ESL Podcast 筆記: English Cafe #84

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這集的English Café有兩個topics, 分別是homelessness(遊民)及prenup/ postnup, 最後是回答問題.

Topic 1:
Homelessness, 無家可歸.(也就是一般說的遊民): People who do not have a permanent home, a place they can go. They may be living on the street, sleeping in the park, maybe sleeping in the car, may be staying in the shelter.

Homeless shelters are temporary residences for people who don’t have a home to live.
遊民收容所是那些沒有房子的人的暫時居所.

裡面提到說到最近的一部電影”The Pursuit of Happyness”, 劇中就是說威爾史密斯(Will Smith)飾演的主角帶他的兒子沒地方去, 只好每天去排隊住收容所.(這部電影的happyness是故意拼錯的, 正確拼法是happiness. 至於為何拼錯就要看電影裡面的情節了)

One study found there are about 750,000 people in the U.S. who do not have a permanent place to live, who sleep in their car, in the park or some other place.
有一份研究報告發現美國的遊民大約有75萬人.

There are many reasons why there are so many homeless people in the U.S.:
1. People don’t have money:
In Hawaii, there is a problem now. The prices of houses have gone up so high. People live there don’t have the money to pay for or rent an apartment. So they have to sleep on the beach, in the tent, or somewhere else. 在夏威夷因為房價太高, 所以有些人付不起就只好去睡海邊, 帳棚或其他地方.
2. People who have substance abuse problems:
Substance abuse 是指藥物drugs/酒精alcohol濫用, 算是好聽的講法, 看報紙會常看到. Drug雖然是藥物的意思, 但是比較負面的字眼. 一般都是指毒品;
abuse means not to use it correctly. 也就是濫用的意思;
Alcoholic酗酒的人/ drug addict藥蟲.
3. People who have some sort of mental problem:
Mental illness: psychological problem(精神疾病)
Mental: how to think, how to behavior
主講人說這是homeless的原因裡面比較大的問題, 因為近30年很多政府治療精神疾病的機構都關閉了(Many of the government programs, institutions to help mentally ill have been closed). 主因是醫療單位對mental illness的看法變了. 所以讓很多患有精神疾病的人回到社會. 不幸的是這些人裡面還是有情況比較嚴重, 還是需要幫助的. 所以這些人就只能當遊民.

但是還是有很多機構試著去幫那些遊民, 像是church organizations, community organizations 有homeless shelters. 還試著provide training people to help people, so they can get a job.

Topic 2:
Pre-nup; Post-nup: 婚前/後協定
Pre用作字首通常指…之前, 如: pre-amble: 前兆
Post 用作字首則是指…之後, 如: post-war: 戰後的; post-rock: 後搖滾(一種音樂曲風)
Nup是從nuptial 這個字縮化的.
Nuptial: 當名詞用是當婚禮; 當形容詞則是婚禮的, 婚姻的(the nuptial day, 結婚日)

Prenup agreement: 婚前協議: an agreement between people who are going to get married.
Postnup agreement: 婚後協議: to people who are married already.

就是協議萬一日後離婚(divorce)的分配問題(大部分問題是財產分配, division of property)

主講人說這是一個strange idea(怪異的想法), 因為you are saying that you love this person, but maybe in the future, you will divorce them. You want to protect the money. I love you! But, in case I stop loving you, don’t take my money.
注意stop+ to跟stop+ Ving的差別:
stop+ to: 不要去做你正要去做的事
stop+ Ving: 停止你正在做的事

通常這個協議是財產分配(how are you going to divide the properties you own between you and your husband/wife). 但也會包括Spousal support(贍養費), 如果有小孩還會有協議Child support(子女養育費).
Spouse: 配偶

雖然很多美國人都知道prenup. 但是並不是很多人都會用到. 大多數都是有名/錢的人或是”常結婚”的電影明星才會用到.
The marriage is on the rocks. 千萬不是說婚禮加冰塊, 是說婚姻有問題.(可以想成相敬如”冰”)

Post-nup則是比較近才有的, 基本上都是跟pre-nup一樣, 只不過就是婚後才有協議.

Answer questions:
1. Smith the name, oil the game.
Smith就是指名字, oil則是從事的行業.
The person’s name is Smith. Oil/petroleum is this person’s business.
通常這是書上會寫的用法, 平常生活口語比較少用到.(not common in daily conversation)

另外我們很習慣通常會說oil代表石油. 但是美國人說到大量的石油(或說石油業)會用petroleum; 平常加油則用gasoline.

2. weep跟cry的差別
兩個字都是指”哭”(To have water come out of your eyes and go down your face. That water we call tears. The singular is tears.)

To shed a tear/ to shed tears. 掉眼淚
To cry= to weep= to shed tears 指的都是同一件事情.

Weep通常比較用在正式或文學寫作方面. Cry比較常用; weep感覺比較強烈(哭很大)

Real men don’t cry!
The family wept. (weep的過去式)

3. I want to see you smile.
I want to see a smile on your face.
Want to see someone(do something)