成人英语自学探讨——非专业人士的一点感受

蓝田日暖

最近看到坛子里关于英语学习的帖子很热，很想谈谈自己的自学过程，我不是英语专业的学生，英语的教学知识也很缺乏，所以无法从专业的角度来谈。

2008年前，我的英语学习就是为了应付考试的，严格说来就是哑巴英语应试英语，常用词汇量、语法基础还可以，但听力和写作都不好。

我重新学习英语，是在2008年。那时候，空闲时不知道该做什么，决定重拾英语，虽然不清楚未来这门语言会不会派上用处，但反正闲着也是闲着，学着总比不学好。

先简单介绍一下我之后的英语学习和应用过程：

起初，每天看纽约时报的文章，熟悉新闻写作的风格，对陌生的语法结构会格外关注，至于生词，就用有道词典记录下来，有空就背诵一下。

后除新闻外，增加了单词的背诵任务，每天背诵20个新单词，没有研究记忆规则，所以属于比较随意的背诵，效果应该不算太好，但词汇量还是在增加。

在网上发现兼职机会，抱着失败也无所谓的态度试了，先后获得了两份工作，一份主要用来介绍英语学习要点，一份是翻译工作。这两份工作，要求我重新复习和查阅语法知识，记忆新单词，而且考虑到翻译质量，我必须提升自己的写作能力。

期间增加了听力练习。为了提升听力，在看美剧的时候，我会盖住字幕听，听不懂的地方，就暂停拖回去，看是怎么回事，听不懂是因为生词呢（遇到生词会拿张纸记下来），还是弄错了某词的发音，又或者是不熟悉他们的说话方式（口音、连读或吞音等）。（我选择的是《生活大爆炸》，不过专业术语特别多的地方，我对自己要求较低）。

通过上述练习，我的英语能力有了很大的进步。接下来，兴趣在我的英语自学中发挥了巨大的作用。因为对身心灵知识深感兴趣，而多本翻译不佳的书让我萌发了看原版书的想法，最初看的是艾克哈特·托利的《The power of now》，此后，凡是能找到原版的，我都选择看英语原版。

接着我开始大量听艾克哈特·托利的视频，他语速适中，用词也是我熟悉的，所以比较好懂。

阅读书籍和收看视频是两码事，前者白纸黑字，遇到生词查就好了，但后者涉及生词、口音、语速等说话元素，因此难度更大（我收看的视频大多没有字幕，故只能靠耳朵听）。在我大量收看视频的时候，有好几次，心头冒火，真想冲着对方大叫：能不能慢一点呢，语速这么快，叫我怎么听啊。能不能别吞音啊，关键时刻总是听不到啊！在听肯·威尔伯的一个视频时，有个让观众发笑的部分，我反复听了几遍，最后只好放弃，还是没懂，我实在不熟悉他的发音和连读方式。

在收看身心灵领域的视频时，由于该领域的老师来自各个国家，所以说话时口音相当丰富，看到他们毫不在乎发音的准确与否，自然地表达着自己的观点时，我也感到信心大增，管它有没有口音，开口说就是了。不要太在乎口音，其实别人也不会那么在意你发音标准与否，尽管开口说就是了。另外，这些视频也极大地锻炼了我的听音辨词能力，因为就像中文的多音字一样，同一个英文单词也可以有好几个发音，不同国家的人会选择不同的发音方式。

在大量的读与听的过程中，我的英语语感越来越好，有时候思考和写东西时，也会直接使用英语，英语和中文毕竟是两门语言，有些词汇直接用英语比翻译为中文来得有意义。

在英语方面，现阶段我对自己没有任何高要求，我不想成为翻译，我不想成为英语教学工作者，英语对我来说是工具，了解西方知识的重要工具。我认为在自学英语时，只要掌握一定的词汇量和基本语法知识，我们便可以借助英语这一重要的语言工具去直接了解自己需要的外文知识，而不用等待翻译本的发行，也不用为翻译质量的不佳而烦恼。

具体需要多少词汇量，则要看你研究或阅读的领域是什么了。就我来说，了解了身心灵领域的常有词汇后，读懂这类书籍的字面意思就不会太难，我没有计算过这一领域的专有名词词汇量，回忆起来应该不算太多（当然总是有重要的生词出现，这不是问题，发现一个记录一个就好了）。我只是对这一领域的词汇比较熟悉，如果你让我读文学书籍，旅游书籍，医学书籍，那我估计读几行就要查新单词了，目前对这些领域兴趣不大，所以也就没打算学习和背诵这些领域的生词。明确自己学习英语的目的，可能会帮你节省许多时间和精力。

待续……

蓝田日暖

我在看一支舞，短而有力，很喜欢就看了好几遍。完后，心想：有哪些动词可以用于描写舞蹈动作呢？搜索发现有人总结了200个可以用于形容舞蹈的词语，把它们抄写在了纸上，断断续续地学习它们，认识多少是多少吧。

结合本来就已熟悉的动词，描述某舞者的表现如下：

He stands there upright, bright lights shining upon him, the whole audience already excited and high, but he keeps a poker face to match the theme of the song, a song that is gave and serious. As soon as music starts, he begins to slightly move his shoulders backward at a fast pace while his legs keep perpendicular. He is so familiar with every move that he doesn't need to look at other members to know whether he is at the right place or not.

