大家好，我是SK2TOEFL實力養成班顧問J2.
閱讀時難免會碰到不懂的單字，但很多時候，可以根據後續持續解釋的句子、或前後類似詞猜出單字的意思。以下直接舉托福實際句子來當例子。
1. 後續持續解釋
1) What is mimicry? Basically, it’s when an organism, an animal,has evolved over time, resemble some other organism. It might look or smell or act like a different organism.
在解釋mimicry的定義的時候，動詞resemble如果不知道，可以繼續看後面的解釋：look or smell or act like, 可以推出來resemble有與..相似的意思。
2)In groups of meerkats, an individual acts as a sentinel,standing guard and looking out for predators while the others hunt for food or eat food they have obtained.
sentinel可能不知道意思，但後面是sentinel在做的事情，standing guard and looking our for predators站哨，而且可以用acts as a … 知道sentinel是名詞，會作站哨的事情的名詞可以推出來是衛兵、哨兵。
3) Over the course of geological history, there would be a continual interchange of land and sea, a periodic rearrangement of the landmasses.
a periodic rearrangement of the landmasses 同位語補充解釋前面的interchange, 所以如果不太確定interchange的意思，可以搭配後面的rearrangement, 有互換，重些排列的意思。
2. 利用前後類似詞
1) It was widely believed that Earth had formed as a hot,incandescent body and had been steadily cooling since the beginning of geological time.
hot, incandescent 類似的意思重複來強調地球一開始溫度非常高，可以得知incandescent跟hot有類似的意思，是白熾的, 白熱的意思
2) These were ceremonial statues probably representing deities linked with each of the clans, tribes who lived on the island.
clans, tribes 兩個字放一起，可能有類似的意思，可藉由比較熟的字tribe來推測應該跟部落相關，clan是大家族或宗親的意思。
3) When water from the surface seeps into cracks and fissures of the crust, it gets heated.
同樣, cracks and fissures放在一起，意思應該差不多，cracks這個字應該比較多人知道，是裂縫的意思，可推測fissures應該也有差不多意思(窄的裂縫。)
4) However, until the twentieth century and the development of the theory of plate tectonics, most earth scientists resisted or discounted the idea of continental drift.
resisted or discounted放一起，resist這個字應該比較熟悉，反抗、抵抗的意思，可以推測discounted也應該是類似負面的字，後面又接the idea，可以猜出是不接受、不理會的意思。
當然如果在準備過程中，碰到這些單字，最好還是都記下來。以上舉的例子都算托福常見單字，能多記考試碰到生字的機會就越少，當然能大大的增加閱讀、聽力理解程度。但考試時如果碰到不會的單字，可以用以上兩個方法推敲看看，幫助自己理解！
Cheers,
J2
