主持人小语：

英语有50万日用词汇，另有50万专业技术词汇，而一个受过本科教育的英语母语使用者其词汇量才为1万左右。因此，在阅读英文材料的过程中时常遇到生词毫不奇怪。除了利用上下文语境和词根、词缀知识猜测词义以外，学会查阅英语词典也是英语学习的基本功之一。By the way,the dictionary is the best teacher that is always available.

The Theme Diary本期主题是Storytelling，是根据教材相关话题展开的，希望大家借助dictionary等认真阅读，并将答案邮寄至：430079华中师范大学《中学生英语》编辑部 小强博士 收，精美的奖品等着你哦！

从本期开始，Live and study abroad开始了，想知道在英语How to make friends吗，请关注后面的文章。

Ingredients(材料)

Think of a story you like.What makes it good?Why do you like it?Can you identify（识别）the maincharacters(主要人物),the setting(背景),the plot(故事情节)andtheme(主题)?These are very important ingredients in creating (创作)a story.Part of the plot isan issue(问题)orconflict(矛盾)that needs to beresolved(解决)by the character.As strange as it may seem,it is widely believed that there are onlya handful of(少量的)different conflicts writers use,no matter where or when the stories were written—like making lots of different recipes out of similar ingredients.

Stars

There are many differentmediums（媒）through which to tell stories.Films are probablyamongstthe most popular ways to do this.Directors（导演）have aninfluence（影响）on the story by advising actors how todeliver（表达）their lines andselecting（选择）images on which to focus the camera.Comic books and graphic novels have also been hugely popular ways to tell a story since the early 20th century.Even music can tell a story—lots of musicians use stories from their lives or things they have heard about to write the lyrics to their songs.

Ancient（古老）Tales（故事）

In the days before writing and printing,the history andtradition（传统）of a society were passed on by the telling of stories.Storytellers had a very important place in the community with stories being used toentertain(娱乐),pass on knowledge and maintainmoral values(道德价值).As they were memorized and not written down,the stories could change each time they were told.Cave drawings were also used torecord(记录)events or help tell stories.Although today we tend to read,watch TV,or go to the cinema to enjoy stories,we still use lots of humaninteraction(人群的互动)to entertain and learn.

Become a Storyteller

Being able to tell stories well is a great skill.Practise using these steps and see how much you can entertain anaudience(观众).

1.Learn a family story—talk to family relatives,look at photos and ask questions—there is usually a family member who is a great storyteller.

2.Visualise the story—think about what you can see,hear or smell to help the audience with their own mental picture.

3.Words—either memorise phrases or improvise as you go.

4.Non Verbal—usegestures(手势),facial expressions(面部表情)andbody language(肢体语言)tohighlight(强调)characters or to createatmosphere(气氛).

Could you make one of your own experiences into a story and tell it in English?