"..... which owes a considerable debt to the members of AUE, who have helped me with many entries over the years (acknowledged in the book's introduction)."
71 as and though: speical word orderUPDATE: 2/28/2019
adjective/adverb/noun + as clause
As and though can be used in a special structure .... In this case they both mean 'although', and suggest an emphatic contrast. (In AmE only as is normally used like this; though is unusual.)
Cold as/though it was, we went out. (=Although it was very cold, ...)Occasionally as ... to mean 'because'.
......
Scot though she was, she supported the English team.
.....In American English, as ... as is common.
As cold as it was, we went out.
"Practical English Usage" 4th edition 的這部份有更新。基本上就是加註接在 noun 之後的只有 though 的用法，as 不行。END of update
Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery. He rose from the table; and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said: somewhat alarmed at his own temerity:同一句也有"Child though he was, he ..."的版本，只是例子只有兩個。
'Please, sir, I want some more.'
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/as_2其它(大本)字典也有。 例句少些而已。(目前正在想辦法找近代些的例子)
.........
6 though:
......
- As popular as he is, .....
當兵初期看的一本英文童書：
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Children_and_It
我當時的想法也很簡單——簡單的先讀懂，再去讀難的，所以買了這本童書。當時我也沒想到這是1900年的東西（哈！我今天才知道）——當時我只記得第一頁很不容易讀懂，但是之後的就簡單容易多了。
說起來也是巧合。我讀了幾頁後才發現這書的內容不就是電視卡通「沙精：沙米亞咚」嗎？（在學校外頭的餐廳吃晚飯時有在電視上看過，所以有些印象。）
我這本書曾被沒收過，沒幾天後教官就退還他沒收的東西給學員。我記得他把這本書還給我時臉上的表情似乎是有些讚許。
（現在的謎之聲 : 開玩笑，我讀這個比讀你那什麼撈什子當兵教材好太多了）
（說不定現在"某些" 阿兵哥讀的"某種"教材還是我翻譯的）
（說起來就很XX，當初我是被"凹"的... 都快退伍了還得另外找時間翻譯，也不能免去一般的有的沒的，再說我根本不是文書一類部門的人）
That and Which
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/notorious/that.htm這link裡頭又提到:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/which.htm注意裡頭的:
"...... Here are some instances, but don’t take them as a full list of cases, and they are tendencies, not full-blown rules: "其它的就請自己慢慢閱讀吧
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/Negrousually : "通常是這情況"，不是"一定都是"，但是對英文不是母語的我們來說，特別是不懂外國文化的我們一般的英文學習者很容易分辨不清楚狀況，所以還是要小心使用
....
a word for a black person, _usually_ considered _offensive_
http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/negrosometimes: "有時後會"，同樣的也不是"一定會"，其他的同上頭的說明
.....
[count] old-fashioned + sometimes offensive : a person ....
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/nigger
nigger [...] taboo (<- 字典上另外還特地標了這是屬於taboo
的字)
1. https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/morning
找 GRAMMAR: Patterns with morning
...
on the morning of something
• Something happens on the morning of a particular date or event:
- On the morning of March 15,2008, he was involved in a car accident.
- Make sure you arrive in plenty of time on the morning of the exam.
2. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morning
例句: She arrived on the morning of March 18.
3. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/at-on-and-in-time
找 In or on? "... The ship left the harbour on the morning of the ninth of November."
4. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/morning_1
和 late 搭配時的慣用表達: late in the morning
https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/in-the-morning
Examples from the Corpus:
- Late in the morning of June 19,1967, he received a call from Atty.
"aided and abetted the robbery" : 557 (真正的是31)(*1)
"aided and abetted in the robbery" : 71 (真正的是11)(*1)
"aided and abetted in" : 49,600
一直點最後一頁的話，數字會變成 25,200
protocal : 280,000 (protocal是錯字)
這數字在幾年之前有達到百萬之譜。很多時候我是儘量不用Google Web，因為阿狗阿貓的東西太多了。
至於甚麼法律上的贅字啦什麼的， 這，也是有些道理。中文裡頭我相信也充滿了相當多這類的例子，但是這代表什麼? 我們就不應該使用這些例子? 老師遇到這種慣用說法就應該....打錯? 因為是意思重複的贅字????
唉，我還能說什麼？他高興就好了....
http://dunchee.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-reliable-are-dictionaries.html
-Usage note ...(2)
...
The relative pronoun THAT is sometimes omitted. Its omission as a subject is usually considered nonstandard, but the construction is heard occasionally even from educated speakers: A fellow (that) lives near here takes people rafting.
