If you are one of those who want to know how to increase your vocabulary, there are some ways you may find useful. In fact, it is not that difficult to learn new words, but to remember them for a lifetime seems not to be so easy.
To make it easier, you can try word associations（联想）. Try to find a connection between a new word and things or people you know. For example, if your neighbour is an unselfish person who cares about the needs of other people, think about this person every time you see the word, and very soon you'll start actively using it.
Try to use the words you learn as often as possible. Perhaps you are not sure which situations they should be used in, or whether you pronounce（发音） them correctly, but practice is the best way to understand that. It is not enough to find out the meaning of a word. You should hammer (敲打) it into your mind by using it in actual conversations in everyday life.
Also, it may be helpful to know the meaning of the word roots, prefixes (前缀) and suffixes （后缀）， especially if they have a Greek or Latin origin（起源）． Even if you meet a long unfamiliar word, it will be easy to know its meaning if you know the general meaning of its parts. For example, if you see the word "philanthropy", it won't be difficult to surmise what it means if you know that "anthropo" means "human" and "philo" means "loving". Not only can ancient Greek and Latin be helpful, but a number of modern languages as well. So, if you speak French, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese, guess the meaning of an unfamiliar English word if it sounds like a word from another language you know.
小题1: Which of the following old sayings can show the main idea of Paragraph 3?
A．Every dog has his day.
B．Practice makes perfect.
C．Every coin has two sides.
D．Where there is a will there is a way.小题2: According to the last paragraph, what does the writer think is important?
A．Learning to use several different modern languages.
B．Learning some very difficult words in the English language.
C．Knowing the meaning of the word roots, prefixes and suffixes.
D．paying more attention to words that have a Greek or Latin origin.小题3:The underlined word "surmise" in the last paragraph means_______.
A．guess
B．suggest
C．prove
D．remember小题4: what's the writer's purpose in writing the passage?
A．To tell us how he or she learnt English well.
B．To explain why it is not hard to learn new words.
C．To prove that learning new words can be really fun.
D．To tell us some good ways of remembering new words.
