So why has English changed over time? Actually all languages change and develop when cultures meet and communicate with each other. At first the English spoken in England between about AD 450 and 1150 was very different from the English spoken today. It was based more on German than the English we speak at present. Then gradually between about AD 800 and 1150, English became less like German because those who ruled England spoken first Danish and later French. These new settlers enriched the English language and especially its vocabulary. So by the 1600’s Shakespeare was able to make use of a wider vocabulary than ever before. In 1620 some British settlers moved to America. Later in the 18th century some British people were taken to Australia too. English began to be spoken in both countries.
如果你能夠背下高中英語八本書，那麼你一定是記憶高手了。但是你能不能成為英語高手，那是另一回事。
當然，如果你真的能夠把這八本書背下，而且能夠理解裡面的意思，同時補充必要的詞彙，那麼你的英語水平可以透過英語六級了了。問題是我們行嗎？
首先，高中英語教材沒有可背性。高中英語教材的課文跟新概念英語是完全不一樣的。新概念英語的課文有故事性，而且都比較簡短，所以我們要背下新概念英語還是比較容易的。但是高中英語教材，可以說沒有一篇是有故事性的，我們不知道那些專家們怎麼會編出這樣的教材來？閱讀都感到沒意思，更何況是去背呢。我們要背一些沒意思的東西，這就跟被幾百個跟我們毫無相關的電話號碼是一樣的。
所以我認為要把這，八本書背下來很難很難。
還有一點就是，如果我們真想把這八本書背下來，我們一定要弄懂每一個句子的意思，然後才開始。否則我們即使背下來也是沒有用的。現在也有很多學生從初中開始就背熟了，包括古文和英語，但是結果怎麼樣呢？他們語文考試不及格，英語考試也不及格。後來我問了一下，他們是是否理解他們所背的東西了，他們說大概理解吧。後來我就給他們看了下面一段，叫他們翻譯一下:
這是高中英語新課標第一冊第二單元的一段課文，當時他們正在被這段課文，
So why has English changed over time? Actually all languages change and develop when cultures meet and communicate with each other. At first the English spoken in England between about AD 450 and 1150 was very different from the English spoken today. It was based more on German than the English we speak at present. Then gradually between about AD 800 and 1150, English became less like German because those who ruled England spoken first Danish and later French. These new settlers enriched the English language and especially its vocabulary. So by the 1600’s Shakespeare was able to make use of a wider vocabulary than ever before. In 1620 some British settlers moved to America. Later in the 18th century some British people were taken to Australia too. English began to be spoken in both countries.
大家知道嗎？我問了五位同學，沒有一位同學能夠講出這段話的意思的。
還有，這些學生已經背了兩個星期啦，才背到這個地方。後來我又抽查第一單元的課文，他們卻忘了很多了。
如果你一定要背課文，我給你一個方法，你一定會背的很快，又不會不知道你所背的東西的意思。很簡單，把你所背的東西翻譯成漢語，看著漢語句子來背。這樣你就知道你所背的東西的意思，你又不會用很多時間去記一個句子和一個句子之間的順序。更重要的是透過翻譯，你能夠真正搞懂文章中的每一個句子，以及每個句子中的短語，語法，單詞。如果你真的能夠這樣做，不用背書，你的英語水平也會有很大的提高的。這樣的記憶會比我們純粹背書效果要好的多。
以前我就是用這種方法背書的。我用一個月的時間就把傑克倫敦的《荒野的呼喚》背下來，同時也感到自己的閱讀能力，詞彙量和口頭表達能力都有很大的提高。大家不妨嘗試一下。
下面是第六冊的一篇課文。我們看看用一般的方法我們能背嗎？