劉婷婷

英語中的一詞多義現(xiàn)象普遍存在。所謂“熟詞生義”就是指學(xué)生對絕大多數(shù)單詞的一兩個常用義項比較熟悉，而對某些單詞的一詞多義或一詞多性沒有全面掌握。從近幾年的高考英語試題中可發(fā)現(xiàn)高考命題非常重視對常用詞匯較少使用意義的考查，范圍較廣，涉及各個題型，尤其是高考完形填空和閱讀理解的短文材料。考生因不懂這些熟詞的“新含義”而出現(xiàn)思維堵塞的現(xiàn)象，熟詞變成了生詞，導(dǎo)致信息獲取不準，嚴重地影響了考生對題干乃至全文的正確理解，造成了不應(yīng)有的失分。

一、教材中

下面是人教新課標版課本中出現(xiàn)的一些具有代表性的例句。

1. About four metres long， the room served as a small reception hall for important visitors.（必修2 Unit l）

熟義：為...服務(wù)；提供（食物或飲料）”

生義：“作...用；擔(dān)任職務(wù)；幫助；促進”

2. Curiosity drove Wang Peng inside.It was full of people.（必修3 Unit2）

熟義：“開車；駕駛”

生義：“驅(qū)使；驅(qū)趕；使；趕走”

3. Yesterday， another student and I， representing our universitys student association， went to the Capital International Airport to meet this years international students. （必修4 Unit4）

熟義：“遇見；遇到；與...相識”

生義：“迎接；滿足；達到；（路、河）與...交匯；正視”

4. Later you can cover a story and submit the article yourself. （必修5 Unit4）

熟義：“蓋上；覆蓋”

生義：“報道；采訪；包括；涉及；行走（一段路程）；負擔(dān)；支付”

5. All the information was ready to be processed into film negatives. （必修5 Unit4）

熟義：“過程；步驟”

生義：“處理；辦理；沖洗加工（膠片）；印”

例句：I need to get these films processed.我得把這些膠卷洗出來。

6. It is only when the disease has progressed to AIDS that a person begins to look sick. （選修6 Unit3）

熟義：“進步”

生義：“逐步發(fā)展；改進；進展；繼續(xù)進行”

7. If you develop AIDS， your chances of survival are very small. （選修6 Unit3）

熟義：“發(fā)展；發(fā)育：成長”

生義：“患上；逐漸形成（疾病或問題）；開發(fā)；制定；養(yǎng)成；沖洗照片”

8. I know youre dying to hear all about my life here. So Ive included some photos which will help you picture the places I talk about. （選修7 Unit4）

熟義：“圖畫；照片”

生義：“想象；設(shè)想”

9. It is exciting for them to receive a letter or a photograph and so I hope you will find the time to send Orlando and his family a message occasionally. （選修7 Unit4）

熟義：“發(fā)現(xiàn)；碰上；找到；找出；查明”

生義：“擠出（時間） ；認為；感到”

10. The criteria are so strict that it is difficult to get new ideas accepted unless they are truly novel. （選修8 Unit3）

熟義：“小說”

生義：“新穎的；新奇的”

二、聽力中

五年來全國新課標卷的聽力部分題型總體難度基本保持一致，但從用詞和話題方面難度均有所上升；同時加強了對信息處理能力的要求，這要求考生對單詞特別是存在“熟詞生義”的詞匯能夠增強敏感度。舉幾個簡單的例子：

1. Hello， this is Beijing National Grand Theater， Box office. Can I help you？

熟義：盒；箱；

生義：箱狀物；小亭 box office： 售票處；票房

2. Book early if you want a good table.

熟義：書；

生義：預(yù)訂

3. My mother was down with the flu last week.

熟義：adv. 向下；如：get down， lie down

生義：adv. 處于低落狀態(tài)；落魄；失意；由北往南；往市區(qū)；

prep. 順，沿，直到…；

n. 憎惡；倒霉（-s）；軟毛，絨毛

v.打倒（敵人）；下降

4. “It teaches that when youre down and out， never give up.”

