How I learned English?（我是如何学会英语的？）

My full name is Michal Ryszard Wojcik. I live in Poland and Polish is my native language. I am a mathematician and an enthusiast of English. I learned English very well and now I want to share my experience with other people.

我的全名叫Michal Ryszard Wojcik。我生活在波兰，波兰语是我的母语。我是个数学家，但很喜欢英语。我英语学得很不错，现在就跟大家分享一下我的经验。

I had my first contact with English when I was six. My dad inspired me to listen to The Beatles. I listened to them every day for the next seven years. In the beginning I could understand nothing of what they were singing. But soon I started to understand individual words, especially the ones which appeared in the titles.

我六岁的时候第一次接触英语。那时我爸爸鼓励我去听甲壳虫乐队的歌曲。为此，在接下去的七年时间里，我每天都坚持听甲壳虫乐队的歌曲。一开始我什么也听不懂，但是很快我就慢慢能听懂一些单词了，尤其是那些在歌名里出现的单词。

Later I got a book with the words of all the songs. I read the book many times. I learned many songs by heart. I sang the songs to myself. Still, I understood very little of the meaning. It became my dream to learn English so well that I could understand The Beatles. So The Beatles were my first motivation. That is how I started my way toward English.

后来我找到了一本关于甲壳虫乐队所有歌曲的歌词的书。整本书我看了很多次，用心学会了很多歌曲，并且一个人哼唱。然而，我还是几乎不懂歌曲的意思。于是，我梦想着能够把英语学好，这样就可以理解甲壳虫乐队的歌曲了。因此，甲壳虫乐队的歌曲成了我学好英语最初的动力，而这也正是我开启英语学习之旅的发端。

Today, I can understand The Beatles very clearly. Each time I hear a Beatles song, I am delighted and proud because I have made my childhood dream come true. I listen to many rock bands, all in English, and I listen every day, sometimes for over seven hours a day. I am constantly aware of my success with English because I can understand the lyrics of the songs I listen to. And that gives me pleasure and satisfaction for many hours every day.

如今，我可以完全听懂甲壳虫乐队的歌曲。每次我听到他们的歌曲，我都会感到很兴奋，也很自豪，因为我已经实现了我儿时的梦想。我会收听很多摇滚乐队的歌曲，都是英文歌曲。我每天都坚持收听，有时一天会听上7个多小时。我很清楚自己的英语越来越好了，因为我都能听懂歌曲的歌词了。而这让我每天都深感愉悦和满足。

When I was 13 years old, I started reading science fiction books. I read in Polish. The books were all American. I could not read the original versions because I did not know English so well. As I read in Polish, I was more and more eager to read the books in English. Somehow I felt that in English the books will be even more interesting and reading will be more exciting. I finally decided that I wanted to read books in English. This decision guided me for many years.

十三岁时，我开始看科幻故事。我看的是波兰语版本的故事，但都是美国的故事书。我看不懂原本的故事，因为我英语还不够好。当我在看波兰语版本的故事时，我越来越渴望看英文原著。我总觉得如果是看英文版的，故事会更有意思，阅读本身会更令人兴奋。于是，我最终决定要去看英文原著，而这个决定多年以来一直引导我的英语学习。

I learned every new English word that I met. With each new word I felt closer to my goal. With each word I felt that my reading ability was increasing. Each word added to my sense of power.

每碰到一个生词，我都会好好学习；每一个生词都让我感觉更加接近我的目标，每一个单词都让我觉得自己的阅读能力加强了；每一个单词都让我觉得自己的能力在提升。

At some point I read my first whole book in English and I understood it. That moment was a breakthrough in my life. I knew that I had broken a barrier, gotten into a new world. I found that reading is much more exciting in English. When I read in English, I have not only the pleasure of reading, but also the pleasure of using English and the pleasure of learning English. For the last four years I have read books only in English, with very few exceptions.

某一天第一次完整地看完了一本英语书，而且我都看懂了。而那一刻，成了我人生的突破点。我知道我冲破了障碍，进入了一个新的世界。我发现，英语阅读远比我想象的要更加令人兴奋。当我进行英语阅读时，我不仅仅享受到了阅读的快乐，我还享受到了运用和学习英语的乐趣。在过去的四年时间里，我只看英语书籍，很少有例外。

I have read many pop-science books in English. Some of them are still not available in Polish. My knowledge of English allowed me to get in touch with the current state of evolutionary theory and cognitive science of the mind. Without English, I would not have read the books because there are no Polish translations of them. When I learned English well enough to read pop-science books, I discovered that English is a very important tool for learning science.

我看了很多通俗科学类英语书籍，它们中有些还没有波兰语的版本。我的英语知识，使得我能够有机会接触到有关大脑思维的最新的进化理论和认知科学。如果不是因为懂英语，我就无法阅读那么多的书籍，因为这些书籍都还没有被译成波兰语。当我学会阅读英语版的通俗科学书籍时，我发现英语对于学习科学知识来说是很重要的工具。

Currently I study mathematics. Most of the books I use are in English. In fact, most of the books in my math institute's library are in English. I discovered that my knowledge of English is very important for my learning mathematics. Without English I would be limited to the few books which are in Polish, and there are really few of them. Over a year ago I decided to use English only in mathematical notes. I read and write math materials in English, like most professional mathematicians. I have become part of the international mathematical community. I can read math materials on the Internet and I can publish my own materials, with no language barriers. I feel free!

目前我在学习数学。大部分我使用到的书本都是英文版的。事实上，我所在的研究院的图书馆里的大部分藏书都是英文版的。我发现我的英语知识对于我的数学学习时很重要的。如果不懂英语，我就只能查阅一些波兰语版本的书籍，而且这些书的数量真的很少。一年多前，我决定在做数学笔记时，只用英语记。我像许多其他的数学家一样，只看英语材料，也只用英语写材料。我成了国际数学领域的一份子，我能够在网上阅读数学材料，并且出版自己的数学资料，根本没有语言障碍——我感到可以得心应手地使用英语！

English has given me so much satisfaction and pleasure and also I find it so useful in my scientific pursuit, that I decided to share my methods and my experience with other people. On Antimoon, I try to help people to learn English with pleasure. I know that it is possible to derive satisfaction from the process of learning English and I want to share it with others.

英语给了我如此之多的愉悦与满足感，而且我发现它对于我的科学探究也很有帮助，所以我决定跟大家分享我的学习方法和经验。通过Antimoon（一个英语学习网站），我想帮助大家轻松学习英语。我觉得在英语学习过程中，我们是可以收获满足感的，所以我想跟大家分享这种满足感。