[Vocabulary Building] 禮貌、尊重

今天和大家談談與「禮貌」、「尊重」相關的生字。

基本的"Polite"、"Impolite"、"Rude"，大家應該知道。先考考大家下列中文的翻譯: 

1. 禮儀/禮貌(名詞)

2. 尊重(動詞)

3. 「爆粗」(動詞)、「粗口」(名詞)

開估: 

1. Manner/Courtesy .

e.g. He has bad table manners. (餐桌禮儀) 

e.g. It is common courtesy to congratulate your friends who are wedding. 

2. Respect/Hold sb. in high regard/Regard sb. highly

e.g. Citizens used to respect the Police Force, but surveys reflect that public confidence faith in it has declined. 

e.g. Students hold CK in high regard for his passion in teaching. 

e.g. Students regard Kenko highly because he is a genuine Chinese scholar. 

3. Curse/Swear (v.) Coarse/Offensive/Foul Language (n.)

e.g. Though foul language is almost indispensable in adults' life, children should not be taught to swear or curse. 

上述的都是常用的字句，值得大家學習運用。談及禮貌，不能不從談吐說起。優雅的言語，可用courteous描述: "I am sorry. I am afraid all rooms have been booked." said the hotel staff courteously. 此外亦可用elegant: Dayo Wong (黃子華) is a witty artist. His jokes can be both inspiring and elegant. 

相反，低俗的談吐予人bad taste，甚至uncivilized(不文明)的觀感(perception)。有立法會議員發言採用粗口諧音，引來社會部分人的抗議: Legislators using languages that resembles (相似) words of foul language are facing public backlash (抗議), demanding (要求) their resignation (辭職)。

談吐以外，打扮(how you dress)及外表(appearance)亦影響別人對你的印象(impression)。Beautiful或Good-looking外，外表還有甚麼字詞可用? 不是人人都天生麗質(born with beauty)，但尊重自己，尊重他人，就要打扮恰當(dress appropriately)。另一說法是Presentable: Making yourself presentable before a job interview is vital(重要) to giving a good first impression.  

More Examples to Manner/Courtesy

e.g. Frictions (摩擦、矛盾) between Mainland tourists and  Hong Kong people continues as a record-high tourist count has been observed (觀察) last year. Angry netizens(網民), circulating (散播) pictures showing uncivilized behaviours (行為) of some mainland tourists, expressed (表達) their grumbles (抱怨、不滿) and demand for limiting the quota (配額) on annual (每年) tourist entry to the city.  

e.g.Some argue that respect is earned(賺取), but not given(給予). Undoubtedly, if one do not act responsibly, one does not deserve (值得, 配上) the compliment (讚許). But for even more cases , those who do not pay respect haven't performed their own duties. For example, while many students complained of perfunctory (例行公事的) teachers, they themselves do not pay heed (注意) to their own attitudes (態度) towards studies. 

e.g. Hong Kong is such a commercialized(商業化) society, with the education sector being no exception(例外). The commercial point of view lays stress on (強調) performance(表現) or outcome(結果). Some students show little respect to teachers or tutors who they think cannot help them with their public exams, despite the fact that (雖然) many teachers or tutors are indeed(事實上) passionate(有熱誠的). 

[Paper 1] 閱讀策略1

談到Reading，很多同學第一個反應是: 我很多字不認識，如何考好?

回應1: 閱讀是要考基本生字。有人會說，Paper 1有技巧就考得好，我不敢苟同: 一般而言，講這句說話的考生，一般都對基本生字沒有困難。

回應2: 閱讀是要策略。HKEAA從文章選材、設計問題兩方面，都講求考核考生對文章主旨的理解。

從2013的試題說起:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
2013 HKDSE Paper 1

Part A: TERRA-COTTA WARRIORS IN COLOR

Part B1: Master teaches a much-loved instrument + What your updates say about you

Part B2: The Triumph of Dystopian Literature: What's behind the boom in dystopian fiction for young readers?

