Introduction‘Tell me and I forget;teach me and I remember;involve me and I learn.’In English languageteaching in China,intensive reading has always been considered one of the most importantcomponents of the curriculum.Students busily memorise new vocabulary and grammar in and out ofclass.They seldom have the opportunity to use what they have learned:to speak the target language inreal life or to listen to native speakers.Consequently,the students’ listening and speaking abilityremains weak and they have little confidence in their communicative competence.This appliesparticularly to science majors.They think English is only a tool for them to read articles or referencebooks related to their own research field.The skills they most need are reading and translating.Because of the lack of listening and speaking practice,they cannot understand spoken English and atthe same time fail to express themselves in English.