托福閱讀技巧之語篇中的詞義

在一篇講述十二世紀中國對於(yu) 日本的學術影響的真題中（China’s Twelfth-Century intellectual Influence on Japan）

有這樣一句話：

One of the earliest and most important results of this new wave of cultural transmission from the continent was a revival of interest in Japan of pure scholarship.

學生往往脫口而出：重新開始追求獎學金了。

scholarship作為(wei) 獎學金的意思太深入人心，學生這麽(me) 理解也無可厚非；

但也足以說明，語境至上這件事情還可以不斷的被強調。

除了根據語境判斷某些詞的某個(ge) 語義(yi) 是否能說通之外，還要注意語篇中對於(yu) 詞匯的解釋說明。

在學術類文章中，對於(yu) 詞匯的解釋說明從(cong) 內(nei) 容上來說可以是同義(yi) 詞解釋、給出集合名詞中的例子進行解釋、直接下定義(yi) 精準描述。

從(cong) 形式上看，可以是or後引出同義(yi) 詞，或是用破折號、括號引出解釋說明，亦或是用同位語、定語從(cong) 句等進行解釋說明。

我們(men) 以剛剛結束的4月27日托福閱讀真題中的一個(ge) 段落為(wei) 例：

Beginning in the fifteenth century, monarchs (kings and queens) across Western Europe looked for ways to increase their own power whilediminishing the power of noblemen, or aristocrats. One development that made such a shift in power relations possible was the introduction of gunpowder, in earlier centuries in Europe,battlefields were dominated by noblemen who fought while mounted on horses. When firearms (weapons using gunpowder) came into use, however, this way of fighting declined, and peasants (poor people who worked on the land) came to play a significant role in the armies because peasant foot soldiers were more numerous and could be trained relatively quickly to use gun powder. Armies rapidly grew larger.

This meant that kings who wanted to remain powerful had to gain control over the raising of troops, a function formerly performed by noblemen. At the same time, kings gained a new powerful ally in the powerstruggle with the aristocracy: a rising middle class of townspeople and merchants, who opposed aristocrats by favoring a more meritocratic social structure in which ability and hard work were better appreciated and rewarded. Merchants and townspeople also objected to local nobles' intrusion both in their towns, which were situated near the nobles' lands, and in their long distance trade activities, which the nobles taxed.

在這個(ge) 段落中文中有相關(guan) 解釋說明的表達有五個(ge) ：

1/monarchs (kings and queens)

括號中的詞相信大家都是認識的

2/noblemen, or aristocrats

如果不認識aristocrats的話，等同於(yu) noblemen

3/firearms (weapons using gunpowder)

根據解釋是使用火藥的武器

4/peasants (poor people who worked on the land)

根據解釋是耕農(nong)

5/a more meritocratic social structure

根據描述，在這種社會(hui) 結構中，能力和努力更被重視更能得到回報

以上五個(ge) 表達在閱讀的過程中如果有一點點讓大家感到困擾的話那大可不必啦。