路易斯·亚历山大（Louis Alexander）生于1932年1月15日，逝于2002年6月17日。
亚历山大（英）L. G. Alexander是世界著名的英语教学权威，曾任欧洲现代语言教学委员会理事。其中一些如NCE（《新概念英语》）和Follow Me（《跟我学》）已成为经典教材。 他的《朗文英语语法》也是语法书中的佳作，至今畅销世界。Direct English（《直捷英语》）是他在有生之年最后为英语学习者奉献的巅峰之作。
新概念英语《新概念英语》（New Concept English）作为享誉全球的最为经典地道的英语教材，以其严密的体系性、严谨的科学性、精湛的实用性、浓郁的趣味性深受英语学习者的青睐。这套世界闻名的英语教程一如既往地向读者提供一个完整的、经过实践检验的英语学习体系，使学生有可能在英语的四项基本技能——理解、口语、阅读和写作——方面最大限度地发挥自己的潜能。
《新概念英语》是以情景式教学理念为依据，采用循序渐进式的语法大纲，在情景中学习语法、应用语法；同时，每隔一段时间在新的内容中循环复习已学的语法，使得学习者在即将遗忘的时刻及时温故知新。通过这种方法，学生能够奠定非常坚实的语言基础。另外，《新概念英语》从第1册开始就注重语言学习规律，先听再说，先读后写。从语言学习初期就注重语言技能的培养，将语言知识的应用同语言技能培养有机结合，相互平衡和补充。这样，学习《新概念英语》可以一石两鸟——提高英语能力和提高学习成绩。 再者，《新概念英语》的课文蕴含的幽默感是其他同类教科书不可比拟的，而这种幽默感可以引领学习者保持持久的学习兴趣，让学习变成听讲故事一样有趣。有了兴趣，学习效果会自然提升。 作者亚历山大先生在课文的甄选和编排上表现出了深湛的功力和慧眼卓识。这些课文文思兼优、雅俗共赏，难度由浅入深，篇幅由短到长，层层递进，有条不紊。教材选文的题材相当广泛，而同一单元的课文长度大体相当，实在令人拍案叫绝。
第一册以日常对话为主，简单对话中蕴含生活智慧；第二、三两册的课文，一般以幽默故事为主，适应了不同专业、爱好的学习者的阅读口味。这些课文的题材是相当广泛的，涉及社会、政治、人物、艺术、考古、科技和自然等方方面面。各篇课文的语言风格大体一致，即便是科技类文章行文也是活泼生动的，没有多少刻板的学究气。这些课文不仅宜于阅读，还可以作为学习写作的良好范本。第四册的课文大多选自英文原著，语言难度加深，题材更加多样，其中包括了罗素和邱吉尔等名家的作品。学完了第四册，读者便可以将精读的学习告一段落，直接进入阅读原著、名著的阶段了。
跟我学（Follow Me）作为20世纪80年代的经典电视英语教程，本套书以全新的功能教学理念和丰富新颖的教学手段风靡了整个中国。本套书采用循环式教学法，提供大量的听说训练，话题多样，轻松幽默，可以有效提高学习者的口语和听力水平。
此外，本套书还通过灵活多样的情景教学方式，带您走进英国社会，领略英国的风土人情。为了满足国内广大英语爱好者的需求，外语教学与研究出版社与BBC通力合作，组织中外专家，对原书的素材进行了重新整合和编排，并邀请国内著名节目主持人杨澜女士以及BBC英语教学顾问Kathy Flower女士对节目中的教学难点及重点进行了全新诠释。
改版的《跟我学》保留了第一版《跟我学》的诸多优点。其一，依然由60集组成，包括60个主题，涵盖了日常生活中常用的10项语言功能，而且每学10课后会针对已学的语言功能言功能相似，可以使学习者温故而知新。其二，保留了由BBC广播公司《跟我学》剧组拍摄的原版情景剧。生动、滑稽的表演充分体现了英国人的幽默感，加上纯正的英式发音，给人带来真正的视听享受；其三，在情景剧中间，穿插了与情景剧语言功能相关的实景对话和歌曲，便于学习者扩展所学的语言知识；其四，我们在其中40集里穿插了一个句为Follow Me to Britain的纪录片，向学习者介绍英国的本土文化，使学习者有身临英国的感觉；其五，其作20集里穿插播放了4个系列短剧，情节起伏跌宕，生动有趣。
改版的《跟我学》还增添了一些新的特色。60集的录像节目分别由著名主持人杨澜(前30集)和BBC广播公司的Kathy Flower(后30集)担纲主持，在原版的录像节目的基础上设计了更详细和更富有时代气息的讲解，以满足当前学习者的需要。同时，我们为改版的《跟我学》增另了两个学生的角色，设计了师生互动的句型练习活动和口语活动，由此加强了节目的互动性和交际性，对于学习者提高交际能力大有帮助。改版《跟我学》分为上、下册，各配10张VCD，适合具有初级水平的英语学习者。
《直捷英语》
《直捷英语》（Direct English）是专门为英语学习者设计的一套听说强化教程，是《新概念英语》（New Concept English）的作者路易斯·亚历山大（Louis Alexander）的又一套经典教材。与《新概念英语》不同的是，《直捷英语》（Direct English）采用系列短剧的形式，将语言知识贯穿剧情之中。学习者通过模仿地道美语，达到强化英语听说能力的目的。
提供全新英语听说解决方案
* 独特的短剧形式，激发浓厚学习兴趣
* 合理的结构编排，蕴涵科学学习理念
* 翔实的辅助讲解，培养自主学习习惯
* 充足的听说训练，营造互动学习空间
* 丰富的配套产品，满足不同学习需求
