有一段时间，我为了完成工作量，为川大文新学院中文系研究生开设了一门“专业英语”课。这门课的设置和名称都是学院领导的意思，我不过是完成教学任务而已。尽管如此，我还是很认真地对待这门课的教学。为了让学生对这门课的性质有所了解，我专门做了这篇开场白以阐明本课程的宗旨。

Introduction：

About the Name & the Nature of this Course

Ladies and gentlemen, I had no idea I would give my course by speaking in English in classroom when I was asked to do so. Although I have read a number of books written in English and have translated some of them into Chinese, it does not mean I am able to be a teacher of English. A teacher of English, apart from his wonderful pronunciation and intonation, knows very well how to do his job. He has a set of methods and tactics to arouse his students’ interest in what he is giving in classroom. He knows very well how to attract his audience by telling something interesting and yet understandable. He knows very well how to pick out a topic among many things and talk about it in a fascinating way. When trying to express his own ideas, he knows very well how to set a target and how to organize his argument for his point of view. He is good at his job and knows very well how to invite his students to join into his play. With his instruction and encouragement, the students are very glad to take part in the game, telling their stories or expressing their opinions in English.

However, I am not a teacher of such a talent. I have taught many courses in the university for more than twenty years, but all in Chinese. By profession I am a teacher of Chinese. And when I was a university student I was trained in Chinese department, not in the English Department. I study English by myself and never have I been told how to teach English in classroom. So, you see, it’s indeed very difficult for me to behave like a teacher of English. And if it is not for the reason that I have to do as much as possible in my class-teaching so that to be considered by my boss as having completed my work and could then earn my living. If it is not for this reason, I would rather be killed than coming here to play such an embarrassing role.

“It is but a little change,” someone consoled me, “you have known how to lecture in classroom and you have given many courses in Chinese and your English is great and it’s but a little change to transfer what you have given in Chinese into English.” --- Oh, God! Indeed it is a little change, but a little change may sometimes destroy a man. If I don’t want to be destroyed, I said to myself, I must face this challenge. So, very unwillingly I accepted the job, knowing that the classroom maybe a hell or a grave prepared for me. And I knew I had no choice but to try my best. ----It is true that I have to do my best to win your favor, or at least to win your pardon.

Anyway, I have been here. Like or dislike it, I have to play this part. And to begin with, I have to make clear what is the end of this course and how we can get the end. Designed by someone I don’t know, this course is called as zhuan-ye-ying-yu, which may be translated as English for Academic purpose or Scholastic English or Professional English. Whatever it may be, it makes very clear that it is not an English common to all people but an English special to university-students of Chinese department. What it emphasizes is that the English we are going to speak in classroom must be in connection with literature, or literary studies.

However, although it is clear we will speak English concerning literature and literary studies, the name is somehow absurd when the course is prepared for all students of different majors (or different disciplines). Frankly speaking, I don’t believe there is a Professional English that can be used in all the different fields such as ancient Chinese literature, modern Chinese literature, Russian literature, British and American literature, comparative literature, cultural studies and literary theories. Every discipline, every special field has its own terms, jargons, phrases and concepts, which are hard to be understood by students of other disciplines. And it seems unnecessary for a student of ancient Chinese literature to know and to remember a lot of English words used only in Western literature. So, I don’t think there is a professional English that can be universally used by students of all those different majors. Such an English can only be a common English, not a special English, about the difference between them I will soon give an explanation.

Roughly speaking, there may exist two kinds of English, one can be called as everyday English or common English, the other special English or professional English. We all know what is common English. For example, when you go to the English corner in front of the university gym, you see a lot of people gathering there. They speak English by using simple sentences understandable by everyone. “Good evening. I guess you are looking for a partner to practice your English, how about me?” or, “Hi, you are standing there like a beautiful statue. Can we speak something in English?” --- a girl or a boy may come to you in this way. And then you make nods to each other and begin your talk with each other. Needless to say, everything you talk is simple and common. In most cases you talk about your classmates, your roommates, your teachers, your likes and dislikes. Then, if you are bored by your talking partner you say good-by to him (or her), if you are attracted by your partner you give your cellphone number to him (or her). This is common English, which may be very useful sometimes, but it has nothing to do with your study and your possible academic career.

Well, what I am trying to talk about is not common English but special English, or professional English. Apparently this course is designed for the special use in your study. By using the word “study”, I mean not the study of English but the study of your different majors such as Chinese literature, world literature or literary criticism. The English used here is not for English’s own sake. It is used here mainly as a tool or an instrument in your study of a certain subject or discipline. For this reason I would rather name it as English for Academic Purpose. But now the trouble is that I don’t know what is your academic purpose. And, what is more, I don’t know what is my academic purpose.

In fact, one of my big troubles is that I have no fixed interest in a single subject. I like philosophy, and philosophy is not my profession. I like psychology, and psychology is not my major. I like history, and history is not my career. Although I was trained in Chinese department when I was still a young student, I pay much of my academic attention to things such as psychoanalysis, mythology, philosophy, history and even social or political theories. I desperately devote myself to all attractive things, and have nothing to be my own boast.

And, when turning to your academic interests, I know it’s a hard thing for me to decide what you like or what you don’t like. Apparently I cannot give you a common English, which you can find elsewhere. But it seems that there is no such a thing as a Special English that can benefit all of you. You are students of different majors. You have different likes or dislikes. Besides, you have different inclinations, different purposes, plans and future careers. No teacher can cook a meal that would meet the different needs of different students. In such a tragic situation, a cook can only do what he can cook. That is, what he has to do is the job that can only be done and be appreciated by himself, otherwise there will be nobody to be served. ---- However, it is but a joke, and as I have said, I will try my best to win your favor, or at least to win your pardon.

Frankly speaking, I don’t think it is a good idea to have all of you into the same classroom. You are students of different majors. You should be taught and given courses separately by your own advisers, or at least by teachers whose academic interest is exactly as same as yours. What I am good at is liberal education or something like that, and I am afraid what I can give is only an English for the study of literature or history or something like that. As I have already mentioned, there is no such a thing as an all-suitable Academic English. Every academic English is for special purpose and it has its own terms and jargons, therefore it cannot make all of you feel satisfied with. So what I hope is that if I speak by using a lot of terms and jargons which you are not familiar with at present, it will not be rejected by those whose major or interest is not as same as mine.

The above is all I want to say about the name and the nature of this course. Perhaps the best thing for me to do is to have you into the discussion. I myself have exemplified such an academic discussion and you can also do so by discussing the content and the method that should be adopted in the classroom. Surely there are many questions that are worth being discussed. For example, “What is zhuan ye ying yu?” “How can we translate it properly into English?” “How can we distinguish it from common, everyday English and say something still understandable?” “What the teacher should do in classroom?” “What the students should do in classroom?” ---- By discussing such questions, I believe we can put this course forward and we can together set up a new English corner in classroom. Unlike the one in front of the university gym, this new corner is set up solely for graduates of Chinese department ---- for you to improve your English as an instrument in your special studies; for you to know and to remember words and names which are frequently used in literature, in history, or in literary criticism. Whatever you will do in your future, this humanistic training will enable you to be, if not a teacher or a scholar in a special field, at least a well-educated, well-informed citizen of the country and the world.

Thank you. And now it’s your turn to speak.