You guys always ask me what I read to learn English. Do I read poems, newspaper articles, op-ed articles, sample essays, fictions or non-fictions? The simple answer to this question is - I read everything.  🎵 But if someone were to ask me what I enjoy reading most, I think the answer has often, if not always, been art commentaries and film summaries. That’s a strange answer, I know. But I’ve grown up reading the booklets they hand out in concert halls while listening to classical music when my parents go to classical concerts with me.  🎷 I love reading, observing, feeling and analysing how a writer describe a tune or a piece of music with all the colourful adjectives and abstract nouns.  🎸 As a music lover, I loved associating the very subtle characters of different English words with the different pieces of music and I have always been fascinated with how writers can succinctly interpret the themes in a piece of music using words (Think pieces such as Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Mozart’s Requiem!) . I think this is one of the reasons why I’ve grown up not fearing studying literature, because I simply have to apply the lexicon which I’ve gradually acquired from the constant exposure to advanced level vocabulary when I comment on literary pieces.  🎶 你們常常問，我看怎麼英文讀物學英文呢？是評論、社評、新聞、小說還是詩歌？簡單的答案是，我什麼也看，看得很雜，因為英文要說得好、寫得好，什麼範疇的知識也要懂得皮毛。  🎻 不過，如果要說我最喜愛閱讀的材料，就莫過於是音樂會場刊和藝術評論了。  🎹 自少，爸媽偶然會帶我到文化中心和區域大會堂等地方聽音樂會，我很喜歡音樂，同時喜歡一邊聽音樂，一邊看就看場刊的評論和摘要，熟悉音樂的朋友也知道場刊裡的叫programme notes，看到不懂的字，我就會急不及待的把它們通通學會。  📖 我認為閱讀評論，能令一個人在更高處看事情，比起看事實上的文章更能改善英語水平。  🎨 自少我就喜歡把音樂的不同色彩和不同字詞的色彩聯繫起來，比較不同形容詞和抽象名詞之間微妙的分別，可以這樣說，音樂教曉了我語言，語言又令我更認識音樂。小時候最喜歡的歌曲包括俄羅斯音樂家普羅歌飛夫的《彼得與狼》和奧地利作曲家莫札特的《安魂曲》等。  ✊ 我覺得就是因為自小已經看慣藝評和樂評，所以長大了要看文學，也不會覺得力有不逮，因為在評論文學的時候，我只需要把自少慢慢學會的字詞適時運用出來就可以了。  #古典音樂 #學英文 #每天學英文 #好讀物 #閱讀筆記 #雅思 #托福 #文學 #藝評 #樂評 #5** #hkdse #hkdseenglish #5星星 #ieltsprep #toeflprep #learnenglisheasily #五星星 #香城中學 #中學讀物

《雙城記》Charles Dickens ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 「那是最好的時代，也是最壞的時代；是智慧的時代，也是愚蠢的時代；是信仰的時代，也懷疑的時代；是光明的季節，也是黑暗的季節；是充滿希望的春天，也是令人絕望的冬天；我們的前途擁有一切，我們的前途一無所有；我們正走向天堂，我們也走向地獄 ── 簡而言之，那段時期與現在的時期是那麼相似，不論是善良或邪惡，那些最吵雜的權威人士都堅持用最高級形容詞來評論。」 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil,in the superlative degree of comparison only. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ 借用《悲慘世界》的劇照與《雙城記》永垂不朽的開頭，一個背景是 1832 年學生主導的共和黨六月暴動，一個則是 1789 年攻佔巴士底監獄、頒布人權宣言的法國大革命，但經典就是無論以現代或過去的眼光檢視，依然是極為犀利的真知灼見。 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 時代迅速變遷，科技日新月異，人性卻沒有改變多少，天堂與地獄始終都是一線之隔，希望與絕望也都在一念之間。然而可喜的是，我們的前途看似擁有一切，可悲的是，我們的前途實質也一無所有。 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #文字 #台灣 #taipei #taiwan #literature #CharlesDickens #ATaleOfTwoCities #悲慘世界 #LesMiserables #雙城記 #Reading #Quotes #Book #books #LetMeSingYouAWaltz