One Way To Improve Your English

劉素庚

在學習英語的過程中，我們常會對各種詞語搭配感到很困惑，也經常會說出許多漢語式的句子。那么，在學習英語時，怎樣提高英語運用能力，避免出錯呢？讓我們讀讀下面的短文，看作者是怎么說的吧。

If you have been studying English even for a short time， you must have already heard or read hundreds of collocations（搭配）.

A collocation is a group of two or more words that are almost always used together. Here are a few examples： heavy rain， big decision， break a habit， make a mistake.

It would sound strange if someone said， “huge rain” “large decision” “finish a habit” or “do a mistake.” Most people would understand the meaning， but native English speakers would never combine（使結合） words in that way. We would not say， for instance， “I’m hoping to hear about the large decision later today.”

The point is that some words go together in English and some do not. There is no grammatical reason why. And that sometimes makes collocations difficult for English learners. If you don’t know， for example， that “big decision” is a collocation， it is not so easy to guess.

“Heavy rain” is a common collocation that describes a type of rainfall. A native English speaker would not say， for example， “huge rain” or “big rain”.

Another thing that can make these things tricky（難捉摸的） is that many English words have several collocations. For instance， the word “decision” can be used in “difficult decision” “final decision” and many others.

We will give you three practice exercises on collocations. Improving your use of collocations will help your English sound more natural， which will make you more easily understood.

◆Learn by recognizing（辨認）

One of the best ways to look for collocations is to read and listen to many things in English. This will help you start to recognize them when you see and hear them.

◆Learn with a dictionary

Earlier， I told you that some English words have many collocations. So let’s take a few words from the story and see what they mean. You can find a few good collocation dictionaries online.

Now， try looking up the word “make” and find two collocations that were not in the story. Then， look up the word “time” and find two collocations that were not in the story.

For “make”， you might for example find “make an effort” and “make money”. ?For “time”， you might for example find “free time” and “take your time”. Again， there are many possibilities for each word. These are just a few.

Using a collocation dictionary can be helpful， but do not try to make long lists and memorize（記住） them. Instead， note just a few collocations every time and write a sentence or two for each that relates to your own life. For example， for “free time”， you might write “I wish I had more free time during the week” or “I will finally have free time when I go home for the holiday”.

Then， try using some of these in your real life conversations.

◆Learn by observation（觀察）

Observation is the third practice activity. TV， or television programs can teach you a lot about collocations.

One way to use them is to observe and note the collocations you find in a few minutes of dialogue on a TV show or movie. Then， just as in the last exercise， write a sentence for each that you might use in real life， and practice using it sometime in conversation.

Another fun thing you might try is a little less usual.

Some of you may remember the 1990s British TV show Mr. Bean（憨豆先生）. On the show， Mr. Bean would find humorous（滑稽的） solutions（對策） to the problems of everyday life， like shopping， going to restaurants， traveling or celebrating holidays. But here is what’s unusual about the show： there is almost no dialogue.

So， in this activity， you are testing which collocations you can name without hearing anyone speaking. On our website， you will find a short video of Mr. Bean. Watch the video and try to name a few collocations to describe the place， people， things and actions you see.

閱讀短文， 根據短文填空， 每空填一詞使句子意思完整.

1. “It rains cats and dogs” is another way of saying “a rain”.

2. It can be helpful to write a sentence or two for each collocation that relates to your own .

3. TV， or television can teach you a lot about collocations.

Keys：1. heavy 2. life 3. programs