大学英语课堂教学中口语能力提升策略——以“Entertaining Humor-What’s Funny?”单元为例

张 文

(安庆师范大学外国语学院，安徽 安庆 246133)

《新编大学英语综合教程》第4册第1单元“Entertaining Humor-What’s Funny?”是关于休闲娱乐话题。在课堂教学Warming-up阶段，老师可将学生分成若干小组，分别用英语猜谜语、指出英文双关语的妙语、讲英文笑话，激发学生兴趣，提升口语能力。

一、猜谜语

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、双关语

1.To write with a broken pencil is pointless

句中pointless表示having no sense 即无意义。

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，也可以指缺钱即 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 是指自动售货机找零钱，而医生回答孩子的爷爷时的change，是指硬币尚未从孩子口腔里取出，所以病情没有进展即No change of the situation。

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

句中driving既是驾车又是强有力之意即powerful。

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

单词terminal表达难以治愈的疾病，也表示航空站和终端站。

6.Math teachers have lots of problems.

此句含混，可表示数学老师给学生的问题problems for their students，也可以理解为老师自身有问题have problems themselves。

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

此句歧义，可表示校长和老师禁止学生kissing，也可以理解为校长和老师两人decided to stop kissing。

三、笑话

英语幽默笑话的结构通常由三部分组成：背景设置Setup、主体Body、结尾妙语Punch Line。下面是本单元课文中的一则笑话。

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)

三个老年人听力有障碍，误将 Wednesday听成Wembley，误将thirsty听成Thursday，导致最后的妙语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]王福祯.英语幽默笑话集[M].北京：世界图书出版公司，2003.58.

[2]应惠兰.新编大学英语(第三版)综合教程[M].北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2012.2.