[原文地址]

http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_998513f101010hio.html

    以下是新概念英语作者亚历山大先生编写的全四册“致教师和学生”的内容，旨在阐述基本的理论和方法。其实这部分的内容应先于真正学习之前进行了解，但实际中却遭到很多朋友的忽略。基于此，鄙人利用业余时间将其敲出来并加以呈现。望各位朋友在具体的学习之前能充分阅读这份“说明书”，以便理解作者的意图和思路，做出自己的合理判断，提升学习效率，并减少之后的偏差。
    至于涉及到版权的问题，在这里先致歉。鄙人认为，此内容往往被人忽略，今日借用博客的形式，来让有缘的朋友得以见到，是件好事，和在实体书店中能看到的作用是一码事。同时这也更加宣传了亚历山大先生的治学观点和教学初衷，对新概念英语的了解和传播也会起到良好的作用，望理解和原谅。

NCE01部分：

General principles 基本原理

Traditional methods of learning a foreign language die hard. As long ago as 1921, Dr. Harold Palmer pointed out the important difference between understanding how a language works and learning how to developed to enable students to learn a foreign language. In the light of intensive modern research, no one would seriously question the basic principles that have evolved since Palmer’s day, though there is considerable disagreement about how these principles can best be implemented. Despite the great progress that has been made, teachers in many parts of the world still cling to old-fashioned methods and to some extent perpetuate the systems by which they themselves learnt a foreign language. It may, therefore, not be out of place to restate some basic principles and to discuss briefly how they can best be put into effect in the classroom.

学习外语的传统方法根深蒂固。早在1921年，哈罗德.帕尔默博士就指出，理解一种语言是如何运作的与学会如何使用这种语言之间存在着重大的差别。从那时以来，人们已经找到了许多卓有成效的方法教授学生外语。根据现代所作的深入细微的研究，没有人会对帕尔默以来发展而成的学习外语的基本原理提出重大质疑，尽管在如何才能最好地贯彻这些原理方面仍有相当大的分歧。虽然在外语教学上取得了重大的进步，但是世界上许多地方的教师依然眷恋着过时的教学方法，在一定程度上，他们是用当年自己学外语的方法使旧的教学体系永久化。因此，重述一遍其中一些基本原理，简要探讨如何在课堂上有效地实施这些原理，大概不算不合时宜吧。

Learning a language in not a matter of acquiring a set of rules and building up a large vocabulary. The teacher’s efforts should not be directed at informing his students about a language, but at enabling them to use it. A student’s mastery of a language is ultimately measured by how well he can use it, not by how much he knows about it. In this respect, learning a language has much in common with learning a musical instrument. The drills an d exercises a student does have one end in sight: to enable him to become a skilled performer. A student who has learnt a lot of grammar but who cannot use a language is in the position of a student’s command of a language will therefore be judged not by how much he knows, but how well he can perform in public.

学习一门语言，不仅仅是掌握一套规则，积累大量词汇。教师工作的重点不应是告诉学生关于一门语言的知识，而应是使学生能够使用这门语言。衡量学生是否掌握一门语言，最终是要看他运用如何，而不是懂了多少。在这方面，学习语言与学习乐器十分相似。学生所做的操练与练习都是为了达到一个明确的目标，使他成为一个熟练地操作者。一个学生学了许多语法知识却不会运用语言，就像一个弹钢琴的学了许多有关和声的知识却不会弹钢琴一样。因此，衡量学生是否掌握语言并不看他懂了多少，而要看他在众人面前语言运用得如何。

In order to become a skilled performer, the student must become proficient at using the units of a language. And the unit of a language is not, as was once commonly suppose, the word, but the sentence. Learning words irrespective of their function can be a waste of time, for not all word are equal. We must draw a distinction between structural words and lexical items. Words like I, you, he, ect. are structural. Their use can be closely defined; they are part of a grammatical system. Words like tree, plant, flower, ect. Are purely lexical items and in no way part of a grammatical system. From the learner’s point of view, skill in handling structural words is the key to mastering a language, for the meaning that is conveyed in sentence patterns depends largely on the function of the structural words that hold them together.

学生要想成为熟练地语言运用者，就必须能够熟练地使用语言单位，而语言单位并不是人们曾经普遍认为的单词，而是句子。学习单词而不考虑它们的作用可能会白白浪费时间，因为单词并不都是同样重要。我们必须把结构词和词项加以区别。像I，you，he等词便是结构词，它们的作用可以准确地加以界定，它们是语法体系的一部分；而像tree，plant，flower等词则是单纯的词项，与语法体系毫无关系。就学生而言，运用结构词的技巧是掌握一门语言的关键，因为由句型表达的含义主要依靠把句子联结起来的结构词所起的作用。

It is possible, though this has yet to be proved scientifically, that every student of a foreign language has what might be called a ‘language ceiling’, a point beyond which he cannot improve very much. If we accept this supposition, our aim must be to enable every student to learn as much as he is capable of learning in the most efficient way. The old-fashioned translation and grammar-rule methods are extremely wasteful and inefficient, for the student is actually encouraged to make mistakes: he is asked to perform skill before he is adequately prepared. Teachers who uses such methods unwittingly create the very problems the seek to avoid. At some point in the course their students inevitably become incapable of going on: the have to go back. They have become remedial students and the teacher is faced with the problem of remedying what has been incorrectly learnt. No approach could be more ineffective, wasteful and inefficient.

