New Yorkers is a collection of short stories written by O'Henry. Although these stories talk about the lives of poor and middle class New Yorkers over one hundred years ago, people still enjoy reading them.
Monday, December 29, 2014
Mutiny on the Bounty -- 1984 movie excerpts
[Updated December 28, 2014]
After you have finished reading Mutiny on the Bounty, you will probably enjoy watching the 1984 movie version. Many people think that this is the most accurate version.
Here are a few more scenes:
After you have finished reading Mutiny on the Bounty, you will probably enjoy watching the 1984 movie version. Many people think that this is the most accurate version.
Here are scenes showing Captain Bligh:
Here are a few more scenes:
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 and 1962 movies) -- Girlfriends & Wives
[Updated on December 28, 2014]
The sailors on the Bounty hated Captain Bligh and his harsh military discipline (嚴厲的軍紀). English sailors were unhappy about many other things as well: the food was very bad, sailors were often paid late (sometimes TWO years late!) and the pay was not enough because of inflation (通貨膨脹).
Even worse, many sailors never wanted to be on ships. There was a shortage (短缺) of sailors, so the British navy paid "press gangs" to grab men (隨便抓人) from 15 to 55 years old and force them to join the navy (迫使他們加入海軍). The press gangs were happy: they got paid for their "work" ("impressing" men = kidnapping 綁架) and they didn't have to work on ships. In 1805, more than half of the sailors in the Royal Navy were "impressed" men.
Near the beginning of the movie, Captain Bligh punishes a sailor for not following orders:
Imagine how the sailors on the Bounty felt when they came to Tahiti. They were in a warm place full of flowers, they had lots of delicious food, and they met beautiful, friendly women who were sexually free.
When the sailors left Tahiti, their friends gave them lots of gifts. Captain Bligh didn't care about his men. When the sailors came back on the ship, Captain Bligh took their food for himself. Welcome back to hell! When you know all of these facts, the mutiny is not a surprise.
In the scene below, Fletcher Christian decides that a mutiny (= to
take the ship away from the captain) is the only answer to the horrible
conditions on the ship.
Excerpts from the 1962 version (in color) appear below:
The sailors on the Bounty hated Captain Bligh and his harsh military discipline (嚴厲的軍紀). English sailors were unhappy about many other things as well: the food was very bad, sailors were often paid late (sometimes TWO years late!) and the pay was not enough because of inflation (通貨膨脹).
 |
| A press gang looking for "volunteer" sailors (public domain image from Wikipedia) |
Near the beginning of the movie, Captain Bligh punishes a sailor for not following orders:
Imagine how the sailors on the Bounty felt when they came to Tahiti. They were in a warm place full of flowers, they had lots of delicious food, and they met beautiful, friendly women who were sexually free.
When the sailors left Tahiti, their friends gave them lots of gifts. Captain Bligh didn't care about his men. When the sailors came back on the ship, Captain Bligh took their food for himself. Welcome back to hell! When you know all of these facts, the mutiny is not a surprise.
Q: What
have you got there? A: Monday wash.
Put your stuff there.
|
|
Well, it's mine, sir. It's a gift.
|
|
Captain's orders.
|
|
Put it down and go forward!
|
|
Shore leave in heaven, duty in hell
again.
|
上岸去天堂,上船去地獄
|
What have you got there?
|
你那是什麽？
|
Monday wash, sir.
|
禮拜一洗好的衣服 （按照英美風俗習慣，禮拜一就是該洗衣服的日子）
|
That's her name--Monday Wash.
|
這是我給他取的名字：禮拜一的衣服
|
Maggs, take that "laundry" for
the captain's table.
|
這些衣服拿給船長享用
|
| But, sir! Ow! | |
Now get forward!
|
|
Come along, there. Hurry!
|
|
Did he hurt you, lad?
|
|
No, but one day, I'll take that cane away.
Look behind you.
|
Excerpts from the 1962 version (in color) appear below:
Mutiny on the Bounty -- Flogging
[Updated on 28 December, 2014]
Mutiny on the Bounty has been made into a movie many times, but many people think the 1935 movie was the best. The producers spent $2,000,000 to make all the details in this movie accurate.
