比如一个词叫做deliberation，如果当时想不起来这个词，可以用careful consideration来解释，如果还是想不到，可以用a second thought来解释，如果实在不行，还可以用think twice来描述，而这些词汇的积累，都来自于对deliberation和consideration的字典解释。这样，就算我们在表达“谨慎思考”的时候，忘记了deliberation，我们也可以用以上的任何一种方式来解释。
解释英文的方法有很多，单纯从语言上的套路讲，解释名词的时候往往先定性，常用的模板句型是 it is something/someone/some moment/some place然后后面跟出描述特征功能的定语从句。比如洗衣店—laundry可以描述成it is some place where clothes are washed and ironed. 比如描述lunatic，可以说it is someone who is regarded as a wildly foolish person. 遇到动词，一般的套路是用短语来解释这个词语，比如propose可以解释为Put forward，prohibit也可以解释为forbid A from B, 遇到形容词的解释方法一般是用较为简单的同义词，或者一些描述性的短语或者句子，比如lucrative可以解释为promising或者something or someone with bright future. 副词是可以转化为形容词的方式再解释出来的。介词就更不用说了。
Google
一般情况下，我们只要打开GOOGLE，把想解释的英文单词输入进去，前面加上define就可以了，比如要解释catastrophe，可以直接输入define catastrophe，就可以看到很多解释，然后选择一个自己喜欢的就可以了。
Riddle
最经典的描述事物的方法，莫过于谜语，国外的谜语其实也富有很多智慧，只不过在猜完谜语后，倒过来思考，就达到了用一句话解释答案的目的，口语和思维都是可以锻炼的。比如：what goes up and down but does not move? 答案a staircase. 可以加工成为A staircase is something that goes up and down but does not move. 当然这个不一定是最完整的解释，但是加上环境和条件，就会变得更加narrowed-down。类似的例子还有What's the difference between a jeweler and a jailer?答案A jeweler sells watches and a jailer watches cells. 经过整合以后可以变成A jeweler is someone who sells watches while a jailer is someone who watches cells. 类似的例子还有what is the difference between recession and depression？答案Recession is a time when your neighbors lose their jobs while depression is a time when you lose even yours.
Devil’s Dictionary
魔鬼词典不能解释所有的词，但是却从另外一种角度折射出思想的奇异魅力，比如what is marriage—the ultimate reason for divorce。What is egotist—a person with a low taste, more interested in himself than in anyone else, especially me. What is financial manager—a magician that never fails to turn money from one hand to the other.当然不是所有的解释都是那么睿智和幽默，或者由于文化的差异，很多东西并不是能够理解，不过这也是一个比较有建设性的渠道，可以让我们开阔视野，了解更多。
