浅议阅读理解中词义猜测解题技巧

黄红伟

随着我国教育的不断发展和教育体制改革的深入进行，在英语教学中对学生的阅读能力要求也有了进一步提高。英语阅读理解是高中英语教学的重要活动。学生通过英语阅读培养了阅读能力,并以阅读能力为基础去发展其他各种语言能力,如听，说，写，译的能力。同时，结合历年的高考情况来看，不管是哪个省的试题，阅读理解题的分值比重一直比较大，所以，阅读理解能力的高低直接影响学生的英语成绩，因而重视阅读教学和解题技巧势在必行。

高考阅读理解根据《考试大纲》的要求命题，基本上可以分为五类：1.细节理解题；2.词义猜测题；3.主旨大意题；4.推理判断题；5.篇章结构题；6.观点态度题。历年来高考试题中的生词量有增无减，《教学大纲》要求学生“读懂生词率不超过3%的传记，故事，记叙文，科普小品文和有关社会史知识等不同题材的材料”。而每年在高考阅读中出现大量的生词成为学生理解文章的“绊脚石”。所以掌握正确的方法，我们才能快速而准确地猜测出文中生词的含义以及提高词义猜测题的正确率。下面本人就结合2010年各省的高考来谈谈阅读理解的解题技巧之一：词义猜测。有以下几种方法：

方法一：同义词、近义词：作者可能会用一个近义词或者同义词去解释另一个更难的词，以便使他的文字意思更清楚，近义词往往出现在同一句或者同一段落中，而且通常会有以下这些信号词:and, or, namely, that is (to say)等。

例如：2010重庆卷：One morning more than thirty years ago, I entered the Track Kitchen, a restaurant where everyone from the humblest(卑微的) to the most powerful came for breakfast. I noticed an empty chair next to an elderly, unshaven man, who looked somewhat disheveled.

Q: What does the underlined word “disheveled” mean? ____.

A. Unfriendly B. Untidy

C. Gentle D. Kind

分析：根据an elderly, unshaven man, who looked somewhat disheveled. 可知disheveled与unshaven是同义词，故选B。

方法二：反义词：利用文中的反义词以及表对比关系的词（组）来猜测词义。通常在句中，上下文中出现以下这些信号词：unlike， but， however, while, instead, otherwise, on the other hand等。

例如: 2010四川卷：While matters of money and care won?蒺t be settled for weeks, Jane hardly puts her life on hold.

Q：What does the underlined sentence in the third paragraph mean? ____.

A． Jane?蒺s life is very difficult

B． Jane continues to live as usual

C． Jane almost can?蒺t control her life

D． Jane works very hard to live a happy life

分析：依据While matters of money and care won?蒺t be settled for weeks, 此处while引导让步状语从句，意为“尽管钱和抚养的问题在几周内难以解决，但Jane几乎不让生活受到影响。”因此正确答案为B。

例如:2010广东卷：It is probably not your fault， but once you form the habit of blaming somebody or something else for a bad situation，you are a loser. You have no power and could do nothing that helps change the situation. However, you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to remedy the situation. This is the winner?蒺s key to success.

Q: The underlined word remedy in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ____.

A. avoid B. accept C. improve D. consider

分析：根据However, you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to remedy the situation.尤其是however，进行意思上的转折，所以应选C。

方法三：定义、解释或举例：在文中的字里行间，对生词以定语（从句），表语或同位语（从句）甚至是逗号、破折号等标点符号引出并加以解释说明的方式。

例如：2010江苏卷：The most common occupational name is Smith, which means a person who makes things with iron or other metals. 根据句中which means a person who makes things with iron or other metals，可知occupational 意思为“职业的”。

例如：2010四川卷：Fox Point is operated by Palladia, a group that specializes in providing housing and services to needy people. 根据同位语 a group以及定语从句that specializes in providing housing and services to needy people.就可知道：Palladia是一个专门从事提供住所、服务给穷人的团体。

方法四：因果关系：从原因推测结果，从结果推测原因。常有以下的这些信号词： because, as，since， for， so， thus， as a result， therefore， so that， etc

例如：2010辽宁卷：I hated dinner parties. But I decided to give them another shot because I?蒺m in London. And my friend Mallery invited me. And because dinner parties in London are very different from those back in New York.

