词汇(Vocabulary)是四级阅读理解测试中非常重要的一项。词汇类其实也是就细节进行提问,所不同的是这是唯一关于词或词组的练习项目,词汇题往往要求对文章中的某个单词、短语甚至句子等找出近义词或最合适的解释。解答这类题需要学生拥有较大的词汇量。可是,单词记忆似乎已成为学生普遍反映最头痛的难题。阅读理解中词汇类问题的常见提问方式有下列几种: (1)According to the author ,the word "…"means_______. (2)Which of the following is nearest in meaning to "…"? (3)The term ".."in paragraph… can be best replaced by …. (4)What s the meaning of "…"in line …of paragraph….? (5)As used in the line …, the word "…"refers to _______. 一般来说,在文章的阅读中解决释义的最邓办法是猜测词义。猜测词义也需要一定的技巧,可以通过1)上下文间意义的联系;2)同义关系,反义关系;3)词的定义;4)对词的解释和举例;5)构词法知识猜测词义。 1. 利用上下文词语意义的互相联系猜测词义 Example : The fishermen make their canoes from tree trunks .They go from island to island in these light marrow boats and collect turtles eggs 我们从上下文中可以得出以下信息:"canoes"是一种渔夫用树木做的、来回于岛屿之间的、轻狭长的、类似于小船之类的东西。尽管我们可能还不能肯定它的确切解释,但这一生词已经不会影响我们的阅读和理解了。 Example : Jogging has become very popular in some countries ,It is believed to be a good exercise for old people . "Jogging"的意思通过"a good exercise for old people "可以推断出是一种适合老年人的剧烈的运动方式。 2. 利用文章中词与词的同义和反义关系猜测词义 Example : If you happened to be sitting in the woods outside the city ,you might have witnessed a strange sight . You would have seen a very proud looking man riding along horseback , saying something 在文章中可以很容易地判断出"witnesss"的同义关系词是"seen",因此"witness"就是看见的意思。 Example : In the northern regions the winters are generally cold and humid ,and the summers hot and dry . 显然,冬天和夏天的气候是截然相反的,它们的修饰词的意思也应该截然相反。"cold"与"hot"对应,"humid"与"dry"对应。因此,"humid"是"潮湿" 意思。 3. 利用文章中对词的定义猜测词义 Example?/p> Such experiences are not unusual for the amateur conchologists, people who collect shells. Conchologists的意思可以根据该词后面的同位解释"people who collect shells"理解为收集贝壳的人或贝壳收藏家。 Example : Jack is now a florist, who keeps a shop for selling flowers in our district. "florist" 的意思就是其后定语从句"who keeps a shop for selling flowers 所描述的"拥有一家专门卖花的商店的人",即"花店主" 4. 利用文章中对词的举例及解释猜 测词义 Example : Today young couples who are just starting their households of ten spend lots of their money on appliances ,for instance ,washing machines , refrigerators and color TVs. 通过所举的例子(washing machines ,refrigerators and color TVs) 可以看出,"appliances" 应是这些名词的总称,即"家用电器"。 Example : Finally the enemy surrendered .They threw down their weapons and walked out of the home with their hands over their heads 通过后一句对"surrendered"的解释:扔掉武器(throw down their weapons ),举起双手(with their hands over heads )可知其意是"投降" 5. 利用构词法知识(前缀和后缀)猜测词义 Example : They overestimate the interviewee s ability and asked him many difficult questions "estimate"是"估计"的意思,"over-"是前缀,意为"过分,过度,超 过"等,因此"overestimate"就是"高估"的意思 。 Example : We were told that ours was the most spacious room in the hotel .That was why we had to pay so much for it . "spacious"是由"space(名词,空间)"+"+-ious(形容词后缀 "变化而来的,因此,可猜测其词义为"宽敞"。 各种各样的前、后缀可以构成名词、形容词、动词、副词等,这些词缀需要平时不断地积累和记忆。掌握构词法知识是扩大词汇量和猜测生词词义的最佳办法。