He flexibly and precisely draws two arcs in the air with his arms and then lays his left hand on his right arm. Seconds later, he lowers his upper body with his arms dangling right before he swoops onto the floor. Now, he is lying on the ground, face down. He is waiting for his timing to bounce right back to where he just stood. After that, another dash happens and in a flash, he moves to the left side and gets down on one knee. Pushing against the ground with fully spread palms, he mildly raises his head and knows that his rap is about to happen. Here he comes, swaggering forward to the center of the stage and singing in his unique low, raspy voice...

He is totally devoted to the performance. He enjoys every bit of it. What a short yet rich and powerful dance!

蓝田日暖

在咖啡店里发现了《Five Weeks in a Balloon》，就这样看了起来。从中间20几章跳看的，显然不是为了看故事，而是想学些新词，还想看看有没有让我喜欢的动作描写。我看了三页，然后把这三页连续看了三遍——这也算是我的学习习惯吧。第一遍看完，不认识的字词马上查起来，等到第三遍时，读和理解就很顺畅了。

回到家后，继续看，遇到有一段描述火山喷发的场景，要命了，很多词不认识。一下子就有点冒火和沮丧，读起来不顺畅很不爽啊，而且觉得自己词汇量不够，接着又想——我这是在干嘛？这是什么学习任务吗？

不过这些想法集中发生在很短的时间里，我很快决定测验自己的学习效率。我把一堆词查完，搞懂意思后，读了两遍，第二遍时，我已经读得飞快了——和第一次简直有天壤之别（那是当然的了，发音都不确定，怎么读？）。我对自己的学习效率很感满意，而且百分百确定，如此一来，我的英语能力又有所增长了——确切地说，心情好时，哪怕只是学了一个新词，我都会为自己点赞（这种心态再怎么强调都不为过，过程和结果因此而愉悦了好几分）。

我学了哪些词及其特定语境中的意思呢，嗯，两三天内学了不少：

lava, torrent, drapery, ape, monotony, stupor, slumber, a tract of, a bank of (clouds), jut, jets of, crater, scorch, encampment, casket, hurl, fling, contrite, hare-brained, folly, at all events, at all hazards, ballast, wretch等等。

喜欢的一些动作描述：

plunge one's gaze into space; cast a glance at sb; place one's hand on some place; lay one's heads together to devise some plan; scan the horizon; leap out of some vehicle; bend over; recline at full length; lean over to sb's ear; snatch by one's waist; mop/wipe sweat/perspiration from one's forehead等等。

蓝田日暖

我的脑海里浮现出一幕场景。嗯，那顶帽子算是豹纹吗？豹纹用英文怎么说呢？我踌躇片刻，决定先别管，后续再查。再出现一个，还是决定后续再查，也不是什么紧急必需事项。

某天晚上，十一点左右，我突然很想查那些词了，心动就行动，我立刻拿起手机，在有道词典上流连了一个小时。

也有很多时候，写的过程中，或者刚写完一段文字后，我就会去查那些生词。查着查着，可能就被吸引着去查其他看似无关的词了。

最近在youtube上看了一部Grandfather的纪录片，记录了作者祖父一年四季的农场生活，画面宁静美好，有许多我喜欢的劳动细节。我决定描述其中的一些场景，需要确认一些词汇，就有了如下新学词汇：

scythe 长柄大镰刀；cluck 母鸡叫；stockpot 汤锅；sharpening stone磨刀石；sweet potatoes 红薯等等。

查词时，如发现一些特别喜欢的例句（通常我喜欢画面感强的例句），我会认真读上两遍，甚至记在纸上。

比如floral这个词，有花卉图案的，我就记住了两个例句，可以很快写出来，和原句不会差太多：

Greatgrandma stood at the wood stove, wiping her hands on the stained, floral apron.

He was resting his head on one hand and the corresponding elbow on the arm of the lounge chair.

好了，回到《祖父》这部纪录片，祖父每天清晨很早起床，烧水，挤牛奶，取鸡蛋，准备猪食。冬天，牵着马去林中运树。春天，劈柴，撒种，植树。夏天，取干草，收割，储粮。他的狗总是跟着他在田间地头走。当他把干柴一层层堆起来时，一只矮胖的母鸡会慢悠悠在旁边看着……

我喜欢看这样的场景，也喜欢描述它们。

After milking the cow, feeding the pigs, getting three eggs, grandfather walked back to the farmhouse. Water boiling in the big stockpot, firewood  cracking in the stove, grandfather grabbed his old mug and made himself a cup of coffee. He sat at the dining table by the window and began to brush his bread with honey. Simple but yummy breakfast! Before finishing the bread, grandfather was already eager to go out to plow his fields.

...

This summer morning, grandfather is busy cutting grass to make hay. He knows how to efficiently use his scythe, and from time to time, he would stop and sharpen it with a rectangular stone.

...

Grandfather, his horse and dog, together are walking on a country lane, heading for the fields. It's gonna be a wonderful harvest. A short while later, lots of sweet potatoes are dug out in one field, and a rat is found and fed to the dog.

