【分享】两篇E文小文章

Soda

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en Commandments of Cell Phone Etiquette
有关部门的调查说，全世界有6亿多人使用手机，我国也有近1.6亿人拥有手机，而且这一数字还在继续增加。虽然移动通信的技术发展了，可是我们也不能光顾流行，不顾了规矩吧？
　　There comes a time in any technological revolution when some basic guidelines need to be laid down. It happened when e-mail exploded on the scene2, and people started to learn some basic dos and don'ts. No one teaches us these things in company training seminars; they're just learned on the job.
　　Well, I've reached the point with cell phones where I feel the need to lay down the law. There are some real abuses of wireless technology being perpetrated all around us;3 and the time has come to create some social order out of the cell phone chaos.
　　Commandments usually come in tens, so think of this as the first Ten Commandments of Cell Phone Etiquette.
　　1. Thou shalt not subject defenseless onlookers to cell phone conversations.4 When people cannot escape the banality of your conversation-on a plane, on a train, on a bus, in a cab, or at the dinner table-spare them.5
　　2. Thou shalt not set thy ringer to play "La Cucaracha" every time thy phone rings.6 Or Beethoven's Fifth, or the Bee Gees, or any other annoying melody. Is it not enough that phones go off every other second?7
　　3. Thou shalt turn thy cell phone off during public performances. I'm not even sure this one needs saying, but given the repeated violations8 of this unwritten law, I felt compelled to include it.
　　4. Thou shalt not wear more than two wireless devices on thy belt. This hasn't become a big problem yet. But with pagers and phones, Batman-esque utility belts are sure to follow.9
　　5. Thou shalt not dial while driving. In all seriousness, this madness has to stop. There are enough people in the world who have problems mastering vehicles and phones individually.10
　　6. Thou shalt not wear thy earpiece11 in the presence of thy friends. You seem being on the phone and carrying on another conversation with someone who is physically in your presence. No one knows if you're here or there.
　　7. Thou shalt not speak louder on thy cell phone than usual-these things have incredibly sensitive microphones. If your signal cuts out, speaking louder won't help.
　　8. Thou shalt not grow too attached to thy cell phone. For obvious reasons, a dependency on constant communication is not healthy. At work, go nuts. At home, give it a rest.12
　　9. Thou shalt not attempt to impress with thy cell phone. Not only is a cell phone no longer impressive in any way, users can be immediately identified as a neophyte and a poseur.13
　　10. Thou shalt not slam14 thy cell phone down on a restaurant table just in case it rings. Could you please be a little less conspicuous? If it rings, you'll hear it just as well if it's in your coat pocket or on your belt. –

Soda

Sometimes It's Just Words 愈冒失愈快乐
当语言不同的人们聚到一起时，南腔北调、半生不熟的 “外语”常令人忍俊不禁，虽说麻烦多了些，但稚拙、自然的生活意趣也由此而生。
　　One of the most important lessons I've learned from raising a family in a foreign country is that the generation gap is sometimes just a matter of linguistics.1
I am an American living with six children in Israel. Our children speak Hebrew, Arabic, and English.2 I can speak a tad of Hebrew and a tidbit of Arabic.3 The gap between us, therefore, is not a matter of age, sports heroes, or musical tastes. It is simply my inability to master languages that they picked up in no time. To our kids, I will forever be the foreigner, the greenhorn4, the mom that all their friends love to mimic.
　　I remember one of my most amusing oral gaffes5 that I committed one bright and early school-day morning. A school friend6 had slept over, and everyone was eating breakfast.
　　I cheerfully asked the boy what I could give him for his lunch. "What about some fruit?" I asked. "How about some rocks with your lunch?"
　　"Mommy!" The kids all shouted in horror. "Mommmmmmmy!"
　　I had wanted to say "anavim", which are grapes in Hebrew. Instead I said "avanim" ?plain, ordinary rocks. To this day, my children remind me again and again of the innumerable mistakes I have subjected them to.7 At the bank, they cringed8 when I asked about the jelly (ribah) instead of the interest(ribit). At a school meeting, I told the father of one of their friends that I'd sat on top of his wife the day before, when I meant to say that I'd sat next to her. And at the stationery store, I planned to ask for a shekuf, or clear folder, and instead, I blurted out that I needed a shezuf, or suntanned folder.9 The store owner ?never one to pass up an opportunity for a good laugh10 ?asked me, "Do you want the suntan lotion to go with it?"
　　Languages always provide opportunities for foreign speakers to amuse natives.
　　An Israeli friend who just moved to London called me the other day, panic-stricken. She said she had to find a new butcher. "What was wrong with the old butcher?" I asked.
　　Tamara told me that after she had ordered chicken cutlets that morning, she'd asked the butcher to "pound" the cutlets. Only she had translated the word "pound" from Hebrew into English, and ended up with a vulgar word that had sexual connotations.11 Tamara said she was thinking about becoming a vegetarian12.
　　I find my linguistic faux-pas entertaining at times,13 and they've never stopped me from trying to make conversation. On a family outing the other day, we stopped to buy fresh pita14 from an Arab woman. I spoke to the woman in a
　　mixture of Arabic and Hebrew and then we stood with her, eating the warm freshly baked pita. After we finished, I called out, "Shookran" ?"thank you," in Arabic ?and we drove away.
　　"That was fun," said my 16-year-old son, Ari."And she gave me extra pita for free!" my 14-year-old daughter, Amalia, said. "Why do you think she did that?"
　　"Because we were friendly and made an effort to talk to her," I said.
　　For once, my kids did not even giggle about any of the errors I had made as I spoke to the woman.15 That made me realize that although I might not be able to show them how to speak a foreign language fluently, I had still shown them how to drum up the courage to move to a place that is foreign and unfamiliar.
　　More important, I can show them that the gap between parents and children in our family is sometimes just a matter of linguistics. It is nothing compared with the rifts among people around the globe.16
　　Not only that, but with a few kind words and smiles, we can try ?and succeed at ?communicating across the far more challenging cultural, national, and religious divides.

kilua

……
太长了。
我一见E文头就晕……

Soda

汗。。。下次偶去弄点短的~~~

找寻ING

Dennis

蠻簡單的英文...@@.....

因為我們平時讀的書都是原文書....習慣了...^_^