托福阅读词汇题是阅读的第一题型，题量最大，每篇大概有3题左右，少则2题，多达4题。

特点：词汇题属于典型的“会者不难难者不会”的题型。如果认识单词的话，不但做得对，而且可以做得很快，为其他题目节省大量时间；反过来说，如果不认识单词，虽然有一些方法能够根据词的构成或者词在句中的位置反推出词的大概意思，但是这样做会耗费大量时间，正确率也没有保障。所以，为了托福分数，大家还是好好背单词。

（1）题型识别：The word “xxx” in the passage is closest in meaning to

（2）方法一：词根词缀法

很多词汇题的原词都是由词根词缀构成的，在不认识单词的情况下根据词根词缀与选项中的单词进行比对与猜测会非常有效。

拿OG上的一篇文章为例【OG- Desert Formation】 ：

Paragraph 6: Four specific activities have been identified as major contributors to the desertification processes: overcultivation, overgrazing, firewood gathering, and overirrigation. The cultivation of crops has expanded into progressively drier regions as population densities have grown. These regions are especially likely to have periods of severe dryness, so that crop failures are common. Since the raising of most crops necessitates the prior removal of the natural vegetation, crop failures leave extensive tracts of land devoid of a plant cover and susceptible to wind and water erosion.

5. The word “progressively” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. openly

B. impressively

C. objectively

D. increasingly

progressively解读：

该词由三部分组成，前缀决定倾向性，词根决定核心含义，后缀决定词性

前缀：pro（向前）

词根：gress（走）

后缀：ive（形容词）ly（副词）

因此该词可猜测为：“前进地，逐步地”，因此A. openly“公开地”显然不对，B. impressively“令人印象深刻地”前缀“im”在该词中表示“向内”，词根“press”在该词中表示“按压”可猜测出不对，C. objectively“客观的”显然不对，只有D. increasingly这个大家都很熟悉的单词表示“日益地、越来越多地”与原词最为贴切。因此正确答案选择D（即使同学们不知道词根的具体含义，也完全可以根据前缀猜测出答案）。

再比如同篇文章第7题：

Paragraph 6: Four specific activities have been identified as major contributors to the desertification processes: overcultivation, overgrazing, firewood gathering, and overirrigation. The cultivation of crops has expanded into progressively drier regions as population densities have grown. These regions are especially likely to have periods of severe dryness, so that crop failures are common. Since the raising of most crops necessitates the prior removal of the natural vegetation, crop failures leave extensive tracts of land devoid of a plant cover and susceptible to wind and water erosion.

7. The phrase “devoid of” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. consisting of

B. hidden by

C. except for

D. lacking in

devoid of解读：

该词由两部分组成，前缀+词根

前缀：de（离开）

词根：void（空）

因此该词可猜测为：“没有”，因此A. consisting前缀“con”在该词中表示“ 共同”，可猜测出不对B. hidden by“隐藏”虽然有点像但不准确，C. except for“除了”，明显不对，只有D. lacking in“缺乏”与原词最为贴切。因此答案选择D。

（3）方法二：关联词推断法

在托福阅读词汇题中，有一些词可能并没有词根词缀，因此无法通过第一种方法将题目正确答案猜测出，这时候我们可以关注一下该词汇题所在的句子前后是否有并列或转折、对比的关系，通过关联词的暗示就可以推断出标记词汇与前后句子中词汇的相近或相反含义，由此选出正确答案。比如说，上次提到的【OG- Desert Formation】中的第7题，这道题就不仅可以根据词根词缀法做出，关联词推断法同样有效：

Paragraph 6: Four specific activities have been identified as major contributors to the desertification processes: overcultivation, overgrazing, firewood gathering, and overirrigation. The cultivation of crops has expanded into progressively drier regions as population densities have grown. These regions are especially likely to have periods of severe dryness, so that crop failures are common. Since the raising of most crops necessitates the prior removal of the natural vegetation, crop failures leave extensive tracts of land devoid of a plant cover and susceptible to wind and water erosion.

7. The phrase “devoid of” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. consisting of

B. hidden by

C. except for

D. lacking in

仔细看devoid of 这个标记短语所在的句子，不难发现里面有一个并列词and，如果同学们认识susceptible 这个词的意思，或者了解sus这个前缀的含义，那么根据and后面的susceptible to wind and water erosion也可以推断出and之前的内容也必然不是什么好话，所以自然可以猜出答案为D。

（4）方法三：搭配判断法

此外，如果标记词所在的句子前后并没有关联词，而是单一概念的句子，我们也可以根据动宾搭配或修饰关系搭配筛选出答案，比如：

Each soldier received his pay, but in regions without a developed economy there was initially little on which it could be spent. The pool of excess cash rapidly stimulated a thriving economy outside fort gates. Some of the demand for the services and goods was no doubt fulfilled by people drawn from far afield, but some local people certainly became entwined in this new economy. There was informal marriage with soldiers, who until AD 197 were not legally entitled to wed, and whole new communities grew up near the forts. These settlements acted like small towns, becoming centers for the artisan and trading populations.

The phrase “entitled to” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A.given the right to

B.able to afford to

C.encouraged to

D.required to

回文定位entitled to 的所在，会发现前面有一个副词legally，语义为“合法地”，所以即使完全不知晓该短语的意思，或无法通过上下文进行推断，也可以选择出答案A，因为只有right与legal相关。

（5）方法四：语义暗示法

退一步来讲，即使一道词汇题既不是由词根词缀构成的，前后也没有表示并列或转折、对比的关联词，也无法通过搭配来进行判断，我们还可以根据上下文与前后句的语义暗示来选出答案，比如说这道题：

A warm-blooded turtle may seem to be a contradiction in terms. Nonetheless, an adult leatherback can maintain a body temperature of between 25 and 26°C (77 - 79°F) in sea water that is only 8°C (46.4°F). Accomplishing this feat requires adaptations both to generate heat in the turtle's body and to keep it from escaping into the surrounding waters. Leatherbacks apparently do not generate internal heat the way we do, or the way birds do, as a by-product of cellular metabolism. A leatherback may be able to pick up some body heat by basking at the surface; its dark, almost black body color may help it to absorb solar radiation. However, most of its internal heat comes from the action of its muscles.

3. The word feat in P2 is closest in meaning to

A. remarkable achievement

B. common transformation

C. daily activity

D. complex solution

此题原文中feat之前有一个代词this，表明了this feat指的就是上文，从上一句话中不难看出，leatherback可以在只有（only） 8摄氏度的海水中保持25-26摄氏度的体温，因此必定是remarkable 的，因此选择A。