书城外语双语学习丛书-校园之路
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第4章 On Learning Foreign Languages外语学习(1)

I have my own system for learning foreign languages, which is based upon a profound knowledge of the human heart.

After spending a couple of weeks talking to Americans in MoscowMoscow n.莫斯科(俄罗斯首都), and listening through a wall to the life of the Russians. I decided to learn the language. I did not want to collect bits of secondhand information. I did not want information.

通过对人思想情感的深刻了解,我建立了一套自己的外语学习方法。

外语学习

M.伊斯门

我在莫斯科待过几周,结交了一些生活在那里的美国人,因而对俄罗斯人的生活有了一个大概了解。但我看重的不是信息,而且我对零星的二手材料不感兴趣,所以我决定学习俄语。

I wanted the feeling of life under a proletarianproletarian adj.无产阶级的 dictatorshipdictatorship n.专政, and there was only one way to get it.

I had been puttering along with my grammar and with Lhermontov and Pushkin, reading at them in the same dreadful way that we used to read at Horace and Virgil. That was not learning anything.

I have my own system for learning foreign languages, which is based upon a profoundprofound adj.深刻的, 意义深远的, 渊博的, 造诣深的 knowledge of the human heart. And I will be here with some reservations impart to the reader.

The first thing to do is to go to the capital of the country where the language is spoken, and buy a grammar, two little red dictionaries, and a railroad ticket. The railroad ticket should take you as far away from the capital as possible, clear out of the sound of your own language, and preferable to a summer resortsummer resort n. 避暑圣地.

对于社会主义制度下人们的生活感受,我非常感兴趣,而这只能亲自获得。

在此之前,我已花了好多时间学习俄语语法及莱蒙托夫和普希金的诗。当然,由于使用的是一种错误的方法,因而什么也学不到。这在我以前读贺拉斯和维吉尔的诗时已经得到验证。

通过对人思想情感的深刻了解,我建立了一套自己的外语学习方法。我想在这里把这种方法介绍给大家,不过稍有保留。

首先,去讲这种语言的国家首都,并且买一本语法书和两本红封面的小辞典,再买一张火车票。它可以带你到远离首都的地方,在那里你完全听不到你本族语的声音,避暑胜地是不错的选择。

The reason for this is that you are going to have a good time, and you need company.

On the train, on the way to your summer resort, you have some hard work to do. It is the only work called for by my system, and it has to be done thoroughlythoroughly adv.十分地, 彻底地.

You have to learn the name in the language under considerationunder consideration 在考虑中 for “noun”, “adjective”, “verb”, “participle”, “conjunction”, “pronoun”, and “preposition”. And if you do not know in your own language just what these wonders are, you have to find out.

And then you have to learn to say, “What does that mean?” and “What is the word for this?”, and a few handy remarks like “Do you speak English?”, “Do you speak French?”, “Do you speak German?”, “Do you speak Italian?”, “Its too bad”, and “Lets take walk.”

在那里你不仅能够玩好,而且能够找到所需要的伴儿。

在我的学习方法中,有些艰苦的工作需要认真去做。你可以把坐火车以及去避暑胜地的时间利用起来。

你得学会所学语言中的有关名称,如什么叫“名词”、“形容词”、“副词”、“分词”、“连接词”、“代名词”和“前置词”。要是你还不知道这些东西在你本族语中是什么意思的话,你得想办法搞清楚。

然后,你得学会说:“那是什么意思?”和“这在俄语中怎么说?”以及一些常用的话:“你会讲英语吗?”,“你会讲法语吗?”,“你会讲德语吗?”,“你会讲意大利语吗?”, “噢,这太糟糕了!”,“我们一块儿走走好吗?”。

With that equipment you go into the diningroom of the principal hotel in your summer resort, and pick out your teacher.

You may do this quite boldlyboldly adv.大胆地, 显眼地, if you have equipped yourself as I direct, for you have a power to ensnareensnare v.诱捕 that teacher which reaches beyond the charms of your personality.

Moreovermoreover adv.而且, 此外, it is advisableadvisable adj. 可取的,明智的 to have an eye to her physical beauties, for you are going to spend a good deal of time gazinggaze v.盯, 凝视 on them in comparativecomparative adj.比较的, 相当的 silence.

