|
As Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn, I get a lot of questions asked about
the English language, especially on how to build one's vocabulary.
Yes, vocabulary. That's what people are worried about, "my vocabulary
is not big enough" being a constant refrain.
When you examine this, however, you find it is not that their
vocabulary is small - today, a 25-year-old has done at least 10 years of
English-language training at various levels - assuming they have done
their due diligence required by an education system which emphasizes
little other than vocabulary building.
It is, rather, that their working vocabulary is
small. They may know the primary meanings of a word in the dictionary, but
not the nitty-gritty of it when it comes to practical use.
The other day, I got a question from someone about Yao Ming, who plays
for the Houston Rockets in the NBA. Yao, he read, had returned to the
lineup after getting a clean bill of health after a foot injury. Yao had
been out since December 18, 2005. He returned on January 31, 2006….
Anyway, he asked: "What's this 'bill of health'
about? All I know is that you have to pay the bill after a meal at a
restaurant."
"Or a telephone bill," when prompted what else he might know about the
word "bill".
"I pay my cell phone bills on time," he said. "That's all I know about
bills."
You see, it's not so much that one doesn't have a vocabulary, as that
one has a vocabulary which's limited when it comes to usage.
A few people have been known to recite full
dictionaries in a vainglorious effort to enlarge their vocabulary. Yet all
they do is try to remember the most common explanations of a word, rather
than its various usages in everyday conversation as well as in writing.
Take the very word
"bill" for example.
A bill the waiter hands over to you after a meal
is a list of particulars you may or may not have ordered. You often have
to double check to make sure - That's why it's called a check in Britain.
Joking aside, do check it before paying the bill and taking your leave.
Hence, a bill can be a list of things in other circumstances, such as
in entertainment - it's a program sheet with details about who's
performing, what is being shown in, say, a movie.
When Zhang Ziyi is said to "top the
bill" in the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha", she is the leading actress.
The controversial movie about the lives of
Japanese geishas has been cleared of distribution in China's mainland on
February 9, but the government changed its mind, cancelling the release
over the weekend, according to the Associated Press. (AP speculates that
Chinese authorities might be worried that "the sight of Chinese actresses
playing Japanese geishas would stir a backlash".)
In other words, "Geisha" has not been
given "a clean bill of health", which is what Yao Ming got after missing
21 games.
"A clean bill of health", therefore, is an all-negative list of medical
tests a patient has taken. Essentially, it's an official statement of
"there's nothing wrong".
There's nothing wrong with Yao. The same can not be said of the
"Geisha" in the view of the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV. At
present, at least.
When you put a list of events in a printed notice,
the "bill" becomes an advertisement, in the form of a poster, or a
"billboard". The billboard is sighted everywhere in Beijing, by the street
and atop buildings.
This
just in:
"Since February 2004, Kansas City, Missouri, has
erected 10 billboards with the names and photos of fugitives wanted for
murder, along with a phone number for anonymous tips and the lure of cash
rewards. Eight of the 10 have been captured, says Sergeant Craig Sarver of
the Kansas City Metropolitan Crime Commission, and "seven of those eight
have been related directly to the tips from the billboards." (USA Today,
February 3, 2006).
Having a vocabulary is basic to any attempt at mastering the English
language. Having a flexible and lively vocabulary is a key to effective
communication.
In other words, life is good if you are able to "foot all the bills".
It is more exciting when you find yourself "billing and cooing" with
someone else.
Like birds. | 
