考点三 形近词辨析
技巧点拨
备选项是形似义异词，其特点是备选的四个单词中全部或部分是前缀、后缀或词根相同但意义却不一样的词。这不仅要求考生准确掌握词汇意义，而且要有一定的构词知识。由于英语中大多数单词都是由词根（或根词）加前、后缀构成，掌握了词根，即掌握了词汇的基本意思，再加上前缀和/或后缀，就可推测出大量生词的含义，所以熟练运用构词法知识是在这部分试题上得分的诀窍。
例1：
Their grown children visit them only occasionally，but more often，they do not have any regular visitors.The truth is that this idea is an unfortunate myth____story.In fact，family members provide over 80 percent of the care that elderly people need.
A.imaginary B.imaginable C.imaginative D.imagery
分析：A。选项中的四个形容词具有相同的前缀，但意义不同。imaginary“不真实的，虚构的”；imaginable“可想象的”；imaginative“富有想象力的”；imagery“肖像”。根据语义和unfortunate判断，imaginary符合上下文语义。
例2：
In the United States，older people rarely live with their adult children.But in many other cultures children are expected to care for their aged parents.In some parts of Italy，the percentage of adult children who____with their parents reaches 65 to 70 percent.In Thailand，too，children are expected to care for their elderly parents；few Thai elderly live alone.
A.reside B.recite C.redeem D.rebel
分析：A。选项中的四个动词具有相同的前缀，但意义不同。reside“住，居住”；recite“背诵，细述，列举”；redeem“赎回，挽回，恢复，补偿，兑换”；rebel“造反，反叛，起义”。根据上下文，能与adult children和their parents搭配的动词只有reside合理。
例3：
The sensors will work through the central home computer and they will do much more than just turn the fires and lights on and off for you.They will detect 42 electrical appliances，plugs or switches.isolate them so that they cannot harm anyone，and then warn you that they need repair.（浙江大学2013年）
42.A.fault B.faultless C.faulty D.faultiness
分析：C。选项中的词为同根词，以fault-开头。fault“故障”，为名词，动词的意思为“挑剔”；faultless“完美的；无缺点的”；faulty“有错误的；有缺点的”；faultiness“不完善，可指责；有过失”，为名词。空格后的electrical appliances（家用电器）应该用形容词修饰，能与之搭配的只有faulty，意为“出故障的家用电器”。故答案为C。
典型真题
例1：
Science is just one of many ways of knowing，they argued，neither more nor less
29 than others，like those of Aborigines，Native Americans or women.Furthermore，they defined science as the way of knowing among Western white men and a tool of cultural oppression.（北京大学2013年）
29.A.variable B.valid C.valuable D.various
【名师点评】B。形近词辨析。variable“可变的，不定的”；valid“正确的，有效的”；valuable“重要的，有价值的”；various“不同的，多方面的”。选项中，valid与science（科学）搭配符合上下文语义，“并不比其他方式更有效”。故答案为B。
例2：
Some have a very specific focus，such as storing Web e-mail messages or digital pictures.Others are 15 to store all forms of digital data.（华中科技大学2012年）
15.A.available B.capable C.applicable D.desirable
【名师点评】A。形近形容词辨析。选项中的形容词均以-able结尾，都可以接to do sth.形式。available“可获取的”；capable“能够的，可以的”，一般用于be capable of结构，谈及某人能够做某事；applicable“适用的”；desirable“需要的，期望的”。根据句意，只有A项符合上下文语义，be available to意为“可被……利用或得到的”。
实战演练
1.What all this means is that people develop“quasi theories”of human behavior，that is，theories that are not developed in a（n）____，scientific manner.When doing so，people believe they know why humans do the things they do.
A.theoretic B.subjective C.conclusive D.objective
2.For other couples，pregnancy was an accident that both husband and wife have accepted willingly or unwillingly.Whatever the____to the birth of a child，it is obvious the shift from the role of husband to that of a father is a difficult task.
A.reply B.reaction C.readiness D.reality(https://www.daowen.com)
3.Unfashionable goods are made to be discarded.Cars get tinnier and tinnier.You no sooner acquire this year’s model than you are thinking hard about its____.This materialistic outlook has seriously influenced education.
A.replacement B.supplement C.requirement D.substance
4.Thus，people who need to exert much energy in their work will find relaxation most____in leisure.Those with a better education and in professional occupations may tend more to seek recreation and personal development（e.g.cultivation of skills and hobbies）in leisure.
A.preferable B.desirable C.obtainable D.perfect
5.Removing this source of uncertainty allows investors to locate according to economies of scale and may lead to more plants of____size，a reduction in unit cost of production，and increase in efficiency.