Most often it is as an object that the relative pronoun is omitted. The omission almost always occurs when the dependent clause begins with a personal pronoun or a proper name: The mechanic (that) we take our car to is very competent. The films (that) Chaplin made have become classics. The omission of the relative pronoun as in the two preceding examples is standard in all varieties of speech and writing.
...
...
...
Relative omitted when subject.
130. We often hear in spoken English expressions like these:—
...
...
Here the omitted relative would be in the nominative case. Also in literary English we find the same omission. It is rare in prose, and comparatively so in poetry. Examples are,—
...
...
Please note that checks are processed immediately upon receipt and we cannot hold post-dated checks.這倒是新鮮，因為這樣子的註記有點像是脫褲子放屁，一個原因是美國的個人支票本來就是即期票，開了就 要馬上支付，不像台灣那樣支票開了後是以支票上頭的日期為準，如果日期還沒到，銀行收到後還得另外幫顧客存放起來(*1)。根據我在那邊看到相當多的「外國臉孔」的情形來看，我猜應該是apartment office有收到過許多不懂美國習慣的人開的支票，可能還另有註記比如請15天後再存入銀行(那封信底下另外就寫著請不要另外附註記，本地址只是做為收支票用)云云。也難怪他們要特別加上這段說明。
2024 update:
前幾個月的新聞報導。內容是速食餐廳的價格上漲，一個受訪民眾抱怨說他現在吃不起速食，都要到醫院餐廳吃（因為較便宜）。畢竟醫院數量也才那幾間，到了吃飯時間要繞很遠的路，很不方便。
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_a_Roni口味很多種，不過基本的作法都差不多(包裝上有寫，照著做就好了)，先用(奶)油稍微拌炒(偷懶不炒也沒關係)， 然後倒入米和vermicelli(pasta的一種，約略米粉粗細),水和調味粉包，水滾後用小火悶個20分鐘就好了。另一種類似的則是Near East出的Rice Pilaf，也是有很多種口味，這比較沒那麼鹹，可以不用先拌炒。
Recently the device has almost ended up going airborne across the room because of the constant instability ....
＂.....看樣子兩邊情況差不多，都很愛問些私人問題
根據「新京報」報導，東城區區公所在各地張貼海報，上頭寫道：「別問個人資料或家庭背景，別問收入或支出，別問家庭資產。」
海報上還說：「別問年齡或婚姻狀況，別問健康問題，別問他們家人住在哪哩，別問政治或宗教問題，也別問感情生活。」
....＂
Everyone stops you to say good morning. All 500,000 of them. Good morning. Thank you. Yes, I am well and planning on having a nice day.
An hour in Beijing is like being trapped in a lift for 18 hours with the morning counter crew at McDonald's.
There is no escaping. Go to the toilet. There's two guys standing at the entrance.
Good morning. Good morning.
標題的那句中文大家覺得如何？
上周朋友(*1)和他老婆來訪。他們和我的老美房東談話時是用英文，和我談話時會換用中文，然後我「中英文切換」和兩邊人對談時就出了問題。當時的情況是我們在喝咖啡，然後我端起咖啡壺問他們要不要加咖啡，當時我直接就說出這句:
然後我直覺的感覺是這句話好像有些不對勁，但是又不知道問題在哪（大家也許有這種經驗。當正在忙時，腦筋裡頭一團亂，有時很平常的東西會忽然失去頭緒，因為沒辦法靜下來慢慢的想）
我是知道那句中文我是直接翻自"Do you want more coffee?"，但是我又沒辦法馬上判斷出那句中文是不是也是慣用說法。我是知道平常的說法是「你（還）要不要？」或是「你要再加嗎？」或是其它。前頭那中文句子在我說了出來之後我馬上查覺那似乎不大像是這情況下平常會說的說法，但是我又無法辨識出那句中文犯了甚麼錯誤，因為意思上也通。至於那是不是一般的慣用說法，說實在的我也無法肯定的說那不是，畢竟我要經過一番問卷調查之後才能下定論。
唉，傷腦筋啊。
(*1) 應該算是朋友的朋友。他是我的老美房東以前的同事，然後他也是台灣移民過來的，所以我們大家就「弄作堆」
Scene 1: I was driving and my gf was in the passenger seat.
Me: "It's time to put some oil in my car."When I first started learning to speak English in a class, I often spoke verbs in present tense when past tense was called for. To avoid making the same mistakes, I tried hard not to speak verbs in present tense. Well, it worked but it also backfired.
