評論
打印
Read and Explore
閱讀與探究
Text A
文章A
As English is becoming an international language and thus a useful tool for people in the world to communicate with one another, more and more people are learning English. And they naturally hope that they can become competent users of this language within the shortest possible time. But are there easier, quicker ways to master English? Read the following essay and see what a language teacher has to say.
隨著英語成為一種國際語言，全球人們都用這種語言工具進行交流，因此，越來越多的人在學英語。他們希望能夠在最短的時間內熟練地使用英語。但是輕松、快速地學好英語的方法真的存在嗎？閱讀下面的文章，看看這位語言老師說了些什么。
A Language Teacher's Personal Opinion
一名語言教師的個人看法
Will Pidcroft
威爾·皮德克羅夫特
Every day I see advertisements in the newspapers and on the buses claiming that it is easy to learn English. According to these advertisements, with very little effort on the student's part, he will be able to speak the language fluently in three months or even ten days. There is often a reference to William Shakespeare or Charles Dickens to encourage him even more. When I see advertisements like this, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. If it were as easy to learn English as they say, I would have to look for another job, because very few qualified teachers would be needed. But a large number of people must believe these ridiculous claims, or else the advertisements would not appear.
我每天都會在報紙上、公共汽車上看到各種廣告，聲稱輕輕松松就能學好英語。按照這些廣告的說法，學生不必費什么力氣，要說一口流利的英語只需短短3個月，甚至10天就行。廣告還常常提到威廉·莎士比亞和查爾斯·狄更斯等英語文學大師的名號來進一步激勵學生。每當看到諸如此類的廣告時，我真是哭笑不得。如果學英語真像這些廣告所說的那么輕松，我恐怕得另謀出路了，因為不需要那么多合格的英語教師了。但是肯定有許多人相信這些可笑的噱頭，不然的話這些廣告也不可能出現。
It is natural for students to be attracted to methods that will teach them as quickly and efficiently and cheaply as possible. But it is difficult for anyone to explain in simple language why one method is better than another, and it is no use pretending that anyone has discovered a perfect way of teaching English in every possible situation. Some experts even argue that there are as many good methods of teaching a language as there are good teachers, because every teacher is an individual with his own personality. No doubt this is true to a certain extent, but it is not very helpful to students.
學生們喜歡實惠的速成學習方法也在情理之中，但要用淺顯易懂的語言去解釋為什么某一方法比另一方法更有效并不是一件簡單的事，而且也無需裝模作樣地聲稱有什么人已經找到了一個萬能的適合所有學習環境的教學方法。一些專家甚至認為，有多少個好老師就有多少種好的教學方法，因為每一個老師都有其自身的特點。這種說法無疑是有幾分道理的，但對學生來說不是很有幫助。
