security
eng | 31 十二月, 2009 17:19
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the rabbit problem
eng | 31 十二月, 2009 17:07
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1+1要如何變成144呢？
如果一對兔子每月能生一對小兔，而每對小兔在出生後的第三個月又開始生一對小兔，如果在沒有兔子死亡的情況下，由第一對出生的小兔開始，50個月後會有多少對兔子？兔子家族將在這有趣故事中揭曉答案喔！
我們來到了Fibonacci的牧場，這裡有Lonely與Chalk兔子夫婦，他們忙著照顧逐年迅速增加的孩子們，還要適應每個月不同的季節轉換，就好比從寒冷的二月到潮濕的四月與炎熱的七月，哇！真的快忙不過來了！
《The Rabbit Problem》藉由義大利數學家Fibonacci《算盤全書》中數列的理論，運用翻翻遊戲書的趣味設計讓小朋友能輕鬆學習數列理論。本書以華麗的翻翻拉頁為特色，加上愉快的故事內容與不同於其他童書的新奇元素，包含小兔兔的紀錄本、紅蘿蔔食譜書與驚喜的彈跳頁面，絕對能讓小朋友不再懼怕數學，馬上就能學會數列的技巧囉！
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07.老師分享與學生作品區 .
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angels of destruction
eng | 31 十二月, 2009 17:02
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Keith Donohue的第一本小說《The Stolen Child》〈中譯：竊取的孩子〉成為各大小暢銷書榜的暢銷書。全球讀者引頸企盼多時的新作《Angels of Destruction》日前出版。故事開始在一個冬夜，一位寡婦Margaret獨自在家，十年前，她唯一的女兒Erica跟著高中的男友加入了學校的團體〝毀滅天使〞，之後卻失蹤了。
Margaret聽到了敲門的聲音，心中暗自祈禱是失蹤十年的女兒，結果外面站的是一位九歲的女孩，她自稱孤兒且沒有地方可以去，希望Margaret可以收留她。Margaret把Norah送到學校，並且開始與一位被父親拋棄的男孩成為好友，當Margaret的姊妹來到，堅信Norah是Erica的女兒，Norah到底是誰？她的過去是什麼背景？她為何來到這裡？一本關於寬恕與愛的小說，Keith Donohue的新作，文筆中透著淡淡的憂傷，獲得網路讀者的一致推薦。
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天下雜誌專訪師大英語系李櫻教授
eng | 31 十二月, 2009 13:27
天下雜誌專訪師大英語系李櫻教授
學英文，怎麼學？
英語教育已經延伸到這麼早開始學習，如果我們還是讓六歲的小孩，學習的方法和內容，跟我們以前國高中學的一樣，那只不過是浪費資源、提早消耗他對英文的興趣，又沒有讓孩子真正學好英文。這幾年兒童英語教育的爭議重點，一直擺在「時間」。家長非常關心「when」：什麼時候學，但是我要 提醒家長的是「how」：如何學才是重點。我並不是要跟家長講不要太早學，或你都不要學，英文又不是毒蛇猛獸，去接觸當然沒有關係，問題在於家長的態度和 期許。很早接觸沒有關係，但是你一接觸的時候，你希望孩子能做出什麼？家長的態度和期望，決定了你是在幫忙孩子，還是讓他提早出局。
贏在起跑點，還是摔在起跑點？
很多家長希望，早點學就可以讓孩子變成真正的雙語，其實真正的雙語是很困難、在特殊情境下才會發生 的。多數情況是，每個人有一個語言是主要語言，用主要語言思考。譬如我算數學的時候，是用國語來思考。當缺乏主要語言能力時，你的邏輯推理、想像力、組織 與篇章的能力，都會不足。譬如說，在幼稚園裡，如果你要孩子描述他昨天去哪裡玩、這是很重要的語言能力訓練。中文能力，直接影響到孩子抽象思考的基本能 力。如果主要語言能力沒有得到足夠的磨練，就投入到第二語言的英語，最終會「兩敗俱傷」，影響了孩子整體思考發展。
另外一個迷思是，家長希望小的時候記憶力好，小朋友會「不知不覺的學會」。其實我們太過度誇大小孩子 的語言學習能力。我們感覺小孩子彷彿聽聽就會了，那是因為他在學習本國語言的時候，他的周圍有數千數萬次的「輸入」。他今天如果學英語，學校之外的主要生 活情境卻不是英語，家長期待孩子聽一個單字三、五次、七八次，你就覺得孩子應該要會了，這會是太大的壓力和期待。語言學習的過程中，「輸入」絕對要大過於「輸出」。我們常看到補習班或雙語幼稚園裡，教一個故事或一 首歌，他就期望孩子整個故事裡的東西都要會，整首歌詞都要記住，然後用一堆字卡，教孩子背單字，那孩子絕對不會再有興趣聽第二個故事了。很多家長把孩子送 到補習班去，很在意孩子學了多少單字、學了多少句子，好像孩子聽了兩個故事就有責任記得些什麼，這樣的態度讓語言學習成為一個苦刑。這就是我們無形中給孩 子不合理的期望。
從小學，學什麼？
