偶看新闻含有气字的四字成语:精通阅读，学好英语
来源：百度文库 编辑：偶看新闻 时间：2024/04/28 06:57:52
精通阅读，学好英语
阅读是最基本的四项语言技能之一，在中国的英语教学中，阅读的地位更加显著。培养阅读能力一直被放在中学和大学英语教学大纲的重要位置。因为在当前语言环境的限制下，在全国广大地区的英语听说教学的条件和成果尚不尽人意的情况下，阅读仍然是扩展英语知识和能力的重要途径。可以说，阅读输入是其他输入的前提条件。从某种意义上说，没有阅读就没有英语学习，学生要学好英语就必须广泛阅读，通过大量的语言输入，开阔眼界，扩展知识，更好的理解所学语言。
阅读是通过文字获取信息的一种能力。阅读能力，包括以下九个因素：
一．一定的词汇量
二．阅读速度
三．会辨别词义词性
四．会划分句子成分
五．能看出词与句子中的隐含意思
六．会跳读（Scan）
七．会掠读（Skimming）
八．有一定的英美文化知识
九．在阅读时会推理判断，综合分析
那么，如何提高阅读能力呢？我们有以下几点建议：
一．阅读能力是在阅读实践中提高的。不要指望学几条阅读的秘诀，就可以读得又快又准，那是不可能的。这跟学游泳一样，只有不断下水，才能悟出其中的奥秘。
二．懂得一些语法知识对准确阅读是有好处的，但是现在的问题是，许多中学生在钻研语法，做单项填空题上花的时间太多太多。正确的做法应该是五分之四的时间听读写，五分之一的时间研究语法知识。
三．要精读泛读相结合。中学生上英语课学课文，基本上是以精读为主。大部分同学缺的是泛读。而不会泛读，就不叫会阅读。所谓泛读，就是只求读懂故事内容，文章意思，并不研究句子结构，词汇用法，即使遇到生词页尽量不查。这样，就可能在较短的时间内获得较多的语言使用经验，全面提高语感，语言识别能力，从根本上提高英语水平。
四．要持之以恒，不能三天打鱼，两天晒网。
五．要纠正阅读中的一些不恰当做法。如不时回读，如点读（即一眼只看一个词，正确地做法应该是扩大眼距，从逐词读转向phrase-reading），以及阅读时有伴随动作等。
六．要在阅读过程中练习自己的思维能力，学会概括中心，学会根据已知的事实推理判断。
七．阅读以默读为主，不出声音。偶尔朗读几段文字对理解大意、调节大脑均有好处。
我们不应当把阅读看作简单的字符理解的过程，而是应当把它当作一个读者与文章交流的过程。因此影响阅读效果的因素除了读者的语言基础外，还有智力水平，兴趣和个性，社会经济文化背景，学习方法等。同时，阅读作为一种终身的学习活动，读者不可能在短时间内全面掌握各种阅读技能，他们的词汇知识，理解能力，阅读速度，阅读习惯等都要在不断地学习和实践中逐渐完善和提高。
而这些技能的完善都建立在恰当选择了阅读材料的基础上。读者在为自己选择阅读材料的时候，必须考虑两个因素：读物是否符合自己的兴趣和个性要求，读物的难度是否符合自己的英语水平。因为如果难度超过读者的语言水平，一方面会严重影响对文章的理解程度，同时，也会挫伤阅读热情和兴趣，根本达不到阅读的互动效果，更不用说通过阅读提高语言和知识水平。至于尊重自己的阅读兴趣，则是因为阅读看起来是作者通过语言向读者传达信息，实际上是在刺激读者通过联想自己的知识和经验来挖掘文章中的意义，读者相关的知识越多，理解的速度必然越快，程度也越好，那么阅读对读者在语言和知识上的帮助必然也越明显。
读者在选择读物的时候，应该首先确定读物的语言难度，找准适合自己英语水平的读物，大多数读物，如《书虫•牛津英汉双语读物》，《剑桥英语原创读物》，《DK英汉对照百科读物》，《新标准中小学分级英语读物》等都在封底标注了词汇量以及适用人群的年龄，这个信息是最可靠的语言难度指示标，读者完全可以据此选择适合自己语言能力的图书。
各种读物虽然看起来琳琅满目，种类繁多，主要也就是文学（fiction）和非文学（non-fiction）两大类。所谓文学类读物，指的是一些世界优秀文学名著的简写本或者原创的故事性读物。而非文学类读物则主要是百科常识，人物传记等阅读材料。
适合中学生阅读的文学类读物中，《书虫•牛津英汉对照读物》是比较经典的选择，68个品种中涵盖了大部分适合中学生阅读的英文名著的缩写本，如大家熟悉的《鲁滨孙漂流记》、《简•爱》、《爱丽思漫游奇境记》和《格列佛游记》等。通过这些名著简写本的阅读，小读者可以了解名著的大致内容，为直接日后阅读原版英语文学著作做好准备。
如果偏好贴近年轻人日常生活的故事，则可以选择《剑桥英语原创读物》，这里有侦探小说，真情故事，人物传奇，不一而足。相对名著来说，这些故事更加新奇，更具时代气息，更容易获得年轻人的青睐。
非文学类读物中，《DK英汉对照百科读物》是以高质量的图片为特色的，每一页都图文并茂，英汉对照的正文内容，解释性的图片和说明文字让这这一页的信息量无形中增加了很多。对于喜欢了解各种背景常识的学生读者，DK百科就是很好的选择。
同时《国家地理科学探索丛书》也是喜好百科常识的读者的绝佳选择，丛书一共分9个系列，精美的图片加上纯正的英语，还有很多启发性的提示和问题。是中学生认识世界的理想入口。
如果想选择既有文学性读物也有百科读物的系列，那么可以选《外研社•麦克米伦新标准中小学分级英语读物》，全系列60本图书，有适合从小学中、低年级到高中三年级的6个级别，每个级别中都有文学性故事读物也有百科知识读物。选择任何一个级别就等于选择了两种不同类型的读物材料，可以把它看作“二合一”系列。
相信选择了合适的阅读材料，掌握了适当的学习方法，读者朋友们一定可以在课余时间“读出好英语”。
语言无法“速成”
张维友 摘自：《英语学习》四十年精选丛书之《英语的门槛有多高》
近年来常有人拿着各种各样“英语速成班”的广告来征求我的意见，问是否有必要参加。他们中有在校的大中专学生、学生家长、研究生备考人员等。我的回答却往往令他们失望。“速成”对应试也许有些作用，但要真正学好语言，“速成”之路是绝对走不通的。
回顾我学英语的过程，可谓艰辛困苦。由于学英语起步较晚，又没有现在这么好的条件，所以我靠的是“背诵＋默写”。当时的语言资料不多，主要是靠课本，我将能接触到的各种英文教材囫囵吞枣地全背下来：背单词、背词组、背句型、背人名、背地名、背标点符号、背课文、背练习，什么都背。开始背诵起来很费力，但时间一长，就越记越快，越背越容易。有的句子或语言现象，开始并不完全明白，一旦背熟了，自然就通了，印证了古人所说的“书读百遍，其义自见。”
默写也是我常用的办法。为了加深记忆，我坚持默写。无论课文多么长，我都是首先把它背熟，然后再进行默写，凭着记忆把课文从头至尾默写下来，包括专用名词和标点符号。虽然这是一种“笨”方法，挺花时间，但效果却很明显。后来无论是做作业还是考试，诸如大小写、标点符号、乃至拼写之类的小错误都很少，得分自然就高。
背诵的东西多了，慢慢就产生了语感，有时遇到不正确的句子，尽管说不清原因，凭直觉感到不顺，因而就避开了。学习也因此上了一个新台阶，起初的学习之苦随之转化为乐趣。
“听”和“说”被公认为是学外语的难关。要能听会说，就要多听多说，这是人人皆知的道理。其实，听说能力强的人，并不是其感观灵敏，主要是他们语言积累非常丰厚（当然有知识面的问题）。如果词汇量大，语法知识牢靠，听说能力就容易提高。我开始练听力的时候也常采用“死”方法，对听的材料逐字逐词地笔录下来。这样做“一举数得”：练习了拼写，温习了语法，提高了准确性，加强了基本功，听力也随之提高了。后来知道，这种做法就是所谓的“精听”。即使是听英美广播，看英语电影录像，不时地做些“精听”，对提高听力也是很有好处得。以广播新闻为例，凡属新闻报道，其篇章结构、文体特征、用词句式都有规律，通过精听默写很容易掌握，一旦熟悉了，听的效果自然会提高。
口语也不例外。口头表达有技巧性，但更主要的是要有纯熟的语言素材。实践证明，不少同时学英语的人，语言水平不相上下，但后来有的说话仍结结巴巴，有的却出口成章。究其原因（注：这里不考虑智力因素）往往是他们掌握的语言素材的多寡和对材料的熟悉程度的高低所致。所以每当学生来请教如何练习口语时，我的回答仍然是“多记、多背、多练”。
回想起来，我学英语在很大程度上得益于过去的“死记硬背”。“死记硬背”虽然不能说是好方法，但学语言却离不开“死记硬背”，至少在初、中级阶段是如此，即使到了高级阶段，“死记硬背”也并非毫无用处。学语言有一个从“死”到“活”的变化过程。“死”的东西多了，熟能生巧，慢慢就会变“活”。“死记硬背”到一定的时候，便会“死”去“活”来。所谓“死”，就是原始的语言积累，创建个人的语料库。语料库丰富了，学习者一旦掌握了运用技巧，就能随意提取，运用自如，死的语言才能“活”起来了。学语言就是这样，无捷径可走。
（作者：张维友 华中师范大学外国语学院院长、教授）
同时学中英文会混淆吗？
谈到幼儿学英语，父母最大的隐忧就是，孩子还在学中文，如果同时学习另外一个语言，会不会对学母语造成干扰呢？许多父母相信，既然孩子可以自然而然学会国、台语，那么他们应该也可以学会两种语言，不会互相干扰；而且在欧洲一些多语系国家里，孩子同时会说两种以上的语言是司空见惯的现象。但另一方面，父母也经常听到许多例子，孩子随父母移居到国外之后，学会当地的语言却忘记母语。所以，同时学习两种语言到底会不会互相干扰？如果父母要让幼儿接触英文，应以什么样的态度与方法进行呢？
语言的学习、发展需要环境
一对夫妇在庭院里最好的位置种下一棵本土树苗，但没多久也在院子里种一棵进口树苗。结果，本土树苗因根还没扎稳，就面临进口树苗的争夺成长空间和养分，所以长得不是很好。而另一方面，进口树苗需取得不易的特殊进口肥料，因此长期营养不足，成长速度比本土树苗更缓慢。
语言的学习与发展需环境配合；这两棵树正如孩子的母语和第二语言。就像许多生长在国、台语家庭的小朋友，他们因为有许多接触及使用国、台语的机会，才自然而然学会听、说这两种方言。但是当环境有了变化，其中一种语言的使用率降低之后，孩子对于两种语言的使用能力也会有所消长。学会一个语言后，如果完全抽离使用那个语言的环境，语言能力很快就会退步。
让孩子学双语的先决条件，是环境必须支持双语的发展。但台湾目前并非双语的环境，孩子认识周围世界的主要语言仍是中文，在这样的状况下，除非父母用尽心思去维持一个中英双语的环境，否则要求孩子学会中英双语的可能性微乎其微。
母语的重要性
从儿童双语学习观点来看，当环境以单语为主时，要在孩子的母语听说能力有一定基础后，再开始“正式学习”第二个语言比较容易见效，否则可能费尽心思却适得其反。
母语为什么那么重要呢？因为语言是我们组织思考及认知学习的工具，透过语言，能认识世界、获取知识。所以，孩子的母语能力会决定他们对世界的认知程度，也会影响他们吸收知识的多寡，因为“工欲善其事，必先利其器”。
母语除了对认知发展相当重要外，也是孩子认同感和归属感的来源。现在许多幼儿园、补习班强调“No Chinese”，其实是语言学习的一大禁忌。因任何语言的学习绝不应以排斥另外的语言为手段，否则会造成孩子认同上的负面效果。想想看，孩子生活在一个否定他母语的环境里，他可能会认为母语不重要而不想学习，一味地认同新语言而摒弃自己的母语。甚至觉得新语言必然优于自己的母语，于是认为自己及父母等使用这个母语的人都比较次等，连带影响学习信心。
身为父母，千万不可唱和这种贬抑母语的作法，否则不但有可能制造孩子认同的危机与矛盾，更可能剥夺孩子开发认知潜力的机会。
母语基础有助学习第二语言
就像种树苗一样，父母首先要确保本土树苗有足够的生长空间和养分；如果有余力再种进口树苗。
母语学得好可帮助孩子学习第二语言，是毋庸置疑的，因学习语言的机制是相同的。孩子学会处理母语，就懂得如何解读语言的规则及分析、归纳、学习的方法。
在学习第二语言时，这些方法便能帮助他们以较快的速度理解这个新的语言。
有位英文老师纳闷地告诉我，班上有个三岁的小朋友老是记不得“rose”这个单字。跟孩子聊天后才发现，原来他连中文里“玫瑰”都还搞不清楚，全部以“花花”统称，当然不可能记得“rose”，因这是不存在的概念。就算记住了，也只是个空洞抽象的名词，完全没有意义。但若孩子先在生活里经验了“玫瑰”这个概念，如姊姊当花童的时候被“玫瑰”刺到了，好痛好痛；妈妈读《小猫玫瑰》给我听，书里面的“花花”就是“玫瑰”；爸爸带我到公园里玩，爸爸说那里的“花花”是“郁金香”不是“玫瑰”。当孩子学到“rose”时，就会记得这个单字，这无关记忆力，而是孩子已“经验过”这个单字，在母语里获得的经验帮助他更快理解这个新的语言单字。
幼儿以学母语为主，学外语为辅
但若因此推论孩子上小学前不应接触其它语言，不免因噎废食。在孩子语言学习上，有机会接触不同语言是件好事，因可给他们更多刺激。但要注意接触的方式是否自然且合乎身心成长程度。
对孩子而言，母语仍然是认识这个世界的主要工具。因此对学龄前阶段的孩子，应让他们有充分时间学中文，至于学英文或任何外语，则不要期待立刻见效。只要让孩子每天接触英文，如听故事、玩字卡或看录像带，孩子就能养成学习英文的兴趣和习惯。
（作者为美国加州大学柏克莱分校阅读及语文教育领导学硕士）
关于背诵的一点小方法一．明确目的，集中精力
背诵一篇课文或者一段必须掌握的语句，最忌东张西望，漫不经心，注意力分散。如果是一篇很简单的文字，背了几天后仍老出错，这肯定是用心不专的缘故。至于出现“前记后忘”的现象，则是正常的，这时千万不要向这种暂时困难屈服而打退堂鼓。
二．反复阅读与再现相结合
背诵一篇短文，仅仅读几遍是行不通的，一定要熟读到滚瓜烂熟的程度才行。单纯地反复阅读效果并不好，学习者应该在文章还没有完全记住前积极进行尝试再现，回忆不起来时再阅读。这样容易记住，保持时间也长。特别生疏的语句，注意多尝试再现几次。因为尝试再现是一种比阅读更积极的智力活动，又是一种自我检查的过程，使人更能集中精力，掌握识记内容的重点、难点，并及时改正记忆中的错误。开始时可短一些，容易一些，然后作一定幅度的调整。
背诵过程中，如果“卡壳”，应该进行追忆。追忆是有意和间接再现的形式，它需要付出很大的意志力，克服一定的困难，多方面寻找线索，进行积极灵活的思维。因此，不能一“卡壳”就立即停止背诵。文章通过理解消化，已纳入自己的知识系统，语句通过熟读试背，也已朗朗上口，如果再反复朗读几遍，就能流利地背诵下来。
复习背诵的时间用得越多，记住的效果就越佳。早晨背诵过的课文或知识，晚上睡前以及第二天起床后，应进行一次复背，并在每周六或周日再作适当的温习背诵，以后过一个月再复背一次。这样，可保证很长一段时期不会遗忘。这里需要提醒大家注意的是复习的时候可以把原文提炼成一个提纲，边看提纲，边复习背诵，这样记忆和熟练程度就会更加明显。下面是列提纲的一种形式，供大家参考。
原文：《新概念英语》第二册第20课：One man in a boat（独坐孤舟）。提纲：
1. Fishing - favorite sport
2. often - hours - anything
3. some - unlucky
4. Instead - fish - boots - rubbish
5. I - less
6. never - even - boots
7. whole mornings - river - home - empty
8. give up - friends - waste
9. don't realize - important thing
10. not - interested - fishing
11. only - sitting - nothing
三．加强默写，强化训练
所谓“眼过千遍，不如手抄一遍”。这也是运用内部语言背诵的一种形式，既用脑，又动手，可加深对文章的记忆。因为文字本身就是一种图形和符号，经常默写可帮助我们促进右脑的开发。采取默写手段，可有效地巩固已经背诵了的课文和知识，而且对加深记忆大有好处。一篇文章，就这样一段一段地把它“吃掉”。最后，遵循“整体→部分→整体”的原则，按照背诵各段的方法，再把全篇串联起来，进行背诵。如果能切实做到循序渐进，长期进行默写训练，那么一定会有助于背诵的质量和效果。
Julia Alexander谈英语教学与学习中的语法与听力第一部分
The role of Grammar in English Language Teaching
Copyright: Julia Alexander - Beijing August 2006
1 Why do we teach grammar?
Changing reasons: Academic theories and applications change, but practice is slow to change. How much of what we used to do is still suitable in the communicative classroom? Grammar study began in Ancient
2 How did we teach grammar?
Till recently, grammar study and language learning were the same thing:
Phase One textbooks contained a series of Chapters, called ‘Lessons’, each with a grammatical heading. Grammar tables with notes, listing, for example, the whole of the verb have. Then, some exercises: single-sentences, fill-in-the-blanks. Then a text. The text was not graded. Teachers read the Lesson with the class, and commented on it: ‘grammar-translation’: based on talking about the language, not on using it. The aim was knowledge, not fluency. Very few learners became fluent.
Phase 2: From early 20th Century, - several attempts to simplify the reading texts. The teaching style did not change much. Pupils still studied lists and tables. They still filled in the blanks in single sentences. It was still ‘grammar-translation’. There was no attempt to teach language skills.
Phase 3: 1967, New Concept English appeared. New Concept English changed the way English was taught all over the world.