蓝田日暖

我很喜欢描写表情神态，动作，氛围，经常会使用一些词，列一下：

震惊：shocked, gobsmacked, dumbfounded, devastated, startled, taken aback,
冷漠：indifferent, aloof, not interested, having a poker face, detached
皱眉：frown
快乐：smiley, happy, having a big grin on the face, having a big smile; happiness is written all over his/her face
快乐具体化：
突然轻快起来：brighten (up), lighten up
眼睛发亮（表示快乐）: Her eyes sparkle (with excitement/happiness). His eyes glow.

黑眼圈：dark circles. He has dark circles under his eyes.

喜欢：like, love, be fond of, be captivated by, be attracted to, fall for, fall in love with



例子：
接122，其中一位看似普通的家伙J其实是Kpop偶像，这两人在J的演唱会重逢，一些有趣的场景发生了。舞台上的那位穿得很花哨，白色卷发烟熏妆，和平时不化妆的样子差别很大，台下那位自然认不出，就觉得台上有个小伙特别好玩，一个劲往他那个方向看，也不知道在该干什么。


Colorful lights flashed around and L's eyes were forced to squint. He was not satisfied with his cousin who dragged him to this concert of a Kpop group, but he hadn't seen her for a long time, so he still said "yes" to her.

He looked like an old man who was gonna get a heart attack surrounded by girls' crazy shouting. Geez! He frowned and then was amused by their passion. Some girls even began to cry with happy tears. "Is it too late for me to get out?" he pondered. Just then, he heard powerful drumbeats, and coupled with them were a dozen of young flowery men. Maybe less then a dozen, but definitely more than eight. They wore bright red suits, glittery jewelry and a lot of makeup. L couldn't help roasting their style while girls and some boys in the stadium started a game titled "who is shouting 'oppa' louder."

Gobsmacked, L looked at his tearful cousin and then looked at the stage where that white-haired guy was staring in the direction of his cousin or him?  "Who is this guy? Is he interested in my cousin?" L's main focus never put on the performance, because his mind was twisted in this cult-like ambience. He couldn't understand a fanatic fan's stance and he wanted to. However, that guy, by his antics, always distracted him from observing the audience. He would quickly move to other parts of the stage and then dance back to the nook near them and try his best to stay there as long as he can until other members push him away. "What are you doing, bro?" L felt that he was haunted by a lot of myths: Why theses fans so crazy? Why this guy kept looking in this direction? What's his motive?

...

蓝田日暖

重要词汇

如果我对什么特别感兴趣，特别想要探索或描述这样东西的话，那么与此有关的词汇（中英文）对我来说就是重要词汇，我会查找确认。比如，最近idyllic这个词就比较重要。在英文写作过程中，许多词汇会很自然出现，有不少过去我并没有仔细背诵或琢磨过用法，但当它们自动出现时，正确概率很高，这也是写作的有趣——你不知道究竟什么情节会出现，哪个词汇会出现在哪里。

How interesting he met an Asian guy in this foreign remote town! As he walked in TT Inn, he could feel all the eyes were focused upon him. All the eyes only added up to ten eyes, because there were just five people and one was the owner. Then, to his surprise, four of them began to shift their glance between him and another man, a man sitting by the backyard door. He looked over and discovered that that man was Asian too.

Never would he felt interested in approaching an Asian guy in big cities, but after a long time not seeing any Asian people, he felt excited. He walked to his table, asking whether he could sit there, and the answer was a quick "yes." Though not from the same country, they still communicated well in English. Shortly after he got his drink, this new friend said to him, "I had a plot of land nearby, wanna go? I live off-grid. Do you know off-grid?" Shaking his head, he remembered something important, "Is it idyllic? Full of natural beauty?" A big grin crawled upon this young man's face, and with such confidence, he answered, "Of course. I'm sure you will love it. You can visit my cottage, vegetable garden and my buddies-I have a dog, four ducks and two rabbits."

He couldn't imagine what exactly that place would be, which immediately enhanced his curiosity. And soon he was sitting in a pickup, heading for unknown countryside. What he was gonna see really amazed him and became one of his most beautiful memories.

The pickup stopped in front of a small cottage. It's cute and rustic, not flashy at all. A large jujube tree stood in the "yard," accompanied by a wooden swing. He heard ducks quacking from somewhere while his friend was being greeted and licked by a furry dog...

就不具体写了，最近看了一些园艺农耕节目，就把它们写进了随机故事里。

蓝田日暖

有段时间描写人物的穿着打扮比较多，就学习了不少这方面的词汇，通常是写作过程中发现有些词不会搜索发现。

立刻列出一些我知道并且常用的：

bucket hat 渔夫帽；baseball cap 棒球帽；beret 贝雷帽；beanie 无边小帽；pocket square （西服口袋）装饰方巾；suit 西服；suit jacket 西服上装；waistcoat 背心/马甲；tank top 一般男生夏天穿的无袖背心；shirt 衬衫；plaid shirt 格子衬衫；striped shirt 条纹衬衫；slacks 宽松长裤；leggings 绑腿或者打底裤；unbuttoned 敞口/不系纽扣的…… unbuttoned shirt/coat。。。。。。；overcoat 大衣（一般冷天穿的）；gown 礼服（女星红地毯穿的基本可以叫gown）；robe 浴袍等；sleeveless …… 无袖的；sleeveless T-shirt 无袖T恤衫；long-sleeved 长袖的；long-sleeved T-shirt 等等；high-heeled 高跟的；breast pocket 胸袋；tie 领带；bow-tie 蝴蝶领结；tie clip/clasp/slide/bar 领结；cuff links 袖扣；waders 防水高筒靴；chest waders 渔夫装/钓鱼裤……

