Vincent by Don McLean

今天和大家分享一首耳熟能詳又動聽的英文歌，Don McLean（唐麥克林）演唱的Vincent （畫家梵谷的名字，作此歌以紀念之，右邊的Video Bar是他的畫作，邊看邊聽邊唱，英文如此學來豈不樂哉？仔細看他在歌詞中用來描寫顏色、景物的形容詞。精準、明確的形容詞在描寫性作文中是讓讀者對你所描繪的事物產生共鳴的關鍵，這有賴大家平時的精讀與多方涉獵方能培養）

Vincent by Don McLean

Starry, starry night.
Paint your palette blue and grey,
Look out on a summer's day,
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills,
Sketch the trees and the daffodils,
Catch the breeze and the winter chills,
In colors on the snowy linen land.

Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they'll listen now.

Starry, starry night.
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze,
Swirling clouds in violet haze,
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue.
Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain,
Weathered faces lined in pain,
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.

Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they'll listen now.

For they could not love you,
But still your love was true.
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night,
You took your life, as lovers often do.
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you.

Starry, starry night.
Portraits hung in empty halls,
Frameless head on nameless walls,
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget.
Like the strangers that you've met,
The ragged men in the ragged clothes,
The silver thorn of bloody rose,
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.

Now I think I know what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they're not listening still.
Perhaps they never will...

新增三個連結

a. 師大詞語搭配檢索系統：一個動詞之後常接甚麼介系詞、用甚麼副詞來修飾，或接哪些名詞做受格？還記得之前和同學介紹的Oxford Collocation Dictionary嗎？這裡提供同學一個線上查詢系統。舉例來說，deprive這字怎麼搭配其他的字呢？輸入關鍵字"deprive"，再選用兩個語料庫（基本上語料庫就像是字彙的銀行"word bank"，選哪個都無妨，例句都是一籮筐）。再來選擇你要查詢的相關字，是要出現在deprive的前面或後面，還有它的詞性，甚至可以設定範圍（距離deprive幾個字前或後）現在就挑一個上課學過的單字"alibi"試看看吧！
b. 線上即時發音，顧名思義，只要輸入你不會唸的單字再按submit，馬上就會唸給你聽囉！
c. 線上翻譯工場，提供英漢漢英雙向查詢，包括成語（或稱慣用語，idiom）、俚語(slang)、諺語(proverb)，以及小百科。規模雖不大，也較沒有系統整理，但仍不失為拓展語言視野的好工具。

推薦兩本幫助大家學習動詞片語（能學習用原文字典是再好不過了！）及慣用語的工具書。我陸續也計畫整理一些實用生動的慣用語，幫助同學寫出更道地、更符合習慣的英文。

金恩博士(Dr. Martin Luther King) "I have a dream."

如果要收錄一篇當代最著名，影響美國最深遠的一篇演說進高中英文教科書，沒選到Dr. Martin Luther King的"I Have a Dream"，那實在是件十分匪疑所思的事。參議員Obama當選後發表的"A More Perfect Union"，未來或可證明有同等地位和價值，且讓我們拭目以待。

I Have a Dream

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." 我有個夢想，這國家有朝一日要站起來，活出它信念的真諦，就是「人皆生而平等，吾人視此真理不辯自明。」(1)

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. 我有個夢想，有朝一日喬治亞紅山頭(2)上，昔日奴僕之子與主人之子能平起平坐，同享兄弟之宴。

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. 我有個夢想，有朝一日，即便在人民受迫於水深火熱的密西西比州，這樣一個公義不彰的荒漠，仍能得見自由與正義的綠洲。

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. 我有個夢想，有朝一日我的四個孩子生活在這國家，不會因他們外面的膚色遭評斷，而是因內在的品格受肯定。

I have a dream today! 今天，我有個夢想！

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. 我有個夢想，有朝一日，即便在阿拉巴馬州，種族主義者橫行，州長動輒把"干涉"、"無效"等字眼掛在嘴邊的地方(3)，有一天，就在阿拉巴馬，黑人小孩、白人小孩也能夠手牽著手，情同兄弟姊妹。

I have a dream today! 今天，我有個夢想！

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together." 我有個夢想，有朝一日一切山窪都要填滿，大小山岡都要削平；高高低低的要改為平坦，崎崎嶇嶇的必成為平原。耶和華的榮耀必然顯現；凡有血氣的必一同看見。(4)

(1) 語出獨立宣言(The Declaration of Independence)
(2) 美國東南部相當珍貴的森林區，面積涵蓋喬治亞洲西南及北佛羅里達約30萬公頃，擁有全美最大未開發的林區，被自然保育協會譽為America's "Last Great Places"。
(3) 美國各州政府為了維護自身利益防止聯邦政府的干預，因而主張的一種權利。interposition和nullification常連用；主張這種權利的人士認為州有權將其視為違憲的聯邦法令予以nullify（使之無效）。金恩博士在此提及，無非是批判這類打著維護自身利益大纛，實則行不公不義而拒絕受到聯邦政府制衡的濫權作為。
(4) 語出舊約聖經以賽亞書四十章四節。

美國的選舉人團(electoral college)制度

美國總統大選剛落幕，這次大選最重要的意義便在於美國歷史上出現了首位非裔黑人總統(first Afro-American US president)：Barack Obama。

藉著本次美國總統大選，同學可以好好了解一下這號稱近代民主典範的美國，其總統選舉制度的特色與精神。兩個網站資料提供同學參考：1. 維基百科（關於其歷史及爭議有詳盡說明）美国选举人团; 2. 新華網（對於選舉制度、主要政黨都有介紹，並列出歷任總統）。

以下節錄"merinews"新聞網站針對本次Obama當選的報導。強烈建議同學把文章讀完，針對老師所列出的重點單字片語深入研讀並靈活運用。

Barack Obama: First Afro-American US president
Barrack Obama has created history by winning the US presidential elections with a huge margin from his Republican counterpart. The Democratic senator has become the first Afro-American president of the world's most powerful country..

DEMOCRAT BARACK Obama created history when he got elected as the America’s first black president in a historic triumph that overcame racial barriers that has existed in America for long. The Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his victory by defeating Republican senator, John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Iowa.

Study Focus:
1. win sth. with a huge margin from sb. 以懸殊差距勝過對手(counterpart)
2. historic (not historical) triumph 歷史性的勝利
3. racial barriers 種族藩籬 （築起藩籬可用build, create, erect, put up, set up./破除藩籬可用break down, lift, lower, reduce, remove./超越藩籬可用overcome, transcend）
4. a string of (=a set of; a sequence of; a series of) 一連串的；陸續幾個
5. hard-fought=to fight sth. hard 苦戰贏來的