楊富章

詞義猜測題是高考閱讀理解題中的一種常見題型。通過對近幾年湖北卷高考題的閱讀理解題的統(tǒng)計，我們會發(fā)現(xiàn)2014年詞義猜測題在閱讀理解部分有1題，2013年考了1道，而2012年湖北卷考了4道。雖然近兩年直接考查這種能力的題目不多，但是這種不借助詞典，而是通過閱讀上下文來推斷生詞含義的能力，是同學(xué)們在考試時必須具備的，它能讓我們更好地理解上下文，其實這也是閱讀理解題對這種能力的間接考查。

詞義猜測題的常見考點有：

1. 直接猜測某個詞的含義；

2. 判斷文中的某個代詞指代的對象；

3. 對文中的多義詞或短語進(jìn)行精確定義；

4. 對英語中特有的表達(dá)、格言、諺語等進(jìn)行直接或解釋性的描述。

常見設(shè)問形式有：

1.The word “ABC”in the passage probably means .

2.The underlined word “ABC” in the passage refers to/means .

3.Which of the following is closest/nearest in meaning to the underlined word in the second paragraph？

4.The underlined sentence in the last paragraph means .

5.The word “it/them” in the first paragraph refers to .

詞義猜測題的解題技巧我們可以歸納為8條：

1.根據(jù)近義詞關(guān)系推測。

作者可能會用一個近義詞或者同義詞去解釋另一個更難的詞，以使它的意思更清楚。我們可以通過尋找近義詞來推測生詞的意思：一要看由and或or連接的同義詞詞組；二要看在進(jìn)一步解釋的過程中使用的同義詞。近義詞往往出現(xiàn)在同一句或者同一段落中。如：

At the beginning they did not have enough capital to start a business，nor were they able to borrow the amount of money they needed from the bank.

根據(jù)nor結(jié)構(gòu)后的money，bank可以推測capital在這里不是指“首都”而是指“資金”。

2.根據(jù)反義詞關(guān)系推測。

作者常常通過使用反義詞來使文章更具表現(xiàn)力，我們可以利用反義詞作為線索去推測句中出現(xiàn)的生詞的意思：一看表轉(zhuǎn)折關(guān)系的連詞或副詞，如but，while，however等；二看與not搭配的或表示否定意義的詞語。如：

He is so homely，not at all as handsome as his brother.

根據(jù)not at all...handsome我們不難推測出homely即“不英俊的、不漂亮的”意思。

Metal expands when heated and contracts when cooled.

從句子結(jié)構(gòu)看，expand與contract相對應(yīng)，when heated與when cooled相對應(yīng)。因為“加熱”與“使冷卻”是相反的動作，那么contract就應(yīng)是“收縮”的意思。

3.根據(jù)同位或解釋關(guān)系推測。

當(dāng)作者不能肯定讀者能夠理解他的意思時，他會用另外一種方式陳述自己的觀點。我們可以通過生詞后的定語（定語從句或分詞短語等）、表語、同位語、逗號、括號、破折號等的解釋說明來推測生詞的意思。

常見的用來表示同位或解釋關(guān)系的詞或短語有：is，means，or...；that is，that is to say；in other words，to put it another way，be called，...is/are known as，...can be defined as等。如：

But sometimes，no rain falls for a long，long time. Then there is a dry period，or drought.

由or可知a dry period和drought是同義語。故drought的意思為“久旱，旱災(zāi)”。

It will be very hard but also very brittle—that is，it will break easily.

從后面的that is，it will break easily可知brittle的意思是“脆的”。

4.根據(jù)轉(zhuǎn)折或?qū)Ρ汝P(guān)系推測。

由上下句之間的表示轉(zhuǎn)折或?qū)Ρ汝P(guān)系的連詞或副詞，如but，however等來推斷。如：

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

由but后面“第一節(jié)課上了一半才來”反向推理，可得出她平時一向“準(zhǔn)時”的結(jié)論。

5.根據(jù)因果關(guān)系推測。

通過因果關(guān)系猜詞，首先是找出生詞與上下文之間的邏輯關(guān)系，然后才能猜詞，既可由因推果，也可由果推因。有時文章借助關(guān)聯(lián)詞，如because，as，since，for，so，thus，as a result，of course，therefore等表示因果關(guān)系。如：

You shouldnt have blamed him for that，for it wasnt his fault.

通過for引出的句子所表示的原因（那不是他的錯），可猜出blame的詞義是“責(zé)備”。

The lack of movement caused the muscles to weaken. Sometimes the weakness was permanent.So the player could never play the sport again.

從so后面的結(jié)果“再也不能運(yùn)動”中，可以推測 permanent的意思為“永遠(yuǎn)的，永久的”。

6.根據(jù)列舉的實例推測。

根據(jù)such as，for example等后列舉的實例可推測出前面某個詞語的意思。如：

Cars must have certain safety devices such as seat belt，headlights，and good brakes.