熟義：adv. 出來；向外

生義：到竭盡點；處于過時、荒疏狀態(tài)；缺席；完全地、徹底地；脫漏地、不一致地； be down and out：落魄，敗落

其它的如：park公園——停車（場）；date日期——約會；sharp尖的，銳利的——（某時刻）整（adv. 名詞后）；due （-to）因為，由于——預(yù)期的；到期的；應(yīng)有的......等等也都是學(xué)生們應(yīng)該牢牢掌握的高頻詞。

三、單選中

以近幾年高考題為例：

1. （2008湖北）Though having lived abroad for years ， many Chinese still _______ the traditional customs.

A. perform B. possess

C. observe D. support

[答案]C. observe 熟義：vt. 看到；觀察；

生義：vt. 遵守；奉行；紀念；慶祝；vt.&vi. 評論（-that/-on）

2. （2008山東）The fact that she never apologized _______ a lot about what kind of person she is .

A. says B. talks

C. appears D. declares

[答案] A. says 熟義：vt. 說，講；據(jù)說；寫到；指示；比如說

生義：vt. 顯示，表明；

3. （2009全國）Encourage your children to try new things. But try not to ______ them too hard.

A. draw B. strike

C. rush D. push

[答案] D. push 熟義：推

生義：逼迫，敦促；

4. （2009山東）——Do you have enough to_____all your daily expenses？

——Oh， yes， enough and to spare.

A. cover B. spend

C. fill D. offer

[答案] A. cover 熟義：覆蓋；掩蓋；占（時間空間）；

生義：負擔(dān)；（錢）足夠...之用；包括，涉及；行過（路程）；采訪，報道

5. （2011浙江）The professor could tell by the _____ look in Marias eyes that she didnt understand a single word of his lecture.

A. cold B. blank

C. innocent D. fresh

[答案] B. blank 熟義：空白的；

生義：茫然的；空虛的

四、完形及閱讀中

熟詞生義在完形填空和閱讀理解的實際訓(xùn)練中體現(xiàn)的尤為突出，結(jié)合這兩部分練習(xí)談一談熟詞生義相關(guān)問題的解題技巧。

1. 考慮不同詞性、多個詞義

（10陜西） ......

On my way home at the end of the 40 ， I saw the busker （街頭藝人） again and he was 41 . I watched him pick up the hat and walk 42 a cafe counter. There he poured the 43 contents into a tin collecting 44 an earthquake fund-raising（募捐） event. He was busking for charity（慈善）. Now I donate any 45 I have to charity tins and enjoy the feeling of giving.

40. A. moment B. day

C. break D. event

41. A. walking around

B. passing by

C. packing up

D. running off

42. A. around B. in

C. behind D. to

43. A. chief B. basic

C. actual D. total

44. A. by B. for

C. on D. with

45. A. work B. time

C. energy D. change

45小題，考生對change作動詞的詞義“改變，變化”較為熟悉，但往往會忽略它作名詞時的詞義“硬幣，零錢”。該題就考查change詞性變化后的詞義。

2. 根據(jù)上下文

（1）同義或近義關(guān)系：

Climbing attracts people because its good exercise for almost everyone. You use your whole body， especially your arms and legs. This sport gives your body a complete workout. When you climb， both your mind and your body can become stronger.

The word “workout” underlined in the last paragraph most probably means ______.

A. settlement B. exercise

C. excitement D. tiredness

動詞短語work out熟義有：算出；解決；制訂出；消耗完（精力），而根據(jù)第一句Climbing attracts people because its good exercise for almost everyone.這是本段的主題句。下文進一步談到在進行攀巖時身體的這個部位得到全面鍛煉。2001年全國卷中第26題也考到work out： We didn't plan our art exhibition like that but it _____ very well.

