Ba Lao Shi Perfect English

23/12/2024

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

22/12/2024

Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation” is one of time Magazine’s “must read books of 2024” for a reason: it makes clear what the proliferation of smart phones after 2010 — and the accompanying rise in social media — has done to young people.

Dr. Haidt focuses on mental health, but as a teacher who has taught since 2002, I can clearly see the effect on students. This has been well documented in the huge drop in reading and other skills, plus the decline in problem-solving ability and the rise in cheating and other shortcuts to academic success.

All of us can also see the effect of screen-based living on adults as well. A big part of the problem of the decline in young people’s skills and the rise in their mental illness is the absence of parents, who are often absorbed in their own smartphones as well.

“The Anxious Generation” is well researched and well written and is recommended for everyone, whether they have kids or not.

喬納森·海特(Jonathan Haidt) 的《焦慮的一代》被《時代》雜誌評為“2024 年必讀書籍”之一，原因如下：它清楚地表明了2010 年後智慧型手機的普及以及隨之而來的社群媒體的興起對年輕人的影響。

Haidt 博士關注的是心理健康，但作為一名自 2002 年開始教書的老師，我可以清楚地看到這對學生的影響。 閱讀和其他技能的大幅下降、解決問題的能力的下降以及作弊和其他學業成功的捷徑的增多都充分證明了這一點。

我們所有人也都可以看到螢幕生活對成年人的影響。 年輕人技能下降、精神疾病增多的問題很大一部分是由於父母的缺席，他們也經常沉迷於自己的智慧型手機。

《焦慮的世代》研究透徹，文筆流暢，值得所有人閱讀，無論是否有孩子。

15/12/2024

We had a lovely time at a small-group English game party at the coffee shop Kokos in the Mills in Tuen Wan. We played Codenames, an IQ building word-association card game that is always fun — and is great for improving English!

我們在屯灣南豐紗廠咖啡店Kokos參加了一個小組英語遊戲聚會，度過了一段愉快的時光。 我們玩了 Codenames，這是一款可以提高智商的詞語聯想紙牌遊戲，非常有趣，而且對提高英語水平很有幫助！

10/12/2024

As I was saying in the previous post, leaning a 2nd language is difficult. Learning to speak a second language well enough to impress people is even harder.

A good place to start is to think of someone who speaks well in your native language. Aside from the basic correctness of the grammar, what is it about his or her speech that is impressive?

A first observation will be his or her vocabulary.

A second observation will be about how he or she constructs his sentences, paragraphs, and the whole of his or her message.

You might notice that he or she uses literary devices such as similes and metaphors.

And if you listen, you will notice that he or she varies the tone and puts emphasis on certain words. This is called intonation. Intonation is different from pronunciation, though they both are related to the sound of a language. Pronunciation is concerned with the sound of individual words, intonation is concerned with the sound stress and tonality across an entire sentence. It is especially important in English. This is because, though English has a huge number of words, it is a relatively simple SVO — subject, verb, object — word-order language in structure and often meaning is expressed through suprasegmentals — changes in tonality or stress on whole words or phrases.

But changes in sound stress can also be used to change the meaning of words.

This is why coached reading aloud — reading a story out loud and having a teacher correct both your pronunciation errors and coach you how to get the sentence intonation right will really help you to have more impressive spoken English. I will write more about this in upcoming posts.