《直捷英语》（Direct English）采用系列短剧的形式，将语言知识贯穿剧情之中。学习者通过模仿地道美语，达到强化英语听说能力的目的。该套教程的编写依据英语学习的一般规律，根据学习过程中的“积累（building）—巩固（consolidation）—扩展（expanding）”三个阶段设计教材的结构；同时，短剧剧情贴近美国生活，人物个性鲜明，语言生动风趣，不断发展的故事情节可以让学习者保持持久的学习兴趣，从而达到预期的学习效果。
路易斯·亚历山大写书历程
My late husband, Louis Alexander, was born on 15 January 1932, and died on 17th June 2002. He published his first book, Sixty Steps to Précis, in 1962, and for the rest of his life, he continued to travel, to research, to write and to publish at a furious rate. You have a list of his published works here.
When Louis was travelling and meeting people, one of the obvious questions they would ask him, in fascinated tones, was how many books he had published. Although this question may seem obvious and reasonable, Louis would gently explain that it was not possible to count how many books he had written. ‘For,’ he said, ‘how can you define a ‘book’? A little story, such as April Fool’s Day has only thirty-two pages, and is written in a day or two. A four-level course, like Look, Listen and Learn, has 4 Pupil’s books, 8 Workbooks, 4 Teacher’s Books and 8 storybooks. It took five years to write. Both these are separate titles, but they cannot in any way be compared.’
Looking at the list of his works, therefore, we should avoid making a crude tally of their number. The point is that they represent forty years of committed hard work and creativity by a man who had thoughts and ideas flying from his fingertips. He was a Colossus by any standards. His work defined the field of English as a Foreign Language, in terms of teaching, and in terms of publishing. Nothing has happened in the field during his lifetime and since his death that he did not prefigure in his work. He laid down the map of the subject for others to follow.
Louis always knew he was going to be a writer. As a small child, he wrote a ‘magazine’ of articles and stories which he shared with his friends. Later, he wrote for, and edited, the magazines of his school and university. He also directed his fellow students in some of Shakespeare’s plays, played the piano, wrote poetry, went climbing in Wales and Scotland, and studied his chosen subject – English Language and Literature – with passion.
