2020-07-07 Self-cultivation in E

朋友们，你们是否会有这样的感觉？你很喜欢英语，你很渴望向别人表达你所想，但是有时候因为种种原因，导致出来的结果不是令人满意的。我经常面临这样的困境而感到尴尬。

Dear friends, do you have this feeling? You like English very much, you are very eager to express what you think to others, but sometimes the results are not satisfactory due to some reasons. I am always embarrassed to face such a dilemma.

近日，我有幸拜读了《西南联大英文课本》，它是民国时期一部很优秀的课本。但是我今天要推荐给大家的是里面的一篇文章，它是由一位哈佛大学教授写的，名叫《英语学习的自我培养》。它从口头表达，书面表达，思维方式进行了深入地分析。甚至我认为它还上升到了情商提升的方面。里面提到了一些表达欠缺的原因，例如词汇量不足，例如有时候是不够大胆，例如没有切身体会到别人真正的感受而无法做出准确的回应，例如说话天马行空、没有重点。

Recently, I was fortunate to read the "Freshman readings in English", 西南联大英文课本which was a very good textbook during the Republic of China. But today，what I want to recommend to everyone is an article from it, called Self-cultivation of English learning，written by an English teacher of Harvard University. It has been analyzed in depth from speaking, writting, and method of thinking. Even I think it is helpful to improve our emotional intelligence . Some of the reasons for lack of expression are mentioned, such as insufficient vocabulary. For example, sometimes it is not enough courage. For example, if you don't feel the real feelings of others, you can't make an exact response, such as unfocused talking .

那么，如何让这种陌生的语言更好地为我们所用呢？我把作者的观点总结成了一下几点。

So how do we make this strange language better for us? I sum up the teaching of the author in these words

一、悉心留意自己的语言

First，Look well to your speech

如果一个人在九十九次的口头言说中都很马虎懒散，那么他在第一百次的笔头写作中也几乎不可能做到挥斥方遒、严谨正确。

If someone is slovenly in his 99 cases of talking, He can seldom pull himself up to strength and  exactitude  in the hundredth  case of writing.

关注你话语的三个方面：用词准确、胆大、词汇量。

Pay attention to three aspects in your discourse：accuracy,  enough courage , and range

二、“欢迎每一次的写作机会”。

Secondly, "welcome every opportunity for writing"

一句话必须只说一件事；一个段落必须之说一件事；一篇文章也必须只说一件事。每一个部分是一个初步的整体，整篇文章就是一个完整的整体。然而基于一堆东西组织出一件事情的能力不是与生俱来的。它需要有创造性，同时又能自我约束，关注效果，能在草稿阶段就预测结局，还要遵循发展主题的各类需求，同时做到对任何引人入歧途的突发奇想充耳不闻。简言之，好的作家需要是艺术家。

A sentence must be compelled to say a single thing;

a paragraph, a single thing;  

an essay, a single thing.

Each part is to be a preliminary whole,and the total a finished whole.

But the ability to construct one thing out of many / doesn't come by nature. It implies fecundity, restraint, an eye for effects, the forecast of finish while we are still working in the rough, obedience to the demands of development, and a deaf ear to whatever calls us into the bypaths of caprice;

in short, it implies that the good writer is to be an artist.

不管是写给朋友的信件，写给老板的报告，还是写给报纸的通讯，都要懂得有开头，有发展，有结尾。

If a letter is to be written to a friend, a report to an employer, a communication to a newspaper. See that it has a beginning, a middle ,and an end.

三、“想着他人”。

Thirdly，“Remember the other person”

实际上每一句话语都涉及两方，其目标是社会性的，其目的是交流。

Actully，Every utterance really concerns two. It's aim is social. Its object is communication.

不要一味专注于自己的世界。你的兴趣只能占据写作的一半；属于对方的那一半隐藏其中，是写作得以完整的重要部分。

Don't absorb in yourself. Your interest cover only the half ; the other person 's half is necessary to complete yours.

四、“紧靠主题”。

Fourthly，“Lean upon your subject”

“一切依赖于主题，选择一个适宜的行为，把自己融入情境，这些做好了，其他的就水到渠成了。”

“All depends upon the subject;.  choose a fitting action, penetrate  yourself with the feeling of  its situations ;  this done,  everything else will follow.”

五、我们得去做，而不是想。

Fifthly，It is that we should do the work ，and not think about it

日复一日地做，做坏了也不会烦。早动手，多动手，还要满足于付出多收获少。

Do it day by day and not grow weary in bad doing.Early and often we must be busy,and be satisfied to have a great deal of labor produce but a small result.

最后,我引用作者的话来做个总结：

Finally, I quote the author's words to make a summary.

如果我们注意自己的言语，让说出的话更正确一些，自由一些，丰富一些；

如果我们把每一次写作都看成是一次机会，为实现统一的结构而深思熟虑；

如果每次说话都能既考虑听众又考虑说话人；

最重要的是，如果说话人和听话人都能集中注意力于我们所谈的主题，由此让说话人得到主题的支撑——那么我们每一天都会取得进步，不仅是英语学习，还有服务于他人的总体能力，以及由此带来的愉悦感。

If we are watchful of our speech,making our words continually more minutely true, free, and  resourceful;

if we look upon our occasions of writing as opportunities for the deliberate work of unified construction;

if in all our utterances we think of him who hears as well as of him who speaks;

and above all, if we fix the attention of ourselves and our hearers on the matter we talk about and so let ourselves be supported by our subject,

——we shall make a daily advance not only in English study, but in personal power,  in general serviceableness, and in consequent delight.