1、1Unit 1 Text AHow Difficult Is English? 英语有多难Like the national push for Asian literacy （n.有文化，有教养，有读写能力） in Australia，there has been foreign languages fervor in China，with English on top of the list. 就如澳大利亚在全国推行学亚洲语言一样，中国也掀起一股外语热，在这股热潮中，英语高居榜首。English is not only taught at schools，colleges and unive
2、rsities，but also at evening classes， on radio and TV不仅各级学校教英语，夜校、电台、电视台也都设有英语课程。Parents hire private tutors for their school children；adult English learners would sacrifice the weekend at an English corner in a public park practicing their spoken English with peop1e of the same interest and determin
3、ation.父母为学龄的孩子聘请英语家教，成年英语学习者会牺牲周末休息日，到公园参加英语角，与志趣相投的英语学习者练习口语。Is English such a difficult language that it really demands people to invest a large amount of time and energy before it is mastered ?英语真的有这么难，需要人们投入大量的时间和精力才能掌握吗? The answer，if I am asked to offer，is undoubtedly，yes如果我被问及这个问题，那么毫无疑问，我的答案
4、是：是的。From my personal experience, I think learning English means far more than learning its pronunciation，its grammatical rules，its words，etc从我个人的经验来看，英语学习不仅仅是学习英语发音、语法规则、词汇等，It involves learning everything about the countries where it is used and the people who use it它包括学习与使用该语言的国家和民族有关的所有内容。Withou
5、t such a complete understanding of the language, the English a foreigner speaks will inevitably sound strange or even unintelligible though there is not anything wrong with his pronunciation，sentence structure and the words he uses对英语没有这样全面的理解，即使发音、句子结构、措辞毫无错误，一个外国人所讲的英语也难免听起来稀奇古怪甚至难以理解。The social c
6、ustoms and habits of the English-speaking people contribute a lot to the difficulty a foreigner has in learning it讲英语民族者的社会风俗习惯增加了外国人学习英语的难度。Take the Chinese English learners for example以学英语的中国人为例，“ Hello “and “Good morning“ may sound a little bit simple to Chinese people“你好“和“早上好“是非常简单的。It is total
7、ly beyond the understanding of a Chinese English learner that native English speakers would be annoyed when theyre addressed “Where are you going?“，which is a commonly used addressing among the Chinese“你去哪儿?“是中国人常用的问候语，若英语母语者被问及“你去哪儿?“，他们会因此感到不悦，这一点让中国的英语学习者大为不解。Is there anything wrong with the Engl
8、ish sentence structure ? Of course not这个英语句子结构不对吗? 当然不是。It takes quite some time for a Chinese English learner to understand the western concept of privacy being violated in this address.学英语的中国人得费点儿时间才能理解这一问候语侵犯了西方人的隐私。By the same token，“Have you eaten?“(which is another addressing term the Chinese
9、people usually use)will sound to native English speakers that the Chinese are so hospitable that they invite 2people to meals off-handedly. 同样，英语母语者听到“你吃了吗?“(中国人常用的另外一个问候语)，会觉得中国人非常好客，会在事先毫无准备的情况下请人吃饭。Meanwhile，the Chinese would be shocked to hear，“Oh，its very nice of youWhen?“， if the addressee hap
10、pens to have a craving for Chinese cooking and has not had his dinner yet.如果听话者此刻正希望品尝一下中国美食，又碰巧没有吃饭，他会回答“太好了，什么时候?“，中国人为此也会大吃一惊。“We can say we are going to have chicken for dinnerWhy cant we say pig，bull or sheep for dinner instead of pork，beef or mutton?“ Chinese English learners may raise such qu
11、estions中国的英语学习者可能会这样问：“我们可以说吃鸡，为什么不能说吃猪、吃牛、吃羊，而要说吃猪肉、牛肉、羊肉呢?“Figuring out the reasons for the peculiar English vocabulary is no easy task for Chinese English learners对学习英语的中国人来说，为这些特殊的英语词汇找出理由并非易事。But the problem is that memorizing English words mechanically would be devastating and inefficient if t
12、hey did not know what had happened in British history问题在于如果不懂英国历史，死记硬背英语单词毫无效率。Thus learning English(and other languages as well)involves learning the history of the countries where it is spoken所以说，学英语(其他语言亦如此)还包括学习使用该语言国家的历史知识。A task of this kind is more difficult for Chinese English learners than
