猜测词义题解题技巧

　　在阅读中我们经常会遇到许多生词。这时许多同学立即翻阅词典，查找词义。这样做不但费时费力，而且影响阅读速度、影响对语篇的整体把握。事实上，阅读材料中的每个词与它前后的词语或句子甚至段落都有联系。我们可以利用语境（各种已知信息）推测、判断某些生词的词义。近年来全国统一高考中加大了对考生猜词义能力的考查，因此，掌握一定的猜词技巧，对突破高考阅读理解、提高我们的英语语言能力都有非常重要的意义。

　　这种题常见的提问方式有：

　　The word “…” in paragraph … can best be replaced by … ….

　　The underlined word “…” most probably means ….

　　By saying “…”, the author means …

　　The expression “…” is closest to …

　　According to the passage, the phrase “…” suggests …

　　The underlined part “… …” (in Para. … )  means …..

　　做这种类型的题，要根据词、词组、句子所在的语境来判断其意义。因此熟练掌握一些猜词技巧是做好这类题的关键。命题者在出这类题时惯用常规词义来麻痹考生，我们要特别注意熟词生义，切不可脱离语境想当然。

　　猜测词义时，一般可利用以下三个方面的线索：

　　一． 针对性的解释

　　针对性解释是作者为了更好的表达思想，在文章中对一些重要的概念、难懂的术语或高深的词汇等所做的通俗化的解释。这些解释提供的信息明确具体，所使用的语言通俗易懂，利用它们来猜测词义就非常简单。

　　1． 根据定义（definition）猜测词义

　　如果生词有一个句子或段落来定义，那么理解这个句子或段落本身就是推断词义。

　　定义常用的谓语动词多为：be, mean, deal with, be considered, to be, be called, define, represent, refer to, signify 等。

　　例如：（05 湖北卷A段）Do you know what a “territory” is ? A territory is an area that an animal ,usually the male, claims（声称）as its own.

　　由定义可推知，这里territory指的是：“动物的地盘”。

　　（04 浙江卷B段）Green building means “reducing the impact (影响) of the building on the land”.

　　由定义我们可以推断这里 Green building 指的是什么。

　　2．根据复述推测词义

　　虽然复述不如定义那样严谨、详细，但是它提供的信息可以为阅读者猜测词义提供

　　依据，至少读者可以根据复述猜测生词的大致“义域”（意义范围）。复述部分可以是词、短语、或从句。

　　同位语复述：在复述中构成同位关系的两部分之间常用逗号连接，有时也使用破折号，冒号，分号，引号和括号等。同位语前常有 or, similarly, that is to say, in other words, namely, or other, say,  i.e. 等。

　　例如：（05浙江卷B段）In fact, only about 80 ocelots, an endangered wild cat, exist in the U.S. today．

　　由同位语an endangered wild cat我们很快猜出生词ocelots的义域：一种濒临灭绝野猫。

　　定语从句复述：

　　例如：（04 福建卷E段）Here is The Pines ,whose cook has developed a special way of mixing foreign food such as caribou ,wild boar ,and reindeer with surprising sauces .

　　According the passage, The Pines is a         .

　　A．place in which you can see many mobile homes

　　B．mountain where you can get a good view of the valley

　　C．town which happens to be near the Banff National Park

　　D．restaurant where you can ask for some special kinds of food

　　通过whose引导的定语从句，我们可以推测到：The Pines 是一家餐馆的名字，由此不难推出理解题的答案为：D。

　　2． 根据举例猜测词义

　　恰当的举例能够提供猜测生词的重要线索。

　　例如：（04 辽宁卷C段）The course gives you chances to know great power polities between nation states. It will provide more space to study particular issues such as relationship among countries in the European Union, third world debt, local and international disagreement, and the work of such international bodies as the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, and the World Bank.

　　根据such as 后面列举的一系列例子，我们应该能推断出句中的issue 是指“议题”。

　　二． 内在逻辑关系

　　根据内在逻辑关系推测词义是指应用语言知识分析和判断相关信息之间存在的逻辑关系，然后根据逻辑联系推断生词词义或大致义域。

　　1． 根据对比关系猜测词义

　　在一个句子或段落中，有对两个事物或现象进行对比性的描述，我们可以根据生词的反义词猜测其词义。表示对比关系的词汇和短语主要有：unlike, not, but, however, despite, in spite of, in contrast 等。表示对比关系的句子结构：while 引导的并列句。

　　例如：（NMET 2002 E篇）A child’s birthday party doesn’t  have to be a hassle; it can be a basket of fun.

　　What does the underlined word “hassle” (paragraph 1) probably mean?

　　A. a party designed by specialists

　　B. a plan requiring careful thought

　　C. a situation causing difficulty or trouble

　　D. a demand made by guests

　　根据对比关系，这里hassle 和 a basket of fun 是相反的意义，很容易判断理解题的答案为C。

　　2． 根据比较关系猜测词义

　　同对比关系相反，比较关系表示意义上的相似关系。表示比较关系的词和短语主要有：similarly, like, just as, also, as well as 等。

　　例如：Green loves to talk, and his brothers are similarly loquacious.

