在我们看来,《新概念英语》的作者Louis George Alexander是伟大的,他所创作的几百个故事的确是地道实用、深入人心。在这几百个故事当中,也不乏对真人真事的描述。这些真实的故事,犹如一扇通往真实世界的窗户,使我们在埋首学习语言技能的同时,也能透过这扇窗看到一些在世界另一端真实存在的人及事。
以《新概念二册》为例,一共96篇课文,其中有二十世纪的美国军官、飞行员英雄Richard Evelyn Byrd于1929年首次飞跃南极的惊险故事:"Though, at first, Byrd and his men were able to take a great many photographs of the mountains that lay below, they soon ran into serious trouble. At one point, it seemed certain that their plane would crash. It could only get over the mountains if it rose to 10,000 feet. Byrd at once ordered his men to throw out two heavy food sacks. The plane was then able to rise and it cleared the mountains by 400 feet. "
也有关于哈勃望远镜的故事。众所周知,哈勃望远镜在1990年被美国国家航空航天局(NASA)发射之后,就成为天文史上最重要的仪器。然而,它最初传输回地球的图片质量却令人失望,NASA不得不立即进行处理,解决哈勃的镜片问题。这段故事在新概念中是这样描述的:"Right from the start there was trouble with Hubble. The pictures it sent us were very disappointing because its main mirror was faulty! NASA is now going to put the telescope right, so it will soon be sending up four astronauts to repair it. The shuttle Endeavour will be taking the astronauts to the Hubble. A robot-arm from the Endeavour will grab the telescope and hold it while the astronauts make the necessary repairs."