英语博客：Starting to read.

 

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　　Helen the hippo is my friend at the moment. My little girl is learning how to read, and Helen is the type of character that is helping¹ her to do so. It has been wonderful and fascinating to see the transition from knowing the alphabet to putting words together. Today, in the car, while we were waiting outside of the music school for my oldest son, Domini picked up some books that we keep in the back. To my amazement² she slowly started to spell out the words, reading slowly. Every now and then, she would get a word wrong or guess it, but I noticed that she would recognize the first two letters in each word, and often the last one or two. In English, you have to use tricks like that because we have so many odd spellings: the silent e's, the silent gh's, the ph's, and the wh's that can be anything from 'what' to 'who'. Believe me, native English speakers have a hard enough time learning how to read English, not just the non-natives. My daughter squealed⁴ with delight when I would say,"Yep, you got that right." Her sense of satisfaction is tremendous; at last she can tell her brothers, who are all readers, that she too can do what they do. Good for her! Now I can get out the series of beginners books that I have used with the boys, and they can be kept in her room. Helen the hippo comes from this series, along with Olive the octopus⁵, and Suzy the snake. The books work their way through the alphabet, introducing what we call 'sight words', those common English words that have to be memorized because they are essential, and a lot of them are irregular. Some of these words that you will be familiar with are: there, their, who, what, one, two, eight, night, and the list goes on. I've noticed, when I volunteer in Robert's class, that children's books use a lot of patterns, rhyme, and humor or surprize to keep the children's attention, and to make the words memorable⁶. You'll find sentences like:
Zoe the zebra likes to cook,
she gets her instructions from the book.
This is a good technique for those of you who are learning English. If you make up some sentences that rhyme and have a pattern or are funny or bizarre, the chances are that you will easily remember all of the vocabulary and how to use it. So:
If you follow these podcasts it will not hurt,
the world will say you're an English expert!
Grammar notes.
Common expressions: at the moment, every now and then, good for (person), the chances are.
1. Professor Penguin⁷ is busy at the moment; he will be available shortly.
2. Every now and then, Lucy the lion will visit her neighbor Betty the bear for a cup of tea.
3. David, the doggy detective, cracked the case. He solved the crime, good for him!
4. If you play roughly with the kitten, the chances are you will get bitten.
Begeebees. Similar in meaning to completely, utterly⁸, the tar³, or heck.
Examples:
1. I rubbed the begeebees (heck) out of the stain on the carpet, but it still wouldn't come out.
I rubbed the stain on the carpet completely, but it still wouldn't come out.
2. The boxers⁹ beat the begeebees (tar) out of eachother, and had to be taken to hospital.
3. What the begeebees (heck) do you think you are doing?

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

3 tar   

n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于

参考例句：

• The roof was covered with tar.屋顶涂抹了一层沥青。
• We use tar to make roads.我们用沥青铺路。

4 squealed   

v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He squealed the words out. 他吼叫着说出那些话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The brakes of the car squealed. 汽车的刹车发出吱吱声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 octopus   

n.章鱼

参考例句：

• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
• One octopus has eight tentacles.一条章鱼有八根触角。

6 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

7 penguin   

n.企鹅

参考例句：

• The penguin is a flightless bird.企鹅是一种不会飞的鸟。
• He walked with an awkward gait like a penguin.他走路的步子难看得就像企鹅。

8 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

9 boxers   

n.拳击短裤；（尤指职业）拳击手( boxer的名词复数 )；拳师狗

参考例句：

• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The boxers slugged it out to the finish. 两名拳击手最后决出了胜负。 来自《简明英汉词典》