大学英语自学教程

大学英语自学教程(上)

01-A. How to be a successful language learner?

“Learning a language is easy, even a child can do it!”

Most adults who are learning a second language would disagree with this statement. For them, learning a language is a very difficult task. They need hundreds of hours of study and practice, and even this will not guarantee success for every adult language learner.

Language learning is different from other kinds of learning. Some people who are very intelligent and successful in their fields find it difficult to succeed in language learning. Conversely, some people who are successful language learners find it difficult to succeed in other fields.

Language teachers often offer advice to language learners: “Read as much as you can in the new language.”“ Practice speaking the language every day. ”“Live with people who speak the language.”“Don’t translate-try to think in the new language.”“ Learn as a child would learn; play with the language.”

But what does a successful language learner do? Language learning research shows that successful language learners are similar in many ways.

First of all, successful language learners are independent learners. They do not depend on the book or the teacher; they discover their own way to learn the language. Instead of waiting for the teacher to explain, they try to find the patterns and the rules for themselves. They are good guessers who look for clues and form their own conclusions. When they guess wrong, they guess again.

They try to learn from their mistakes.

Successful language learning is active learning. Therefore, successful learners do not wait for a chance to use the language; they look for such a chance. They find people who speak the language and they ask these people to correct them when they make a mistake. They will try anything to communicate. They are not afraid to repeat what they hear or to say strange things; they are willing to make mistakes and try again. When communication is difficult, they can accept information that is inexact or incomplete. It is more important for them to learn to think in the language than to know the meaning of every word.

Finally, successful language learners are learners with a purpose. They want to learn the language because they are interested in the language and the people who speak it. It is necessary for them to learn the language

in order to communicate with these people and to learn from them. They find it easy to practice using the language regularly because they want to learn with it.

What kind of language learner are you? If you are a successful language learner, you have probably been learning independently, actively, and purposefully. On the other hand, if your language learning has been less than successful, you might do well to try some of the techniques outlined above.

01-B. Language

When we want to tell other people what we think, we can do it not only with the help of words, but also in many other ways. For instance, we sometimes move our heads up and down when we want to say "yes” and we move our heads

from side to side when we want to say "no." People who can neither hear nor speak (that is, deaf and dumb people) talk to each other with the help of their fingers. People who do not understand each other's language have to do the same. The following story shows how they sometimes do it.

An Englishman who could not speak Italian was once traveling in Italy. One day he entered a restaurant and sat down at a table. When the waiter came, the Englishman opened his mouth, put his fingers in it, took them out again and moved his lips. In this way he meant to say, "Bring me something to eat." The waiter soon brought him a cup of tea. The Englishman shook his head and the waiter understood that he didn't want tea, so he took it away and brought him some coffee. The Englishman, who was very hungry by this time and not at all thirsty, looked very sad. He shook his head each time the waiter brought him

something to drink. The waiter brought him wine, then beer, then soda-water, but that wasn’t food, of course. He was just going to leave the restaurant when another traveler came in. When this man saw the waiter, he put his hands on his stomach. That was enough: in a few minutes there was a large plate of macaroni and meat on the table before him.

As you see, the primitive language of signs is not always very clear. The language of words is much more exact.

Words consist of sounds, but there are many sounds which have a meaning and yet are not words. For example, we may say "Sh-sh-sh” when we mean "keep silent.” When babies laugh, we know they are happy, and when they cry, we know they are ill or simply want something.

It is the same with animals. When a dog says “G-r-r”

or a cat says "F-f-f” we know they are angry.

But these sounds are not language. Language consists of words which we put together into sentences. But animals can not do this: a dog can say “G-r-r” when he means "I am angry,” but he cannot say first "I” and then "am” and then "angry.” A parrot can talk like a man; it can repeat whole sentences and knows what they mean. We may say that a parrot talks, but cannot say that it really speaks, because it cannot form new sentences out of the words it knows. Only man has the power to do this.

02-A. Taxes, Taxes, and More Taxes Americans often say that there are only two things a person can be sure of in life: death and taxes, Americans do not have a corner on the "death" market, but many people feel that the United States leads the world with the worst taxes.

Taxes consist of the money which people pay to support their government. There are generally three levels of government in the United States: federal, state, and city; therefore, there are three types of taxes.

Salaried people who earn more than a few thousand dollars must pay a certain percentage of their salaries to the federal government. The percentage varies from person to person. It depends on their salaries. The federal government has a graduated income tax, that is, the percentage of the tax (14 to 70 percent) increases as a person's income increases. With the high cost of taxes, people are not very happy on April 15, when the federal taxes are due.

The second tax is for the state government: New York, California, North Dakota, or any of the other forty-seven states. Some states have an income tax similar to that of