其實從小學英文，最大的優勢，並不是在背誦和記憶。研究指出，年紀小的孩子對辭彙和句法的學習比較 慢，因為辭彙和句法是抽象的組合，到他大一點，抽象思考比較成熟了，反而學得比較快、比較有效率。我們應該在對的時間作對的事。那到底什麼是「合理」的期待？從小開始學，要學些什麼？幼兒最靈敏的是聽力，是對語音的感知能力。舉例來說，小孩子聽媽媽用中文罵他，其實他不一定每個字都 聽得懂。但他聽的是「整體」，他不會害怕聽到不熟的字，或是聽到困難的東西，他會用他的推論，他的推論當然有時候會錯，但沒有關係，他還這麼小。幼稚園的 孩子可以聽中文的西遊記，那裡面很多詞和成語都是他們不了解的，可是無損於孩子對故事的理解和興趣。幼兒的英語學習，也應該從這裡開始。我們要善用兒童對 不熟悉的語言的容忍力。
我的孩子，是台北市小三學英文的第一屆學生，因為他，我去他們班上做愛心媽媽。譬如說，我放漁夫和三 個願望的故事給孩子聽，放過一次之後，我問他們說：「小朋友，男生們，你們喜不喜換這種太太當你們的太太？」小朋友都說不要，他們知道漁夫的太太很兇。其 實他們不是百分之百聽得懂，但是他們可以從語調、情緒、不斷重複的句子裡，感覺得出故事整體的訊息。這是最重要的一點，家長不要以為孩子沒有把故事背起來，就是沒有學到英文，孩子從接觸中，學到的是語 言的整體，比如語音結構：往上揚是什麼？往下降是什麼？句子停頓在哪裡……故事裡給了非常多的語法訊息。
很多家長會計較他可以「看得到」的成就，我的孩子 三年級時沒有背什麼單字，在學校英文考三十幾分，另一個孩子可能背了三百個單字，但我不覺得我的孩子比較差，因為我知道，孩子學英文的初期，最重要的不是 有形的辭彙或句法，我們目前業界補習班，甚至學校的老師，都太專注在有形的辭彙和句法上，但其實孩子早期學英文的優勢並不是在這裡。要讓孩子提早學，有意義的學習，應該要先重視豐富的「輸入（input）」，給孩子有意義的、有上下 文的故事。不要每個故事都要求他記起來，透過多聽、重複聽，孩子會知道，如果有些字彙是重要的，在不同故事裡就會重複不斷出現，至於在故事裡只出現一兩次 的字，我們也不需要為難孩子啊，因為如果這些字夠重要，下一個故事裡一定也會出現。所以我的孩子，或我帶的孩子，他們會有興趣一直聽故事，因為他知道聽第 二個故事並不意味要背更多單字、或是要被測試更多東西。第一個故事次要的辭彙，可能到了第五個故事就變成主要的辭彙。孩子有的是時間，我們不需要半年、一 年就要求他要背多少字。我的孩子沒有真正背過單字，但是他的單字量是透過大量閱讀、聽故事錄音帶，慢慢的累積，而且累積起來他不會忘記，因為字詞出現在非 常有趣的上下文裡，是有意義而且情境足夠的語言輸入與接觸，這是真正有意義的學習。
過程中，我們要多鼓勵孩子猜。我到台北市二十幾所小學訪視的時候，許多英文程度很好的孩子被選出來和我溝通，可是其中很少的孩子會真正做英文的課外閱讀。 原因是什麼？他們都說，單字太多。我問他們：看到單字怎麼辦？孩子們都回應：查字典啊！我問：「那你不會猜猜看啊！」學生說：「猜不出來，不能猜！」其實我們很小的時候看中文課外書，也不會認得每個字，但我們不會拼命查字典，孩子三年級以前，看故事 書都要用猜的，這是語言學習裡很重要的能力，叫做「語用推論」。比如說媽媽在很生氣的情況下說了一句話：「你為什麼東西還在這裡！」小孩會知道，媽媽不是 真的在問「為什麼」，很少小孩會去想個理由回應，小孩知道那是媽媽在罵人。如果孩子善於運用語用推論的話，他在上下文聽到hamburger，然後聽到 twenty dollars，他會很快去填補、連結，用他的生活背景和知識去推論、猜想。這是學習閱讀非常重要的技巧。但是為什麼換成英文，我們就不鼓勵孩子猜猜看呢？
我們在外語學習的時候太認真、太仔細。我們一直教孩 子要逐字認識，我們教孩子要「從下往上」學習，先認識單字、再句型、然後才能閱讀，其實我們可以善用孩子在這個階段大膽猜測的容忍度，試著鼓勵他們做「由 上往下」的學習。比如說，我讓孩子聽故事，我一開始會問，你們覺得這個故事是和什麼有關的？譬如說他們聽到很多「the fish and the sea」，他聽到海這個單字很多次，但他還是不知道故事在講什麼，我就會問他：「你覺得這個故事是發生在山上，還是海邊呢？」慢慢引導他，讓他兜出一個樣 貌和框架出來。如果我的孩子只聽得懂內容的五％，我就會給他一些中文的訊息，幫助他猜想。我自己的孩子，以及我帶出的英文學習比較成功的孩子，都是因為他們一開始不怕聽到不熟悉的東西，他願 意接觸、願意慢慢猜。我的孩子五年級的時候聽 Arthur的故事，一個系列有時幾本故事書，他很喜歡聽，但很多詞他不會，也聽不懂，他聽到第五個故事，才發現：「啊，原來那個字是這個意思喔！」他原 本的猜測可能是錯的，沒有關係啊，他年紀還小，他有的是時間可以給他推測的空間，在這樣的過程裡，他推論的東西讓他印象深刻。但是如果他真的辭彙比較少的 時候，我會用中文去輔助他。我並不認為，要學好英文不能用中文，你如果要讓孩子有意義的學習，其實可以用中文輔助他，幫助他從已知延伸到未知，一次學一點新的東西。我並不是怕孩子受挫折，而是強調要善用孩子的長處來學習。當初我讓孩子自己選他有興趣聽的英文故事，其實他不是每個字都懂，但是孩子的容忍度很高，他聽不懂的，他可以從語氣、背景音樂來幫助他，如果是他自己有興趣的故事，他就會反覆的聽。
