原则二:给出多句话的回答
这个原则主要是针对那些回答问题惯用一两句话或者一两个字的人,但凡这样的情况出现,这个Q&A的过程就会变成一个审问的过程。使得提问人和答问人都会显得非常郁闷。比如:
A: What’s you name?
B: York.
A: How old are you?
B: 27.
A: Where do you come from?
B: Chengdu
A: Do you like the English Corner here?
B: No.
A: Why?
B: Because I see you.
这种乒乓球式的一来一回,最后都不会有什么好的结果。练习口语是我们的目的,所以一定要利用别人提问的机会多说一些,这样才会对所说的话题更加熟悉,同时还可以兼顾到语音语调以及词汇句型的升级,也让听者觉得你是有表达欲望和交流欲望的。比如:
A: What’s your name?
B: Feel free to call me York. This is a name easy to remember as it never fails to remind people of the names of a state and a city in the United States—the New York State and the New York City. Actually it was given by my first English teacher in middle school and it is my personal favorite English name and I have used it since then.
后面的任何问题都可以如法炮制,只要回答者能够用多句话来回答问题,交流的感觉会变得更加好。平时要有意识的训练自己用5句话回答任何问题,这样的话就可以在面对任何问题的时候都不会没有话说(当然,这个训练的目的是为了大家抓住锻炼口语多说,不意味着任何问题从实质上讲都需要说5句话,5是个虚数也是个实数),包括那些你不知道答案的问题,比如:
A: Do you know how many stars are there in the sky? (口头逼到可以不太讲究语序)
B: This is a question too complicated for me to answer. As far as I know, the number of stars is uncertain since science and technology are developing everyday and we can not be so sure about the number of stars we have discovered, not to mention those unknown to us. The fact of matter is we need to see beyond those numbers, which means what those number means to us matters much more than the number itself. That is basically how I look at this question.
相信大家可以看出来了,即使不能对问题的答案有一个确定的答复,也可以就提问者的动机或者问题答案对我们的意义着手进行进一步的陈述,最关键的是把自己的观点说出来,这样不论是英语口头表达和个人的自信心,都会得到相应的提高。