It's in March.可是實際發音真是如此?
/i tsin Mar tʃ/- 重音在 Ma
MESOPOTAMIA
THE SECOND CENTRE OF EASTERN CIVILISATION
I AM going to take you to the top of the highest pyramid and I am going to ask that you imagine yourself possessed of the eyes of a hawk.
Way, way off, in the distance, far beyond the yellow sands of the desert, you will see something green and shimmering.
It is a valley situated between two rivers.
It is the Paradise of the Old Testament.
It is the land of mystery and wonder which the Greeks called Mesopotamia the "country between the rivers."
The names of the two rivers are the Euphrates (which the Babylonians called the Purattu) and the Tigris (which was known as the Diklat).
They begin their course amidst the snows of the mountains of Armenia where Noah's Ark found a resting place and slowly they flow through the southern plain until they reach the muddy banks of the Persian gulf.
They perform a very useful service.
They turn the arid regions of western Asia into a fertile garden.
The valley of the Nile had attracted people because it had offered them food upon fairly easy terms.
The "land between the rivers" was popular for the same reason.
It was a country full of promise and both the inhabitants of the northern mountains and the tribes which roamed through the southern deserts tried to claim this territory as their own and most exclusive possession.
The constant rivalry between the mountaineers and the desert-nomads led to endless warfare.
Only the strongest and the bravest could hope to survive and that will explain why Mesopotamia became the home of a very strong race of men who were capable of creating a civilization which was in every respect as important as that of Egypt.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
Questions 1-10 are based on the following passage.題目文本摘自於一本小說。 上面提示說這是講一對日本母女的故事, Chie 是媽媽, Naomi 是女兒, 出身於貴族家庭。
This passage is from Lydia Minatoya, The Strangeness of Beauty. ©1999 by Lydia Minatoya.
The setting is Japan in 1920. Chie and her daughter Naomi are members of the House of Fuji, a noble family.
Akira came directly, breaking all tradition. Was that it? Had he followed form—had he asked his mother to speak to his father to approach a go-between—would Chie have been more receptive? He came on a winter’s eve. He pounded on the door while a cold rain beat on the shuttered veranda, so at first Chie thought him only the wind.開頭有一個角色 Akira 出現。Akira 是 男的 (he),
The maid knew better. Chie heard her soft scuttling footsteps, the creak of the door. Then the maid brought a calling card to the drawing room, for Chie. Chie was reluctant to go to her guest; perhaps she was feeling too cozy.貴族家庭所以有 maid, 做開門迎接不速之客的工作。 而 Chie 坐著不動, 享受女主人的地位。
She and Naomi were reading at a low table set atop a charcoal brazier. A thick quilt spread over the sides of the table so their legs were tucked inside with the heat.場景: 母女坐在有烤爐的房間取暖, 和室。
“Who is it at this hour, in this weather?” Chie questioned as she picked the name card off the maid’s lacquer tray.這段對話, 很短, 可是暗示一些 Naomi 和 Akira 的過往。你有聽到女兒 Naomi 倒抽一口氣嗎?
“Shinoda, Akira. Kobe Dental College,” she read. Naomi recognized the name. Chie heard a soft intake of air.
“I think you should go,” said Naomi.
What is accent? Accent is a combination of three main components: intonation (speech music), liaisons (word connections), and pronunciation (the spoken sounds of vowels, consonants, and combinations).
Ann Cook, 'American Accent Training'
Place of origin |
Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking | Overall |
| China | 5.9 | 6.1 | 5.3 | 5.4 | 5.7 |
| Germany | 7.7 | 7.5 | 6.6 | 7.3 | 7.3 |
| Hong Kong | 6.9 | 6.7 | 5.9 | 6.2 | 6.5 |
| India | 6.1 | 5.7 | 5.6 | 5.8 | 5.9 |
| Japan | 5.9 | 6.1 | 5.3 | 5.6 | 5.8 |
| Korea | 6.2 | 6.2 | 5.4 | 5.7 | 5.9 |
| Taiwan | 6.2 | 6.2 | 5.6 | 6 | 6.1 |
| Viet Nam | 6.1 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 6 |
| 分數 | <4 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 | 5.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7.5 | 8 | 8.5 | 9 |
| 比例 | 1% | 3% | 7% | 15% | 22% | 21% | 14% | 9% | 5% | 3% | 1% | 0% |
| 贏過 | 1% | 4% | 11% | 26% | 48% | 69% | 83% | 92% | 97% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
"September marks the peak of Atlantic hurricane season..."
“DFS will not tolerate the flagrant disregard of anti-money laundering laws and will take decisive and tough action against any institution that fails to have compliance programs in place to prevent illicit transactions,” said Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo.這句話是 DFS 首長 (Maria T. Vullo) 說的, 一句話裡面就用不同的片語來表達堅定的執法意志, 列舉如下:
“The compliance failures that DFS found at the New York Branch of Mega Bank are serious, persistent and affected the entire Mega banking enterprise and they indicate a fundamental lack of understanding of the need for a vigorous compliance infrastructure. DFS's recent examination uncovered that Mega Bank's compliance program was a hollow shell, and this consent order is necessary to ensure future compliance.”此句英語學習重點:
