From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Eric Z reporting...

和大多數(shù)英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)者一樣，剛開始學(xué)英語(yǔ)的時(shí)候我的聽力材料僅僅是VOA和BBC -- 我是商務(wù)英語(yǔ)專業(yè),，老師說(shuō)多聽聽VOA對(duì)考專四專八聽力有幫助,，老師說(shuō)BBC語(yǔ)速比常速VOA還要快，可以用來(lái)泛聽,。

從大二下學(xué)期開始我開始聽BBC,，每天聽著起床，聽著睡覺(jué),，聽了一年 -- 還是聽不懂,，聽聽就困。

后來(lái)我反思這件事：

• “聽VOA和BBC為專四專八考試做準(zhǔn)備”這個(gè)學(xué)習(xí)動(dòng)機(jī)不夠強(qiáng)烈,，因?yàn)閷０酥杏嘘P(guān)新聞部分的聽力也就5分（記不清了,，可能是10分），而且這幾道新聞聽力題根本算不上新聞,，語(yǔ)速還有內(nèi)容上都“收斂”了很多,。

• 聽VOA和BBC的動(dòng)力應(yīng)該來(lái)自于你對(duì)它的內(nèi)容感興趣，通過(guò)聽它們來(lái)掌握全球發(fā)生的事情,，順便練習(xí)英語(yǔ),。

• 我開始這樣做的原因是“老師告訴我這樣對(duì)我可能有幫助”，是因?yàn)椤吧磉叺耐瑢W(xué)也在這樣做”,，我忽略了“我是否對(duì)它感興趣” “它是否適合我”這兩個(gè)問(wèn)題,。一想到聽力，腦袋里就是VOA和BBC,，好像是這有這兩個(gè)選擇一樣,。

經(jīng)過(guò)這樣一分析我就不聽VOA和BBC了 -- 不是否定它們的價(jià)值，我從這兩個(gè)節(jié)目中學(xué)到了很多東西,，聽了和英文表達(dá)能力都有提升,，是我發(fā)現(xiàn)其實(shí)有很多其它的可以更有趣的東西聽。

聽VOA和BBC就像是在聽新聞聯(lián)播,，操著皇帝的心,，卻和我沒(méi)什么關(guān)系,，我沒(méi)有參與感。我對(duì)哪個(gè)國(guó)家打起來(lái)了哪個(gè)國(guó)家又暴亂了之類的沒(méi)什么興趣,，我的興趣是聽一個(gè)有趣的故事,，漲點(diǎn)姿勢(shì)（VOA上也有一些此類的節(jié)目，但是這里說(shuō)的VOA指的是它的新聞?lì)l道）,。

于是我開始聽一些播講類材料，例如ESL Podcast,，彭蒙惠英語(yǔ)等,。后來(lái)去美國(guó)讀書聽的種類比較多，開車的時(shí)候聽WNYC(紐約的一個(gè)電臺(tái),，做的很好）,，開長(zhǎng)途的時(shí)候聽This America Life，60-second系列,，還有一個(gè)辯論的podcast記不得名字了,，時(shí)不時(shí)地聽臺(tái)灣的ICRT，還有我們的CRN中的頻道（摩天輪,，RoundTable）等 -- 我不是在推薦你也去聽這些頻道,，我建議的是你去找找你感興趣的話題去聽。

如果你對(duì)VOA/BBC中的內(nèi)容感興趣也可以去聽,，它的頻道和種類還是很多的,，而且出了很多針對(duì)英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)的節(jié)目。判斷一個(gè)材料好不好要看它是否適合你,，你聽起來(lái)跟聽中文是的,，說(shuō)明它難度太低；聽起來(lái)完全聽不懂,，難度太高,。為了學(xué)英語(yǔ)著目的，我們要聽那些大部分能聽懂,，有些地方不太清楚的,，而且它最好有靠譜的文本 -- 這一點(diǎn)VOA和BBC做的就很好，還有一個(gè)CNN Student News也不錯(cuò),，只是它的文本有時(shí)候有些地方有錯(cuò)誤,。

好久沒(méi)有聽VOA，昨天在讀Peter Hessler的 Oracle Bones (51-52頁(yè))的時(shí)候又碰到了這位老朋友,，我才發(fā)現(xiàn)原來(lái)它是這么回事,。

Peter Hessler寫道他的學(xué)生利用VOA學(xué)英語(yǔ)的現(xiàn)象。

In the evenings, he distracted himself by listening to the Voice of America on his shortwave radio. Originally, the station had been a wartime creation of the American government; the first broadcast had been in German in 1942, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Since then, the station had expanded to provide programming in fifty-five languages. According to its charter, the Voice was dedicated to providing reliable and authoritative news, and it described itself as “American” in a general, nonpolitical sense. But relatively few Americans had ever actually listened to it. U.S. law forbade the station from broadcasting domestically, because of a fear that any government-funded news source would become propaganda. It seemed a distinctly American paradox: create a Voice and then protect your own citizens from hearing it.

讀到這里我才知道“原來(lái)美國(guó)人不怎么聽VOA”,！

Overseas, however, there were an estimated ninety million weekly listeners. In China, the Voice of America had always been hugely popular—during the pro-democracy demonstrations of 一個(gè)敏感時(shí)間, the station claimed that as many as sixty million Chinese tuned in every week. A decade later, Chinese in the big cities often had access to the Internet and cable television, but the Voice remained an important source of information in smaller places such as Yuhuan. It broadcast in Mandarin, Cantonese, and Tibetan.

這可是199x年的時(shí)間,，這個(gè)收聽率是驚人的 -- 然后發(fā)現(xiàn)原來(lái)是因?yàn)樗卸喾N語(yǔ)言頻道。也就是說(shuō)起初人們聽VOA是為了了解信息，為中國(guó)之民主而聽,！然后他提到了VOA下的“慢速英語(yǔ)”,。

The Voice of America also provided programming in English, including a form of the language known as “Special English.” The best description of the tongue can be found on the Voice Web site, which is also Special:

Three elements make Special English unique. It has a limited vocabulary of 1,500 words. Most are simple words that describe objects, actions or emotions. Some are more difficult. They are used for reporting world events and describing discoveries in medicine and science. Special English is written in short, simple sentences that contain only one idea. No idioms are used. And Special English is spoken at a slower pace, about two-thirds the speed of standard English.

Special English was a product of the cold war. In the late 1950s, when the Soviet Union frequently jammed the Voice of America, broadcasters decided that a simpler form of the language would be easier to understand through the static. It wasn’t intended as a teaching tool, but that’s what it quickly became. Millions of people around the world studied English through the Special broadcasts.

這個(gè)原以為是為英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)者量身定做的“特別英語(yǔ)”的真相竟然是因?yàn)椤靶盘?hào)干擾”（注意jam這個(gè)詞的用法）問(wèn)題。

In Fuling, my students listened religiously, mimicking the rhythms, and soon Adam and I learned to talk the same way whenever we needed to make ourselves understood. We were the only native English speakers in the city, and after a couple of months we began holding routine conversations in Special English without realizing it. During my first year in the Peace Corps, a friend from New York visited and wondered if Adam and I were losing our native tongue. He kept telling us to stop talking to him as if he were a child.

這段話讓我想到了美音學(xué)習(xí)經(jīng)典 Ammerican Accent Trainning中提到的,，AAT這本書是用來(lái)教美音的,，但是它的語(yǔ)速是"in a normal conversational tone"，這樣做的原因是他們認(rèn)為如果故意放慢速度,，那聽起來(lái)就不費(fèi)力,，可能會(huì)誤以為“English-teacher English”是平時(shí)美國(guó)人交談的語(yǔ)速 -- 這樣聽起來(lái)好像是把對(duì)方對(duì)方當(dāng)成老年人或者弱智一樣。AAT中說(shuō)：

Native speakers often tell people who are learning English to "slow down" and to "speak clearly". This is meant with the best intentions, but it is exactly the opposite of what what a student really needs to do. If you speak fairly quickly, with strong intonation and good voice quality, you will be understood more easily.

這就告訴我們講英文快慢并不重要,，重要的是要有節(jié)奏有調(diào)調(diào) -- 用語(yǔ)調(diào)和音高來(lái)輔助自己的表達(dá),。我們講英文的時(shí)候放慢速度確實(shí)是可以幫助我們更容易被聽懂，但是這種方式依然是聽起來(lái)很不舒服,，我們需要做的是把一段話變得多樣化：有輕重緩急,，有強(qiáng)弱起伏，這樣可以更容易被聽懂,，聽起來(lái)更自然,。

我們?cè)诼犗馰OA Special English這類材料的時(shí)候要注意這一點(diǎn)：平時(shí)說(shuō)話并不是這樣的。VOA Special English和很多材料一樣是一個(gè)很好的模仿材料 -- 學(xué)英語(yǔ)的時(shí)候,，如果確定這個(gè)作品（語(yǔ)音或者寫作）出自于受過(guò)教育的native speaker之手,，就值得去模仿和研習(xí)，處處都會(huì)有收獲,。

Peter Hessler這個(gè)會(huì)說(shuō)中文的美國(guó)人這樣說(shuō)：

Sometimes I wondered if Special English was the linguistic equivalent of McDonald’s—a slow-paced fast-food language. But I was studying Chinese myself, and soon I realized that I was developing my own Special Chinese. It was a natural method for picking up a new language: First, you established basic sentence structures and vocabulary, the way a painter might initially outline a portrait’s fundamental elements. Over time, you acquired more sophisticated words and phrases, attaching them to the existing foundation. It felt like living in a rough sketch of the world where new details appeared day by day.

英文中有一個(gè)詞叫eclectic, 意思是“兼收并蓄的”,。我想我們無(wú)論是學(xué)習(xí)還是思考都要有這個(gè)綜合的意識(shí)。VOA好還是BBC好,？練美音還是練英音,？一個(gè)最簡(jiǎn)單的解決方式是都聽，都練,。你或許會(huì)說(shuō)那我搞混了怎么辦,？

就像車有手動(dòng)擋和自動(dòng)擋一樣，你會(huì)開手動(dòng)檔的話,，很快就會(huì)開自動(dòng)擋了,，an d vice versa。了解要學(xué)習(xí)內(nèi)容的特點(diǎn),，然后沿著正確的方向做正確的事情即可 -- 我們大多數(shù)的問(wèn)題都是憑空編出來(lái)的,，去行動(dòng)才能找到真正的問(wèn)題。

身邊的一切資源都可以用來(lái)學(xué)習(xí),，有學(xué)習(xí)意識(shí),、會(huì)學(xué)習(xí)的話看美劇聽英語(yǔ)歌曲都可以把英語(yǔ)學(xué)的很好,，狂讀原版書、交個(gè)外國(guó)朋友,、考考托福和雅思都可以幫助我們提高英語(yǔ) -- 選擇那些適合你的方式,，不要盲從（你要知道自己什么類型的學(xué)習(xí)者）。

聽說(shuō)讀寫也是分不開的,，考研和讀原版書也不是矛盾的,，找到自己的問(wèn)題，在持續(xù)行動(dòng)中提升,，警惕思維陷阱 -- 練聽力并非只有VOA/BBC,，學(xué)英語(yǔ)不一定非要報(bào)個(gè)班，減肥不一定是要絕食..

看BoJack Horseman學(xué)英文

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