命制的试题中经常有要求考生对词语和句子做出解释的题目。两者都主要侧重于考查考生通过上下文去判断词义、句意的能力。词义题的考查有两种：一是超纲词含义的推断，另一个是熟词僻义或是在特定场合的意思。
1词义句意题命题模式
(1)The phrase (word, sentence) "..." (in line...) most probably means .
(2)By "...", the wrier (probably ) means .
(3)What does the author probably mean by "..." in... paragraph?
(4)The phrase (word, sentence) suggests .
(5)From the passage,we can infer that the word "..."is .
(6)According to passage, what is "..." ?
(7)When the author says that..., he means .
2词义题的解题技巧
(1)根据上下文进行推理猜测
考生必须明确，不管所考的词语有多超纲，都能够通过上下文得出其意思;不管这个词有多熟悉，都必须通过上下文得出其在特定场合的意思。在克服畏惧心理的同时，也要避免直接用自己熟悉的意义去解释词义。对句子的理解也要通过前后关联的句子进行推测。比如利用前后的比较对照关系、利用文中给出的定义或对它进行的重述、利用所举的例子进行归纳、利用同义/近义/反义词、利用特殊标点符号等等。
Example
We live in a society in which the medical and social use of substances (drugs) is pervasive: an aspirin to quiet a headache, some wine to be sociable, coffee to get going in the morning, a cigarette for the nerves. When do these socially acceptable and apparently constructive uses of a substance become misuses? First of all, most substances taken in excess will produce negative effects such as poisoning or intense perceptual distortions. Repeated use of a substance can also lead to physical addiction or substance dependence. Dependence is marked first by an increased tolerance, with more and more of the substance required to produce the desired effect, and then by the appearance of unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the substance is discontinued.(1997年 Passage 3)
The word "pervasive" (Line 1, Paragraph 2) might mean .
[A] widespread [B] overwhelming [C] piercing [D] fashionable
所要解释的词pervasive后有冒号，起解释说明的作用。因此通过冒号后的内容就可以知道该词的含义。作者在冒号后面列举了物质在日常生活的各个方面的使用，因此可推知[A]选项"分布广泛的，普遍的"为正确答案。
(2)对超纲词含义的推断
生词是造成阅读困难的障碍之一。阅读短文中的词汇一般不超过大纲的词语范围，但也有5%左右的派生词和合成词，2%～3%的超纲词。对于部分超纲而且专业性较强的词，在较早的几年里命题者还曾给出过其汉语意思，如：1991年Passage 1中的chlorophyll(叶绿素)、carbohydrates(碳水化合物);1992年Passage 2中的inertia(惯性)，Passage 3中的hockey(曲棍球);1993年Passage 1中的babbling(咿呀学语)，Passage 2中的bureaucratic(官僚主义的)，Passage 3中的monopoly(垄断);1994年Passage 4中的pancreas(胰腺)、genes(基因)，Passage 5中的mold(霉)。但是后来的命题趋势中取消了这种形式，其意图在于让考生更多地去猜测词语含义。其实很多短文中出现的超纲词汇并不影响对全文的理解，而且我们可以以下几种方法去猜测其含义。
①构词法：掌握常见的英语词根、词缀，通过分析生词的词根、前缀、后缀去推测词义。如：1996年Passage 5中的nonfundamentalist(非原教旨主义 non-非，不;fundament基础，基本原理;-al 形容词后缀;-ist…主义者)。
②词性加搭配：先判断生词在文章中的词性，再看它与哪些词语可以搭配，最后根据自己的常识猜测其大概含义。
③找同义词、同义解释或反义词和反义解释：在上下文中找出生词的其他表达法，可能是近(反)义词、一个解释或一些暗示。
④找同位词：上下文中可能有类似生词出现的句子的平行结构，找出其中和生词处于同一位置的词去推测。
考生可以适当记些词根词缀，以备不时之需。如：
geo-：前缀，表示"地球"，如：geography：地理学, 地理;geology：地质学 ;geophysic：地球物理学;
hydro-： 前缀，表示"水"，"液体"，如：hydrobiology：水生物学;hydro-cooling：水冷法;hydro-mania：投水狂，自溺;hydroelectric：水电的;
over-：前缀，表示"越过，超过"，如：overcrowdedness：过于拥挤;overestimate：估计过高，过高评价;oversensitive：过于敏感;overplease：使过分高兴;overactive：过于活跃。
Example
Moreover, demographers see the continuing shift south and west joined by a related but newer phenomenon: More and more, Americans apparently are looking not just for places with more jobs but with fewer people, too. Some instances-
● Regionally, the Rocky Mountain states reported the most rapid growth rate-371 percent since 1970 in a vast area with only 5 percent of the US population.
