What is the most important English skill? What skill must you have to communicate well?
學習英語最重要的技巧是什么? 怎樣才能很好地用英語進行溝通?
Obviously, number 1 is Fluency. What is fluency? Fluency is the ability to speak (and understand)
English quickly and easily... WITHOUT translation. Fluency means you can talk easily with
native speakers-- they easily understand you, and you easily understand them. In fact, you
speak and understand instantly.
顯然，首當其沖是要流利。流利就是在不翻譯的情況下，你能快速地說出英語，并且很容易理解。流利意味著你能夠很輕松和外國人進行英語對話，他們能夠理解你，你也能夠理解他們。事實上，流利就是你可以快速地開口講英語并領會其意思。
Fluency is your most important English goal.
流利是學習英語的最重要的目標。
The research is clear--there is only ONE way to get fluency. You do not get fluency by reading
textbooks. You do not get fluency by going to English schools. You do not get fluency by
studying grammar rules.
研究表明只有通過一種方法才能達到英語流利的目標。讀英語課文、上英語輔導學校、學英語語法都不能夠讓你的英語口語變流利。
Listening Is The Key 聽力是關鍵
To get English fluency, you must have a lot of understandable repetitive listening. That is the
ONLY way. To be a FANTASTIC English speaker, you must learn English with your ears, not
with your eyes. In other words, you must listen. Your ears are the key to excellent speaking.
為了讓自己的英語口語流利，你必須在理解的基礎上大量地練習聽力。要用你的耳朵而不是眼睛學習英語，這樣你才能成為一名優秀的英語演講者。換句話說，你必須多聽英語。
What kind of listening is best? Well, it must be understandable and must be repetitive.
Both of those words are important--Understandable and Repetitive. If you don’t
understand, you learn nothing. You will not improve. That’s why listening to English TV
does not help you. You don’t understand most of it. It is too difficult. It is too fast.
怎樣練習聽力呢?理解和重復，這兩點很重要。如果你不理解，你什么也學不到，也不會有提高。聽英語新聞對你沒有多大幫助。因為英語新聞太難太快了，大部分內容都很難理解。
It’s obvious right? If you do not understand, you will not improve. So, the best listening material is
EASY. That’s right; you should listen mostly to easy English. Most students listen to English that is much too difficult. They don’t understand enough, and so they learn slowly. Listen to easier English, and your speaking will improve faster!
如果理解不了所聽內容，你的英語就不會有所提高。因此，最好的聽力材料應該是簡單的。大多數學生聽難度較大的聽力材料，因為他們沒有充分理解其內容，所以他們學的很慢。聽一些簡單的聽力，你的口語會提高很快。
Understanding is not enough. You must also have a lot of repetition. If you hear a new word
only once, you will soon forget it. If you hear it 5 times, you will still probably forget it!
只有理解還是不夠的，你還必須反復聽。如果一個新單詞你只聽一次，你會很快就把它忘了。如果聽五次，你仍有可能忘掉。
You must hear new words and new grammar many times before you will understand them instantly.
你需要很多次地聽新詞或語法，才能很快地理解它們，記住它們。
How many times is necessary? Most people must hear a new word 30 times to remember it
forever. To know a word and instantly understand it, you probably need to hear it 50-100
times! That’s why I tell my students to listen to all of my lessons many times. I tell them to
listen to the Mini-Stories, the Vocab Lessons, The Point-of-View Stories, and the Audio
articles everyday. I recommend that they listen to each lesson a total of 30 times (for example,
2 times a day for two weeks).
大多數人學習一個新單詞需要聽30次才能不會忘記。要想認識并理解一個單詞，你需要聽50-100次。這就是我要求學生要多次聽我的課的原因。我告訴他們每天要多聽微型小說、詞匯課程、觀點故事和音頻文章。我建議他們每節課要聽30次(比如，每天聽2次，堅持兩周就行)。
So, the two most important points are: listen to easier English and listen to each thing
many times.
因此，聽英語最重要的兩點是：聽簡單的英語材料和大量地練習聽力。
Suggestions For Powerful Listening and Excellent Speaking
練習聽力和口語的建議
1. Practice “Narrow Listening”
1、練習“窄聽”
“Narrow listening” means listening to many things about the same topic. This method is more powerful than trying to listen to many different kinds of things. Students who listen to similar things learn faster and speak better than students who listen to different kinds of things.
“窄聽”是指多聽相同主題的材料。這比聽很多不同主題的文章更有意義。聽類似文章的學生比聽不同種文章的學生會學得更快。
For example, you can choose one speaker and find many things by him. Listen to all of his pod- casts, audio books, and speeches. This is powerful because all speakers have favorite vocabulary and grammar. They naturally repeat these many times. By listening to many things by the same person, you automatically get a lot of vocabulary repetition. You learn faster and deeper!
比如，你可以找一個演講者，從他身上你可以學到很多。聽他所有的播客、有聲讀物、演講。這對你學習英語大有益處。因為所有演講者都有自己最喜愛的詞匯和語法。他們會自然地多次重復這些詞。通過聽同一個人的很多東西，你可以獲得大量的詞匯。你會學得更快!
