Tax Return

Filing the tax return has been a yearly routine for everyone on this island. From May 1 through May 31, most of the residents here, as long as they are the eligible tax payers, are obligated to work on their income tax and then file the tax return to the National Tax Bureau before the deadline.

On the tax form, the tax payers should indicate their taxable income, allowed deductions, exemptions, and the computed tax that is due. So the tax return is also as known as the income tax return.

One of the innovative ways to file the tax is to do it through Internet. Compared to the traditional method, paying tax on-line has saved us lots of time on getting the official form, filling out the form and sending the form over to NTB. Ideally, all we have to do is download and install the tax software from where it's available, follow the instructions on the program and click on the "send" button to upload our tax information to NTB, and then we are all set. However, for the sake of internet security, people who wish to pay tax on-line have to get the authentication from the government offices or certified banks to get themselves qualified to pay tax via Internet. This sounds a real hassle but I think we bare with it to safeguard ourselves.

tax return 所得稅申報書
file the tax/ tax return 報稅
routine 例行性
eligible 有資格的
be obligated to 義務的
income tax 所得稅
National Tax Bureau 國稅局
deadline 截止日
taxable income 可稅收入
allowed deductions 允許的減免
exemptions 免稅額
the computed tax 計算後的稅額
due 應繳的
innovative 革新的
compared to... 比較起...
on-line 線上
official form 官方/正式的表格
fill out 填寫
for the sake of 因為...的原因
security 安全
authentication 驗證
certified 授權
hassle 麻煩的事
bare with... 忍受
safeguard 保護

Count my lucky stars

I was pretty in luck last week. First of all, Grace gave me a box of instant coffee that was made of the coffee trees in Yunglin county. This southern area of Taiwan has been known for its coffee production these days.

Also, I received another gift from Emma, a box of instant rice noodles, made in Xinzhu who is famous for its food industry on rice noodles. In practice, rice noodles are the most popular local specialty that would draw most of the tourists' attention when visiting Xinzhu.

Being a reader, you should be able to relate to my feeling why I like this teaching job so much. Getting the gifts from them, I felt that it doesn't matter with how expensive these gifts are but what does matter is the ideas that count. In a word, I can't thank them too much indeed.

There are more to it just than the gifts I got. My wife took part in an outdoor over the weekend held by her company. She was drawn out of the 4,000 participants to be one of the winner in a sweepstakes. As a result, she won a iPod that came with a mini stereo set.

Frankly speaking, shouldn't I count my lucky stars or what? Well, however, I feel like right now I am between a rock and a hard place, because I am not sure if I have to sell it or keep it? Hey! Don't give me that sour look. I can tell that you guys are jealous of me now. heehee.

count one's lucky stars 算某人走運

in luck 運氣好

be known for 以...出名

in practice 實際上

local specialty 特產

draw one's attention 吸引某人的注意

to relate to one's feeling 體會某人的感覺

the ideas/minds that count 心意

in a word 總而言之

there are more to it just than...比起....而更多

take part in 參加

outdoor 戶外活動

sweepstakes 抽獎

as a result 結果

between a rock and a hard place 進退兩難

sour look 酸葡萄的表情

be jealous of 忌妒

Fujoushan Park is located in Daan District, Taipei city.You won't miss it if you know how to get to Xin Hai tunnel and its vicinity. People who would like to visit the place must take the entrance on Wolong street. It is near Fuyang Forest Park where both of places used to be the graveyards.

It is actually a small park on the hill. However, visits can overlook the whole Daan district from here.

In the picture is one side of the Daan district.

Hey! That's Taipei 101.

E=mc2, I bet you must have seen it from the building the night before.

What's up?

So much politics, so little economy

I always call him Mr. Lee since I can hardly recall his Korean name. He said he likes to take my class because he can soak up some new stuff out of me. I was pleased to hear that. Compared to other Koreans I know, Mr. Lee has made the best impression on me for his politeness, even-tempered and levelheaded character that other Koreans don't possess.

Today we went on the subject of the difference in between Korean and Taiwanese culture. Students in class seemed to be highly interested in this issue, so we shared our own views with one another.