虽然以下一点仍有待于科学地论证，但每个学习外语的学生可能都有一个也许可以称为“语言极点”的地方，即过了这点他的水平不可能有很大的提高。如果我们接受这一假设，那么，我们的目标就必须是用最有效地方法使学生在其能力范围内尽量多学到一点东西。过时的翻译-语法教学法极端浪费时间而且效率很低，因为这种方法实际上时鼓励学生犯错误：让学生在没有充分准备的情况下运用语言技能。使用这种方法的教师无意中制造了他们企图避免的问题。他们的学生在学到一定程度后会不可避免地无法继续往下学，他们不得不回过头来重新开始。他们成了需要补课的学生，教师面临的问题是为学生补课，纠正他们所学到得错误的内容。同别的教学方法相比，这是一种最无益，最浪费时间和效率很低的方法。

The student should be trained to learn by making as few mistakes as possible. He should never be required to do anything which is beyond his capacity. A well-designed course is one which takes into account what might be called the student’s ‘state of readiness’: the point where he can proceed from easy to difficult. If the student is to make the most of his abilities, he must be trained to adopt correct learning habits.

应该训练学生尽量少犯错误。并不应该要求学生去做力所不及的事情。一本精心设计的教材应考虑到学生所谓的“准备状况”，即可以使他从易到难循序渐进的那个交接点。要使学生最充分地发挥自己的能力，必须训练他从一开始就采用正确的学习方法。

What has to be learnt 学什么

The student must be trained adequately in all four basic language skill: understanding, speaking, reading and writing. In many classroom courses the emphasis is wholly on the written language. The student is trained to use his eyes instead of his ears and his inability to achieve anything like correct pronunciation, stress and intonation must be attributed largely to the tyranny of the printed word. If the teacher is to train his students in all four skills, he must make efficient use of the time at his disposal. Efficiency presupposes the adoption of classroom procedures which will yield the best results in the quickest possible time. The following order of presentation must be taken as axiomatic:

Nothing should be spoken before it has been heard.

Nothing should be read before it has been spoken.

Nothing should be written before it has been read.

Speaking and writing are the most important of these skills, since to some extent they presuppose the other two.

学生必须在语言的4项基本技能方面得到充分的训练。这些技能是理解，口语，阅读和写作。在课堂教学中，许多教师把重点完全放在书面文字上。学生接受的训练是如何用眼而不是如何用耳来学习。学生不能掌握正确的发音，重音和语调，这不得不主要归罪于书面文字的束缚。教师若想培养学生全面的4项基本技能，就必须有效地利用自己的时间。要做到有效，首先就要采用能在最短时间内产生最佳效果的课堂教学法。下列讲课顺序务必作为格言来遵循：

听到的再说；

说过的再读；

读过的再写、

上述技能中，口语与写作是最重要的。在某种程度上，它们是另外两项技能的前提。

Present-day techniques and the classroom 现代手段和教室

Any language course represents an attempt on the part of its designer to implement a number of basic principles. To do this, the designer will inevitably draw on techniques old and new which will best fulfill his purpose. A great many terms are used today to describe new methods and it may be of help to define and illustrate some of these terms in the light of this course.

任何语言教程都包含着设计者的一种意图，即在教学中贯彻一系列基本原则。为了做到这一点，设计者不可避免地会从新老教学手段中选择最有助于达到他的目标的方法。如今大量术语被用来描述新的教学方法，按照这本教程来解释和说明其中的一些术语是有帮助的。

Structural grading: grading sentence-patterns in order of increasing difficulty and complexity.

    It is, or should be, an obvious requirement of any course that it should proceed from easy to difficult without sharp breaks or sudden ‘jumps’. In a carefully graded course, the student learns to use a few patterns at a time. Ideally, these patterns should be interrelated and should be presented in a carefully ordered sequence. In traditional courses, grammatical items are often artificially grouped together. For instance, all the personal pronouns may be presented in a table which the student is expected to learn. The table is presented in isolation and is divorced from any context. But learning facts about the language in this way is of no real help to the students, for he is in no position to apply what he has learnt. In a structurally graded course, the student acquires a little information at a time and learns to make meaningful statements. He therefore learns to use relatively simple structural words like personal pronouns over a long period, instead of being given a large, indigestible dose of information at any one time.

按结构分级：按句型的难度和复杂程度来分级。

循序渐进、没有明显的断层或突然地“跳跃”是-或应该是-对任何教程的一个显而易见的要求。在一个仔细分级的教程中，学生每次学会使用几个句型。理想的做法是这些句型相互关联，并按照一种精心排列的顺序介绍给学生。在传统教程中，语法项目常常被人为地组合在一起。例如，所有人称代词都被列在一个表中，让学生去学习。这个表是孤立的，不与任何上下文有关系。按照这种方法来学习语言的细节对学生并没有真正的帮助，因为他不可能运用他所学到的知识。在一个按结构的教程中，学生每次得到一点信息，然后学会在有意义的表述中运用这些知识。这样，他就能在很长一段时间里，学习运用诸如人称代词这类相对简单的结构词，而不是在某一时刻得到一大堆无法消化的信息。

Contextualization: presenting grammatical items in a meaningful context.

When a student has practiced a new pattern orally, he should encounter it, if possible, in an actual text so that he can see how it has been used. Obviously, such texts have to be specially written by the course designer. New items are introduced into a natural context: they are ‘contextualized’. In well-written contextualized passages, the reiterated patterns should be unobtrusive: their use should strike the listener as being inevitable rather than artificially superimposed. This is a highly effective way of presenting the student with new information.

语境化教学：在有意义的上下文中来解释语法项目。

学生口头练习了一个新句型时，如有可能，他应该在实际的课文中接触这个句型，看一看这个句型是如何使用的。很明显，这些课文必须有教程设计者专门撰写。新句型在一个自然的语境中介绍给学生：它们被“融入上下文中“。在精心编写的有语境的课文中，反复重复的举行必须不十分注目：要使听者觉得使用这些句型是不可避免的，而不是人工堆砌在一起的。这是向学生介绍新信息的一种有效方式。

Situation teaching: teaching a language by presenting a series of everyday situations.

