通過閱讀猜單詞--掌握擴大詞匯技巧

　　按照四六級考試大綱的要求，閱讀部分由兩篇短文構(gòu)成，每篇詞數(shù)控制在350詞之內(nèi)。由于考試大綱要求所選文章題材廣泛，體裁多樣，勢必將會出現(xiàn)個別超出考生知識結(jié)構(gòu)范圍之外的生詞。另外一方面，考試大綱也明確指出，文章語言難度中等，所用詞匯基本不超過《大綱》詞匯要求的范圍。這也告訴我們考綱對生詞是留有余地的。一個正常的非英語專業(yè)學生幾乎不可能掌握閱讀測試中的所有詞匯。正因為如此，即使遇到生詞難詞考生也不必過于焦慮。不僅如此，考生朋友還需要注意的是，在復習中學會猜詞也是迅速擴大詞匯量的重要方法。

　　首先需要說明的是，有相當部分的生詞完全不需要任何特殊技巧，直接根據(jù)考生的直覺(intuition)即可作出判斷，這也就是所謂的語感。下面來看一段短文。

　　In an article some Chinese scholars are described as being "tantalized by the mysterious dragon bone hieroglyphics."Tantalized is one of many English words that have their origins in myths and legends of the past (in this case, Greek and Roman ones). The meaning of the verb Tantalize is a very particular one :"to promise or show something desirable to a person and then take it away; to tease by arousing hope."…

　　在該例當中，hieroglyphics這個詞依據(jù)考生自己的知識儲備，另外透過定語dragon bone很容易猜測出來是象形文字的意思。其實大多數(shù)考生一邊閱讀一邊就能將dragon bone hieroglyphics 理解為甲骨文�？傮w而言，第一種方法需要考生平時有一定的課外知識儲備，通過直覺迅速做出判斷。

　　方法二：前后文語境(context)

　　狹義的前后文就是指鄰近分句或者句子之間的關(guān)系�？忌�往往可以通過鄰近分句或者句子并結(jié)合上下文的邏輯關(guān)系(比如并列或轉(zhuǎn)折關(guān)系)來推測生詞的含義。實際上，這個思路也就是閱讀中常見的猜詞題的解題思路。

　　我們來看下面這道題:

　　A recent global survey of 2,000 high-net-worth individuals found that 60% were not planning on a traditional retirement. Among U.S. participants, 75% expected to continue working in some capacity even after stepping away from full-time jobs. "Many of these people made their wealth by doing something they're passionate (有激情的) about," says Daniel Egan, head of behavioral finance for Barclays Wealth Americas. "Given the choice, they prefer to continue working." Barclays calls these people "nevertirees." (2013年12月四級Text1，下劃線為筆者所加)

　　最后這個詞nevertirees考生普遍感覺比較陌生。其實觀察最后一句話考生會發(fā)現(xiàn)nevertirees是對these people的描述。這就牽涉到了代詞在語境中的作用。一般而言，在四六級考試中代詞都是指向前文，考生只需要仔細回讀前文即可。在上文中我們又發(fā)現(xiàn)分別出現(xiàn)了they和these，繼續(xù)根據(jù)向前指代的原則可知其所指的對象就是全段第一句--60% were not planning on a traditional retirement,有60%的美國人不準備按照傳統(tǒng)方式退休�？梢姡�這個nevertirees就是指一批不愿意退休的人。

　　命題人當然不會錯過這個考點詞。文后第一題就是對其發(fā)問：

　　56. What do we learn about the so-called "nevertirees"?

　　A) They are passionate about making a fortune. C) They love what they do and choose not to retire.

　　B) They have no choice but to continue working. D) They will not retire unless they are compelled to.

　　該題在選擇是要特別注意剔除干擾項B和D。原文第一句第二句都提到這些不退休的人是主動選擇繼續(xù)工作，不是情勢所逼無可奈何。故此B選項中的have no choice以及D選項中的compelled to都無法對應原文屬于無中生有。由此可得答案選擇C。

　　Context從廣義上來說，不僅可以指相鄰句間的關(guān)系，還可以指在整篇文章中的前后照應關(guān)系，這一點上考生可能就不太熟悉了。我們以2013年2月四級閱讀Text2為例。該文第一段：

　　When we talk about Americans barely into adulthood who are saddled with unbearable levels of debt, the conversation is almost always about student loan debt. But there's a growing body of evidence suggesting that today's young adults are also drowning in credit-card debt-and that many of them will take this debt to their graves.

　　本段最后一個詞grave是解決文后第一題的關(guān)鍵性詞匯。如果考場上臨時遺忘該詞含義其實不必驚慌失措�？忌�可以靜下心來，帶著問題先把文章做一個整體掃描。進入到文章最后一段，我們看到：

　　Dunn says a lot of these young people are never going to get out from under their credit card debt. "Many people are borrowing on credit cards so heavily that payoff rates at these levels are not sufficient to recover their credit card debt by the end of their life, which could have loss implications for the credit card issuing banks."

　　請?zhí)貏e注意該段第三行這個部分：not sufficient to recover their credit card debt by the end of their life--到死都沒有足夠的(資金)償付信用卡債務(wù)�？梢哉f本句起到了前后呼應的作用，那么第一段說的take this debt to graves我們就大概知道了，就是指至死都無法清償債務(wù)的意思。

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