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1、1Unit 1 Text AHow Difficult Is English? 英语有多难英语有多难（1）Like the national push for Asian literacy （n.有文化，有教养，有读写能力） in Australia，就如澳大利亚在全国推行学亚洲语言一样，there has been foreign languages fervor in China，中国也掀起一股外语热，with English on top of the list. 在这股热潮中，英语高居榜首。English is not only taught at schools，colleges a
2、nd universities，but also at evening classes，on radio and TV不仅各级学校教英语，夜校、电台、电视台也都设有英语课程。Parents hire private tutors for their school children；父母为学龄的孩子聘请英语家教，adult English learners would sacrifice the weekend at an English corner in a public park practicing their spoken English with peop1e of the same
3、 interest and determination. 成年英语学习者会牺牲周末休息日，到公园参加英语角，与志趣相投的英语学习者练习口语。Is English such a difficult language that it really demands people to invest a large amount of time and energy before it is mastered ? 英语真的有这么难，需要人们投入大量的时间和精力才能掌握吗? The answer，if I am asked to offer，is undoubtedly，yes如果我被问及这个问题，那么
4、毫无疑问，我的答案是：是的。（2）From my personal experience, 从我个人的经验来看， I think learning English means far more than learning its pronunciation，its grammatical rules，its words，etc英语学习不仅仅是学习英语发音、语法规则、词汇等，It involves learning everything about the countries where it is used and the people who use it它包括学习与使用该语言的国家和民族有
5、关的所有内容。Without such a complete understanding of the language, 对英语没有这样全面的理解，the English a foreigner speaks will inevitably sound strange or even unintelligible though there is not anything wrong with his pronunciation，sentence structure and the words he uses即使发音、句子结构、措辞毫无错误，一个外国人所讲的英语也难免听起来稀奇古怪甚至难以理解
6、。（3）The social customs and habits of the English-speaking people contribute a lot to the difficulty a foreigner has in learning it讲英语民族者的社会风俗习惯增加了外国人学习英语的难度。Take the Chinese English learners for example以学英语的中国人为例，“ Hello “and 2“Good morning“ may sound a little bit simple to Chinese people“你好“和“早上好“是
7、非常简单的。It is totally beyond the understanding of a Chinese English learner that native English speakers would be annoyed when theyre addressed “Where are you going?“，which is a commonly used addressing among the Chinese“你去哪儿?“是中国人常用的问候语，若英语母语者被问及“你去哪儿?“，他们会因此感到不悦，这一点让中国的英语学习者大为不解。Is there anything wr
8、ong with the English sentence structure ? 这个英语句子结构不对吗? Of course not当然不是。It takes quite some time for a Chinese English learner to understand the western concept of privacy being violated in this address. 学英语的中国人得费点儿时间才能理解这一问候语侵犯了西方人的隐私。By the same token，同样，“Have you eaten?“(which is another address
9、ing term the Chinese people usually use)will sound to native English speakers that the Chinese are so hospitable that they invite people to meals off-handedly. 英语母语者听到“你吃了吗?“(中国人常用的另外一个问候语)，会觉得中国人非常好客，会在事先毫无准备的情况下请人吃饭。Meanwhile，the Chinese would be shocked to hear，“Oh，its very nice of youWhen?“， if
10、the addressee happens to have a craving for Chinese cooking and has not had his dinner yet.如果听话者此刻正希望品尝一下中国美食，又碰巧没有吃饭，他会回答“太好了，什么时候?“，中国人为此也会大吃一惊。（4）“We can say we are going to have chicken for dinnerWhy cant we say pig，bull or sheep for dinner instead of pork，beef or mutton?“ Chinese English learne
11、rs may raise such questions中国的英语学习者可能会这样问：“我们可以说吃鸡，为什么不能说吃猪、吃牛、吃羊，而要说吃猪肉、牛肉、羊肉呢?“Figuring out the reasons for the peculiar English vocabulary is no easy task for Chinese English learners对学习英语的中国人来说，为这些特殊的英语词汇找出理由并非易事。But the problem is that memorizing English words mechanically would be devastating
12、and inefficient if they did not know what had happened in British history问题在于如果不懂英国历史，死记硬背英语单词毫无效率。Thus learning English(and other languages as well)involves learning the history of the countries where it is spoken所以说，学英语(其他语言3亦如此)还包括学习使用该语言国家的历史知识。A task of this kind is more difficult for Chinese E
13、nglish learners than for people who speak a western language other than English because Chinese has nothing in common with the alphabetic English and China had little contact with the Western world in modern history学习英语的中国人要做到这一点比其他非英语国家的西方人要困难得多，因为汉字和英语这种拼音文字毫无共同之处，并且中国和西方世界在近代史上很少接触。Consequently，所
14、以，the background knowledge of English fascinates large numbers of interested and determined English learners in China but at the same time disheartens quite a few在中国，英语背景知识既吸引了大量英语爱好者，也使许多人丧失信心。（5）The Western and Oriental values are found to be in confrontation in learning English英语学习中，东西方的价值观念是相互冲突
15、的。Native English speakers may complain about Chinese confusion when using “he“ and “she“，for the two words sound the same，though，different in written forms in Chinese英语母语的人会混淆汉语中“他“她“的用法，因为这两个字尽管字形不同，读音却相同，他们因此常常抱怨。As a result，some native English speakers conclude that the Chinese are unable to tell
16、 the difference between the two sexes结果有些英语母语的人得出结论，认为中国人不区分两种性别。But native English speakers are more gender blind than the Chinese when they mention their cousins但是在涉及表亲的时候，英语母语的人更是混淆性别。The confusion caused by the confrontation of Western and Chinese values，to a certain extent，东西方价值观的冲突造成的语言上的混淆，affects the Chinese English learners comprehension of what heshe reads and hears在一定程度上影响学习英语的中国人对自己所读或所听到的内容的理解。Only by developing an understanding and tolerance o
