Study (New Concept English) Bite into the text 1

Author: Pan Zhangxian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-11-01
Features: When using this book, it is important to thoroughly study the text from both grammatical and semantic perspectives. Below, I will discuss the significance of these two aspects.
1. The Importance of Grammar for Chinese Learners of English.
Currently, many learners of English neglect grammar. In reality, grammar is a shortcut for foreigners learning English, especially considering the current situation of Chinese learners. English teaching in China is divided into two categories: college English and professional English teaching. Generally, those who specialize in English after graduation can achieve an ideal level of English proficiency, but students of college English are significantly weaker compared to them. The reason is not complicated—college English offers 200 hours of instruction, while professional English offers 1,000 hours, and there is already a gap in their proficiency levels at the time of enrollment. If you refuse to face this reality, you cannot adopt practical methods, and without practical methods, you cannot achieve good results. Grammar is the language rule summarized to improve the efficiency of language learning. In a Chinese language environment, neglecting grammar when learning English is indeed unwise. Therefore, when reading the text, students should always ask themselves what role each word plays in the sentence. In the initial stage, it is necessary to force oneself to do this, especially when encountering difficult parts. As proficiency improves, especially when dealing with simpler sentences, this step can be omitted. However, please note that even highly proficient English professors must perform sentence grammar analysis when faced with difficult sentences. If a student scores below 8 in the CET-4 exam or below 10 in the postgraduate entrance exam in English, the main problem lies in their poor fundamental language proficiency and basic grammar and vocabulary. For such students, improving writing skills does not require learning how to write essays but rather focusing on rigorous grammar analysis of the text.
2. The Importance of Translation for Chinese Learners of English.
Many students’ understanding of the text is at the level of "fragmentary comprehension." Some students are quite honest and ask, "Teacher, is reading English about understanding English with fragmented Chinese?" From my experience, during exams, due to time constraints, what is referred to as "reading comprehension" is largely about understanding English with fragmented Chinese. However, when reading intensive texts regularly, this approach is absolutely unacceptable. It is essential to use accurate, complete, and fluent Chinese to understand English, which is essentially translation. In our country's English teaching, there is an excessive emphasis on thinking in English, while translation teaching is neglected. Yet the results have not been ideal—how many have truly developed English thinking? Decades of practice in China have proven that translation is a shortcut for non-English majors to improve their English proficiency. This book does not, like similar books, arbitrarily showcase the "talents" of its compilers by patching together excessive extensions and elaborations. The main problem for Chinese students reading texts is poor digestion, and the solution to poor digestion is not to eat more but to eat less and chew more thoroughly. We believe that as long as students delve deeply into the text itself, understand and master it thoroughly, they will have achieved the goal of learning English well. Many students’ reality is that they seem to have learned a lot but excel at nothing, understanding nothing in depth. The explanation order of the text in this book is divided into four steps: 1. Original Text - 2. Translation - 3. Analysis - 4. Explanation.
1. Original Text: This refers to the original text of the lesson, arranged sentence by sentence.
2. Translation: This is the accurate understanding of the original text and its fluent expression in Chinese, serving as a sign of whether the text is truly understood. If you encounter relatively simple sentences, you can try to translate them into a level comparable to the translation provided in the book on your own and may not need to look at the "Analysis" and "Explanation" below. Therefore, in this book, the translation is directly placed after the original text. If you cannot translate it, it means you have not truly understood the text, so please refer to the "Analysis" and "Explanation" below.
3. Analysis: This is the analysis of the sentence components in the original text.
4. Explanation: This refers to the explanation of linguistic points in the original text and the supplement to the grammar analysis.
When using this book, individuals can choose one of the following four modes based on their own situation: 1-2; 1-2-3; 1-2-4; 1-2-3-4.