论高中英语词汇教学之熟词生义

刘婷婷

英语中的一词多义现象普遍存在。所谓“熟词生义”就是指学生对绝大多数单词的一两个常用义项比较熟悉，而对某些单词的一词多义或一词多性没有全面掌握。从近几年的高考英语试题中可发现高考命题非常重视对常用词汇较少使用意义的考查，范围较广，涉及各个题型，尤其是高考完形填空和阅读理解的短文材料。考生因不懂这些熟词的“新含义”而出现思维堵塞的现象，熟词变成了生词，导致信息获取不准，严重地影响了考生对题干乃至全文的正确理解，造成了不应有的失分。

一、教材中

下面是人教新课标版课本中出现的一些具有代表性的例句。

1. About four metres long， the room served as a small reception hall for important visitors.（必修2 Unit l）

熟义：为...服务；提供（食物或饮料）”

生义：“作...用；担任职务；帮助；促进”

2. Curiosity drove Wang Peng inside.It was full of people.（必修3 Unit2）

熟义：“开车；驾驶”

生义：“驱使；驱赶；使；赶走”

3. Yesterday， another student and I， representing our universitys student association， went to the Capital International Airport to meet this years international students. （必修4 Unit4）

熟义：“遇见；遇到；与...相识”

生义：“迎接；满足；达到；（路、河）与...交汇；正视”

4. Later you can cover a story and submit the article yourself. （必修5 Unit4）

熟义：“盖上；覆盖”

生义：“报道；采访；包括；涉及；行走（一段路程）；负担；支付”

5. All the information was ready to be processed into film negatives. （必修5 Unit4）

熟义：“过程；步骤”

生义：“处理；办理；冲洗加工（胶片）；印”

例句：I need to get these films processed.我得把这些胶卷洗出来。

6. It is only when the disease has progressed to AIDS that a person begins to look sick. （选修6 Unit3）

熟义：“进步”

生义：“逐步发展；改进；进展；继续进行”

7. If you develop AIDS， your chances of survival are very small. （选修6 Unit3）

熟义：“发展；发育：成长”

生义：“患上；逐渐形成（疾病或问题）；开发；制定；养成；冲洗照片”

8. I know youre dying to hear all about my life here. So Ive included some photos which will help you picture the places I talk about. （选修7 Unit4）

熟义：“图画；照片”

生义：“想象；设想”

9. It is exciting for them to receive a letter or a photograph and so I hope you will find the time to send Orlando and his family a message occasionally. （选修7 Unit4）

熟义：“发现；碰上；找到；找出；查明”

生义：“挤出（时间） ；认为；感到”

10. The criteria are so strict that it is difficult to get new ideas accepted unless they are truly novel. （选修8 Unit3）

熟义：“小说”

生义：“新颖的；新奇的”

二、听力中

五年来全国新课标卷的听力部分题型总体难度基本保持一致，但从用词和话题方面难度均有所上升；同时加强了对信息处理能力的要求，这要求考生对单词特别是存在“熟词生义”的词汇能够增强敏感度。举几个简单的例子：

1. Hello， this is Beijing National Grand Theater， Box office. Can I help you？

熟义：盒；箱；

生义：箱状物；小亭 box office： 售票处；票房

2. Book early if you want a good table.

熟义：书；

生义：预订

3. My mother was down with the flu last week.

熟义：adv. 向下；如：get down， lie down

生义：adv. 处于低落状态；落魄；失意；由北往南；往市区；

prep. 顺，沿，直到…；

n. 憎恶；倒霉（-s）；软毛，绒毛

v.打倒（敌人）；下降

4. “It teaches that when youre down and out， never give up.”

熟义：adv. 出来；向外

生义：到竭尽点；处于过时、荒疏状态；缺席；完全地、彻底地；脱漏地、不一致地； be down and out：落魄，败落

其它的如：park公园——停车（场）；date日期——约会；sharp尖的，锐利的——（某时刻）整（adv. 名词后）；due （-to）因为，由于——预期的；到期的；应有的......等等也都是学生们应该牢牢掌握的高频词。

三、单选中

以近几年高考题为例：

1. （2008湖北）Though having lived abroad for years ， many Chinese still _______ the traditional customs.

A. perform B. possess

C. observe D. support

[答案]C. observe 熟义：vt. 看到；观察；

生义：vt. 遵守；奉行；纪念；庆祝；vt.&vi. 评论（-that/-on）

2. （2008山东）The fact that she never apologized _______ a lot about what kind of person she is .

A. says B. talks

C. appears D. declares

[答案] A. says 熟义：vt. 说，讲；据说；写到；指示；比如说

生义：vt. 显示，表明；

3. （2009全国）Encourage your children to try new things. But try not to ______ them too hard.

A. draw B. strike

C. rush D. push

[答案] D. push 熟义：推

生义：逼迫，敦促；

4. （2009山东）——Do you have enough to_____all your daily expenses？

——Oh， yes， enough and to spare.

A. cover B. spend

C. fill D. offer

[答案] A. cover 熟义：覆盖；掩盖；占（时间空间）；

生义：负担；（钱）足够...之用；包括，涉及；行过（路程）；采访，报道

5. （2011浙江）The professor could tell by the _____ look in Marias eyes that she didnt understand a single word of his lecture.

