Some people believe that another difference between American and British English is that the former is killing off the humble adverb. In the popular imagination, the regular adverb is formed by adding an “-ly” suffix to the adjective, as in “beautiful” and “beautifully.” Of course, the situation is far more complicated than that.
Where an American might say “that show was real funny,” a British person might say “that show was really funny.” Where an American might say, “I’m good,” a British person might say “I’m well” instead. To a British person, the phrase “she plays the violin beautiful” sounds ugly: they would be far happier with “she plays the violin beautifully.”
That said, the dropping of the adverbial form is a process that has long been going on; it’s just that Americans have a stronger tendency to drop this form in the spoken language, although less so in the written form.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
There are also many adjectives that come with the “-ly” suffix, such as brotherly, elderly and monthly. The latter is both an adjective and an adverb (a monthly magazine is one that is published monthly). There are also adverbs without the -ly suffix. The “long” in “a process that has long been going on” is one example.
A further complication is the change in meaning or use with the addition to the “-ly” suffix. “He is a hard worker” means the same as “he works hard” but almost the opposite of “he hardly works.” You can say “he was a great composer,” but you could not say “he composed greatly”; you would have to say “he composes great” (American English) or “He composes extremely well” (British English). Since he did compose extremely well, however, you could say that he will be “greatly missed.”
(Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)
有人認為，美式英文和英式英文之間的另一區別，是美式英文正抹除曖曖內含光的副詞。在多數人心目中，規則副詞是在形容詞後面加上字尾「ly」而成，例如形容詞「beautiful」（美麗）加「ly」便成為副詞「beautifully」。當然，實際情況是要複雜得多。
美國人說的「that show was real funny」（那節目真有趣），在英國人說來可能會是「that show was really funny」。美國人說「 I’m good」（我很好），英國人說「I’m well」。「she plays the violin beautiful」（她小提琴演奏得很出色）這句話對英國人來說聽起來很怪，英國人會覺得「she plays the violin beautifully」這樣說要悅耳得多。
副詞形式的省略其實由來已久。只是美國人比較傾向在口語中省略副詞形式，雖然在書面上較沒有這樣的省略。
許多形容詞也具有字尾「ly」的形式，例如「brotherly」（兄弟般的）、「elderly」（上了年紀的）和「monthly」（每月一次的）。「monthly」這個字是形容詞也是副詞（例如，「monthly magazine」──月刊，是每月出版的雜誌）。也有些副詞並沒有「ly」這字尾形式，例如「a process that has long been going on」（由來已久的過程）這句話中的副詞「long」。
更複雜的是，有時加了字尾「ly」後，該字的意思或用法也改變了。「he is a hard worker」（他是工作勤奮的人）這句話的含義與「he works hard」相同，但跟「he hardly works」（他幾乎不工作）這句話的意思幾乎是相反的。你可以說「he was a great composer」（他是偉大的作曲家），但不能說「he composed greatly」。你應該要說美式英文的「he composes great」，或英式英文的「he composes extremely well」。而由於他所作的曲子非常棒，你可以說他會被「greatly missed」（深深地懷念）。
（台北時報林俐凱譯）
A: The 2025 World Masters Games will begin on May 17 and run until May 30. B: World Masters Games? A: It’s a quadrennial multi-sport event for people over 30, which will be jointly held by Taipei and New Taipei City. B: Cool, maybe we can go cheer for all the athletes from home and abroad. A: There will be an athletes’ parade in downtown Taipei prior to the opening ceremony on Saturday. Let’s go then. A: 2025雙北世界壯年運動會5月17日開幕，持續至5月30日閉幕。 B: 世壯運？ A: 這是四年一度、以30歲以上青壯年為主的運動會，本屆是由台北市和新北市共同舉辦。 B: 好酷喔，我們去幫來自國內外的選手們加油吧！ A: 週六在台北市區會有選手遊行，之後是開幕典禮，我們去看吧。 （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張迪)
A: Where will the 35 sports of the 2025 World Masters Games be held? B: Apart from Taipei and New Taipei City, some games will take place in Yilan County, Taoyuan County, and Hsinchu County and City. A: The news says about 25,000 people, including many celebrities and sports stars, have already registered for the games. B: Even Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an, who is 47, registered for softball and squash. New Taipei Mayor Hou You-yi, who is 68, also registered for table tennis. A: And it will be the largest sports event ever in Taiwan’s history. How exciting. A:
Computex, Asia’s biggest electronics conference, kicked off Monday in Taipei, and as in years past drew industry chieftains from Nvidia Corp.’s Jensen Huang and Qualcomm Inc.’s Cristiano Amon to Young Liu of Foxconn, which makes the bulk of the world’s iPhones and Nvidia servers. But while last year’s event was a celebration of the post-ChatGPT AI boom, executives this time are likely grappling with the uncertainty of the Trump administration’s effort to reshape the global trade order — disrupting a decades-old model for tech manufacturing. This year’s exhibition will of course feature the hardware required to bring artificial intelligence to life.
Have you ever wondered who decides what we see in a museum or how one artwork seamlessly connects to the next? Behind every thoughtfully arranged gallery space stands a curator, a skilled professional who combines art and storytelling to craft meaningful experiences. The term “curator” originates from the Latin word cura, meaning “to care.” Curators were originally caretakers of museum collections, but over time, their role has grown to include a broad range of responsibilities that extend far beyond preservation. Today, curators manage, organize and interpret collections in cultural institutions like museums and libraries. They research, acquire and catalogue
RSS