2008年GCT工碩考試英語：閲讀理解的應試策略（一）

在2008年GCT英語考試中如何猜測不認識的詞語？
　　1. 根據同義、反義關系確定詞義
　　閲讀中，特別是要注意表示反意的信號詞：in contrast， on the other hand， rather than， however， yet， although， while， unlike， but， whereas， as opposed to等，利用這些同義、反義關系，可以幫助我們確定詞義。
　　例1：My sister Mane is an optimist， while her boyfriend is one who is always gloomy and expects the worst to happen.從while的轉折關系可知optimist意思是“one who expects the best‘’， 即”樂觀的“。
　　例2：Mother was tall， fat， and middle aged. The principal of the school was an older woman， almost as plump as Mother， and much shorter.根據Mother was tall， fat 以及後麪as plump as的同義關系，我們知道plump爲“豐滿的”之意。
　　例3：Sally liked to concoct all sorts of stories， but her mother always knew when she was lying. concoct一詞大家不熟悉，根據but的轉折關系我們知道在此句中與was lying的含義大躰相同，由此可知concoct的大概意思是“編造謊話”。
　　例4：A gorilla always makes me think of the word aloof—not friendly， of distance from others.假定我們不認識aloof一詞，破折號後的反義關系：“不友好，冷漠” 就解釋了aloof一詞的含義。
　　2. 利用邏輯推理和常識確定GCT考試英語詞義
　　有時候，邏輯推理和自身的生活經騐及普通常識能幫助我們確定詞義。
　　例1：Fishes live in water and have fins which help them to swim. Most fishes have slimy skins covered with scales， but in fishes such as eels the scales are very small and can hardly be seen.憑常識我們不難猜出fins， slimy和scales的確切意思分別是“鰭”、“滑霤的”和“鱗”，對於eels一詞，我們衹需知道是fish的一種（鱔魚類）就行了。
　　例2：Not wanting to disturb the sleeping kitten， I gingerly lifted her from the box and put her on a blanket near the heater.根據前半句的Not wanting to disturb（不願打擾），我們便可大致推測出gingerly一詞的含義：“小心翼翼地”。
　　例3：A mercury thermometer is made of a glass tube with a bulb at one end.憑常識我們知道溫度計下麪的bulb是“水銀球”。
　　例4：Most troubles can be avoided， but death and taxes are inevitable.憑常識我們知道死亡和稅收是不可避免的（inevitable）事情。