在雅思考試中，根據(jù)上下文猜測(cè)詞義是一項(xiàng)重要技能，可以幫助你掌握閱讀技巧，提高閱讀速度?？荚囍胁荒軒ё值?，因此很有可能會(huì)出現(xiàn)很多你不認(rèn)識(shí)的單詞。
如果在考試中遇到不認(rèn)識(shí)的單詞，不能花費(fèi)太長時(shí)間思考它的意思，因?yàn)槊科恼履阒挥?0分鐘時(shí)間。
因此，有必要根據(jù)上下文猜測(cè)詞義。
這就意味著你要根據(jù)目標(biāo)詞所在位置的上下文或段落主旨猜測(cè)它的意思。
請(qǐng)看下面一個(gè)例子：
It had been raining hard through the night so the ground was saturated.
What does 'saturated' mean?
可能你已經(jīng)知道這個(gè)詞的意思，如果不知道，可以根據(jù)這句話猜一下。
雨一直在下意味著地面一定濕了，而且雨下的很大，就意味著地面特別濕。
因此，saturated = completely wet
猜詞也不是隨心所欲，隨便猜。遇到不認(rèn)識(shí)的詞，你應(yīng)該根據(jù)詞所在的句子的意思，來猜測(cè)它的意思。
萬一這一句子的意思不是特別清楚，那就可以根據(jù)所在位置的上句或下句來猜測(cè)詞義。
如果太多詞不認(rèn)識(shí)，可能就沒有時(shí)間猜測(cè)所有詞的意思了，特別是閱讀速度較慢的考生。有些不認(rèn)識(shí)的詞并不會(huì)影響對(duì)文章的理解，因此可以跳過。
Guessing meaning from context - Practice
請(qǐng)看下面一篇文章，你可能不認(rèn)識(shí)那些加粗斜體詞。
試著根據(jù)詞所在句子、上下文或段落主旨猜測(cè)詞義，并做完文末的練習(xí)。
Thai Museum Catalogs Opium Dreams -- and Nightmares
CHIANG SAEN, Thailand, Wednesday December 04 (Reuters).
First reactions to Thailand's giant new opium museum in the Golden Triangle are confused: pleasant surprise at cool air after the intense tropical heat, but then disorientation, shock, even fear. Visitors enter the 100-acre complex through a long, dark, mist-filled tunnel, which winds into the base of a hill past bas-reliefs of distorted human figures before emerging suddenly into bright sunlight in front of a field of poppies. "This is the mystery, the contradiction of opium," says Charles Mehl, head of research for the Mae Fah Luang Foundation, which has just completed the $10 million museum. "Opium is one of the very best drugs we have for treating chronic pain and bringing relief from suffering. But it can also be one of the worst, destroying lives if it is used for recreation or exploitedfor commercial gain."
Built into a hillside by the Mekong River on the northern tip of Thailand, the museum lies at the heart of the Golden Triangle. Chiang Saen town is about 470 miles north of Bangkok, overlooking the junction of the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. The Golden Triangle is a largely lawless region that last year produced more opium and heroin than Afghanistan and more synthetic stimulant pills than all the rest of the laboratories in Southeast Asia put together, drugs agencies say.
Western backpackers and busloads of other day-trippers pour daily into the picturesque Chiang Saen district, in Chiang Rai province, to buy souvenirs on the Mekong's banks. Some try illicit puffs on opium pipes in nearby villages. The museum, which will open officially early next year, aims to exploit this tourist business, luring the curious with the promise of entertainment and impressive audio-visual displays in English and Thai. But as visitors progress down the labyrinthine corridors that stretch across three floors, the warnings against narcotic abuse gradually become more powerful. "People think at first they know what they will see -- a quaint presentation about hill tribes growing opium. But that's only a small part of the story," said Mehl.
Mae Fah Luang has fought a 15-year battle against drug-taking and addiction in Chiang Rai province, establishing what the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says is probably the best anti-drugs crop-substitution program in Asia. Lessons from that program, which has succeeded in the nearby Thai mountains of Doi Tung in part by offering farmers of opium poppies a better income from alternative crops such as coffee and macadamia nuts, are built into the museum. But it also offers a thorough lesson in the history of opium, its derivatives such as heroin and laudanum, and explains how the drugs trade has helped change the world for hundreds of years.
Tradgedy and Trauma
Thought to have been used first along the coast of the Mediterranean, archaeologists say the earliest evidence of opium was found in Switzerland dating from the Neolithic period. It was a popular sedative in ancient Egypt and Greece before spreading to northern Europe and Asia and becoming a key commodity that was exchanged for Chinese tea and other spices by the British and Dutch. With 360-degree special effects, the museum traces the 19th century opium wars between Britain and China before looking at prohibition in the 20th century and official efforts, often spectacularly unsuccessful, to stop the use of illegal drugs.
The museum asks visitors to themselves decide what could be the best approach to narcotics -- prohibition, drug eradication schemes, decriminalisation or legalisation -- but it pulls no punches on the tragedy and trauma inflicted by drugs on abusers. A final, heart-wrenching gallery recounts the powerful true stories of victims of drug abuse around the world through intimate video testimonies by their families.
"The feelings which develop through a visit to the museum change toward the very end when there is evidence of the death and suffering that drug abuse produces," said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the Vienna-based UNODC. "The end message is very strong, namely that use of drugs should be fought. Society has to use all its instruments, which means law enforcement for sure, but not only law enforcement. Prevention and treatment are equally important."
通過上下文猜測(cè)詞義，選擇佳答案：
1. The word "disorientation" in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to:
(a) being introduced
(b) total confusion; nothing being clear
(c) happiness
(d) understanding
2. The word "distorted" in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to:
(a) fomous
(b) extraordinary; very unusual
(c) bent; twisted; strange shape
(d) unclear
3. The word "poppies" in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to:
(a) chattle
(b) flowers
(c) crops
(d) sheep
4. The word "contradiction" in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to:
(a) opposite of something else
(b) illegality
(c) beauty
(d) wonder
5. The word "exploited" in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to:
(a) firings; loss of jobs
(b) promitions; raises
(c) used unfairly; developed in a bad way
(d) employed
6. The word "synthetic" in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to:
(a) fast
(b) cheap
(c) natural
(d) artificial
7. The word "illicit" in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to:
(a) unlawful; not allowed
(b) free
(c) cheap; inexpensive
(d) exciting
8. The word "curious" in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to:
(a) interested; eager to know
(b) middle class
(c) bored; disinterested
(d) rich and famous
9. The word "narcotic" in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to:
(a) drug
(b) physical
(c) local
(d) international
10. The word "addiction" in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to:
(a) sales; export
(b) encouragemnt
(c) cruelty; meanness
(d) hooked; unable to stop
11. The word "alternative" in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to:
(a) new
(b) different
(c) fast growing
(d) legal
12. The word "prohibition" in paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to:
(a) sales
(b) banning; stopping; making illegal
(c) promting; encouraging
(d) increases; rises
13. The word "eradication" in paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to:
(a) making mistake
(b) removing completely; getting rid of
(c) explaining; giving information about
(d) nature; propagete; grow
14. The word "tragedy" in paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to:
(a) difficulty
(b) damage; harm
(c) expense
(d) great sadness and pain