-
TEXT A
An impressive
English lesson
一堂难忘的英语课
1 If I am the only parent who still
corrects his child's English, then perhaps my son
is right. To him,
I
am
a
tedious
oddity:
a
father
he
is
obliged
to
listen
to
and
a
man
absorbed
in
the
rules
of
grammar, which my son
seems allergic to.
如果我是唯一一个
还在纠正小孩英语的家长，
那么我儿子也许是对的。
对他而言，
我是一个
乏味的怪物：
一个他不得不听
其教诲的父亲，
一个还沉湎于语法规则的人，
对此我儿子似乎<
/p>
颇为反感。
2 I think I got serious about this only
recently when I ran into one of my former
students, fresh
from an excursion to
Europe.
我觉得我是在最近偶遇我以前的一位学生时
，
才开始对这个问题认真起来的。
这个学生刚从
欧洲旅游回来。我满怀着诚挚期待问她：
“
欧洲之行如
何？
”
3
She nodded three or four times, searched the
heavens for the right words, and then exclaimed,
她点了三四下头，绞尽脑汁，苦苦寻
找恰当的词语，然后惊呼：
“
真是，哇！
”
4 And that
was it. The civilization of Greece and the glory
of Roman architecture were captured in
a
condensed
non
-
statement.
My
student's
was
exceeded
only
by
my
head
-
shaking
distress.
没了。
所有希腊文明和罗马建筑的辉煌居然囊括于一个浓缩的、
不完整的语句
之中！
我的学
生以
“
< br>哇！
”
来表示她的惊叹，我只能以摇头表达比之更强烈的
忧虑。
5 There are
many different stories about the downturn in the
proper use of English. Surely students
should
be
able
to
distinguish
between
their/there/they're
or
the
distinctive
difference
between
complimentary
and
complementary.
They
unfairly
bear
the
bulk
of
the
criticism
for
these
knowledge deficits because there is a
sense that they should know better.
关于正确使用英语能力下降的问题，有许多不同的故事。学生的确本应该能够区分诸如
their/there/they’re
之间的不同，
或区别
complimentary
跟
complementary
之间显而易见的差异。
由于这些知识缺陷，
他们承受着大部分不该承受的批评和指责，
因为舆论认为他们应该学得
更好。
6 Students are not dumb, but they are
being misled everywhere they look and listen. For
example,
signs
in
grocery
stores
point
them
to
the
stationary,
even
though
the
actual
stationery
items
—
pads,
albums
and
notebooks
—
are
not
nailed
down.
Friends
and
loved
ones
often
proclaim
they've just ate
when, in fact, they've just eaten. Therefore, it
doesn't make any sense to criticize
our
students.
学生并不笨，
他们只是被周围所看到和听到的语言误导了。
举例来说，
杂货店
的指示牌会把
他们引向
stationary
< br>（静止处）
，虽然便笺本、相册、和笔记本等真正的
st
ationery (
文具用品
)
并没有被钉在那儿。朋友和亲人常宣称
They’ve just
ate
。实际上，他们应该说
They’ve just
eaten
。因此，批评学生不合乎情理。
1
7 Blame for
the scandal of this language deficit should be
thrust upon our schools, which should
be setting high standards of English
language proficiency. Instead, they only teach a
little grammar
and
even
less
advanced
vocabulary.
Moreover,
the
younger
teachers
themselves
evidently
have
little knowledge of these vital
structures of language because they also went
without exposure to
them. Schools fail
to adequately teach the essential framework of
language, accurate grammar and
proper
vocabulary, while they should take the
responsibility of pushing the young onto the path
of
competent communication.
对这种缺乏语言功底而引起的负面指责应归咎于我们的学校。
学
校应对英语熟练程度制定出
更高的标准。可相反，学校只教零星的语法，高级词汇更是少
之又少。还有就是，学校的年
轻教师显然缺乏这些重要的语言结构方面的知识，
因为他们过去也没接触过。
学校有责任教
会年轻
人进行有效的语言沟通，
可他们并没把语言的基本框架
——
准确的语法和恰当的词汇
——
充分地传授给
学生。
8 Since
grammar is boring to most of the young students, I
think that it must be handled delicately,
step by step. The chance came when one
day I was driving with my son. As we set out on
our trip,
he noticed a bird in jerky
flight and said,
is the bird
flying?
incorrectly
instead
of
incorrect.
We
use
adverbs
to
describe
verbs.
Therefore,
it's
flying
so
unsteadily but not so
unsteady.
因为语法对大多数年轻学生而言枯燥且乏
味，
所以我觉得讲授语法得一步一步、
注重技巧地
进行。有一天机会来了。我跟儿子开车外出。我们出发时，他看到一只小鸟飞得很不稳，就
说：
“
它飞的不稳。
”<
/p>
（
It’s flying so
unsteady.
