六种猜词技巧助力2018高考

⊙ 籍万杰 山东省临沂市费县第一中学高级教师

猜测词义既是阅读理解的一项重要技能，也是高考考查的阅读题型之一。很多考生不具备系统的猜词技巧，只会根据字面意思或上下文进行猜测，这就容易造成失误。下面给同学们提供六种猜词技巧，希望能够为大家助力2018年高考。

一、释义法

在科技说明文中，作者通常会对一些关键词或专业术语进行解释——常见的有对该名词下定义，或后跟同位语、定语从句，或用冒号、破折号引出并加以解释说明。通过阅读定义和解释，我们便可理解该词或短语的意思。

例1（2017年天津卷，C篇）

What does the phrase “death valley” in Paragraph 2 refer to?A. A place where cars often break down.

B. A case where passing a law is impossible.C. An area where no driving is permitted.

D. A situation where drivers’ role is not clear.

解析：D。请看原文第二段：The proposal attempts to deal with what some call the “death valley” of autonomous vehicles: the grey area between semi-autonomous and fully driverless cars that could delay the driverless future.

文中的冒号正是解释说明的标志。根据冒号后面的内容可知，death valley指的是半自动驾驶与无人驾驶汽车之间的区域（界限不明、难以界定），故可推断这里讲的是驾驶员的角色不明朗，D项描述与之吻合。

例2（2015年江苏卷，D篇）

What does the underlined word “tyrannies” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A. Countries where their people need help.B. Powerful states with higher civilization.

C. Splendid empires where people enjoy freedom.

D. Governments ruled with absolute power.

解析：D。请看原文：Some 2,500 years ago Greece discovered freedom.Before that there was no freedom. There were great civilizations, splendid empires, but no freedom anywhere. Egypt and Babylon were both tyrannies,one very powerful man ruling over helpless masses.

本题可用释义法进行解答。原文在所猜测单词tyrannies的后面用同位语进行了解释：one very powerful man ruling over helpless masses（一个很有权势的人统治着无助的大众），因此选择D项。

二、构词法

在英语中，我们可以通过添加词缀或合成的方式构成一个新词。所以，考生只要熟记一定数量的词根、前缀与后缀，就能够对单词进行“解剖”，进而对一个生词“望文生义”，从而提高阅读理解能力。

例3（2016年全国卷II，B篇）

What does the underlined word “downside” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A. Mistake. B. Drawback. C. Dif fi culty. D. Burden.

解析：B。请看原文：Encouraging this kind of thinking has a downside.I ran the risk of losing those students who had a different style of thinking.Without fail one would declare, “But I’m just not creative.”

Downside是由down（向下）+ side（方面）构成的合成词，再结合下文——作者要冒着失去那些有不同思维风格的学生的风险，可以推测出该词的意思是“不足，缺点”，故选B项。

三、因果法

若文章的前后句之间构成了因果关系，我们也可以根据这种因果逻辑推知单词或短语的意义——根据前面的原因可以推测后面的结果，根据后面的结果也可以反推前面的原因。因果关系通常由because、so、thus、therefore、as a result of、since、so that、so/such...that...等标志词体现。

例4（2016年全国卷III，C篇）

What does the underlined phrase “a pipe dream” in Paragraph 3 mean?A. A practical idea. B. A vain hope.

C. A brilliant plan. D. A sel fi sh desire.

解析：B。请看原文：There are also varieties developed to suit specific local conditions. One of the very best varieties for eating quality is Orleans Reinette, but you’ll need a warm, sheltered place with perfect soil to grow it, so it’s a pipe dream for most apple lovers who fall for it.

由标志词so可知，此处可根据因果关系解题。由so前面的原因部分可知，Orleans Reinette这个品种虽然口感好，但是对种植环境和土壤要求高，因此对于大多数喜欢它的人来说，大饱口福只是一种脱离实际的愿望，与B项一致。

四、同义法

在画线的单词、短语前后，有时会出现与之同义或近义的词语或结构，它往往暗示了该单词或短语的含义，这时可从熟悉的词语中推知生词的含义。常见表示同义关系的词和短语有and、or、like、as well、similarly、too、also、either等。当画线的单词短语与其他单词短语有并列连词或者表示相同、相似关系的副词连接时，就表示这两项内容在含义上较为接近，由此可推知其大致意思。

例5（2015年四川卷，D篇）

What does the underlined word “nocturnal” in Paragraph 5 mean?A. Active at night. B. Inactive at night.

C. Active during the day. D. Inactive during the day.

解析：A。请看原文：And it is not just robins that are being kept awake by arti fi cial light. Blackbirds and seagulls are also being more nocturnal.

前一句说“不仅知更鸟在人造光下会一直醒着”，下文的also表明后半句提到的内容与前面所表达的意思相近——通过前一句的awake，我们可以推断出nocturnal的意思应为“夜间活动的”，故选A项。

五、反义法

运用转折对比描述事物或现象是文章写作的一种常用手法。作者常借用一些信号词来提供相反的信息，从而表明一个词语与另一个词语互为反义、转折，或对比关系。抓住这些信号词，再结合上下文，就能快速推测词义。能体现对比关系的词有很多，常见的有but、yet、however、while、unlike、instead (of)、on the other hand、rather than、on the contrary等。

例6（2017年全国卷III，C篇）

What does the underlined word “displaced” in paragraph 2 mean?A. Tested. B. Separated. C. Forced out. D. Tracked down.

解析：C。请看原文：Gray wolves once were seen here and there in the Yellowstone area and much of the continental United States, but gradually displaced by human development.

原文中的but提示其前后是转折对比关系。前文提到灰狼曾经在黄石公园和美国大陆的绝大部分地区随处可见，后面却话锋一转——因为人类的发展，灰狼逐渐失去领地，故选C项。

六、语境法

还有些题目比较“隐蔽”，找不到以上的标志或线索，这时我们可以利用上下文提供的语境，进行合乎逻辑的综合分析，进而推测词义句意，这也是近几年高考考查的热点。

例7（2017年全国卷I，D篇）

What does the underlined phrase “the water catcher” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A. The tube. B. The still. C. The hole. D. The cup.

解析：B。请看原文：To construct a working still, use a sharp stick or rock to dig a hole four feet across and three feet deep. Try to make the hole in a damp area to increase the water catcher’s productivity.

原文是一篇说明文，告诉我们在难以获得饮用水的情况下，自制一个太阳能蒸馏器是获得饮用水的最佳办法之一。通过上下文可知，画线部分指的应该是前文的a working still（一个起作用的蒸馏器），故选B项。

例8（2017年全国卷II，D篇）

What does the author mean by “the tables are turned” in paragraph 3?A. The attackers get attacked.

B. The insects gather under the table.C. The plants get ready to fi ght back.

D. The perfumes attract natural enemies.

解析：A。请看原文第三段：Some plants pump out smelly chemicals to keep insects away. But others do double duty. They pump out perfumes designed to attract different insects who are natural enemies to the attackers. Once they arrive, the tables are turned. The attacker who was lunching now becomes lunch.

这里讲的是有些植物为了对付攻击自己的昆虫，会释放出一种香味，将虫子的天敌吸引过来——天敌一旦到场，局势就会瞬间扭转，攻击者变成了别人的午餐，故选A项。