Tony Bai

Our British English teacher Alex recommended a book called 'Manna' to us for its simple grammar and vocabulary. After reading it, we all agreed on that it was an extremely attractive fiction.

The author of 'Manna' is Marshall Brain, who is a writer, a well-known national speaker and a consultant in U.S. In his fiction, he tells us his point of view on robots' coming out in near future. It seems to be a science fiction, maybe a political fiction, who knows, because almost any book could be associated with politics.

The following is the link of this fiction:
Manna by Marshall Brain

If you have your own options after reading the book, I am looking forward to talking with you about that.

CHAPTER TWO - THE VANISHING GLASS
1．The photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.

Carousel -喧闹的酒会
Fair – 展览会
The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house. 没有任何迹象显示有另一个男孩儿也住在这个屋子里。

2．"Are you up yet?" she demanded.
"Nearly," said Harry.
"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."
Harry groaned.
"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.
"Nothing, nothing..."

从这段对话来看Harry的境况并不是很好哟。
Do you dare do something?
Groan -呻吟着说, 叹息

3．Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.
Be used to … 常用的一种表达方式，习惯于…
Used (adj) -习惯的
The astronauts soon got used to the condition of weightlessness.
I am used to the weather here.
You must get used to getting up early.

4、The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents.
表达如此到位，佩服佩服。

5．Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise -- unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him.

Punch sb - 用拳猛击猛击

6．Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.
这是一段关于Harry长相的描写，通过这段描写我们可以在脑中为Harry画出一幅肖像。

Scar – 伤疤

7．It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families.
你写日记时可以常用的一句表达方式。

8．Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.

Gang –(一)伙, (一)群, 帮派
a gang of criminals
a gang of young men

CHAPTER THREE - THE LETTERS FROM NO ONE
1．The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment.
Boa Constrictor - 大蟒，两个单词都有蟒蛇的意思，但是就把他们连在一起表示蟒蛇的意思。
2．This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope.
That is why + 正常语序；
A tiny ray of hope 一丝希望

3．As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life.

Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up.
As - At the same time that; while 在本小说中有很多as引导的时间状语从句。
Gruffly – 粗暴地
The proudest moment – 最骄傲的时刻
Burst into tears – 可以理解为喜极而泣

4．They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.
与信函有关的几个声音，
The click of mail slot 将信放入信箱的声音
Flop of letters 信件落在地上的声音

Doormat - (放于门前的)擦鞋垫

5．Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.

Parchment – 羊皮纸，给小说增加了神秘感

Jerk – 猛拉
She jerked the rope but it wouldn't move.
She jerked out the knife that was stuck in the wood.

6．His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.
关于人脸色变化的描写

Grayish - 浅灰色的
Porridge – 麦片粥

7．Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did.
Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.

Five minutes to go;
Four minutes to go;
…
倒计时

Creak 吱吱作响

附录:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone读书笔记Part1

Yesterday evening I went to a bookstore chain. What made me feel disappointed was that I couldn't find the original edition of Harry Potter series books. I have been reading an electronic edition book of Harry Potter on the computer these days and it often made me feel tired. I prefer paper edition books to electronic books when reading some kinds of novels or technical works. Now a paper edition of books is more and more expensive. I heard that the tag price of the original edition of the Harry Potter series is up to 100 RMB and I think only a few people can afford it.

The film Garfield 2 has released across China. I am a fan of cartoon. I like the Garfield series film but not much. I have seen Garfield 1 before and it fits kids well in my opinion. I am going to download or buy a DVD of the Garfield2 instead of seeing it in the cinema. By the way I like science fiction movies most because they make me imaginative.

Appendix:
My English Diary Starts From Scratch

Warning: Super Typhoon

CHAPTER ONE - THE BOY WHO LIVED
1．Sorcerer - One who practices sorcery; a wizard.
这是Harry Potter的身份，一个巫师，一个男巫师；对应的女巫师为Sorceress.

2．The boy who lived.
这里的’lived’是’活着’的意思而不是’居住’，这里它是一个不及物动词(vi)，我们可以再举几个相同的例子：
My grandfather is still living.
Kings in history wanted to live forever, but none of them succeeded.
Live and Learn! 活到老,学到老.

