雞同鴨講

最近參加一個本地旅遊組織（？）Secret Tour Hong Kong的活動，認識灣仔鮮為人知的一面。團友中有外國人，我把握機會跟他們攀談，以練習英語，想知道language exchange了大半年，自己到底有沒有進步。

（前題：我害怕講英文，以及接觸陌生人）

竟然發現我不太害怕跟陌生人講英文，以前由廣東話轉台去英文，要一段時間去boot機，別人講完了，我才剛熱好身！今次發現自己可以很快轉去英文台，雖然文法依然不通，但要用的生字很快便浮到嘴邊，總算交流到。

可是，還是發現跟外國人好像無o野好傾，除了問：Where are you from? Why do you come there? 之類問題，便沒有什麼好傾。再者，在交談的過程中，腦袋不停在轉，一邊消化對方的說話內容，一邊又要思考如何用英文回應，才談了一會兒，便已經累到半死！

跟外國人話不投機的感覺，很氣餒。這不是因為語言能力的問題，而是彼此文化不同。

例如：笑話。試問你怎能跟外國人解釋周星星的笑話呢？就算講到，對方都未必明白笑位何在。真氣餒啊！

多倫多的後生仔女告訴我，在讀書或工作場所會跟外國人合作，但生活上卻沒有接觸；即或同是華人，但對方是加拿大土生土長的華人，他們難有交流，總是話不投機，因為彼此的世界不同。CBC (Canadian Born Chinese)談的是西方劇集、流行曲、電影和體育新聞，他們的想法、生活方式和價值觀都受西方影響，所以跟從香港移民到加拿大，或留學的香港後生仔女格格不入。因此，即使到了外國，還是跟華人在一起，英語不一定有進步。

到底跟外國人談什麼才好呢？

Draw something。Learn something

最近迷上了一個遊戲，就是"Draw something"，跟來自世界各地、隨機抽樣的人，一起玩看圖猜英文字。玩法是從電腦出的三個字中選一個，畫完圖畫後，再給對方估。對方收到問題後，就看圖估字。估到的話，就可以一齊賺分「升呢」，愈多分可以購買愈多顏色，方便畫畫。

對手很多時候是外國人，令身為華人的我有點吃虧，因為電腦出題的難度分三級，有時三個字我都不懂，要先查字典才能決定用哪個字；收到對方的畫作，又要花時間查字典，才能正確回答問題，拖慢了遊戲的節奏 :(

正因為要知道該畫哪個字，又要串o岩英文生字作答，所以要不斷翻字典，從中學到不少生字！寓學習於遊戲！呵呵～

猜猜我畫了哪一個字？



答案：Seaweed （海藻）

對方果然不愧是外國人，我未畫完，她便猜對了！Yeah!

Tuesdays with Morrie

瑞典女生給我一個測驗，看看學grammar學了幾個月，有沒有進步。由於之前工作很忙，沒有時間溫習（其實是懶！），所以沒有溫習便應考了。一邊答題，一邊發現自己回答問題的時候比以前短，呵呵～算是有一點點進步吧！

不過，我還是犯了不少careless mistakes，明明可以做得更好啊！嗚嗚！

下文是測驗要寫的短文：


Have you heard of "Tuesdays with Morrie"? It’s a small book about an old Professor and his student, Morrie. That Professor got an illness, he would die, not immediately but very slowly. Death was like a train, rushed to the Professor from far away to very close, however, he couldn’t do anything to stop it. Morrie was his student when he was young. He used to believe dreams and everything was wonderful in the world, but he didn’t believe it when he grew up. He fought with paper works and endless tasks everyday, he felt lost, wondering what was the meaning of life. Morrie met his old Professor one day, they started the final thesis in the rest of the Professor’s life. He went to the house of the Professor every Tuesday, talked about Love, Forgiveness, Family, Money, Fear and Death, and the topic of the thesis was ”A meaningful life”.

I love the chapter of ”Forgiveness”. The Professor didn’t forgive one of his old friends, it was because that friend didn’t show his caring for the Professor’s wife after she was recovered from illness. The Professor felt hurt, rejected calls from his friend. He wished not to see him anymore, and his wish came true, his friend died in cancer, they wouldn’t meet ever again. If the Professor could have one more chance, he wished he could hang around with his old friend. He felt very regretful.

We not only need to forgive others, but also have to forgive ourselves, to forgive we haven’t done something and we haven’t done something that we should do, for example, ”I wish I could write more books”, ”I wish I could do better in my job”, however, the Professor told us it was meaningless, it only made you crazy and frustrated.

I have many regrets too: I wish I could have traveled somewhere when I was young; I wish I could study abroad; I wish I could have explored my life when I was 20, but I didn’t do anything because I was afraid. I didn’t believe that I could manage my life without parents, I didn’t even think about what I wanted to do. I graduated from university with good academic results, but my soul was empty.

Time flies, life goes on, I learnt that I can’t make the choice again, I can’t change the past, but I can change the future. The only thing that I should do is to enjoy every minute and second of my life, make it good, so that I won’t feel regret when I grow old.