VOA慢速英语 公共演讲与英语语法

AS IT IS 2015-12-23 Public Speaking, Grammar Lead Top Education Stories 公共演讲与英语语法

For English learners, the top education topics of the year are tips, tests and, of course, everyday grammar.

In 2015, the VOA Learning¹ English Education article with more shares on Facebook and the most page views is “Five Tips for Planning a Presentation.”

This collection of tips is part of a public speaking series drawn² from interviews with Professor Charles Lebeau. He helps Japanese university students and professionals improve their public speaking and debating skills. The five tips help presenters³ with titles, topics, transitions⁴, images, the audience’s point of view, and rehearsing.

Two other stories in the series are also among our top stories: Three Tips to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills tells how to avoid the common fear of public speaking by carefully planning. Improve Your Public Speaking With Body Language gives advice on three things speakers should remember: posture⁵, eye contact and gestures.

How well do you speak English?

The Learning English audience also has a strong interest in test results of their own English ability.

How Well Does Your Country Speak English? features the results of an online test. And it seems everyone wanted to know the average results of their country’s English tests.

A comparison⁶ of the big English tests is among the top stories for 2015. TOEFL, IELTS, or TOEIC? Comparing the Tests tells the differences between the tests and gives a student’s point of view on how to prepare for them.

Finally, learning to write well is always a popular subject. Tips for Writing: ‘They Say, I Say’ tells students that writing an academic paper is not as difficult as they think.

Everyday Grammar is a hot topic

VOA started a new Education series in 2015: Everyday Grammar. Our goal in this series is to give simple explanations and show examples of English structures in everyday conversation, popular songs, and movies. We often add infographics and videos to summarize⁷ the explanations. We thought that you, our audience, would like this, and you have told us it really helps in comments and by returning to read it every week. The daily list of the top five stories on our website often includes Everyday Grammar.

The top Everyday Grammar stories are about prepositions⁸, pronouns⁹, and verb tenses. Are You In, On or At? Prepositions that Tell of Time and Place reveals¹¹ the secret of how these prepositions move from general to specific topics. We updated the article with an animated¹² video earlier this month.

Betty Azar, author of many books on English grammar, is the topic of another popular story: Betty Azar, 'Rock Star' of English Grammar. She also wrote an article for Everyday Grammar, which we will tell you about a little later.  Another big hit is Students Love Grammar! So Why Do Teachers Hate It? Betty Azar tells us why it is important for English learners to study grammar at the same time they are practicing communication skills.

Can You Correct Her and I? tells readers that even native speakers of English make mistakes with pronouns, and has a simple test to check your pronouns. Simple Past and Present Perfect includes a song and quotes from a Batman movie to explain the two tenses.

Facebook shares put The Sounds of Grammar with Betty Azar into the top list. Our guest author tells why it is often hard for English learners to hear the important sounds in sentences when native speakers talk. She gives useful advice on how to improve your listening ability.

We hope that in 2016 you will find many more useful Education stories here. Please let us know which story you liked the most by leaving a comment below or on our Facebook page!

Words in This Story

transitions - n. words that connect between parts of a composition or speech, such as first, second, third, in addition, furthermore¹³, and so on.

posture - n. the way in which your body is positioned when you are sitting or standing¹⁴

eye contact - n.  a situation in which two people are looking directly into each other's eyes

gesture - n. a movement of your body (especially of your hands and arms) that shows or emphasizes¹⁵ an idea or a feeling

structure – n. the way that something is built, arranged, or organized

summarize – v. to tell (information) again using fewer words

reveal¹⁰ – v. to make (something that was hidden) able to be seen

general - adj. relating to the main or major parts of something rather than the details

specific - adj. clearly and exactly presented or stated 

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

3 presenters   

n.节目主持人，演播员( presenter的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Each week presenters would put the case for their favourite candidate. 每个星期主持人推出他们最喜欢的候选人。 来自互联网
• Karaoke was set up to allowed presenters to sing on the stage. 宴会设有歌唱舞台，可让出席者大演唱功。 来自互联网

4 transitions   

过渡，转变，变迁( transition的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Before explaining a workflow, I'll explain a few simple pieces of terminology: states and transitions. 在解释什么是工作流之前，我先来解释几条简单的术语：状态(states)和过渡(transitions)。
• Both ionization and excitation lead to eletronic transitions that may be the emission of light. 电离和激发都将导致可能伴随有光发射的电子跃迁。

5 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

6 comparison   

n.比较，对照；比拟，比喻

参考例句：

• They make a comparison of New York to a beehive.他们把纽约比作一个蜂巢。
• This dress is really cheaper by comparison.比较起来，这件衣服确实便宜。

7 summarize   

vt.概括，概述，总结

参考例句：

• I will summarize what I have done.我将概述我所做的事情。
• They need to find information quickly and be able to summarize it in clear language.他们需要快速找到信息并能用清晰的语言概述。

8 prepositions   

n.介词( preposition的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She lays a lot of emphasis on the usage of prepositions. 她把重点放在介词的使用上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Prepositions and conjunctions are particles. 介词和连词是小品词。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 pronouns   

n.代词( pronoun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Relative pronouns and adverbs introduce attributive clauses. 关系代词和关系副词引导定语从句。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• "I", "you"and "he" are all personal pronouns. I，you和he都是人称代词。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 reveal   

vt.揭露，泄露；展现，显示

参考例句：

• The journalist did not want to reveal the identity of his informant.那个新闻工作者不想透露消息提供人的身份。
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes.它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。

11 reveals   

v.显示( reveal的第三人称单数 )；揭示；泄露；[神学]启示

参考例句：

• He reveals his innermost feelings only to his best friend. 他把最隐秘的想法只告诉最好的朋友。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The strong wind reveals the strength of the grass. 疾风知劲草。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

13 furthermore   

adv.而且，此外

参考例句：

• I don't like her because she is too tall and furthermore she smokes too much.我不喜欢她，因为她太高，另外她抽烟太厉害。
• I don't want to go there,furthermore,I have no time to do so.我不想去那里，而且我也没时间去。

14 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

15 emphasizes   

强调( emphasize的第三人称单数 )； 加强语气； 重读； 使突出

参考例句：

• Marx concentrates on the alienation of labour and emphasizes the invidious aspects. 马克思集中论述了劳动的异化，强调它令人厌恶的方面。
• What he emphasizes most is that we must walk the mass line. 他最强调的是我们必须走群众路线。