猜测词义是英语阅读理解的重要考点之一，近几年高考试题中都会有一个小题考查词义猜测。词义猜测题可以针对单词、短语的意思进行命题考查，还可以针对某一句子的准确理解或代词的精确指代进行设题。除了直接考查单词或短语词义猜测外，在阅读理解文章中，总会有一些单词或短语超出了新课标词汇表的范围，但又没有附加注释，而需要考生猜测，这也是对词义猜测的一种间接考查。下面让我们一起看看如何突破此类题吧！
1.利用释义法解题
在说明文尤其是科技类说明文中，作者通常会对一些关键词或专业术语进行解释。常见的有对该词下定义或后跟同位语、定语从句、冒号、破折号、括号等引出解释说明部分。通过阅读定义或解释部分，读者便可理解该词或短语的意思。
【考例1】（2022年全国乙卷，C篇）
29. What does “maintenance” underlined in paragraph 3 refer to?
A. Personnel safety. B. Assistance from drones.
C. inspection and repair. D. Construction of infrastructure.
解析：原文：That includes huge savings in maintenance costs and better protection of railway personnel safety. It is calculated that European railways alone spend approximately 20 billion euros a year on maintenance, including sending maintenance staff, often at night, to inspect and repair the rail infrastructure. That can be dangerous work that could be avoided with drones assisting the crews’ efforts.
“including sending maintenance staff, often at night, to inspect and repair the rail infrastructure”对“maintenance”进行了解释，故推测maintenance是“维护，保养”的意思，C项inspection and repair与句中的inspect and repair对应。故选C。
【考例2】（2021年全国甲卷，C篇）
9. What do the underlined words “Safe! Safe! Safe!” probably mean？
A. Be careful! B. Well done! C. No way! Don’t worry!
解析：原文：A few minutes later, when I landed the trick, my friends beat their boards loud, shouting: “Safe！Safe！Safe！” And that’s what mattered — landing tricks, being a good skater.
本题可以用释义法解题。根据画线部分后面的解释“And that’s what mattered — landing tricks, being a good skater.（那才是真正重要的——掌握了滑板的落地技巧，才能成为一名好的滑板玩家。）”可知，作者掌握了滑板落地技巧，因此他的朋友大声欢呼，由此可以推出本句的“Safe”有赞美之意，故选B项。
2.利用构词法解题
英语单词可以通过添加词缀、合成或转化的方式构成新词或生成新的词义。同学们要熟记一定数量的词根、前缀和后缀，从而达到通过“解剖”一个单词，对一个生词能够“望文生义”的效果，同时要结合文章的语境来猜测词义。
【考例1】（2016年全国II卷，B篇）
27. What does the underlined word “downside” in Paragraph 4 probably mean？
A. Mistake. B. Drawback. C. Difficulty. D. Burden.
解析：原文：Encouraging this kind of thinking has a downside. I ran the risk of losing those students who had a different style of thinking. Without fail one would declare, “But I’m just not creative.”
downside是由“down（向下）+ side（方面）”构成的合成词，并且后文提到“作者冒着失去那些有不同思维风格的学生的风险”。因此，我们可以猜测该词的意思是“不足，缺点”，故选B项。
【考例2】（2010年福建卷，B篇）
60. The underlined word “outlawed” in Paragraph 2 probably means “_________”.
A. allowed B. banned C. offered D. refused
解析：原文：Five million more families in sub-Saharan Africa will get a TV over the next five years. In 2005, after the fall of the Taliban（塔利班）, which had outlawed TV, 1 in 5 Afghans had one. The global total is another 150 million by 2013 — pushing the numbers to well beyond two thirds of families.
