第21讲
词义猜测题
(2012·湖南卷A篇) … I called back. I told my mom to go without me and that I already created my gift. I sent the photo of the cream-colored flower to my computer and typed the poem on top of it. As I was arranging the details another poem came to mind. The poem was written by Edgar Allan Poe; my dad recited it as much as he did the other. I typed that out as well and searched online for a background to the words of _it_.
58. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refers to a poem by ______.
A. the father
B. the author
C. William Blake
D. Edgar Allan Poe
58. D 词义推测题。考查上下文中代词的指代。根据第三段中的I typed that out as well and searched online for a background to the words of it.可知，作者在见到这第二首诗时 “也”打印出来了。这就是Edgar Allan Poe写的诗。故选D。 思路点拨
猜词是英语阅读的重要技巧，也是高考中常考的题型。考生要学会“顺藤摸瓜”，通过构词、定义、对比、因果、联想、上下文等线索(各种已知信息)确定词义。要求猜测词义的词一般为实词(动词、名词、形容词等)。就方法来说，主要根据上下文线索和构词法。高考阅读文章中更侧重前者。 Ⅰ. 根据定义猜测词义
通过定义、定语从句/词组或同位语从句/词组等来确定词义。 1. 直接定义：如果生词是句子或段落所解释的定义，理解句子或段落本身就是推断词义。 例句：In slang the term jam constitutes a state of being in which a person finds himself or herself in a difficult situation.
分析：根据上下文的定义可知jam一词在俚语中的意思是“困境”。 定义句的谓语动词多为：be, mean, deal with, be considered, to be, refer to, be called, be known as, define, represent等。
2. 同位语：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。需要注意的是：同位语前还常有or, similarly, that is to say, in other words, namely, or other, say, i．e. 等副词或短语出现。
3. 定语从句：定语从句有时起着解释和说明的作用，据此我们可以推断出所修饰词的含义。 例句：The herdsman,_who looks after sheep, earns about 650 yuan a year. 分析：定语从句中 looks after sheep 就表明了 herdsman 的词义为“牧羊人”。 【基础练习】 62．The underlined word “burning” in Para. 3 probably means ______.
A. annoyed
B. ashamed
C. ready
D. eager
D 我不知道发生了什么，所以在我发言后，希望知道为什么大家如此反应的原因，即eager to find out what I had done wrong。 Ⅱ. 根据逻辑关系猜测词义
1. 根据对比关系猜测词义
在一个句子或段落中，有时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来猜测其词义。英语中表示对比关系的词汇和短语主要是unlike, not, but, however, despite, in spite of, in contrast 和while 引导的并列句等。
例句：Andrew is one of the most supercilious men I know. His brother, in contrast, is quite humble and modest.
分析：该例中supercilious对许多人来说可能是个生词，但是句中短语in contrast(相对照的，相对比的)提示我们supercilious和后面词组humble and modest(谦卑又谦虚)是对比关系。分析出这种关系后，我们便能猜出supercilious意为“目空一切的，傲慢的”。
2. 根据类比关系猜测词义
表示类比关系的词和短语主要有similarly, like, just as, also, as well等。
例句：Green loves to talk, and his brothers are similarly loquacious.
分析：该句中副词similarly表明短语loves to talk与生词loquacious之间为类比关系。以此可以推断出loquacious词义为“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知生词词义。
例句：Tom is considered an autocratic administrator because he makes decisions without seeking the opinions of others.
分析：根据原因状语从句的内容，我们可以推断出生词autocratic指“独断专行的”。
4. 根据同义词的替代关系猜测词义
在句子或段落中，我们可以利用熟悉的词语，根据语言环境推断生词词义。
例句：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，由此推知jeopardize词义为“使……陷入危险，危及、危害”。 Ⅲ. 根据上下文及生活常识猜测词义
1. 我们可以根据上下文与生词密切相关的句子，对生词进行合情合理同时合乎上下文语境的推测。我们也可以根据生词后举出的有关例子进行适当归纳，猜测生词的词义。
例句：You can take any of the periodicals:_The World of English, Foreign Language Teaching in Schools, or English Learning.
分析：根据下文举出的英语杂志名称可知，periodicals是“期刊”之意。
2. 有时仅靠分析篇章内在逻辑关系无法猜出词义。这时，就需要运用生活经验和普通常识确定词义。
例句：The snake slithered through the grass.
分析：根据有关蛇的生活习性的知识，我们可以推断出slither的词义为“爬行”。 【基础练习】
(2012·福建卷D篇)
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)．
The underlined word “triggered” in the third paragraph probably means “ ______”．
A. set off
B. cut off
C. built up
D. broken up
A 根据下文的perform和本句的含义可知“如果他们给人们一些句子来听，那么他们就会发出同样的神经元和进行一些行为动作一样。”所以画线部分单词意为“发出”和set off近义。 Ⅳ. 根据构词法来猜测词义
英语单词的构成方法主要有3种，即复合法、派生法和转化法。英语单词大多是由词根、词头(前缀)、词尾(后缀)所组成。词根是单词最基本的部分，表达单词的基本含义。在词根前头或后头加上前缀或后缀，可以用来引申或转变原词的意义。只要我们掌握了各种词根、词头、词尾的基本含义，那么就可以很容易地猜测所构成的新词的含义了。中学英语中常见的前缀和后缀有：
super-(超), inter-(在……之间), -able(能……的), mini-(极少的，微型的)，micro-(极微小的), re-(再，反复), sub-(分支的，底下), co-(共同), post-(后), pre-(前), trans-(超越；转换), under-(在……之下；低于……；不足), -hood(状态；性质；时期), -ish(如……的；有点儿……的); -proof(防……的；……不能穿透的), -scope(景), -ship(身份；资格；权力；性质), -some(易于……的), -wards(向), mis-(误；恶), un-(不；非), in-(不；非), im-(不； 非), dis-(不), non- (不；非)，-less(不；无), anti-(反；防), sino-(中国)。如： He fell into a ditch and lay there, semiconscious,_for a few minutes.
根据词根conscious(清醒的，有意识的)，结合前缀semi(半，部分的，不完全的), 我们便可猜出semiconscious词义“半清醒的，半昏迷的”。 【基础练习】
(2010·广东华南师大附中高三综合测试)
Sharks are among the few animals in the world that almost never get cancer and eye cataracts. Understanding why can help us improve human health. Chemicals extracted from shark cartilage have killed cancerous tumors in laboratory animals, a research that someday could help prolong your life.
The underlined word “prolong” in the paragraph means ______.
A. save
B. protect
C. lengthen
D. improve
C 可根据构词法来判断词义。prolong 是个派生词，前缀pro-是“支持，亲”之意，long是“长”之意，故可判断prolong是“延长(寿命)”的意思。 Ⅴ. 判断代词的确指对象
代词that/it/they/them所指代的内容多在这一句的前、后句中(特别是前句)，或者前几个句子中，找到指代的内容后把它放在那个代词的位置上，看看这句话是否合理，与前面的内容是否一致，然后再判断它是否为正确答案。
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