正如我在上一篇文章中所說，學習第二語言很困難。 學習說好第二語言以給人留下深刻印象更是困難。

一個好的起點是想一個能說一口流利的母語的人。 除了文法基本上正確之外，他或她的演講還有哪些令人印象深刻的地方？

第一個觀察將是他或她的詞彙量。

第二個觀察是關於他或她如何建構他或她的句子、段落以及他或她的整個訊息。

您可能會注意到他或她使用明喻和隱喻等文學手段。

如果你傾聽，你會注意到他或她會改變語氣並強調某些單字。 這稱為語調。 語調與發音不同，儘管它們都與語言的聲音有關。 發音與單字的聲音有關，語調與整個句子的聲音重音和調性有關。這在英語中尤其重要。 這是因為，雖然英語有大量的單詞，但它是一個相對簡單的SVO（主詞、動詞、賓語），結構上是詞序語言，並且通常通過超段來表達含義（整個單詞或短語的調性或重音的變化） 。

但聲音重音的變化也可以用來改變單字的意思。

這就是為什麼指導朗讀——大聲朗讀一個故事，讓老師糾正你的發音錯誤並指導你如何正確的句子語調將真正幫助你獲得更令人印象深刻的英語口語。 我將在接下來的帖子中詳細介紹這一點。

03/12/2024

People learning English ask me this question a lot — though usually without the word “educated.” But this is what they really want to know. There are plenty of English “native speakers” whose speech is pretty bad — mostly because they don’t really know their own language.

If you are serious about speaking quality English — and it is not your 1st language — the first thing you must realize is that if you were not raised in an English-speaking environment, the process you have undertaken is difficult. If you are younger than age 9, you could acquire an unlimited number of languages because this age is called “The Critical Period for Language Acquisition.” As we get past this age, Language “Acquisition” is gradually replaced by Language “Learning,” which is a completely different, and more difficult, process. I will write about this in a later post.

But if you are a 2nd language learner of English, think about the thousands of different ways you have used your own language, from simple, everyday moments, to complex situations. And think about your schooling, in which you learned every subject in your home language. If your goal is to speak like an educated native speaker, you are attempting to duplicate the result of tens of thousands of hours of input and output in a few hours per week of lessons.

And your ESL teacher may or may not be an educated native speaker and may or may not be a language instruction professional. Besides asking your teacher about his or her qualifications, the next most important question to ask would be how much reading does he or she do?

The undiscussed part of ESL is reading, specifically fiction. Stories are part of being human and reading improves the mind — and the language a person uses — more than almost anything else. There is considerable neurological evidence that it actually changes the structure of the brain. People who read books are smarter than people who do not. And people who read fiction have bigger vocabularies and can express themselves in more interesting and effective ways than non-readers of fiction.

I will write more about this in the next posts.

學習英語的人經常問我這個問題——儘管通常沒有「受過教育」這個詞。 但這才是他們真正想知道的。 有很多英語「母語人士」的演講非常糟糕——主要是因為他們並不真正了解自己的語言。

如果你真的想講高品質的英語——而且這不是你的第一語言——你必須意識到的第一件事是，如果你不是在英語環境中長大的，那麼你所採取的過程就會很困難。 如果你小於9歲，你可以習得無限多種語言，因為這個年齡層被稱為「語言習得關鍵期」。 當我們過了這個年齡，語言「習得」逐漸被語言「學習」取代，這是一個完全不同的、更困難的過程。 我會在後面的文章寫這一點。

但如果您是英語的第二語言學習者，請想想您使用自己的語言的數千種不同方式，從簡單的日常時刻到複雜的情況。 想想你的學校教育，你用母語學習了每一門科目。 如果您的目標是像受過教育的母語人士一樣說話，那麼您正試圖在每週幾個小時的課程中複製數萬小時輸入和輸出的結果。

您的 ESL 老師可能是也可能不是受過教育的母語人士，也可能是也可能不是語言教學專業人員。 除了詢問你的老師他或她的資格之外，下一個最重要的問題是他或她讀了多少？

ESL 中未討論的部分是閱讀，特別是小說。 故事是人類的一部分，閱讀比其他任何事情都更能改善思維和一個人使用的語言。 有大量神經學證據表明它實際上改變了大腦的結構。 讀書的人比不讀書的人聰明。 讀小說的人比不讀小說的人擁有更多的詞彙量，能夠以更有趣、更有效的方式表達自己。

