谈SSAT的词汇学习

发布时间：2008-06-13     作者：    来源：上海新东方

SSAT的verbal和reading题目确实有很多技巧可循，但是如果知道单词的确切含义，题目的相对难度就会下降，正确率和速度都将大幅度提高，使考生成竹在胸。但同时在SSAT中遇见生词是不可避免的。生词有的时候并不会影响得分，比如在阅读中，可以通过上下文来猜测生词的含义。例如：

Steve had nervous tics that exposed his anxiety at inconvenient times – during an oral report, one or another his appendages might start twitching uncontrollably.

appendage对于大多数没有复习过词汇的考生来说是一个生词，但是如果能够猜出其意思是” parts of the body ”，就能过正确理解句子意思。但是要注意，字典上appendage的主要释义另有其意：不光指身体的部分。下次考试中再遇见appendage的时候，可能就是另外的意思了。

SSAT考察单词的字典释义，所以只根据以前出现的单词语境来推断单词的含义是非常危险的。另外，单词大都有多重含义，从语境中也不可能推断出其所有含义。所以每当遇见一个新词，我们要让学生做的第一件事情是：让他们从该词的使用方式中猜测其含义，来训练学生猜词的能力；然后，讲解该词语更加全面的字典释义。

    本文主要包括下面内容：SSAT考生学习词汇的方法：中学生由于年龄的特点在学习词汇的时候可以采用的主要方法；同龄的美国考生学习词汇的资料：同样可以被国内考生借鉴；考生应该掌握的有关词汇的最基本的知识：词根和词缀，以及分类和应用举例；根据官方资料出来的常考词汇和特征分析。

 一）考生学习词汇的主要方法

扩展词汇的最佳方法就是进行阅读。一定要先让学生从兴趣开始，比如引导他们从报纸的体育部分或者笑话部分开始。很多中学生喜欢阅读成人的畅销书。这非常好，但是一定要加以指导，因为很多畅销书的词汇水平低于中学生的实际水平。为了学习词汇而进行的阅读一定要辅以翻阅字典。

零碎的时间里面可以阅读考生自己制作的阅读材料，比如卡片。如果可以上网的话，可以玩一些词汇类的游戏，比如hangman。纵横字谜（crossword）也是激发学生积极性的好方法。一个礼拜中的crossword难度不同，最好让学生从周一开始，以减少挫折感。游戏时同样可以使用字典。

以上方法最好同时使用，既可以增加知识，又可以从不同的渠道来整合信息。如果从多个侧面接触到一个单词，它就会变成你的日常知识。

二）美国学生学习词汇的资料

对于美国的学生，由于他们处在英语的语境中，所以可以从身边的阅读中扩充词汇量。比如阅读家长或者年龄稍长孩子的报纸杂志。这些主要包括：

报纸

日报                                                               网站

New York Times                                       www.nytimes.com

USA Today                                               www.usatoday.com

Wall Street Journal                                     online.wsj.com

杂志

Times

Newsweek

National Geographic

Popular Science

书

从有趣的阅读中掌握新词汇是一件快乐的事情。以下列出一些既可以让考生爱不释手，又可以从中学习新词的内容。遇见陌生单词的时候，一定要记录在卡片上，并且同时尽量根据上下文来猜测其含义。

题目                                                         作者

                                  小说

Watership Down                                       Richard Adams

The Outsiders                                           S. H. Hinton

Great Expectations                                    Charles Dickens

Pride and Prejudice                                    Jane Austen

Jane Eyre                                                        Charlotte Bronte

The Call of the Wild                                   Jack London

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes             Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

To Kill a Mockingbird                                Harper Lee

Animal Farm                                             George Orwell

The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn             Mark Twain

Things Fall Apart                                       Chinua Achebe

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings                     Maya Angelou

                                   科幻

The Phantom Tollbooth                              Norton Juster

The Hobbit                                               J. R. R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings                                J. R. R. Tolkien