本题可以利用构词法结合文意猜测词义。“out”作为前缀构成动词时，有“超越，超过”的意思，与“law”连用，意思是“超越了法律”，即为法律所不容。再结合句子“In 2005, after the fall of the Taliban（塔利班）, which had outlawed TV, 1 in 5 Afghans had one.”可知，2005年塔利班政权垮台以后，五分之一的阿富汗人有了电视机，而在这之前电视应该是“被禁止的”。“ban”有“禁止”之意。故选B项。
3.利用因果法解题
若画线单词或短语前后句子之间构成因果关系，那我们便可以根据这种因果逻辑关系推知单词或短语的意义。根据前面的原因可以推测后面的结果，根据后面的结果也可以反推前面的原因。因果关系的语境通常由because、so、thus、therefore、as a result of、since、so that、so/such ... that ...等标志词体现。
【考例1】（2020年全国II卷，C篇）
30. What does the underlined word “collapsed” in paragraph 5 probably mean？
A. Boomed. B. Became mature. C. Remained stable. D. Crashed.
解析：原文：The fur trade kept nutria in check for decades, but when the market for nutria collapsed in the late 1980s, the cat-sized animals multiplied like crazy.
由“The fur trade kept nutria in check for decades”这一句可知，几十年来，毛皮贸易使海狸鼠的数量处于控制之下。根据画线词后的“the cat-sized animals multiplied like crazy”可知，这种大小像猫的动物开始疯狂地繁殖，由此推知含有画线词的这一句指出了原因“20世纪80年代末海狸鼠市场“崩溃了”，故选D项。
【考例2】（2019年全国II卷，B篇）
25. What does the underlined phrase “tug at the heartstrings” in Paragraph 2 mean？
A. Encourage team work. B. Appeal to feeling.
C. Promote good deeds. D. Provide advice.
解析：原文：I guess that there’s probably some demanding work schedule, or social anxiety around stepping up to help for an unknown sport. She may just need a little persuading. So I try again and tug at the heartstrings. I mention the single parent with four kids running the show and I talk about the dad coaching a team that his kids aren’t even on ... At this point the unwilling parent speaks up, “Alright. Yes, I’ll do it.”
由逻辑词“so”可知，此处可以借助因果逻辑关系猜测词义句意。画线部分的前一句提到“她可能需要有人劝说一下”，故“tug at the heartstrings”应该有“劝说”的意思。“appeal to feeling”意思是“打动某人，唤起某人的情感”，故选B项。
4.利用同义法解题
画线单词或短语前后有时会出现与之同义或近义的词语或结构，它往往暗示了该单词或短语的含义，这时我们可从熟悉的词语中推知生词的含义。常见的表示同义关系的词或短语有and、or、like、as well、similarly、too、also、either等。当画线单词或短语与其他单词或短语由并列连词或者表示相同相似关系的副词连接时，意味着这两部分内容在含义上是接近的，由此可确定同等关系中的某个单词或短语所属的语域，进而可推知其大致意思。
【考例1】（2020年全国III卷，B篇）
26. What does the underlined phrase “keeping tabs on” in paragraph 3 probably mean？
A. Listing completely. B. Directing professionally.
C. Promoting successfully. D. Watching carefully.
解析：原文：One nonprofit organization, which monitors the treatment of animals in filmed entertainment, is keeping tabs on more than 2,000 productions this year.
根据“One nonprofit organization, which monitors the treatment of animals in filmed entertainment”可知，这个非营利组织旨在监督电影娱乐业对待动物的方式，所以下文应是表达“该组织今年正在密切关注2000多部电影产品”。“keeping tabs on”与“monitors（监控）”表达的意义相同，故选D项。
【考例2】（2015年四川卷，D篇）
44. What does the underlined word “nocturnal” in paragraph 5 mean？
A. Active at night. B. Inactive at night.
C. Active during the day. D. Inactive during the day.
解析：原文：And it is not just robins that are being kept awake by artificial light. Blackbirds and seagulls are also being more nocturnal.
画线单词前一句说“不是只有知更鸟在人造光下会一直醒着”，而“also（也）”表明这一句与前面表达的意思相近，即“黑鹂和海鸥也更活跃”。“nocturnal”应该是“awake”的近义词，意为“夜间活跃的”，故选A项。
5.利用反义法解题
运用转折对比描述事物或现象是写作时常用的一种手法，作者常借用一些信号词来提供相反信息，从而表明一个词语与前面或后面的另一个词语互为反义或转折对比关系。抓住这些信号词，结合上下文意，我们就能够快速推测出词义。体现对比关系的词语很多，常见的有but、yet、however、while、unlike、instead（of）、on the other hand、rather than、on the contrary等。
【考例1】（2020年新高考全国I卷，D篇）
13. What does the underlined word “beanpoles” in paragraph 1 refer to？
A. Big eaters. B. Overweight persons.
C. Picky eaters. D. Tall thin persons.
解析：原文：According to a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research, both the size and consumption habits of our eating companions can influence our food intake. And contrary to existing research that says you should avoid eating with heavier people who order large portions (份), its the beanpoles with big appetites you really need to avoid.
