学语言要下苦工夫，但有时也别那么认真
四月份比较忙，读了4本书，在Audible上听了2本。一本是之前和大家分享过的The Art of Witty Banter，一本是Ellen DeGeneres (念/dɪˈdʒɛnərɪs/) 的Seriously... I'm Kidding。和她之前的两本书一样，书名中有个标志性的省略号。
Ellen DeGeneres最知名一个身份应该是脱口秀节目《艾伦秀》的主持人，在做主持人之前她是位Stand-up commedian。她也曾主持过奥斯卡颁奖典礼，做过《美国偶像》的评委，给《海底总动员》配过音。
1997年，39岁Ellen出柜，不久她就失去了工作，失去了一切。在书中她这样回忆道：
When I came out of the closet on my sitcom I knew it was a risk, but I took the risk and look what happened. It got canceled. Not the point. The point is, I got back on my horse—when I found out my sitcom got canceled, I happened to be riding one of those toy horses out side the supermarket—and I pushed forward. I said, "You'll show them, Ellen!" And I did another sitcom. Guess what happened? That got canceled too. Not the point, either. The real point is that I kept going and now I appreciate my success more than I could have ever imagined.
接着她说：...don't look back and don't spend too much time worrying about the future. Stay in the present. Stop and smell the roses. Wake up and smell the coffee. Enjoy the sweet smell of success.
这就是Ellen的风格，幽默诚恳，调侃自嘲，猝不及防地端上一碗鸡汤。
听Ellen读有声书是种享受，语言平实，语调活泼，和一本正儿八经的书相比，它是个流水账。3小时的有声书我听了2遍，一次是1.25倍速，一次是1.5倍速。在听的过程中经常会把一段好玩的话反复听上几遍，然后自己复述出来，把它们放进的素材库。
例如谈到年龄时，她说：I enjoy growing older and wiser and learning from my mistakes every single day. I'm happy that in a few years I'll be able to get half-price tickets to movies and museums. Considering how often I go to the movies and museums, I could save upward of thirty dollars a year.
说到如何成为超级模特时，她给的第一条建议是要眼神要狠：Always look like you're angry at the universe for making you too pretty.
聊到标签（label）时她说：How does the number of cats you have make you a lesbian? And why is three the lesbian number? Would having only two cats mean I'm straight? Would having four make me a super-lesbian?
如果你经常跑步、通勤，想利用碎片时间学点英文，Audible是非常棒的选择。我建议从一些比较简单，好玩的书听起，例如这本Seriously...I'm Kidding和我正在听的How to American。在嘻嘻哈哈中放松心情，顺便学点儿文化和英文—学语言要下苦工夫，但也别总太认真。
看Silicon Valley知道的Jimmy Yang，很喜欢他的风格和性感口音
Ellen说我们每个人都想要幸福。And once you find happiness, you've pretty much uncovered the secret. 我想学英语也是这样，听点学点自己想了解的、好玩的材料，有了兴趣就不需要“坚持”了。
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