近几年的高考阅读理解题越来越重视对考生猜词悟义能力的考查，一般有三个小题直接考查猜测词义，再加上阅读过程中碰到的生僻词汇，使得许多同学对阅读理解产生畏惧心理。其实，阅读理解中的许多“生词”都是我们平时常见的熟词通过合成、派生、转化等而生成的，同学们只要熟知构词法，完全能够解决。另有个别确属生词，同学们可灵活运用猜词技巧，联系上下文猜出其意思。本文拟介绍一些常用的猜测词义的技巧，希望对同学们有所帮助。
一、根据上下文解释进行猜测
有时短文中出现一个需要猜测其意义的词或短语，下面接着出现其定义或解释，这就是判断该词或短语意义的主要依据。如：
1.(NMET2002, B篇) 62. What’s the meaning of “the organic trend”as the words are used in the text?
A. growing interest in organic food
B. better quality of organic food
C. rising market for organic food
D. higher prices of organic food
原文：Gold is one of a growing number of shoppers buying into the organic trend, and supermarkets across Britain are counting on more like him as they grow their organic food business. 由此可知，越来越多的人购买organic food，所以全英国的超市才增加了organic food business，以期望有更多像Gold这样的人前来购买。因此，“the organic trend”就是指购买organic food这样一种流行趋势，所以，此题答案为A。
2.（NMET2001, A 篇）56. The words “deluxe sedans”, “minivans” and “station wagons” used in the text refer to _________.
A. cars in the making
B. car rental firms
C. cars for rent
D. car makers
原文：Shanghai Bashi Tourism Car Rental Center offers a wide variety of choices—deluxe sedans, minivans, station wagons, coaches. Santana sedans are the big favorite. 由此可知，car rental center是出租车公司，所以，这里应选择的只能是cars for rent（出租汽车）。
二、根据上下文的指代关系进行猜测
文章中的代词it, that, he, him 或them可以指上文提到的人或物，其中it和that还可以指一件事。有时代词指代的对象相隔较远，需要认真查找；有时也需要对前面提到的内容进行总结，才能找出代词所指代的事物。如：
1.(NMET2002, A篇) 57. What does the underlined word “it”(paragraph 2) refer to?
A. Discovering the moon’s inner space.
B. Using the earth’s inner space.
C. Meeting the “moon people” again.
D. Traveling to outer space.
原文：However, the question that “moon people” asked is still an interesting one. A growing number of scientists are seriously thinking about it.由此可以看出it指上句中的the question，而the question又指第一段中“月球人”所提的问题。所以根据第一段中的问题“Why are you traveling to outer space when you don’t even use your inner space?”就可以判断出答案为B。
2. (NMET2002, D篇) 67. The underlined word “them”(paragraph 1) refers to _______.
A. red herrings B. treasure hunts
C. Henry Ⅷ’s six wives
D. readers of Masquerade
文中提到…but Williams put in a lot of “red herrings”, or false clues, to mislead them.意思是作者在书中用一些假线索误导他们，显然，他们（them）就是指书的读者，故答案为D。
三、根据因果关系进行猜测
根据原因可以预测结果，根据结果也可以找出原因。如：
Biggest power failure in the city’s history...All of our ice-cream and frozen foods melted. 后一句承接前一句，前一句的原因导致后一句的结果。根据因果关系，停电很可能导致冰淇淋和冷冻食品融化，所以melted的词义应为“融化”。
四、根据转折或对比关系进行猜测
根据上下句的连接词，如but, however, otherwise等就可以看到前后句在意义上的差别，从而根据某一句的含义，来确定另一句的含义。另外，分号也可以表示转折、对比等意义。如：
(NMET2002, E 篇) 74.What does the underlined word “hassle”(paragraph 1) probably mean?
A. a party designed by specialists
B. a plan requiring careful thought
C. a situation causing difficulty or trouble
D. a demand made by guests
通过上下句,A child’s birthday party doesn’t have to be a hassle; it can be a basket of fun...可以看出，hassle和a basket of fun肯定是近乎相反的意义。所以不难判断，答案为C。
五、根据同位关系进行猜测
阅读中出现一些难词，有时后面就是一个同位语，对前面的词进行解释，这种解释有时也用or连接。如：
1.(NMET2001, D篇)...and other Germanic and Nordic peoples, who spoke what we now call Anglo-Saxon (or Old English), a Germanic language.
Anglo-Saxon也就是古英语（Old English），是日耳曼语(a Germanic language)的一种。
2. (NMET2002, A篇) The “Chunnel”, a tunnel(隧道) connecting England and France, is now complete.此句中a tunnel是Chunnel的同位语。因此，The “Chunnel”就是英法之间的海底隧道。
六、根据构词法（转化、合成、派生等）进行猜测
在英语中，有很多词可以在前面加前缀，在后面加后缀，从而构成一个词，乍看起来，这个词可能是生词，但掌握了一定的构词法知识，就不难猜出它的词义。如：
1. (NMET2002, B篇) Market research shows that Gold and others who buy organic food can generally give clear reasons for their preferences—but their knowledge of organic food is far from complete.
我们知道，prefer的意思是“宁愿、愿意、喜爱”，根据上下文可以判断prefer的名词形式preference的含义应是“偏爱、爱好”。
2. (NMET2002, E篇) “Our parties are aimed for children 2 to 10,” Anaclerio said, “and they’re very interactive（互动）and creative in that they build a sense of drama based on a subject...”
文中interactive是由前缀inter-(相互的)和active（活动的、活跃的）而构成的，即使文中不给出其含义，根据上下文的意思也可以判断，该词的含义应是“互动的”。
七、根据生活常识猜测词义
In old days, when girls from rich families were married to their husbands, they expected to bring with themselves a large quantity of dowry.
根据常识，在旧社会，有钱人家的姑娘出嫁当然要带很多“嫁妆”。
总之，利用各种已知信息，灵活运用猜词技巧，你就会在阅读文章时如鱼得水，游刃有余。
