「每日英文閱讀分享#004」

【contraction】

今天又是一個熟悉的字，
我們都常常看到contract或是contractor ，
但是，contract當動詞的用法，大家是否熟悉呢？

當contract變成動詞的時候，首先重音先從前面移到第二個音節
再來，主要的意思有三個：
1. the fact of something becoming smaller, shorter, or less.
2. to get illness
3. to make a legal agreement with sb for them to work for you or provide you with a service

猜猜看下列例句是什麼用法吧！(Adapted from Oxford Dictionary )
1) The heart muscles contract to expel the blood.
2) He contracted AIDS/ a virus.
3) Several computer engineers have been contracted to the finance department.

重點回到本文例句：
The World Bank estimates a 5.2% contraction in global GDP in 2020, which will be the deepest recession the world has seen in decades.

ps. 如果你也想跟我一起培養每日閱讀習慣，可以在下面留言用這個單字造個句子，我就會把整篇筆記傳給你喔！

#言之有物
#英語學習
#商業英文
#BusinessEnglish
#Economics
#Society
#每日英文閱讀分享
#一起來建立英文閱讀習慣吧

【東京奧運「照常舉辦」、「延期」還「取消」？外媒這樣表達】

• 各例句取自於 BBC、The New York Times、The Guardian 等來源

• 總提醒：奧運 (The Olympic Games) 因為有很多運動項目，一般 The Olympic Games 被當成複數名詞，不是中文所想的「奧運比賽」，一種大型賽事的感覺。在新聞寫作中，為了避免一直重複全名，很常以 The Games 作為代稱。

• 文章 highlight: 「綜合來講，舉辦在這邊常用的是主動的 take place 或是被動用法 to be held。預定在何時舉辦的「預定」用法有 to be scheduled, to be set, to be due, 以及紐約時報很漂亮的 to be slated. 用法。」

【敘述照常舉辦】

1️⃣ We are doing all we can to ensure that the Games go ahead as planned.

這句話使用了 to go ahead as planned 當作照常舉辦。是官方和外媒最常使用的說法。as planned 為 as it is (was) planned 的省略.

2️⃣ The organizers are doing everything they can to have the games go on in the summer as planned.

這邊使用的是 to have the games go on (後面也是使用 as planned) 。有關繼續，也可以用 to continue as planned/scheduled.

3️⃣ The International Olympic Committee has sought to play down fears of Tokyo 2020 being delayed because of the coronavirus outbreak by insisting the Games will go ahead as scheduled.

這邊使用的是 to go ahead as scheduled.

【敘述東奧的舉辦起迄時間】

綜合來講，舉辦在這邊常用的是主動的 take place 或是被動用法 to be held。預定在何時舉辦的「預定」用法有 to be scheduled, to be set, to be due, 以及 to be slated.

紐約時報果然是紐時，用了 to be slated 的漂亮用法。

1️⃣ The Games of the XXXII Olympiad are set to take place from July 24 to Aug. 9 in Tokyo and surroundings.

這邊使用了 are set to take place

2️⃣ The board "expressed its full commitment to the success of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 taking place from 24 July to 9 August.

這句也使用了 take place, 但小心注意句型的不同

3️⃣ The Games are due to be held from 24 July to 9 August.

這邊使用了 are due to be held

4️⃣ The Summer Olympic Games are scheduled to be held from July 24 to Aug. 9 in Tokyo.

只差一點，這句使用了 are scheduled to be held

同樣使用 are scheduled to be held 的還有這句，但因為這句的重點是放在「會被延期」，所以以插入語的方式補充說明。

5️⃣ The Olympic Games, which are scheduled to be held this summer in Tokyo, could be postponed until later this year amid the coronavirus outbreak.

6️⃣ For weeks, there's been speculation that the viral outbreak could disrupt the Tokyo Olympics, which is slated to start on July 24.

【延期這樣說】

1️⃣ Speculation of a delay had mounted further when Japan’s Olympic minister, Seiko Hashimoto, had said the Games could be moved to the end of the year because of coronavirus.

