How to use an English dictionary 如何使用英语词典

    各位饺子们，先带给你们一个消息，继出版47本新“书虫”后，外语教学与研究出版社又联合培生教育出版亚洲有限公司于今年5月出版了《朗文当代高级英语辞典》的第5版。但是，你们知道怎样用好这部词典呢？那就让下面的这篇文章告诉你答案吧！这篇文章选自《高级中学英语阅读训练·第一册（上）》，人民教育出版社1997年版。

    A dictionary can be most useful, if you know how to use it correctly.

    The first thing to know is that the words in the dictionary are arranged in alphabetical order. This means that all the words beginning with "a" come first, then those beginning with "b", then those beginning with "c", and so on. But this is not all. Take two words beginning with "a", "after" and "ago"... Which comes first? "After" comes first, because the second letter in "after", "f", comes before the second letter of "ago", which is "g". The same rule is followed all the way through the word. So "about" comes before "above", and "fifth" before "fifty". If you remember this rule it will save you a lot of time in looking up words.

    Open your dictionary at any page. At the top of the page you will see two words printed in heavy type. These are known as guide words. The one on the left-hand side of the page tells you what the first word on that page is. The one on the right-hand side tells you what the last word on that page is. So if you are looking for a word in the dictionary, you first look at the guide words at the head of the pages. Then you will be able to tell whether or not the word you want is on the page you are looking at.

    You will notice that a dictionary very often gives several meanings for one word. How would you decide which of these meanings is one you need? First, you must know what part of speech the word is in the sentence. Is it a noun or a verb? Is it an adjective or an adverb? A word can be used in a different way in a sentence, and so many have a different sense. Next, you must see which of the meanings will fit into the sentence. It is important to study the rest of the sentence carefully in order to find out the meaning of the word.

    You will find that the more you use the dictionary, the better you'll be able to use it and the more useful it will be to you.

参考译文：   

    如果你知道如何正确使用字典，它可以成为最有用的东西。

    首先要知道的是，词典中的词是按字母顺序排列的。这意味着“a”开头的所有单词是第一位的，然后那些从“b”开始,然后从“c”开始，等等。但这不是全部。找出从“a”开始的两个词，“after”和“ago”……哪个第一?“after”是第一位的，因为在“after”的第二个字母是“f”，在ago的第二个字母“g”之前。整个单词通用上面的规则。所以“about”在"above"之前，“fifth”在“fifty”前。如果你还记得这条规则将节省你很多的时间查找单词。

    打开你的字典翻到任何页面。在页面的顶部，你会看到两个字粗体印制。这些被称为引导词。页面的左边一个告诉你，页面上的第一个词是什么。右边的页面告诉你，页面上的最后一句话是什么。所以如果你正在在字典里寻找一个单词，你第一次看的是引导词的页面。那么你能告诉这个词是否你想要的是在页面上查看。

    你经常会发现一本字典给几个一个词的含义。你会如何决定哪些你需要这些含义?首先，你必须知道句子中的词是哪个词性。这是一个名词或动词吗?它是一个形容词或副词?一个词可以用在不同的方式在一个句子，很多词汇有不同的意义。接下来，你必须看到它的意义将符合这个句子。重要的是要仔细研究句子的其余部分是为了找出这个词的含义。

    你会发现你越多次使用字典，你就更可以使用它，这将是对你更有用。