A Good Thing At the Wrong Time?

“He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse by him.” (Proverbs‬ ‭27:14‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

A good and true thing said and done at the wrong time in the wrong way also turns out to have a bad outcome.

We can see this in the life of Joseph. At the age of seventeen, Joseph received prophetic dreams from God about his brothers and parents bowing to him. In his excitement, he told his father and brothers about it, causing his brothers to become more angry and jealous.

They were already feeling that way because Jacob practiced favoritism towards Joseph, and the dreams just made it worse. It had pushed them over the edge, to even plot murder against Jospeh.

Were the prophetic dreams evil? No of course not. They were holy and good from God. The problem was that the way and timing Joseph communicated his dreams resulted in an evil outcome, as good as a curse.

Some good ideas are before their time right now. They have not caught on in a big way yet. However, when the right time comes, they can become the next big thing in the world.

Timing is so important. When we do the right thing at the right time, we will have blessed results.

On the other hand, if we act hastily before it is the right time, we may get disappointed and even hurt by the backlash that happens. Grace for a matter is not yet available before its appointed time.

Learn how to flow with God’s Appointed Time and enjoy fruitfulness in every season of life. Instead of praying for water to appear in the wilderness, position yourself to stand under God’s waterfall of grace that is already present: https://bit.ly/god-appointed-time

民主國家必須團結一致捍衛我們的價值

外交部吳部長為華府智庫 #全球台灣研究中心 GTI 線上研討會預錄的演講中，呼籲 #民主陣營團結反制威權國家的威脅。

當前威權國家正發動一場反民主的意識型態戰爭，台灣身處民主對抗威權主義的最前線，也是與美國等理念相近國家共享民主、自由及人權等普世價值的夥伴。尤其，立陶宛因為深化與台灣的關係而遭到特定威權國家的打壓，美國已挺身表達對立陶宛的支持，我們歡迎美國等主要民主國家對越來越多的威脅，不斷示警，並透過雙邊和多邊管道正面回擊。

在威權國家試圖重塑以規則為基礎的國際體系當下，吳部長表示台灣非常願意與世界分享我們應對中國威脅的作法。

「只要團結一致，民主必將勝利，台灣必將勝利。」

MOFA Minister Joseph Wu pre-recorded a keynote speech for the “US-Taiwan Relations: Forging a 21st Century Agenda” online forum hosted by Washington-based policy incubator Global Taiwan Institute.

As Lithuania faces backlash from several authoritarian regimes, Minister Wu stressed the need for democracies to work in solidarity to defend our values against these authoritarian threats and Taiwan's role as an indispensable partner for the #UnitedStates and other democracies in today’s interconnected world.

He said that #Taiwan is more than willing to share our knowledge on ways to tackle China’s united-front tactics and threats to democracy as growing authoritarian power attempts to reshape the rules-based international system.

"By working together, democracy will prevail, and Taiwan will prevail."

奧運週大家都在幫運動員加油，也有一些人不小心油加太多然後燒了起來(?)

其實我們常掛在嘴邊的『加油』，英文非常難對等翻譯！牛津字典乾脆直接把『add oil』收錄進去，之前去上益智問答才被問到這題。

但前提是，還是對亞洲或華語比較熟悉的人才會知道你在說什麼，而且多半是獨立使用，比方說：

We still have a lot of work to do. So add oil, everyone !
(我們還有很多要努力之處，所以大家加油！)

.

至於英文道地的加油要怎麼說，就要看場合了：

1⃣️如果是 #事前(不限於運動，包括考試、面試、做報告等)，要幫你朋友或同事加油打氣：

You can do this! (你可以的啦！)
You got this!(沒問題的!)
Good luck!(一切順利喔！)

.

2⃣️如果是 #比賽中，觀眾或隊友對球員喊的『加油』：

Go! / Go!Go!Go!/ Go for it !/ Come on!

(這些短語其實都是喊氣勢的，類似中文的加油/衝啊/拼了/快!)

.

3⃣️ #在場邊加油打氣的行為，可以說root或cheer（啦啦隊員就是cheerleader）:

I cheered until I was hoarse.
我加油到『燒聲』。

I will be there rooting for you.
我會到場替你加油。

.

4⃣️如果是比較 #正式、新聞的用法，可以說show support(聲援、展現支持)
The singer gets backlash after showing support for Trump.
(在對川普表達支持後，該位歌手面臨反彈。)

.

5⃣️當然還有一種加油，是說給 #正處於低潮的人聽的。
這時候你可以私訊或到社群媒體上留個短訊給他/她(但也有可能是種壓力，請斟酌使用)：

Hang in there ! (加油！撐下去！)
I’m with you. (有我在)
Keep you chin up! (下巴抬高＝不要沮喪氣餒之意)

#看時事學英文

In today's video, I'll be listing 12 reasons why I think Taiwan isn't a suitable place to make a move to. And as many of you already know, I absolutely love this country and what it's done for me. But I think after singing the country's praises in almost 300 different videos, it's about time for a little bit of balance. This video is my honest opinion of some of the negative aspects of life in Taiwan that people will face if they immigrate to Taiwan. Just my opinion. Don’t get too angry. I think it’s important to show all sides of life in Taiwan and not just highlight the beautiful parts that this country offers to new residents.

在今天的影片中，我將列出我認為台灣不適合搬家的 12 個原因。 正如你們許多人已經知道的那樣，我非常熱愛這個國家以及它為我所做的一切。 但我認為，在近 300 個不同的影片中唱響了國家的讚譽之後，是時候平衡一下了。 這個影片是我對台灣人移民台灣後會面臨的一些負面生活的真實看法。 只是我的觀點 。 不要太生氣。 我認為重要的是展示台灣生活的方方面面，而不僅僅是突出這個國家為新居民提供的美麗部分。

Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCorBWy2Imz8wZTl9cERkpqw/join

I borrowed this video title from Abroad in Japan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfpWAqK0YZE&t=44s

James Wong also has a video with the same title ;-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJH7O3u0W04

Today’s Video Vocab:
Negligible
微不足道的，不重要的

Abysmal
極壞的；糟透的

Annihilate
徹底摧毀；毀滅

claustrophobic
導致幽閉恐懼症的

Penultimate
倒數第二的

Backlash
強烈反應；強烈反對

Hogwash
廢話，胡說八道，瞎話

Persuasion
信仰，信念

Music:
Flexy — Land of Fire [Audio Library Release]
Music provided by Audio Library Plus
Watch: https://youtu.be/STVCwZGLwr0
Free Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/flexy

#taiwan #台灣 #lifeintaiwan

Stock footage from:
Videezy.com
pexels.com

UNDISPUTED | Shannon "backlash" Suns look to put Clippers in a 3rd straight 0-2 series deficit

FIRST THINGS FIRST | Stephen Jackson "backlash" Nets season ended in Game 7 OT loss to Bucks