如何提高英文阅读速度?

2022年 11月 6日

大量阅读文章扩展词汇量

虽然我只花了三个月苦练会话就可以说英语了但我知道自己掌控的单词还不到一千个换句话说要想从简易的会话书中增加我的词汇量使我的英语提升到和中文水平相当这是不可能的事举例来说下列画线的英语单词词组和专门用语在一般的英语会话书里看到的概率不大

The US President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit London next month well-informed sources said Wednesday.

消息灵通人士在星期三表示美国总统唐纳德·特朗普预定将于下个月访问伦敦

Ladies and gentlemen now the meeting is called to order. First of all, I feel privileged to have this opportunity to brief you on our company on behalf of President George Wood.

女士们先生们现在正式宣布会议开始首先我很荣幸有这个机会代表董事长乔治·伍德就本公司向各位做简报

虽然有了在查经班与外国人对谈的经验我对英语会话的信心增加不少但我发现自己如果还是长期停留在学会话的阶段所学的都是一些简短的生活用语词汇量的增加必然会受到限制因此我决定要大量阅读英语文章以扩展我的英语谈话内容更要提升我的谈话主题的深度我曾经彷徨到底该读什么好呢1967 年的某个星期天我在台北公路局东站现已拆除等候公交车返校时看到了小卖部门口悬挂着一本英文杂志叫作读者文摘 Reader's Digest 它的中文版我以前曾看过知道里面的内容是由长篇文章浓缩而成的condensed [ kən`dɛnst ]a condensed article 就是浓缩的文章而浓缩的文章远比长篇文章难写因为一篇优秀的浓缩的文章一定是言简意赅的而用较少的文字把事情交代清楚需要很高的文字素养所以我顺手买了这本 Reader's Digest我翻开杂志发现里面的文章主题丰富有温馨感人的生活故事顶尖科技说明文短篇小说和笑话集等内容涵盖现代社会各方面的知识

我买了读者文摘后立即决定第一我要开始抄笔记抄笔记才能把很多优美的语句记录下来我便买了一本有塑料外皮且有一定厚度但可放入口袋的小尺寸笔记本这样我在上军事课程出操或野外训练时也可以随身携带第二我需要一本好词典我想起曹同学曾建议我要买外国人编纂的英英词典因为里面的例句会比较精确但对于当时的我来说使用外国人编纂的英英词典还是有困难的所以第一本词典我买了一本权威的英汉词典作者是欧阳承和张梦慨这两位作者很详细地将常用的短语习语以及谚语的例句一一使用粗体呈现并附中文翻译整本词典含有五万多个单词对我学习英语单词来说绰绰有余买了读者文摘笔记本和字典后我搭车回到位于北投区的军校迫不及待想要开始我读英语的旅程

1选好阅读素材

刚开始我一直认为看到不懂的单词就要马上查字典

读者文摘的文字对我来说都是很难懂的虽然书中所使用的文字难度大概是美国高中学生的程度但对于非母语人士来说却是大学或研究生的程度当时我一碰到单词就查字典最后发现思路经常被打断每篇文章的每一小段都有查不完的单词阅读变得如此艰难经常使我有想要放弃学英语的念头那时的我变得不知所措只能暂时放弃阅读读者文摘

后来我无意间在新闻系教室里发现报架上有三份中文报纸和一份英文报纸英文中国邮报 The China Post 于是我就地取材利用英文报纸学习英语我看了头条下方三个字UPI也就是 United Press International合众国际社在 1991 年宣告破产它与 Associated PressAP美联社和 Reuters [

rɔɪtɚz]

nɛntl] Ballistic [ bə

lɪstɪk ] Missiles [

mɪslz ]简称 ICBM我发现这份英文中国邮报可以作为我学习的素材因为一篇新闻报道和读者文摘文章相比长度短了许多而 journalistic English新闻英语是给大众看的用词简洁明了写作风格严谨句子合乎语法这相当于是英美人士初中学习程度此外新闻报道的内容包罗万象读者文摘更广从英文报纸可以学到有关政治经济体育娱乐文学艺术科技等领域的关键词汇于是英文中国邮报就顺理成章地成了我大量阅读的素材也使我养成了英文阅读的习惯大量地