Lee told us he had found that in Taiwan people seemed to have some negative stereotype on Koreans. "If possible", he said, "I would suggest you go check out our capital city, Seoul, which has made a huge change these days." He implied Seoul has become a very modernized city in the world. He also "complained" that people like to compare Korea and Taiwan by the average annual income made by these two nations' people. "This isn't fair", Lee said, "Even though we Korean people's average income has already exceeded yours."

I felt shamed on ourselves because Taiwan has made very few improvement in economy in the past ten years. The inferior cross-strait relation has led us to being in a sorry economic state. This government tends to value more on politics over anything else. When can we make a big comeback again? Who knows? Nor do God, I guess.

soak up 吸收
even-tempered 心平氣和
levelheaded 冷靜的
negative stereotype 負面的刻板印象
cross-strait relation 海峽兩岸關係
in a sorry economic state 不好的經濟狀況
make a big comeback 東山再起

This pic was taken in Bali that is a beautiful city with its long beach and many points of interest. We went bicycling in this town on March 27 along the bike trail near Danshui river. This bungalow does make me stand up and take notice of for its fish-like roof as well as its wall embedded with stones.

point of interest 景點
bike trail 自行車道
bungalow 平房
make one stand up and take notice of 讓某人注意
embed 嵌入

Fall into his arms again.

I have a friend, let's call him Z.G., came back to Taipei the other day. What he has surprised me in the first place is, I never expected to see him here in the city, because he has been living in America for a fairly long period of time with his family. The second shock is, I just heard it straight from the horse's mouth that he is getting married. His wife to-be is nobody else but one of his ex-girls. I used to see him go steady with different ones in the old days, but this one is too magic to believe. What else could I call it in stead of a miracle? Well, at least we should be happy for them because she falls into his arms again. Now I do believe that one's destiny does exist.

in the first place 一開始
hear something from the horse's mouth 第一手消息
someone to-be 即將為...的人
go steady with someone 與...交往
fall into one's arms 投入...的懷抱
destiny 命運

I was so close to 101.

Having all the time in the world on every Tuesday and Thursday, I scheduled in a meeting with my friend Bruce in Taipei on some Tuesday afternoon. We decided to meet each other at the Taipei 101, the highest skyscraper in the world.
For the first time being so close to the building. I was totally impressed by its height and spectacular look. I saw many tourist from the world over flooding into the building. They would like to take the high-speed elevator to go on top of it. Neither a thrill seeker nor a guy loaded with money, I prefer staying on the lower levels and just looking around down the shopping mall area. The mall was huge and filled with an assortment of stores, such as restaurants, boutiques, fashion shops, and bookstores so as to meet every visitor's need. To sum up, Taipei 101 is the place worth paying a visit to.

have all the time in the world 時間很多
schedule in 安排
skyscraper 摩天大樓
spectacular 壯觀的
flood into 湧入
neither...nor 既不...也不
thrill seeker 尋求刺激的人
be loaded with money 有錢
an assortment of 多樣的
to sum up 結論

Reading and English

It will be such a pitty if you miss reading this artcle. Bruce is gonna tell us about reading and Englsh. I have to convert the file into html format due to its graphic content.
Please click on this link to see it.

Monkey will go to...

Today's lesson on Starter One at GV regarded the use of the preposition "on". Students must understand that when specifying a day of the week, they have to use "on" before the weekday. So, the "0n + weekday" becomes the preposition phrase that is to be used as an adverb to emphasize the verb:

I will go to see a movie on Sunday
The wedding is on Tuesday.

To make sure everyone understand how to use it, I asked each student to make a sentence right away. I wrote down the sentence pattern on the white board so they could refer to it easily. It was as follows:

I will + verb + on ______ .

Frankly, I didn't really expect today's class to be so hilarious, and it was all because of Jack's originality. When it was his turn to speak out his sentence, he went, "Monkey will go to..#@$%.." I couldn't hear it right, so I asked him to repeat. Then he went, "I was trying to say 星期三, 猴子去爬山".

Oh, God. The whole class then roared into laughter.
So, the sentence should go "Monkey will go to climb the mountain on Wednesday.

regard 有關
preposition 介係詞
phrase 片語
specify 指定
emphasize 強調
sentence pattern 句型
refer to 參考
hilarious 好笑
originality 創意
roar into laughter 一陣大笑

My family and I went to one of the riverside parks in Taipei which goes by the name of "Meiti riverside park" in early March. It was built along the Jilong river in Taipei . The weather was freezing when we visited there, because a cold front was just passing through the northern Taiwan. I took some pictures out there since I loved the view.

