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吉屋出售—
注意:內有吸血鬼

Ever heard of "Dracula"? This vampire count from Transylvania has paralyzed the world for more than a century, though he is but a fictional figure.

Now, Dracula's Castle—officially the Bran Castle—is on the market for sale. As the castle is one of the top tourist attractions in Romania, the local government is very keen to get it. It even managed to secure a loan to buy the castle.

Next time you go to Romania, do visit this place and see if any traces of Dracula could be found.

Don't you think this castle looks ghastly even in the daytime?


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好消息!好消息!各位讀者,本電子報慶祝出刊六個月,特別推出讀者意見調查問卷,請大家告訴大家,一定要踴躍填答唷!...... 我要做問卷

2.四月份的Self-Study Package自學包裹已經上線囉!本次有關於中國大陸一胎化政策造成的男女比例不均問題,全球暖化對生態造成的影響等等,歡迎大家來看做練習學英文唷!...... 我要做練習

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Lord of the Rings in CBBC

還記得幾年前襲捲電影市場的魔戒三部曲嗎?氣勢磅礡場面浩大不說,帥哥美女如雲又拿下了那麼幾座小金人,也算影史一奇,尤其是一口氣拍完三片的勇勁,也非一般的續集片首集賣座才續拍可以比擬,不過當然有人喜歡就有人討厭,尤其是每部片那爆膀胱的長度,實在對人體不大友善。那麼,若你是位魔戒迷,你對魔戒到底知多少呢?BBC的兒童網站裡,有個魔戒專區,有小遊戲,投票,魔戓知多少的測驗等等,內容簡單易懂,娛樂之餘可以順便學英文唷!...... 小編,魔戒早就退流行啦!

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 英語宅急便

A final (?) chapter newly added to Dracula

一講到吸血鬼,馬上就會想到「卓古拉伯爵」這號人物,但吸血鬼為何就要叫卓古拉呢?其實是愛爾蘭作家Bram Stoker在1893年寫了本名為《卓古拉》的小說,當中的卓古拉伯爵嗜血邪惡還專挑年經美女下手,後來改編成無數電影,卓古拉也惡名彰昭,順理成章成為吸血鬼代言人。倘若真有這號人物,大概作夢也想不到他的城堡有一天也會被拍賣吧!卓古拉地下有知,恐怕也會氣急攻心,吐血身亡(當然,吐的也還是吸來的血)...

Chapter XXVIII

Jonathan Harker's Journal

10 Jan— It's been more than a century since the last time I wrote my journal. Yet this event today is so extraordinary that I feel the urge to take out my dust-covered, moth-eaten dear journal to put it down. Yes, this dear booklet reminds me of the horrible memory, the days when I was imprisoned by the evil Count, by the name of Dracula, whom we together, Dr. Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, Arthur, poor Quincey, dear Mina and I, had destroyed. After my encounter with the Count and his fellow vampires, after our struggle to put these undead to death, I thought nothing would ever sound "extraordinary" to me. Why? I've seen the most unusual, the most mysterious, and the most unbelievable, have I not? Then, what is it now that is so extraordinary? Regrettably, it still has to do with the devilish Count. No, not only devilish. He was the devil himself. He was the horror!

Cutting from Telegraph, 10 Jan 2007
(Pasted in Jonathan Harker's Journal)

From a correspondent.
Brasov.

Romanian officials were embroiled in a battle yesterday over who has the right to buy the country's most popular tourist site, known as Dracula's Castle, after it went on the market late last year.

Bran Castle, briefly home to Prince Vlad Tepes III, known as Vlad the Impaler and the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, was returned to the Habsburg family last year after being seized by the Communists in 1956. Within months, Dominic von Habsburg put the castle up for sale for £40 million. ……

Vlad gained his grisly reputation because of his habit of executing opponents by impaling them on spikes and watching as they slowly bled to death.

Jonathan Harker's Journal

Continued—Dracula's castle, the top tourist attraction? Ignorant people. Were it not for our secret effort, you would all be ruled by the undead wretch. If that being the case, no garlic, nor wooden stakes, would ever save you people from his evil teeth. People's fascination with Dracula is deplorable, not knowing what they are worshipping. Vlad the impaler is nothing compared to Count Dracula, who im-paled with his very own teeth, or fangs! Sharp, evil, merciless fangs. Why? With virtually no blood left in the body, his victims died with pale faces. He was the im-paler, indeed. Fortunately, this ultra-impaler is no more. And the castle that was once so abominated has become a tacky symbol for the "Dracula industry"......

