苗淑華

English classes are the most popular way in which people study English. But English classes are a very poor way of learning English. We spent a large part of our lives in English classes （in middle school， college， and in language schools）， and we know what they are like. With all our knowledge of English classes and courses， we would be surprised if we met a person who has learned to speak English very well by going to English classes.

英語課堂是人們學(xué)習(xí)英語最普遍的方式，但卻是一種很差的學(xué)習(xí)英語方法。我們生活的大部分時間都花在英語課上（中學(xué)、大學(xué)和語言學(xué)校），我們知道它們是什么樣子。盡管對英語課和課程都很了解，但是如果我們遇到一個通過上英語課學(xué)好英語的人，一定會很驚訝。

Here is what you can do at an English class：

以下是你在英語課上會做的事情：

Listen to some bad English. The pronunciation， grammar， and vocabulary of other students （and sometimes the teacher， too） will be bad. Surely listening to these people will not make your English better.

聽蹩腳的英語。其他學(xué)生（有時也是老師）的發(fā)音、語法和詞匯會很差。當(dāng)然，聽這些人（說英語）不會讓你的英語變好。

Say five sentences in English. There are usually more than 20 students in the class， so there is little time for you to speak English. Normal English classes are very poor speaking practice. （Conversation classes are better.）

用英語說五句話。班上至少有20名學(xué)生，所以你幾乎沒有時間說英語。一般英語課的口語練習(xí)都沒什么效果。（會話課會好點(diǎn)兒。）

Listen to a few grammar rules， such as “the present continuous tense is used for talking about developing and changing situations”. Grammar rules may improve your scores in tests， but they do not improve your English.

你會聽到一些語法規(guī)則，如“用現(xiàn)在進(jìn)行時談?wù)摪l(fā)展和變化的情況”。語法規(guī)則可以提高你的考試成績，但不能提高你的英語水平。

Do some grammar exercises. After talking about grammar rules， teachers usually give you some exercises， such as multiple1 choice or gap filling tests. Grammar exercises have two functions2： 1） they make you review the grammar rules， 2） they test your English. The first function is useless because grammar rules are useless. The second function， testing， is okay if you want to compare your knowledge with other people. But testing does not teach you any English.

做語法練習(xí)。講完語法規(guī)則后，老師通常會給你布置一些練習(xí)，比如多項(xiàng)選擇題或填空題。語法練習(xí)有兩個功能：1）讓你復(fù)習(xí)語法規(guī)則；2）測試你的英語水平。第一個功能是無用的，因?yàn)檎Z法規(guī)則是無用的。第二個功能是測試，如果你想把你的知識和其他人進(jìn)行比較的話，這沒問題。但是考試并不能教你學(xué)會英語。

Get a homework assignment3. The homework is usually a grammar exercise or a composition. The subject of the composition will usually be some boring things that you dont care about. Doing boring things is not going to help your English. It will only decrease4 your motivation5.

完成家庭作業(yè)。作業(yè)通常是語法練習(xí)或作文。作文的主題通常是一些你不喜歡的無聊的事物。做無聊的事對你的英語學(xué)習(xí)沒有幫助，只會降低你的（學(xué)習(xí)）動力。

English classes will not teach you good pronunciation （which is simply necessary for communication?。? Most teachers completely ignore6 it， sometimes because their own pronunciation is bad. Some teachers will correct your mistakes when you speak. But very few teachers will tell you how you can avoid making the same mistakes again. Very few teachers will tell you about the sounds of English and how to use a dictionary to learn about the pronunciation of words.

英語課不會教你良好的發(fā)音（這是交流所必需的?。?。大多數(shù)老師完全忽略這一點(diǎn)，有時也是因?yàn)樗麄冏约旱陌l(fā)音不好。有些老師說話時會糾正你的錯誤。但很少有老師會告訴你如何避免再犯同樣的錯誤。很少有老師會告訴你英語的發(fā)音以及如何使用字典來學(xué)習(xí)單詞的發(fā)音。

Most teachers will not encourage you to read in English， to buy a good English-English dictionary， to listen to English-language recordings on your own. They will just do their textbook and the exercises in it. If your teacher is different， you are lucky.

大多數(shù)老師不會鼓勵你進(jìn)行英語閱讀、買一本好的英英詞典、自己聽英語錄音。他們只會按課本來教，布置上面的練習(xí)題。如果你的老師不是這樣，那你很幸運(yùn)。

This is what most English classes look like. Think about your classes. If they are like that—boring and ineffective7—then you are simply wasting your time.

這就是大多數(shù)英語課的樣子。想想你的課堂，如果是那樣無聊且無效，那么你就是在浪費(fèi)時間。

You can replace ineffective and boring classes with interesting things which will really improve your English：

你可以用真正能提高英語水平的有趣的東西來代替低效和無聊的課程：

Instead of listening to bad English in the classroom， turn on your TV and watch some English-language channels. You will get lots of perfect sentences in excellent English.

不要在教室里聽糟糕的英語，打開電視看英語頻道。在優(yōu)質(zhì)的英語中你會學(xué)到很多好句子。

Instead of sitting for two hours to say five sentences in English， sign up for a conversation class with a native speaker. Or start speaking English with your best friend.

與其坐兩個小時說五個英語句子，不如報名上一個以英語為母語的人開的口語課，或者和你最好的朋友說英語。

Instead of working with a boring textbook， read something interesting. There are so many interesting texts in English！Surf to English-language sites on the Web. Read a good book in English. Simply， read something that interests you. Something that wont bore you to death.

不要學(xué)枯燥的課本，讀一些有趣的東西。世上有這么多有趣的英語課文！上網(wǎng)看英語網(wǎng)站，讀一本好的英語書。簡單來說，就是讀那些你感興趣的，不會讓你無聊致死的東西。

Instead of memorizing grammar rules and doing grammar exercises， read and listen to English. Input is the only way to learn impressive， natural English.

不要背誦語法規(guī)則、做語法練習(xí)，多朗讀并聽英語。輸入是學(xué)習(xí)令人印象深刻的地道英語的唯一途徑。

Instead of writing compositions about the subject that your teacher gave you， write about something that you care about. Dont write for your teacher—write for yourself！

不要寫老師給你的命題作文，寫你關(guān)心的事物。不要為老師而寫——為你自己而寫！

1. multiple [ ] adj. 多重的；多樣的；許多的

2. function [ ] n. 功能

3. assignment [ ] n. 分配；任務(wù)；作業(yè)；功課

4. decrease [ ] v. 減少，減小

5. motivation [ ] n. 動機(jī)；積極性

6. ignore [ ] vt. 忽視；不理睬

7. ineffective [ ] adj. 無效的，失效的；不起作用的