难点25  依赖语境的词义猜测题

猜测词义题要求学生根据以往所学知识，对上下文的理解及自身的生活经验等猜测生词意义或仅从字面无法确认其意义的短语的准确含义，是阅读理解题中的难点。
●难点磁场
1.(★★★★)Mental health care in China has dramatically improved over the last 10 years,according to experts.
Increasing numbers of urban Chinese are today seeking counselling on a wide range of issues related to mental health.
“We receive more than 120 visitors a day right now—20 per cent up over that of 1998,”said Zhang Haiyin,chief doctor with the Shanghai Mental Health Centre.Ten years ago,the centre received 70 to 80 visitors a week.
To accommodate the growing number of patients,the clinic has had to extend its service from five days to seven days a week.
Most of the counselling focuses on problems to do with education,employment,family life,relationships as well as mental distress,trouble and insomnia.White-collar workers are the major recipients of counselling,accounting for 30 percent of total patients,said Zhang.
“The growing visits indicate Chinese people pay more attention to their quality of life.They have a better understanding that mental health is as improtant as physical well-being.”
Chen Zhigang,an employee of a foreign-funded consulting firm in Beijing,felt depressed and was encouraged by friends to seek mental health counselling.The doctor found he was suffering as a result of workplace pressure and competition.After several months of treatment,he was back to full health.
“Mental health counselling helped reduce my pressure,”said Chen.
But many people are still reluctant to use counselling services.Zhu Chengyi,a railway worker from Shanghai,is unwilling to seek help.
“I will not go for it.It is too embarrassing for me,”said Zhu.“How can I tell my colleagues and family that I am seeking mental health counselling?They would think I was crazy.”
Zhang said a lack of information about mental health care prevented the grown of services in China.
He said a standardized training system was required to make sure all mental health doctors were properly trained.
“In Western countries,mental health counselling has a wide range of methods for consultation and treatment.We need to improve  our training to upgrade our services.”
Question:1.The underlined word “extend” in Paragraph 4 means ________.
A.pay attention to       B.feel like doing
C.enlarge and lengthen       D.reduce
2.(★★★★★)Professor Reason recently persuaded 35 people to keep a diary of all their absent-minded actions for two weeks. When he came to analyse their embarrassing errors, he was surprised to find that nearly all of them fell into a few groups.
One of the women, for instance, on leaving her house for work one morning threw her pet dog cer ear-rings and tried to fix a dog biscuit on her car. “The explanation for this is that the brain is like a computer,” explains the professor. “People programme themselves to do certain activities regularly. It was the woman’s custom every morning to throw her dog two biscuits and then put on her ear-rings. But somehow the action got reversed(颠倒) in the programme.” About one in twenty of the incidents the volunteers reported were these“Programme assembly failure.”
Twenty per cent of all errors were “test failures”—primarily due to not verifying the progress of what a body was doing. A man about to get his car out of the garage passed through the back yard where his garden jacket and boots were kept, put them on—much to his surprise. A woman victim reported: “I got into the bath with my socks on.”
The commonest problem was information “storage failures”. People forgot the names of people whose faces they knew, went into a room and forgot why they were there, mislaid something, or smoked a cigarette without realizing it.
The research so far suggests that while the “central processor” of the brain is liberated from second-to-second control of a well-practised routine, it must repeatedly switch back its attention at important decision points to check that the action goes on as intended. Otherwise the activity may be “captured” by another frequently and recently used programme, resulting in embarrassing errors.
Questions:2.The word “verifying” in Paragraph 3 can be replaced by ________.
A.improving         B.changing
C.checking         D.stopping
3.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
3.(★★★★)One of the greatest killers in the Western world is heart disease. The death rate (率) from the disease has been increasing at an alarming speed for the past thirty years. Today in Britain, for example, about four hundred people a day die of heart disease. Medical experts know that people can reduce their chances of getting heart disease by exercising regularly, by not smoking, by changing their diets, and by paying more attention to reducing stress (压力) in their work.
However, Western health-care systems are still not paying enough attention to the prevention of the disease. There is a need for more programs to educate the public about the causes and prevention of heart disease. Instead of supporting such programs, however, the U. S. health-care system is spending large sums of money on the surgical (外科的) treatment of the disease after it develops. This emphasis (强调) on treatment clearly has something to do with the technological advances that have taken place in the past ten to fifteen years. In this time, modern technology has enabled doctors to develop new surgical techniques. Many operations that were considered impossible or too risky (有风险的) a few years ago are now performed every day in U.S. hospitals. The result has been a huge increase in heart surgery.
Although there is no doubt that heart surgery can help a large number of people, some people point out that the emphasis on the surgical treatment of the disease has three clear disadvantages. First, it attracts interest and money away from the question of prevention. Second, it causes the costs of general hospital care to rise. After hospitals buy the expensive equipment that is necessary for modern heart surgery, they must try to recover the money they have spent. To do this, they raise costs for all their patients, not just those patients whose treatment requires the equipment. The third disadvantage is that doctors are encouraged to perform surgery-even on patients for whom an operation is unnecessary—because the equipment and expert skills are there. A government office recently stated that major heart surgery was often performed even though its chances of success were low. In one type of heart surgery, for example, only 15 percent of patient improved their conditions after the surgery. However, more than 100 000 of these operations are performed in the United States every year.
Question:4.“To do this” (in Paragraph 3) means ________.
A.to help patients recover
B.to increase the number of heart surgeries
C.to get back the money spent on the equipment
D.to buy new equipment for the treatment of heart disease
4.(★★★★★)Some of the best-known names in the entertainment industry have taken part in an unprecedented telethon to help victims of the terrorist attacks in the United States.
The benefit (义演）,called“America:a Tribute to Heroes,”was sponsored by all four major U.S. television networks,ABC,CBS,FOX and NBC.It was broadcast by three-dozen television,cable and radio networks across the country and aired live to more than a hundred countries around the world.
Hollywood stars joined music entertainers in asking listeners and viewers to pledge cash donations to charities helping the victims of the September 11th attacks.
Actors,including Tom Hanks,Julia Roberts,Tom Cruise and Clint Eastwood,told stories of heroic acts by people who tried to save others from the burning World Trade Center and the Pentagon.Former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali made a rare public appearance in a show of support.
The appeals alternated with performances by such popular entertainers as Bruce Springsteen,Mariah Carey,Stevie Wonder,Paul Simon and the rock band U—2.
They appeared on stages in New York,Los Angeles and London,decorated with hundreds of burning candles.
Singer Billy Joel sang “New York State of Mind”with a New York City firefighter’s hat on his piano.Sting dedicated his song “Fragile”to a friend who died in the World Trade Center.Stevie Wonder condemned hatres in the name of religion before singing his song “Love’s in Need of Love Today”.Pledge phones were manned by dozens of other celebrities,including Jack Nicholson,Meg Ryan,Whoopie Goldberg,Cindy Crawford,Al Pacino and Sylvester Stallone.
Organizers say the two-hour telethon raised millions of dollars.All participants,from stars to stagehands,worked without pay.
Question:5.The underlined word “telethon” most probably means ________.
A.a performance to raise money
B.a concert held by some television networks
C.a television program which lasts a long time
D.a television program for entertainment

