高考英语猜测词义
在阅读中我们经常会遇到许多生词。这时许多同学立即翻阅词典，查找词义。这样做不但费时费力，而且影响阅读速度、影响对语篇的整体把握。事实上，阅读材料中的每个词与它前后的词语或句子甚至段落都有联系。我们可以利用语境（各种已知信息）推测、判断某些生词的词义。近年来全国统一高考中加大了对考生猜词义能力的考查，因此，掌握一定的猜词技巧，对突破高考阅读理解、提高我们的英语语言能力都有非常重要的意义。
这种题常见的提问方式有：
The word “…” in paragraph … can best be replaced by … ….
The underlined word “…” most probably means ….
By saying “…”, the author means …
The expression “…” is closest to …
According to the passage, the phrase “…” suggests …
The underlined part “… …” (in Para. … ) means …..
做这种类型的题，要根据词、词组、句子所在的语境来判断其意义。因此熟练掌握一些猜词技巧是做好这类题的关键。命题者在出这类题时惯用常规词义来麻痹考生，我们要特别注意熟词生义，切不可脱离语境想当然。
猜测词义时，一般可利用以下三个方面的线索：
一． 针对性的解释
针对性解释是作者为了更好的表达思想，在文章中对一些重要的概念、难懂的术语或高深的词汇等所做的通俗化的解释。这些解释提供的信息明确具体，所使用的语言通俗易懂，利用它们来猜测词义就非常简单。
1．根据定义（definition）猜测词义
如果生词有一个句子或段落来定义，那么理解这个句子或段落本身就是推断词义。
定义常用的谓语动词多为：be, mean, deal with, be considered, to be, be called, define, represent, refer to, signify 等。
例如：Do you know what a “territory” is ? A territory is an area that an animal ,usually the male, claims（声称）as its own.
由定义可推知，这里territory指的是：“动物的地盘”。
Green building means “reducing the impact (影响) of the building on the land”.
由定义我们可以推断这里 Green building 指的是什么。
2．根据复述推测词义
虽然复述不如定义那样严谨、详细，但是它提供的信息可以为阅读者猜测词义提供依据，至少读者可以根据复述猜测生词的大致“义域”（意义范围）。复述部分可以是词、短语、或从句。
同位语复述：在复述中构成同位关系的两部分之间常用逗号连接，有时也使用破折号，冒号，分号，引号和括号等。同位语前常有 or, similarly, that is to say, in other words, namely, or other, say, i.e. 等。
例如：In fact, only about 80 ocelots, an endangered wild cat, exist in the U.S. today．
由同位语an endangered wild cat我们很快猜出生词ocelots的义域：一种濒临灭绝野猫。
定语从句复述：
例如：Here is The Pines ,whose cook has developed a special way of mixing foreign food such as caribou ,wild boar ,and reindeer with surprising sauces .
According 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
通过whose引导的定语从句，我们可以推测到：The Pines 是一家餐馆的名字，由此不难推出理解题的答案为：D。
3．根据举例猜测词义
恰当的举例能够提供猜测生词的重要线索。
例如：The course gives you chances to know great power polities between nation states. It will provide more space to study particular issues such as relationship among countries in the European Union, third world debt, local and international disagreement, and the work of such international bodies as the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, and the World Bank.
根据such as 后面列举的一系列例子，我们应该能推断出句中的issue 是指“议题”。
二． 内在逻辑关系
根据内在逻辑关系推测词义是指应用语言知识分析和判断相关信息之间存在的逻辑关系，然后根据逻辑联系推断生词词义或大致义域。
1．根据对比关系猜测词义
在一个句子或段落中，有对两个事物或现象进行对比性的描述，我们可以根据生词的反义词猜测其词义。表示对比关系的词汇和短语主要有：unlike, not, but, however, despite, in spite of, in contrast 等。表示对比关系的句子结构：while 引导的并列句。
例如：A child’s birthday party doesn’t have to be a hassle; it can be a basket of fun.
What does the underlined word “hassle” (paragraph 1) probably mean?
A. a party designed by specialists
B. a plan requiring careful thought
C. a situation causing difficulty or trouble
D. a demand made by guests
根据对比关系，这里hassle 和 a basket of fun 是相反的意义，很容易判断理解题的答案为C。
2．根据比较关系猜测词义
同对比关系相反，比较关系表示意义上的相似关系。表示比较关系的词和短语主要有：similarly, like, just as, also, as well as 等。
例如：Green loves to talk, and his brothers are similarly loquacious.