After university, for his military service, he was sent to the British Army’s Higher Education Centre in Germany. His job there was to teach men who were about to go back to civilian life. They needed to pass public examinations, so as to get a good start once they left the army. Those 2 years in the Army represented the perfect preparation for his life-work. His students had only 6 weeks to master the material needed for their exams. Their success depended on truly efficient teaching. Louis got excellent results by planning every detail of the syllabus and writing materials to match. He also employed one of the locals to give him private lessons in German. This was his first language syllabus, created for his own needs, since of course he decided what he wanted to know, and how he wanted to learn. His teacher administered the lessons according to Louis’ plan. Louis had already learned French in school and Greek by listening to his father’s friends, but this time, he was in charge of his own language lessons. He learned German by comparing and contrasting it with English, and so began to look at English inside out. And finally, it may not seem important, but it is basic, that he taught himself at that time to touch-type with great speed and accuracy. Typing was for him as easy as breathing. How else could he have written so much?
I have explained this to you in some detail, so as to illustrate how Louis worked. He had an extremely high energy-level. That was his nature. He was also very self-disciplined. In every area of his life, he would define what had to be done, and then work steadily towards the target. Because he knew what he was doing, he was very patient. Some things take a long time. For example, The Longman English Grammar took seven years to write, and he wrote seven editions in manuscript before it was published. The task of writing a reference work was to decide what to say, then to refine how to say it, and finally to decide what not to say. His aim in all his work was to cut through to the essence of the language, and he knew when he had done so.
The list of Louis’ published works is rather like a map of my own life, since I taught New Concept English and Look, Listen and Learn before I ever met him – and I recognized their greatness immediately. They freed me to become a really good teacher, so that I enjoyed my work. When Longman took me on as a teacher-trainer, I was in a position to follow all Louis’ works as he wrote them, for a period of nearly nine years. Before I got to know him well personally, I observed his work from inside Longman as a privileged observer. I could see that he was working at the cutting edge of syllabus and materials development, and that he was as much at home in the classrooms of developing countries, like Brazil and Egypt, as he was in the highest academic committees of the Council of Europe. I could also see a man who was really keen on new technology. He wrote for all new audio-visual media as soon as they became available, so that he was working in the field of Computer Assisted Language Learning as early as 1979, long before anyone else. The publications of those years included a number of course-books, including Target, Mainline, Follow Me, and the first ever Computer-Assisted Language Courses (published by EMI/Longman with Atari for French, Spanish, German , and Italian).
At the end of those nine years, I married Louis in 1980, and we were invited to come to China the following year. We had a wonderful time here, and were pleased and excited by the connexions we made Soon after that, Louis was invited to provide the blueprint and to advise on Junior English for China, written by Neville Grant and published by The People’s Education Press, Beijing in collaboration with Longman, and sponsored by UNESCO.
In the 1980’s, Louis’ preoccupation with syllabus and learning-processes led him to write reference works rather than course books. In this period, he wrote The Longman English Grammar, The Longman Advanced Grammar and Right Word, Wrong Word. This was a quiet time of deep concentration and seriousness, bringing together all the different insights he had had. By 1992, Louis was ready to write another course. He approached Longman with a proposal to write a course for complete beginners upwards. His plan was to provide a bi-lingualised course, in which every aspect of the syllabus would be defined, so that the student would have full control over the material as he progressed, and would not be dependent on the teacher to mediate any gaps or difficulties. This is a quotation from a letter Louis wrote to his publisher, Michael Johnson, at the time:
I strongly believe we have to work from the bottom upwards, so as to exercise absolute control in the development of the entire course, so there are no inexplicable non-sequiturs and items that haven't properly been accounted for. The basis of the entire undertaking is an accurate definition of levels. You can only really describe a level if it is based on a well-defined syllabus. It comes back to the old contrast between attainment and proficiency. To measure attainment, you need an immutable, objective syllabus which applies equally to everybody. Students and teachers thus have the reassurance of knowing what they have to cover and what they will be tested in. Proficiency is measured by real-life performance, and some students will become more proficient more rapidly than others, but by such a rigorous definition of level, we shall give all learners the maximum opportunity to account for everything in each level as they progress, regardless of whether their teachers are brilliant or not.
Longman’s response to this proposal surprised and delighted him. Instead of letting Louis work alone on a self-study course for those learning English by reading, the publisher, Michael Johnson, proposed a multi-media course, with a bilingual component, with investment on a scale that no publisher had undertaken since Follow Me.
