2022届高考英语二轮复习：根据上下文推断单词的含义—单词词义猜测题讲义（含答案）

根据上下文推断单词的含义——单词词义猜测题
一、单词词义猜测题常见的设问方式
1. What does the underlined word “...” in the ... paragraph mean / refer to
2. What does the word “...” in Paragraph ... refer to
3. The underlined word “...” in Paragraph ... is closest in meaning to _____.
4. The underlined word “...” in Paragraph ... means / can be replaced by _____.
5. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “...” in Paragraph ...
6. Which of the following best explains “...” underlined in Paragraph ...
二、单词词义猜测题解题技巧
单词词义猜测题要求考生理解文章中单词的含义，故正确理解上下文是解题的关键。除
了通过语境进行推断以外，我们还可以采用以下方法：
1. 通过定义或解释猜测词义。
用于下定义或解释的单词或短语有or, mean, in other words, be defined as, be described as,
be seen as, refer to, that is, that is to say 等。有些定义或解释是通过破折号、冒号、括号、同
位语（从句）或定语从句来表示的。
2. 通过所举例子猜测词义。
用于举例的单词或短语有 like, including, such as, for example, for instance 等。
3. 通过对比关系猜测词义。
用于表示对比关系的单词或短语有 but, however, although, while, yet, unlike, even though,
in contrast to, instead of, in spite of, on the other hand 等。
4. 通过类比关系猜测词义。
用于表示类比关系的单词或短语有 similarly, in the same way 等。
5. 通过因果关系猜测词义。
用于表示因果关系的单词或短语有 so, because, so that 等。有些因果关系是通过非谓语
动词（短语）来表示的。
三、真题分析
以下内容均选编自高考真题，我们将结合上面提到的解题技巧对各题进行分析解答。
A
For Canaan Elementary’s second grade in Patchogue, N.Y., today is speech day, and right
now it’s Chris Palaez’s turn. The 8-year-old is the joker of the class. With shining dark eyes, he
seems like the kind of kid who would enjoy public speaking.
But he’s nervous. “I’m here to tell you today why you should ... should ...” Chris trips on the
“-ld,” a pronunciation difficulty for many non-native English speakers. His teacher, Thomas
Whaley, is next to him, whispering support. “... Vote for ... me ...” Except for some stumbles,
Chris is doing amazingly well. When he brings his speech to a nice conclusion, Whaley invites the
rest of the class to praise him.
A son of immigrants, Chris started learning English a little over three years ago. Whaley
recalls (回想起) how at the beginning of the year, when called upon to read, Chris would excuse
himself to go to the bathroom.
Learning English as a second language can be a painful experience. What you need is a great
teacher who lets you make mistakes. “It takes a lot for any student,” Whaley explains, “especially
for a student who is learning English as their new language, to feel confident enough to say, ‘I
don’t know, but I want to know.’”
Whaley got the idea of this second-grade presidential campaign project when he asked the
children one day to raise their hands if they thought they could never be a president. The answer
broke his heart. Whaley says the project is about more than just learning to read and speak in
public. He wants these kids to learn to boast (夸耀) about themselves.
“Boasting about yourself, and your best qualities,” Whaley says, “is very difficult for a child
who came into the classroom not feeling confident.”
1. What does the underlined word “stumbles” in paragraph 2 refer to
A. Improper pauses. B. Bad manners.
C. Spelling mistakes. D. Silly jokes.
【分析】本文是一篇记叙文。文章讲述了小学教师 Whaley 通过组织学生演讲来帮助学生增
强自信的教学实践。
根据第二段中的 you should ... should ...以及... Vote for ... me ...这样的语句特点可知，
Chris 的演讲不流畅，也就是说有不适当的停顿，这是他表现不好的地方。画线单词后的句
意“他完成得非常好”与短语 Except for 的语意相呼应，构成转折关系，故选 A 项。
B
In the 1960s, while studying the volcanic history of Yellowstone National Park, Bob
Christiansen became puzzled about something that, oddly, had not troubled anyone before: he
couldn’t find the park’s volcano. It had been known for a long time that Yellowstone was volcanic
in nature — that’s what accounted for all its hot springs and other steamy features. But
Christiansen couldn’t find the Yellowstone volcano anywhere.
Most of us, when we talk about volcanoes, think of the classic cone (圆锥体) shapes of a Fuji
or Kilimanjaro, which are created when erupting magma ( 岩 浆 ) piles up. These can form
remarkably quickly. In 1943, a Mexican farmer was surprised to see smoke rising from a small
part of his land. In one week he was the confused owner of a cone five hundred feet high. Within
two years it had topped out at almost fourteen hundred feet and was more than half a mile across.
Altogether there are some ten thousand of these volcanoes on Earth, all but a few hundred of them
extinct. There is, however, a second less known type of volcano that doesn’t involve mountain
building. These are volcanoes so explosive that they burst open in a single big crack, leaving
behind a vast hole, the caldera. Yellowstone obviously was of this second type, but Christiansen
couldn’t find the caldera anywhere.
Just at this time NASA decided to test some new high-altitude cameras by taking
photographs of Yellowstone. A thoughtful official passed on some of the copies to the park
authorities on the assumption that they might make a nice blow-up for one of the visitors’ centers.
As soon as Christiansen saw the photos, he realized why he had failed to spot the caldera: almost
the whole park — 2.2 million acres — was caldera. The explosion had left a hole more than forty
miles across — much too huge to be seen from anywhere at ground level. At some time in the past
Yellowstone must have blown up with a violence far beyond the scale of anything known to
humans.
2. What does the underlined word “blow-up” in the last paragraph most probably mean
A. Hot-air balloon. B. Digital camera.
C. Big photograph. D. Bird’s view.
【分析】本文是一篇记叙文。文章主要讲述了鲍勃·克里斯琴森探寻黄石国家公园火山的故
事。
根据最后一段中的... a nice blow-up for one of the visitors’ centers. As soon as Christiansen
saw the photos ...可知，the photos 指的就是前面提及的 blow-up，故选 C 项。