重庆工商大学研究生处-妈妈我想对你说400字

Unit 2 Language
USA Language
What do you call someone who
speaks three languages? Trilingual.
language at home. Yet only 3%
reported that they spoke English
wellor at
What do you call someone who speaks
two languages? Bilingual. What do
you call someone who speaks one
language? An American.
To people in many countries,
being bilingual or even trilingual
is a way of life. But since the
mother tongue of most Americans is
English—a language widely spoken
around the world—they often don't
feel the need to learn a foreign
language. Moreover, people who live
in the heartland of America have
little contact with other
linguistic groups, making foreign
language skills irrelevant.
Actually, though, this of
immigrantshas always had people of
many different nationalities and
languages. The 1990 census
indicates that almost 14% of
Americans speak a non-English
means that slightly more than one
out of 10 Americans could be
considered bilingual. Besides that,
many high school and college
students and even some elementary
school students are required to take
a foreign language as a part of their
curriculum. In addition to old
standbys like Spanish, German and
French, more and more students are
opting for Eastern European and
Asian languages. Of course, not all
students keep up their foreign
language abilities. As the old
saying goes,
you lose it.
number of Americans are coming to
appreciate the benefits of being
multilingual.
Ethnic enclaves, found
particularly in major metropolitan
centers, have preserved the

language and culture of American
immigrants. Some local residents
can function quite well in their
native language, without having to
bother learning English. Regions
such as southern Florida and the
种 语言，是家常便饭。但在美国，由于
大多数人的母语为英语——一个世界
上广泛通用的语言—— 因此美国人都
不觉得有必要学习外语。此外，居住于
美国大陆内地的人，较少与其他语言族群接触，因此外语能力更显得无关紧
Southwest have numerous
Spanish-speaking neighborhoods. In
fact, Spanish speakers numbering
over 17 million compose the largest
non-English linguistic group in
America. But Chinese, Vietnamese,
Italian, Polish and many other
ethnic groups add to the linguistic
flavor of America. Foreign
languages are so commonly used in
some ethnic neighborhoods that
visitors might think they are in
another country!
美国语言
你如何称呼能说三种语言的人?三
声带。能讲两种语言 的人又如何称呼?
双声带。那么，只会一种语言的人呢?
美国人。


对许多国家的人而言，说两种或三
要。


事实上，在美国这块“ 移民之地”，
一直住着来自不同国籍、说不同语言的
人口。1990年的人口普查显示，几乎百
分之十四的美国人，在家里不讲英语。
只有百分之三的人宣称他们英语“说得
不好”或 “根本不会说”。这表示十分
之一的美国人可视为双声带。此外，许
多中学生、大学生，甚至小 学生在校的
学科都必须加修一门外语。除了西班牙
文、德文与法文等常选的第二语言外，
越来越多的学生选修东欧和亚洲语言。
当然，并非所有学生都能够学以致用。
套句老话：“不 用就会丢掉。”尽管如
此，越来越多的美国人已经开始意识到
会说多种语言的好处。

主要在大都市里，有 许多族群居住
的社区，都还保存着移民的文化传统和
语言。有些当地人在生活上只讲母语就够了，根本不需要学英语。佛罗里达州
南部以及美国西南部等区，有许多说西
班牙语的社区 。事实上，说西班牙语的
人口超过一千七百万，是美国最大的非
英语系族群。不过，还有中国、 越南、
意大利、波兰与其他很多种族的族群，
更使美国语言增色不少。在许多外来民
族 的后裔社区里，由于外语的广泛使
用，甚至会使访客有身置异国的感觉。





Although some Americans welcome
this linguistic and cultural
diversity, others have begun to fear
that the English language is being
threatened. Since the 1980s, the

to promote legislation which would
establish English as the
languagehe use of
non-English languages. However,
some groups, including TESOL, the
organization for Teachers of
English to Speakers of Other
Languages, object to such
restrictionism.
as Plus,suggests that
Americans should have respect for
people's native language and
culture, while promoting the
teaching of English to help them fit
into the mainstream of society. But
so far, 19 states have passed
English Only legislation, and the
topic is the focus of an ongoing
debate.
Whether or not English is the
official language of the United
States, it remains the of
wider
everyone recognizes the need to
develop proficiency in English in
order to do well in America. To help
those who want to brush up on their

English skills, English as a Second
Language (ESL) classes abound.
Cities with large numbers of recent
immigrants often set up bilingual
education programs to teach
give people an edge in a variety of
career fields. Indeed, lack of
foreign language proficiency can
limit one's chances for advancement
and keep one in a cultural culdesac.
As many people in America are students content subjects in their
native language while they improve
their English. Language educators
often have strong and divergent
views as to which approach helps
learners achieve better results: a
bilingual approach, an ESL approach
or even a pure immersion (
swimapproach. However, all these
teachers share a common commitment:
to help students function well in
English.
Americans recognize that
English is the fact international
language, and people with good
English skills can get by in many
international settings. On the
other hand, in a world growing
increasingly smaller, second
language skills can be a great boon.
They can build cross-cultural
bridges and
discovering, being monolingual is
no laughing matter.


虽然有些美国人欢迎这种语言与文化
多元化，
但也有些人担心英语已经受到威胁。从
1980年代以来，“唯用英语”(English < br>Only)运动即试着开始推动立法，将英
语定为“官方语言”，并限制其他语言
的使用 。但有些团体，如“教导母语为
其他语言学生的英语教师组织”(简称
TESOL)，就反对这 种“语言限制主义”。
他们提倡的“英语与外语”(English
Plus)，建议美国人 应尊重其他族群的
母语以及文化，同时也推广英语教学，
帮助其他族群融入社会主流。但是到目
前为止，已有十九个州通过“唯用英语”
法案，该议题也一直是辩论的焦点。

无论英语是否是美国的官方语言，它仍
是“广 泛沟通的语言”。在美国，几乎
每个人都了解，若想要出人头地，必须
精通英语。为满足那些想 精进英语能力
的人的需要，教导英语为第二语言的机
构(ESL)到处都是。拥有大批新进移民
的一些大都市，都设有双语教学课程，
在移民们加强英语能力的同时，用移民
们的母语 教授普通科目。语言教育学家
对何种方法才能帮助学生更有效地学
习英语：利用双语教学、ES L教学、或
让学生完全浸入一个英语的环境(认输
或强学)，都拥有强烈并分歧的看法。
但这些教师都拥有共同使命：帮助学生
流利地使用英语。





美国人了解，英语就是一个实际
的国际语言，若能说流利的英语，在许
多国 际场合都能派得上用场。另一方面
当国际间的距离越变越小时，拥有第二
外语能力极为有利。外 语能力可以建立
文化交流的桥梁，并且使人们在不同的
专业领域里，占得优势。的确，缺乏外< br>语能力不仅限制个人的提升，并
且把个人限制在文化的死胡同内。很多
美国人都逐渐发 现，只会一种语言，不
再是一件好事了。