Part A的標題的確嚇死考生，我肯定即使是老師，不認識Terra-cotta(紅色的陶泥)亦大有人在。細讀文章首段，能力一般的考生亦有感困難:

It was a dazzling spectacle: a life-size army of painted clay soldiers buried to guard an emperor's tomb. Now archaeologists and artists, armed with the latest tools and techniques, are bringing that ancient vision back to life.

不過如果你因字彙不足就斷言自己未能考好，就正中Setter精心設下的圈套。不少考生，以至日校老師，亦誤以為字彙決定reading成績。如果是我教，我會這樣教:

1. 先看標題

TERRA-COTTA WARRIORS IN COLOR

標題一般是用Noun Phrase，故Warrior一字是核心，suffix(--or)暗示與人有關，suffix(war--)暗示與戰爭有關，加上首段提及的Soldier，明白了warrior的意思。至於Terra-cotta，知道這是修飾Warriors的部分，可忽略。

圖片明顯是小學生都知道的兵馬俑，In color大家都知道，不用解釋，合併起來，知道文章主題是「兵馬俑再著色」。

重點: 不要只看獨立字詞，看整體。

2. 看首幾段，了解文章大意

It was a dazzling spectacle: a life-size army of painted clay soldiers buried to guard an emperor's tomb. Now archaeologists and artists, armed with the latest tools and techniques, are bringing that ancient vision back to life.

斜體部分是句子主幹外的補充。看得多，你發現大多數情況都是由Past/Present Participle引領。懂得這個技巧，第二句的 Subject 和 Verb 就出現。不明白Archaeologists(考古學家)? 先用Suffix的分析，--ist即專家。再用平行句式的分析，artist一定識，Archaeologists總之是XX人，知道這點，可Skip。

文章主題更明朗: 現在專家把古代的事物帶回來。

In an earthen pit in central China, under what used to be their village's persimmon orchard, three middle-aged women are hunched over an ancient jigsaw puzzle. Yang Rongrong, a cheerful 57-year-old, turns over a jagged piece in her callused hands and fits it into the perfect spot. The other women laugh as if enjoying an afternoon amusement in their village near the city of Xian. What Yang and her friends are doing, in fact, is piecing together the 2,200-year-old mystery of the terra-cotta army, part of the celebrated (and still dimly understood) burial complex of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di.

斜體的都是補充資料的細節，無須重視，可分為下列幾類:

>>Preposition + Noun  (In + Place // Under + Tree // In + Village)

>>Noun Phrase (a cheerful 57-year-old=Yang Rongrong)

藍色的是要重點教的，因為是經常出現而且一式一樣。As if 是「就像」之義，明白了你會知道後面的是比喻，可忽略。In fact 帶有強調語氣，可放在句首、Subject和Verb中間、甚至句尾。強調語氣暗示這是段落重點所在，因此應更重視此句。

粗體的是Subject，紅色的是Verb，如果從這些部分出發，一定比逐字埋首更好。再次提醒大家平行格式的重要，Line 3 的「fits」平行於「turns」，Subject都是「Yang Rongrong」。

關於Subject有一點提示，閱讀文章如涉及多於1人，不妨Highlight他們的名字，方便自己追蹤文章動向。

第二段大意: 幾位女士在整理兵馬俑碎片，像在拼圖。(能看懂這點，便可繼續。)

3. 現在可選擇看題目，或「掃讀」

能力較高的學生，可先「掃讀」，進一步閱讀文章大意。能力一般的學生可看題目，透過問題增加自己理解。

第三段: It usually takes Yang and her co-workers many days to transform a heap of clay fragments into a full-size warrior, but today they are lucky, accomplishing the task in a matter of hours.

段落大概是他們整理碎片的工作。

第四段: The monochrome figures that visitors to Xian's terra-cotta army museum see today actually began as the multicolored fantasy of a ruler whose grandiose ambitions extended beyond the mortal realm.

