下面我们以五个单词来讲述SAT考试对单词的要求。
　　
　　一、PRAGMATIC
　　
　　第一类：正确选项类
　　
        (1) 2008.01-S2-5: Because all members of this organization are idealists, they___ any assertion that political enterprises should be purely_____.
　　
　　A. ignore, universal
　　
　　B. criticize, visionary
　　
　　C. condemn, benevolent
　　
　　D. denounce, pragmatic
　　
　　E. condone, indulgent
　　
        (2) 2008.01-S5-15:（原文太长，略摘抄）Q：The friend’s attitude toward the acquisition of knowledge as described in lines 16-37 is best characterized as
　　
　　A. open-minded
　　
　　B. pragmatic
　　
　　C. delighted
　　
　　D. disillusioned
　　
　　E. apathetic
　　
        (3) OG-P729-S5-10: （原文太长，略摘抄）Q：Which of the following best characterizes Alice Barber Stephens?
　　
　　A. materialist and aesthete
　　
　　B. perfectionist and egotist
　　
　　C. pragmatist and activist
　　
　　D. dreamer and revolutionary
　　
　　E. celebrity and philanthropist
　　
        (4) OG-P404-S5-14: （原文太长，略摘抄）Q: “It was a terrible mistake” (line 36) because the narrator:
　　
　　A. had no other souvenirs of Cumberland
　　
　　B. allowed pragmatic concerns to override her fondness for the painting
　　
　　C. did not realize how valuable the painting would become to collectors
　　
　　D. felt that she had betrayed Sheila Fell’s trust
　　
　　E. was unable to appreciate the smaller Sheila Fell painting
　　
        (5) OG-P668-S5-21: I require my writing students to turn in taped readings of their

work.
　　
　　Q: In Passage 2, the author’s reasons for setting the requirement described in lines 60-61 are best characterized as both
　　
　　A. rigorous and presumptuous
　　
　　B. pragmatic and pedagogical
　　
　　C. capricious and creative
　　
　　D. provocative and unprecedented
　　
　　E. arbitrary and idiosyncratic
　　
　　(6)OG-P810-S9-11: But how free can artists be to do what we love if we must spend most of our days doing something else to make a living?
　　
　　Q: The author of passage 1 presents an argument in lines 24-26 (“But how…living?) that can most accurately be called
　　
　　A. historical
　　
　　B. political
　　
　　C. pragmatic
　　
　　D. idealistic
　　
　　E. facetious
　　
        (7)2006.01-S7-23: And why should they attempt it, when radio communication can supply all the information they might want?
　　
　　Q: “radio communication” is cited as a
　　
　　A. complex interaction
　　
　　B. technological relic
　　
　　C. common occurrence
　　
　　D. practical alternative
　　
　　E. dramatic advance
　　
　　第二类：错误选项类
　　
         (1)OG-P854-24: In this sense, a theoretical world in which there was no medium to get in the way was only a “hairbreadth” away from the real one.
