經常高效地使用詞典除了可以幫助我們熟悉拼寫和了解意思外，還可以讓我們學到許多有用的日常表達和語法，這真不失為提高英語水平的壹種好方法。
1.Choose the right dictionary
選壹本合適的詞典
Upgrade your dictionary every now and then so that you have access to the latest new words that are added to the dictionary every year.
時不時升級壹下妳的詞典，以便於妳能了解每年收錄進詞典裏的新詞。
2.Find the section of the dictionary with first letter of your word
找到詞典中單詞首字母所在那部分
Dictionaries follow alphabetical order. For example, "dog" begins with "d" which means that it will be in the section after "c" and before "e".
詞典都是按字母表順序來排列的，比如說?dog?的首字母是?d?，這就意味著?d?這個部分壹定是在?c?部分之後，在?e?部分之前。
如何查找妳聽到的單詞：
Don't forget the possible spellings for trickier words, such as "gnome" begins with a voiceless "g", or "psychology" begins with a voiceless"p",or "knock" begins with a voiceless "k", etc.
別忘了壹些?心機?單詞首字母不發音，比如說?gnome?的首字母?g?不發音，?psychology?的首字母，?p?也不發音，還有?knock?的首字母?k?也是同理等等。
If you're not entirely sure what the first letter is, start with the letter it sounds like.If you can't find the word under that section, then try other sections.
如果妳不確定這個單詞的首字母是什麽，那就從它聽起來像的這個字母開始找起。如果妳在這個字母所在的部分裏沒能找到這個詞，就再去其他部分找。
比如說，妳不知道?psychology?這個詞是以?p?開頭的，妳可能就會在?s?部分裏找這個單詞。當妳在?s?部分裏找不到，接下來妳就可以試著去?p?的部分裏找找看，因為妳會想起妳見過的?psychic?和?psychosis?這同壹種套路的單詞。
Also, keep in mind that certain words sound alike that are spelled very differently. For example, "throne" and "thrown" are spelled differently and mean verydifferent things. So be careful that you end up with the correct word.
同樣，要記住有壹些單詞在拼寫上完全不同但聽起來卻很像。比如說，?throne?和?thrown?這個兩個詞就是，但它們拼寫不同意思也不同。所以要特別註意妳查到的那個單詞是不是正確的詞。
3.Read the guide words
查看單詞的索引
These are the two words at the top of the page that tell you what types of words are on the page. These words will help you find the word you're looking for in the right letter section.
在詞典的每頁上面都會有兩個單詞，它們可以告訴妳這壹頁的單詞是哪個部分的，及有什麽樣的字母排列順序。這些單詞會幫妳找到妳要找的那個單詞首字母部分。
For example if you're looking for the word "bramble" you would begin looking in the "B" section.You would look at the tops of the pages as you went through it until you came to the page with the guide words "braid bread."This tells you that all the words between braid and bread are on this page. Since "bramble" starts with "b-r-a" it will be in this section.
比如妳要查找?bramble?這個單詞，妳肯定會從?B?部分開始查找。妳可以看看書頁頂部的單詞指引快速翻閱，直到翻到?braid bread?作為引導詞的那壹頁，這意味著這頁的單詞是從?braid?開始到?bread?結束的。因而以?b-r-a?開頭的?bramble?這個詞肯定會出現在這壹頁。
4.Scan down the page for your word
瀏覽頁面找目標單詞
If you were looking for the word "futile," for example, you would move past "furry" and "fuse" and "fuss". Since the example word begins with "f-u-t", go past all the "f-u-r" and all the "f-u-s" words alphabetically until you reach the "f-u-t" area of the page.In this example, move right down through "fut" and "Futhark" and this is where you will find "futile."
因為目標單詞的開頭是?f-u-t?，所以就不要管那些所有以?f-u-r?或?f-u-s?這些開頭的單詞了，看到這些單詞就繼續往後找，因為按照字母表順序，?f-u-t?壹定在這頁這些詞的後面的位置。當妳看到了?fut?或是?Futhark?這樣的單詞時，妳很快就能在他們的附近找到目標單詞?futile?了。
5.Read the definition
閱讀(單詞)解釋
Once you've located the word it will tell you exactly what it means (and if it has more than one meaning, it will tell you the most common one first), how to pronounce it, how to capitalize it (if it's a proper noun), what part of speech it is and so on.Dictionaries can also sometimes give the synonyms and the antonyms of a word.So, for example, if your word is futile some synonyms might be "fruitless" or "unsuccessful" and some antonyms might be "effective" or "helpful."
當妳成功定位某個單詞時，妳可以看看它的解釋,(如果壹個單詞有多個意思，那最常見的意思往往在最前面)。除了解釋之外，字典上還會有它的音標，首字母需要大寫的情況(如果是專有名詞的話),及它的詞性等等。字典有時會給出這個單詞的同義詞和反義詞，比如妳查找的這個詞是?futile?，它會給出的近義詞有可能會是?fruitless?或者?unsuccessful?;而反義詞則可能會是?effective?或者?helpful?。
You might also find an etymology, derivation, or history of the word. Even if you don't know Latin or Ancient Greek, you may find that this information helps you to remember or understand the word.Dictionaries also often provide spellings in other English derivations (US English, British English, Australian English, etc.).
妳可能還會看到這個詞的詞源、派生詞或來歷。這樣，即使妳看不懂拉丁語或者古希臘語，妳還是可以通過這些信息來記住並理解這個詞。詞典還經常會提供這個詞在其他英語派生語言裏的拼寫方式(例如美式英語，英式英語，澳洲英語等)。
6.You could use an online dictionary.
妳可以使用在線詞典
妳可能覺得查個字典好麻煩，翻來翻去還要判斷字母順序，還很有可能因為發音不準確找不到目標單詞。現在，這種費時的紙質字典有了替代品在線詞典。在線詞典使用起來非常簡單。選壹個比較有權威的免費在線詞典，或者是妳的單位或學校訂閱的在線詞典。