那么，“自主学习”(autonomous learning) 的概念落实到英语学习上该如何操作呢？我们将把北外著名教授陈琳给英语学习者的两点忠告奉献给大家。

两点忠告
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I’m almost finishing my talk. So I would like to give you my last suggestion, that is最后的两点忠告。

1.自学外语，千万不要东敲一锤，西打一棒
Advice NO. 1, I know that many of those, my friends who are learning English by themselves have a lot of books. They have a lot of dictionaries, they have a lot of books. And they have started one book and very soon they have changed to some other books. Well, this is not a proper way of learning a foreign language. Well, in the bookstores or the bookshops, we can find a lot of different course books, written by Chinese, by our own Chinese writers or written by foreign writers. Well, they each has its own characteristic, or the good points, or also weak points. Each has its own special features. 每本书都有它的特点。So my first advice is when you have chosen one set of course books, finish it. Don’t stop in the middle and change to another book.

You know, many of the, of the young friends who are learning English by themselves blame the course books instead of blaming themselves for not learning the English language well. 很多自学的人啊常常是怪书不好。只学到一半，我的英文怎么还是不长进啊？这书不好。So they change to another book, another set of books, another series of books. This is very wrong. As I said, all the books are good books. Each has its own feature, specialities. 都有特点。So, my first advice is to stick to one book. Stick to one book after you have made a choice. 既然选了，就读完这本，好好读完这本书。And then change to another set, 再来换一套书。

2. 学习外语没有什么万灵的药方，也不存在捷径。The second advice is “Are there short cuts?” Short cuts. 有捷径吗？No, there are no short cuts. There are good methods, 有好方法，但是没有捷径。So the only way to learn a foreign language well is to learn it hard in good methods.用好的方法来努力学习。So this is my last advice.

此外，陈教授还提到要努力创造一个语言环境create a language environment。在这个环境之下，我们就可以随时随地发现并利用资源，从而进行有效的学习。

自学者必须系统地学习一两本英语语法书

推荐：       
      A Comprehensive English Grammar for Foreign Students
     《综合英语语法》  
      Edited by C.E. Eckersley & J.M. Eckersley

Now, I might recommend to you some very simple grammatical books, grammar books. Now here you have the Comprehensive English Grammar for Foreign Students. It is quite old, I might say.《综合英语语法》，《综合英语语法》是很老的。Well, I don’t know. It might be seventy or eighty years old. But it is a very good English grammar book for students. As to .. for those of us who are learning a foreign language, who are learning English by ourselves, 我们自学英语的，那么一本中文的语法书，有一本中文语法书，叫《简明中学英语语法》就行了，够了。Well, some of the grammarians might not like what I am going to say. 有些语法家们肯定不太高兴我下面要说的话。Those thick big volumes of grammar books are too much. 那些厚厚的大本头的语法书，一套英语语法好几本，用不着学得那么详细。No use.对咱们自学的人，一本中学的英语语法书就足够了。

附：陈琳简介
　　北京外国语大学教授，曾任北外海南分校校长，成人教育学院院长。现任教育部《国家英语课程标准》专家组组长、北京市人民政府顾问、北京市民讲外语工程组委会专家顾问团团员、中国老教授协会外国语文专业委员会理事长。
　　陈琳教授除长期在高等院校担任教学工作外，并努力于基础外语教育及成人外语教育的实践与研究。60年代初曾参与并负责由周恩来总理与陈毅副总理倡导的“一条龙”式外语教学改革工作。“文化大革命”结束、改革开放开始后，于70年代末受命主持全国播放的英语广播电视节目，成为一位家喻户晓的人师。
　　陈琳教授于1956年受教育部委托编写出版了新中国第一部全国大学英语专业通用的英语课本。在其后的时日至今，编著了大量不同层次的英语教材，包括成人及儿童用书。陈琳教授并曾参予《毛泽东选集》英文本的翻译工作。
　　陈琳教授虽已离休，但仍在外语教育领域辛勤耕耘，每天工作10小时以上。曾获全国科技兴国贡献奖、全国老有所为贡献奖。他的座右铭是：活着，就要工作。