- It was the first course in which the method is included in the material.
- New language is presented piece by piece in easy stages and in context.
- Basing the lessons on graded texts allows the learner to listen, to pay attention, and to use the language immediately.
- Grammar is the control system, not the objective of the course. Many learners become fluent through this method.
Phase 3a: American linguistic politics in the 1970’s and 80’s: a side-alley: most
Phase 4: In
Some problems with grading – no hierarchy of language functions. ‘No grammar’ means phrasebook English. Fluency requires us to operate the grammatical system. Also, no use being able to say things if you can’t understand the answer. Listening and reading are the essence of language learning, because we cannot control or predict what we will hear or read. We want to teach for communication, but we must not lose sight of good syllabus design and development of all four skills.
Phase Five: teachers, and the materials they use, fall into two categories:
- One group likes a ‘source book’ approach: lessons are based on a ‘theme’ or ‘topic’. Language structures are graded within the topic, but the grading is fairly flexible. Teachers take material from newspapers and radio programmes. Students meet a lot of material, and choose their own path through it. This can work - but it often means doing a lot of old-fashioned single-sentence exercises, so as to cover the grammar.
- The other group uses ‘the enriched structural syllabus’. This language syllabus is much the same as in New Concept English, but with some additions at the lower levels. As in New Concept English, lessons are partitioned into separate activities. Students expect to learn everything in the book.
Both approaches use ‘situationalised structure’. Language is presented in context, and there is a determined effort to develop the 4 skills in life-like uses. The principle is that we teach for communication. That is where we are now.
So why do we teach grammar, if we teach for communication?
In the past, the focus was on accuracy. Grammar was studied for its own sake. The focus now is on fluency, and grammar is the support system. Five reasons for teaching grammar:
- because it provides a short-cut to understanding.
- because we can’t avoid it.
- because we must.
- because the students expect us to.
- ‘Consciousness raising’.
How do we teach grammar?
Grammar provides the rationale – the why and how - of language.
- Relevance: Grammar practice books are still with us. Why are they so like the 1950’s grammars? – Because drills became unfashionable, and learners still need to practice low-level skills before they can take part in an open-ended conversation. Are these written grammar practice exercises more ‘communicative’ than oral drills? No. Are they as useful as oral drills? No.
- Clarity: serious problem in English Language Teaching with confusing and inaccurate rules. Two myths: one, that English has no grammar, and two, that English is full of exceptions. This is nonsense. English is as consistent as any other language. There are no exceptions. There are only larger and smaller categories.
- Accurate information is simple information. When we find that our explanations are not simple, we must look deeper, until we get at the truth.
What do we teach?
There are 2 aspects of content: Topics, and Sequencing.
There are 16 topics. They are:
1 Nouns
2 Articles
3 Pronouns
4 Quantity
5 Adjectives
6 Adverbs
7 Prepositions and adverb particles
8 Verbs, verb tenses, imperatives
9 Be, Have, Do
10 Modal auxiliaries and related verbs
11 The passive and the causative
12 Questions, answers, negatives
13 Conditional sentences
14 Direct and Indirect speech
15 The infinitive and the –ing form
16 The sentence
Some important facts:
1 The sentence: English grammar is expressed through word order. The rules of word order are extremely rigid.
- We don’t separate a verb from its object. I passed the money across the table – (Not I passed across the table the money.)
- Every sentence must have a subject. It’s very hot today, (Not Is very hot today.)
- Some verbs, such as like, want, have and enjoy, always have an object:
Do you like this? – Yes, I like it. (Not, Yes, I like.)
2 Nouns: A noun may be a single word, such as lesson, or teacher. But it may be made up of than one word. When it is, the first word limits or defines the second word; and the first word is always singular in form. Compound nouns are just nouns. They should be treated as single words, since they are ‘the exact name’ for something. There is no gain for the student in learning the meanings of each element in a compound noun, as if they were separate vocabulary items:
- adjective + noun; adjective + noun + noun; noun + noun + noun; gerund + noun; noun + gerund: noun + noun. These combinations are sometimes written as one word, sometimes two, sometimes hyphenated – but they are still one ‘word’, ‘the name of the thing’, and the first element is a noun, not an adjective. The best way to learn these is in context. Categories will emerge in the student’s consciousness over time.
3 The article
We use the article in English to express two notions: defining and classifying:
Every use of a/an, the and ‘zero’ belongs to one of these categories.
A/an classifies a singular countable noun. ‘Zero’ classifies a plural countable noun, and an uncountable noun.
The defines a singular countable noun, a plural countable noun, ‘a quantity/an amount of’ an uncountable noun.
(The plural of a/an = ‘more than one of that class’ is some. It refers to quantity.)
4 Pronouns: English pronouns change according to number, case and gender: I, me, mine, you, yours, he, him, his, she, her, hers, we, us, ours, they, them, theirs, who, whom. It is of the first importance to teach pronouns in context, not in lists.
- a pronoun stands in place of a noun. Students should be trained to identify which noun.
4 Quantity
- Countable and uncountable nouns govern the use of quantifiers. We use some/any/a lot with plural countable nouns (apples) and with uncountable nouns (bread).
- We use (a) few and (not) many only with plural countables. We use (a) little and (not) much only with uncountables.
- We use all and both with plural countables: (all the people, both children, they all, they both).
- We use each and every with singular countables. Each means ‘separately’: each child, each one; every means ‘all together’: Every moment was different.
- We use other with plural countables: There are other possibilities.
We use another with singular countables: another place.
5 Adjectives
- An adjective describes the person, thing, etc. that a noun or pronoun refers to. We use an adjective in front of the noun it describes (Those are big cabbages); or it comes after the verb and describe the subject of the sentence. (Those cabbages are big).
- We can’t use an adjective as if it were a noun: She’s young. She’s a young woman; NOT He’s a young.
- We often use the + adjective to refer to ‘the group as a whole’: These things are popular with the young.
- We prefer to describe a person’s nationality with an adjective rather than a noun: A Chinese friend told me …. NOT A Chinese told me ….
- We use adjective complements after the verbs be, seem and become. We also use them after a wide number of other verbs. These verbs have their first ‘dictionary meaning’ when the following word is not an adjective, (get a new job – ‘obtain’); but with an adjective complement, their underlying meaning is always either be or become, and the adjective describes the subject of the verb:
= ‘be/seem’: appear capable, hang free, look good, feel right, taste horrible, smell bad;
= ‘become’: break free, cut loose, get tired, fall ill, grow old, turn red, set fair, run clear.
- There is an extension of this category with adjectives used after a verb + object. In these examples, the verb contains a causative idea (‘make it become’), and the adjective describes the object: cut (it) fine/close/short; find (it) hard/easy; get it right/wrong; make (it) good; see (it) clear; sell (it) cheap; wear (it) long/short/tight/thin.