我將在接下來的文章中詳細介紹這一點。

26/11/2024

I became a teacher after being a professional writer for many years. I exceeded the minimum English BA requirements at CSUN and completed both the Literature and Teaching Credential options, plus a Minor in Linguistics — and a univeristy TESOL certificate. I continued on to get California Adult Teaching Credentials in both English and ESL from UCLA. I was also awarded a Japanese High School Teaching License. Going further, I got a Masters Degree in Humanities and Creative Writing from CSUDH, which I petitioned to combine with MBA coursework. Adding to this is a Certificate in Phonics Instruction from the University of Bristol. I have published and presented research in Japan and Korea and recently won the Bronze Medal for my first English teaching product, the Vocabulary Victory English Root Word Cards. It is my intension to pursue a Phd at this point. I always invite people to check out the “About” page on my website, https: //blseducation.com to see the documentation of my qualifications and my references. Whoever you choose to be your English teacher, you should always ask to see their qualifications and check their references. It’s more than about just having degrees, it’s about a teacher’s commitment to and respect for, education.

當了多年的專業作家後，我成為了一名教師。 我超越了 CSUN 英語學士學位的最低要求，並完成了文學和教學證書選項，還輔修了語言學，並獲得了大學 TESOL 證書。 我繼續從加州大學洛杉磯分校獲得了加州成人英語和 ESL 教學證書。 我還獲得了日本高中教師資格證。 更進一步，我獲得了 CSUDH 的人文與創意寫作碩士學位，並申請將其與 MBA 課程結合。 除此之外，還有布里斯託大學頒發的自然拼讀法教學證書。 我在日本和韓國發表並發表了研究成果，最近我的第一個英語教學產品「詞彙勝利英語根詞卡」獲得了銅獎。 我現在的打算是攻讀博士學位。 我總是邀請人們查看我的網站 https://blseducation.com 上的「關於」頁面，查看我的資格和推薦人的文檔。 無論您選擇誰作為您的英語老師，您都應該始終要求查看他們的資格並檢查他們的推薦信。 這不僅僅是擁有學位，而是教師對教育的承諾和尊重。

18/11/2024

This was the first of a series of videos I made about different vocabulary and reading comprehension workbooks I had tried with my students. I have spent a lot of time, money, and effort experimenting with different workbooks in order to gain knowledge and write my own workbooks. There are a lot of different videos on the Ba Lao Shi Perfect English Youtube channel. Subscribe and you won’t miss any! https://youtu.be/8MF7pHlvXs0?si=V4CS516L8Pan4ic- 這是我製作的一系列影片中的第一個，內容涉及我與學生一起嘗試過的不同詞彙和閱讀理解練習冊。 我花了大量的時間、金錢和精力嘗試不同的工作簿，以獲得知識並編寫自己的工作簿。 //Ba Laoshi Perfect English// Youtube 頻道上有很多不同的影片。 訂閱你就不會錯過任何一個！https://youtu.be/8MF7pHlvXs0?si=V4CS516L8Pan4ic-

This video is the first in a series that relates the research used to write the Vocabulary Victory English root word flashcards and workbooks. It is about t...

12/11/2024

This is one of my award-winning Vocabulary Victory English Root Cards. It is for the roots “sist, stit, stat, stay, stant, stas, stat,” which mean “stand, establish, to set, set up, make firm.” It is one of the most widely used roots in English. There are 199 derived words on 5 cards.

There are many related words found in many European and Asian languages, so it is considered to be derived from the ancient Proto Indo European language-. For example, the Latin “sistere,” the Greek “histēmi,” the Sanskrit “tisthati,” the Lithuanian “stojuos,” the Old Norse “steđ,” and even the Persian “-stan,” which literally means “where one stands,” that is one’s country. This is why there are so many country names that end in “-stan”: Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

There are so many English words with these roots that show the different meanings and connotations of the roots. I wanted to capture this in the illustration, which features the constant pi. “Constant” is one of these words.

