(以下为第 一封信节选内容）

Three Secrets to Mastering Spoken English!

March 13, 2020

Dear Chinese friends,

We hope you are safe and well – and using this time fruitfully to hone your English with many of the online programs. English is important to you, and your career, but it’s also important to help you tell China’s story to the world.

And speaking of English, today I want to tell you 3 No Fail Secrets to Improving Oral English!

First of all – are you motivated to improve your Spoken English? If yes, hold your hand up until I ask the next question. Is your hand up? Now, keep your hand up if you spend at least 20 minutes a day practicing, aloud, your spoken English.

Wow – even from here I can see hands go down! If your hand went down, you are not motivated!

“But I am motivated,” some students complain. “I just have no time or environment.”

Nonsense! If you were motivated, you would find time or create the environment. What exactly is motivation? We cheapen the word to mean “hope” or “desire,” but that is only part of it. Motivation is not just daydreaming. The world is full of daydreamers – like people around the world who talk about ending poverty but do nothing about it. In China, however, a core belief has been that a modestly prosperous Socialist society cannot coexist with poverty – so China has fought poverty since Liberation in 1949; now that is motivation.

So motivation is the internal and external forces that arouse enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a goal.

Desire is important, but if you do not persist it is not motivation, just wishing, or daydreaming.

MBA students told me, “We really have no time!” So I encouraged them to speak to each other in only English during the 20-minute walk to the dorm, or during a 20-minute break. “We’ll do it!” they said. But after a few minutes, they were back to using Chinese. “We’re tired,” they said. “We need the rest.”

“I do understand,” I said. “But if you were truly motivated, this would be a priority and you’d make the time daily for it. And not a lot of time!” Many people start out with a couple hours a day and quickly burn out. Better to set a smaller, reachable goal that you can stick to. Learn a little but use it a lot.

掌握英语口语的三大秘诀！

亲爱的中国朋友们：

希望你们一切安好，并在疫情期间通过丰富的线上教学卓有成效地提高英语水平。英语对你们来说非常重要，不仅在今后的事业上，对于你们向世界讲述中国故事也是大有帮助。

说到英语，今天我想跟大家分享三大屡试不爽的提升英语口语水平的秘诀！

首先，你有动力提高你的英语口语吗？如果有，请举手，在我提下一个问题前，别放下。你举手了吗？现在，每天至少花20分钟大声练习英语口语的请举手。

哇，仅在这，我就能发现举手的同学变少了！如果手放下去了，就说明你没有动力！

“我很有动力呀，只是没有时间和练习环境罢了。”一些学生抱怨道。

这完全没道理！如果你有动力，你就会挤出时间，创造环境。动力到底是什么？我们习惯把它等同于“希望”或“渴望”，但后两者仅是它的一部分。它也不是白日梦。到处都有做白日梦的人，例如世上那些要求消除贫困对此却毫无作为的人。而在中国，消除贫困、建设社会主义小康社会是人们的核心信仰，所以自1949年新中国成立以来他们就一直与贫困做斗争。这就是有动力！

动力激发人们追求目标的热情和毅力，这是源自内部或外部的力量。

渴望很重要，但没有坚持就不叫动力，那只是愿望，或者是白日梦。

我MBA的一些学生告诉我，他们真的很忙！所以，我鼓励他们在步行回宿舍的那20分钟，或者在一段20分钟的休息时间里，只用英语交谈。他们对此信誓旦旦。但没一会，他们就切回了汉语，理由是累了需要休息。

我说：“我当然明白，但如果你真有动力，就会优先考虑它，每天腾出时间练习。但我不建议花太多时间练习！”不少人起初斗志高昂，每天练上几小时，但如此以来倦怠感也来得快。最好是设定一个你能坚持且易实现的小目标。学到一点，就反复练习。