3．Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
这里的’Of number four, Privet Drive’是Dursley家的住址，Drive在字典中有’机动车道’的意思，如果这样的话Dursley家就临着这条4号Privet Drive’机动车道。Privet是欧洲的一种叫’女贞’的植物，这里大可不必翻译为’女贞大街’，可直接使用音译，其中文版好像用的就是其音译’普里怀特’。

4．They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.
这里的’There were the last people … to be involved in anything strange or mysterious,’意思就是’他们最不希望被卷入到任何奇怪或者神秘的事情中’; ‘hold with’ 有容忍的意思，而’nonsense’则有’无稽之谈’、’胡说’之意。所以整个意思就是’他们不相信这些无稽之谈’。

5．He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.
Beefy: 结实的、粗壮的。
Blonde: 金发碧眼的。
通过读这段对Dursley一家人的描写，大家也基本上能猜测出Dursley一家人的德行了^_^。

6．They hadn't met for several years.
整篇故事以’一般过去时’贯穿，所以这里使用过去完成时大家该很容易理解。

7．In fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.
Good-for-nothing - Having little worth; useless. 无用的, 像饭桶般的
如：Get out of here, you good-for-nothing fool!

8．The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street.
这是一个’过去将来时’的句子；
Shudder: 战栗、发抖。

9．None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.
Tawny: 茶色的;
Owl: 猫头鹰;
Flutter: 拍翅地飞行。
猫头鹰出现了，离我们的主人公出现就不远了。

10．Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.
Peck somebody on the cheek: 匆匆的吻一下…面颊
Kiss somebody good-bye: 吻别^_^
Have a tantrum: 发脾气

11．Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat.
这是人们的一个常见的动作序列，’眨眨眼睛，再凝视’。

12．As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.
Think of something;
Nothing except …;
An order of …; 什么的订单

13．But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else.
A Be driven out of somebody’s mind by B. 关于A的想法被B事情所替代了。

14．He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.
他的手指敲击着方向盘。

Drum: To perform (a piece or tune) on or as if on a drum. 好象击鼓演奏

15．Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him.
Fear flooded him. 很好的一个句子，大家要牢记。Fear像洪水一般，足可见Dursley恐惧的程度。

16． He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind.
这一连串的动作描写很是传神亚, 专业作家笔下的文字和我们平时看到的就是不一样。
Dash: 飞跑
Snap at somebody: 厉声对…说
Seize something: 抓住

17．Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!
Muggle: 这里就应该指不会巫术的人，至于这个词估计是作者罗琳缔造的。

18．Shooting star、Bonfire、Whisper
Shooting star: 流星
Bonfire: 大篝火, 营火
Whisper: 私语

19．You haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?
还记得现在完成时的反问句如何构成么？这句帮你回顾一下。

20．”Funny stuff on the new,” Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting
stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today...".
Stuff 使用率极高的一个单词，其能指带的东西也很广，如：
There's some white stuff on this plate. 这个盘子上有些白色的东西。
Don't give me that stuff about being tired. 不要对我说累了之类的话。

Mumble喃喃而语, 咕哝

In town – 在城里, 类似的还有：
Down town - (从郊区或郊外高地)进城

Uptown – 住宅区
Downtown – 中心商业区

21．"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"
当我们记不清某个人的名字的时候，我们也可以这么来确认：
What’s the name of this guy in red? Tom, isn’t it?

22．While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden.
Creep - 蹑手蹑脚, 蹑足前进
Peer – 凝视，前面我们提到stare也有凝视的意思。

23．How very wrong he was.
Very加强这句的色彩，’他真是大错特错了’。

24．Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.

这段话都是描述一个伟大的男巫师 – Albus Dumbledore的，多读上几遍，记住他的样子。
His nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. 一种常见的虚拟语气手法。… as if/though …。

25．Lighter、flicker、Pop、Pinprick、beady-eyed和Pavement
Cigarette Lighter – 打火机
Flicker -使摇曳使摇摆不定地动He flicked the cigartte lighter open.
Pop -砰的响声The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.
Pinprick -小孔The only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of a cat.
Beady-eyed -目光锐利的
Pavement – 公路、人行道

26．Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall.
Fancy seeing you here. 想不到在这儿见到你了, 很常见的一句寒暄用语。

27．"But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."
Lose one’s head 失去理智，疯狂的
Downright 完全地、彻底地He was downright rude to me.
In broad daylight/day 在大白天

28．It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name.
两个很好的句型：
It gets confusing if ….
I have never seen any reason to be frightened of doing something.

Voldemort – 本小说中最恐怖、最黑暗的男巫师.

