学英语

 01/2024

这一段时间来，不时有关于国内取消或者降低英语课程要求的新闻。其实好多年前就有各种英语无用的观点。以前上中学大学的时候就有人苦于英语学习，四六级考试，不少怨声载道，各种反向的“中文四六级”的段子层出不穷，期望有一天大国崛起后就再也不用学英语了。

又有国内去除英语标识的新闻。最近回国看到的确有逆国际化的感觉：英语的标识比起以前只少不多，各种各样笑话人的翻译误译只多不少。各种对英文字母的误用让人感到时空错乱。比如在坐的均瑶航空飞机上，每个椅子后面放的紧急逃生指南就把机型320neo打成了320ceo。这种极不专业的错误都能出现在这个地方，也真是让人感觉到对英语不敏感到了发指的地步，让人感慨。

最早想要学英语是在小学五六年级的时候。九十年代初，不知道从哪里看到，说人家大城市的学生总是从小学就开始学外语了，而我们这种小城市要从初中才开始学。让人十分不服气，凭啥呢，可自己又没有教材资源。正好中央电视台放了广告，说是引进了一部超棒的儿童英语电视教材会每周播出。于是每周便定下时间，早早一人在电视前坐好，带着纸和笔。每一次专心的记下里面的新词新句。试图模仿，练习。读音特别重要，又没有录音录像的设备。便是用汉字和拼音记下发音，很郁闷的强闻强记。

那个节目主持人也很郁闷，她叫许戈辉。后来听说她和杨澜是一起考进央视的，杨是第一名，她是第二名。于是杨就风光的主持超级受欢迎的正大综艺（也是我特别喜欢的节目），然后平步青云。而她就只能主持儿童英语教学节目。估计只有我一个在十八线的小城市里面的小观众。再后来，许戈辉不见了，听说去了香港，去了那个后来叫凤凰卫视的电视台。

不看不知道，世界真奇妙

到了初中开始了正式的英语学习。当时年级里每两个班都是同一组老师，我们的班主任是语文Z老师，也教隔壁班的语文。隔壁班的班主任是英语W老师，亦教我们班的英语。初中第一学期，刚开始我英语考试非常糟糕，第一题基本上全错。那个时候英语考试第一题都是从一组词中挑出同音节发音不同的那一个。最开始我完全没有理解到这道题的目的：不都写作a吗，有什么不同的？完全没有理会到英语的奇怪，同字母在不同的地方发音不同的“妙处”。差不多过了半学期才有坐在我前排，班上英语最好的那位同学的点化。终于明白，是找读音不同，如a虽然长得都一样，但就是读得不一样。从此之后才不那么沮丧。我们也成了好朋友。当时我们是第一批学生使用人教版引进的Longman’s的英语教材。正宗的英式英语，韩妹妹Han Meimei 李雷 Li Lei的那一版。听读教材算是非常丰富，每个学年我都要买齐了然后把所有的练习做遍，真是有成就感。

我们的班主任语文Z老师是个国民党，当然是留在大陆那部分革了自己命的国民党，叫民革。这是家族传承由父及子的。虽然革了命不是反动派了，但仍在周围的老师中显得异类。Z老师说话无遮无拦，有点反骨的意思。也许是原因之一，他被贬降级从教高中降到教初中，我们也成了他第一次教的初中生。不久前，他唯一的女儿考上了北航的英语系。所以他也十分鼓励我们多花功夫在英语上，还经常传授一点她女儿用过的小窍门。不知道是真有用还是巧合，反正我们班总体的英语成绩总是优于隔壁英语Ｗ老师那班。特别是我和我的这个好朋友，极善于考试，英语分数无人能及。英语老师是一个三十出头的女老师，好胜心极强，可是每次她班都比过咱班，感觉脸色总是不好看。语文Z老师看得淡，总让我们小心不要惹她生气。

初中快要升高中的时候，听说同城的实验中学不知道通过什么途径请了一个德国人来教英语做外教，这可是这个小城里我们听说的第一个中学外教。当时很是轰动，这个在Peter Hessler的River Town那本书里也有记载。当然，Peter他们是在师专，算是大专院校里面，我们外面的人都接触不到。所以觉得这个德国老头是城里面唯一的一个外国人，觉得实验中学的学生好幸福。后来跟当时读另外一所中学的发小聊天，才知道我们英语W老师和发小的英语老师（他们是大学同学）一起带着自己班上的好学生有过跟这位德国老头见面练习英语。而我班的，她自己的学生就这样被华丽丽的省略了。

