英文阅读中遇到生词怎么办?
浏览:752 来源:广深家教信息网 日期:2009-10-03
英文阅读中遇到生词是常有的事,但不少同学一遇到生词就紧张,在紧张的心理状态下进行阅读活动,不但速度无从谈起,理解也会大受影响。要正确对待阅读中的生词,同学们应注意以下三点:
一、摆正心态,消除紧张
同学们首先要认识到,阅读中遇到生词纯属正常现象。我们学了十几年的汉语且生活在汉语的环境中,在阅读时也难免有时会遇到生字,但我们不是照样能看懂所读材料吗?其实,遇到生词,只要我们冷静思考、分析,有时完全可以猜出其含义或排除其对阅读理解的解决,相反,只会增加解决问题的难度,基至会直接造成阅读的中断或终止。
二、养成猜词习惯,尽量少翻词典
为了培养阅读能力,提高阅读速度,同学们从一开始阅读起,就应注意养成猜词的习惯,而不要一遇到生词就翻阅词典。因为,只有养成猜词的习惯并在实践中不断训练和摸索,才能使自己的猜词能力得到提高。同时,你的分析、理解能力也会在猜词实践中得到锻炼和提高。
三、掌握猜词技巧,培养猜词能力
要想提高猜词效率和准确性,同学们除应养成猜词习惯外,还应掌握一定的猜词技巧,提高自己的猜词能力。下面是几种行之有效的猜测生词词义的方法:
一、语境理解法
即根据文章的语境情景进行分析和推理,从而猜测出生词的词义。我们平时说“词不离句”,讲的就是对于词语的正确理解依赖于一定的句子(包括上下文)情景。所以同学们在猜测生词词义时,一定要认真读懂与生词密切相关的前后句子,对生词进行合情合理同时又合乎上下文语境的推测。如:
●These college graduates are seen scouring job information in newspapers and journals, the Internet and job market nationwide.
根据上文问句的内容可以断定scouring的意思是“收集”,相当于collecting.
●A suicide bomber came and there were many soldiers who were eating at a food stand and..., Ten were killed and more were wounded, soldiers were among the casualties.
根据上文A suicide bomber came and there were many soldiers可推知casualties 的意思应该是“伤员”相当于the wounded。
●The lack of movement caused the muscles to weaken. Sometimes the weakness was permanent, and the player could never play the sport again.
根据and the player could never play the sport again可推知permanent的意思为“永远的,永久的”。
二、前后对比法
有时作者对文章中的生词给出了一定的对比背景,并且这种背景通常以反义或对照的方式出现。表示这种对比的词和短语主要有unlike, not, but, while, however, despite, in spite of, in spite of, in contrast to[with], compared with, used to, on the other hand等。如:
●In the small one the danger is of becoming a jack-of-all-trades, and master of none. In the large one it is of becoming the man who knows more and more about less and less.
从句中In the small one 及In the large one可知,这两句为前后对比句,所以jack-of-all-trades是he man who knows more and more about less and less的反义。
●They were no longer passively waiting for the bell, but actively took part in the lesson.
句中but告诉我们passively waiting for the bell和后面词组actively took part in the lesson是对比关系,由此可知waiting for the bell的意思是“expecting the end of the class”。
●...to turn him from a passive state of waiting to an active state of pursuing.
由From ...to...可知a passive state of waiting 和an active state of pursuing是对比关系, 所以它的意思是“追求,探索”。
三、因果推断法
有时对生词词义的猜测需要结合上下文的因果关系来进行推断,既可以是根据原因推测结果,也可以是根据结果推测原因。英语中通常用于表示因果关系的词语有because, as, since, for, so, thus, as a result, of course, therefore, so[such]...that等。如:
●There were so many people in the square that he had to elbow his way through the crowd.