13、for people who speak a western language other than English because Chinese has nothing in common with the alphabetic English and China had little contact with the Western world in modern history学习英语的中国人要做到这一点比其他非英语国家的西方人要困难得多，因为汉字和英语这种拼音文字毫无共同之处，并且中国和西方世界在近代史上很少接触。Consequently，the background knowled
14、ge of English fascinates large numbers of interested and determined English learners in China but at the same time disheartens quite a few所以，在中国，英语背景知识既吸引了大量英语爱好者，也使许多人丧失信心。The Western and Oriental values are found to be in confrontation in learning English英语学习中，东西方的价值观念是相互冲突的。Native English speaker
15、s may complain about Chinese confusion when using “he“ and “she“，for the two words sound the same，though，different in written forms in Chinese英语母语的人会混淆汉语中“他“她“的用法，因为这两个字尽管字形不同，读音却相同，他们因此常常抱怨。As a result，some native English speakers conclude that the Chinese are unable to tell the difference between
16、the two sexes结果有些英语母语的人得出结论，认为中国人不区分两种性别。But native English speakers are more gender blind than the Chinese when they mention their cousins但是在涉及表亲的时候，英语母语的人更是混淆性别。The confusion caused by the confrontation of Western and Chinese values，to a certain extent，affects the Chinese English learners comprehe
17、nsion of what heshe reads and hears东西方价值观的冲突造成的语言上的混淆，在一定程度上影响学习英语的中国人对自己所读或所听到的内容的理解。Only by developing an understanding and tolerance（忍受） of different cultural values can a Chinese English learner reach the goal of communicating with native English speakers学习英语的中国人只有增加不同文化价值观之间的理解和宽容，才能达到与英语母语者交流的
18、目标。A Chinese English learner could not have a good command of Eng1ish unless he overcomes the cultural barriers(not all，of course!)in learning English3学习英语的中国人，只有在学习英语的过程中克服文化障碍才能很好地掌握英语。(当然不可能是克服全部文化障碍!)Many Chinese translate what they think about in Chinese into English when they talk or write很多中国
19、人说话或写作的时候，将自己汉语思维的内容翻译成英语，This kind of English inevitably affects the fluency and flow of speech，the amount of information conveyed，and，above all，the quality of communication这势必会影响英语表达的流畅、传达的信息量，最重要的是，影响交流的质量。The above is，not wholly，how difficult English is尽管不完全，以上就是学习英语的困难。Some native speakers migh
20、t have said， “You foreigners dont use good English! “ at the time a foreigner fails to understand what he is saying英语母语者被外国人误解的时候可能会说：“你们外国人不懂地道的英语!“Why should l?“1 would protest，thoughStill，I have to keep asking myself：Is it possible for a foreigner to command English?我要反驳：“我们为什么要懂?“我还要问：一个外国人可能精通英
21、语吗?第一课：1、Like the national push for Asian literacy in Australia, there has been foreign languages fervor in china, with English on top of the list. 就如澳大利亚在全国推广学亚洲语言一样，中国也掀起一股外语热，在这股热潮中英语高居榜首。2、Is English such a difficult language that it really demands people to invest a large amount of time and ene
22、rgy before it is mastered? 英语真的有这么难，需要人们投入大量的时间和精力才能掌握吗？3、From my personal experience, I think learning English means far more than learning its pronunciation, grammatical rules, etc.从我个人的经验来看，英语学习不仅仅是指学习英语发音和语法规则等。4、Without a complete understanding of the language, the English a foreigner speaks wi
23、ll inevitably sound strange or even unintelligible though there is not anything wrong with his pronunciation, sentence structure and the words he uses. 对英语没有全面的理解，即便有完美的发音、句子结构、措词，一个外国人所讲的英语也会是稀奇古怪甚至难以理解的。5、Social customs and habits contribute to the difficulty in learning a foreign language. 社会风俗习惯
24、增加了学习外语的难度。6、By the same token, “Have you eaten?” will sound to native English speakers that the Chinese are so hospitable that they invite people to meals off-handedly. 由于同样的原因，英语母语者听到“吃了吗？”，会觉得中国人非常好客，在事先毫无准备的情况下会请人吃饭。7、The foreigner will respond（回答） “Oh, its very nice of you. When?”, if he happen
25、s to have a craving（渴望） for Chinese cooking and has not had 现在完成时 his dinner yet. 如果这位外国人此刻正希望品尝一下中国美食，而且又碰巧没有吃饭，他会回答：“太好啦，什么时候？”8、Chinese has nothing in common with English and China had little contact（联系） with the Western world in modern history. 4汉字和英语这两种文字毫无共同之处，并且中国和西方世界在近代史上很少接触。9、The backgrou