測驗，選他會的
我們現在比以前接觸語言的時間提早，優勢就是這個，而不是指望他提早去考試。我常問家長，你八歲或六 歲就讓孩子去考英檢，目的為何？當你不斷有考試的時候，很多孩子會以為，讀英文就是為了考試，他已經把讀英文跟痛苦做了連結：讀英文是因為媽媽會高興、讀 英文考試考得好會很有面子……他學英文，不是因為英文有趣，可以讓他聽到有趣的故事、有趣的聲音，可以讓他玩更多線上遊戲。我們大人自己設想一下，如果我 知道我讀完什麼故事就要被測驗所有細節，我還會喜歡學習做這件事嗎？如果家長老師真的要確認孩子有沒有學到，的確有些孩子還真喜歡你考他，那我建議，選他會的，而且是選 重要的考他。萬一孩子還是不會怎麼辦？那你就把問答題變成選擇和是非題，並且提供一些明顯是錯的答案，讓他很容易連想到正確答案，讓他有機會把正確答案說 出來。這其實是輔導的技巧，在互動過程中，讓孩子對英文更有信心，因為有信心，他覺得自己很棒，他就會想要再多讀一些，他就會有興趣。
我常跟老師們說，我 們的目的，不是要跟學生說：「你錯了！你又錯了！」比如說在教孩子發音的時候，我都比較忌諱和小孩子說：「這不對！」，我會說「你來看看你的嘴巴和我的一 樣不一樣？」我的孩子第一次英文考三十幾分的時候，我鼓勵他：「哎呀，媽媽如果是你的年紀來考，零分，你的同學做 得比較好，是因為他們提早學了，只要給你一兩年的時間，你會學得和他們一樣好，或更好，根本不用焦慮。」我想父母親在學習的歷程中，要站在孩子這邊，讓摔 在起跑點的小孩，對自己產生信心，對英文產生興趣。
螺旋式學習，取代直線式學習
英文的學習，不是直線式的學習，而是螺旋式的學習。譬如說你學會了第一級的辭彙和句型，是代表你真的 會了嗎？還是在限定的語意和限定的上下文情境裡，你可以了解那些辭彙，說不定換了一個場景、換了情境，你就未必了解那些辭彙的用法。很多孩子剛開始進步得 很快，一直考考考，往上升級，但是到某一個程度就卡住了，然後家長就會說是孩子不夠用功，孩子也覺得自己很挫折，覺得自己變笨了。其實都不是，而是他在前 面所學的基礎不穩固。就像堆積木一樣，他一直在學新單字、新句型，直線式的往上升，每個級數的新單字都只出現三、五次，就要進階到下一級，基礎很薄弱，堆 疊到高處，很容易崩倒。
語言和其他技能不太一樣，語言需要大量的應用。有些家長買教材的時候會說：「哎呀，這個主題我們小孩 都已經會了，為什麼你們還編這種主題？為什麼幼稚園、小學都是這些主題，這裡面那些字我的小孩都會了。」其實不然，孩子從國小到國中，他生活的主題其實就 那些啊。所謂螺旋式的學習，不是一直要求孩子往上堆疊記憶新單字，而是迂迴前進，往前挪動時，舊的詞彙佔滿大部分，然後加一點新的，或是把學過的辭彙，放 到新的情境、上下文裡學習。我去小學訪視，常常疑惑為什麼在學校三年級老師要教這麼難的字，老師們的回應是：「學生都會了，他們 都學過了。」比如說，主題教形狀（Shape），你叫三年級的小孩背八個十個形狀的單字，他到五年級也是會忘光的，因為這些形狀，沒有跟他學數學的時候連 結，沒有跟他的生活連結，他可能這幾個月會，因為你要考他，他只好不斷的背，但這十個形狀不是他生活裡真的會不斷重複出現的東西，你的教學和力氣就是用錯 地方。
很多幼稚園、小學的小朋友，背了很多動物或恐龍的名字，其實對未來英文的學習，意義並不大。還有很多中學的教學，參考書、補習班的補充，很大的重點放在句型的分析和代換。句子裡什麼叫主詞、動 詞、代名詞…… 。但這個不是文法能力，而是「文法分析能力」，如果你了解文法，你的文法正確，你可以看懂一篇文章，你可以正確的讀出一篇文章。我要測試學生文法有沒有問 題，就會讓學生唸出來，他如果念的斷句不對，我就知道他不了解這句子的文法。我們一直誤以為「文法分析能力」等於「文法能力」，我常聽到朋友或學生家長抱怨，小孩子念英文花費了 很多時間，結果英文還是越考越差。我翻開他們的參考書看，發現裡面都不是「英文」，而是編者在解釋那少少的幾個英文辭彙，所以基本上你念了很多參考書，但 你沒有念到「英文」，而是念了很多某人對文法的分析，而那個分析往往還是錯的。
補習班老師經常教的文法，這個句型等於那個句型，越補充越多，好像老師補充越多就越權威，但是仔細去 看，他所補充的句型，到第三、第四個句型，很可能是上一個世紀的人用的，現在已經很少地方使用。或是他補充的第二個句型和第一個句型出現的情境完全不一 樣，語用功能完全不同，怎麼可以代換呢？我常舉中文的例子告訴學生，我說「我愛他，會等於他被我愛嗎？」誰會在講話的時候說「他被我愛？」你會覺得這個人秀逗了嗎？我們在英文學習過程裡，為什麼要不斷一直練習這些代換呢？句法當然重要，但是是這樣教嗎？是要教這些嗎？現場老師們常說，要教的東西太多，總是講不完。或許我們應該先想一下，你教的東西，真的是有必要教的嗎？
