我曾被不止一个书商告知过：在我们中国，就论述英语的书而言，除了读本和词典以外，语法书的销路比别的书好。而且似乎每个学习英语的人总会读一本语法书。我自己是一个认真学习语法者。我读过说不出多少本语法书，其中有中国人、英国人、美国人、日本人、丹麦人和荷兰人写的，而且时常注意找新出版的语法书。
I have been told by more than one bookseller that, here in China, so far as books on English are concerned, grammars sell better than other kinds of books except readers and dictionaries. And it seems to me that nearly every Chinese who learns English at all reads a grammar. I myself am a serious student of grammar; I have read I cannot tell how many English grammar books, by Chinese, English, American, Japanese, Danish and Dutch authors, and am always on the look-out for new ones.
可是这篇文章的目的却是劝你不要花太多时间在学习语法上。我为语法而读语法，但并不认为每一个学习英语者都该这样做。你学习英语的目的在于学会实际使用英语。这个目的是不可能从只读语法来达到的。我甚至不认为要是我以前只读语法书而不读别的东西现在会能够写出像这本书中的这种简易英语。
The object of this article, however, is to advise you not to devote too much time to the study of grammar. I study grammar for grammar’s sake, but I do not think every student of English should do so. You study English in order to be able to make practical use of it. This object isno to be attained by mere study of grammar. I do not even think I should now beable to write such simple English as that of this book if I had read nothing but grammars.
语法告诉你一些规则，一些例外，也许还有一些习语，可是词的正确使用不仅限于此。举个例子，语法有种现象叫双重宾语，如可以说He gave her a pen. 但是要是说 He introduced her a friend（这句中her和friend 好像构成双重宾语）就错了。事实是这样的：introduce不能带双重宾语，但是这一点不能在语法中学到，只能从仔细阅读中学到。许多中国的学习者写出可能被某条语法规则证明为对的但必然是错的句子。
Grammar tells you some general rules, some exceptions to rules, and perhaps some idioms. But the correct use of English is not a mere matter of such. For example, grammar has what is called the double object, as in “He gave her a pen”; but it would be wrong to say “He introduced her a friend”, in which “her” and “friend” seem to form the double object. The fact is that “introduce” cannot take the double object; but this point is not to be learnt from grammar but only from careful reading. Many Chinese students write sentences that might be justified by one grammatical rule or another but are certainly wrong.
我相信你已经读了一些语法书，而且可能花了许多时间在这个学科上，虽然你现在也许还不能把任何东西（例如一封短信）写得在语法上完美。语法可能帮助你使用英语，但是只是在一定程度上。别把语法的学习看作你以精通英语为目的而必须干的全部（或者几乎全部）的工作。仔细阅读和经常实习比学习语法更为重要得多。
I believe you have already read a few grammars, and probably have spent a great deal of time on the subject, though you may not now be able to write anything — say a short letter — grammatically perfect. Grammar may help you to use English, but only to acertain extent. Do not look on the study of grammar as all or nearly all that you have to do in order to master English. Careful reading and constant practice are far more important.
作者简介：葛传槼（1906~1992），男，复旦大学教授，上世纪50年代复旦大学英语语言文学系“三巨头”之一，中国研究英语惯用法的先驱，著有久负盛名的《英汉四用词典》，《新英汉词典》（主要编纂者之一），以及《英语惯用法词典》。
（复旦外语）