In this method, little structural grading is possible. The situation takes precedence over the structures. The patterns that are included arise naturally out of the situation itself: they have a thematic significance rather than a structural one. This system has serious drawbacks.

The dialogues which the student hears are refreshingly natural, but the teaching of basic patterns inevitably becomes much less controlled.

情景教学：通过介绍一系列日常的情景来讲授语言。

使用这种方法几乎不能按结构分级。情景领先于结构，课文中所含有的句型自然而然地从情景中产生：它们具有一个主题含义，而不是一个结构含义。这种方式有着严重的缺陷。

学生听到的对话与众不同地自然。但是，基本句型的教学不可避免地变得更难控制。

 

       Structurally controlled situation teaching: teaching a language by means of a series of everyday situations, while at the same time grading the structures which are presented.

       This method makes uses of all the techniques outlined above: structural grading, contextualization, and situational teaching. In the early stages it is possible to use very few patterns indeed. This means that the ‘situations’ are often unconvincing and barely possible. Despite this disadvantage, for it is possible to exercise linguistic control and yet to present new information in an interesting way.

限制结构的情景教学：通过一系列日常情景来讲授语言，同时，将介绍的举行按结构分级。

这种方法利用了以上简略介绍的所有手段：按结构分级，语境化教学，情景教学。在开始阶段确实可以仅仅使用少数几个句型。这就意味着“情景”常常令人难以置信，几乎不可能实现。尽管有不利的一面，这种方法仍被认为是学习语言的最好的方法之一，因为它可以从语言学角度来控制，并能用一种有趣的方法来介绍新的信息。

The teaching of grammar 教授语法

Presenting new information is one thing: getting the student to apply the new information another. So far, we have been concerned with how to present the student with new material: but how is he to apply what he has learnt?

介绍新的信息是一回事儿，让学生使用这些新的信息是另一回事儿。至此，我们关系的是如何向学生介绍新的材料，但是学生如何运用他所学的知识呢？

     The basic aim in any language teaching is to train the student to use new patterns. In traditional textbooks, all information is presented in the form of ‘rules’ which the student applies in a series of disconnected sentences by filling in blank spaces, or by giving the correct form of words in parentheses. In has become abundantly clear that this approach to language-learning is highly ineffective. It encourages the teacher to talk about the language, instead of training his student to use it. The emphasis is on written exercises. The greatest weakness in this approach is that the student cannot transfer what he has learnt from abstract exercises of this kind to other language skills like understanding, speaking and creative writing.

语言教学的首要目标是训练学生使用新句型。在传统教材中，所有信息都是以“规则”的形式来介绍的，学生将这些规则用来相互没有关联的句子的填空练习或填上括号中所列词的正确词形的练习之中，这种讲授语言的方法收效甚微，这点现在已经变得非常清楚，这种方法鼓励教师谈论语言，却不是训练学生去使用语言。侧重点是在书面练习上。这种方法的最大弱点是，学生不能将他从这种抽象的联系中所学到的知识转化成其他语言技能，如理解，口语和创作性写作。

In modern textbooks, the aim is exactly the same: the student must be trained to use patterns. Before considering how this can be done, it should be noted that the patterns in a language fall into two distinct categories: progressive and static. For instance, learning how to answer and to ask questions involves the use of progressive patterns. They are progressive because the student’s skill in handling these complex forms must be developed over a long period, beginning with a simple response like ‘yes, I should，shouldn’t I’. A static pattern, on the other hand, like the comparison of adjectives can be taught in a limited number of lessons, not over a long period. This distinction between progressive and static patterns is rarely recognized in traditional textbooks. The result is that even advanced students are often incapable of handling progressive patterns with any degree of skill.

在现代教材中，目标也是同样的：训练学生运用句型。在考虑如何实现这一目标之前，英爱注意到语言中的句型可以分成两种截然不同的类型：“渐进型的”和“静态型的”。例如，学习提出问题和回答问题就涉及了渐进型的句型。它们属于渐进型，是因为学生运用这些复杂形式的技能要在很长的一段时间里才能培养起来。从一开始的简单回答“yes, it is”，发展到这本教材结尾部分的复杂回答方式“yes, I should, shouldn’t I”。而静态型的举行，如形容词的比较级，可以再有效的几课课文中教授，不必占用很长时间。在传统教材中，渐进型的和静态型的句型之间的差别几乎没有作任何区分，其结果是，即使是学习好的学生也常常不能比较熟练地运用渐进型句型。

Progressive patterns should be practices through comprehension exercises which require the student to answer and to ask questions which become increasingly complex as the course proceeds. The student should be trained to give tag answers; give answers to questions beginning with Who, Which or What; make negative and affirmative statements to answer double questions joined by or; answer general questions which begin with question-words like When, Where, How, etc.; and at each stage, the student should be trained to ask questions himself. It is obvious that these skills cannot be dealt with in one or two lessons; the student requires practice of this kind in every lesson.

渐进型句型必须在检查学生理解能力的练习中进行训练。这种练习要求学生回答问题并提出问题，而问题的难度则随着教程的进展而不断加深。必须训练学生用简略形式回答一般疑问句；为以Who，Which，What开头的疑问句提供答案；用肯定形式和否定形式来回答or联结的选择疑问句，回答用When，Where，How等疑问句开头的问句。而在每一个阶段，必须训练学生自己提问题。很明显，这些技能不可能在一两课书中学会：在每课书中都必须有这种练习。

At the same time, static patterns should be practiced by means of taped drills. In each of these drills, the teacher seeks to elicit a particular kind new pattern in a series of oral drills until the student is able to respond accurately and automatically. Each new pattern is not presented as the exemplification of some abstract grammar-rule, but as a way of saying something and no further explanation or elucidation is necessary. The student is trained to use correct forms automatically, rather than by applying ‘grammar logic’. Where explanation is necessary, it can be done by relating a new pattern to one that has already been learnt. If, for instance, the student has learnt the use of ‘must’, he can be taught the use of ‘have to’ by being made to see a meaningful relationship between the two.

