When I first moved to China in 1998, I thought I would impress my class by using some Chinese in my speech about American weddings (婚礼). I told them everyone brings a gift to the wedding for the couple. As soon as I said this, all of the students looked surprised. I knew I had said something wrong. I realized that instead of telling them that everybody brings gifts to the hun li for the couple, I had said people bring gifts for them at the li hun!
I get laughs from some of my students because I often make mistakes and my Chinese sounds strange at times. But I tell them that sometimes their English is really strange too.
One asks, “What are you like to do in your free time?” And the other answers, “I very like basketball.” I find that even good English speakers make such mistakes. The second is by far the most common mistake I have heard among Chinese English speakers. It is a result of first thinking in Chinese and then translating each word in the sentence into English. This, of course, makes some Chinese people’s English sound strange.
“We should get off the car here,” a student told me. My school had asked two students to show me around the city by taxi. In English countries, we “get off” a bike, bus, or train. However, when we leave a car, we say “get out of the car”. Perhaps the student had learned “get off” means xia in Chinese and he thought the phrase (短语) could be followed by any means of transportation. To avoid such mistakes, you should take collocations (搭配) seriously. Only learning vocabulary and grammar is not enough.
Some of my students sound more like a book or machine than a human. Perhaps they have gotten used to depending on books. You can also read English books out loud or use a CD, but you need the real thing. If you have a chance to hear a native speaker from an Englishspeaking country, practice repeating what you hear. They can teach you how to have a conversation.
【小题1】Why did the students feel surprised?A.American weddings are difficult to organize. |
B.The author’s Chinese was as fluent as Chinese. |
C.The author used a completely wrong Chinese word. |
D.Everyone must bring a gift to an American wedding. |
A.Spelling mistakes. | B.Direct translation. |
C.Cultural difference. | D.Wrong pronunciations. |
A.He might be poor at vocabulary. |
B.He might mistake “car” for “taxi”. |
C.He might know very little about the city. |
D.He might pay little attention to collocations. |
A.Common mistakes made by Chinese English learners. |
B.Differences between Chinese and American culture. |
C.Suggestions on improving conversational skills. |
D.His experience of learning English. |
Why learn English through the news?
Learning English through the news is a great way to improve your vocabulary, listening and discussion skills. You can choose-from written, audio(音频的), video and live TV news with options both online and offline.
Clear English
Latest information
Modern news media is a constant stream of real-life English conversations and fresh information!
Read, watch, and listen
English news comes in many different forms and this gives you greater choice when learning the language. If you prefer reading, there are online newspapers and simpler news websites for. ESL students. If you want to improve your listening and vocabulary skills, there are also TV news channels,YouTube videos, radio stations and podcasts(播客).
Relevant(相关的) to you
Fresh news is produced daily on every imaginable topic!
A.Popular stories often appear in all of these forums. |
B.English news is worth including in your study plan for the following reasons. |
C.Even the word“news”comes from the Latin term“nova”, meaning“new things”. |
D.An effective way to learn English is by frequently watching English movies. |
E.Most journalists and newsreaders use Standard English and express themselves well. |
F.Most learners of English have difficulties understanding original newspapers and TV news. |
G.Whatever you like, you will always be able to find news articles and stories that are relevant to you. |
Welcome to Learn English!
This site provides a large collection of English as a Second Language (ESL) tools & resources for students, teachers, learners and academics. Browse all the pages and find useful links and plenty of information.
Did you realize that over two billion people in the world now speak this language? This figure is ever growing. It is the language of globalization. It's the language of international business and politics. It is the primary language used for most computers and for the inner workings of the Internet.
Given that this language has acquired its world-wide reputation due to globalized power relations, many companies and governments will obviously see the advantage of hiring non-native speakers of the language. The future is in your hands and the future demands a firm command of this language.
There is no need for you, the student community, to rush through the sections. Take your own time and follow the TORTOISE method so that learning English will be a matter of fun.
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【小题1】The website is targeted at the following people EXCEPT ________.A.Teachers | B.students |
C.businessmen | D.learners |
A.About a billion people worldwide speak it. |
B.It features world-wide popularity. |
C.It's the language of international business and agriculture. |
D.It is not used for computers and the inner workings of the Internet. |
A.AdvancedWriters.com | B.Myhomeworkdone.com |
C.MyPaperWriter.com | D.OOTAHAS |
We know it’s good to learn another language. It broadens your horizons, helps you make new friends, and it’s fun too. But to improve our linguistic skills, many of us have to go through hours of school lessons or evening classes, with our heads buried in textbooks. Do we really have to do so? Or is there something convenient available?
Some educational apps offer languages not popular enough to be taught at evening classes, or at most universities. And others offer ‘invented’ language courses in Esperanto, Elvish and Star Trek’s Klingon. Have no idea what they are?
A.After all, it is not perfect. |
B.Those are some lessons you might not find in a traditional classroom. |
C.Does that mean technology spells the end of traditional classrooms and teachers? |
D.But if you have a genuine and practical reason to learn, you will no doubt stick with it. |
E.Many app developers promptly take advantage of the demand and the plus of the internet. |
F.Attending a real lesson and facing a real teacher probably forces you to be more attentive. |
G.Good news is that technology appears to be providing a better and more accessible way of learning. |
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