准备好上面的东西后,你开始去找一家大饭店,在避暑胜地住下来,然后去挑老师。

做完这些之后,你就可以放心去干了,因为你已经具备一种吸引你老师的力量,一种超越你性格魅力的力量。

还有一点你得注意,应该挑选那些长像漂亮一些的作为老师。

After dinner you may go and lean up against a pillarpillar n.柱,柱子;栋梁, or the railing of a little footbridge in the garden, or somewhere—I need not be too specific about this—and when she comes by, you will say in your poor broken tongue and with a forlorn expression, “MademoiselleMademoiselle n. (Fr.) 小姐, do you speak English?”

When she says “No,” you will heave a sigh and say, “Do you speak German?”

At a second “No,” your expression will become disconsolatedisconsolate adj.孤独的, 郁郁不乐的, and you will say, “Do you speak French?”

At a third “No” you show real consternationconsternation n.惊愕, 恐怖, 惊惶失措, and offer to speak Italian, or BohemianBohemian n.波希米亚语, or Chinese, or what you will.

吃过饭,你可以走到外面,斜靠在一根门柱上、或者花园里小桥的栏杆上、或者其他什么地方——无需我一一说清楚——当她经过你的时候,你得装出可怜、无助的样子。用你刚学的那几句话,嗑磕巴巴地对她说:“小姐,你会说英语吗?”

要是她说不会,你便叹口气,接着问:“你会说德语吗?”

在第二次听到“不会”时,你脸上的表情要变得很沮丧,紧接着说:“你会说法语吗?”

在听到第三声“不会”时,你要显得惊慌失措,在问她会不会说意大利语、波西米亚语、汉语或其他你会说的任何语言。

If God is with you, she will declinedecline v.拒绝, 衰落 all these offers, and you will find that she is at once seriously distresseddistress v.使悲痛, 使穷困, 使忧伤 over your plightplight n.情况, 状态, 困境, 盟誓(婚姻), and in a somewhat humbledhumble vt. 使……卑下,挫,贬抑 condition as to her own talentstalent n.天才, 才干, 才能.

You will find, if I am not mistaken, that you are already taking a walk with her, and you may assumeassume vt 假定,设想,采取,呈现 that her next statement is, “Too bad you havent a Russian dictionary,” or something to that effect.

At the sound of these words—no matter how bad they sound—you will produce your two little red books, and hand her the one marked “RussianEnglish”.

如果幸运的话,那些语言正好她都不会讲,而且你发现她对你的处境深感不安,同时也对自己感到惭愧。

如果我没说错的话,此时你已经跟她在一块散步了,而且你可以预料到她的下一句话:“太糟糕了,你没有一本俄语字典,”或者诸如此类的话。

在听到这些话时——虽然它们不那么动听,你可以掏出你的两本红色小词典,把标有“俄英”的一本递给她。

Here the work, properly so called, comes to an end. She will be very curiouscurious adj.好奇的, 求知的, 古怪的, 爱挑剔的 to see what the words in your language look like, and she will examine the little red book and pretty soonpretty soon 不久 point to a word, probably the word “hot”, or something equally uninteresting under ordinary circumstances.

Under these circumstances it acquires the charm of an incantationincantation n.咒语. It begins to open just by something less than the shadow of a hairs breadth the gate of a possible romance.

You both know that that gate will be a long, long time in opening. And you both know, if you have reached years of some discretiondiscretion n.判断力, that when it is once wide open, the romance is gone. For there is no such thing as romance—it is only the expectation of itself.

叫工作的那部分到此便告一段落。她将非常好奇地看着你所用语言中的那些词是什么样儿。她翻阅了一下那本小红书,很快指到一个字,也许是那个“热”字,或者其他在一般情况下没什么意思的字。

在这种情形下,好像被施了魔法一般。她打开了一扇浪漫故事的大门,可能仅仅打开了像头发丝细的一条缝隙。

你们俩从知道需要很长时间,才能打开门。你们也都清楚,如果你们是那种判断力很强年龄段的人,那么门一旦打开,浪漫也就结束。因为根本没有什么浪漫故事,这只不过是一种愿望而已。