第一单元如何成为一个成功的语言学习者TEXTAHowcanyoulearnaforeignlanguagewell?Accordingtotheauthorofthistext,youmightneedtothinkinanewway,aprocessalmostlikegoingbacktochildhoodagain…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。。。LearningtoThinkAllOverAgain学会重新思考Whenyouwereachild,youdidn’tknowwhatatreewasatfirst.Somebodyhadtotellyou.Probablyyourparentstookyououtside,pointedtoatreeandsaid,”Tree!”Youhadtolearntoassociatethesoundoftheword“Tree”withthebiggreenleafythingyousawinfrontofyou.当你还是个孩子的时候,起初你并不知道树是什么,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。That’swhatyoumustlearntodoagainwhenyouarelearningaforeignlanguage.Youneedtolearntoassociatesoundswithobjects,andtothinkinanewway.Onlythistime,sinceyouaregrownup,youwillbeabletounderstandwhatneedstobedonemuchfaster.You’llknowwhysomebodyispointingtoatreeandsayingastrangeword.Youmayevenhavetorelearnitmanytimesbeforeyoufinallyactuallylearnit.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。Thereisanimportantideahere.InAmericaournameforthatbiggreenleafythingis”tree”,butinGermanythenameforthatthingis“Baum”.InArabcountriesthenameis“shajra”.AndinChinatheysay”shu”.Thesevariouswordsarenotthemselves“trees”.Theyarejustsomeofthemanyhundredsofdifferentsoundsusedintheworldtorepresentthatgreatbiggreenleafything.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。Tolearnaforeignlanguageyoumustgetawayfromtheideaoftranslatingwords.Translatingtakestoomuchtimeandmentalenergy.Youwillneverlearntoreallyspeakandunderstandaforeignlanguageifyouhavetotranslateinyourmind.Instead,learntoassociatethenewsounddirectlywiththeimageinyourmind.Sowhenwehearthesound”Baum”or”shajra”or”shu”,wedon’twanttothink,”Hmmmm.Baummeanstree,whichmeansthatgreatbiggreenleafything.”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长满叶子的东西。”Don’tthinkthatthechallengeofnewthinkingwillbelimitedonlytotheareaofnewwordsitisgoingtogomuchdeeperthanthat.Let’suseananalogy:youcanbuildahouseusingmaterialsofverydifferentsizesandshapes.Englishusesonesetofbuildingblocks,butotherlanguageswillusedifferent-shapedbuildingblocksthattakesomecreativitytoputtogetheratfirst.Whereweusetwoblocks,theymayusethreesmallerones—ormaybeonelargeone.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,而别人也许使用三个较小的——也可能是一个大的。HereanexampleofanEnglishsentence:Wehavetobuyafewbooksbeforegoinghome.Whentranslatingintoalmostanyforeignlanguage,youwillnottakeeachEnglishwordandsubstituteaforeignwordforit.Youwillinsteadbesubstitutinggroupsofwordsorideasfromonelanguagetotheother.Howeachlanguagewillchoosetogrouptheideasdependsonthelanguage.InFrenchorSpanish,forexample,wehavetobuyisbrokendownintothreewords:we/haveto/buy.InTurkish,however,theTurksaretoreduceallthesefourwordstoonlyone.以一个英语句子为例:Wehavetobuyafewbooksbeforegoinghome.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,wehavetobuy被分成三个词:we/haveto/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。Solearntostartthinkingintermsofbundlesofconceptsorideasthatwillbeconvertedtonewlanguageandnotsinglewords.Trytothinkinaforeignlanguage.Thisisn’tallthathard.Youlearntothinkinthelanguagesimplybyusingthelanguageoverandoveragain,askingandansweringsimplequestionsuntilyoufeelcomfortablewiththepractice.Thenyouaddsomenewwords,andafewmorenewsituations,andpracticeusingthemtogetherwithallthewordsyoulearnedinpreviouslessons.Bitbybityoubuildupskill.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们。渐渐地,你就会掌握这项技能。Onceyoureallygetintothelanguage,you’llunderstandallthisagooddealbetter.Somebodywillbesayingsomethingquitefastandyou’llsuddenlyrealizethatyouunderstooditall!It'sagreatmoment.Reallysatisfying.Youprobablywouldn'tbeabletorepeatthewords,orevenknowhowitwasthatyouunderstooditall.Butit'sasignthatthelanguageisstartingtosinkintoyourmind.You'rebeginningtounderstandwithouttranslating.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理解了。第二单元父母TEXTATheauthorseesafatherandasonridinganairportshuttletrainforfun,leadinghimtoreflectontheupbringingofchildrentoday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。Afather,asonandananswer父亲、儿子和答案PassingthroughtheAtlantaairportonemorning,Icaughtoneofthosetrainsthattaketravelersfromthemainterminaltotheirboardinggates.Free,thetrainsrunbackandforthalldaylong.Notmanypeopleconsiderthemfun,butonthisSaturdayIheardlaughter.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。Atthefrontofthefirstcar–lookingoutthewindowatthetrackthatlayahead–wereamanandhisson.Wehadjuststoppedtoletoffpassengers,andthedoorsweeclosingagain.“Herewego!Holdontometight!”thefath