaning that can be read off and checked for accuracy,or some timeless relation of the text to the world. (43) _______
Such background material inevitably reflects who we are.
[G]Rather,we ascribe meanings to texts on the basis of interaction between what we might call textual and contextual material: between kinds of organization or patterning we perceive in a text’s formal structures (so especially its language structures) and various kinds of background,social knowledge,belief and attitude that we bring to the text.
43空的空后出现了such background material,去每个选项找background material，只有G选项里有background material，故43空选G。
