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1. What will help me better to improve my English: studying my old textbook, or reading a newspaper?
您能告诉我学习我的旧教材与读报纸相比，哪一种方式更有助于提高我的英语水平呢?
Even though you haven’t told me which textbook you are referring to, I would say that reading a newspaper is the very best thing you can do to improve your English. Don’t set yourself too much reading so you become discouraged. Read a little from a newspaper every day. It will put you in touch with a whole range of subjects in good modern English. Reading will consolidate and extend your knowledge of structure and vocabulary. It will also be a source of pleasure and information. It is unlikely that any textbook can match a newspaper for sheer range. However, you will probably need some kind of reference book (a grammar and a dictionary) to answer questions that may occur to you. And don’t throw your old textbook away! You may still want to remind yourself of things you may have half forgotten and your textbook will help you to do this.
尽管你没有告诉我你指的是哪种教材，我也要说阅读报纸是提高你英语水平的最佳方式。不要强迫自己读太多的东西，要不然，你会对学习英语失去兴趣的。每一天读一点儿报纸上的文章，这会使你接触到用纯正的现代英语所写的题材广泛的文章。阅读英语报纸无疑会巩固和扩大你的知识结构和词汇。它也是你获得快乐和信息的源泉。因此，就覆盖面而言，任何教材都是难以与报纸相比的。但你还是得备一些参考书(一本语法书和词典)以帮助解答你遇到的问题。你的教科书也别扔掉，因为你还需要教材来帮助提示你所遗忘的东西，你的教材可以助一臂之力。
2. I have been a mother for 5 months and been learning English for 12 years. Now I am eager to teach my baby English in his language learning period. Would you like to favour me with some suggestions?
我做母亲已有5个月了，学习英语也有12年了。现在我渴望在宝宝学语言的阶段教他学英语，您能否给我提些建议呢?
The language we speak is called our mother tongue or our native language: it is the language we learn initially and directly from our mothers. Mothers can only express their love and affection for their offspring by speaking to them in their own language. It is extremely important to make sure that your baby learns Chinese from you. Your baby will be extremely surprised and confused if you start making sounds which he/she doesn’t understand and you will find it very unnatural to be speaking to your baby in English. I suggest that you stick to Chinese for the first three years and then begin to teach your child English as if it were a game. The game should be for a short period only in a regularly recurring context, such as getting up in the morning, or sharing a meal. Alternatively, if you want your baby to learn English right from the start, you have to find someone else who will speak to the baby in English. In this way, the baby will come to associate Chinese with you and English with another speaker and will be bilingual right from the start. However, it is usual with children from a truly bilingual background that they will understand both languages without difficulty, but until they are 6 or 7, they will only respond in their mother tongue. This is normal and vital for the development of their personality. Don’t spoil your relationship with your baby! Don’t interfere with nature!
我们自己所说的语言叫做我们的母语：它是我们最先开始学习的语言，我们直接从母亲那里学到。 母亲们只能通过讲母语向自己的后代表达对他们的深情厚爱。因此，确保你的宝宝从你身上学习汉语是极为重要的。如果你一开始就说一些宝宝不甚理解的话，他一定会感到奇怪，甚至糊涂，你也会发现对你的宝宝说英语是极不自然的。因此，我建议前3年你坚持用汉语教育你的宝宝，其后以游戏的方式教孩子学习英语。游戏的时间不可过长，但要经常重复，比如在早晨起床时或在一起用餐时你可以选定个时间。如果你想让你的宝宝一开始就学习英语，你必须找一位可以对你的宝宝说英语的人。这样，你的宝宝就会用汉语与你交流，用英语与那一位交流，所以他一开始就接受双语教育。虽然对真正受过双语教育的孩子们来说理解两门外语并不是件难事儿，但直到六七岁他们仍然只以母语为交流语言。这对他们的个性发展是正常的，也是至关重要的。不要破坏你与宝宝间的关系，也不要干涉宝宝的天性。
3. What do you think about the idea that to master a foreign language one must forget his own native language?
有这么一种看法：掌握一门外语，必须忘记自己的母语。您是如何看待这一看法呢?
