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?？忌陂喿x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(xù)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(yǎng)嬰兒，應該按需喂養(yǎng)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(yǎng)是科學的。故copper-bottomed應與reliable（可靠）同義。其實考生在此也可以根據常識來大膽猜測，既然作者要別人支持他的觀點，那么他提供的實驗數據和調查結果要求一定是可靠的。

答案：B

舉例法

恰當的舉例也是猜測生詞的重要線索。有時文中出現一些結論性的詞匯，然后通過舉例的方式對所列詞匯進行具體的例證說明。做題時，考生可以通過作者所列舉的具體詞匯分析其共同點，抓住其共性，推測出所給詞匯的意義；有時候考生需要結合上下文的語境獲取答案。舉例的地方，通常有一些明顯的標志性詞語，如such as，for example等。

例4．（2012年重慶卷74）原文：There are no obvious limits to the escalation of demand for quality. For example，porsche famous car producer，has a model which was considered perhaps the best sport car on the mark Priced at over $120，000，it handles perfectly well and has great speed acceleration. But in 200 the producer introduced some changes which made the model slightly better in handling acceleration. People who really care about cars find these small improvements exciting. To them，however，they must pay almost four times the price．

By placing the desire to be superior to other at the heart of his description of insatiable demands，Keynes actually reduced such demands. However，the desire for higher quality has natural limits．

設問：What does the underlined word “escalation” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A. Understanding B. Increase

C. Difference D. Study

解析：根據本段所舉例子“新款保時捷較老款在操控和提速上有所改進，追求品質的人們會不惜重金換新車”可知，人們是對品質有更高的追求；再結合最后一段中最后一句的“the desire for higher quality”可知，此處的escalation 應該意為“提高，增加”，即increase。

答案：B

例5．（2012年福建卷68）原文：Put simply，the existence of mirror neurons suggests that every time we see someone else do something，our brains imitate（模仿）it，whether or not we actually perform the same action．．．．

Mirror neurons can undoubtedly be found all over our brains，but especially in the areas which relate to our ability to use languages，and to understand how other people feel. Researchers have found that mirror neurons relate strongly to language. A group of researchers discovered that if they gave people sentences to listen to （for example：“The hand took hold of the ball”），the same mirror neurons were triggered as when the action was actually performed（in this example，actually taking hold of a ball）．

設問：The underlined word“triggered”in the third paragraph probably means “ ”．

A. set off B. cut off C. built up D. broken up

解析：根據上述文段的第一段第一句可知，鏡像神經元的存在表明了每次看到其他人做某事，我們的大腦就會模仿這個動作。再根據第二段最后一句兩個括號內舉出的例子可知，鏡像神經元會模仿相同的動作。由此可推知，triggered所在句子句意為：……如果他們讓人們聽一些句子（比如用手抓住球），當這個動作被執(zhí)行時，相同的鏡像神經元就會被激發(fā)。set off引起，激起；cut off切斷，中斷；built up增進，加強；broken up打碎，結束。

答案：A

本文所講的定義、描述和舉例都是對所猜測單詞的針對性解釋，此外，考生還可以根據事物的內在邏輯關系來猜測詞義。比如對比、比較、因果、并列、近義、反義關系。

表示對比關系的詞匯和短語主要有：unlike，not，but，however，despite，in spite of，in contrast 等。

表示比較關系的詞和短語主要有：similarly，like，just as，also，as well as等。

表示因果關系：because，since與as是連接原因狀語從句的從屬連詞；so是連接表示結果狀語從句的連詞；so．．．that與such．．．that中的that是連接結果狀語從句的連詞。

此外，考生還可以根據構詞法以及經驗、常識法來猜測詞義。

考生有時還可以根據自身的直接或間接的經驗，或運用自己已有的常識將其推測出來。比如了解一些英美國家的天文地理、風俗習慣、宗教信仰、社會制度等。

例6．Most of the roses are beginning to wither because of the cold．

句子的已知部分和我們的常識告訴我們：wither表示“枯萎”。

構詞法在2012年11期文科的《認清“部首”背單詞》一文中已有詳細介紹，本文不再贅述。