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对于英语学习者而言,阅读中存在着诸多问题。为了应对各种考试而阅读者有之,这些人仅仅满足于在客观题的四个选项中找对答案,有时连自己也不清楚究竟学到了什么。单纯为了学习而阅读者有之,遗憾的是,为数众多的人往往饱受阅读之苦,而享受阅读乐趣、从阅读中获益者少之又少。其原因何在?不同的人或许有不同的情况。有些人缺乏目的,对任何英语材料只是简单地浏览,浮光掠影,浅尝辄止,仅此而已,尽管对阅读常有接触,但感觉仍所获寥寥。另有些人阅读方法不当。他们每读一篇文章的同时,逢词必查,结果读书的过程完全演变成查词典的过程,文章读得支离破碎,索然寡味,趣味尽失,即使回头重读,也是简单重复,没有更大的收获,就像希腊神话中的西西弗斯,竭尽全力推巨石上山,但永远做的是周而复始、徒劳无益的工作。许多人因此感到,与其如此,还不如去背词典来得直接。这种阅读方式既苦不堪言,也无法坚持下去。有人提倡整篇英语文章的背诵,一、二百词的短小篇目倒是不在话下,但稍长一些就无能为力了。况且,不以理解为基础的记忆最终也无济于事。
成功的阅读首先在于材料的挑选。应该明白,英语阅读不应过于随意,要有一定的选择性。其重要标准有两条:一是时代性,最好阅读当代的英语文章。语言随着时代的发展处于不断的变化更新之中,真正学好英语就要跟上英语语言发展的脚步。二是难度适中,如果语言过于艰涩,会严重影响阅读的正常进程,文字过于简单,则失去学习的目的。It pays to read actively, intelligently and selectively.(积极、聪明、有选择的阅读不吃亏。) 学习者可以利用各种资源,自选文章,自编阅读教材。文章应以英语时文为主,如报刊文章。因为时文所使用的语言具有时代特色,是鲜活的语言。如果每周坚持阅读一篇,一年则可以积累成一册。有机会重拾再读,温故知新。只有创造机会接触当代英语(expose yourself to contemporary English),学习才真正具有价值。
阅读只有目的明确才能读有所获。英语阅读其目的何在?如果把英语阅读仅仅当作取得信息的渠道,则远远没有发挥其潜在的巨大功能。如果学习者把阅读更多地看成学习英语语言的手段,则阅读所产生的效果将大为不同。应该说,What we profit from reading is more than reading.(阅读所得远远超出阅读本身。) 学习者应处理好语言输入和输出的关系。众所周知,输入是输出的基础,没有足够的输入,就不可能有流畅的输出。阅读是英语输入最重要的环节。如果能加以有效开发和利用,则可以直接促进和突破英语表达和翻译等语言输出环节。果真如此,学好英语指日可待。
To make the best use of reading is to make reading part of you.(充分利用阅读就是使阅读成为你的一部分。)如何使阅读充分为我所用,内化为自己的语言知识和技能,是英语学习者普遍存在的困惑。为此笔者愿意向广大英语学习者强烈推介一种全新的阅读理念:英语十遍阅读法,旨在帮助大家找准英语学习的切入点,走出英语阅读的困境,实现从理解到表达的飞跃。这种阅读方法可以有效地把培养阅读技能和获取语言知识相结合,把阅读理解和英语表达相联系,从而以阅读为手段,取得最大的学习效果,其意义超越了阅读本身。总体说来,十遍阅读法可以分为五个层次,每一遍都有极强的目的性,都有各自的侧重点。第一遍阅读重在训练阅读速度和理解能力;第二到第五遍从词语角度学习文章;第六到第七遍从句子层面进行突破;第八遍着重研究段落;最后两遍的阅读在篇章方面总体把握文章。十遍过后,我们才真正把文章学精、学透、学尽、学活。下面,我们以“Self?Help Pioneer Dale Carnegie” 这篇文章作为范例,阐述十遍阅读法的具体运用。
Self?help Pioneer Dale Carnegie
He Won Friends And Influenced Many People
If ever there were a sad sack who needed the keep?your?chin?up advice of Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), it was Dale Carnegie.
Until he published How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1936, the founding guru of the self?help movement had failed at almost everything he?d ever tried, professionally and personally.
He never graduated from college. He tried careers in farming, teaching, salesmanship, acting, journalism and novel writing; all flopped. His first marriage ended in a bitter divorce. He lost most of his savings in the stock market crash of 1929.
His failures often left him depressed. Once he was even suicidal. But his failures made him fascinated with successful people. What exactly did they do? What were their methods?
Carnegie decided it was simple self?confidence. All it needed was to be built up and constantly reinforced.
He studied the subject for years and later compiled his observations into his classic book about speaking and interacting with people.
That wasn?t easy for him, either. Carnegie was an intensely shy man who never completely overcame his own fear of public speaking.
Yet an estimated 50 million copies of his books have been sold in dozens of languages. His training courses continue to thrive nationwide, having taught more than 7 million people.
Success at self?help was something he had to work at hard and learn as much as anyone else.
Great Role Models
So he looked to those he most admired. His most famous books rely on quotations from and stories about Abe Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin and other wise figures.
“I realize now that healthy people don?t write books on health. It is the sick person who becomes interested in health. And in the same way, people who have a natural gift for diplomacy don?t write books on How to Win Friends and Influence People. The reason I wrote the book was because I have blundered so often myself, that I began to study the subject for the good of my soul.” Carnegie said in 1937.
