Do a lot of general reading
Every week, you should read at least one English novel (or play). Read a light one — one that’s enjoyable, entertaining and easily understood, rather than a serious one. This is because light novels and plays are normally written in everyday English. And that’s the kind of English that brings you fluency. Of course, books dealing with serious subjects would also help you — if they are in everyday English. My aim is just this: I want to get you exposed to a large amount of a particular type of English — the type of English that native speakers of English actually use in speech in today’s world. Ordinary novels & plays suit fluency-building best Understand this: In general, classics of English literature won’t suit our purpose. No, they won’t. In general, they won’t help you supplement your fluency efforts. No.
Of course, classics of English literature are splendid when your aim is appreciation of literature. But not when your aim is to get help with your fluency efforts. The reason is this: Classics of English literature are generally written in a literary style, and not in an easy, conversational, everyday style. And they’re often full of literary words and expressions. Most of them even contain structures, words and expressions that are rare in speech or that are no longer used even in writing. And they may mislead you into thinking that the style of writing and vocabulary items used in them are appropriate for use in speech. And you may even unconsciously start copying them. That would be a disaster. An utter disaster.
On the other hand, light novels and plays are normally written in an ordinary, everyday style, and not in a literary style. And they’re full of structures, words and expressions that are used every day in real-life speech. These structures, words and expressions are the power-house of the English that’s actually in use — of the living English. And these are the structures, words and expressions you need to have a mastery of. Light novels and light plays get you to come across these structures, words and expressions again and again in a variety of everyday contexts. This develops your familiarity with them remarkably well, and these structures, words and expressions begin to occur to you readily whenever you think of putting facts and thoughts into words.
Ordinary crime stories, romances, humorous novels and plays may not be books of high literary merit. But they’ll give you a lot of exposure to these living structures, words and expressions. For a start, it’s better to confine yourself to one author. You’ll then be exposed repeatedly to the same language, style, expressions, etc. in a large number of situations. After you’ve read five or six books by the same author, turn to another author. Then you’ll come across a sizable amount of the same language, style, expressions,
etc. in a variety of situations created by this other author. The cumulative effect of all this reading experience would be this: A bank of ready-to-use English phrases and expressions gets set up in your brain. And through association of ideas, this bank starts supplying you with ready-to-use phrases and expressions when you think of expressing your ideas.
Recommended reading
Books by Erle Stanley Gardner, James Hadley Chase and John Grisham are ideal from this point of view. These authors would keep you soaked in the living part of modern-day English. This is the kind of English that you’ll find to be of the most general use.
Of course, books even by these authors contain here and there vocabulary items and usages that are dated. Any book by any author is almost certain to contain a certain percentage of dated elements. But what these authors repeatedly expose you to is that part of the English language that has achieved some sort of permanence over the last 100 years or so, and not those parts that only had a short life or will only have a short life. These authors would get you immersed in English that is neither too old nor too modern.
做大量的一般性阅读
每周，你应该至少读一本英语小说(或戏剧)。读一本轻松的书——让人愉快的、有趣的、容易理解的书，而不是严肃的书。这是因为轻松的小说和戏剧通常是用日常英语写的。这就是那种能让你流利的英语。当然，处理严肃主题的书籍也会对你有所帮助——如果它们是日常英语的。我的目标只是:我想让你们接触大量的一种英语——一种以英语为母语的人在当今世界实际使用的英语。一般的小说和戏剧最适合提高英语流利度。请理解这一点:一般来说，英国文学名著不适合我们的目的。不,他们不会。一般来说，它们不会帮助你提高流利程度。不。
当然，如果你的目的是欣赏文学，那么经典的英国文学是极好的。但当你的目标是在流利度方面获得帮助时，情况就不同了。原因是:英国文学经典通常以文学风格写成，而不是简单的、会话式的、日常风格。它们通常充满了文学词汇和表达。它们中的大多数甚至包含了一些结构、词汇和表达方式，这些结构、词汇和表达方式在口语中很少出现，甚至在写作中也不再使用。他们可能会误导你，让你认为他们的写作风格和词汇是适合在演讲中使用的。你甚至可能不自觉地开始复制它们。那将是一场灾难。一个彻底的灾难。
另一方面，轻描淡写的小说和戏剧通常是用普通的日常文体来写的，而不是文学文体。它们充满了日常生活中日常使用的结构、单词和表达。这些结构、单词和表达是真正在使用的英语的动力库——生活英语。这些是你需要掌握的结构、单词和表达方式。轻描淡写的小说和轻描淡写的戏剧会让你在各种各样的日常语境中一次又一次地遇到这些结构、词汇和表达。这样，你对它们的熟悉程度就会大大提高，当你想把事实和想法用文字表达出来的时候，这些结构、单词和表达就会开始出现在你的脑海中。
普通的犯罪小说、爱情小说、幽默小说和戏剧可能没有很高的文学价值。但是他们会给你很多接触这些活的结构、单词和表达的机会。首先，最好把自己局限在一个作者身上。然后，在大量的情况下，您将反复接触到相同的语言、风格、表达式等。当你读了五六本同一作者的书后，就转向另一个作者。然后你会遇到大量相同的语言、风格、表达式，
在其他作者创造的各种情况下，等等。所有这些阅读体验的累积效果将是:在你的大脑中建立起一个现成的英语短语和表达库。通过想法的联系，当你想表达你的想法时，这家银行开始为你提供现成的短语和表达。
推荐阅读
从这个角度来看，厄尔·斯坦利·加德纳、詹姆斯·哈德利·蔡斯和约翰·格里森姆的书是最理想的。这些作者会让你沉浸在现代英语的生活中。这是你会发现最常用的一种英语。
当然，即使是这些作者的书也会时不时地出现过时的词汇和用法。任何作者的任何一本书几乎肯定会包含一定比例的年代元素。但是这些作者反复向你们展示的是英语的一部分在过去的100多年里已经取得了某种永久性的存在，而不是那些寿命很短或将很短的部分。这些作者会让你沉浸在既不太古老也不太现代的英语中。