- Most adjectives are ‘gradable’: we can intensify them with very and we can weaken them with slightly. Some adjectives are ‘ungradable’: they refer to absolute states, e.g. unique, pregnant, dead. We cannot normally use very or slightly with ungradable adjectives. We can emphasise them with an –ly adverb that means ‘completely’.
- There is a class of adjectives beginning with a- that mean ‘in a state of being ….’ that are always predicative: awake, asleep, afraid, alone, etc. are ungradable. We can intensify them with –ly adverbs that mean ‘completely’, but otherwise, they do not normally combine with intensifiers or adverbs of degree.
5 Adverbs
Placing adverbs correctly in the sentence is a matter of identifying what kind of adverb they are – that is, which word or words they are modifying, and thus precisely what they mean.
There are 10 classes of adverb. 6 of them usually add to (‘modify’) the meaning of the verb: manner (how?), place (where?), time (when?), duration (how long?), frequency (how often?), degree (to what extent?). The other 4 classes modify other words in the sentence: intensifiers (strengthen the meaning of adjectives – very good, very well - prepositional phrases – completely out of order - and other adverbs – terribly quickly); focus (draw attention, usually to the next word in the sentence – it was only yesterday – though also, too and as well come after the word or words they modify); viewpoint (sometimes called ‘sentence adverbs’, express the speaker’s attitude to what he/she is saying – Honestly, you surprise me); connectives (show the relationship between one phrase or clause and another – because, as a result).
6 Prepositions and adverb particles
We use different prepositions for direction and position:
- to school/at school; to bed/in bed
- into the box/in the box
We say at a place or event for the normal purpose associated with that location: at home, at the airport, at a party. We say in an area or space for no specified purpose: in the house, in
We use different prepositions to refer to time:
- at an exact time: at 7 o’clock; at night; at breakfast time
- on days of the week/dates: on Monday; on 3rd November
- in periods of time: parts of the day/months/seasons/years/centuries: in the morning, in May, in 2006, in spring, in the last century
- We use phrasal verbs wherever possible, in preference to single word verbs. There are 4 types of phrasal verb. Not all phrasal verbs are idiomatic, though many of them are:
- Type 1: verb + preposition (transitive) – lend something to someone
- Type 2: verb + particle (transitive) – put something on
- Type 3: verb + particle (intransitive) – (idiomatic) – chip in, turn off
- Type 4: verb + particle + preposition – (idiomatic) – get down to (work)
7 Verbs and Verb Tenses
- Simple and progressive verb forms are used in different ways. Many verbs have simple and progressive forms:
I often listen to music. (simple tense: ‘habit’)
I’m listening to the radio. (progressive tense: action going on now)
- some verbs have different simple and progressive meanings:
I think I’ll go by bus. (simple: ‘that’s my belief’)
Don’t talk to me now. I’m thinking. (progressive: ‘using my brain’)
- Some verbs can never be used in a progressive tense because they refer to involuntary states, not to deliberate actions.
Most parents love their children. (Not are loving)
- There is only one rule for the Present Perfect – we use it for actions that began in the past and continue into the present.
- In Indirect Speech, the tense of the verb and the time references reflect the speaker’s point of view.
- The Active and the Passive lead lives of their own..
- Modal verbs have two main uses:
i) In their first use, they express ideas like ability, necessity and permission, and they refer to present or future. I must go now/tomorrow.
To refer to the past, we have to use another verb: I had to go at the end of that week.
ii) In their second use, all of them except shall express varying degrees of certainty and uncertainty, and they have only 2 forms:
She must be here. She must have been here.
Sequencing:
Q. When do we teach grammar?
A. When it is appropriate.
Q. When is it appropriate?
A. When it assists the students to make connections with what they already know.
Q. Why is this important?
A. Because grammatical understanding is a process of putting words into categories: singular, plural, uncountable, attributive, predicative, past, present, future, stative, dynamic, general reference, specific reference, classifying, defining. The understanding of these categories is built up slowly. Grammatical insights develop slowly, along with the language items the student has learned. One thing is essential: students must be able to classify what we ask them to learn in relation to what they already know. ‘He must take knowledge with him who would bring knowledge home.’ (Dr. Samuel Johnson)
It is pointless to teach everything the students need to know about a grammatical category at once. It is the wrong kind of learning. It belongs to the ‘talking about language’, the ‘grammar translation’ tradition.
Teaching grammar for communication means giving enough information about the items of study so that the student sees that there is a pattern, and what that pattern is. That’s it. The process of giving that information should always be subordinate to the process of getting students to do things with language.
Washback
We should not allow the patterns of exam papers to take over what we do in the classroom. Teaching and testing are 2 different activities altogether. True, have to live with the realities of exam requirements. We can try to influence the examiners, to make the exams less separate from real language use. And we can allocate a small proportion of our contact time with the students to specific exam preparation, while making our language teaching as lucid as possible.
第二部分
The importance of Listening in second language learning –
Julia Alexander: Beijing, August 2006
Key words :
neuro-biology, neuron, neural activity
acoustic (of sound ), phoneme (individual speech sound), phonetic (of speech sounds)
cognitive, language cognition (the mental processes that convert phonological data into meaning)
phonological processing (perceiving/discriminating acoustic input and processing the data into categories)
working memory, coded information
pitch, rhythm, frequency, tone
sensory, (of the 5 senses) articulatory (of the motor system – e.g. pronunciation)
statistical/computational
lexical (of words), syntactical (of grammar)
- Research into hearing and learning suggests that listening is the most important activity for language learning.
- ‘Working memory’ : Phonological processing + language cognition = working memory:
1 Professor David Baddeley 2001 – writing about deafened and hearing-impaired people:.
‘Working memory is a cognitive system adapted for the storage and processing of information during a short period of time, and is similar to phonological processing, a central processing component in most cognitive activities relating to the processing of spoken and written languages. How do working memory performance in general and the components of the working memory system in particular relate to speech understanding? The working memory is the same in deaf and hearing subjects. They have the same sensitivity to manipulations of word-length, poor articulation and phonological familiarity. … ‘The missing parts of the signal that are absent or distorted must be filled in by verbal inference and disambiguation. This depends on an individual’s capacity to store and process verbal information over a short period of time. A large working memory allows connexions and inferences with previous parts of the same context.’
2 A large working memory goes with good conversational and communicative skills. Studies in
Listening is central to all learning.
- Phonological categories 3 come from learning our native language. The brains of new born babies respond to every sound. During the first year of life, the neural response to sound becomes specialised in favour of the sounds of the mother-tongue. By 12 months, a child can separate familiar words from unknown words, 4 spoken by different voices, at different speeds, in different contexts. He or she does this by making categories.
Our brains are shaped by the native language, and they remain so lifelong. 5 When we hear a phoneme that is similar to one in our first language, the neurons fire as if it were the same: The ‘perceptual magnet’ effect makes it hard to ‘hear’ sounds in a second language.
- 6 In order to ‘hear’ a foreign language, our brains must overcome the ‘magnet’ effect. Our brains can adapt throughout life. 7 The adaptation will not change the first language phonological map. But it will reactivate the learning pathways created when we were babies.
- Verbal processing in the adult brain is mainly in the left hemisphere. In children, parts of the right hemisphere are involved as well. The same is true of people who are learning a foreign language. For adults to learn a foreign language, their brains must be actively engaged in 3 ways: sensory processing, articulatory-motor perception, cognitive engagement.
- 7 3 kinds of learning, each in a different brain area
- unsupervised learning, - in the cortex - where we make categories by finding patterns in the input,
- supervised learning with error feedback - in the cerebellum - includes motor/articulatory learning, as well as cognitive processing,
- supervised learning with a reward for success - in the basal ganglia – ‘language as communication’. 3
We know that learners learn when:
- they can understand the input,
- when the input is structured
- when they have feedback about success or failure;
- and when they are rewarded for being successful.
- Rhythm: the way that sound is organised in time. Languages are said to be either ‘stress timed’ or syllable timed. In a syllable timed language, each syllable occupies more or less the same time as the syllable next to it.
8 Les parents se sont approchés de l’enfant sans faire de bruit.
Cette boulangerie fabrique les meilleurs gâteaux de tout le quartier.
Les banques ferment particulièrement tôt le vendredi soir.
In a stress-timed language, like English syllables vary in length.
Les parents se sont approchés de l’enfant sans faire de bruit.
The parents crept over to the child without making a sound.
Cette boulangerie fabrique les meilleurs gâteaux de tout le quartier.
This bakery makes the best cakes in the entire district.
Les banques ferment particulièrement tôt le vendredi soir.
The banks shut especially early on Sunday evenings.
There are 3 contrasting characteristics of each language.
- English has a lot of consonants. In French, more time is given to vowels.
- English consonants can be single, double and triple. French does not have many consonant pairs at all.
- The placement of consonants in English does not tell us much about word boundaries. In French, most words end in a vowel sound, and a consonant often marks the onset of a new word. Most consonant + consonant placements occur across a word boundary.
These contrasts are typical of stress timed versus syllable timed languages.
- Vowels in English vary in duration (timing), amplitude (db) and pitch (Hz), depending on whether they are stressed or unstressed. They are also affected by the timing of syllable-end consonants. Explicit teaching will have no cognitive effect, unless it comes after ‘statistical learning’ 3.
- ‘Statistical learning’: finding patterns in the speech stream of the ‘unsupervised learning environment’. Foreign language learners need to ‘be the audience’. People find statistical regularities in the speech around them, but they need to process the data in working memory. 1
- Language input is phonetic before it is phonological. That is, it is acoustic, not cognitive. Working memory fails when the learner is distracted. 2 Statistical learning is blocked by pre-teaching vocabulary, by translation before listening, by teachers explaining before the students have listened to the dialogue.
- Statistical learning e.g. of ‘permitted’ consonant + consonant pairs in word-initial/word-final placements; of trochaic word stress; of timing. The brain is interested in timing. 7 The right ear is specialised for tracking fast transitions in vowels and consonants. Vowels in stressed syllables can carry a glide.
- Tone changes, and changes in articulation, are picked up by the brain area that tracks consonant/vowel timings. 6 ‘Motherese’ 3 helps the child identify phonetic data, essential for organising phonological data, for both reception and production.
- Tone/pitch changes mark the status of key words. They also mark affirmative, negative and interrogative. They mark attitudes and emotions. Neither the speaker nor the listener is conscious of pitch changes: they are part of the language process. The learner must have an unconscious awareness of pitch variations before we give explanations.
- 9 Syntactic and lexical learning are also ‘statistical’, but the input also requires interaction, before we can assign meaning. Language is social. Our brains ‘frame’ the familiar word, which divides the words that come before it, from the words that come after. This process is repeated and repeated, segmenting/chunking down, until we can separate out other words too. This is how we acquire grammar.
-Acoustic perception + lexical coding + grammatical coding lead to segmentation: that is, identifying word boundaries. Phonological processing is all about segmentation. To understand, speak, read and write, we must be able to identify word boundaries.
- The whole process of language learning depends on listening.
References
(I am indebted to Dr. Jennifer Linden, Department of Research Neurology at the Ear Institute, University College, London, for her generous assistance with research references.)
1 Professor David Baddeley, Working Memory, Oxford, Clarendon Press 1986, and Is working memory still working? - American Psychologist 2001
2 Bjorn Lyxell, Ulf Anderssson, Erik Borg, Inga-Stina Ohlsson (Orebro University, Sweden): Working memory capacity and phonological processing in deafened adults and individuals with a severe hearing impairment – International Journal of Audiology 2003, (also 1994, 1996, 1998)
3 Patricia K. Kuhl, (Institute for Learning and Brain Science and the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, USA): Early Language Acquisition: cracking the speech code – Nature November 2004
4 Peter W. Jusczyk, (Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA) How infants begin to extract words from speech – Trends in Cognitive Sciences Vol 3, No. 9 1999
5 Bruce McCandliss and Julie A. Fiez et al. (Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Pittsburg, Pensylvania): Success and failure in teaching the /r/ -/l/ contrast to Japanese adults: tests of a Hebbian model of plasticity and stabilization in spoken language perception – Psychonomic Society 2002
6 Ann R. Bradlow and David Pisoni: (Speech research laboratory, Department of Psychology, Indiana University): Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/: some effects of perceptual learning on speech production - Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1997
7 Daniel E. Callan, Keiichi Tajima, et al. (Human Information Science Laboratories, ATR International, Kyoto): Learning-induced neural plasticity associated with improved identification performance after training of a difficult second-language phonetic contrast. Academic Press 2003
8 Aniruddh Patel, John R. Iverson, and Jason C. Rosenburg (The Neurosciences Institute, San Diego, CA, USA) Comparing the rhythms of speech and music: the case of British English and French – Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2006. And Aniruddh D. Patel (Neurosciences Institute, San Diego) - An Empirical Method for Comparing Pitch patterns in Spoken and Musical Notation – Empirical Musicology Review Vol 1 No 3 2006
9 Michael R. Brent (Johns Hopkins University): Speech segmentation and word discovery: a computational perspective – Trends in Cognitive Science Vol. 3 No. 8 1999
10 Ed Kaiser: The Structure of Spoken Language: Spectral cues – 1997
What I can tell of a Chinese-English dictionary... 2006-08-08 15:31:41
《外语教学与研究》主编 姚小平 摘自：姚小平个人网站http://www.yaoxiaoping.org Today’s topic – a Chinese-English dictionary – is totally new for me. I call it “new” not only because it is the first time for me to discuss it with you here, but also because I’m a real newcomer to the field of lexicography.
