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10

How to Learn English Well

如何学好英语

010

有人觉得英语学习很难,学着学着就会产生自暴自弃的念头,其实不论你学习什么,只要技巧加上勤奋,还有什么是我们克服不了的呢?

1 句子

01 Do you know the way to learn English well?

你知道学习英语的秘诀是什么吗?

02 Lazy man can never learn English well.

懒人永远学不好英语。

03 English is my weakness.

英语是我的弱项。

04 If you don’t catch up in English this term, you’ll not graduate.

如果你再不好好补习英语的话,你这学期就别想再结业了。

05 You may also listen to some tape program.

你也可以听些录音带。

06 But for your encouragement, I almost give up learning English.

要不是你的鼓励,我差点就放弃学习英语了。

07 To learn English well is not a difficult thing

学好英语其实并不是一件难事。

2 对话

I Give Up

Sally : I give up! I simply can’t learn English!

Jasmine : Why do you say that? I think you’re making a lot of progress.

Sally : No, I’m not. I try and try and still can’t speak it very well.

Jasmine : Learning any language takes a lot of effort. But don’t give up. Why don’t we practice those dialogues together?

Sally : Good idea. That just might help.

我不学了

萨莉: 我不学了!我根本就学不好英语。

茉莉: 为什么说这种话?我看你进步很快。

萨莉: 没那回事。我没什么进步,我一再努力仍然讲不好。

茉莉: 学任何语言都要付出艰辛的努力。别泄气。我们何不一起练练那些对话?

萨莉: 好主意。这样做也许会有帮助。

Notes 注释

effor n. 努力,尝试;努力的成果,成就

dialogue n. 对话

3 文化加油站(心灵鸡汤)

Always Changing

Please excuse me if I’m a little 1 pensive today.

Mark is leaving, and I’m feeling kind of sad.

You probably don’t know Mark, but you might be lucky enough to know someone just like him. He’s been the heart and soul of the office for a couple of years, combining exemplary professional skills with a sweet nature and gentle disposition . He’s never been all that interested in getting credit for the terrific work he does. He just wants to do his job, and to do it superbly well.

And now he’s moving on to an exciting new professional opportunity. It sounds like it could be the chance of a lifetime, and we’re genuinely , sincerely pleased for him. But that doesn’t make it any easier to say goodbye to a dear friend and trusted colleague.

Life has a way of throwing these curve balls at us. Just when we start to get comfortable with a person, a place or a situation, something comes along to alter the recipe . A terrific neighbor moves away. Someone in the family graduates. A child finds new love and loyalties through marriage. The family’s principle bread—winner is laid off.

Our ability to cope with change and disruption determines, to a great degree, our peace, happiness and contentment in life.

But how do we do that? Philosophers have considered the question for centuries, and their responses have been varied. According to the author of the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes , comfort can be found in remembering that “to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” Kahlil Gibran urged his listeners to “let today embrace the past with remembrance , and the future with longing.”

A friend of mine who works for the government is fond of reminding his fellow bureaucrat s that survivability depends upon adaptability .” And then there’s Chris, the California surf—rat , who once told me that the answer to life’s problems can be summed up in four words: “Go with the flow.

“It’s like surfing,” Chris explained. “You can’t organize the ocean. Waves just happen. You ride ’em where they take you, then you paddle back out there and catch the next one. Sure, you’re always hoping for the perfect wave where you can get, like, you know, totally tubular . But mostly you just take ’em the way they come. It’s not like you’re trying to nail Jell—O to a tree , you know?”

I’m not exactly sure, but I think Chris was saying that life is a series of eventsboth good and bad. No matter how deft your organizational skills, there will always be lifeinfluencing factors over which you have no control. The truly successful person expects the unexpected, and is prepared to make adjustment s should the need arise-as it almost always does.

That doesn’t mean you don’t keep trying to make all your dreams come true. It just means that when things come up that aren’t exactly in your plan, you work around them-and then you move on. Of course, some bump s along the road of life are easier to take than others. A rained—out picnic, for example, is easier to cope with than the sudden death of a loved one. But the principle is the same.

“Change, indeed, is painful, yet ever needful,” said philosopher Thomas Carlyle . “And if memory have its force and worth, so also has hope.”

We’re going to miss Mark, just like you’ll miss that graduate, that neighbor or that newlywed . But rather than dwell on the sadness of our parting, we’ll focus on our hopes for a brighter future—for him, and for us. And then we’ll go out and do everything we can to make that future happen.

Until our plans change—again.

