詞匯是英語學(xué)習(xí)的根本,也是雅思閱讀考試能夠取得高分的關(guān)鍵。雅思閱讀考試雖有技巧,但沒有一定的詞匯量,技巧再有效也發(fā)揮不出效果。接二連三遇到生詞之后,你對于閱讀部分還有信心嗎?所以面對雅思閱讀詞匯量是必不可少的,分析詞的種類做到對癥下藥。

  一.名詞

  名詞,對各位考生來說是再熟悉不過的了,它充斥在所有用英文書寫的文章中,當(dāng)然雅思閱讀文章也不例外。我們先來看一下名詞在英文中的定義。What is a noun? A noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea. 名詞是用來命名人、動(dòng)物、地點(diǎn)、事物和抽象概念的詞。正因?yàn)槿绱?,名詞在文章中的地位不可或缺,可作為主語、賓語、補(bǔ)語、同位語、甚至是定語等,尤其是作為句子的主語最為常見。當(dāng)考生在瀏覽雅思閱讀文章時(shí),若發(fā)現(xiàn)主語、賓語、補(bǔ)語或同位語都是生詞時(shí),往往會(huì)對整句的句意產(chǎn)生誤解,甚至不解。下面我們來看這樣一個(gè)例子,在劍四中的一篇Alternative Medicine In Australia中,有這樣一段:Disenchantment with orthodox medicine has seen the popularity of alternative therapies in Australia climb steadily during the past 20 years. In a 1983 national health survey, 1.9% of people said they had contacted a chiropractor, naturopath, osteopath, acupuncturist or herbalist in the two weeks prior to the survey. 從這段文章中我們可以看到,這8個(gè)生詞成為了我們閱讀的障礙,尤其是出現(xiàn)在句首的主語如disenchantment作為句子的關(guān)鍵成分使考生對整句意思無法透徹理解,很多學(xué)生曾向筆者反映一看到這些巨“龐大”的詞匯就慌了神,對自己理解句子的能力產(chǎn)生懷疑,從而影響了考試時(shí)間和做題正確率。

  二.動(dòng)詞

  下面我們再來看看動(dòng)詞。What is a verb? The verb is perhaps the most important part of the sentence. A verb or compound verb asserts something about the subject of the sentence and express actions, events, or states of being. 動(dòng)詞是句子中最重要的成分,用來對主語動(dòng)作或事件的狀態(tài)作出陳述和說明,動(dòng)詞是組成句子中謂語成分的重要部分。由此可見,動(dòng)詞在句子中起了關(guān)鍵的作用,如果考生無法理解動(dòng)詞的意思,那么很可能他就無法理解整句話所要表達(dá)的意義。舉例來說,在劍四中的Visual Symbol and the Blind中,有這么一段,All but one of the blind subjects assigned distinctive motions to each wheel. Most guessed that the curved spokes indicated that the wheel was spinning steadily; the wavy spokes, they thought, suggested that the wheel was wobbling; and the bent spokes were taken as a sign that the wheel was jerking. Subjects assumed that spokes extending beyond the wheel's perimeter signified that the wheel had its brakes on and that dashed spokes indicated the wheel was spinning quickly. 以上這些動(dòng)詞都表示特定的含義,描述了句中名詞的各種狀態(tài)。而且,文后有三道題目與這個(gè)段落有關(guān),如果考生無法掌握適用的方法來理解文中所提到的這些生詞,那么在面對考題時(shí),就只能喊一聲“我暈”了。

  三.一詞多義

  在分析了名詞和動(dòng)詞在文章中出現(xiàn)的頻率和重要作用之后,我們再來看一下許多考生會(huì)碰到的“一詞多義”的情況。眾所周知,英文單詞和中文詞語一樣,也會(huì)存在一個(gè)單詞多種意思的情況。如果考生對于詞匯不夠熟悉,只知其一不知其二的話,那么在特定的文章中就會(huì)產(chǎn)生誤解。還是來看Visual Symbol and the Blind這篇文章中,All but one of the blind subjects assigned distinctive motions to each wheel. 考生一般所知道的subject是“科目”的意思,程度稍好的考生可能還會(huì)了解有“主語”的意思,但很明顯,這兩個(gè)意思在這句話中都無法成立。那么,如果考生細(xì)心地去查一下字典,就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)subject還有“實(shí)驗(yàn)對象”的意思,這樣一來,在這篇實(shí)驗(yàn)性的文章當(dāng)中,subject就非常好理解了。再舉一例,在Alternative Medicine In Australia中,有一句“According to the Australian Journal of Public Health, 18% of patients visiting alternative therapists do so because they suffer from muscular-skeletal complaints. ” Complaint一詞對許多考生來說是非常熟悉的,意為“抱怨”,但這句話如果解釋成“18%的病人遭受肌與骨骼的抱怨”似乎不太合理,而complaint確實(shí)還有另外一個(gè)意思,即為“疾病”。因此,一詞多義的現(xiàn)象在雅思閱讀中也是比較常見的對考生詞匯理解產(chǎn)生較大障礙的原因之一。

  詞匯量,往往被用來作為衡量一個(gè)考生英語水平的標(biāo)準(zhǔn),也經(jīng)常是考生在考試失利之后用以歸咎的理由。無數(shù)考生或因?yàn)殚喿x文章中出現(xiàn)太多的“攔路虎”生詞而在做題時(shí)根本無從下手,也許有的時(shí)候你背誦了單詞忘記了。所以我們要多去積累勤于練習(xí)。