该句中副词similarly表明短语loves to talk和loquacious 之间的比较关系，其意义相近。由此我们可推断出loquacious的意思是“健谈的”。
3．根据因果关系猜测词义
在句子或段落中，若两个事物现象之间构成因果关系，我们可以根据这种逻辑关系推测生词词义。
例如：I feel that since you are my superior , it would be presumptuous of me to tell you what to do .”
The word “presumptuous” in the middle of the passage is closest in meaning to “ ”.
A．full of respect
B．too confident and rude
C．lacking in experience
D．too shy and quiet
根据since 引导的原因状语从句的内容（“既然你是我的上司”），我们可以推断这里presumptuous的意思是：“冒失的，放肆的”意思，后半句的意思是：我告诉你怎么做会是一种放肆/冒失的行为。对应的理解题答案为：B。
Pruning is important because it encourages the growth of tender shoots, or young leaves.
根据原因状语从句的内容，我们可以判断Pruning的意思是：“修剪（树枝等）”的意思。
4．根据同义、近义、并列、替代、说明等关系猜测词义
在句子或段落中，我们可以利用熟悉的词语，根据语言环境所表示的关系推断生词词义。
例如：William Shakespeare said. “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn（纱线），good and ill together.”
The underlined word “mingled” in the last paragraph most probably means .
A．simple B．mixed C．sad D．happy
句中good and ill together 更具体地说明了 a mingled yarn的意义，据此我们不难推测mingled的意思是：“混合的，交织的”，答案是：B。
Is it possible to beat high blood pressure without drugs ? The answer is “yes”, according to the researchers at Johns Hopkins and three other medical centers.
根据and three other medical centers 这种并列关系，我们很容易推断出：Johns Hopkins 是一家医疗中心。
三． 通过构词法
在猜测词义过程中，我们还可以依靠构词法方面的知识，从(本文来自：WwW.dXf5.coM 东星 资源网:高考英语猜测词义)生词本身猜测词义。
1．根据前缀猜测词义
例如：Do you have any strong opinion on co-educational or single-sex schools?
根据词根educational （教育的），结合前缀co-（共同，一起），我们便可以猜出co-educational的意思是：“男女同校教育的”意思。
2．根据后缀猜测词义
例如：It"s a quiet, comfortable hotel overlooking (俯瞰) the bay in an uncommercialized Cornish fishing village on England"s most southerly point．
后缀 -ise/ize意思是“使成为…；使…化”，结合词根commercial（商业的），不难猜出 uncommercialized 的意思是：“未被商业化的”。
3．根据复合词的各部分猜测词义
例如：Good tool design is important in the prevention of overuse injuries. Well – designed tools and equipment will require less force to operate them and prevent awkward（别扭的）hand positions.
Well-designed 或许是个生词，但我们分析该词的结构后，就能推测出其含义。它由well （好，优秀）和design （设计）两部分组成，合在一起便是“设计精巧的”意思。
We live in a technological society where most goods are mass-produced by unskilled labor. Because of this, most people that craft (手艺) no longer exists.
