新视野视听说大学英语 Unit 1-4

Task 3: Learning to speak English
Hello, how are you? When most people learn English as a second language, they learn formal English. Unfortunately, learning it like this tends to make you feel distant and bored. The truth is, most people in English-speaking countries don’t speak to each other in such a formal way. They speak in a casual way to their friends and families. When speaking casually¹, people tend to use a lot of informal or colloquial² words, and also shorten and connect their phrases. They say things like “Hey, what’s up?” or “Hey! Whatcha been dion’?” These expressions are both common and natural, and make you seem like a native speaker. Using them may make people more interested in talking to you. This type of English is more like what you will hear in movies and TV shows. Speaking this way makes native speakers feel more relaxed and you will sound like a friendly person who speaks English well. You got that, buddy³?

formal  formally    casual   common   native   relaxed   friendly
 

1 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

2 colloquial   

adj.口语的，会话的

参考例句：

• It's hard to understand the colloquial idioms of a foreign language.外语里的口头习语很难懂。
• They have little acquaintance with colloquial English. 他们对英语会话几乎一窍不通。

3 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！