Ⅰ. Reading Stra tegy: Guessing the Meaning of Unknown Words and
Phr ases
When reading an article，it is very natural that you come across some unknown words and phrases，since the article may involve various fields and be of different styles. In general，new words can be divided into two types. The first type，such as the terms for devices，does not disturb your understanding of the sentence and the paragraph; consequently you may just ignore and skip them. On the contrary，the second type is vital to your understanding of the sentence or the paragraph，so you must know their meaning. In such cases，however，you do not have to pause and look for their meaning in a dictionary every time because it will cost you much time and decrease your reading speed. What??s more，it is impossible for you to consult a dictionary under particular circumstances，for example，during a test. Therefore，in order to guess the meaning of unknown words and phrases，you should develop some skills as follows:
1. Guessing the meaning of unknown words by means of definition or restate- ment For some difficult words or terms，the author often explains their meaning through definition or restatement. Therefore，you should pay particular attention to some words and phrases which introduce definitions or restatements : is / are，is /a re called，mea n，refer to，known a s，namely，in other words，tha t is，to be moreexa ct，etc.
2. Guessing the meaning of unknown words by means of synonym Synonyms are words whose meanings are the same or similar. Sometimes，the author，in order to explain or emphasize his / her ideas，uses two synonyms together ，which is also a convenient way for the reader to guess the meaning of one word with the help of the other. Between these two words，there are words or phrases like or and tha t is，or symbols like“-”and“ ( ) ”.
3. Guessing the meaning of unknown words by means of antonym Antonyms are words that are opposite or contrary to each other in meaning. In the sentences，the author uses some words or phrases to denote the words opposite to the unknown words such as although，but，however ，never theless，on the contrary，on the other hand，in contrast，and ra ther than. Accordingly，the reader may guess the meaning of unknown words by locating the antonyms.
4. Guessing the meaning of unknown words by means of examples When talking about specific terms or abstract theories，the author sometimes gives some examples for illustration. Therefore，by summarizing the common features of the examples，readers can come to a conclusion about what this term or theory is. Words and phrases which introduce examples are: like，including,
especially，particularly，such as，for example，for instance，etc.
5. Guessing the meaning of unknown words by means of word formation In English，the word is not the smallest unit of meaning because it can be further divided into morphemes. There are three types of morphemes: root，prefix and suffix. Root denotes the original meaning，and prefix usually changes the meaning while suffix usually changes the part of speech. By adding different prefixes and suffixes，we can derive several more new words from one root word.
The meaning and function of the affixes are usually fixed，so we can infer the meaning of an unfamiliar word from the affix and the root. For example，as to the word“ impassible”，the root is“ pass”which is familiar to us，while the prefix “ im-” denotes the negative sense，and the suffix“ -able ”means“ that can be done ”. Consequently，we can get the meaning of“ impassible”as“ that can not be passed”. Certainly，besides affixation，there are other ways of word formation.
The more you know about it，the more new words you will understand.
6. Guessing the meaning of unknown words by means of common sense Common sense is very important to a person??s life，including his / her work,his / her communication with others，and so on，and even his reading is no exception. Therefore，if you come across a new word in an article，sometimes you can guess the meaning with your common sense. Common sense builds on a person??s experiences and knowledge，so in daily life，you should experience more and read more to promote your common sense.
Ⅱ. Applying the Read ing Str ategy
In this part，you are required to use the reading strategy you have just learned.
What is the proper meaning of the underlined words in the following sentences?
1. Many cold-blooded animals are dormant during the winter .
A. dead B. asleep C. active D. energetic
2. Mark Twain was not the author??s real name; it was a pseudonym.
A. given name B. nickname C. last name D. pen name
3. Much to my surprise，I found a semiconscious man on my doorstep.
A. mentally undeveloped B. almost passed out
C. drunken D. wounded
4. The police questioned him about his whereabouts and activities during those two days.
A. the place a person often goes B. the place a person or thing is in
C. at whatever place D. no matter where
5. Burning the village to ground，shooting all the villagers and plundering the area for valuables，the rebels committed one of the most heinous acts of the war.
A. wicked B. brave C. moral D. bloody
Ⅲ. Reading Task
A. Pr e-r eading act ivity
Western pop music has been swarming into China in the last decade，with which are the important stars. Can you name some of them and tell us something about them? What about Stevie Wonder?
B. Reading
An Anatomy of Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder is a living legend who is considered a musical genius the world over，and is respected by musicians of every type. For over four decades，this“ Soul Sorcerer”has been mixing music and rhythms of all sorts - from gospel to reggae - and brewing his own particular blend of sound that many would agree is magical.
By the age of 7，it was pretty clear that young Stevie showed talent in music,singing，and playing the harmonica，drums and piano. Barely into his teens，Wonder was signed to Motown Records. At the age of 21，Wonder showed some business savvy by recording and financing two albums himself，( Where I??m Coming F rom and Music Of My Mind) ，which he used as leverage for renegotiating his contract in order to gain artistic control over all his future productions.
