阅读理解中常有带词缀的词，只要找准词根，利用构词法，理解就不成问题。例如With their shining brown eyes, wagging tails, and unconditional love, dogs can provide the nonjudgemental listeners needed for a beginning reader to gain confidence.乍看起来，unconditional和nonjudgemental 都是生词，其实词根condition和judge都学过，意思分别是“条件”和“判断”，而un-和non-均为否定前缀，由此可以判断出unconditional和nonjudgemental的意思是“无条件的”和“没有判断力的”。
（2）根据同义词或近义词推测词义
学生有时可以根据上下文出现的同义词或近义词来推测词义。如The old women has a strange habit to keep over 100 cats in her house．Her neighbors all called her an eccentric lady.学生很容易判断出strange和eccentric为近义词，所以eccentric的意思应为“奇怪的”。
（3）利用反义词或转折推测词义
以Although they were trapped in the lift, they were not panic.为例句，这句话大意是说“尽管人们被困在电梯中，但他们并没有怎么样”。一般来讲，人们被困、面临生命危险，应该害怕、恐惧，由此可以推出panic一词应为“恐慌的”之意。
（4）根据文中定义推测词义
如They are vertebrates，that is, animals that have back bones.根据句中所下的定义可判断出vertebrate是“脊椎动物”的意思。
2.分析句子结构
近年来，高考阅读理解的句子趋于复杂化，一个句子当中往往夹有插入语、状语从句、省略句和倒装句等。然而，无论句子有多长，结构有多复杂，它只由两部分组成：主干和修饰成分。对付长句和难句最有效的方法就是分析句子结构，将其分解成一个个短句或短语，先理解句子主干的意思，再分析修饰成分的意思，进而准确地把握整个句子的意思。2000年高考题中有这样一句话：He, although born in Shanghai, has been used to living in Beijing. although born in Shanghai可看作是一个省略句式或插入语，主干部分为He has used to living in Beijing，该句的正常语序为Although born in Shanghai, he has used to living in Beijing.如此一调整，这句话看起来就简单多了。又如：A child (who has once been pleased with a tale) likes,(as a rule),to have it retold in almost the same words, but this should not lead parents to treat printed fairy stories as formal texts.这个句子看起来很长，但可以进行简化：划线部分为主干，括号里边为定语从句，既划线又有括号的为插入语。因此，要想理解到位，就应化长句为短语，难句变简单句。
3. 把握细节
近几年高考中都有细节分析的判断题，学生在阅读中要学会认真分析，把握细节。学生可以一边读，一边用铅笔作标记，把人物、时间、地点、起因和结局等细节标出来。例如2004年高考湖南卷中第一篇文章中有个问题是Which of the following is not mentioned in the text？
A．Cars have encouraged the growth of the cities．
B．Cars can bring families together when they go for picnics．
C．Cars have enabled people to live far from the place of work．
D．Cars help city families to transport their children to faraway schools．
答案是D。大部分同学找的线索都是从第二段For farm families the automobile is very helpful．It has made it possible for them to travel to town very often for business and for pleasure，and also transport their children to distant schools…来判断此题的，殊不知题支已经偷换了概念，用city families换成了farm families，所以同学们在做细节分析题时一定要细心。
4. 揣摩作者意图
学生们在阅读中往往把自己的观点、情感和主观臆想强加在选题上，从而影响了理解。学生们应仔细揣摩作者意图。有篇阅读作者表达的观点是When one is in sadness，let himself alone，而相当一部分学生都没有认识到作者的这个观点，而选了When one is in sadness，try to comfort him这一选项，显然是加进了自己的主观臆想。
5. 抓住文章主旨
学生应学会从整体上理解文章，不能“只见树木，不见森林”。例如在某篇阅读理解中：Most people think online shopping is beneficial．Indeed， it has quite a few advantages．However，on the contrary，it has a lot of disadvantages.很多同学刚读了开头就误以为是介绍网上购物的好处，其实However后才是作者真正想要表达的观点，即主旨大意。
