Comprehension

經過一輪grammar訓練後，瑞典女生再獻新猶！

她先給我一大段故事，要我唸給她聽，指出我的發音問題。當我唸有"-ed"尾的字，例如：looked/liked/believed，總是讀成「碌突」，「厲突」，「bee『 車立』 乎突」（有無人睇得明我寫乜？），我只顧著努力發"-ed"那個音，卻沒有把字中所有音唸出來，原來唸"looked"，要唸成「碌卡突」("looKed")，要讀埋個"K"音！多年來的英文堂，還是白上了！！！（我寫的古怪讀音，只供參考，別太認真跟住讀！）


之後，她的功課是要我回答一大堆閱讀理解問題，有些很簡單，幾乎直抄就有答案，但有些問題是要消化全文內容，配合上文下理推敲，才能「估計」出答案，跟以往考公開試只要快速閱讀，copy and paste答案的做法不一樣。從前跟補習社學的考試技巧用不著了，令我很苦惱。其實只要肯花時間，要答這些問題並不太難，只是那種求快手K.O.的心態不時浮現，令功課進度一再拖延（包括寫這篇blog）。唉！

不過，雖然要花時間做功課，但仍值得去做，正因為以往求勝心切（？），用考試技巧得到高分，卻根本沒有學過英文（！），難得現在有機會再學，實在要加倍努力，唯有少看電視，專心一點。

學語言是一門需要時間浸淫的知識，no short cut。雞精式的學習，只會培養出徒有雞精份量，卻沒有煉出精華的人。過去的幾廿年，我就是這樣的人，心中的怯不斷扯我後腿，我受夠了。

給敘利亞 For Syria

My language exchange partner's home country is Syria. She lives in Sweden, but her relatives live there. I worry about her family and her when I know the news of Syria from TV every time. I have never been there, but I can feel her pain.

Here is a song for Syria which is written by a Taiwan musician, named Zoe Huang. She wants to raise the awareness of Syria.

在所有新聞不斷播報十年前西九單o野，唐唐屋企有無潛建，天x海平台變地台的同時，有個國家的人民正遭受政治迫害，你們注意到了嗎?

別被媒體過度放大的憤怒蒙蔽了五官，敘利亞現正面臨孤立無援的窘境，你們願意一起來聲援他們嗎?



We feel so cold, there's no light
what we got is all the pain
No one cares what we been through
We live in a place named "hell"
There's no food, ain't water
Home sweet home wan't there
We tried to fight, but only could cry
Government won't stop 'til they got what they want
We tried to fight, but only cry

因為學英文，我認識了瑞典女生。因為她，我知道世上有個地方叫叙利亞。我會關心香港以外的新聞。

學語文，只是第一步去認識其他國家和文化，亦擴闊了自己的眼光。因為language exchange，讓我的世界除了香港，還有更多地方。

Because of language exchange and Swedish girl, I know Syria. I step out of my comfort zone, to know more about other countries and cultures with curiosity, to speak English with confidence, to meet new friends with heart. I love language exchange! :D

Homework: 12 Chinese zodiac

2012 is the year of Dragon. There are a total of 12 animals representing each year: Mouse, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. Why do they represent each year? Why do they list in this sequence? Why does Mouse become number one? We can find the answer in the Chinese fairy tale:

Long time ago, God gathered all animals together, and said: “I’ll choose twelve of you, to be in charge of the world of every year in rotation. There will be a swimming competition on the first day of next year. The first twelve animals who can swim to the tempo from the other side of the river, will be the King for each year in turn.”

All animals wanted to be the King. Cat told her best friend, Mouse: “I can’t swim, what can I do?”. Mouse said: “It’s ok. Brother Ox is good at swimming, he can pick us up to the tempo.”

It was the day of swimming competition, all animals were ready. Cat and Mouse sat on Ox’s back, he swam very fast. When they were near the tempo, Mouse gave her best friend a hard kick, Cat dropped from Ox’s back. “Help!”, she was in the river but no one helped her.

Just one step to the tempo, Mouse jumped-off from Ox’s back and ran to it, “I am the number one! Number one!” Mouse said happily.

After that, other animals came to the tempo one by one. God said: “There are twelve of you chosen to be the King of the world for each year in turn, the first one is Mouse, and then is Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, the last but not least is Pig.”

Meanwhile, Cat was wet from head to toe, came to the tempo and asked God, “How about me?”, “You’re too late, the competition is over!” said God.

“Mouse, you’re a cheater!!!” Cat was angry. Mouse ran away immediately. Cat and Mouse were not best friends anymore.



Swedish girl asked me after reading it: "Does the Chinese traditional stories tell more of what happened to the cat after the competition?"

The answer is "No"! LOL

I went to China.

某次跟瑞典女生談到我曾去過中國（"I went to China."）

她感到非常困惑，問：「香港不是中國的一部份嗎？」
輪到我感到很困惑，答：「香港的確是中國其中一個城市，但跟我講"I went to China."有什麼關係？」


她表示"I went to China"這說法，好像中國是另一個國家，與香港是完全不同的地方。天啊啊啊啊啊啊！對我這種生於殖民地年代的人而言，中國的確彷彿似另一個國家，有這種想法是何其理所當然。每次我到內地去，感覺就像到另一個地方旅行，一點都不像我的家。雖然理論上，香港不再是英國殖民地，已回歸成為中國其中一個城市，但話雖如此，我還是覺得香港與中國是兩個地方。這種殖民地思想根深蒂固，甚至反映在我的語言中。我萬料不到一句尋常的說話，竟然牽涉到香港的殖民地歴史，要跟瑞典女生解釋香港與中國千絲萬縷的關係，真複雜！

相信相比台灣，香港可能較容易理解成中國的一部份。不知道瑞典女生如何理解台灣的定位？到底台灣是中國的一部份？另一個中國？還是中國和台灣是兩個國家？如果要我跟她解釋台灣跟中國的關係，也許會令我更頭痛。

Ok, watch this funny video, it can explain the difference between Republic of China (Tai wan/台灣/中華民國) and The People of Republic of China (Mainland China/中國/中華人民共和國)：



一個中國，N個理解！