「每日英文閱讀分享#010」​
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今天的文章：Abandoning Globalization Will Only Hurt U.S. Businesses，標題已經完全道盡作者的想法，但是他舉出了四點，為什麼deglobalization對於美國是有害的，一樣會把連結附在下面喔！​
（再度預告，本週會整理跟international business相關的報導一起做講解，希望可以也跟大家有些討論～）​
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回到今天的單字，​
「decouple」分享的原因，是因為用拆解的方法來看，這個字就是「不當情侶了」感覺很可愛（還是很悲傷？），卻是一個正式的商業用字。​
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動詞意思是：to ​ separate ​ two or more things or ​ activities, or to ​ become ​ separated，​
當作名詞時會變成「decoupling」意思為：a situation in which two or more activities are separated, or do not develop in the same way
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常用的動詞用法為：decouple (sth) from sth ​
例句：Europe and Japan might decouple from the United States by growing on their own, but right now they're dependent.​ --Cambridge Dictionary
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再給大家一個用於國家的例句給大家看看：Tractors that haul Mexican-made goods to American consumers must decouple from their trailers on the Mexican side.​ --Cambridge Dictionary
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或是用在公司之間：Zhang also began trying to decouple the company’s technology from China, and has pointed out that all the data on U.S. TikTok users is stored in the United States and backed up in Singapore. — Washington Post, "TikTok’s fate was shaped by a ‘knockdown, drag-out’ Oval Office brawl," 8 Aug. 2020​
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就是沒有用於分手的用法（期望落空中ＸＤ）​
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最後還是正經一點附上原文的例句：​
1. Coming on the heels of the trade war and Washington’s push to de-couple economically from China, this has brought widespread predictions of deglobalization.​
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2. They know that deglobalization of supply chains and de-coupling from China will actually reduce their ability to produce in the U.S. and compete with Chinese companies in the long run. ​
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歡迎大家與我一起養成閱讀（或發文）習慣～～

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

[#文法解惑] [#高小英語] [#初中英語] [#中中英語] [#高中英語] 為什麼research，information，advice，equipment這些是不可數名詞（uncountable noun）？

//不可數名詞之所以通常無法被細數，是因為英文母語人士認定這類名詞無法被一個一個數出來。英文母語人士通常將不可數名詞視為某種單一概念或是無法被分割的物品。因此，若您的語言裡面沒有可數與不可數名詞的分別，很可能會造成理解上的困難。

學術寫作中經常使用的不可數名詞包括：research、information、advice、equipment。由於這類名詞通常在文法上屬於單數名詞，使用時可能出現這些常見錯誤，下方例句改寫自華樂絲近期編修的稿件：
(a) A previous research determined that addiction to heroin is widespread in this community.
(b) Informations concerning this problem can be found on the ministry’s official website.
(c) On the basis of these results, we have the following advices.
(d) Our equipments were purchased domestically.

由於英文母語人士將這類不可數的概念視為單數或不可分割的名詞，因此將它們寫成可數的複數型態是不正確的用法。若您打算將上述這些不可數名詞用在學術寫作或研究計畫書上，其實也可以使用其他的方法改寫。以下列出幾種正確使用不可數名詞的情況，由「數量最不精確」討論到「數量最精確」的例子：

值得一提的是，某些名詞在特定情境下同時是可數與不可數名詞。若將某個可數名詞改為不可數名詞，語意也可能會有些許不同；例如在「Life is precious」這個例句中，life是不可數名詞，因為它代表的是抽象概念，而不是具體物品；在「This is a fulfilling life」這個例句中，life是可數名詞，因為它很明確指的是某個人的人生。
「同時屬於可數與不可數名詞」是一種容易令人混淆的情況。若要釐清這種狀況，其中一種有效方式是查閱研究領域的前人文獻（註：literature也是不可數名詞），以便判定某個名詞是可數或不可數名詞。當然，若要正確判斷名詞是否可數與否，使用一本好字典也是不錯的方式。//

Credit：
國立交通大學博士生C-Y Chen
節錄自華樂絲學術論文電子報資訊

News of the Week (3/8/2015)
Social Issues

A hidden weapon in the armoury – will the government beat the breast?

weapon是「武器」，armoury是儲存武器的地方，即是「軍火庫」。breast是「胸部」，beat the breast一詞多義，首先是比喻用法 (metaphorical use)，解作「捶胸頓足」，例如為自己做的事感到悔疚、或者因為悲傷而用拳打自己的心口。另外，beat the breast直譯時beat便是解作「打」，看似沒有甚麼特別，但配合上半句的a hidden weapon in the armoury，其實帶出了政府認為胸部是武器。因此，這個標題有兩個解法，一是「政府會否為自己做的事感到悔疚呢？」，二是「政府會否『對付』這些『武器』呢？」。由此可見，這篇文章沒有既定立場，只是從社會的大小事情中談英語運用。

The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong last year received widespread media coverage around the world. In general, the campaign had a good press because of the surprisingly peaceful and civilised sit-in. The media commented that if it had taken place in another country, the odds are that it would have evolved into a riot which might have spiralled out of control. At the opposite extreme, however, the government do not seem to appreciate how civilised Hongkongers are and accused a woman of assaulting a police officer with her breasts during another protest.

Floored by the absurdity of the conviction, a host of Hongkongers expressed dissatisfaction and disappointment over the way the government govern Hong Kong and, probably more importantly, how they view Hongkongers. A police officer was captured in a video where he brandished his much-more-potent-than-breasts truncheon, but he later explained in court that the truncheon was only an extension of his arm and was just used to pat a citizen. If a truncheon could be regarded as the extension of a body part, it would stretch belief that breasts are seen as weapons which could land a citizen in court.



Glossary:
1. weapon [n.] 武器
2. armoury [n.] 軍火庫; 武器庫
3. widespread [adj.] 廣泛的
4. coverage [n.] 新聞報道
5. have a good press [ph.] 受到新聞界的好評
6. peaceful [adj.] 和平的
7. civilised [adj.] 文明的
8. sit-in [n.] 靜坐示威
9. odds [n.] 機會; 可能
10. evolve [v.] 演變
11. riot [nn.] 騷亂; 暴動
12. spiral out of control [ph.] 急劇地失控
13. at the opposite extreme [ph.] 截然不同; 完全相反
14. accuse [v.] 控告; 指責
15. assault [v.] 攻擊; 襲擊
16. protest [n.] 抗議
17. floor [v.] 令…驚訝
18. absurdity [n.] 荒謬
19. conviction [n.] 判訣
20. a host of [ph.] 大量; 很多
21. govern [v.] 管治
22. brandish [v.] 胡亂地揮動
23. truncheon [n.] 警棍
24. pat [v.] 輕拍
25. stretch belief [ph.] 難以置信
26. land [v.] 令…陷入…



*The picture shows that the police officer was, as he put it in his account, using a truncheon as the extension of his arm to touch and pat the pedestrians.