　　
　　Q: The author uses the expression “get in the way” (lines 87-88) to
　　
　　A. emphasize the difficulty created by too much information
　　
　　B. question the value of elaborate experimental procedures
　　
　　C. illustrate a pragmatic approach to a theoretical dilemma
　　
　　D. argue that Galileo was many years ahead of his time
　　
　　E. suggest the limits of Galileo’s physics of motion
　　
        (2)2007.10-S4-9: （文章太长，略摘抄）Q: The author of Passage 2 would most likely regard the view expressed in Passage 1 as
　　
　　A. endearing
　　
　　B. discerning
　　
　　C. insincere
　　
　　D. naive
　　
　　E. pragmatic
　　
　　讲评：不要以为只要出现了pragmatic就是正确选项，所以要正确理解这个单词的意思，pragmatic是表示“从实际出发的，实用主义的”，正好和idealistic（理想主义的，从主观出发的）是反义词，通过这些考题请考生们自己总结哪些情况下才是“pragmatic“？哪些又不是。而且pragmatic和practical意思是一样的，那么这两个单词是什么关系呢？在这里我们引出“ct与g互变”（我的单词体系中“形变体”的一种，其他如t,d,s互变，f,v互变，u,v,w互变等），下面再举一些“ct与g互变”的例子：
　　
　　prac-prag（实践）：practical－pragmatic；
　　
　　fract-frag（折）：fracture、fraction－fragile、fragmentary；
　　
　　fact-fag（做）：faction－fag（吃力工作）；
　　
　　tact-tag（接触）：contact, tactile, intact－contagious；
　　
　　tect-teg（接触）：detect，protect－integrity, integral；
　　
　　tinct-ting（保持）：distinct－distinguish extinct－extinguish；
　　
　　flect-flex（弯曲）：deflect，reflect－flexibility；
　　
　　flick-flig（轻弹）：flick－profligate；
　　
　　tract-trag（拉）：tractable, subtract, detract－trager
　　
　　pict-pig: picture, depict－pigment
　　
　　lect-leg(选择，读)：elect，select，lecture，collect，collective, neglect，dialect，eclectic（－legitimize，legitimate，legible，elegant，allege，privilege, elegant；
　　
　　negligent, negligible（lect-lig音变体+形变体的结果）
　　
　　lict－lig（选择）：elicit，eligible，intelligen
　　
　　nect-nex（捆）：connect，annex
　　
　　lust-lux（光，豪华）：lustrous，lacklustrous－luxurious
　　
　　luct-lug （悲伤），reluctant－lugubrious
　　
　　tact－tag（接触）：tactile，intact－contagious
　　
　　doct-dog（形变体）-dox（音变体）理论：doctor/doctrinaire―dogma, paradox, orthodox, heterodox
　　
　　sanct-sang（神）: sanctity, sanctuary―sanguine
　　
　　point-punct（音变体）－pung（形变体）点，用针尖刺: punctual, punctilious, compunction― expunge, pungent
　　
　　二、CONDESCENDING
　　
　　Condescending是常考单词，像这种单词只背词汇书是不可能准确做题的，所以像这种“很有个性”的单词需要考生或老师在平时学习和教学中多去总结单词应用的情景，通过比较亲切的例句和题目来掌握这种单词，我们先看一下这个考题的考察情况：
　　
　　第一类：正确选项
　　
　　(1) OG-S3-23: Q: The author’s attitude toward the majority of people can best be described as
　　
　　A. genuinely puzzled
　　
　　B. aggressively hostile
　　
　　C. solemnly respectful
　　
　　D. generally indifferent
　　
　　E. condescendingly tolerant
　　
        (2) OG-P677-S8-11: A condolatory smile, capping this enumeration, materialized on his lips; the letter was so inconsonant with the simplest precepts of strategy that it elicited a kind of pity, mingled with contempt and dry amusement.
　　
　　Q: In context, Mulcahy’s “Condolatory smile” (lines 32-33) is most probably an expression of both
　　
　　A. cynical skepticism and comical self-pity
　　
　　B. sincere compassion and whimsical delight
　　
　　C. profound surprise and delighted appreciation
　　
　　D. bitter disappointment and sly criticism
　　
　　E. condescending sympathy and amused scorn
　　
        (3) OG-P873: (Lines12-14) They treat it condescendingly as a harmless but amusing example of American vulgarity―a kind of patriotic Disneyland.
　　
　　他们屈尊的认为W城堡只是一种有害但同时又有娱乐性的美国粗鄙现实的一个例子――一种爱国主义情调的迪斯尼而已。
　　
　　第二类：错误选项
　　
　　（巴郎－T1）The Rosetta Stone! What a providential find that was. And what a remarkable set of circumstances it took for people to be able to read Egyptian hieroglyphics after a hiatus of some 1400 years. It even took a military campaign. In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte’s army attacked British-held Egypt, seeking to cut off England from the riches of the Middle East. Rebuilding a fortress, a French soldier uncovered a block of basalt inscribed with writing in three distinct scripts; Greek, demotic script (an everyday cursive form of Egyptian), and Egyptian hieroglyphs. At that moment, modern Egyptology began.
