经常高效地使用词典除了可以帮助我们熟悉拼写和了解意思外，还可以让我们学到许多有用的日常表达和语法，这真不失为提高英语水平的一种好方法。

　　1.Choose the right dictionary

　　选一本合适的词典

　　Upgrade your dictionary every now and then so that you have access to the latest new words that are added to the dictionary every year.

　　时不时升级一下你的词典，以便于你能了解每年收录进词典里的新词。

　　2.Find the section of the dictionary with first letter of your word

　　找到词典中单词首字母所在那部分

　　Dictionaries follow alphabetical order. For example, "dog" begins with "d" which means that it will be in the section after "c" and before "e".

　　词典都是按字母表顺序来排列的，比如说“dog”的首字母是“d”，这就意味着“d“这个部分一定是在“c”部分之后，在“e”部分之前。

　　如何查找你听到的单词：

　　Don't forget the possible spellings for trickier words, such as "gnome" begins with a voiceless "g", or "psychology" begins with a voiceless"p",or "knock" begins with a voiceless "k", etc.

　　别忘了一些“心机“单词首字母不发音，比如说“gnome”的首字母“g”不发音，“psychology”的首字母，“p”也不发音，还有“knock”的首字母“k”也是同理等等。

　　If you're not entirely sure what the first letter is, start with the letter it sounds like.If you can't find the word under that section, then try other sections.

　　如果你不确定这个单词的首字母是什么，那就从它听起来像的这个字母开始找起。如果你在这个字母所在的部分里没能找到这个词，就再去其他部分找。

　　比如说，你不知道“psychology”这个词是以“p”开头的，你可能就会在“s”部分里找这个单词。当你在“s”部分里找不到，接下来你就可以试着去“p”的部分里找找看，因为你会想起你见过的“psychic”和“psychosis”这同一种套路的单词。

　　Also, keep in mind that certain words sound alike that are spelled very differently. For example, "throne" and "thrown" are spelled differently and mean verydifferent things. So be careful that you end up with the correct word.

　　同样，要记住有一些单词在拼写上完全不同但听起来却很像。比如说，“throne”和“thrown”这个两个词就是，但它们拼写不同意思也不同。所以要特别注意你查到的那个单词是不是正确的词。

　　3.Read the guide words

　　查看单词的索引

　　These are the two words at the top of the page that tell you what types of words are on the page. These words will help you find the word you're looking for in the right letter section.

　　在词典的每页上面都会有两个单词，它们可以告诉你这一页的单词是哪个部分的，及有什么样的字母排列顺序。这些单词会帮你找到你要找的那个单词首字母部分。

　　For example if you're looking for the word "bramble" you would begin looking in the "B" section.You would look at the tops of the pages as you went through it until you came to the page with the guide words "braid bread."This tells you that all the words between braid and bread are on this page. Since "bramble" starts with "b-r-a" it will be in this section.

　　比如你要查找“bramble”这个单词，你肯定会从“B”部分开始查找。你可以看看书页顶部的单词指引快速翻阅，直到翻到“braid bread”作为引导词的那一页，这意味着这页的单词是从“braid”开始到“bread”结束的。因而以“b-r-a”开头的“bramble”这个词肯定会出现在这一页。

　　4.Scan down the page for your word

　　浏览页面找目标单词

　　If you were looking for the word "futile," for example, you would move past "furry" and "fuse" and "fuss". Since the example word begins with "f-u-t", go past all the "f-u-r" and all the "f-u-s" words alphabetically until you reach the "f-u-t" area of the page.In this example, move right down through "fut" and "Futhark" and this is where you will find "futile."

　　因为目标单词的开头是“f-u-t”，所以就不要管那些所有以“f-u-r”或“f-u-s”这些开头的单词了，看到这些单词就继续往后找，因为按照字母表顺序，“f-u-t”一定在这页这些词的后面的位置。当你看到了“fut”或是“Futhark”这样的单词时，你很快就能在他们的附近找到目标单词“futile”了。

　　5.Read the definition

　　阅读（单词）解释

　　Once you've located the word it will tell you exactly what it means (and if it has more than one meaning, it will tell you the most common one first), how to pronounce it, how to capitalize it (if it's a proper noun), what part of speech it is and so on.Dictionaries can also sometimes give the synonyms and the antonyms of a word.So, for example, if your word is futile some synonyms might be "fruitless" or "unsuccessful" and some antonyms might be "effective" or "helpful."

　　当你成功定位某个单词时，你可以看看它的解释,（如果一个单词有多个意思，那最常见的意思往往在最前面）。除了解释之外，字典上还会有它的音标，首字母需要大写的情况（如果是专有名词的话）,及它的词性等等。字典有时会给出这个单词的同义词和反义词，比如你查找的这个词是“futile”，它会给出的近义词有可能会是“fruitless”或者“unsuccessful”；而反义词则可能会是“effective”或者“helpful”。

　　You might also find an etymology, derivation, or history of the word. Even if you don't know Latin or Ancient Greek, you may find that this information helps you to remember or understand the word.Dictionaries also often provide spellings in other English derivations (US English, British English, Australian English, etc.).

　　你可能还会看到这个词的词源、派生词或来历。这样，即使你看不懂拉丁语或者古希腊语，你还是可以通过这些信息来记住并理解这个词。词典还经常会提供这个词在其他英语派生语言里的拼写方式（例如美式英语，英式英语，澳洲英语等）。

　　6.You could use an online dictionary.

　　你可以使用在线词典

　　你可能觉得查个字典好麻烦，翻来翻去还要判断字母顺序，还很有可能因为发音不准确找不到目标单词。现在，这种费时的纸质字典有了替代品——在线词典。在线词典使用起来非常简单。选一个比较有权威的免费在线词典，或者是你的单位或学校订阅的在线词典。