《超越概念:泛读(第1册)》采用了中美教授、学者合作编写的形式。由中外学者合编教材国内已有先例,但是本套教材无论从编撰者的数量到编写人员的素质,从双方合作的广度到相互交流的深度,从教材种类所涵盖的范围到其内容的真实性,都是前所未有的。编写初始由中方编者提出编写思路、选材要求,之后将要求交付美方编者,由美方编者在美国选材。在选材过程中,双方经过多次讨论,最后确定每一篇课文的内容与长度。然后由中方编者根据所选内容编写配套的练习,最后由美方审读并润色。这种分工方式最充分地利用了双方的优势:中方编者不但有在国外学习、工作、获取学位的经历,而且长期在国内高校从事英语教学,对国内学生的需求以及国内现有教材的情况了如指掌,可以准确地把握教材的内容和难易程度。而美方编者的优势在于对西方,特别是美国的英语教学和文化的认知与了解。他们出国前均为国内高校英语教师,并有在美国大学英语系不低于20年的教学经验。他们不但对国外的英语教学了如指掌,更重要的是对英语语言和文化有一种直觉的感知,而这种感知是从任何教科书中学不到的。
超越权威:凝聚全国英语专业教学指导委员会主任何其莘教授数十年教学、科研及教材编写经验,是何其莘教授的又一次自我超越。 超越国界:汇集众多中美名家的经验与智慧,吸收国际先进理念,旨在提升本土教学水平。 超越传统:打破以功能训练为主的传统教材编写模式,充分考虑当前教学实践,创新教学方法和手段,突出文化特征,培养学生人文素质和文化意识。
培养高校英语专业学生的文化素养要有合适的教材:不是那种仅仅文字漂亮却没有太多文化内涵的传统教材,而是具有时代特征,选自政治、经济、社会真实交往,含有丰富文化内涵的读本,同时兼有能够启发学生思考和分析的活泼、互动的教学方法以及配套的课外实践活动。这就是中国人民大学出版社推出“超越概念”这套英语专业系列教材的宗旨。
“超越概念”是一套完整的高校英语专业本科系列教材,涵盖了2000年教育部颁布执行的《高等学校英语专业英语教学大纲》中规定的“英语技能”和“英语知识”两大课程板块中的所有课程,由一批长期从事国内高校英语专业本科教学的中国教师和一批美国学者(均为20世纪80年代赴美留学,而后在美国大学获得博士学位和终身教职的华裔教授)合作编写而成。
与国内高校当前使用比较广泛的几套英语专业教材相比,“超越概念”有以下几个特点:
第一,教材采用了中美教授、学者合作编写的形式。由中外学者合编教材国内已有先例,但是本套教材无论从编撰者的数量到编写人员的素质,从双方合作的广度到相互交流的深度,从教材种类所涵盖的范围到其内容的真实性,都是前所未有的。编写初始由中方编者提出编写思路、选材要求,之后将要求交付美方编者,由美方编者在美国选材。在选材过程中,双方经过多次讨论,最后确定每一篇课文的内容与长度。然后由中方编者根据所选内容编写配套的练习,最后由美方审读并润色。这种分工方式最充分地利用了双方的优势:中方编者不但有在国外学习、工作、获取学位的经历,而且长期在国内高校从事英语教学,对国内学生的需求以及国内现有教材的情况了如指掌,可以准确地把握教材的内容和难易程度。而美方编者的优势在于对西方,特别是美国的英语教学和文化的认知与了解。他们出国前均为国内高校英语教师,并有在美国大学英语系不低于20年的教学经验。他们不但对国外的英语教学了如指掌,更重要的是对英语语言和文化有一种直觉的感知,而这种感知是从任何教科书中学不到的。凭着这种感知,他们不但可以在教材的最终审定过程中杜绝那种语法全对但读起来不像英语的中式英语,更能够在选材的过程中准确把握住西方文化核心的东西。
第二,教材以主要英语国家的文化为切入点,全部课文采用英文原文。教材的配套练习有很强的针对性,适合我国高校英语专业课堂教学使用。以精读教材为例,从第一册的第一课起,全部的课文均采用有实质内容的英文原文,从而彻底摒弃了无文化内容的以句型练习为主的课文。另外,语法讲解和练习均出自课文中出现的语法现象,而不是脱离课文内容、为语法而讲语法的训练。这样安排语法的讲解和练习就是将语法放在一个从属的地位。语法仅仅是对语言现象的描述与诠释,而不是规范语言对错的标准。与课文的文化内涵和语言的活力相比,语法理应处于从属地位。无论是以书面语为主的精读、泛读课文,还是形式活泼的听力、口语课文,有很多句子是“不符合语法规则”的。然而正是这些看似不符合语法的句子才是语言的生命,是有血有肉的活生生的语言。而我们的学生就是要感悟、学习并掌握这种有生命力的活的语言,而不是那些完全按语法规则编造出来的僵死的语言。
何其莘,博士,北京外国语大学教授,博士生导师。1994年-2005年任北外副校长,现为中国人民大学外国语学院院长、清华大学双聘教授、广东外语外贸大学等29所院校的客座教授、教育部高校英语专业教学指导委员会主任、全国翻译硕士专业学位教育指导委员会副主任、全国英国文学学会会长、全国有突出贡献的中青年专家。主要成果包括:Listento This,《新概念英语》,《文化透视英语教程》,《英国文艺复兴时期文学史》,《英国戏剧史》,《英国中古时期文学史》,《中国学者眼中的英国文学》等。
杨孝明博士,教授。毕业于西安外国语大学,后获英国诺丁汉大学英语硕士学位、美国鲍陵格林州立大学英语博士学位。在俄亥俄州鲍陵格林大学和新泽西州海洋郡学院任教二十余年,教授英文写作、英美文学和语言学等课程,现为新泽西州海洋郡学院英语系终身教授。主要成果包括:The Rhetoric Propaganda、Error of Creativity A Hundved Flowers Blossoming,《中国式英语错误分析》,《文学批评理论的运用》等。
UNIT ONE
Thinking Starters
Text A: Will Spelling Count?
