有关英语普通话学习的观点和理念
25. Recently some schools in Qingdao have launched a campaign with the slogan: Learning etiquette to be a gentle boy and a graceful girl. Manners of gentle boy and temperament of graceful girl require our students first to improve their accent of both Chinese and English.
近期，青岛的一些重点学校举办了一个活动，口号是：学礼仪，做绅士，当淑女。绅士和淑女的培养，首先要求我们的学生提高中英文的语音和语调水平。
26. Language is not a kind of knowledge. It’s just a kind of skill. The Queen’s accent is just a little knack that can help you command the skill quickly and effectively. If you pay attention to the minor things that most others ignore, you’ll be different. If others pronounce my father/ my mother with strong “R” sound and you pronounce the same differently and in a standard manner, you’ll be outstanding.
语言不是一门知识，而是一种技能。而英语普通话是能够帮助你快速有效地掌握这种技能的决窍。如果一个人平时能够注意到那些大多数人所经常忽略的小事情，那他就与众不同。如果99%的人在发father/mother时，都带有很明显的“R”化音或卷舌音，而你却能用英语普通话把这两个词标准地发出来，那你就与众不同。
27. It is known to everybody that the America is a world threat, who exports its own democracy to others by force, aiming to monopolize the world. American government plays the role of the world policeman and has made use of its language as its cultural soft power. American government knows well that language speaks louder than the missiles.
The promotion of any language or culture really carries something with political colours or purpose. It’s for the same reason that China has started to promote Confucianism across the world. Considering from the perspective and depth of international politics, we should take it serious which kind of English is reasonable for us to learn.
众所周知，当今的美国对世界上许多国家已形成了极大的威胁，它正在扮演着世界警察的角色，它始终企图把自己的民主概念强加给其他国家，旨在称霸世界。而美国政府深知用语言作为其文化的软实力，会比导弹更有力。
任何一种语言或文化的推广都难免会具有明显的政治色彩和目的。中国政府不是也已经开始了在世界范围内孔子文化的大力推广吗？鉴此，从国际政治的角度和深度思考，我们确实应该认真对待选学什么英语这一大问题。
28. I have no intention to slam the American accent. To love the American accent is just like to love popular songs and to love low-cut jeans. It is nothing wrong. It’s a matter of aesthetic orientation.
But the point is which type of English is worth the great deal of time you’ll spend learning for totally 16 years from primary school to university, what type of English is worth the great deal of money that your parents will spend for you and which kind of English can really help with your competitiveness in your future job-hunting. Undoubtedly it is the Queen’s English accent, never the American one.
By the way, although few people learning English in China have ever learnt the American Phonetic Alphabets systematically, many claim that they are the speakers of American, simply because they can pronounce some “R” sounds. That’s stupid and naive. So to learn Queen’s English we should start by getting rid of the “R” sound.
很少有中国人会刻意贬低美国口音。喜欢美国口音就像喜欢流行音乐和低腰牛仔裤一样，无可厚非，这只是审美取向的问题。
而问题的关键在于，到底哪种英语值得中国学生从小学到大学花费16年的时间去学习？哪一种英语值得辛劳的父母们为孩子花费如此大的财力？又是哪种英语真正能够在将来激烈竞争的人才市场上助我们的毕业生一臂之力？答案应该是英语普通话，而不是美语。
应该说明的是，尽管在中国几乎没有人曾系统地学习过美式音标，但却有很多人仅仅因为能不时地发一些美式“R”化音或卷舌音，就声称自己是美语的崇尚者。这极其天真和愚蠢！所以，学习英语普通话，应从克服“R”化音开始。
29. Some of you may argue that whether or not to learn the Queen’s English is an academic issue, which needs one hundred flowers bloom and one hundred schools of thought contend. So far as the pronunciation or accent is concerned, no language can develop well unless it is strictly governed by a rule and no person can learn a language well unless he has a rule firm in mind.
A report in a newspaper says that with the mandarin popularized, some experts even worry that many regional dialects as cultural heritage will disappear. But it seems to me one saying is suitable for these so called experts. That is “Do not make trouble until the trouble troubles you”. How can we carry on everything that our grandpa left with us and everything that our grandpa’s grandpa left with us? Students should learn to be critical and learn to have your own ideas about everything.
