:词义推断题的解题技巧（上） -2009年6月高考英语作文范文|高考英语听力|试题真题下载-...

词句推断题是高考阅读理解试题中的一种常见题型，旨在考查考生在不使用词典的情况根据材料背景和上下文等线索推测词、句的确切含义的能力。这类试题包括对生词生义的推测、熟词生义的推测、以及对it/they/them等代词的确指对象的判断等。这类试题的设问方式主要有：

(1)What does the underlined word “them/it” refer to?

(2)In the... paragraph, the word... means (refers to).     

(3)According to the passage,... probably means

(4)The author uses the word... to mean.      

(5)The underlined phrase “punch line”most probably means______.

(6)The underlined word “one” could best be replaced by ______.

(7)What does “garden” in the last two paragraphs stand for?

(8)“But we stuck it”(in paragraph 3) means ______.

(9) “Professional work” as used in the text means ______.

(10)What does the author mean when he says, “we can’t turn the clock back”?

(11)Which of the following best explains the meaning of the word “baffle” as it is used in the text?

(12)Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the word？  

下面再结合全国高考阅读试题中的实例来说明做推测词义题的几种基本的技巧。

1. 据词或词组的指代对象确定其词义。如：

Shu Pulong has helped at least 1000 people bitten by snakes. “It was seeing people with snake bites that led me to this career,” he said…

Which of the following words can take the place of the word “career” in the first paragraph?

A. conclusion        B. story         C. incident            D. job

这道题实际上要读者推测“career”的词义。根据“this”的基本用法(this可以指代前文提到过的事情)，我们知道“this career”指的是“Shu Pulong has helped at least 1000 people bitten by snakes”这句话所表示的意思。显然，“help people bitten by snake”是“Shu Pulong”作为一名蛇医的工作职责。四个选项中只有“job”符合这句话的意思，因此D选项是可以考虑的选项。

又如：Some stage schools give their children too much professional work at such a young age…

“Professional work” as used in the text means______.

A. ordinary school work            B. moneymaking performances

C. stage training at school                D. acting, singing or dancing after class

“professional work”指的是与一个人所从事的专业或职业相关的工作，在不同的行业，“专业工作”或“职业工作”(professional work)有不同的含义。对一个戏剧学校来说，它的“专业工作”或“职业工作”自然是戏剧理论方面的学习或舞台训练，因此，C选项符合文意，是正确答案。

2. 运用生活常识或经验进行推理判断。如：

Apple trees may grow as tall as twelve metres. They do best in areas that have very cold winters. Although no fruit is yielded during the winter, this cold period is good for the tree.

The word “yielded” in the last sentence means ______.

　　A. improved　       B. increased       C. produced      　D. sold

把四个选项分别取代文段中的“yielded”，我们可以得出以下分析：“improve fruit”是改进苹果(质量)的意思，既然冬季有利于苹果树(的营养生长)，自然就有利于苹果质量的改进，这是符合常识的，因此，A选项是错误的；可以说increase the output(产量) of fruit，但不可以说increase the fruit，也就是说increase不能与fruit构成动宾关系，因此B选项是错误的；“冬天没有苹果买”不符合常识，所以，D选项也是错误的；“冬天不产苹果”是符合常识的，亦符合原文的意思，因此，C是正确的。

又如：Last November the two groups started “Dog Day Afternoon” in the children’s department of the main library. About 25 children attended each of the four Saturday-afternoon classes, reading for half an hour. Those who attended three of the four classes received a “pawgraphed” book at the last class.

A “pawgraphed” book is most probably ______.

A. a book used in Saturday classes           B. a book written by the children

C. a prize for the children                 D. a gift from parents

文段叙述的是孩子们参加“周六下午阅读训练班”的事情。根据常识我们知道，在一个学习活动结束时，通常会对一些先进分子进行表彰或奖励。因此，我们可以作出判断，“Those who attended three of the four classes received a “pawgraphed” book at the last class”这句话的意思应该是：那些参加了四个学习班中三个班的学习的孩子们在参加最后一个班的时候可以得到某种奖励。A、B、D都不符合常识，所以只有C选项是正确答案。

3. 根据文段中出现的同义、近义或反义词(词组)的意思进行判断。

如：I had just gone to bed after a very hard day when the phone rang. It was an eccentric(怪僻的)farmer. I had never met him before although I had often heard people talk about him. He sounded quite nervous and he had been talking for a minute or so before I understood anything. Even then all I could make out was that someone called Milly had had a very bad accident. I hadn’t the slightest idea who she was but I obviously had to go.

The underlined phrase make out in the first paragraph means ______.

A. expect            B. understand          C. see clearly  D. hear clearly

根据第四句话的意思，我们知道“Even then”实际上是指前文的“I understood anything”，因此这句话可以理解为“Even when I understood anything, all (that) I could make out was that someone called Milly had had a very bad accident”。显然，“make out”是被用来取代前面的“understood”，以避免重复，它们应该是近义或同义词，所以，B选项可能是正确的。

又如：One mistaken idea about business is that it can be treated as a game of perfect information. Quite the reverse, business, politics, life itself are games which we must normally play with very imperfect information.

Which of the following can be used in place of “Quite the reverse”?

A. Quite right.       B. True enough. C. Most unlikely. D. Just the opposite.

根据quite the reverse这个短语前后两个句子中的“perfect information”与“imperfect information”这两个意思相反的词组，我们可以推断出quite the reverse这个短语应该是表示它前后两个句子的转折关系。只有D选项符合这种意思，因此，可以考虑它是正确答案。

4. 根据下文的举例或解释推测词义。如：

Finally, renewable energy sources are used even though they are often expensive to develop. One form of these is geothermal energy. In certain parts of the world the temperature of the earth increases thirty degrees centigrade with each kilometre down. At six kilometres, therefore, it rises to nearly two hundred degrees. To get the heat, water is pumped(压;抽)down into the rocks and back up to the surface. Heat from the earth is already used in certain countries.

The underlined words geothermal energy in the third paragraph mean ______.

A. renewable source　　                        B. underground source

C. heat inside the earth　　                     D. temperature of the earth

这一段讲的是“renewable energy sources”的开发问题，并且举例“geothermal energy”是其中的一种，接下来文章进一步解释“geothermal energy”的形成及开发利用的方式。A、B、D三个选项指代的范围都太大，与下文对“geothermal energy”的解释不完全一致，因此都可以排除。下文在解释了地内温度升高的一般规律后接着说“To get the heat, water is pumped(压;抽)down into the rocks and back up to the surface”，并且说“Heat from the earth is already used in certain countries.”因此，可以确定“geothermal energy”指的是“地热资源”，所以C选项是正确的。

又如：Many people say, “I am much younger than my mother - or my father - was at my age.” No one says “Act your age” any more. We’ve stopped looking with surprise at older people who act in youthful ways.

“Act your age” means people should ______.

A. be active when they are old

B. do the right thing at the right age

C. show respect for their parents young or old

D. take more physical exercise suitable to their age

“We’ve stopped looking with surprise at older people who act in youthful ways” 这句话的意思是“看到老年人表现出年轻人的行为举止，我们(现在)不再感到奇怪”，即“现在不再(像以前那样)要求老年人的行为举止与他们的年龄相符”。这句话实际上是以老年人为例，对“No one says ‘Act your age’ any more”这句话进行解释，B选项符合这句话的意思，因此，是正确选项。