BEC初级:提高阅读速度的单词技巧
提高阅读速度的单词技巧
一、定义猜词法
即根据定义猜测词义的方法。需要定义或解释的单词或短语大多是专有名词、生僻词或文中的关键词,作者为了使读者正确理解它们,就得做出较浅显的解释或说明。
例一:Giraffe is an animal with a very long neck,four legs and orange skin with dark spots.根据后面对Giraffe 的解释,它的词义为“长颈鹿”。
例二:Anthropology is the scientific study of man.由定义可知 Anthropology 的词义为“研究人类的科学”即“人类学”。
例三:What is plagiarism? It is using others’ ideas and words without clearly mentioningwhere the information is from.根据定义我们知道plagiarism的词义为“剽窃”。
二、定语从句
定语从句对先行词起限定、修饰或解释作用,因此我们可以利用定语从句来推测先行词的词义。
例一:Second generation Puerto Ricans who were born in New York but who have returnedto the island, are called Nuvoricans.
Nuvoricans 的词义可以由Second generation Puerto Ricans后面的两个定语从句来得到, 即生在纽约,后又回到波多黎各的人。
例二:Psychophysiology is a science which deals with the relationship between mind andbody.根据定语从句我们可以看出Psychophysiology的意思为“身心联系的科学”,即“心理生理学”。
三、同位短语或同位语从句
同位关系的两部分之间多用逗号连接,有时也用破折号、分号、引号和括号连接。
例一:According to a report published on the British medical magazine, The Lancet, a studyof ten German mobile phone users found that when they turned on their phones, their bloodpressure goes up by 5 to 10 millimeters of mercury.根据句法结构的知识,我们知道The Lancet是the British medical magazine的同位语,由此可知The Lancet是一个杂志的名称。
例二:Semantics, the study of the meaning of words, is necessary if you are to speak andread intelligently.两个逗号中间的短语the study of the meaning of words是Semantics的同位语,意为“对词义进行研究的科学”, 即“语义学”。
四、对比结构
寻找文中相互对比、相互对照的线索来确定生词的含义。
在此类文章中,通常会出现一些表示意义转折、对比的词语:however, but, on the other hand, onthe contrary, instead of, while, unlike, not, although, yet, despite, in spite of, in contrast, etc.
例一: A good supervisor can recognize instantly the adept workers from the unskilledones.根据句法结构可知the adept workers和 the unskilled ones.为对比关系,意义相反。由theunskilled ones可推出the adept workers为熟练工人。
例二:Someone liked milk, but others abhorred it.通过but我们知道abhor是like的反义词,意为“厌恶”。
五、并列平行结构
它表示意义上的并列或相似关系。表示并列关系的词语为and, similarly, like, just as, also, etc.
例一:A child’s birthday party does not have to be a hassle; it can be a basket of fun,according to Beth Anacleria, an Evaston mother of two, aged 4 and 18 months.分号前后为两个并列平行的分句,后一句意为“生日聚会可以充满快乐、乐趣”,我们可以推测hassle意为“混乱”。
例二:First put forward by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in the seventeenthcentury, the theorem had baffled and beaten the finest mathematical minds, including a Frenchwoman scientist who made a major advance in working out the problem, and who had to dresslike a man in order to be able to study at the Ecole Polytechnique.baffled 和beaten为并列平行关系,根据beaten可以推测出baffled意为“难倒,使受挫,阻碍”之意。
例三:John loves to talk, and his sisters are similarly loquacious.根据and和similarly判定短语loves to talk 和loquacious.之间为同义比较,意为“健谈的”。
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