英语学习

"The Friends Effect" on Learning the English Language

On September 22, Friends turned 25 years old.

The show has endeared itself equally to Gen X and Millennials, as well as to people in other countries, who may not speak English.

"The Friends Effect," as it's known, refers to non-native speakers learning American English from watching the sitcom.

Variety recently reported on how over the years, foreigners have learned English through the show's subtitles.

英语学习中的朋友效

9月22日，朋友们都25岁了。

这部电视剧同样受到了X一代和千禧一代的喜爱，也受到了其他国家可能不会说英语的人的喜爱。

众所周知，“朋友效应”指的是非母语人士通过观看情景喜剧学习美式英语。

《综艺》最近报道了这些年来，外国人是如何通过字幕学习英语的。

I was so in love with their accents," Matt Ainiwaer, a native of China's Xinjiang region, told Variety about the show.

"I love American accents a lot. So I just tried to copy them — like, imitate them. I decided to tape-record it myself and get as close as possible to their accents."

In 2017, The New York Times reported on how several Latino Major League baseball players — from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the U.S., and Mexico —

learned English or improved their English from watching Friends every night.

"It's funny, because it's such colloquial English," Friends co-creator David Crane told Variety.

我太喜欢他们的口音了，”中国新疆人马特·阿依尼瓦尔（Matt Ainiwaer）对综艺节目说。

“我非常喜欢美国口音。所以我就试着模仿他们。我决定自己录下来，尽量接近他们的口音。”

2017年，《纽约时报》报道了来自多米尼加共和国、委内瑞拉、美国和墨西哥的几名拉丁美洲棒球运动员-

每天晚上通过看朋友学习英语或提高英语水平。

“这很有趣，因为它是如此口语化的英语，”朋友的共同创造者大卫克雷恩告诉综艺。

"We actually wrote in the script all the times they say 'like'  — that's on us. Those are in the scripts, all the uhs and the likes.

We actually scripted all of that, so the idea that someone's learning English with all of our weird inverted sentences  — certainly didn't write it as a grammar primer."

But Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman told Variety, "The fact that it has taught people English is just amazing icing on the cake."

Friends is far from the only television show people use to learn English, however.

In 2012, a Kaplan International survey found 82 percent of respondents said TV helped them learn English.

Although 26 percent  — the highest percentage  — said it was Friends that helped the most, that was followed by The Simpsons with 7 percent.

Melissa Baese-Berk, associate professor of linguistics at the University of Oregon, told CNN three tips for learning a language from a TV show:

The program should be engaging, it should have subtitles, and it should have repetitive storylines, like Friends.

And learning a new language works for both English and non-English speakers alike.

“实际上，我们总是在剧本里写他们说‘喜欢’——这是我们的责任。这些都是剧本里的。

事实上，我们都是照本宣科的，所以说有人用我们奇怪的倒装句来学习英语——当然不是把它当作语法入门来写的。”

但《老友记》的共同创造者玛塔·考夫曼告诉《综艺》杂志，“它教会人们英语的事实简直是锦上添花。”

然而，《老友记》并不是人们学习英语的唯一电视节目。

2012年，卡普兰国际的一项调查发现，82%的受访者说电视有助于他们学习英语。

虽然26%的人（最高的百分比）说朋友帮的最多，但辛普森一家以7%的比例紧随其后。

俄勒冈大学语言学副教授Melissa Baese Berk告诉CNN，从电视节目中学习一门语言的三个窍门：

这个节目应该是引人入胜的，它应该有字幕，它应该有重复的故事情节，像朋友。

学习一门新的语言对讲英语的人和非英语的人都是一样的。

美文阅读

㈠在灯红酒绿的都市里，觉得一粒柳芽、一朵野花、一刻清静，人会由衷地快乐。在杳无人烟的荒野上，发现一星灯火、一缕炊烟、一点人迹，人也会由衷地快乐。自然和文明，人皆需要，二者不可缺一。

人及其产品把我和自然隔离开了，这是一种寂寞。千古如斯的自然把我和历史隔离开了，这是又一种寂寞。前者是生命本身的寂寞，后者是野心的寂寞。那种两相权衡终于承受不了前一种寂寞的人，最后会选择归隐。人是自然之子，唯有置身在大自然之中，自然之子的心情才会油然而生。那么，到自然中去吧，面对山林和大海，你会越来越感到留在城市里的那一点名利多么渺小。

㈡在海边，我捡起了一枚小小的贝壳。贝壳很小，却非常坚硬和精致。回旋的花纹中间有着色泽或深或浅的小点，如果仔细观察，在每一个小点周围又有自成一圈的复杂图样。怪不得古时候的人要用贝壳做钱币，在我手心里躺着的实在是一件艺术品，是舍不得拿去和别人交换的宝贝啊！

在海边捡起这枚贝壳的时候，里面曾经居住过的小小柔软的肉体早已死去，在阳光、砂粒和海浪的淘洗之下，贝壳中生命留下来的痕迹已经完全消失了。但是，为了这样一个短暂和细小的生命，为了这样一个脆弱和卑微的生命，上苍给它制作出来的居所有多精致、多仔细、多一丝不苟啊！

比起贝壳里的生命，我在这世间能停留的时间和空间是不是更长和更多一点呢？是不是也应该用我的能力把我所能做到的事情做得更精致、更仔细、更加一丝不苟呢？

请让我也能留下一些令人珍惜、令人惊叹的东西吧。

在千年之后，也许会有人对我留下的痕迹反复观看，反复把玩，并且会忍不住轻轻地叹息：“这是一颗怎样固执又怎样简单的心啊！”

㈢对于美好的追求，我们都应该有一种认识，既不能随地捡便宜，也不要给自己太重的枷锁。踮起脚的美好，暗香浮动正相宜，不高不低恰恰好。

㈣死亡是一个过程，把人生的所有经历慢镜头播放，你可以睁大双眼目送全部，也可以闭上双眼熟视无睹。