1)I’m not saying we’ve never had any problems. The occasional disagreement is only natural. Our worst rows are on Sunday mornings. I usually try to have a long sleep and Lucy gets a bit angry with me because she has to deal with the children, single-handed.

　　猜测这段话里的rows的含义，需要追溯前两句的内容(作者提及了 problems, disagreement)以及下一句所举的例子(I try to ······ and Lucy gets ······angry with me······)。可以看出，rows 和problems , disagreement意思接近。

　　在英语写作中，作者往往使用另一个词，或者另一句话来解释或说明一个生词。比如：

　　2) The woman found herself in a difficult situation. In fact, her plight was so serious that she decided to get help.

　　句子中“a difficult situation”是对plight的解释。此外，句子中 she decided to get help 也可以用来推测plight的词义。( plight即“困境”.)

　　3) Children often try to imitate or copy the behavior that they see on television.

　　句子中copy是imitate同义词或者是对imitate的重述。(imitate即“模仿”。)

　　重述即在某个篇章中作者对前面的一句话重新或补充陈述。这种重新陈述中往往包含前面句子中某个生词的含义。引导重述最常用的词或表达法有or, i.e., that’s to say等。

　　4)An unsuccessful firm or individual may go from insolvency to bankruptcy by a written admission that the liabilities or debts exceed the value of assets.

　　如果你不知道liabilities这个词的词义，那么后面的重复词debts就告诉我们该词的意思为“债务”。

2、 比较、对比线索(Comparison or Contrast clues)

　　有时候，句子中会包含一个生词的反义词。这时，作者往往会用on the other hand, however, although, unlike, yet或but来连接这两个意思相反的部分。例如：

　　5)Some people like to walk quickly home after work, but I prefer to wander home and look at the store windows along the way.

　　句子中walk quickly是wander的反义词，中间有but连接。此外，句子中look at the store windows along the way也可以用来推测wander的词义。( wander即“漫步”。)

　　在比较暗示中常用的引导词有 like和as······ as等;对照暗示中常用的引导词有but, while, however, unlike, on the other hand, in contrast等。

　　6)She is so quiet, but her brother is so talkative.

　　她沉默寡言，而她的.兄弟却talkative，根据上下文的逻辑关系(由but传达)，我们可以猜测该词义为“健谈的、多话的”。

　　7)Mary manages money judiciously while I manage money unwisely.

　　同样，从while可知, judiciously是unwisely的反意，意为“明智的”。

3、 直接解释或者说明 (Direct explanation clues)

　　8) Physical objects refer to the material that can be seen, held, felt, used.

　　句子中 “the material that can be seen, held, felt, used” 是对physical objects的直接解释。(“physic al objects”即物质的东西)

　　9) The powerful poison was imperceptible when mixed in liquid; that is, it could not be tasted, seen, or smelled.

　　句子中“it could not be tasted, seen, or smelled”是对imperceptible的直接解释。(imperceptible既“觉察不到的，感觉不到的”。)

　　有时候，文中对生词给出了注解或说明，在阅读中应善于捕捉这一信息。例如：

　　10)A journalist is a person who works on a newspaper or magazine and writes articles for it.

　　此句是专门解释journalist的，通过解释不难推断出其意为“记者”。

　　11)A hobby is a leisure-time interest or activity taken up mainly for pleasure(主要为了娱乐在业余时间所从事的兴趣活动)就解释了hobby的意思，即“业余爱好”。

4、 相关信息（related information）或常识（common sense）

　　有时候，读者可以从上下文的有关信息猜测出某个词的词义。所谓相关信息包括举例等。

　　12)She is held in high esteem for her outstanding research on cataract and other diseases of the eye.

　　从other diseases of the eye我们可以猜测出cataract是一种眼病。

　　有些生词的同义可以根据我们的常识或生活体验来推测。例如：

　　13)It was our first night on the ship. Feeling tired after a long day at sea. I returned to my cabin, lay down on my berth, and quickly fell asleep.