Another park called Dajia riverside park is just across from here. Far ahead is the Dazhi bridge.

Songshan airport is just a jump from here.

A close shot of the Dazhi bridge. It looks magnificent.

It was at dusk when the pictures were taken.

I got the answer for you, Emma.

When I taught in one of my classes at Xinzhu GV last Saturday evening, a student was asking me a question-- how to say "出爾反爾" in English. I got no idea about this one, so I asked Bruce for help immediately.
Emma, I think this may be the best answer I can get you.

I can't put up with him anymore, because he always breaks his promises with others. How can he change position this quick?

put up with someone 忍受
break one's promise 不守信用
change position 出爾反爾

Credit card debt

Credit card is also known as the "debt card" or "charge card", meaning that every time when people are in the market of something and pay for it by swiping a credit card, they start owing money to the credit card company. Some people even max out their credit limit and contribute to their financial ruin, which we call the "over-consumption problems". Though we couldn't go one day without buying anything, being a shopping addict doesn't do any good to us. Just be warned!

debt 債
charge 奢帳
in the market of 購買
swipe a card 刷卡
max out the credit 信用刷爆
contribute 導致
financial ruin 財務破產
over-consumption 過度消費
go one day 逛一天街
shopping addict 購物狂
something doesn't do good to someone 對....沒好處
just be warned 算是警告過你了

Oh I was so touched by these girls who hold a farewell party for me as I was leaving them for good. The picture was taken in my last class at Xindian GV.

What is that? Face-off?

A good link

I am not a Christine, but the following link will take you to a Website to enjoy some peace and quiet. Go!

some peace and quite 片刻的寧靜

Lucky Taipei people

I read recently that people who live in Tokyo must spend more than one hour and half getting out of the metropolitan to head over for some scenic places during their day-off. Unlike people in Tokyo, there are many good points of interest that are just near the city of Taipei; Yangming Shan, Danshui, Bali, Muzha, and just to name a few.

I went to Xianjiyan in Jingmei this Tuesday as it was the tomb sweeping day for our loved ones who are 6-feet under. While I was hiking down the trail in the hill overlooking the view of southern Taipei, I felt how lucky people living in Taipei are. It being the capital of the island, the residents here are able to obtain the best interest of everything from the government that includes the most education resources, the numerous parks available, the cleanest streets, the most convenient transportation on the island and so and so forth . That is no wonder people would like to settle down here though the living expense is at such a high level.

head over to= go over to 前往
day-off 休假
point of interest 景點
just to name a few 舉幾個名字來說
tomb sweeping day 掃墓日
6-feet under 埋在地底下
hiking down the trail 在步道上走
overlook 俯瞰
so and so forth 等等
living expense 生活費用

Web site revision

Dear friends,
I have made the second revision on my Website. The major changes include its title which has been changed from "Albert@Y17 to "Albert's Showcase". In the "About Albert" section, I made a detailed description of who I am, what I am doing and things like that, which is worth finding some time to take a look at. I also created a new page called Albert@Y17, to introduce as well as to promote my classes available at Y17. So, please tell everyone around you about me and my new courses. I have also founded on the Web site the "Daily Leaning" where I put words and phrases derived from my daily physical classes. I hope this will work best for you. For other good stuff, why don't you just explore them on your own, and your feedback is very important to me. Go ahead and have fun surfing my Web site. Let's hit the road now.

Your name eludes me.

Having been teaching hundreds of students over the past years, I have to admit that sometimes I do have a hard time knowing everyone's name by heart. It 's kinda like an embarrassment when someone shows up in my class after a long break, expecting me to call his or her name up immediately. Such a thing does happen to anyone of us at all times. It occurred to me that there is a good sentence to use in this case.
"I am very sorry, but your name eludes me."
You can also use "elude" for other situation.
"It eludes me that he has borrowed five grand from me before."

to know something by heart 記住某事
it occurred to me 我突然想起
eludes 逃離
something eludes me 我忘記某事