名人教英文：steps to paradise and beyond
"every nation which uses english does so with a different tone, colour and quality."
— larry smith
tracing dr verner bickley's distinguished career in different countries, this book provides a unique insight into the use of english as a language of communication in a culturally diverse modern world. 透过追溯作者在各地的事业成就，这本书对英文如何在文化多元的现代世界里作为共通语言，有独特的洞悉。
many profound discussions with experts on issues such as "literature" and "culture"; or "international communication" and "intra-national communication" also permeate through the book. 多项与专家讨论的深奥话题，例如「文学」与「文化」；或者「国际上与国家以内的沟通」，也渗透此书。
what is clear is that english is no longer exclusively used by native english speakers. 很明显的就是英文再不是土生英国人独用的语言了。
this book also reads like an entertaining "who is who" of the world with a galaxy of famous personalities scintillating across every page. 读起来，这本书好像一本世界名人录一样，每页都有星光熠熠之要人。
the "heart attack" airport
of particular interest to hong kong readers must be the chapter: flight to hong kong.
to introduce the pre-1997 hong kong, the chapter starts with a dramatic photo of a boeing 767 on its final approach to kai tak airport, photographed by yw chow. one sees the tail of the huge plane almost scraping past the roof-top of the sin lung furniture shop before touchdown. little wonder kai tak was then nicknamed the frightening "heart attack" airport! 难怪启德机场的绰号就是惊心动魄的「心脏病发」机场﹗
language education policies
dr bickley was recruited by the hong kong government in 1983 as the first director of hong kong's newly established institute of language in education (ile). the ile was uniquely designed to improve the standards of english and chinese in schools and to deal with the very difficult issues of media of instruction.
in the words of dr li yuet-ting (李越挺), the much respected former director of education, the ile introduced special "total immersion courses" (全浸课程) whereby teachers of english were sent to the united kingdom and teachers of chinese were sent to mainland china for in-service training.
the ile also ran refresher courses for teachers, did research into all areas of language learning, and undertook the design and development of prototype (样板式的) instructional materials for teaching english and chinese.
it is clear that as a result of such professional and sensible efforts, the standards of both languages have improved by leaps and bounds.
很明显的就是，由此专业又明智的努力，中文、英文的水平也跟着飞跃地进步起来。
following dr bickley's retirement in 1992, the ile was merged with the new hong kong institute of education. 毕博士在1992年退休后，ile就与新成立的教育学院合并了。
thus, this book brings back endless nostalgic memories of the past. 因此，这本书带来一片惆怅的回忆。
英语单词词汇学习：
publisher: proverse hong kong
publish date: april 2013
dr verner bickley, mbe, ph.d. was born in england and educated at the london university. he has extensive radio and television experience with the bbc, nhk tokyo, radio republik indonesia and radio singapore. he is also the author and editor of many textbooks. he is currently chairman of the english speaking union (hk), which promotes the enjoyment and constructive use of the english language.