Nothing but happy

Five years ago as I moved back in Taiwan, I had never thought about that one day I would stick to a teaching job like this for such a long time. It is all due to the help from Bruce, a friend of mine who I met in the US. If you wish to know more about what'd happened between he and me, pelase refer to my earlier articles on this blog. I hope you can find it.

stick to something 堅定於
due to 由於
refer to 參考

I am not a good team player, as a matter of fact. That's why I couldn't always stay working in one office too long. I hate seeing politics going around in the workplace, let along become a brown nose of my boss. I always try to get away from those who get into a fight with one another. To me, office is like hell where everyone should distort themselves in front of others.

team player 團隊的一份子
as a matter of fact 事實上
workplace 職場
let along 更不用說
brown nose 馬屁精
distort 扭曲

After I have become a teacher, I am so surprised that I can handle the situation better than before. I don't need to live a hypocritical life, and who I am faced with in my daily life differ than the former. My students come up to me with the view to soaking up knowledge from me. I try everything I can to help them get better in preparing a test. My life can't be just as simple as it is now.

hypocritical 虛偽的
differ from 不同於
the former 前者
soak up 吸收

I don't know how much longer I can be a on this job, but I never get tired of this. That is strange, I think. The closer I go to the classroom, the happier I feel. Oh, God. This is what the doctor ordered.

what the doctor ordered 剛好是我想要的

It's in your hand.

The question that people often ask me is about how to improve their TOEIC scores. I think to answer the question is quite simple. Usually before giving an advice I would ask how many tests, both the real and simulated ones, they have already taken so far. Not surprisingly, most of them just did very few times to the tests. No wonder they wanted to know if there are some sort of instant way to get improved. Fat chance!

simulated 模擬的
not surprisingly 不令人驚訝的
no wonder 難怪
instant 快速的
fat chance 不可能

My idea for it is, to prepare for a test, practicing on end is the key to success. It is not enough to do just one test or two. To get familiar with most of the test formats in TOEIC, such as word forms, word choice, sentence structure, grammar, listening skills, and so and so forth, you must try learning them from different testbooks over and over and again. I'll say, taking ten different ones is the minimum requirement before you know what TOEIC is about. No kidding.

on end 不斷地
get familiar with 對...熟悉
format 型態
structure 架構
and so forth 等等
minimum requirement 最小要求

By the way, I am not asking you to take the real tests, for which will hit your pocket badly. I just mean try as many simulated tests as you can at home from various sources. Online test, school's old tests, or the one you got from the used book store...whichever way you can get them by. Remember, to either ace it or srew it up, it is in your hand.

by the way 順便一提
hit your pocket 荷包失血
various 不同的
sources 來源
online 線上, 網路的
ace something 做的好某事
srew something up 搞雜某事

I am back.

Hey! What's up? I guess the first question you wish to ask is, "Where have you been, sir?" hmmm.....where have I been? If you know it, you know it. If you don't, I am afraid I can't tell you. There is something I have to seal my lips, or I 'll be in trouble. That is all I can say. Sorry about that.

seal one's lips 閉嘴

Well...at least I am back. I will the usaul post some stuff here. I think I may have lost a lot of readers of mine, haven't I? This sounds like I'm making fun of myself. Ya...I think I am exactly doing that at this moment.

at least 至少

In Chinese culture, people see themselves as "being busy like a dog". I don't know why people would call themselves dogs if they really fit in that situation. Maybe it is because dogs are good runners or something like that. Uh...I am not like a dog but I've been as hectic as a dog in the past few weeks. But now, things have been back to normal. Let me think of what I have to write for next time....

fit in 適合
situation 情況
hectic 急忙的

Catch you later!

Taking a bike ride in Taipei

If you don't have something else in mind about what to do in the summer, going for a bike ride may sound like a good idea to you. In Taipei, the local government has built up several bike paths outside the retention walls of the rivers in Taipei. Good news that they are closed off to traffic, so now we can rest assure without worrying risking our necks on streets and highways.

built up 建立
bike paths 自行車道
retention walls of the rivers 河堤
be closed off to something 對某事禁止
rest assure 放心
risk one's neck on something 冒某事的風險

However, here comes to other concerns: how do we get started off and where do we begin our bike trip? Well, the answer to the question depends on where you live. If you live in the north of Taipei, you may wanna take the bike trail along Dan-Shui river. For those who live near the south, Jing-Mei River bike path is just right next to the Jing-Mei bridge and now it can extend all the way to Wan Hua, or even further up to She-Zi island. For the residents of Eastern Taipei such as Nei-Hu or Xi-Zhi, there are parks along Keelung river and some clearly marked and well maintianed bike paths can easily be found over there. It just wind all over the place. You can either put a bike rack on your car, so carrying the bikes to the bike paths becomes no sweat any more, or take the MRT with your bike to your favorite bike trails.

concern 關心
start off 開始
depend on 視...而定
bike trail 自行車徑
extend 延伸
further up 進一步
resident 住民
clearly marked and well maintianed 清楚顯示且維護良好的
bike rack 自行車架
no sweat 簡單

Are you really to go for a pleasant bike ride? Hey, don't forget to put on sun block before doing that out-of-doors.

pleasant 令人愉快的
sun block 防曬乳液
out-of-doors 戶外活動

More questions, please.

I am so pleased to see that my email group at Googles has been widely used over time by some of you. You know, this is just what the doctor ordered! Our class time is short and limited, so we only can talk to each other via some handy tools online and just like the one we are using right now. How nice if you can keep sending me email and telling me all your problems. But, don't just tell us how bad you have been feeling since your break-up with your boyfriend/ girlfirend because that will be something we can't be any assistnace of you. Cheers! :)

over time 漸漸的
what the doctor ordered 就是這樣的
limited 有限的
via 透過
handy 派的上用場的
break-up 分手
be any assistnace of 任何的幫助