做英语阅读题,最痛苦的就是碰到生词,它们会让你产生这样的感觉:
这种现象在侧重学术的雅思阅读中就更明显了。很多考生在雅思阅读过程中,看到生词就恨不得钻进字典里查个爽。雅思阅读中的很多生词,有些是专有名词(proper noun),有些是我们不认识的普通词汇了,以下我们就讲解一下在阅读中遇到它们时我们的应对方法。
一、对于专有名词
它们最常见的表现形式就是大写开头与斜体词。
遇到它们,只需判断其所属类别,作大致猜测即可。
01
范文讲解1
The tulip was introduced to Europe in the mid-16th century from the Ottoman Empire, and became very popular in the United Provinces which are now the Netherlands. Tulip cultivation in the United Provinces is generally thought to have started in earnest around 1593 after the Flemish botanist Charles de l’Écluse had taken up a post at the University of Leiden and established the hortus academicus.
解析:
Ottoman Empire:这个词相对陌生,认识Empire的话,可以大致推断是某帝国。如不认识,不妨看看周边平行出现的to Europe这一语块, the Ottoman Empire前又恰恰有from一词。两相结合,from A to B,显然,A与B在结构上等同,那the Ottoman Empire应该也是和Europe相差不远的地名一个。再根据音韵常识和历史知识读一读,“凹凸曼帝国”、“奥特曼帝国”,还是奥斯曼帝国自然就迎刃而解了。意思猜出来,很开心是么?然而,不猜问题也不大,不就是一处细节嘛。
02
范文讲解2:
During this period, researchers from the Liverpool school of Tropical Medicine, the Central American Institute of Health in Nicaragua, the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua and the Costa Rucan Institute of Health interviewed nearly 3,000 women, some of whom had learned to read as children, some during the literacy crusade and some who had never learned at all.
这个句子的主语是“researchers”,但是后面跟了一堆专有名词从“researchers from.......”这个结构中我们不难发现,就是说“来自.......的研究人员”,我们根据常识就可以推测出这一堆名词无非是在说“某某学院,某某机构”。
二:对于普通生词,
我们可以根据上下文逻辑关系来推测词义。
01
范文讲解1:
John is one of the most supercilious men I know. His brother, In contrast, is quite humble and modest.
句中信号词“In contrast”可以提示我们, supercilious和后一句中的humble and modest是反义词。我们可以推测出其词义为傲慢的自大的。
从分析中不难看出,我们可以根据反义词或表示转折矛盾关系的词为线索猜测词义,如but, while, though, in contrast, yet, however, whereas。
02
范文讲解2:
Kimi' s handwriting is illegible, that is to say, it is difficult to read.
通过“that is to say可就是说”,可以得知“it is difficult to read”是对前一句的届时重述,而且“illegible”这个词有格否定前缀“il-”, 所以可推测“illegible”的意思是难以辨认的。
在某些文章中,为了完整的表达某个词义,作者会使用一些更为简单的单词、短语或者句子进行重述。常见用于重述的词包括:or, in other words, that is (i.e.), that is to say等。除了这些信号词,有时作者还会使用标点符号来对某个单词进行重述,如逗号、破折号、括号、冒号和斜线。Full-color pictures are printed using only black and three colors: yellow, cyan (a light blue) and magenta (a light purple).通过括号,可以轻易的理解cyan的词义是浅蓝色, magenta的浅紫色。
03
范文讲解3:
My nephew is quite talkative and my son is similarly loquacious.
句中的信号词“similarly”提示我们,“ loquacious”是“talkative”的近义词,且二者都为形容词, loquacious的意思为多话的。
作者会用一个同义词或词组来解释一个生词,常见的信号词有: as..as, or, the same as, similarly等,所以根据近义词猜测词义在一些阅读材料中。
总而言之,阅读之路中,遇到专有名词该舍弃就舍弃,遇到普通生词,根据语境大胆猜测。
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