I, Robot                                                   Isaac Asimov

Fahrenheit 451                                          Ray Bradbury

The War of the Worlds                               H. G. Wells

Brave New World                                      Aldous Huxley

                                   非小说

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass  Frederick Douglass

The Diary of a Young Girl                          Anne Frank

The Weight Brothers                                  Russell Freedman

Twenty Years at Hull House                        Jane Addams

一些专业的词汇书籍和网上资源同样是增加词汇量的好工具。

书

       Word Power Made Easy                                   Norman Lewis

       Word Smart and Word Smart II                         Adam Robinson

       Word Smart Junior and Word Smart Junior II      C. L. Brantley

       其中Word Smart and Word Smart II这两本适用于8-12年级，Word Smart Junior and Word Smart Junior II这两本适用于6-8年级。

                                                 网站

       www.m-w.com

      www.wordcentral.com

       www.syndicate.com

       www.vocabulary.com

三）考生应该掌握词汇的基本知识

1.         后缀

后缀可以告诉我们单词的词性。

举例：以下SSAT都包含基本的后缀。

-ness       happiness, friendliness

-able              perishable, amiable

-ous        androgynous, fibrous

-ity         animosity, charity

-ology     psychology, sociology

-ical        tyrannical, hypothetical

-archy     monarchy, anarchy, matriarchy

-less        fearless, artless

2.         前缀和词根

前缀在单词的开头，词根可以在单词的任何位置。这两种单词的部分都对记忆单词有很大帮助。比如，考生遇见vociferous，可以思考其中voc这个词根，尽量想出同样含有voc的其它单词。我们知道vocal和说话有关系，自然可以推断出vociferous同样和说话有关系。如果能想象vociferous表示喊叫，那么剩下的意思也可以记住：说话大声并且不连续的。

注意voc在vociferous和vocal中的发音不同。词根经常会改变发音，很多词根已经出现几百年了。随着时间的推移，不光发音会变化，含义也会变化，所以现在的单词含义已经不是简单的词根累加了。所以词根学习不能取代查字典，只能帮助记忆新词汇并且对词汇进行分组。

例如以下7个单词：

单词之间的连线表示相同的部分。可见，区区七个单词就能够产生如此之多的交叉连线，组成了一个网络。

考生应该掌握的SSAT后缀，前缀和词根

后缀

X-able                   adjective  “able to be Xed”

X-archy                noun       ”rulership by X”

X-ical                    adjective  “characterized by X”

X-less                   adjective  “without X”

X-ness                  noun       ”quality of being X”

X-ology                 noun       “doctrine or theory of X”

X-ous                   adjective  “having the quality of X”

