1、第一单元 如何成为一个成功的语言学习者 TEXT A How can you learn a foreign language well? According to the author of this te xt, you might need to think in a new way, a process almost like going back to chil dhood again 如何学好一门外语？根据这篇文章的作者，你也许需要用一种新的方式去思考，这一 过程几乎像是再次回到童年。 。 。 Learning to Think All Over Again 学会重新思考 When
2、 you were a child, you didnt know what a tree was at first. Somebody had to t ell you. Probably your parents took you outside, pointed to a tree and said, ”Tree!” You had to learn to associate the sound of the word “ Tree” with the big green leafy thing you saw in front of you. 当你还是个孩子的时候，起初你并不知道树是什
3、么，得有人告诉你。也许你的父母带 你到外面，指着一棵树说， “树！ ”你得学会将“树” 这个词的音跟你眼前那个高大的绿色的长 满叶子的东西联系起来。 Thats what you must learn to do again when you are learning a foreign language. Y ou need to learn to associate sounds with objects, and to think in a new way. Only this ti me, since you are grown up, you will be able to unde
4、rstand what needs to be done much faster. Youll know why somebody is pointing to a tree and saying a strange word. You may even have to relearn it many times before you finally actually learn it. 这是你在学习外语是必须再次学会做的事。你得学会将声音和事物联系起来，用一种 新的方式思考。只是这一次，因为你已经长大，所以能够更快地去理解需要做的事。你会 知道为什么有人指着一棵树，说着奇怪的单词。但是你仍然
5、得学习那个新单词。说不定还 得重复学习多遍才能最终真正的掌握它。 There is an important idea here. In America our name for that big green leafy thing i s ”tree”, but in Germany the name for that thing is “Baum”. In Arab countries the name i s “shajra”. And in China they say ”shu”. These various words are not themselves “trees ”. Th
6、ey are just some of the many hundreds of different sounds used in the world to repr esent that great big green leafy thing. 这里有一个重要的概念。在美国我们称那个高大的绿色的长满叶子的东西为 tree，但 是在德国那东西叫 Baum。在阿拉伯国家，它的名字是 shajra。在中国，我们称它为 shu 。这些各式各样的词本身并不是树。它们只是世界各地用来代表那个高大的绿色的长满叶 子的东西的几百种声音中的几个。 To learn a foreign language you
7、 must get away from the idea of translating words. T ranslating takes too much time and mental energy. You will never learn to really speak a nd understand a foreign language if you have to translate in your mind. Instead, learn to associate the new sound directly with the image in your mind. So whe
8、n we hear the sound ”Baum” or ”shajra” or ”shu”, we dont want to think, ”Hmmmm. Baum means tr ee, which means that great big green leafy thing.” 要学习外语，你必须摆脱逐词翻译的想法。翻译会消耗太多的时间和脑力。如果你字 字都得翻译，那你永远也学不会真正地说和理解一门外语。相反，你得学会将新的声音和 头脑中的形象直接联系起来。这样当我们听见 Baum， shajra，或 shu 等音时，就不会去 想“嗯， Baum 的意思是树，树指的是哪个高大的绿色的
9、长满叶子的东西。 ” Dont think that the challenge of new thinking will be limited only to the area of new w ords it is going to go much deeper than that. Lets use an analogy: you can build a hous e using materials of very different sizes and shapes. English uses one set of building blo cks, but other languag
10、es will use different-shaped building blocks that take some creativi ty to put together at first . Where we use two blocks, they may use three smaller oneso r maybe one large one. 别以为学习用新的方式思考的挑战仅限于新词：它涵盖的范围要广得多。让我们打一 个比方，你能用不同大小和形状的材料造一栋房子。英语使用一套构成要素，但其他语言 可能使用不同的构成要素，起初还得用一些创造力才能将它们拼起来。我们使用两个构成 要素
