根据上下文推测生词的词义是NMET“阅读理解”部分主要考查的内容之一。正确理解、掌握材料中单词或短语的含义是理解文意的首要环节。近几年在NMET“阅读理解”题的测试中，经常考查考生不使用词典而通过上下文来推断词义的能力。
一、猜测词义题的命题特点
近几年NMET“阅读理解”猜义题有如下特点：
1.考查内容以名词、名词短语和动词、动词短语为主，兼及代词的考查；题量由2到4题不等；既考生词，也考熟词。
2.所考查的单词或短语在文中用下画横线标明，有的以斜体字的形式出现。题干的表述方式主要有：
①The underline word(s)“~”in the ~ paragraph (probably) means (refers to) .
②The meaning of “word (s)”in paragraph ~ is related .
③In paragraph ~, “word (s)” Can he replaced by “ ”.
④which of the following best explains “word(s)”in the ~ paragraph?
⑤The underline part (sentence)“~”(in para.x) means .
3.有从猜词义过渡到猜句义的趋势。这在2004年新增加的单独命题省份的试卷中表现得尤为突出。
二、猜义题的应试技巧
1.从解释说明处入手
①下定义。有的文章通过下定义的方法来解释说明某个生词或短语的意义。
例1 （2003年北京卷B篇）The new planet moves around a star much like our sun, however. Scientists discovered the planet by using a new planet- searching method, called “transit technique”.
59. The “transit technique” can_____.
A. help dim the light of a star
B. help scientists with a searchlight
C. help discover a bee on a planet
D. help find a planet moving before its star
例2 （2004年湖北卷B篇）There is no cure for Alzheimer's. But a drug called ARICEPT has been used by millions of people to help their symptomes (症状).
In studies, ARICEPT has been proved to work for Alzheimer's. It has helped people improve their memory over time.
61. What is ARICEPT?
A. A medicine to cure Alzheimer's.
B. A medicine to delay signs of aging.
C.A medicine to reduce the symptoms of Alzhe- imer's.
D. A medicine to cure brain damage.
例1中的“transit technique” ，已由上句的“scientist
discovered…”加以定义。从中可推断出它可以帮助人们发现一个在恒星前面移动的行星，应选B。例2，由“called”从句可猜测出ARICEPT是一种治疗Alzheimer's的药物。A为正确答案。
下定义除了使用means, is called之外，常见的词语还有 i.e. , is, refers to, is known as, is considered to be 等。
②解释说明
生词上下文的解释说明的句子为我们猜测词义提供了大量的信息。
例1 （2004年全国卷ⅡD篇）By 9:45, everybody was having great fun, but no food had appeared. Jane and David were restless. Other guests began whispering that they, too, were starving. By 11:00, there was still no food, and everyone was completely off their heads. Jane and David left hungry and angry.
68. The underlined words“off their heads”probably mean .
A. tired B. crazy C. curious D. hopeless
例2 （2003年上海卷C篇）His wife may even help with these things, just as he often helps her with the dish-washing. The son who is away at college may wait on table and wash dishes for his living, or during the summer he may work with a construction gang on a highway in order to pay for his education.
80. The expression “wait on table” in the second paragraph means _____.
A. work in a furniture shop
B. keep accounts for a bar
C. wait to lay the table
D. serve customers in a restaurant
例1中，从上文的“on food” ，“starving”和下文的“ hungry and angry”可以猜测出，“everyone”快要发疯了，答案为B。例2，“and ”后面的内容“wash dishes for his living , or…”是对“wait on table”的解释，即在饭店当服务员，应选D。
③ 同位重述：在文章中变换不同的词句表达同一种意思的写作手法叫重述。原句和重述句之间是同位语的关系。
例1 （2001年全国卷A篇）The largest player- Shanghai Bashi Tourism Car Retal Center offers a wide variety of choice deluxe sedans,minivans, station wagons, coaches, Santana sedans are the big favorite.
56. The words“deluxe sedans”“minivans” and “station wagons” used in the text refer to .
A. cars in the making B. car rental firms
C. cars for rent D. car makers
例2 （2002年上海卷D篇）Twenty percent of all errors were“test failures”-primary due to not verifying the progress of what a body was doing.
84.The word “verifying” in Paragraph 3 can be replaced by ____.
A. improving B. changing
C. checking D. stopping
例1中的3个词是生词，但这些词的前面有破折号，从破折号前的“variety of choices”可知，这3个词和“choices”构成了同位关系，是对“variety if choices”的具体解释，举出了人们喜欢的出租车的种类，cars for rent ，即答案C。
例2中破折号前后的句子形成了重述关系，“verifying”与破折号前的“test”同义，而test 又是与check同义，因此，选C正确。
同位语关系在句中多用破折号和逗号连接，有时也用冒号和分号连接，有时还在同位语之间插入诸如or, that is to say, i.e., in other words之类的起解释作用的词，作为同位关系的标志。因此，读懂了同位成份，生词词义也就迎刃而解了。
2.从所举事例处分析
生词的后面常常出现 “for example, for instance, such as”一类的词，这是作者通过举例来表述词义，表达观点。
例1 （2004年辽宁卷B篇）Take V8 for example. For many years, the bright red color of tomatoes and carrots on the thin bottle makes you feel that it is very good for your body. And the word “green” today can keep food prices going up.
