【推荐1】Many Chinese students are good at English grammar, but their spoken English is so poor that they can’t speak in class or have a talk with others. There may be some reasons for their problems with spoken English.

First, they fail to express themselves clearly because of a limited (有限的) vocabulary. The useful way is to enlarge their vocabulary. However, you can still communicate with others with a limited vocabulary, if you are active. Others will understand you with the help of your body language.

Second, they are worried about making mistakes. Because they are shy and nervous, sometimes they may make mistakes easily. Yet we should know what we aim at is FLUENCE (流利) not ACCURACY (精确) when speaking. So we should speak as quickly and well as we can, even though sometimes we may use a wrong word or tense (时态), but it doesn’t matter because others will still understand you.

The third reason is that they don’t pay enough attention to listening to what others are saying. So while you are speaking, you can’t find the suitable topic or words to say. You have one mouth but two ears! What you hear is necessary for you to start speaking.

Fourth, most Chinese students are passive (被动的) language learners. They just sit there waiting for speaking chances, and don’t actively look for chances to improve their spoken English. All they can get is to accept the fact that their English remains poor.

So please be active from now on, try to catch every chance to speak wherever you go.

Listen to leaders from history

There were three good officials (官员) who lived during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC).

Zichan was the prime minister (宰相) of the State of Zheng. He made many changes to help the state become stronger. While doing this, he listened to the ideas of people.

Zijian lived in the State of Lu. He was an official in Chanfu in today’s Shandong province. People saw him as a good example of non-action (无为). It seemed that he didn’t work hard, as he spent lots of time playing music. But he used people of integrity (贤人) to run the place.

Ximen Bao was an official in the Wei State. He worked in Ye County in today’s Hebei province. There, people threw a girl into a river as a bride (新娘) for the so-called River God. A witch (巫婆) and some officials said this could help stop floods (洪水). Ximen Bao stopped them by throwing them into the river. Then he built canals (运河) along the river. This stopped the floods for real.

According to the Records of the Historian (《史记》), these three men were good leaders (领导者). Zichan made it impossible for people to cheat (欺骗) him. Zijian made people not want to cheat him, while Ximen Bao made people dare not (不敢) to cheat him.   

These three stories tell us about three things that leaders need: insight (洞察力), virtue (品德), and law (法律). Insight means leaders know people well. Virtue means leaders do their job the right way. Law means leaders follow and use rules strictly. This is done not to punish (惩罚) people, but to earn their trust.

The lesson is still important today. In 2004, when President Xi Jinping worked in Zhejiang, he shared these three stories with officials there. In fact, the lesson can also help students. You might be a class monitor or a leader in a group discussion. All of these need leadership skills. Just keep these stories in mind and try to be a good leader.

How are you? My name is Liu Mei. I’m a middle school student. My best friend is Anna. She is an English girl. (A) She often (经常) helps me with my English. At school my favorite subject is music. I can sing well. I love my music teacher. She is like a sister to me.

My parents are teachers in a middle school. My father is a math teacher and my mother is a Chinese teacher. I have a brother. (B) 他和我在同一所学校。He likes math. He thinks it is very interesting.

I get up at six o’clock every morning. I have classes from Monday to Friday. On weekends I usually go to the sports club to play tennis with my friends.

What do you usually do every day? What do you like doing? Please write and tell me about that.

Yours,   

Liu Mei