引言

中國英语教育界对英语课程性质的认识，经历了从知识性为主，到知识与技能并重的工具性课程，再到深刻认识其人文素养培养意义的发展过程。

20世纪80年代以前，英语课程以语言知识学习，即记单词、练语法、背课文为全部内容；80年代到90年代，英语教学开始重视语言技能，即听、说、读、写、译能力训练。

21世纪，中国英语教育界认真思考，在人文性层面，英语课程义务教育承担着怎样的责任。

就人文性而言，英语课程承担着提高学生综合人文素养的任务，即学生通过英语课程能够开阔视眼，丰富生活经历，形成跨文化意识，增强爱国主义精神，发展创新能力，形成良好的品格和正确的人生观与价值观。工具性和人文性统一的英语课程标准有利于为学生的终身发展奠定基础。

——《义务教育英语课程标准：2011年版》，2011

本文基于对《义务教育英语课程标准：2011年版》指导精神的认识，以美国小学英语原版教材中课文《魔法小屋》The Magic Cottage为例，与读者讨论，在一种跨文化意识语境中，学习并丰富语言知识的方式。

读者可以从《美国小学英语》（编著：【美】埃尔松 【美】格莱；翻译：徐鹏；中国妇女出版社2015年7月出版）3B阶段课本中参考原文。鉴于语言技能的培养目的，首先鼓励学生阅读后，用自己的语言复述课文，并将故事讲给同学们听。此文中试缩写原文，以便展开论述。

课文缩写

Part I： the fairy house

Iren was taken by her fairy godmother into a pleasant magic cottage. She would stay there for a period， taking care of the house by her own as a mistress. Irens fairy godmother left after telling her what must be done each day， including opening the window， making the bed， dusting the room and so on.

At first Iren was excited. The pleasant little cottage was lovely. Most surprisingly she found all furnishing in it， such as fire and wood-box， could speak！

But soon after tried to fulfill her duty， she got fed up. The fire asked for some wood at once. The wood-box requested its cover back as she let it open after taking some sticks from it. The broom called out when Iren did not hang it up after cleaning the floor. It seemed like all the stuff would only make sound to keep her busy in boring and endless jobs！

Iren was tied and impatient. She was not used to doing each piece of work as it came. Crossly she shouted all things in the cottage to be quiet so that she could do things when having time.

Leaving all the tasks unfinished， Iren took a nap after entertaining herself with a delicious dinner. Not a sound was to be heard then， except the tick of the clock， as it said：

“The minutes fly， one by one，

Tick， tick！

Lazy， lazy， nothing done，

Tick， tick！”

Part II： the fairy returns.

When evening came， the floor was not swept， and dishes not washed. Everything in the house seemed out of place.

The fairy godmother was angry when she returned and decided to let Iren had her lesson. Iren was demanded an immediate action to get through all the tasks at once， as she had wished：” I left things so that I could do them all at once.”

The fairy godmother warned Iren in a stern voice before leaving： “You can do only ONE THING AT A TIME， WHENEVER YOU BEGIN.”

Suddenly， Iren was nearly drowned by shouts from all sides the house.

“Put me away！”” Hang me up！” “Wash me！”” Dust me！”

The poor girl did not even know which job to start with first. The broom beat her， the cups flew at her head， and the table and chairs pushed against her.

At last， Iren caught a broom after it blew her hardly and hung it up. Now she managed getting down to work. Everything was in a muddle. Moreover， so many things had to be finished at once. Iren really got exhausted， thinking she would never want another evening like this all her life.

It was not easy for Iren to get used to early rise in the morning. But the clock warned her by the sound “Tick-tock， tick-tock”， as if saying “get up！”” dont be lazy！” Iren remembered her terrible evening yesterday. She jumped out of bed to start work immediately.

This time when the fairy godmother came back， she was satisfied not only because Iren had successfully kept the cottage as clean as could be， but also how she made it as saying that ONE THING AT A TIME.

词语与句子

这篇课文里，建议学生根据喜好，摘录自己感兴趣的语言表达方式。各类国外原版教材，仅作为辅助教学材料，因此笔者认为没有必要过于精读，并且也不赞成教师替学生包办，替学生作词汇等语言知识归纳汇总工作。应允许学生体会根据自身需要，主动选择学习内容的乐趣，从而激发并保持学习积极性。

例如笔者注意到一首关于做家务事的童谣，朗朗上口，很容易达成娱乐中学习相关表达方式的目的：

Be up with the sun， and get your work done；

Keep the stove bright and the fire alight.

Here are the brushes， here are the brooms；

Here are the dusters for dusting the room.

此篇课文重在提倡一种生活习惯，因此将有关的词句积累如下：

One thing at a time，whenever you begin

I can do things when I have time.

One thing at a time

Do each piece of work as it comes.

跨文化比较

笔者认为这篇课文中值得特别重视语句是：ONE THING AT A TIME， WHENEVER YOU BEGIN（每当开始工作，你都只能一次做一件事），文章旨在教导学生养成高效完成工作任务的习惯，并就如何提高效率，给予指导，即必须学会管理时间，具体做法是一事一结。

素有“管理学之父“美誉的彼得·德鲁克提出：“卓有成效的管理者，总是把重要的事情放在前面先做（first things first），而且一次只做好一件事（do one thing at a time）。”他认为，我们多数人即使在同一时间内专心致志地只做一件事，也不见得真能做好；如果想在同一时间内做两件事，那就更不必谈了。

法国心理学家爱德华·德·波诺，欧洲创新协会将他列为历史上对人类贡献最大的250人之一。在《管理思想图谱》一书中，他写到：“为了避免混淆，我们需要建立某种思维方式，使我们注意力集中，一事一结。这样，就保证将足够将注意力分配给最重要的事，避免让次要问题干扰我们”。——《管理思想图谱》（作者：爱德华·德·博诺，企鹅出版社，1988年版）

中国道家典籍《庄子》书中《大宗师》篇中有曰：“善始善终。” 《史记·乐毅列传》推崇 “善始善终，善作善成”，其中“善始”指做事目的纯正，就不会轻易改变；“善终”意味着坚持到底；“善作”字面理解为会干、能干；“善成”意思是办成事儿，成果显著。这里，成果可分为小目标和大理想，像战国儒家思想家荀子说的那样：“不积跬步无以至千里，不积小流无以成江海。” 做事中要能将大目标分解为小目标，一步一步，脚踏实地逐步完成。

由此可见，在中国传统文化背景下，人们认为“善始而后善作，善作故能善成，善成方得善终。”只有不忘初心、坚守信念，并持之以恒，广储厚积，最终能够成就伟大事业。

比较发现，从行为方式方面，中西方文化在如何成事方面，有着类似的经验。

从行为背后的心理层面，中西方似乎略有差别，中国文化中，历来将“四善”作为一种美德看待，是评价一位“君子”，即道德高尚的人的标准，而在西方文化中，似乎更强调行为背后，反应出的是人类思维方式的问题，是属于客观规律范畴问题，因为人们常常因为缺乏科学知识，对自己的思维方式没有认识，因此并不涉及道德品行層面的高低问题。

由此可以感受到，中国文化基于感性的成分较多，而西方文化，则偏重理性。

【作者简介】王喆（1975.04- ），女，回族，新疆人，中国科学院大学心理研究所研究生，青少年心理健康专业。