专业学位硕士研究生英语教程03.docx

1、专业学位硕士研究生英语教程03专业学位硕士研究生英语教程03Unit 3 Language Learning Preview The future looks as though children will have to speak at least one other language than English in their adult lifetime. The second most widely used language in the world is Chinese. Learning Mandarin today or teaching children to be bil

2、ingual for tomorrow is becoming one of the best decisions American parents could make. It is in the best interests of Americans to have complete understanding and a working knowledge of the Chinese language in order to keep focus, improve communications. The future will address more blending of cult

3、ures and the need for sensitivity in a diverse world economy. Part I Text Reading Warm-up I. Why learn Chinese? Just a few years ago, most westerners might not have been thinking very much about China. However, these days, with Chinas booming economy, the need to interact with China is apparent. Mor

4、e and more westerners may be wondering, I be learning Chinese?The answer is a resounding Why are so many people interested in China and learning its language? Please discuss more reasons besides those mentioned above with your partner. The following tips may be useful for your discussion. 1. China c

5、urrently boasting the fastest growing economy in the world 2. following what others are doing 3. to stay competitive 4. global supply chains 5. to be a smart business move 6. the Chinese market being the largest consumer market in the world 7. for seeking a better career 8. Chinese being spoken by o

6、ver billion people 9. China being the world manufacturing factory 10. traditional Chinese culture and long history II. Please give some reasons to illustrate the nationwide English learning in China, and make comparison to the growing popularity of Chinese learning abroad. Text East Meets West in Sc

7、hools Edward B. Fiske 1 Paris Buedel is a typical American 8-year-old (boy) who is into basketball, piano lessons and Lego1. And, oh yes, he spends half of each school day speaking Mandarin (spend time/ money doing sth.). 2 Paris is enrolled in a 1 School here in which the pupils-half native Chinese

8、, half English speakers-do their lessons in two languages (bilingually). The program is indicative of (=shows) one of the fastest-growing curriculum trends in schools: the study (n.) of Chinese. 3 Americans are used to hearing about people in other countries learning English. Now were seeing the opp

9、osite trend,said Michael Levine, executive director of the Asia Society2, which promotes (encourages) international content (n./a.内容) in schools. and students are deciding that, since more people speak Mandarin (Chinese) than any other language, it might be a useful skill to have.4 appreciate (=enjo

10、y/ understand) the importance of China in the (globe-) global economy and the notion that our sons knowing Chinese (knowledge about China) may give him a leg up (help him a great deal) later in life,(I am) reading the newspapers we can point to articles about China, culturally, politically and econo

11、mically. China (=Chinas influence) is everywhere.5 Because (of) interest in Chinese language and culture has taken off (started/ begun) in the past few years, accurate statistics are hard to come by (get). A 2002 study (research) at Princeton University3 put (estimated) the number at 24,000 students

12、 in Grades 7 to 12, but, according to Levine, the current (present) figure (number) is certainly much larger. 6 This autumn (fall) the College Board4 initiated (launch/ started) a new advanced (高年级的) placement (streaming) curriculum and exam in Chinese language and literature. Thomas Matts, who supe

13、rvises the program, estimated that possibly as many as 300 secondary schools were already in a position to (be ready/ willing to) offer (provide) the program (courses). havent seen such interest (enthusiasm) in a particular (specific) subject since the Soviet Union5 launched Sputnik6 and people got

14、(became) interested in Russian and physics,7 Rosemary Feal, executive director of the Modern Language Association7, reported that the number of students in two- and four-year college courses studying Chinese (rise-) rose (=increased) by 20 percent between 1998 and 2002, to slightly more than 33,000.

