推荐阅读：
1、理解主旨要义
2、理解文中的具体信息
3、理解文中的概念性含义
4、进行有关的判断、推理和引申
5、根据上下文推测生词的含义
6、理解文章的总体结构以及上下文之间的关系
7、理解作者的意图、观点或态度
8、区分论点和论据
其中大纲中的第5点明确指出了要求考生能够根据上下文推测生词的含义，于是专门测试这一方面能力的考研阅读理解“猜词题”应运而生。
一、猜词题的判定
这类题型在考研阅读中基本每年都会涉及：
28. The word “about-face”(Line 1, Para 3)most probably means (2010 2)
34. the underlined phrase “these people”in paragraph 4 refers to the ones who_____ (2010 3)
23.” ruts”(in line one, paragraph 3) has closest meaning to_______(2009 1)
22. The word “mania” (Line 4, Paragraph 2) most probably means________(2007 1)
21. The word “homogenizing” (Line 2, Paragraph 1) most probably means ________。(2006 1)
37. The word “bummer” (Line 5, paragraph 5) most probably means something ________。(2006 4)
通过观察题干我们不难发现题目的设置方式一般为：
“XXXX”(LineX, paragraphX) has closest meaning to_______ 。
“ XXXX”(LineX, paragraphX) most probably means _______。
二、逻辑关系在猜词题中的运用
猜词题在最近17年的考研英语中总共出现过39次，而在2002年考研阅读Part A部分的出题形式改变之后，总共出现过20词，每年出题数量在2道左右，而对于这类题型，大纲中其实已经给出了方法，即“根据上下文推测生词的含义”，而“上下文”作为一个乍听比较宽泛的概念，一般在猜词题的破解过程中包括逻辑关系、指代关系和特殊标点三种情况，我们看一下逻辑关系在猜词题中的应用。
英文文章行文紧凑，句与句之间的衔接也非常紧密，考试中常涉及的逻辑关系包括转折、让步、因果、递进、并列等，而在具体的解题过程中，我们可以对其进行简化处理：将句与句之间的关系简单地分为顺承和转折两类，顺承表示前后语句同义，而转折表示前后语句反义，于是对于并列、因果、递进而言，前后句在方向上并未发生变化，而转折和让步则不然。同时，我们知道在阅读中应当把握具有感情色彩的词汇，正性的词汇用+进行标记，如promising, driving force, positive等，而负性的词汇用-进行标记，如handicap, problem, economic decline等，因此我们可以把题目简化成通过方向的不同来解题。我们看一下简单的汉语例子：
a、我们都希望自己有朝一日可以长生不老，but我们知道，长生不老是_______。
b、我们都希望自己有朝一日可以长生不老，because我们知道，长生不老是_______。
在这个简单的汉语句子中，前面一个分句表达了“长生不老”是人们的一种诉求，可以用+代替，而第一个句子前后转折，第二个句子前后顺承，于是第一句中划线处所填词汇必定为负性词汇，如不可能的、无法实现的、没有希望的，第二句划线词汇为正性词汇，如可以的、有希望的等。按照这个思路，我们不难对具体的猜词题目进行判断：
People in earlier eras were surrounded by reminders of misery. They worked until exhausted, lived with few protections and died young. In the West, before mass communication and literacy, the most powerful mass medium was the church, which reminded worshippers that their souls were in danger and that they would someday be meat for worms. Given all this, they did not exactly need their art to be a bummer too。(2006.4)
37. The word “bummer” (Line 5, paragraph 5) most probably means something ________。
[A] religious [B] unpleasant [C] entertaining [D] commercial
根据题干中的提示”Line 5, paragraph 5”我们很容易地定位到本段末句，通过分析段落，不难发现本段共包括4句话，前三句之间并没有出现表示逻辑关系的词汇，因此没有转折现象发生，而最后两句之间出现Give all this作为连接，很明显四句话之间均为顺承关系，通过阅读文章我们不难发现前三句中出现的诸如misery, worked until exhausted, lived with few protections and died young, their souls were in danger and that they would someday be meat for worms等信息都是负性词汇，因此bummer一词必然表达了一种负面的含义，通过选项的分析，AD都为中性词，只有B表达了负面含义，因此本题选择B作为正确选项。
在不涉及到正负评价的题目中，通过逻辑关系把握语义同样可以适用，例如：
In spite of “endless talk of difference,” American society is an amazing machine for homogenizing people. There is “the democratizing uniformity of dress and discourse, and the casualness and absence of deference” characteristic of popular culture. People are absorbed into “a culture of consumption” launched by the 19th-century department stores that offered “vast arrays of goods in an elegant atmosphere. Instead of intimate shops catering to a knowledgeable elite,” these were stores “anyone could enter, regardless of class or background. This turned shopping into a public and democratic act。” The mass media, advertising and sports are other forces for homogenization. (2006 1)
