英语阅读理解专题指导-猜测词义题
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。 常见的题干有:
1) Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the word? 2) The word... could best be replaced by.
3) In the... paragraph, the word... means (refers to). 4) According to the passage,... probably means. 5) The author uses the word... to mean.
猜测词义时,一般可利用以下四个方面的线索: 一是针对性的解释
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(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, i.g. 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。
例1.Do you know what a territory is ? A territory is an area that an animal ,usually the male, claims(声称)as its own.(2005年湖北卷)
[分析]由定义可推知,这里territory指的是:动物的地盘。
例2.In fact, only about 80 ocelots, an endangered wild cat, exist in the U.S. today.(2005年浙江卷)
[分析]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。
例3. 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 . (2004年福建卷) 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
[分析]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,由此不难推出理解题的答案为:D。
例4. There is no cure(治愈) for Alzheimer’s. But a drug called ARICEPT has been used by millions of people to help their symptoms(症状). 61. What is ARICEPT? (C) A. A medicine to cure Alzheimer’s
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B. A medicine to delay signs of aging.
C. A medicine to reduce the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. D. A medicine to cure brain damage.
例5. 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.
(1)According to the passage, The Pines is a ______. (D) 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 2.根据举例猜测词义
某些阅读文章为了证实或说明某一观点,常会举一些例子,而且时时会用一些标志性语言或标点符号来引出,如:括号、破折号、冒号等或诸如for example, for instance, such as, and so on, just as, like, similarity 等连接词或词组。
eg. 1. You may borrow from the library any periodicals: Nature, News Week, Times and The listener. ____期刊_______
2. Some artists plan their paintings around geometric forms like squares, circles and triangles. (几何)
例4. 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.(2004年辽宁卷) [分析]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。 二是内在逻辑关系
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、比较关系猜测词义
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。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5.A childs birthday party doesnt have to be a hassle; it can be a basket of fun.
What does the underlined word hassle (paragraph 1) probably mean? (2002年NMET) 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
[分析]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。
例6.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。 2.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。
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例7.feel that since you are my superior , it would be presumptuous of me to tell you what to do .
(2005年上海卷)
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 [分析]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。
例8.Pruning is important because it encourages the growth of tender shoots,or young leaves.(2005年江西卷)
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。 3.根据说明、并列、同等同义近义、、反义等关系猜测词义
在句子或段落中,我们可以利用熟悉的词语,根据语言环境所表面的关系猜测词义。 例9.William Shakespeare said. The web of our life is of a mingled yarn(纱线),good and ill together. (2005年江苏卷)
The underlined word mingled in the last paragraph most probably means . A.simple B.mixed C.sad D.happy
[分析]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。
例10.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. (2004年湖北卷)
[分析]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。
例11.There is no reason to insult and defame the man simply because you do not agree with him.
[分析]根据与insult侮辱的同等关系猜测defame为诋毁 ,中伤或诽谤 例12.The game Americans call soccer is known around the world as football. [分析]运用与football的同义关系推断为足球。
例13.The house stood at the end of a quiet neat street. The little dwelling,however,looked neglected and cheerless.
[分析]运用与The house近义关系可以推断dwelling与住所有关
例14.Most women in China ---educated and illiterated, urban and rural, the young and old-----work to earn an income in addition to maintaining their roles as housewives and mothers. [分析]后面的urban and rural, the young and old之间都有反义关系,运用这个关系可以推断illiterated为未接受过教育的,即文盲 三.是通过构词法
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15.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。(2005年江西卷) 2.根据后缀猜测词义
例16. It's a quiet, comfortable hotel overlooking (俯瞰) the bay in an uncommercialized Cornish fishing village on England's most southerly point.(2005年广东卷)
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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17.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.(2005年北京卷)
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。
例18. 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. (2004年浙江卷)
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。 4.猜测词性变换新词含义
例19.The other teams, disappointed, were on the bus heading home. (2004年山东卷) head本为名词,表头。由the bus和home的语境逻辑可以推断,该句head为动词,表方向,结合全句可译为开往、驶向。
例20.I had first known she was wrong, that her anxiety had clouded her judgment. (2004全国卷Ⅱ)
cloud本为名词,表云。分析语境逻辑可知,忧虑会影响一个人的判断,因此该句clouded应译为使难以。
四.是根据生活常识
运用自身的生活经验及生活常识,根据上下文能读懂的部分,可以正确猜出词义。下面文字中划线单词的词义你能猜出来吗?