English has many idioms and phrasal verbs that use the word “stand” in different ways, such as “stand up,” stand down,” “stand off,” “stand in,” ”stand out,” “stand for,” and “stand by.”

The study of English word roots and families is one of the best ways to improve your vocabulary. You can order our award-winning Vocabulary Victory English Root Word Cards from our website, https://blseducation.com. It comes with a dedicated YouTube channel with instructional videos. Stand by for more of them in the future!

這是我獲獎的 Vocabulary Victory English Root Word Cards。 它代表字根“sist, stit, stat,stay, stant, stas, stat”，意思是“站立，建立，設置，建立，使牢固”。 它是英語中使用最廣泛的詞根之一。 5 張卡片上有 199 個派生字。

在許多歐洲和亞洲語言中發現了許多相關詞，因此被認為是源自古原始印歐語-。 例如，拉丁語“sistere”、希臘語“histēmi”、梵語“tisthati”、立陶宛語“stojuos”、古挪威語“steđ”，甚至波斯語“-stan”，字面意思是“一個人站立的地方」 ，」那是一個人的國家。 這就是為什麼有這麼多國家名稱以「-stan」結尾的原因：Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.。

有很多帶有這些詞根的英語單詞，顯示出詞根的不同含義和內涵。 我想在插圖中捕捉到這一點，該插圖以常數 pi 為特徵。 “Constant” 是這些字之一。

英語中有許多以不同方式使用“stand”一詞的習語和短語動詞，例如“stand up”、“stand down”、“stand off”、“stand in”、“stand out”、“stand for”和“支持。”

研究英語詞根和家族是提高詞彙量的最佳方法之一。 您可以從我們的網站 https://blseducation.com 訂購我們屢獲殊榮的 Vocabulary Victory English Root Word Cards。 它配備了一個專門的 YouTube 頻道，其中包含教學影片。 Stand by 將來會有更多這樣的人！

05/11/2024

Every little bit helps...thanks APAC!

30/10/2024

https://youtube.com/shorts/4syzVBYYENI?si=P5noYZbCd6ePvBLj I made this video for Halloween last year. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you have a fun Halloween!

我去年為萬聖節製作了這個影片。 我希望你喜歡它，並希望你有一個有趣的萬聖節！

A Happy Halloween message from Ba Lao Shi Perfect English.

21/10/2024

By every measure, the “screen-based addiction” life of kids is a disaster. I have been teaching for over twenty years and I can see it very clearly. But it starts with the parents. Mom and dad have to also get off their phones and spend quality time with their kids — and each other — reading books, playing board games, going outside and spending time in natural places, and just talking face to face — not texting.

無論從哪方面來看，孩子們的「螢幕成癮」生活都是一場災難。 我教書二十多年了，看得很清楚。 但這要從父母開始。 媽媽和爸爸也必須放下手機，與孩子和彼此共度美好時光——閱讀、玩棋盤遊戲、外出並在自然的地方度過時光，只是面對面交談——而不是發短信。

12/10/2024

This is my latest YouTube video. It is the 3rd video in a series about teaching. It talks about how Standards apply specifically to Reading Comprehension. Reading comprehensive questions are discussed, specifically the difference between Literal, Inferential, and Evaluative questions, and how this relates to issues in Writing. Examples from two Grade 4 workbooks, /“Step Up Reading Comprehension” and “180 Days of Reading” are given. U.S. Common Core Standards are discussed. The progression of Phonics to Word Decoding to Reading Fluency and why “the Roots Approach” to vocabulary is an important step. Finally, it relates vocabulary instruction to Teachable Moments. I try to make English education videos on many different subjects. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and you won’t miss any! https://youtu.be/_-Jj8MY_2MU?si=eC5MHFIKPFYsD8lj

