华尔街基础英语Lesson 90

Hello, this is Clare Martin, and today I’m looking at the language learning¹. It has been said the British are bad at learning languages, but can this be true? We teach languages to most of our children and every evening school offers classes to adults. What sorts of people study, Why do they study? And what are the problems? To find out more, I went down to the adult education center in Briton. There I spoke² to Eve. Eve is from Paris, but he now teaches in England.

C: What sorts of people come to learn languages on these courses?
E: All sorts of people. They youngest are schoolchildren who are doing a level, and my oldest student is 73, and is about to start university and graduate.
C: Why do they come to learn?
E: Very very many reasons, the challenge³, because they are board, they want to go on holiday, because they need to use the language, because they want to learn how to teach. Some of then are actual teachers themselves, they come to see how I did it. It’s rather terrible for me, but we’re…
C: What are the most popular languages that people come to learn?
E: In this order, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Japanese.
C: That is quite a range of languages for a small town. And all the classes seem popular, I spoke to Magerete, a student in Eve’s class. I try to find out a bit more. Have you been here for long?
M: 4 years. I didn’t take French at school, but I decided⁴ 4 years ago start it.
C: Why did you choose French, I am attracted to the language, the sound of the language, and I am attracted to the literature of France, if possible, I would like to get enough understand of, really understand the literature of France.
C: Just next door, a very full Spanish class was in progress. I spoke to one of the students, kathleen, why did you decide to learn Spanish?
K: Because I’ll stay for 6 months in Spain.
C: Did you learn any languages at school?
K: Yes, French, only French. Were you any good at it in those days?
K: I didn’t learn very hard at school. I don’t think. But I enjoy it, it’s fantastic.
C: Well, the enthusiasm⁵.
K: What are the problems? Do Magarete and Kathleen find it easy to learn?

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 challenge   

n.挑战；v.向...挑战

参考例句：

• The job doesn't really challenge him.这项工作不能真正地考验他。
• She looked at me with challenge.她带着挑战的目光看着我。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 enthusiasm   

n.热情，激情；巨大兴趣；热衷的事物

参考例句：

• We set about our task at once with great enthusiasm.我们立刻兴致勃勃地干起来。
• A team which is full of enthusiasm is more likely to win.情绪高涨的球队更可能获胜。