Before the year 2000 I was merely a dictionary user. I’d never dreamed of editing or revising a dictionary myself until that year when I was asked by the FLTRP (Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press) to revise the Chinese-English Dictionary (2nd ed. 1995). I hesitated for a while, for I had no experience of that kind at all. And I had heard often enough about how tedious and thankless it is to make a dictionary. It has often been said that the best way to punish someone is to make them compile a dictionary. A 16th century lexicographer, J.C.Scaliger (1540-1609), had this to say: “The worst criminals should neither be executed nor sentenced to forced labor, but should be condemned to compile dictionaries, because all troubles are included in this work.” And the father of English lexicography, Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), lamenting over his career as lexicographer, said: “Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach...” Eventually, however, I made up my mind to take on the job, not because I’d forgotten Johnson’s warning, but simply because some friends assured me:“You are the man for the job.” Sometimes it just takes a couple of encouraging words to lure somebody into embarking on a hopeless adventure, or to put it in our Chinese way, “to board a pirate ship” (误上贼船).
Thus, all of a sudden I became a lexicographer. Actually I should feel happy that in revising the old edition we did not have to start from the scratch. Especially in this case, for the Chinese-English Dictionary, the earliest edition of which came out in 1978, has a solid base as well as a glorious history. It was a cultural project in which the late Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai were concerned; it was an academic task in which dozens of experts from Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) took part. It took eight years of painstaking effort to bring the first edition to completion. As the first Chinese-English dictionary to come out shortly after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1977), the work has enjoyed a good reputation ever since and had a far-reaching influence. It would be fair to say that there isn’t one of the Chinese-English dictionaries of later decades, be they large or small, comprehensive or specific, that hasn’t benefited from BFSU’s Chinese-English Dictionary. For some years the work kept its leading position in bookstores as well as in academic circles. However, with the passing of time things have changed. Since the 1980s a considerable number of Chinese-English dictionaries have been published; some of them are high-quality and user-friendly, trying to meet the ever-growing and diverse needs of users. The last decade of the 20th century, in particular, saw the appearance of two giant Chinese-English dictionaries. One was the Chinese-English Dictionary (with 230,000 entries); the other was the New Age Chinese-English Dictionary (with 120,000 entries). And another huge Chinese-English dictionary -- the New Century Chinese-English Dictionary -- is about to appear. With the explosion of knowledge, and vocabulary rapidly expanding along with it, there will be no end to the making of extra-large and extra extra-large Chinese-English dictionaries. A dictionary can never keep pace with the ever-changing language, although every modern dictionary would claim to have collected all the newest words and expressions. As far as size and wordage (that is, the amount of entries) are concerned, our Chinese-English Dictionary bears no comparison to the above-mentioned dictionary giants. Both its 1st and 2nd editions are of moderate size, containing around 80,000 entries; and the 3rd edition in preparation will not exceed that amount by too much. Because of its medium size it may be reduced to a portable format and sold at a reasonable price, which helps it circulate among students and average users.
All this has become history. Now we are confronting the task of revising a well-established Chinese-English dictionary. One point is certain: for an edition to be revised, the first thing to bear in mind is the need to add new words and expressions. For an extra-large Chinese-English dictionary this is relatively easy: the more entries, the better. But for a medium-sized one, things are different: often we have to make a choice between what is really necessary and what is less necessary, so the dictionary does not become oversized. And sometimes such choices are rather difficult, simply because the feel for language varies from person to person. Furthermore, obsolete words and outdated expressions need to be deleted to make way for new and up-to-date ones. In doing so, however, terms relating to particular historical periods such as 反右（the Anti-Rightist Campaign [1957-58]），四清（the “Four Clean-ups” Movement [1963-66], a nationwide movement to “clean things up in the fields of politics, economy, organization and ideology”）, 人民公社（people’s communes）and 生产队（production teams）will be retained, though marked [史] ‘historical’, indicating that even if the things they represent no longer exist, the related concepts are still indispensable for us to understand modern Chinese history.
There are dictionaries and dictionaries. Some are the fruit of long years of labor, some are just a hodgepodge cooked up in a hurry; some are modest in coverage while informative in content, some are only new in name but old in reality. Once I saw on TV an ad for a Mercedes car: “Design may be misleading; techniques must be convincing.” The same, I think, can be said of a dictionary. What makes a dictionary reliable is surely not its design, but its techniques, which consist in several things:
◆ rationality of framework and consistency of principles
◆ accuracy of definition
◆ clarity of explanation
◆ objectivity of examples
◆ adequacy of sense discrimination
No matter how far and how fast time advances, these remain the basics of lexicography. To illustrate these points, let me show you some examples.
1) rationality and consistency of general principles
To illustrate “rationality and consistency of general principles” I’ll mention just one thing: grammatical indications. That is, to give every word-entry an indication for cilei (part of speech). Here I mean that once a principle is established, it should be followed everywhere and from beginning to end. The two old editions of our Chinese-English Dictionary already attempted to indicate the seven “empty” or “functional” parts of speech (adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection, onomatopoeia, particle, and measure word), while leaving the “full” or “content” parts of speech (noun, adjective, verb) unmarked. This time we are attempting a systematic categorization of all parts of speech. It is a tricky task, but worth trying anyway. On this point, I should acknowledge that I have changed my way of thinking. I still remember how hard I tried to persuade Prof. Hui Yu, general editor of the New Century Chinese-English Dictionary, to give up his attempts to mark parts of speech. I thought it’s not our job: it’s up to the experts in Chinese grammar to tell us which part of speech a Chinese word belongs to. But I soon realized that I was being too cautious. Actually there are already several tentatively established practices in both Chinese dictionaries and Chinese-English dictionaries, e.g. A Standard Character Dictionary of Modern Chinese , An Applied Dictionary of Chinese, Chinese-English Dictionary , and ABC Chinese-English Dictionary . After centuries of study on Chinese grammar, the time is coming when all the dictionaries of the Chinese language will carry enough grammatical information at least to show that Chinese is not “a language without grammar”, as so many used to believe. On the other hand, Chinese is indeed a language where parts of speech are not clearly and overtly demarcated by the form of the word, thus giving rise to many ambiguous cases. Is “打针” (give or have an injection) a verb? Is it one word or two? If “打针” is easy to handle, then how about “打点滴” (put on a drip / be on a drip), “打屁股” (slap sb. on the buttocks), or “打交道” (deal with sb.)? “看见” (see) is no doubt a verb and one single word formed by two morphemes. But what is “看着办” (do as you see fit)? Is it a verb, an adverb, or something else? Is it one single word, or two words, or even three? To mark parts of speech in Chinese is like dancing on ice: if you don’t try it, you’re fine; if you do, you inevitably slip and fall. Now that we’ve decided to set our feet on the ice, we’ll at least do our best to avoid falling too often.
2) accuracy of definition
In relation to compiling a dictionary, to insist on “accuracy of definition” sounds almost like common sense. Dictionaries are expected to provide accurate definitions for the words they list as entries. People tend to believe and accept what a dictionary tells them. But dictionary makers are not omniscient, although hopefully their scope of knowledge is wider than that of average people. Since they have to define and explain every word in the language, what do they do when they meet an unfamiliar word? What can they tell us when they themselves do not quite know what a word refers to? Here is an example.
Have you ever eaten or seen “刀鱼” (literally “knife fish”)? Or at least heard of it? In Shanghai dialect as well as in its neighboring Wu dialects, “刀鱼” refers to a kind of freshwater fish with a thin, flat, knifelike body. I still remember when I was a child, after morning shift my mother used to buy kilos of it at Wusong (the estuary or mouth of
For a Chinese-English dictionary, there is something more we need to consider when defining a word-entry. Here a foreign language is used to provide an equivalent term or to explain Chinese words. The ideal case would be that of one-to-one correspondence, hence “鱼fish”,“白white”, and so on. Leaving aside questions of symbolic connotations, many Chinese words do indeed have equivalents in English. Even a word like “麒麟” (transliterated as kylin), which denotes a legendary animal specific to Chinese culture, more often than not has been considered equivalent to a “unicorn”, But sometimes, the equation might cause misunderstanding, since the “麒麟” resembles a deer while a unicorn is horse-like.
“刀鱼” and “麒麟” are two examples that show it is necessary to clarify the meaning of a Chinese word before picking its equivalent in English. A Chinese-English dictionary is first of all based on a Chinese one. You might think we could take it for granted that all the words have been well defined and sufficiently explained by Chinese dictionaries, and what is left for a Chinese-English dictionary to do is just to translate Chinese words into English. This is certainly not always the case.
3) clarity of explanation
As we have seen in the case of “麒麟”, in addition to giving an equivalent or a counterpart with an approximate meaning in English, it is necessary to offer a clear explanation. Sometimes, when we look up a word to see how it is explained, it would seem that everything is in place but we still feel something is wrong. For example, our Chinese-English Dictionary has the entry “耐烦”, an adjective explained as “patient”, and the example given is “显出不耐烦的样子” (show signs of impatience) . When you turn to New Age Chinese-English Dictionary, you’ll find two examples: “他等得不耐烦了。” (He is waiting impatiently.); “她教学生十分耐烦。” (She is very patient with her students.). It is easy for a native Chinese speaker to see that the first sentence is natural while the second is not. But why? The reason is that, for one thing, “耐烦” is normally used in the negative; for another, “耐烦” used alone functions rather as a verb than as an adjective, and this can be proved by the fact that it may be modified by the auxiliary verb “能” but not by the adverb “很”, “十分” etc. Thus, grammatically speaking, “她很能耐烦” may be acceptable while “她十分耐烦” is unacceptable. Furthermore, “耐烦” as a verb is separable, as shown in the sentence “你耐得了这份烦吗？” (Do you have enough patience?) For a dictionary, of course, it is neither necessary nor possible to record all these things. But it would be useful if we just added a short note “usu. used in the negative”.
Of the entries contained in a Chinese-English dictionary, some are technical terms collected from the various fields of science, the arts, architecture, and so on. Such terms are seemingly easy to deal with since they already exist, and all we need to do is just accept them as they are. But it would be wrong to think that terms created by the specialists are always appropriate and therefore need no improvement. Here is an example.
I guess most of you have traveled at least once by plane. On an international airliner, especially if it covers a long distance, e.g. a ten-hour flight to
4) objectivity of examples
By objectivity I mean that the examples provided should imply no value judgment nor represent the worldview of a particular group of people. When I came across an example under the entry “安乐” (peaceful and happy; comfort and pleasure) , I felt somewhat uneasy, for it sounds like someone is preaching. It goes like this: “青年人不能只图眼前的安乐” (Young people should not just seek the comfort and pleasure of the moment). But why just “young people”? Does it mean that old people are entitled to “seek the comfort and pleasure of the moment” because they are nearer to death? It is an inappropriate example because it carries a superfluous value judgment. To improve it, we can just cut it down to “贪图眼前的安乐”(seek the comfort and pleasure of the moment), and that’ll be quite sufficient. It is important for a dictionary to keep both its explanations and examples free from any judgment based on opinion.
Another example. Under the entry “卑贱” (lowly, humble; mean and low) you’ll find the sentence “卑贱者最聪明, 高贵者最愚蠢。” (The lowly are most intelligent; the élite are most ignorant.). The sentence was used during the Cultural Revolution as a slogan to make Chinese intellectuals believe that they were inferior to workers, peasants and soldiers in status as well as in mind, and therefore should be ruled by them and should go into factories and down to the countryside to receive reeducation. It is incredible that the 1995 edition of our dictionary still retained this remnant of the painful past as an example. I think this may be partly because the saying came from a great man. But the great man in saying this may not have meant it seriously. It is not only a politically incorrect saying in view of today’s situation; it is also logically incoherent. So what should we do with this example? I would suggest either omitting it or improving it to, e.g., “卑贱者未必愚蠢，高贵者未必聪明。” (The lowly are not necessarily ignorant; the élite are not always intelligent.)? That may contain some truth.
