根据上下文猜测词义八大技巧

王号召

在阅读中，我们往往会遇到一些不认识的单词或短语，或者认识的单词在文章中有了新的意义，这时，我们就必须根据上下文对它们的意义进行猜测，使之不影响对文章的理解。需要注意的是，一个单词通常有好几个意思，然而我们要解决的是这些词在文中所表达的意思。因此，不可脱离上下文，只根据自己以前了解的词义来确定其意义。那么如何在特定的语言环境下猜测词义呢？通常，猜测词义可采用以下几种方法：

一、利用同义词、近义词猜测词义

作者可能会用一个同义词或者近义词去解释另一个更难的词，以便使他的文字意思更清楚，同义词或近义词往往出现在同一句或者同一段落中。如：

1. Doctors believe that smoking is detrimental to peoples health. They also regard drinking as harmful.

由下文的also，可以推断出“detrimental”的意思为harmful, 即“有害的”。

2. All the other members are of the same opinion. They are unanimous.

unanimous与of the same opinion同义，可猜为“一致同意的”。

3. I see people, old and young alike, are now taking tests of intelligence, education and skill. I wonder why there is not test of ones virtue or goodness.

句中or后的goodness解释了virtue，其意为“善行”。

4. Cleaning up waterways is an enormous task. The job is so large, in fact, that the government may not be able to save some of the rivers and lakes which have been polluted.

文中enormous 的词义可猜测为与so large 的意思相近。

5. One of the predominant concerns today is the future of our natural resources. This issue is of greatest importance because it is becoming clear to many people that our present resources will not last forever.

文中predominant的词义可猜测为与of greatest importance的意思相近。

二、利用文中的反义词猜测词义

表示对比或相反的词有unlike; instead; but; while; however; otherwise; on the other hand等。如：

1. Unlike her gregarious sister, Jane is a shy person, who does not like to go to parties, or to make new friends.

根据文中Unlike的意思,a shy person, who does not like to go to parties, or to make new friends表达了“gregarious”相反的意思，所以gregarious的意思为“好交际的”。

2. Most of them agreed; however, John dissented.

通过however与agreed对比，很容易得到dissented的意思为“反对”。

3. Jane was talking with others while Bliza remained reticent all the time.

根据while的提示, 前后对照, reticent的含义是"沉默寡言的"。

4. American businessmen expect employees to be punctual. They do not expect that the workers will come late.

文中punctual的意思, 可理解为not come late, 即“准时，不迟到”。

三、利用文中定义、解释或举例猜测词义

通过定义，定语从句，同位语来确定词义，如词或词组 (is; was; mean; that is; thats to say;or; namely; in other words; to put it another way; i.e., such as; like; especially; for instance; for example)。例如：

1. In some cultures, certain foods are taboo. Taboo is a word from the language of the Fiji Islands, used to describe something forbidden.

根据对Tatoo的解释，可猜测Taboo为“禁忌”。

2. An expedition is a long, organized trip or journey, which is made into an unfamiliar area for a particular purpose by a group of people.

句中which引导的定语从句进一步解释了expedition之意为“探险；远征队”。

3. Tom was a roamer, a wanderer who could never stay in one place.

句中roamer的意思,可通过其后的同位语wander可猜得是“流浪汉”。

4. Today young couples who are just starting their households often spend lots of their money on appliances, for instance, washing-machines, refrigerators and color televisions.

如不知道appliances的意思，从文中的举例washing-machines (洗衣机)，refrigerators (冰箱)，color televisions (电视机) 可以猜出该词的意思为“家用电器”。

5. To train the students to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar words through contextual clues, namely, through the words before or after the words they may not know.

namely后面的内容解释说明了contextual clues为“情景线索”。

6. In sports, especially athletics, success is often prevented by psychological obstacles, that is, barriers that exist in the mind only.

that is后面的内容解释说明了psychological obstacles为“心理障碍”。

四、利用标点符号（冒号；破折号；括号）猜测词义

1. A gorilla always makes me think of the word aloof—not friendly, of distance from others.

破折号后的内容是aloof一词“不友好；冷漠”的释意。

2. The government promises to give millions of deprived black the essentials in life -- housing, education, health facilities, and job opportunities.

根据破折号可猜出essentials是“必需品”。

3. You can take any of theperiodicals: The World of English, Foreign Language Teaching in Schools, or English Learning.

A. dictionaries B. story-booksC. magazines D. newspapers

根据冒号后的解释，我们可以得出C是正确选项。

五、利用所出现生词的上下文与其意义上的联系或下文进一步的叙述猜测词义

1. The old man put on his spectacles and began to read.

如不知道spectacles的词义，从下文戴上spectacles后开始阅读可猜得其词义为“眼镜”。

2. Pigeons have a natural instinct to return home, even if they are far away and the trip is hard or dangerous.

根据后半句让步状语从句，可猜测instinct为“本能”。

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

状语部分的意思是“她离开家人好几年了”，对于一个女孩子来说，“想家”的结果是必然的。所以，我们通过状语从句所提供的信息可以推断出homesick的意思是“想家的”。

4. I am a resolute man. Once I set up a goal, I wont give it up easily.

通过第二句, 可推出resolute的意思是“坚定的”。

六、利用因果关系猜测词义

表示因果关系的词有: because, as，since，for，so，thus，as a result，therefore，so that etc. 例如：

1. since you are my superior (上级), it would bepresumptuousof me to tell you what to do .

A. full of respectB. too confident and rude C. lacking in experience D. too shy and quiet

此题选B。由题意可知因你是我的上司，告诉对方去做什么，一定会显得自负、不礼貌。

2. The teacher did not hear the knocking at the door because he was completely engrossed in his reading.由因果关系为线索，可确定engrossed的意思为“被吸引”，“全神贯注”。

3. The stream is so turbid that it is impossible to see the bottom even when it is shallow.

由so...that可以确定turbid的意思为“混浊的”。当溪水很浅的时候都不能看到底部，无疑溪水太混浊了。

七、利用经验和常识猜测词义

1. In spite of the fact the fishermen were wearing souwesters, the storm was so heavy that they were wet through. 暴风雨如此猛烈以至它们全身都湿透了，根据常识可推断 “souwester”为“a kind of raincoat”。

2. The heat of sun warms some ocean water. The surface of the water evaporates, forming a cloud of warm, wet air that moves upward.太阳光给海水加热，海洋表面温度升高，继而蒸发并形成一股暖湿空气升入空中。由此可推断“evaporate”为“蒸发”的意思。

八、利用综合法猜测词义

以上几种猜测词义的方法不是互不联系的, 有时可以同时采用几种方法猜测词义。例如：

1. Since then the discovery of nuclear energy has been bitter controversy. In the supporters view, atomic energy offers the only chance of survival for civilization. The opponents, however, think that it is the most direct way to extinction. While extremists on both sides shout slogans, moderates tend to agree that new sources of energy will eventually be developed and that nuclear energy will play its part. 根据上下文, 可以猜出controversy为“争端”。在“争端”中就会有“支持者”supporters和“反对者”opponents, 而两派中还会有“激进派”extremists和“温和派”moderates。

2. Sociologists divide families into two general types: the nuclear family and the extended family, which may include three or more generations living together. 根据定语从句, 可猜测extended family意思是“大家庭”，与extended family意思相反，可猜测nuclear family为“小家庭”。

总之, 在英语阅读中运用和掌握这些猜词方法，就会在很大程度上减少生词的数量，有助于提高阅读速度和培养阅读能力。