21.The word “homogenizing” (Line 2, Paragraph 1) most probably means ________。
[A] identifying [B] associating [C] assimilating [D] monopolizing
通过题干信息我们很简单地将题目定位到本段第一句，在本句中通过浏览会发现表示逻辑关系的“in spite of”这一短语，于是我们知道，后半句中的homogenizing一词必然与前半句中的 “endless talk of difference”相反，所以homogenizing一词为difference的反义词，选项C. assimilating(同化)符合题意，因此本题答案选择C选项。
此外，本段中第一句与后面一句之间并未出现转折词，说明这两句之间同样是顺承关系，而第二句中出现的uniformity和popular culture两个信息点同样提示我们，所考词汇应当表达了与一致、相同有关的意思，按照这个思路我们同样可以确定答案为C. assimilating。
在理解句子的题目中，逻辑关系也是我们解题的首选，如
The townsfolk don’t see it this way and local council does not contribute directly to the subsidy of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Stratford cries poor traditionally. Nevertheless every hotel in town seems to be adding a new wing or cocktail lounge. Hilton is building its own hotel there, which you may be sure will be decorated with Hamlet Hamburger Bars, the Lear Lounge, the Banquo Banqueting Room, and so forth, and will be very expensive。
28. By saying “Stratford cries poor traditionally” (Line 2-3, Paragraph 4)， the author implies that ________。
[A] Stratford cannot afford the expansion projects [B] Stratford has long been in financial difficulties
[C] the town is not really short of money [D] the townsfolk used to be poorly paid
通过题干信息我们得知，Stratford这个地方一直在“哭穷”，通过前后衔接处的搜索，我们发现本句只有出现了nevertheless一词，因此我们知道，Stratford其实并不“穷”，比较四个选项，A中的cannot afford, B中的financial difficulties以及D中的poorly paid都说明Stratford确实“穷”，只有[C] the town is not really short of money说明这里其实并不穷，因此本题选择C选项。
三、此类解题思路的推广
本方法遵循了考研阅读理解中“化简”的原则，尽可能地提炼主要信息，在考研阅读理解其它题型以及完形填空的题目中，逻辑关系和正负评价的思路依然可以适用，例如：
55. From the text we can see that the writer seems ________。(2002.3)
[A] optimistic [B] sensitive [C] gloomy [D] scared
根据题干我们可以判定这是一道态度题，这就需要我们把握文章的主线并且提炼出作者的态度，各段首句分别为;
第一段：Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return?
第二段：The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports。
第三段：Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s。
第四段：Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so less sensitive to swings in the oil price。
第五段：One more reason not to lose sleep over the rise in oil prices is that, unlike the rises in the 1970s, it has not occurred against the background of general commodity-price inflation and global excess demand。
在这几个首句中，第一句的bad old days of economic decline表明了一个负性事件的发生，并且首句设问(问题答案型文章)，我们需要格外把握对问题的回答，第二句中another一词说明本段是对第一段的延伸，第三段首句出现Yet一词，并且之后的less severe一词表明本段是正性态度，第四段中的also以及less dependent on oil和less sensitive to swings in the oil price说明本段与之前一段的顺承关系，末段首句的One more reason表明了最终作者的态度，因此通过逻辑关系和正负评价的思路我们很容易发现，前两段给出负性事件，后三段分别说明不需要过于担心的原因，题干横线上可以标明+，选项中CD都为-所以首先排除，比较A乐观的B敏感的，很容易得出作者的态度为A optimistic。
总之，逻辑关系是阅读理猜词题中非常重要的解题方法，考生在掌握了此类方法之后，可以在各类题型中融会贯通，真正做到阅读理解解题质的飞跃。
