VOA慢速英语2020 通过上下文线索提高阅读能力（在线收听）

Improve Your Reading Through Context Clues

When you are reading something in English and you see a word or words you do not know, what do you do? Do you pause and look up the definitions? Or do you put down the reading and find something different to read?

你在阅读英语读物时，看到一个或多个不认识的单词，你会怎么做？你会停下来查一下定义吗？或是把读物放下，找些不同的东西来读？

Neither solution is ideal.

两种解决方案都不理想。

Unless you are reading at a level that is clearly too high for you, avoiding reading may leave you feeling defeated. And pausing to look up every word can slow down your reading.

除非你阅读的读物，其难度明显高过你的能力，否则回避阅读可能会让你感到挫败。停下来查每一个字，会减慢阅读速度。

There is a better solution: using context clues.

有一个更好的解决方案：使用上下文线索。

A context clue is a piece of information that appears near an unknown word or phrase and makes its meaning clearer. Context clues are right there in the text. But sometimes we don't see them.

上下文线索是一条信息，它出现在一个未知的词或短语附近，使其含义更清楚。上下文线索就在文本中，但有时我们看不到它们。

Reading is one of the best ways to improve your English. So in this week's Education Tips, we will talk about four kinds of context clues that can help you become a better reader.

阅读是提高英语水平的最好方法之一，所以在本周的教育小贴士中，我们将讨论四种上下文线索，它们可以帮助你成为一位更好的阅读者。

Tip #1: Synonyms

The first kind is synonyms.

第一类是同义词。

As you come across unknown words while reading, look for synonyms. A synonym is a word or phrase that has a similar meaning to the unknown word.

当你在阅读时遇到未知的单词时，寻找同义词。同义词，是其含义与未知词相似的一个词或短语。

Read and listen to this short passage from a Learning English story in 2015 and consider what "fundraiser" means:

阅读并聆听2015年“学英语”故事中的这段短文，思考“筹款”的含义：

Japanese food and music were also served to the 100 or so people who attended the event. This was the third year the fundraiser was held. Money raised from ticket sales – each ticket cost $100 to $150 – supports the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

日本的食品和音乐也会提供给参加活动的大约100人。这是募捐活动举行的第三年，从门票销售中筹集到的资金（每张门票价格为100美元至150美元），用来支持日本樱花节。

Looking at the first sentence, you see an event is being discussed. In the second, the writer replaces the word "event" with the word "fundraiser." When one word replaces another in a text, often it is a synonym. So, you might suppose that a fundraiser is some kind of event.

看第一句话，你会发现正在讨论一个活动。在第二句中，作者用“募款活动（fundraiser）”代替“活动（event）”一词，当在文本中用一个词代替另一个词时，它通常就是同义词。所以，你可能认为募捐是某种活动。

The third and fourth sentences say more about the kind of event: it has music and food and is raising money for a festival through ticket sales. And that's often what happens at a fundraiser, which is a ticketed social event that raises money for a cause.

第三句和第四句更详细地描述了这种活动：它包含音乐和食物，通过售票为某个节日筹款。而这通常是在募捐会上发生的事情，这是一种通过售票，为某项事业筹集资金的社会活动。

Tip #2: Antonyms

The second kind of clue is antonyms.

第二种线索是反义词。

Antonyms are words that mean the opposite of a word.

反义词是指与一个词含义相反的词。

One way to identify an antonym is to look for contrast words, such as "but," "however," "though," "although," "unlike," "whereas" and "despite." These words signal that some opposite idea or meaning is coming.

识别反义词的一种方法是寻找对比词，例如“但是”、“然而”、“尽管”、“不同”、“鉴于”等。这些词表示要出现一些相反的想法或含义。

Let's look at this sentence from a recent Learning English story. See if the contrast word "although" helps you understand what a "critic" is.

让我们看一个最近在“学英语”的故事中出现的这个句子。看看对比词“尽管”是否有助于用来理解什么是“批评家”。

The United States will begin restricting visas to citizens from six other countries on February 21, although critics question the move.

美国将于2月21日开始限制来自其他六个国家公民的签证，尽管批评人士对此表示质疑。

The first part of the sentence states a policy change on visas. In the second part, the word "although" signals that contrasting information is coming, which is that critics are questioning the new policy. From this, we might guess that a critic is a person who disapproves of something.