头发：
卷发（ have long） curls；刘海 bangs；软趴趴/耷拉的头发 limp hair；slicked-back/combed-back hair 背头/向后梳的发型；mullet 曾经流行，最近也流行过的发型（见某一时期的吴亦凡）；bun 发髻；plait 辫子；smooth hair 柔顺的头发；ponytail 马尾辫；wig 假发；perm 烫卷发

这样写太枯燥了，还是写几段具体的描述吧，注意其中的一些介词——介词我不具体说了。

In his dark-blue silk shirt and ripped jeans, right before they went on to the stage, Jack showed a video clip to his team member Jerry, "Could you be more obvious? You are an idol now. You should know how to manage your facial expressions." Jerry, who wore a very formal black suit, turned around with a dumbfounded face, replied, "I am the one who fails to hide emotions? I?!" But he got no answer from the asker, because Jack was busy putting on a glittery jacket over his already sparkling shirt.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hiding his face behind a mask and sunglasses, he walked fast in the terminal. He wore a white T-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers, very different from his usual style. No bling-bling but a simple ring was seen on his fingers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What's wrong with your hair?"

"I wanna ask the same question of that stylist who cut my hair so short. And finally my hair became a plant because only the middle part was long enough to stand up. "

"Okay. Interesting. Your face looked chubby but his was sharp."

"Yeah! He was quite handsome. I really liked his style back then. He had lots of earrings and he knew how to make himself manly with earrings. Usually people think earrings make men look girly."

"Let's be honest. Whoever had such a sharp face can rarely look girly. So what about his style these days?"

"I think he is a bit lazy but he disagreed, and then he said it was time-consuming to choose what to wear among so much jewelry. So I caught him. I'm right."


...

蓝田日暖

当我遇到一部很值得观看的剧时，一般我会看多遍。剧情先吸引了我，第一遍关注故事，会频繁看中文字幕，而在第二次、第三次观看时，则忍不住开始学习与积累新单词，这已经成为习惯与乐趣，因为这是一件很集中注意力，比许多其他事情都更有趣的活动。

第二次看时，我可能会要求自己尽可能地专注每一帧画面（视觉），倾听每个词（听觉）。如此专注的视听体验，使得我在“离线”情况下也能清晰回忆起那些画面，记住那些台词（相对难一些）。于是乎，我便可以采用新的极为生动的回忆、学习与巩固方式。当然，越是做这件事，它的效率就会越高。

举例来说，电视剧中的一个场景是以家庭为主题的对谈，虽然不能记住每个单词，但主旨和大部分单词我都已记清（目前，非常专注地看一两遍就能做到）。打开笔记本，我便可以激活那些画面，然后将其中的台词写在纸上：

H: Tell me about your family.
W: What a convenient psychiatry it is! Like a low hanging fruit.
H: I suspect the fruit is on a high branch that is difficult to reach.
W: So is my mother. Never knew her... How about you telling me about your parents.
H: Both of my parents died when I was very young. I was a proverbial orphan until my uncle adopted me when I was 16 years old.
W: So you and Abigail were all orphaned as you were young.
H: You would discover that we and Abigail have a lot in common. She's already demonstrated an aptitude for the psychiatry.

...

W: I don't know. There is always something foreign to me about the concept of family. Like an ill fitting suit.
H: So you created your own family?
W: Uh... You mean my dogs. Yes, I collected strays. Thank you, for feeding them when I was away.
H: No, I was referring to Abigail.
...

H: Now, tell me about the Turner family. Are they affluent?
W: Yes. They are well to do.
H: Your family?
W: No. We were poor. I followed my father from this boatyard to that around the country.【我再度忽略地名，遇到地名，我很容易有意识忽略。】
H: Always the new boy at school. Always the stranger.
W: Always.【语气加重】

...

蓝田日暖

I never thought simple word combination could be so meaningful and beautiful. However, if I was not attracted to this TV series that much, could I so strongly feel the beauty in their dialogues? Definitely not.

"I miss my dogs. But I'm not gonna miss you. I'm not gonna find you. I'm not going to look for you. I don't wanna think about you anymore..."

When I pondered the above impressive lines, I must admit that the way Hugh Dancy spoke imbued extra beauty into these words. I liked his voice and clear pronunciation. Usually, he spoke slowly, and therefore his intricate feelings were easier to sense.

Um... I haven't got bored with this show yet. Why? Because it is worth exploring in so many ways. Because it's a piece of art I'm still savoring. What marvelous cinematography! So easy to choose artistically appealing frames and create MVs out of them! As I am watching MVs, often I would tell myself, "This frame, season 1; this, the beginning of season 3; this scene, season 1, after Will came out of the hospital to take revenge; This, season 3, in Will's imaginative world..." Yes, I could quickly remember where they came from and their contexts, and for me this was a fun mind game to play.

