The Risk of Using Only English-Chinese Dictionaries

This afternoon, as a warm-up activity for Unit 5 "True Nobility," I asked my special-class student how he would define the word "nobility." Of course, I gave him its common Chinese translation "高貴." He told me he would think a person noble if he/she dresses differently, walks differently, or talks slowly. I laughed and told him what he thought of as noble, in fact, should be described as "elegant" in English. Then I read to him the definition given in the textbook: nobility: the state of being honest, brave, and unselfish in one's personal character. After that, we discussed the warm-up question in the textbook, in which he was asked to decide which two acts were nobler than the other two and why. Understanding the meaning of the English word "noble," he then gave me very good reasons for his decision.

Think about this. If his misunderstanding of the word "noble" had not been cleared up this afternoon, how he would misuse the word in the future? To avoid this kind of misunderstanding and misuse of a word, we'd better take a look at its definition in English.