●案例探究
1.A child’s birthday party doesn’t have to be a hassle;it can be a basket of fun,according to Beth Anaclerio,an Evaston mother of two,ages 4 and 18 months.
“Having a party at home usually requires a lot of running around on the part of the parents,and often the birthday boy or girl gets lost in wild excitement.But it really doesn’t have to be that way,”said Anaclerio.Last summer,Anaclerio and her friend Jill Carlisle,a Northbrook mother of a 2-year-old,founded a home party-planning business called “A Party in a Basket”.Their goal is to help parents and children share in the fun part of party planning,like choosing the subject or making a cake,while they take care of everything.
Drawing on their experiences as mothers,they have created(制作) 10 ready-to-use,home party packages.Everything a family needs to plan a party,except the cake and ice cream,is delivered to the home in a large basket.
“Our parties are aimed for children 2 to 10,”Anaclerio said,“and they’re very interactive(互动)  and creative in that they build a sense of drama based on a subject.For example,at the Soda Shoppe party the guests become waiters and waitresses and build wonderful ice cream creations.”
The standard ＄200 package for eight children includes a basket filled with invitation,gifts,games and prizes,paper goods,a party planner and the like.For more information,call Anaclerio at 708-864-6584 or Carlisle at 708-205-9141.
Question:What does the underlined word “hassle”(Paragraph 1) probably mean?
A.a party designed by specialists    B.a plan requiring careful thought
C.a situation causing difficulty or trouble  D.a demand made by guests
命题意图：本题考查学生通过上下文猜测词义的能力，实际上也是考查学生的推理判断能力。属五星级题目。
错解分析：本题错解的原因主要是反义词领会不准确。
解题方法与技巧：（1）通读全文，抓文章大意，可知文章旨在推荐一种home party-planning business，其目的在于帮助父母及孩子筹办家庭晚会，从而把此工作化麻烦为乐趣。（2）仔细观察首段文字，“doesn’t have to be a hassle”和“can be a basket of fun” 互为反义，故可以推出答案。
答案：C
2.LONDON(Reuters)—Organic fruit,delivered right  to the doorstep.That is what Gabriel Gold prefers,and he is willing to pay for it.If this is not possible,the 26-year-old computer technician will spend the extra money at the supermarket to buy organic food.
“Organic produce is always better,”Gold said.“The food is free of pesticides(农药),and you are generally supporting family farms instead of large farms.And more often than not it is locally(本地) grown and seasonal,so it is more tasty.”Gold is one of a growing number of shoppers buying into the organic trend,and supermarkets across Britain are counting on more like him as they grow their organic food business.But how many shoppers really know what they are getting,and why are they willing to pay a higher price for organic produce?Market research shows that Gold and others who buy organic food can generally give clear reason for their preferences—but their knowledge of organic food is far from complete.For example,small amounts of pesticides can be used on organic products.And about three quarters of organic food in Britain is not local but imported(进口) to meet growing demand.“The demand for organic food is increasing by about one third every year,so it is a very fast-growing market,” said Sue Flock,a specialist in this line of business.
Question:What is the meaning of “the organic trend” as the words are used in the text?
A.growing interest in organic food      B.better quality of organic food
C.rising market for organic food       D.higher prices of organic food
命题意图：考查学生通过推理判断来猜测词义的能力。属五星级题目。
错解分析：本题错解的原因主要在于太孤立地看待相关语句，没能把上下文串起来。
解题方法与技巧：（1）通读全文，了解全文大意：越来越多的人热衷于有机食品。
（2）联系上下文。由第一段“That(即Organic fruit) is what Gabriel Gold prefers”,第二段“Organic produce is always better,Gold said.”可知Gold对Organic food深感兴趣，再根据“Gold is one of a growing number of shoppers buying into the organic trend,and supermarkets across Britain are counting on more like him”，可知Gold是越来越多的喜爱Organic food的购物者中的一员，而且全英国的超级市场也正依赖（count on）越来越多的像他这样的人（来赚钱）。因此可得出答案。
答案：A

●锦囊妙计
1.通读全文，领会大意。
2.对上下文进行逻辑推理。
3.利用同义词、反义词、近义词、构词法（派生、合成、转化）等推测词义。
4.依靠自己的生活常识和社会经验进行判断。

[1] [2] 下一页