通过阅读猜单词--掌握扩大词汇技巧

　　按照四六级考试大纲的要求，阅读部分由两篇短文构成，每篇词数控制在350词之内。由于考试大纲要求所选文章题材广泛，体裁多样，势必将会出现个别超出考生知识结构范围之外的生词。另外一方面，考试大纲也明确指出，文章语言难度中等，所用词汇基本不超过《大纲》词汇要求的范围。这也告诉我们考纲对生词是留有余地的。一个正常的非英语专业学生几乎不可能掌握阅读测试中的所有词汇。正因为如此，即使遇到生词难词考生也不必过于焦虑。不仅如此，考生朋友还需要注意的是，在复习中学会猜词也是迅速扩大词汇量的重要方法。

　　首先需要说明的是，有相当部分的生词完全不需要任何特殊技巧，直接根据考生的直觉(intuition)即可作出判断，这也就是所谓的语感。下面来看一段短文。

　　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."…

　　在该例当中，hieroglyphics这个词依据考生自己的知识储备，另外透过定语dragon bone很容易猜测出来是象形文字的意思。其实大多数考生一边阅读一边就能将dragon bone hieroglyphics 理解为甲骨文。总体而言，第一种方法需要考生平时有一定的课外知识储备，通过直觉迅速做出判断。

　　方法二：前后文语境(context)

　　狭义的前后文就是指邻近分句或者句子之间的关系。考生往往可以通过邻近分句或者句子并结合上下文的逻辑关系(比如并列或转折关系)来推测生词的含义。实际上，这个思路也就是阅读中常见的猜词题的解题思路。

　　我们来看下面这道题:

　　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月四级Text1，下划线为笔者所加)

　　最后这个词nevertirees考生普遍感觉比较陌生。其实观察最后一句话考生会发现nevertirees是对these people的描述。这就牵涉到了代词在语境中的作用。一般而言，在四六级考试中代词都是指向前文，考生只需要仔细回读前文即可。在上文中我们又发现分别出现了they和these，继续根据向前指代的原则可知其所指的对象就是全段第一句--60% were not planning on a traditional retirement,有60%的美国人不准备按照传统方式退休。可见，这个nevertirees就是指一批不愿意退休的人。

　　命题人当然不会错过这个考点词。文后第一题就是对其发问：

　　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.

　　该题在选择是要特别注意剔除干扰项B和D。原文第一句第二句都提到这些不退休的人是主动选择继续工作，不是情势所逼无可奈何。故此B选项中的have no choice以及D选项中的compelled to都无法对应原文属于无中生有。由此可得答案选择C。

　　Context从广义上来说，不仅可以指相邻句间的关系，还可以指在整篇文章中的前后照应关系，这一点上考生可能就不太熟悉了。我们以2013年2月四级阅读Text2为例。该文第一段：

　　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.

　　本段最后一个词grave是解决文后第一题的关键性词汇。如果考场上临时遗忘该词含义其实不必惊慌失措。考生可以静下心来，带着问题先把文章做一个整体扫描。进入到文章最后一段，我们看到：

　　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."

　　请特别注意该段第三行这个部分：not sufficient to recover their credit card debt by the end of their life--到死都没有足够的(资金)偿付信用卡债务。可以说本句起到了前后呼应的作用，那么第一段说的take this debt to graves我们就大概知道了，就是指至死都无法清偿债务的意思。

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