Q: What does the word “shot” in Paragraph 1 probably mean? ____.

A. ChoiceB. TryC. StyleD. Goal

分析：从第一句的hate，到but意义上的转折，以及后两句because I?蒺m in London和because dinner parties in London are very different from those back in New York可知try的意思接近shot，意思为：尝试。因此答案为B。

方法五：情景推断：猜测任何词义都离不开文章的语言情景，词义可以从上下文的具体语言环境中推断出来。

例如：2010湖北卷：Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents?蒺 point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents?蒺 complete unreasonableness. And of course， the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely.

Q: What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean? ____.

A. The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict.

B. The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict

C. The teens cause their parents of misleading them

D. The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents

分析：从“In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents?蒺 point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents?蒺 complete unreasonableness.”和“except oppositely”可以得出答案为A。

方法六：代词替代法：一般来讲，代词所指代的内容在这一句的前后句中能找到相应的内容。

例如：2010北京卷：There are pressing calls on the resources(资源) of the government. Using taxpayers?蒺 money to help a small number of people to earn high incomes in the future is not one of them.

Q: The underlined word “them” in Paragraph 2 refers to ____.

A. taxpayers B. pressing calls

C. college graduates D. government resources

分析：根据上一句There are pressing calls on the resources (资源) of the government.可知道答案为B。

方法七：经验和常识:

例如：2010陕西卷：When I first got an e?鄄mail account ten years ago, I received communications only from family, friends, and colleagues. Now it seems that every time I check my e?鄄mail, I have an endless series of advertisements and other correspondence that do not interest me at all. If we want e?鄄mail to continue to be useful, we need specific laws that make spamming(发送垃圾邮件) a crime.

Q: What does the underlined word “correspondence” in the Paragraph 1 probably mean? ____.

A. messages B. ideas

C. connections D. programs

分析：现在的e?鄄mail有许多advertisements,根据常识我们应该知道e?鄄mail上还有我们不感兴趣的信息。

方法八：构词法:英语单词大多是由词根、词头（前缀）和词尾（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。在词根前或后加上前缀或后缀，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、词头和词尾的基本含义，那么就可以很容易猜测出由其构成的新词的含义了。下面本人主要谈谈构成新词义的前缀。

例如：2010江苏卷：fore?鄄(先于；预先)：foresee(预见，预知)；extra?鄄（超出；非常）：extraordinary(非凡的)； step?鄄(继……)：stepmother(继母)，stepbrother(继弟)

例如：2010浙江卷：super?鄄（超级）：superstar(超级明星)；co?鄄(共同)：corenters(合租人)； multi?鄄(多个，许多的)：multitasking（多任务处理）

例如：2010山东卷: over?鄄（在……之上）：over?鄄consumption(过度消费); semi?鄄(半):semiconductor(半导体)

例如：2010湖南卷:auto?鄄(自己的)：autobiography（自传）；self?鄄(自身的)：self?鄄controlled（自我控制）,self?鄄pity（自怜）

例如：2010湖北卷: self?鄄taught（自学的）；semicircle（半圆）

除此之外，还有一些常在阅读理解文章中出现的重要前缀：en?鄄(使): enable使能够; inter?鄄(相互): interaction相互作用; anti?鄄(反抗): anti?鄄Japanese War反日战争; bi?鄄(双，二): biweekly双周; tri?鄄(三):triangle(三角形)，等等。

除了掌握以上的方法外，我们还要注意文中的熟词生义。

例如：2010江苏卷：China prefers that the other countries pay in natural resources rather than with capital investment. capital我们所熟悉的含义：首都, 但在这里应理解为：资本，资金。

例如：2010四川卷：Every writer starts off knowing that he has something to say, but being unable to find the right ways to say it. He has to find his own voice by reading widely and discovering which parts of the writers he agrees or disagrees with, or agrees with so strongly that it reshapes his own world. voice我们所熟悉的含义：声音、嗓音, 而在这里根据上下文的意思应理解为：a way of writing。

总之,要想提高阅读速度和理解能力，在高考中取得高分，我们一定要掌握好以上的解题技巧。