英語(yǔ)可以這樣學(xué)

編者按：

隨著2008年奧運(yùn)會(huì)的臨近，民眾越來(lái)越關(guān)心“中國(guó)”品牌的樹(shù)立，學(xué)習(xí)英語(yǔ)的熱情也被點(diǎn)燃。越來(lái)越多的外宣干部和業(yè)內(nèi)同行向我們表達(dá)了期待看到雙語(yǔ)欄目的期望。因此，我們?cè)?006年第一期起開(kāi)辦了《雙語(yǔ)視窗》欄目以滿足廣大讀者的需求。

看看周?chē)拿襟w，《北京青年報(bào)》、《參考消息》、《國(guó)門(mén)時(shí)報(bào)》上有許多精粹的小短文，像一只只啄木鳥(niǎo)，善意地提醒了中國(guó)人習(xí)以為常的行為背后“尚未和國(guó)際接軌”的細(xì)節(jié)，讀后讓人回味不已，在獲得借鑒意義的同時(shí)，也帶來(lái)更深入的思考。我們效仿中英文對(duì)照的版面形式，旨在通過(guò)外國(guó)友人的視角來(lái)看中國(guó)，從中折射出東西方觀念、習(xí)俗的異同。通過(guò)一篇篇這樣的文章，讓讀者在領(lǐng)略異域文化的同時(shí)，也能達(dá)到學(xué)習(xí)英語(yǔ)的目的。

我是一名以色列記者，在北京工作。有一次，一位中國(guó)朋友夸我的英文很流利，還說(shuō)她以前遇到的兩個(gè)以色列少年也能講很好的英語(yǔ)。她問(wèn)我，英語(yǔ)對(duì)于以色列人和中國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)都是外語(yǔ)，為什么以色列人的英語(yǔ)比中國(guó)人強(qiáng)呢？

以色列人的母語(yǔ)是希伯萊語(yǔ)。所有的以色列人要學(xué)9年英語(yǔ)，從小學(xué)三年級(jí)開(kāi)始，學(xué)到高中畢業(yè)，這與中國(guó)的情況差不多。這9年的學(xué)習(xí)為具備英語(yǔ)交流能力打下了基礎(chǔ)，盡管并非每個(gè)學(xué)生都是5分學(xué)生。但是，學(xué)好英語(yǔ)的決定因素既不是正規(guī)教育體制的質(zhì)量，也不是學(xué)生學(xué)得刻苦，能流利掌握第二種語(yǔ)言的最重要因素是我們的環(huán)境，我們的語(yǔ)言氛圍。

我們的日常生活環(huán)境包括很多方面，雖說(shuō)我們對(duì)它們大多不在意，但它們還是會(huì)潛入我們的生活。比如說(shuō)，音樂(lè)，就可以用來(lái)提高我們的英語(yǔ)技能。努瑞特?艾爾哈大德?考瑞恩是一家高科技公司的市場(chǎng)部經(jīng)理，他對(duì)我說(shuō)：“小時(shí)候我聽(tīng)甲殼蟲(chóng)樂(lè)隊(duì)的歌，那是我最喜歡的英國(guó)樂(lè)隊(duì)，聽(tīng)歌幫我擴(kuò)大了詞匯量。”這位33歲的以色列人在工作中主要與外國(guó)客戶打交道，“大多數(shù)以色列電臺(tái)常常播放外國(guó)音樂(lè)，這使我知道了一些常用短語(yǔ)，很容易就會(huì)用了。”他說(shuō)。

看美國(guó)、澳大利亞或英國(guó)電影在我們這個(gè)中東小國(guó)也很普遍。28歲的大學(xué)生尤西?百羅說(shuō)出了他的論點(diǎn)：絕不能看用希伯萊語(yǔ)配了音的電影，“在以色列上演的外國(guó)原聲電影多數(shù)有希伯萊語(yǔ)字幕，在看了幾部影片之后，我感到自己對(duì)英文對(duì)白的理解比原來(lái)強(qiáng)了。現(xiàn)在，我?guī)缀醪豢醋帜涣恕！彼f(shuō)。對(duì)于那些擔(dān)心聽(tīng)不懂英文對(duì)白的中國(guó)朋友，我的建議是不要著急，看上十部以后看看會(huì)怎么樣。進(jìn)步是一點(diǎn)一滴積累起來(lái)的。

聽(tīng)力當(dāng)然是語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)中的重要部分，但是交談絕不可以被忽視。到國(guó)外旅行，去探索一個(gè)陌生的國(guó)家，也是把學(xué)習(xí)與娛樂(lè)結(jié)合起來(lái)的方式。

以色列青年在高中畢業(yè)后都要服兵役，在三年兵役之后，很多青年都會(huì)出國(guó)旅行放松一下，并且在加入現(xiàn)代生活的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)前理清思緒。這些年輕人當(dāng)中，有的出國(guó)前英語(yǔ)平平，但是出去幾個(gè)月回來(lái)后就能說(shuō)流利的英語(yǔ)了。這是因?yàn)樗麄冊(cè)趪?guó)外必須不斷使用英語(yǔ)，才能交朋友，才能滿足基本的人生需求。對(duì)于大多數(shù)以色列人來(lái)說(shuō)，最好的旅行方式是自己走，而不是像中國(guó)人通常那樣參加旅行團(tuán)。自己走就不僅僅是被導(dǎo)游帶著，只和旅行團(tuán)里的人交流了。