There is a great deal of truth in this idea, except I wouldn’t put it so strongly. I wouldn’t say you have to forget your native language (after all, that is quite impossible). I would say you have to discount your native language. Interference from your native language is the biggest barrier to acquisition. It’s natural for a learner to use the same ‘linguistic behaviour’ in a foreign language as he/she uses in the native language. For example, if in your own language you ask a question merely through intonation, you will want to do this in English: ‘You arrived here last night?’ instead of ‘Did you arrive here last night?’ In Chinese, you don’t have the same notion of tense as we have in English, so you want to say: ‘He go to school every day’ instead of ‘He goes to school every day.’
You don’t have the same notion of plural as we have in English, so you might say: ‘I can see two car in the street’ instead of ‘I can see two cars in the street.’
In order to produce the correct English, you have to discount the way you express yourself in Chinese. You then have to practise the correct way of saying something in English until you are fluent. In a sense, you have to unlearn the habits you have acquired in your native language in order to master the habit you need to speak a foreign language. This is very difficult and accounts for the different foreign varieties of English you hear round the world (Frenglish, Spanglish, Chinglish, etc.): the native language is asserting itself in English and ‘interfering’ with acquisition. Interference occurs in all areas: pronunciation, stress and intonation, grammar, vocabulary as well as in ways of thinking, ways of problem-solving. Even misunderstandings among nations are often the direct product of this kind of interference.
这个看法本身很有道理，我只是不愿过分地强调它罢了。我不能说你必须忘掉你的母语(毕竟那是很不可能的)。我只说母语的因素在你学习外语过程中应该降低。来自母语的干扰是你掌握英语的最大障碍。对一个外语学习者来说，把他/她用在母语中的“语言行为”用在外语中是很自然的。例如，如果在你的母语中疑问是通过语调来表示的，你在英语中也会这样做：
你会说You arrived here last night?，而不是Did you arrive here last night?。汉语里没有英语中时态这个概念，所以你自然会说He go to school every day，而不是He goes to school every day.
汉语中也没有英语中的复数概念，所以你会说I can see two car in the street，而不是I can see two cars in the street.
为了能够说出正确的英语，你不能把你的汉语表达习惯看得那么重。你必须练习正确说英语的方式，直到熟练为止。
从某种意义上说，你必须忘掉在母语中学到的习惯，这样才能更好地掌握一门外语。这很困难，也是你能听到各种英语变体的原因(法国式英语、西班牙式英语、中国式英语，等等)：自己的母语总会在英语中反应出来，并干扰你对英语的掌握。各个方面都有干扰：语音、重读与语调、语法、词汇以及思维方式、解决问题的方式，等等。即使民族间的误解常常也是这一干扰的直接产物。
4. How to teach yourself English when you have no English courses?
若不上英语课，如何自学英语呢?
Difficult because there is no teach-yourself course I would recommend. Be extremely suspicious of any advertised courses that promise to teach you English in six weeks, etc. They always fail and the advertisers are liars. Why? Because though you can learn to say quite a bit in twelve weeks or less if you imitate what is on an audio-tape, you cannot learn to understand very much at all. Understanding fluent speech in a foreign language requires hours and hours of listening practice. Listening comprehension is the key to the command of any foreign language. That’s one of the reasons why it’s so difficult to learn on your own. There’s also another human reason why it’s difficult. Once you have bought a comprehensive self-study package, it requires enormous self-discipline to work through it. Only learners with exceptional determination are likely to do this. I think the future in self-study will lie with interactive materials, but what can you do in the meantime? Well, clearly you’re not an absolute beginner because you wouldn’t have sent me this question if you were. Listen to broadcast English (the BBC World Service). Watch English-language films on video. Read as much as you can and as often as you can. These activities will do wonders for your English.
