Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we continue our answer about the best way to expand your vocabulary .
你好！本周，在“请教老师”节目中，我们将继续回答扩大词汇量的最佳方法。
Last week, we said the best way to improve vocabulary is to really “know a word.” We talked about the form of a word -- or how it sounds, is written, and what its parts are.
上周，我们说过提高词汇量的最佳方法是真正“认识一个单词”。我们讨论了单词的形式——或者它的发音、书写方式以及它的组成部分。
Today let's talk about the meaning of words.
今天我们来谈谈单词的含义。
Knowing the meaning of a word seems easy: translate it into your native language or look up the definition in a dictionary. But, to fully know the meaning of a word in English, one definition is often not enough.
了解单词的含义似乎很容易：将其翻译成您的母语或在字典中查找定义。但是，要完全了解英语单词的含义，一个定义通常是不够的。
English words are famous for having more than one definition. For example, look at the word “run” in these sentences.
英语单词因拥有多个定义而闻名。例如，看看这些句子中的“run”一词。
She runs the local bakery.
她经营当地的面包店。
Water was running down the table.
水顺着桌子流下来。
All the papers are running the story.
所有的报纸都在报道这个故事。
The first definition in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary for “run” is to go faster than a walk. That is certainly the meaning of run in the first sentence but not in the others.
韦氏词典中对“跑”的第一个定义是比步行走得更快。这当然是第一句中“run”的含义，但在其他句子中则不是。
When we say, “ she runs the local bakery” , we mean she is the person who operates, manages or owns the shop.
当我们说“她经营当地的面包店”时，我们的意思是她是经营、管理或拥有这家商店的人。
We could say “ Water was running down the table ” or “ Water was flowing down the table.”
我们可以说“水从桌子上流下来”或“水从桌子上流下来”。
And when “ all the papers are running the story”, they publish it.
当“所有报纸都在报道这个故事”时，他们就会发表它。
We also have to know the ideas or feelings that a word suggests to fully understand the meaning of a word.
我们还必须知道一个词所暗示的想法或感受，才能完全理解一个词的含义。
Let’s look at the first example with the word “run.”
让我们看第一个带有“run”一词的例子。
This is different than saying:
这与说的不同：
The second example simply states that we are going to the shop. But the word “run” tells that the trip will be fast.
第二个例子只是说明我们要去商店。但“跑”字却说明行程会很快。
When we look at the meaning of English words in this way, we can see that our vocabulary expands by fully understanding a word’s meaning.
当我们以这种方式看待英语单词的含义时，我们可以看到，通过充分理解单词的含义，我们的词汇量得到了扩展。
However, we cannot just exchange one word for another without changing the overall meaning of the sentence. So, next week we will take a look at synonyms - or words that have the same or nearly the same meaning.
然而，我们不能只是将一个词替换为另一个词而不改变句子的整体含义。因此，下周我们将看看同义词 - 或具有相同或几乎相同含义的单词。
Do you have a question about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com .
您对美式英语有疑问吗？请发送电子邮件至learningenglish@voanews.com。