有不少托福考生应该都在被这个问题困扰着:为什么我单词没少背,实际在做托福阅读的时候还是读不懂文章呢?句子中明明没出现难词、专有名词,还是不能理解句子意思?
确实,托福考试中总会遇到一些词,它们非常常见、简单,但放到句子中却不能直接套用常见词意,结合上下文,了解一词多意才能正确理解文章意思。
比如“and”这个词,你会想这么常见并且简单的词,我还会理解错?我们先来看一下TPO7 The Geologic History of the Mediterranean的片段:
As a result of crustal adjustments and faulting, the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean now connects to the Atlantic, opened, and water cascaded spectacularly back into the Mediterranean.
实际上还可理解为“因此、所以”,只要看出这里“and”左右两边的事情不是同时发生,所以并不能理解为“并且”,and实际上还可理解为“因此、所以”
我们从TPO中为大家总结了这些一词多意的词汇,同学们可以收藏后反复学习巩固。
01,suggest在托福里,真的很少见到“建议”这种说法,倒是往往与下结论有关,可理解为“表明”。
Timberline trees are normally evergreens, suggesting that these have some advantage over deciduous trees (those that lose their leaves) in the extreme environments of the upper timberline.
(TPO1 Timberline Vegetation on Mountains)
02,complex这个词还有“建筑群”的意思,但很多考生会误解为“复杂”。
It had over 2,000 apartment complexes, a great market, a large number of industrial workshops, an administrative center, a number of massive religious edifices…
(TPO8 The Rise of Teotihuacán)
03,largely有多少人看到后第一反应是“大”,需要结合上下文后理解为“在很大程度上”。
The distinctive look of ancient Egyptian sculpture was determined largely by its function.
(TPO11 Ancient Egyptian Sculpture)
04,game大部分托福初学者都会忽略这个词还有“野生猎物”的意思,所以非常容易误解句意。
They had experienced great difficulty finding game west of the Rockies and not until the second of December did they kill their first elk.
(TPO4 Deer Populations of the Puget Sound)
05,evenly这个词和“甚至”毫无关系,因为“甚至”对应的“even”本来就是个副词,不能再加“-ly”了,evenly在托福阅读里有“均匀地”意思。
Petroleum forms best when organic matter is evenly distributed over ...
(TPO43 The Origin of Petroleum)
06,in turn字典里的意思是“反过来”,实际上结合上下文也可以理解为“接着会…(发生)…”
The conventional theory is that people yawn when bored or sleepy because yawning raises blood oxygen levels, which in turn raises alertness.
(TPO18 The mystery of yawning)
07,readily很多时候考察的是“容易地”意思,并非和“准备”有关。
The release of heat energy is retarded by the tall vertical city walls that do not allow infrared radiation to escape as readily asdoes the relatively level surface of the surrounding countryside.
(TPO48 Climate and Urban Development)
08,minemine还有“矿”的意思,这个一定要记清楚哦。
This scenario begins with the planting of hyperaccumulating species in the target area, such as an abandoned mine or an irrigation pond contaminated by run off.
(TPO5 Plants and Minerals)
09,considerable单词书里常见的“值得考虑的”这个意思,在托福考试中很少考到,反而“相当大的”、“相当多的”考察的次数更多。
The existence of competition has been long known to naturalists; its effects were described by Darwin in considerable detail.
(TPO29 Competition)
10,impact除了“影响”外,“冲击、撞击”的词意也要一起掌握。
In view of these facts, scientists hypothesized that a single large asteroid, about 10 to 15 kilometers across, collided with Earth, and the resulting fallout created the boundary clay. Their calculations show that the impact kicked up a dust cloud that cut off sunlight for several months, inhibiting photosynthesis in plants; decreased surface temperatures on continents to below freezing…
(TPO8 Dinosaur Extinctions)
11,critical如果你硬背词汇书,恐怕并太清楚这个词还有“重要的”这个释义,在考试中也是挺常见的。
First, primary groups are critical to the socialization process. Within them, infants and children are introduced to the ways of their society.
(TPO13 Types of Social Groups)
12,edge大部分考生都会掌握“边缘”这个意思,“(微弱的)优势”这个词意不太多见,但也建议要了解一下。
It seems likely that Teotihuacán’s natural resources, along with the city elite’s ability to recognize their potential, gave the city a competitive edge over its neighbors. Thevalley, like many other places in Mexican and Guatemalan highlands, was rich in obsidian.
(TPO8 The Rise of Teotihuacán) 13,collectively不能直接翻译为“收集地”,因为这个词还有“共同地”这个释义,考试中也是比较常见的,一定要结合上下文进行理解。
Eventually, six round forms of handwriting, composed of three pairs of big and little scripts known collectively as the Six Pens, became the standard repertory of every calligrapher.
(TPO34 Islamic Art and the Book)
上面这些词你是不是也遇到过呢?不免有同学担心,这么多一词多意的单词,自己背再多单词也会有遗漏,应该怎么办呢?
小编建议,在平时练习中遇到的词汇,可以单独抄写下来,再次进行记忆。如果在考试中遇到常见词,套用常见词意后无法理解内容,就要尝试结合上下文,分析内容进行理解。