When you read a story in English, do you read it for the story or for the English? This is a question that is not so foolish as it may seem. For I find that many English learners pay more attention to the story than to the English. They read and enjoy and for a long time afterwards remember the story, but do not care to study the use of words and phrases in it. For instance, they keep in the memory how the mystery of the eternal triangle is solved, but do not remember a single sentence in the story and cannot tell what preposition is used before or after a certain word in the speech of a certain character.
Of course, it is all right to read and enjoy and remember a story, and so long as one wants to know the story only, one need not bother about the language. But the case is quite different with a learner of English. I mean a student of English as distinguished from a student of stories or what is called the general reader.
Whatever a learner of English reads, he should, in my opinion, regard the language as the main thing. For instance, on reading this preceding sentence, besides understanding its meaning, he should notice such points as the concessive use of "whatever", "in my opinion", "regard…as…" and "the main thing". In this way, he does learn some English though what he reads may happen to be otherwise uninteresting or uninstructive. It may safely be said that this is a far better way of learning English composition that to read and consider the so-called principles of the subject.
Incidentally, I would advise teachers of English to question their pupils on points of diction and construction as well as on facts and thoughts.
NOTES
1. is not so foolish as it may seem 并不像它表面的那样愚蠢
2. do not care to... 不肯...
3. keep in the memory 继续牢记
4. eternal triangle 三角恋爱
5. cannot tell 说不出
6. bother about 关心于；因...而费心
7. case 情况
8. with 关于
9. as distinguished from 跟...分别的
10. besides 除了...以外
11. does learn some English 确实学到些英语
12. otherwise 在别的方面（指在文字以外的方面）
13. subject 科目（指英语作文）
14. Incidentally 顺便说一句
15. diction 词语的选用