Mutiny on the Bounty has been made into a movie many times, but many people think the 1935 movie was the best. The producers spent $2,000,000 to make all the details in this movie accurate.
There was a mutiny on Captain Bligh's ship. Why did the men on the Bounty hate Captain Bligh so much? These notes will help you understand.
The surgeon on the Bounty was often drunk,
but he was friendly, often told jokes, and everybody liked him. Everybody but
Captain Bligh! In the following scene, he is punished for poor discipline (= he didn't correctly follow all of the rules on the ship) by flogging
with a cat o' nine tails ("九尾貓" = 九尾鞭).
.JPG) |
| Cat o' nine (CC BY-SA OwenX, Wikipedia) |
At that
time, flogging was a common punishment in the British navy.
+Mutiny+01,+Image+0001.jpg) |
| Flogging (public domain image) |
The Flogging (= punishment
by hitting) of the Ship's Surgeon (=
doctor). This is a brief scene from the 1935 film of Mutiny on the Bounty.
Movie
Dialog
|
Easy
English Notes
|
I've
taken the liberty of telling the surgeon to
remain below, sir.
|
I've
taken the liberty of V+ing = You didn't tell me
to do this, but I did it because I think it's right.
|
He's really not able to report.
|
|
I'll
have no drunken relic holding up the discipline
aboard my ship.
|
I'll
have no X = I am angry about X. I will not let this
happen; Relic = old man (an
insulting word); Discipline =
making people follow rules.
|
What's more, Mr. Byam, bring him on deck
immediately, or I'll take the liberty of having you seized up and flogged.
|
If you don't bring him on deck (= upstairs on a ship) right
now, I will punish you instead.
|
Mr. Byam doesn't want to disobey your orders,
but I beg you, don't make that old man come on deck.
|
|
He can't even walk.
|
|
If you don't believe me, go below and see
for yourself.
|
|
Are you presuming to give me orders?
|
= Do you think you are more important than
me, so you can tell me what to do?
|
Reporting on deck for duty,
sir.
|
|
Mr. Morrison, do your duty. Four dozen, I believe.
|
= If I remember correctly, this man
should be hit 48 times
|
Four dozen it is, sir.
|
= That's right
|
Nothing lost, Mr. Christian.
|
|
Well?
|
|
What did you expect, Mr. Bligh?
|
|
The man's dead.
|
|
I call this ship's company to bear
witness.
|
= I want everybody on this ship to
remember what happened here.
|
You killed him!
|
|
Silence!
|
= Nobody should say anything!
|
Ship's company dismissed.
|
= Everybody can now leave.
|
..
|
|
Wilson, punishment postponed 24 hours.
|
= We will wait one more day to punish him.
|
Aye, aye, sir.
|
= Yes, sir.
|
Do you hear me?
|
|
Ship's company dismissed!
|
|
Bear a hand. Take him below.
|
Monday, December 8, 2014
Opinion about Victor Frankenstein (Syntax Trees)
Most English sentences are usually made of two parts: NP (Noun Phrase) and VP (Verb Phrase). A short way to say this is "S = NP VP."
Let's start with "He was a brilliant scientist, and with hard work, he was successful in creating life." This is really two sentences:
AND
We can put them together with a coordinating conjunction (CC: and, or), a word that connects two similar things (two nouns, two verbs, two sentences etc.):
Here are some more sentences and their syntax trees:
Let's start with "He was a brilliant scientist, and with hard work, he was successful in creating life." This is really two sentences:
 |
| He was a brilliant scientist [Syntax Tree] |
 |
| He was a brilliant scientist, and with hard work, he was successful in creating life [Syntax Tree] |
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Free Kindle Books
Improving your English takes time. One great way to do this is to read widely, especially if you are reading easy books. My new blog, will help you do this. Check it out:
http://cute-kindle.blogspot.tw/
http://cute-kindle.blogspot.tw/
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Cross-Sentence Game (CC BY-NC-SA Robert MATTHEWS)
Here's a game I devised to practice sentence structure while having fun: The Cross-Sentence Game.