 

我要说的是看到英语文章就要开口念出声音来而不是只默读也不是马上查词典我是一小段一小段地攻克新闻文章的而不是一次把一整篇念完这就是我所说的少就是多的原则我再强调一次我这里讲的阅读是也就是说当你的眼睛到英语文章时你的嘴巴就必须要同时把英文句子出来

2如何

但到底该如何进行大量的一般人学英语的通病是开口说英语的时间少得可怜但其实学英语最重要的环节就是要能所以我们更应该在平常看英语文章时就把每个单词念出声来这样才能让我们练习讲英语这也是在替自己创造讲英语的机会可是大部分人总是疏忽了这最重要的一点都只是静静地默读文章

我则是只要有零星时间就拿起英文中国邮报边看新闻文章news stories边念出声来这么一来我的嘴巴一天到晚讲的都是英语我相信这会比在培训班里讲英语的机会多得多Luther Burbank卢瑟·伯班克曾说过Time cannot be added to a person's life, but it can be made more valuable by avoiding waste.时间不能加进一个人的生命里但是珍惜光阴却可使生命变得更有价值零星时间保证可以小兵立大功

3我是如何进行英文报纸的

第一步

选一篇自己感兴趣的新闻如果觉得自己的兴趣很广泛下面有二十四种类别的新闻可以供各位读者作为参考

图片

为了真实呈现我的英语学习方法我就选最近一份英文中国邮报2016 年年底里由美联社提供的一篇有关印度淹水的报道来做的示范

通讯社的 correspondents特派员或报社的 reporters记者都是写作高手他们写的东西都很有逻辑和条理很多记者都曾获得 The Pulitzer Prizes普利策奖这个奖的地位相当于新闻界的诺贝尔奖有些记者后来甚至还成为知名的小说家包括 1953 年获得普利策奖的海明威就是因为他们在写作时注重遣词用字的锻炼但大家千万不要以为记者都是用一些 big words难度很高的词汇在写文章我要告诉大家的是利用新闻英语学习英语可以获得一个附加价值就是当你懂得越多的新闻英语之后写出来的英语文章就会越简明流畅越懂得用简练的词汇去表达丰富的含义

不过我相信大部分人一听到英文报纸脑子里马上就会想到密密麻麻的英语单词而且还是好几大张的报纸对于阅读我是一段一段慢慢地攻克的谨记我学英语的三个基本态度善用零星时间少就是多慢就是快持之以恒永不放弃

我现在就用以下美联社最近报道的印度水灾的文章作为范例

India Flooding Kills 96, Displaces 1 Million

— Guwahati, India, AP

The death toll in flooding from heavy monsoon rains in India has climbed past 90, with about a million people taking shelter in government-run relief camps,
officials said Tuesday.

Incessant downpours have damaged swaths of land, uprooted trees and snapped telephone cables in dozens of districts in the states of Bihar in the east, Assam in the remote northeast and Himachal Pradesh in the north.

A total of 96 people have been killed in the flooding in the three states over the past week, according to state officials.

At least 17 rare one-horned rhinos have been killed due to the flooding of vast tracts of Assam's Kaziranga National Park, said Pramilla Rani Brahma, the state's forest and environment minister."Most of the rhinos killed were calves, separated from their mothers during the massive flooding," Brahma said.

The park had 1.5-meter-high (5-foot-high) floodwaters in some places, forcing many of the park's animals, also including wild elephants, wild buffaloes and boars, to cross a highway to move to higher ground.

The heavy monsoon rains have come after two straight years of drought in India on monday, landslides and heavy rains blocked highways leading to Tibet and Manali, a tourist resort in Himachal Pradesh state, with hundreds of people stranded for several hours before rescuers cleared the way, the Press Trust of India news agency said. In Bihar state, around 260,000 flood victims were taking shelter in more than 400 relief camps set up by the state government. At least 400 medical camps have been set up as well to aid people who have spent several nights outdoors after their homes were submerged by rainwaters.

