阅读理解总有词不认识？猜词是个技术活！
小白老师说：语义题是医学博士英语统考阅读理解的常规考题，几乎每年的都会考到。今天给大家讲讲阅读理解中的语义题的出题规律和具体形式，文末还给大家介绍超级实用的猜词技巧。干货技术贴，再长也要耐心看完。
语义理解题是就文章中某一词语、短语或句子的含义进行提问的一类题目，主要是想考查考生根据上下文的特定语境理解、推测特定词义的能力。
语义理解题的提问对象一般为关键词，包括生词、多义词、复杂句等，但生词辨义最为常见。
问题类型一般为：
According to the context, “…how my own actions factored in” means____________.
What does the author mean by "iron of the information age"?
在解答语义理解题时，记得遵循两个原则：
不管所问的词是否超纲，根据上下文都能得出其意思；
不管所问的词有多么熟悉，都要通过上下文得出其在特定语境中的意思。
答题时，我们应首先返回原文找到该词或短语出现的地方；注意结合上下文理解该单词的意思，这是因为语义理解题的正确答案经常隐藏在词汇在原文出现处的前后；注意同位语、特殊标点、定语从句以及前后缀；对原文原句语法和词义进行精确剖析。
举个例子。
Any scientist who is not a hypocrite will admit the important part that luck plays in scientific discovery.Our estimate of the importance of luck is inherently biased. we know when we benefit from luck, but in the nature of things cannot assess how often bad luck deprives us of the chance of making what might have been an important discovery.
A colleague and I carried out an experiment in which little tissue fragments, which were very difficult to work with, were injected into mice of different strains. If we had been more experienced, we would have injected only white blood cells (which would have been easier to handle )into the mice. We now know that if we had done this, we would not have discovered act vely acquired tolerance because the grafts would have in effect rejected their hosts. Obviously, we were lucky, but our scientific training enabled us to recognize the significance of the accident. I think, therefore that there was no need for the distinguished neurophysiologist Hodgkin to refer to his"feeling of guilt about suppressing the part which chance and good fortune played in what now seems to be a rather logical development.”
It might nevertheless seem as if luck plays a dominant role in scientific discovery. I would like to challenge this view for the following reasons: we sometimes describe “lucky" a person who wins a prize in a lottery at long odds; but if we describe the accidental discovery on a park bench of a lttery ticket that turns out to be the winning one?
The two cases are quite dferent. A person who buys a lottery ticket is ptting himsef or herself in the way of winning a prize. This individual has, so to speak, purchased candidacy for such a turn of events and all the rest is a matter of mathematical probabilities. So it is with scientists. A scientist is anyone who, by observations and experiments conducted, by the literature read, and even by the company kept, puts himself or herself in the way of making a discovery. These individuals, by deliberate action, have enormously enlarged their awareness their candidacy for good fortune and will not take into account evidence of a kind that a beginner or a casual observer would probably overlook or minerpret. I honestly do not think that bind luck of the kind enjoyed by someone who finds a winning lottery ticket for which he or she has not paid plays an important part in science or that many important discovries arise from the casual intersection of two lines.
Nearly all successful scientists have emphasized the importance of preparedness of mind, and I want to emphasize that this preparedness of mind is worked for and paid for by a great deal of exertion and reflection. If these exertions lead to a discovery, then I think it would be inappropriate to credit such a discovery to luck.
The meaning of the phrase “casual intersection of two lines”(last sentence, Para. 4) is most clearly conveyed by which of the following?
A. Informal kinds of experiments 非正式实验
B. Two detailed plans 两个详细计划
C. Geometrically precise experiments 几何精确的实验
D. Unanticipated coincidence 意外巧合
解 析
题目问文中短语 casual intersection of two lines 是什么意思。定位到文章第四段，作者说，仅靠幸运的科学发现在科学研究中起不了什么作用，这个短语在原文中的意思是“随意的行为”，并且作者提到，许多重大科学发现不是随意的行为引起的，与此短语正好是同义替换，故选 D 。其他三个选项都不正确。
我们要利用语境提高猜测语义的能力，我们知道阅读材料中的每个单词都与它前后的词语或句子甚至段落有着相互制约的关系。因此，我们完全可以利用语境推测、判断生词的词义。具体地讲:
1. 根据定义线索猜测词义
例如:
The people you see fighting，crashing cars or jumping from buildings are not actors，of course. They are called stuntmen.
根据前句，我们可以推断出 stuntmen 的意思是“特技演员”。
2. 根据标点符号线索猜测词义
句子中的标点符号通常对于推断词义或句意具有重要的作用，因此考生应熟悉标点符号的作用。
句号：用来分割句子。
逗号：两个逗号之间或一个逗号之后是一个补充说明成分，可以先不看。
冒号：冒号前后是从抽象到具体的过程，后面进一步具体说明前面的内容。
分号：分号前后是并列关系，包括结构上并列和语义上并列两种。
破折号：两个破折号之间或个破折号之后是补充说明成分可以先不看。
引号：一种是引用别人的观点，其作用要么是作为支持的观点，，要么是作为批判的对象；另一种是引号说反话，表示反语。
括号：括号内的内容起补充说明或解释词义的作用。
3. 根据举例线索猜测词义
She is studying glaucoma and other diseases of the eye.
尽管这句话没能告诉我们 glaucoma 的准确意义，但我们可以猜测它是一种眼病。（glaucoma 是“青光眼”的意思）
4. 根据句子之间的关系，如对比关系、因果关系等猜测词义
Jane was talking with others while Eliza remained reticent all the time. 在英语里面，while 表示转折和对比，通过对比关系我们可以推测 reticent 是“沉默寡言”的意思。
5. 利用构词法猜测词义
He fell into a ditch and lay there， semiconscious， for a few minutes.根据词根 conscious(清醒的，有意识的) ，结合前缀 semi-(半，部分的，不完全的)，我们便可猜出semiconscious 的词义为“半清醒的，半昏迷的”。
下面给大家做个练习，来猜测一下词义：
The word “deliberate” (Para. 4) is closest to ________ in meaning.
A. Cunning
B. Compelling
C. Cautions
D. Intentional
欢迎大家在文末留言你的答案！
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