5) adequacy of sense discrimination
A dictionary entry may have several distinct senses, which need to be properly divided and adequately explained. This is called “sense discrimination”. On this point I’d like to call your attention to a very familiar word – the monosyllabic verb “读” (read). It often happens that the words in daily use are so familiar we are prone to overlook them. So “读” would seem to be a very simple word, with a transparent meaning and clear usage. In our Chinese-English Dictionary (1995), “读” is explained in the following way:
①read; read aloud: 这部小说值得一读。This novel is worth reading. / 读报read the newspaper aloud
②attend school: 读完大学finish college
But in the Dictionary of Modern Chinese (2002), four senses are given instead of two:
读dú ①看着文字念出声音 ②阅读 ③指上学 ④字的念法（例略）
Now what would you say? Are you satisfied with this sense discrimination? As for me, I’m not quite: I would say at least two more senses need to be added. One sense is actually very old, as shown in the expressions “我读的是文科” and “他是读医的”, meaning “study (a subject at university), major in”; or “读（一个）学位”, “study for a degree”. Interestingly, in English this sense may also be rendered by “read” :
Helen’s reading history at Oxford. (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 1998)
She’s reading for a law degree. (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2000)
So the sense “上学” (attend school) is just too broad and must be discriminated.
Another sense is rather new and derived from computer science, as illustrated by the sentence “你的盘我的机器读不了。” (My computer can’t read your disk.). The related expressions or compound words are “读取” (obtain and use data [from a computer]), “读入” (read in/into; enter data), “读出” (read out; extract data), etc. It is unthinkable that these senses should still be excluded from the newest edition of the Dictionary of Modern Chinese, compiled by the Language Institute of the
When I came to explain the prefix “阿”, the very first entry in most Chinese-English dictionaries, a sixth sense told me that something’s missing. In our Chinese-English Dictionary (1995), the following two senses of the word “阿” are given:
阿ā dial. a prefix ① used before pet names, monosyllabic surnames, or numbers denoting order of seniority in a family, to form terms of endearment:~ 宝 / ~ 唐 / ~ 大 ② used before kinship terms: ~ 爸 / ~ 妹
Similar explanations are to be found in other Chinese-English dictionaries. However, just consider the following examples in Wu dialects:
阿飞 (hooligan; street rowdy)
阿猫阿狗 (Tom, Dick and Harry; anyone in the street)
阿木林 (dullard; stupid guy)
阿乡, 阿土生 (country cousin; country bumpkin)
阿戆, 阿呆, 阿屈死 (fool; silly person)
The prefix “阿” in these words cannot be explained as having a sense of affection or intimacy. On the contrary, it carries a derogatory sense which has been neglected by Chinese-English dictionaries. Then again Chinese-English dictionaries alone are not to be blamed, for the explanations made by most Chinese dictionaries are none the better.
Now I’d like to mention a problem that has existed for years in both Chinese-English dictionaries and dictionaries of modern Chinese. This is the problem of the “dead entry”. I use this term to refer to a single-character entry (i.e. a monosyllabic word) which lacks any definition or explanation and is simply indicated by “见下” (see below). If you look through the Dictionary of Modern Chinese, you’ll easily find a number of them. For example,
碉diāo 见下
碉堡diāob?o 军事上防守用的坚固建筑物…
碉楼diāolóu 防守和瞭望用的较高建筑物
Chinese-English dictionaries as a rule have followed this practice, leaving “碉” undefined:
碉diāo see below
碉堡diāob?o pillbox; blockhouse
碉楼diāolóu watchtower
In principal, however, it is unreasonable for an entry to stand without being defined or explained in some way. Surely “碉” is dead in the sense that it cannot be used alone, and even as a component (i.e. a morpheme) it is inactive – it has never been productive. Yet we have to say what it is. It’s a matter of principle that wherever there is an entry , there should be a definition or an explanation. As for the case cited here, it is not difficult to handle. In old Chinese “碉” is a noun, meaning “rock cave”. We may find it in the Yu Pian (《玉篇》, a dictionary compiled by Gu Yewang (顾野王 519-583) during the Liang Dynasty, where it is defined as “rock cave”. Accordingly, I consider it appropriate to define “碉” as such; however it should be clearly stated that the word is no longer in use, i.e. it should be marked with “〈古〉” (archaic).
Similarly in the case of “蝮”, a dead entry indicated by “see below” and followed by the entry “蝮蛇” (viper; adder). To clarify it, we just need to explain its original meaning:
蝮fù 〈古〉 ①a kind of insect ②a kind of poisonous snake
Maybe we’ll never know what it precisely referred to in ancient times, but it’s better than nothing. Moreover, this explanation can show the link between the dead word “蝮” and the living word “蝮蛇”.
It is vital that a dictionary should leave no entry undefined, and this is exactly what Xu Shen (许慎) intended to do when he compiled the Shuo Wen Jie Zi (说文解字). Naturally he also encountered characters and words he didn’t quite understand, but he would never say “see below”. Instead he would say, “this probably means this, but I’m not quite sure, so I’ll leave it for future investigation”, and so on. This attitude of his is scientific and realistic as well. Above all, he was conscientious and focused on evidence. To end my talk, I’d like to cite something from a postscript to his Dictionary which he wrote himself. “This dictionary”, he said, “consists of 14 chapters; 540 radicals (by which the characters are arranged); altogether 9353 character entries, not including 1163 variants; while definitions and explanations amount to 133,441 characters.” When I read these words, I couldn’t help admiring his precision and conscientiousness. He must have been very patient and careful to have counted up the entries one by one, and counted the total number of characters in the dictionary up to the last digit. That’s because he lived in a time that demanded academic accuracy. And he had to be accurate because his Dictionary was dedicated to the Emperor, otherwise he might lose his status, and at worst, his head. No matter what inspired or forced him to be so, after so many years he still deserves the title of model lexicographer.