我想这比较困难，因为目前没有什么自学教程可供推荐。那些刊登的允诺在6个星期内可实现英语速成之类的广告千万不可相信。那些速成课从不起什么作用，登广告的人是骗子。为什么呢?因为即使你在12个星期内跟着录音带模仿着说英语，虽然能说一些，但你不可能做到彻底地理解它们。理解流利的英语讲话需要长时间的听力练习。听力理解是掌握任何一门外语的关键。这也是为什么自学难度较大的原因吧!另外还有一个在于人的原因：一旦你买了一整套自学材料，你就得做到严格自律，持之以恒，仔细研读它们。只有那些意志特别坚强的学习者才能做到这一步。我认为将来自学要依靠交流性材料，但此间你该怎么办呢?无论如何，你能提出这样的问题，就证明你不是一个英语初学者。你可以听英语广播(如英国广播公司的全球广播)。看英语电影，尽可能地多读，这些做法会对你的英语产生很好的效果。
5. How can I learn so many idioms by heart?
如何才能掌握众多的英语习语?
You can’t, and you will be pleased to hear, you don’t need to. It’s a total waste of time to learn lists of idioms by heart. And even if you do, this will not improve your English at all. What is an idiom, anyway? When people are asked for examples of idioms, they often quote fixed phrases like: It’s raining cats and dogs, the pot calling the kettle black, to add insult to injury, and so on. If you’re interested in collections like this, consult specialized dictionaries like The Longman Dictionary of English Idioms (first published 1979). Even if you learnt this dictionary by heart, your English wouldn’t be much better. The dictionary is for you to consult when you hear someone use this kind of idiom and you fail to understand it. What you should be aiming at is not learning ‘idioms’, but acquiring a command of idiomatic English, which is a completely different matter. This means sounding as much as possible like a native speaker of English when you speak, rather than sounding like someone who is constantly translating from Chinese. To improve your command of idiomatic English, you need to remember that English is a word-order language: that is, the basic order is Subject ｜ Verb ｜ Object ｜ Manner ｜ Place ｜ Time. Any departure from this order makes your English sound unidiomatic and ‘foreign’. If, for example, you say ‘I speak well English’ instead of ‘I speak English well’, you will be breaking a fundamental rule in the English language. Another thing to remember is that English prefers phrasal verbs to ordinary verbs. We tend to say ‘Come in!’ when someone knocks at the door, rather than ‘Enter!’; we tend to say ‘Put out the fire/Put the fire out’ rather than ‘Extinguish the fire’. Phrasal verbs often have idiomatic uses, as well as literal uses: ‘Put the cat out’ is a literal use (= put it out of the house); ‘Put the fire out’ is an idiomatic use (= extinguish). You have to learn phrasal verbs as you encounter them in context. Towards the end of my Essential English Grammar, I list fifteen basic grammar rules. A command of these will ensure that your English sounds idiomatic. You will also see that this has nothing at all to do with learning fixed-phrase idioms by heart.
