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. 

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).

Cat o' nine (CC BY-SA OwenX, Wikipedia)

At that time, flogging was a common punishment in the British navy.

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.

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.

Here is a portrait of Julia Roberts. Do you like Julia with red hair?

cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo by PIX-JOCKEY (photo-manipulation)
http://flickr.com/photos/rizzato/6871398040/

Some more redheads appear below. What do you think of them?

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.

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?

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. 

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！

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！

SSS: Start with Simple Stories

Reading lots and lots of easy stories is a great way to improve your English. This is called the SSS Method. This wonderful way to learn has been successfully used in Japan for many years. Choose fun, easy books to start with (graded readers, such as Oxford Bookworms). There are three rules to follow:

1) Don't use a dictionary to read everything (= don't stop to look up words). Just pay attention to the story!

2) If you see a new word, try to guess it. If you can't, just keep on reading. Enjoy the story!

3) After reading two or three pages, if the story is boring or too difficult, just get another book. Have fun!

Here's a book written in Japanese by 古川昭夫、河手真理子 and translated by高淑珍: 丟掉字典學英語. This book tells you what to do and how to do it. Buy it online or from a library. 

關於SSS（Start with Simple Stories）學習法：

請不要查字典, 看不懂的地方跳過去, 對不感興趣的書暫時擱下