这个和平队的志愿者在我90年代的家乡

写得很好的一本书，Amazon有卖。他的其它书和文章也很不错，最近他一家人终于被“赶出”了中国。

有一天焦点访谈里播出了北大学生通过互联网就能够将朱令的铊中毒的进行远程诊断。让人看了以后无比向往互联网，可那时候小地方还没有。所以学习英语，特别是听，还是靠短波收音机。记得当时初中高中的老师也没有明说，只是不断地暗示这是个好办法。然后就开始了收听短波收音机的生活。VOA和BBC的英语节目变成了每天做完功课后的日常，就像现在的人滑手机一样。随着英语夹带着中文的那些从来在国内听不到的信息，就像看到了黑暗的夜空中最亮的星。也和国内的电视节目渐行渐远，从此没有怎么看过电视了。几年前我访问了在Cincinnati里由以前的VOA转发站改成的National VOA Museum of Broadcasting无比亲切。也许我听的不少节目就是从这里转发的。那些在国内看不到听不到的新想法思想观点观念就通过英语来了。

National VOA Museum of Broadcasting

为了营造一个英语学习的环境，那时候订了不少英语书报。居然还订了China Daily，可惜里面的文章很糟糕，读不下去，现在才明折那个就叫大外宣。初三化学老师是师范刚毕业的一个小姑娘，一次见她监我们考的时候悄悄在讲台桌下摆着东西，不时看一下。交卷子的时候盯了一眼发现是一本杂志，叫“英语世界”，于是好奇买了一本。其中的每一页都一分为二，一边是英文，另一边是中文。原来是中英对照的文摘杂烩，各种体裁如诗和散文都有。上面的中文翻译，极为讲究用心。便一发不可收拾，喜欢起来，一直读到出国。记得有一篇来自澳大利亚的文章里面对中国人褒赏有加，所以那期当作头条文章。开始一句是这样写的：虽然中国来的人都很讨厌，可是有时候遇到那么一两个中国人，却不得不让人心生赞美和感慨，觉得再差的人种里面也能有让人产生敬意的……当时我读得感动无比，后来到了美国才明白过来这就叫种族歧视，还是特别歧视得病如膏肓了才会这样写。

1997年，特别重要的一年：我们的小地方居然直辖了，成为直辖重庆市的一部分。最直接的变化就是与省级的各种活动更加接近了，资源也更丰富了。当时正在高中，那几年居然好几次去重庆参加各种学科竞赛的决赛，其中有一次就是英语。是高中英语老师带着我去的。初中教过我的W老师也带着她现在的学生。我们一行四个人，其中两位都是我的老师。到重庆住了一晚，碰到w老师现在学生的一个家长，也是区里的一个官员正好到市里来开会出差，硬是要宴请一下，档期排不过来，只能请吃早饭。当然我们同行的人都沾光了。重庆冬天早上冷飕飕的，提早起来，穿得里三层外三层。然后和那位家长叔叔一起到宾馆边一个偌大的餐厅。早上自然一个客人也没有，但有好几个服务员在那里等着我们。就座之后开始上早饭。那是98/99年的时候，早饭还没有什么想象力，就真的只是早上经常吃的食物，像牛奶豆浆油条包子面包馒头稀饭鸡蛋之类的，加上川渝的各种腌菜。只是为了显示不一样，牛奶是装在一个洋气的玻璃罐里，由服务员端着的。自己面前的杯了喝了几口，服务员又立即满满地盛上。豆浆则是盛在一个跟小盆一样中式大碗里。那位叔叔像是劝酒一样，招呼着我们四个文弱的老师学生吃着这顿有些尴尬的早饭。

那天决赛的形式是抽个题目，准备十来分钟就上去演讲。当时参加的来自重庆所有区县的学生，十几来号人，其中有个女生特别漂亮有气质。因为人不多，每个人的题目都不一样。我抽到的题目是The most important thing is to be honest。高中的我哪思考过，或者见到过这么有道德高度的论点。理科生的我每天想到的是都是上月亮摘星星，电脑超导之类的，所以上台没几分钟就无话可讲下来了。真是对不住丰盛的早餐和老师的陪伴。唯一留下的就是这个题目还不时从我脑子里冒出来：the most important thing is to be honest。没有得到大奖，却似乎从这里学到了什么是最重要的品格。

 

Translated by ChatGPT:

 

In January 2024, there have been occasional news reports about the domestic cancellation or reduction of English course requirements. Many years ago, various opinions dismissing the usefulness of English emerged. Back in my middle and high school days, people struggled with English learning, the College English Test (CET), and there were numerous jokes about a hypothetical "Chinese CET." The hope was that one day, after the rise of the nation, there would be no need to learn English anymore.

