尋找文中相互對比、相互對照的線索來確定生詞的含義。

　　在此類文章中，通常會出現一些表示意義轉折、對比的詞語：however, but, on the other hand, on the contrary, instead of, while, unlike, not, although, yet, despite, in spite of, in contrast, etc.

　　例一： A good supervisor can recognize instantly the adept workers from the unskilled ones.

　　根據句法結構可知the adept workers和 the unskilled ones.為對比關系，意義相反。由the unskilled ones可推出the adept workers為熟練工人。

　　例二：Someone liked milk, but others abhorred it.

　　通過but我們知道abhor是like的反義詞，意為“厭惡”。

　　五、并列平行結構

　　它表示意義上的并列或相似關系。表示并列關系的詞語為and, similarly, like, just as, also, etc.

　　例一：A child’s birthday party does not have to be a hassle; it can be a basket of fun, according to Beth Anacleria, an Evaston mother of two, aged 4 and 18 months.

　　分號前后為兩個并列平行的分句，后一句意為“生日聚會可以充滿快樂、樂趣”，我們可以推測hassle意為“混亂”。

　　例二：First put forward by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in the seventeenth century, the theorem had baffled and beaten the finest mathematical minds, including a French woman scientist who made a major advance in working out the problem, and who had to dress like a man in order to be able to study at the Ecole Polytechnique.

　　baffled 和beaten為并列平行關系，根據beaten可以推測出baffled意為“難倒，使受挫，阻礙”之意。

　　例三：John loves to talk, and his sisters are similarly loquacious.

　　根據and和similarly判定短語loves to talk 和loquacious.之間為同義比較，意為“健談的”。

　　六、因果關系

　　它也是推測詞義的一種重要方式。我們可以通過結果推測原因，亦可通過原因推測結果。

　　例句：The girl began to feel homesick because she had been away from her family for years.

　　根據原因狀語從句和homesick本身的構詞方法，我們推斷它的詞義為“想家的”。

　　七、舉例法

　　即通過生詞后面所舉的例子來推斷生詞的含義。

　　例句：In this reading room, you can find almost all periodicals in China, such as: The World of English, Foreign Language in School, English Learning or Readers.

　　我們根據后面所舉的例子，不難推斷出periodicals是“期刊”之意。