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多一本词典，多一位老师2005-12-30 16:07:50
北京外国语大学英语系教授 张载梁 摘自：《英语学习》2002年第6期 学英语就得查词典。初学阶段也许一本简单的英汉词典就够用了，但是随着学习的进展，单单一本词典往往解决不了学习中所遇到的种种问题。这时候了解不同词典的特点，知道什么样的问题查什么词典和怎样去查就变得十分重要。
英汉词典用起来比较方便，但是代替不了英英词典。原因是英汉词典只是用汉语翻译一个词的各种含义，而英英词典则是用英语解释一个词的基本含义。翻译不是解释，具体语境多种多样，词典不可能提供所有可能的翻译。而且由于两种语言之间存在巨大差异，通过汉语去学习英语词汇会造成认识上的误区，导致使用中的错误。英英词典是用英语解释英语，这有助于准确掌握一个词的基本含义，而了解了基本含义，不管语境怎样变化都能结合具体的语境确定一个词的含义。例如，英语中insist，persist翻译成汉语都可能是“坚持”，这样的翻译并不能准确表明它们的基本含义，英英词典则不然，它告诉你insist的意思是“to say firmly and repeatedly that something is true，refuse to let anyone say no”，persist的含义则是“to continue to do something，although this is difficult or other people warn you not to do it”。将一个英语单词和一个相应的汉语单词等同起来在初学阶段是难以避免的。但要想学好英语，要想逐步摆脱汉语的影响，查英英词典，学会用英语解释英语则是必须走的一步。
学习使用英英词典越早越好。幸运的是我们现在有几本专门为英语学习者编写的英英词典可帮助我们提前实现这个目标。首先，这些词典都是用最简单的词汇来释义。《朗文当代英语辞典》（Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English）释义所用词汇不超过 2，000个。例如 epilogue的解释是 “a speech or a piece of writing added to the end a book, film, or play”。
其次，它们都很注意初学者在使用英语时可能遇到的实际问题。例如，它们都在名词后面标出[C]（可数）和 [U]不可数。这就告诉我们象news，information，equipment 这样一些词是不可数的，前面不能用不定冠词，也没有复数形式。因此，“一个好消息”就不能译成“a good news”而应该是，“good news”；设备数量再多也只是“equipment” 而不是“equipments”。
英英词典的数量和种类都比英汉词典多。学会使用上述专门为英语学习者编写的英英词典是非常必要的。一旦开始使用英英词典，你在学习上就会有一种豁然开朗的感觉。这说明你的学习到了一个新的阶段。俗话说，多个朋友多条路，我们可以说：多一本词典多一位老师。如果说英汉词典是中国老师的话，那么英英词典就是英国老师。
源可乐谈词典2005-12-30 16:03:58
源可乐 摘自：《英语学习》2004年第5期 工欲善其事，必先利其器。学习英语，除了要有正确的方法外，还要善于使用工具书。多种调查结果显示，对于选用什么词典，如何使用词典的问题，许多学习者都不甚了解，因而成为英语学习和教学上的一个障碍。下面我打算简单地谈谈这个问题。
选用什么词典？平常使用的英语词典大体可以分成两类：阅读型和学习型。阅读型词典旨在帮助解决阅读过程中的遇到的问题，如不懂的单词和短语，因此提供准确的解释，多收录词义、短语等，配上适当的例证往往是本类词典的做法。至于百科性的词条，英语词典多不收录，但有个例外是The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998)，他借鉴了美国词典的做法。国内出版的阅读型词典首推《英汉大词典》，也是两者兼收。学习型词典不但帮助解决阅读中理解问题，更重要的是帮助提高英语的表达能力。这类词典的主要对象是外国学生，因此释义的撰写尽量使用最常用的词，在配备大量例句的同时，提供各种各样的语法、惯用语和词汇等方面的信息。学习型词典英国出版过好几种，其中Oxford Advanced Learner‘s Dictionary和Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English都是大家所熟悉的。最近引进的MacMillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners (2002)也是很出色的学习型词典。不过，以上几种词典都只收录词、未收录百科性词条，特别是有关英美文化的。而英语学习型词典中最合适东方人的倒是多种英日词典，具有针对性很强的特点。从翻译过来的《建宏英汉多功能词典》（外研社）可以略见一斑。
作为英语学习者，我建议选用学习型词典，最好有英语解释的。因为汉语释义，许多时候和英语的本义可能有这样那样的偏差，容易引起误解。能看懂英语解释的，应尽量使用英语解释，这是英语教育界早已达成的共识。另外例句、语法信息是否丰富，使用是否方便也是选购词典的重要标准。
如何使用词典？我在这里简单提几点：拿到一本新词典，首先要看使用说明。看过说明才知道词典包含什么内容，许多符号表示什么，如何利用词典解决实际问题。例如：中学时我曾抱怨查不到take part in，很久后才发现该词条列在part的词条下。其次，查找生词的意义时，要根据该词出现的上下文，认真挑选合适的意义。选择第一意义，是许多人的坏习惯，也是许多误解误译的根源。另外，要多看例句。因为例句能生动地展示该词的含义和用法，深化词义从而能帮助记忆。最后值得一提的是，要勤查词典，特别是遇到常用词时。不少常用词有十几种，甚至几十种释义，一些不引人注意的意义常常成为阅读理解中的拦路虎。英语届前辈葛传槼先生逐条学习Concise Oxford Dictionary的常用词，一时传为佳话，由此可见其中的道理。
希望我的短文能引起大家对词典的兴趣。
（作者：源可乐 广东外语外贸大学英语教授 英语词典学硕士生导师）
英语教育非英语教学2005-12-30 16:02:15
许国璋 摘自：《英语学习》四十年精选丛书之《英语的门槛有多高》 学英语就要无法无天，要天不怕地不怕。
学外语，要眼尖、耳明、嘴勤、手快。只要多读、多记、多讲、多写，自有水到渠成之日。
学习外语，从事语言研究的人不要把自己圈在只读洋文（外文）的狭小天地里，一定要具备良好的国学（汉语）基础。
光学几句干巴巴的英文不行……不要总是把阅读的目的放在提高英文上，阅读首先是吸收知识，吸收知识的过程中自然而然就吸收了语言。
我教学生，从来不以教会几句英语或教会一种本事为目标，而是要教怎样做人，是英语教育：用英语来学习文化，认识世界，培养心智，而不是英语教学。
作者：许国璋（1915－1994） 曾任 北京外国语大学英语系教授 中国英语教学研究会会长
我怎样练口语2005-12-30 16:00:37
熊学亮 学习英语是一个循序渐进的过程，需要不断积累、操练和自我纠正。英语学习中的投入和产出基本上成正比，但集中学习和注重方法也至关重要，得法者往往可以达到事半功倍的成效。所有的学习者都希望自己能说一口流利的英语，但并非都能如愿。除了性格、习惯及神经系统的差异外，许多人抱怨环境，如无机会与外国人接触、缺少操练对子、教材与师资短缺等等。其实语言练习主要是个人的事，只要抓紧，也能无师自通。
由于文革的影响，我上大学开始系统学习英语时，已经25岁了。虽然那时各方面的条件非常有限，但因喜欢口语，就坚持自己学习。具体做法是：
一、每日对自己听到的语言进行无声翻译练习半小时左右，他人的言谈、电台广播等，都是很好的素材。听到中文，则将其译成英语，反之亦然。
二、遇到比较有趣的内容（如电影），则对一静物（如墙壁、家具或树）用英语复述情节，此时不必担心出现说错而引人发笑的窘况。
三、随着英语水平的提高，不断纠正自己，逐渐从流利向精确过渡。我认为流利先于精确，是较为可取的学习程序。失败是成功之母，过分考虑精确，怕犯语误，练不出好的口语。
丰富的词汇和语法知识是口语的基础。人不可能对任何话题都谈笑自如。通过多读、多背、多听的途径扩大知识面、养成良好的语言习惯是一方面；在口语练习中遇到词穷时将暂时无法用英语表达的汉语词汇记下，在汉英词典上查出相关的英语表达并通过记忆强化巩固是另一方面。20世纪80年代初我曾在华东师大教过一段时间的出国班英语，有的学员虽然阅读能力极强，但口语却很差。显然，这与缺少强化练习有关。就我自己而言，这些年理论课上的较多，出于对学生的考虑，上课多半用汉语讲。以前经常应邀担任各种外事活动的同声传译，主要目的是保持自己的状态。但现在因为教学科研太忙，已多年没有从事这种练习。我现在英语口语状态尚好，与我当年的自练不无关系。
定期适量的刺激，能促成质的飞跃，能够将牵强的语言能力演变成自然语感，达到信手拈来的境界。鉴别语言能力是以使用效果为准，即说写能力如何。一个口语在质和量上都达标的人，其读听能力也不会差。但在学习中要量力而行。因急功近利而一下子读写太多太难的东西，会破坏学习机制，结果适得其反。这些损失，我的感觉是在以后很长的一段时间内方能得以慢慢补回。
（作者：熊学亮 复旦大学外文系教授、博士生导师）
“自说自话”练口语2005-12-30 15:58:14
清华大学教授 吴古华 摘自：《英语学习》四十年精选丛书之《英语的门槛有多高》 有人说语言是工具，有人说语言是行为习惯。这些说法都不无道理。两种说法包含着一个共性：练和用。工具只有常用才能熟练，使用起来才得心应手；行为只有多次重复才能成为习惯。学习外语无捷径，必须反复练习和运用才能成为一种熟练的技能和工具。
如何提高口语是当前英语学习者较为关心的一个问题。口语提高的关键在于“练”，天天练，时时用。多练才能熟练，熟练才能生巧。先开口，不怕错，与人对练，“自说自话”。“自说自话”是极有效提高口语的一种方法，是为自己营造不受时间、地点及空间制约的语言环境。不用担心说错，先张口，后求正确；不会说的可记下来日后向他人请教，或者在阅读时，有意识地注意英语是如何表达的。大量阅读易上口、地道的英语阅读材料或书籍，是提高口语的根本途径之一。
利用一切机会去接触英语2005-12-30 15:27:38
王守仁 摘自：《英语学习》四十年精选丛书之《英语的门槛有多高》 20年前，我在南京大学外文系读书，我国著名英美文学专家陈嘉教授给学生作报告，谈到英语学习时建议：“利用一些机会去接触英语”，这一句话给我留下深刻印象。我认为：学习英语应该听说读写齐头并进，尽可能多接触英语。
中国现在的英语环境已有很大改善，只要用心，就会发现接触英语的机会很多：打开电视有英语新闻；报刊亭能买到《21世纪报》、《英语学习》等英文报刊；互联网的信息中，90％以上是英文；书店里也是各类英语书籍琳琅满目。面对丰富的英语资源，首先是要阅读。英语的听说读写四项基本技能中，阅读是基础。一篇英语文章，如果读都读不懂，怎么能听懂？怎么能用英语进行口头或笔头交际？阅读应该是精读和泛读相结合。课堂教学中使用的英语教材系统较强，可作为精读材料，应彻底搞通弄懂。同时，要阅读其他英语材料。打个比方，精读是豆腐干，细嚼慢咽，吃一块是一块。但光靠豆腐干是吃不饱的，而泛读是杂粮，可以补充各种营养。英国著名小说家康拉德是波兰人，20岁时还不会讲英语。但他最后写出了《黑暗的心》、《吉姆老爷》等脍炙人口的英语小说。康拉德主要是通过阅读英文报纸来学习英语。我不赞成只捧着一本教材翻来覆去地看。尽可能多读英语书刊文章，可以积累语言知识，巩固语法，扩大词汇量，提高速度，培养语感。
结合阅读，还要多听。我在英国留学时，每天坚持看电视新闻，同时阅读当天报纸。听不懂的地方，去查看报纸的相关报道，一下就明白了，收获很大。阅读时默读和朗读要结合，听英语时用心模仿，时间长了，就可以脱口而出，用英语表达自己的想法。培根说过：“写作使人准确。”写电子邮件时尝试用英语进行交流，在使用中学习英语，交际目的明确，能使学习过程变得有趣、有效。
听说读写齐头并进，可以相互促进。学习英语贵在坚持。三天打鱼，两天晒网，结果是永远也跨不进门槛。勤学苦练一年半载，坚持不懈，一定会有飞跃。
（作者：王守仁 南京大学教授、博士生导师）
英语词汇：记忆、理解、复用2005-12-30 11:38:28
王逢鑫 摘自：选自《英语学习》2001年第2期 精通英语，必须掌握大量词汇，如同修盖高楼大厦需要充足的建筑材料。学习词汇，如同交友，一回生，二回熟。从记忆、理解，到复用词汇，需要反复接触，反复练习。
说到记单词，初学者都希望别人告诉他窍门或捷径。入门阶段需要学会一千来个基本词汇。而死记硬背是必经之路。想不费功夫，就能记牢单词，恐怕是徒劳的。其实，记忆英语单词的过程是学习科学思维的过程。单词学多了，就有规律可循。科学记忆有赖于读音规则、拼写规则和构词法。此外，不要孤零地记单词，要记住它的“左邻右舍”，即搭配；还要记住它的上下文，即语境。
理解词义，初学者都会经历一个字对字的过程：book是书，ball是球。由于英语具有一词多义和同形异义的特点，学习者会发现 book和 ball还有别的意思。掌握词义，应知其一，知其二，甚至知其三。词义涉及语言差异和文化差异，字对字地理解词义常常犯错误。例如，dormitory只指单身宿舍，不指家属宿舍。最好还是意念对意念地理解词义。
复用词汇，要学会同义表达（paraphrasing）。初学时对待同义词应求大同，存小异，不必拘泥细微辨义。随着知识的增加，最终应知道什么地方用什么词最合适。即a proper word in its proper place。