There have also been news reports about the removal of English signage in China. Recently, upon returning to the country, I noticed a sense of de-internationalization: English signage is not significantly reduced, and various translation errors that mock people abound. Misuse of English letters creates a feeling of temporal and spatial disorientation. For instance, on a Joy Air flight, the emergency evacuation guide behind each seat misspelled the aircraft type "320neo" as "320ceo." Such unprofessional mistakes make one feel a lack of sensitivity to English, prompting reflections.

I first wanted to learn English in the fifth and sixth grades of primary school. In the early 1990s, I heard that students in big cities started learning a foreign language from elementary school, while in our small city, it only began in junior high. This injustice fueled my determination, even though I lacked teaching resources. A children's English TV program was advertised on CCTV, claiming to have imported excellent materials and would be broadcast weekly. So, I dedicated time each week, sitting in front of the TV with paper and pen, diligently noting down new words and sentences. I attempted to imitate and practice, emphasizing pronunciation without recording equipment, resorting to Chinese characters and pinyin to remember the pronunciation.

The host of that program was Xu Gehui, and later, I learned that she and Yang Lan entered CCTV together, with Yang being the first. Yang went on to host popular shows, while Xu found herself limited to hosting a children's English program. I might have been one of the few viewers in our small city. Later, Xu Gehui disappeared, reportedly moving to Hong Kong and then to what later became Phoenix Television.

Unaware, the world is truly fascinating.

In junior high, formal English learning began. In the first semester, my English exam performance was dismal, with almost all answers to the first question being incorrect. At that time, English exams involved picking the word with a different syllable pronunciation from a group. Initially, I completely misunderstood the purpose of this question: weren't they all written as "a"? What's different? It took about half a semester for a classmate sitting in front of me, the top English student, to enlighten me. Finally grasping the idea that it was about finding different pronunciations, like how "a" sounded different despite looking the same, lifted my frustration. We became good friends, excelling in exams, especially in English. Our English teacher, in her thirties, was competitive, but her class always outperformed ours, leaving her with an unpleasant expression. Our Chinese teacher, Mr. Z, took it lightly, cautioning us not to provoke her.

As high school approached, I heard that a German was hired as an English language teacher in the local experimental high school. This was the first foreign teacher we heard about in our small city, creating quite a buzz. I later learned about this from a friend attending a different school; their English teacher, a college classmate of ours, arranged for her students to meet and practice English with the German teacher. Unfortunately, my class was left out.

To create an English learning environment, I subscribed to many English books and newspapers. Surprisingly, I even subscribed to China Daily, but the articles were poorly written and unreadable. Only now do I realize it's part of what's known as "external propaganda." In chemistry class in the third year of junior high, our young teacher, a National Revolutionary Army member, subtly placed a magazine under the desk during an exam. Curious, I bought a copy of "English World." Each page featured English text on one side and Chinese on the other. It was a bilingual digest with various genres like poetry and prose, meticulously translated. I couldn't resist and developed a liking for it, reading it until I went abroad.

In 1997, a significant year, our small town became a direct-administered part of Chongqing. The most immediate change was closer proximity to provincial activities and richer resources. During high school, I went to Chongqing several times for various academic competitions, including an English competition. One time, my high school English teacher took me along, accompanied by W, my junior high English teacher. We, a group of four, including two of my former teachers, stayed overnight in Chongqing. During the competition, we encountered a parent of one of W's current students, who was also a local official on a business trip to the city. Despite a tight schedule, he insisted on treating us to breakfast. It was a cold winter morning, and we dressed in layers. The breakfast, in 1998/99, lacked imagination – typical morning fare like milk, soy milk, fried dough sticks, buns, bread, congee, and eggs, along with various pickled vegetables from Sichuan and Chongqing. In an attempt to be different, the milk came in a fancy glass jar, served by a waiter. I took a few sips, and the waiter promptly refilled it. Soy milk was served in a large Chinese bowl resembling a basin. The parent, like urging someone to drink, invited us to awkwardly enjoy this breakfast.

That day's competition involved drawing a topic and preparing a speech in about ten minutes. As participants from all districts of Chongqing, there were only a dozen or so students. Each had a different topic. My topic was "The most important thing is to be honest." As a high school student, I had never thought about or encountered such a morally elevated argument. Being a science student, my daily thoughts were about reaching the moon, stars, and superconductivity. So, I ran out of things to say on stage within minutes. I didn't do justice to the sumptuous breakfast and the company of my teachers. The only thing that stayed with me was the theme popping into my mind from time to time: "The most important thing is to be honest." I didn't win a big prize, but I seemed to have learned something about the most important character trait from this experience.