）
我小心翼翼地
问：
“
儿子，
鸟怎么飞
?”“
有问
题吗？我说得不
对吗？（
Did I say anything incorrectly?
）
”
他一头雾水。
“<
/p>
太好了，你说的是
incorrectly
而不是
incorrect
。我们用副词来描述动词。所以，
要用
unsteadily
来描述鸟飞
，
而不是
unsteady
。
”
9 Curious about my correction, he asked
me what an adverb was. Slowly, I said,
tells you something about a
verb.
action words; for example, Dad
drives the truck. Drive is the verb because it's
the thing Dad is
doing.
他对我的纠正很好奇，就问我什么是副词。我慢慢解释道：
“
副词是用来修饰动词的词。
”
这又导致了他询问我
什么是动词。
我解释说：
“
动词是表示
行为的词，
例如：
爸爸开卡车。
‘
开
’
是动词，因为它是爸爸在做的事。
”
10 He
became attracted to the idea of action words, so
we listed a few more: fly, swim, dive, run.
Then, out of his own curiosity, he
asked me if other words had names for their use
and functions.
This led to a discussion
of nouns, adjectives, and articles. Within the
span of a 10
-
minute drive,
he
had learned from scratch to the
major parts of speech in a sentence. It was
painless learning and
great fun!
他开始对表示行为的词产生兴趣，所以我们又罗列了几个动词
：
“
飞行
”
、
“
游泳
”
、<
/p>
“
跳水
”
、
“
跑步
”
。然后，
他又好奇地问我，其他的词有没有说明它们的用法和功能的名称。这就引发
了我们对名词
、
形容词和冠词的讨论。
在短短十分钟的驾驶时间内，
他从对语法一无所知到
学会了句子中主要词语的词性。这是一次毫无痛苦
而又非常有趣的学习经历。
2
11 Perhaps, language should
be looked upon as a road map and a valuable
possession: often study
the road map
(check grammar) and tune up the car engine (adjust
vocabulary). Learning grammar
and a
good vocabulary is just like driving with a road
map in a well
-
conditioned
car.
也许，
语言应该被看成是
一张路线图和一件珍品：
我们要常常查看路线图（核对语法）
和
调
整汽车的引擎（调节词汇）
。学好语法和掌握大量的词汇就好
比拿着路线图在车况良好的车
里驾驶。
12 The road map provides
the framework and guidance you need for your trip,
but it won't tell you
exactly what
trees or flowers you will see, what kind of people
you will encounter, or what types
of
feelings you will be experiencing on your journey.
Here, the vocabulary makes the journey's
true colors come alive! A good
vocabulary enables you to enjoy whatever you see
as you drive
along. Equipped with
grammar and a good vocabulary, you have
flexibility and excellent control.
While
the
road
map
guides
your
journey
to
your
destination,
an
excellent
vehicle
helps
you
to
fully enjoy all of the sights, sounds
and experiences along the way.
路线图为你的旅行提供所需的基本路线和路途指南，
可是它不会告诉你一路上你
究竟会看见
什么树或什么花，你会遇见什么样的人，
或会有什么
样的感受。这里，
词汇会使你的旅途变
得五彩缤纷、
栩栩如生。
大量的词汇让你享受到开车途中所见的点点滴滴。
借助语法和丰富
的词汇，你就有了灵活性，掌控自如。路线图会把你带到目的
地，
而一台好车却能让你完全
陶醉于旅途的所有景色、声音及经
历之中。
13
Effective,
precise,
and
beneficial
communication
depends
upon
grammar
and
a
good
vocabulary, the two essential assets
for students, but they are not being taught in
schools.
对学生来说，
有
效、
准确且富有成效的沟通技能取决于语法和词汇这两大有利条件，
可是学
校并没有教他们这些。
14 Just this morning, my son and I were
eating breakfast when I attempted to add milk to
my tea.
就在今天早上，我跟儿子吃早饭时，我想把牛奶加入我的茶里。
“
爸爸，
”
他说，
“
如果我
是你的话，我不会这样
做。牛奶会变酸。
（
If I were you, I
wouldn’t do that. It’s
sour.
）
”
15
You used were
instead of was.
“
哦，
上帝！
”
我满怀着无比的骄傲说道
，
“
这是一句语法完全正确的句子。你用了
were
而不
是
was
。
”
16
“
我
知道，我知道，
”
他愉悦地舒了口气，
“
这是虚拟语气！
”
17 I was, like, whoa!
这下轮到我
“
哇！
”
了。
TEXT B
The great journey of
learning
3
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