八、語境線索或上下文

　　即利用語境來推測生詞含義的方法。這是我們用來推測詞義的主要方法之一。

　　例一：The days of elderly women doing nothing but cooking huge meals on holidays are gone. Enter the Red Hat Society—a group holding the belief that old ladies should have fun.

　　“My grandmothers did not do anything, but keep house and serve everybody, they were programmed to do that,” said Emily Cornette, head of a chapter of the 7-year-old Red Hat Society.

　　根據上下文我們可以很容易得出chapter的詞義為這個組織the Red Hat Society的一個分支。

　　例二：As regards the development of moral standards in the growing child, consistency ( 一貫性 )is very important teaching. To forbid a thing one day and excuse it the next is no foundation for morality ( 道德 ). Also, parents should realize that “example is better than precept”. If they are not sincere and don’t practice what they preach ( teach ), their children may grow confused, and emotionally insecure ( 不穩定 )when they grow old enough to think for themselves, and realize they have been to some extent fooled.

　　根據上下文我們可知precept的詞義為“說教”。

　　例三：Here are some simple ways to beat the stress often caused by our inventions!

　　Don’t be available all the time. Turn off your mobile phone at certain times of the day. Don’t check your e-mail every day. Don’t reply to somebody as soon as they leave a text message just because you can. It may be fun at first, but it soon gets annoying.

　　根據語境我們知道available的詞義為“可與之交談的”或“有空的”。

　　例四：We found that bar at last. I didn’t have to ask again, for there it was in big letters over the window—Star Bar. There were some iron tables outside with plastic chairs around them. A few people sat listlessly around, looking at a portable television set that someone had brought out of the bar. They were all in thin summer dresses or short sleeved-shirts; even at that late hour it was stifling. Two thin dogs lay under one of the tables with their tongues out, and some of the women were fanning themselves unenthusiastically (無精打采的) with magazines.

　　根據語境我們猜出stifling的詞義為“極熱的”。

　　九、標點符號的暗示

　　例一：The days of elderly women doing nothing but cooking huge meals on holidays are gone. Enter the Red Hat Society—a group holding the belief that old ladies should have fun.

　　破折號后面的部分對the Red Hat Society作了解釋，是“一個認為老年人應該有自己樂趣的團體”。

　　例二：The largest player—Shanghai Bashi Tourism Car Rental Center offers a wide variety of choices—deluxe sedans, minivans, station wagons, coaches. Santana sedans are the big favorite.

　　第二個破折號后面的deluxe sedans, minivans, station wagons, coaches應該指的是汽車的品牌或種類。

　　十、同義詞的替代關系

　　例句：Although he often had the opportunity, Mr. Tritt was never able to steal money from a customer. This would have endangered his position at the bank, and he didn’t want to jeopardize his future.

　　為避免重復使用endanger一詞， 用同義詞jeopardize來替代它, 我們推知jeopardize詞義為“使陷入危險，危及，危害”。