Text B: How to Read Better and Faster
Reading Skills: Contextual Clues to Word Meaning
Readings and Self-testing
UNIT TWO
Thinking Starters
Text A: The Book That Changed My Lives: An Introduction
Text B: For the Love of Books
Reading Skills: Guessing Word Meaning from Word Formation (I)
Readings and Self-testing
UNIT THREE
Thinking Starters
Text A: Giving Disorganized Boys the Tools for Success
Text B: The Traditional Approach and Why It Doesnt Work
Reading Skills: Guessing Word Meaning from Word Formation (II)
Readings and Self-testing
UNIT FOUR
Thinking Starters
Text A: Bringing the Best out of People
Text B: Putting Feelings into Words
Reading Skills: Guessing Word Meaning from Synonyms and Antonyms (I)
Readings and Self-testing
FIVE
Thinking Starters
Text A: Independence Day
Text B: Independence Day (continued)
Reading Skills: Guessing Word Meaning from Synonyms and Antonyms (II)
Readings and Self-testing
UNIT SIX
Thinking Starters
Text A: Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self
Text B: Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self (continued)
Reading Skills: Recognizing Examples and Illustration
Readings and Self-testing
UNIT SEVEN
Thinking Starters
Text A: The Threat of Secondhand Smoke Justifies Smoking Restrictions
Text B: Smoking Should Be Treated as Nicotine Addiction
Reading Skills: Prediction
Readings and Self-testing
UNIT EIGHT
Thinking Starters
Text A: Channelled Whelk
Text B: Never Say Never
Reading Skills: Recognizing Restatement
Readings and Self-testing
UNIT NINE
Thinking Starters
Text A: An Honest Doubter
Text B: My Friend Lodovico
Reading Skills: Skimming
Readings and Self-testing
UNIT TEN
Thinking Starters
Text A: Own This Child
Text B: Barbie to Baby Einstein: Get Over It
Reading Skills: Scanning
Readings and Self-testing
UNIT ELEVEN
Thinking Starters
Text A: Australia: An Underappreciated Nation
Text B: Towards One Destiny
Reading Skills: Summarizing (I)
Readings and Self-testing
UNIT TWELVE
Thinking Starters
Text A: On Seeing England for the First Time
Text B: Welcome to St Pauls
Reading Skills: Summarizing (II)
Readings and Self-testing
UNIT THIRTEEN
Thinking Starters
Text A: A Granddaughters Fear
Text B: On the Verge of Adulthood: Older Teens and the Library
Reading Skills: Recognizing Sequence (I)
Readings and Self-testing
UNIT FOURTEEN
Thinking Starters
Text A: Joyas Voladoras
Text B: Leader of the Pack: The Fascinating Lives of Wolves
Reading Skills: Recognizing Sequence (II)
Readings and Self-testing
UNIT FIFTEEN
Thinking Starters
Text A: 86,400 Hours
Text B: Men and Women Talking on the Job
Reading Skills: Signal Words (I)
Readings and Self-testing
UNIT SIXTEEN
Thinking Starters
Text A: Gravity
Text B: What If It Happens in Your Family?
Reading Skills: Signal Words (II)
Readings and Self-testing
Despite the current high demand for M.B.A. graduates, many international students still struggle to get a job offer——-or even an interview. At Kenan-Flagler, for instance, only about 40% of the recruiters will meet with foreign nationals. The chief reasons for such resistance: the limited number of U.S. work visas and language deficiencies.
Business schools cant do much about visas, but they can try to overcome language barriers. North Carolina is sending audiotapes of its international students to recruiters and counting on their feedback to establish benchmarks for English proficiency for specific industries. For example, students might receive a rating of five out of nine on the English test and learn that they must raise it to seven to be hired by a technology company or to eight to satisfy a banks requirements.
Kenan-Flaglers career-services office finds that English fluency is especially important in investment banking, consulting and consumer-products marketing. But other industries expect fluency in English as well. Were a global company and we look to foreign students for their international business knowledge and cultural experiences, says Clive Pinto, human- resources manager for W.R. Grace, a chemical manufacturer. But our ability to capitalize on their knowledge depends on their English proficiency.
In the HEELS classes at North Carolina, students are grouped by their native regions, such as Western Europe, East Asia, South Asia, Africa or Latin America, because they tend to share similar problems with accent and pronunciation. The program also addresses nonverbal communication and body language, which may vary from culture to culture. The classes attempt to change behavior that might be misinterpreted by U.S. managers, co-workers or clients. For example, a U.S. recruiter would expect direct eye contact and a firm handshake, says Mindy Storrie, interim director of Kenan-Flaglers career management center, but that isnt a universal norm in other countries business dealings.