對(duì)于有錢(qián)也有時(shí)間度假的讀者，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)實(shí)現(xiàn)一次自己做計(jì)劃的旅行比參團(tuán)有意思得多。與當(dāng)?shù)厝酥苯咏徽劊瑳](méi)有導(dǎo)游協(xié)助，你就會(huì)看到自己的英語(yǔ)水平會(huì)有很大提高。

保持進(jìn)步的最重要的一點(diǎn)是不斷找外國(guó)人交談。從人口600萬(wàn)的小國(guó)以色列來(lái)到北京，我覺(jué)得北京人生活在大城市真是幸運(yùn)。主要優(yōu)勢(shì)是這兒住著很多外國(guó)人，還有很多外國(guó)旅游者來(lái)到中國(guó)的首都。

利用這個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)，和走在大街上的外國(guó)人交談是練英語(yǔ)的極好機(jī)會(huì)，而且不用費(fèi)大力氣。但要記住，不是每個(gè)外國(guó)人都會(huì)覺(jué)得在街上與你交談很自在，但是，遇到一個(gè)旅游者，那對(duì)雙方都是很有意思的經(jīng)歷。那些充滿好奇心的旅游者，來(lái)到中國(guó)就是想發(fā)現(xiàn)新奇的事，從一個(gè)北京人口中得到一些信息極可能讓他們非常高興。另一方面，你也有很好的機(jī)會(huì)提高英語(yǔ)，如果再有一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)運(yùn)氣和多多的禮貌，說(shuō)不定還會(huì)結(jié)交一個(gè)老外朋友。

對(duì)于我來(lái)說(shuō)，在課堂上學(xué)漢語(yǔ)是很難的，就像吃筷子而不是吃食物，可是，只要一走到北京街頭，不憷開(kāi)口和人們交談，我的漢語(yǔ)水平就有了極大的提高。因此，我建議想提高英語(yǔ)水平的朋友，到旅游景點(diǎn)去，尋找外國(guó)旅游者，開(kāi)練！

（本文作者現(xiàn)在以色列從事有關(guān)著名記者、作家愛(ài)潑斯坦紀(jì)錄片的拍攝、執(zhí)導(dǎo)工作。）

原文：

I’m an Israeli journalist working in Beijing. A Chinese friend once praised my English as being fluent and mentioned two Israeli teenagers she had met who also spoke English quite well. She wondered why， as English is a foreign language for both Israelis and Chinese， Israelis seem to master it better than Chinese?

Hebrew is Israelis’ mother tongue. All Israelis study English for nine years， beginning in the third grade until their graduation from high school， similar to the Chinese situation. This study lays the foundation for their English communicating abilities， even though not all of them are A+ students. But neither the quality of the formal education system nor the discipline of students is the determining factor. The most crucial element to gain fluency with a second language is our surroundings， and the language environment.

Our daily life environment consists of many things， most of which we don’t pay attention to， but still sneak into our lives. Music， for instance， can be used to improve language skills. Nurit Elhadad Koren， marketing manager of a hi-tech company， told me， “Listening to the Beatles， my favorite British band as a teenager widened my vocabulary a lot”. The 33-year-old Israeli， whose work involves mostly foreign clients， said， “Most Israeli radio stations often play foreign music， and as a result I became more aware of some common phrases which I could easily use”.

Watching American， Australian or British films is also very common in the small Middle Eastern country. Yossi Bello， a 28-year-old student， makes it a point to never watch movies that are dubbed into Hebrew， “Most of the foreign films shown in Israel have Hebrew subtitles. After watching only a handful of films， I realized that I started understanding the spoken language better， and now I barely look at them at all”. For those afraid they won’t understand the English dialog in the film， my advice is don’t worry， see what happens after seeing ten movies; progress will be made step by step.

Listening is of course an important element in language studies， but the conversational element should not be neglected. Traveling the world and exploring new countries can also combine education with pleasure.

After three years of obligatory military service， many young Israelis go abroad to travel in order to relax a little and clear their thoughts before joining the race of modern life. Some of those youngsters leave speaking just average English， but return home a few months later with fluent English skills， since they’ve had to use it constantly in order to make friends and to fulfil basic human needs. The favored way to travel for most Israelis is as individuals， rather than in groups as Chinese generally do. This way they are not just being led by the tour guide talking only with people from their group.

Any of you readers， who have the money as well as some time off for a vacation， will find out that it’s a lot more fun to go on a trip that you’ve planned by yourself. Communicating with the local people directly， without the assistance of a guide， you’ll find your English level will improve a lot.

The most important aspect to maintain progress is to keep looking for foreigners to communicate with. Arriving from a small country such as Israel， with a population of only six million people， I find Beijing residents to be very lucky to live in a big city. The main advantage is having many expatriates and tourists arriving in the capital.

Using the opportunity to chat with those foreigners out in streets can be a great chance to practice your English， with very little effort. Remember that not all foreigners would find it convenient， however， meeting a foreign tourist can be an interesting experience for both sides. The curious tourist， who arrives in China to explore the fascinating Chinese sights， would most likely be more than glad to get some tips from a native Beijinger. You， on the other hand， would have a great chance to polish your English， and with a little bit of luck and a lot of courtesy， you might make a new foreign friend.

Studying Chinese in class was as difficult for me as eating the chopsticks instead of food， but as soon as I went out to the streets of Beijing， with no fear of trying to talk to people， my Chinese skills have improved tremendously. So， I suggest to those who want to improve their English skills， go to a tourist site and find a foreign tourist to practice with!

（感謝北京青年報(bào)《雙語(yǔ)視窗》欄目張愛(ài)學(xué)編輯對(duì)本文提供的支持）

責(zé)編：雷向晴