這是我最新的 YouTube 影片。 這是有關教學的系列影片中的第三個影片。 它討論了標準如何專門應用於閱讀理解。 討論了閱讀綜合問題，特別是文字問題、推理問題和評價問題之間的區別，以及這與寫作問題的關係。 給出了兩本 4 年級練習冊的範例：“Step Up Reading Comprehension” 和 “180 Days of Reading”。 討論了美國共同核心標準。 從拼讀法到單字解碼再到閱讀流利度的進展以及為什麼詞彙的「根源方法」是重要的一步。 最後，它將詞彙教學與可教時刻聯繫起來。我嘗試製作許多不同主題的英語教育影片。 訂閱我的 YouTube 頻道，您將不會錯過任何一個！https://youtu.be/_-Jj8MY_2MU?si=eC5MHFIKPFYsD8lj

This is the 3rd video in a series about teaching. It talks about how Standards apply specifically to Reading Comprehension. Reading comprehensive questions...

06/10/2024

PART 3: Comparing IELTS and TOEIC scores, it is helpful to compare both to The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Languages, which provides a common basis for describing the skills needed to reach different levels of language proficiency. The CEFR describes language proficiency in listening, reading, speaking and writing on a six-level scale:
•
A1– A2 (Basic User)
•
B1– B2 (Independent User)
•
C1–C2 (Proficient User)

Using EU companies as a reference, a CEFR score of C1 is the generally accepted threshold for new hires. This corresponds to:

IELTS 6.5 - 7.5

TOEIC Listening & Reading 945
TOEIC Speaking & Writing 360

The overall IELTS score is an average of its four sections — Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking — but some employers want a job applicant to have a specific score in a specific section. For example, American hospitals employing foreign Registered Nurses require a speaking score of 7 or higher. The basic TOEIC does not have a Speaking section. This is why it would probably be better to take the the “TOEIC 4-Skills Tests.”

I have been teaching test preparation for many years. If you are interested in online lessons, I use Google Meet + Google Docs. If you live in Hong Kong, you can come to the BLS Education Library in Tsuen Wan for in-person lessons. You can check our website, https://blseducation.com for lessons fees. Good luck on the test, whichever one you take!

第 3 部分：比較雅思和托業分數，將兩者與歐洲語言共同參考框架 (CEFR) 進行比較會很有幫助，該框架為描述達到不同語言熟練程度所需的技能提供了共同基礎。 CEFR 將聽、讀、說、寫的語言能力分為六個層次：
•
A1–A2（基本用戶）
•
B1– B2（獨立使用者）
•
C1–C2（熟練使用者）

以歐盟公司為參考，CEFR 分數 C1 是新進員工普遍接受的門檻。 這對應於：

雅思 6.5 - 7.5

托業聽力與閱讀 945
托業口說與寫作 360

雅思總分是聽力、閱讀、寫作和口語四個部分的平均分，但有些雇主希望求職者在特定部分取得特定分數。 例如，美國醫院僱​​用外籍註冊護士要求口語成績達到7分或更高。 基礎托業沒有口語部分。 這就是為什麼參加「TOEIC 4 技能測驗」可能會更好。

我多年來一直教授考試準備課程。 如果你對線上課程有興趣，我使用 Google Meet + Google Docs。 如果您居住在香港，您可以前往荃灣的 BLS 教育圖書館參加面對面課程。 您可以查看我們的網站 https://blseducation.com 以了解課程費用。 祝你考試順利，無論你參加哪一場考試！

29/09/2024

PART 2: The IELTS test. IELTS stands for the International English Language Testing System. The IELTS began in 1980 and is developed and administered by the British Council in partnership with IDP Education and Cambridge Assessment English.

Globally, there are more than 4 million test takers a year, making the IELTS the world’s most popular English language proficiency test. The British Council is governed by a Royal Charter. It is also a public corporation and an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB), sponsored by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

There are two different IELTS tests: Academic and General Training. The Academic test is taken by high school graduates whose first language in not English as a prerequisite to admission to an English-language universities. The General Training is taken by individuals from non-English speaking countries to put on their resumes in order to get jobs in international companies. The IELTS General Training test is the equivalent of the TOEIC 4-Skills Tests.

