嘉娜:彼得,你也是把英語作為一門外語來學(xué)習(xí),對吧?
Peter: That's right, yes.
彼得:沒錯。
Jana: It's not your first language? So how did you do it?
嘉娜:英語不是你的母語?你是怎么學(xué)習(xí)的?
Peter: That's a good question. When I think back, I think, I try to think about the things that helped me most and I think it was a funny combination of things. I had one really interesting English teacher, she was really strict, but she was really interesting and I think she inspired me in some ways because her English was so good and I thought 'wow' that's really great. I wouldn't mind being able to be as good as her. The other thing that really helped me was reading like I really read so much in English. I think you mentioned, I remember you saying that too at some other point.
彼得:這是個很好的問題。回想一下,我想對我?guī)椭畲蟮膽?yīng)該是各種事情有趣的事情。我的英語老師非常風(fēng)趣,她很嚴格,不過她真的很風(fēng)趣,我想從某些方面來說,是她激勵了我,因為她的英語非常棒,我當(dāng)時想“哇,真是太好了”。我希望我的英語能和她的一樣棒。另外閱讀對我?guī)椭埠艽?,我讀了很多英語作品。我想你之前提到過,我記得你也說過這點。
Jana: Yeah, I think so too. I read a lot, not because I wanted to learn but because I like reading and so I read in English and later on I realized I must have learned a lot of vocabulary and things that I didn't even realize I learned.
嘉娜:對,我也記得。我讀了很多書,不是因為我想學(xué)習(xí),而是因為我喜歡閱讀,所以我看了很多英語書籍,后來我發(fā)現(xiàn)這讓我學(xué)會了很多詞匯和其他知識,我都沒有意識到我其實是在學(xué)習(xí)。
Peter: I think yes.
彼得:對。
Jana: Just through reading.
嘉娜:通過閱讀學(xué)習(xí)。
Peter: Yeah, the same thing happened to me. My home had so many books in it, I was lucky I guess in that way and at least half of them were in English and when I discovered that there were books in the house that I couldn't get into and I was really into stories and reading, I felt so angry that I couldn't get into them so I said OK I'll start try and read them and I guess it started off there because then I started reading so much and it was really good for me in the end, I think.
彼得:對,我和你情況一樣。我媽媽有很多書,我想我非常幸運,其中至少有一半的書是英語書籍,我家里有那些書,可是我發(fā)現(xiàn)我竟然看不進去,可是我非常喜歡看故事,也喜歡閱讀。所以我因為自己看不進去這些書而感到非常生氣,我想“好,我要試著讀這些書”,我想就是從那時開始,我閱讀了大量的英語書籍,這對我非常有幫助。
Jana: So that was your motivation, you wanted to read those mysterious books?
嘉娜:閱讀那些神秘的書籍是你的動力嗎?
Peter: Yes and it was really good for me that way I guess.
彼得:對,我想這對我?guī)椭艽蟆?/p>
Jana: That's interesting. You see people ask me how did I learn English. I didn't really have a plan, I just enjoyed English that's why I studied in my free time but I didn't think of it as something I have to do, I just did it for fun.
嘉娜:真有意思。有人問我怎么學(xué)習(xí)英語。我其實并沒有計劃,我只是喜歡英語,所以我在空閑時間學(xué)習(xí),但是我不認為這是我必須要做的事情,我只是為了興趣而學(xué)習(xí)。
Peter: I think so too for me. Also in high school I remember my classmates complaining about all the homework in English and they couldn't do it and they used to come to me for help and then I thought but hang on it's not, it doesn't feel like work to me, it just feels like something kind of fun.
彼得:我想我也是這樣。我記得上高中時,同學(xué)們都抱怨英語作業(yè),他們都做不了作業(yè),然后他們就會來尋求我的幫助,當(dāng)時我并不認為這是工作,我認為這是很有意思的事。
Jana: That's right.
嘉娜:沒錯。
Peter: But I can't tell you where that fun started. I guess it has something to do with being curious about things that are written or said. Do you think so?
彼得:不過我也說不清是從何時開始產(chǎn)生興趣的。我想可能是因為我很好奇那些書里寫了什么吧。你也這樣想嗎?
Jana: Yeah, I also sort of remember when I first became interested in English but later on when I met some people from different countries, I became more interested in communicating with them and, like you said, my teacher also inspired me. I enjoyed just chatting to her in English.
嘉娜:對,我記得我第一次對英語產(chǎn)生興趣也是因為這樣,后來我遇到了很多來自不同國家的人,我想和他們進行交流,如你所說,我的老師也激勵了我。我非常喜歡和她用英語聊天。
Peter: Really?
彼得:真的嗎?
Jana: Yeah, it was basically fun. It was not studying hard for me.
嘉娜:對,很有意思。對我來說,這并不是努力學(xué)習(xí)。
Peter: Yeah, I suppose it's the same for me I think. I think when I got to university and I could read and write and my listening was really good in English but I couldn't speak so well at all and then I happened to make some English friends and they couldn't speak a word of Afrikaans or any other language so I was kind of forced to communicate with them in English and that, I think that really helped me too because I was forced in a way to be able to speak my mind and in the way that they could only understand so you know.
彼得:對,我也是這樣認為的。我上大學(xué)時,我可以看英語書籍,而且我的英語聽力很好,可是我的口語不好,然后我剛巧交了一些英國朋友,他們完全不會南非語或其他語言,所以我只能用英語和他們交流,我認為這也對我?guī)椭艽?,我不得不讓自己用英語表達出我的想法,讓他們明白我的意思。
Jana: Right, that really makes it meaningful doesn't it? You really need to, you want to express yourself so you have to try hard.
嘉娜:對,這真的很有意義,不是嗎?你要表達自己的想法,所以你要努力嘗試。
Peter: Yeah, and I remember this frustration. They would have these arguments about things that I was interested in and I wanted to join but I couldn't and so I just decided well I have to just do this. I want to talk so I'd better do it in English.
彼得:對,我還記得當(dāng)時的挫敗感。他們會討論一些我感興趣的事情,我也想加入他們的討論,可是我做不到,所以我決定一定要做到這件事。我也想用英語說出我的看法。
Jana: That's right. Yeah, I think I improved a lot by talking to people from different countries, not necessarily native speakers but having friends from different countries and I wanted to communicate with them so, yeah, you just do it and you learn as you go.
嘉娜:沒錯。我認為和不同國家的人交流可以提高英語水平,不一定和那些母語是英語的人交流,我也想和來自其他國家的朋友交流,所以要學(xué)習(xí),去開口說話。
Peter: Yeah, I think so too.
彼得:對,我也是這么想的。