Louis had strong views about the use multi-media teaching purposes. He believed that all communications media should be true to their type: that film should be real film, that radio should be real radio, that course-books should be written by professional authors, and so on. There are only two English Language teaching courses that have ever been published that fit this requirement, and Louis Alexander was the author of both of them. One is Follow Me, and the other is Direct English. All the rest fit into one of two categories:
the first, either the books are written first, and the films follow. Because they are made by teachers and course-writers, they are not ‘real film’, or ‘real TV’. They can be very dull, because they tend to use the screen like a blackboard.
- the second, the films are made by TV and film professionals, who also devise the teaching materials. Because they have no syllabus, they do not serve the purposes of teachers and learners, even if they seem to be amusing.
Follow Me was financed by the German Government. It included network TV, radio and classroom materials. All of these were prepared by experts in the media concerned, but all were locked together by the mighty syllabus Louis had created. The course-material and the multi-media were created together, but each product was true to itself. That’s why it was so successful. In the early 1980’s, Follow Me was viewed by more than a billion learners world-wide.
When Michael Johnson proposed to Louis that he write Direct English, Louis knew exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to deploy all the insights he had ever had about language, syllabus-design and the learning process into one great course, addressed directly to the learner. Given the opportunity to use all available media, he wanted the film and CD-Rom material to be created seamlessly, together with the Student’s Books and the bi-lingual Companions. He wanted to work closely with a specialist scriptwriter and film-maker, and with specialist designers of CD-Roms. He himself would write the course-books, and he would write the language-analysis to be addressed to the learner in his own language. The Learner’s Companion would be the bi-lingual component, and he and the Editor would take specialist advice on the adaptation to each different language, so as to take account of the different problems of mother-tongue interference. Above all, he wanted to work in a small, closely-knit team. This is what Michael Johnson offered him, when he commissioned Direct English. It was a dream-project. He was in an author’s heaven!
Discussions began in 1992, and by the end of 1993, they had defined the syllabuses and the working method. By the end of May 1994, Louis had submitted the finished script for his pilot-version of Book 1 – the first 3 Levels. This was sent out for trials world-wide, including to Shanghai. Of course, Louis’ name was not attached to the pilot version. We were charmed by a perceptive commentator in Shanghai, who remarked, ‘This material would be successful if it were by L.G. Alexander, and the author has been successful in imitating him. But since it is not by him, it is unlikely to emulate the success of New Concept English.’
Although Louis had written the story-line for the pilot version in British English, it was always intended that the film-sequences would be written by a professional script-writer, who would take Louis’ scripts as a demonstration of the language syllabus, and generate a completely new story-line, written in American English, and set in America. In May 1994, Longman commissioned a documentary film-maker, Mike Raggett, and Mike brought in Daisy Scott, an experienced script-writer from Boston who quickly understood the dimensions of the syllabus. Daisy wrote the 27 dialogues for Level One in collaboration with Louis. She generated the story, and Louis kept her within the syllabus, while not interfering with her American English. Then everyone, including Louis, went to Boston for the filming. Meanwhile, Louis wrote the rest of the material for each level, developing the language, the characters and the plot as he went, and sending each unit as he worked to an American English language specialist, Ellen Shore, at the University of Nevada. Ellen advised on American idiom, and Louis adjusted his material until she accepted it as real American English. (The differences between British and American English are mainly phonological, though there are also some lexical and stylistic differences, especially in the spoken language. Grammatical differences are really very few.) And this process was repeated for the next two levels as well. The writing continued into 1998. By 1999, the ongoing tasks were mainly editorial, to do with the production of language-specific versions of Direct English for all the different languages. This was carried forward by Sarah Gumbrell, Louis’ Editor, the best Editor he ever had. This process continues today, as you can see now, with the Chinese Edition that has been prepared with FLTRP.
In preparing this document, I have gone back through the letters-file from that period, and I am struck, as I have always been, by Louis’ cheerful curiosity, his generosity towards his colleagues, and the sheer, affectionate, burning energy of the man. His tone is always bright and optimistic, and his work rhythm as steady as a power station. He was also working on New Concept English Chinese New Edition, published by FLTRP at the end of 1997, though the work on the new Teacher’s Books and Workbooks for that edition continued until 2001. I note in his letters that he was annoyed to have very bad flu several times in 93, 94 and 95, since it wasted his time and was very boring. I remember saying to him that he was working too hard, and that we needed to take more time out. He brushed my concerns aside. He was happy. He would never retire. He was doing what he wanted to do.
