猜测词义的方法(策略)

阅读的过程是一个思维的过程，是一个与作者交流的双向的过 程。我们一边阅读，一边要问自己

好多“为什么”，并假设出可能的答案，然后去找出真 正的答案来证实自己的假设。根据上下文猜测词

义也是这种创造性思维的一部分。假如动 不动就去查词典

(

当然有时还需要查词典

)

，那就等于放弃了

进行创造性思维的可能性，从发展思维方 法上说，是很遗憾的。

之所以不要—碰到生词就查词典，

还因为假如这个词是重要的，

作者一定会使它重复出现，

因此，

在没有查词典之前，根据上下文，能猜出它的意思。

学会猜测词义的好处之一，假如为了理解“生词”而前后左右 去寻找线索，那就一定把注意力集中

到句子上，而不是个别词语上，久而久之，就一定会 自然而然地提高对句子的理解，对句际之间关系

的理解，乃至对整个篇章的理解能力。< /p>

好处之二，假如根据上下文的意思猜出了—个新的词语，就等 于增加了词汇量。这个词语是在表

达意思的语境中学到的，不是干巴巴地靠背生词表，背 词典而学来的，对它的印象一定很深刻。而且

知道这个词语与其他词语的关系，

就知道应该怎样在句子中使用这个词语。

这样学得的词汇二是轻易

忘不了的。

好处之三，假如掌握了这个技巧， 就一定会省下好多查词典的时间，加快阅读速度，增加阅读的

总量，也必定导致增强阅读 信心。久而久之，还会收到意想不到的结果，扩大了词汇量。

那到底 应该怎样根据上下文猜测词义呢

?

下面介绍一些方法。

·定义法

提示词

is(are)called

，

that is

，

i.e., is referred to as

，定语从句，同位

语从句等。

1.

A

line

slanting

from

one

corner

to

the

opposite

corner

is

called

a

diagonal

line

.

2. An animal with four feet is referred to as

quadruped

.

·重述法

.

.

提示词

or, put another way

,

破折号，冒号，括号等。

3. In

leukemia

-- one kind of cancer -- too many white blood cells are produced in

the body.

4. When you have a disease like measles or chicken pox, your body cells produce

substances

called

antibodies

which

destroy

the

germs

or

make

their

poisons

harmless.

When

you get well, you have enough of these antibodies left to protect you from getting the

disease again. This protection, or

immunity

, against some disease may last the rest of

your life.

·举例法

提示词

for example, such as, e.g.

等。

5. Electricity is sent out to homes and factories over wires, but it cannot be sent

for

long

distances

because

it

leaks

out

of

the

wires.

Insulators

,

especially

robber,

glass,

and wood, are used to help prevent this leakage of electricity.

6.

Agents

of

erosion

,

like

wind,

moving

water,

and

glaciers,

are

always

at

work

changing

the earth's surface.

·常识及上下文相关信息法

7. Luther was very sad when his grandfather died, but thanks to the

inheritance

his

grandfather left him, he could afford to go to college.

8. Baltimore at mid- century began to

boom

. By 1790 it has risen to become the new

republic's fourth largest city with aspirations to overtake the three still ahead.

·同义词和反义词法

9.

Bob

and

Rose

were

as

different

as

night

and

day;

he

was

taciturn

but

she

was

talkative.

10.

Considering

the

harshness

of

the

crime,

the

light

punishment

that

he

received

seemed

quite

lenient

.

·构词法

11. My horse, despite its

unimpressive

appearance, had covered sixty miles under the

scorching sun without any difficulty.

Passage 1

Aside

from

perpetuating

itself,

the

solo

purpose

of

the

American

Academy

and

Institute

of Art and Letters is to

and

art.

This

is

done

by

enthusiastically

handing

out

money.

Annual

cash

awards

are

given

to

deserving

artists

in

various

categories

of

creativity:

architecture,

musical

composition, theater, novels, serious poetry, light verse, painting,

and

sculpture. One

award

subsidizes

a

promising:

American

writer's

visit

to

Rome.

