TIP Sheet
CHOOSING AND USING A DICTIONARY

一本好的、大学水平的词典可以帮助任何一个英语已经很流利的大学生. It will define 140,000 - 200,000 words, provide a pronunciation guide, and offer other useful sections, such as a biography or geography. 许多更小的平装字典，定义了大约75,000字的便携式字典是很好的携带到课堂上，但有短, 大学生可能会遇到许多不完整的单词定义. Another type of dictionary, called an ESL dictionary, 是专门为英语为第二语言的学生设计的吗. Its definitions are easy to understand, and it is a good choice for learners of English, 但大多数ESL词典既不定义很多单词，也不给出冗长的定义.

另外三种类型的字典是拼写字典, electronic dictionaries, and unabridged dictionaries. Spelling dictionaries are very small and only show the correct spelling and hyphenation of words; electronic dictionaries vary widely. 阅读有关任何特定电子词典的信息，以便对其进行分类. 尽管如此，到目前为止，电子词典还没有广泛的定义. 未删节的词典几乎囊括了550种词典中的每一种,000 words in the English language, giving detailed definitions, examples of how words are used, homonyms and antonyms, pictures, and other sections besides definitions. Most libraries have an unabridged dictionary.

Finally, there are special dictionaries, 哪些单词只与特定主题相关, such as math, music, or street language; there is even a Scrabble-players' dictionary!

Dictionary terms and explanations
Definition is the meaning of a word; pronunciation is its sound when spoken. Words defined in the dictionary are called entry words. Entry words are listed alphabetically from a to z. Two guide words 都印在每页的顶部，以帮助你找到你想要的单词. 第一个引导词是该页上的第一个词，第二个是该页上的最后一个词. Root words are the basic forms of words with no endings added. Most dictionaries list only the root words. For example, play is a root word, but playing and played are not. Play should be listed in the dictionary, but playing and played probably won't be.

每本好词典的前部分都有解释信息，说明该词典是如何组织的. For example, it tells what abbreviations the book uses, what symbols are used, and how variant forms, such as irregular plurals or past tenses, of words are listed. Read the explanatory information of your dictionary.

Definitions
Dictionaries are mainly used to find definitions. Many words have more than one definition. 你必须选择对这个词的用法有意义的定义. For instance, in the sentence below, mill is a verb.

The people mill around the fountain.

Your dictionary will probably give two definitions for mill 作为动词，即“磨碎或压碎”和“以搅动、混乱或漫无目的的方式移动”." In the example sentence, mill is used to mean "to move in an aimless manner." Furthermore, mill can also be a noun (with two meanings), 所以你必须跳过上述句子的名词定义. Some dictionaries list nouns, verbs, 并且所有词类都在一个条目词下，而其他词类则有单独的条目.

However, not all words can be found in a dictionary. As mentioned above in the section on dictionary terms, 词根词的变体形式通常不列在字典中, or, if they are, they are not defined. For example, became is the past tense of become; because it is an irregular form, it will be listed under become. But became might not be listed as a separate entry. If it is, it will probably be listed like this:

became (bē cam) v. p.t. of become

使用字典的缩写部分，你可以找到v. stands for verb and p.t. stands for past tense. 动词的不规则过去式将列在不定式或词根形式下. Regular past tenses will not be listed in a dictionary.

形容词和副词没有过去时，但它们有比较级和最高级形式. 如果这些形式是规则的，它们就不会被列在字典里. (关于这两种词性的更多信息，请参见提示手册“形容词”和“副词”.)有些形容词，如bad，有不规则的比较级和最高级形式(worse, worst). Most dictionaries will list bad, with worse and worst listed under bad. Worse and worst may or may not have their own entries.

副词通常由形容词后加-ly构成:

(adjective) fortunate + ly = fortunately (adverb)

Other adverbs have a regularized spelling change:

pretty + ly = prettily

Note the y changes to i. 有时会列出副词的不规则比较级和最高级形式(如 badly, worse, worst)，但它们通常有形容词的某些形式(bad, worse, worst) and are therefore only listed once, under adjectives. (查阅语法书或提示页“副词”来了解更多.)

Pronunciation
字典提供的另一项重要服务与发音有关. Immediately after the entry word is information, usually in parenthesis, sometimes between slashes (/). For mill, it looks like this

(mĭl)

每个符号都可以通过使用字典中的发音键来解码. 每个符号的旁边都有一个单词，用来举例说明该符号的发音. 当你破译一个单词的发音时，你可能不得不回头参考这个图表. 有些字典在每页的底部都有发音键.

Many words have more than one acceptable pronunciation. Solstice is such a word. The first syllable has three accepted pronunciations, but the second syllable has only one; therefore, the first syllable is repeated, but the second is not:

(´sŏl-stĭs, ´sōl-, ´sôl-)

First, the entire word is phonetically spelled; then the two accepted variations for the first syllable are shown. 注意，连字符(-)用于分隔音节. 有些字典使用标点符号，即凸起的句号. 还要注意，重音符号(´)在第一个音节之前. 这是因为第一个音节应该比单词的其他音节更大声. 有些单词有主重音和次重音，因为其中两个音节比其他音节重音更重. 主重音标记的颜色比次重音标记深.

此外，有时一个单词的发音在一个条目下给出，而不在另一个条目下给出: Circassian (sər-kăsh-ən), with no pronunciation under Circassian walnut. Other times, 当你要找的单词没有被列出时，你必须从这个单词的一种形式中推断出它的发音. For instance, the pronunciation for consolidate is listed thus:

(kən-sŏl´-ĭ-dāt´)

but consolidation does not have a pronunciation listed. However, the -tion ending is a regular ending, 在以-ate结尾的单词后面加上它是有规则的, 所以很多字典都要求学生知道如何发音 consolidation since the dictionary lists how to pronounce consolidate.

Other Useful Information in a Dictionary
字典还会告诉输入词的历史(词源). 通常信息在方括号[]内，包括在字典前面定义的缩写.

Some dictionaries contain historical documents, lists of geographical locations, lists of colleges and universities, definitions of foreign words and phrases, short biographies, special tables of weights and measures, and rules of punctuation. 有些字典对某些信息有单独的部分.

字典的前面部分也可能有关于英语的文章和一些英语语法规则.

字典里充满了定义、发音和其他有用的信息. 你使用的次数越多，你就会使用得越好、越快. 有一天，你会发现自己翻阅字典只是为了好玩!