托福阅读如何辨识词汇的真正意思

　　在托福阅读中一般会出现6-8道词汇题，出题方式一般为“The word X in the passage is closest inmeaning to xx”。该题目要求考生在选项中找到与文中单词意思相近的选项。根据官方指南，此类题型着重考察考生在语境中识别单词意思的能力，所以如何正确利用语境非常重要。

　　很多考生在解该类题目时喜欢将单词代入语境，实际上对于词汇量较大的考生来说，如果能够直接识别单词本身的意思可以直接利用近义词原则进行解题。如果光是代入很可能会选择其他一些同样能够被代入的选项。

　　比如下面该题

　　Although the growth in Canada's population had slowed down by 1966 (the increase the first half of the 1960's was only nine percent) , another large population wave was coming over the horizon. It would be composed of the children who were born during the period of the high birth rate prior to 1957.

　　The phrase "prior to" is closest in meaning to which of following?

　　(A) behind  
(B) since

　　(C) during  (D) preceding

　　答案为D表示在什之前。该题相信只要认识prior to意思的考生就不会选错。但如果考生不认识prior to使用代入法，实际上会发现B和C选项也同样能够被代入，尤其是B选项。所以在做词汇题时我们首先要考虑该单词本身的含义，然后选择近义词。

　　但如果考生在不认识单词时，还是有其他的方法可以利用的。下面就介绍一些方法：

　　方法 1

　　在从句和上下句中暗示

　　Advocates of organic foods --- a term whose meaning varies greatly --- frequently proclaim that such products are safer and more nutritious than others.

　　The word "Advocates" is closest in meaning to which of following?


　　(A)Proponents
(B) Merchants

　　(C)Inspectors (D) Consumers

　　该题答案为A。Advocates本身表示支持者，倡导者，但可能有同学不认识advocate。这时我们可以通过上下句线索来做题，从frequently proclaim that such products are safer and more nutritious than others 可知advocates认为organic foods比其他更为安全和有营养，所以必然对有机食品保持积极态度。那么答案就是A。

　　再来看一题：

　　The deserts, which already occupy approximately a fourth of the Earth's land surface, have in recent decades been increasing at an alarming pace. The expansion of desert-like conditions into areas where they did not previously exist is called desertification. It has been estimated that an additional one-fourth of the Earth's land surface is threatened by this process.

　　The word “threatened” in the passage is closest in meaning to

　　A. restricted

　　B. endangered

　　C. prevented

　　D. rejected

　　该题答案为B。该题可通过前文推断，this process 指代的是就是desertification这个过程，从前文可知沙漠化正在迅速增加，再根据“alarming”警戒的可知沙漠化对地球表面造成了危险。

　　方法2

　　并列，平行，排比

　　The new accessibility of land around the periphery of almost every major city sparked an explosion of real estate development and fueled what we now know as urban sprawl. Between 1890 and 1920, for example, some 250,000 new residential lots were recorded within the borders of Chicago, most of them located in outlying areas.

　　The word "sparked" is closest in meaning to which of following?


　　(A)brought about 
(B) surrounded

　　(C) sent out (D) followed

　　该题答案选A。spark一词本身表示发出火花，触发等意思，A项bringabout表示带来引起正符合该意思。该题也可以通过并列词and fuel推断出来，fuel有表示激起，带来的意思，那么与之并列的必然是相似的意思。

　　Architecture is a three-dimensional form. It utilizes space, mass, texture, line, light, and color. To be architecture, a building must achieve a working harmony with a variety of elements. Humans instinctively seek structures that will shelter and enhance their way of life.

　　The word “enhance” in the passage is closest in meaning to

　　A.protect

　　B.improve

　　C.organize

　　D.match

　　该题答案选B。从shelter 和and可以推断出该词为way of life有积极作用，那么就只剩下A和B，因为shelter本身已经包含了保护的意思，只能选B表示提高。

　　方法3

　　对比转折

　　The fossil consists of a complete skull of an archaeocyte, an extinct group of ancestors of modern cetaceans.Although limited to a skull, the Pakicetus fossil provides precious details on the origins of cetaceans. The skull is cetacean-like but its jawbones lack the enlarged space that is filled with fat or oil and used for receiving underwater sound in modern whales. Pakicetus probably detected sound through the ear opening as in land mammals.

　　The word “precious” in the passage is closest in meaning to

　　A.exact

　　B.scarce

　　C.valuable

　　D.initial

　　该题答案选C。precious意思为宝贵的，只有valuable有价值的最为接近。如果不认识该单词的话，可以通过转折线索判断。前文说到although limited toskull，说明后文的修饰应该是与limited相反的褒义词，只有C最符合该意思。

　　Joy and sadness are experienced by people in all cultures around the world, but how can we tell when other people are happy or despondent? It turns out that the expression of many emotions may be universal.

　　The word “despondent” in the passage is closest in meaning to

　　A.curious

　　B.unhappy

　　C.thoughtful

　　D.uncertain

　　该题答案可以通过前文线joy and sadness推断。也可以通过并列平行推断得到。该问句中与happy并列的despondent用or连接，说明意思与happy相反，选B。

　　还有一种是通过语义搭配来做题

　　The rain seeps underground and the water may reappear later as springs. These springs are the sources of streams and rivers, which cut through the rocks and carry away debris from the mountains to the lowlands.

　　A.dries gradually

　　B.flows slowly

　　C.freezes quickly

　　D.warms slightly

　　该题要选rain的动词，后面宾语是underground即雨水…地下，此处唯一的搭配就是慢慢流入地下，答案选B。

　　Much of the world’s great architecture has been constructed of stone because of its beauty, permanence, and availability. In the past, whole cities grew from the arduous task of cutting and piling stone upon.

　　A.difficult

　　B.necessary

　　C.skilled

　　D.shared

　　该题答案选A困难的。要选的是task任务一词的形容词，A项困难的是完全符合语义的，C有技巧的和D共享的完全不符合语义。可能会有同学选B必要的，但与A项相比较起来A项很显然更符合语境，因为这一任务是切割并且堆砌石头，很显然是困难的。

　　在实际做题的过程考生可以混合使用多种方法进行解题，当然，做词汇题的原则还是尽可能少花时间，因此能够直接认识单词的意思就变得非常重要。现在快来记忆托福阅读核心词汇吧!

以上关于就是托福考试的相关信息，想要获取更多的托福备考攻略，托福词汇以及考试面试等方面的资讯，都可以关注我们哦!