例21.Birds fly with their wings, and they pick up their foods, and then eat them with their beaks and they use their claws for tearing, seizing, pulling or holding objects. 例22.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:beaks是喙;claws是爪子;wither表示枯萎。
结合以上指导解下列两道阅读理解题 五.利用反义关系或同义关系推测语义 (1)利用反义关系推测语义
有些生词的后面往往会出现一个或几个反义词,或者表转折意义的连词,词组等,抓住这些可以帮助我们推断生词语义。标志词有 although, but, however, whereas(反之),nevertheless(然而,不过),on the contrary, in contrast(相对), on the one hand, on the other hand, for one thing, for another, instead(of), rather than 等。 (2)利用同义关系推测语义
通常情况下,英语忌讳实词重复。避免重复的方法之一是利用同义词或近义词代替。同义词替换的修饰方法可以为我们推测词义提供明显的语境线索。标志词有:or, like, similarly等。 eg.1. 104 studies, involving 15,000 people is proving that optimism (乐观主义) can help you to be happier, healthier and more successful. Pessimism leads, by contrast(相反), to hopelessness, sickness and failure, and is linked to depression, loneliness and painful shyness. ___悲观主义__ 2. Mr. Smith loves to talk, and his wife is similarly(相同地) loquacious. ____多话的,唠叨的 Exercises:
1. Though Tom’s face has been washed quite clean, his neck remains grubby. ____肮脏的__ 2. Unlike the United States, where many different nationalities make up the population, Japan’s population is quite homogeneous. _____同种的,相似的______
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3. Written language tends to be static, while spoken language constantly changes.静态的,稳定的 4. He replied(答复) quickly. But after he considered the problem more carefully, he regretted(后悔) having made such a hasty decision. ___匆忙的,轻率的_____
5. Although people in many countries consider raw meat a delicacy(美味),we Chinese people seldom eat any meat that is uncooked. ____生的,未加工的___
Test 1 The gunners like to describe what they do as character-building, but we knew that to wound an animal and watch it go through the agony of dying can make nobody happy.
(1)The underlined word “agony” in the last paragraph probably means_____ (C) A. form B. condition C. pain D. sadness
Test 2 The hot-air balloon took off. It was buoyant in the air as a cork(软木塞) in water. (2)The word “buoyant” in this sentence most probably means______. (C)
A. able to be used B. able to move from one place to another C. able to float or rise to the surface D. able to carry anything 六.用语境猜测语义 (1)利用“小”上下文推测词义,即利用生词附近的内容推断生词词义。如:I am a resolute man. Once I set up a goal, I won’t give up easily. 坚决的,果断的
(2)利用“大”上下文推测词义,即利用距离生词较远的内容,如整个段落、篇章等来推断。 eg. Zip was stopped during the war and only after the war did it become popular. What a difference it has made to our lives! It keeps people at home much more. It has made the remote parts of the world more real to us. Photographs show a country, but only zip makes feel that a foreign country is real. Also we can see scenes in the street. Big occasions are zipped, such as the coronation(加冕典礼) in 1953 and the opening of Parliament. Perhaps the sufferers from zip are the notable people, who, as they step out of an airplane, have to face the battery of zip cameras and know that every movement, every gesture will be seen by a “zip personality”. Perhaps we can sympathize when Members of Parliament say that they do not want debates to be zipped
Zip means A. cinema. B. photography. C. television. D. telephone. (C) Exercises:
1. When I got to the theatre, I was relieved to see that nobody was waiting inline. I was the first to get there and sure that I could get the ticket without any problem.
The underlined word “relieved” in the passage may best be replace by _____. (B. 不确定) A. surprised B. pleased C. produced D. sold
2. Apple trees may not grow as tall as twelve meters. They do best in areas that have very cold winters. Although no fruit is yielded during the winter, this cold period is good for the tree. The underlined word “yielded” in the last sentence means_____. (C) A. improved B. increased C. produced D. sold
Test These days a green building means more than just the color of the paint. Green building can also refer to environmentally friendly houses, factories, and offices. Green building means, “reducing the impact of the building on the land”, Taryn Holowka of the U.S. Green building council in Washington, D.C. said.
61. In the second paragraph, the underlined phrase “the building” most probably refers to ___. (A) A. an ordinary building B. an energy-saving building C. a green-colored building D. a building in Washington, D.C.
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