掌握猜詞技巧 提升閱讀能力

河北定州二中 狄偉超
 
         猜測詞義是英語閱讀的重要技巧，它可以在一定程度上考查考生的邏輯推斷能力，是閱讀能力的一個重要組成部分，頻繁出現(xiàn)在高考英語試卷中。在英語閱讀中根據(jù)上下文猜測詞義，有助于鍛煉同學們分析問題、解決問題的能力，有助于擴大詞匯量。實際上，閱讀材料中的詞匯與它前后的詞語、句子或段落，甚至篇章都有著相互制約的關系。因此我們可以利用語境所給信息，推測判斷文中生詞的含義。

         筆者根據(jù)自己的閱讀經(jīng)歷以及指導學生復習閱讀理解專項的經(jīng)驗，總結出了一些有益的猜詞方法，愿與讀者共勉。

一、定義猜詞法

         即根據(jù)定義猜測詞義的方法。需要定義或解釋的單詞或短語大多是專有名詞、生僻詞或文中的關鍵詞，作者為了使讀者正確理解它們，就得做出較淺顯的解釋或說明。

例一：Giraffe is an animal with a very long neck, four legs and orange skin with dark spots.

根據(jù)后面對 Giraffe 的解釋，它的詞義為“長頸鹿”。

例二：Anthropology is the scientific study of man.

由定義可知 Anthropology 的詞義為“研究人類的科學”即“人類學”。

例三：What is plagiarism? It is using others’ ideas and words without clearly mentioning where the information is from.

根據(jù)定義我們知道plagiarism的詞義為“剽竊”。

二、定語從句

        定語從句對先行詞起限定、修飾或解釋作用，因此我們可以利用定語從句來推測先行詞的詞義。

例一：Second generation Puerto Ricans who were born in New York but who have returned to the island, are called Nuvoricans.

Nuvoricans 的詞義可以由Second generation Puerto Ricans后面的兩個定語從句來得到， 即生在紐約，后又回到波多黎各的人。

例二：Psychophysiology is a science which deals with the relationship between mind and body.

        根據(jù)定語從句我們可以看出Psychophysiology的意思為“身心聯(lián)系的科學”，即“心理生理學”。

三、同位短語或同位語從句

         同位關系的兩部分之間多用逗號連接，有時也用破折號、分號、引號和括號連接。

例一：According to a report published on the British medical magazine, The Lancet, a study of ten German mobile phone users found that when they turned on their phones, their blood pressure goes up by 5 to 10 millimeters of mercury.

根據(jù)句法結構的知識，我們知道The Lancet是the British medical magazine的同位語，由此可知The Lancet是一個雜志的名稱。

例二：Semantics, the study of the meaning of words, is necessary if you are to speak and read intelligently.

兩個逗號中間的短語the study of the meaning of words是Semantics的同位語，意為“對詞義進行研究的科學”， 即“語義學”。

四、對比結構

         尋找文中相互對比、相互對照的線索來確定生詞的含義。

         在此類文章中，通常會出現(xiàn)一些表示意義轉折、對比的詞語：however, but, on the other hand, on the contrary, instead of, while, unlike, not, although, yet, despite, in spite of, in contrast, etc.

例一： A good supervisor can recognize instantly the adept workers from the unskilled ones.

根據(jù)句法結構可知the adept workers和 the unskilled ones.為對比關系，意義相反。由the unskilled ones可推出the adept workers為熟練工人。

例二：Someone liked milk, but others abhorred it.

通過but我們知道abhor是like的反義詞，意為“厭惡”。

五、并列平行結構

它表示意義上的并列或相似關系。表示并列關系的詞語為and, similarly, like, just as, also, etc.

例一：A child’s birthday party does not have to be a hassle; it can be a basket of fun, according to Beth Anacleria, an Evaston mother of two, aged 4 and 18 months.

分號前后為兩個并列平行的分句，后一句意為“生日聚會可以充滿快樂、樂趣”，我們可以推測hassle意為“混亂”。

例二：First put forward by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in the seventeenth century, the theorem had baffled and beaten the finest mathematical minds, including a French woman scientist who made a major advance in working out the problem, and who had to dress like a man in order to be able to study at the Ecole Polytechnique.

baffled 和beaten為并列平行關系，根據(jù)beaten可以推測出baffled意為“難倒，使受挫，阻礙”之意。

例三：John loves to talk, and his sisters are similarly loquacious.

根據(jù)and和similarly判定短語loves to talk 和loquacious.之間為同義比較，意為“健談的”。

六、因果關系

它也是推測詞義的一種重要方式。我們可以通過結果推測原因，亦可通過原因推測結果。

例句：The girl began to feel homesick because she had been away from her family for years.

根據(jù)原因狀語從句和homesick本身的構詞方法，我們推斷它的詞義為“想家的”。

七、舉例法

即通過生詞后面所舉的例子來推斷生詞的含義。

例句：In this reading room, you can find almost all periodicals in China, such as: The World of English, Foreign Language in School, English Learning  or Readers.

我們根據(jù)后面所舉的例子，不難推斷出periodicals是“期刊”之意。

八、語境線索或上下文

即利用語境來推測生詞含義的方法。這是我們用來推測詞義的主要方法之一。

例一：The days of elderly women doing nothing but cooking huge meals on holidays are gone. Enter the Red Hat Society—a group holding the belief that old ladies should have fun.