In Assam, where floodwaters started receding on Tuesday, some 3.8 million people have been affected by the floods, according to state authorities. More than 700,000 have taken shelter in 770 relief camps.

第二步

要求自己第一天看懂第一段新闻第二天看懂第二段以此类推少就是多一天看一段就好

第三步

以极慢的速度念完第一段新闻不能一遇到不懂的单词就立刻停下来查字典这样只会造成 pause停顿导致无法了解全段的大意

下面就以这篇美联社报道古瓦哈提市新闻的第一段为例

The death tol l in flooding from heavy monsoon rains in India has climbed past 90, with about a million people taking shelter in government -run relief camps , officials said Tuesday.

The death tollmonsoon rainstaking shelter ingovernment-runrelief camps对当年第一次尝试读新闻英语的我来说这些都是看不懂的单词或词组但至少我了解 death死亡rainsa million people一百万人government政府camps营区这几个单词所以在不查字典的情况下我也能以极慢的速度把这段新闻念完由于我念得慢也让我可以大概了解这段新闻的大意

星期二有人声称某地下大雨造成高达九十人死亡大约有一百万人待在政府相关的营区里

记住
千万不要在第一次看文章时一碰到不熟的单词就立刻查词典这样会打断你的思路文章的整体大意就会抓不准了这就是为什么第一遍一定要先念完文章大家想一想我们在读中文书报时有时也会遇到不懂的词语但是我们懂得利用上下文来理解文章的大意不会一看到不熟的词就马上去查字典所以读英语时也一样读第一遍时不要查字典

第四步

进入第二遍时就要逐句查字典不论是认识的单词还是不认识的单词都要去查而且还要把单词的音标字义字词的用法及例句都抄在笔记本里

1death[ dɛθ ] n. 死亡

be scared to death  吓死了夸张说法

be sentenced to death  被判处死刑

John's sudden death shocked all of us.

约翰的骤逝震惊了我们所有人

I was scared to death when I found my teacher standing behind me.

当我发现老师就站在我后面时被吓了个半死

The robber was sentenced to death.

这名抢匪被判处死刑

2toll [ tol ] n. 伤亡人数

the death toll 死亡人数

The death toll of the earthquake has reached 10,000.

这次地震造成的死亡人数已达一万人

3flooding [ `flʌdɪŋ ] n. 淹水

The heavy rain caused flooding in some low-lying areas.

这场大雨在若干低洼地区造成了洪水泛滥

flood [ flʌd ] n. 洪水可数& vt. & vi. 淹没

The flood claimed 25 lives.

这次洪水夺走了二十五条人命

The whole village was flooded during the typhoon.

台风来时整个村庄都淹水了

4monsoon [ mɑn`sun ] n. 季节雨梅雨

5shelter [ `ʃɛltɚ ] n. 遮蔽庇护

take shelter  躲避风雨炸弹等

It's raining now. Let's take shelter in the temple.

现在正在下雨咱们到庙里面去躲一下雨吧

6government-run [ `gʌvɚnməntˌrʌn ] 政府经营的公家设立的

a government-run business 国营企业

a privately-run business 民营企业

7relief [ rɪ`lif ] n. 救济解脱轻松

a relief camp  救济营难民收容所

To sb's relief ...  令某人松口气的是……

To my relief, I passed the test.

让我松口气的是我考试及格了

大家可以看到上面的这些重要单词我不只是查出常用字义而已我还记下它衍生的其他字义更重要的是我都尽量附上例句和用法因为只有这样做才能更充分地了解如何使用这些单词而我的这些笔记都不是用连续两三个小时完成的全部都是在下课或课外活动时间一点一滴积累下来的美国第十六任总统林肯有句名言I will study and get ready, and perhaps my chance will come.我要读书并做好准备也许我的机会就会到来我在写笔记的过程中一直用他的这句话来勉励自己要坚持到底

顺便提一下我抄笔记的速度很快字迹潦草不过仍在我可以看得懂的范围内这个做法可以省下许多时间来继续看英文报纸的内容

第五步

将第一段新闻译成中文

The death toll in flooding from heavy monsoon rains in India has climbed past 90, with about a million people taking shelter in government-run relief camps,
officials said Tuesday.