A. worked out B. tried out

C. went on D. carried on

此處work out義為“（情況）發(fā)展…”、“進行…”。

（2）反義關(guān)系：

Unlike his brother， who is truly a handsome man， John is quite homely.

A. comfortable B. familiar

C. easy D. ugly

注意信號詞unlike，“不像......”的意思，brother既然是handsome，與之相反的意思則不難做出推斷。

（3）邏輯關(guān)系：

（09高考）A good teacher works in quite a different way. His audience take an active part in his play： they ask and answer questions， they obey orders， and if they dont understand something， they say so.

A. students

B. people who watch a play

C. people who act on the stage

D. people who listen to something

單看audience一詞為“觀眾、聽眾”之意，但根據(jù)前文的teacher一詞分析其邏輯關(guān)系——老師的觀眾或聽眾就應(yīng)該是students了。

3. 根據(jù)構(gòu)詞法（轉(zhuǎn)化/派生/合成）

英語中有些單詞詞形不變，詞性卻可以由一種轉(zhuǎn)化成另一種，如back 由“背、后面”轉(zhuǎn)義為“后退；支持”。 英語中合成詞也多如繁星，大大增加了英語詞匯。一般來說，合成詞的詞義是由其各構(gòu)成部分得來的，如handshake。而大量的詞則是通過在詞干上加前綴和后綴派生出的新詞，熟練地掌握和運用這種構(gòu)詞法，不僅有益于對生詞詞義作出科學(xué)的推測，有助于閱讀理解，而且有益于詞匯量的擴充。例如：

（08福建）But child experts are now learning about that too much praise can lead to the opposite effect. Praise-aholic kids who expect it at every turn may become teens who seek the same kind of approval from their friends.

A. Tired of being praised

B. Worthy of being praised

C. Very proud of being praised

D. Extremely fond of being praised

-aholic這一后綴表示有“…癖好的人”，再如workaholic工作狂，alcoholic酒鬼。

4. 忌思維定勢

思維定勢對于學(xué)好英語具有不可否認的促進作用，然而當(dāng)一個問題的條件發(fā)生質(zhì)的變化時，思維定勢會使解題者墨守成規(guī)，難以涌出新思維，造成知識和經(jīng)驗的負遷移，增加了學(xué)生解題中的失誤。以下這些例句中出現(xiàn)的熟詞倘若不看語境直接想當(dāng)然，理解一定會錯。

① blue：

— She looks blue today. Whats the matter with her？

— She is in holiday blue.

她今天顯得悶悶不樂，出了什么事情？

她得了假期憂郁癥。blue： 悲傷的，憂郁的

② a big potato：

I am a small potato， but I want to be a big potato. I'm going to beyond my dream. Beyond??！

a big potato： 大人物；大土豆

③ john：

Tim drank too much water last night， so he went to visit john twice.

john： 廁所（俚語）

④ japan：

Kate： Do you know japan？

Alice： Of course. It lies to the east of China.

Kate： No， japan is not Japan.

Alice： Why？

Kate： Japan just like china， you can use japan to paint your desk， of furniture. Nippon （立邦）， do you know？

japan：日本漆，日本漆器

正因為英語中的一詞多義現(xiàn)象是普遍存在的，我們在高中階段的學(xué)習(xí)中就應(yīng)特別注意引導(dǎo)學(xué)生重視基礎(chǔ)詞匯的學(xué)習(xí)，注意積累，運用各種技巧，結(jié)合上下文語境，不斷擴充詞匯量，盡可能減少“認識單詞但不理解意思”的遺憾。不妨從一些簡單有趣的開始：dead president美鈔；horse sense常識；black tea紅茶；sweet water淡水；green hand新手，無經(jīng)驗者；green eyed眼紅，嫉妒的；Adams apple喉結(jié)；go Dutch AA制；an apple of love西紅柿；pull ones leg開玩笑；white elephant無用而累贅的東西?！?