Chapter 7 Part One: How to Speak English How to Speak English

How to Speak English how to speak english There are more and more books at home, and the bookshelves have long been insufficient. Many books have to be squeezed horizontally into the gaps in the bookshelves, some are piled on the table, placed by the bedside, and some are piled on the floor.A few days ago, I asked my friend S to order two more bookshelves from a furniture store in Beijing, and the Express company quickly delivered the bookshelves to my home.The bookshelf was installed and placed next to the original large row of bookshelves, and my husband put the books piled aside one by one on the new bookshelf.A lot of books have been piled up there for a long time, and they have accumulated dust. I am responsible for wiping the dust off the books.For me, every book is like a treasure. When I look after these books, I sometimes seem to be fascinated, and I forget what I should do when I look at them.I think every book is interesting.My husband is going to urge me in a while, hi, haven't you wiped it down yet?I quickly said, this is good, this is good.I asked, why are there so many books, when did we buy them?But we can't remember.Suddenly, a book caught my eye, Working (by Studs Terkel), which is an American Best Seller. Its Chinese translation is "Americans Talking about America", which is a very appropriate name.This book was published in the 1980s. At that time, many people who learned English had read it, and it was also one of the sources for people to understand the United States at that time.I hurriedly handed over all the tidying tasks to my husband, turned the wheelchair by myself, went to the corner of the balcony and opened the book.

On the first page of the book, a fourteen-year-old American boy named Terry Dickens tells about his experience as a newspaper boy. Sunday morning at three — that's when I get up. I stay up later so I'm tired. But the dark doesn't bother me. I run into things sometimes, though. Somebody's dog'll come out and about give you a heart attack. There's this one woman, she had two big German shepherds, great big old things, like three or four feet tall. One of'em won't bite you…the other one, I didn't know she has another one — when it bite me. This dog came around the bush. (Imitates barking.) When I turned round, he was at me. He bit me right there (indicating scar on leg). It was bleeding a little. I gave him a real dirty look.

(Sunday morning at three o'clock - that's when I get up. I always go to bed late, so I'm tired. But I don't care if it's dark, though sometimes I bump into something. People's dogs come running, You'll be taken aback. There's this woman who has two big German Shepherds, both big guys, about three or four feet tall. One won't bite you...but the other one, I don't Knew she had another one - I didn't know until it bit me. This dog came out from behind the bushes. (Imitates dog barking.) When I turned around, he jumped on me. He bit me here .(Points to the scar on the leg.) There is a little blood. I give it a hard look.)

…I walked up and delivered the paper. I was about ready to beat the thing's head or kill it. Or something with it. I was so mad. I called up that woman and she said the dog had all its shots and “I don't believe he bit you." I said, "Lady, he bit me." Her daughter started giving the third degree. "What color was the dog?" "How big was it?" "Are you sure it was our yard and our dog?" Then they saw the dogs weren't in the pen. (…I went over to deliver the paper, and I was about to hit the guy on the head, or kill him, or give him some color, and I was so mad. I called the woman, and she said her dog All vaccinated and said, "I can't believe it bit you." I said, "Ma'am, it did bite me." But her daughter came out and yelled. "What color is that dog?" "How big is it?" "Are you sure it's my yard and my dog?" Later they found out the dog wasn't in the kennel.)

Ah, how real spoken English is!This is unaffected telling (albeit with a slight grammatical irregularity).Reading such a text, I feel that this fourteen-year-old boy seems to be standing in front of me, telling me his story.He said, I ride the bike all over the place. I go both sides of the street. Cliff hasn't got any hill. Mine's all hills… This boy gets up at three o'clock every morning, rides a bicycle, uphill and downhill, to deliver newspapers to subscribers, sometimes subscribers deliberately default on delivery fees, and even get bitten by dogs... His words are all blurted out without thinking , as we say, "pour beans out of a bamboo tube without holding anything back" (pour beans out of a bamboo tube without holding anything back).Spoken language is like this. It often does not conform to the grammatical norms, but it is vivid, natural, and real, which leaves a deep impression on people.

I often hear some people say that spoken English is too difficult to learn, and some people say that they have learned English for several years, but their spoken English is always not good enough... I don’t know what they mean by difficult to learn and not good enough, Why does spoken language become a "off"?In order to learn oral English well, some people go to special oral English training courses, spending money and time, but the result is not satisfactory. I have never studied oral English, and I didn’t have the conditions when I started self-study. Later, I had some foreign friends, and with them, I have been trying to speak English. Although sometimes there are some obstacles in expression and understanding, we We can still chat together from all over the world, daily life, literature and art, local customs, TV movies, Iraq war, separation surgery of conjoined twins... You can talk about anything, I think, the most important thing is to speak up, not afraid of making mistakes, If you say it wrong the first time, you will be right the second time, and maybe you will be proficient the third time.