A.largest B.maximum C.medium D.optimum
6.The explanation for insensitivity to smell seems to be that the brain finds it____to keep all smell receptors working all the time but can create new receptors if necessary.This may also explain why we are not usually sensitive to our own smells—we simply do not need to be.
A.ineffective B.incompetent C.inefficient D.insufficient
7.If leadership，at its most basic meaning，consists of getting things done through others，then persuasion is one of the leader’s____tools，many executives have assumed that this tool is beyond their grasp，available only to the charismatic and the eloquent.
A.fundamental B.rudimentary C.elementary D.essential
8.These ideas are not very controversial，but some other aspects of Emotional Intelligence are.For example，some scholars are offended at the idea that such a and abstract idea would be reduced to a simple numerical measure in the form of an“EQ”.
A.complex B.complete C.complaint D.controlled
9.A volcano can be very dangerous because when it is active it sometimes explodes and causes great damage.Diamonds were____towards the surface of the earth—millions of years ago by a number of great volcanic explosions.
A.pulled B.pumped C.pursed D.pushed
10.“First，I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal，before this decade is out，of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the earth.No single space project in this period will be more____to mankind，or more important in the long-range exploration of space；and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish...”said President Kennedy.
A.expensive B.impressive C.expressive D.explosive
答案解析
1.D。形近形容词辨析。选项中的词均以-ive或-ic结尾，但词义不同。theoretic“理论上的”；subjective“主观的，个人的”，用在否定的句子里正好与文章意思相反；conclusive“结论性的，决定性的”，放在句中意思不通。只有objective“客观的，有依据的，无个人偏见的”，放在句子中合乎文意。根据句子意思，作者将这种理论解释为“不以客观、科学的方法得出的理论”。
2.B。形近名词辨析。选项中的词均以re-开头，但词义不同。reaction“反应”；reply“答复”；readiness“准备就绪”；reality“现实”。前文讲的是父母对孩子出生的不同反应，后面讲的是父母角色的转变。本句起到承上启下的作用。因此，本题应选能与to搭配的reaction。
3.A。形近名词辨析。三个选项中的词以-ment结尾，但词义不同。replacement“替代品”，本句是解释前文的“Unfashionable goods are made to be discarded.”，根据上下文，此处表示产品的更新速度之快，replacement符合句意。故答案为A。supplement“补充”；requirement“要求，必要条件”；substance“物质”，这三项都不能表达此处的意思。
4.B。形近形容词辨析。选项中的前三个词以-able结尾，但词义不同。所填词由most修饰，同时又修饰relaxation，desirable（值得要的，合意的）符合消耗精力过多的人对relaxation的需求。故答案为B。
5.D。形近形容词辨析。选项中的后三个词以-um结尾，但词义不同。本句主要是讲消除了汇率变动所带来的积极影响。投资者可以根据economies of scale来选择投资地，而不同的投资地适合多大的工厂肯定也是不同的，也就是说工厂的大小要因地制宜，选项中的词只有optimum（最适宜的）符合句意。largest，maximum，medium用在句中都表明不同的投资地，工厂的大小都是一定的，不符合原文。
6.C。形近形容词辨析。本题所填的形容词用于修饰空格后的to keep all smell receptors working all the time，从选项看，只有inefficient最符合题意，说明让所有感受器一直工作“效率太低”。ineffective“无效的，不起作用的”；incompetent“不能胜任的”；insufficient“不充足的”。
7.D。形近形容词辨析。fundamental“基本的，基础的”；rudimentary“初步的，基本的，未充分发育的”；elementary“入门阶段的，初步的，基础的”；essential除了指“本质的，基本的”外，还指“必要的，不可缺少的，最重要的”，强调一事物与另一事物的不可分割性。故答案为D。
8.A。形近形容词辨析。选项中的词均以com-或con-开头，但词义不同。complex“复杂的，难懂的”，与后面的abstract（抽象的）相呼应；complete“完整的，完全的”；complaint名词，意为“抱怨，投诉”；controlled“控制的”。故答案为A。
9.D。形近动词辨析。选项中的词均以pu-开头，但词义不同。push“推”；pull“拉”；pump“用泵等抽出”；purse“撅起（嘴唇）”。根据上下文，只有push符合上下文意思。故答案为D。
10.B。形近形容词辨析。选项中的词均以-sive结尾，但词义不同。impressive“难忘的”；expensive“昂贵的”；expressive“具有表现力的；意味深长的”；explosive“爆炸性的，激烈的”。根据句意，应选B。