词句推断题是高考阅读理解试题中的一种常见题型，旨在考查考生在不使用词典的情况根据材料背景和上下文等线索推测词、句的确切含义的能力。这类试题包括对生词生义的推测、熟词生义的推测、以及对it/they/them等代词的确指对象的判断等。这类试题的设问方式主要有：
(1)What does the underlined word “them/it” refer to?
(2)In the... paragraph, the word... means (refers to).
(3)according to the passage,... probably means
(4)The author uses the word... to mean.
(5)The underlined phrase “punch line”most probably means______.
(6)The underlined word “one” could best be replaced by ______.
(7)What does “garden” in the last two paragraphs stand for?
(8)“But we stuck it”(in paragraph 3) means ______.
(9) “Professional work” as used in the text means ______.
(10)What does the author mean when he says, “we can’t turn the clock back”?
(11)Which of the following best explains the meaning of the word “baffle” as it is used in the text?
(12)Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the word？
下面再结合全国高考阅读试题中的实例来说明做推测词义题的几种基本的技巧。
1. 据词或词组的指代对象确定其词义。如：
Shu Pulong has helped at least 1000 people bitten by snakes. “It was seeing people with snake bites that led me to this career,” he said…
Which of the following words can take the place of the word “career” in the first paragraph?
A. conclusionB. story C. incidentD. job
这道题实际上要读者推测“career”的词义。根据“this”的基本用法(this可以指代前文提到过的事情)，我们知道“this career”指的是“Shu Pulong has helped at least 1000 people bitten by snakes”这句话所表示的意思。显然，“help people bitten by snake”是“Shu Pulong”作为一名蛇医的工作职责。四个选项中只有“job”符合这句话的意思，因此D选项是可以考虑的选项。
又如：Some stage schools give their children too much professional work at such a young age…
“Professional work” as used in the text means______.
A. ordinary school workB. moneymaking performances
C. stage training at schoolD. acting, singing or dancing after class
“professional work”指的是与一个人所从事的专业或职业相关的工作，在不同的行业，“专业工作”或“职业工作”(professional work)有不同的含义。对一个戏剧学校来说，它的“专业工作”或“职业工作”自然是戏剧理论方面的学习或舞台训练，因此，C选项符合文意，是正确答案。
