大學(xué)英語課堂教學(xué)中口語能力提升策略
——以“Entertaining Humor-What’s Funny?”單元為例

張 文

(安慶師范大學(xué)外國語學(xué)院，安徽 安慶 246133)

《新編大學(xué)英語綜合教程》第4冊第1單元“Entertaining Humor-What’s Funny?”是關(guān)于休閑娛樂話題。在課堂教學(xué)Warming-up階段，老師可將學(xué)生分成若干小組，分別用英語猜謎語、指出英文雙關(guān)語的妙語、講英文笑話，激發(fā)學(xué)生興趣，提升口語能力。

一、猜謎語

1.What animal carries two hills on its back?

Camel

2.What goes up but never comes down?

Your age

3.What gets wet as it dries?

A towel

4.A bird am I and a male，on my head there is a crown，with many coins on may tail.

A peacock

5.The longer it stands，the lower it grows.

A candle

6.What’s the best way to catch a fish?

Have someone throw it to you.

二、雙關(guān)語

1.To write with a broken pencil is pointless

句中pointless表示having no sense 即無意義。

2.A little boy went to the counter to pay for his dinner but he was a little short.

句中short是指身材不高即 short in height，也可以指缺錢即 the boy doesn’t have enough money to pay for the lunch.

3.A little girl swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital.When his grandfather telephoned to ask how she was，a doctor said “No change yet.”

句中change 是指自動售貨機(jī)找零錢，而醫(yī)生回答孩子的爺爺時的change，是指硬幣尚未從孩子口腔里取出，所以病情沒有進(jìn)展即No change of the situation。

4.A boy saving up for a car has a lot of driving ambition.

句中driving既是駕車又是強(qiáng)有力之意即powerful。

5.If you get sick at the airport it could be a terminal illness.

單詞terminal表達(dá)難以治愈的疾病，也表示航空站和終端站。

6.Math teachers have lots of problems.

此句含混，可表示數(shù)學(xué)老師給學(xué)生的問題problems for their students，也可以理解為老師自身有問題have problems themselves。

7.The principal and the teacher have decided to stop kissing on the school playground.

此句歧義，可表示校長和老師禁止學(xué)生kissing，也可以理解為校長和老師兩人decided to stop kissing。

三、笑話

英語幽默笑話的結(jié)構(gòu)通常由三部分組成：背景設(shè)置Setup、主體Body、結(jié)尾妙語Punch Line。下面是本單元課文中的一則笑話。

Joke1[Three elderly gentlemen traveling by train in England.](Setup)[As the train slowed for a stop the first man asked，“Is this Wembley?” “No，” said the second，“It’s Thursday.” “So am I，” said the third man.](Body)[“Let’s stop for a beer.”](Punch Line)

三個老年人聽力有障礙，誤將 Wednesday聽成Wembley，誤將thirsty聽成Thursday，導(dǎo)致最后的妙語Let’s stop for a beer的生成。

Joke2[An irritated father asks，“Tell me，what’s one plus two?”](Setup)[The son says，“I don’t know.” The impatient father then says，“For example，you，your mother，and I altogether are how many，you idiot?”](Body)[The son proudly answers，“Three idiots.”](Punch Line)

[1]王福禎.英語幽默笑話集[M].北京：世界圖書出版公司，2003.58.

[2]應(yīng)惠蘭.新編大學(xué)英語(第三版)綜合教程[M].北京：外語教學(xué)與研究出版社，2012.2.