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，怎么可能經常練習呢?”

于是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.

幾年前我在一本雜志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、并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(滬江小編注：格列夫游記作者)，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后，這篇文章的作者和這位年輕的女士通信多年、到后來失去了聯系。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，試著在你的腦子里用英語組織語言。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。不同于故事里的年輕女士，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、重復你聽到的話，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：盡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.

除了菲菲的建議我還想加上一點：在我講的故事里，這個年輕女士的好英文和她愛讀書的習慣不無關聯。我認為閱讀對你的詞匯量、語法和流利性大有好處。因為書本本身就充滿了完美的英語例句。如果不能喝英語使用者直接交流，那么久退而求其次，好好利用英語書籍、音頻節目和電影吧!

But you should also try hard to meet English speakers, and remember that this doesn’t need to be face-to-face. It’s great that all of you come to this blog but remember that there are thousands of other English language blogs too. Maybe it’s time to try out your English skills in ’public’?!

但同時你也的確應該試著多和英語使用者交流，不過記住，這可不必要是面對面的。像你們都來上我們的博客當然很好，不過全世界可有成千上萬的英語博客呢，也許，是時候要試試把你的英語向公眾展示了?

One last thought. Some of my friends work out in the gym. They put a lot of time and energy into developing amazing muscles. I have to say I’ve never really understood that. Just by leading my normal life, my body develops all the muscles it needs. (It doesn’t need many – I have a very sedentary lifestyle!) So, I ask my friends, if you don’t need muscles, why go to the gym?

最后想到一點：我有一些朋友常去健身。他們花了很多時間精力來練就一身好肌肉。我必須承認我從來不理解：我就算不去健身，身體也能發展出日常生活所需的肌肉呀!(我并不需要太多肌肉——我的生活方式很“宅”)。所以，我問我的朋友：如果你不需要用到肌肉，那干嘛去健身呢?

If you really don’t have any contact with English speakers, why learn English?

如果你并不需要接觸英語使用者，那干嘛學英語呢?

I’ll leave you with that question.

我把這個問題留給你啦。

Have a great weekend 周末愉快

William