I like discovering something that can provide long time pleasure, that can intrigue my mind, that can make me more eager about life. This morning, I connected this thought to the Cartoon Peppa Pig, thinking, "Isn't it also continually pleasing lots of kids as well as adults day after day?" Even though I had no strong interest in it, I could still think on behalf of kids in my family, so I immediately downloaded  into my phone five episodes of Peppa Pig that could be used as an audio drama.

蓝田日暖

About the ending parts of Hannibal season 2. My feelings about a scene.

They threw notes into the fireplace. So many happened in this house, in this library, in these chairs. Hard to let go, but must, for the new journey. Standing before the fire, hearing cracks from the wood, Will was experiencing a raging storm in his heart.

Hannibal leaned forward, approaching Will, sniffed, and something, some smell, like the sharpest arrow in the world, directly cut into his heart as he traced it back to its origin. Will was cheating him. He wanted him to die or be caged. His smile faded, replaced by the deepest sadness covering his eyes. He still wanted to believe; he still held some hope, and he had to cultivate this elusive hope no matter how delicate it was. This was the bitterness of falling in love with someone, only to find out that instead of loving back, his beloved wanted to catch him, torture him, depriving him of the most precious thing in his life. How cunning!

夏之天使

成年人学英语，太不容易了。
看得出来，这也是一个学习型家长。
赞！

蓝田日暖

根据上下文意思听出一个新词的意思，听得越多就越容易。但，显然听与写是不一样的。我好像在说废话？

一个词难不难记也是很主观的，我觉得容易的你可能觉得难，你觉得难的我可能觉得容易。“凯拉塞尔”听了几遍，我就知道这是行李传送带的意思。可这个词对我就有点难度，一开始我输入的是carasel，没找到，然后再输carasal，还是不对。最后发现正确写法是carousel。Gee~~~~，一般来说，听到[ə]的发音，我一个想到的是"a"或"o"，不太会想到“ou”或“au”——"au"的话，@restaurant。接着我看到了和这个词有一字之差的carousal，就只有一个字母之差，意思可就完全不同了。

还有一个难点就是双写问题了。现在看到双写，我就会高度关注，什么tomorrow, palette了。谈到palette，还特别要注意它与palate的区别：发音不同，意思差别还是挺大。这不由又让我想起：heroin和heroine，我已经不知道多少次看到影视剧评论区的人们把“女主角”叫成“海洛因”了。把文具（stationery）写成stationary的也大有人在。不能怪他们啊，确实容易混淆，发音一样，差别就在于一两个字母，一不小心就得弄错。甚至有些人从一开始就弄错，于是一错到底。

中文听写？那就更难了，除非你之前就看过那个字，否则成功写出来的概率很低，就是犹犹豫豫写出一半（偏旁或部首），还是不能确定另一半是什么。

为了证明这一点，我适时拿出了笔记本，上面赫然一个“豕”字。“豕”字，从我识字以来，一直把它读作“豚”，哪怕知道它的意思是猪，我也读“豚”。如果哪个音频里出现了“shi”的发音，我估计会写成”矢“。

最近集中学习了一些成语。曾经有一段时间，为了看懂《庄子》之类的书，狠狠查了一番字典，从那以后养成了查字典的习惯，时不时会用一下在线汉典。效果还是明显的，现在的我可以在短时间内学习并理解较多成语，基本上能正确地把它们写在纸上。这件事颇有乐趣，应该说：我先察觉了乐趣，然后再集中学习的，几天之前这种学习动力还不存在。

记住之后，我还分门别类，重点回顾了比较喜欢的成语。

力量和势头：雷霆万钧，势如破竹，势不可挡，所向披靡，万夫莫当。

某种相同或相似的态度：吊儿郎当，游手好闲，不务正业，无所事事，好整以暇，不置可否。

情绪：忧愤成疾，怆天呼地，怆然涕下，凄然泪下，凄入肝脾，喜跃抃舞，怒火中烧，怒发冲冠，恼羞成怒，哀莫大于心死，杯弓蛇影，草木皆兵，风声鹤唳。

紧急危险情况：危如累卵，危在旦夕，大厦将倾，倒悬之危/苦/急，千钧一发。

利落态度：干错利落，壮士断腕，快刀斩乱麻，手起刀落，当机立断，应机立断。

留存之稀罕人或物：灵蛇之珠，隋侯之珠，硕果仅存，鲁殿灵光。

其他我这次新学且印象深刻的词：雪窗萤几，堆案盈几，凭几据杖，夙兴夜寐，旰食宵衣，目不交睫，目不见睫……

蓝田日暖

A lot of kids like playing with puddles, and he is definitely one of them.

Our timing was perfect. We got free time. There was a pair of galoshes on the shoe shelf. Puddles of different sizes were easy to find these days. So we quickly went out, searching for perfect puddles to play with.

Soon our desires were fulfilled, for puddles were abundant in this community. In the bright yellow galoshes, he joyfully screamed as he was running through the puddle. Water sprayed around, he didn't care and I decided that it's no big deal to dry my clothes afterwards...

