猜词—成功阅读的基石

福建省龙海一中 王美珍

词汇是语言最基本的要素，英语教学离不开词汇教学。学生在阅读文章经常会碰到一些生词或是熟词生义的单词，不可能全部依赖字典，这就需要学生通过一些技巧来猜测词义，从而达到有效阅读的目的。熟词生义也是近年高考的考查要点，而学生的得分率却比较低。如何猜测词在文章中的正确含义，需要学生学会在阅读过程中根据阅读材料提供的背景知识和相关信息，进行分析、推敲，而不可仅仅凭借自己所了解的词义来确定其意思，那么如何进行有效性猜词，以下几种方法对学生将有所帮助。

一、利用上下文语境猜测词义

例如：Some need coffee in the morning. I need the newspaper, except when I’m on vacation. Then I trade the routine for coffee, unless the hotel hangs a newspaper on my door.

题目：The underlined part “the routine”refers to _________.

A. reading the newspaper B. surfing the Internet

C. eating bread for breakfast D. hanging a newspaper on the door

我每天看报纸，除非度假。可见我的常规就是看报纸，除非度假时只好用喝咖啡取代看报纸。故选择A.

又如：Scientists in Israel have discovered a new way to test for water pollution by “listening to” what the plants growing in water have to say.By shining a laser beam on the tiny pieces of algae floating in the water, the researchers said they hear sound waves that tell them the type and amount of contamination in the water.

题目：The underlined word “contamination” in Paragraph1 probably means______

A. pollution B. oxygen C. waste D. population

选择A。上文说发现一种通过听水中植物的声音来检测水污染，后面研究人员说他们通过声波知道水中污染的类型和数量，可见contamination 与pollution 同义。

二、利用文中的举例猜测词义

常见的举例提示词有：for example, such as, for instance ,like等。如：

Although the hazards of the trip were many–for example, the unbearable heat, the lack of water, the possibility of getting lost, the presence of wild animals and poisonous snakes---Collins nevertheless decided that she must go.

The underlined word “hazards” in Paragraph1 probably means______

A. pleasures B. conveniences C. dangers D. equipment

从for example 后面举的例子，如高温，缺水，迷路，遇见野兽，毒蛇，可知这些都是旅程中遇到的危险。

三、利用文中的反义词猜测词义。表示对比的词如but,while, however, otherwise 等。

如：It leads men to eat more light meals, such as salads, fruit and vegetables, while women choose to make creamer, heavier dishes like curry or rich pasta sauces, which may please their partners.

The underlined word “light” in Paragraph 4 probably means______.

A. not very heavy in weight B. less in fat and sugar

C. gentle D. not serious or important

从下文（while）女性选择口味重的饮食，推出前一句讲男性吃清淡口味(B)。

四、利用文中说明词义的同位语或定语，猜测词义，有时也会用破折号提示

如：Nearby is the race course, where the town’s most famous car race is held each year on May 30th.

The underlined word “course” in Paragraph 4 probably means______.

A. 过程 B. 课程 C. 航线 D. 跑道从文中where引导定语从句修饰course, 推测course应是汽车赛举行的地点（D）。

五、利用下文下定义的句子来猜测词义

Winter in many places means ice skating,sledding and snowball fights. But unless someone

is prepared, outdoor fun can also mean frostbite. Today we talk about how to stay warm,dry and safe. Frostbite is damage that happens when skin is exposed to extreme cold for too long. It mainly happens on the hands, feet, nose and ears.

The underlined word “frostbite” most probably means_________.

A. injured by freezing B. damage by sweating

C. injure by cutting D. damage by hitting

从下句“Frostbite is damage that happens when skin is exposed to extreme cold for too long.”这是对frostbite 下定义，所以明显是冻伤。

六、利用句间关系，也就是句法来判断

句与句之间的关系共有五大类：因果关系，比较关系，否定关系，转折关系和并列关

系。有时候句子中某个单词不认识，却可以通过句法判断出来。

如A good manager can recognize instantly the adept workers from unskilled ones. 通过对比，不难猜出“adept”的意思与“unskilled”正相反。

总之，词汇一直是贯穿英语学习的重中之重，教师可以引导学生在阅读时，应用猜测

词义的方法，发现规律，寻找技巧，从而积累词汇，正确理解文章，最终达到有效阅读的目的。