In January 1998, we learned that he had a very serious blood-disease. Even so, he still pursued all the things that had always mattered to him. He was determined to go on being like himself. He still worked, still communicated constantly with his friends and colleagues, went to concerts and art-galleries, and lived every minute of every day with the same intensity. In one of his periods of illness, he was deeply pleased when Mr. Li Pengyi visited him in hospital in London. Meanwhile, the news about Direct English was excellent. People liked it. It had the lowest ‘drop-out rate’ of any course ever written; 98% of people inscribed for Level One went on to do Level Two. We talked a lot about Direct English. He and I were cheerfully convinced that it was his best course – that he had achieved his desire to realise, in one great work, the insights that he had gained through 40 years of tireless work in the field of English Language teaching and learning. The bi-lingualisation into so many different languages world-wide was slow, but each new issue was followed by success with the learners.
Today marks the launch of Direct English Chinese Edition. As our partners in New Concept English, FLTRP are the natural home for L.G. Alexander’s last, finest, most complete course. It is a matter of great personal satisfaction to me to be here for such an event. I thank Mr. Li Pengyi and his valued colleagues at FLTRP for their kindness and loyal hard work, and congratulate them on the quality of the books. My particular thanks go to Ms Zhang Lixin for her attentive and intelligent editing. I wish every success to Direct English in China, and hope that every learner who takes it up may feel entertained, and engaged, and confident in the learning of English as a International Language.
Julia Alexander
Beijing
22 September 2005
先夫路易斯·亚历山大生于1932年1月15日，逝于2002年6月17日。自1962年他的第一本著作 Sixty Steps to Précis 出版以来，他一直畅游各地，致力于研究、写作和出版 。现附上他的著作年表。
许多人都曾惊奇地问路易斯，他到底出版了多少书籍。这个问题似乎很容易回答，但路易斯会温和地解释说，他写了多少书，是无法统计出来的。他说：“你如何定义‘书’呢？像 April Fool’s Day 这样的一个小故事，只有32页，用一两天就能写完。而像《看、听、学》这样的一套四级教程，有4本学生用书，8本练习册，4本教师用书和8本故事书，花了5年的时间才完成。两者都是‘书’，但完全不具可比性。”
因此，对他的著作我们不能只看表面的数字。它们是四十年的努力和智慧的结晶，为后人奠定了英语作为外语的教学和出版的基础。无论从哪一方面来看，路易斯都是当之无愧的大家。
