評論
打印
For a long time people believed that the only way to learn a language was to spend a great deal of time in a country where it was spoken. Of course it is clear that students who go to England, America, or Australia to learn English have a great advantage over others, but a large number of students cannot afford to do so. Some students go to the opposite extreme and think they can teach themselves at home with dictionaries. But it is wrong to assume that each word in English has a precise equivalent in another language and vice versa, and it is impossible for any translation method to provide students with the natural forms of a language in speech, let alone produce good pronunciation and intonation.
有很長一段時間，人們認為要學好一門語言，唯一的方法就是去使用那種語言的國家待上一段時間。當然去英國、美國、或者澳大利亞等國家學英語的學生肯定比那些不能去的學生具有很大優(yōu)勢，但是很多學生支付不起那筆費用。有些學生走向另一極端：他們認為可以借助詞典在家自學。如果你認為英語中的每一個詞在另一語言中都有完全對等的詞，那就錯了，反之亦然。通過翻譯法來給學生講解口語的自然形式是不可能的，更不要說做到語音、語調地道了。
A great deal of teaching is still based on behaviorist psychology. Behaviorists are fond of making students repeat phrases and making them do exercises where they continually have to change one word in a sentence. If we were parrots or chimpanzees, these methods might be successful. A large number of theorists seem to think it is a pity we aren't, because it would make it easier to use their methods.
現(xiàn)在大量的教學活動還是建立在行為主義心理學的基礎之上。行為主義者熱衷于讓學生復述短語，不斷做一些只需更換句中某個詞的練習。假如我們是鸚鵡或黑猩猩，那么這些方法或許能奏效，可惜我們不是，這似乎讓很多理論家引以為憾，否則他們提出的那些方法用起來就會容易得多了。
In my personal opinion, no one can ever learn to speak English or any other language unless he is interested in it. Human beings, unlike parrots and chimpanzees, do not like making noises unless they understand what the noises mean and can relate them to their own lives. It is worth remembering that language is a means of communication. What people want to say and write in another language is probably very similar to what they want to say and write in their own. What they listen to and read cannot be a formula. It must be real.
我個人認為，假如沒有興趣，任何人都不可能學好英語或其他任何語言。與鸚鵡或黑猩猩不同，人類不會無緣無故地發(fā)出噪音，除非他們明白這些聲音是什么意思，并且能將其與自己的生活聯(lián)系起來。值得牢記的是：語言是一種交際手段，人們在母語中怎么說怎么寫，用另一種語言表達時也大同小異。因此，人們所聽所讀的不應該是程式化的東西，聽的讀的材料必須真實自然。
There is another relevant point worth mentioning here. We need other people to talk to and listen to when we communicate. If what we are learning is strange to us, it will be helpful if there are other students around us who can work with us and practise the unfamiliar forms with us in real situations, talking to each other about real life in real language.
還有一個相關的問題值得一提：在交際時我們需要有交談或傾聽的對象。在學習較生疏的內容時，如果身邊的其他學生能和我們在真實的情境中一起學習，一起練習那些陌生的語言形式，用真實的語言去談論真實的生活，那一定會受益匪淺。