舉例來說，國二學生學到How old are you，坊間參考書裡就會寫how old are you 等於What’s your age?教完這個句型代換，參考書就會補充說，人家問你how old are you，因為主詞是you，所以你要回答I am thirteen，因為What’s your age主詞是your age，所以回答時要用第三人稱單數，要說It’s thirteen我就要問，這是誰說的？人家問你What’s your age?你不能回答I am thirteen嗎？我們首先要去想，為什麼學生在學how old are you時，你一定要告訴他，這句話等於What’s your age?這句話只有在填表、驗明正身時用得到，不會有人平白無故問：「你的年紀是什麼？」當然，可能的句型代換有很多，但可能的都要窮盡嗎？這是家長和老師很容易被困惑的盲點。家長很容易覺得，老師補充得越多，越是好老師。但其實要老師補充 最容易了，拿起參考書抄都抄不完。真正優秀的老師，是當他教新的句法或辭彙時，他知道怎麼樣連結到學生已知的、舊有的知識庫，他知道如何透過學生已經學會 了的句型，引介出新的單字，或是用新的句型，複習舊的單字。這樣學生才能一面學新的東西，一面把舊的東西不斷的複習，成為螺旋式前進的學習。而不是學太多 「可能但不實際（possible but not realistic）」的東西。螺旋式教學，面對目前的雙峰現象，也是很好的解決方式。學過的孩子，緩一下腳步，不是在等別人，而是穩固你的學習基礎，不要把基礎建立在沙子上。
面對雙峰落差的學習法：作好最基本的事
我們讓孩子在很少量的閱讀裡，面對有限的句型去做無窮的代換，把力氣花在這裡，是浪費他閱讀真正英 文、增加「輸入(input)」的時間。面對程度好的學生，當他已經可以很能掌握課本內容的時候，老師應該給他的補充，不是去支解課本的東西可以代換什 麼，而是你鼓勵他去讀一些跟課文程度相當，或主題相關的英文故事或文章，老師可以引導他的閱讀，但不是要讓他把所有補充教材的單字都背起來。至於程度不好的學生，他對課文內容的理解就已經很困難了，為什麼還要支解代換呢？
最好的方式，應該是讓他有機會朗讀、熟讀課文，文法不要再衍伸了，因為衍伸太多沒有用，他原本一個可以記起來，你告訴他三個，他連第一個都記不起來了。所以最好的方法，就是 把基本的課文、句型了解清楚、反覆練習。我自己在鄉下長大，成長的過程裡也沒有很好的英文學習環境，我就是喜歡聲音，我常會錄下自己的聲音， 反覆錄、反覆聽，自我練習、自我糾正。到了高中時我才開始聽空中英語教室，把裡面的內容重複聽，持續聽兩年，聽不懂，我也不害怕，我把單字放在內容裡去 學，經過這兩年，我到高三，課本翻開竟然覺得沒有什麼單字或不懂的句子。因為我真的把時間花在「英文」，而不是「something about English」。
我自己，或是我教過程度好的學生，不論家裡的資源是否優渥，都有一個特質，他會以任何方式得到「輸入（input）」，有的學生還會把 電視影集錄影起來，廣告時去查他覺得有趣的詞，程度好的學生幾乎都是這樣的。大陸人學英文很流行大聲念出來，對著牆大聲念，有些人覺得很誇張。其實朗讀是很好的練習，你可以聽到 自己的聲音，聽到自己怎麼組織這個句子，何處該停頓、語氣如何，都代表你是否了解文法與結構。但我們的孩子卻很少朗讀課文，連程度不錯的學生，你叫他念出 聲，他念的都不是句子，而是十幾個單字的組合。等於他學了這麼多文法分析，要他用出來的時候，能力仍是缺乏的。
國小學習重點：字音關係
其實英文在國小階段，只要能把二十六個字母，字音的關係、語音辨識能力學好就夠了。他語音辨識的能力 沒有建構好，就急切的要去背單字，他聽都還沒有聽清楚，你就要他說出來，他就只有想盡辦法找一個錯誤的、急就章的讀音來代替。孩子如果能把語音辨識的能 力，在小學階段建立起來，他未來就可以省下很多力氣去死背單字。我們現在有一個蠻嚴重的問題，大家也很忽略了語音辨識這一塊，好像隨便的老師都可以去教一、二年級，沒有找一位口齒清晰的，對語音概念清楚的老師，去教最基本的課程。
很多人誤解說我這樣講是太挑剔孩子的發音，不是，我並沒有說要孩子的發音百分百、漂亮，但是他能夠辨 識啊。比如，老師有時候考聽寫，老師唸「貝的」，到底是bed 還是bad，他說答案是 bad，可是我聽起來都不是bad啊，那我的自然發音法不是學假的嗎？辨識能力非常重要。所以我跟老師的講習常說，並不是要各位的發音漂亮，但是要能被辨 識，你可以用錄音帶輔助，要能夠做出正確的口形，嘴形。
比如孩子看到你的嘴巴，e有嘴形變化，a沒有變化。他看你的嘴形就可以模仿出正確的發音。我們教師的養成教育，或說整個教學裡面，可能對早期教育裡面錯失了語音這一塊，所以我們投入了大量的心血，時間、金錢，可是沒有在對的時間做對的事情。所以初期看起來蓬勃發展，好像小孩朗朗上口，其實是一個很不紮實的基礎。 我們不能苛求老師說他發音一定要很漂亮，或他文法要完全精準，可是老師至少要覺知發音的重要，所以他 會善用輔助的CD，配合視聽教學。所謂我們目前初階的學習，到小學三年級之前，教育部的學習大綱非常清楚，這個階段的重點就是語音，以及提升孩子的興趣。 可是老師都會覺得那都沒什麼好教啊，那就直接跳到很豐富的單字或句型裡去，感覺上學了很多，可是最重要的基礎卻沒有建立。
英語教育已經延伸到這麼早開始學習，如果我們還是讓六歲的小孩，學習的方法和內容跟我們以前國高中學的一樣，那只不過是浪費資源、提早消耗他對英文的興趣，又沒有讓孩子真正學好英文。
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10.英語教學，時事新知 .
