你有「完善的計劃」(“Robust” Plan)來學習英文嗎?
我教學時經常強調學生要建立一個有系統的框架去理解英文文法。因為有了框架,我們才可以利用所有真實的生活例子,一方面鞏固已有知識,一方面學習新知識(如詞彙、表達方式等)。
今天我想給你們推薦一個學習詞彙的好資源 –《紐約時報》的一個免費學習網 「 New York Time Word of the Day 」(https://www.nytimes.com/column/learning-word-of-the-day).
網站提供在《紐約時報》文章中出現過的英文單字以及它們的定義,並附有另一篇使用該單字的文章的段落。
例如這篇近期的 文章 介紹了「robust」– 一個意思為「強健」、「堅固」、「結實」的形容詞。
在我們的詞彙課程中,我提到在學習新詞彙時,應該盡可能嘗試製造最多的聯繫,以把它跟自己現存在詞彙庫中的單字及不斷在學習的新知識產生連結。
聯繫可以是字源上的(如關於字根、前綴和字尾的),也可以是詞義上相關。
以「robust」為例,我們很容易便可把它與其他意思相近的單字製造詞義上的聯繫,例如「strong」、「powerful」、「solid」、「well-structured」等等。
字源上的聯繫也不少,例如「corroborate」– 與「robust」有著相同字根「rob-」的動詞。
「corroborate」的意思是「加強」和「支持」,尤其當出現在「加強」證供或證據的語境中。「robust」(adj.) 和「corroborate」 (v.) 都有「強」的意思,因為共同字根「rob-」有此含意。
正如我在課程中說的,我們可以運用一些工具來製做聯繫,例如要求人工智能工具給我們一些與「robust」在字源上聯繫的例子。這樣很容易找到如「corroborate」的有字源聯繫的字。
在 New York Time Word of the Day 的文章中,有一篇包含「robust」的文章段落,句子如下:
Schools might look for Ms. Aviles-Ramos to create a more robust plan to help the nearly 150,000 public school students who are learning English for the first time.
透過這例句中「robust」的語,我們能學到什麼?
首先,我們可以加強對於「robust」是個形容詞的認知,因為它是在名詞組「robust plan」中扮演名詞「plan」的形容詞修飾語。這種簡單的分析可幫助我們鞏固其文法角色方面的知識。
然後,我們能從整個句子的含義,了解「robust」在這特定語境下的意思:
Schools might look for Ms. Aviles-Ramos to create a more robust plan to help the nearly 150,000 public school students who are learning English for the first time.
學校可能會希望她制定一個更 ___ 的計劃,以幫助近15萬名首次學習英文的公立學校學生。
這語境中,「more robust」修飾了名詞「plan」,表達「一個更完善/穩健的計劃」的意思。
因此我們知道當使用「robust」去描述「plan」時,會表達「穩健」和「完善」的計劃的意思。名詞組「robust plan」也就是一個所謂的「collocation」,即經常一起出現去表達意思的組合。
日後你若遇到其他包含「robust」修飾「plan」的句子,便要記得它的意思,並加強對這組collocation 的理解了。
希望你可以好好利用這免費資源幫助自己學習。其實只要對英文文法有系統性的了解,你就能透過簡單的分析,更輕鬆地對新單字進行聯想和學習。
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小練習:
我們可以從以下有「robust」的例子中鞏固/學到什麼知識?
The research team presented a robust analysis of the data, highlighting key trends and insights that could inform future studies.
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答案:
(例如:)我們可以加強對「robust」是「強壯」和「有力量」的意思的認知;也能學到「robust analysis」是一個表達「強健的分析」的 collocation。
Do You Have a “Robust” Plan to Improve Your English?
In my teaching, I emphasize building a systematic framework to understand English grammar because, with such a framework in place, we can use every real-life example we encounter to consolidate our existing knowledge and learn new things like vocabulary and expressions.
In this newsletter, I would like to introduce you to a useful learning resource for vocabulary learning – the “New York Time Word of the Day” website, a part of the newspaper’s free “Learning Network” (https://www.nytimes.com/column/learning-word-of-the-day).
This learning website features articles about specific English words that are found in the New York Times newspaper. In every article, the definition(s) of the highlighted word is/are given, and there is also a paragraph from another article in which the word is used in context.
For example, in this recent article, the word introduced is “robust” – an adjective that generally means “strong,” “reinforced,” and “well-structured.”
In our vocabulary course, I mention that, when we learn a new word, we should first try to make as many associations with it as possible so that we can connect the word with the existing and growing knowledge within our mental vocabulary web.
The associations we make can be both etymological – that is, related to the word form itself, like its word root or prefixes and suffixes – as well as semantic – that is, related to its meaning.
If we take the word “robust” from this article, we can easily make semantic associations, linking it to other words with similar meanings, such as “strong,” “powerful,” “solid,” “well-structured.”
We can also make etymological associations with words such as “corroborate” – a verb which has the same word root of “rob-” as “robust.” “Corroborate” means “strengthen” and “support,” especially in the context of testimonies or evidence. Both “robust” (adj.) and “corroborate” (v.) have meanings related to “strength” because the shared word root “rob-” has this meaning.
Like I mention in the course, we can use learning tools to make associations. For example, we can ask AI tools to give us examples of words that are etymologically related to “robust.”
Now, in the New York Times Word of the Day article, there is a paragraph from an article containing the word “robust.” This is the sentence with the word:
Schools might look for Ms. Aviles-Ramos to create a more robust plan to help the nearly 150,000 public school students who are learning English for the first time.
What can we learn about the usage of the word “robust” from the context of this example?
First, we can reinforce our understanding that the word is an adjective because it is acting as an adjective modifier to the noun “plan” in the noun phrase “robust plan.” Simple analysis can help us consolidate this knowledge about the grammatical role of the word.
Then, we can look at the meaning of the entire sentence and figure out what the word “robust” means in this specific context:
Schools might look for Ms. Aviles-Ramos to create a more robust plan to help the nearly 150,000 public school students who are learning English for the first time.
學校可能會希望 Ms. Aviles-Ramos 制定一個更 _____ 的計劃,以幫助近15萬名首次學習英文的公立學校學生。
In this context, the adjective “more robust” is modifying the noun “plan” to express the meaning of “a stronger and better plan” – in Chinese, we can think of it as “更完善/穩健的計劃.”
So, from this example sentence, we know that, when we use “robust” to describe a “plan,” it expresses the meaning of a “strong” and “well-structured” plan. The noun phrase “robust plan” is what we can call a “collocation” – as in, words that often appear together in usage.
In the future, if you encounter another sentence with “robust” modifying the noun “plan,” you have to recall what it means and also reinforce your understanding of this collocation.
I hope you can make good use of this free resource in your own learning. When you have a systematic understanding of English grammar in place, you can make associations and learn new words in context more easily through simple analysis.
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Mini Exercise:
What can you reinforce/learn from this example with the word “robust”?
The research team presented a robust analysis of the data, highlighting key trends and insights that could inform future studies.
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Answer:
E.g.
We can reinforce that the word “robust” means “strong” and “powerful.” We can also learn that “robust analysis” is also a collocation – meaning 強健的分析.
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