高中英语阅读理解----词义猜测技巧与训练
（一）以定义或定语从句为线索猜测词义
mean(意指)，refer to(指的是)，be defined as (被定义为)，be known as (被称为)，be called (被称为)，或者直接给出be
例 ：The word ecology means the study of the relationship between living things and their surroundings.
在很多情况下,定语从句直接给出了某一生词的定义,所以,以定语从句为线索猜测词义也是一个行之有效的猜词方法。
例1：The scientists who study insects are called entomologists.
分析：根据定语从句提供的线索可以猜出entomologists意为：昆虫学家。
例2：Wrestling is the game which is played by two strong people; one player tried to get the other down on the floor.
分析：通过后面的定义解释：Wrestling是“两人进行的，彼此尽力把对方弄倒在地的比赛”，可以猜出wrestling是“摔跤”。 例3：He was a prestidigitator who entertained the children by pulling rabbits out of hats, swallowing fire, and other similar tricks. 分析：此句中，who 引导的定语从句对生词“prestidigitator”给出了非常清楚的定义或解释，根据这一定义，读者不难猜出 presitidigitator 的词义。能从帽子里拉出兔子、吞火何玩其他类似的把戏的人不就是变戏法的人吗？因此，“prestidigitator”一词的词义就应是“变戏法者”。 （二）以例举为线索猜测词义
恰当的举例能够提供猜测生词的重要线索，表示列举关系的信号词有: like, for example, for instance, such as, include, consist of, 等。
例1：I have found Lucy is quite generous, for example, whenever she meets a beggar, she gives some coins to him. 分析：通过例句“每次遇到乞丐，她都会给一些硬币”可以猜测出“Generous”的词义应该是“慷慨的”。
例2：You can take any of the periodicals：The World Of English, Foreign Language Teaching In School, or English Learning. 分析：通过后面的举例：《英语世界》，《中小学外语教学》，《英语学习》，说明periodicals为“期刊杂志”。
例3：Defined most broadly, folklore includes all the customs, belief and tradition that people have handed down from generation to generation.
此句中，“includes” 后面的例子基本上表示出了“folklore”的内容范围，即人们一代传一代的那些风俗习惯、信仰何传统的东西。这些东西都属于通常所说的“名俗学，民俗传统的东西。这也就是“folklore”一词的基本含义。 （三）以重述叙述与同位关系为线索猜测词义
作者经常使用一些信号词, 这些信号词有: in other words, to put it another way, that is to say, that is, i.e. , to be precise（确切地讲） ，similarly（同样的，类似）, namely等。
在复述中构成同位关系的两部分之间多用逗号连接，有时也使用破折号，冒号，分号，引号，和括号等。 例1：It will be very hard but also very brittle..., that is, it will break easily. 分析：从后面的解释中我们可以了解到brittle 是“脆”的意思。 例2：（2008江苏E）
William Shakespeare said, “Our life is of a mingled yarn (纱线), good and ill together. ’’ The underlined word \A. simple B. mixed C. sad D. happy
分析：选B。由“a mingled yarn”后文的“good and ill together”重复说明可以知道mingled含义 和mixed（混合的）最接近。
例3：Some big companies prefer to employ polyglots as their workers -----those who understand many languages. 分析：破折号解释说明了workers 的含义 。
例4：Suddenly they became the parents of triplet ，two girls and a boy. 分析：根据逗号后的解释可以猜出 triplet 意为：三胞胎。 （四）以同义词、近义词为线索猜测词义
1. or有时可作为识别同义词或近义词的信号词.
2. Like （像......一样），as...as (如同……一样), the same as (与……相同) ，等也可作为识别生词的同义词或近义词的信号词, 以这些词为线索, 推断出生词的词义来。
3. and, not only…but also…
例1：Although he often had the opportunity，Mr. Tritt was never able to steal money from a customer. This would have endangered his position at the bank，and he did not want to jeopardize his future.