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機構官網
eng | 31 十二月, 2009 13:25
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read book online
eng | 31 十二月, 2009 13:22
這是內容極為豐富的電子書資料庫，
很適合中等程度以上的英文學習者瀏覽。
假以時日，功力大增，自不在話下。
Read Book Online
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各方精英 英文演講收集網站
eng | 31 十二月, 2009 13:15
各方精英 英文演講收集網站
http://pushba.com/34614498
TED Talk ～ 傑出思想家與實踐家精闢演講線上影音紀實
每段演講影片下方
有7種字幕可以選擇有中文與英文字幕
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98指考英文全國最高分--謝孟臻(台南女中)
eng | 31 十二月, 2009 13:09
最新消息 | english | 七月 22, 2009,08:37:: 閱讀 (860)
孟臻是306班的學生，她在今年的大學指考裡，英文表現亮眼，考了九十九點五分，是全國最高分。
她自小一就看英文小說，小二起不看電視。謝孟臻的父母都是醫師，父親是醫學博士，她三歲隨父母到美國，六歲才回台灣讀小學。謝爸爸說，孟臻在美國讀了三年幼稚園，但沒學什麼英文，英文底子都是台灣打的。
下面是孟臻學習英文的過程，大家不妨來看看，她的英文為什麼這麼高竿：
謝家沒有第四台、無線台，她從小二就不看電視，起先不習慣，後來就不愛看電視了。
謝孟臻說，她喜歡閱讀英文書籍，小一就看短篇英文小說，小四看哈利波特，之後開始讀英文長篇小說，國小通過英檢中級，國二通過英檢中高級。她超愛英文寫作，習慣寫下閱讀心得。
謝孟臻的爸媽說，國內小孩學英文大都著重文法、寫作，這種應付考試的學習方式，反而限制孩子的學習。
謝孟臻這次指考數學成績不錯，但國文沒考好，她的第一志願是台大財經系。導師詹雅琳說，她的國英數都很棒，尤其英文特別好，但沒想到是全國最高分。
謝孟臻指考英文作文是寫和一位同伴出遊，因她喜歡閱讀英國文學，特別是莎翁著作，因此夢想能和莎士比亞出遊，文章除歌頌大自然也提到莎翁的名著哈姆雷特、羅蜜歐與朱麗葉。<聯合報/2009-07-18>
<編者註：Notice that? She gets herself immersed in English rather than just focusing on words, words or grammar.>
謝孟臻的英文作文 98年指考英文作文題目如果你可以不用擔心預算，隨心所欲的度過一天，你會怎麼過？請寫一篇短文，第一段說明你會邀請誰和你一起度過這一天？為什麼？第二段描述你會去哪裡？做些什麼事？為什麼？
If I were ever fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go anywhere with a partner of my choice, I would choose Shakespeare as my companion. As the greatest poet and playwright in the history of English literature, he would be bound to have great knowledge and insight into what we call beauty; thus the artistic side of me would be refreshed with nourishments of the dazzling world of imagination.
Together we would read his immortal classics and fall for the eternal love between Romeo and Juliet, and laugh at the irony behind the foolish conducts of Hamlet. After the warm-up, my creative brain cells would be put into full gear, and we would set off on our journey.
We would go hiking together. The birds would chirp above our heads as a warm welcome, and in return Shakespeare would immediately write down yet another masterpiece to thank their hospitality. We would waltz under the emerald green shade to the rhythm of rustling leaves, and for a rest we would sit on the banks of a brook and talk about books and music as fish swim around our bare feet.
As we ascend the hill, blazing rays from the sun would try to stop us in our paths, but a cool breeze would caress our cheeks, taking the sweat and tiredness away as they sing a melody of harmony to urge us on. Finally, when we reach the hilltop, we would peer down at the rolling hills beneath and up at the clear blue sky above, and as we amuse ourselves with the twisting clouds transforming into a million different shapes, Nature would begin its grand symphony to celebrate our triumph, and at that moment, we would understand, from deep in our heart, the untold significance and beauty of Nature.
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help a girl, change the world
eng | 31 十二月, 2009 13:03
Before Greg Mortenson reveals the most powerful piece of advice ever imparted to him by his 12-year-old daughter, Amira, he wants to chat a bit about whether or not he’s a bad dad.
A former mountain climber and emergency room nurse, Mortenson, 51, has spent the past 16 years as a full-time humanitarian. He builds schools for desperately poor children in ruggedly remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, gently but effectively persuading village elders to embrace equal education for girls in a part of the planet not always open to that notion. The only downside to this world-mending work, chronicled in the hugely popular book Three Cups of Tea, is that he spends five months a year far from his wife, daughter, and 8-year-old son, overseeing projects abroad or crisscrossing the country giving fund-raising talks.
“One thing that’s been difficult,” Mortenson says, “is I get a fair amount of criticism — e-mails and letters saying that I’m a bad father or a poor husband because I’m on the road so much, off wandering around doing my own thing.” Amira Mortenson disagrees with the detractors; in fact, she’s steamed. “He’s a really good dad!” she says indignantly. “He’s not doing his own thing — he’s helping lots of people!” Mortenson, a rumpled and bearish man with the hint of paunch that can haunt a former college football player too busy for fitness, smiles at his daughter’s spirited defense. Sweet and wry, he’d shun the spotlight if he didn’t see a good use for it.
