Grow Your Vocabulary by Learning Root Words
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English has been called one the most difficult languages for non-native speakers to learn. One reason is that English has so many rules – and almost as many exceptions of those rules!
英语被称为非母语人士最难学习的语言之一。 原因之一是英语有如此多的规则 - 以及这些规则的几乎同样多的例外！
Sometimes, this leaves learners confused. For example, the order of words in a sentence can be tricky.
有时，这会让学习者感到困惑。 例如，句子中单词的顺序可能很棘手。
Another reason English is hard to learn is that the pronunciation of its words cannot always be predicted by their spelling. For example, there are at least six ways to pronounce the group of letters spelled o-u-g-h. And, maybe the worst thing of all is that there are many idioms, or expressions, in English. You could say we use idioms like they're going out of style.
英语难学的另一个原因是单词的发音不能总是通过拼写来预测。 例如，至少有六种方式来发音拼写为 o-u-g-h 的字母组。 而且，也许最糟糕的是英语中有很多习语或表达方式。 你可以说我们使用习语就好像它们已经过时了一样。
So, it is comforting to know that learning root words can help a non-native speaker use English. A root word is the most basic form of a word.
因此，令人欣慰的是，学习词根可以帮助非母语人士使用英语。 词根是词的最基本形式。
Root words can help you to break down large, new words into smaller units to discover their meanings.
词根可以帮助您将大的新单词分解成更小的单元以发现它们的含义。
Learning just one root word can help you understand several words in English. So, by learning just 20 or 30 root words, you can expand your English vocabulary to include hundreds of new words.
仅学习一个词根就可以帮助您理解英语中的多个单词。 因此，只需学习 20 或 30 个词根，您就可以扩展您的英语词汇量，包括数百个新单词。
A root can be any part of a word that carries meaning: the beginning, middle or end. Prefixes, bases, and suffixes are types of roots. The prefix appears at the beginning of a word, the base in the middle and the suffix at the end.
词根可以是单词中具有意义的任何部分：开头、中间或结尾。 前缀、词根和后缀是词根的类型。 前缀出现在单词的开头，词根出现在中间，后缀出现在单词的末尾。
Most English root words came from the Greek and Latin languages.
大多数英语词根来自希腊语和拉丁语。
Building vocabulary through root words One useful method for building vocabulary through root words is to first look at a base word and then look for familiar prefixes and suffixes that go with that base.
通过词根建立词汇 通过词根构建词汇的一种有用方法是首先查看基本词，然后查找与该基本词相关的熟悉的前缀和后缀。
Let's try an example: the base word “struct-.” It comes from the Latin word meaning “build.” Any English word you hear containing “struct-”* will relate to building, developing or creating something.
让我们尝试一个例子：基本词“struct-”。它来自拉丁语，意思是“建造”。您听到的任何包含“struct-”* 的英语单词都与构建、开发或创造某些东西有关。
By itself, “struct” is not a word, but it is the basis for more than 30 words in English. For example, the word “construct” is a verb that means “to build.” The prefix “con” means “together” or “with.” So, "construct" means to put things together to build or create something.
“struct”本身并不是一个单词，但它是 30 多个英语单词的基础。 例如，“construct”这个词是一个动词，意思是“建造”。前缀“con”的意思是“一起”或“与”。因此，“构建”意味着将事物组合在一起以构建或创造某些东西。
Adding suffixes to “struct-” creates additional words.
向“struct-”添加后缀会创建额外的单词。
For example, adding “-ion” in English makes verbs into nouns.
例如，在英语中添加“-ion”使动词变成名词。
When we add "-ion" to “construct," we get "construction," which means the process, or act, of building something. Adding the suffix “-ing” to “construct” makes “constructing.” That is the gerund form and has a similar meaning as the noun "construction."