How soon has time! The world has changed! Yet I change not much, only more ghastly I become. Poor I, if only I had been killed as poor brave Quincey! No, it's not possible. By that time we brought the Count to his end, I must have been already undead. It must have happened when I was in the castle, so stealthily so that it remained unknown to me until all my beloved had gone. One day I felt I could no longer stand the sunlight; another day I felt the most damnable thirst for… for blood. Ah, damn this torturous, prolonged life! Curse you, Dracula! The horror! The horror!

Wordbank:

moth-eaten (adj) 陳舊的,破爛的
spike (n) 牆頭釘,尖鐵
imprison (v) 監禁
ignorant (adj) 無知的
count (n) 伯爵
stake (n) 木樁
correspondent (n) 通訊記者,特派員
deplorable (adj) 可嘆的,可悲的
embroil (v) 使捲入糾紛
worship (v) 崇拜
inspiration (n) 靈感
virtually (adv) 差不多,實際上
seize (v) 沒收,扣押
ultra- (prefix) 表示"極端","超"的字首
Communist (n) 共產黨員
abominate (v) 厭惡,痛恨
grisly (adj) 可怕的,厲害的
ghastly (adj) 可怕的,恐怖的,死人般的
reputation (n) 名聲
stealthily (adv) 偷偷摸摸地
execute (v) 處決
torturous (adj) 折磨人的
impale (v) 把...釘在尖樁上
prolonged (adj) 特別長的,延長的


相關連結:

Telegraph:Blood is up over sale of Dracula's Castle

abcNews:A house tour of Dracula's Castle
(有影片可觀賞,請按頁面左方「Video: Click to Watch」即會彈出影片視窗,有時需等待廣告片播完才會有新聞影片)

Bran Castle Museum:http://www.brancastlemuseum.ro/indexfrm_en.htm(英文版頁面)

Literature.org:Full text of Bram Stoker's Dracula (很值得一看的經典小說唷)

Wikipedia:Dracula and Vlad III the Impaler

 

小編懺悔錄:

看了本期英語宅急便,心中暗罵「這是什麼鬼!」的讀者們,小編向大家說聲抱歉~大家可以點看看上方提供的Dracula小說全文,大概就知道小編是模仿原著進行的方式,編了一個故事,所以大家就當做娛樂看待(或許也沒那麼樂),文句有些地方其實太冗長,那大家背背單字就好囉!英語宅急便的對話看久了,偶爾換換口味也不錯啦......

by很怕因此被讀者投訴的小編

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小編啟事—關於英語宅急便單字是否加註音標

近來小編陸續收到讀者的來信,說很喜歡英語宅急便的內容,但是希望單字部份能夠加註音標,因為有些字還要另外查字典才知道正確發音,若有附上音標,看電子報時就知道怎麼念,不必再另外查字典了。

關於這個建議,小編也在這邊向讀者們做個說明。其實在英語宅急便規劃之初,就有考慮到單字是否加上音標的問題,後來之所以作罷,是因為音標的字元較為特殊,在標注時處理費時,對於一個月要出三次電子報的小編來說,其實算是一個負擔,而且現在網路上要找到字的音標或發音其實不難,例如視聽館提供的「遠流字典通」就有附上單字音標,雅虎奇摩的線上字典也有,而且有語音發音功能,若是嫌他發的音機器味太重,美國Webster字典網站也有發音功能,聲音好聽許多,這些對於已經連上線看電子報的讀者來說,應該不是太難取得的網路資源,而且看音標自己念,或許發音不夠標準,不如直接查線上字典聽發音來得保險。

當然讀者也可能會問,為何這些網站做得到,我們卻做不到?關於這個,小編只能請大家多多體諒,我當然也知道還有其它類似性質的電子報,他們在這方面是如何處理的,甚至還有在電子報裡頭點選單字便能直接發音的,還有插入影片的,十分厲害,不過此類電子報通常背後都帶有營利性質,所以才有足夠的人力和技術支援,做出各種小編作夢也想不到的神奇功能。當然並不是說我們讓人免費訂閱不營利就可以隨便亂做,相信大家也感覺得出英語學習報是份雖然帶點搞笑但認真經營的電子報。只是在人力技術都有限的狀況下,我們試著發揮本身的長處來提供最好的服務。

所以,還是請讀者包涵,也請繼續支持,小編也希望能夠盡量提供讀者所需要的東西,音標的問題我會再研究看看(只是可能要研究很久),若您有任何好方法都歡迎來信提供,大家一起讓這份電子報變得更好,也別忘了在本期推出的問卷裡將您的意見表達出來唷!

by會寫英語宅急便但本身並不宅的小編

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