We had great fun with puddles. We made the best of recent rainy days. We created some interesting stories that could be remembered and retold in future days.

蓝田日暖

I was deliberately milking something I watched on a variety show. Writing it in English would be a good way to focus my mind, so why not?

They and the guest stood by the zoo gate, talking about the theme of this episode - being a zoo keeper for a day. Soon they were guided into the zoo to get familiar with a popular animal. It was a brown, glossy, horse-like animal that had a long tongue to roll fresh leaves into its mouth. They immediately got into the role of zoo keepers to the point that they were willing to clean up its den.

One corner of the den was covered with its feces and sawdust. Tired of differentiating the feces from the sawdust, A surprised all the present people by bending down to pick the feces by his bare hands, but the guest followed suit quickly. Only B, a fanatic of hygiene stood still, not moving a bit. Moreover, right after his co-workers finished their job, he reminded them to wash hands. The minute he stopped talking, A extended his hand in front of B, with the palm upturned, and a very interesting scene happened - B automatically moved his head forward, almost resting his chin on A's palm before he suddenly came to his senses that this palm just had intimate interaction with animal feces.

Um, what did that knee-jerk reaction mean? No matter what, i see it as very very cute.

蓝田日暖

我把《树屋大师》无字幕版的第九季下载了，之前看字幕版的时候实在无法专注于听，这样也好，可以进一步提升自己的听力。

什么是内在驱动力？就是没人叫我看什么英语素材，没人叫我把敏锐捕捉到生词写在本子上，没人叫我去查字典，没人叫我认真阅读英英词典，没人叫我在脑子里回顾这些生词，也没有什么考试等着我，但我就是想这么做。原因很简单，我喜欢，我乐意。时间越往后推移，越不存在“我辛苦地学英语”，“我靠毅力学习英语”，“我努力制定计划学习英语”这样的心理。如果这样勉强，我就不学了。


这样的学习效率很高，很多时候我可以直接回忆出学习当时的情景，应该是专注所致吧。

当我学一个词时，除非过于太复杂的词（比如对单复数使用情景有较复杂的定义时），我自设的掌握目标一般为：掌握它意味着我可以直接把它用在写作中。

这次的素材与建筑学密切相关，很高兴就此学习了不少房屋构造、建造过程、装饰方面的词语（有些以前即知道，这次是强化），比如：

porch门廊；走廊。 deck 露台。skylight 天窗。tenon 榫头。mortise/groove卯眼/榫眼/凹槽。beam横梁。post柱子。joist托梁。rafter椽子。staircase=stairway （一段）/一座楼梯。stringer 楼梯侧梁横条。paneling 镶板/嵌板（一般是纵向的）。decking（水平）铺面板。siding外墙面板。kitchenette小厨房。forklift叉车；铲车。table saw桌锯。prefabricate预制。bolt/tab螺栓，螺钉……

Pete Nelson, the treehouse master, scampers around like a kid, happily building the double-deck treehouse for his client. The carpenter and rigger just chopped down a tree branch that was dangerous enough to kill someone below if it fell. All the carpenters have great physical strength especially arm strength, otherwise they can't lift all those heavy beams, rafters and walls upon the tree.

They are versatile carpenters but not to the degree that they can install water pipes or electricical equipment, so they have to call plumbers and electricians here to make this treehouse electricity and water available 24/7. Other than carpenters, plumbers, electricians, treehouse designer (Pete), the whole project also needs an interior desinger to fill it with matching furniture, lights, ornaments, etc.

Abundant clients offer abundant perspectives of treehouses' meaning--some use it as a working and resting paradise, some see it as a place for kids to explore and have fun, some want to play poker with friends all afternoon there, some want it to be fully bright with lots of windows, some like sleeping there at night, some...

《树屋大师》第九季无字幕版
https://www.bilibili.com/video/a ... 1967907944893349571

b站有十几期带中文字幕，但可能快下线了（版权问题），想看的还是尽快吧。

蓝田日暖

I found a new way to improve my English. I was watching a clip from Everybody Loves Raymond--a classic American sitcom. Four couples sit together, trying their best to talk, but the atmosphere is still awkward. I watched and listened, but some words and word combinations confused me. I read the comments, feeling happy that some people captured and highlighted the most hilarious lines in their comments which contained the words I wanted to know. My watching and listening, combined with the reading, lead me to knowing some new words like "safari," "denomination," " Lutheran," "antipode." After a while, I watched the clip again to enhance my memory of these newly learned words.

Then I began to watch short clips of The Ellen Show. In one video, the guest Will Smith was talking about lions visiting his house, but Ellen looked at the footage and said "It's a mountain lion." Will Smith answered emphatically, "It's a lion." I didn't understand why they quibbled over it, because for me a mountain lion was a lion too. Obviously, they were different, so I had to verify it. After the searching, now I get some new knowledge that is: a mountain lion=cougar=puma 美洲狮, is different from what we usually see as lions.

