Getting green fingers at Grandpa’s 到艾莫爺爺家整理花園
It was a blisteringly hot day and Mark and Kathleen were on the way to help Mark’s Grandpa Elmo with some gardening. Kathleen couldn’t understand why Mark was so excited by it. “What’s so special about this garden?” she asked. “Wait till you see it. It’s big enough to play football in and there is a magnificent fountain. It’s beautiful,” Mark replied.
When they arrived at the house, Grandpa Elmo opened the door. “I’m so happy you came. I’m afraid I’m too old to look after the garden myself these days. Come through and take a look,” he said in a croaky voice. When Mark laid his eyes on the garden he couldn’t believe what he saw. The grass was overgrown, the flowerbeds were untidy and the fountain was broken.
“The first thing I want you to do is mow the lawn,” said Grandpa Elmo. “No problem! Where’s your old lawnmower?” asked Mark. “Oh, I threw it out. It was broken beyond repair. But don’t worry, you can use these,” he said, handing Mark a pair of scissors. As quick as a flash, Kathleen picked up the scissors and ran around the garden cutting the grass. Mark had never seen her move so fast, and three hours later she was finally finished.
“Good job! Time for a break,” said Grandpa Elmo handing them each a glass of fresh lemonade, which they quickly drank. “For your next task, I want you to water the flowers. Unfortunately there’s a hole in my hosepipe so you’ll have to use that,” he said, pointing to a tiny thimble on the coffee table. Kathleen was shocked, but she was too polite to say anything. “I have a better idea,” said Mark. He ran down to the river, sucked up some water with his trunk, and then sprayed it all over the flowers.
“What a great idea,” said Grandpa Elmo. “Now before you go, there’s one more thing I want you to do…”
(JOHN PHILLIPS, STAFF WRITER)
這是一個超級大熱天，馬克和凱薩琳正在去馬克爺爺家的途中，他們要去幫艾莫爺爺整理花園。凱薩琳不知道馬克為什麼對這感到很興奮，於是她問：「這個花園到底有什麼特別的啊？」馬克回答：「等妳看到妳就知道了。那裡大到可以踢足球，而且還有一個非常華麗的噴泉水池，實在美極了。」
當他們抵達艾莫爺爺家，艾莫爺爺開了門，用他低沉而沙啞的嗓音說：「我真高興你們來了，最近我很擔心我已經老到無法自己照顧花園了呢。快進來看看吧。」當馬克看到花園的景象時，他簡直不敢相信自己的眼睛。花園裡的草長得好高、花圃變得亂七八糟，連噴泉水池也都壞了。
艾莫爺爺說：「我希望你們先除除草。」馬克問：「沒問題！你的舊除草機呢？」「噢，我丟掉了。它壞了，修不好了。但別擔心，你們可以用這些，」他邊說邊遞給馬克一把剪刀。凱薩琳快如閃電地拿起剪刀，跑到花園裡去剪草。馬克從沒看她動作這麼快過，三個小時後，她總算都剪完了。
艾莫爺爺說：「做得好！休息一下吧。」他遞給他們一人一杯新鮮的檸檬水，他們一下子就喝光了。「你們的下一項任務就是去澆花。不巧的是，我的水管破了個洞，所以你們只好用那個，」他邊說，邊指著咖啡桌上一個迷你頂針。凱薩琳雖然被嚇了一大跳，但她仍不願失禮地多說什麼。馬克說：「我有個更好的主意。」他跑到河邊，用他的象鼻子吸了些水，澆灌在所有花朵上。
「真是個好主意啊，」艾莫爺爺說：「在你們走之前，我還要請你們幫忙一件事…」（翻譯：袁星塵）
A: After attending Taiwanese baseball superstar Chen Wei-yin’s retirement ceremony in Japan, why didn’t you stay longer for some fun? B: Don’t you remember? We’re going to Blackpink member Jisoo’s fan meeting at Messe Taoyuan this Sunday. A: Oh, that’s right. She’s the second Blackpink member visiting Taiwan as a solo artist after Lisa. B: Jisoo just released her EP “Amortage” on Valentine’s Day. A: Blackpink will also release new songs and launch a world tour this summer. A: 你去日本參加台灣強投陳偉殷的引退儀式後，怎麼沒留下來玩幾天？ B: 你忘啦？我們週日還要去「桃園會展中心」參加Blackpink成員Jisoo的見面會。 A: 啊對耶，她是繼Lisa後第二位單飛訪台的Blackpink成員。 B: Jisoo不久前才在情人節，推出個人迷你專輯《Amortage》。 A: Blackpink今年夏天也會推出新歌，還會啟動世界巡演呢！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張迪）
A: Taiwan’s baseball superstar Chen Wei-yin announced his retirement, and I’m still in shock. B: Didn’t you fly to Japan last Sunday just to attend his retirement ceremony? A: Yeah, it was held by Chen’s former Japanese team, the Chunichi Dragons. I even cried at the event. B: His glorious record of 96 wins in Japanese and US professional baseball altogether is unprecedented. A: His total income of NT$3.3 billion, including a huge 2016 contract of US$80 million with the US Miami Marlins, is also unprecedented. A: 台灣棒球巨星陳偉殷宣布引退，真是令人震驚。 B: 你週日不是特別飛去日本，參加他的引退儀式嗎？ A: 對啊老東家「中日龍」為他舉行了儀式，我還感動到大哭。 B: 他創下日／美職棒總計96勝紀錄，真是史無前例。 A: 而他生涯總收入高達33億台幣，包括在2016年時，和「馬林魚」簽下8千萬美元巨約，更是無人能及！ （By Eddy
In another application of artificial intelligence, a team of archaeologists from the Nazca Institute at the University of Yamagata in Japan, in collaboration with IBM Research, have discovered 303 new geoglyphs in the “Nazca” region of Peru. Though these figures are not nearly as large as their Nazca Lines counterparts, their discovery has helped enhance the understanding of the transition from the Paracas culture to the Nazca culture. The AI model, assisted by low-flying drones, was able to accomplish what the naked eye could not—quickly and accurately spotting the smaller relief-type geoglyphs in the desert area. While it previously
Dos & Don’ts — 想想看，這句話英語該怎麼說？ 1. 王老師很負責，每天都準時到學校。 √ Miss Wang is conscientious. She comes to school on time every day. χ Miss Wang is very responsible. Every day she goes to school on time. 註︰一個人很認真、負責、敬業，英文通常用 conscientious 來表達，它的名詞是conscience（良心）。responsible 接在 be 動詞之後是指對某事負責，也可指做錯事時該負的責任，因此“她該負責”英文是 She is responsible for it.。如果某人很負責、值得信賴，可以託付重任，可說 She / He is a responsible person.。 2. 他個子不高。 √ He is not tall. χ His body is not tall. χ He is not high. 註︰high 通常指「物」的高大，tall 則指「人或細長物」的「高」。但講人的高度，有數字時可以說： He is six feet high. He is six feet tall. 3. 我能占用你幾分鐘嗎？ √ Can you spare me a few minutes? χ May I occupy you a few minutes? 註︰spare：騰出，省下。不顧句型及前後文，只把學過的英文詞彙的中文解釋任意還原為英文時很容易造出這種中式的英文句子。 4. 讓我想想看。 √ Let me think it over. √ Let
RSS