与此同时，静态型的举行必须在录音练习中得到训练。在每一个录音练习中，教师试图引出某一个特定的回答。他在一系列口头练习中给学生某种诱导以引出新句型，知道学生可以准确地、下意识地作出反应。每个新句型不是作为某一种抽象的语法规则的范例来介绍，而是作为表达某种思想的方法，也不需要进一步的说明和解释。学生在训练中学会下意识地运用正确的句型，而不是用“语法逻辑”去进行推理。如果需要解释，可以把新句型与已经学会的旧句型联系起来。举例来说，如果学生已经学会了must的用法，那么在教授have to的用法时，可以让学生领会这两个句型之间有机的联系。

In certain taped drills, the stimulus the teacher provides may be given in the form of ‘call words’. Let us suppose that the teacher wishes to elicit the response: ‘I can’t buy very much ‘and ‘I can’t buy very many’. The drill might be conducted in the following way:

TEACHER: What about pencils?

STUDENT: I can’t buy very many

TEACHER: What about coffee?

STUDENT: I can’t buy very much.

In this particular exercise, the teacher would supply countable and uncountable nouns in the question ‘What about…?’ as ‘ call words’.

在部分录音练习中，教师提供的诱导可以采用“提示词”的形式。假设教师想引出“I can’t buy very much”（我不能买许多）和“I can’t buy very many”（我不能买很多个）的回答，这个练习可以用以下形式来进行：

教师：What about pencils? （那么铅笔呢？）

学生：I can’t buy very many.（我不能买很多枝。）

教师：What about coffee? （那么咖啡呢？）

学生：I can’t buy very much.（我不能买许多。）

在这一特定的练习中，教师可以为What about…?这个句型提供可数名词和不可数名词来作为“提示词”。

     Traditional filling-in-the-blank exercises still have a place in a modern course, but with one important difference: they should not be used as means of teaching new patterns, but as a means of consolidating respect, they are extremely useful in tests and can be employed for diagnostic purposes or to enable the teacher to assess students’ level of achievement.

在现代教程中，传统的填空练习仍有它的一席之地，但有一个重大的区别，即填空练习不应作为讲授新句型的一种手段，而应作为巩固已学知识的途径。它们是目的，而不是达到目的的一种手段。从这个意义上将，填空练习在测试中尤其有用，可以用来分析学生的错误，或让教师评估学生所取得的成绩。

Audio visual aids and translation 视听教具和翻译

In a monolingual course we are faced with the tremendous task of having to convey meaning without making use of the student’s mother tongue. It follows that textbook illustrations become extremely important: at the beginner’s level, they are far from being merely decorative. However, textbook illustrations have severe limitations, for many of the statements that are made in everyday speech are not visually presentable. Some linguists have experimented with artificial visual devices which require the student to interpret each illustration according to particular rules. They have evolved what might be called a ‘visual language’ which the student has to master before he can begin the course. The difficulty here is that if the student fails to interpret an illustration (and this can easily happen) he will fail to understand, or even worse, he will misinterpret what he hears.

在单语教程中，我们面临着不借助学生的沐浴来传授知识的艰巨任务。其结果是课文中的插图变得格外重要：在初级阶段，它们绝对不仅仅是起装饰作用。然而，课文插图是很大的局限性，因为日常生活中所讲的许多话根本不可能用图来表示。有些语言学家尝试过使用人造的视觉教具，这些教具要求学生根据某种规则来解释每一幅插图。他们已经逐渐形成了一种所谓的“视觉语言”，并要求学生在开始教程前就先掌握。但问题在于，如果学生无法解释一幅插图——这种情况很容易发生——他就会无法理解，更严重的情况是，他会误解他所听到的内容。

At the beginner’s level, this difficulty can be resolved in two ways. Where the meaning of a statement or a series of statements cannot be adequately conveyed by the illustration, the teacher should make use of gesture and mime. If the student still fails to understand, the teacher may translate, providing that he translates lexical items and not patterns. In this instance, translation is used not as a ‘method’, but as a means to an end. As such it can be extremely useful and time-saving.

在初级阶段，这个难题可以用两种不同的方式来解决：当一句话或几句话的意思无法用插图准确地表达时，教师必须用手势和模仿动作。如果学生仍无法理解，教师可译成母语，条件是教师翻译的仅是词组而不是整个句型。在这里，翻译不是作为一种教学法，而是达到目的的手段。这样做是非常有用的，而且节省时间。

Natural English 真实英语

There is a great temptation in the early stages to encourage the student to make statements which he will never have to use. Statements like ‘I have a nose’, ‘Have you a nose?’, ‘Is this my foot?’ are ridiculous. This distortion of the language can never be justified. After all, the whole point of teaching a language is to train students to make useful statements which might normally be made in real-life situations. This criterion must be observed at the most elementary level. The peculiar type of ‘textbook English’ which is to be found in many traditional courses must be avoided at all costs.

