多种途径猜测单词词义

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阅读理解题中所设置的词义猜测题多是对生词、短语、指示代词的猜测。一方面，命题者要求考生所猜测的单词或短语可能是已学过的或是考生较熟悉的，但高考所考查的是不太常见的意思；另一方面命题者要求考生所猜测的单词或短语可能是考生没有学过的。此时，对单词或短语的猜测不要停留在字面上，要根据语境来判断。

定义、描述法

如果生词有一个句子（定语从句或是同位语，同位语前常有or，similarly，that is to say，in other words，namely，or other，say等，或是同位语从句）或段落来定义，或使用破折号、冒号、分号后的内容和引号、括号中的内容加以解释和定义，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。

此外，描述性的文字对猜测词义也有很大的帮助。考生在阅读的过程中不能操之过急，如果通过阅读所猜测单词上下文的句子，无法确定单词的意义，那么请继续往下读。

例1.原文：Here is The Pines，whose cook has de-

veloped a special way of mixing foreign food such as caribou，wild boar，and reindeer with surprising sauces.

设问：According to 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

解析：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。

答案：D

例2．（2012年上海卷66）原文：①Phil White has just returned from an 18，000-mile， around-the-world bicycle trip. White had two reasons for making this epic journey．．．．

②．．．

③The journey was lonely and desperate at times.He also had to fight his way across deserts，through jungles and over mountains. He cycled through heavy rains and temperatures of up t0 45 degrees，all to help people in need．There were other dangers along the road.

设问：What does the word “epic” in Paragraph l most probably mean？

A. Very slow but exciting．

B. Very long and difficult．

C. Very smooth but tiring．

D. Very lonely and depressing．

解析：根据第①段的18，000-mile，以及第③段第一行和第二行fight his way across deserts，through jungles and over mountains，heavy rains和 up to 45 degrees可知，这一次旅行时间长，并且充满了困难，由此可知，epic的意思为very long and difficult。

答案：B

例3．（2012年广东卷33）原文：Well，at last we have copper-bottomed research that supports demand feeding and points out the weaknesses of strictly timed feeding.The research finds out that babies who are fed on demand do better at school at age 5，7，11 and 14，than babies fed according to the clock．By the age of 8，their IQ（智商） scores are four to five percent higher than babies fed by a rigid timetable．This research comes from Oxford and Essex University using a sample（样本）of 10，419 children born in the early 1990s，taking account of parental education，family income，a child’ s sex and age，the mother’ s health and feeling style．．．．

设问：The word copper-bottomed in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _________．

A. basic B. reliable

C. surprising D. interesting

解析：本文是一篇议论文。作者在首段提出论点——反对定期喂养婴儿，应该按需喂养婴儿。接下来提出了各种论据。在第四段中，作者提供了一些调查结果。根据第四段对实验的具体描述可知，有可靠的调查结果来支持按需喂养是科学的。故copper-bottomed应与reliable（可靠）同义。其实考生在此也可以根据常识来大胆猜测，既然作者要别人支持他的观点，那么他提供的实验数据和调查结果要求一定是可靠的。

答案：B

举例法

恰当的举例也是猜测生词的重要线索。有时文中出现一些结论性的词汇，然后通过举例的方式对所列词汇进行具体的例证说明。做题时，考生可以通过作者所列举的具体词汇分析其共同点，抓住其共性，推测出所给词汇的意义；有时候考生需要结合上下文的语境获取答案。举例的地方，通常有一些明显的标志性词语，如such as，for example等。

例4．（2012年重庆卷74）原文：There are no obvious limits to the escalation of demand for quality. For example，porsche famous car producer，has a model which was considered perhaps the best sport car on the mark Priced at over $120，000，it handles perfectly well and has great speed acceleration. But in 200 the producer introduced some changes which made the model slightly better in handling acceleration. People who really care about cars find these small improvements exciting. To them，however，they must pay almost four times the price．

By placing the desire to be superior to other at the heart of his description of insatiable demands，Keynes actually reduced such demands. However，the desire for higher quality has natural limits．

设问：What does the underlined word “escalation” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A. Understanding B. Increase

C. Difference D. Study

解析：根据本段所举例子“新款保时捷较老款在操控和提速上有所改进，追求品质的人们会不惜重金换新车”可知，人们是对品质有更高的追求；再结合最后一段中最后一句的“the desire for higher quality”可知，此处的escalation 应该意为“提高，增加”，即increase。

答案：B

例5．（2012年福建卷68）原文：Put simply，the existence of mirror neurons suggests that every time we see someone else do something，our brains imitate（模仿）it，whether or not we actually perform the same action．．．．

Mirror neurons can undoubtedly be found all over our brains，but especially in the areas which relate to our ability to use languages，and to understand how other people feel. Researchers have found that mirror neurons relate strongly to language. A group of researchers discovered that if they gave people sentences to listen to （for example：“The hand took hold of the ball”），the same mirror neurons were triggered as when the action was actually performed（in this example，actually taking hold of a ball）．

设问：The underlined word“triggered”in the third paragraph probably means “ ”．

A. set off B. cut off C. built up D. broken up

解析：根据上述文段的第一段第一句可知，镜像神经元的存在表明了每次看到其他人做某事，我们的大脑就会模仿这个动作。再根据第二段最后一句两个括号内举出的例子可知，镜像神经元会模仿相同的动作。由此可推知，triggered所在句子句意为：……如果他们让人们听一些句子（比如用手抓住球），当这个动作被执行时，相同的镜像神经元就会被激发。set off引起，激起；cut off切断，中断；built up增进，加强；broken up打碎，结束。

答案：A

本文所讲的定义、描述和举例都是对所猜测单词的针对性解释，此外，考生还可以根据事物的内在逻辑关系来猜测词义。比如对比、比较、因果、并列、近义、反义关系。

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。

表示比较关系的词和短语主要有：similarly，like，just as，also，as well as等。

表示因果关系：because，since与as是连接原因状语从句的从属连词；so是连接表示结果状语从句的连词；so．．．that与such．．．that中的that是连接结果状语从句的连词。

此外，考生还可以根据构词法以及经验、常识法来猜测词义。

考生有时还可以根据自身的直接或间接的经验，或运用自己已有的常识将其推测出来。比如了解一些英美国家的天文地理、风俗习惯、、社会制度等。

例6．Most of the roses are beginning to wither because of the cold．

句子的已知部分和我们的常识告诉我们：wither表示“枯萎”。

构词法在2012年11期文科的《认清“部首”背单词》一文中已有详细介绍，本文不再赘述。