梅仁毅教授：英语阅读方法谈5

That was one thing, but if you have other possibilities, that would not be the best way. So this will give a guide in the study of intensive reading, it will give you a guide. Since it’s a guide, now, what are the goals of intensive reading? The first would be to introduce you to the different features of the English language. Now some of the things in the English language can be easily learned, because they’re … they may be very similar to the Chinese. You don’t need to worry about some of the things. But there are things that are very difficult for the Chinese, for the Chinese in learning the language.

For example, now, tenses. Tenses as they are may not be terribly difficult. Now English tenses are not as complicated (复杂) as German grammar or Russian grammar, but the thing is, when you use tenses, not as grammar, but as an expression of your mood, then it becomes very difficult. When should you use this tense? When you try to show your emotion, and you use this tense, because some of the times, if you use the tenses, if you look up in your grammar book, it will tell you that sometimes it is used to express some sort of emotion. Now that would be the most difficult part, because it is not purely grammar, it is not simply grammar.

Then you have vocabulary. Vocabulary, I just give you an example to show that, for example, the word, the phrase “wind up”. Now, here you have two sentences: When I wind up my watch, I start it. When I wind up my speech, I end it. Do you understand that? 第一个，the first wind up, 上链条，上链条，[给]表上链条. So when I wind up my watch, what I am doing (to) it? 让它开始走动，I start it. 我现在在做讲座，when I wind up my lecture, what do I do? I end it. I stop talking. I stop talking. So the same wind up, but in two different, what I say, contexts, 在两个上下文，两个不同的上下文, two different contexts, they mean two different things. Now if you come across the second sentence, you know wind up is上链条，when you come across the second sentence, “when I wind up the speech, I end it.” If you still use the meaning you know, to understand the second sentence, you might get it wrong. You will get it wrong. So sometimes for vocabulary in reading, that is the meaning of the word has already changed, you are still using the old meaning you know to understand it, then you get it wrong. Then you get it wrong. So in reading, I would usually say that when you come across a very difficult word, a new word, you will look up the dictionary, I’m sure. It is usually the word that you think you know, but it has already taken on new meaning, then you make an understanding mistake. And that has been the case with many of my students. The word is a very simple word, it takes on a new meaning, you don’t know it has taken on a new meaning, you get the meaning wrong. You get the understanding wrong. That is the problem. And you have the word “foot” here. We all know the word “foot”, it’s a primary school, maybe, word, but “to foot the bill”, “to foot the bill”, that means you pay the bill. So that is one thing that you need to pay attention to.
Then the second is, the second goal will be to improve your reading comprehension. We’ll come to that later, when we give you a list of sentences, analyze them.