英语学习技巧系列.docx

英语学习技巧系列.docx

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英语学习技巧系列

英语学习技巧系列

陈觉法

一TheImportanceofEnglish

为什么要学英语？

英语的重要性是什么？

这是每个英语学习者必须首先弄明白的问题。

Therearethousandsoflanguagesintheworld.Eachlanguageseemstobethemostimportanttothosewhospeakitastheirnativelanguage.

 Theimportanceofalanguagecanbejudgedaccordingtoseveralthings.Thefirstisthenumberofnativespeakersthatalanguagehappenstohave.Thesecondishowwidelythenativespeakersarespreadovertheworld.Nextcomesthecultural,economicandpoliticalinfluenceofthosewhospeakitastheirmothertongueandwhowriteinit.

 TherecanbenodoubtthatEnglishisoneoftheworld’smostwidelyusedlanguages.Peopleusealanguageinoneofthethreeways:

asanativelanguage,asasecondlanguage,orasaforeignlanguage.Englishisspokenasanativelanguagebynearlythreehundredmillionpeople:

intheUnitedStates,Britain,Australia,NewZealand,Canada,someCaribbeancountries,andSouthAfrica.Asasecondlanguage,Englishisoftennecessaryforofficialbusiness,education,informationandotheractivitiesinagreatmanycountriessuchasIndia,Pakistan,Nigeria,Singapore,andthePhilippines.AlongwithChinese,French,Spanish,Russiaandsoon,itisoneofthefew“working”languagesoftheUnitedNationsandismorefrequentlyusedthantheothers.

 ItissaidthatEnglishhasbecomethelanguageofinternationaltradeandtransport.Itisindeedtrue.Mostpilotsinplanestravelingfromonecountrytoanotheruseittotalkwithairports.Allshipssailingontheoceanscallforhelpbyradioinit.Ithasbeensaidthat60percentoftheworld’sradiobroadcastsand70percentoftheworld’smailusesEnglish.Atinternationalsportsmeets,atmeetingsofscientistsfromdifferentcountriesandattalksofwritersandartistsfromthecornersoftheearth,Englishisthelanguagemostcommonlyusedandthemostwidelyunderstood.Englishhasinfactbecomethelanguageofinternationalcooperationinscienceandtechnology.Themostadvancedresultsinspace,nuclearandcomputerresearcharepublishedinit.AscientistwhospeaksandwritesEnglishisinclosertouchwiththescientistsinothercountriesthanonewhodoesn’t.

 InChina,moreandmorepeoplehavebeenlearningEnglishasaforeignlanguagesincethereformandopeningup.Atpresent,allthemiddleschoolsandsomeprimaryschoolshaveEnglishlessons.Withtheall-arounddevelopmentofsociety,weareexperiencingmoreandmoreinternationalintercourse（交往）inallkindsoffields,inwhichweuseEnglishasthemajortoolforconversation.Generallyspeaking,wecanhardlydowithoutEnglishinalltheinternationalactivities.Asthe2008BeijingOlympicGamesisdrawingnear,anotherEnglishheathasappearedalloverthecountry,especiallyinBeijing.IntimetheChinesepeoplearesuretoshowtotheworldtheirhighqualityofEnglishlanguageaswellastheirbrand-newlookinspirit. 

 Englishisplayingaevenmoreimportantroleininternationalaffairsthanever.Onlywhenwerealizeitsimportancecanwestudyhardatitanduseittoservesocietywell.（520words）

Questions:

1.      Howcanwejudgetheimportanceofalanguage?

2.      HowmanypeoplespeakEnglishasanativelanguageintheworld?

3.      HowmanypeopleuseEnglishasasecondlanguageinofficialbusiness,education,informationandsoon?

4.      Howmuchoftheworld’sradioandtheworld’smailusesEnglish?

5.      WhyhasanotherEnglishheatappearedinChina?

Answers:

1.      Wecanjudgeitaccordingtothreethings:

thenumberofitsnativespeakers,howwidelythenativespeakersarespreadandthecultural,economicandpoliticalinfluenceofitsnativespeakers.

2.      Nearlythreehundredmillion.

3.      Morethan1billion（includingIndians,Pakistanis,etc.）.

4.      60percentand70percentseparately（分别）.

Becausethe2008BeijingOlympicGamesisdrawingnear.

二AfifthskillneededtomasterEnglish

学好英语的第五种技能——良好的语感

英语学习十分强调听说读写；然而更重要的是，要养成用外语进行思维的习惯。

这种习惯或意识就是“语感”。

英国诺丁汉大学教授罗纳德·卡特把它称为学好英语必须掌握的“第五种技能”。

SpeakingofEnglishstudy,asweallknow,reading,writing,speakingandlisteningareimportantforcompletemasteryoftheEnglishlanguage,andmanypeopleeventhinkthatsolongaswemasterthefourkindsofskills,wecanstudyEnglishwell.

 But,accordingtoRonaldCarter,aprofessoroftheSchoolofEnglishStudiesattheUniversityofNottinghamintheUK,weneedyetanotherskill,afifthone,inordertomasterthelanguage.

 What’slanguageawareness?

Whatareitsfunctions?

 Languageawarenessisthethinkingskill,theabilitytothinkinandaboutalanguageandtoreflect（think）onit.Itisnotonlysomethinganativespeakerdoesbutsomethingthatcanhelpstudentsfromothercountriesunderstandhowlanguagesworkandhowpeoplelearnalanguageanduseit.