我的翻译是

官员们于星期二表示印度雨季的滂沱大雨酿成水灾死亡人数已超过九十人大约有一百万人被安置在国营的救济营中避难

第六步

反复利用零星时间以非常慢的速度念这一段英文同时在脑子里翻译成中文有人说念英文时要用英语的思维思考这是不正确的念英文时要翻译成中文而且速度要慢慢到你念英文的同时还要知道中文是什么意思久而久之由英文翻译成中文的这种理解力就由慢变快了你的中英文会越来越同步到了晚上你已经念了三四百次了速度已经快了许多但你没有去死记硬背这段英文内容而是用自己的理解把英文 paraphrase诠释成中文记得速度一定要慢给自己充裕的时间构思要讲的话现在我来示范把第一段新闻用简单的英语进行诠释

According to some officials, recently in India, it has been raining heavily for a long time, causing flooding in some areas. At least 90 people died, and a million others lost their homes. Fortunately, they were arranged by the government to take shelter in relief camps.

根据若干官员所说最近印度由于长期下大雨造成若干地区雨水泛滥成灾至少有九十人死亡并导致一百万人流离失所幸好政府已将他们安置在救难营躲避大雨

以上是我用中英文所做的口语的诠释因为有很多零星时间我就一遍遍重新诠释不断诠释即使没有去背还是可以用英语通过自己的方式说出来别人是死背书因此被文字框住无法灵活运用背过的英语但我用这样的方法就可以将学到的英语运用自如

第七步

一天学下来到晚上睡觉前我再翻开笔记本将单词及用法从头到尾念一遍念完后就用这些单词及用法自己造句尽量多说

第八步

第二天我用同样的方法看第二个段落第三天看第三个段落……以此类推这篇报道总共有二十段念了二十天把这一整篇报道扎扎实实地读完了久而久之就由少变多了你能说的内容也越来越长就逐渐养成一种很厉害的功夫叫 monologue独白这种学习方法培养了我交替口译的基本能力也奠定了我日后同声传译的基础第一年只看一份报纸但少就是多我学得很扎实到了第二年我的速度加快一年用这样的方式可以看完好几份报纸了

我们一起再做一篇请大家跟着我一起练习

第一步

选一篇新闻报道我们用以下美联社于 2016 年年末报道巴西监狱暴动案的文章作范例

At Least 56 Inmates Killed in Prison Riot in Northern Brazil

— Rio De Janeiro, AP

An attack by members of one crime gang on rival inmates touched off a riot at a prison in the northern state of Amazonas, leaving at least 56 dead, including several who were beheaded or dismembered in the worst bloodshed at a Brazilian prison since 1992.

Authorities said the riot that raged from Jan. 1 afternoon into Jan.2 morning grew out of a fight between two of the country's biggest crime gangs over control of prisons and drug routes in northern Brazil.

In a separate incident Jan. 2 evening, four inmates were killed at another Amazonas prison. Police were investigating whether there was a connection between the mass killings at the Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Complex and the later ones at Unidade Prisional do Puraquequar.

Amazonas authorities initially reported 60 dead in the Anisio Jobim prison in Manaus, but the state public security secretary's office later reduced that figure to 56. Officials also said 112 inmates escaped during the riot.

There were 1,224 inmates in the prison, which was built to hold 592, Amazonas state public security's office said. The prison is run by a private company that is paid according to the number of inmates.

Twelve prison guards were held hostage by the inmates during the riot, though none was injured.

第二步

第一天学习读新闻报道的第一段第二天学习第二段……以此类推

第三步

以极慢的速度念完一段新闻理解这一段的大意以第一段为例

An attack by members of one crime gang on rival inmates touched off a riot at a prison in the northern state of Amazonas, leaving at least 56 dead, including several who were beheaded or dismembered in the worst bloodshed at a Brazilian prison since 1992.

