如果你没有当过老师，没有这方面体会的话，那么，你出国呆上一段时间以后马上就会有体会，因为老外们的名字也是同样的情况，用句俏皮话来形容就是："皮带没眼儿，记（系）不住"。

        英文中有两个东西比较难记：一个是数字；另一个就是名字，无论人名还是地名。

        数字难记是因为老外和中国人一样都使用阿拉伯数字，长相一样的东西反映到中国人的脑子里首先出来的肯定汉语，因此，用英文说数字的时候很容易受到汉语的干扰，所以，不容易记；

        至于名字难记则是因为：名字不像其他名词那样有特定的载体可以帮助记忆，比如：一说Book这个词，你马上会联想到一本实实在在的书；而说一个名字，比如：Rumsfeld，如果你从来就不认识一个叫这个名字的人的话，那么，这个词你就很难找到可以寄托之物，而没有寄托的东西通常就会显得飘忽不定和难以把握。

        这种情况想当于：有些中国人的名字用了很生僻的汉字，当你第一听说这样的名字时，你就很难能够记住，比如，第一次碰到一个名字叫"郇螔蓼"的中国人，估计你很难一下能记住他的名字。

        所以，还是像"汤姆"这样的英文名字比较好记，这种名字已经像Hello一样全球化了，连不会外语的中国人谁都知道："汤是汤姆的汤，姆是汤姆的姆"；只可惜，不是所有的老外都叫汤姆。

In a Stephen Chow film, Fight Back to School I, there was a forgetful chemistry teacher. After asked Zhou Xinxin's name twice, he still called Zhou Xinxin "Huang Xiaogui". In fact, it is not a memory problem. It might be a professional habit of all teachers. Everyday, they have to face hundreds of students, how can they remember all their names?
If you have never worked as a teacher and have no experience in it, you will soon have such experience after going abroad for a while. It is the same as when you try to remember the names of the foreigners, you just cannot remember it.
There are two things difficult to remember: One is number, the other is name, no matter names of people or names of locations.
It is difficult to remember numbers because both foreigners and Chinese all use Arabic numbers. For Chinese, the same number first appears in their minds in Chinese. Therefore, it is easy to be interfered when speak numbers in English. So numbers are difficult to remember.
Names are difficult to remember because names are not like other objects which have a concrete entity to help people to remember. For example, once you come across the word "book", you will think a real book. But as to a name, Rumsfeld, if you never know a person with this name, it would be difficult for you to find a concerted entity for this name. A name without any entity normally will be drifting and difficult to handle.
This situation is similar to that some Chinese like to some very unusual Chinese characters. When you first hear their names, normally you cannot remember their names. For example, the first time when you meet a Chinese whose names is "郇螔蓼(Xun Siliao)", maybe it would be very difficult for you to remember his name.
Therefore, English names like Tom are very easy to remember. These kinds of names have been globalized like hello. Even Chinese who doesn't know any English know these names. It is a pity that not all foreigners have Tom as their names.

本文转载自张叶的个人空间，要阅读更多作者文章，请移步作者个人空间http://i.myechinese.com/index.php?s=/space/1253  。

• chemistry [´kemistri]   n.化学   (初中英语单词)
• professional [prə´feʃənəl]   a.职业的 n.自由职业   (初中英语单词)
• abroad [ə´brɔ:d]   ad.海外；到处；广泛   (初中英语单词)
• therefore [´ðeəfɔ:]   ad.&conj.因此；所以   (初中英语单词)
• unusual [ʌn´ju:ʒuəl]   a.不平常的；异常的   (初中英语单词)
• everyday [´evridei]   a.每日的，日常的   (高中英语单词)
• concrete [´kɔŋkri:t]   a.具体的 n.混凝土   (高中英语单词)
• normally [´nɔ:məli]   ad.正常情况下；通常   (英语六级单词)