Rules:
[1] 1 word in each box;
[2] 3~5 words per turn turn;
[3] each turn uses at least one
old word;
[4] odd number of teams;
[5] each turn must change
direction (ACROSS,
DOWN, ACROSS …);
[6] 1st
turn = E6 (the middle box)
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Three Famous Swedes: ABBA, Carl Linnaeus, Alfred Nobel
Three (actually six) famous Swedish people:
.png) |
| ABBA_-_TopPop_1974_5 (Beeld en Geluidwiki CC-BY-SA) |
1) ABBA is not one person, but four, two musician
couples whose given names start with ABBA, Agnetha
Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad (women's names in red). Two of
their most famous songs are
Mamma Mia (20,000,000+ hits)
and Dancing Queen (26,000,000+ hits)
Enjoy them on YouTube
Sweden's Forests: Problems and Opportunities
European Tourism
Sweden is covered by vast forests. The following map, compiled by the European Forest Institute, shows us how Sweden compares to the rest of Europe.
There are lots of trees, but not so many people. This creates problems and business opportunities. How do Swedes communicate by telephone? What do Swedish people do with all those trees?
Sweden is covered by vast forests. The following map, compiled by the European Forest Institute, shows us how Sweden compares to the rest of Europe.
 |
| final_forest_map_50dpi_02_12--copyright Katja Gunia, Jo Van Brusselen, Risto Päivinen, Sergey Zudin, Elena Zudina |
There are lots of trees, but not so many people. This creates problems and business opportunities. How do Swedes communicate by telephone? What do Swedish people do with all those trees?
+8099697886_eff32d2111.jpg) |
| Swedish Forest, CC-BY-SA, Netzanette (taken in Sandviken, Gavleborg, SE) |
+7793141368_a6a43b954a.jpg) |
| Swedish Forest, taken by Netzanette (CC-BY-NC, taken in Sandviken, Gavleborg, SE).jpg |
Saturday, November 1, 2014
The Girl with Green Eyes--One Way Ticket (Oxford Bookworms)
{Updated November 3, 2014}
The name of this story is important. In old Chinese stories, some ugly monsters have red hair and green eyes. In the West, however, we think that women with red hair and green eyes are beautiful and even sexy. When we see the name of story #1 in One Way Ticket ("The Girl with Green Eyes"), many westerners will think this is a story about a sexy woman.
Some more redheads appear below. What do you think of them?
The name of this story is important. In old Chinese stories, some ugly monsters have red hair and green eyes. In the West, however, we think that women with red hair and green eyes are beautiful and even sexy. When we see the name of story #1 in One Way Ticket ("The Girl with Green Eyes"), many westerners will think this is a story about a sexy woman.
Here is a portrait of Julia Roberts. Do you like Julia with red hair?
+flickr+photo+by+PIX-JOCKEY+(photo-manipulation).jpg) |
| cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo by PIX-JOCKEY (photo-manipulation) http://flickr.com/photos/rizzato/6871398040/ |
Thursday, October 30, 2014
South for the Winter--One Way Ticket (Oxford Bookworms)
{Updated November 3, 2014}
"South for the Winter" is a story about con artists (confidence tricksters) on a train. These are people who use clever talk to gain your confidence (make you trust them). All of this talk is a lot of con tricks, or confidence tricks (詐騙手法). Here are two kinds of con tricks:
1) Get rich quickly tricks, such as the Airplane Game:
The OFFICIAL rules (not the REAL rules) are like this: the "captain" (the captain flies the "airplane") asks 2 people to pay him $1000. These people are the "copilots" (copilots help the captain to fly the airplane). The 2 copilots each ask two more people for $1000; These 4 people are the "crew" (the crew work on the airplane, but don't fly it. They take care of the passengers). The 4 people on the crew each ask two more people for $1000 each.
With the official rules, each person gets $2000. This doesn't seem like a lot of money. But if you know the real rules, the picture changes.