前缀和词根

a                           without

ab/ abs                  away from, against

ac/ acr                  sharp

ad/ at                    to, toward

am                        to love

amb                      to go, to walk

anim                            life, spirit

ante                      before

anthr/ andr             mankind, man

anti                       against, opposite

apt/ ept                  skill, ability, fit

bell                       war

bene                      good

bi                          two

carn                      flesh

chron                    time

circ/ circum           around

cis                        to cut

cli                         to lean

clu/ clo/ cla            to close, shut

co/ com/ con         with, together

cred                      believe

culp                      blame

cur/ cour               to run

de                         away from/ the opposite of

dem                      people

derm                     skin

di                          apart, through, away

dic                        to say, to tell

dign/ dain              worth

dis                        apart, away from, not

dys                       faulty, bad

epi                        upon

equi/ equ               equal

esce                      to become

eu                         good, pleasing

ex/ ej                     out, put out

extr                       outside, beyond

fac                        to make, to do

fic/ fig                   to make, to do

fid                        faith, trust

gen                       birth, creation, kind

gyn                       woman

her/ hes                 to stick

hetero                   different, other

homo                    same

hyper                    over

hypo                     under

in/ il/ im/ ir             not

in/ en/ im/ em         into

inter                      between, among

intra                      within, inside

loc/ loq/ log           to speak

luc/ lum                 light

magna                   great, big

mal                       bad

man                      hand

mis                       wrong, bad

mit/ mis                 to send

morph                   shape, form

mut                       change

nat/ nas/ nai           to be born

neo/ nov                new

nom/ nym              name

ob                         against, in front of, toward

omni                     all, every

pan                       all, everywhere

par                        equal

path                      feeling

phil                       love of

phobe                    fear of

phon                     sound

plac                      to please

pon/ pos                place, put

port                      to carry

post                      after

pot                        power, ability

pre                        before

pro                       forward, supporting

pun/ pen                to pay, compensate, punish

re                         again, back

sci                        knowledge, to know

scrib/ script           to write

sed/ sid                 to sit, be still

sequ, secu             to follow

spec                      to look, appear

sub                       under, less than

super                    over, greater than

tact                       touch

techn                    tools, art, skill

ten                        to hold

tens/ ten                to stretch

terr                       earth

tract                      to drag, pull, draw

trans                            across

un/ non                 not

uni                        one

us/ ut                    to use

ven/ vent               to come

vers/ vert               to turn

vi/ viv                   life

vid/ vis                  to see

voc                       to call

vor                       to eat

词根和词缀分类举例

Counting

semi/ hemi/ demi    half

mono/ uni              one

duo/ bi                  two

tri                         three

quad/ quat             four

quint                     five

sext                      six

sept                      seven

oct                        eight

nov                       nine

dec                       ten

cent                      hundred

mill                       thousand

poly                      many

proto                     first

Fear

phobia

构词举例

acrophobia             fear of heights

pedophobia            fear of children

phonophobia          fear of sound

photophobia           fear of light

pyrophobia            fear of fire

Study

ology

archaeology           study of ancient history

biology                  study of life

cosmology             study of the universe

etymology             study of word origins

genealogy              study of family origins

geology                 study of the earth

graphology            study of handwriting

psychology            study of the mind

seismology            study of earthquake

sociology               study of society

Family Root

pater                            father

mater                    mother

frat                       brother

sor                        sister

gen                       birth

Senses

vis/ vid                  see

tact/ tangi                     touch

audi                      hear

son                       sound

patho/ pathy           feelings, suffering

corp                      body

man                      hand

Location

ad                         to

ante                      before

circum                  around

con/ com               together, with

de                         from, down

in/ il/ im                 in, into, on

inter                      between

intro                      within

peri                       around, about

re                         again, back

se                         apart

tele                       distant

trans                            across, beyond

super                    over, above

四）考生应该掌握的SSAT高频词汇

    以下词汇从SSAT样题中选取，从中可以看出SSAT考察的词汇难度。并且这些高频词汇很可能再出现在以后的考题中。给出的释义是已经考察过的。

      参加高级考试考生必须认识以下所有单词，根据含义分组:

Attempting to be funny

       jeer                to make fun of

       jest                to joke

       parody           a humorous imitation

       recreation              something done for him, a hobby or game

       skit                a short comic scene

Let’s get together

       adjunct           an accessory, something added on

       coalesce         to come together

       congeal          to thicken, or change from liquid to solid

       consensus      an agreement

       contiguous      lying side-by-side

       fission            a splitting apart

       fusion            a joining together

       integrate         to bring together and make whole

       juxtapose        to place side by side

       pact               a formal agreement between two countries

       rendezvous     a meeting, usual secret

Make it official

       abdicate          to give up power

       accord           to be in agreement

       allege             to declare that something is true without proof

       assess            to uate or determine the worth of

       condone         to forgive or to disregard an offense

       conventional   traditional, ordinary

       counsel          to advise

       debunk           to prove false

       decree            an order or command

       inquiry           a request for instruction

       ratify              to approve, usually a law

       sustain           to support

Hard to handle

       ambiguous      unclear

       amorphous     without shape

       egress            exit

       epoch             a period of time

       intangible        not able to be touched or sensed

       itinerant          nomadic, constantly moving

       kinetic            moving

       obscure          hidden or dark, hard to see

       polymorphous having many shapes

       prolific           fertile, very productive

       remote           far away, distant

       scull               a small rowboat or an oar for a rowboat

       sporadic         having no pattern or order

       surrogate        a substitute

       variegated       having many parts or colors

       writhe            to twist

The perfect mate

       akin               related to or alike

       altruistic         doing good for others

       amiable           friendly, good-natures

       aspirant          someone searching for something

       astute             sharp, shrewd

       benevolence    goodness

       congenial        agreeable

       equivalent       equal

       extol                     to praise

       placate           to quiet down, appease

You don’t want to know this guy

       aloof              keeping a distance

animosity        hostility

banal              unoriginal and boring

belligerent       hostile, warlike

browbeat        to intimate

choleric          irritate

       debilitating      weakening, harmful

       deficient         lacking an essential part

       garrulous        overly talkative

       incompetent    not able to do something properly

       insipid            lacking interest, dull, boring

       insolent          disrespectful, rude

       irate               enraged

       notorious        known widely and unfavorably

       ostentatious    showy, pretentious

       pedantic         overly scholarly, boring

       profane          to abuse or put to ill use

       pugnacious     hostile

       ravenous        extremely hungry

       recalcitrant     disobedient, stubborn

       sanctimonious acting morally superior, holier-than-thou

       warlock          a male witch

A bad scene

       abyss             a deep narrow pit

       adverse          unfavorable, opposed, going against

       aggravate        to make worse

       assailable        vulnerable

barrage           a flood

       brig                the prison of a ship

       corpulent        excessively overweight

       founder          to sink

       hovel              a shack

       impasse          a deadlock, a point at which one can go no further

       indictment      the situation of having been charges with a crime

       insinuation      a sneaky suggestion of something bad

       mar                to spoil, to mark

       null                zero value

       quiver            a portable container for arrows

       plight             a bad situation ,a predicament

       repudiate        to put down, to renounce

       rue                 to regret

       ruse               a clever trick

       sedate            to clam, especially by using of a drug

       slander           a false and mean-spirited statement meant to injure someone

       superfluous     more than what is required or needed

simply perfect

       benign            harmless

       clarity            clearness

       deft                skillful

exquisite         beautifully made or designed

       immaculate     perfectly clean, free from dirt or stain

       meticulous      careful, paying attention to details

       pious              deeply religious

       robust            healthy

Time to make a speech

       illuminate to light up or make clear

       imply             to express indirectly

       lament            to express grief for, mourn

       reminiscence a memory, the act of recalling the past

Just under the surface

       dormant         temporarily inactive, asleep

       eradicate         to erase or get rid of

       excavate         to dig up

       fundamental    as essential part, basic

       innate             possessed at birth, not learned

       merge            to blend together

Hardworking

       adept              very skilled

       facet                     an aspect of something

       ingenuity        innovation, creativity

       inscribe          to write or etch words on or into a surface

       novice            a beginner

       procure          to obtain

       tenacious        holding firmly, especially to a belief, stubborn

       toil                 hard work, or to work hard

       vend                     to sell

       vigor              strength, energy

       wane              to decrease in size or strength

Nice attitude

       admiring         regarding with approval or respect

       ambivalence    having opposing or mixed feelings

       analytical        intending to understand the nature of something

       biased            favoring one side or opinion over another

       brash             bold

       cautious         careful

       dubious          doubtful

       ironic             the use of words to express an unintended or contradictory meaning

       jubilant           overly joyful

       objective         not influenced by personal opinion, just the facts

       sarcastic         the use of witty language used to insult or show displeasure

       skeptical         doubtful

       somber           overly serious, dark or gloomy

       subjective       influenced by personal opinion, biased

       temperament   your use mood or behavior

由此可见，这些词汇在当前国内的GRE和SAT教学中同样是核心重点词汇。ETS把很多研究生入学和大学入学考试的词汇下放到了中考里面。如果一个国内的初中生甚至小学生能够掌握以上词汇，对今后的词汇扩展是大有裨益的。