在词汇层面，考生应力求避开上下文片面地理解试题中的词汇，因为试题中的词汇一词多义现象比较普遍，这就要求考生根据上下文内容确定词义或对词义进行引申。

例如：（1999年试题）

While there are almost as many definitions of history as there are historians, modern practice most closely conforms to one that sees history as the attempt to recreate and explain the significant events of the past.

分析：

此句中使用的practice本身具有多个词义，有“练习、熟练、实践、通常做法、业务”等。在此句中根据上下文应译成“现代习惯的做法（方法）”。整句的翻译是：尽管有多少个历史学家就几乎有多少个对历史的定义，现代史学家的实践与将历史看作是试图再现过去的重大史实并对其做出解释这一定义最一致。

再如：

He chooses, when he can, the method of the “controlled experiment”. If he wants to find out the effect of light on growing plants, he takes many plants, as alike as possible. Some he stands in the sun, some in the shade, some in the dark, all the time keeping all other conditions (temperature, moisture, nourishment) the same. In this way, by keeping other considerations constant, and by varying the light only the effect of light on the plants can be clearly seen. This method of using “controls” can be applied to a variety of situations, and can be used to find the answers to questions as widely different as “Must moisture be present if iron is to rust?” and “Which variety of beans gives the greatest yield in one season?”

分析：

划线部分中的controls看似熟词，实际理解起来很困难，如理解为“控制”，显然与句子上下文不相吻合。这时考生只有参照上下文才能得知controls在此表示“参照物”或“对照物”。全句可译为：这种使用“参照物”的方法可用于多种情况，也可以用来寻找“潮湿肯定能使铁生锈吗？”和“哪种豆类作物一季产量最高？”等这类完全不同的问题的答案。

在接下来的复习过程中，同学们应当按照考查要点进行有针对性的复习，一步一个脚印，英译汉部分取得高分亦不是难事。