说到语法,其重要性自不必说,它是英语这种语言的构成方式。而这种方式又是我们学习所不可缺少的。想象一下,我们平时读的文章,听的段落,写的文章,哪样不是由句子组成的呢?而说起语法学习,很多人的心里怕是比较矛盾。一是觉得语法无用,二是觉得语法难学。但如果语法不难学,大家的矛盾可能就没有那么多了。如果语法不难学,无用论自然消除。问题是,怎么才能不难学呢?
一般来说,我们学语法都会选择一本语法书,因为那样比较有针对性。语法书固然好,但其缺点也是显而易见的:一、讲解过于呆板,缺乏实用性;二、所举例子大都没有上下文(很多句子离开上下文就没有了语境);三、跟实际应用稍显脱节(比如,跟各类考试没有直接的关联);四、规则的罗列让人没有兴趣。五、模棱两可的表达让人感觉似乎看懂了,却又在实际应用中感觉如此迷茫。如此等等,让很多的人语法学习过程走走停停,始终进入不了状态。
那么,有没有一套教材,既有语法书的优势,又避免了上述种种缺点呢?新概念系列正给我们提供了这么一个平台,让我们的语法学习既不枯燥无用,又不难学。短小精悍的课文,精心的编排,循序渐进的过程,让我们的语法学习既扎实又实用。
下面我们以新概念第二册到第四册为例,向大家说明新概念系列对我们语法学习的贡献。
一、新概念第二册
让我们先看第二册第一课后的一张表:
这张表被很多人忽视。其实它在我们英语学习的起步阶段至关重要,因为它着重表达了英语句子学习的第一步:认知句子主要成分。我们都应该知道,句子的主干部分包括主 谓 (宾) (状). 如图所示:
这张表告诉我们句子主干的同时,也告诉了我们英语句子中它们位置:
这样以来是不是非常清晰呢?我们在写简单句时,可以很轻松地知道什么位置要放什么成分。
看几个例句吧(数字代表上表中的成分):
They did not pay any attention.(123)
In the end, I could not bear it.(6123)
A young man and a young woman were sitting behind me.(125)
掌握了这部分,我们在平时的写作及阅读中,能很好地看清楚句子各个成分之间的关系,为我们后续的学习打下坚实的基础,在听力中能更好的提高我们预测的能力,而且在口语中避免了我们说话时总是连不成句。
二、新概念第三册
第三册第一课:
Pumas are large, cat-like animals which are found in America. When reports came into London Zoo that a wild puma had been spotted forty-five miles south of London, they were not taken seriously. However, as the evidence began to accumulate, experts from the Zoo felt obliged to investigate, for the descriptions given by people who claimed to have seen the puma were extraordinarily similar.
短短的一个段落里,出现了标点符号的小用法(Pumas are large, cat-like animals which are found in America.想想为什么有个逗号呢?), 出现了并列句的标志(for),过去分词做后置定语(given by people),也出现了形容词从句(定语从句: which从句,和who从句),副词从句(状语从句: when从句,和as从句),和名词从句(同位语从句: that从句)。
通过如此密集的训练,可以让我们对复杂句子,尤其是含有从句的复合句的掌握达到一定的水平。
在此阶段,我们已经可以开始相对高水平的写作了。让我们看一篇文章节选:
No one can avoid being influenced by advertisements. Much as we may pride ourselves on our good taste, we are no longer free to choose the things we want, for advertising exerts a subtle influence on us. In their efforts to persuade us to buy this or that product, advertisers have made a close study of human nature and have classified all our little weaknesses.
Advertisers discovered years ago that all of us love to get something for nothing. An advertisement which begins with the magic word FREE can rarely go wrong. These days, advertisers not only offer free samples, but free cars, free houses, and free trips round the world as well. They devise hundreds of competitions which will enable us to win huge sums of money. Radio and television have made it possible for advertisers to capture the attention of millions of people in this way.(节选自新概念第三册第26课)
这上面的节选完全可以做我们在参加托福、雅思、GRE、GMAT等考试时的写作模版。高级的句子,准确的用词,好文章不就浑然天成了吗?
三、新概念第四册
第四册第一课:
We can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where people first learned to write. But there are some parts of the world where even now people cannot write. The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas -- legends handed down from one generation of another. These legends are useful because they can tell us something about migrations of people who lived long ago, but none could write down what they did. Anthropologists wondered where the remote ancestors of the Polynesian peoples now living in the Pacific Islands came from. The sagas of these people explain that some of them came from Indonesia about 2,000 years ago.
我们也许可以轻松解析有少量从句的复合句,也许可以解析有几个从句的复合句,但当复合句里从句是包孕关系时,情况就会更加复杂一些。
We can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where people first learned to write.在这个句子里,第一个形容词从句(定语从句)是that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where people first learned to write;而第二个形容词从句(定语从句) where people first learned to write是属于第一个从句里的the Near East. 包孕关系让从句更复杂。
The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas -- legends handed down from one generation of another.划线部分是什么从句呢?that是关系代词还是关系副词呢?
These legends are useful because they can tell us something about migrations of people who lived long ago, but none could write down what they did.这个句子怎么划成分呢?
从上述例子我们可以看出,新概念第四册对我们句子的学习给出了更复杂的材料,提出了更高的要求,从而使我们的语法水平达到相当的高度。
综上所述,新概念这套教材本身既传授了语法,又能够实现语法在实际中的应用,在学习的过程中如果能做到把新概念每课语法点的学习透彻再加上对教材本身提供的优秀文章的学习就可达到我们的目的,就是使语法为我们所用,而且在参加考试或者写文章等各方面都可以在不知不觉中应用自如,做到真正掌握英语语法并让其为我们服务,我们再看各类英文原汁原味的文章就可以游刃有余了。
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