11、，而别人也许使用三个较小的也可能是一个大的。 Here an example of an English sentence: We have to buy a few books before going home. When translating into almost any foreign language, you will not take each English word and substitute a foreign word for it .You will instead be substituting groups of words or ideas from one
12、 language to the other. How each language will choose to group the ide as depends on the language. In French or Spanish, for example, we have to buy is brok en down into three words: we/have to /buy .In Turkish, however, the Turks are to reduc e all these four words to only one. 以一个英语句子为例：We have to
13、 buy a few books before going home.不论将它 翻译成哪种外语，你都不会取出每个单词然后逐个地用外语单词去替代。相反你会用成组 的词语或者思想从一种语言替代成另外一种语言。至于每种语言如何选择词来表达某个概 念，各种语言不尽相同。比如，在法语和西班牙语中，we have to buy 被分成三个词：w e /have to /buy.而在土耳其语中，土耳其人能将所有这四个词缩减成一个。 So learn to start thinking in terms of bundles of concepts or ideas that will be convert
14、ed to new language and not single words. Try to think in a foreign language. This isnt all that hard. You learn to think in the language simply by using the language over and over again, asking and answering simple questions until you feel comfortable with the practic e. Then you add some new words,
15、 and a few more new situations, and practice us ing them together with all the words you learned in previous lessons. Bit by bit you build up skill. 所以学者开始以成组的词的概念或思想去思考，这些概念或思想能转换成新的语言而 非单个词语。尝试用外语去思考。这并不那么难。要学会用哪种语言去思考，你只需一遍 又一遍地使用它，问并回答简单的问题，直到你对这一过程感到得心应手为止。然后添加 一些新的词汇和几个新的情景，练习用在以前课中学习的所有单词来使用它
16、们。渐渐地， 你就会掌握这项技能。 Once you really get into the language, youll understand all this a good deal b etter. Somebody will be saying something quite fast and youll suddenly realize that you understood it all! Its a great moment. Really satisfying. You probably wouldnt be able to repeat the words, or even
17、 know how it was that you understood it all. But its a sign that the language is starting to sink into your mind. Youre beginnin g to understand without translating. 一旦你真正投入的学习这门语言，你就会更深刻的领会这一切。有人讲什么讲得很快 ，而你会突然意识到你都能听懂！那是一个美妙的时刻。真的让人心满意足。也许你还不 能重复那些词，甚至还搞不清不是如何全听懂的。但这表明了那种语言已经开始渗入你的 头脑中。你已经开始不需要翻译就能
18、理解了。 第二单元 父母 TEXT A The author sees a father and a son riding an airport shuttle train for fun, leadi ng him to reflect on the upbringing of children today 作者看到一对父子以乘坐机场区间车为乐，由此使他反省了当代的孩子教育问题。 A father, a son and an answer 父亲、儿子和答案 Passing through the Atlanta airport one morning, I caught one of tho
19、se trains that take travelers from the main terminal to their boarding gates. Free, the trains run back and forth all day long. Not many people consider them fun, but on this Saturday I heard laughter. 一天早晨经过去亚特兰大机场，我赶上一辆列车载着旅客从主航站楼抵达登机口。这 类免费列车，每天长时间的来来往往，没有人觉得他有趣，但这个周六我却听到了笑声。 At the front of the
20、first car looking out the window at the track that lay ahead were a man and his son. We had just stopped to let off passengers, and the doors wee closing again. “Here we go! Hold on to me tight!” the father said. The boy, about five years old, made sounds of pure delight. 在头节车厢的最前面，坐着一个男人和他的儿子。他们正透过