A. cold B. blank

C. innocent D. fresh

[答案] B. blank 熟义：空白的；

生义：茫然的；空虚的

四、完形及阅读中

熟词生义在完形填空和阅读理解的实际训练中体现的尤为突出，结合这两部分练习谈一谈熟词生义相关问题的解题技巧。

1. 考虑不同词性、多个词义

（10陕西） ......

On my way home at the end of the 40 ， I saw the busker （街头艺人） again and he was 41 . I watched him pick up the hat and walk 42 a cafe counter. There he poured the 43 contents into a tin collecting 44 an earthquake fund-raising（募捐） event. He was busking for charity（慈善）. Now I donate any 45 I have to charity tins and enjoy the feeling of giving.

40. A. moment B. day

C. break D. event

41. A. walking around

B. passing by

C. packing up

D. running off

42. A. around B. in

C. behind D. to

43. A. chief B. basic

C. actual D. total

44. A. by B. for

C. on D. with

45. A. work B. time

C. energy D. change

45小题，考生对change作动词的词义“改变，变化”较为熟悉，但往往会忽略它作名词时的词义“硬币，零钱”。该题就考查change词性变化后的词义。

2. 根据上下文

（1）同义或近义关系：

Climbing attracts people because its good exercise for almost everyone. You use your whole body， especially your arms and legs. This sport gives your body a complete workout. When you climb， both your mind and your body can become stronger.

The word “workout” underlined in the last paragraph most probably means ______.

A. settlement B. exercise

C. excitement D. tiredness

动词短语work out熟义有：算出；解决；制订出；消耗完（精力），而根据第一句Climbing attracts people because its good exercise for almost everyone.这是本段的主题句。下文进一步谈到在进行攀岩时身体的这个部位得到全面锻炼。2001年全国卷中第26题也考到work out： We didn't plan our art exhibition like that but it _____ very well.

A. worked out B. tried out

C. went on D. carried on

此处work out义为“（情况）发展…”、“进行…”。

（2）反义关系：

Unlike his brother， who is truly a handsome man， John is quite homely.

A. comfortable B. familiar

C. easy D. ugly

注意信号词unlike，“不像......”的意思，brother既然是handsome，与之相反的意思则不难做出推断。

（3）逻辑关系：

（09高考）A good teacher works in quite a different way. His audience take an active part in his play： they ask and answer questions， they obey orders， and if they dont understand something， they say so.

A. students

B. people who watch a play

C. people who act on the stage

D. people who listen to something

单看audience一词为“观众、听众”之意，但根据前文的teacher一词分析其逻辑关系——老师的观众或听众就应该是students了。

3. 根据构词法（转化/派生/合成）

英语中有些单词词形不变，词性却可以由一种转化成另一种，如back 由“背、后面”转义为“后退；支持”。 英语中合成词也多如繁星，大大增加了英语词汇。一般来说，合成词的词义是由其各构成部分得来的，如handshake。而大量的词则是通过在词干上加前缀和后缀派生出的新词，熟练地掌握和运用这种构词法，不仅有益于对生词词义作出科学的推测，有助于阅读理解，而且有益于词汇量的扩充。例如：

（08福建）But child experts are now learning about that too much praise can lead to the opposite effect. Praise-aholic kids who expect it at every turn may become teens who seek the same kind of approval from their friends.

A. Tired of being praised

B. Worthy of being praised

C. Very proud of being praised

D. Extremely fond of being praised

-aholic这一后缀表示有“…癖好的人”，再如workaholic工作狂，alcoholic酒鬼。

4. 忌思维定势

思维定势对于学好英语具有不可否认的促进作用，然而当一个问题的条件发生质的变化时，思维定势会使解题者墨守成规，难以涌出新思维，造成知识和经验的负迁移，增加了学生解题中的失误。以下这些例句中出现的熟词倘若不看语境直接想当然，理解一定会错。

① blue：

— She looks blue today. Whats the matter with her？

— She is in holiday blue.

她今天显得闷闷不乐，出了什么事情？

她得了假期忧郁症。blue： 悲伤的，忧郁的

② a big potato：

I am a small potato， but I want to be a big potato. I'm going to beyond my dream. Beyond！！

a big potato： 大人物；大土豆

③ john：

Tim drank too much water last night， so he went to visit john twice.

john： 厕所（俚语）

④ japan：

Kate： Do you know japan？

Alice： Of course. It lies to the east of China.

Kate： No， japan is not Japan.

Alice： Why？

Kate： Japan just like china， you can use japan to paint your desk， of furniture. Nippon （立邦）， do you know？

japan：日本漆，日本漆器

正因为英语中的一词多义现象是普遍存在的，我们在高中阶段的学习中就应特别注意引导学生重视基础词汇的学习，注意积累，运用各种技巧，结合上下文语境，不断扩充词汇量，尽可能减少“认识单词但不理解意思”的遗憾。不妨从一些简单有趣的开始：dead president美钞；horse sense常识；black tea红茶；sweet water淡水；green hand新手，无经验者；green eyed眼红，嫉妒的；Adams apple喉结；go Dutch AA制；an apple of love西红柿；pull ones leg开玩笑；white elephant无用而累赘的东西。◎