英 国人说话不根据文法么？
Was it because at that time the English language had no grammar or Englishmen spoke without following any grammatical rules?
任何文字当然有它一 套组成的法则。
Any language of course has rules to gO by.
大家说话，当然要根据一套公认的法则，否则大家随 便乱讲，彼此无从互相了解了。
All people speak a language according to a set of generally accepted rules, for otherwise their speech would be all topsy-turvy and unintelligible.
不过，我们要知道，所谓文法也者， 不是任谁武断订定的，乃是由公认的语言习惯中归纳出来的一个系 统。
We ought to know, however, that grammar, rather than something arbitrarily created, is a system drawn from common linguistic usage.
先有语言，后有文字，然后再有文法书。
Speech comes first, then the written language, and then the grammar book.
三百多年前的时候，英 国有一些学者开始感觉到有撰写文法书的需要，于是以拉丁文的文法 为蓝本，利用拉丁文法上的各种专门术语，编写英文文法书。
Over 300 years ago, some scholars in England, realizing the necessity for an English grammar, began to work on it on the model of Latin grammar, borrowing heavily from its terminology.
莎士比 亚的时代，英国人尚没有研读英文文法的。
In Shakespeare's time, nobody in England studied English grammar.
如果他们研读文法，研读 的是拉丁文法。
What they studied was Latin grammar.
那时候英国的中学叫做"文法学校"，那文法是拉丁 文法，不是英文文法，那时候尚无英文文法这样一个名词。
Middle schools then were known as "grammar schools", the word "grammar" referring to "Latin grammar" instead of "English grammar", a term then non-existent.
大体讲来， 英文本是一种北方的语言，硬用拉丁文法去分析英文，其结果当然不 免要有一些牵强，更随时要遇到例外。
As English was largely a northern language, the forced application of Latin grammar to its analysis ended inevitably in inadequacies and frequent exceptions to rules.
语言是活的，随时在变，字义以及句法等等都在变。
Its word meanings, sentence structures, etc. all keep changing.
我们现代所 认为不合文法的词句，往往正是二三百年前大家通用的英文。
Phrases and sentences which we today think ungrammatical were often in common use 2-3 centuries ago.
不用说 两三百年，三五十年间就可能有显著的变化。
It might take only 3-5 decades rather than 2-3 centuries for a marked linguistic change to occur.
所以"标准的英文"是 很难讲的。
Therefore, it is very difficult to speak "standard English." Each historical period has a different standard of its own.
每一时代有其不同的标准，拿五十年前甚至一百年前的文 法书来衡量现代的英文，实在是自寻烦恼的事。
It will be ado about nothing to judge of modern English by its grammar of 50 or even 100 years ago.
国人学习英文，喜欢从文法下手，以为一旦文法通晓，英文即可 豁然贯通。
People of our country tend to overstress the importance of grammar when they begin to study English, thinking that once they have acquired good knowledge of grammar, they will have thoroughly mastered the language.
不过这是一个旧法子，较新的法子 是不从死板的抽象的文法理论下手，而去直接的去学习那活的语言方 式。
The new method is by learning directly from the living speech instead of by starting with the rigid and abstract theory of grammar.
People learn to speak in childhood, they never study any grammar.
学习外国语，当然比较难得多，但是道理还是一样。
Of course it is much more difficult with the study of a foreign language.
合理的 学习语言的方法，那是自然的学习方法。
The proper method is by learning naturally.
所以我们的课程标准明白规定不 许学校单独讲授文法。
Therefore our school syllabus has explicitly ruled out the teaching of grammar in classroom as an independent subject.
其所以如此，是因为大家都不免有 一点惰性，不易接纳新的观点，同时也是因为平时我们没有把英文教 好学好，急来抱佛脚，以为研读文法是学习英文的捷径。
But, fact is, as far I as I know, schools are still teaching a grammar book and students are still buried its study --- partly because people are generally inert and reluctant to accept new ideas, and partly because, having failed to teach or learn suecessfully, they hastily seek help from grammar at the last moment, regarding it as shorteut to mastering English.
句子的构造法最关重要。
Sentence structure is of great importance.
例如说，"我有一 本书"，这在中文英文没有什么分别，用不着特别致力的去学习。
For instance, the English sentence / have a book and its Chinese equivalent Wo you yi ben shu(