年轻读者们正值青春年华，是学习英语，特别是记单词的好时光，千万不可错过。
（作者：王逢鑫 北京大学外国语学院英语系教授、博士生导师）
读些简易读物2005-12-30 11:27:09
钱青 摘自：《英语学习》四十年精选丛书之《英语的门槛有多高》 如何才能从仅仅掌握简单的日常生活英语提高到能表达思想，语言自然流畅，能看懂原著并就一般话题展开对话？最初阶段要提高较容易，已达到较高水平而进一步提高也不难，最难的是由初级阶段过渡到能读文字不太难的原著。这时，上精读课就很有必要，因为通过精读可以认识许多英语语法和词汇现象，从而加深对英语语言的了解。但光靠精读接触的英语是不够的。在国内学外语环境不够理想的情况下，主要应靠阅读简易读物来弥补不足。
阅读简易读物是吸收新语言现象的最好途径，这些读物中生词较少，不用费很大精力查字典，注意力可以集中在内容和文字的表达方法上，因此可以读得快，读得多。这样，一些基本语法和词汇现象可以反复接触。例如，反复见到虚拟语气的例子和过去完成时的使用会使学生加深对其正确使用的印象。同样，反复见到各种日常生活中常用的习惯用语、动词搭配等，有助于我们进一步了解在什么情况下使用，而不至于把英汉词汇机械地对应起来，认为任何时候出现这个中文词就必须用那个英文词表达。犯这种错误的人不可能说出和写出自然流畅的英文。
阅读简易读物能给我们提供英语句子的最基本成分，学会简单自如的表达方法。例如give in（屈服，让步、递交），give out（分布、公布、发出），give away（捐赠、送掉），give back（归还），give up（放弃、终止）等。这些动词短语都可以用范围更窄的外来词表达，例如give away作为“捐赠”可以用donate；give out作为“散发”可用distribute等。
用词同语法一样，都是英语句子的基本组成部分。掌握了这些，即便词汇量不大，表达能力仍可较强。读简易读物，反复见到一些常用词汇和语法现象便于我们学习一些基本语言现象，例如语法、词汇搭配，又便于巩固已学过的知识使其成为技巧。就像认识人一样：我们只见过一次的人往往认不出脸，叫不出名字，语言现象也不是见了一次就会认识使用。但在不同上下文中反复见到的语言现象就容易熟悉，进而逐步掌握。
应当看哪些读物提高最快？最好读一些没有专业词汇、文字较简单，篇幅较短、内容有吸引力的作品。这样容易看得快看的多，多自己树立信心。可以读简写的英美文学经典著作，例如《傲慢与偏见》、《简爱》等。最好是选英国牛津、剑桥及朗文出版社组织编写的读物，因为这些读物编写得很科学，文章难度适中，词汇的选用也是经过精心编排的。他们把小说中大篇幅的描写都删掉了，因为这个时期学这些无用。除此以外，可以选一些文字简单的短篇散文或短篇小说，最好是20世纪，以免词汇和句子结构太老化。内容最好是关于日常生活的，不要专业题材的，这类文章在《读者文摘》中常能找到。还可以读一些短篇的传记或旅行见闻性质的文章，甚至一些较浅的对话较多的世界侦探小说名著，如阿加莎•克里斯蒂的作品。要避开专业词汇较多、描写太细的作品。通过阅读这些书和文章不仅能学到语言而且还能了解英美国家的风俗习惯和文化背景知识。
（作者：钱青 北京外国语大学英语学院教授、博士生导师）
如何“登堂入室”？ 2005-12-30 11:23:43
梅仁毅 要学好英语，就要对语言本身及语言所传达的各种文化信息感兴趣。当你读到或听到别人用简洁的英语表达深奥的思想时，兴奋不已，立即记住，这就表明你已经对语言产生了兴趣。没有这种兴趣，难以在语言学习中登堂入室。
学习英语从一开始要重视语音、语调、发音、语调、重音、停顿，不求完美，但要基本正确。否则，将影响听力及口语，从而使语言失去交流的功能。
简易读物对打好英语基础极有用，要多读。一是数量要多，至少读四十本。二是要重复读，选出十至十五本，读三遍，读到许多问题印在脑子中。设想一下，别人能用一千五百到两千词汇写出几十本书来，如果我们能把这些表达方式掌握住，能够表达多少内容！
在基础阶段后期，或高年级，要努力背诵名篇，譬如说，背50－100篇。无论从语言还是内容来说，这都是精华。背熟了，对了解西方文化，对研究文字的运用都有好处。
（作者：梅仁毅 北京外国语大学教授、博士生导师）
陆谷孙论学英语2005-12-30 11:21:02
陆谷孙 压力与兴趣：英语学习需要有 pressure与 pleasure的结合。今日的英语教学中，接踵而来的考试和枯燥无味的课堂教学窒息了同学们活泼的求知欲和学习兴趣。学生应试技能一般较强，而口语表达技能相对薄弱，要翻个个儿，教师要使英语成为学生生活中须臾不可或缺的有趣事物，每堂课要在连续大脑轰击（brainstorming）的同时，使学生开怀大笑几次。
“输入”与“输出”：保持两者大致相当的比例，譬如说“输入”一百万字的阅读量，最好保持一万字的写作“输出量”。写完最好找高手修改，且不断温习修改意见。
模仿与对比：说英语要说得字正腔圆，只有亿万次的模仿；要减少母语干扰，对比最重要，譬如说对比出英语的动词时态意识、与汉语迥异的数字意识等。
【专家简介】陆谷孙
1940年生于上海，毕业于上海复旦大学外文系研究生班。复旦大学杰出教授、博士生导师、《新英汉词典》主要编写者之一、《英汉大词典》主编。
兴趣需要转化为持续的行动2005-12-30 11:17:18
刘海平 摘自：《英语学习》2001年第8期 站在英语学习大门口的人，总希望能找到一条“速成”的捷径，但对于希望掌握英语进行口头与书面交流的人来说，只有刻苦努力持之以恒一条道。学习英语对我们是一种新的语言习惯的养成，需要数年、甚至更长时间的日积月累。要在真实的语言环境中自如得体地使用英语，需要对中西文化都有一定的把握，这便更需学习者长期自觉地积累。
有兴趣，学习会相对轻松，容易奏效。兴趣会是天生，也可后天养成，有时会偶然激发而就。中学的一次英语书法比赛，促使我考大学时报了英语专业并以此工作至今。回想当年的选择，可说盲目、天真，但似乎也说明兴趣的重要。
兴趣需要转化为持续的行动。大学时曾一连数周对镜子练发音口形，以后又抓住一切机会与室友、同学、老师、朋友用英语会话；独自一人，也总自言自语背词汇，自问自答练口语。为提高听力，我坚持每天早晚听一次VOA或BBC，还用录音机录下 5—10分钟的内容作细听和复述训练。几年的苦练大大提高了自己的听说能力。打下了一些终生受用的基本功。
常有人说，过去的外语教学重“读、写”轻“听、说”，造成“哑巴英语”。如今，学习者应该更强调“听、说”。科技与生活的发展确实使我们步入了一个形象视觉和音响的世界，突出了“听、说”在英语应用中的地位。
然而，学习英语，“读、写”万万放松不得。会听说而不善读写是文盲或半文盲。人们用书面能力来最终衡量你的英语水平。阅读是学习知识、积累文化最经济、最可靠的途径；写作是训练思维、复习听读所获语言素材、化语言知识为技能的最有效方法。大学时，自己安排英语课外阅读材料，我基本是按照先“活”后“死”的路子。“活”是指那些刊登鲜活语言材料的英语报刊（我常买英文报纸读）、 简易读物，读了能很快在口头或书面上反复应用，使之进入自己活的语言库。“死”是指那些英语学习者需要阅读的英语著作、虽饱含文化知识，但因语言素材比较陈旧或偏窄，较难在日常交流中经常使用（如早期英美文学原著）。从学习、运用英语的角度，我姑且不确切地称之为“死”的阅读材料。先读活的，不但因其容易，而且因其能很快被使用而给读者带来成就感。
（作者：刘海平 南京大学外语系教授、博士生导师）
林语堂论学英语2005-12-30 11:07:23
林语堂 近年国内学英语风气甚盛，无论在中学、在大学或在自修，多少莘莘学子都在用功夫，日求进益。我想据我个人的经验，谈谈这个中的关系。
四十年前我在德国，听过柏林大学教出来的操华语的德国人，听起来象在北京长大的，但他们都是成年以后才学的；同时我在上海所见到的留过学的中学英文教员，文法冼练极了，分析词句精透了，而说出英文，毫不地道。
有人以为目标在了解阅读，不在口讲，这是把问题看错了。学习英文的目标，只在清顺自然四字而已。凡不以口语为基础的人，一定写不出平易自然，纯熟地道的英文。前英国首相丘吉尔可算英文大家，他有名的句子：We shall fight on the hills. We shall fight in the streets. We shall fight blood and sweat and tears。这是多么矫健的句子！何尝有一个不是小学生所能用的字？又何尝有一字夸词浮句？中国人写英文，寻章摘句，多用深句，所以才学不好。例如对人十分佩服，你说I admire him profoundly。便是古人做文章的做法，因为英美人士并不这样讲，用admire greatly才是自然，而用I take off my hat to him.才是真正地道的英文。
你要明白英语言文一致，而骨子里是白话，愈平易自然愈好，愈少粉饰藻丽语句愈好，,愈近清顺口语愈好，愈能念出来顺口成章愈好。中国人写英文，能写到这个地步的就不多，你写出来，外国人念下去像外国人写，就不容易，所以难能可贵，就在这一点。中国人要写英文，必先淘汰古人“做文章”的观念，才能打稳正当的英文基础。因此我们必须以口语入手，才能掌握个中窍门。
大家要注意常用字及口语的用法；英文那个“有”字，当然有have，而口语却是have got ( Have you got any money?) 。 老外这样说，我们只好这样写！ Forget about it（算了）! 也是一种口语。You are telling me (我还得等你说)?也是一种口语。Not a chance (绝不会)也是一种口语。这四个单字got, forget, tell, chance都是极平常的字，而运用在口语中，却是学好英文的最重要的部分！若是单求长字，生字，看起来文雅好听的僻字，头一步便走错了。所以说善于灵活运用平常的字，是学习英文的不二法门。
黄源深论学英语2005-12-30 10:37:51
黄源深 大量阅读对英语学习至关重要，没有大量阅读很难学好英语。现今学生的一个通病是阅读量太小，拘泥于短文章上的“精耕细作”，产生不了语感，因而口笔语都缺少外国味。多读文学作品和外国报刊不失为一剂良药。
写作最能使人感到英语学习上的不足，最能提高对语言的敏感性和吸收能力。好的作文是(学生)写出来的，不是(老师)改出来的，多写才能出文章。写作在开始时往往是苦事，一不坚持就会放弃，因而需要毅力。写作应辅以大量阅读，写作中出现的错误能通过阅读自我纠正。
英美人都反对背词典，因为对说本族语的人来说，良好的语言环境和大量的阅读足以使英语词汇得到多次重复，直到被掌握。而我国的英语学习者情况就不同了，生活在汉语语言环境里，英语的阅读量往往不足，难以在自然的语境中通过重复掌握该掌握的全部词汇。因此中国学生的词汇量往往偏小，对听、说、读、写造成很大障碍。我主张有一定基础的学生(如大三学生)或教师不妨背一背词典，细水长流，不要贪多，贵在坚持。背的同时要不忘阅读，使背过的词汇在阅读中得以巩固。掌握的词汇一多，学习者便有豁然开朗的感觉。
【专家简介】黄源深
上海对外贸易学院教授，华东师范大学博士生导师。
目前任教育部高校外语专业教学指导委员会委员、中国澳大利亚研究会副会长、中国英语教学研究会常务理事、上海翻译家协会副会长等职。
学术专长为澳大利亚文学、英语教学和翻译。
主要著作有：专著《澳大利亚文学史》、《澳大利亚文学论》、《澳大利亚文化简论》、《当代澳大利亚社会》； 编著《高校英语教材1—8册》、《英语散文选读》、《澳大利亚文学选读》； 译著《简•爱》、《隐身人》、《我的光辉生涯》、《惊醒》等。
学习英语无捷径2005-12-30 10:32:16
胡文仲 摘自：《英语学习》四十年精选丛书之《英语的门槛有多高》 学习英语无捷径。要想学好英语只有大量实践，多听多读，多说多写。不要被商业广告所误导。
对于初中级英语学习者我特别推荐英语简易读物，读的材料要浅显，故事性要强，读的速度尽可能快一些，读的越多越好。这是学好英语屡试不爽的一个好办法。
说英语一要不怕犯错误，二不要怕别人笑话。要争取一切机会讲英语，和外国人讲，和同学讲，和同事讲，实在没办法的时候和自己讲。例如，可以把自己想说的话录下来，然后再放出来自己听。
要多用词典，尤其是多用英语词典。如果读词典读的津津有味，就说明学英语已经上路了。
英语具有较好的基础以后，通读（注意不是略读或者跳读）一本浅显的英语语法书会使你有一种豁然开朗的感觉。
（作者：胡文仲 北京外国语大学教授、博士生导师）
英语学习中的常见误区2005-12-30 09:27:36
顾曰国 摘自：《英语学习》2002年第3期 我虽然是专职研究人员，但我首先是英语教师。我喜欢教书，因为这样我可以有许多学生。现在我想根据我的经验，把一些我认为英语学习中的常见误区跟大家交流。
第一误区就是把五种技能学习变成单一的看待。大家知道我们习惯上把英语学习分解成五项技能：听说读写译。这样分解是否科学，在此暂且不论。有不少学习者往往把是否看懂当成学习的标准。比如说，拿到一本口语教材，翻开几页一看，都看懂了，就认为太简单了，对自己不合适。这里的错误是把看懂代替了会说。看懂不等于会说。练习口语，内容不能难，目的是通过一些能看懂的内容来操练“上口”。也就是说，目的是让学习者通过练习，自己能说出书中相关的内容。口语教材的优劣首先要看语言是否实用，是否地道。
第二误区是把知识当成技能。打个比方，假如你想学骑自行车。我给你一本题目叫“如何骑自行车”的书，把书从头背到底，甚至倒背如流。这时你有了专家级的关于如何骑自行车的知识。但是你肯定不会骑。原因是骑自行车不是简单的知识问题，它首先是一项技能。要学会一项技能，核心问题是练，光有书本知识是不行的。学外语当然比学骑自行车要复杂得多，但它首先也是一项技能，光看语法书，默背单词是远远不够的，必须练，要把知识变成技能。知道不等于知道怎么做，知道怎么做不等于实际上会做。从知道怎么做到实际会做中间有个反复练习的环节，也就是苦功夫。学技能所遵循的原则是“做中得学”。
第三个误区是速成心理。必须认识到，要想学好英语，非得下一番苦功不可。所谓的“速成”纯属无稽之谈。学好英语没有捷径，只有方法的好坏。比如记英语单词，低着头拼命地默写，这就不是一个好办法。好的方法是大声地朗读，反复训练发音器官和耳朵，把声音铭刻在脑子里。这样既可以提高听力，又可以改进口语发音，还记了单词。默写只是训练了眼睛和手，可是它们不能替你听和说。
