A kind of sermon
(1) It is probably(多半，非常) easier for teachers than for
students to appreciate（理解，明白） the reasons why learning
English seems to become increasingly（越来越） difficult once
the basic structures （结构）and patterns（模式） of the language
have been understood .Students are naturally（自然） surprised
（吃惊）and disappointed （失望）to discover（发现） that a
process（过程） which ought to become simpler（简单） does
not appeal to（似乎seem） do so.
(一旦明白了英语的基本结构和句型，老师们比学生们非常容易理解为什么学习英语看起来越来越难的原因。学生们发现一个应该变得简单的过程而似乎没有简单时，他们自然会吃惊和失望。)
(2) It may not seem much consolation （安慰）to point out（指出） that .the teacher,too,becomes frustrated （沮丧，失望）when his efforts （努力）appear to（seem似乎） product（产生） less obvious（明显的） results（结果）.（即使向学生指出，老师的努力似乎不能产生很多的效果而变得失望灰心，也不可能对学生产生很多的安慰） He finds that students
who were easy to teach, because they succeeded in putting
everything they had been taught into practice(实践), hesitate
（犹豫不决，止步不前）when confronted（面对） with the vast（广大的） untouched（没接触过的） area（领域） of English
vocabulary（词汇） and usage（语法） which falls outside the
scope of （---范围之外）basic（基本） textbooks（课本）.(他们发现，学生们容易教，是因为他们成功地把教给的所有东西应用于实践；当学生面对大量的、未接触过的、在基本课本之外的英语词汇和语法时，他们会犹豫不决。)He sees them
struggling（挣扎） because the language they thought they knew
now appears to consist of（由---构成） bewildering（令人困惑的） variety （品种,各种）of idioms（成语，习语）, cliches（陈旧用语） and accepted phrases （固定词组）with different
meanings in different context（上下文）.（致力，努力）.（他看到他们在挣扎，因为他们被教的、他们知道的语言看起来在由令人困惑的、在不同的上下文有不同的意思的各种习语、陈旧用语和固定词组组成。）It is hard to convince（使--相信） them that they are still making progress towards (往，朝向)fluency（流畅） and that their English is certain（确定） to
improve（改善，提高）, given time and dedication（很难让他们相信，他们在朝着流畅的目标前进，及时只要花上时间和精力，他们的英语确定能提高和改善。）
（3）In such circumstances(情形下) it is hardly surprising that
some give up in disgust（厌恶） ,（在这样的情形下，一些学生厌恶地放弃了学习，一点也不令人吃惊。）while （表转折，意为“而”）others still wait hopefully for the teacher to give
them the same confident（确信，自信） guidance（教导） he
was able to offer（给予） them at first.（而另外一些学生满怀希望等待老师给他们一些一开始能够给予他们的充满自信的教导） 。The teacher, for his part（部分）, frequently （常常地）reduced （减少）to trying to explain（解释） the
inexplicable（莫名其妙的，无法解释）, may take refuge in （避难，逃避）quoting（引述） proverbs（谚语） to his colleagues（同事） such as"You can lead a horse to water but you can't
make him drink, " or, more respectfully（恭敬地） if less
grammatically（语法上）: "It ain't what you say. It's the way you
that you say it." (就老师来说，由于常常尝试解释哪些无法解释的东西，他们可能对同事们引用一些谚语来逃避，如：“引马到河边容易，逼马饮水难”，或者引用一句不太符合语法却尊重学生的话：”“重要的不在于你说什么，而在于你怎么说”。)His students might feel inclined to （倾向于做某事）counter（回应，反应） these with:"The more I lean ,the less I
know."（他的学生们则倾向于回应他们说：“我学的越多，懂的越少。”）
（4）Of course this is not true.（当然，这话并不正确。） What
both students and teachers are experiencing（体验，经历） is the
recognition（认识，识别） that the more complex （复杂）structures （结构）one encounters （遇到）in a language are not
as vital to （同样重要的）making oneself understood and so
have a less immediate（直接） field（领域，范围） of application（应用）.(因为不论老师还是学生正经历着这样的认识过程，即我们在语言方面遇到更复杂的结构，这些结构对于表达自己的意思不是那么不可或缺，因此他们的应用范围不是那么直接。) For the same reason, from the teachers point the view（观点，看法）, selecting （选择）what should be taught
becomes a more difficult task（任务）. （由于同样的原因，来自老师们的观点是，选择适当的教材变成了一项更加困难的任务。）It is much easier to get food of any kind than to
choose the dish （菜）you would most like to eat on a given day（特定的日子） from a vast （丰富）menu（菜单）.（就像随便吃点东西比在某个特定的日子从一份丰富的菜单中选择你最喜欢吃的一道菜更容易。）
(5)Defining（界定） the problem is easier than providing（提供） the solution（办法）.（界定问题比提供解决办法容易。）
One can suggest（建议） that students should spend two or three
years in an English speaking country, which amounts to (等于)washing one's hands of（与„无关）them. （有人建议学生们应该在说英语的国家住两三年，这观点等于把学生们抛弃，不再管他们。）Few students have the time or the money to do that.（少数学生有时间或者金钱这样做） It is often said that
wide（广泛） reading is the best alternative （选择）course of
（当然的）action（行动，途径）. （人们常说，大量阅读是最佳的选择和当然的途径。）but even here it is necessary（必要的） to make some kind of selection（选择）. （但是即使这样，做出许多选择也是必要的）It is no use telling students to
go to the library and pick up the first book they come cross（偶然遇到）. （只告诉学生到图书馆拿到他们偶然遇到的第一本书来阅读是没有用处的）My own advice to them would
be:"read what you can understand without having to look up
words in a dictionary (but not what you can understand at a
glance); " read what interests you ; read what you have time
for(magazines and newspapers rather than novels unless you can
read the whole novel in a week or so); read the English written
today, not 200 years ago; read as much as you can and try to
remember the way （方式）it was written rather than individual
（个别）words that puzzled（让人费解的） you." （我对学生的建议是：“读不需要查字典你就能看懂的东西（但并非一看就懂）；读你感兴趣的东西；读你有时间读的东西（杂志、报纸而不是长篇小说，除非你在一个星期左右的时间读完整本小说）；读当代写的英文，而不是读200年以前写的英文；尽你所能多读并且尽量记住各种表达方式，而不是那些让你费解的个别单词”）And instead of "read", I could just as
well say "listen to ."（与其说是“阅读”，我还不如说是在