你做不到这点，也没有这个必要。这么说你可能会很高兴。费尽心思死记英语习语表简直是浪费时间。即使你做到了，它们对你的英语学习也无济于事。什么是习语呢?当人们被问起有关习语的例子时，他们总是引用一些固定短语，例如：It’s raining cats and dogs, the pot calling the kettle black, to add insult to injury，等等。如果你对此感兴趣，你可以查一些专门词典，如The Longman Dictionary of English Idioms(1979年第一版)。即使你背下了这本词典，你的英语也不见得长进多大。这本词典是在你听到不能理解的习语时供你查找用的。你现在的任务不是学习这些习语，而是掌握地道的英语，这与学习习语是完全不同的事。这就是说，所说的英语听起来要尽可能像以英语为母语的人所说的那样，而不是在不断翻译汉语。因此，要想学好地道的英语，你就应当记住英语是一种词序语言：即它的基本结构是主语+动词+宾语+方式+地点+时间。如果偏离了这种格式，那么你所说的英语就不是那么地道了，甚至有点儿像“舶来品”。例如，如果你把“我的英语说得很好”说成I speak well English，而不是I speak English well，那么你就违背了英语的一个最基本的规则。另一点值得我们注意的是：在英语中短语动词比普通的动词用得更普遍。当某人敲门时，我们更倾向于说Come in!，而不说Enter!我们倾向说Put out the fire/Put the fire out，而不说Extinguish the fire.短语动词通常有习语的用法，也有按字面意义上理解的用法：Put the cat out 就是字面用法(=把它放在房屋外);Put the fire out是一个习语用法(=使熄灭)。你必须掌握这些短语动词，因为在文中你会经常遇见它们。在我所著的Essential English Grammar的最后，我列举了15条最基本的英语语法规则。掌握了这些就可以使你的英语听起来更地道。你也会发现这与死记固定的英语习语毫不相关。
6. Some people in Western countries used to say that we Chinese are very serious people, and do not have much sense of humour. Do you agree? Do you think that the Western humour is quite different from the Chinese one?
一些西方国家的人士过去经常说我们中国人太严肃，缺乏幽默感。您同意这个说法吗?您认为西方式幽默与中国式幽默有很大的区别吗?
I do not subscribe to any idea of human stereotypes. As human beings, we share human characteristics universally. We all experience love, fear, hope, anger, etc. —yes, and we all laugh. The only differences between us are the ways we have been conditioned by the cultures we grew up in. This means that all human beings have the capacity to laugh, but they don’t necessarily all find exactly the same things funny. Humour is often the result of a clash between an idea or a situation and a culturally-defined expectation of what is correct or normal. Insofar as we have different value systems or ideas of normality, we have different ideas of what is funny. What we consider to be funny is the product of our cultural conditioning. Your question is actually two questions, so let me answer them one at a time: 1) No, I don’t agree that the Chinese don’t have a sense of humour. 2) Sometimes a ‘Western’ and a Chinese sense of humour will converge (we are all human) and sometimes a ‘Western’ and a Chinese sense of humour will diverge (we live in different societies).
我不敢苟同这种人的成见。作为人，我们拥有人类的共性。我们都有爱情、恐惧、希望、愤怒，等等——当然还有欢笑。惟一的区别就是我们分别在两种不同的文化氛围中生活，并且受其熏陶。这就是说，我们都有笑的本能，但不见得我们对同样的事都觉得可笑。幽默通常是一种理念或特定的场景与一种以文化取向为标准的正确与否的冲突的结果。因为我们有不同的价值观念，所以对某事物是否有趣也有不同的看法。我们认为有趣的事物是我们自己特定的文化所决定的。你所问的其实是两个问题，我分别解答它们：1)我不同意中国人没有幽默感的说法。2)有时，西方的幽默与中国的幽默可以相吻合（因为我们都是人），有时，西方的幽默与中国的幽默会有不同(因为我们生活在不同的社会中)。
7. How to differentiate formal from informal English?
如何辨别正式英语与非正式英语呢?
Formal English is generally written. We use it in business letters, when we’re writing reports, in public notices, etc. Informal English is generally spoken. We use it in conversation between friends, when we’re writing to a friend using a ‘spoken style’ and when we’re generally trying to be friendly. In An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage Geoffrey Leech quotes two examples:
An announcement is heard on radio:
Formal: ‘The police are attempting to discover the location of the missing vehicle.’
Informal: ‘What did it say?’ —‘It said they’re trying to find out where the car’s gone.’
Formal style often uses elaborate combinations of verbs and nouns deriving from Latin and Greek:
Our environmental awareness and protectiveness towards nature have increased.
Informal style is correct and standard, but avoids complex sentences, multi-syllable verbs and a ‘high-sounding’ tone: More than ever, we know we’ve got to look after nature.