The IELTS, has four sections: Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. The Speaking and Listening sections are the same in both IELTS tests, but the Reading and Writing sections are different. The IELTS General Training test lasts 2 hours and 45 minutes in total. Test takers can choose between paper-based or computer-delivered IELTS General Training.

If if a test taker opts for a paper-based test, his or her Speaking test may be offered on the same day as the other sections of the test, or up to a week before or after. He or she will receive notification in advance if his or her Speaking test is on a different day to his or her main test day. If a test taker chooses a computer-delivered test, he or she will have a choice of Speaking test dates and venues.

Each of the four sections — Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking — is scored the same way. The overall IELTS score is an average of the four.

A key point of the IELTS is the degree of its acceptance of the General Training test, not only by companies, but by governments for immigration. Another key point is that the IELTS Speaking score by itself is often used for evaluations for professions such as Nursing in which errors in verbal communication could be critical.

In the next post I will compare the scoring systems of the TOEIC and IELTS.

第 2 部分：雅思考試。 雅思代表國際英語語言測驗系統。雅思考試始於 1980 年，由英國文化協會與 IDP Education 和劍橋英語評估中心合作開發和管理。

在全球範圍內，每年有超過 400 萬名考生參加雅思考試，這使得雅思考試成為全球最受歡迎的英語語言能力考試。 英國文化協會受皇家憲章管轄。 它也是一家公共公司和執行性非部門公共機構（NDPB），由外交、聯邦和發展辦公室贊助。

雅思考試有兩種不同的考試：學術考試和一般培訓考試。 學術考試由第一語言非英語的高中畢業生參加，作為進入英語大學的先決條件。 來自非英語國家的個人參加一般培訓，以將其寫在簡歷上，以便在國際公司找到工作。 雅思普通培訓考試相當於托業 4 項技能考試。

雅思分為四個部分：聽力、閱讀、寫作和口說。 雅思考試的口說和聽力部分是相同的，但閱讀和寫作部分是不同的。雅思普通培訓考試共計2小時45分鐘。考生可以選擇紙筆或機考雅思普通培訓課程。

如果考生選擇紙筆考試，他或她的口語考試可能會與其他部分的考試在同一天進行，或最多提前一周或之後一周。 如果他或她的口語考試與他或她的主考試日不同，他或她將提前收到通知。如果考生選擇機考，他或她可以選擇口語考試日期和地點。

聽力、閱讀、寫作和口說這四個部分的評分方式相同。 雅思總分是四人的平均分數。

雅思考試的一個關鍵點是其對普通培訓考試的接受程度，不僅是公司，也是移民政府。 另一個關鍵點是，雅思口語分數本身經常用於評估護理等職業，在這些職業中，言語溝通的錯誤可能是至關重要的。

在下一篇文章中我將比較托業和雅思的評分系統。

23/09/2024

PART 1: The TOEIC test. The TOEIC evaluates an individual’s ability to understand, use and communicate in English. TOEIC stands for Test Of English for International Communication. It was developed by a private company, Educational Testing Service (ETS,) in the U.S. and began in 1979 for use by Japanese multi-national corporations. It was initially derived from ETS’s TOEFL test. The TOEFL test is used to satisfy U.S. university entrance requirements that foreign students can function in an all-English university environment. It is not an academic test, like the SAT or ACT. The TOEIC was developed with the same concept in mind as the TOEFL, but for an international workplace setting.

Though its use began in Japan, the TOEIC was almost immediately adopted by multi-national companies in Korea. It is now part of the curriculum in many universities in both countries. I have taught in two universities — Nanzan Tandai in Japan and Woosong University in Korea — where TOEIC preparation was part of the university’s curriculum and students would take the test — sometimes multiple times — as they neared graduation. The graduating students put the score on their resumes. The score is used as the first step in new graduate’s evaluation as a prospective employee by Korean and Japanese HR departments.

