2017考研英语阅读理解――熟词生义(七)

2017考研英语阅读理解――熟词生义（七）

中公考研英语研究院刘欢纵观历年考研英语大纲及考研英语真题考察的特点，考研词汇细分为基础词汇和核心词汇，即(考研英语=基础词汇+核心词汇)，对于考研英语中的基础词汇，通常是指高中或者大学四六级常见的词汇，词汇本身难度不大，易于拼写和记忆，但是，在考研英语中，对于普通词汇有一个独有的考察角度——熟词生义，即考察词汇陌生的词义，不常见的那层释义。下面选取2008年考研英语真题阅读理解部分中出现的熟词生义现象，进行详解。

That’s a far different image from the cherry-tree-chopping George most people remember from their history books. But recently, many historians have begun to focus on the roles slavery played in the lives of the founding generation. They have been spurred in part by DNA evidence made available in 1998, which almost certainly proved Thomas Jefferson had fathered at least one child with his slave Sally Hemings. And only over the past 30 years have scholars examined history from the bottom up. Works of several historians reveal the moral compromises made by the nation’s early leaders and the fragile nature of the country’s infancy. More significantly, they argue that many of the Founding Fathers knew slavery was wrong – and yet most did little to fight it.(para2，text4,2008)

Work 众所周知，首先想到的词义就是“工作”，然而，这里由于与historian 历史学家连用且work为复数，所以，按语境，熟词生义为“作品，著作”的意思。此外work 一词除了以上两个意思之外，还有多种释义，如“功(力学);差事;行为”等。本句句意为“几名历史学家的著作揭示了美国早期，开国元勋道德的沦丧和美国建国初期脆弱的本质。”

For one thing, the South could not afford to part with its slaves. Owning slaves was “like having a large bank account,” says Wiencek, author of An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. The southern states would not have signed the Constitution without protections for the “peculiar institution,” including a clause that counted a slave as three fifths of a man for purposes of congressional representation.(para4，text4,2008) Part 既可以作为名词，也可作为动词。常见名词，词义为“部分”，但是，本句中part位于to 之后，构成“afford to do sth. 付得起”，所以，本句part作为动词，有“离开，分离”之意，本句句意为“一方面，南方各州不能承担得起放弃奴隶”。

Clause 一词在英语语法中很常见，其意思为“从句”，但是本句中，根据上下文语境，clause宪法或者制度有关，所以，本句中的clause熟词生义，考查了陌生的释义“(法学)条款”。本句句意为“如果不对“特殊制度”进行保护，南方各州就不会在宪法

上签字，宪法中包括一项条款：国会代表中，一名奴隶可以算作五分之三的自由人。

Still, Jefferson freed Hemings’s children – though not Hemings herself or his approximately 150 other slaves. Washington, who had begun to believe that

all men were created equal after observing the bravery of the black soldiers during the Revolutionary War, overcame the strong opposition of his relatives

to grant his slaves their freedom in his will. Only a decade earlier, such an act would have required legislative approval in Virginia.(para6,text4,2008) Will 作为名词，常见意思为“意愿;意志”，根据语境，以及文中in one’s will

惯用搭配，本句will熟词生义为“遗嘱”。本句句意为“华盛顿在美国独立战争中，看到了黑人士兵的英勇，开始相信“人生来平等”，他不顾亲属的强烈反对，在遗嘱中，给予

他的奴隶自由。

通过对2008年考研英语阅读理解中出现的部分熟词生义现象的解析，希望对考研学子理解熟词生义以及记忆单词的多种释义提供帮助。最后，考研不是一个人的战斗，在漫漫

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来源：中国研究生招生信息网