根据上下文推断生词的词义是一项重要的阅读技能，在阅读过程中遇到的生词不可能也没有必要全部通过查字典来解决。根据上下文推断生词的词义也是高考英语阅读理解必考的一种题型，几乎每套高考试题都会涉及到。既然该项能力如此重要，我们就有必要通过平时的大量实践以及有针对性的训练来掌握。任何生词的出现都不是孤立的，它与上下文必然有着某种联系。所以，要想猜测某个生词的词义，我们需要分析语篇的话题、上下文的逻辑关系、背景知识和语言结构等。下面以高考题为例，谈一谈如何根据上下文推断生词的词义。

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Some family names were made by adding some-thing to the father’s name. English-speaking people added -s or -son. The Johnsons are descendants of John; the Roberts family’s ancestor was Robert. Irish and Scottish people added Mac or Mc or O. Perhaps all of the MacDonnells and the McDonnells and the O’Donnells are descendants of the same Donnell.

59. The underlined word “descendants” in the last paragraph means a person’s _____.

A. later generations B. friends and relatives

C. colleagues and partners D. later sponsors

(2010年高考江苏卷阅读理解A篇)

本段讲述英语国家姓名的由来。通过分析该段句子之间的逻辑关系可知，前两句话陈述的是英语国家的姓名的一般规律，第三句话则用两个例子来说明。既然the Roberts family的祖先是Robert，那么The John-sons 肯定是John的后代，故可以推断出descendants的意思是“子孙，后代”。通过分析句与句之间的逻辑关系，我们很容易就得出了答案。再如：

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Even though science can tell us that some of our traditional beliefs don’t hold water, there is still a lot of truth in the old wives’ tales. After all, much of this knowledge has been accumulated (积累) from thou-sands of years of experience in family health care. We should respect this body of knowledge even as we search for clear scientific support to prove it true or false.

50. The phrase “hold water” in the text most probably means “_____”.

A. to be believable B. to be valuable

C. to be admirable D. to be suitable

(2009年高考陕西卷阅读理解C篇)

解答本题的关键词是Even though，该词表明后面主句的意思发生了转折，主从句的意思形成了前后对比。所以，根据后面主句“仍然有些‘老人言’是有道理的”以及最后的“甚至当我们在寻找有关它真实性的科学依据的过程中，我们也应该尊重这种知识”可推测出从句的意思为：虽然科学证明很多传统观念不可信。”don’t hold water意为“不可信”，那hold water 的意思是“合理的,可信的”，与believable接近。再如：

When I first got an e-mail account ten years ago, I received communications only from family, friends, and colleagues. Now it seems that every time I check my e-mail, I have an endless series of advertisements and other correspondence that do not interest me at all. If we want e-mail to continue to be useful, we need specific laws that make spamming (发送垃圾邮件) a crime.

57. What does the underlined word “correspondence” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

A. Messages. B. Ideas. C. Connections. D. Programs.

(2010年高考陕西卷阅读理解D篇)

每次查看电子邮箱都能收到无数的广告和其他的我根本不感兴趣的correspondence。根据常识可知，电子邮箱收发的实际上就是信息，广告也是一种信息，所以，可以猜测correspondence意为“信息”，与messages意思接近。

通过上面的三个例子可以看出，只要能认真研究生词所在的语境、仔细分析上下文句与句之间的逻辑关系，推断生词词义也不是一件难事。