英語四級閲讀：語義題解題思路

整體來講，語義題屬於四級閲讀中偏難的題目。因為既然問到一個單詞詞組或句子的意思，那正確答案就必然不能從原文本身來找尋。個別語義題需要進行語義理解甚至一步簡單推斷。

語義題：

題型科普：四級閲讀必考題型。

題型形式：語義題一般就原文中一個有特殊含義的單詞，詞組或句子進行提問，題目形式非常有特點。

如：By “a one-way street” (Line 1, Para. 1), the author means ________.

[A] university researchers know little about the commercial world

[B] there is little exchange between industry and academia

[C] few industrial scientists would quit to work in a university

[D] few university professors are willing to do industrial research

解題思路：

整體來講，語義題屬於四級閲讀中偏難的題目。因為既然問到一個單詞詞組或句子的意思，那正確答案就必然不能從原文本身來找尋。個別語義題需要進行語義理解甚至一步簡單推斷。但還是有一些語義題是能夠有標準化的做題思路的，即：

結合上下句，重點關注並列轉折和解釋説明部分。

這個思路包含三方面內容，分別展開講解。

1.結合上下句。

語義題所提問的單詞詞組或句子一般同學都不認識，即使認識，正確答案也未必是同學認識的含義。這種題的目的就是希望同學能結合上下句，來理解不認識的單詞詞組或句子。很多情況下，正確答案直接對應語義考查詞句的上下句。

如2011年12月的語義題：

63. What does the author mean by saying "money is known ... to bring a relationship to its knees"(Line 1, Para. 2)?

A) Money is considered to be the root of all evils.

B) Some people sacrifice their dignity for money.

C) Few people can resist the temptation of money.

D) Disputes over money may ruin a relationship.

Since money is known to be one of the things most likely to bring a relationship to its knees, we should be grateful. For many families the recession means more than not booking a holiday A YouGov poll of 2, 000 people found 22% said they were arguing more with their partners because of concerns about money.

解析：同學做這道題完全不需要理解"money is known ... to bring a relationship to its knees"這句話本身。就從上下句來看。同學記住，所謂上下句，並不是上下句都一定要看，而是去看上下和該句有關係的句子。從文章結構上看，很明顯，語義考點在該段第一句，後面的句子肯定要支撐前面的信息。所以重點看後面信息即可。For many families the recession means more than not booking a holiday A YouGov poll of 2, 000 people found 22% said they were arguing more with their partners because of concerns about money.

簡單閲讀後文，易得正確答案D選項，Disputes over money may ruin a relationship.答案中Disputes over money對應原文concerns about money，答案中ruin a relationship對應22% said they were arguing more with their partners.

2.重點關注並列轉折關係。

這是也是做語義猜詞的一大利器。因為由並列轉折連接的兩部分會存在語義含義和成分的對應。所以如果有一個單詞不認識，就可以去看其並列或轉折部分的信息中找對應信息。試舉一例：

Foreign students earn 30% of doctoral degree awarded in the United States and 38% of those in the United Kingdom.

該句中and後面的those應該如何理解。同學從並列關係連接的兩部分中易得出，百分比對應百分比，in the United States對應in the United Kingdom，所以those指的就是doctoral degree.

3.解釋説明部分

其實考官在出一些語義題的時候也是動了惻隱之心的。會在晦澀難懂信息的.附近存在一個解釋説明部分。解釋説明部分的標誌是逗號，冒號，破折號，雙引號。

舉例真題：

原文：Then there’s the ostrich approach. “Some men are scared of what might be there and would rather not know,” says Dr. Ross Cartmill.

What does Dr. Ross Carmill mean by “the ostrich approach”?

A.A casual attitude towards one’s health conditions.

B.A new therapy for certain psychological problem.

sal to get medical treatment for fear of the pain involved.

llingness to find out about one’s disease because of fear

解析：原文中的the ostrich approach同學不理解完全不影響解題。後面的雙引號是非常明顯的解釋説明，直接通過該句比較選項即可。正確答案D, unwillingness to find out about one’s disease because of fear。選項中的unwillingness to find out對應原文中的would rather not know，選項中的fear對應文章中的scared。

另外，語義題排除選項還有兩個技巧。

1.排除字面解釋。

2.排除跨度選項。

分別解釋：

排除字面解釋。

語義題考的就是同學能不能結合文章其他信息來理解不認識的詞句，所以正確答案絕對不能是語義考查詞句的字面解釋。

語義題：

64. What does the author mean by "… you're just underlining his faults" (Line 4, Para. 3)?

A) You are not taking his mistakes seriously enough.

B) You are pointing out the errors he has committed.

C) You are emphasizing the fact that he is not intelligent.

D) You are trying to make him feel better about his faults.

原文：research showing that when people get feedback which they believe is overly positive, they actually feel worse, not better. If you tell your dim friend that he has the potential of an Einstein, you're just underlining his faults.

解析：這道題即使同學讀不懂原文，也應知道，這題you're just underlining his faults，肯定和字面解釋，“錯誤”無關。所以A選項的mistake，B選項的error和D選項的fault都揭示了此三個選項出局的命運。正確答案C，絕對不是字面本身的意思，要有一個引申含義。

排除跨度選項。

“fancier brands” (Line 3 Para. 5) refers to ________.

A) tap water from the Thames River

B) famous wines not sold in ordinary stores

C) PepsiCo’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani

D) expensive bottled water with impressive names

(D)

該題涉及原文信息：

But is plain tap water all that bad? Not at all. In fact, New York’s municipal water for more than a century was called the champagne of tap water and until recently considered among the best in the world in terms of both taste and purity. Similarly, a magazine in England found that tap water from the Thames River tasted better than several leading brands of bottled water that were 400 times more expensive.

Nevertheless, soft-drink companies view bottled water as the next battle-ground for market share—this despite the fact that over 25 percent of bottled water comes from tap water: PepsiCo’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani are both purified tap water rather than spring water.

As diners thirst for leading brands, bottlers and restaurateurs salivate (垂涎) over the profits. A restaurant’s typical mark-up on wine is 100 to 150 percent, whereas on bottled water it’s often 300 to 500 percent. But since water is much cheaper than wine, and many of the fancier brands aren’t available in stores, most diners don’t notice or care.

此題A,C兩個選項可以排除。因為A選項中的thames river和C選項的PepsiCo’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani分別是上上段和上段中的例子內容，很難和本題考點詞產生任何邏輯和語義關係。所以這種的跨段選項，排除。