沒事時(shí)我喜歡在白宮網(wǎng)站上閑逛，經(jīng)常收集一些非政治性的演講稿和演講視頻。我越來越感覺到，多聽多看多練英語演講是學(xué)地道英語的最佳有效途徑之一，也是訓(xùn)練語音語調(diào)最有效的輔助手段。
除此之外，通過演講學(xué)英語還可以潛移默化地幫助自己提升對英文的駕馭能力，增強(qiáng)英語的語感和美感，因?yàn)橐恍┟说难葜v稿通常是其專業(yè)寫作班子字斟句酌精心完成的。你不用擔(dān)心這些演講是否有語法問題，也不用擔(dān)心用詞是否準(zhǔn)確，表達(dá)是否到位。你所要做的就是精選一些自己喜歡的，地道純正的內(nèi)容和段落進(jìn)行背誦。背下來以后再想辦法把它們轉(zhuǎn)化為自己的東西，然后靈活地移植到自己的口語和寫作中。當(dāng)然背的時(shí)候最好同時(shí)注意一下演講者的語音和語調(diào)。
與其花大價(jià)錢參加各種培訓(xùn)班（我一直認(rèn)為英語綜合水平是很難短期培訓(xùn)出來的，學(xué)英語也沒有所謂的捷徑），花大量時(shí)間研究如何讓自己的英語表達(dá)更地道，還不如隨時(shí)隨地多學(xué)習(xí)多背誦別人現(xiàn)成的好東西。地道實(shí)用的英語背得多了積累得多了，你就能很自然地表達(dá)出極為純正的英語。演講英語的特點(diǎn)就是你既可以用在書面語中，也可以用在口語表達(dá)中。
剛從白宮網(wǎng)站收集了一段小奧的演講，內(nèi)容通俗易懂，講話時(shí)間也不長，再加上小奧說英語基本沒什么口音，所以很適合廣大英語愛好者練習(xí)和模仿：
(播放時(shí)請先關(guān)掉首頁“老張放松”的停止鍵)
Good morning, everybody. Before departing for Asia this morning, I'd like to make a brief statement about the economy.
Over the past 10 months, we've taken a number of bold steps to break the back of this recession. We've worked to stabilize the financial system, revive lending to small businesses and families, and prevent responsible homeowners from losing their homes. And through the Recovery Act, we've cut taxes for middle class families, extended and increased unemployment insurance, and created and saved more than a million jobs.
As a result, the economy is now growing again for the first time in more than a year -- and faster than at any time in the past two years. But even though we've slowed the loss of jobs -- and today's report on the continued decline in unemployment claims is a hopeful sign -- the economic growth that we've seen has not yet led to the job growth that we desperately need. As I've said from the start of this crisis, hiring often takes time to catch up to economic growth. And given the magnitude of the economic turmoil that we've experienced, employers are reluctant to hire.
Small businesses and large firms are demanding more of their employees, their increasing their hours, and adding temporary workers -- but these companies have not yet been willing to take the steps necessary to hire again. Meanwhile, millions of Americans -- our friends, our neighbors, our family members -- are desperately searching for jobs. This is one of the great challenges that remains in our economy -- a challenge that my administration is absolutely determined to meet.
We all know that there are limits to what government can and should do, even during such difficult times. But we have an obligation to consider every additional, responsible step that we can [take] to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country. And that's why, in December, we'll be holding a forum at the White House on jobs and economic growth. We'll gather CEOs and small business owners, economists and financial experts, as well as representatives from labor unions and nonprofit groups, to talk about how we can work together to create jobs and get this economy moving again.
It's important that we don't make any ill-considered decisions -- even with the best intentions -- particularly at a time when our resources are so limited. But it's just as important that we are open to any demonstrably good idea to supplement the steps we've already taken to put America back to work. That's what this forum is about.
In the coming days, I'll also be meeting with leaders abroad to discuss a strategy for growth that is both balanced and broadly shared. It's a strategy in which Asian and Pacific markets are open to our exports -- and one in which prosperity around the world is no longer as dependent on American consumption and borrowing, but rather more on American innovation and products.
It's through these steps with our partners, in addition to the work we're doing here at home, that we will not only revive our economy in the short term, but rebuild it stronger in the long term. That's been the focus of our efforts these past 10 months -- it will continue to be our focus in the months ahead.
Thanks very much, everybody.
