专家传授：2010年考研英语阅读方法与技巧

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　　 阅读中所遇到的生词不是孤立地出现在文章里，而是总存在于具体的语篇之中受一定的情景、上下文限制。因此可利用生词所在的上下文或前后句来推测并确定其词义。这也正是大纲规定的命题人必考的一个考点。

　　1. 上下文猜词法——定义法

　　根据上下文以生词的定义为线索猜测词义是进行快速阅读时最常见、最直接的一种猜词方法。所谓定义就是对文章中出现的生词、词组或术语进行解释。解释定义的方法有两种：一种是用表示定义的词语或短语来叙述，这些定义常有一些标志性的语言，如，be，mean，refer to，to be defined as，be known as，be called，be termed…等等。还有一种就是用标点符号来引出对生词的解释，如逗号、冒号、破折号、括号等。

　　[例1] Ventilation, as you know, is a system or means of providing fresh air. It plays a very important part in the field of engineering。

　　[解析] 我们可能不认识Ventilation这个词，但通过be (在此句中是is) 的明确定义，我们不难猜测出它是 “通风” 的意思。

　　[例2] The principal——money he put in his savings account to earn interest was safe----even though the bank was closed by the police。

　　[解析] 此句中我们可能不知道principal的意思，但破折号引出的话都是对它进行解释的同位语：他放在存款账户上用以挣利息的钱。因此principal的含义即为本金。

　　真题演练：

　　Wild Bill Donovan would have loved the Internet. The American spymaster who built the Office of Strategic Services in World War II and later laid the roots for the CIA was fascinated with information. Donovan believed in using whatever tools came to hand in the “great game” of espionage——spying as a “profession。” (2003)

　　2. 上下文猜词法——举例法

　　有时为了进一步说明某一生词，作者会采取举例的方式来对它进行具体的说明和解释，从而使读者更容易加深理解。理解了这些例子的意思，便可以归纳出词的含义，表示举例的连接词有：for example，for instance，such as, like，include，Just as， in such cases，including…等等。

　　[例1] The remuneration for many jobs can vary greatly. For example, one can earn the minimum wage at the Pizza Pub, $5.50 an hour at a department store, or $ 4.50 an hour at the Bargain Toy store。

　　[解析] 在此句中，remuneration可能是生词。举例连接词for example引出了三个例子；wage, $5.50和$4.50。通过对所举范例的理解可推断出remuneration的大意是“报酬”。

　　[例2] Alibi was substantiated when John's friends offered personal testimony, letters of documentation, and three video tapes showing that he was present at the party。

　　[解析] 句中虽然我们看不到表示列举的标志词，但由 “约翰父亲的证言、档案信件和三盘显示他当时就在晚会现场的录像带” 这三个事例同样可以推断substantiate(证实)的意思。

　　真题演练：

　　Hunting for a job late last year, lawyer Gant Redmon stumbled across Career Builder, a job database on the Internet. He searched it with no success but was attracted by the site's "personal search agent". It's an interactive feature that lets visitors key in job criteria such as location, title, and salary, then E-mails them when a matching position is posted in the database. (2004)