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  3. How Should You Build Up Your Vocabulary Exactly what do you do during a normal day? How do you spend your time? Paul T. Rank

How Should You Build Up Your Vocabulary Exactly what do you do during a normal day? How do you spend your time? Paul T. Rank

admin2011-01-01  31
问题                How Should You Build Up Your Vocabulary
    Exactly what do you do during a normal day? How do you spend your time? Paul T. Rankin very much wanted an answer to that question. To get it, he asked sixty-eight individuals to keep an accurate, detailed record of what they did every minute of their waking hours. When he consolidated (巩固) his findings, he discovered that the average individual spent 70 percent of his waking time doing one thing only--communication. That meant either reading, writing, speaking or listening.
    Put that evidence alongside of the research findings uncovered by the Human Engineering Laboratories. In exploring aptitudes and careers involving, among other things, data from 30,000 vocabulary tests given yearly, they discovered that big incomes and big vocabularies go together. Vocabulary, more than any other factor yet known, predicts financial success.
    And it all fits. Each word you add to your vocabulary makes you a better reader, writer, speaker and listener. Furthermore, linguistic scientists are quick to point out that we actually think with words. If that is so, new words make us better thinkers as well as communicators. No wonder more words are likely to mean more money. What better reason for beginning right now to extend your vocabulary?
    Take reading. What exactly do you read? Common sense says you read words. Research confirms that fact.  "Vocabulary in context" contributes 39 percent to comprehension. That’s more than any other factor isolated and studied--even more than intelligence. And " word discrimination" contributes more to speed of reading than any other factor--28 percent. In short, your efforts to improve vocabulary will payoff in both comprehension and speed.
    Suppose, as you’re reading along, you lumtebs across a strange word. Did you find yourself stopping for a closer look at lumtebs? Pardon the spelling slip. That’s actually the word stumble (偶然发现). The letter just got mixed around. Obviously you now know that strange words do slow you down--or even stop you completely. Furthermore, strange words hinder (妨碍) comprehension. Which is easier to understand, "eschew garrulity" or "avoiding talking too much"?
    What you need is a vital, dynamic approach to vocabulary building. Hybrid (混合种) corn combines the best qualities of several varieties to ensure maximum productivity. A hybrid approach to vocabulary should, in the same way, ensure maximum results. That’s why you should use the CPD formula.
    Through Context
    When students in a college class were asked what should be done when they came across an unknown word in their reading, 84 percent said,   "Look it up in the dictionary. " If you do, however, you short-circuit the very mental processes needed to make your efforts most productive.
    But there’s another reason. Suppose someone asks you what the word fast means. You answer,  "speedy or swift". But does it mean that in such contexts as "fast color", "fast woman", or " fast friend" ? And if a horse is fast, is it securely tied or galloping (飞驰) at top speed? It could be either. It all depends. On the dictionary? No, on context--on how the word is actually used. After all, there are over twenty different meanings for fast in the dictionary. But the dictionary doesn’t tell you which meaning is intended. That’s why it makes such good sense to begin with context.
    Through Word Parts
    Now for the next step. Often unfamiliar words contain one or more parts, which, if recognized, provide definite help with meaning. Suppose you read that someone " had a predilection for reading mysteries". The context certainly isn’t too helpful. But do you see a prefix, suffix or root that you know? Well. there’s the familiar prefix pre-, meaning "before". Look back at the context and try inserting "before". Reading mysteries apparently comes "before" other kinds of reading. Yes, a pre-dilection--or preference--is something put "before" something else.
    Or take the word monolithic. Try to isolate the parts. There is the prefix mono-, meaning "one ", and the root lith, meaning " stone ". Finally, there’s the suffix -ic, meaning "consisting of". Those three parts add up to this definition: "consisting of one stone".
    To speed up your use of word parts, you will be introduced to the fourteen most important words in the English language. The prefix and root elements in those few words are found in over 14,000 words of desk dictionary size. With those amazingly useful shortcuts, you can build vocabulary, not a snail’s pace, one word at a time, but in giant strides, up to a thousand words at a time.
    Your second step, then, is to look for familiar word parts. If they do not give you exact meanings, they should at least bring you much closer.
    Through the Dictionary
    Now you can see why you should consult the dictionary last, not first. You’ve looked carefully at the context. You’ve looked for familiar word parts. Now you play Sherlock Holmes--an exciting role. You hypothesize. In light of context or word parts, you try to solve a mystery. hat exactly does that strange word mean? Only after you go through the mental gymnastics to come up with a tentative definition should you open the dictionary to see if you’re right.
    After all, those first two steps or approaches spark a stronger than usual interest in that dictionary definition. You’re now personally involved. Did you figure out the word meaning? Your heightened interest will lead to a better memory of both word and meaning. It also encourages your development of the habits needed to accelerate your progress. And when you see in black and white the definition you had expected, what a feeling of accomplishment is yours. In that way, the CPD Formula provides the exact dynamic interplay of approaches for maximum effectiveness.
    Well, there it is, your new formula--Context, Parts, Dictionary. Use it ! The exercises that follow will give you specific, step-by-step help in sharpening your awareness of contextual clues, learning the most useful word parts, and using the dictionary with increased accuracy and ease. The results will be like the money in the bank.  
The author highly recommends that we determine the exact meaning of a word through ______.
选项 A、context
B、word parts
C、the dictionary
D、asking authorities
答案A
解析 最后一句说明选项A为答案。
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