第四个误区是通过汉字记音。现在仍有人通过汉字来记英语发音，如“古帝拜”记good－bye。甚至把这种做法作为成果出版。这是极其错误的，后果也是极其严重的。大家千万不要这么做。错误的道理在本文有限的空间里无法讲清楚。
第五个误区是重结果不重过程。应试教育是重结果，带来的后果是整天做模拟题，找出打勾的规律。这是教育的大敌。质量和学习效果取决于学习过程。大家一定要遵照学习的规律，一步一个脚印地真学。只要学习对路，好的结果自然会有。
（作者：顾曰国 北京外国语大学教授、博士生导师 中国社会科学院语言研究所研究员）
“枕中秘” 2005-12-30 09:05:17
高厚堃 摘自：《英语学习》1999年第9期 一般人查词典是为了弄懂词的意义，而有些人却把词典当作有趣、休闲的读物。据多位作者所述，钱钟书先生就是这样一位读者。他把重得拿不动的大词典挨着字母逐条细读；他在漫长的旅途上手捧一本别人认为“索然寡味” 的英文词典，怡然自得地读了一个月；他在去英国的轮船上以约翰逊博士的《英文词典》伴随，深得其中的乐趣，自称趣味之深，有不足为外人道者。我想如果我们有这种精神钻研一本英文词典，我们在许多方面都会有很大的长进。
林语堂曾眷恋《牛津简明英语词典》和《牛津袖珍英语词典》，称之为“枕中秘”。他认为这两本词典对词的取舍是根据读者的需要，同时又把词当作活的材料，举出实例，十分有用。其实，随着词典编纂学的发展，几十年来好的英文词典层出不穷，尤以供母语为非英语的读者用的学习词典（learner’s dictionary）不断出现为最。例如《朗文当代英语辞典》，释义深入浅出（《朗文》释义所用词汇约2，000个），例证精当生动，语法简明扼要，辨析饶有情趣。对于英语学习者来说，其实用性已超出了林语堂的“枕中秘”。你不妨取其一二当作读物。读到不忍释卷，甚至须臾不可离，那么语言也就学到手了。
（作者：高厚堃 曾任《英语学习》主编）
培养学生综合语言运用能力普通高中英语课程标准与课程改革实验中的有关问题2005-12-30 08:59:41
陈琳 摘自：中国教育报 普通高中英语新课程自2004年秋季在广东、山东、宁夏和海南四省区开始实验以来，经过实验省区的各级教育行政领导、广大教师与教研员以及学校领导的共同努力，已经取得了阶段性成绩，在外语教学中贯彻素质教育的思想逐步深入人心，英语新课标中提出的基本理念已逐步在社会、学校、教师和学生中得到广泛传播。
高中英语新《课标》突出八大新理念
强调英语课程的两重性目标。英语新《课标》明确指出，英语课程既具有工具性又具有人文性特征。它对促进学生的人生发展具有重要意义，也对国家民族的发展具有重要意义。我们在高中阶段开设英语课程的目的绝不仅仅是为了使学生掌握一门语言工具，而是要使学生通过学习英语来“促进心智、情感、态度与价值观的发展和综合人文素质的提高”。换言之，我们要使英语课程在促进高中学生的人格塑造、情感发展、价值观形成和综合素质的提高方面发挥积极的促进作用。
以培养学生的“综合语言运用能力”为目标。高中新课标指出，高中英语课程的总目标是使学生在义务教育阶段英语学习的基础上，进一步发展“综合语言运用能力”。所谓综合语言运用能力是指外语学习不只是语言知识的学习，也不单是外语技能的掌握，而是情感态度、语言知识、语言技能、学习策略和文化意识五个素养的整合发展。正是这五种素养的有机结合与互相促进使学生掌握了综合语言运用能力，从而达到人文性和工具性的双重目标。
时代性、基础性和选择性的统一。当前，信息时代的到来和国际交往的日益频繁，已经使英语成为事实上的国际通用语言。掌握英语这门国际通用语言，可以为学习国外先进的文化、科学、技术和广泛进行国际交往创造条件。我们的课程改革，包括课程标准的制定、课程体制的建立、教学方法的改革，教学资源（主要是教材）的开发和更新，都必须具有时代性、反映时代的要求。高中英语课程改革，虽是在初中阶段英语课程基础上的延伸，但它仍是基础教育的一部分，应该为高中学生的升学、就业和终生发展继续打好坚实的基础，使他们具备作为21世纪公民所应有的基本外语素养。
但是．在我们强调高中英语课程的基础性的同时，还必须针对高中学生的生理和心理发展的特点，使高中英语课程有利于他们的个性和潜能的发展，能满足他们不同的发展需求。为此，高中英语课程就必须具有可选择性。而课程的多样化——既有必修课程、也有选修课程，则是实现课程的可选择性的必要条件。多样化的课程既反映社会对人才的不同需求，也可满足不同学生的多样发展需求。高中课程应能使学生在多种选择中，学会认识自我、学会进行选择、学会规划人生、学会自主发展，以不同的方式、不同的内容，为民族的振兴和人类的发展做出贡献。
倡导符合语用学理念的任务型教学活动。当前，以满足人的发展需求为目标的、强调语用的教学理念和实践在国内外得到日益普遍的认可。所谓语用学的理念，用一句通俗的话来说．就是“在用中学、在学中用、为用而学”。高中新课标明确指出：“在教学中应增加开放性的任务型活动和探究性的学习内容，使学生有机会表选自己的思想和观点。”“英语教学中的任务指有利于学生用英语做事情的各种语言实践括动，”“教师在设计教学任务时，可以根据不同学生的情况设计不同的任务，使所有的学生都能进步。”
关注学生情感态度的发展。英语新《课标》一个重要方面是关注学生的情感态度的发展，把学生情感态度的培养渗透到高中英语教学之中。高中阶段学生的独立思维能力和判断能力逐步形成和提高，是青年人形成价值观的关键时期。英语是一门外语，在一个非英语环境中学习英语，必然会有各种各样的困难，因而坚强的意志和较强的自信心就会有助于克服学习外语中遇到的困难。而积极向上的情感、活泼开朗的性格更有助于学生参加语言活动，获得更多的学习机会。大量的外语教学研究已经证明，解决情感问题是提高语言学习效率的关键之一。
强调培养学习策略。近年来国内外有关外语教学研究所提出的共识之一，就是学生使用有效的学习策略可以大大提高学习质量和效果。同时，培养学习策略有利于学生实现个性化学习。
提倡多元化与多择化的评价体系。长期以来，英语课程评价受传统课程评价理论、尤其是应试教育的影响，只追求表面的评价效率，片面强调终结性评价，导致教学和课程整体评价的非人性化或机械化趋势，与“以人为本”的教育思想背道而驰。评价被简单化为考试，考试的功能和作用被片面夸大，直至形成“分数决定论”。新的英语课程评价对评价体系提出了根本性改革：它尊重被评者的主体地位，致力于理解被评者而不是批判被评者，引导学生建立自信，强调评价的激励性功能，改变只重一时结果而不重过程的评价观念，纠正功利化的只重分数的评价标准，推动动态的、形成性的、过程性的、以人为本的评价思想和体系的建立。
按照“模块”设计课程。高中学生已经发展到可以独立地规划人生、形成自己独立人格及思维方式的年龄。他们需要按照自己的爱好、特长和发展方向，有选择地进行学习。而模块式的课程结构，就可以充分满足高中学生的这种需求．让他们在自主选择和主动学习中实现个性的发展。高中英语课程由必修模块和选修模块构成，有5个必修模块（1-5）、6个顺序选修模块（6-11）和若干个任意选修模块。同时，又采用学分来描述学生的课程修习状况，并规定了学生毕业的学分要求。
高中英语课改实验中提出的问题
高中英语课改实验取得了很大的成绩，但也提出不少问题，如为数不少的教师和教研员对高中英语教学如何面对高考，与初中阶段教学如何衔接，课标中所提出的教学目标是否过高，以及任务型教学如何实施等方面存在困惑。
高考问题。对有些教师来说，似乎以素质教育理念为出发点的 “综合语言运用能力”的掌握与学生应对高考的需求有一些矛盾。过去，高中教师尤其是高三教师，为了应对学生高考的需要，不再像高一、二年级那样用英语上课、着重学生的实用语言技能的培养，而是用汉语给学生做大量的习题，以帮助他们应付高考。而现在，按照高中新课标的要求，不能再搞“题海战术”。不少教师和家长都为学生的高考成绩担忧。我们认为，这种担忧是可以理解的。近两年来，由于基础教育阶段英语课标的试行和高中英语课程改革的推动，英语高考无论从形式和内容都在进行改革，但是，必须看到，高考的体制和内容还没有能够完全按照高中课标所提出的“综台语言的运用能力”的要求来彻底改革。在这种现状下，高三的教师，在继续培养学生的实际语言运用能力的同时，在课堂教学和课下作业中帮助学生为高考做一定的准备，不仅是可以理解的，而且也是有益的。从理想的角度来说，真正掌握了综合语言运用能力（包括阅读理解能力和基础语法知识）的高中学生，应当是任何类型和内容的考试都不怕，都能考高分。应当看到，“高分低能”的情况已在大大改变，“高分高能”的学生在日益增多。广大教师应当看到，高中英语课改和高考改革是一个统一的系统工程。只要我们坚持高中英语课改中提出的正确的教育教学理念，积极加以推进，加之《大学英语课程要求》的试行，英语高考体制必然会日益走上更加合理的轨道。
与初中英语教学的衔接问题。当前我国各地的高中，包括4个实验区的高中学生，当他们在初中读书时，义务教育阶段的英语课程改革刚刚开始试行。要这些学校和学生完全实施高中新课标所规定的一系列体制、标准、教学目标和要求，还需要有个过程。这个衔接问题也存在于教材的选用中。过去的初高中英语教学，一律使用人民教育出版社在上世纪90年代阶段出版的两套为我国英语教学改革立下汗马功劳的英语课本。而现在，各地各学校可以按地区情况根据需要选用由教育部审定的由不同出版社出版的课本，这就出现了教材衔接问题。这些在教学体制、教学目标、教材选用的不衔接现象，是在改革发展的过程中必然会出现的，是合理的，也是暂时的。只要我们从现实情况出发，按照因地制宜的原则，向高中课标的要求和规定靠拢，就会逐步走上正常发展的轨道。
高中英语教学目标要求是否过高。新课标着重强调了要求学生具备“用英语做事情”的语用能力。显而易见，这对我们过去所习惯的、主要要求学生“解读课文难句”“分析课文语法” “就课文进行回答”“记忆单词和句型”以及 “做课本中的练习”的教学路子来说，不能不说是一个革命。而这个革命的基本点，就是要彻底改变过去以单纯传授脱离语言实践的语言理论的教学模式，代之以培养学生的包括情感态度、语言技能、语言理论、学习策略和文化意识五个方面的综合语言运用能力。这是英语课程改革的核心，是不允许打折扣的。至于在实验过程中因地区条件的不同而对课程目标作适当调整，逐步达到课标的规定要求，不但是允许的，也是必需的。
此外，我们有些教师，对高中课标所提出的教学目标中的某些具体要求尚有不解之处，如对课标要求：“特别注意提高学生用英语进行思维和表达的能力”，觉得要求过高。事实上，对以汉语为母语的学生来说，除非他因曾经有过的生活环境使英语已经成为他的第二语言，否则，要求他用英语进行思维的能力，主要是要求学生在听教师用英语上课时、在答题时、在课堂上下进行英语活动时、与老师或同学及外国友人用英语交流时、写英语作文和作练习时应当用英语进行思维。换言之，在我们用英语进行表达和陈述、进行交流时，必须用英语来思维，这对培养学生真正掌握语言运用能力是不可少的。
对任务型教学的理解。 高中课标提出要在教学中增加开放性的任务型活动。指出英语教学中的任务是指有利于学生用英语做事情的各种语言实践活动。由于任务型教学的理论提出在国外也只有十多年的历史，是在交际教学法的基础上发展起来的。我们的老师对它还比较生疏，因此，还需要一个磨合的过程，这是十分自然的事。实际上，凡不是为语法而教语法的教师，凡是注意培养学生的起初语言能力的教师，自己都在有意无意之中实施着任务型教学法。只是不知道有这个名称而已。当然，我们在新课标中提出了任务型教学活动，并且概括了设计任务型教学活动时应遵循的原则，明确无误地倡导任务型教学方法，这就为我们广大教师提出了一个新的课题。这不仅使我们想起，上个世纪90年代，当人民教育出版社先后出版了供初中和高中使用的全新的英语课本、推介了交际教学法时，对不少习惯于“语法翻译法”教学的教师来说，是一个多大的震动。而今天，十多年过去了，交际教学法已经深入人心，得到普遍采纳，对我国外语教学的发展和改革起了巨大的推动作用。我们相信，以交际教学理念为基础发展起来的任务型教学，必然也会逐渐得到广大教师的认可，为提高我国的外语教学水平发挥作用。
教师负担问题。新课标使教师面对许多新的课题和任务，这不仅增加了教师的工作量，而且他们在心理上也承受着来自各方面的压力。因此，各级教育行政部门应采取具体措施，彻底改变以高考成绩、毕业生的高考升学率作为评价教师的唯一标准并把高考升学率与职务变迁、工资与奖金定级挂钩的做法，建立合理的机制，保证广大教师的科研、进修、培训的机会和时间以及起码的生活和照顾家庭、子女的余暇。
基础教育课程阶段课程改革是一件关系到今后我们基础教育的发展方向，关系到千千万万儿童青少年的健康成长，关系到中华民族未来发展的千秋大业。虽然改革的过程会有许多困难、疑虑甚至非难，但我们必须坚定信心、知难而上，着眼国家未来，胸怀子孙万代，把这样光荣而艰巨的事业进行到底。一句话，教改势在必行，只能成功，不能失败，必须坚持下去。我们已登楼望尽天涯路，衣带渐宽终不悔，相信在不久的将来，我们终会“蓦然回首，那人却在灯火阑珊处”。
（作者：陈琳 教育部国家英语课程标准研制组专家组组长，北京外国语大学教授）
薄冰论学英语2005-12-30 08:49:43
薄冰 如果我是一个初学英语的小学生，我将多看故事多看画，多听句子多唱歌。语法我不学，完全靠模仿。 如果我是一个初学英语的中学生，我将把好的课文念得正确、流利、烂熟，睡梦中会说出来，作文中会用出来。我还要读课外读物，并用简单的英语向我的同学复述故事的内容。我将学一点基本语法知识，以加强学习的自觉性，但绝不去钻牛角尖。
如果我是一个初学英语的青年，我将尽量结合英语实践（读、听、写、说）先把语法学好。就象查词典一样，我将经常查阅语法书。等我把基本语法掌握后，我将展开大量的英语实践，在实践中通过思考与总结解决疑难问题。同时，我将充分地利用好的词典、参考书，包括较高深的语法著作。
【专家简介】 薄 冰
北京外国语大学英语系教授。1921年出生。山西应县人。1947年毕业于国立浙江大学外国语文系。毕业后即担任英语教学工作。1950年开始在 北京外国语学院（外国语大学的前身）任教。他长期从事英语语法的教学与研究。对英语翻译亦有较深的造诣。近年致力于英语咨询方面的工作。
主要论著有《英语语法手册》（主编）、《英语时态详解》、《英语名词的数》、《高级英语语法》（主编）和《英语语法札记》（1—5集，已出或即出）等。