21、窗户观赏着一直往前延 伸的轨道。我们刚刚停下来让旅客下车，之后，车门再次关上了。 “出发。拉紧我!”父亲说。 儿子大约 5 岁吧，一路喜不自禁。 I know were supposed to avoid making racial distinctions these days, so I hope no one will mind if I mention that most people on the train were white, dressed for business trips or vacations and that the father and son were bla
22、ck, dressed in clothes that were just about as inexpensive as you can buy. 我知道如今我们应该避免种族歧视，所以我希望我这样描述没人介意。车上坐的大部 分是衣冠楚楚，或公差或度假的白人，只有这对父子是的黑人并穿着朴素简单。 “Look out there!” the father said to his son. “See that pilot? I bet hes walking to his plane.” The son stretched his neck to look. “快看!”父亲对儿子说： “看见那位飞
23、行员了吗 ?我敢打赌他是去开飞机的。 ”儿子伸长脖 子看。 As I got off, I remembered something Id wanted to buy in the terminal. I was early for my flight, so I decided to go back. 下了车后我突然想起还得在主航站楼买点东西。离起飞时间还早，于是我决定再乘车 回去。 I did, and just as I was about to reboard the train for my gate, I saw that the man and his son had retur
24、ned too. I realized then that they hadnt been heading for a flight, but had just bee riding the shuttle. 正准备上车的时候，我看到那对父子也回来了。那时我意识到他们不是来乘飞机的， 而是特意来坐区间列车的。 “You want to go home now?” the father asked/ “你想要回家了吗”父亲问道 “I want to ride some more!” “我还想再坐一会儿!” “More?” the father said, pretending to be ann
25、oyed but clearly pleased. “Youre not tired?” “再坐一会儿!” 父亲假装很生气，单明显很高兴的说， “你还不累 ?” “This is fun!” his son said. “真好玩!” 儿子说。 “All right,” the father replied, and when a door opened we all got on. “好吧， ”父亲说。车门开了，我们都上了车。 There are parents who can afford to send their children to Europe or Disneyland, and
26、 the children turn out rotten. There are parents who live in million-dollar houses and give their children cars and swimming pools, yet something goes wrong. Rich and poor, black and white, so much goes wrong so often. 我们很多父母有能力送孩子去欧洲，去迪斯尼乐园，可孩子还是堕落了。很多父母住 豪华别墅，孩子有车有游泳池，可孩子还是学坏了。富人、穷人，黑人、白人，那么多人 都轻易
27、学坏了。 “Where are all these people going, Daddy?” the son asked. “爸爸，这些人去哪?”儿子问。 “All over the world,” came the reply. The other people in the air port were leaving for distant destinations or arriving at the ends of their journeys. The father and son, though, were just riding this shuttle together, m
28、aking it exciting, sharing each others company. “世界各地。 ”父亲回答。机场来来往往的人流或准备远行，或刚刚归来。这对父子却在 乘坐区间列车，非常兴奋的享受着批次的陪伴。 So many troubles in this country crime, the lack of purpose that seems to be taking over the lives of many young people, the lowering of educational standards, the increase in bad language,
29、 the disappearance of simple good manner. So many questions about what to do. Here was a father who cared about spending the day with his son and who had come up with this plan on a Saturday morning. 我们正面临许多问题：犯罪、越来越多的年轻人变得冷漠无情、文化水平下降、粗话 大幅增加、起码的礼貌丧失，等等。我们有那么多的问题要处理。而这里。这位父亲却很 在意花上一天陪伴儿子，并在这样一个星期六的早
30、上，提出这个计划。 The answer is so simple: parents who care enough to spend time, and to pay attention and to try their best. It doesnt cost a cent, yet it is the most valuable thing in the world. 其实答案很简单：父母愿意花时间，愿意关注，愿意尽心尽职。这不要花一分钱，可 这却是世间无价之宝。 The train picked up speed, and the father pointed something ou