The two of them are taking a quick break in a hectic, two-week national tour introducing a pair of new books coauthored by Mortenson: a children’s picture book, Listen to the Wind, illustrated by artist Susan L. Roth, and a young reader’s edition of Three Cups of Tea. Now kids can discover for themselves the gripping and inspiring story that’s kept the original book on best-seller lists for more than two years and learn how Greg Mortenson found his highest calling at the lowest point in his life.
In 1992, Mortenson’s youngest sister, Christa, who suffered from severe epilepsy, died suddenly at 23. Heartbroken, Mortenson decided to honor her memory by leaving her favorite amber necklace at the top of K2, the world’s second-highest peak. But less than half a mile from the summit, after more than 10 punishing weeks of climbing, he turned back to help rescue a fellow mountaineer in trouble. On a five-day hike back to the main road, Mortenson was separated from his team and took a wrong turn off the trail. Lost, sick, and deeply disappointed, he stumbled into a tiny Pakistani village ringed by jagged peaks, so isolated that no foreigner had ever visited. The people of Korphe, farmers and herders, welcomed him and nursed him back to health. The village had no school; the children met outdoors on a patch of bare ground, even in the frosts of autumn. A part-time teacher shared with a distant village came only three days a week, but the kids — 78 boys and four girls — still gathered every day to study. A few had slates they wrote on with mud-tipped twigs, but most scratched their lessons in the dirt with sticks. No books, no pencils, no paper, no roof — just a fierce desire to learn. “I promised I’d build them a school,” Mortenson says, “and fulfilling that promise led me to my life’s work.” Since then, the nonprofit organization he heads, the Central Asia Institute (CAI), has built 78 permanent schools and four dozen temporary schools, trained hundreds of teachers, and transformed the lives of more than 30,000 kids in Afghanistan and Pakistan — two-thirds of them girls — with no other chance at an education.
Amira, a seventh grader at the Headwaters Academy in Bozeman, MT, the family’s home base, has joined Mortenson between semesters for some precious dad-daughter bonding time. She’s also addressing civic groups, bookstore audiences, and schoolchildren about Pennies for Peace, a CAI initiative that involves kids’ contributing to schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan as they study the countries they’re helping. “I think it’s important for kids to know they can make a difference, no matter how small they are,” she says. Last year American children raised more than $900,000 — in pennies — primarily for books, pencils, and other supplies.
Sitting with her dad in the offices of his publisher, Amira, poised and polite, concedes that he’s been away for some milestones in his children’s lives: She can’t recall his ever being home for Father’s Day, and last Christmas was his first with the family in five years. “He missed the first time I read a book…” she begins, and Mortenson seamlessly picks up the litany: “…learned how to walk, tied her shoes, rode a bicycle.” She turns to him with a grin. “He almost missed my birth!” Mortenson got home just in time, and had an excellent excuse: He’d been kidnapped for ransom and held for eight days on Pakistan’s turbulent western frontier, then released unharmed after he befriended his captors. He was also the subject of two fatwas, death sentences issued against him by Islamic clerics angry because he insists that girls be allowed to attend CAI-supported schools. (Other Muslim clergymen rushed to his defense and had the edicts lifted by a religious court.)
“He’s still away a ton,” Amira says, “but he’s in lots less dangerous places now.” She misses him and worries when he’s traveling, she says, as do her brother, Khyber — named after the mountain pass between Pakistan and Afghanistan — and mom, Tara Bishop, a psychotherapist. “But we know that he’s doing something important, and that always cheers us up. And he has gotten to do things with us that are important — he was at both of our birthdays this year, and he got to go to Khyber’s father-son breakfast at school. My mom and dad have always taught us to follow your heart and dreams,” Amira says, “and that’s what he’s doing.”
His children have taught him equally important lessons, Mortenson says. “I was in Pakistan after the tragic earthquake in October 2005,” he recalls. “Over 74,000 people were killed, and 18,000 of them were kids. When I came back, I was devastated. Amira, who was 8 at the time, said, ‘Daddy, do the kids have anything to play with?’ I thought, What are you talking about? They’re in mourning. She said, ‘You need to get them skipping ropes!’ And she was right.”
Dad and daughter teamed with Gold’s Gym and raised funds to gather 10,000 jump ropes to send to the earthquake survivors. “The kids started to play,” Mortenson says, “and they exuded joy that spread to their parents and transformed communities where there had been only shock and devastation. It was quite profound to see. I’m kind of shy and quiet, and I’m very serious. My kids have taught me that there’s fun and beauty in little things. So I try to consult with my daughter all I can.”
Amira’s pleased that Mortenson acted on her suggestion and that he values her worldview. “You do need to remember the good and fun things in life,” she agrees. “But, Dad,” she says, “I think the best advice I ever gave you is, ‘Don’t dance in public!’” Mortenson ducks his head and chuckles as his daughter expertly executes a tween eye roll. Yes, Mortenson’s a hero and all; this past March he received the Star of Pakistan, one of that country’s highest civilian honors; sure, a bipartisan congressional group recently recommended him for the Nobel Peace Prize. But he’s still Dad, a tad dorky in the move-busting department.
The next morning, Mortenson is talking to 600 middle school kids about the “f” word. “Of course, the word I mean is ‘failure,’” he tells the girls and boys gathered in the gym of the Robert R. Lazar Middle School in Montville, NJ. “Here in the United States, we don’t like that word. But I think it’s important to discuss it.”
He wants these kids to know that taking the wrong turn put him on the right path; that what he thought was his most colossal flop, the failed assault on K2, led to his biggest success. But at first, he tells them, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to make good on his promise when he returned to Berkeley, CA, his home then.
