背诵为王第四册第16课 Learning English

Lesson16 Learning English
We thought we knew the English language, having even translated a whole book from English into Russian, when we were in Siberia. I learnt English in prison from a self-instructor, but had never heard a single live English word spoken. Several years later when we arrived in London we found we could not understand a single word, and nobody understood us. At first this was very comical, but although my husband joked about it, he soon got down to the business of learning the language.
We started going to all kinds of meetings. We stood in the front row and carefully studied the orator's mouth. We went fairly often to Hyde Park, where speakers harangued the passing crowds on diverse themes. We were particularly keen on listening to one speaker of this kind. He spoke with an Irish accent, which was easier for us to understand. Nearby a Salvation Army officer uttered hysterical shouts in appeal to God Almighty, while a little further on a shop-assistant was holding forth on the hours of servitude of assistants in the big stores...
We learnt a great deal by listening to spoken English. Afterwards, by means of an advertisement, my husband found two Englishmen desirous of exchanging lessons, and began studying assiduously with them. He got to know the language fairly well.

Siberia 西伯利亚
orator 演讲者
harangue 对...高谈阔论
hold forth 滔滔不绝地表达，诉说
servitude 苦役, 苦役
desirous 渴望的
assiduously 勤勉地, 恳切地

学习英语
我们原以为我们是会英语的，在西伯利亚的时候，我们曾经把一整本书从英语翻译成了俄语。我是在监狱的时候通过自学教程学习英语的，但是从没有听到过有人讲一个活生生的英语单词。几年之后，我们来到了伦敦，却发现自己一个单词也听不懂，也没有人能听懂我们说的英语。开始的时候这非常滑稽。虽然我丈夫拿这个开玩笑，但他也很快开始认认真真地学起了这门语言。
我们开始去参加各种各样的会议。我们站在前排，仔细地观察讲话者的口型。我们经常去海德公园，那里演讲者会对着路过的人群就不同的主题高谈阔论。我们特别喜欢听其中一位演讲者。他说话带有爱尔兰口音，对我们来讲更容易听懂。离他不远，一位救世军军官在歇斯底里地呼唤着万能的主。再远一点，一位店员在滔滔不绝地讲着在大商店里做店员的奴役般的工作……。
通过听这些活生生的英语，我们学到了很多。后来，我丈夫通过做广告找到了两位希望交换学习的英国人，并开始勤奋地和他们一块儿学习。他把英语这门语言学得非常好。