Though Difficult, It Is Not Difficult--苦讀英文 「零分王」變頂呱呱

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=269086

苦讀英文 「零分王」變頂呱呱

【聯合報╱記者顏福江／高雄報導】 2010/09/04

高雄縣大學生劉士煒國中時是英文「零分王」，被老師放棄。他覺得很受傷，開始苦練英文，並選讀應用外語系，現在英文頂呱呱，在美國在台協會舉辦的英文寫作比賽中獲得優勝。
My comments: A good example of the saying, "Where there is a will, there is a way." Today before discussing the mock exam, I told Class 309 that a former student of mine got a 23 on the first UEE mock exam but that after doing numerous practice tests, he scored 84 on the UEE. After class, a student came up and told me he would do as well. True stories like these do spark inspiration.

目前讀和春技術學院應用外語系四年級的劉士煒說，從小英文很糟，但他硬是選應用外語科。

My comments: His guts and persistence raised him up.

他說，開始的前兩年什麼都聽不懂，有點沮喪，他領悟必須去「愛上英文」。除了勤背單字，到美語補習班練習聽力，並強迫自己學唱英文歌，「練咬字、發音」。「現在我成了卡卡女神的粉絲，因為她很多快歌聽來是一種挑戰」。

My comments: Singing English songs is a good and fun way to practice pronunciation. When we sing, we naturally use linking or trimming, two fast speech phenomena. Hmm, this reminds me to teach my classes a song this or next week.

他也喜歡看影片，喜劇片有不少美式笑話，學起來與外國人對話，說上幾句，有加分效果。