That day, my new bookshelf was sorted out. Looking at the rows of English books, I was a little surprised, ah, I have bought so many spoken English textbooks!What Living in England, A Course of Spoken English, Situational Dialogues, American Scenes, Americans as They Speak and Live... Randomly flipping through a few books, I found that they almost have one feature in common - teaching parrots to talk.No wonder so many people can't pass the oral level.Following this oral learning mode, learning is of course limited, because life itself is so complicated and colorful, and we have so many things to express.However, textbooks always give people a limited number of topics:

At the Airport (at the airport) In the Hotel Asking the Way In theBbank (in the bank) In the supermarket (in the supermarket) ……… It's like an emergency manual for a first-time traveler. If the traveler encounters a slightly more complicated situation than the manual, the situation may be a bit embarrassing... I think the important thing is not to memorize these "spoken language" and "conversation" by rote, but to learn to narrate. In the book Working, 45 people from different social classes in the United States narrate their working experiences. Their stories show a panoramic scan and photo of American society in the 1960s, which is real and vivid. Fascinating, such as:

Stonemason Bates said, Stone's my life. I daydream all the time...All my dreams, it seems like it's got to have a piece of rock mixed in it. (The stone is my life, says Bates the stonemason. I am always daydreaming...in all my dreams, it seems that every time I dream that there is a stone in it.) Farm worker Acuna is a Mexican immigrant. Compared with many other American workers, he and his family have always been discriminated against and exploited.He said, I remember when we just go into California from Arizona to pick up the carrot harvest. It was very cold and very windy out in the fields. We just had a little old blanket for the four of us kids in the tent. We were freezing our tail off…

Working in the fields is not in itself a degrading job…But the growers don't recognize us as persons. That's the worst thing, the way they treat us. Like we have no brains. Now we see they have no brains. They have only a wallet in their head… (I remember we just went from Arizona to California to harvest carrots. It was cold and windy in the fields. In the tent, we 4 boys had only one small old blanket. We were freezing like hell...   There's nothing mean to work in the fields...but the farmers don't think of us as human beings.Even worse was the way they treated us.It's as if we're brainless.Now that we can see clearly, they are out of their minds.They only have a wallet in their head...)

College professor Hunter said, I'm a college professor. As a communications specialist, I train students to become more sensitive and aware of interpersonal communication — symbolic behavior, use of words, as well as nonverbal behavior. ignite, the meaning here is to inspire) symbols in your mind, so we can come to a point of agreement on language…… (University professor Hunter said, I am a college professor. As a communication specialist, I train students to understand interpersonal communication and become more sensitive to symbolic behavior, word use, and nonverbal behavior. I try to Fire up the symbol in your mind so we can find a common ground in language...) I'm high on the work because it is the way life is going to be — persuading people. We are communicating animals. We are persuadable animals. It's not an unethical thing. (I value this work very much because that’s how life should be—life is persuading. We are social animals. We are persuading animals. There is nothing immoral about it.) Work is the way life is going to be. This sentence is called a motto, but it was said by an ordinary person. I believe it is also his heartfelt words.To narrate is to speak one's own heart, because only the heart can be truly accepted and believed by others. I think this is also the true meaning of narration. Professor Hunter jokingly called himself a persuadable animal, and he may have regarded his career as a matter of nature. In the book Working, people are narrating with an open heart, without any shyness and embarrassment, and without any boasting or concealment. Will be loved by ordinary people in America. I think it is easiest to talk about yourself, so speaking English is best to start with talking about yourself.Don't be afraid of making mistakes. It is common to say the wrong words and use the wrong words. Babies start with babbling. They don't know how many wrong words they have said and how many words they have missed, but they still learn to speak in the end.The same goes for learning to speak English.Even authentic Americans will inevitably make mistakes when narrating, let alone Chinese who speak English? Of course, the basic skills of English are indispensable, including correct pronunciation and intonation, rich vocabulary, relatively comprehensive grammar knowledge, necessary English and American overview and cultural background, as well as extensive reading, good listening and comprehension skills.If the basic skills are not solid, naturally you dare not speak.Another very important point is to have the desire to communicate with others.I like talking to people, and when American friends come to see me, we always chat with each other while drinking coffee.Write if you don't understand, and talk if you don't understand.It is really a joy to talk with friends in English like this. Narrative is to say what I think in my heart. Sometimes I really wish I could be with my American friends, pour beans in a bamboo tube, and chat happily in English. After chatting like this for a while, maybe I can write an article in the future. A book like Working. By the way, in the book Working, Americans love their work more than I imagined.Stepkin, a bakery manager, said: Work is an essential part of being alive. It tells you who you are. It's gotten so abstract. People don't work for the sake of working. They're working for a car, a new house, or a vacation. the work itself that's important to them. there's such a joy in doing work well. (Work is a basic need to live. Work tells you who you are. It’s abstract. People don’t work for work. They work for a car, a new house, or a vacation. Work itself is important to They are not important, and there is such a joy in a job well done.) Someone asked Stepkin: When people ask you what you do, what do you say? (If someone asked you, what do you do, what would you say?) He said, I make bread. (Laughs.) (I make bread.) (Laughter) Now I'm thinking, if someone asked me that, I'd say: I also make bread, but my bread is not for eating, but for reading. (I also make bread, but my bread is not eaten, but read.)