苗淑華

Learners make mistakes and reinforce1 them because they produce sentences too carelessly or too early. You will avoid mistakes if you follow a couple of rules：

學(xué)習(xí)者犯錯并錯得根深蒂固是因為他們造句時太粗心或太草率。如果你遵循以下幾條規(guī)則，就能避免出錯：

1. Use simple language. Some beginners try to build very complicated sentences with things like the present perfect tense or conditionals. They make horrible mistakes. Dont do this！If youve just started to speak or write in English， you should say what you can say （simple sentences that you have seen many times）—not what you want to say （complicated sentences）. You may feel youre talking like a child or that you are not expressing your thoughts， but dont worry about that. Right now， your goal is not to express your thoughts freely; your goal is to learn the language.

1. 使用簡單的語言。有些初學(xué)者試圖用現(xiàn)在完成時態(tài)或條件句來構(gòu)建非常復(fù)雜的句子。他們犯了可怕的錯誤。這樣不行！如果你才剛開始說或?qū)懹⒄Z，應(yīng)該說些你會說的（你見過很多次的簡單句子）——而不是你想說的（復(fù)雜句子）。你可能覺得自己說話像個孩子，或者沒有表達(dá)出自己的想法，不要擔(dān)心。現(xiàn)在，你的目標(biāo)不是自由表達(dá)你的想法，你的目標(biāo)是學(xué)習(xí)這門語言。

2. Be slow and careful. In the beginning， you should write very slowly. If you need 2 hours to write an e-mail message with 10 correct sentences， thats okay. Thats how long it should take if youre just starting to write.

2. 慢一點，仔細(xì)一點。開始的時候，你要慢慢地寫。如果需要兩個小時來寫一封有十個正確句子的電子郵件，那也沒關(guān)系。剛開始寫作，的確是要花這么長時間。

Why should it take so long？ Because you should read your sentences many times， looking for mistakes. You should correct your own sentences frequently. You should check if your sentences are correct by using a dictionary and the Web. And you should look for example sentences to imitate.

為什么要花這么長時間呢？因為你要多讀幾遍寫出來的句子，找出錯誤，要經(jīng)常改正自己寫的句子，用字典和網(wǎng)絡(luò)檢查這些句子是否正確，并尋找可以模仿的例句。

When youre speaking， its okay to build a sentence for some time in your head before you open your mouth.

當(dāng)你說（英語）的時候，開口之前先花點時間在腦子里造一個句子是沒關(guān)系的。

3. If youre not sure how to say something， dont say it. （This applies to both grammar and pronunciation.） If you cant say something correctly， its almost always better not to say it. You dont want to teach yourself the wrong way to say it. You can try to look for the correct sentence in a dictionary or on the Web， but when speaking， usually you dont have time for that. So its a good idea to say something else—something that you know is correct. It can even be something on a different subject.

3. 如果你不知道怎么說，就不要說。（這一點既適用于語法，也適用于發(fā)音。）如果你無法說出正確的句子，那就最好不要說，你也不想學(xué)到錯的句法吧。你可以試著在字典或網(wǎng)上尋找正確的句子，但當(dāng)你說（英語）時，通常是沒有時間去找的。所以說點別的東西是個好主意——說點你知道是正確的內(nèi)容，甚至可以是不同主題的東西。

4. Know where you can screw2 up. Sometimes learners dont even realize how different English is from their native language. When speaking， they translate word for word from their native language， and they think their sentences are okay.

4. 知道哪里會搞砸。有時學(xué)習(xí)者甚至不知道英語和他們的母語有多大的不同。當(dāng)他們說（英語）時，會逐字逐句從母語翻譯過來，而且還認(rèn)為他們的句子是對的。

When reading or listening to English， use the “pause and think” technique： Pay close attention to things like word order， articles， prepositions， and tenses. Compare sentences in English with equivalent sentences in your native language. Notice the differences in words and in word order. This will make you more careful when speaking in English， because you will realize which parts of your sentences can be wrong and should be double-checked.

在讀或聽英語時，使用“停頓思考”技巧：注意詞序、冠詞、介詞和時態(tài)。將英語句子與自己母語中對等的句子進(jìn)行比較。注意單詞和詞序的區(qū)別。這會讓你在說英語時更加小心，因為你會意識到說的句子中哪些部分可能是錯誤的，要反復(fù)檢查。

5. Dont worry about fluency. Fluency is easy to achieve by simply talking. If you practise speaking， you will be able to speak faster and faster. In high school， I achieved pretty good fluency in a month by talking to my English teacher （a native speaker） about two hours a week. Thats only 8 hours of talking.

5. 別擔(dān)心流利度。簡單的談話很容易說得流利。如果你多練習(xí)口語，就能說得越來越快。在高中的時候，我一個月內(nèi)通過每周兩個小時與英語老師（一個母語為英語的人）交談，（口語）達(dá)到了相當(dāng)好的流利程度，那還只是練了8個小時的對話。

It is much better to be slow and correct than be fluent and make a lot of mistakes. Why？ Because if you are slow and correct， you can easily improve your speed and become fluent and correct. But if you are fluent and make a lot of mistakes， it is much harder to fix your mistakes and become fluent and correct.

慢而準(zhǔn)確比流利卻犯很多錯要好得多。為什么呢？因為如果你速度慢而準(zhǔn)確，可以很容易提高語速，變得流利、準(zhǔn)確。但是如果你很流利，但犯很多錯，就很難改正錯誤，變得流利、準(zhǔn)確。