One day, Kathleen and Mark were standing in their building waiting for the elevator. "This is taking too long," Kathleen said. "Let's just take the stairs."
"All five floors?" Mark asked. "I'm not sure I can make it."
"Don't be lazy, Mark. Let's go!" answered Kathleen.
When they were on the third floor, Kathleen noticed that Mark was breathing very heavily.
"Mark, you seem really out of shape. We're going to have to start exercising more often," Kathleen said firmly.
"No! I'm fine. Look," Mark said as he ran the rest of the way up the stairs just to show that he was in shape after all.
But the next day, Kathleen brought Mark to the bottom of a hill, where there was a trail they could follow all the way up.
"Just think how pretty the city will look from the top of the hill!" Kathleen said, trying to encourage him.
"Yeah, but if all we want is a beautiful view, we can just go to a tall building. That way, there would be air conditioning -- AND elevators!" Mark answered.
But Kathleen had already started climbing the path that led up the hill. She was walking fast and shouting to Mark to keep up with her.
"Hey! Wait up!" said Mark. (Kayleen Hartman, staff writer)
一天,凱薩琳和馬克站在他們大樓裡等電梯。「好久喔!我們走樓梯吧!」凱薩琳說。
「爬整整五層樓嗎?」馬克問,「我不確定我能辦到。」
「別偷懶!馬克,我們上!」凱薩琳回答。
他們走到三樓時,凱薩琳注意到馬克氣喘呼呼。
凱薩琳堅定地說:「馬克,你的身材看來已走樣了,我們得開始多運動。」
「不!我很好,你看!」馬克說著,為了證明他依舊苗條,就開始往上跑完剩下的樓梯。
但是隔天,凱薩琳帶著馬克來到山坡下,那裡有一條小徑直達山坡上。
凱薩琳試圖鼓勵馬克說:「想想看從山坡上瞭望城市的景色有多美。」
「是啊,不過,如果我們只是想看美麗的風景,去高樓大廈就好啦!這樣不僅可以吹冷氣,還可以搭電梯!」馬克回答。
但是凱薩琳已經開始沿著小徑往山坡上走去,她健步如飛,並且叫馬克跟上。
「嘿!等一下!」馬克說。 (翻譯:鄭湘儀)
1. floor n.
樓層(lou2 ceng2)
My classroom is on the third floor, so I have to walk up two flights of stairs every day.
我的教室在三樓,所以每天都要爬兩層樓梯。
2. out of shape adj. phr.
身材走樣(sheng1 cai2 zou3 yang4)
If you don't exercise, you'll be out of shape.
你如果不運動,身材就會走樣。
3. trail n.
痕跡(hen2 ji1)
I knew Oliver had been eating cookies because of the trail of crumbs that led into his room.
我知道奧立佛在吃餅乾,因為麵包屑的痕跡一路連到他的房間。
4. encourage v.t
鼓勵(gu3 li4)
It's important for parents to encourage their children more than they criticize them.
父母對小孩多鼓勵少責備是很重要的。
1. Where does Kathleen take Mark to exercise?
a. A park.
b. A hill.
c. The beach.
d. A stairway.
2. What DOESN'T a tall building have?
a. Stairs.
b. Air conditioning.
c. A beautiful view.
d. Fresh air.
Ans: 1.b 2.d
The impact of the pandemic over the last three years has made domestic travel very popular, as Taiwan’s own “secret scenes” gradually come to light. Tianwei Township in Changhua County is Taiwan’s biggest producer of potted plants, with fresh flowers blooming in all four seasons, and this has made it one of the townships with the highest concentrations of “secret scenes.” Recently, one local plumeria garden has been attracting crowds of visitors, despite not being in flower. As it turns out, it is the bare branches, climbing and intertwining like Totoro’s tunnel, while also resembling the romantic scenery of northern climes,
Let’s download the Taiwan Social Distancing App (3/5) 快下載台灣社交距離App(三) A: What is the function of the Taiwan Social Distancing App? B: It can detect if you have come into contact with an infected individual, and will send you a warning message to tell you the time and date of the contact. A: So where can I download it from? B: You can download it from both the App Store and Google Play. A: 「台灣社交距離」App有什麼作用呢? B: 它能偵測你和確診者接觸的日期、時間,如果你曾接觸確診者,它就會跳出警示訊息。 A: 那我要去哪裡下載啊? B: 在App Store 和Google Play雙平臺都可以唷。 (Translated by Edward Jones, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩) Audio recordings for Speak Up! dialogues will be suspended until further notice due to the pandemic.
Let’s download the Taiwan Social Distancing App (5/5) 快下載台灣社交距離App(五) A: I heard that the Taiwan Social Distancing App has already been downloaded over 8 million times. B: However, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center, a minimum of 12 million people need to download the app for it to have a meaningful effect. A: Also, some elderly people might not know how to turn on Bluetooth, while others might turn off Bluetooth or stop using the app altogether to save battery power or for other reasons. B: So everyone should download the app and do as suggested. A: 聽說「台灣社交距離App」,下載次數已超過八百萬次。 B: 不過指揮中心說,至少要一千兩百萬人下載,才會有較明顯的效果。 A: 而且有些老人可能不會開藍牙,也有人為了避免耗電,或其他考量關閉藍牙,下載了也沒用。 B: 所以民眾要多下載、多配合才行。 (Translated by Edward Jones,
Multiverse-themed films cause a sensation 「多重宇宙」主題電影熱賣 英文用這字! 最近兩部備受討論的電影《媽的多重宇宙》與《奇異博士2:失控多重宇宙》都以multiverse「多重宇宙」的概念為主軸。尤其由楊紫瓊主演的《媽的多重宇宙》更是受到極高評價,電影中主角Evelyn雙眉之間的玩具眼睛、熱狗手指都成為經典一幕。本次就讓我們從國外娛樂新聞網站Screen Rant對這部電影的介紹,來認識多益相關的重要字彙吧! multiverse 多重宇宙 Everything Everywhere All at Once follows the story of Evelyn Wang, a laundromat owner who is in the midst of getting audited by the IRS. When she discovers that she has the ability to access parallel universes, she must connect with her multiverse selves in order to save them all from destruction. (screenrant.com) (《媽的多重宇宙》的故事是關於一位洗衣店老闆Evelyn被國稅局稽查稅務期間,發現她有能力遊走平行宇宙,而她必須連結多重宇宙中的分身來拯救他們免於崩壞毀滅。) multiverse 代表「多重宇宙」,字首「multi-」有many、much的意思,多益測驗中常見的單字有 multiple「多的,多種的」、multitask「多工」、multivitamin「綜合維他命」、multimedia「多媒體」。 According to a recent study, multitasking doesn’t lead to better work efficiency as we previously thought. (根據最近的研究,同時做多項事務並不如我們原先認為的那樣提高工作效率。) There are multiple solutions to the problem we are facing. (我們面臨的問題其實有多種解決方案。) 名詞verse通常指稱「詩、歌詞或聖經中的一節」。 I can’t really sing the song since I only remember the first verse of the song. (我真的無法唱這首歌,因為我只記得這首歌的第一節。) 字根「vers-」有 turning「轉」的意思,例如anniversary「周年」就是時間上又轉了一年,