31、t, and the boy laughed again, and the answer is so simple. 火车加速了。父亲指着窗外说着什么，儿子直乐。是的，答案就是这么简单。 第三单元 儿童教育 TEXT A A teachers praise and encourage may influence a child greatly, Lets find out how the teacher in this story helped her student 教师的赞扬和鼓励可能会对一个孩子产生重大影响。让我们看看这个故事中的教师是 如何帮助学生的。 Were All Here to
32、 Learn 我们都是来这儿学习的 “Sixteen,” I said. I have forgotten the math question my second? grade teacher, Joyce Cooper, asked that day, but I will never forget my answer. As soon as the number left my mouth, the whole class at Smallwood Elementary School in Norfolk, Va, started laughing. I felt like the stu
33、pidest person in the world. 我说：“16。 ”我已经不记得我二年级老师乔伊斯库珀那天问的是什么算术问题，可我 永远不会忘记我的回答。那数字一脱口而出，弗吉尼亚州诺福克市斯莫尔伍德小学的全班 同学就开始大笑。我觉得我是世界上最愚蠢的人。 Mrs. Cooper fixed them with a severe look. Then she said, “Were all here to learn.” 乔伊斯库珀夫人用严厉的目光凝视着他们，然后说： “我们全都是为了学习而来这儿 的。 ” Another time, Mrs. Cooper asked us to wr
34、ite a report about what we hoped to do with our lives. I wrote, “I want to be a teacher like Mrs. Cooper.” 还有一次，库珀夫人要我们写一篇关于我们希望今后做什么的作文。我写道：“我要成 为像库珀夫人那样的教师。 ” She wrote on my report, “You would make an outstanding teacher because you are determined and you try hard.” I was to carry those words in
35、my heart for the next 27 years. 她在我的作业上写道：“你会成为一个杰出的教师，因为你有决心并且非常努力。 ”之后 的 27 年里，我心中一直牢牢铭记着她的这些话。 After I graduated from high school in 1976, I married a wonderful man, Ben, a mechanic. Before long, Latonya was born. 1976 年我从中学毕业后，跟一个叫本的出色的男人结了婚。他是个机械师。不久，我 生下了拉托尼娅。 We needed every dime just to get
36、by. College and teaching was out of the question 为了维持生计，我们需要每一角钱，上大学和教书是不可能的。 .I did, however, wind up with a job in a school -as a janitors assistant. I cleaned 17 classrooms at Larrymore Elementary School each day, including Mrs. Coopers. She had transferred to Larrymore after Smallwood closed dow
37、n. 不过，我最后在一所学校找到一份工作当清洁工。我每天打扫拉里莫尔小学的 17 间教室，其中包括库珀夫人的教室。斯莫尔伍德小学关闭后她调到了拉里莫尔小学。 I told Mrs. Cooper that I still wanted to teach, and she would repeat the words she had written on my report years earlier. But bills always seemed to get in the way. 我经常对库珀夫人说我仍然想教书，而她总是重复前几年在我作业上写下的那番话。 但是，各种开支的账单似乎总是在妨
38、碍我。 Then one day in 1986 I thought of my dream, of how badly I wanted to help children. But to do that I needed to arrive in the mornings, as a teacher - not in the afternoons to mop up. 1986 年的一天，我想起我的梦想，想起我多么想帮助孩子们。但是，要做到这点我必 须作为教师在早上来到学校，而不是下午来拖地。 I talked it over with Ben and Latonya, and it was
39、 settled: I would enroll at Old Dominion University. For seven years I attended classes in the mornings before work. When I got home from work, I studied. On days I had no classes to attend, I worked as a teaching assistant for Mrs. Cooper. 我跟本和拉托尼娅详细讨论了这个问题，问题得到了解决：我注册了老弗吉尼亚大学 。7 年来，上班前，我去上课；下班回家后，
40、我学习。没有课的那一天，我担任库珀夫人 的教学助理。 On May 8, 1993, my dream day arrived - graduation. Getting my college degree and state teaching license officially qualified me to be a teacher, but jobs were scrace. 1993 年 5 月 8 日，是我圆梦的日子毕业。获得大学学位和州颁发的教学许可证 使我正式具备了教书的资格，但是工作缺相当的稀缺。 I interviewed with three schools. At Co
