“How do you eat an elephant?”
您要怎麼吃掉一頭大象？
“One bite at a time.” 一次一小口。
“How do you learn the basic 1200 words?”
您要如何學會這1200個基本字詞呢？
“One step at a time.” 一次一小步。
人們在學會走路之前，要先能學會爬；而在學會1200個字之前，就得先從下列這40個單字開始練習。
a, the, I, you, it, my, me, we, is, and, can, see, look, make, run, jump, come, go, said, help, find, play, one, two, three, red, blue, yellow, funny, big, little, to, for, in, down, not, up, here, away, where
學會了這些單字，就可以開始來造句：
- It is big. 它好大.
-
You can go. 你可以走了.
-
Look down! 往下看!
-
You can play. 你可以玩.
-
Help me! 幫幫我!
-
Go away! 走開!
-
It is yellow. 它是黃色的.
-
It is funny. 它是有趣的.
-
Come and find me! 來找到我!
-
Look for me! 來找我!
-
Look in here! 看這裡!
-
I jump away. 我跳開.
-
Go and find it! 去找到它!
您不妨由上面的這些例子，舉一反三，利用最基本的這40個單字，試著拼出些句子來。
Dr. Dolch 在西元1948年出版的書《Problems in Reading》中把當時一般兒童讀物最常出現的220個單字分成五組：前初階、初階、一年級、二年級和三年級（請見上表）。這220個字，除了upon（介系詞：在…之上）外，也全都在我們的『千字表』之內，而以上所提的最基本40個單字，就是Dolch 所謂前初階的字組。您在循序漸進學會這220個字之後，閱讀一般兒童書籍時，就可以駕輕就熟了。
How do you eat an elephant? — One bite at a time.
