華冰
生詞是我們閱讀的“攔路虎”,有些同學一般會通過查閱詞典來弄清詞義,這個習慣固然不錯,可是這樣會嚴重影響閱讀速度,若是在考試這也是不被允許的。其實,閱讀理解中的許多“生詞”都是我們平時常見的熟詞通過派生、合成、加詞綴、轉(zhuǎn)化這幾種方式形成的。我們完全可靈活地運用猜詞技巧,聯(lián)系上下文得出意思。下面就向大家介紹幾種行之有效的猜詞方法和技巧,提高大家的閱讀效率。
[構(gòu)詞法]
構(gòu)詞法是同學們應該掌握的語法項目之一,平時我們在進行閱讀訓練時,應加強對構(gòu)詞法知識的掌握,熟悉常見詞綴的含義及派生、合成、轉(zhuǎn)化法的特點,從而確定所構(gòu)成的新詞的詞性和含義。
1. Our soldiers won a decisive victory in the battle. (決定性的)
2. That country is underdeveloped and the living standard of the people is rather low. (欠發(fā)達的)
3. Colourful wall-paper would brighten up the room. (照亮)
4. With their shining brown eyes, wagging tails, and unconditional love, dogs can provide the nonjudgemental listeners needed for a beginning reader to gain confidence.
初看起來,unconditional和nonjudgemental非常陌生,但細心觀察,前者是condition加前綴un、后綴al而成,意為“無條件的;絕對的”;后者是judge加前綴non、后綴ment和al而成,意為“沒有判斷力的”。
[同義詞/近義詞]
在閱讀中遇到生詞,除了運用構(gòu)詞知識來推測詞義外,還可以利用該生詞所處的上下文中與它同義的單詞或短語來推測詞義。
1. Your gross or total weight must be within certain limits.
由total可知,gross意為“全部的”。
2. Numbers, such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 200, 3000 are called whole number, or integers.
由whole number可知,integers意為“整數(shù)”。
3. My car is worth less today than it was five years ago. It has depreciated in value.
由worth less ... than可知,depreciated意為“貶值”。
4. It was futile trying to explain it to him. It was useless to keep talking to him about it.
由useless可知,futile意為“無用的”。
5. The old woman has a strange habit to keep over 100 cats in her house. Her neighbors all called her an eccentric lady.
由strange可知,eccentric意為“古怪的、孤僻的”。
[反義詞]
在推測生詞的詞義時,還可以利用上下文中出現(xiàn)的表示相反或?qū)α⒁饬x的單詞或短語(如but, yet, however)等來推測詞義。
1. Be punctual when you are going to a party. Never be late.
由late可知,punctual意為“準時的”。
2. The big farms are getting bigger while the small ones are slowly dwindling.
由中getting bigger可知,dwindling意為“縮小”。
3. In the northern regions the winters are generally cold and humid, and the summer hot and dry.
由中dry可知,humid意為“潮濕的”。
4. Because it may be either socially beneficial or socially harmful to millions of people, it is necessary to examine that program carefully.
由harmful和表示“要么……要么……”的either ... or ...可知,beneficial意為“有益的”。
[同位語]
同位語的作用是對位于其前面的名詞作進一步解釋,故此我們也可以利用句中的同位語,特別是用作同位語的名詞詞組來推測生詞的詞義。
1. They are vertebrates, that is, animals that have back bones.
從that is和句子的后半部分可知,vertebrates意為“脊椎動物”。
2. Everyone showed apathy—a lack of interest—towards the problem.endprint
由a lack of interest和破折號可知,apathy與lock of interest同義,意為“缺乏興趣”。
3. Advertisers often sponsor TV programs, that is, they pay the costs of producing the programs.
由pay the costs of可知,sponsor意為“贊助”。
4. Psychology, the study of mans mind, depends on careful observation of people acting of learning under certain conditions.