这句话的第一部分陈述了签证政策的变化。在第二部分中，“虽然”一词表明，对比信息马上就要出现，这就是批评人士在质疑新政策。由此，我们可以猜测批评家是不赞成某事的人。

Tip #3: Appositives

The third kind of clue is appositives.

第三种线索是同位语。

An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that comes after another noun, where the second defines the first. That definition will make more sense after looking at the example below. It uses an appositive to explain the meaning of the word "constellation." Here it is:

同位语是跟在另一个名词之后的名词或名词短语，第二个名词定义了第一个名词。在看了下面的例子之后，这个定义会更有意义。它使用同位语来解释“星座”这个词的意思。下面就是这句话：

Constellations, or groups of stars that form shapes in the sky, usually represent a mythological person or creature or a nonliving object.

星座，是在天空中组成形状的一群星星，通常代表神话中的人、生物或无生命的物体。

The sentence uses a comma followed by the word "or" to introduce the appositive "groups of stars that form shapes in the sky." Punctuation is important here: Appositives usually have a comma before and after them.

这个句子使用了逗号，后面跟“或”这个单词，来引介同位语“在天空中组成形状的群星”。标点符号在这里很重要：同位语通常在它们的前后有逗号。

But note that sometimes appositives do not use the signal word "or." And be careful -- commas have many purposes in written texts and they do not always signal appositives.

但请注意，有时同位语不使用“或”这个信号词，而且要小心，逗号在书面语中有很多用途，并不总是表示同位语。

Tip #4: Examples

The fourth kind of clue is examples.

第四种线索是例子。

Examples can help explain the meaning of a word or idea. In English, the most common ways we introduce examples are with the phrases "for example," "for instance," "such as" and "like."

举例可以帮助解释一个词或一种想法的意思。在英语中，我们介绍例子最常用的方式是用短语“例如”、“比如”、“譬如”和“像”、“看似”。

Here is a passage from a 2019 Learning English report about superbugs in the United States. See if the example helps you understand the meaning of "superbug."

这是有关美国超级细菌的一段话，选自2019年“学英语”报告。看看这个例子，是否有助于你去理解“超级细菌”的含义。

Superbugs are appearing much more often outside of hospitals, the CDC report said. For example, urinary tract infections have been easily treated in doctor's offices with common antibiotic medicines. But now it is more common to see healthy young women with such infections admitted to hospitals after their treatments do not work, said Doctor Bradley Frazee.

疾控中心的报告说，超级病菌在医院外出现的频率要高得多。例如，在医生的诊所里，使用普通的抗生素药物很容易治疗尿路感染。布拉德利·弗雷泽医生说，但现在更常见的情况是，出现这种感染的健康年轻女性在治疗无效后住院。

So what might a "superbug" be? The example provided is of an infection that is not easily treated with antibiotics anymore. And that is exactly what a superbug is.

那么“超级细菌”可能是什么呢？所提供的例子是一种不易使用抗生素治疗的感染。这正是超级细菌的本质。

Some closing thoughts

And now for some closing thoughts.

现在来做一些总结。

Learning to use context clues can take time. Don't pressure yourself to be great at the skill too quickly.

学习使用上下文线索可能需要花费些时间，不要强迫自己过快地掌握这项技能。

Also, it is often not necessary to know the meaning of every word to understand what you are reading. So the next time you come across a word you don't know, ask yourself whether you can understand the sentence without it.

而且，通常不需要知道每个单词的意思，就可以明白你在看的读物。所以，下次当你遇到不认识的单词时，问问自己，如果没有这个词，你是否能理解这个句子。

Words in This Story

pause – v. to stop doing something for a short time before doing it again

ideal – adj. exactly right for a particular purpose, situation or person

phrase – n. a group of two or more words that express a single idea but do not usually form a complete sentence

text – n. the words that make up the main part of a book, magazine, newspaper, Web site or something else

contrast – n. a difference between things or people that are being compared

ticket – n. a piece of paper that allows you to see a show, go to an event, travel on a vehicle, or do something else

mythological – adj. relating to, based on or appearing in myths or mythology

comma – n. a punctuation mark , that is used to separate words or groups of words in a sentence

punctuation – n. the marks, such as periods and commas, in a piece of writing that make its meaning clear

urinary tract – n. the body's drainage system for removing urine, which is composed of wastes and extra fluid