Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary is great except one thing

I bought the the app of Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 9th edition, for my iPad last year. I like this dictionary very much and use it everyday. It has many useful features for learning English as a foreign language. That's why it was selected from a lot of competitors.

字尾加 s 意義改變的單字系列 – times

time 加 s 變成 times 意思爲時代，通常加形容詞限定歷史階段。例如

prehistoric times 史前時代
ancient times 古代
earlier times 早期
Roman times 羅馬帝國時代
Medieval Times 中世紀 (The Middle Age)
Victorian times 英國維多利亞時期
modern times 現代
end times 末日 (End Times, later days, last days)


用法舉例

warfare in ancient times
structures from Roman times
life in Mideval Times
The end times are near. 末日近了。
The earthquake is a sign that the end times are near.


有時侯 times 不強調歷史階段，而強調時代特徵。例如

Times are hard for the unemployed.
Times have changed since Grandma was young.
the violent times we live in
Be hopeful in hard times. 在艱困的時代要保持希望。
the most significant health problems of our time(s).


但是注意下面的例句，time 指的是某段時光而非歷史時期，不加 s
Mary had a hard time in school.
People had a good time at Tom's birthday party.


times 也用在報紙名稱，我猜是要宣傳他們報導的時代性。例如

The Times 時報/泰晤士報
New York Times 紐約時報


這個系列文章目的在幫英語學生，學習字尾加 s 而意義改變的英語單字。
這源自於英中語言的核心差異，必須深入掌握，英語才會道地。
聯絡 Simon 老師學習英語，E-Mail：simon.shauming@gmail.com

如何用英語簡單描述 Green Island 綠島的史地

今天讀到一篇書評, 它第一段簡短介紹了綠島的位置和歷史, 英語清晰扼要值得想學習如何表達台灣史地的人詳讀, 所以利用它做成閱讀測驗。

Text
Just off/from the south east coast of Taiwan, facing the/0 Pacific Ocean, is the small archipelago/atoll of Green Island.

Over the four decades of/four decade Taiwan’s authoritarian rule from 0/the 1940s/1940's to the 1980s, it was the location for a cluster of notorious prison camps that housed Taiwanese political prisoners.

Thousands of people who opposed the government of Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Nationalists (Kuomingtang or KMT) spent years on/in isolated imprisonment/prison and an unknown number/prisoner died there.

Quiz
1. 在有畫底線的選項中, 挑選比較好的答案。
2. 第二句的 it, 代表前面哪個名詞?

Practical Phrases
- authoritarian rule
- notorious prison camps
- Taiwanese political prisoners
- a cluster of
- opposed the government of ...
- in isolated imprisonment
- an unknown number

Grammar
比較 decade 和 dozen 的文法差異。例如

歷時40年的壓迫
four decades of oppression (對)
four decade oppression (錯)

4打蛋

four dozen eggs (對) 

four dozens of eggs (錯) 

'four dozen' 是計量詞, 用法類似 ten, twenty, forty-eight.

原文出處: Ways of remembering – Green Island Written by Mark Harrison.
Just off the south west east coast of Taiwan, facing the Pacific Ocean, is the small atoll of Green Island. Over the four decades of Taiwan’s authoritarian rule from the 1940s to the 1980s, it was the location for a cluster of notorious prison camps that housed Taiwanese political prisoners. Thousands of people who opposed the government of Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Nationalists (Kuomingtang or KMT) spent years in isolated imprisonment and an unknown number died there.
(原文作者寫綠島在台灣的西南方, 應該是東南方才對)


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歡迎利用 comments 提出英語問題和對這篇文章的意見。

Mark 5:2 的英語倒裝句型

馬可福音第五章第一節講耶穌和門徒們渡過加利利湖來到現今約旦這一邊, 然後「耶穌一下船, 就有一個被污靈附著的人, 從墓地裡迎面而來。」(新譯本)  希臘原文經文用了倒裝句來描述這個畫面，緊緊扣住當時場面的懸疑和緊張感。

現代英王欽定版 (New King James Version) 的英文翻譯保留了倒裝結構:

When He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. (Mark 5:2, NKJV)

我現在要慢慢分析這個句子的文法，並且探討倒裝句的文學效果。

When He had come out of the boat
是子句，限定主句事件的時間和地點。字句中的 He 代表耶穌，大寫 H 表示尊稱。

had come
是字句動詞用過去完成式，這是比較早期的英語習慣，現代的英語翻譯這裡都採用簡單過去式 came。

immediately there
是時間和地點副詞。它們緊接在耶穌下船的 when 子句之後，讓閱讀瞬間凝聚在那一刻和那一個地點。

met
是主句動詞，meet 的過去式。注意句子到這裡主詞尚未出現，動詞位於時地副詞之後，主詞之前，因此形成倒裝結構。

Him
是 met 的受詞，代表耶穌。有人或東西來跟耶穌碰面，但因為主詞還沒出來，所以不曉得那是誰? 或是甚麼東西? 倒裝句結構開始在這裡產生文學上的懸疑效果。然而作者並不就此干休，接下來還是沒有介紹主詞上場。

out of the tombs
是介係詞片語，描述這個還沒出現的主詞是從一片墳場墓地而來的。tombs 用複數型表示有好幾個墳墓，作者用定冠詞 the  限定 tombs 表示這附近只有這麼一個墓地。為甚麼會有這樣一個人還是東西之類的從墓地來堵耶穌的路? 緊張緊張!

先講了墓地才介紹主詞 a man 出現。到這裡讀者才知道是一個男人不是野獸或其它東西。那正常人幹嘛待在墳場墓地之中? 在台灣清明節去公墓掃墓，如果過去一年有委託管理員幫忙除草整修墳墓，這時候他就會 out of the tombs 出現向人收錢。 這男人也是管墓地的嗎?

with an unclean spirit
形容 a man, 被污靈附身。unclean 污穢, spirit 靈。這個敘事到這裡第一次提到 spirit, 不確定墳地它是否是墳地唯一一個，所以用不定冠詞。原來 This man was a man with an unclean spirit.

雖然句子到這裡結束，可是似乎一個懸疑緊張的情節卻才剛要開始。被附身的人原本是甚麼人? 附他身的污靈又是從哪裡來? 有甚麼目的? 為甚麼突然冒出來擋在耶穌前面? 每多一個疑問，讀者就多一分往下一探究竟的好奇心。 從 When 開始一直到這裡, 這一個句子過程很多轉折, 也一步一步拉高懸疑緊張感。

如果你把子句, 副詞和修飾語通通去掉, 再還原回正序句型, 事實上這個句子的主句結構很簡單, 只是

a man met Him

我們非常仔細分析這句英語的大的結構，也解釋文法細節。這樣細細地品嘗一個英語句子對於提升英語閱讀和寫作能力很有幫助。

動詞放在主詞之前的倒裝結構在古早的英語使用很普遍，但隨著時代演進漸漸變得很少用，到了近代英語，除了詩以外已經很少用了。目前市面上大多數聖經英語版本為了方便現代讀者閱讀，選擇不保留希臘原文的倒裝句型，而在翻譯過程中悄悄為讀者完成正序還原。例如 New International Version 的翻譯就很直白:

When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. (Mark 5:2, NIV)


延伸學習

• 想知道故事接下來發生甚麼情節嗎? 請繼續讀 這整個敘事的經文。
• 倒裝的英語是 inversion, grammatical inversion

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歡迎利用 comments 提出英語問題和對這篇文章的意見。

Hymn: O the deep, deep love of Jesus

Lyrics of 'O the deep, deep love of Jesus'

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches oer His loved ones, died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth, watcheth oer them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
Tis an ocean full of blessing, tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!

The music and the lyrics match so well in this hymn. This is one of my favorite hymns. Four adjectives in the first line are used to describe Jesus' love: vast, unmeasured, boundless, and free. Furthermore, 'mighty ocean' is used as an analogy for Jesus' love. In the last line of this song, this 'mighty ocean' lifts the singer up to Jesus, who sits in his throne in the heaven.

For more background information about this song, see here.