听有关菲律宾反对党领袖阿基诺被刺的消息时,不断地听到tar mac一词,根据发音找不着,后来请教一美国工程师,才知道是“柏油碎石路”,是从tar macadam一词简化而来的。又如一次录下The peace talks between lran and lraq went into square one这样一句话,根据上下文推测出是两伊和谈没有取得什么进展的意思,但是手头的词典上没有square one这个词组,无法确切得知是否听写对了,因此见人就问。后来拿着录音给一个从加拿大回来的博士听,他肯定了我听写的是对的。我并没有到此为止,到处找词典,最后终于在The Penguin Dictionary of English ldioms上找到了如下有关back to square one的解释:
Back to square one back to the very beginning of some task or enterprise as a result of a setback. The allusion is to the game of Ludo when a player is sent to square one if he lands on the wrong square.
有人认为我起步听写时的英语水平已经很高了,所以学会了。其实并不是这样,1980年1月31日我听写的第一条新闻记录稿如下(括弧内为听不懂的词):
Iran’s foreign minister has condemned Canada for helping six American (diplomats ) escape from lran. He said the action
violated international law and may lead to (worse) (treatment)
for the fifty American (hostages) remaining in Tehran. The foreign minister warned that Canada would have to pay for its action. The six American (diplomats )(fled ) United States,embassy in Tehran when lranian (militants) (seized) the building on December 4th. The six (diplomats) hid in Canadian embassy for twelve weeks and left lran a few days ago by using Canadian passports, They returned to the United States on Wednesday. In Washington, the state department (called again on) Iran to release the remaining American hostages in Tehran. It said they must be freed before any effort can be made to (improve ) the(relations ) between the United States and lran, The hostages have been held for eighty一eight days.
“见缝插针”还要能“自适应(adaptive)”,也就是要有使自己适合客观环境的能力。随着学习的深入和水平的提高,英语学习也
就会慢慢地成为自己生活中不可缺少的一项内容,就会感到学习英语是一种乐趣和享受,就会把学习英语的事时时挂在心上,一天不学就好像缺少点什么。有了这种心懦,就再也不会强调客观条件了,碰到再不利的客观条件,也不怒天尤人,而会积极地去适应它,利用它,使之成为找到新学习途径的催化剂,登上新水平的转折点。例如我1985年不幸遭遇严重车祸,右腿膜骨骨折,石膏一直打到大腿根,动弹不得,一天到晚在床上躺着,长达三个月左右。面对这种情况,是急燥埋怨呢?还是安心疗养并利用卧床不起的时间学习英语充实自己呢?我选择了后者。开始时只听不写,过了几天,觉得收获不大,要写又坐不起来。怎么办?我试着在床尾系一背包带,拉着它就能坐起来,垫上一本厚词典就可以写了。这样每天就能听写十几个小时,把每天两个多小时的英语广播全部听懂并写了出来。有听不懂的,就打电话请教翻译。结果英语水平又大大地提高了一步。痊愈后与外国人会谈时他们都惊奇地问我是不是在这三个月期间去外语学院进修过。车祸对我来说确实是一场灾难,但却又成了我学习英语的大好时机,所以我把这三个月的听写记录命名为“灾难的结果(The Outcome of a Disaster)”。痊愈后乘公共汽车时再不敢戴着耳机听录音学英语了,几天下来,又觉得每天在路上的三个来小时白白地过去太可惜了,一定要想办法把它利用起来,不久我又找到了新的学习英语的途径。公共汽车上其他乘客用小收音机听汉语新闻广播,我就试着把汉语的新闻逆译回英语去,碰到译不出来的词句,到家或办公室以后立即查汉英词典。这样做上一段时间,不但时间得到了有效的利用,而且还感到是一种有其独特效果的英语学习方法。