分析：作者为避免重复使用endanger一词，用其同义词jeopardize来替代它，“使… 陷入危险，危害”。
例2：The schools are reluctant to take time off----even teachers with tickets for a football game had trouble getting the day off. A. kind B. unwilling C. free D. careless
例3：Animals have different living habits. Some like to look for food at daytime and sleep at night, but some like to sleep at daytime and prowl at night. 分析：通过这些并列句可以看出prowl与look for food 是同义近义词，词义也应该是“寻找食物”。
例4：Mother was tall, fat and middle-aged. The headmaster of the school was an older woman, almost as plump as mother, and
much shorter.
分析：此句中，作者把学校的校长何母亲相比，有相同之处和不同之处。校长比母亲年纪大，个子矮些，但有一点是相同的，用“as...as” 结构表示出来。从这一对比中，可以看出 fat 和 plump 是近义词，plump 一词的意思就能猜出个大概了。
例5：The new tax law supersedes or replaces the law that was in effect last year. 分析：此句中，作者考虑到“supersede”一词可能是生词，紧接着用 or 引出该词的同义词“replace”. 读者课根据replace 一词的词义很容易推断出“supersede” 一词的大概意思来，即“取代，接替”。 （五）以反义词、对比关系为线索猜测词义
有时作者运用对比的手法来表现事物之间的差异。 在进行对比的过程中, 作者必然会用一些互为对应、互为反义的词语, 使不同事物的特点更为突出.通过上下文的逻辑关系, 从对两种事物或现象进行对比的描述中, 读者可以根据其中一个熟悉的词推断出另一个生词的词义来。
常用来表示对应关系和提供相反信息的信号词有: but, yet, however, while, whereas, otherwise, in spite of ，despite， even though, although, though, unlike, instead（of）, rather than , nevertheless, on the contrary等。 例1：She is usually prompt for all her class, but today she arrived in the middle of her first class.
分析：“but”一词表转折，因此but 前后的意思正相反。后半句的意思是她今天“第一节上了一半才来”，因此反向推理，可得出她平时一向“准时”的结论。
例2：Unlike her gregarious sister, Jane is shy, unsociable person who does not like to go to parties or to make new friends. 分析：此句是把Jane与她姐妹对比。Jane生性腼腆，不爱交际，而她姐姐却与之相反，那就是“爱交际的”了。
例3：…However obvious these facts may appear at first glance, they are actually not so obvious as they seem except when we take special pains to think about the subject. In Paragraph 3, “take special pains” probably means “_____”.
A. try very hard B. take our time C. are very unhappy D. feel especially painful
分析：选A。由However从句当中的at first glance（乍一眼看上去），与下文中的take special pains进行对比，既然不是一眼就看出那么简单，那么自然要费力去想了。由此可以推断出A项为最佳选项。
例4：In the past the world seemed to run in an orderly way. Now, however, everything seems to be in a state of turmoil.
此句中，以信号词 however 为线索，可以看出作者把现在的事情与过去进行对比。过去是“in an orderly way\而现在是 ”in a state of turmoil\ 过去是秩序井然，现在则是相反，那就是一片混乱。 （六）利用因果，条件等逻辑关系及上下文语境猜测词义
任何一篇文章中的句子在内容上都不是孤立的，都与句子所在的段落和整篇文章有关，我们可以利用上下文提供的情景和线索，进行合乎逻辑的综合分析而猜测词义。
例1 Another habit which can slow your reading is called“subvocalization”。 In this case your lips do not move，but you still “hear” each word in your head as you read silently.
例2 Since I could not afford to purchase the original painting，I bought a replica. An inexperienced eye can`t tell the difference. 例 3 He looked quite nervous and he had been talking for a minute or so before i could understand anything .Even then all i could make out was that someone called Milly had a very bad accident . A see clearly B understand C expect D tell （七）利用构词法猜测词义
此法包括利用前、后缀及合成词猜测词义。