在课程的初级阶段，我们极可能鼓励学生去说一些他永远也不会说的话。诸如“我有一个鼻子”，“你有鼻子吗？”，“这是我的脚吗？”这类句子非常荒唐。这种对语言的歪曲是根本没有道理的。毕竟教授一种语言的全部目的在于训练学生去说那些在真实的生活环境中通常使用的有意义的话。在初级阶段必须遵循这个标准。必须不惜任何代价避免使用那种在传统教科书中可以找到的特殊的“教科书英语”。

The teacher’s book and the students’ book 教师用书和学生用书

In the past, no distinction was drawn between information intended for the teacher and information intended for the student. Everything was printed in one and the same volume. Early in the course, the student would find extremely complex information in his book like: ‘With most nouns the plural is made by adding “s” to the singular’ or: ‘We form the negative of the verbs “to be” and “to have” by putting “not” after the verbs’. Now it is inconceivable that any beginner would be able to understand such instructions. What is more, from the learner’s point of view, this information is totally irrelevant: it is really telling the teacher what to teach.

在过去，我们没有区分开哪些信息是给教师的，哪些是给学生的。所有的内容都印在一本书中。在教程的初级阶段，学生会在他的书中发现特别复杂的内容，如“对大多数名词来说，其复数形式是在单词名词后面加-s而成”，或“‘是’和‘有’动词的否定形式是在动词后面加not构成的”。不能想像初学者可能懂得这些指令。更重要的是，从学习者的角度来说，这种信息是与他们不相干的：实际上它是告诉教师应该教什么。

It should be recognized that the students’ book is not a vehicle for conveying information, but an aid for practicing the language. Ti should be pleasing to look at and attractively laid out. It should only contain material which the student will actually use.

应该认识到，学生用书并不是用来传达信息，而是训练语言的一种工具。它必须很漂亮，版面很吸引人，而且包含对学生有用的内容。

At the beginner’s level, a teacher’s handbook is absolutely necessary. This should be in every way complementary to the students’ book and should contain practical information and material which will be used in each lesson – not merely hints and suggestions. At the intermediate level, the teacher’s handbook becomes less necessary, for the students is in a position to work from printed instructions.

在初级阶段，教师用书是非常必要的。教师用书必须在各个方面与学生用书相互补充，而且必须包含每课书中会用到的、有实用价值的信息和材料，而不仅仅是提示和建议。在中级阶段，教师用书就变得不那么需要，因为到那时学生可以跟随书上的指令自己进行学习了。

Speed and intensity 速度和深度

Traditional courses are often divided into ‘lessons’, but these ‘lessons’ do not take into account what can be done in an average teaching period of forty-five minutes or an hour. They simply consist of ‘an amount of information’ and may run on for a great many pages. In the classroom, one of these ‘lessons’ might drag on for weeks because so much has to be done.

传统的教程往往分为“课”，而这些“课”却没有考虑一般长度为45分钟或1小时的课中可以做些什么。他们只是简单地包含“一定量的信息”，而且常常是洋洋洒洒好几页。在课堂教学中，这些“课”可能讲上好几周，因为要做的事情太多了。

A lesson must be precisely what the word implies: an amount of material that can reasonably be covered in a teaching period, possibly with additional material which can be done as homework. In other words, is extremely difficult for the course designer to decide what can be done in an average period. Obviously a class of bright students will cover more ground than a class of less able ones. This problem can be overcome if the lesson contains material which can be omitted at the discretion of the teacher, providing that these omissions do not hamper the students’ progress.

“课”应该名副其实：教学内容一般可以在一个课时内完成，可能再加上一些补充的内容在课下作为作业。换句话说，一课书应被视作一个教学单元，仅此而已。现在，让教程设计者决定一个课时内可以做些什么是极其困难的。显然，由聪明学生组成的一个班所完成的内容要多于由不太聪明的学生组成的另一个班。如果课文中含有可以有教师决定取舍的内容，这个问题就可以迎刃而解，当然这种删节不应妨碍学生水平的提高。

Levels 程度

Finally, it might be worth nothing that a full-scale course would resolve itself into three parts, each of which would consist of two stages:

最后，值得注意的是，一个完整的教程一般分为3个阶段，而每个阶段又分为两个级别：

Stage 1: Pre-elementary level初级以下

        Elementary level初级

Stage 2: Pre-intermediate level中级以下

        Intermediate level中级

Stage 3: Pre-advanced level高级以下

        Advanced level高级

NCE02部分：

General principles 基本原理

同NCE01，略。

Learning to speak 学着说

The traditional ‘conversation lesson’ is of no value at all if the student is not ready for it. It is impossible for any student at the post-elementary level to take part in discussions on topics like ‘The cinema today’, for his ideas quite outstrip his capacity for expressing them.

The student must first be trained to use patterns in carefully graded aural/oral drill. Only in this way will he finally learn to speak.

在学生的口语能力还不成熟的情况下上传统的“口语课”是毫无意义的。让一个刚学完初级语言课程的学生来参加诸如“今日之电影艺术”这类内容的讨论时不可能的，因为他想表达的思想远远超出了他的表达能力。首先必须训练学生通过做精心设计的循序渐进的听/说练习学会使用句型，只有这样才能使他最终学会表达。

Before considering how this can be done, it should be noted that the patterns in a language fall into two distinct categories: progressive and static. For instance, learning how to answer and to ask questions involves the use of progressive patterns. They are progressive because the student’s skill in handling these complex forms must be developed over a long period, beginning with a simple response like ‘Yes, it is’ and culminating in complex responses like ‘Yes, I should, shouldn’t I’. A static pattern, on the other hand, like the comparison of adjectives can be taught in a limited number of lessons, not over a long period.

