这篇文章严格起来其实是个广告，因为我要对新概念这本教材给予崇高的敬意。当我翻开新概念第三册的《致老师和同学们》，赫然发现了如下的这段：

Students working at this level often wish to sit for academic examinations like the Cambridge fist Certificate . Now it is a curious paradox that formal examinations often hinder rather than help a student to learn a language . However , there should be no need to work at cross-purposes:it is quite possible for the student to go on learning a language and to prepare for an examination at the same time . It must be clearly understood that a formal examination with its bias towords the written language will only exert a pernicious influence on language learning when it is regarded as an end in itself . When the teacher makes it his aim to get his class through an examination and no more , he will undoubtedly fail to teach the language properly . An examination must always be regarded as something secondary , a by-product which the student will take in his stride . It must never be regarded as an end in itself . An intermediate course should not only enable a student to go on learning English systematically , but should , incidentally , enable him to pass an examination , without special preparation .

当我读到这段话的时候，心中有一种偶逢知音的快感。不知道从什么时候，开始讨厌各种各样的考试，就像马克思说的，讨厌用一把尺子来衡量鲜活的个人。然而，当代中国的教育体制又充斥着考试。大学要一考定终身，研究生也要考，公务员要考，总之样样要考，没几年就要紧张一下，读书汲取知识的岁月要不断被这些无脑的考试所打断。

然而，往往在没有优质的替代性方案的情况下，考试也有着强大的正当性，这点也不容否认。

这篇《致老师和同学们》几乎是决定性地让我这样一个容易走极端的人心悦诚服。这篇文章非常明确地说明了语言学习和考试的关系：考试只不过是语言学习的“顺手一击”，以考试为目的的语言学习是相当有害的。

简简单单地两个结论，就已经超越了大部分为了考试而孜孜努力的人，这些人甚至会把离考试还有多少多少天放在显要位置，不断刺激自己好好学习。这大概就是现代版的头悬梁锥刺股吧。如果继续这个不恰当的比喻，晚上熬夜看书，就属于凿壁偷光了。

但是这篇文章也没有否定考试，这正是这篇文章的高明之处，在理顺学习和考试的关系后，采取了相当老练的态度，为学习者留下了极大的努力空间。这是因为这样，当我没有动力继续学习的时候，这篇文章几乎成了最强劲的推动力。

所以，本文是一篇广告文章，不仅极力推荐新概念这一套伟大的教材，还推荐这种早就应该是人所公知的“新概念”。

原文连接：http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5979a2870100pvzs.html