　　
　　Question: The author’s tone in writing of the discovery of the Rosetta Stone can best be characterized as
　　
　　A. ironic
　　
　　B. enthusiastic
　　
　　C. condescending
　　
　　D. nostalgic
　　
　　E. objective
　　
　　condescending如果只是机械的背单词书，你会发现是“屈尊的”意思，所以像这种单词我们一定要通过一个例子来支撑：比如说世界冠军马琳过来和我打乒乓球，我肯定是不愿意的，但他说他用左手而且不用球拍和我比赛，那么那时候马琳的对我的态度就是condescending，即表面上在帮你，但是其实是在蔑视你。
　　
　　三 、FASTIDIOUS
　　
　　Fastidious也是填空题考试中常考的单词，我们先看一下与它有关的考题：
　　
　　(1)The actor was noted for his___ behavior: he quickly became irritated if his every whim was not immediately satisfied.
　　
        (A) fastidious
　　
        (B) sedulous
　　
        (C) vindictive
　　
        (D) petulant
　　
        (E) mercenary
　　
　　(2)Mac Dougall’s former editors remember him as a__ man whose__ and exhaustive reporting was worth the trouble.
　　
　　A. domineering, wearisome
　　
　　B. congenial, pretentious
　　
　　C. popular, supercilious
　　
　　D. fastidious, garbled
　　
　　E. cantankerous, meticulous
　　
　　从意思上来说，fastidious是意群“仔细”里面的单词之一：careful, painstaking, scrupulous, meticulous, fastidious, punctilious, 其中比较特殊的一个是fastidious：fastidious implies concern, often excessive, for the requirements of taste,表示处于品位要求，通常是过分的关心，而且因为要求高而难以取悦。
　　
　　那么如何记忆这个单词？我们先看一下breakfast（break＋fast，fast表示绝食，打破绝食的状态，吃的第一顿饭所以是早饭），fastidious是fast（绝食）+ous(多…的)，一直绝食，所以单词本义是“挑食的”，而“要求苛刻的；难以取悦的”则都是其比喻义。 　
　　
　　四、SPONTANEOUS
　　
　　接着我们再通过spontaneous来看一下单词的本义，比喻义直接的关系，因为SAT单词侧重于单词的比喻义或者引申义的考察：
　　
　　OG-P525-S3－6：（原文太长，略去摘抄）Q: Based on the information in the passage, Wilson’s letters can best be described as
　　
　　A. cynical
　　
　　B. spontaneous
　　
　　C. critical
　　
　　D. preachy
　　
　　E. witty
　　
　　spontaneous词汇书上给出的释义是“自发的，自动的；自燃的”，在这里用的是其比喻义，这里的意思是“随性的”。
　　
　　五、FLOTSAM
　　
　　当我们考试的时候，肯定会碰到“新”单词来的，除了用上面提到的那个图来猜测单词的意思之外，还可以我我单词体系中的另一个概念来猜测单词意思，即音变体，所谓音变体，非常类似中国的通假字，即古人（欧洲人）因为两个发音差不多，所以会把某些单词（或者单词转化为词根）给拼错，这就是音变体的由来，如下面的考题：
　　
　　2007.01－S7－6：Scientists wonder what to do with the dead satellites, jettisoned rockets, drifting paint flecks, and other___ orbiting Earth.
　　
　　A. flotsam B. reconnaissance C. decimation D. raiment E. sustenance
　　
　　Flotsam是“渣滓”的意思，那么flotsam是什么意思呢？flotsam：flot（float的音变体）＋sam（some的音变体），即漂流的东西，即渣滓的东西。当然这种音变的技巧，需要单词上一定程度才可以，所以建议考生参加专门的词汇课，下面是音变体的一些例子：
　　
　　(1)fact/fect/feit/feat/fig/fic；
　　
　　(2)claim,clam;
　　
　　(3) voice, voc;
　　
　　(4)sit, sid, set, sed, sess(t，d，s互换)
　　
　　(5)flotsam-float+some
　　
　　(6)trick-chicanery, treacherous
　　
　　(7)sacred, sacrifice, consecrated
　　
　　(8)au-eu(好)
　　
　　(9)alt-ult: altitude, exalt―exultant, ulterior
　　
　　(10)ghost-aghast
　　
　　(11)fantastic-phantomlike
　　
　　(12)loc, loq, log 说
　　
　　(13)know的所有音变体：acknowledge, notorious, notable, ignore, ignorant, notice, notify, agnostic, prognosticate