在考虑如何实现这一目标之前，应该注意到语言中的举行可以分成两种截然不同的类型：渐进型的和静态型的。例如，学习回答问题和提出问题就涉及了渐进型的句型。他们属于渐进型，这是因为学生运用这些复杂的技能要在很长的一段时间里才能培养起来：从一开始的简单回答，如“Yes, it is”，发展到复杂回答，如“Yes, I should, shouldn’t I”。而静态型的句型，如形容词的比较级，可以在有限的几课课文中讲授，不必占用很长时间。

Progressive patterns should be practiced through comprehension exercises which require the student to answer and to ask questions which become increasingly complex as the course proceeds. The student should be give tag answers; make negative and affirmative statements to answer double questions joined by or; answer general questions which begin with question-words like When, where, How, etc.; and at each stage, the student should be trained to ask questions himself. It is obvious that these skills cannot be dealt with in one or two lessons: the student requires practice of this kind ion every lesson.

渐进型句型必须在检查学生理解能力的练习中进行训练。这种联系要求学生回答问题并提出问题，而问题的难度则随着教程的进展而不断加深。必须训练学生用简略形式回答一般疑问句，用肯定形式和否定形式来回答用or连接的选择疑问句，回答用When，where，How等疑问词开头的问句。而在每一个阶段，必须训练学生自己提问题。很明显，这些技能不可能在一两课书中学会：在每棵书中都必须有这种练习。

At the same time, static patterns should be practiced by means of drills which make use of language-laboratory techniques. In each of these drills, the teacher seeks to elicit a particular kind of response. He provides the student with a stimulus to elicit the new pattern in a series of oral drills until the student is able to respond accurately and automatically.

与此同时，静态型句型必须在利用语言实验室技术的练习中得到训练。在每一个录音练习中，教师试图引出某一特定的回答。他在一系列口头练习中给学生某种诱导以引出新句型，直到学生可以准确地、下意识地做出反应。

Students may also be trained to speak through oral composition exercises where they are required to reproduce orally a passage of English they are familiar with. At the outset, the student should practice reproducing narrative and descriptive pieces. At a much later stage, he will practice reproducing the substance of an argument. When he can do this well, he will be in a position of converse on set topics which deal with abstract ideas. By this time he will be able to express himself with confidence and will make relatively few mistakes.

The techniques used in speech training at the pre-intermediate level may be summarized as follows:

Drilling in progressive patterns.

Drilling in static patterns.

Practice in oral composition.

培养学生说的能力也可以通过做口头作文练习的途径来达到目的。这种练习要求学生口头复述一段他所熟悉的英语短文。一开始应该要求学生练习复述叙述性与描写性的文字，待学到相当程度之后，再让他练习复述实质性的论说文。一旦他能够很好地完成这种练习，他便有能力就一些抽象观点的指定的话题同别人交谈了。到了这个时候，他就能够有把握地表达自己的思想，犯的错误也会相对减少。

中级以下水平口语训练所用技巧大概可以归纳以下：

反复训练渐进型句型；

反复训练静态型句型；

练习口头作文。

Learning to write 学着写

The same sort of careful grading is required when we attempt to teach students to write. We must again begin with the simplest form of statement. Students are all too often plunged into composition work long before they are ready for it. At some point in a course, the teacher may decide that it is time his students attempted to write a composition, so he sets a short narrative or descriptive piece and hopes for the best. This is a random, hit-or-miss method which creates enormous remedial problems and produces disastrous result. If a student’s sole experience of written English has been to fill in blank spaces in tailor-made sentences, it is wildly unreasonable to spring a composition subject on him and then expect him to produce correct and readable prose. As with premature discussions on set topics, all we are doing is to encourage him to make mistake. And it is no good hoping that after a few years of this (involving massive correction on the part of the teacher) the student will somehow improve on his own. Very few students are sufficiently conscientious or highly motivated to examine in detail their own corrected written work. Even if they did, there is absolutely no guarantee that they will not go on making the same mistakes. Writing skill can best be developed through carefully controlled and graded comprehension/summary writing exercises. Summary writing is not a sterile academic exercise useful only for examination purposes. It can be used effectively to develop a student’s writing ability. At the pre-intermediate stage, the student must learn how to write simple, compound, and complex sentences and to connect ideas from notes. Controlled summary writing will enable the student to master each of these difficulties and bring him to a point where he will be capable of writing a composition with a minimum of error.

The main stages in training the student in the written language at the pre-intermediate level may be summarized as follows:

Practice in writing simple sentences through controlled comprehension exercises.

Practice in writing compound sentences through controlled comprehension exercises.

Practice in writing complex sentences through controlled comprehension exercises.

Practice in connecting ideas from notes that have been provided.

在试图教学生写作时，我们同样需要这种精心的分级训练。仍然必须从最简单的陈述句开始。学生常常是在写的能力还不成熟的情况下便要匆匆提笔写作文。在课程的某一阶段，教师会认为是该有他的学生试着写作文的时候了。于是，他规定写一篇短的叙述文章或描写文章，盼望着会得到最好的结果。这种随心所欲，漫无目的的方法会造成大量的补课难题，产生灾难性的后果。如果一个学生在英语写作方面只在专门编写的句子中做过一些句型填空练习，那么突然塞给他一个作文题目，并期待他能写出一篇语言准确，有可读性的文章来，那实在是不太合情理了。同在不成熟的情况下就规定题目进行讨论一样，我们在这儿坐的只是鼓励他犯错误。指望如此这般几年之后（加上教师大量的纠正错误）学生就可以自己提高水平，那时毫无把握的。仅有少数学生具有足够的自觉性和高度的主动性，在书面作业批改后认真地检查一遍。即使他们检查了，也绝对无法保证今后他们不会继续犯类似的错误。培养写作技能的最佳途径是做一些精心设计的，有指导的，循序渐进的理解/摘要练习。摘要写作并不是仅仅适用于考试目的的。枯燥无味的学究式练习。它可以用来很有效地提高学生的写作能力。在中级以下阶段，学生务必学会造简单句、并列句、复合句，并能根据要点吧意思连成文。有指导的摘要写作练习能使学生逐一克服上述难点，并使他在写作文时尽量少犯错误。