延到年底 "to be moved to the end of the year"

2️⃣ Tokyo 2020 Olympics could be postponed amid the coronavirus outbreak.

這句使用的是 to be postponed

3️⃣ If the coronavirus is not under control by summer, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics contract may allow for postponement.

這邊使用的是名詞 postponement，整體感覺會比直接說 to be postponed 比較抽象一些。

4️⃣ The 2020 Tokyo Olympics won't be delayed by the coronavirus outbreak.

當然大家最常使用的 delay 也是一個選項 (注意詞性喔)

#EZTalk #你不知道的美國大小事 #新專欄上線 #footballVSsoccer

📌American football Idioms：Part 1📌

🇺🇸說到美國，怎能不提美式足球呢😎
🏈今天來聊美式足球大小事，以及相關用語第一彈👉
1. kick off
2. game plan
3. drop the ball

What most of the world knows as football is called soccer in the United States. Also known as gridiron (the name of the field it’s played on), American football—like baseball—originated in New England in the 19th century. Football is even more popular in America than baseball, so naturally there are lots of football-related idioms.

Let’s kick things off with an idiom that means “to start.” Yes, 📌 “kick off” means “to start,” because a football game begins when a player kicks the ball to the other team. Ex: I say we kick off the evening with margaritas at our favorite bar.

Football is a complicated and challenging sport, so teams follow a game plan every time they play. 📌 You can also use “game plan” to refer to any kind of plan for achieving a goal. Ex: If we want to win this contract, we need to stick to our game plan.

When a player drops the ball, the chance to score is lost, so📌 “drop the ball” can also mean “make a mistake; fail to do sth. (important).” Ex: Mike dropped the ball on the last project, so I’m assigning this one to Lisa.

【✍關鍵單字】
1⃣ soccer：「足球」，也就是世足賽上所踢的球類運動，所使用的球是黑白相間的正圓形球。不過soccer此稱只在美國使用，其他地方依然稱之為football。
2⃣ American football：「美式足球」，在美國則用一個字football稱之，其他地方則會在football前加上American，區分出美式足球與soccer。美式足球使用類似橄欖形狀的橢圓形球，球員需戴頭盔與護具，因此兩者無論在比賽規則或用球上皆不相同，可說是完全不同的運動。
3⃣ gridiron：「烤網；美式足球的別稱」，因美式足球場（football field）格局酷似烤肉架，因而有此別名。
4⃣ kick off：「開球；開始」，要表達以某事物開始，可在片語後面加上介系詞with，即kick off with sth.。
5⃣ stick to：「堅持、固守、忠於」
6⃣ assign：「指派」

【📕中譯】
多數人較為熟悉的足球，在美國稱為soccer。而美式足球American football，又稱『烤網』（gridiron，因美式足球場外型酷似烤網而來），則與棒球一樣，是19世紀發源於新英格蘭的美國本土運動。比起棒球，美式足球更加受到美國人喜愛，自然也出現許多與美式足球相關的諺語。

我們就從下面這個諺語開始吧──沒錯，kick off原指『開球』，之所以有『開始』的含意，就是因為美式足球是以球員將球踢到另一球隊來為比賽拉開序幕，例句：I say we kick off the evening with margaritas at our favorite bar.（就在我們最愛的那間酒吧點杯瑪格麗特，為今晚揭開序幕吧。）

美式足球是規則複雜且頗有難度的運動，所以每場比賽都需按照賽前制定的計畫game plan進行。你也可以使用game plan『行前計畫、對策』表達任何為達某目的而事先制定的計畫，例如：If we want to win this contract, we need to stick to our game plan.（要拿到這項合約，就得按照行前計畫走。）

要是球員粗心掉球，就會失去得分的機會，所以drop the ball也有『犯錯、在（重要）事情上失誤』的意思。例句：Mike dropped the ball on the last project, so I’m assigning this one to Lisa.（麥可搞砸上次的提案，所以我打算把這次提案指派給麗莎。）