正式英语通常是书面语，一般用在商业信函中或正式的报告、公开告示中等。非正式英语通常是口语体的，我们在与朋友交谈中用它，给朋友写信也用这种“口语体”，以显得亲切、自然。在An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage一书中，杰弗里•利奇引用了两个例子：
收音机上播放的通告：
正式体：The police are attempting to discover the location of the missing vehicle.
非正式体：What did it say?—It said they’re trying to find out where the car’s gone.
正式体通常使用来源于拉丁语、希腊语名词和动词的复杂搭配：Our environmental awareness and protectiveness towards nature have increased.
非正式体也是正确的、标准的，但它避免使用复合句、多音节动词和“高调”：
More than ever, we know we’ve got to look after nature.
8. What is the best way for Chinese students to learn English?
对中国学生来说，学习英语的最佳方式是什么?
I wish I could give you a simple, personalised formula, but I can’t. The best way for Chinese students to learn English is exactly the same as the best way all other students in the world learn English. Be clear about the following:
Learning a language is about acquiring skills, not acquiring knowledge.
To learn a foreign language, we need to master four primary skills:
—Understanding
—Speaking
—Reading
—Writing
Each of these primary skills consists of sub-skills: for example, listen and respond, listen and assimilate, listen and take notes, listen and translate simultaneously from one language into another. The development of the listening skill is fundamental and provides the basis for the acquisition of all other skills.
To master aural/oral skills (= understanding and speaking), we have to be able to:
—Understand
—Answer
—Ask
—Say
We then have to deploy these four activities in three main areas of discourse:
—Transactions (= doing business in a foreign language, like changing money in a bank or ordering food at a restaurant)
—Interaction (= the non-contentious exchange of information)
—Argument (= the exchange of ideas, sometimes contentious)
We can set out similar objectives for the reading skill and for the writing skill. But whatever culture we set out from (Chinese, Mexican or Ethiopian), the objectives will remain the same. Of course, there are phonological and grammatical problems which particularly affect speakers of Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, etc.), just as there are phonological and grammatical problems which particularly affect speakers of Spanish. These require specialized local training. However, the overall objectives do not vary according to the native language of the learner.
我真希望我能给你一个简单的、有针对性的办法，但我不能。对中国学生来说，学习英语的最佳方式与世界其他地区的学生学习英语的最佳方式一样。你必须了解：
学习一门外语是获得技巧，而不是获得知识。
学习一门外语，我们应该掌握四项基本技能：
——理解
——口头表达
——阅读
——写作
这些基本技巧中的每一项又包含许多小技巧，例如：听与答、听与吸收、听与记笔记、听与同声传译，等等。培养英语听力是根本，是获得其他技巧的基础。
要掌握听力/口头交际技巧，我们必须做到：
——理解
——回答
——询问
——说
然后我们可以以如下领域的交流安排这四项活动：
——交易(以外语为工具与人打交道，如在银行兑换现金或在餐厅点菜)
——互相交流(指非争论性地交流信息)
——辩论(交流思想，有时有争论)
在培养阅读技巧或写作技巧时，我们也可定下相似的目标。但无论我们来自何种文化环境(中国的、墨西哥的或是埃塞俄比亚的)，这些目标依然如此。当然，影响中国英语学习者口头表达有音位与语法上的因素(普通话、广东话，等等)，就像这两种因素同样也作用于西班牙的英语学习者一样。这就要求针对各地方的专门的训练。然而，总的目标并不因说话者的国籍不同而有所变化。
9. There are some differences between British English and American English in pronunciation, spelling, usage, etc. I always get confused. Would you please tell me the main differences between them? And which do you think is better and more standard?
英国英语与美国英语在发音、拼写、用法等方面有一些区别，我对此经常犯愁。您能告诉我它们之间的主要区别吗? 您认为哪种英语更好、更标准呢?