中级以下水平学生的写作训练，其主要阶段大概可以归纳如下：

通过有指导的理解练习进行简单句写作训练；

通过有指导的理解练习进行并列句写作训练；

通过有指导的理解练习进行复合句写作训练；

根据给出的要点进行把意思连成文的训练。

The teaching of grammar 教授语法

In traditional textbooks, all information about sentence patterns is presented in the form of ‘rule’ which the student applies in a series of disconnected sentences by filling in blank spaces, or by giving he correct form of words in brackets. It has become abundantly clear that this approach to language-learning is highly ineffective. It encourages the teacher to talk about the language, instead of training his students to use it. The emphasis is on written exercises. The greatest weakness in this approach is that the student cannot transfer what he has learnt from abstract exercises of this kind to other language skills like understanding speaking and creative writing.

在传统教材中，所有有关句型的信息都是以“规则”的形式来介绍的，学生将这些规则用于相互没有关联的句子的填空练习或填上括号中所列词的正确词形的练习之中，这种学习语言的方法收效甚微，这点现在已经变得非常清楚。这种方法鼓励教师谈论语言，而不是训练他的学生去使用语言。侧重点在书面练习上。这种方法的最大弱点是，学生不能将他从这种抽象的练习中所学到的知识转化成其他语言技能，如理解、口语和创作性写作。

A new pattern should not be presented as the exemplification of some abstract grammar-rule, but as a way of saying something. No further explanation or elucidation is necessary. The student is trained to use correct forms automatically, rather than by applying ‘grammar logic’. Where explanation is necessary, it can be done by relating a new pattern to one that has already been learnt. If, for instance, the student has learnt the use of ‘must’, he can be taught the use of ‘have to’ by being made to see a meaningful relationship between the two.

每个新句型不应作为某一种抽象的语法规则的范例来介绍，而应作为表达某种思想的方法，也不需要进一步的说明和解释。学生在训练中学会下意识地运用正确的句型，而不是用“语法逻辑“去进行推理。如果需要解释，可以把新句型与已经学会的旧句型联系起来。举例来说，如果学生已经学会了must的用法，那么在讲授have to的用法时，可以让学生领会这两个句型之间有机的联系。

Students working at the pre-intermediate level may be given exercises in recall, that is, relating language difficulties to a particular context they know well. In this way they will be trained to use correct forms instinctively. The teacher is, in incidentally, saved the trouble of correcting exercises, since, for the most part, the passages do this for him.

对中级以下水平的学生可以布置一些回顾练习，即把语言难点同他们熟悉的特定的上下文联系起来。这样可以训练他们凭直觉使用正确的句型。这在无意中也可为教师免去批改作业之苦，因为在大多数情况下，课文本身就可以代劳了。

Traditional filling-in-the-blank exercises still have a place in a modern course, but with one important difference: they should not be used as a means of teaching new patterns, but as a means of consolidating what has been learnt. They are an end, not a means to an end. In this respect, they are extremely useful in tests and can be employed for diagnostic purposes or to enable the teacher to assess terminal behaviour.

在现代教程中，传统的填空练习仍有它的一席之地，但有一点重大的区别，即填空练习不应作为教授新句型的一种手段，而应作为巩固已学知识的途径。它们是目的，而不是达到目的的一种手段。从这个意义上讲，填空练习在测验中尤为有用，可以用来分析学生的错误，或让教师评估学生最终的成果。

The multi-purpose text 多功能课文

In order to do all the exercises outlined above, the student must work from specially-written texts. Each text must be used to train the student in the following skills:

Listening comprehension

Oral practice (progressive and static patterns).

Reading aloud.

Oral composition.

Dictation.

Controlled comprehension, summary writing and composition practice (simple,compound and complex sentences).

Written grammar exercises in recall.

为了进行上述各项练习，学生务必学习专门编写的课文。每课课文务必可以用来使学生在下列技能方面得到训练：

听力理解；

口语训练（渐进型句型和静态型句型）；

朗读；

口头作文；

听写；

有指导的理解、摘要写作和作文练习（简单句、并列句、复合句）；

回顾语法的书面练习。

We might call these specially-written passages multi-purpose texts, since they are used as the basis for a variety of exercises which aim at developing a number of skills simultaneously.

这些专门编写的课文大概可以称作多功能课文，因为它们可用来提供各类练习，旨在同时培养多种技能。

If these texts are to be suitable for so many purposes, they must be specially devised. The new patterns that are to be taught must be contextualized, that is, they must be built into each text. These reiterated patterns should be unobtrusive: their use should strike the listener as being inevitable rather than artificially superimposed. There is also another very important requirement: the texts must be interesting or amusing so that they will entertain the student, hold his attention, and minimize the inevitable drudgery involved in drill work. If the texts are accompanied by illustrations, they will be even more appealing. At the beginner’s level, illustrations are more functional than decorative. At this level, the reverse is true: the pre-intermediate stage marks a transition form audio-visual techniques to audio-lingual ones.

要使这些课文适应如此众多的目的，就必须进行特殊的设计。凡是要讲的新句型都必须融合进上下文的语境中，也就是说，必须阻止进每篇课文里。这些反复出现的句型应该贴切自然，要使听者距地使用这些句型是不可避免的，而不是人工堆砌在一起的。另外还有一条非常重要的标准，即课文务必饶有趣味，引人入胜，使学生感到愉悦，能吸引住他的注意力，从而把反复训练带来的无法避免的厌烦减少到最低限度。如果课文配上插图，那就更加吸引人了。

在初学阶段，插图的功能性大于装饰性；而在现阶段，则是装饰性大于功能性：中级以下阶段标志着听/视教学法向听/写教学法的过渡。

 

Speed and intensity

同NCE01，略。

 

Levels

同NCE01，略。

NCE03部分：

 

When a student has completed a pre-intermediate course, he enters a period of consolidation and expansion. What has been learnt so far must be practiced constantly. At the same time, the student must learn to come to terms with wider English. He will still have intensive practice in the four skills, understanding, speaking, reading and writing, but many of the exercises he will be doing will be less mechanical.

