Nicola Tesla

 

        Nicola Tesla was a famous inventor who discovered many things about electricity. He was born in 1856 in South Eastern Europe. He is best known for developing the system (called AC power) that brings electric power into everyone’s home today and runs many machines we all have today, such as refrigerators and computers.

        In 1894 Tesla showed that wireless communication is possible using what is now known as a radio. Much of today’s cellphone technology could not exist without Tesla’s work. He taught about moving electricity using only the air around us, and wrote about how to make electricity without burning minerals. He thought that one day, people all over the world could speak to each other and see each other’s face anywhere in the world inside a box without wires.

        Even though he was very smart, Tesla was also seen as a bit strange by everyone around him, as he suffered from obsessive- compulsive disorder. Later on in his life he became obsessed with the number 3 and he couldn’t enter his home until he walked around the block 3 times. He thought aliens were real and that humans would explore the moon and the solar system one day.

Nicola Tesla worked hard to help people his whole life. He is a man who changed history by himself, for without Nicola Tesla many of the things we have today couldn’t exist.

 

Vocabulary

Inventor           發明者    discover           發現        electricity        電力               

Develop           開發        wireless communication                 無線通信

technology      技術        Burn                        燃燒        mineral           礦產       

obsessive-compulsive disorder               強迫症   

‘walk around the block’                          各地塊步行   

Obsess             纏住        alien                        外僑

 

Questions

( A ) 1. Where was Nicola Tesla born?

(A) In South Eastern Europe.           (B) In South-Western Europe.

(C) In the USA.                                 (D) In Taiwan.

 

 

 

 

( B ) 2. What did Nicola Tesla make that your computer and refrigerator wouldn’t

work without?

(A) The Tesla Coil.                           (B) AC power

(C) Cellphones.                                (D) Radios.

 

( C ) 3. What DIDN’T Nicola Tesla do?

(A) Obsess about number 3.                  

(B) Need to walk around the block 3 times before entering a building.

(C) Invent the cellphone.

(D) Think that aliens were real.

 

* shout out to the oatmeal: check out his article: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

Probably its boring stuff to most people, but here are some questions a teacher asked me and my answers. No personal info was given, other than my name and job.

1. Will you use “in a uniform”?  Why or why not?

Yes. There is a slight difference between the usage of the phrase ‘In uniform’ and ‘In a uniform.’

“In uniform” = (adj.) where it describes a state of symbolically ‘being at work’ or ‘on duty’ in a profession that requires a uniform.

Ie.

“The policeman wasn’t in uniform when he saw the robbery.”

“The nurses all stood in uniform at the hospital door, ready to work.”

“In a uniform” = in this case ‘a uniform’ = a singular noun.

Ie.

The boy stood in a grey uniform that showed which school he went to and his ID number at the school.

uniform- being the clothing that one only wears when being paid to wear it, or to do a job that requires wearing special clothing for one’s safety.

2. How about in blue uniform(s)?  Will you add “a or an” or plural form?

There are two things happening here:

i.  The plural form of ‘uniform’ does not require ‘a’ or ‘an’, as those indicate singular noun forms.

ii.  Uniform is an exception to the ‘an’ rule regarding its usage in front of vowels because it is pronounced with a long vowel; try to think of the sound of long ‘U’ like ‘you’ = meaning it doesn’t need ‘an’ (long u sound at the beginning doesn’t need ‘an’)

A short list of words that “A” is used in front of: (not all applicable words are included)

(this is not alphabeticalized.)

Ubiquitous

Unanimous

Unicorn

Unification

Uniform

Uniformed

Unifying

Unilateral

Universe

University

Uranium

Urinal

Usable

Usage

United

Unique

Union

Useful

Utensil

Uterus

Utility

Utopian

3. Will you use “from the story” or ” by the story” if we learn something from it?  If both, what’s the difference?

I.   You can use both forms in a question or when stating information within a story.

Ie.

a. “What do we learn from the story ‘The Ugly Duckling?’ “

=  b. “What do we learn by the story ‘The Ugly Duckling?’”

Notice that these dependent clause phrases become important to a question and are located in the middle of the questions.

In the case of the question form a. is more commonly used, but b. isn’t wrong, just less commonly used in my experience. If this was a test question and both were options, I would mark both as correct.