根据句中的so many people in the square,可知结果状语从句中的elbow意为“挤,挤过”。
●A few months later, the doctor removed not only the tumor, but also the entire lower left side of Betty’s gum and jawbone. Because Betty was so young, Martin was hopeful that her jawbone might regenerate.
根据句中的Because Betty was so young,可推知regenerate的意思应是“再生”。
四、基本构词法
即根据基本的构词法知识来推测生词的词义。基本的构词法包括前缀、后缀、复合等,同学们若平时积累了一定的构词法知识并在考试时充分运用,效果有时是十分明显的。如:
●Overeating may cause diseases.
前缀over-的意思是“过分的,过量的”,故overeating的意思应为“暴食”。
●This kind of medicine is said to help people anti-age.
前缀anti-是“防止、反对”的意思。所以anti-age的意思是“防衰老”。
● The enemy caught many progressists during the ten years.
后缀-ist表示“从事某种职业的人, 与某事有关的人”,故为“进步分子”。
●Bullfight is very popular in Spain.
根据构词法:bullfight=bull(公牛)+fight(打,搏斗)根据常识:斗牛是西班牙一种颇为流行的体育运动,由此可知bullfight意为“斗牛”。
五、同义解释法
有时文章中尽管出现有生词,但作者可能以某种方式对生词进行了解释,如利用or,that is(to say),in other words,namely等释义性词语或短语进行解释,或利用破折号、同位语、同位语从句、定语从句等解释。同学们若能充分利用这种同义解释的关系,便可轻易地猜测出生词的词义。如:
●William Shakespeare said, “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.”
句中的good and ill together 是对mingled 的解释,告诉我们mingled是“混合的”之意。
●If your premises(前提) are shaky, or if your arguments are not logical, professor per?蛳sonally point out the false reasoning in your arguments.
句中的or及false reasoning告诉我们shaky是“错误的,不合逻辑的”的意思。
●We are on the night shift—from midnight to 8 am—this week.
两个破折号之间的短语清楚地表明night shift是“夜班”的意思。
另外,有时作者还可能用定义法这一直白的解释方法来对生词进行解释,此法通常涉及的动词有be, mean, deal with, be considered, refer to, be called, be known as等。如:
●Annealing is a way of making metal softer by heating it and then letting it cool very slowly.
只要读懂句意,并结合生活常识,便可知annealing的意思是“退火”。
●Anthropology is the scientific study of man.
由定义可知,anthropology的意思是“研究人类的科学”,即“人类学”。
六、举例说明法
有时作者尽管未对生词进行直接的解释,但可能在生词后举出了一些相关的例子进行说明,同学们若对这些例子进行适当归纳,即使不能完全猜测出生词的词义,也能猜测出其大致意义。英语中表示举例说明的方式通常有such as,such…as, like, for example, for instance等。如:
●I like drinks, such as tea and soda.
句中说像tea and soda之类的drinks,由此可知drinks的意思应是“饮料”。
七、常识背景法
许多生词的猜测要求同学们利用一定的生活常识和学科常识进行推理、分析。如:
●Doctors believe that smoking cigarettes is detrimental to our health.
“吸烟有害健康”,这是众人皆知的常识,由此可知detrimental的意思应该是“有害的”。
●The snake crawled over the legs of him, making him very frightened.
根据有关蛇的生活习性的知识,我们可以推断出 crawled的意思是“爬行”。
八、类属分析法
有时文章中出现的生词可能与其他熟悉的词语同属一个类别,此时可以利用这种类属关系推测出生词的大概词义。如:
●Man has known something about the planets Venus,Mars and Jupiter with the help of spaceships.
句中的Venus(金星)、Mars(火星)、Jupiter(木星)均为生词,但同学们只要知道planet(行星)便可猜出这几个词都属于“行星”这一义域。
●The dromedary,like all other desert animals, can go for long periods of time without drinking water.
句中的like all other desert animals告诉我们dromedary指的是“一种沙漠里的动物”,即“单峰骆驼”。