对于当时的我来说文中许多单词或用法是看不懂的但以这段而言我能看懂其中的 attack攻击member成员56 dead五十六人死亡worst最糟的Brazilian巴西的prison监狱慢慢念且绝不马上查不熟的单词所以我能先抓住这段的中文大意自 1992 年以来在巴西监狱至少有五十六人遭受攻击而死亡

第四步

逐句地查字典将单词的音标字义衍生的其他字义及例句抄在笔记本里

1attack [ ə`tæk ] n. & vt. 攻击

make / launch an attack on...  对……展开攻击

Army tanks launched an attack on a village near the capital yesterday.

昨天军方的坦克袭击了首都附近的一座村庄

be / come under attack  遭受攻击

Once again we came under attack from enemy jet fighters.

我们再一次遭受了敌军战斗机的攻击

attack sb/sth with sth  用某物攻击某人/某物

John needed 50 stitches after being attacked with a club.

约翰被棍棒攻击后需要缝五十针

2member [ `mɛmbɚ ] n. 会员成员

a full member 正式成员

a leading member 重要成员

a family member 家庭成员

a member state / country / nation 会员国

3 crime [ kraɪm ] n.泛指犯罪活动不可数某犯罪行为可数

commit a crime 犯某个罪

Women commit fewer crimes than men.

女性犯罪少于男性

combat crimes  打击犯罪

Police officers are being given new powers to combat crimes.

警员获得新权力以打击犯罪

street / gang crime  街头/帮派犯罪

4rival [ `raɪvəl ] n. 竞争者& vt. 与……竞争

a rival for...  ……的竞争者

Allison left her job and went to work for a rival company.

艾莉森离职后去了竞争对手的公司上班

The facilities in our lab rival those of the national lab.

我们实验室的器材比得上国家实验室的器材

Tom and Anna are rivals for the job.

汤姆和安娜竞相争取这份工作

5inmate [ `ɪnmet ] n. 囚犯= prisoner

6riot[`raɪət ] n. 暴动& vi. 发动骚乱闹事

an urban riot  城市暴动

a prison riot  监狱暴动

College students riotedin protest at tuition fees.

大学生闹事抗议学费过高

7behead [ bɪ`hɛd ]  vt. 把……斩首

CharlesⅠwas beheaded in 1649.

查理一世于 1649 年被斩首

8 dismember [ dɪs`mɛmbɚ ]   vt. 肢解瓜分国家地区组织

The police found the dismembered body of a man in an abandoned freezer.

警方在一台废弃冰箱中找到一名男子被肢解的身躯

The country was dismembered by Hitler and the Nazis before World WarⅡ.

该国在二战前就已经被希特勒和纳粹分子给瓜分了

9bloodshed [ `blʌdˌʃɛd ]  n. 流血杀人

Tens of thousands of refugees left their country to escape more bloodshed.

好几万的难民离开他们的祖国以逃离流血事件

10prison [ `prɪzən ]  n. 监牢

be in prison  坐牢

Bob visits his dad who is in prison every week.

鲍伯每星期都会探视坐牢的父亲

be out of prison  出狱

I have been out of prison for three years now, but I'm still looking for a
job.

我已经出狱三年了但我仍在找工作

put sb in prison  使某人坐牢= put sb in jail

They should put the murderer in prison and throw away the key!

他们应该让这名谋杀犯坐牢并且把钥匙丢掉

be sent to prison  被送进监牢= be sent to jail

Abby was sent to prison for several days due to drunk driving.

艾比因为酒驾而被送进监牢关了好几天

第五步

将第一段新闻译成中文

An attack by members of one crime gang on rival inmates touched off a riot at a prison in the northern state of Amazonas, leaving at least 56 dead, including several who were beheaded or dismembered in the worst bloodshed at a Brazilian prison since 1992.

