j09083的部落格

  Go Dutch! 是在嘲弄荷蘭人的民族性

       英荷大戰，其實雙方互有勝負、兩敗俱傷！英荷兩軍都沒有人敢說自己贏得這場戰爭！（不過當戰爭結束之後，英國人就開始卯足全力來醜化荷蘭人。所以英文裡面的荷蘭（Dutch）幾乎都是不好的字眼。

       我們日常生活最常用的「荷蘭渾號式英文」，末過於Go Dutch（各自買單付款），這是一個暗諷荷蘭人非常吝嗇的常用英文片語。不過現在很多人為了不想讓荷蘭人太傷心，所以已經用share cost來代替Go Dutch這個帶有偏見的英文成語。

      另外「荷蘭式的勇氣（Dutch courage）」就是代表要趁著酒意、才會假裝神勇的行為，也就是膽小如鼠之意。「荷蘭式防禦（Dutch defence）則是虛張聲勢之意。「荷蘭大叔（Dutch uncle）」就是那種喜歡訓話、沒事就愛幹譙的人。「打倒荷蘭人（Beat the Dutch）」就是英文裡頭「了不起！夠屌」之意。

  Custom House 海關

  美國人對印地安人很殘忍是因為在獨立戰爭時他們支持歐洲

  seamstress ==> 王爾德是快樂王子

  " By kissing him" 

        親吻的代價很高(Judas/ Pontius Pilate)

  Rosencranz and Guilenstern are dead 

        Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is an absurdist, existentialist tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard, first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1966. The play expands upon the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet, the courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The action of Stoppard's play takes place mainly "in the wings" of Shakespeare's, with brief appearances of major characters from Hamlet who enact fragments of the original's scenes. Between these episodes the two protagonists voice their confusion at the progress of events of which—occurring onstage without them in Hamlet—they have no direct knowledge.

        IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100519/

  counter ==> encounter

  man= hand

        manipulate

        manyscript

  Henry Wassworth Longfellow 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. He was also the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy and was one of the fiveFireside Poets.

Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, which was then a part of Massachusetts. He studied atBowdoin College. After spending time in Europe he became a professor at Bowdoin and, later, atHarvard College. His first major poetry collections were Voices of the Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1841). Longfellow retired from teaching in 1854 to focus on his writing, living the remainder of his life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a former headquarters of George Washington. His first wife Mary Potter died in 1835 after a miscarriage. His second wife Frances Appleton died in 1861 after sustaining burns when her dress caught fire. After her death, Longfellow had difficulty writing poetry for a time and focused on his translation. He died in 1882.

Longfellow wrote predominantly lyric poems, known for their musicality and often presenting stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of his day and also had success overseas. He has been criticized, however, for imitating European styles and writing specifically for the masses.
                                                
                                               

  Paul Revere's Ride

 "Paul Revere's Ride" (1860) is a poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that commemorates the actions of American patriot Paul Revere on April 18, 1775, although with significant inaccuracies. It was first published in the January 1861 issue of The Atlantic Monthly. It was later retitled "The Landlord's Tale" in the collection Tales of a Wayside Inn.

                                    

  Make Way for Ducklings

Make Way for Ducklings is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey. First published in 1941, the book tells the story of a pair of mallard ducks who decide to raise their family on an island in the lagoon in Boston Public Garden, a park in the center of Boston, Massachusetts.

Make Way for Ducklings won the 1942 Caldecott Medal for McCloskey's illustrations, executed incharcoal then lithographed on zinc plates. As of 2003, the book had sold over two million copies. The book's popularity led to the construction of a statue by Nancy Schön in the Public Garden of the mother duck and her eight ducklings, which is a popular destination for children and adults alike. In 1991, Barbara Bush gave a duplicate of this sculpture to Raisa Gorbachev as part of the START Treaty, and the work is displayed in Moscow's Novodevichy Park.

The book is the official children's book of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Praise for the book is still high over 70 years since its first publication, mainly for the enhancing illustrations and effective pacing. It was criticised for having a loose plot, however, as well as poor characterization. The book is extremely popular worldwide.

The names of the ducklings mentioned in the story are: Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Oack, Pack and Quack.

                                      

  " The Age of Innocence" 

         IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106226/

  OMNI PARKER HOUSE

 The Omni Parker House (built 1927) is a hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, currently owned by Omni Hotels. The name of the hotel derives from the original Parker House, which first opened in 1855. Founder Harvey D. Parker ran the hotel until his death in 1884, when the business passed on to his partners.

  美國健保

        早年，臺灣尚未實施全民健保時，當家中有一人罹患重大疾病時，許多家庭常常是傾家蕩產、賣田賣屋、四處借貸籌錢才能治病。於是「一人生病，全家遭殃」的例子屢見不鮮。

自從1995年3月1日「全民健康保險」開辦後，重症的患者，例如中風、頭部外傷、癌症、尿毒症、心肌梗塞或長期昏迷的「植物人」等，再不會被醫院或醫師拒收，甚至被丟棄於社會一角，最後因併發症而死亡。

如此看來，健保確實嘉惠全民，無論是對患者本身或其家人。然而從「一代健保」到「二代健保」，期間雖然爭議不斷，但是相較於英美等國家，卻也是民眾滿意度最高的醫療保險制度。臺灣的全民健康保險，是傲視群倫？抑或可以更臻完備，或許可以從其他國家的醫療保險制度中略窺一二。

        比較英國與美國的醫療制度

鄭守夏教授表示，英國的「國民健保制度」是公醫制度，屬於社會主義，與美國的商業保險制度，可說是兩極端。因為前者幾乎看病免費（除16歲以下兒童、19歲以下全時學生、老殘或孕（產）婦已獲醫藥免費證明者外，須自行負擔藥價），支出來自於政府稅收；而後者則多由民眾自行負擔，是標準的資本主義。美國認為醫療服務是一個自由競爭的市場，誰有本事就多賺錢，而誰經濟能力愈佳，就可以享受更優質的醫療照護，並不像歐洲等國深覺「一個國家居然有人看不起病，這是不對的」。

而臺灣健保的核心精神與英國較接近，但若從就醫花費、等待時間，以及便利性來看，就可以得知，為什麼臺灣健保的滿意度仍超過英國與美國等先進國家。

        美國醫療改革是現任美國總統歐巴馬於2008年美國總統選舉時提出的政綱三大議題之一，在2010年3月獲美國國會通過。該醫療改革是為沒有醫療保險的美國公民提供醫療保障。法案初稿建議成立公營醫療保險，管制私人市場轉保，由私人健保轉到公營健保。現時法案建議限制美國全民買健保，並不容許保險公司因疾病等藉口拒保、或擅自增加保費。

2013年威訊取得歐巴馬健保制度的網站系統商資格，但是由於當機連連，引起華府不滿。2013年11月份，由惠普取代威訊的資格。