在阅读文章的过程中，考生面临最大的问题是遇到不认识的单词或短语，或者认识的单词在文章中有了新的含义。如果这些词或短语不影响对文章主要内容的理解，考生便可以将它们略过，不中断阅读。如果这些词语的意思对正确理解文章很重要，就必须根据上下文的联系，根据构词法或其他方法对它们的意义进行猜测，使之不影响对整篇文章的理解。猜测词义通常可采用以下几种方法。
1. 利用上下文确定词义
通过上下文来猜测词意是阅读考试中最常用的重要手段之一，联系上下文可以帮助我们理解句子，确定词义。下面我们通过一些实例来简要说明如何通过上下文来确定词义。
例1：He is successful as a businessman because of his dynamic personality. He seems to have unlimited energy.对于dynamic一词大家可能不熟悉，下文的He seems to have unlimited energy…（他似乎有用不完的劲）就是对 dynamic词义的解释。这样，我们便知道该词意为“有干劲的”。
例2：Sociology is the term used to describe the scientific study of human society.假定sociology是一个不认识的词，系动词be后面就给出了明确的定义。这样，我们便知道该词意思为“社会学”。
例3：A first-year college or university student is commonly a 'freshman'， and ‘sophomore’， 'junior‘ and 'senior' designate the second—third—and fourth—year student.要是对sophomore， junior 和senior几个术语不熟悉，通过后面的对应解释词语the second—third—and fourth—year student我们便不难知道它们分别是指二、三、四年级的大学生。
例4：The tired soldiers trudged through knee-deep mud for hours before they found a dry place to sleep.通过后面的through knee-deep mud（没膝深的泥浆），我们知道trudged一词的意思为与行走这一动作有关，在泥浆中行走，也就是“跋涉”。
例5：When it comes to manufactured goods there is actually more diversity in this country than Europe has ever known. The variety of goods carried by our stores is the first thing that impresses any visitor from abroad.第二句中的variety与第一句中的diversity 同义，这样，我们便不难知道diversity的大意是“种类”或“品种”。
{ad300_right}下面我们联系上下文，试确定以下各句中斜体字的含义。
1.The woman and the children were skilful in boats too， but there were usually several of them in a large boat called umiak.
2.The doctor said that if a person ate even one leaf of the hemlock plant， he would die， because the plant is a deadly poison.
3.Although dogs and cats often have large families， rabbits are famous for the size of their litters， which sometimes number more than twelve bunnies at one time.
4.Mark became hysterical when his basketball team won， and he did not calm down for several days.
5.With mud from head to toe， flowers still clutched in his hand， John looked so ludicrous that we couldn‘t help laughing.
6.A bee collects nectar not in its own stomach but in a kind of shopping bag （called the honey sac） similar to the one ants have.
7.Several generations ago， the world seemed to run in an orderly way. Now， however， everything is in a state of turmoil.
8.After the first time someone tried to rob him， the banker became flustered easily， and in his confusion he would make many careless errors.
9.Jane was intrigued by the behavior of animals； she could sit for hours observing a bird making a nest or an ant carrying a leaf.
10.Some chimps are very independent and appear to be the superior members of a group； others seem to be ruled by the leaders and are quite submissive.
通过上串下联，我们不难确定上述各句中斜体字的含义如下：
1.umiak n. 一种大船
2.hemlock n. 一种有毒植物（毒芹）
3.litter n.一窝 bunnies小兔子
4.hysterical a.歇斯底里，异常兴奋
5.ludicrous a……滑稽可笑的
6.nectar n.花蜜 honey sac蜜胃
7.turmoil n.混乱
8.flustered a.慌乱的
9.intrigued a.感兴趣
10.submissive a.顺从的
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