There

is

even

an

award

for

a very good work of fiction that failed commercially--one won by the young John Updike

for The Poor-house Fair and, more recently, by Alice Walker for In love and Trouble.

The

awards

and

prizes

total

about

$$750

000

a

year,

but

most

of

them

range

in

size

from

$$12 500, a welcome sum to many young practitioners whose work may not bring in that much

money

in

a

year.

One

of

the

advantages

of

award

is

that

many

go

to

the

struggling

artists,

rather

than

to

those

who

are

already

successful.

Members

of

the

Academy

and

Institute

are

not

eligible

for

any

cash

prizes.

Another

advantage

is

that,

unlike

the

National

Endowment

for the Arts or similar institutions throughout the world, there is no government money

involved.

.

.

Awards

are

made

by

committee.

Each

of

the

three

departments-Literature(120

members),

Art(83),

Music(47)

has

a

committee

dealing

with

its

own

field.

Committee

membership

rotates

every year, so that new voices and opinions are constantly heard.

The most financially rewarding of all the Academy-Institute awards are the Mildred

and

Harold

Strauss

Livings.

Harold

Strauss,

a

devoted

editor

at

Alfred

A.

Knopf,

the

New

York publishing house, and Mildred Strauss, his wife, were wealthy and childless. They

left

the

Academy-Institute

a

unique

bequest:

for

five

continuous

years,

two

distinguished

(and

financially

needy)writers

would

receive

enough

money

so

they

could

devote

themselves

entirely

to

“

prose

literature

”

.

In

1983,the

first

Strauss

Livings

of

$$35

000

a

year

went

to short-story writer Raymond Carver and novelist-essayist Cynthia Ozick. By 1988, the

fund

had

grown

enough

so

that

two

winners,

novelists

Diane

Johnson

and

Robert

Stone,

each

got $$50 000 a year for five years.

1.

Why

does

American

Academy-Institute

offer

large

numbers

of

awards

and

prizes

every

year?

(A) Because they have a lot of money from various sponsors.

(B) Because they want to help and encourage the young artists.

(C) Because the government allocates large amount of money to them.

(D) Because the artists need money to go abroad for experience.

2. The awards are given to the following except ______.

(A) short stories writers

(C) musical composers

(A) the needy artists

(B) architecture designers

(D) medical practitioners

(B) the famous artists

3. According to the passage, many awards go to______.

(C) the imaginative artists

(D) the experienced artists

4.

of

the

Academy

and

Institute

are

not

eligible

for

any

cash

prizes.

here is closest in meaning to______.

(A) flexible (B) suitable (C) capable (D) imaginable

5. We can infer from the passage that ________.

(A)

The

Mildred

and

Harold

Strauss

Livings

left

a

lot

of

fortune

to

the

Academy-Institute

after they died.

(B)

American

government

save

a

lot

of

money

because

of

the

Academy- Institute's

awards

(C) People who are engaged in creativity usually have financial problems before they

become successful

(D)

Committee

membership

changes

every

year

so

that

new

members

can

express

their

new

ideas

Passage 2

The

Neanderthal(

尼安德特人

)may

not

have

had

a

poet's

soul,

but

there

is

evidence

that

he was more

The much savage and now extinct member of the genus Homo, who lived around of the

Mediterranean

from

100

000

to

45

000

years

ago,

is

now

recognized

to

have

had

an

intricate

social

structure.

Neanderthal

man

is

believed

to

have

followed

forms

of

religious

ritual.

A

Columbia

University

anthropologist

has

suggested that

the practice of medicine may

also belong on Neanderthal' s list of accomplishments. Dr. Ralph S. Solecki bases his

speculation

on

an

examination

of

preserved

pollen

grains

found

with

a

male

skeleton

buried

in an Iraqi cave 60 000 years ago. Of the eight plants represented in the grave, seven

.