来自中国的雇员Penny跟同事Robert聊天儿。
Penny Liu: Hey, Robert! I was listening to you speak Chinese at the presentation yesterday! You’re fluent!
Robert: Oh, that’s kind of you to say, but in reality I’m just able to hold a conversation.
P: You are too modest. Seriously, I was really impressed. I actually wanted to know how you did it because I really want to take my English to the next level.
P: But your English is fantastic.
P: Yeah, it’s pretty good. But I’m aiming to become completely fluent. Do you have any tips?
Penny称赞美国同事Robert中文说得流利，fluent，给她留下了深刻印象。I was really impressed. Penny问Robert 学习语言有什么窍门，那么Robert有什么建议呢？
R: Well, I studied at a major university in Taipei before coming to Beijing. And I lived in Hong Kong for over a year as well.
P: So you’re saying I’ll have to live in an English-speaking country?
R: It certainly doesn’t hurt. But there are some things you can do if that is not an option.
P: For example?
R: When I first began studying Chinese, I found that watching Chinese movies was a really big help. Turn off the subtitles and watch and listen closely.
原来，Robert在中文环境中生活过一段时间。可如果没有这种条件，if that is not an option, Robert说，看电影会有很大帮助，并建议关掉字幕，turn off the subtitles, subtitles is spelled s-u-b-t-i-t-l-e-s, subtitles是字幕的意思。
P: But they speak so fast in movies! Will I be able to understand?
R: You could watch a movie you have already seen before…but no subtitles. That way you can pick up the rhythms of speech.
P: What about vocabulary? Should I just try to memorize more words?
R: Memorization can’t hurt, but it’s sometimes hard to learn words that have no context. Many times when I learn a new Chinese word, I don’t really understand it until I hear or see how it’s used in a sentence.
P: So I need to find a context for the words.
R: Right!
电影对白说话太快，跟不上怎么办。Robert建议Penny选择以前看过的电影，然后关掉字幕。That way you can pick up the rhythms of speech. 这样就能慢慢找到语言的节奏。单词量vocabulary 不够怎么办？Robert说，死记硬背固然没有害处，可有时候少了上下文，单词的意思是很难准确理解和掌握的。Robert对提高英语水平还有哪些好的建 议，我们下次继续听。