“I didn’t have a clue about how to build a school. So what did I do first, Amira?” He hands the microphone to his daughter, standing beside him in a Pennies for Peace T-shirt and jeans, totally comfortable with being part of a tag team performance. “You wrote to 580 celebrities,” she says, “and you got only one answer.” A $100 check arrived from newscaster Tom Brokaw, a fellow alumnus of the University of South Dakota, where Mortenson earned degrees in nursing and chemistry.
To raise money, Mortenson worked double shifts as a nurse, and briefly lived in his car. Two more crucial donations set him on his way. First, physicist Jean Hoerni, an early developer of the microchip and a mountain climber, heard about Mortenson’s quest and offered enough to buy building supplies for the school; later he would provide seed money for CAI. And then, Amira tells the assembled students, kids just like them pitched in. In the spring of 1995, Mortenson visited Westside Elementary School in River Falls, WI, where his mother, Jerene Mortenson, was principal. When he described the children of Korphe writing in the dirt, one fourth grader offered to break open his piggy bank. He and everyone else at Westside went on to collect 62,345 pennies for the school, and Pennies for Peace was born. “You might think a penny isn’t worth anything,” Amira says to her rapt middle school audience. “But one penny can buy a pencil for a kid in Pakistan or Afghanistan. A few more pennies can buy paper and books. And 100 pennies can pay a teacher’s salary for a day.”
The Korphe school opened in the summer of 1997, after a series of frustrating delays. A local proverb helped Mortenson summon patience, he tells the students, and shaped his philosophy of philanthropy. “Haji Ali, the village chief and my mentor, told me, ‘Here we say, Take the time to have three cups of tea. The first cup you’re a stranger, the second cup you’re a friend, the third cup you’re family.’” Mortenson’s interpretation: The best way to help people is to slow down, listen carefully to what they want instead of imposing your ideas on them, and make them equal partners in the enterprise. Patience and consensus-building have paid off: “In the village of Chunda, Pakistan, it took us eight years and thousands of cups of tea to convince the religious leader to allow one girl to go to school,” he says. “When the Chunda Girls’ School opened in 2007, there were 74 girls enrolled — and now there are almost 300.”
Amira has visited Pakistan three times with her parents — always in extremely safe areas, she notes. “Over there, going to school is a privilege,” she tells the New Jersey students. “Who here doesn’t like getting out of bed and going to school in the morning?” Hands shoot up. “I don’t, either. But over there, the kids wake up at four in the morning, do their chores, like herding goats and yaks, and then they walk sometimes two miles to get to school. My biggest heroes are the girls in Afghanistan, because they go through so much for the chance to have an education.”
Some risk their lives. Since 2007, the Taliban and other militant groups have bombed, destroyed, or shut down more than 500 schools in Afghanistan and more than 200 schools in Pakistan, nearly all of them educating girls. Young women are warned to stay away from classes or be shot. An empty Afghan girls’ school was blown up the week of this assembly. But only one CAI school has been attacked. “The main reason is that our schools have so much local community support,” Mortenson says. CAI schools are always a partnership: Mortenson waits to be invited by a village, then involves community members, including clerics, in every stage of planning and building. Local residents match CAI funds with donated labor and resources, and they help run the school. “Our best security is the relationships we have with local community elders,” Mortenson says. At the one CAI school in Afghanistan that was closed by Taliban gunmen, the local militia leader, who has two daughters in another school, brought 100 of his men to battle the Taliban, and reopened the school two days later, leaving behind 12 armed guards.
There’s another proverb Mortenson loves to quote, one he learned growing up in Tanzania, where he spent the first 14 years of his life with his parents and three younger sisters. His late father, Irvin Mortenson, founded a teaching hospital there, and his mother started a school. Mortenson credits them with his enthusiasm for education and public service. “In Africa, they say, ‘Educate a boy and you educate an individual. Educate a girl and you educate a community.’”
Several global studies show that sending girls to school significantly decreases infant and maternal mortality rates, helps stabilize population growth, and improves the quality of health and life for everyone in the community. And, Mortenson emphasizes, educated mothers are less likely to condone their sons’ joining terrorist groups. He sees a direct link between building schools in an unstable part of the world and security at home.
In 1995, at a dinner in San Francisco honoring Sir Edmund Hillary, the conqueror of Mount Everest, a pretty young woman tapped Mortenson on the shoulder and struck up a conversation. When she told him her late father, Barry Bishop, had been a member of the first U.S. team to climb Mount Everest, Mortenson was intrigued. When, at the end of the evening, she swapped her pinching party pumps for what he calls combat boots, he was smitten. “Looking at her in that little dress and those big boots, I was positive she was the woman for me,” he says. Tara Bishop gave him a ride home, and they talked half the night. Mortenson was 37; Bishop was 31. Six days later they were married. Two weeks after that, he was back in Pakistan, gathering supplies for the Korphe school. His bride understood. Unfazed by his extensive travel, she asked only that they relocate to Montana, where her mother lives.
“Early on in our relationship, Greg said, ‘If this ever doesn’t work for you, all you have to do is say the word,’” says Bishop, speaking by telephone from their home in Bozeman. “And I genuinely believe that. If I said, ‘Please, get a nine-to-five job,’ he’d find some way to do it. But this is really his soul work. I’m definitely not a saint, because I do have my days when I’m not very gracious about it, but I’m happy to support it.”
The absences were harder when the kids were small, she says. He’d be away for three months at a time, and communication was trickier. But since he acquired a satellite phone four years ago, Mortenson has been able to call home nearly every day. “I don’t talk very long, but it really helps,” he says. “Sometimes, to get connected, I have to hike two or three hours up a mountain. One time I called home from a hilltop in Afghanistan in the middle of a winter storm and I finally got through — it can take an hour — and Tara was in tears. I said, ‘What’s going on?’ She said, ‘Greg, can you call back in 10 minutes? I’m almost at the end of a movie.’ She and Amira were in bed watching a video.” Tara confirms the story, adding dryly, “I’m glad he called back.”
