如何在非英語環境練就完美英語
BBC中文頻道的William收到讀者來信，抱怨他上一次教大家的英語學習技巧很難真正實現。「你說要學會新單詞，就要多用。但我們都身在非英語的環境啊，怎麼可能經常練習呢？」
於是William通過一個故事來傳達了他的觀點：
A few years ago I read a very touching article in a magazine. (I think it was by the well-known sinologist Simon Winchester, but I might be wrong.) The article was about a trip he had made deep into rural China many years before. On this trip he didn"t meet anyone who could speak English and some people had never seen Europeans before.
幾年前我在一本雜誌上讀到了一篇非常感人的文章。（我記得是那個著名的漢學家Simon Winchester寫的，但我也不太確定。）文章講述了多年前，他到中國偏遠地區的一趟旅程。在旅途中，他沒有碰到任何一個會英語的人。很多百姓，甚至從來都沒有見過一個歐洲人。
Then one day this sinologist got off a train at a very isolated spot, and a beautiful young Chinese woman approached him and began to speak in fluent English about great English writers: Austen, Dickens, the Brontes, Swift, Shakespeare. She had taught herself to read English over many years and was desperate for an outlet（出路，使用英語的機會）.
跟著某天，這個漢學家在一個非常偏遠的地方下了火車，一個美麗的中國年輕女孩過來跟他搭訕、並用流利的英語聊起了著名的英語作家：奧斯丁、狄更斯、勃朗特姊妹、斯威夫特（註：格列夫遊記作者），莎士比亞。原來她自學英語多年，一直很渴望有練習英語的機會。
After this brief encounter, the writer of this article and the young woman wrote to each other for many years before losing touch. It was impossible for them to be together: she was already married.
在這次短暫的交談之後，這篇文章的作者和這位年輕的女士通信多年、到後來失去了聯繫。他們不可能在一起，因為那時她已經結婚了。
I"m telling you this story because I want to show that it is possible to become really good at a language without being able to practise it with native speakers every day. However, I do also think that this young woman must have had a really astonishing natural ability for language – something most of us don"t have.
我講述這個故事是因為我希望你了解，即便是無法和母語使用者每日交流，還是有可能自己學好一門語言的。當然我同時也相信這位年輕的女士肯定擁有非凡的語言天賦——這是我們很多人都不具備的能力。
Somebody who does have an such an ability is my colleague here at the BBC, Feifei Feng. Feifei arrived in England speaking near-perfect English and is one of the most impressive language learners I know. She seems the person best-placed to answer your question. So here are her tips:
而我的同事中也有具備這樣能力的人，那就是馮菲菲。菲菲到英國的時候就已經說得一口近乎完美的英語，她也是我見過的最厲害的語言學習者之一。看起來，她是最適合回答你問題的人。所以，我問她要了些小訣竅：
Learn how to think in English. This is undoubtedly the best way to improve your fluency. When you are thinking about a topic, try to make English sentences in your head. This will also make you aware of what vocabulary you still need to learn in order to express yourself.
學著用英語思考。這絕對能增進你表達的流利性。當你思考一個話題，試著在你的腦子裡用英語組織語言。這同樣能幫你了解你還需要哪些單詞來表達自己。
You also need to work very hard on your pronunciation. Unlike the young Chinese woman in the story above, you have access to lots of recordings of native English speakers. Go to our website – bbcukchina.com. We have downloadable audio programmes and we make the scripts available. Use your pause button and repeat sentences that you hear, trying to match the pronunciation. If you prefer movies, watch DVDs. This will improve your listening ability too. The message is: expose yourself (給自己接觸某事的機會)to as much audio of native English speakers as possible.
同時，你也要好好下功夫練習發音。不同於故事裡的年輕女士，你現在有機會聽到很多英語母語使用者的資料。你可以上我們的網站bbcukchina.com，我們提供可下載的音頻和相應的文檔。使用「暫停」鍵、重複你聽到的話，試著去模仿發音。如果你更喜歡電影，就去看DVD吧。這還能增強你的聽力呢。秘訣就是：儘可能多地讓自己接觸到英語母語使用者的音頻。
I would also add something to Feifei"s advice. I don"t think it"s a coincidence that in the story I tell above, the young lady loved to read books. I think that reading can do wonders for (對...產生奇效) your vocabulary and also for your grammar and fluency since books are, after all, full of examples of perfect English sentences. Instead of interacting with English speakers, do the next best thing: interact with English-language books, radio programmes and films.