At least 15 million copies of the book have been sold since then, making it one of the most purchased books of the 20th century.
Carnegie was born in rural Missouri. His real name was Dale Carnagey. Despite rumors, he wasn?t related to steel magnate Andrew Carnegie.
He grew up in grinding poverty. He was painfully shy because of his shabby clothes and down?home ways.
“I worried for fear girls would laugh at me if I tipped my hat to them.” he wrote in How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, his other bestseller.
The turning point in his life came when Carnegie encountered the Chautauqua movement. It was a late 19th century religious movement that prompted spiritual health through adult education.
Carnegie noticed the ability of the Chautauqua lecturers to enthrall crowds with their strong words. Carnegie began practicing, lecturing the livestock in his father?s barn for hours on the subjects of the day.
To test his public mettle, he then entered debate contests in school. The first time out, he lost. He lost the second time, too, and several other attempts after that.
But he kept trying, and after several attempts, he won. Other victories followed, and soon he built up enough confidence to hold forth on any topic.
Confronting Fears
Carnegie?s experience taught him that the only way to overcome fears was to confront them and not be discouraged by initial failures.
It was a lesson he needed.
Carnegie?s first jobs were as a traveling salesman. He sold everything from correspondence courses to hog lard. It was hard work, the hardest part being interacting with people and convincing them to buy his stuff. Those who could interact well succeeded more often than not, he noted.
It was the same thing with his brief acting career. Every night, he had to give the same performance to a new bunch of strangers- and make it convincing. Journalism and novel writing were similar?above all, he had to make his audience interested in what he had to say.
That can?t be done if the person trying to do the convincing doesn?t believe what he?s saying. Self?confidence, he reasoned, was the key not just in these pursuits but also in everything else.
Eventually, he got a job at the YMCA teaching the one thing he knew he could do: public speaking.
The YMCA was hesitant about giving him the job. It didn?t think Carnegie?s course was worth the $2?a?night salary he requested. To persuade YMCA officials, he struck a deal to work on commission. Soon he was pulling in $30 a night.
The essence of Carnegie?s job was getting his students to confront their fears of public speaking. Night after night, he simply made his students talk.
“The way to develop self?confidence, he said, is to do the thing you fear to do and get a record of successful experiences behind you,” wrote Lowell Thomas, a friend of Carnegie?s, in the original introduction of How to Win Friends and Influence people.
Carnegie?s books evolved from the speaking courses he taught. He collected the tales, anecdotes and aphorisms he used in a single volume. He wrote them in part because there were no other books he could rely on.
第一遍阅读:通篇快速浏览,捕捉全文大意
第一遍阅读的目的在于获取文章的主要信息,提高阅读效率,所以在阅读过程中,要抛开词典,保持阅读的连贯性和完整性。我们可以用大致十分钟的时间完成该文章的快速阅读,捕捉内容大意。这是一篇关于戴尔卡耐基的成功历程的短文。他体验过早年事业和个人生活的种种挫折,找到成功人士成功的关键,即自信,然后自强不息,百折不回,克服自身性格中的弱点,逐步成为演讲教师,著书立说。在这一遍阅读中,一定会遇到一些语言障碍,包括陌生的词汇和生疏的表达,但要尽量避免因词害义。总之,第一遍阅读的要点是忽略细节,着眼总体。对于语言障碍,可以根据上下文语境进行猜测和推断。对文章逐层深入的理解有待于后面的步骤。
第二遍阅读:归纳形容词与名词的搭配
二到五遍是从词的伙伴关系层面加以把握,超越传统的模式,即超越把单词作为孤立的语言单位进行记忆和学习的模式。在英语学习中,最有效的语言单位不是单词,而是由单词搭配而构成的词组、短语。You don?t truly know a word until you have a clear idea of its partnership.(弄清词的伙伴关系之前你是无法真正了解一个词的含义的。)学习者们之所以往往感到大量掌握单词之后仍然在口语和书面表达中不会灵活使用,根本原因就在于学习时忽略了词语之间内在的伙伴关系,没有掌握单词的具体用法。英文词语之间的搭配潜力无穷、灵活多变,只有留意观察,才能确实掌握,才能达到灵活运用的境界。否则,仅凭机械记忆,背下再多的单词也是徒劳。
英语中的形容词表意功能极强,而且数量丰富。一方面,同一个形容词往往可以修饰许多不同的名词,表达完全不同的含义,如heavy,它的词义远不止“沉重的”,仅举几个搭配为例:heavy news(令人忧虑的消息),heavy fighting(激战),heavy demand(苛求),heavy fate(悲惨的命运),heavy schedule(排得很紧的日程表),heavy casualties(惨重的伤亡),heavy applause(热烈的鼓掌)等。另一方面,不同的形容词可以修饰同一个名词,传达类似的含义,如表达“浓厚的兴趣”,习惯上great, active,lively琩eep,keen,intense,enormous等都可以和interest构成搭配。如果在阅读中注意积累,必将极大地丰富我们的积极词汇。
下面是例文中关于形容词与名词的精彩搭配。
①His first marriage ended in a bitter divorce.
bitter divorce :痛苦的离异
②He grew up in grinding poverty.
grinding poverty :极度贫困
③He was painfully shy because of his shabby clothes and down?home ways.
shabby clothes :破破烂烂的衣服
down?home ways :土里土气的样子
④Carnegie noticed the ability of the Chautauqua lecturers to enthrall crowds with their strong words.
strong words:激昂的文字
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