人们会说，是否应该学习英语普通话，这是一个学术问题，需要百家争鸣。但我们应该知道，若没有形成一种标准统一的语音，任何一门语言都不可能获得健康的发展。同样，一个内心没有语音和语调标准的人，也不可能学好一门语言。
有报道说：随着汉语普通话的普及，一些专家担心作为文化遗产，许多地方方言会因此而消失。英国有句谚语叫做“不要杞人忧天”，送给这些所谓的专家们似乎非常合适。我们这些晚辈们怎能够把爷爷和爷爷的爷爷所留给我们的东西都传承下来呢？年轻人要具有批判精神，对任何事物都要有自己的观点。
30. Many Englishmen regard their language as a nation’s cultural heritage and feel proud that it has already been taken as an internationally used language for over a century. Some of you may ask why British government does not promote the Queen’s English in England as Chinese government promotes mandarin in China，why there are no English people promoting Queen’s English in Britain as Mr. Chun Yu Jinzhang, a Chinese individual, devotes himself into promoting Queen’s English in China and why in recent decades many regional accents are heard even on BBC ?
As is known to everybody, Great Britain is a country which is mainly composed of 4 provinces, England, Scotland，Wales and Northern Ireland. And historically it has been suffering from a racial problem. So how could it be possible for anybody, any political party in power to advocate a unified and standard language accent among people speaking with several different accents? If so, it means race assimilation and it may invite further racial conflict.
But if China with a large land and population can’t adopt a unified standard in English learning and teaching, countless English students and teachers will be at a loss as to which to follow. Surprisingly, the textbooks at every level are changing annually, for which educational officials arrange visits to different English speaking countries regularly. Non-standardized teacher’s training exists everywhere. Interviews related to English level test in all walks are groundlessly managed. All these have inevitably become the sources of corruptions. For the country, what it will waste is abundant time and money; for the students, what they will waste is the precious youth.
很多英国人把自己的语言视为一种国粹，他们为自己的语言早已成为一种国际通用语而感到骄傲。但人们不禁会问，为什么当今的英国政府没有像中国政府在中国推广汉语普通话一样在英国乃至在世界上推广英语普通话呢？为什么也没有一个英国人像中国的淳于金章先生那样以个人的微薄之力在致力于英语普通话的推广呢？为什么近二十年来甚至在英国BBC电台也常会听到一些地方方言呢？
众所周知，英国是由英格兰、苏格兰、威尔士和北爱尔兰四个地区组成的。历史上，这个国家曾发生过严重的种族冲突，这个问题迄今也没得到很好的解决。所以，不可想象会有什么政党，什么个人敢在这样一个说多种不同方言的国家里推广一种标准统一的语音和语调。如果这样，岂不意味着种族同化，并极有可能引发冲突升级。
但在我们幅员辽阔、人口众多的中国，如果英语教学不能采用一种统一的标准，那么无可计数的英语学习者和英语老师都会长期为之感到无所适从。教材的随意更换，教育官员的定期出国考察，不规范的教师培训，各级单位和学校无标准的用人面试，等等这些已经成为腐败的滋生源。对国家来说，浪费的是人力和物力；而对学生来说，浪费的却是宝贵的青春。
31. A good accent can naturally result in good speaking and so good speaking in good behavior, good behavior in good custom, good custom in good character and a good character will naturally result in a good destiny.
好的语音成就好的语言，好的语言成就好的行为，好的行为成就好的习惯，好的习惯成就好的性格，而好的性格将会带来好的命运。
32. Every language has five elements. They are speaking, listening, reading, writing and translating, among which speaking goes first. If you can’t speak you’ll get no opportunity to communicate with and listen to the others. Somebody may argue that language starts with ear. When a baby starts to talk he does it by hearing the sounds his mother makes and imitating them, so it’s the hearing that goes first. I would say you are right but that’s for the native speakers.
Speaking has also five elements. They are phonetic symbols, sound length, word stress, liaison and rhythm, of which phonetic symbols go first. Therefore as non-native speakers of English we must concentrate everything possible to first learn the phonetic symbols well. Learning phonetic symbols without learning the phonetic diagram will not only be a waste of time, but misleading to students.
任何一种语言都有五大要素：听、说、读、写、译。在这五者中，有人认为，语言学习应从嘴巴开始，“说”位居其首，因为如果不具备“说”的能力，就无法有机会与人交谈。有人认为，语言学习应从耳朵开始，“听”位居其首，因为婴儿是通过听父母的声音开始模仿说话的。后者的说法是正确的，但这仅适用于学习母语的人。对学习外语的人而言，“说”必须位居其首。
“说”也有五个要素。音标、音长、重音、连读和节奏。这其中，无疑音标学习应居其首。因此，作为英语非母语的学习者，我们必须尽一切可能首先把语音学好。学习音标如果不能同时以学习“语音图”为参照，这不仅会浪费时间，事倍功半，且会对学生造成极大的误导，而一经误导，则终生遗憾。