 CartermadethispointinaspeechataninternationalEnglishlanguageseminar（研讨会）heldinChinanolongbefore.Hespokeabout“LanguageAwarenessandEnglishlanguageTeaching”attheInternationalAnnualTEFL-China（TeachingEnglishasaForeignLanguage）Conference.

 Carter’slecturegavealotofattentiontohowtraditionalEnglishteachingoverlookstheroleofactivethinkinginthelearningprocessandsetpeoplethinkingaboutit.

 Carterbelievesthatreflectivethinking（沉思）canhelpincreaselanguageawareness—explicit（clear）knowledgeaboutlanguage—amongstudents.Itisdefined（explained）asakindofconsciousperception（有意识的感觉）andsensitivity（敏感）inlanguagelearningaswellasintheteachingandapplicationprocess.

 Thefocusoflanguageawarenessisencouraginglearnerstobemoreconscious,topayattentiontomorethingsandtobecomemorereflective,Carterexplained.

 Infact,theoriesoflanguageawarenessappliedtoforeignlanguageteachinghavebeenaroundfordecades.Andresearchhasprovedtheadvantageofactivethinking.

 “Myresearchshowsinmanywaysthatareflectivelanguagelearnerisaneffectiveone.Agoodlanguagelearnerisonewhoiswillingtoaskquestionsaboutthelanguage.Whyshouldwedothat?

Whatisthepurposeofacertainsentenceoraword?

”Carterexplained.

 HealsoplacedstressonitthatEnglishteachersshouldpayattentiontothesequestionsiftheywanttoencouragestudentstoaskquestionsanddevelopthehabitofthinkingaboutthelanguageitself,whilestudentsthemselvesshouldalsodeeplyrealizethisandpaymuchattentiontotheirlanguageawarenessandtrytoimprovetheirlanguageawarenessthroughpractice. （403words）

ComprehensionCheck:

1.      WhatarethefiveskillsoflearningEnglishwellaccordingtoRonaldCarter?

2.      What’s“thethinkingskill”?

3.      Howtojudgewhetherastudentisonewithorwithoutlanguageawareness?

Answers:

1.      Reading,writing,speaking,listeningandlanguageawareness/thinkingskill.

2.      It’stheabilitytothinkinandaboutalanguageandtoreflectonit.

3.      Astudentwithlanguageawarenessiswillingtoaskquestionsaboutthelanguageandthinkinit.

三Howdowelearnandremember?

   怎样才能学好英语？

怎样才能记得牢？

这些都是同学们苦苦追求并渴望获得的技能。

读读下面这篇文章，它也许会给你一个满意的答案。

Howdowelearn?

“Practice,”saysthepianoteacher.“Practicethreehoursaday,everyday,andinfourorfiveyearsyouwillhavemademuchprogress.”

HowdowelearnandrememberEnglishwell?

“Practice,”saystheEnglishteacher.“Practisespeaking,listening,writingforhoursaday,andyou’llmasterthelanguageinapossibleshortperiod.” 

 “Study,”saysthehistoryprofessor.“Practice,”saysthetennisinstructororthetrackcoach.Practice,study,practice.Wheneverthetaskisatallcomplex,whetheritistheacquisition（获得）ofaskillsuchaspianoplayingortennis,orthemasteryofanintellectualactivitysuchaschess,mathematics,or17th-centuryhistory—theprocedureisthesame:

study,practice.Learningtakestime;learningtakeseffort.

 Considerhowlongittakestolearnalanguage.Childrenarestilllearningthegrammaroftheirnativelanguagewhentheyarewellintotheirteenageyear.Thelearningofvocabularycontinuesoverthewholelife.Anadultmaynevermanageallthesubtleties（微妙）ofasecondlanguage.

 Howlongdoesittaketolearn?

Therecanbenodefiniteanswer,becausetheremaybenoendtothelearningofalanguage.We’vewatchedpeoplelearntorideaunicycle（单轮脚踏车）,tousenewcomputersystems.Fivethousandhoursseemstobeareasonableminimum（最小量）forlearningsuchthings.Thatsoundslikealotoftime.Itisn’t.Fivethousandhoursistheequivalentoftwoandahalfyearsofstudy,eighthoursaday,fivedaysaweek,50weeksayear.Thelearningoftabletennis,baseball,psychology,programming,andchessgivesmuchthesameanswer.Almostanyactivitythatisdifficultenoughtolearnobviouslyrequiresthousandsofhoursofstudyandpracticeoverperiodsofyearstoreachgreatability.

 Withintellectual（智力的）activities,oneproblemoflearningissimplythesizeofthetask.Howdoesonelearnacomplex（复杂的）intellectualtopic?

Thetaskisnoteasy.Thedifficultyseemstolieintheinter-relationshipsamongtheideasthatmustbeacquired.Itisthetotalityofthetopicthatrequirestimeandmentaleffort.

 Withsportsortheperformingarts,thereisanadditionalissue:

thebodyandlimbs（四肢）mustbecontrolledwithgreatprecision（精确）.Thisrequiresmotorlearning,anachievementthatisboththesameas,anddifferentfrom,thelearningofintellectualskills.Motorskillscanbedevelopedtohighlevelsofperformance.AsinglepianopiecebyChopinmaylast20minutesandrequiretheplayingof10,000notes.Somepianopiecesrequiretheperformertoplayupto25notespersecondformanyminutes.Practice,practice,practice.Itisonl