Gf: "You mean gas?"
Me: "Uh, what? What did I say?"
Gf: "You said oil."
Me: "I did? Oh my God.... I didn't know..."
Scene 2: Gf and I were at home.
Me: "......., and I thought I couldn't found it..."
Gf: "Find."
Me: "What? Oh! Man, I did it again..."
Sometimes I have a craving for KFC’s chicken. One evening when I got home, I found a KFC coupon in the mail, so I decided to go for my “supposed-to-be-monthly” KFC trip (fried chicken isn’t very healthy, you see, so I try not to go there more than once per month). When I got there, I was quite surprised to find there were only two people in the line, so I walked to the line and waited my turn. "It shouldn’t take long," I thought.
The first customer didn’t take long. When he was done, the second customer walked up to the counter and started to place her orders. Normally, I don’t listen to the talks between the staff and their customers. I mean, other than ordering meals, what other juicy details can you get? But when I heard “how much is….” from this young, slim, looks-like-this-is-her-first-time-coming-to-this-greasy-joint girl in front of me with her thin voice, I knew I ran into one of those customers—she really took her time asking questions.
Well, maybe I was too hard on her. After all, only TWO minutes had passed since she started her orders. “I don’t want cilantro,” she said, “I’ll have that as long as there’s no cilantro in it.” The clerk taking her order raised his finger to signal her to wait for a moment, and then he walked to a female worker who was packing orders and asked her questions. I figured either she was a senior member who knew how to deal with it or she could speak English and understand the term cilantro. They exchanged some talks in low voices, and then he walked back to the register and started punching in her order. Another two minutes passed and we had more people waiting in the line.
“I just don’t like cilantro. It has this funny taste …” the girl said. A guy waiting behind me heard this and gave a loud chuckle. I guess he found the whole thing amusing. The girl turned her head back, gave a rueful smile and started to explain why. Yeah, like we cared.
“It's only in the salsa,” the female packing staff answered. I guess she was trying to ensure this customer not to worry. Or, maybe what she meant was “Miss, the only food you'll find cilantro is in the salsa. As long as you don't dunk your sorry finger in it, you'll be fine. So please just come over here, grab your food and shut the xxxx up.”
如餃子譯為「Jiaozi」..... 但知名度較低的鍋貼則譯為「Guotie（Pan-fried Dumpling）」。以美國來說的話，鍋貼的知名度遠遠大於餃子(水煮的)。一般美國人恐怕沒看過或是吃過餃子/水餃。鍋貼雖然基本上是煎炸過的餃子，但是既然中文都給兩個名字了， 而且兩者的滋味和口感還是有差，所以沒必要混為一談。
Most U.S. citizens, including dual nationals, must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the United States. Dual nationals may also be required by the foreign country to use its passport to enter and leave that country. Use of the foreign passport does not endanger U.S. citizenship.
宣 誓原 始網站好像是收集一堆網路上的文章似的。 不管了，那裡頭提到「您必須宣誓放棄原本國籍」，沒這回事喔，寫這文章的人應該是把宣誓文讀錯了。我的中華民國護照還是拿得好好的，事實上到了公民面試時也不要求看我原來的護照。
一旦面試通過，您會在一個月至半年之間收到移民局通知進行宣誓；由於美國不承認雙重國籍，您必須宣誓放棄原本國籍。....
"... 事實上，僑胞持美國護照返回美國在機場通關時，尚未聞有因美照上未加蓋中華民國入出國章戳，或因同時持用台美兩國護照而遭遇刁難甚或扣留護照之情形。"
Spock的爸爸。剛好看到電視在演Star Trek: TNG，劇情是Picard在傳送室接待Sarek和他太太。Sarek介紹他太太時說了這句:
"Allow me to present she who is my wife."
很正式的說法，因為平常聽不太到(就算是那種國宴現場恐怕也不大容易聽到這樣子的說法)所以吸引了我的注意力。
有時候看電視影集更能聽到平常不大容易碰到的說法。
標題 [請問] 大一可以出國嘛 會有兵役問題嗎
時間 ******************* 2008
───────────────────────────────────────
如 題
我們想要去澎湖四天三夜
要準備的東西很多 計畫也很多 不知道可不可以出國
It's that famous "The Soup Nazi" episode on TV again. God, it always cracks me up when I hear "No soup for you!"
The TV show was ongoing when I first came to the States. It was funny and I loved watching it, so when the show was about to end, I went to a friend's place to watch the finale. It's sort of like a farewell party to this show.
