day 35mission: the speaking test

mission: the speaking test

Do the whole speaking test once, in its real order: retell three passages you hear once, prepare for ten minutes, read a passage aloud with no pinyin, then answer two questions for two and a half minutes each.

words to say

• 表达 biǎodá · to express
• 语气 yǔqì · tone (of voice)
• 发音 fāyīn · pronunciation; to pronounce
• 朗读 lǎngdú · to read aloud
• 概括 gàikuò · to sum up
• 叙述 xùshù · to narrate, recount
• 流利 liúlì · fluent
• 口语 kǒuyǔ · speaking, spoken language

a passage to retell

• A foreigner was going to a Chinese friend’s wedding, and he learned a short speech of good wishes in Chinese. On the day of the wedding he walked nervously to the front, ready to begin. To his surprise, the guests spoke first, saying together in his language: “Welcome!” It turned out that, to make him happy, they had secretly been practising for a week. He stood there not knowing which language to speak, and everyone laughed.
• A boy loved asking “why” from when he was little, and never stopped asking. His classmates laughed at him and said he asked too many questions. But he never changed, and later he became a doctor. Once, a patient had a strange illness, and the other doctors couldn’t find the cause. He asked one more “why”, finally found the cause of the illness and cured the patient. So only by never stopping asking “why” can you find what others can’t see.
• Some studies have found that people who speak two languages often have healthier brains. That’s because when they speak, the brain has to keep choosing between the two languages. This choosing is like exercise: it improves attention and memory. And the benefit can last into old age, so that memory doesn’t decline so easily as people get older. So experts advise that once you have learned a foreign language, it’s best to practise it a little every day, even if only for ten minutes.

a passage to read aloud

有人说，多学会一门语言，就像为自己打开了一扇新的窗。刚开始学的时候，我们只能看到窗外很小的一部分：几个简单的词，几句“你好”和“谢谢”。慢慢地，我们能听懂别人的语气，能用新的语言表达自己的想法，甚至能大声朗读一篇文章。窗外的世界，也一天比一天大了起来。

可是，学语言并不只是为了多会一种说话的方法。每一种语言里，都有着一个民族看世界的眼光。当我们用另一种语言去思考，就会发现，同一件事情，原来可以有完全不同的说法。也许这就是学习语言最大的意义：它让我们走出自己的小房间，看到一个更大的世界，也更清楚地认识了自己。所以，学一门语言，永远不会太晚。