提到新托福考试的阅读，学生就会叫苦连天，各种不堪：文章看不懂，时间不够用，题目做不对。其实很大程度上是因为词汇的原因。对词汇的考核不仅在托福阅读词汇题目里呈现出来，还在对文章阅读理解部分中出现。因此词汇量是托福水平的重要衡量标准之一。

在托福阅读文章的词汇题中被考到的单词或短语会被用阴影标识出来，要求考生确定文章中个别单词或短语的具体意思（一个单词可能会有很多个意思，但是在阅读文章中只有一个意思与原文相符）。单词的意思必须符合原文的意思。在这里要指出的是：没有一个必然会考到的“词汇表”。通常情况下，被考到的单词或短语对于理解文章的一个大的或重要部分起到至关重要的作用。在托福考试的阅读词汇题中，不常见的，专业的或者具有特殊意义的词汇是有具体解释的。

托福阅读词汇类问题是很容易辨认的，问题的提问形式如下：
a.  The word X in the passage is closet in meaning to…
b.  The phrase X in the passage is closest in meaning
c.  In stating X, the author means that…
　　
那么，该如何答题：
　　1. 在文章中定位到阴影标识的单词或短语。
　　2. 仔细阅读该词或短语所在句子。
　　3. 在句子中寻找可以帮助理解阴影标识的单词或短语的具体意思的线索。
　　4. 选择答案，并将所选择的单词或短语放入原文进行检验，以确认这个句子在全文中仍是有意义的。
　　选择答案时，不要仅仅因为某个选项符合该单词的某一个正确意思就将其作为正确选项;题目考察的是作者在文章上下文中使用了那一个词义。

如何利用各种托福阅读词汇题线索
☆ 结构线索(即指明句子中各成分之间关系的特定单词、短语和语法结构)
　　
      1. 对比
　　Example: OG Practice Set 5, question 6
　　Passage 5: In this newly emerging economic order, workers sometimes organized to protect their rights and traditional ways of life. Craftworkers such as carpenters and tailors formed unions and in 1834 individual unions came together in the National Trades’ Union. The labor movement gathered some momentum in the decade before the Panic of 1837, but in the depression that followed, labor’s strength collapsed…
　　The phrase gathered some momentum in the passage is closest in meaning to
　　○ made progress
　　○ became active
　　○ caused changes
　　○ combined forces
　　解析：单词readily所在的文章句子中出现转折词but, 根据文章中but后面的内容我们可以得出短语gathered some momentum在此句中的意思为made progress。
　　
       2. 例子
　　Example: OG Practice Set 4, question 10
　　Passage 8: One cognitive theory suggests that aggravating and painful events trigger unpleasant feelings. These feelings in turn, can lead to aggressive action, but not automatically. Cognitive factors intervene. People decide whether they will act aggressively or not on other people’s motives. Supporting evidence comes from research showing that aggressive people often distort other people’s motives. For example, they assume that other people mean them harm when they do not.
　　The word distort in the passage is closest in meaning to
　　○ mistrust
　　○ misinterpret
　　○ criticize
　　○ resent
　　解析：distort所在的文章句子后出现“for example”, 根据for example中的内容，我们可以得出distort在此句中的意思为misinterpret。

      3. 对文章理解的词汇考核，代入语境
      Example: Barron’s Test 1. Question8
      Paragraph 5: The identity of Beowulf poet is also uncertain. He apparently was a Christian who loved the pagan heroic tradition of his ancestors and blended the values of the pagan hero with the Christian values of his own country and time. Because he wrote in the Anglian dialect, he probably was either a monk in a monastery or a poet in an Anglo-Saxon court located north of the Thames River.
Why does the author of this passage use the word “apparently” in paragraph 5?
       ○ He is not certain that the author of Beowulf was a Christian.
　　○ He is mentioning facts that are obvious to the readers.
　　○ He is giving an example from a historical reference.
　　○ He is introducing evidence about the author of Beowulf.
       解析：apparent一词考生熟悉的意思是obvious明显的，但是原文的语境是The identity of Beowulf poet is also uncertain.，所以这里考查的是它另外一个意思，即表面上的。

以上，是环球托福的老师给大家带来的有关托福阅读词汇题浅析，希望可以帮助同学们更好的备考，更高效的应对此类题目。