63. It can be inferred from the passage that V8 is a kind of .
A. vegetable dish B. healthy juice
C. iced drink D. red vegetable
例2（2002年上海卷D篇）The commonest problem was information “storage failures”. People forgot the names of people whose face they knew, went into a room and forgot why they were there, mislaid something, or smokend a cigarette without realizing it.
54. According to the passage, the information “storage failures” refer to .
A. the destruction of information collecting system
B. the elimination of one's total memory
C. the temporary loss of part of one's memory
D. the separation of one's action from consciousness.
例1从“for example”列举中的“on the thin bottle”可以猜测出V8是一种健康果汁，应选C。
例2，文章对“storage failures”所举的事例是其后的一个长句。分析这个句子可知，类型的错误只是暂时失去了部分记忆，选C正确。
3.从比较对比处判断
在阅读中，转折联词“but”，让步从句，条件从句和“unlike”、“in spite of”、“however”等介词、副词都能构成前后意义上的对比关系。而“as”,“like”,“just as”,“also”等词则可以帮助构成意义上相似、成份上对应的比较关系。读懂这些词语之后的内容，可推断出生词的含义。
例1（2000年全国卷A篇）One mistaken idea about business is that it can be treated as a game of perfect information. Quite the reverse, business, politics, life itself are games which we must normally play with very imperfect information, Business decisions are often made with many unknown …
61. Which of the following can be used in place of “Quite”one should .
A. Quite right B. True enough
C. Most unlikely D. Just the opposite
例2 （2002年北京卷B篇）“The Dave you saw on TV was the real Dave,” says friend Pat Williams “He wasn't a great actor or a great speaker. He was just Joe Every body”.
74.“He was just Joe Every body.” (in the last paragraph) means_____.
A. Dave was famous B. Dave was ordinary
C. Dave was showy D. Dave was shy
例1中的第一句话和第三句话在语义上是转折关系，因此，连接词“Quite the reverse”的意思是“Just the oppesite”，即答案D。例2中比较Pat Williams 所说的两句话，可推断出Joe Everybody是指普通人，应选B。
4.从因果关系上推测
因果关系是一种逻辑关系，不管生词出现在原因分句还是结果分句，我们都能从因果关系中推测出其含义。
例1（2004年广东卷C篇）When some kind of pain killer was brought out recently, researchers found that the colours turned the cutomers off because they made the product look weak and ineffective.
65. The underlined part“the colours turned the customers off ”(in Para. 3) means that the colours .
A. attracted the customers strongly
B. had weak effects on the customers
C. tricked the customers into shopping
D. caused the customers to lose interest
例2（2004年北京卷C篇）As I got onto Highway 40, blue lights and sirens(警笛) going. I fell in behind a gold Pontiac Firebird that suddenly seemed to take off quickly down the highway. The drive somehow panicked at the sight of me. He was going more than a hundred miles an hour and began passing cars on the shoulder.
63. The meaning of “panicked” in Paragraph 2 is related to ____.
A. shame B. hate C. anger D. fear
例1根据“because”原因状语从句可推测出该短语的意义是“他们使顾客失去了兴趣”，应选D。
例2中，司机因为没有驾照，所以看到警察就害怕，加速逃逸。答案为D，“fear”。
5.从词性搭配上猜测
例1（2003年全国卷C篇）The theorem had baffled and beaten the finest mathematical minds, including a French female scientist who made a major advance in working out the problem.
65. Which of the following best explains the meaning of the word“baffle” as it is used in the text?
A. To encourage people to raise questions.
B. To cause difficulty in understanding.
C. To provide a person with an explanation.
D. To limit people's imagination.
例2（2004年全国卷Ⅰ，E篇）Finally, although some social science majors may still find it more difficult than their technically trained classmates to land the first job, recent graduates report that they don't regret their choice of study.
74. The underlined word“land ”in the last paragraph probably means .
A. keep for some time B. successfully get
C. immediately start D. lose regretfully
例1中的baffle 一词与beat为平行并列结构，同为the theorem 的谓语，去掉baffle后该语句的含义为“这一定理击败了最棒的数学家”。选项所给出的四个解释中，A、C两项与beat 应该是转折关系，D项的含义不合常识，只有B项与上下文内容相符，故为该题正确选项。
例2根据land后面的宾语the first job，可知它是个动词（使……着陆）；再结合句子中的 “Although”和“regret”，可判断land的意思是“成功地获得(success fully get)”，即选B。
6.根据经验常识推断
例1（2001北京春季卷C篇）When you say, “I'm sorry, I can't.” They feel a little put down. They say,“No one will know.”And they put it in your pocket.
63. The underlined phrase“put down”in the third paragraph probably means_____.
A. misunderstood B. defeated C. hateful D. hurt
例2（2002年北京春季卷A篇）You won't believe this but as soon as I got home. I crashed out for four hours.
59. The expression“crashed out”means ____.
A. chatted with her friends B. slept soundly
C. broke down D. dined out
例1， 在西方国家里，顾客在买东西或接受服务之后，会给服务生小费，这已成为惯例。文中的服务生拒收小费，顾客认为自己很没面子受到了伤害。据此，应选D。
例2，文章前几段作者描写了自己在商店工作时的繁忙，因此，当他回到家时，倒在床上睡了四个小时，填 B（slept soundly）合乎生活常识。