It’s all too easy to exaggerate the differences between British and American English. The first thing to understand is that they are exactly the same language. Speakers of American English have very little difficulty understanding speakers of British English and vice versa. The few differences there are can be summed up as follows:
phonological: This is probably the main and most noticeable difference. American English is spoken in a different way from British English. In general terms, to British English ears, American English sounds as though it is spoken through the nose. To American English ears, British English sounds as though it is spoken through the teeth.[ZK)]
lexical: There are a number of well-known differences: cookie (AmE) for biscuit (BrE), the trunk of a car (AmE) for the boot of a car (BrE) and so on. AmE uses drapes where BrE uses curtains, but AmE also has curtains. These differences are slight and well-documented. There are also slight spelling variations: color, traveler (AmE) for colour, traveller (BrE).
grammatical: These are mainly differences in emphasis. Both languages use have got, for example, but ‘I don’t have much time’ is probably preferred in AmE to ‘I haven’t got much time’. AmE sometimes uses the simple past where BrE uses the present perfect (‘Did you see Tosca yet?’ for ‘Have you seen Tosca yet?’). There are different combinations with have: a British English speaker is likely to say ‘I’m going to have a wash’ where an American-English speaker would say ‘I’m going to wash up (before a meal)’.
And that’s about it. You will find more extended lists in good student dictionaries. The latest (third) edition of the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English painstakingly itemises the differences, if you want detailed inventories. But, as I said, don’t over-estimate these differences. Neither version of English is ‘better’ or ‘more standard’. In British English, there is such a thing as ‘Received Pronunciation’ (= RP), which is a kind of standard most people can cope with. The equivalent in American English is ‘Standard American’, which fulfils precisely the same function. No matter what version of English you are exposed to as a learner, you are likely to end up speaking Chinese English, which is highly acceptable for the purposes of communication.
这个问题很简单，以至于不能简单地夸大它们之间的区别。首先我们必须明白它们是同一种语言。操美国英语的人几乎可以没有任何困难就听懂说英国英语的人士，反之亦然。它们之间的微小差别可总结如下：
从音位上说：这是最主要也是最显著的差别。美国英语的发音方式与英国英语的发音方式有些不同。总的来说，对操英国英语的人士来说，美国英语听起来像是用鼻子发音，对操美国英语的人士来说，英国英语像是在齿间。
从词汇上说：这方面有一些显著差别：饼干在美国英语中是cookie,在英国英语中是biscuit;汽车的车厢在美国英语中是trunk,在英国英语中是boot。美国英语用drapes 指窗帘，而英国英语用curtains指窗帘，当然美国英语中也可用curtains。这些区别是微不足道的，且有详细的记录。而且还有些细微的拼写上的变体：美国英语中的color和traveler，在英国英语中则是colour和traveller。
从语法上说：主要的区别在于强调方面。例如，这两种语言都用have got，但美国英语更倾向于说I don’t have much time，一般不说I haven’t got much time.美国英语倾向用一般过去时，而英国英语更倾向于用现在完成时(前者说：Did you see Tosca yet?，而后者说Have you seen Tosca yet?)。与have的搭配在两种英语中也有所区别：一位说英国英语的人更有可能说I’m going to have a wash,而一位说美国英语的人则说I’m going to wash up(before a meal)。
大致就是这些。你可以在较好的学生词典中发现更多的例子。最新的Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (第三版)系统地列举了二者的区别。但依我看来，不要夸大二者的区别。二者并无优劣之分。英国英语中有一种所谓的“标准音”(Received Pronunciation，简略成RP)的说法，这是大多数人可以接受的标准音。在美国英语中，同样也有一种“标准美国英语”(Standard American)的提法，职能同标准的英国英语一样能广为人们所接受。作为一名英语学习者，无论你接触的是哪一种英语，你的可能结果是讲中国式英语，讲中国式英语同样能达到交流的目的。
10. I’ve studied English for four years. I want to know about my English level. How can I test it?
我学习英语已有四年了，我想知道我的英语水平。我该如何检测它呢?