当我们将“-ion”添加到“construct”时，我们得到“construction”，这意味着构建某物的过程或行为。 在“construct”后面加上后缀“-ing”就变成了“constructing”。这是动名词形式，与名词“construction”具有相似的含义。
Adding the suffix “-ive” to make “constructive” gives us the adjective form, and means helpful in developing or improving something.
添加后缀“-ive”使“constructive”成为形容词形式，意味着有助于开发或改进某事物。
Now, let's build onto “constructive."
现在，让我们以“建设性”为基础。
Adding the suffix “ly” to "constructive" gives us the word “constructively” and produces an adverb. It means doing something in a way that is helpful. There are many other words that the base word “struct” produces.
在“constructive”后面加上后缀“ly”就得到了“constructively”这个词，并产生了一个副词。 这意味着以有帮助的方式做某事。 基本词“struct”还产生许多其他词。
For instance, “destruction” is the opposite of “construction.” "Destruction" is the act of taking apart or damaging something that was built. "Instruction" means the act of building knowledge and has a similar meaning to the gerund "teaching."
例如，“破坏”与“建设”相反。 “破坏”是拆解或损坏已建造的东西的行为。 “指导”是指构建知识的行为，与动名词“教学”具有相似的含义。
And, just like with "construct," you can add many suffixes to "destruct" or "instruct" to get several more words. The suffixes may include -ion, -ing, -ive, ing+ly or -ive+ly.
而且，就像“construct”一样，您可以为“destruct”或“instruct”添加许多后缀以获得更多单词。 后缀可包括 -ion、-ing、-ive、ing+ly 或 -ive+ly。
So, you see, by knowing just one root word – “struct-” – you can get a better idea of the meaning of at least 15 words in English. A few other common root words include “bio" meaning life, “auto” meaning self, “pro” meaning before or in favor of, and “tele” meaning distance.
所以，你看，只要知道一个词根——“struct-”——你就可以更好地了解至少 15 个英语单词的含义。 其他一些常见的词根包括“bio”，意思是“生命”，“auto”，意思是“自我”，“pro”，意思是“之前”或“支持”，“tele”，意思是距离。
Surely, you recognize some of these roots.
当然，您认识其中一些根源。
So, choose one or two and write in the comments section all of the words you can think of that come from them.
因此，选择一两个并在评论部分写下您能想到的所有来自其中的单词。
Join us again soon when we will discuss suffixes and prefixes. Learning common roots, prefixes and suffixes will help you become an expert in deconstructing the meanings of English words and constructing a strong vocabulary.*** And I’m Alice Bryant.
稍后再次加入我们，我们将讨论后缀和前缀。 学习常见的词根、前缀和后缀将帮助您成为解构英语单词含义和构建强大词汇量的专家。*** 我是爱丽丝·布莱恩特。
Alice Bryant wrote this story for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. ***See the Ed Tips on suffixes and prefixes in the related links on this page. ________________________________________________________ confuse – v. to make someone uncertain or unable to understand something spell – v. to say, write or print the letters of a word or name idiom – n. an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words but that has a meaning of its own like it's going out of style – idiom. done in a way that is much more than people normally do comforting – adj. a state or situation in which you are relaxed and do not have any physically unpleasant feelings unit – n. a single thing, person, or group that is a part of something larger vocabulary – n. the words that make up a language *The root words "struct-" and "stru-" mean "build."
艾丽丝·布莱恩特为学习英语写了这个故事。 凯蒂·韦弗是编辑。 ***请参阅本页相关链接中有关后缀和前缀的 Ed 提示。 _______________________________________________________ 混淆 – v. 使某人不确定或无法理解某事 拼写 – v. 说、写或打印单词或名字的字母 习语 – n.无法从其单独单词的含义来理解的表达方式，但有其自身的含义 好像它已经过时了——习语。以比人们通常做的更多的方式完成 安慰 – adj.您感到放松并且没有任何身体上不愉快感觉的状态或情况 单位 – n.属于更大事物一部分的单个事物、人或群体 词汇 – n.构成语言的单词 *词根“struct-”和“stru-”的意思是“构建”。