The TOEIC’s use has spread globally over the years and is now a well established international standard to measure a person's workplace English communication skills. The basic TOEIC is 2 parts, Listening and Reading. The TOEIC Listening and Reading Test takes nearly 2 hour and 30 minutes. 45 minutes for Section I: Listening, 75 minutes for Section II: Reading, approximately 30 minutes.

It has a second section, Speaking and Writing, which is optional. In recent years, because of the growing popularity of the IELTS General test, which has 4 parts, many employers began requiring prospective employees to take both TOEIC sections in order that the job applicant’s Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing skill levels are all evaluated. As a result, ETS now offers the “TOEIC 4-Skills Tests,” which is the equivalent of the IELTS General Training test.

In the next post I will discuss the IELTS.

第 1 部分：托業考試。 托業考試評估個人理解、使用和溝通英語的能力。 TOEIC 代表國際交流英語考試。 它由美國私人公司教育測驗服務中心 (ETS) 開發，並於 1979 年開始供日本跨國公司使用。 它最初源自於 ETS 的托福考試。 托福考試用於滿足美國大學的入學要求，使外國學生能夠在全英語的大學環境中工作。 它不是學術考試，如 SAT 或 ACT。 托業考試的發展理念與托福考試相同，但適用於國際工作場所環境。

儘管托業考試始於日本，但它幾乎立即被韓國的跨國公司採用。 現在它已成為兩國許多大學課程的一部分。 我曾在兩所大學任教——日本的 Nanzan Tandai 和韓國的又松大學，托業考試準備是大學課程的一部分，學生在接近畢業時會參加考試——有時會多次參加。 即將畢業的學生將分數寫在履歷上。 該分數被韓國和日本人力資源部門用作應屆畢業生評估未來員工的第一步。

多年來，托業的使用已在全球範圍內傳播，現在已成為衡量一個人的職場英語溝通技巧的成熟國際標準。 托業基礎考試分為聽力和閱讀兩部分。 托業聽力和閱讀測驗需要近2小時30分鐘。第一部分：聽力 45 分鐘，第二部：閱讀 75 分鐘，約 30 分鐘。

它有第二部分，口語和寫作，這是可選的。 近年來，由於由四個部分組成的雅思普通考試越來越受歡迎，許多雇主開始要求未來的僱員參加托業考試的兩個部分，以便對求職者的聽、讀、說、寫技能水平進行全面評估。 因此，ETS 現在提供“TOEIC 4-Skills Tests”，相當於雅思普通培訓考試。

在下一篇文章中我將討論雅思。

17/09/2024

Amy and I would like to wish everyone a Happy Mid Autumn Festival 2024. Don’t eat too many mooncakes! 我和艾米祝大家2024年中秋節快樂。

10/09/2024

Continuing from the previous post, this is about the phrasal idiom “nuts and bolts.” It is a good example of how idioms are figurative language: the literal words are not the meaning of the expression. It also uses multiple-use words. “Nuts and bolts” can be used as a noun or adjective phrase and means “the essential or basic, everyday, practical details.”

EX: “The company brought in a new boss for the Marketing Department who does not have a nuts-and-bolts understanding of our business.”

Notice first of all, there are no literal (physical) “nuts and bolts,” the expression is purely figurative. Also notice, both the words “nuts” and the word “bolts” are multiple-use words with different possible meanings.

“Nut” can refer to the rounded, smaller, screw-on part that attaches to the end of a longer bolt — or — it can refer to the vegetable meat of a seed, such as almonds or pecans —or— it can also refer to an outrageous idea or a crazy or funny person — or someone who is a huge fan of something.

EX: “I like pistachio nut ice cream.”
“I think allowing children to have cell phones is nuts.”
“My uncle is a real gun nut.”

