多種途徑猜測單詞詞義

閱讀理解題中所設置的詞義猜測題多是對生詞、短語、指示代詞的猜測。一方面，命題者要求考生所猜測的單詞或短語可能是已學過的或是考生較熟悉的，但高考所考查的是不太常見的意思；另一方面命題者要求考生所猜測的單詞或短語可能是考生沒有學過的。此時，對單詞或短語的猜測不要停留在字面上，要根據語境來判斷。

定義、描述法

如果生詞有一個句子（定語從句或是同位語，同位語前常有or，similarly，that is to say，in other words，namely，or other，say等，或是同位語從句）或段落來定義，或使用破折號、冒號、分號后的內容和引號、括號中的內容加以解釋和定義，那么理解這個句子或段落本身就是推斷詞義。定義常用的謂語動詞多為：be，mean，deal with，be considered，to be，be called，define，represent，refer to，signify等。

此外，描述性的文字對猜測詞義也有很大的幫助。考生在閱讀的過程中不能操之過急，如果通過閱讀所猜測單詞上下文的句子，無法確定單詞的意義，那么請繼續往下讀。

例1.原文：Here is The Pines，whose cook has de-

veloped a special way of mixing foreign food such as caribou，wild boar，and reindeer with surprising sauces.

設問：According to the passage，The Pines is a .

A. place in which you can see many mobile homes

B. mountain where you can get a good view of the valley

C. town which happens to be near the Banff National Park

D. restaurant where you can ask for some special kinds of food

解析：通過whose引導的定語從句，我們可以推測到：The Pines 是一家餐館的名字。

答案：D

例2．（2012年上海卷66）原文：①Phil White has just returned from an 18，000-mile， around-the-world bicycle trip. White had two reasons for making this epic journey．．．．

②．．．

③The journey was lonely and desperate at times.He also had to fight his way across deserts，through jungles and over mountains. He cycled through heavy rains and temperatures of up t0 45 degrees，all to help people in need．There were other dangers along the road.

設問：What does the word “epic” in Paragraph l most probably mean？

A. Very slow but exciting．

B. Very long and difficult．

C. Very smooth but tiring．

D. Very lonely and depressing．

解析：根據第①段的18，000-mile，以及第③段第一行和第二行fight his way across deserts，through jungles and over mountains，heavy rains和 up to 45 degrees可知，這一次旅行時間長，并且充滿了困難，由此可知，epic的意思為very long and difficult。

答案：B

例3．（2012年廣東卷33）原文：Well，at last we have copper-bottomed research that supports demand feeding and points out the weaknesses of strictly timed feeding.The research finds out that babies who are fed on demand do better at school at age 5，7，11 and 14，than babies fed according to the clock．By the age of 8，their IQ（智商） scores are four to five percent higher than babies fed by a rigid timetable．This research comes from Oxford and Essex University using a sample（樣本）of 10，419 children born in the early 1990s，taking account of parental education，family income，a child’ s sex and age，the mother’ s health and feeling style．．．．

設問：The word copper-bottomed in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _________．

A. basic B. reliable

C. surprising D. interesting

解析：本文是一篇議論文。作者在首段提出論點——反對定期喂養嬰兒，應該按需喂養嬰兒。接下來提出了各種論據。在第四段中，作者提供了一些調查結果。根據第四段對實驗的具體描述可知，有可靠的調查結果來支持按需喂養是科學的。……