下面一段，大家一致的感受，可能陌生的不常见的单词时有出现，理解起来无法顺畅。那么对于在阅读中常常碰到的“单词”问题如何应对？大部分人把单词问题作为无法阅读的理由，说实在的，在阅读过程中，时有障碍，阅读的感受当然差强人意，更不必说，很多人是不愿意自找苦吃，自我虐待的。
LEON老师在读的过程中其实也不是对每一个所谓的“单词”了然于心，但单词造成的阅读障碍，LEON老师有另一番感受。首先，LEON老师在接触文字前，已经亲密接触其语音多次，所以，在打开书看段落的时候，单词的意义虽然不一定精准但其发音竟然在记忆中一一对应，充满惊喜。其次，有了一定的认同感后，但凡一个单词无非音、形、义三个要素。LEON老师初步掌握了音形后，对其意，就在上下文中琢磨了。最后，在琢磨的过程中，竟然又有惊喜，因为LEON老师常常根据上下文猜测单词的意义，然后有时间就查单词一一验证，结果一开始当然不如人意，但准确率在猜测过程中，一路攀升。有时也望文生义，有时也谬以千里，有时竟丝毫不差，不管怎样，过程就是奖励，坚持下去，LEON老师对单词不在恐惧，其障碍也一一忽略忽视，在看完后，一般都融会贯通。可见，不必拘泥于一词一句，读完整本书后，就会发现，单词重复有加，前后可互参，意义是慢慢构建出来而不是记忆所得，其理解的结果积累而成和单一记忆结果表面上并无差别，但在本质上理解的深度广度联系度上不可同日而语啊！
"We were in luck last night. Just before we got home that new stallion Ma got in Kentucky last month was brought in, and the place was in a stew. The big brute—he's a grand horse, Scarlett; you must tell your pa to come over and see him right away—he'd already bitten a hunk out of his groom on the way down here and he'd trampled two of Ma's darkies who met the train at Jonesboro. And just before we got home, he'd about kicked the stable down and half-killed strawberry, Ma's old stallion. When we got home, Ma was out in the stable with a sackful of sugar smoothing him down and doing it mighty well, too. The darkies were hanging from the rafters, popeyed, they were so scared, but Ma was talking to the horse like he was folks and he was eating out of her hand. There ain't nobody like Ma with a horse. And when she saw us she said: 'In Heaven's name, what are you four doing home again? You're worse than the plagues of Egypt!' And then the horse began snorting and rearing and she said: 'Get out of here! Can't you see he's nervous, the big darling? I'll tend to you four in the morning!' So we went to bed, and this morning we got away before she could catch us. and left Boyd to handle her."
譬如“stallion”一词，和horse应该接近，但可能更为具体，后面提到he，可见应该是公马，而horse一词没有表达公马的意思。后来查http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stallion?s=t求证。原来，stallion 就是an uncastrated adult male horse, especially one used for breeding. 可见，公的种马用stallion表达，多么精准！
再譬如，原来猜测stew一词应该有place的意思，如果和马有关，难道是马厩？后查找发现，
| informal a difficult or worrying situation or a troubled state (esp in the phrase in a stew ) |
虽然原来的猜测荒谬至极，但了解到 in a stew是个词组，印象深刻。而且该词组不仅可以形容场面的混乱不堪，还可以表达人物内心的焦虑不安。记住，错误并不可怕，不去冒险才是最大的冒险！
brute一词给我的第一感受就是桀骜不驯，验证后，a nonhuman creature;beast. 原来是畜生！
hunk很少见，难道像泰森当年咬了霍利菲尔德一样？果然，果然，是表示a large piece; 那么这个groom就很有意思了，这里不是指bridegroom, 而是指a person employed to look after horses.
trampled 给人感觉让人发抖，查证后step or tread heavily, roughly, 踩踏，譬如 to trample on a flower bed. 而那被trampled 的两匹darkies，最后只好hanging from the rafters，可见，拴马的描述可以用hanging表达，那rafter又是什么呢？马栓？大家看到下图以后，你说这缰绳拴在哪里？
而rafter的意义就是
椽，放在檩上架着屋顶的木条，读chuan，第二声。不是缘木求鱼的缘，注意。
要了解the plagues of Egypt. 可查维基百科。
Egypt was destroyed at the peak of it glory by plagues that demonstrated the awesome power of God against the worldly nation.
讲到此处，各位或许疑问，要积累一点知识竟然如此琐碎繁缛，的确如此。你为什么上6年小学、三年初中、三年高中，运气加才气加底气，大学毕业后安身立命。如若不然，还不是在挣扎奋斗。你用了多少年？学习出点成果不经历曲折和繁琐，何来清闲和淡然？
"Do you suppose she'll hit Boyd?" Scarlett, like the rest of the Country, could never get used to the way small Mrs. Tarleton bullied her grown sons and laid her riding crop on their backs if the occasion seemed to warrant it.
bully肯定是教训，哪什么样的教训才能用这个词形容呢？后文讲到lay her riding crop on their backs, 看来是鞭打类的，准确说是有hurt的鞭打，不轻啊！
Beatrice Tarleton was a busy woman, having on her hands not only a large cotton plantation, a hundred negroes and eight children, but the largest horse-breeding farm in the state as well. She was hot-tempered and easily plagued by the frequent scrapes of her four sons, and while no one was permitted to whip a horse or a slave, she felt that a lick now and then didn't do the boys any harm.
lick的意思是to hit or beat as a punishment, 真是lick, whip, bully三词有很多味道啊！
