二、阅读考试中碰到不认识的生词怎么办? 考生最害怕在阅读中碰到生词,而在阅读时,遇到生僻的单词是不可避免的。如果一见到生词就不知所措,就必然会影响到对文章的理解。如果遇到这种情况,可以根据情况用不同的方法来解决问题。要是不认识的生词对理解文章的关系不大,就可以跳过去不管它。譬如这样一例:Some birds can swim on the water. A few, like the penguin and puffin, can also swim under water. 我们只需知道penguin 和puffin是两种鸟就行了,不必将它们的具体名称弄个一清二楚。
阅读中经常会遇到一些专有名词(包括人名、地名、组织机构名称等),一般都可以不作计较,必要的时候,用X、Y的字母代替它们就行了。以2003年阅读Text 4为例,文章出现了若干复杂的人名、职务名:Colorado governor Richard Lamm, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, C. Everett Koop,而且后面的提问与其中的一个人有关,我们分别记为Mr. L, Mr. R, Mr. O, Mr. K 即可,这样便省去了不必要的纠缠。
当然,如果遇到的生词影响到了你对文章的理解,特别是作为考点出现在问题里,就要试着根据上下文、构词法或从句中认识的词中去猜测生词的意思,尽可能通过邻近你所熟悉的词的关系来了解该词在句中的作用和词义。如2003年阅读Part B 中的"Anthropology"一词,要求翻译出来。虽说超纲了,但根据构词法和上下文其含义已经解释得十分清楚:"Anthropology" derives from the Greek words anthropos "human" and logos "the study of." 由此我们得知 "Anthropology"一词源于希腊词语anthropos(人类)和 logos(…研究)。要是还没有把握,再多看一句就更万无一失了:By its very name, anthropology encompasses the study of all humankind.(用这一名称,“人类学”包括了对整个人类的研究。)
1. 利用上下文确定词义 通过上下文来猜测词意是阅读考试中最常用的重要手段之一,联系上下文可以帮助我们理解句子,确定词义。下面我们通过一些实例来简要说明如何通过上下文来确定词义。 例1:He is successful as a businessman because of his dynamic personality. He seems to have unlimited energy. 对于dynamic一词大家可能不熟悉,下文的He seems to have unlimited energy…(他似乎有用不完的劲)就是对 dynamic词义的解释。这样,我们便知道该词意为“有干劲的”。 例2:Sociology is the term used to describe the scientific study of human society. 假定sociology是一个不认识的词,系动词be后面就给出了明确的定义。这样,我们便知道该词意思为“社会学”。 例3:A first-year college or university student is commonly a ’freshman’, and ‘sophomore’, ’junior’ and ’senior’ des­.ignate the second—third—and fourth—year student. 要是对sophomore, junior 和senior几个术语不熟悉,通过后面的对应解释词语the second—third—and fourth—year student我们便不难知道它们分别是指二、三、四年级的大学生。 例4:The tired soldiers trudged through knee-deep mud for hours before they found a dry place to sleep. 通过后面的through knee-deep mud(没膝深的泥浆),我们知道trudged一词的意思为与行走这一动作有关,在泥浆中行走,也就是“跋涉”。 例5:When it comes to manufactured goods there is actually more diversity in this country than Europe has ever known. The variety of goods carried by our stores is the first thing that impresses any visitor from abroad. 第二句中的variety与第一句中的diversity 同义,这样,我们便不难知道diversity的大意是“种类”或“品种”。 下面我们联系上下文,试确定以下各句中斜体字的含义。 1. The woman and the children were skilful in boats too, but there were usually several of them in a large boat called umiak. 2. The doctor said that if a person ate even one leaf of the hemlock plant, he would die, because the plant is a deadly poison. 3. Although dogs and cats often have large families, rabbits are famous for the size of their litters, which sometimes number more than twelve bunnies at one time. 4. Mark became hysterical when his basketball team won, and he did not calm down for several days. 5. With mud from head to toe, flowers still clutched in his hand, John looked so ludicrous that we couldn’t help laughing. 6. A bee collects nectar not in its own stomach but in a kind of shopping bag (called the honey sac) similar to the one ants have. 7. Several generations ago, the world seemed to run in an or­.derly way. Now, however, everything is in a state of tur­.moil. 8. After the first time someone tried to rob him, the banker be­.came flustered easily, and in his confusion he would make many careless errors. 9. Jane was intrigued by the behavior of animals. she could sit for hours observing a bird making a nest or an ant carrying a leaf. 10. Some chimps are very independent and appear to be the superior members of a group. others seem to be ruled by the leaders and are quite submissive.