Without more information, I cannot advise you. How intensively have you studied English? i.e. How many hours a week? Have you been developing all four skills (understanding, speaking, reading and writing), or have you been concentrating on (say) reading? Have you been working with a teacher or on your own? What materials have you been using? And so on. Unless I know precisely what you have been doing, I cannot advise you about level. However, I would draw your attention to four different kinds of tests:
progress tests: These are administered frequently and tell students how they are getting on. These are often designed for students to complete on their own.
attainment tests: These are administered at the end of a period of study and tell students how well they have acquired what they have been taught. A school exam might use these.
placement tests: These are similar to attainment tests, but they enable teachers to place students in a class which is closest to their needs and level. A language school might use these.
proficiency tests: These tell students how well their English is in general terms. An employer might use these.
由于不太了解情况，我无法给你提出建议。你学习英语的力度如何?即：一周学习几个小时?四项基本技能(听、说、读、写)发展是否均衡?还是仅仅把精力集中在(比方说)阅读上?你是跟老师学习还是在自学呢?你所用的是什么样的学习材料呢?等等。如果我不知道你做了些什么，我怎么知道你的水平呢?然而，我可以请你注意以下四种测试：
进度测试：这种测验可以经常进行，显示学生们的学习进展情况。这些测试旨在使学生们独立完成这些测试。
成果测试：这种测验主要在一段学习结束后进行，以检验他们对所学的东西掌握了多少。学校测验可以采用这种形式。
级别测试：这与上述的成果测试相似，这种考试使老师们可以根据学生们的水平和需要把他们编在一个班里。语言学校可以采取此法。
水平测试：这种测试可以让学生们知道自己的英语水平。雇主通常可以采用此法。
11. I have learned English for almost ten years. I am interested in learning English. But now I find it’s very hard for me to reach a high level. Could you please give me some suggestions?
And a similar question: I’m a graduate and I’ve taught myself English for ten years. Now I wonder how I can develop myself. That’s to say I don’t know how to arrive at a higher level. Can you give me any good advice? Thanks.
我学习英语将近十年了。学英语我有兴趣，但现在我发现很难达到高的层次。您能给我一些建议吗?
类似的问题：我是个大学毕业生，自学英语有十年了。现在我不知道如何提高自己的水平，也就是说，我不知道怎样才能达到一个更高的水平。您能给我一些好的建议吗? 谢谢。
Perhaps you have reached your ceiling and cannot go to a higher level. Learning a foreign language is not about acquiring knowledge, but about learning to perform a skill. Millions of people can drive a car, but only a tiny fraction of them can participate in rally driving. In other words, we all perform skills with different levels of ability and, sooner or later, reach our ceilings. Only a tiny fraction of those learning English will arrive at near-native proficiency. If, however, you feel you haven’t reached your level, then:
Listen to as much English as you can (e.g. the BBC World Service and the Voice of America).
Read as much as you can, choosing books which are at your level.
Choose self-study practice books like my Longman Advanced English Grammar to see how you get on with them.
Take every opportunity you can to speak English, either with native speakers or with people like yourself who want to practise their skills.
可能你已经达到了极限，不能进一步提高水平了。学外语不同于学知识，它是在学习一项技巧。数以百万计的人会开车，但他们中只有一小部分人能参加拉力赛。也就是说，我们都是在以自己不同的能力水平来演练技巧，或早或晚会到达我们的极限。只有一小部分学英语的人才能达到接近母语水平。但如果你觉得自己尚未达到应达到的水平，那么应该：
尽量多地听英语(如BBC全球广播和美国之音)。
尽量多地阅读，挑选适合自己水平的书。
挑选自学练习书籍来检验自己的进度，如挑选我编著的Longman Advanced English Grammar。
利用一切机会说英语，同以英语为母语的人说或同与你一样希望练习技巧的人说。
文：路易亚历山大 新概念英语作者