“Bolt” can refer to longer screw-like part that the nut attaches to — or — it can refer to an electrical discharge of electricity (“a lightening bolt”) — or — as a verb, it can mean “to suddenly run or flee” — or — it can mean “to securely lock a door.”

EX: “My aunt was struck by a bolt of lightening.”
“The shy boy bolted from the room when Mary tried to kiss him.”
“Mom always bolted the door at night.”

I have had many posts about idioms in the past and will have more posts about them in the future.

繼續上一篇文章，這是關於短語成語「nuts and bolts」的內容。 這是習語如何成為比喻語言的一個很好的例子：字面意思並不是表達的意思。 它還使用多種用途的單字。 「nuts and bolts」可以用作名詞或形容詞片語，意思是「基本的或基本的、日常的、實用的細節」。

EX：“The company brought in a new boss for the Marketing Department who does not have a nuts-and-bolts understanding of our business。”

首先請注意，不存在字面（物理）的“具體細節”，該表達純粹是比喻性的。 另請注意，單字 “nuts” 和單字 “bolts” 都是具有不同可能含義的多次使用單字。

「Nut」可以指連接到較長螺栓末端的圓形、較小的螺旋部分 - 或者 - 它可以指種子的植物肉，例如杏仁或山核桃 - 或者 -它也可以指一個令人震驚的想法或一個瘋狂或有趣的人- 或是某個人的超級粉絲。

2. EX：“I like pistachio nut ice cream。”
“I think allowing children to have cell phones is nuts。”
“My uncle is a real gun nut。”

「Bolt」可以指螺帽所附著的較長的螺絲狀部件 - 或者 - 它可以指放電（「a lightening bolt」） - 或 - 作為動詞，它可以表示「突然逃跑或逃跑」—或— —它可以意味著「牢牢地鎖上一扇門」。

3. EX：“My aunt was struck by a bolt of lightening。”
“The shy boy bolted from the room when Mary tried to kiss him。”
“Mom always bolted the door at night。”

我過去發過很多關於習慣用語的帖子，將來還會有更多關於它們的帖子。

03/09/2024

Why are native English speakers somethings hard to understand? Something learners will say it’s because natural speech has a lot of idioms, but it’s more than that.

I have posted about idioms before. For this series of posts I want talk about the relationship between idioms, figurative language, and multiple use words.

Idioms are more than just phrases like “It’s raining cats and dogs.” Idioms are really communication “short cuts” between people who have shared language and experiences. This means that they can use fewer words to express something. But it’s like a code: if you don’t know what the idiom means, you don’t understand the message.

What makes it more complicated is that frequently idioms use figurative language. This means that something physical or real is used to represent a concept or idea. But that means that exactly what the person said is not what he or she was referring to. The exact words are referred to as “literal.”

Finally, natural English has a lot of multiple-use words. These are ordinary-seeming words that can mean something very different, depending upon the context.

The next few posts will give specific examples of common usages of idioms, figurative language, and multiple-use words.

為什麼以英語為母語的人有些東西很難理解？ 學習者可能會說這是因為自然語音有很多習慣用語，但事實遠不止於此。

我之前發過關於成語的貼文。 在這一系列文章中，我想談談慣用語、比喻語言和多重使用字詞之間的關係。

習語不僅僅是諸如“It's raining cats and dogs”之類的短語。 習語其實是具有共同語言和經驗的人們之間交流的「捷徑」。 這意味著他們可以使用更少的單字來表達某些內容。 但這就像一個程式碼：如果你不知道這個習慣用語的意思，你就無法理解其中的訊息。

使事情變得更加複雜的是習語經常使用比喻語言。 這意味著使用物理或真實的東西來表示概念或想法。 但這意味著這個人所說的並不是他或她所指的。 確切的詞被稱為“字面意思”。

最後，自然英語有很多多重使用的單字。 這些看似普通的詞根據上下文的不同可能意味著非常不同的東西。

接下來的幾篇文章將給出習語、比喻語言和多用詞的常見用法的具體示例。