"South for the Winter" is a story about con artists (confidence tricksters) on a train. These are people who use clever talk to gain your confidence (make you trust them). All of this talk is a lot of con tricks, or confidence tricks (詐騙手法). Here are two kinds of con tricks:
1) Get rich quickly tricks, such as the Airplane Game:
The OFFICIAL rules (not the REAL rules) are like this: the "captain" (the captain flies the "airplane") asks 2 people to pay him $1000. These people are the "copilots" (copilots help the captain to fly the airplane). The 2 copilots each ask two more people for $1000; These 4 people are the "crew" (the crew work on the airplane, but don't fly it. They take care of the passengers). The 4 people on the crew each ask two more people for $1000 each.
With the official rules, each person gets $2000. This doesn't seem like a lot of money. But if you know the real rules, the picture changes.
Night Train--One Way Ticket & 熱愛火車的加拿大人 A Canadian Who Loves Trains 熱愛火車的加拿大人人
{Updated November 21, 2014}
One Way Ticket is about people taking long distance trains. "Night Train" begins in an interesting way: a man of fifty who likes trains. Does that sound strange to you?
If you have the book, remember to study the pictures. They definitely help you understand the story.
Here is one more picture and two short videos:
In Western countries, some people continue playing with trains after they grow up. In the daytime, they are teachers, doctors, lawyers etc, but at night they build model train tracks, add buildings and trees and play with their trains. Below is a YouTube video of a man in Canada who built a life-size train in his basement. Is he crazy? Maybe he's a bit crazy (he says he's insane), but so what! Actually, I'm a little bit jealous.
在西方國家有些人長大以後還是一樣繼續玩火車。白天呢，他們當老師、醫生、律師等等，而晚上他們模型鋪鐵路、蓋房屋、種樹，玩起火車來了。加拿大有一位熱愛火車的人在自家的地下室造了一輛全尺寸模型火車廂。或許有人會說他有一點神經不正常，可是那又怎麼樣！他好像玩得自得其樂。其實我多少有一點羨慕他呢！
One Way Ticket is about people taking long distance trains. "Night Train" begins in an interesting way: a man of fifty who likes trains. Does that sound strange to you?
In Europe and North America, many boys enjoy playing with trains (Your teacher was one of them). Some people build model trains and train stations in their basements. Playing with trains is great fun! 歐美許多男生小時候都很喜歡玩火車 （筆者也是其中之一）。有些人在家裡的地下室鋪蓋模型鐵路、火車站。玩火車非常有趣！Mr Harris liked trains. ... When he was a boy of ten, he liked trains. Now he was a man of fifty, and he still liked trains.
If you have the book, remember to study the pictures. They definitely help you understand the story.
Here is one more picture and two short videos:
Lego trains are cheap, but some model trains cost much more money!
 |
| Spotting Mr. Freeze in front of the Lego Apple store ( flickr photo CC--BY JD Hancock) http://flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/2952792290/ |
In Western countries, some people continue playing with trains after they grow up. In the daytime, they are teachers, doctors, lawyers etc, but at night they build model train tracks, add buildings and trees and play with their trains. Below is a YouTube video of a man in Canada who built a life-size train in his basement. Is he crazy? Maybe he's a bit crazy (he says he's insane), but so what! Actually, I'm a little bit jealous.