路易斯自小就知道他会成为一个作家。幼时他就开始编写“杂志”，和朋友们分享他的文章和故事。之后，他为学校校刊撰稿并担任编辑。同时，他执导学生出演的莎士比亚戏剧、弹奏钢琴、写诗、登山，并满怀热情地学习英国语言文学。
大学毕业后，作为服兵役的内容，路易斯被派去驻守在德国的英国军队高等教育中心工作。在军中的2年为他日后的事业发展打下了很好的基础。他负责给即将复员的军人上课，这些军人只有6周的学习时间来准备公共考试，因此老师的教学方法尤为重要。路易斯进行了精心备课并准备了相应写作材料，教学效果非常好。他还请了一位当地人教他德语，为自己设计了教材——这是他写作的第一套教材。之前路易斯在学校学过法语，通过听父亲的朋友聊天学习了希腊语，但这一次，是他自己决定了他要学习的内容和方法。在学习的过程中，他通过将德语与英语进行比较，开始深入研究英语。最后，他还学会了快速准确的盲打，这看似不重要，却是写作的基本要求。
路易斯精力充沛，自律力极高。做任何事情，他都会实现设定目标，然后稳步向目标迈进。因为清楚认识自己的目标，他对工作很有耐心，不一蹴而就。例如，《朗文英语语法》花了他7年时间，共写了7稿。
在我还没有和路易斯见面之前，我就在教授《新概念英语》和《看、听、学》。我一接触这两套教材就意识到了它们的伟大之处。它们让我成为了一位好老师，让我真正喜欢上我的工作。成为了朗文出版社的培训师后，在9年的时间里，我都在关注着路易斯的写作。当时他为欧洲理事会工作，推动欧洲理事会各国语言教材的发展。此阶段他出版了教材、English Grammatical Structure 及 The Threshold Level for Schools. 其他几部教材如 Target、 Mainline 、《跟我学》及首部计算机辅助教材（后由EMI/朗文和Atari出版，有法语版、西班牙语版、德语版和意大利语版）也在酝酿中。
1980年我和路易斯结婚，第二年应邀来到中国。我们在中国度过了一段难忘的美好时光，结识了很多朋友。不久，路易斯就受邀为人民教育出版社和朗文共同出版的《初中英语》编写大纲和提供参考意见。
80年代，路易斯开始将工作重心转移到编写教辅上。他陆续出版了《朗文英语语法》、《朗文高级语法》和Right Word, Wrong Word。这段时期，他一直在思考如何融合他所吸收的各种理念，为出版新教材做准备。到1992年，路易斯觉得时机已经成熟。他向朗文提交了一个教程编写方案，针对群体是零起点的初学者。他的目标是为学习者提供一个双语教材，教材的每一方面都有详尽说明，学习者可以自主控制进度，不需依赖教师来解决困难。
朗文对此方案表现出了很大的热情，出版人Michael Johnson建议路易斯编写一套双语多媒体教程，投资规模可以与《跟我学》相媲美。
路易斯对多媒体教学有自己的见解。他认为多媒体教学中的所有语言介质都应该是真实的：电影就应该是真的电影，广播是真的广播，教材应该由专业作者编写等等。目前出版的教材只有两套是符合这个标准的，作者都是路易斯：《跟我学》和《直捷英语》。其他的教材不外乎两种：
第一种，教师或教材作者先编写教材，随后制作电影。因此它们不是真的电影或电视，很可能会很无趣，因为编写者将屏幕当作了黑板。
第二种，电影和辅助资料都由影视专业人士制作。电影也许很有意思，但因为没有对应的教材，它们也不适用于教学。
当Michael Johnson提议 路易斯编写《直捷英语》时，路易斯对这套教材有着非常明确的目标。他希望能将他对语言、课程设计和学习过程的理念全部融合进去，和专业的编剧、导演及光盘设计师合作，将电影、光盘和学生用书完美地结合在一起。这是他理想中的作品！
从1992年开始洽谈相关事宜，到了1993年底，基本确定了教材的框架和合作方式。1994年5月底，路易斯提交了第一册书的试行稿。虽然路易斯是用英式英语来编写故事大纲的，但从一开始，就计划请专业编剧以路易斯的大纲为参照，撰写一个全新的美式英语版，场景设定也在美国。在波士顿拍电影的同时，路易斯继续编写其余级别的内容，并请美式英语专家帮助审定修改。编写的过程一直持续到1998年。到1999年，基本上就是编辑工作以及编写不同语言的版本了。这项工作一直持续到今天，像外研社出版的《直捷英语》中文版就是其中一例。
1998年1月，路易斯被诊断患有严重的血液病。尽管如此，他还是坚持追求他的理想，做他想做的事情。他仍然工作，和朋友同事保持联系，去音乐会和画廊，每一分钟都过得很充实。在伦敦的一次住院期间，李朋义社长来到医院探望他，让他非常高兴。《直捷英语》推出后的反响也非常好，有98%的人学习完级别一后继续学习级别二。这个比率是所有的英语教材中最高的。
今天是《直捷英语》首发式。作为我们《新概念英语》的合作伙伴，外研社是亚历山大这部巅峰之作的最好归宿。能来到北京参加这个重要仪式，本人感到非常欣喜。在此我要感谢李朋义社长和外研社的工作人员，谢谢他们的诚挚和辛勤工作。特别感谢张黎新小姐为此书编辑。愿《直捷英语》在中国获得成功，也希望中国的学生们能开开心心地学习本套教材，掌握世界通用语言——英语。
Julia Alexander
北京
2005年9月22日
