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?
在英语阅读过程中，要是遇到不认识的单词或词组，你会怎么做？会停下来查找词义？还是
记下笔记，选择其他阅读内容？
Neither solution is ideal.
这两种方法都不理想。
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.
除非你所阅读的内容水平明显高于你，回避阅读会让你感到挫败。停下来一个一个单词的查找意思，会减慢你的阅读速度。
There is a better solution: using context clues.
利用上下文线索，不失为一个好的阅读方法。
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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.
上下文线索往往出现在未知的单词或短语附近，它会把文本中难以理解的意思简单化。而这个关键的线索却往往容易被我们忽略。
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.
阅读是英语学习的有效方法之一。本周英语学习小窍门中，我们一起来学习4种上下文线索，帮助大家更好的进行英语阅读。
Tip #1: Synonyms
Tip#1:同义词
The first kind is synonyms.
第1种就是利用同义词。
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.
当在阅读时遇到不会的单词时，试着去找寻同义词。
Read this short passage from a Learning English story in and consider what "fundraiser" means:
阅读下面短文（摘自英语学习故事），让我们来思考下“fundraiser”是什么意思：
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.（请尝试阅读理解）
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.
让我们来看第一句话，第一句话向我们展示了讨论的事件。第二句话，作者将事件（event）一词替换为”fundraiser”。一般来说，文章中的一个词被另一个词所替代，它们很有可能是同义词。因此，”fundraiser“可以被认为是某种事件的意思。
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、四句话则向我们透露了更多关于该事件的信息：事件包含了音乐和食物，庆典的举办费用是用过售票获得的。这通常在“fundraiser”时进行，事件的进行需要提供付费门票，而收集的费用往往用于某种特定原因。所以，fundraiser即是“资金筹集活动”的意思。
Tip #2: Antonyms
Tip #2:反义词
The second kind of clue is antonyms.
第2种就是利用反义词。
Antonyms are words that mean the opposite of a word.
反义词（antonyms）意为意思相反的词。
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.
确认反义词的其中一个方法，就是寻找 对比词，如 "but," "however," "though," "although," "unlike," "whereas", "despite”这类标志词。这些词标志词的出现意味着接下来表达的内容将会与之前的内容相反。
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.
让我们来看看下面一则英语学习故事的内容。看看对比词“although”是如何帮助我们理解”critic”一词的意思。
The United States will begin restricting visas to citizens from six other countries on February 21, although critics question the move. （请尝试阅读理解）
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.
第一句告诉我们签证政策发生了改变。第二句标志词”although”预示着下述内容会与上述相反。”critics”意为对新政策的质疑。通过反义词解答，我们可以猜到”critic”意为对某事持反对意见的人。即是“批评者”的意思。
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Tip #3: Appositives
Tip #3:同位语
The third kind of clue is appositives.
第3种就是利用同位语。
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，即为名词后面出现的名词或名词词组，并对第一个出现的名词进行定义。下面的例子可以帮助我们更好的理解何为 同位语，它是如何对“constellation”的意思进行解释。
Constellations, or groups of stars that form shapes in the sky, usually represent a mythological person or creature or a nonliving object. （请尝试阅读理解）
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.
句子中使用了“or”一词，分隔需要进行解释的同位语（constellations），后续意思为“天空中的星群”。符号这个标志尤为重要，因为同位语往往使用逗号对需要解释的内容进行分割。
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.
但需要注意，有时同位语会省略标志词“or”，而逗号在书写体中有非常多的含义，同位语仅为逗号的多种用法之一。因此，出现逗号不意味着一定就是同位语。
Tip #4: Examples
Tip #4:举例说明
The fourth kind of clue is examples.
第4种就是利用举例说明
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."
举例说明能帮助解释单词或想法。英语中最普遍的举例说明标志词包括："for example"， "for instance"， "such as" ， "like”。
Here is a passage from a Learning English report about superbugs in the United States. See if the example helps you understand the meaning of "superbug."
下面是一篇关于美国"superbug"的文章（摘自英语学习报道）。让我们一起看看举例说明是如何帮助我们理解 “ superbug”一词 的意思。
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.（请尝试阅读理解）
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.
所以，什么是“superbug”呢？文中举例说明，那是一种用抗生素难以治愈的传染病。而这句话就是“superbug”表达的意思。即超级细菌。
Some closing thoughts
学习总结
And now for some closing thoughts.
下面让我们做个简短的总结。
Learning to use context clues can take time. Don"t pressure yourself to be great at the skill too quickly.
学会上下文线索的使用需要我们花上一定时间。请不要给自己太大的压力。
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.
此外，阅读时，没有必要非得弄懂所有单词的意思。试着在下次阅读时，独自思考一下，要是不翻译句子中的生词，是否会对阅读理解造成影响。
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