在西方國家有些人長大以後還是一樣繼續玩火車。白天呢，他們當老師、醫生、律師等等，而晚上他們模型鋪鐵路、蓋房屋、種樹，玩起火車來了。加拿大有一位熱愛火車的人在自家的地下室造了一輛全尺寸模型火車廂。或許有人會說他有一點神經不正常，可是那又怎麼樣！他好像玩得自得其樂。其實我多少有一點羨慕他呢！
Monday, October 27, 2014
Penn Treebank II tag set (English & Chinese) 英文詞類:現代語言學的詞類標記
傳統拉丁式文法沒有顧到英文的特色（如：限定詞、英文的兩種時態、to和there的特殊用法等等），現代語言學的詞類標記取決於單詞在句中所扮演的角色，所以英文詞類不止八種：verbs動詞 (VB), nouns名詞 (NN), pronouns代名詞 (PR), adjective形容詞 (JJ), adverbs副詞 (RB), prepositions介詞 (IN),
conjunctions連詞 (CC), interjections感嘆詞 (UH)。以下是現代語言學界廣泛採用的 Penn Treebank Tagset（30+ 詞類）
|
標記
|
英文
|
中文
|
例子
|
|
1CC
|
conjunction, coordinating
(1, 6)
|
並列連詞
|
and, or, but
|
|
2CD
|
cardinal
number
|
基數
|
five, three, 13%
|
|
3DT
|
determiner
(3, 16, 19, 33, 35)
|
限定詞
|
the, a, these
|
|
4EX
|
existential there
|
表示存在的there
|
there were six boys
|
|
5FW
|
foreign word
|
外來語
|
tzonqtz
(zongzi)
|
|
6IN
|
conjunction,
subordinating or preposition
|
從屬連詞或介詞
|
in, of, on, before, unless
|
|
7JJ
|
adjective
|
形容詞
|
nice, easy
|
|
8JJR
|
adjective, comparative
|
形容詞比較級
|
nicer, easier
|
|
9JJS
|
adjective, superlative
|
形容詞最高級
|
nicest, easiest
|
|
10LS
|
list
item marker
|
名單標記
|
|
|
11MD
|
verb, modal auxiliary
|
情態動詞
|
may, should
|
|
12NN
|
noun, singular or mass
|
單數名詞
|
tiger, chair, laughter
|
|
13NNS
|
noun, plural
|
複數名詞
|
tigers, chairs, insects
|
|
14NNP
|
noun, proper
singular
|
單數專業名詞
|
Germany, God, Alice
|
|
15NNPS
|
noun, proper
plural
|
複數專業名詞
|
we met two Christmases ago
|
|
16PDT
|
Predeterminer (DT 3)
|
前限定詞
|
both his children
|
|
17POS
|
possessive ending
|
所有格詞尾
|
's
|
|
18PRP
|
pronoun, personal
|
人稱代詞
|
me, you, it
|
|
19PRP$
|
pronoun, possessive (DT
3)
|
物主代詞
|
my, your, our
|
|
20RB
|
adverb
|
副詞
|
extremely, loudly, hard
|
|
21RBR
|
adverb, comparative
|
副詞比較級
|
better
|
|
22RBS
|
adverb, superlative
|
副詞最高級
|
best
|
|
23RP
|
adverb, particle
|
副詞、分詞
|
about, off, up
|
|
24SYM
|
symbol
|
符號
|
%
|
|
25TO
|
infinitival to
|
表示動詞原形to
|
what to do?
|
|
26UH
|
interjection
|
感嘆詞
|
uh, oh, oops, gosh
|
|
27VB
|
verb,
base form
|
動詞，基本形式
|
think
|
|
28VBZ
|
verb,
3rd person singular present /-z/
|
動詞第三人稱單數現在式
|
she thinks
|
|
29VBP
|
verb,
non-3rd person singular present
|
動詞，非第三人稱單數現在式
|
I think
|
|
30VBD
|
verb,
past tense (-ed)
|
動詞過去式（-ed）
|
they thought
|
|
31VBN
|
verb,
past participle (-en)
|
動詞，過去分詞（-en）
|
a sunken ship
|
|
32VBG
|
verb,
gerund or present participle (-ing)
|
動名詞和現在分詞（-ing）
|
thinking is fun
|
|
33WDT
|
wh-determiner (DT 3)
|
wh-限定詞
|
which, whatever, whichever
|
|
34WP
|
wh-pronoun,
personal
|
wh-人稱代詞
|
what, who, whom
|
|
35WP$
|
wh-pronoun,
possessive (DT 3)
|
wh-物主代詞
|
whose, whosever
|
|
36WRB
|
wh-adverb
|
wh-副詞
|
where, when
|
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