The conversation continued by Will Smith telling the audience how he dealt with this situation--he called the ranger. I was clear that I heard the word "ranger," but I was not sure what it meant in this context, so I looked it up in a dictionary and knew its exact meaning was 公园管理员 or 护林员, because this lion came from a nearby preservation park. He made big circles with lion urine to prevent lions from coming again. The footage of the adult lion appeared again on the big TV screen,  Ellen hadn't given up teasing Will Smith with "a mountain lion" thing, so she looked at the screen and said "It seems you do need to landscape your garden." The audience burst into great laugh, and finally, I knew why they were laughing, because Ellen was implying his garden was like a treeless mountain area that a mountain lion would like to stay.

So I get to know more clearly how to use the following words:

denomination N-C 教派；Lutheran 路德教会的；路德会教徒；mountain lion 美洲狮；antipode 正相反的事物 （The antipode of the word "hell" is "heaven."）...

For me, this learning method has several functions such as: I feel good by watching funny stuff; I learn some new English words and also some cultural knowledge.

蓝田日暖

关于语言，我听到了一个很有趣的故事。有个小男孩随着马戏团巡回演出，马戏团里的表演者来自世界各地，说的是五花八门的语言。小男孩很喜欢串门，一段时间后（具体时间忘了，大概是一两年吧），他便可以很流利地与许多国家的人交流了，他同时掌握了好多门口语，而且切换自如。

仅仅是语言环境吗？如果是一个同样喜欢串门的大人，在那样的环境中，他是否可以像那个小男孩一样，短短几年后，便可以用多国语言自如沟通呢？很难。因为大部分成年人对于学习这回事都积累了大量的固化思维，比如“都这个年纪了，重新学习一门语言，开玩笑呢？”而且成年人的专注方向也不一样了，小孩子初次听到别人说着听不懂的话，可能满怀好奇心，会非常专注地听，想要模仿，想要了解。成年人大概脑子里会是“他究竟在说什么呢？”“他这个表情可能是这个意思吧。”“根本听不懂，这样听下去有什么意思呢？”……这就谈不上专注了，也根本没在注意对方的发音，发音与意思之间的联系。

听说有这样一个学校，成年人在那儿学习语言，老师会给他们按一个全新的背景和身份。打比方说，你不再是个美国人，你是个中国人，只不过多年不说中文，有些生疏，现在决定重温和进一步提升中文能力。或者你是一个对这门语言充满热情，充满信心的学生……

开玩笑呢？！有些人直接走了，无法接受这样的设定。有些人了解这样做是为了淡化某些限制性信念，提升他们的学习效率，愿意接受这样的安排，但往往是这样，也需要一段时间（比如一个礼拜）来适应这种新身份，真的具有那样的心理和状态。一旦他们真的接受了新的设定，学习效率往往会多倍（5倍至10倍）增长。

可以简单想象和比较以下两种心理：

A：我都这个年纪了，要学习甚至掌握一门新语言何其困难，何况是大家都说难爆了的汉语/日语/意大利语/西班牙语/葡萄牙语……哎，记忆力也下降了，怎么能和那些学生比呢。

B：这门语言太有趣了，太有用了，听在耳朵里太美了，我想学，我要学，管它要花多长时间我都要学。上个礼拜收效显著，我已经能完整地背诵一首诗，并且写对每个字了，真是太厉害了。我听说他们本国的人都未必能写对那首诗里的每个字，这么说起来，我在书写上还是牛逼的嘛，哈哈哈哈……

人可以从心态A转到心态B吗？当然可以。那么心态A和心态B导致的学习效率和效果会很有很大差异吗？即便是根据经验法则，我们都能直截了当地说，当然不一样，心态B显然会导致更高的学习效率。

蓝田日暖

关系代词

接108帖，还有一种从句由关系代词打头，功能与副词从句很像，也是对主句的解释说明补充，简单来说就是信息补充，但它是用来解释说明补充名词对象的——比如人，动植物，其他物品，一种现象，一个时间段，等等，你可以在主句中找到这个对象。语法上这个名词对象叫先行词。

关系代词在从句中是占据重要位置的，通常是不可或缺的主语或宾语，从属连词则没有这样的情况，实际上不考虑语境和意义的话，从属连词引导的词语组合是一个完整的句子。随便举一个例子：
When I see you smile, I can face the world. I see you smile是个句子。

Spaghetti, which many of us enjoy, can be messy. which是关系代词，which=Spaghetti，所以从句实际上是：Many of us enjoy which(/Spaghetti).去掉which, 就变成了Many of us enjoy. Enjoy什么？这就莫名其妙了。

关系代词包括that, when, which, whichever, whichsoever, who, whoever, whosoever, whom, whomever, whomsoever whose, whosesoever whatever, whatsoever

Spaghetti, which many of us enjoy, can be messy.

Which就是指Spaghetti，这个从句说明Spaghetti广受欢迎的特点。也可以改一种形式，中间改为形容词修饰语，变为：
Spaghetti, being enjoyed by many of us, can be messy.

This is the book that everyone is talking about.将它一分为二，变成独立句子就是：
This is the book. Everyone is talking about the book. 去掉that/the book，就不是完整的句子了——Everyone is talking about.

其实这样的句子还是会有人觉得太罗嗦，为了简练，他们可能会把它改为：
This is the book talked about by everyone.

句子均来源于Yourdictionary，其他还有

She wrote to the person whom she had met last month.