　　该句中副词similarly表明短语loves to talk和loquacious 之间的比较关系，其意义相近。由此我们可推断出loquacious的意思是“健谈的”。

　　3． 根据因果关系猜测词义

　　在句子或段落中，若两个事物现象之间构成因果关系，我们可以根据这种逻辑关系推测生词词义。

　　例如：（05上海卷B段）I feel that since you are my superior , it would be presumptuous of me to tell you what to do .”

　　The word “presumptuous” in the middle of the passage is closest in meaning to “      ”.

　　A．full of respect   B．too confident and rude

　　C．lacking in experience  D．too shy and quiet

　　根据since 引导的原因状语从句的内容（“既然你是我的上司”），我们可以推断这里presumptuous的意思是：“冒失的，放肆的”意思，后半句的意思是：我告诉你怎么做会是一种放肆/冒失的行为。对应的理解题答案为：B。

　　（05江西卷D段）Pruning is important because it encourages the growth of tender shoots, or young leaves.

　　根据原因状语从句的内容，我们可以判断Pruning的意思是：“修剪（树枝等）”的意思。

　　4． 根据同义、近义、并列、替代、说明等关系猜测词义

　　在句子或段落中，我们可以利用熟悉的词语，根据语言环境所表示的关系推断生词词义。

　　例如：（05 江苏卷E段）William Shakespeare said. “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn（纱线），good and ill together.”

　　The underlined word “mingled” in the last paragraph most probably means     .

　　A．simple B．mixed C．sad D．happy

　　句中good and ill together 更具体地说明了 a mingled yarn的意义，据此我们不难推测mingled的意思是：“混合的，交织的”，答案是：B。

　　（04 湖北卷C段）Is it possible to beat high blood pressure without drugs ? The answer is “yes”, according to the researchers at Johns Hopkins and three other medical centers.

　　根据and three other medical centers 这种并列关系，我们很容易推断出：Johns Hopkins 是一家医疗中心。

　　三． 通过构词法

　　在猜测词义过程中，我们还可以依靠构词法方面的知识，从生词本身猜测词义。

　　1． 根据前缀猜测词义

　　例如：（05江西卷E段）Do you have any strong opinion on co-educational or single-sex schools?

　　根据词根educational （教育的），结合前缀co-（共同，一起），我们便可以猜出co-educational的意思是：“男女同校教育的”意思。

　　2． 根据后缀猜测词义

　　例如：（05 广东卷E段）It's a quiet, comfortable hotel overlooking (俯瞰) the bay in an uncommercialized Cornish fishing village on England's most southerly point．

　　后缀 -ise/ize意思是“使成为…；使…化”，结合词根commercial（商业的），不难猜出 uncommercialized 的意思是：“未被商业化的”。

　　3． 根据复合词的各部分猜测词义

　　例如：（05 北京卷B段）Good tool design is important in the prevention of overuse injuries. Well – designed tools and equipment will require less force to operate them and prevent awkward（别扭的）hand positions.

　　Well-designed 或许是个生词，但我们分析该词的结构后，就能推测出其含义。它由well （好，优秀）和design （设计）两部分组成，合在一起便是“设计精巧的”意思。

　　（04浙江卷D 段）We live in a technological society where most goods are mass-produced by unskilled labor. Because of this, most people that craft (手艺) no longer exists.

　　根据合成词中的mass （大量的）和produce （生产），我们可以推测 mass-produce的意思是：“大批量生产；规模生产”的意思。

　　综上所述，利用各种已知的信息推测判断生词词义是一项重要的阅读技能。在阅读中我们可以根据实际灵活应用上面提到的几种猜词技巧，排除生词的干扰，理解文章的思想，提高阅读速度，同时，提高我们在高考阅读理解中的得分率。

　　【实战演练练习四】（04广东卷 B 篇）

　　One-third of the people in the village are children, and only 60 are over the age of 65． Just under half of the married women in the village have access to modem equipments.

　　62． The underlined part “have access to” (in Para. 4) means_____.

　　A. use      B. buy     C. produce      D. try

　　【实战演练练习五】（04湖北卷 D篇）

　　Who is there among us who hasn’t dreamed of having his or her own small (maybe , several years later , even big ) business , and having wonderful freedom , both from a boss and from the time clock ; the freedom to make up our own rules for our work , and our own plans —arranging our own hours of work ? That way work would be both painless and fun . Or , so we imagine .

　　Well, in fact it isn’t quite as simple as that . Yes , it is true that being the boss has its satisfactions and that you can arrange your working hours freely if you own your own small business . But in those early years of starting your own business, you shouldn’t think of a free day , not to mention flying off for a month’s vacation . It is not unusual for new business owners to work seventy or eighty hours a week , and if there is a day off , that day might need to be devoted to accounting (算账).

　　But this negative picture doesn’t destroy the beautiful hopes. The possibility of getting something wonderful in return—both material and mental—continues to drive that large number of people who start up small businesses each year in the United States .

　　70．The expression “negative picture” most probably means “         ”.

　　A．a terrible experience  B．a poor picture

　　C．limited freedom   D．unpleasant situations