由“contrary to（与……相反）”可知，画线词一句与前句意思相反，因此“beanpoles”应该与“heavier people”意思相反，意思是“与现存的研究发现（应该避免和食量大的胖人一起吃饭）相反，你真正需要避开的是胃口大而又高又瘦的人”，故选D项。
【考例2】（2012年全国II卷，D篇）
54. What do the words “a replica” in paragraph 2 refer to？
A. A painting of the skeleton. B. A photograph of Lucy.
C. A copy of the skeleton. D. A written record of Lucy.
解析：原文：Even the Ethiopian public has only seen Lucy twice. The Lucy on exhibition at the Ethiopian National Museum in the capital, Addis Ababa, is a replica while the real remains are usually locked in a secret storeroom.
由“while（而）”可知，本题可以使用反义法解题。根据画线词后面的“while the real remains are usually locked in a secret storeroom”可知，“while”前后构成转折对比关系，所以画线词与“real”意思相反，意思应为“假的”，故答案为C，意思是“一个骨骼的复制品”。
6.利用语境法解题
有些猜测词义句意题找不到以上标志或线索，我们可以利用上下文提供的语境进行合乎逻辑的综合分析，进而推测词义句意。
【考例1】（2022年全国甲卷，C篇）
28. Which of the following best explains “take the plunge” underlined in paragraph 2?
A. Try challenging things. B. Take a degree.
C. Bring back lost memories. D. Stick to a promise.
解析：原文： Ever since her childhood, Ginni, now 71, has had a deep love for travel. Throughout her career (职业) as a professional dancer, she toured in the UK, but always longed to explore further. When she retired from dancing and her sons eventually flew the nest, she decided it was time to take the plunge.
根据上下文语境可知，Ginni一直渴望深入探索世界。根据画线短语所在的句子可知，当她退休且她的儿子们独立生活后，她就有时间去做这些事情了。所以此处与画线短语意思相近的选项为A，表示做一些有挑战性的事情。故选A。
【考例2】（2022年新高考II卷，B篇）
24. What do the underlined words “hit home for me” mean in paragraph 2?
A. Provided shelter for me. B. Became very clear to me.
C. Took the pressure off me. D. Worked quite well on me.
解析：原文：We journalists live in a new age of storytelling, with many new multimedia tools. Many young people don't even realize it's new. For them, it’s just normal.
This hit home for me as I was sitting with my 2-year-old grandson on a sofa over the Spring Festival holiday. I had brought a children's book to read. It had simple words and colorful pictures—a perfect match for his age.
根据上下文语境可知，作者是记者，生活在一个讲故事的新时代，有许多新的多媒体工具。许多年轻人甚至没有意识到它是新的。对他们来说，这很正常。而在春节假期，作者和两岁的孙子坐在沙发上看书时，尤其清楚认识到了这一点。故画线词意思是“我很清楚”。故选B。
7.利用常识解题
当仅靠分析篇章内在逻辑关系和语境无法猜出词义时，我们可以借助生活经验和普通常识确定词义。
【考例】（2020年江苏卷，C篇）
61. The underlined expression “stomach it” in paragraph 1 most probably means “________”.
A. digest the meal easily B. manage without breakfast
C. decide wisely what to eat D. eat whatever is offered
解析：原文：For those who can stomach it, working out before breakfast may be more beneficial for health than eating first, according to a study of meal timing and physical activity.
此题考查“stomach”的生僻意思。根据生活常识可知，有的人锻炼前不吃早饭是受不了的，所以此处意为“如果可以忍受空腹的话，在吃早饭前去锻炼比吃过早餐后去锻炼好处更多”，故选B项。
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