In a new book, Stones into Schools, scheduled to come out in December, Mortenson will focus on his work in Afghanistan, picking up his story where Three Cups of Tea left off. (”I don’t know how I’m going to finish it,” he says with a slight sigh. “I guess that’s what the middle of the night and weekends are for.”) This is a good time for assessment. “In the areas where we’ve been working for years, we’re seeing the results of the first wave of literate men and women,” Mortenson says. Thanks to CAI scholarships, hundreds of them have become teachers and eight are in medical school, including two women. Since CAI sent Aziza Hussain for two years of training to become the first maternal health-care worker in her Pakistani valley, maternal deaths from childbirth have dropped from between five and 20 a year to zero. In Ishkashim, Afghanistan, where a new girls’ high school will serve 1,800 students, CAI is also funding a pipeline carrying clean water. Five to 10 percent of CAI’s budget goes to projects that improve the health of communities: Sick, malnourished kids can’t study.
That’s an issue of great concern to Amira Mortenson. In fact, at her urging, CAI has launched a free school-lunch pilot program. She was inspired, she says, by what she saw two years ago when the Mortensons were guests at the opening of a girls’ school in Pakistan. Male dignitaries sat at a big table with piles of food; honored women guests sat in a separate, smaller room, but were still well fed. Then, after everyone else had eaten, the leftovers from the feast were taken away, and the students were fed. “Forty or 50 girls got only five plates of food,” Amira recalls. “They huddled around the plates, eating with their hands, just rice with a little bit of meat sauce. They offered me some, too! I thought, You girls are starving, but you’re some of the kindest people I’ve met. So I decided to start a lunch program. At least that way they get one meal a day. Now they don’t have to worry about going to bed hungry.” Her father explains that the village is working out a rotating schedule so that every household brings lunch for the girls one day. “Even the poorest families will take pride in preparing food to help feed the girls.”
Amira thinks of helping others as just another part of life, like her tae kwon do classes (she’s a Montana state champ), her collection of penguins (plush, ceramic, whatever), or her love of singing. (To raise funds for CAI schools, she recorded a song called “Three Cups of Tea,” written by her teacher. She’s thinking about a career that involves music and disabled children.) Amira’s delighted that she and her dad are collaborating on the lunch program. “And Khyber is following in our footsteps,” she says proudly. “He wants to start a no-land-mine program.” Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. On a visit to Pakistan’s border, Khyber saw Afghan refugee children who’d been maimed and crippled by the devices. “He wants to design a video game or board game to raise money for the kids who are victims.”
Getting involved in their dad’s work is exciting and satisfying, Amira says. It keeps them feeling close to him when he’s far away. And it’s good training for taking over the family business: following your heart.
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important health information
eng | 31 十二月, 2009 07:41
BRAIN DAMAGING HABITS
1. No Breakfast
People who do not take breakfast are going to have a lower blood sugar level. This leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain causing brain degeneration.
2 . Overeating
It causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease in mental power.
3 Smoking
It causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimer disease.
4. High Sugar consumption
Too much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and nutrients causing malnutrition and may interfere with brain development.
5. Air Pollution
The brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our body. Inhaling polluted air decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a decrease in brain efficiency.
6 . Sleep Deprivation
Sleep allows our brain to rest.. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells..
7. Head covered while sleeping
Sleeping with the head covered increases the concentration of carbon dioxide and decrease concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain damaging effects.
8. Working your brain during illness
Working hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease in effectiveness of the brain as well as damage the brain.
9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts
Thinking is the best way to train our brain, lacking in brain stimulation thoughts may cause brain shrinkage..
10. Talking Rarely
Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the brain
The main causes of liver damage are:
1. Sleeping too late and waking up too late are main cause.
2. Not urinating in the morning.
3 . Too much eating.
4. Skipping breakfast.
5. Consuming too much medication.
6. Consuming too much preservatives, additives, food coloring, and artificial sweetener.
7. Consuming unhealthy cooking oil.
As much as possible reduce cooking oil use when frying, which includes even the best cooking oils like olive oil. Do not consume fried foods when you are tired, except if the body is20very fit.
8. Consuming raw (overly done) foods also add to the burden of liver.
Veggies should be eaten raw or cooked 3-5 parts. Fried veggies should be finished in one sitting, do not store...
We should prevent this without necessarily spending more. We just have to adopt a good daily lifestyle and eating habits. Maintaining good eating habits and time condition are very important for our bodies to absorb and get rid of unnecessary chemicals according to 'schedule.'
The top five cancer-causing foods are:
1.. Hot Dogs
Because they are high in nitrates, the Cancer Prevention Coalition advises that children eat no more than 12 hot dogs a month. If you can't live without hot dogs, buy those made without sodium nitrate.
2. Processed meats and Bacon
Also high in the same sodium nitrates found in hot dogs, bacon, and other processed meats raise the risk of heart disease. The saturated fat in bacon also contributes to cancer.
3. Doughnuts
Doughnuts are cancer-causing double trouble. First, they are made with white flour, sugar, and hydrogenated oils, then fried at high temperatures. . Doughnuts, says Adams , may be the worst food you can possibly eat to raise your risk of cancer.
4. French fries
Like doughnuts, French fries are made with hydrogenated oils and then fried at high temperatures. They also contain cancer- causing acryl amides which occur during the frying process. They should be called cancer fries, not French fries, said Adams .
5. Chips, crackers, and cookies
All are usually made with white flour and sugar. Even the ones whose labels claim to be free of trans-fats generally contain small amounts of trans-fats.
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