26、nd（背景） knowledge of English fascinates（使着迷） large numbers of interested and determined（坚决的） English learners but at the same time disheartens（使气馁） quite a few. 英语背景知识既吸引了大量英语爱好者，也使许多人丧失信心。 （2006-4 刚考过）10、The Western and Oriental values are found to be in confrontation（冲突） in learning English. 英语学习中，
27、东西方价值观念是冲突的。11、Native English speakers are more gender（性别） blind （判断）when they mention their cousins.在涉及表亲的时候，英语母语的人更容易混淆性别。12、A Chinese English learner could not have a good command of English unless he overcomes the cultural barriers（障碍物） in learning English.中国人在英语学习中，只有克服文化障碍，才能很好地掌握英语。IVAny livi
28、ng language is in a constant state of change任何 一种活生生的语言都是处于不停的变化之中的。That change is gradual（逐渐的） and continuous(连续的) 该变化是逐渐并且连续不断的。At any particular moment，it is almost hard to notice like most of the changes that affect your own body就像影响你身体的大部分变化一样，这种变化在某一特定时刻是很难察觉的。You dont notice them, but youre l
29、ucky if it feels as good and serves you as well as ten years ago身体的这些变化不容易觉察，但是如果你的身体如十年前一样好的话，你是非常幸运的。In that period of time it has changed但是在这十年间，你的身体已经发生了变化。It is the same with Language .语言的变化也是这样的。 The most common and the most noticeable 可觉察的 kind of change is what happens to vocabulary语言的变化中，最常
30、见、最容易察觉的是词汇的变化。New words appear；old words take on new meanings . 新词出现，老词增加新义。Even the native speaker might feel surprised. 即使是母语者对这些变化也会感到吃惊的。Mouse began to mean a small，hand-held device which can be used to give instructions to a computer to which it is connected by a short cable(电缆)Mouse 一词开始表示一种小
31、型的手动装置，这种装置通过一根短短的导线连到计算机上，可以向计算机发指令。To describe a person as green is a way of saying that he is naive(缺少经验的) or inexperienced可以用来描述一个人缺少经验。Now the word indicates a whole philosophy of life or a political opinion，and we have greenism (绿色主义)which is supported by greenists目前这个词表示一整套生活哲学和政治观点, 我们现在有绿色主
32、义这种提法，绿色主义者支持这种提法。In their shopping they will look for products which carry greenlabeling(绿色标志)which indicates that they have been made in a way which is not harmful to the environment .购物时，他们寻找带有绿色标志的产品。绿色标志代表 该产品的生产过程对环境是无害的。5Such products are eco-friendly(有利于生态环境的)and they are preferred by those
33、who are eco- conscious.这种商品是无害于生态环境的，有生态意识的人偏爱这种产品。Text BLearning a Language 学 语 言Most students would like to know how to learn a 1anguage more easily. 大部分学生都想知道如何能够轻松地学好一门语言，Most linguists and language teachers would also like to know this大部分语言学家和语言教师也想弄清楚这个问题。Linguists are working on this problem
34、in two ways语言学家从两个方面研究这个问题。First，they are trying to understand how children learn to speak and understand their native language.一方面，他们致力于弄清楚儿童是如何学会母语、理解母语的。They are also trying to learn how people learn a second language另一方面致力于研究人是如何学习第二语言的。Linguists are not sure how children learn to speak语言学家并不确定儿
35、童是如何学说话的。Some linguists think that children are born with an ability to learn and use a 1anguage一些语言学家认为儿童生来就有学习和使用语言的能力。 This does not mean that they come into the world knowing their native language. 这并不是指一个人的母语是与生俱来的；It means that，along with many other things，they are born with the ability to lea
36、rn their native language.而是指一个人生来具有学习其母语的能力，这种能力与人在其他方面表现出来的能力是相同的。With just a little exposure to the language，and a little help from their parents，they are able to learn to speak孩子只要与要学习的语言有一定接触，在父母的些许帮助下就能够学会说话。Another group of linguists does not think this is correct另外一派语言学家则对此持有异议。This second gr
37、oup of linguists thinks that children learn to use a 1anguage from their parents持反对意见的语言学家认为儿童是跟着父母学会使用语言的。They believe that parents teach their children to produce sounds and words in their language他们认为父母首先教孩子发声、吐字。When children know some words，their parents will begin to teach them to say sentence
