TED演讲： 轻松学习阅读汉字(1)

 　　Growing up in Taiwan as the daughter of a calligrapher¹, 我在台湾长大。作为一位书法家的女儿，

　　one of my most treasured memories was my mother showing me the beauty, the shape and the form of Chinese characters. 我最珍贵的记忆之一是妈妈为我展示了汉字的形意之美。

　　Ever since then, I was fascinated by this incredible language. 从那时起，我开始着迷于这美妙的语言。

　　But to an outsider, it seems to be as impenetrable as the Great Wall of China. 但对于门外汉来说，汉字就跟中国的长城一样高不可攀。

　　Over the past few years, I've been wondering if I can break down this wall, 过去几年，我一直思考如何能够攻克这堵墙，

　　so anyone who wants to understand and appreciate the beauty of this sophisticated language could do so. 让那些要理解和欣赏这复杂语言优雅地方的人可以这样做。

　　I started thinking about how a new, fast method of learning Chinese might be useful. 我开始思考，如何创造一种新的、快速的方法，有助于学习汉字。

　　Since the age of five, I started to learn how to draw every single stroke for each character in the correct sequence. 从五岁起，我开始学习如何按照正确顺序、一笔一划的书写每个汉字。

　　I learned new characters every day during the course of the next 15 years. 在十五年期间，我每天都学习新的汉字。

　　Since we only have five minutes, it's better that we have a fast and simpler way. 因为我们只有五分钟时间，最好有一个更简易便捷的学习方式。

　　A Chinese scholar would understand 20,000 characters. 一位中文学者认识二万个汉字，

　　You only need 1,000 to understand the basic literacy. 你只需认识一千个汉字，就可看懂简单的文学作品。

　　The top 200 will allow you to comprehend 40 percent of basic literature 认识顶部二百个汉字，让你看明白百分之四十的基本文献

　　enough to read road signs, restaurant menus, to understand the basic idea of the web pages or the newspapers. 足以读懂路标、餐厅菜单，以了解中文网页的基本想法或报纸内容。

　　Today I'm going to start with eight to show you how the method works. You are ready? 今天我用八个汉字来展示这个方法如何有效。大家准备好了吗？

1 calligrapher   

n.书法家

参考例句：

• People would ask, then, how come a young calligrapher should choose to marry a cold-drink peddler? 以后人家会说——年轻的书法家，怎么找一个卖冷饮的？ 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译
• Wang Xizhi was a great calligrapher in ancient Chiina. 王羲之是中国古代一位伟大的书法家。