Listening Comprehension

09J383东洁

原文作者：William from BBC
Most students tend to prioritise(v.=prioritize 以…为优先) grammar and vocabulary over listening and speaking, but if you ever plan to communicate with native speakers, it is essential to practise listening whenever you can.

Watching movies is a good way to improve your listening. I would stress(v.强调) the usefulness of repetition. So watch a DVD of an English-language film with Chinese subtitles(n.字幕). Then, a week or so later, watch the film again with the subtitles covered up. This time, you will know broadly(adv.广泛地) what the characters are trying to say, which will help your brain link the English words with their meanings. Of course, you can pause and rewind(v.回放) the film if there are certain bits that really mystify(v.使…困惑) you.

The next step would be to find a way to listen to the soundtrack(n.原声) of the film without watching it. You should know the scenes（n.场景） and the story well by now so by removing the pictures your brain will really focus on the language spoken.

Before you do any of this, think carefully about what film you want to use to practise your listening. If you want to learn American English, be sure to watch a film set in the USA. If you choose a really well-regarded film (one that has one lots of Academy Awards, for example) you will probably be able to buy the screenplay（电影剧本）of the film, which will be very useful to you. Lastly, choose a film that you are not going to get tired of（厌烦）if you watch it three times!

Generally speaking, don't expect too much when it comes to listening. Even native speakers miss some things when they watch movies. You should not expect to ever understand everything 100%.

Remember that good listening comprehension does not mean understanding what every word means. Good listening comprehension means understanding what is happening, understanding what people mean. So think of it as being 30% vocabulary understanding and 70% guesswork.

You can practise your guessing skills by listening to English language radio. Don’t try to understand everything you hear, just try to guess the general meaning of what people are saying.  Even when you are not trying to understand the meaning, listening to radio or music in English will improve your familiarity(n.熟悉) with English sounds.

参考译文：
大多数同学都趋向于看重语法和词汇，而把听力和口语放在其次。但如果你想和本土人士进行沟通的话，随时随地的听力练习还是必不可少的。
看电影是一个很好的提高听力的方法。在此，我要强调一下重复的重要性。比如，你看了一部带中文字幕的英文电影，过一周或更久，要再看一遍。第二次看的时候要把字幕遮起来，因为这次你已经大概知道剧中角色想要表达的意思，这样做有助于大脑在语义和单词之间产生关联。当然，如果有一些实在难以理解，你也可以暂停和回放。
　　接下来，就该想办法抛开电影画面听其原声录了。你现在应该已经非常熟悉剧中的场景和故事情节了，所以抛开画面，这样有助于你的大脑更加专注于剧中的对白。
　　但是，在做这些之前，你要考虑好用什么样的电影来练习你的听力。假如你想学美语，那就一定要选一部以美国为背景的电影。如果你选了一部备受赞誉的电影（比如一部获得多项奥斯卡奖的电影），你还有可能买到该电影的剧本，那将会对你非常有用的。最后，你要选一部你百看不厌的影片，别看不了两三遍就不想再看了。
一般来讲，听的时候不要期望太多。就算是我们英语本土人士在看英语电影的时候也会漏掉一些东西。所以，不要指望100%地全部听懂。
　　记住，好的听力不是指要听懂每个单词的含义，而是指要搞明白正发生着什么，搞明白人们的意思。大概也就30%的词汇理解加上70%的猜测吧。
　　你可以通过收听英语广播练习猜测能力。不要试图理解你所听到的所有东西，只要去猜测人们想要说得基本意思就行了。就算你不去试着理解其中的意思，收听英语广播或听英语歌曲都会增加你对英语声音的熟悉程度。