我的翻译是

在巴西北部亚马孙州的一所监狱里某帮派犯罪分子攻击了敌对的囚犯暴动一触即发导致至少五十六人死亡还有一些囚徒被斩首或分尸这也是 1992 年以来巴西监狱所发生的最严重的流血事件

第六步

现在我来示范第一段新闻怎样用简单的英语进行诠释

Something horrible happened in a country called Brazil. In a prison in this country, there was a fight between gangsters, causing at least 56 people to be
killed and many others to be wounded. This has been the worst bloodshed in a Brazilian prison since 1992.

在一个叫作巴西的国家发生了一起可怕的事件在该国的某监狱中帮派成员之间发生冲突导致五十六人惨遭杀害以及多人受伤这是 1992 年以来巴西某监狱中发生的最严重的一次流血事件

用自己的语言不断重新诠释直到可以灵活发挥

Something terrible took place in a prison in Brazil. In this horrible incident, two gangs were fighting each other, killing 56 people and wounding many others. This has been the worst bloodshed that has ever taken place in a Brazilian prison since 1992.

巴西一座监狱里发生了一起恐怖的事件在这个骇人的事件中两个帮派发生冲突夺走了五十六人的性命也导致多人受伤这是 1992 年以来在巴西某监狱中发生的最严重的一次流血案件

第七步

睡觉前可以再翻开笔记本将单词和用法从头到尾念一遍再自己造句如:

使用单词 attack 及 make an attack on 造句

As a polite person, you are not supposed to attack any person. Making attacks on others only invites hatred. We should be polite. We should learn to live in
peace. Only by doing so (Only by so doing)can we live peacefully with one another. This isn't an ideal world, unfortunately. Wars and riots are happening every day. That's really too bad.

身为有礼貌的人你不该攻击他人攻击他人只会招致仇恨我们应该有礼貌我们应学着和平生活只有这么做我们才能与他人和平相处不幸的是这个世界并不理想战争和暴动每天都在上演这真糟糕

第八步

第二天我再用同样的方法看第二个段落以此类推这就是我大量地的方法这个方法让学习变得事半功倍我有了以下几方面的收获

1单词量增加

2因为要勤查词典所以学到了字词的 collocation字词搭配而这种字词搭配其实就是我之后要谈到的语法

3能看懂英英词典了到二年级下学期时我就改用英英词典了

4奠定了我用英语独白的能力

我从阅读报纸中得到了许多好处三年级我再看读者文摘觉得里面的英语文章已经不再难懂了我甚至开始将读者文摘翻译成中文来投稿当时台湾对于版权的观念还不强我拿我翻译的文稿投到一家时报的家庭副刊最后刊登出来稿费竟有台币一百多元这笔稿费已经超过我的薪水此外我还因此可以穿着军服参加他们时报的作家联谊会

四年级时我就和曹同学一起办英语报纸当时我们军校的英语老师请学校特别拨款让我们办这份报纸我们借用英文中国邮报报社提供的印刷机印制我校新闻系不定期出刊的英语报纸先锋报
The Herald 

英文中国邮报报社是当时中国台湾地区唯一的英语报社位于台北市抚顺街我和曹同学两个人在星期六晚上去借用报社的机器自己来排版和印刷清晨两点报社的印刷机停机之后就是我和曹同学一起印报纸的时间了在印报纸的过程中我和曹同学很仔细地校对从大样看到小样校对不止三次恐有六七次那么多了以防止出现排印错误typo当时用的是较早期的平版印刷机这个机器不是两个小时就可以印出几万份纸的现代轮转印刷机报纸印出来的时候已经是清晨六点钟当看到自己的报纸印出来的那一刻我们都激动得流下了眼泪

当我和曹同学两个人手捧着报纸离开英文中国邮报报社走向台北火车站时心里充满了感动与喜悦回去的路途虽远但一身的疲惫已被抛诸脑后了

还有一件事让我至今印象深刻当我把报纸带回家爸妈看到我印出来的报纸时爸爸也很感动因为我不但可以用英语采访还可以用英语写作甚至出版了英文报纸我能够取得这样的成果是因为中间历经了前面说的两个阶段第一学发音学会话第二大量地我经历的这两个阶段为我第三阶段写作奠定了坚实的基础

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