29．Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."
"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."
交代出Dumbledore的威力，连Voldemort都惧怕三分。但是Voldemort有着Dumbledore所不具备也不愿意具备的’邪恶和欲望’。
Flatter - 过分夸赞。Oh, you flatter me.

30．It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"

Astounding -令人惊骇的
In the name of – 以…的名义

31．They're the only family he has left now. 他们是Harry剩下的唯一的亲人了。

32．I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore. 我可以用我的生命担保。

33．If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it.
如果说这辆摩托是巨型的话，那么它跟坐在上面的人比起来简直不算什么。

Astride – 跨着 Astride a horse跨着马

34．Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.
又是一连串传神的动作描写，wipe-> swing-> kick.

Today is a little cooler in Dalian and everything goes well.

Alex brought us a topic about stock market, I didn't speak much in class, because I have little interest in that issue, but I do learn a lot of new words. After the class Alex told us he was happy for his first being paid during the latest 2 months and he did not have any classes in the coming semester until this October. When he first came to the school and saw so many college students were doing an army training, he wondered what on earth the place was.

During the lunch I heard that a super typhoon 'Saomao' was landing on Fujian Province this afternoon or tonight. I had never heard about the 'super typhoon'. According to the introduction by an expert of China Central Weather Bureau, 'Super Typhoon' is more powerful than the ordinary typhoon, and its central wind speed can be up to 17, that is 216 km per hour. We know that the central wind speed of an ordinary typhoon is always less than 13. So how terrible the super typhoon is! Hundreds of thousands of people in Fujian had been moved to some safer places. What we can do now is to say 'Good luck'.

Appendix:
My English Diary Starts From Scratch

I have been thinking of writing my English diary for a long time, but I do have no idea what I should write down. I have been studying English in Dalian for almost one and half a month and I really don't know whether I've made any progress in English. Now, I have a feeling that there are a bunch of things for me to study, such as classic English sentence patterns, a huge amount of unfamiliar words, one-minute VOA headline listening practice, and so on. There is a saying: no pain, no gain. Although the process of English studying is a little boring, I must study English well, for me, for my career, and for my future.

I extremely agree with Li Yang, who is the inventor of the theory of 'Crazy English'. I am reading the 'Crack Series' books written by Li yang and they've been very helpful. According to his theory, the English studying should be a sentence-centralized process and you can learn grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation from sentences; moreover, Li Yang has a special way to correct your pronunciation, which is called '3-most'. Li Yang suggests that when you practice pronunciation, please speak most loudly, most quickly and most clear, and he is sure that you will make a great achievement if you can insist on doing as many practices as you can in that way. It does make sense. I notice that I get a little progress in my pronunciation. It's not much because I have insisted on practice in this way for only 3 days.

It has been sunny for several days in Dalian and it's very hot and it sucks. Everyday I have to take a cool-water bath to make me comfortable. I wish it would be cooler tomorrow.

I started to read 'Harry Potter' yesterday. The day before yesterday when I told Alex I was going to read 'Harry Potter', He looked at me surprisingly and said “Really?” I guess that in his opinion the book is for teenagers rather than people of the same age as me. Now I have read several pages of that book and I found that it is still not that easy for me and I can still learn lots of knowledge from the book. During the reading I write something as my reading notes and I'm going to share these notes on my blog someday. I want to thank J.K. Rowling, the author of 'Harry Potter', very much for her giving us such a great story.

I'm sorry that I haven't updated my blog for a long time. The 'lost-blog' event has made me very disappointed these days. And so far many logs of July have still not been recovered. I have to wait, wait, and wait. Blogbus! Help me, please!

最近南方台风肆虐，不知道是不是大连也受到了影响，天气也很糟糕，特别凉。今天由于两个同事临时有事回沈城了，我们就决定暂时休息一天。顺便抽出时间复习一下前段时间学习的内容。

在上次写作课上，Michael给我们讲了一下如何在正式写作中给句子加标点，的确这各问题让我们很头疼。他给我们举了三个例子：
[Ex.]
(1) It's too far to walk to school it is snowing.
(2) It's too far to walk to school, it is snowing.
(3) It's too far to walk to school, moreover, it is snowing.

看看上面的三个句子有哪些错误：
句子(1)中间缺少标点(No punctuation)；
句子(2)使用','来分割两个完整的并列句，不符合标准语法(Tow or more complete sentences joined by comma)；
句子(3)使用了一个副词moreover来连接两个并列句，但是标点有问题。(Two complete sentences joined by adverbs incorrectly punctuated)

那么我们如何来修正上面的句子呢，我们可以有若干方法:
(1) It's too far to walk to school; It is snowing.
(2) It's too far to walk to school, and it is snowing.
(3) It's too far to walk to school; moreover, it is snowing.
 
