礼节美语 Business Etiquette 130 Becoming Fluent in English (2)

　　Robert正在向中国来的同事Penny¹介绍理解和掌握单词的经验。
R: You could buy an English-language magazine about news or fashion. Read through the articles and underline² and look up the words you don't know. Then read the article or sentence again after you know what the words mean.
P: So the sentence will help my brain remember the word?
R: Yes, I think it does.
P: I sometimes have a hard time with grammar. I just can't remember all the verb³ tenses and other little rules.
Robert建议Penny看英文杂志，把不认识的单词划出来，查字典，underline and look up the words you don't know. 知道意思以后再回过头来重读一遍。Penny说有时觉得语法很难。
R: You know something? I'd say forget about grammar in the beginning. Focus⁴ on understanding and communicating. To tell you the truth, I'm still fuzzy on quite a few English grammar rules myself.
P: But eventually my grammar will improve, right?
R: Certainly. Through reading and speaking you will sort of pick it up automatically⁵. And you know something else?
Making mistakes is one of the best ways to learn, grammar included.
P: Ah...but it's so embarrassing⁶!
R: Exactly! Getting embarrassed⁷ helps us remember things!
Robert让Penny上来先不要管语法，通过阅读和交流，语法自然会慢慢掌握。You will pick it up automatically. Robert两次说到，You know something? 意思是，告诉你吧。他觉得，出错是学习的最佳途径之一，Making mistakes is one of the best ways to learn. Penny说，那多丢人啊。It's so embarrassing. Robert居然说，这样以后才不会忘。
R: And one more thing: some people try to translate from their mother tongue while speaking. I've found this is a bad idea. It slows you down. Languages are usually quite different from each other so it's not really a help.
P: So I should just say it. Even if it comes out wrong, right?
R: Yep. You can also keep a notebook and when you hear or see something you don't quite understand, write it down and look it up later.
P: Ah, I already have a great dictionary in my cell⁸ phone! I use it everyday.
Robert反对说英语的时候从母语，mother tongue，直接翻译过来，因为这样做只会，slow you down，放慢你的速度。Robert还建议Penny随身带个笔记本，把听到看到的生字记下来回去查。Penny说她手机里就有字典，而且每天都在用。

1 penny   

n.（英）便士，美分

参考例句：

• I will not lent you a penny.我一便士都不愿借给你。
• Sugar has risen a penny a pound.糖价每磅涨了1便士。

2 underline   

n.下划线；加下划线；vt.在…下面划线；强调

参考例句：

• Underline all the sentences you do not know.在你不懂的所有句子下面划一条线。
• Please underline the noun clauses in the passage.请用线画出短文中的名词性从句。

3 verb   

n.[语]动词

参考例句：

• The sentence is formed from a verb and two nouns.这句子由一个动词和两个名词构成。
• These are the finite forms of a verb.这些是一个动词的限定形式。

4 focus   

n.焦点，焦距；vi.聚焦，注视；vt.使聚焦，调焦，集中

参考例句：

• She was the focus of everyone's attention.她是大家注意的焦点。
• The noise made it hard for me to focus on work.噪音让我无法集中注意力工作。

5 automatically   

adv.不加思索地，无意识地，自动地

参考例句：

• The machine cycles automatically.这台机器自动循环运转。
• She had automatically labelled the boys as troublemakers.她不假思索地认定这些男孩子是捣蛋鬼。

6 embarrassing   

adj.使人尴尬的，令人为难的v.（使）窘迫，（使）局促不安( embarrass的现在分词)

参考例句：

• His jokes didn't even raise a smile, which was embarrassing. 听了他讲的笑话，都没人笑一下，真是太尴尬了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was in the embarrassing position of having completely forgotten her name. 当时我完全忘记了她的名字，很是尴尬。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 embarrassed   

adj.尴尬的，不好意思的

参考例句：

• He was very embarrassed to hear people speak so highly of him.他听见别人这样夸他,感到很难为情。
• He is somewhat embarrassed.他稍微有点窘迫。

8 cell   

n.区，细胞，血球；小室，牢房；电池，光电管；基层组织

参考例句：

• Soap destroys the cell walls of bacteria.肥皂破坏细菌的细胞壁。
• They have locked the prisoners up in their cell.他们已把犯人监禁在小牢房里。