第五段: All the while, the emperor prepared for the afterlife, commanding the construction of the burial complex that covers 35 square miles.

第四段首句有些複雜，但找出兩個Relative Clauses後，句子結構明朗化(The figures actually beagan as...)，知道這是有關兵馬俑的歷史的。第五段明顯是第四段的延續。

第六段: Now a combination of serendipity and new preservation techniques is revealing the terra-cotta army's true colors.

第七段: Almost thirty years ago, Chinese researchers started working with experts from the Conservation Office in Germany to develop a preservative known as PEG to help save the warriors' colors.

第六段以Now開首，提示時間轉換到今時今日。不要被大量長字嚇倒，preservation techniques (保育技術) 足夠提示。serendipity(意外的發現)不明白亦不阻礙理解。True colors及第七段的colors與題目遙相呼應，大家明白本段起與保護兵馬俑原色有關。

----------------------------------------------------------------------
看到這裡，大家應該足夠能力理解文章大意。下一步就是看題目，這才是了解細節的時候(很多時候，文章提及的細節是沒有問及的...)

這種閱讀策略，比甚麼Paper 1「10大題型」，「2014大熱題型」更實用，亦適用於DSE外的英文文章閱讀。希望大家明白Paper 1考的是文章大意的理解，考試時擺脫「不明白生字=不懂的閱讀」的繆誤。

[DSE英文備戰系列1] CK論戰: 尚有不足3個月，應該如何準備?

HKDSE尚有不足3個月，現在起步是否太遲?

不論其他科目，在英文科而言，現在起步絕對不會太遲!

************************************************************
1. 舊制度的會考(6科或以上，每科約是DSE的60%難度及內容)或高考(4-5科，但每科起碼是DSE的1.5倍難度及內容)；DSE制度下，大多數考生只是考4+1或4+2，在時間上是比舊制更可行的。

2. DSE英文對比UE相對重視傳意能力，減少了傳統文法要求。

3. DSE Paper 3佔30%，此分卷對考試技巧的重視前所未有。

************************************************************

針對(1)，這是個人毅力與意志的磨練。不要再給自己「朋友生日」、「今天好累」等等藉口，善用每天，這是不難解決的問題。

針對(2)，不是說你不用學文法，而是要你重拾或提升英文的感覺。

Reading的要求，是要你讀明作者意思，而不是要你背字典，背Vocab List，Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary有100,000字以上，你背到幾多? 撫心自問，你上一次細讀英文材料是何時?

Writing的要求，不是要求人人做文學家。每星期要求自己最少寫一篇文章，找出自己的弱點，最重要的是令自己的文字能傳達自己所想。能力稍遜的學生，目標不是死背自己不能明白的句型，而是寫出一篇令人明白的文章!

對於(3)，既然參與的是公開試，完全否定考試技巧是不可能的。我接觸的學生中，不少是補習前完全不明白Paper 3要求的。我的建議是，在「重拾英文感覺」同時，找適合自己的補習課程，了解Paper 3的要求。

技巧及操卷，如果是忽略對閱讀及寫作英文的觸覺，都是徒然。可能大家覺得有些虛無，本周稍後將分別分享Paper 1及Paper 2。

Welcome

不錯，我是教公開試英文，但我亦希望學生學習到終身受用的英文。


感謝中文導師Kenko和學生Kam啟發，我決定從今天起經營網誌，目的有二:  一是補充課堂，二是分享英語趣聞。

客套的話不多說，希望大家覺得本網誌有趣且實用。

You are right, I am a tutor specialising in HKDSE English tutoring. But I do hope students can benefit from better English, while they excel themselves in the public examination.

I would like to thank Kenko, a Chinese tutor and a friend of mine, and Kam, one of my students and a candidate of HKDSE 2014, who inspired me to start this blog. It both supplements my lessons and shares interesting bits and pieces about English.

I hope you will find this blog intriguing and useful.