总结一下连接两个简单句(并列句)的方法有几种：
假设A、B为两个简单句
1、A ; B
2、A, conj(and/but/so) B
3、A; adv(moreover/however/therefore/thus), B

还有一种叫复合句，复合句的标点相对简单，一般是：
主句, if/when/because + 从句
或者 If/When/Because + 从句，主句

大连今天终于放晴了，一大早上强烈的阳光就穿透玻璃窗射进屋内。看来昨晚洗的一些衣服可以很快的干了。

今天Alex给我们上的是pronunciation课，他首先按照音标表，分别给我们纠正发音，包括各种Vowels和Consonants，他建议我们练习发音的最好方法就是拿个Recorder录下你的发音，然后听录音，直到你认为'You are comfortable with your pronunciation'为止。

Alex还给我们讲了英语中的五种语调，如下图：

从左边数第一个语调和第四个语调都是用来陈述事实(State facts)的，但是第一个语调当声音偏高的时候表明你处于Happy状态，偏低的时候表明你Maybe a bit sad。

第二个语调显然是个疑问语调。

第三个则是有些命令或者使令的口吻。

最后一个则是表达出来一种disbelief的口吻。

你可以拿'She is a pretty girl'来做作练习体会一下。^_^

附录：
英语培训日记20060706

英语培训日记20060707

英语培训日记20060710

英语培训日记20060712

英语培训日记20060714

英语培训日记20060717

自从来到大连后，大连的雨好像就没停过，问我大连本地人，他们也说最近雨下得太频繁了。就连我们的外教Alex也说他昨天洗的衣服不知道什么时候才能干。不过大连有一点好处，那就是凉快，有些时候可以说有些'冷'，有点夸张吧^_^，今天下班的时候感觉就冷冷的。

今天是中教口语课的最后一节Read-Retell课了，今天的内容是一些commercial affairs，有点难，特别是有些术语不常用，解释起来比较麻烦，我Retell的那篇是关于'Check Clearing'的，一些draw, deposit等等的操作弄得我晕头转向。听Susan说下节课将换一种方式：Dialogue，如果我没听错的话。

Alex今天一上来就给我们来了几个例子：
Smile(s) -- She is a delicate flower. 赞许
Metaphor(s) -- He is tall like/as a tree. 隐喻
Oxymoron(s) -- She is as beautiful as a hippo. 矛盾修饰

围绕着这几种表达方式我们讨论了一番。由于这周主要谈论Business，今天开了个头而已。

附录：
英语培训日记20060706

英语培训日记20060707

英语培训日记20060710

英语培训日记20060712

英语培训日记20060714

终于租到一间还算像样的房子了，毕竟属于出差，艰苦就艰苦点吧，毕竟比学生宿舍要好，起码不会定点熄灯。昨天我们几个学员以及所有可以出场的家属和Alex以及其GF一起去吃了一次barbecue，路边大排挡，新疆人的摊位，蛮有中国特色的，肉烤得很不错。Alex这个英国人很能喝，按他的说法：Ten bottoms of beer。昨天我们还发现Alex的中文很好，他在课堂上可从来不和我们说中文，他在中国只待了9个月，能说得如此之好，也很是让我们佩服。

今天第一节听力课，听了几篇文章后发觉自己很是不专心，也许可能如老师Michael所说：总听一个人的读音容易分散精神，但愿真是'听力疲劳'。Michael今天还有一句让我印象很深，他认为听力要分为精听和泛听，要想有好的听力，这两者缺一不可。精听就是说你要认真听出你所听到的每一个单词，而不是仅仅知道大致含义；泛听恰恰相反，快速的听，迅速的听出其中关键的词汇或者短语或者句子，做出敏捷的判断。总之按照正确方法多多练习，多多总结英语发音中的语音现象，才是正确之道。

Alex今天和我们讨论的TOPIC是Job Interview，我们四个人分两组进行了练习，之后Alex作了一次总结，他也讲了他对Interview的一些看法，他认为我们在Interview的时候，应该多Think about 'We'而不是'I'，应该强调你拥有满足JOB需要的知识和技巧，同时你需要感谢公司给你一个满意的职位，这是一个'双赢的'面谈。

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英语培训日记20060707

英语培训日记20060710

英语培训日记20060712