When you read a story in English, do you read it for the story or for the English? This is a question that is not so foolish as it may seem. For I find that many learners of English pay far more attention to the story than to the English. They read and enjoy and for a long time afterwards remember the story, but do not care to study the use of words and phrases in it.
当你在读一篇英语故事时，你是为了故事还是为了英文而读？这个问题看起来有些傻，其实并非如此。因为我见到许多英语学习者注意故事多于注意英文。他们读了故事，欣赏它，并且在此后的很长一段时间都记得它。但是他们却不肯研究它里面的词和短语的用法。
For instance, they keep in the memory how the mystery of the eternal triangle is solved, but do not remember a single sentence in the story and cannot tell what preposition is used before or after a certain word in the speech of a certain character.
举个例子来说，他们牢牢地记着那个三角恋爱的迷案是怎样解开的，但故事中的句子却一个都不记得，也说不出在某个人物的谈话中什么介词用在某个词的前面或后面。
Of course, it is all right to read and enjoy and remember a story, and so long as one wants to know the story only, one need not bother about the language. But the case is quite different with a learner of English. I mean a student of English as distinguished from a student of stories or what is called the general reader.
当然读了故事，欣赏它，记住它是好事。要是一个人的目的只是要知道那个故事，那他也不必关心语言。但是语言学习者的情况就不同了。我的意思是英语学习者和故事学习者或所谓一般读者应有所区别。
Whatever a learner of English reads, he should, in my opinion, regard the language as the main thing. For instance, on reading this preceding sentence, besides understanding its meaning, he should notice such points as the concessive use of “whatever”, “in my opinion”, ”regard…as…” and “the main thing”.
不论一个英语学习者在读什么，我认为他应该把语言看作最主要的。举例来说，读了前面这句英文，除了了解它的意思外，他该注意到“whatever”的让步用法。“in my opinion”、“regard…as…”和“the main thing”。
In this way, he does learn some English though what he reads may happened to be otherwise uninteresting or uninstructive. It may safely be said that this is a far better way of learning English composition than to read and consider the so-called principles of the subject.
这样, 他才的确学到一些英语，虽然他所读的东西在别的方面也许恰巧既没趣味又没教益。但可以肯定地说，这是比单纯去阅读然后思考作文的原则来得更好的学习英文作文的方法。
Incidentally, I would advise teachers of English to question their pupils on points of diction and construction as well as on facts and thoughts.
顺便说一句，我建议英语教师在提问学生关于文章的事实和思想方面之外，也要注意文章选词和结构方面的要点。
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）
