阅读理解的应试技巧与策略

    2. 利用构词法确定词义

    通过观察构词部分，分析辨认单词，是提高阅读速度的技巧之一。一方面，读者不必停下来查词典，继续往下读；另一方面，也大大增加了读者的词汇量，读者通过已知词缀（包括前缀和后缀）和已知词根就能很好地猜出生词的含义。

    例1：Many cancers have been arrested with the use of chemotherapy.

    Chemotherapy 是由chemo（意为chemical）和therapy (意为treatment），整个单词意思就是“化学疗法”。

    例2：They overestimate the interviewee’s ability and asked turn many difficult questions.

    overestimate ＝over (过分、过度)＋estimate (估计)。因此overestimate的词义可猜测为“过高估计”。

    例3：The murderer had developed a poison which could not be tasted or smelled when mixed with food. Because it was imperceptible, he was able to murder a number of people without being caught.

    句中的imperceptible 一词由前缀im-（非，不）＋词根percept（感知、觉察）＋后缀 -ible（能……的）构成。几部分组合在一起，也就是“难以觉察的”之意。

    例4：Social science is that branch of intellectual enquiry which seeks to study humans and their endeavors in the same reasoned, orderly, systematic, and dispassioned manner that natural scientists use for the study of natural phenomena.  (2003考研英语第62题)

    其中的dispassioned为超纲词，我们可根据构词法dis + passion + ed知其大概意思：除掉激情的，也即是“冷静的”。

3. 利用语法知识确定词义

    在很多情况下，各种语法知识可以帮助我们来判断词性、词义。

    例1：This set of books is for children. The first book of the sequence, which is one of the most popular series of children’s stories, is a group of stories about the inhabitants of a village.

    假定我们不认识sequence，利用定语从句which is one of the most popular series of children’s stories, 其中series就与sequence 同义，也就是“丛书”的意思。

    例2：For their fishing and hunting the men used a kayak, a small boat for one person.

    利用同位语a small boat for one person我们知道kayak是一种单人小船。

    例3：A solar eclipse—when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun—in an unusual and interesting phenomenon that occurs rarely.

    通过破折号解释我们知道solar eclipse为“日食”。

    例4：Ventilation, as we know, is a system or means of provid-ing fresh air. It plays a very important part in the field of engineering.

    通过后面的解释我们知道Ventilation为“通风，流通空气”之意。

    例5：The modern age of medicine began with the stethoscope, an instrument for listening to a patient’s heartbeat and breathing.

     Stethoscope一词大家都不熟悉，通过后面的同位语解释an instrument for listening to a patient’s heartbeat and breathing，我们便能理解stethoscope的确切词义，即“听诊器”或“听筒”的意思。

    4. 根据同义、反义关系确定词义

    阅读中，特别是要注意表示反意的信号词：in contrast, on the other hand, rather than, however, yet, although, while, unlike, but, whereas, as opposed to等，利用这些同义、反义关系，可以帮助我们确定词义。

    例1：My sister Mane is an optimist, while her boyfriend is one who is always gloomy and expects the worst to happen.

    从while的转折关系可知optimist意思是“one who expects the best’’, 即“乐观的”。

    例2：Mother was tall, fat, and middle aged. The principal of the school was an older woman, almost as plump as Mother, and much shorter.

    根据Mother was tall, fat 以及后面as plump as的同义关系，我们知道plump为“丰满的”之意。

     例3：Sally liked to concoct all sorts of stories, but her mother always knew when she was lying.

    concoct一词大家不熟悉，根据but的转折关系我们知道在此句中与was lying的含义大体相同，由此可知concoct的大概意思是“编造谎话”。

    例4：A gorilla always makes me think of the word aloof—not friendly, of distance from others.

    假定我们不认识aloof一词，破折号后的反义关系：“不友好，冷漠” 就解释了aloof一词的含义。

    5. 利用逻辑推理和常识确定词义

    有时候，逻辑推理和自身的生活经验及普通常识能帮助我们确定词义。

    例1：Fishes live in water and have fins which help them to swim. Most fishes have slimy skins covered with scales, but in fishes such as eels the scales are very small and can hardly be seen.

    凭常识我们不难猜出fins, slimy和scales的确切意思分别是“鳍”、“滑溜的”和“鳞”，对于eels一词，我们只需知道是fish的一种（鳝鱼类）就行了。

    例2：Not wanting to disturb the sleeping kitten, I gingerly lifted her from the box and put her on a blanket near the heater.

    根据前半句的Not wanting to disturb（不愿打扰），我们便可大致推测出gingerly一词的含义：“小心翼翼地”。

    例3：A mercury thermometer is made of a glass tube with a bulb at one end.

    凭常识我们知道温度计下面的bulb是“水银球”。

    例4：Most troubles can be avoided, but death and taxes are in-evitable.

    凭常识我们知道死亡和税收是不可避免的（in-evitable）事情。