疑难解析

★pensive [‘pensiv] adj. 沉思的,忧郁的;悲伤的,哀愁的

★exemplary [iɡ’zempləri] adj. 典范的;惩戒性的;可仿效的

★disposition [,dispə’ziʃən] n. 性格;懒惰,脾气,气质;倾向(性),意向,癖性;布置;排列;安排;整理;部署;处理,处置,料理;最后解决;清除,除掉;转让;赠与;处分权

★superbly [sju:’pə:bli] adv. 雄伟地;壮丽地;上等地;庄重地

★genuinely [‘dʒenjuinli] adv. 真诚地;诚实地

★curve [kə:v] n. 曲线;弯曲;曲线球;曲线图表 vt. 弯;使弯曲 vi. 成曲形 adj. 弯曲的;曲线形的

★recipe [‘resipi] n. 食谱;[临床]处方;秘诀

★ bread-winner n. 赚钱养家的人

★disruptio [dis’rʌpʃən] n. 破坏,毁坏;分裂,瓦解

★contentment [kən’tentmənt] n. 满足;满意

★Biblical [‘biblikəl] adj. 圣经的;依据圣经的(等于biblical)

★Ecclesiastes [i,kli:zi’æsti:z] n. 传道书

★embrace [im’breis] vt. 拥抱;信奉,皈依;包含 vi. 拥抱 n. 拥抱

★remembrance [ri’membrəns] n. 回想,回忆;纪念品;记忆力

★bureaucrat [‘bjuərəukræt] n. 官僚;官僚主义者

★survivability [,səvaivə’biliti] n. 存活的能力,生命力

★adaptability [ə,dæptə’biləti] n. 适应性;可变性;适合性

★paddle [‘pædl] n. 划桨;明轮翼 vt. 拌;搅;用桨划 vi. 划桨;戏水;涉水

★tubular [‘tju:bjulə] adj. 管状的

★adjustment [ə’dʒʌstmənt] n. 调整,调节;调节器

★bump [bʌmp] n. 肿块,隆起物;撞击 vi. 碰撞,撞击;颠簸而行 vt. 碰,撞;颠簸 adv. 突然地,猛烈地

rained-out 因下雨而取消的

★newlywed [‘nju:liwed] adj. 新婚的 n. 新婚夫妇

dwell on 详述;细想

Kahlil Gibran 卡里纪伯伦

surf-rat 冲浪爱好者

nail Jell-O to a tree 做一些不可能做成或非常难做成的事情

Thomas Carlyle 托马斯·卡莱尔

参考译文

人生处处是转角

如果我今天有点郁郁寡欢,请原谅我。

马克要走了,我感到有点难过。

你或许不认识马克,但如果你认识像他那样的人,那你可能走运了。好几年来,他都是办公室里的核心和灵魂人物,专业技能堪称典范,态度和蔼,性情温柔。工作表现出色的他从不热衷于争风邀功。他只想做他的工作,并出色地完成。

而现在,他要向一份令人兴奋的新职迈进。听起来是个一生难得的机会,我们也真心诚挚地替他高兴。但那并没使我们跟这么一位亲爱的朋友、信任的同事告别来得容易一些。

生活用它自己的方式不断向我们抛出曲线球。当我们刚开始和某人融洽相处,或是适应一个地方或一种境况时,某事就发生了,改变了一切。很好的邻居要搬家了;家里的某个成员毕业了;孩子找到新欢,在婚姻殿堂里寻获忠诚;家里养家糊口的主力军被解雇了。

我们应付变化以及混乱情况的能力很大程度上决定了我们生活的安宁、幸福和满意度。

但我们该怎么做?哲人们已经思考这个问题好几个世纪了,他们的回答各不相同。根据《圣经 · 旧约全书 · 传道书》的作者,人们可以通过记住“大千世界,万事万物皆有时”来获得安慰。而卡里 · 纪伯伦也曾敦促他的听众去“让今日用记忆拥抱昨日,用渴望拥抱未来”。

我一个在政府工作的朋友喜欢提醒他的那帮官僚同事们“生存取决于适应性”。还有克里斯,加利福尼亚州的一位冲浪爱好者,他曾告诉我,生活中所有问题的答案都能归为四个字——“随遇而安”。

“就像冲浪,”克里斯解释道,“你无法掌控大海。波浪随意荡起。你乘着浪任其领着你向前冲,然后,你伏身于冲浪板往回划水至某处,接而踏乘下一个浪。当然,你总会希望等到那个完美的浪头,就像你知道的那种滚筒浪。但大多数情况,也就是随波逐流,这不是什么登天难事,你知道的。”

我不太确定,但我想克里斯在说,生活是由一连串事件组成的——其中有好有坏。不论你的统筹技巧有多纯熟,总会有些你无法控制的因素影响着我们的生活。真正的成功者料想到意料之外的事总会发生,并做好准备在必要时做出调整——而这样的情况常常发生。

那并不意味着你不需要不断努力去实现你的梦想。意思只是说,当计划以外的事发生时,你得去处理,然后继续前进。当然,人生沿途出现的一些“撞击”要比另一些容易处理。比如,因为下雨要取消野餐,总比自己所爱的人突然去世更容易处理。但原理是相同的。

“改变确实给人带来痛苦,但改变却是永远必须的。”哲人托马斯 · 卡莱尔说道,“并且,如果记忆拥有其力量和价值,那么希望也同样拥有。”

我们会想念马克,就像你会想念那毕业离家的孩子、那位搬走的邻居或那新婚的儿女一样。但我们与其沉湎于分离所带来的哀伤中,倒不如把期盼聚焦于一个更光明的未来——为他,也为我们自己。然后,我们将走出去,尽我们的一切力量去实现梦想中的未来。

直到我们的计划——再次改变。 Nq9LX3xQHowt+LCkCMUyCMgGTwzJI7AEpp0/A363JlLtwGmREEzTFd6F8OjP5oXH

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