发布时间 : 星期五 文章新世纪大学英语综合教程1-第二版-课文详解-Lecture Notes - U2更新完毕开始阅读
D) he can broaden his mind by knowing more languages
▇ Key:
1. C) 2. A) 3. B) 4. B) 5. D)
Section C Task Two: Zooming In on the Details
Listen to the recording again and fill in each of the blanks according to what you have heard.
1. Alberto has started learning ____________, ____________, Portuguese and ____________,
and he would also love to learn ____________ and ____________ in the near future.
2. Alberto is confident that ____________ he can overcome the difficulties he encounters in
learning new languages.
3. According to Alberto, learning a new language besides one’s ____________ can be useful,
especially in a world where distances ____________ and people from different countries communicate with each other ____________.
4. He recommends (推荐) three good ways of language learning. They are:
a. ____________;
b. watch a lot of television in that language; and c. ____________.
5. He also mentions three other things that are helpful for learning a language. They are:
a. ____________;
b. vocabulary books; and c. ____________.
6. Finally Alberto says learning a language might seem a little ____________, or even strange,
but one will get used to it. Though the learning process is long and it ____________, it is also ____________.
▇ Answers for reference:
1. Alberto has started learning English, French, Portuguese and Italian, and he would also love
to learn Chinese and German in the near future.
2. Alberto is confident that with time and practice he can overcome the difficulties he
encounters in learning new languages.
3. According to Alberto, learning a new language besides one’s mother tongue can be useful,
especially in a world where distances are shortened and people from different countries communicate with each other more frequently.
4. He recommends (推荐) three good ways of language learning. They are:
a. read a lot;
b. watch a lot of television in that language; and c. listen to CDs.
5. He also mentions three other things that are helpful for learning a language. They are:
a. good dictionaries; b. vocabulary books; and c. the Internet.
6. Finally Alberto says learning a language might seem a little difficult at first, or even strange,
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but one will get used to it. Though the learning process is long and it never ends, it is also highly enjoyable.
Script:
Hello, I’m Alberto. I’m a student of English, French, Portuguese and Italian. I would also love to learn Chinese and German in the near future. My mother tongue is Spanish and I have a degree in Political Science. I love to learn new languages, because I think it broadens my mind. Even though I still have some difficulty with verb tenses, I’m confident that with time and practice I’ll cope with them. I believe learning a new language besides your mother tongue can be useful, especially in a world where distances are shortened and people from different countries communicate with each other more frequently. Learning a new language can be a good experience, but only if you keep in mind that nothing is obtained without some effort. In my opinion, the best way to learn a language is to read a lot. It doesn’t matter what you read, but that you do it. Even if you don’t understand everything, your reading comprehension skill will improve remarkably. Also, if possible, watch a lot of television in that language, or listen to CDs. Maybe at first you won’t understand a word, but later you’d catch on to the rhythm of the language. Good dictionaries are necessary, and books regarding vocabulary can be a plus. The Internet is also a useful tool. The language you choose to learn might seem a little difficult at first, or even totally strange, but you’ll get accustomed to it. Remember that the learning process is long, and that it never ends. However, it is also highly enjoyable.
Part III Read and Explore Text A
Section A Discovering the Main Ideas
Exercise 1: Answer the following questions with the information contained in Text A. 1) According to Will Pidcroft, the writer of this text, can English be mastered within a very
short period of time? Does he provide any evidence to support his view? 2) Does he support the idea that a language is best learned where it is spoken? 3) What is the belief held by behaviorists in terms of language learning? 4) What does Pidcroft say about one’s interest in language learning?
5) What distinguishes human beings from parrots and chimpanzees according to Pidcroft?
▇ Answers for reference:
1) No, Will Pidcroft doesn’t think that English can be mastered within a short period of time. He
says that in fact English is not that easy to learn; otherwise, he wouldn’t be working as an English teacher any more as there would be far less demand for trained English teachers. 2) Yes, he does.
3) Behaviorists believe that language learning is a kind of habit formation. So they are fond of
making students repeat phrases and do exercises where they continually have to change one word in a sentence. They assume that people learn things very much like parrots and
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chimpanzees.
4) Pidcroft thinks that interest is a very important factor in language learning. No one can ever
learn to speak English or any other language unless he or she is interested in it.
5) Parrots and chimpanzees make noises that are meaningless while the speech sounds human
beings make are meaningful and they can relate them to their own lives. In other words, human beings use language to communicate.
Exercise 2: Write down the main idea of each paragraph in the space provided.
1) Para. 1: Advertisements often give the false impression that learning English is easy and does not need much effort.
2) Para. 2: There is no such thing as a good method that suits all students in every situation. 3) Para. 3: People used to believe that the only way to learn a language was to spend a lot of time in a country where it was spoken. The other extreme is that some think that they can learn a foreign language at home relying solely on dictionaries. 4) Para. 4: Teaching methods based on the behaviourist theory may not work, as human beings are not parrots or chimpanzees.
5) Para. 5: Interest is the key to learning a language, which is a means of communication.
6) Para. 6: To learn a language well, it is important that we have other people to talk to and listen to.
Section B In-depth Study
As English is becoming an international language and thus a useful tool for people in the world to communicate with one another, more and more people are learning English. And they naturally hope that they can become competent users of this language within the shortest possible time. But are there easier, quicker ways to master English? Read the following essay and see what a language teacher has to say.
A Language Teacher’s Personal Opinion
Will Pidcroft
1 Every day I see advertisements in the newspapers and on the buses claiming that it is easy to learn English. According to these advertisements, with very little effort on the student’s part, he will be able to speak the language fluently in three months or even ten days. There is often a reference to William Shakespeare or Charles Dickens to encourage him even more . When I see advertisements like this, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. If it were as easy to learn English as they say, I would have to look for another job, because very few qualified teachers would be needed. But a large number of people must believe these ridiculous claims, or else the advertisements would not appear.
2 It is natural for students to be attracted to methods that will teach them as quickly and efficiently and cheaply as possible. But it is difficult for anyone to explain in simple language why
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one method is better than another, and it is no use pretending that anyone has discovered a perfect way of teaching English in every possible situation. Some experts even argue that there are as many good methods of teaching a language as there are good teachers, because every teacher is an individual with his own personality. No doubt this is true to a certain extent, but it is not very helpful to students.
3 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.
4 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.
5 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.
6 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.
▇ 课文参考译文
一名语言教师的个人看法
威尔·皮德克罗夫特
1 我每天都会在报纸上、公共汽车上看到各种广告，声称轻轻松松就能学好英语。按照这
些广告的说法，学生不必费什么力气，要说一口流利的英语只需短短3个月,甚至10天就行。广告还常常提到威廉·莎士比亚和查尔斯·狄更斯等英语文学大师的名号进一步激励学生。每当看到诸如此类的广告时，我真是哭笑不得。如果学英语真像这些广告所说的那么轻松，我恐怕得另谋出路了，因为不需要那么多合格的英语教师了。但是肯定有许多人相信这些可笑的噱头，不然的话这些广告也不可能出现。
2 学生们喜欢实惠的速成学习方法也在情理之中，但要用浅显易懂的语言去解释为什么某一方法比另一方法更有效并不是一件简单的事，而且也无需装模作样地声称有什么人已经找到了一个万能的适合所有学习环境的教学方法。一些专家甚至认为，有多少个好老师就有多少种好的教学方法，因为每一个老师都有其自身的特点。这种说法无疑是有几分道理的，但
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