“My grandmothers did not do anything, but keep house and serve everybody, they were programmed to do that,” said Emily Cornette, head of a chapter of the 7-year-old Red Hat Society.

根據(jù)上下文我們可以很容易得出chapter的詞義為這個組織the Red Hat Society的一個分支。

例二：As regards the development of moral standards in the growing child, consistency ( 一貫性 )is very important teaching. To forbid a thing one day and excuse it the next is no foundation for morality ( 道德 ). Also, parents should realize that “example is better than precept”. If they are not sincere and don’t practice what they preach ( teach ), their children may grow confused, and emotionally insecure ( 不穩(wěn)定 )when they grow old enough to think for themselves, and realize they have been to some extent fooled.

根據(jù)上下文我們可知precept的詞義為“說教”。

例三：Here are some simple ways to beat the stress often caused by our inventions!

Don’t be available all the time. Turn off your mobile phone at certain times of the day. Don’t check your e-mail every day. Don’t reply to somebody as soon as they leave a text message just because you can. It may be fun at first, but it soon gets annoying.

根據(jù)語境我們知道available的詞義為“可與之交談的”或“有空的”。

例四：We found that bar at last. I didn’t have to ask again, for there it was in big letters over the window—Star Bar. There were some iron tables outside with plastic chairs around them. A few people sat listlessly around, looking at a portable television set that someone had brought out of the bar. They were all in thin summer dresses or short sleeved-shirts; even at that late hour it was stifling. Two thin dogs lay under one of the tables with their tongues out, and some of the women were fanning themselves unenthusiastically (無精打采的) with magazines.

根據(jù)語境我們猜出stifling的詞義為“極熱的”。

九、標點符號的暗示

例一：The days of elderly women doing nothing but cooking huge meals on holidays are gone. Enter the Red Hat Society—a group holding the belief that old ladies should have fun.

破折號后面的部分對the Red Hat Society作了解釋，是“一個認為老年人應該有自己樂趣的團體”。

例二：The largest player—Shanghai Bashi Tourism Car Rental Center offers a wide variety of choices—deluxe sedans, minivans, station wagons, coaches. Santana sedans are the big favorite.

第二個破折號后面的deluxe sedans, minivans, station wagons, coaches應該指的是汽車的品牌或種類。

十、同義詞的替代關系

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 didn’t want to jeopardize his future.

為避免重復使用endanger一詞， 用同義詞jeopardize來替代它, 我們推知jeopardize詞義為“使陷入危險，危及，危害”。

十一、利用主系表結構來猜詞

主系表結構的句子有兩種功能：一是說明主語的形狀和特征；二是主語和表語是同位關系。

例一：To malign is to slander an innocent person.

表語意為“誹謗無辜的人”， 那樣主語就是“中傷，誹謗”的意思。

例二：Insomnia is the inability of falling asleep or sleeping restlessly.

表語意為“睡不著”，主語Insomnia無疑就是“失眠”了。

十二、生活常識

根據(jù)日常生活中的常識和相關的背景知識，大膽想象，合理發(fā)揮，推測出生詞的含義。

例一：Warm-blooded desert animals, such as rats and mice, rest during the day, often staying in cool underground burrows.

根據(jù)常識我們知道鼠類一般藏在洞里，因此生詞burrows的意思為“地洞，洞穴”。

例二：The snake slithered through the grass.

根據(jù)有關蛇的生活習性的知識，我們可以推測出slithered的詞義為“爬行”。

十三、構詞法

英語詞匯的構詞法主要有三種：派生，合成，轉化構詞。

我們主要利用派生構詞來推斷生詞的含義。

         詞根是單詞最基本的部分，表達單詞的基本含義。在詞根的前面或后面加上詞綴，可以用來引申或轉變原詞的意義。一般來說，前綴改變詞根的意思；后綴改變詞性。

常見的前綴有：super- 超……

                               mini-   小型的……

                               re-      再，又……

                               post-     后

                               pre-      前

                               fore-     前

                               under-    下

 后綴有：         -ment    名詞的后綴

                            -less     不，無

                            -proof    防……的

例句：Remember that people on line may not be who they seem. Because you can’t see or even hear the person, it would be easy for someone to misrepresent himself/herself. Thus someone says “She is a 12-year-old girl ”could really be an old man.

根據(jù)語境和misrepresent的構詞方式， 前綴mis-的意思是“誤，錯-的”，詞根represent的意思是“表達，展示”之意, 合在一起我們知道m(xù)isrepresent的詞義為“誤述，歪曲”。

十四、文中代詞指代的推測

高考題年年考查對文中代詞實際指代的對象。一般來說它實際指代的對象在含有代詞的句子前半部分或前一句話。我們把它叫做“前指”。

例一：Demands for pigeon-delivered money stopped at noon as the press rported the story. And even if they start again, Chen holds little hope of catching the criminal.”We have more important things to do,” he said.

根據(jù)我們上面講到的，they應該指上一句中的Demands for pigeon-delivered money。

例二：The book contained a large number of clues to help readers find the hare, but Williams put in a lot of “red herrings”, or false clues, to mislead them.

根據(jù)語境them.指代上文的readers。

雖然掌握一些猜詞技巧能幫助我們猜測詞義，但是我們不能只依*這些。最重要的還是掌握全篇文章大意，把生詞放到文中，結合具體的語境來猜詞。