-根据同位关系或文中定义解释猜测
文章中的难词后面往往有一个同位语、that is，this is、破折号或定语从句等对其进行解释。这时可利用这种关系或解释对前面或后面的词义进行猜测。
例3.(2006年福建卷，A篇)
The schools are reluctant to take time off--even teachers with tickets for the England-Argentina game had trouble getting the day off.
59.The underlined word“reluctant”in the passage may probably mean_______.
A.kind
B.unwilling
C.free
D.careless
分析：根据本句破折号后面的句子：“even teachers with tickets for the England-Argentina game had trouble getting the day off.(即使老师们手中握有英-阿比赛的门票也不容易请假。”推断reluctant的意思是unwilling.故答案为B。
-根据上下文的指代关系进行猜测
代词one，it，that，he，him或them等在英语文章中使用频繁，可以指上文提到的人或事物。有时代词与指代的对象相隔较远，要认真查找；有时需要对前面提到的内容进行总结，才能得出代词所指代的事。
例4.(2005年全国卷，C篇)
Demands for pigeon-delivered money stopped as soon as the press reported the story.And even if they start again，Chen holds little hope of catching the criminal.“We have more important things to do，”he said.
52.The underlined word“they”in the last paragraph refers to____.
A.criminals
B.pigeons
C.the stolen cars
D.demands for money
分析：从文中最后一段可知，they应当对应该段前面的“Demands for pigeon-delivered money”。该部分大意为“媒体报道这些事件之后，发案率有所下降。即使demands for money的势头有所上升，陈表明，捉住罪犯也没什么希望，因为他们(警察)有更重要的事要做”。故答案为D。
-根据转折、因果关系进行猜测
根据上下句的连接词，如but，however，otherwise，while，rather than，far from等就可以看到前后句在意义上的差别，从而依据某一句的含义，来确定另一句的含义。
例5.(2005年北京卷，D篇)
However obvious these facts may appear at first glance，they are actully not so obvious as they seem expect when we take special pains to think about the subject.
71.In paragraph 3，“take special pains”probably means“_____”.
A.try very hard
B.take our time
C.are very unhappy
D.feel especially painful
分析：由however从句中的“at first glance(乍一看上去，即没仔细考虑)”与下文中“take special pains to think about……”进行对比，可以推断出A项正确。