41、leman Place Elementary School, principal Jeanne Tomlinson said, “Your face looks so familiar.” She had worked at Larrymore more than 10 years earlier. I had cleaned her room, and she remembered me. 我去了三所学校面谈。在科尔曼普莱斯小学，校长珍妮汤姆林森说：“ 你看起来很面 熟。 ”10 多年前她在拉里莫尔小学工作过。我打扫过她的房间，她记得我。 Still, I had no concrete o
42、ffers. The call came when I had just signed my 18th contract as a janitors assistant. Coleman Place had a job for me teaching fifth grade. 我仍然没有得到具体的答复。在我刚签完第 18 份担任清洁工的合同时，电话来了。 科尔曼普莱斯小学给了我一份教 5 年级的工作。 Not long after I started, something happened that brought the past rushing back. I had written a
43、sentence full of grammatical errors on the blackboard. Then I asked students to come and correct the mistakes. 就在我任教不久，发生了一件事，使过去一下子回到了眼前。我在黑板上写下一个满 是语法错误的句子，然后让学生来修改错误。 One girl got halfway through, became confused and stopped. As the other children laughed, tears rolled down her cheeks. 一个女孩改到一半就糊
44、涂了，她停下了笔。当其他孩子发笑时，泪水淌下她的双颊。 I gave her a hug and told her to get a drink of water. Then, remembering Mrs. Cooper, I fixed the rest of the class with a firm look. “Were all here to learn,” I said. 我抱了她一下，让她喝点水。这时，我想起了库珀夫人。我以严厉的目光凝视着全班 ，说道：“ 我们全都是为了学习而来这儿的。 ” 第四单元 代沟 TEXT A 当说话沟通失败的时候，文字让我们心贴心。 我的女儿，我
45、的朋友 我女儿朱莉 6 岁那年, 给牙齿仙女写了封信, 把信和牙齿一起放在枕头下。我给她回了 信,告诉她要做个乖女孩,一定要好好刷牙。没料到我们从此开创了一个传统。 朱莉上四年级时就已得出结论,除了欢迎牙齿仙女以外写字条还有其他用途。有一次我 们就为什么她不可以买双木屐激烈地争论了一番,事后朱莉写下了这样一个字条: 亲爱的妈妈: 以下是我想要木屐的原因: 1.你很久以来一直想要一双靴子, 最后总算到手了; 2,如果木屐伤脚的话,那是我自己的事情 ; 3,奶奶给我们钱过圣诞节时说, 我们可以用它来买任何想要的东西。 爱你的女儿,朱莉 我让步了由此朱莉领会到了书面语的力量。 在其后数年中,朱莉和我
46、互相交换字条 ,关于男孩子、家庭作业、打电话和帮忙做家务等 方面。有的字条是激烈争吵后的道歉,其他的字条只是将欢快的心绪倾泻在纸上。朱莉上八 年级时,她给我写的一张字条作了如下回复 : 亲爱的妈妈: 无论我心情如何,你的信都让我感到好极了。有时这些信都让我哭了, 因为我被深深地感 动了。尽管我们有争吵,但我非常高兴我们之间能够维系这种书信来往的关系。 . 我爱你, 朱莉 又及:对我来说,把自己的感情写下来给你看比试图讲给你听容易多了。 朱莉上中学的第一天,我们就她使用化妆品是否合适的问题发生了激烈的争吵。当天晚 上,我收到了她的一封信。 亲爱的妈妈: 我今天上午态度这么粗暴,真对不起, 但我实
47、在是气坏了。你根本没给我一个说话的机 会!如果你至少跟我讨论一下事情 ,也许我们谈起来就会容易一 点。 1,我以为我是很有责任感的, 能够学会适当地给自己化妆,让我俩都满意。 2,我不会像有些朋友那样抹得太浓我会认真阅读包装上的说明和杂志文章有关使用 化妆品的建议。 3,我渐渐长大了;我想修饰一下容貌 ,凸显出我的眼睛。 4.给我三个星期的考验时间, 试试我化妆的能力如何? 毋庸置疑,从此以后,女儿就开始化妆了。她整个脸庞显得容光焕发 ,这不仅是由于用了一 点点化妆品, 更是源于她所获得的自由感。 我的女儿几年前离家去上大学了。我非常想念她,但我们的传统再一次帮助我们渡过了 难关。她从大学里写
48、来的信真是太棒了。 第五单元 移动电话 TEXT A 有人认为手机是二十世纪仅次于电脑的最重要的发明。嗯，也有人不这么想 懂礼貌的手机 准备好谛听惊人的消息吧。根据一项最新的民意调查表明，美国人最憎恨但又不可或 缺的一项发明是手机。 麻省理工学院最近的一项研究询问了全美各地一千多人对发明创造的看法。30%的受 访者表示手机是他们最不喜欢但又至关重要的发明，超过了闹钟（25%）和电视机（23% ） 。 当然，这一点也不会让人吃惊。我们大多数人都对手机又爱又恨。 “我当然不恨我自己的手机，但我的确憎恨他人的手机。 ”麻省理工学院媒体实验室主任 克里斯 希曼特说。 “我们需要了解我我们的通讯对周围每
49、个人的影响。 ” 然而，看起来教手机懂礼貌比教人懂礼貌容易。为了达到这个目的，希曼特和他的同 事们正在开发能减少手机不当行为的软件。这对那些想讲礼貌的人来说也会有很大的帮助 。 这个研究小组试图让手机之间能够相互查询以便了解某个特定场合的最佳行为是什么 。这样一来，即使你坐在剧院里时忘记了关闭手机响铃装置，你的手机也会利用无线电波 向你周围的手机问询他们的设置。 “如果你周围的手机都处于静音状态，也许你的手机会接受暗示，采用响铃之外的另一 种方式来提醒你。 ”希曼特说。 这是个很简单的概念，但是非常有用。例如，你可以对自己的手机进行编程，让它严 密关注你老板打来的电话。这样一来，要是你的同老板通电话的时候别人又恰好拨了你的 号码，后者的电话就会被自动转到语音信箱中去。 研究人员还在试图让手机能够觉察出动静来。这样的手机会注意到主人生活中的惯常 行为，然后询问使用者在这些定期发生的事件来临时该怎样对来电做出回应。 例如，你每天早上步行去公共汽车站。你的手机会注意到每天在大约相同的时间你都 会慢慢地有规律的走上一会儿，停下不动，然后加快速度。在注意到这个规律后，你的手 机会问你它该怎么反应对于这种