● Among states, Nevada and Arizona grew fastest of all: 635 and 531 percent respectively.
Except for Florida and Texas, the top 10 in rate of growth is composed of Western states with 75 million people-about 9 per square mile.(1998年 Passage 4)
The word "demographers" (line 1, paragraph 8) most probably means .
[A] people in favor of the trend of democracy
[B] advocates of migration between states
[C] scientists engaged in the study of population
[D] conservatives clinging to old patterns of life
根据上下文demographers提到的两个例证都涉及人口，因此他们应该是 "人口统计研究方面的人"。[C]选项"研究人口的科学家，也就是人口统计学家"是该词的正确含义。同时，也可运用构词法的知识， demo=people, graph=write， -er指人。因而猜出它指"记录人口方面数据的人"。
(3)句意题解题技巧
试题中出现句意题时，考生需要根据上下文的内容联系去猜测句意;或将所考的句子与它的上下文进行关系对照，找出它与上下文的关系，如转折、并列、递进、解释说明等，然后针对不同的关系，对上下文采取取非、找同义等方法进行解题。
Example
It is also less than most forecasters had predicted. In late 1994 the panel of economists which The Economist polls each month said that America's inflation rate would average 35% in 1995 In fact, it fell to 26% in August, and is expected to average only about 3% for the year as a whole. In Britain and Japan inflation is running half a percentage point below the rate predicted at the end of last year. This is no flash in the pan;over the past couple of years, inflation has been consistently lower than expected in Britain and America.(1997年 Passage 5)
The sentence "This is no flash in the pan" (Line 5, Paragraph 3) means that.
[A] the low inflation rate will last for some time
[B] the inflation rate will soon rise
[C] the inflation will disappear quickly
[D] there is no inflation at present
此题需要根据上下文推测句意。在This is no flash in the pan之前，作者给出近来美国、英国和日本的通货膨胀率都低于经济学家预期的数字;之后又指出在过去的几年，英国和美国的通货膨胀率始终低于预期的水平。由此可以推断，该句意思是"并非一时现象，并非是昙花一现"。 [A]选项"低通货膨胀率将会持续一段时间"符合题意。
(4)选项特点
正确选项特点：第一，词义题中，不是熟词的常规含义。第二，句意题中，正确选项不含有意义过于绝对化的词语，而是使用不肯定语气词或意义解释深刻。
Example
The American economic system is organized around a basically private-enterprise, market-oriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most. Private businessmen, striving to make profits, produce these goods and services in competition with other businessmen; and the profit motive, operating under competitive pressures, largely determines how these goods and services are produced. Thus, in the American economic system it is the demand of individual consumers, coupled with the desire of businessmen to maximize profits and the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes, that together determine what shall be produced and how resources are used to produce it.(1994年 Passage 1)
In line 8,paragraph 1, "the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes" means .
[A] Americans are never satisfied with their incomes
[B] Americans tend to overstate their incomes
[C] Americans want to have their incomes increased
[D] Americans want to increase the purchasing power of their incomes
[A]、[B]选项都使用了带有绝对意义的词语，如never 和overstate因此可直接排除。[C]和[D]意义相近，但是[D]的意义更为深刻，因此可知[D]为答案。而且，此处的income不是常规词义"收入"，而是"收入的购买力"，故不可选答案[C]。
干扰项特点：第一，与所考词汇形似。第二，如果考的是熟词，含有常规词义的一般是错误选项。第三，根据命题原则，正确选项不会使用与原文过多相同的字眼。
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