礼节美语 Business Etiquette 130 Becoming Fluent in English (2)

（单词翻译）

　　Robert正在向中国来的同事Penny¹介绍理解和掌握单词的经验。
R: You could buy an English-language magazine about news or fashion. Read through the articles and underline² and look up the words you don't know. Then read the article or sentence again after you know what the words mean.
P: So the sentence will help my brain remember the word?
R: Yes, I think it does.
P: I sometimes have a hard time with grammar. I just can't remember all the verb³ tenses and other little rules.
Robert建议Penny看英文杂志，把不认识的单词划出来，查字典，underline and look up the words you don't know. 知道意思以后再回过头来重读一遍。Penny说有时觉得语法很难。
R: You know something? I'd say forget about grammar in the beginning. Focus⁴ on understanding and communicating. To tell you the truth, I'm still fuzzy on quite a few English grammar rules myself.
P: But eventually my grammar will improve, right?
R: Certainly. Through reading and speaking you will sort of pick it up automatically⁵. And you know something else?
Making mistakes is one of the best ways to learn, grammar included.
P: Ah...but it's so embarrassing⁶!
R: Exactly! Getting embarrassed⁷ helps us remember things!
Robert让Penny上来先不要管语法，通过阅读和交流，语法自然会慢慢掌握。You will pick it up automatically. Robert两次说到，You know something? 意思是，告诉你吧。他觉得，出错是学习的最佳途径之一，Making mistakes is one of the best ways to learn. Penny说，那多丢人啊。It's so embarrassing. Robert居然说，这样以后才不会忘。
R: And one more thing: some people try to translate from their mother tongue while speaking. I've found this is a bad idea. It slows you down. Languages are usually quite different from each other so it's not really a help.
P: So I should just say it. Even if it comes out wrong, right?
R: Yep. You can also keep a notebook and when you hear or see something you don't quite understand, write it down and look it up later.
P: Ah, I already have a great dictionary in my cell⁸ phone! I use it everyday.
Robert反对说英语的时候从母语，mother tongue，直接翻译过来，因为这样做只会，slow you down，放慢你的速度。Robert还建议Penny随身带个笔记本，把听到看到的生字记下来回去查。Penny说她手机里就有字典，而且每天都在用。