她是应试教育的牺牲品，十年来经历了几个难忘的阶段：小学时被迫学英语，
中学时从考试的高分中获得成就感，大学时侥幸地选择了英语专业，大学中被认
为口语烂而信心瓦解，到最后寻求真正意义上的学习方法。她说，当我自信地和
外国朋友交流时，我觉得一切努力都是值得的。

    十年回顾：苦乐参半

    Ten years has fleeted by since the first day I was forced to touch
upon English. To say 'be forced' means for me merely due to the needs
of educational system that I began to learn it. Recalling my long journey
of learning English as a second language， I couldn't help thinking of
one word to describe my feeling-bittersweet.

    填鸭式教育：高分带来成就感

    For an industrious girl ， learning a new language is not a disappointing
thing at the beginning stage； for me ， it is not an exception. I would
follow the traditional teacher's guide to copy the new vocabulary and
do all kinds of written assignments every day after school， never listening
to the tape ， not to say reading after it. After learning English for
three years ， I developed a deep love for it and gradually gained a sense
of achievement from every test result.

    Even more ， at one time， textbooks can no longer satisfy my strong
thirst for having a sound command of English； therefore， I immerged
myself in all kinds of contests-based English books. In this way， my
ability of getting satisfying marks in the exams increased， and learning
English is but a joyful thing for me.

    大学：侥幸选择英语专业

    Till the end of my senior middle school life， everything was on the
track as I expected. To further pursue my 'easy' life of learning English，
I became an English major student on campus. Fortunately or unfortunately，
I felt that my long time pride for English suddenly collapsed for my English
pronunciation and communication skills is far from satisfying. Worst of
all ， I did not realize it till one of my good friends reminded me of
this weakness. I was in a horror.

    “被发现”口语烂艰辛探寻英语学习之路

    From then on， I dare not to speak in public as usual ， racking my
brains to think how to change the current terrible situation. The following
days were a painful experience of discovering how to improve my oral English，
consulting teachers and classmates and searching on the Internet.

    At last ， I bought a video-taped book called New Concept English
Three and locked myself in a quiet room ， imitating and reciting after
the video. Later， I changed the material into American Album USA ， a
conversation-based book. Doing imitating work alone in a quiet room was
dull and boring and many times I had to remind myself to persist when
I was reluctant to get out of the warm bed to follow my English study
schedule in winter. At the same time， I would go to English Corner regularly，
speaking out what I've learned. About half a year passed， some teachers
and classmates cannot even imagine a student with such poor English could
make such impressive improvement in oral English.

    我为什么爱记单词

    Another part of my English learning is to remember vocabulary and
maybe it sounds weird to someone that I like it and have fun with it.
I would buy a vocabulary book and finish it for about a week. Remembering
new words is a process of oblivion and repetition. It is， on the one
hand， disappointing because I may forget the word even a few seconds
later and ， on the other hand， rewarding because whenever I finally
chewed down and digested it ， I could always locate these words in my
daily reading. Of course， along with remembering words ， I would accumulate
new vocabulary encountered in my reading and try to put it in my writing
and speaking. For this point， maybe I did a good job in combining input
and output together without losing balance.

    I always firmly believe what hurts us the most will deepen in our
memory， as it is so with my experience of focusing my attention on oral
English during my spare time for one year. Four years' college life witnessed
my improvement on the comprehensive English ability ， especially on speaking
part. Later ， whenever I talk with my foreign friends freely and confidently，
I feel all my efforts are rewarded.

    只要用心目标终会实现

    Reflecting my experience of learning English， I realize that a lot
should be improved. Of all， the most important part is the quantity of
input ， that is， more English-written books should be read because，
only if I read English books as naturally as reading Chinese ones ， can
I find the appropriate way of expressing myself like a native. Another，
more practice should be done to develop my ability of talking in English
without thinking. All are what I am now striving for.

    In all， I am fully aware that I still have a long way to go in the
perfecting process of English. Though barriers may sometimes stand in
the way towards my dreams ， I always believe that my ultimate goal is
attainable as long as I put my whole heart into it.