Another example is to choose one topic to focus on. For example, you could read an easy book, listen to the same audio book, listen to a podcast about the book, and watch the movie.
另一個例子是把注意力集中到一個主題上。例如，你讀一本簡單的書，只聽它的音頻，聽它的播客，看關于它的電影。
I did this with my class in San Francisco. We read “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. Then we listened to the audio book. Then we watched (and listened to) the movie. Then we listened to interviews with actors in the movie. My students learned a lot of vocabulary in a short time, and their speaking improved very quickly.
我的學生們都是這樣練習英語的。我們讀《查理和巧克力工廠》。然后我們聽它的音頻文章，看關于它的電影。之后我們聽演員們的訪問。我的學生們從中學到了很多詞匯，并且他們的口語有了很大的提高。
2. Divide Your Listening Time
2、劃分聽力時間
Which is better: to listen for two hours without a break, or to divide that time during the day?
Well, dividing your listening time is best.
連續聽兩個小時聽力好呢?還是分時間段聽好呢?當然，后者效果更好。
By dividing your time throughout the day, you remember more and learn faster. So it’s much better to listen 30 minutes in the morning, then 30 minutes in the car or train, then 30 minutes coming home from work, then 30 minutes before sleep. In fact, this is the exact schedule I recommend to my students!
分時間段練習聽力有助于記憶。早上起床后聽30分鐘，坐車時聽30分鐘，下班回家路上聽30分鐘，睡覺前聽30分鐘。事實上，這是我推薦給學生的時間表!
3. Use an iPod or MP3 Player
3、利用iPod 或MP3播放器
iPods are fantastic. You can put a big listening library on one. Then you can carry your English lessons everywhere. You can learn English while walking, while shopping, in the car, in a train, while cooking,...
你可以往播放器里下載很多的聽力材料。這樣，不管你走到哪你都可以學習英語。當你走路時 ，購物時，坐車時，做飯時······
With an iPod or MP3 player, you don’t have to worry about CDs. Also, you can find a lot of
English listening on the internet. You can find lessons, stories, podcasts, TV shows, interviews, and audio books. Simply download the audio, put it on your iPod. and learn English anywhere!
CD也可以放到播放器里。在網上你可以找到很多關于英語聽力的課程、故事、音頻等。把他們下載到你的播放器里，你就可以隨時學習英語了!
4. Listen To Movies
4、聽電影
Movies are great for learning English BUT you must use them correctly. Don’t watch all of an English movie. You will not understand it, and therefore you will not learn anything.
電影對英語學習者也很有幫助。但是，你必須正確的運用它。不要學習一整部電影，你理解不了，也不會學到東西。
Only watch one scene or segment per week (maybe 2-3 minutes).
每周只看電影的一個片段(或許2-3分鐘)
Follow this method:
a) First, watch the scene with subtitles in your language. This will help you understand the general meaning.
a)第一遍看母語字幕，這樣幫助你了解大意。
b) Second, watch the scene with English subtitles. Pause. Use a dictionary to find new words you don’t understand. Write the new sentences in a notebook.
b)第二遍看英語字幕。遇到新單詞時暫停下來，查字典。把這個新句子寫到筆記本上。
c) Listen to the scene a few times, with English subtitles. Do not pause.
c)反復聽這個片段，并帶英語字幕，不要停下來。
d) Listen to the scene a few times, without subtitles.
d)反復聽，不帶字幕。
e) Repeat a) - d) everyday for one week.
e)每天重復a)-d)，并堅持一個星期。
On the second week, go to the next scene/segment and repeat again. It will take you a long time to finish a movie. That’s OK, because you will improve your listening and speaking VERY FAST. This method is powerful-- use it!
第二周，進行下一個片段。這樣，要想看完一部電影需要很長時間，但是它會很快提高你的聽力和口語。
5. Read and Listen at the Same Time
5、同時進行聽和讀
Listening and Reading together are very powerful. While you listen to something, also read it.
This will improve your pronunciation.
一邊聽材料一邊跟著讀會提高你的發音。
Reading while listening also helps you understand more difficult material. Read and listen to learn faster. After you do this a few times, put away the text and just listen. You will understand a lot more and you will improve faster. Always try to find both audio and text materials.
邊聽邊讀也會幫你理解一些較難的材料。聽和讀同時進行會學的很快。這樣練習幾次后，就把材料收起來，只進行聽，你會有意想不到的收獲。
You only need 6 months--6 months and you will speak easily to native speakers.6 months and you will speak quickly and naturally. 6 months and you feel relaxed when you speak English. You have tried the old ways. You tried textbooks. You tried schools. You tried grammar study. It is time to try something new!
只需6個月你就能夠和外國人輕松地進行交流。你可能嘗試了一些老方法：讀課文，上輔導學校，學習語法等。何不嘗試一些其他的新方法呢!
Good luck. I wish you success with your English learning!
