Looking at the first sentence, you see an event is being discussed. In the second, the writer replaces the word “event” with the word “fundraiser.” When one word replaces another in a text, often it is a synonym. So, you might suppose that a fundraiser is some kind of event.
看第一句话，你会发现正在讨论一个活动。在第二句中，作者用“募款活动（fundraiser）”代替“活动（event）”一词，当在文本中用一个词代替另一个词时，它通常就是同义词。所以，你可能认为募捐是某种活动。

The third and fourth sentences say more about the kind of event: it has music and food and is raising money for a festival through ticket sales. And that’s often what happens at a fundraiser, which is a ticketed social event that raises money for a cause.
第三句和第四句更详细地描述了这种活动：它包含音乐和食物，通过售票为某个节日筹款。而这通常是在募捐会上发生的事情，这是一种通过售票，为某项事业筹集资金的社会活动。

Tip #2: Antonyms

The second kind of clue is antonyms.
第二种线索是反义词。

Antonyms are words that mean the opposite of a word.
反义词是指与一个词含义相反的词。

One way to identify an antonym is to look for contrast words, such as “but,” “however,” “though,” “although,” “unlike,” “whereas” and “despite.” These words signal that some opposite idea or meaning is coming.
识别反义词的一种方法是寻找对比词，例如“但是”、“然而”、“尽管”、“不同”、“鉴于”等。这些词表示要出现一些相反的想法或含义。

Let’s look at this sentence from a recent Learning English story. See if the contrast word “although” helps you understand what a “critic” is.
让我们看一个最近在“学英语”的故事中出现的这个句子。看看对比词“尽管”是否有助于用来理解什么是“批评家”。

The United States will begin restricting visas to citizens from six other countries on February 21, although critics question the move.
美国将于2月21日开始限制来自其他六个国家公民的签证，尽管批评人士对此表示质疑。

The first part of the sentence states a policy change on visas. In the second part, the word “although” signals that contrasting information is coming, which is that critics are questioning the new policy. From this, we might guess that a critic is a person who disapproves of something.
这句话的第一部分陈述了签证政策的变化。在第二部分中，“虽然”一词表明，对比信息马上就要出现，这就是批评人士在质疑新政策。由此，我们可以猜测批评家是不赞成某事的人。

Tip #3: Appositives

The third kind of clue is appositives.
第三种线索是同位语。

An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that comes after another noun, where the second defines the first. That definition will make more sense after looking at the example below. It uses an appositive to explain the meaning of the word “constellation.” Here it is:
同位语是跟在另一个名词之后的名词或名词短语，第二个名词定义了第一个名词。在看了下面的例子之后，这个定义会更有意义。它使用同位语来解释“星座”这个词的意思。下面就是这句话：

Constellations, or groups of stars that form shapes in the sky, usually represent a mythological person or creature or a nonliving object.
星座，是在天空中组成形状的一群星星，通常代表神话中的人、生物或无生命的物体。

The sentence uses a comma followed by the word “or” to introduce the appositive “groups of stars that form shapes in the sky.” Punctuation is important here: Appositives usually have a comma before and after them.
这个句子使用了逗号，后面跟“或”这个单词，来引介同位语“在天空中组成形状的群星”。标点符号在这里很重要：同位语通常在它们的前后有逗号。

But note that sometimes appositives do not use the signal word “or.” And be careful -- commas have many purposes in written texts and they do not always signal appositives.
但请注意，有时同位语不使用“或”这个信号词，而且要小心，逗号在书面语中有很多用途，并不总是表示同位语。

Tip #4: Examples

The fourth kind of clue is examples.
第四种线索是例子。

Examples can help explain the meaning of a word or idea. In English, the most common ways we introduce examples are with the phrases “for example,” “for instance,” “such as” and “like.”
举例可以帮助解释一个词或一种想法的意思。在英语中，我们介绍例子最常用的方式是用短语“例如”、“比如”、“譬如”和“像”、“看似”。

Here is a passage from a 2019 Learning English report about superbugs in the United States. See if the example helps you understand the meaning of “superbug.”
这是有关美国超级细菌的一段话，选自2019年“学英语”报告。看看这个例子，是否有助于你去理解“超级细菌”的含义。