Dear Professor Yang:


    I’m a college student in Hunan Province.I have passed Band6and I am eligible to take part in the oral test.The test has been postponed till November because of SARS.I want to get your precious advice on how to improve my oral English.I want to do to my full potential in the exam.

    I will appreciate it if you can write me a letter for my question。

    Thank you!

    Keran

    Dear Friend,

    Thank you for your letter asking about how to prepare for a Band-6oral test.First of all,I think you should get to know something about the format and the scope of the test.An oral test usually consists of three parts:1)A Brief Introduction about Yourself;2)Talking about a Short Topic,3)Some Discussion with the Examiner.

    Just like a western meal,the first part of an oral test is just some “salad”which is easy to deal with,while the second part is the“main course”which you need to pay full attention to.You need to make out a list of various topics such as campus life,environment protection,Olympic Games,friendship,etc.Then,you need to think of something to say about each of those topics.Don’t try to give a long lecture,just a few points on one subject.You need to express yourself clearly and your pronunciation and intonation should be acceptable.When you prepare for the topics,you can talk to your classmates,and you can also talk to yourself.You needn’t write down all the sentences and recite them.Never think in Chinese and try to translate them into English.You must learn to use idiomatic English sentence patterns and expressions in your oral presentation.As for the third part of the test,it won’t be of any difficulty if you can get through the first two parts smoothly.

    I hope the above suggestions will be of some help.

    Wish you good luck!

  Sincerely yours,

 K.H.Yang

 

    杨教授:您好。我是湖南科技大学大二学生,大一时的英语四级只有56分,现在大二了,准备再考,可我现在心里一点把握都没有。最让我头痛的是阅读理解部分。每次40分只能拿18~22分。我的阅读速度很慢,好多句子看不懂,希望您给我提点建议,在考试时应注意些什么。

 

    远方的学子:杨霄

 

    杨霄同学:

 

    你好!阅读理解试题是任何一次大型英语考试的重要组成部分,一般占40%的比重。拿大学英语四级来说,如果阅读理解部分拿不到28分以上,就很难得到通过。

 

    我国大学英语教学大纲规定,具有较强的阅读理解能力是英语教学的基本要求。因为对于中国学生来说,通过阅读英文资料获取信息的机会远比通过听、说获取信息的机会多得多。

 

    到目前为止,我国许多学校的英语教学,其基本模式一直都是“以教师为中心,以考试为目标”。几乎是从小学开始,就是几天一小考,一月一中考,半年一大考,一年一会考,三年一特大考。这种通过没完没了的考试来驱动的英语教学,把外语学习的规律完全扭曲了。衡量英语学习好坏的标准是考试成绩,而不是实际掌握的语言能力。数以千万计的青少年,被迫在英语考试的陡峭梯级上艰难地逐级往上爬,浪费了大量宝贵的青春时光。多数人是半途而废,少数人爬到了“顶”,通过了托福考试,甚至得到高分,可是实际的英语能力还是差得很,不会说,不会写,看英语资料总是似懂非懂,往往是关键部分看不懂。至于听的能力,就差得更远了,到了国外什么也听不懂。一般都要经过半年到一年时间,才能逐步克服语言障碍。

 

    如果我们换一种学法,把“以教师为中心”改为“以我为主,自主学习”,把“以考试为目标”改为“以提高语言能力为目标,通过考试只是一种附带的产物”,你面前就会顿时出现一幅新境界。我在本刊前几期回答读者朋友提问时谈到看分级读物的问题。要提高阅读能力,就得多读一些文章。而阅读分级读物,是最合理的选择。只有通过大量阅读才有可能培养出阅读能力。对于初学者来说,只有看自己能看得懂的东西,才会有兴趣,有收获。一开始就去啃硬骨头,一个个生词要去查词典,啃到最后还是似懂非懂,只能浪费时间,毫无益处。你大一时就考了56分,如果从那时起,有计划地自主学习,开始有选择地大量阅读分级读物,注重提高语言能力,经过一年努力,现在恐怕考六级都不成问题。

 

    那么,有没有临阵磨枪的办法呢?有。前年我写过一本小册子,书名叫《教你如何学好英语》(世界知识出版社出版),其中第十章便是“怎样提高考试成绩?”。