学生学完中级以下水平的教材后，就进入巩固和扩展阶段。以前学到的语言技能要不断地练习，同时学生还要学会进一步地深入学习。理解、口语、阅读和写作4项技能还有进行强化训练，但是许多练习不再像以前那样机械。

At this level, this is less need for pattern control and contextualization. Now that the foundations have been laid, the student is in a position to cope with new sentence patterns as and when they occur. However, it is still necessary for the student to work form specially written multi-purpose text if he is to be trained systematically in speech and writing.

到了这个阶段，按句型的难度和在语境中练习句型已不是那么必不可少。由于基础已经打下，学生一旦遇到新的句型也就能够对付。但是，如果要系统地训练学生在说和写方面的能力，还需要使用专门编写的多功能课文。

Students working at this level often wish to sit for academic examinations like the Cambridge First Certificate. Now it is a curious paradox that formal examinations often hinder rather than help a student to learn a language. However, there should be no need to work at cross-purposes: it is quite possible for the student to go on learning a language and prepare for an examination with its bias towards the written language will only exert a pernicious influence on language learning when it is regarded as an end in itself. When the teacher makes it his aim to get his class through an examination and no more, he will undoubtedly fail to teach the language properly. An examination must always be regarded as something secondary, a by-product which the student will take in his stride. It must never be regarded as an end in itself. An intermediate course should not only enable a student to go on learning English systematically, but should, incidentally, enable him to pass an examination without special preparation.

中级水平的学生常常希望参加专业性的考试，如剑桥初级证书。现在有一种怪现象，即正规考试往往妨碍而不是有助于学生学习一门语言。但是，学习和考试并非一定是相互矛盾的：学生完全有可能在学习语言的同时，作好应试的准备。必须清醒的认识到：正规考试侧重于书面用语，如果把应付正规考试作为最终目标，那么必然对英语学习产生有害的影响。如果教师把自己所教的班能通过某种考试作为教学的唯一目的，他也必然教不好语言。要永远把考试放在第二位，把它当成是学生在学习中顺理成章必然会取得的一种副产品，而决不能把它当成最终目的。一本中级水平的教材不仅应能使学生系统地学好英语，而且应使他无需专门的准备就能通过某种考试。

NCE04部分：

 

Towards fluency

达到流利程度

The student who has successfully completed an intermediate course in English often has good reason to feel disheartened when he embarks on an advanced course. The reason for this is not so much that he has at his command only a fairly limited vocabulary, but that he is suddenly thrust into the world of ideas. The biggest barrier, particularly with younger students, is not language as such, but mental maturity and fairly wide general knowledge which many students do not possess. In oral work, the student is expected to take part in discussions on argumentative topics covering a wide range of subjects. As far as writing is concerned, it is not enough to be able to write narrative or descriptive compositions in simple, correct English. The student must pay close attention to form and content; he must express difficult ideas and know how to handle faces and opinions. Where before his précis work consisted largely in reproducing the main sequence of events in a piece of narrative, he now has to summarize difficult passages of factual, argumentative and reflective prose. In addition to this, he frequently has to work under pressure, particularly if he is preparing for an examination. Because the syllabus is loaded, the teacher is obliged to assume that his students have, by now, grasped the fundamentals of grammar. He therefore spends little, if any time on it, even though he knows how much his students require further practice.

成功地学完中级教程的学生进而学习高级教程是，有时会感到信心不足，产生这种感觉是有理由的。出现这种情况的主要原因不是因为嘘声掌握的词汇量有限，而是因为他突然被抛入思想的海洋。最大的障碍不是语言问题，而是心理状况尚不成熟，对于年轻的学生来说尤其如此。一本高级教程有必要要求使用者在心理上达到某种成熟程度，并具有比较广泛的基础知识，而这些事我们不少学生所不具备的。在口语方面，要求学生能就有争议的广泛题材进行讨论。在写作方面，能简单正确地写出叙述性和描写性的作文是不够的，还有注意文章的形式和内容，要能表达复杂的思想，学会处理素材和观点。在中级水平阶段，学生主要是把一篇叙事文的主要事件改写一下，而现在则要对难度大的说理性、辩论性和随感性的文章进行概括。不仅如此，学生还常常在学习上有一种压力，尤其是如果他正在准备考试的时候。按教学大纲规定，教师应认定学生已基本上掌握了语法知识。因此，即使学生需要进一步的语法练习，教师也不能在这上面花费更多的时间。

The answer to these problems is again to be found in the use of carefully selected passages which can be used as multi-purpose texts to continue the student’s training in the four skills, understanding, speaking, reading and writing. At this level, the texts should be selected from the work of a wide variety of authors, so that the student can become familiar with different styles of writing. The passages should be graded in terms of length, complexity and intellectual content to introduce the student gradually to the world of ideas.

要解决这些问题，仍需认真学习精选出来的可作多功能课文的教材，继续对学生进行理解、口语、阅读和写作4项技能的训练。在这个阶段，各篇课文应选自各种流派和作家的作品，以使学生熟悉各种不同的文体。各篇课文应按长度、难度和知识内容循序渐进地予以安排，逐渐把学生引入一个充满各种不同思想的世界。