Chen Gang：Hello，how do you do？Do you oftencome here to English Corner？
Zhang Ying：Yes，Ido．You know，my spoken Englishisvery poor．I'd like to improve my speaking ability throughpractice．
Chen：Well，you've come to the right place！This is aGREat time for students to practice their spoken English．Througha relaxed atmosphere of casual English conversation we canlearn a lot．By the way，may Ihave yourname？
Zhang：My name is Zhang Ying．You can call me Xiao Zhang．And what's your name？
Chen：My name is Chen Gang．I'm a third year junior middleschool student．What grade do you study in？
Zhang：I'm a sophomore．You know，I'm planning to pass CET4this coming June．I'm a bit nervous about my English！
Chen：Your English is not bad！
Zhang：Thank you，but I'm afraid my pronunciation isn't accurate e-nough and Imight get confused．Although Ihave passed the TOEFL，Istillfind word order very difficult．Sometimes I know every word in an ex-pression，but I still don't know whatthe expression itself implies．Honestly，Iunderstand very little．
Chen：Yes，it is complicated．Sometimes English sentence structure isawkward for Chinese speakers．
Zhang：Iget embarrassed when Iget lost in conversation．
Chen：Actually，the fastest way to reach your goal would be to have a taperecorder．
Zhang：Why？
Chen：Because the tapes have native voicesand you can studythem by listening again and again andimitating the sounds as many times asyouwish．
Zhang：That's a good idea．That way we're notonly training our listeningcomprehension，but also our speaking ability．In how many years do you thinkwe will be able to conquer the Englishlanguage？
Chen：In five or six years，Ithink．
Zhang：What a long time！I'm afraid Ishall neverbe able to learn English well，it is too difficult．
Chen：You have already made GREat progress，andif you are diligent，you will make more in the years tocome．
Zhang：What is the best way to master it？
Chen：Well，there is nothing better than constant practice．
Zhang：How should we learn pronunciation？
Chen：We must listen and speak very carefully！
Zhang：Can we make proGREss through readingaloud？
Chen：You can make only slight proGREss if you continue tolearn only through reading aloud．Since English is not your nativetongue，you must develop the musclesof your speech organs first，sothat you can produce unfamiliar sounds．Then you can practicereading aloud over and over．
Zhang：Yes，you are quite right；my professor said the samething and he also said that language is a kind of instrument—peopleuse it to express their ideas，thoughts，feelings，and so on．All thesethings are determined in part by culture．When you understand the cultural background，you can better usethe language．
Chen：Yes，language is intimately tied to man's feelings and activities．It is inextricably tied to nationality，religion，and identity．Asgroups of people developed in different areas of the world，each groupnaturally formed its own spoken language．However，written languagecame about long after spoken language was created．
Zhang：My professor said that，too！
Chen：How marvelous！You're certainly lucky to have him as yourteacher．
Zhang：I'm glad to hear you say that！
Chen：Well，take care，see you next time！
Zhang：See you later，bye！