根據(jù)such as后面列舉的內(nèi)容可知devices應(yīng)該為“裝置”的意思。

7.根據(jù)并列同類關(guān)系推測。

一般來說，并列的幾個事物應(yīng)屬同類事物，由此可推測其中一個的大概意思。如：

Bananas，oranges，pineapples，coconuts and some other kind of fruit grow in warm areas.

從句子中不難看出pineapples，coconuts和bananas，oranges是同類關(guān)系，同屬fruit類，因此它們是兩樣水果，準(zhǔn)確地說，是“菠蘿”和“椰子”。

8.根據(jù)描述推測。

描述即作者為幫助讀者更深入感性地了解某人或某物而對該人或該物外在相貌或內(nèi)在特征的描寫。如：

The penguin is a kind of sea bird living in the South Pole. It is fat and walks in a funny way. Although it cannot fly，it can swim in the icy water to catch the fish.

從描述中可以得知penguin是一種生活在南極的鳥類，后面更詳盡的描述則讓我們推測出它其實是“企鵝”。

例1 Can dogs and cats live in perfect harmony in the same home？ People who are thinking about adopting a dog as a friend for their cats are worried that they will fight. A recent research has found a new recipe of success.

According to the study，if the cat is adopted before the dog，and if they are introduced when still young （less than 6 months for cats，a year for dogs），it is highly probable that the two pets will get along swimmingly.Two-thirds of the homes interviewed reported a positive relationship between their cat and dog.

The underlined word “swimmingly” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to .

A.early B.sweetly

C.quickly D.smoothly

解析 第一句提出問題“貓狗能否同屋和諧相處”，第二句講人們“擔(dān)心貓狗打架”，第三句說最新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)成功解決貓狗打架的“新秘方（a new recipe of success） ”，接下來就應(yīng)該講什么是“秘方”了，包含swimmingly一詞的句子便是“秘方”所在。if引導(dǎo)條件狀語從句，意為滿足這些條件（即“秘方”），貓狗就會“相處好”；再由本句后面一句中的a positive relationship between their cat and dog可以進(jìn)一步確定說的是貓狗“相處得好”，故選D。

例2 “Have a nice day. Next！” This version of the expression is spoken by a salesgirl at the supermarket who is rushing me and my groceries out the door. The words come out in the same tone （腔調(diào)） with a fixed procedure. They are spoken at me，not to me. Obviously，the concern for my day and everyone elses is the managements attempt to increase business.

What does the underlined sentence in the Paragraph mean？

A.The salesgirl is rude.

B.The salesgirl is bored.

C.The salesgirl cares about me.

D.The salesgirl says the words as a routine.

解析 由該段最后一句Obviously，the concern for my day and everyone elses is the managements attempt to increase business.可知。此題也可以通過分析其他三個選項得出答案，A、B、C三個選項文中均未提及，屬于無中生有。答案：D

下面提供一組習(xí)題，供同學(xué)們練習(xí)：

1. Using a web camera equipped in Jennifers Los Angeles apartment，the monitor in Phoenix tracked how frequently her eyes moved from the computer screen and listened for the secret sounds of a possible helper in the room. Her Internet access was locked remotely to prevent Internet searches，and her typing style was analyzed to make sure she was who she said she was. Did she enter her student number at the same speed as she had in the past？ Or was she slowing down？

In the battle against cheating，this is the cutting edge and a key to encourage honesty in the booming field of online education...

The underlined expression “cutting edge” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to .

A.advanced technique B.sharpening tool

C.effective rule D.dividing line

2. Here lies the problem for travel writer and food critic （評論家） Edie Jarolim.“I always loved traveling and always liked to eat，but it never occurred to me that I could make money doing both of those things.”

The underlined word “both” refers to .

A.traveling and working

B.writing and shopping

C.traveling and eating

D.writing and eating

3. However，to succeed in life，one first needs to set a goal and then gradually make it more practical. And，in addition to that，in order to generally good at something，one needs to spend at least 10，000 hours studying and practicing. To become great at certain things，itll require even more time，time that most people wont put in.

The underlined word “that” refers to .

A.being good at something

B.setting a practical goal

C.putting in more time

D.succeeding in life

解析 1. A。由第一段的具體描述來看，這是防止作弊的先進(jìn)技術(shù)，選A。其他選項“磨銳刀具”“有效的規(guī)則”和“分界線”都不合語境。

2. C。判斷both指代的內(nèi)容，由前一分句I always loved traveling and always liked to eat可知。

3. B。判斷代詞that指代的內(nèi)容。此處that指代前句中的set a goal and then gradually make it more practical。