由同位語the study of mans mind可知,psychology意為“心理學”。
[經(jīng)驗/常識]
在閱讀過程中,一個人的經(jīng)歷和閱歷(或稱經(jīng)驗和常識,或統(tǒng)稱為知識背景)對猜測和理解文本起著十分重要的作用。一個人的經(jīng)歷越豐富,知識面越廣,猜測生詞詞義的能力也就越強。因此通過邏輯關系,我們可以憑借自己的經(jīng)驗或常識來猜測生詞的詞義。
1. The door was so low that I hit my head on the lintel.
由句中門太low而“我”又撞到頭可知,lintel意為“門楣”。
2. Mark got on the motorbike, I sat behind him on the pillion and we roared off into the night.
Mark上了摩托車,“我”坐在他后面,所以“我”坐的pillion是“摩托車后座”。
3. The fire started on Sunday morning in the house of the Kings baker in Pudding Lane. The baker, with his wife and family, was able to get out through a window in the roof.
從語境“面包房失火,面包師及他的妻子、家人破窗逃走”可知,這里的family不包括妻子,而是指孩子。
面對這類舊詞新意的單詞時,切忌脫離語境,僅根據(jù)自己的常識猜測。應根據(jù)語境作出恰當?shù)慕忉專胁豢上氘斎坏禺斪魇煸~對待。
[重復]
從作者的重復敘述中,我們也可以找到一些猜測生詞詞義的線索。
1. A formidable enemy is one to be feared.
由句中feared可知,formidable意為“可怕的”。
2. This is fertility soil. This rich earth supports the plant to grow quickly.
由句中rich可知,fertility意為“肥沃的”。
[文中的解釋]
定義或解釋句中某個特定的單詞的方式多種多樣,有定語從句、同位語、并列句、英語釋義法,有時用that is (to say), similarly, namely, in other words等插入語引導,以補充說明。
有時生詞可通過文中所給的解釋、注解來猜測其含義,我們在閱讀的過程中要善于把握這些有用的信息。
1. The film is too dull, that is, it is not interesting.
通過釋義not interesting可知,dull意為“無趣的”。
2. “Glance” is another way of saying “l(fā)ook”.
通過is another way of可知glance是look的同義詞,glance意為“一瞥”。
[實例]
用實例來解釋和說明生詞是一種常見的手法。
1. Select a periodical from among the following: Time, Reader Digest(讀者文摘),News Week or other magazines.
從句中列舉的雜志名稱和or other magazines可反推periodical意為“期刊、雜志”。
2. Lubricants, such as oil, are used to reduce friction(摩擦) in moving parts of the machines.
從used to reduce friction(摩擦)可知,lubricants意為“潤滑劑”。
3. Some missing ships carried cargo such as coal, oil and military supplies, while others carried only passengers.
從coal, oil and military supplies和carried可知,cargo意為“貨物”。
[比較/對照]
作者有時將生詞與熟悉的詞進行比較,指出它們的共同點和不同點,以幫助讀者正確理解。我們可以充分利用這種線索來猜測生詞的詞義。
1. Parents who often punish their children cant be called lenient.
通過比較可知,lenient意為“慈愛的、仁慈的”。
2. The hot-air balloon took off. It was buoyant in the air as a rose leaf in water.
as ... as ...用于同級比較,可知buoyant為形容詞,將熱氣球升在空中比作玫瑰花在水中,因此buoyant意為“漂浮的”。
3. The teacher teaches the most important language points in class, not the trivial ones.
通過比較可知,trivial意為“細小的,不重要的”。
[名稱]
高考閱讀短文中出現(xiàn)最多、最密集的生詞多為人名、地名、動植物名、建筑名以及山脈、河流、島嶼、海洋等專有名詞;另外,還有漢語中的外來詞,如logic(邏輯),sofa(沙發(fā)),poker(撲克),bowling(保齡球)等。這類生詞通??赏ㄟ^音譯(有的兼意譯)來猜測。當然更多的詞甚至不需要音譯,只要明白是人名、地名,并能理其間的關系即可,例如Marco Polo(馬可·波羅),Sanger de Criston Montains和Ortiz Mountains(兩座大山)。
要提高閱讀理解的效率,最根本的、最重要的方法就是在平時的學習過程中,注意擴大自己的詞匯量,而擴大詞匯量的基本方法則是大量閱讀,二者相輔相成。
如果掌握了上面介紹的幾種猜測生詞詞義的技巧,同學們在閱讀的過程中,一定可以跨越生詞障礙,快速提高閱讀能力。endprint