Home

「鳥」事一籮筐

 

Parrots are widely loved for their ability to mimic human speech.

Once in a while, we can see newspaper coverage on some smart talking parrot, or some research on how a parrot learns and uses human language.

In this issue, we have collected several news reports about our superstar pet bird. Let's see what they have to offer for our entertainment.

Our best feathered, talking friend.


 最新消息

◎ Advanced雜誌更新

English Freeway網站內的線上Advanced雜誌好久沒拿出來廣告了,不知讀者們是否還記得它呢?六月份的雜誌內容已有部份更新了唷,歡迎大家有空連去看看!......我要看雜誌

◎ 英文小老師諮詢服務(廣告詞再換新)

現在正值期末考與交期末作業的期間,若是同學們在英文方面有任何的問題,都歡迎來問小老師唷,本學期諮詢時間直到六月底止...... 我要預約諮詢

↑top


 E-Freeway主題介紹

BBC Skillwise: Reading

本次介紹的是是BBC的Skillwise網站。在這個內容豐富的網站裡,我們挑選reading來學習閱讀技巧。閱讀可不是將文章從第一個字讀到最後一個字就行了,運用閱讀技巧可以幫助你迅速找到考試閱讀文章的要點、分辨文章的類型、從厚厚的原文教科書中找出重點、寫報告,好處可是不少的唷!學完後再也不會熬了一整夜卻只讀十頁書了!......來試試我的閱讀能力

 

MyET

轉眼間畢業典禮已經結束,期末考後就要準備進入職場了,除了服裝儀容的整潔、履歷表的填寫外,最重要的其中一關不外乎是面試了,萬一面試主考官突然用英文問你,總不能鴨子聽雷,一臉茫然吧!所以囉,MyET在這裡提供了208句很實用的面試英語,讓你在面試時無往不利!而且這個練習可是免費的唷! ...... 我要參加面試!

↑top


 館藏介紹

English Phrasal Verbs in Use

想來大家對於Phrasal Verbs應該都不陌生才對,從小學英文就不時的要背一些動詞片語,考試也是必考的,相信大家都看過這樣的選項:(A) look up (B) look for (C) look after (D) look out。一看每個都好像會又好像不會,完全無從選起,真是令人好不頭痛,恨得咬牙切齒!不過,如果這些東西一概不會,那卻是萬萬不可,能正確的使用一些片語,能使你的英文更加道地有味道唷~ ......到底是片語動詞還是動詞片語?

↑top


 英語宅急便

Parrots are incredible birds, aren't they?

鸚鵡的學舌技巧或許是所有鳥類當中最強的,也因此受到人們喜愛,當成寵物飼養。不知為何,與鸚鵡相關的新聞也一直很多,大概算是鳥類中的明星了吧!讓我們來看看這回宅急便為大家收集了哪些「鳥」新聞囉~

Ornith: Yo, Evian. Where are you going now?

Evian: I am just on my way to the pet shop. I want to buy a macaw.

Ornith: Since when have you been interested in parrots?

Evian: I want to teach it to talk. Probably someday it will make me famous.

Ornith: I don't get it. To raise a talking parrot and get famous?

Evian: Yeah. Parrots are the best birds to do that. I've seen news reports on several incredible parrots. I wish I can have one just like those. Then I will be interviewed for the deed of my super talking parrot.

Ornith: So how incredible are these parrots?

Evian: For example, Sir Winston Churchill's 104-year-old foul-mouthed parrot. It kept swearing a string of obscene anti-Nazi tirades learned from Churchill himself.

Ornith: Oh, come on! That one was a fake. Churchill's daughter denied that her father ever had a parrot like that.

Evian: Who cares? It was a great piece of news. Fake or not, you've heard of that, too. See?

Ornith: Alright. Why don't you just teach your parrot to say "Peace, Fight, Save China!" and pretend that it once belonged to Dr. Sun Yat-sen?

Evian: Actually, I've thought about that. But I think it won't work unless I can get a parrot aged about 150 or something. After all, Dr. Sun died much earlier than Churchill. But it's just too difficult to get a parrot that old…

Ornith: …What a pity… What other examples do you have for your incredible parrots?

Evian: How about this one? An Irish parrot! It was stolen and retrieved because it kept crying out "Help me! Help me!" and so a squad of armed officers stormed the building and rescued it. This is really cool. Certainly, you can teach every parrot to say "Help me!" but it's really amazing that this one knew when to use it and saved itself.

Ornith: Well, it's not that extraordinary. It may be that "Help me!" is the only sentence he could speak.

Evian: Oh, you don't like it? Then I guess you won't be interested in the Manchester-United-hating parrot. It's called Chelsea, and it emits a high-pitched screech every time Manchester United is mentioned. It was stolen, too. Pity they didn't teach him to say "Help me!" in the first instance.

Ornith: Poor birdie. It's probably in the hands of some fanatic M-U fans. Now it knows why people say "Silence is Gold."

Evian: Speaking of silence, I remember a parrot that was really awesome. It helped an autistic child learn to speak some simple words. It played the part of a speech therapist.

Ornith: That's really something to crow about for a bird.

Evian: Yeah, experts said that a child with severe learning disabilities may benefit from the bird's slow repetition of words. Now the child can say "night, night," "dad," "mum," "hello" and "bye." Sounds nothing to common people like us, but those utterances already meant a world to his parents.

Ornith: It just remains to be observed whether the boy could ever venture beyond those single-syllable words the parrot taught him. I hope he won't end up saying "Polly wants a cracker" all his life.

Evian: I hope not. That's too bad… Oh! I have to go now. It takes some time to find a really talented parrot. I must spare more time to look carefully in the pet shop.

Ornith: Ok. Have some nice interviews with your future pet. Good luck.

 

Wordbank:

macaw (n) 金剛鸚鵡
screech (n) 尖叫,刺耳的聲音
foul-mouthed (adj) 出言粗俗的,滿口髒話的
fanatic (adj) 狂熱的
swear (v) 詛咒,罵髒話
awesome (adj) 極好的(口語用法)
string (n) 一串
autistic (adj) 自閉症的
obscene (adj) 可憎的,猥褻的
speech therapist (n) 語言治療師
tirade (n) 長篇的攻擊,抨擊
crow about (v ph) 對...得意洋洋
retrieve (v) 尋回,重新取回
utterance (n) 話語
squad (n) 小隊
talented (adj) 有天才的,有才能的
emit (v) 發出

 

相關連結:

BBC:Experts quash Chruchill bird rumors

NPR (With audio file):Chruchill's Parrot: True or False?

The Star :Parrot-fashion learning

Mail Guardian:Parrot leads Irish police to thieves

IOL: Hunt on for Chelsea, the parrot

↑top


 
English Freeway
台大寫作中心

編輯:黃山耘

若您有任何的建議、鼓勵或意見反映,歡迎來信至英語學習報編輯室寫信給電子報小編
本電子報由臺大視聽館建置維護 ©All Rights Reserved
訂閱或看舊的電子報 台灣大學首頁 台大視聽館首頁 寫作教學中心 English Freeway 台大進階英語