15、 既然) the pipeline is active at the high school level, we expect many more students to be enrolling in advanced (higher高级的) courses,now under way will show further increases of 25 to 50 percent. 8 The most ambitious program (project) can be found in Chicago, where more than 5,000 students, virtually

16、(actually/ in fact) all of them native English speakers, are studying Chinese in 17 elementary and 10 high schools (junior high school/senior high). The program, which began in 1999 in response to pressure from a group of parents, has been heavily promoted (urged) by Mayor (市长) Richard Daley and now

17、 has a waiting list of schools seeking to participate (join/ take part in). think there will be two languages in this world,the mayor said. will be Chinese and English.9 Large programs can also be found in the suburbs (郊区-suburban) of Washington, and (inner city) outer cities (卫星城) with (cosmo-)cosm

18、opolitan (huge) populations. 10 The program at Glenwood, which involves (includes) 116 of the schools 460 pupils, began six years ago when (then/ at that time) a group of parents put pressure on the local school (region/ zone/ area/ district) district to begin teaching Chinese. Chapel Hill is a univ

19、ersity town (大学城), site of the flagship campus (主校区) of the University of North Carolina, and a substantial (=huge) number of (a great number of) Chinese families work at the university or in nearby Research Triangle Park. Some of the English-speaking pupils are Chinese who were (adapted) adopted as

20、 2 infants (babies) by American families. 11 The program began accepting 24 students each year into kindergarten (nursery), and the first cohort (group) has now reached Grade 4. Each class is taught jointly (together) by two teachers, one Chinese-speaking and the other English-speaking, who divide t

21、he curriculum. Students arc admitted (enlisted) by lottery (=draw lots) and there is a waiting list, Amy Rickard, the principal, said. 12 Teachers say they tend to use Chinese for concrete (specific) topics like (such as) geometry or science, and English for more abstract concepts. to deliver (teach

22、/ address/ discuss; milk/newspaper/a bay; natural delivery自然分娩) science in a second language,a foundation (base) vocabulary.13 The biggest obstacle to expanding Chinese instruction (teaching) in schools is finding qualified (competent) teachers. Robert Davis, manager (director) of the Chicago progra

23、m, said that he searched the Internet and even traveled in May to Shanghai, a sister city to Chicago (the key to that lock), to recruit (enlist) teachers for two-year stints (=experience). He said that the problem had been complicated (have gone from bad to worse) by the federal No Child Left Behind

24、8 legislation (act), which requires (demands) all teachers to be certified (qualified). has no certificates for language teachers,he said. had to work with (cooperate) the state to get one (school) started.14 Finding teaching materials is another bottleneck (puzzle). Lund said that she and her teach

25、ing partner (colleague) had to develop them from scratch (from the very beginning). %use materials from China because the curriculums are not aligned (same),she said. we download materials from the Internet and paste Chinese characters 1.小说戏剧中的人物；2.汉字 over English words in books.15 Proponents (advoc

26、ates) of more study of Chinese in schools are finding an active ally 1.合作；2.集合) in the Chinese government, which helped underwrite (take some responsibilty) the Chicago program and new Advanced Placement exam and has a new agreement with the College Board to build Chinese language programs (projects

27、) in 2,000 public ；美国私立的) schools over the next five years. The Department of Education and the Ministry of Education in Beijing have cooperated to create Chengo9, an online games-based program for beginning Chinese (汉语入门课). 16 Walters said that Chinese parents at Glenwood were supportive of (were h

28、elpful to/ support) her sons study of their language. %up for (ask问请/ ask for索取/ turn to sb. for help向某人求助) help with homework (help sb. with sth.帮助某人做某事),that Paris viewed (considered/ regarded) spending half of his day operating in (teaching) Mandarin as quite (abnormal) normal for an 8-year old A

29、merican boy. expects to use his Chinese language skills (the other day过去的某一天) someday (将来的某一天) to run (start) a Lego factoryNotes 1. Lego: a (Demark-) Danish toy company producing the brick-building toys with the brand of the same name. 2. the Asia Society: a non-profit organization dedicated to edu

30、cating Americans about Asia and fostering (cultivating/ developing) understanding between Americans and the peoples of Asia. It has 3 several centers in the United States (Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, ) and around the world (Hong Kong, Manila, Mumbai (孟买), (汉城/ 首尔), Shanghai,

31、Makati City (马卡提：菲律宾吕宋岛西南部的一个城市) and Melbourne. All of these centers are overseen (=supervised) by the Societys headquarters in New York (City). 3. Princeton University: a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the

32、Ivy League and is considered one of the (colony-colonize-) Colonial Colleges. Founded in 1746, Princeton is the fourth institution of higher education in the to conduct classes. 4. the College Board: a non-profit membership association (society协会) in the United States that was formed in 1900 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB). It is composed of more than 5,700 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations. It manages many different standardized tests used by a