猜测词义是考生阅读理解能力的一个重要方面. NMET 阅读理解主要测试考生根据上下文和构词法知识猜出生词词义或旧词新意的能力.
猜测生词的方法
⑴根据构词法猜测
英语中的构词法主要有三种：
派生（Derivation）
转化（Conversion）
合成（Compounding）
①派生：
由一个词根加上前缀或后缀构成一个新的单词，该法是猜测英语单词的主要方法。
A.加前缀 dis-, in-, re-, un-, non-,
B.加后缀 –able, -al, -an, -ful, -ive, -er, -ese,-ist, -ment, -ness, -tion, -fy, -ian,-ing, -is(z)e, -ly, -teen, -ty, -th, -y
如：unconditional，意为“无条件的”
②转化：
由某一词性转达化成另一词性，其意义也发生一定的变化。
I was asked to minute the race.
“minute”转化成动词，意为“为……计时”
hand(n.)—hand(v.) empty(adj.)—empty(v.)
③合成：两个或两个以上的单词组成一个新的单词。
如：blackboard, man-made,overthrow
④首字母缩略
ISBN：International Standard
Book Number 国际标准图书编号。
VIP：Very Important person 贵宾、大人物
⑤混合词
brunch: breakfast + lunch 早午餐
smog: smoke + fog 烟雾
⑥其他
VS：versus(=against)
XL: extra large
⑵根据上下文猜测
没有上下文，就没有生词的含义，不同的上下文会使一个相同的单词含义截然不同。根据上下文猜测生词常常可以借助定语从句、同位词、并列关系、因果关系、转折关系等等来确定。
① 利用解释作为从上下文猜词的线索,即根据定义猜词. 对生词的解释,往往能够明确地告诉我们这个词的准确意思。常用的关键词和句型有：
...means 表示......的意思，意指
...is/are ......是
..., which
..., where
...is/ are called 被叫做
...is/are known as 被称为
...can be defined as 可被定以为
例如：
(a) Desert can be defined as a large area of land where there is not enough rain and vegetation to support human life.
(b) A linguist, an expert on languages, is always listening.
根据上下文,后一句是前面划线部分生词的定义(同位语),即语言学家.
②利用举例作为从上下文猜词的线索。文章的作者常常通过列举一些名词或事例来说明他在文章中所用的一个词。常见的关键词有：
such as 例如
like 像，如 especially 尤其是 for instance 例如 for example 例如
例如：Cars must have certain safety devices such as seat belt, headlights, and good brakes.
③ 利用重述作为上下文猜词的线索。当作者不能肯定读者能够理解他的意思时，他会用另外一种方式陈述自己的观点。常见的用来表示重述的词或短语有：
or.... 即，或者说 that is 也就是说 that is to say 也就是说
in other words 换句话说 to put it another way 换句话说
例如：
(a).In some countries where there is very little rain, the farmers have to irrigate, or water, their fields.
(b) It will be very hard but also very brittle—that is , it will break easily.
从后面的解释中我们可以了解到brittle 是"脆"的意思。
④利用近义词的线索。作者可能会用一个近义词或者同义词去解释另一个更难的词，以便使他的文字意思更清楚，近义词往往出现在同一句或者同一段落中。
例如： At the beginning they did not have enough capital to start a business, nor were they able to borrow the amount of money they needed from the bank.
⑤ 利用反义词作为猜词的线索。作者常常用反义词来使文章更具表现力，我们可以利用反义词作为线索去猜句中出现的生词的意思。
例如：
Metal expands when heated and contracts when cooled.
从句子结构看，expand与contract相对应，when heated与when cooled相对应。因为加热与使冷却是相反的动作，那么expand与contract也应该是相反的。
⑥利用对比关系猜词.
例如:She is usually prompt for all her class, but today she arrived in the middle of her first class.
but 一词表转折，因此but 前后的意思正相反。后半句的意思是她今天"第一节上了一半才来"，因此反向推理，可得出她平时一向"准时"的结论。
⑦利用因果关系猜词.
The lack of movement caused the muscles to weaken. Sometimes the weakness was permanent.So the player could never play the sport again.
从后面的结果"永远不能再运动"中，可以推测 permanent 的意思为"永远的，永久的"。
Exercises
(A)
Recently, studies have been undertaken to determine if a relationship exists between violence on television and violence in the streets of
The word "assess" could best be replaced by
A. undertaken B. determine C. indicate D. influence
(B)
Remember that People on line may not be who they seem. Because you can't see or even hear the person. It would be easy for someone to misrepresent himself/herself. Thus someone who says that "she is a 12-year-old girl." could really be an old man.
A． making a wrong judgement about
B. understanding somebody wrongly
C. giving a wrong description of
D. forming a wrong opinion about
(C)I'm a resolute man. Once I set up a goal, I won't give it up easily.
A. frighten B. brave and careless C. firm D. angry
(D)
We live in a materialistic society and trained from our earlier days to try to get more.
This materialistic opinion has seriously influenced education. Fewer and fewer young people these days learn knowledge only for their own benefit. Every course of studies must lead somewhere, i.e. to a good deal of money. The supply cannot satisfy the demand for skilled personnel(人才) and big companies compete with each other to get good students from the university before they have completed their studies. Big salaries are offered to them. This kind leads to the brain drain, the process by which highly skilled people offer their services to the highest bidder(the company which provides them more money). The most able citizens of poorer nation move to the wealthier neighbors.
As a result, the rich get richer and the poor, poorer.
The underlined word means ______.
A.shortage of skilled personnel
B. outflow of talented people
C. job-hopping(跳槽)
D. interchangeability of personnel