We didn’t bring the receipt, which was a big mistake.

I have a friend whose cat is annoying.

People who are clever can always find a way.

Grandma remembers a time when radio shows were popular.

Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died. - Erma Bombeck

解释说明补充哪个名词，怎么解释说明补充？特别注意蓝色的两个句子：

We didn’t bring the receipt, which was a big mistake.
which前面加了逗号，这个which就不是用来形容the receipt，而是前面整个句子，也就是我们忘带收据这件事，这件事是个大错误。如果没有逗号，那后面那些话就是用来形容这收据的了——这张收据有问题。加不加逗号，意思差大发了。

People who are clever can always find a way.如果变成 People, who are clever, can always find a way.后者可以解释为对全体人类很有信心：人都是聪明的，总能找到出路。但没有逗号，最贴近的意思就是：聪明人总能找到出路。不管怎么样，加不加逗号意思清晰度上还是有很大差异，当然到底啥意思还是要联系上下文来看。

Yourdictionary上的地址：http://grammar.yourdictionary.co ... lative-pronoun.html

蓝田日暖

前面那个帖子太长了，继续上帖。

注意上面那些例句，如果你对写作比较讲究的话，那么可以记住这项与副词从句和逗号有关的通用规则：

这个句子如果打头的是主句，两个子句之间不用加逗号。如果这个子句是副词从句打头，那么在两个子句间加逗号，用以突出后半部分的主句。

其实上述列举，很多可以略加调整后，用and, but等并列连接词来连接，或者也可以用其他方式表达。怎么说呢，副词从句的使用其实是很直接的，没有什么留白，等于说——我用了这个词，我就告诉你这是个转折。我用了这个词，就是表明了这是条件等等。如果你一溜下来，大量使用这种词，像法律文档之类的无可厚非，但如果是艺术类的文章或小说，就会让读者产生审美疲劳，太套路，太死板。

也会显得多余。英语里有大量的省略手段，使用它们可以让文章简练，而且在特定情况下会更自然生动（读者不会因为太多的as, if, as long as, now that而反感）比如：

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there’s nothing left.

可以改为：

Walking through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there's nothing left.

这部分的各种具体解释，我还真说不出来了。可以去看旋元佑的《文法俱乐部》，没记错的话，里面介绍了大量的省略规则。

蓝田日暖

我也是个有强迫症的人啊，难度最大的从属连词写了几次，都给我删了，但这种连词还是挺重要的，还是把连词介绍完吧。如果觉得有疑惑，就不要纠结了，可以去百度一下，语言这东西就是这样，总归会有这样那样的摇摆，此贴就是做个介绍，不值得细究，如果要细究，可以去查找更专业的资料。

从属连词（Subordinating conjunctions），结合两个子句或者说句子的两个部分，一个为主句（independent clause or main clause），一个为从句或从属子句（dependent clause）。主句是可以独立出来成为一个有意义的句子，当然这个意义在具体的背景中会有些模糊，所以需要从属子句来说明解释补充。由从属连词（as, if, as long as等）打头的那个句子是副词从属子句，它是服务于主句的，在具体的上下文中单独拉出来没有意义。

从属子句的词性其实是副词性的，主要回答时间（when）、地点（where）、原因（how）、程度（to what extent）、条件（under what conditions）等问题。与定语从句不一样，这个以后再介绍。

那就比较容易了，与时间有关的从属连词是before, after, when, while, as等。与地点有关的就是where, wherever等。原因：because。程度：than, as much as等。条件：if, as long as等。以上只是简单举例。

句子我就不多想了，直接由Yourdictionary来：

after - “Your heart will break like mine, and you’ll want only me after you’ve gone” (Ella Fitzgerald).

although - “Although I’ve been here before, he’s just too hard to ignore” (Amy Winehouse).

as - “As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there’s nothing left” (Coolio).

as long as - “I don’t care who you are, where you’re from or what you did as long as you love me” (Backstreet Boys).

because - “I’m everything I am because you loved me” (Celine Dion).

before - “Just call me angel of the morning, angel. Just touch my cheek before you leave me, baby” (Juice Newton).

even if - “Even if the sky is falling down, you’ll be my only” (Jay Sean).

if - “If you leave me now, you’ll take away the biggest part of me” (Peter Cetera/Chicago).

once - “Once you pop, you can’t stop” (Pringles commercials).

now that - “Baby, now that I’ve found you, I won’t let you go” (Tony Macaulay/John MacLeod).

since - “I guess I’ll never be the same since I fell for you” (B.B. King).

though - “Walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain though your dreams be tossed and blown” (Rodgers and Hammerstein).

unless - “We’re never going to survive unless we get a little crazy” (Seal).

until - “[You] don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone” (Cinderella).

when - “When I see you smile, I can face the world” (Bad English).

where - “There’s a light burning bright, showing me the way, but I know where I’ve been” (Scott Wittman).

while - “I look at the world, and I notice it’s turning while my guitar gently weeps” (The Beatles).

地址：http://grammar.yourdictionary.co ... g-conjunctions.html

可结合：http://grammar.yourdictionary.co ... adverb-clauses.html

http://grammar.yourdictionary.co ... lause-modifier.html