38、s当孩子掌握一定词汇以后，父母就开始教他们如何组织句子。These linguists do not think that parents teach their children in the same way that adults are taught a second language但是他们认为，父母教孩子的方式不同于教成年人学习第二语言的方法。Instead，parents probably teach their children by talking to them and correcting their use of 1anguage.相反，父母是通过与孩子交谈并纠正他们的
39、语言错误来教孩子说话的。These linguists feel that children learn their language mainly from the environment .这一派语言学家认为，儿童主要通过语言环境学会使用语言的。 In this case，the environment is their family and their home.这种情况下，语言环境是家庭和生活环境。As you see，the first group of linguists disagrees可以看出，第一派语言学家对此并不赞同。6There are some other theor
40、ies about how children learn a language关于儿童如何学习语言还有一些其他理论。Many people are studying the process of language learning by childrenThis work is being done in many countries许多国家中有很多人正着手研究儿童学习语言的过程。Linguists are not the only people who are interested in this processMany psychologists，doctors， and parents
41、are also interestedPeople who teach foreign languages are interested, too不仅语言学家，许多心理学家、医生和父母都对儿童的语言学习过程感兴趣。外语教师也对这一过程很感兴趣。Foreign language teachers are interested in how children learn to speak their native language for a very important reason外语教师对儿童如何学说母语感兴趣，有其很重要的原因。If they knew how children learn
42、 their native language，perhaps they would have an easy way to teach adults，as well as children, a second language他们如果知道儿童如何学习母语，就可能找到一种简便的方法教儿童和成年人学习第二语言。This is a very interesting idea这是一种非常有意思的想法。Some foreign language teachers believe that adults learn a second language the same way children learn
43、 their native language .有些外语教师认为成年人学习第二语言的过程和儿童学习母语的过程是相同的。These teachers try to make their students learning similar to that of children这部分外语教师模仿儿童学习语言的过程组织教学：These teachers speak only the foreign language in the classroom课堂上只讲外语，They will not talk to students in the native language不与学生讲母语。They try
44、 to expose them to as much of the spoken foreign language as possibleThey do not teach them any rules for using the language他们使学生尽可能多地接触所学外语的口语形式，不教学生语言使用的规则。Most parents dont teach their children rules for language usage，either. They simply tell them how to say something correctlyForeign language t
45、eachers using this spoken language method do the same thing. 外语教师采用这种口语教法是因为大多数父母在教孩子说话的时候也不教孩子语言使用规则，而只是告诉孩子怎样讲话是正确的。For some students，this method is successful 对一些学生来说，这种方法是成功的，They learn to speak quickly and easily他们能够轻而易举地、很快地学会所学的语言。They seem to enjoy using the language，and they do not pay much
46、 attention to whether they use exactly the right rules for what they say他们似乎很喜欢去用所学的语言，并不很在意是否使用了正确的语言规则。Some students, however，cannot learn a language this wayLinguists are trying to find another way to teach them a language另外一些学生则不适合这种方法，语言学家着手寻找一种适合他们的教学方法。A second method，the rule-learning method
47、，sometimes works better with these students另外一种方法-语言规则学习法-更适合这部分学生。Some linguists believe that learning a foreign language is different from learning to speak ones native language一些语言学家认为学习外语不同于学习母语。They feel that students must learn the rules for using the language by memorizing them and must pract
48、ice saying things in the language and using the rules correctly学生必须通过记忆来学习语言使用规则，必须练习使用这种语言，练习正确地使用这些规则。7These linguists try to teach students the rules of the language they want to learn语言教师首先教学生要学的语法规则，Then they give them many sentences in the language to say over and over again再给学生一些例句让他们反复练习，The
49、 students are encouraged to make up new sentences，using the rules that they have learned and the words that they know同时鼓励学生使用所学过的语法规则和他们所掌握的词造句。Some students are very successful with this second, rule-learning method一些学生使用这种语法规则学习法效果非常好，They learn the language quite quickly and can use it well.他们学得很快，用得也好。They know the rules for using the language and can speak the language and understand it，too 他们掌握了语言使用规则，能够使用所学的语言，也能够理解别人的话。For many stude