And it was then I was told the show took place in New York City. For some odd reason I had this impression that the show was about daily affairs in Chicago. Chicago?
"Yo!" a lady called out to me. I turned my head and saw her in a red convertible two lanes from me. She asked, "Do you know where Lowe's is?"
Back in college, my department ran a mentoring program for freshmen—each newcomer was assigned a sophomore who would answer questions and provide guidance about school and classes. I, of course, participated when I was a freshman, and found it quite helpful. The next year, it was my turn to help our fellow freshmen, and one was assigned to me. All of us met up at a cafeteria and I told my charge “do”s and “don't”s. I thought I'd done my job and that should be it. One day, my charge came to me and asked if we could talk in private. So, we found an empty classroom, got in, sat down, and he started to tell me what was on his mind.
He said he had a younger brother who was a bipolar. Because of his brother's mental condition, his whole family was in turmoil and his parents were really exhausted. He told me he really wanted to be a doctor, so he could at least help his family out. I thought he was looking for my guidance, so I suggested he could take “the Exam” again and see if he could go to a medical school next time. To my surprise, this WAS his second time; he was admitted to another school the year before and didn't like it. Of course, the main reason was that it wasn't a medical school.
Really, it was overwhelming because I'd never experienced anything like his, especially one with a bipolar brother. I tried my best to offer suggestions and options, and of course he had considered those. I felt helpless that there was nothing I could do. In the end, he thanked me and said it helped that I listened.
Many years passed. I graduated, came to the states, met quite a few people and heard many strange stories. I don't know what becomes of him, but I do learn one thing over all these years—sometimes, it's best to just listen.
原 文: "According to this film, in year 2001 we would have had manned voyages to Jupiter, ...""manned voyages (to Jupiter)"指的是到木星的星際航行過程中的飛行載具是有載人的，不是只是送出個無人的偵測裝置飛到木星那。這個片語根本沒有提到"登陸"(事實上 人類也不可能登陸木星，光是重力就可以把人壓垮了)。我只能說翻譯這文章的作者恐怕沒看過這部"老片"(不然就是把月球當成木星了....)。
MSN 新聞: "在這部科幻經典中，二○○一年時，人類已登陸木星，..."
原文: "... a battle of wits with a sentient computer, ..."他 是把"sentient"翻成"邪惡"?? 好啦，因為電影裡頭那台電腦確實有殺人，就算是好了。
MSN新聞: "... 與邪惡的電腦展開智慧之戰，..."
原文: "..., and a quantum leap in human evolution. "來， 有誰能解釋這句中文的意思? 套用英文文法分析/句子還原那種手法，那麼這句中文可以是--> "人類(已經)進化而且人類呈現「量子跳躍」的狀態"?? 就算是加上(Quantum Leap)這註解這"還原後"的句子仍然是doesn't make sense.
MSN新聞﹔ "... 人類進化且呈「量子跳躍」（Quantum Leap）。"
"Daikon—a type of large white radish with a peppery, earthy flavor...."Daikon就是白蘿菠。生的白蘿菠吃起來辣嗆，但是它的辣和胡椒、辣椒那種不同，所以是"peppery"(像是/類似如胡椒的味道)。這個網站有列較詳細的造成 earthy 這風味的成份:
裡頭找 Earthy: This can mean a wine with aromas and flavor reminiscent of earth, such as forest floor or mushrooms. It can also refer to the drying impression felt on the palate caused by high levels of geosmin that occur naturally in grapes.（這個是用來形容 wine ，但是基本上一樣。)
要我形容這個"earthy taste/flavor/..."的話，我會說這味道是屬於一種"嗆味"，霉嗆味那種，所以在有用到"earthy"來形容味道的網頁裡頭常常可以同時看到這幾個字: musty(霉味，那種空氣不流通，較潮濕的空間，比如地下室特有的味道)，smoky(和"嗆"有關係)等等，這幾個字指的幾乎都是同一味道。隨著食材的不同這味道還會同時伴有其他味道，比如beet就另外帶有些甜味(所以吃起來會比較溫潤)。而臭豆腐 (我們的那種油炸的)在吃的時候確實帶有一種"辣嗆"(沒沾到辣椒醬的部分)，但還沒到完全的霉嗆的地步，所以前頭提到形容臭豆腐用"earthy overtones"(稍微帶些eathy味)。"overtones"在這裡是說earthy味道不是主要的味道，而是隱隱帶有的意思。
其實我也不是很肯定我的形容用的對不對，因為那還真的不好形容，而我又一時想不起來在台灣常吃的東西裡頭哪種食材帶有"土味".... wiki裏頭是有提到"carp"(因為養殖池塘裏頭的淤泥的關係)。我們的吳郭魚也算是種"carp"，但是我是不大記得家裡吃的吳郭魚是否有"泥味"。我印象裏頭真的吃到帶有"泥味"的魚那味道又太重，我反而不大確定...。倒是有次我在吃土司麵包時因為偷懶，直接把整個袋子拿過來打開抓了片土司麵包就開始吃，因為怕麵包屑掉在地毯上所以直接把袋子放在嘴巴下方來接麵包屑。嚼著嚼著發現怎麼有股"霉嗆"味，後來把袋子拿高仔細看，哈! 長綠色黴啦! 這也是為甚麼我會用"霉嗆"來形容"earthy taste"，因為有像。
--------------------------
Update:
最近買了swiss chard，用的是悶煮的方式煮來吃。之前我有注意到它吃起來有一股和beet一樣的滋味，但是沒多去注意。今晚我又煮了swiss
chard，這次我注意到了(本來我還以為是我悶得不夠久的關係，錯以為是那種"生"的味道)，結果好奇之下上網查了一下，哈，果然是"earthy
taste"，而且swiss
chard和beet是同一個family。難怪那股"霉嗆"滋味那麼像(我剛用聞的，聞不大出來，很淡，但是吃的時候就很明顯了)
--------------
菠菜也有，比較淡就是了。很奇怪，以前在台灣的時候從來沒發覺過，我猜也許是因為家裡人在炒菠菜時加入的佐料和調味品把這味道蓋掉了。
College applications can be too good
Admissions officers wary of slick essay
A shocker: English teacher couldn't read
Retired Teacher Reveals He Was Illiterate Until Age 48
A: 「上班啊？」偏偏遇到像我爹這情形時並不能直接套用像這樣子的問候（他們還沒熟到這地步; 她雖是亞裔，但是不會講中文; 另外我們的站還沒到，還坐在車裡），所以"go to work"反而會變成在命令她或是責備她怎麼沒在上班或是催促她趕快去上班所說的話。
B: 「是啊」
TL;DR 美式英文用於表達時間的 "half after ..." 用法在過去較常見，現在美國日常生活上則已經退流行，基本上沒人這樣子講，但是這用法仍存在於正式場合，比如(正式的)婚禮邀請函(相當於我們的喜帖)。詳情請看下文的 Update Oct 30, 2023 及 2025 部分。
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"一點半"的英文可不可以說"half after one"？這說法我自己在國高中時就有學過，現在的話看樣子還是有，但是如果這樣子跟老外說他們聽得懂嘛？
關於這問題，我到AUE去問了那 邊英語人士，回答的人有來自美國，英國和澳洲，問出來的結果出乎我意料之外:
"half after one = 1:30 pm"?
全部都是說"沒聽過"/"錯的"/"稍微想一下是有可能會聽懂，但是這不是我們的慣 用說法"/.....。其中一個回覆"It would be an archaic form in England, ....., which was common among my Grandfather and his friends."
在問之前我有找過Google和兩個語料庫。Google有找到沒什麼，但是語料庫沒有(*2)我就覺得奇怪，因為如果這是現代的慣用說法，語料庫沒理由找不出來，也因此我懷疑這該 又不會又是那種"兩百年前"(*1)的用法但是現代已經揚棄不用了，後來也證實了確實是如此，因為Google/Google Books上找到的大部份都非現代/近代書籍。
(*1)拜託喔，這是誇張用法，不用在那邊鑽。重點是在於"現代不這麼說 了"。
(*2) Oct 30, 2023 更新。剛用語料庫重新找了一下，找到了。我列在下方
"Practical English Usage" by M.S., 3rd edition
579 telling the time
....
....
In American English after is often used instead of past (e.g. ten after six); but Americans do not say half after.
另外，出於好奇，我用Google搜尋這字串:
"half after" 幾點半
哇.... 原來這樣子教的文法書/字典/網站還很多呢....
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(note: Emily Post 1922年出版的書，現在還是有翻印)
"... formal invitations to lunch ...."
Corpus of Contemporary American English 例子
(note: 我限定找 at half after 所以例子少。光用 half after 找有五百多個例子，但是絕大多數和時間無關)
....上了國中以後很懂事，在校成績也很好，但家裡卻拿不出多餘的錢讓她補習一則新聞的內容。讀到這時我想到國中時的一幕場景...