根据合成词中的mass （大量的）和produce （生产），我们可以推测 mass-produce的意思是：“大批量生产；规模生产”的意思。
综上所述，利用各种已知的信息推测判断生词词义是一项重要的阅读技能。在阅读中我们可以根据实际灵活应用上面提到的几种猜词技巧，排除生词的干扰，理解文章的思想，提高阅读速度，同时，提高我们在高考阅读理解中的得分率。
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3.对具体语境下的特定句子的猜测，如(上海高考73题)：By saying It could be your grandchildren s stamp , Mr Saunders means that forever stamps...【解题技巧】 利用同义词、近义词、反义词猜测词义在生词所出现的上下文中，有时会出现与之同义、近义或反义的词语或语句，此时可以通过熟悉的词语以及它们之间的关系来推知生词在文段中的含义。 利用定义或解释猜测词义有些阅读中的生词，尤其是新闻报道及科普类文章中的生词，往往在其后有对该词进行解释说明的短语或句子。常见的提示词(语)有to be, to do, that is, stand for, namely, to refer to, to mean, in other words等，有时也以同位语(从句)、定语从句的形式出现，或用破折号、括号来引出。 利用举例说明猜测词义为了说明或证实，文章中经常会举例子，而这些例子可帮助我们猜测生词的意思。 利用上下文猜测词义理解文章离不开语境，因此在阅读的过程中，我们可以利用上下文形成的语境对生词词义进行合理的猜测。 利用逻辑关系猜测词义有时我们可以结合上下文的因果、递进、对比、转折或同位等逻辑关系来进行推断。 利用构词法猜测词义阅读中经常会遇到一些由所熟悉的单词派生或合成的新词，这时可利用构词法来推测其意思。考生需要掌握的是前缀、后缀和复合词。前缀一般不改变词性而只是改变词的意义;后缀一般改变词性;复合词是由两个或两个以上单词组成的，其词义往往通过其组合部分来确定。【具体说明】一、利用上下文存在的因果关系猜测词义例1：It was a cold night in Washington, D.C., and I was heading back to the hotel when a man approached me. He asked if I would give him some money so he could get something to eat. I d read the signs： Don t give money to beggars as most of them are swindlers. So I shook my head and kept walking.66. The underlined word swindlers in the first paragraph is closest in meaning to .A. policemen B. writersC. cheaters D. beggars解析：该题的解题关键线索在于as所连接的前果后因关系;以及so所连接的与前一句之间的前因后果关系，所以该题答案为C。有时，上下文之间的因果关系不一定会用明显的连接词表示，此时需要考生仔细推敲，如：例2： Previous research has explained why rewarding children for sharing can backfire. Children come to think of themselves as people who don t like to share since they had to be rewarded for doing so. Because they don t view themselves as sharers they are less likely to share in the future.75.The underlined word backfire means .A. serve as a pushB. have an opposite effectC. cause angerD. avoid taking things back解析：从语意上说， Children come to think of... 这句虽然没有because等连接词，但体现的意义就是对前句的原因的说明。所以该题答案为B。二、利用上下文存在的对比关系猜测词义例3：Electric cars are dirty. In fact, not only are they dirty, they might even be dirtier than their gasoline-powered cousins.People in California love to talk about zero-emissions(零排放的) vehicles, but people in California seem to be clueless about where electricity comes from. Almost all power plants use fire to make it. Aside from the few folks who have their roofs covered with solar cells, we get our electricity from generators(发电机). Generators are fueled by something usually coal, oil, but also by heat generated in nuclear power plants.70. Which of the following words can replace be clueless about in paragraph 2?A. Be familiar with.B. Be curious about.C. Show their interest in.D. Fail to understand.解析：该题的关键解题线索在于对but表示的转折关系的把握。从句意上看，almost all power plants...起到对电力的来源进行解释的作用，所以该题答案为D。三、利用上下文的排比关系猜测词义例4：You feel happiest when you create a healthy balance between giving and receiving. If you give and give without making time to fill your own needs, then it s likely you will burn out, or feel upset. If you take and take without giving anything back, you never feel fulfilled, so you are always searching for ways to fill the void in your life.The underlined word void in the paragraph means?A. a feeling of emptinessB. an absence of one s mindC. a break of continuityD. a state of confusion解析：该题即属于利用排比结构所体现出的意义对比猜测词义的例子。该题答案为A。四、利用其他手段猜测词义除以上方法外，还可以利用上下文的解释性定语从句、同位语(从句)等以及用来起到解释和说明作用的破折号、冒号、分号、引号等标点符号进行推测和判断词汇的语境意义。如：例5：The largest player Shanghai Bashi Tourist Car Rental Center offers a wide variety of choices deluxe sedans, minivans, station wagons, coaches.The words deluxe sedans , minivans and station wagons used in the passage refer to ?A.cars in the makingB.car rental firmsC.cars for rentD.car makers解析：本句的两个破折号都是起解释作用的。第二个破折号后面对choices进行解释。由此我们可以推测出，破折号后面的内容是汽车出租公司所提供的汽车种类。由此本题的答案是C。例6： Capacitance，or the ability to store electric charge, is one of the most common characteristics of electronic circuits.What does the word capacitance mean in the paragraph?解析：由or后面的同位语the ability to store electriccharge可以猜出capacitance 的词义是 电容量 。需要注意，同位语常与or, similarly, that is to say, inother words, namely等词或短语同时出现。