察叔叔们连圣诞夜都工作，我们也不能闲着啊！

请你仔细想想看，这篇文章真的不是标题党……2010 年春节，我写了十几万字，《人人都能用英语》—— 这些年来一直没有走纸质出版，而是直接放在网上（现在你可以在 zhibimo.

Source: https://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5df32d900102x7p4.html

The Police Work Even on Christmas Eve, So We Can't Slack Off Either

> By Li Xiaolai · 2016-12-28 · [Original link](https://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5df32d900102x7p4.html) (Chinese)
> Our translation from the Chinese original.

Please think about it carefully: this article really isn't clickbait...

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In the Spring Festival of 2010 I wrote a hundred-thousand-odd characters, Everyone Can Use English (《人人都能用英语》)—over these years it has never gone to print publication but was put straight online (now you can read the complete version at **zhibimo.com**), and to date its cumulative page views exceed fifty million.

> If you can't learn it clearly, then don't learn it; **if you can use it, just go ahead and use it;** that is the method. —— Li Xiaolai

2016 has only a few days left before it's gone, and 2017 is about to come; don't you want some real change?

Let me create an opportunity for you.

Starting January 1, 2017, produced under my, Li Xiaolai's, supervision and brought out by "Everyone Can Use English," the "**Use English Every Day**" (天天用英语) column will launch on the WeChat service account "**Listen Together**" (一块听听). I'll select several senior mentors from the English-training world (including Le Jing, Wang Yuanyuan and others) and some ordinary English experts who really do "use" English every day, to lead everyone in putting English to "use" together. Of these mentors, some you can already see giving talks on "Listen Together," and some you may never have heard of; and during this year our team will keep adding new teachers.

Use English Every Day

This column (or "course," that works too) is very simple: it's to keep everyone company **every day** in **using English for at least one hour**.

How do you **use** it?

> It's just reading one English article every day —— it's that simple.

At the end of each day a new article will be given out, to be read the next day, and in the evening at 21:00 you listen in the "classroom" to the teacher's summary and answers to questions. As for the articles, my team and I have already done the basic screening for you. The topics they discuss and the fields they touch are just what an adult would read about and keep up with every day.

So who exactly **"is suited to Use English Every Day"?**

> **All adults who still have curiosity** ——
> who wouldn't want the chance to see a bigger world?

> At the level of language application, I think anyone over 16 is an "adult" ——
> by and large, after this age you've already received the most basic "compulsory education," and the level of knowledge you've mastered is already enough to "teach yourself" or "learn together" anything you want...

Don't ask this kind of question: "I'm starting from zero; am I suited to join?"

> First, nobody after becoming an adult is starting from zero with respect to "language and writing itself"; second, a foreign language is also speech, and has the features common to all languages (for example, all languages are alike in this too: in a simple sentence there's only one verb, and I don't know why that is either...); finally, there isn't any course aimed at "starting from zero," because such a customer group doesn't actually exist...

And also, we're all adults; if it's a bit of a struggle at first, then let it be a bit of a struggle; if you're repaying a debt you have to look like you're repaying a debt, don't you?

Please note:

> So-called "using" means **you using it yourself**; it is absolutely not the teacher using it to lecture while you passively come and listen... You have to use it first during the day (preview), then in the evening listen to the summary, and then collect the material to be used tomorrow. So look words up in the dictionary yourself, look things up in grammar books yourself, and if you can't find it, use Google, and if that really doesn't work, then ask in class... If you can't be proactive, then forget it —— because the precondition for someone being able to help you raise your efficiency is that you yourself are moving, being proactive, proactively moving...

Many people are convinced by the "ten-thousand-hour rule" —— but as a teacher who has been through hundreds of thousands of students, I know one principle deeply:

> Never mind ten thousand hours; a stable, sustained "100 hours" can make a huge change in a person. The reason most people's English still isn't up to scratch after all these years is actually that "they have never even managed a sustained, stable 100 hours" (that being so, to still have reached where they are now, they're actually quite clever!)...

Before long you'll get used to reading English, and you'll adapt to using another language to understand the whole world. I believe it's the same for everyone: with a broader sky, different wings will grow... If you squat in an old well your whole life, it's always rather awkward, isn't it?

This column will have prize draws from time to time; the detailed rules for each draw will be announced in class.

Besides the daily scheduled class summary, we'll also select "group leaders" from among the students, organize study groups, supervise each other, push each other forward, and **grow together**. Yes, this is a "good" opportunity to meet "good" friends and "good" comrades-in-arms.

This column is very plain: it's just giving everyone an opportunity to "**accumulate total time of effective growth**" together; whoever accumulates it will know —— enough said.

Oh right, this column only sells annual passes (one yuan a day):

> Since you have the wish and have made up your mind, then act a bit **ruthlessly**.

On the evening of January 1, 2017 at 21:00, I'll give the first session, "Use English Every Day —— Opening," telling everyone how to make good use of this column.

［图］

[Or click here to go to the sign-up page](http://live.tinfinite.com/live-detail?liveshowId=5860dee9b2a34f43f62b5606)

Wishing everyone a different kind of New Year!

Goodbye 2016!