阅读中的猜词技巧

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高中英语阅读理解----词义猜测技巧与训练

(一)以定义或定语从句为线索猜测词义

mean(意指),refer to(指的是),be defined as (被定义为),be known as (被称为),be called (被称为),或者直接给出be

例 :The word ecology means the study of the relationship between living things and their surroundings.

在很多情况下,定语从句直接给出了某一生词的定义,所以,以定语从句为线索猜测词义也是一个行之有效的猜词方法。

例1:The scientists who study insects are called entomologists.

分析:根据定语从句提供的线索可以猜出entomologists意为:昆虫学家。

例2:Wrestling is the game which is played by two strong people; one player tried to get the other down on the floor.

分析:通过后面的定义解释:Wrestling是“两人进行的,彼此尽力把对方弄倒在地的比赛”,可以猜出wrestling是“摔跤”。

例3:He was a prestidigitator who entertained the children by pulling rabbits out of hats, swallowing fire, and other similar tricks.

分析:此句中,who 引导的定语从句对生词“prestidigitator”给出了非常清楚的定义或解释,根据这一定义,读者不难猜出 presitidigitator 的词义。能从帽子里拉出兔子、吞火何玩其他类似的把戏的人不就是变戏法的人吗?因此,“prestidigitator”一词的词义就应是“变戏法者”。

(二)以例举为线索猜测词义

恰当的举例能够提供猜测生词的重要线索,表示列举关系的信号词有: like, for example, for instance, such as, include,

consist of, 等。

例1:I have found Lucy is quite generous, for example, whenever she meets a beggar, she gives some coins to him.

分析:通过例句“每次遇到乞丐,她都会给一些硬币”可以猜测出“Generous”的词义应该是“慷慨的”。

例2:You can take any of the periodicals:The World Of English, Foreign Language Teaching In School, or English Learning.

分析:通过后面的举例:《英语世界》,《中小学外语教学》,《英语学习》,说明periodicals为“期刊杂志”。

例3:Defined most broadly, folklore includes all the customs, belief and tradition that people have handed down from generation

to generation.

此句中,“includes” 后面的例子基本上表示出了“folklore”的内容范围,即人们一代传一代的那些风俗习惯、信仰何传统的东西。这些东西都属于通常所说的“名俗学,民俗传统的东西。这也就是“folklore”一词的基本含义。

(三)以重述叙述与同位关系为线索猜测词义

作者经常使用一些信号词, 这些信号词有: in other words, to put it another way, that is to say, that is, i.e. , to be precise(确切地讲) ,similarly(同样的,类似), namely等。

在复述中构成同位关系的两部分之间多用逗号连接,有时也使用破折号,冒号,分号,引号,和括号等。

例1:It will be very hard but also very brittle..., that is, it will break easily.

分析:从后面的解释中我们可以了解到brittle 是“脆”的意思。

例2:(2008江苏E)

William Shakespeare said, “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

分析:选B。由“a mingled yarn”后文的“good and ill together”重复说明可以知道mingled含义

和mixed(混合的)最接近。

例3:Some big companies prefer to employ polyglots as their workers -----those who understand many languages.

分析:破折号解释说明了workers 的含义 。

例4:Suddenly they became the parents of triplet ,two girls and a boy.

分析:根据逗号后的解释可以猜出 triplet 意为:三胞胎。

(四)以同义词、近义词为线索猜测词义

1. or有时可作为识别同义词或近义词的信号词.

2. Like (像......一样),as...as (如同……一样), the same as (与……相同) ,等也可作为识别生词的同义词或近义词的信号词, 以这些词为线索, 推断出生词的词义来。

3. and, not only…but also…

例1:Although he often had the opportunity,Mr. Tritt was never able to steal money from a customer. This would have

endangered his position at the bank,and he did not want to jeopardize his future.

分析:作者为避免重复使用endanger一词,用其同义词jeopardize来替代它,“使… 陷入危险,危害”。

例2:The schools are reluctant to take time off----even teachers with tickets for a football game had trouble getting the day off.

A. kind B. unwilling C. free D. careless

例3:Animals have different living habits. Some like to look for food at daytime and sleep at night, but some like to sleep at

daytime and prowl at night.

分析:通过这些并列句可以看出prowl与look for food 是同义近义词,词义也应该是“寻找食物”。

例4:Mother was tall, fat and middle-aged. The headmaster of the school was an older woman, almost as plump as mother, and much shorter.

分析:此句中,作者把学校的校长何母亲相比,有相同之处和不同之处。校长比母亲年纪大,个子矮些,但有一点是相同的,用“as...as” 结构表示出来。从这一对比中,可以看出 fat 和 plump 是近义词,plump 一词的意思就能猜出个大概了。

例5:The new tax law supersedes or replaces the law that was in effect last year.

分析:此句中,作者考虑到“supersede”一词可能是生词,紧接着用 or 引出该词的同义词“replace”. 读者课根据replace 一词的词义很容易推断出“supersede” 一词的大概意思来,即“取代,接替”。

(五)以反义词、对比关系为线索猜测词义

有时作者运用对比的手法来表现事物之间的差异。 在进行对比的过程中, 作者必然会用一些互为对应、互为反义的词语,

使不同事物的特点更为突出.通过上下文的逻辑关系, 从对两种事物或现象进行对比的描述中, 读者可以根据其中一个熟悉的词推断出另一个生词的词义来。

常用来表示对应关系和提供相反信息的信号词有: but, yet, however, while, whereas, otherwise, in spite of ,despite,

even though, although, though, unlike, instead(of), rather than , nevertheless, on the contrary等。

例1:She is usually prompt for all her class, but today she arrived in the middle of her first class.

分析:“but”一词表转折,因此but 前后的意思正相反。后半句的意思是她今天“第一节上了一半才来”,因此反向推理,可得出她平时一向“准时”的结论。

例2:Unlike her gregarious sister, Jane is shy, unsociable person who does not like to go to parties or to make new friends.

分析:此句是把Jane与她姐妹对比。Jane生性腼腆,不爱交际,而她姐姐却与之相反,那就是“爱交际的”了。

例3:…However obvious these facts may appear at first glance, they are actually not so obvious as they seem except when we

take special pains to think about the subject.