Without the dependent clause phrase form these questions will look strange and meaningless.

a. What do we learn “The Ugly Duckling?”

II.   In statement sentences, ‘from the story,’ ‘by the story,’ and ‘in the story,’ are all equal, they are merely dependent clauses that emphasize the subject noun, and can be relocated around the dominant clause. If you wanted to move the subj. noun around from the traditional (Subject, Verb, Object) SVO pattern, you can use this dependent clause phrase to do so.

Ie.

A1. From the story, ‘Old Yeller’ we learn that sometimes hard decisions must be made.

A2. We learn from the story “Old Yeller’, that sometimes hard decisions must be made.

B1. We learn that sometimes hard decisions must be made, in the story ‘Old Yeller.’

B2. “Sometimes hard decisions must be made,” is a lesson we learn in the story “Old Yeller.”

C1. By the story, ‘Old Yeller,’ we learn that sometimes hard decisions must be made.

C2. “Sometimes hard decisions must be made,” is a lesson we learn by the story “Old Yeller.”

All of the above are legitimate uses of this and are correct. There probably are more ways to mix them up, but in general the dependent clause that emphasizes a subject noun will be used either near the beginning or near the end of the sentence, but always before the subject noun for the sentence.

Ie.

Old Yeller, from the story we learn that sometimes hard decisions must be made.

4. I am respectable to him.–>This means “I respect him.” or ” He respects me”?

It ONLY means that HE respects you.

Presumably he likes you as well, but perhaps if he is an enemy, it just means he doesn’t think you will be easily eliminated or defeated, but there is no context for this relationship given, so we would usually think he likes you unless some other context was presented.

It does not mean that you respect him, or that you necessarily respect yourself.

-Hopefully you are respectable to yourself. J If more people tried to live their lives like that, we all would be happier. (Irrelevant info, but it amuses me to give self-help advice.)

I hope my explanations helped you. I enjoyed doing the research and explanations to help you.

-Matthew Clark, Native-Speaking English Editor, Nani Educational Publications.

Zombies!

Many people like to feel afraid of scary things. Nothing is more scary than an army of people who cannot think for themselves or control themselves. Many video games and movies have been made about zombies coming to people’s town and other people fighting back to stop the zombies, or just fighting to survive.

Many theories exist about how zombies might happen in real life. Some people think that parasites or a virus could make people lose the ability to think and control themselves. Other people think that hypnosis, rewards and punishment, using television, the internet, and the constant testing and sleep deprivation and stress of school aged children, can create many obedient zombie-like people who would never question orders, who could be trained to work very hard at unpleasant jobs to buy brand named products as a reward, until they died.

Scientists are working on creating very small robots called ‘nanobots’ that can enter people’s bodies and can help them stay healthy. Some people think that these small robots would survive a person’s death and in order to stay operational the robots could animate the dead body to move. Some people even think that the tiny robots would cause a dead body to bite another healthy person so the robots can get into the other person’s body and control it.

We hope none of the above will happen or are very likely in real life, but it is fun to think about zombies! Maybe you will see some real ‘zombies’ sooner than you would like!

Vocabulary

Zombie            殭屍        army                軍隊                survive             生存

theory              理論        parasite           寄生蟲            virus                        病毒

ability              能力        hypnosis          催眠                obedient          服從

brand name    品牌名    Product            產品                nanobot           毫微自動

operational     操作        animate           動畫                dead                死

Questions

(   ) 1. What is a zombie?

(A) A happy kind of baby horse.                      (B) A traditional Chinese god.

(C) A sad island person.                                  (D) Someone who cannot think for themselves.

(   ) 2. What is NOT a theory about how zombies could happen in ‘real’ life?

(A) Magic rainbows from the sky hit people and make them into zombies.

(B) A parasite gets in somebody’s brain.

(C) Somebody hypnotizes somebody else into no longer thinking for themselves.

(D) Very small robots take over somebody’s body and control it.

(   ) 3. Are there people who cannot think for themselves in real life now?

(A) No, it isn’t possible for someone to be controlled by other forces.

(B) Yes, and nothing can be done for them, but to try to kill them with FIRE.

(C) Maybe some people think that they don’t know how to think for themselves, but they can learn.

(D) Maybe they will bite you and eat you. Get an axe ready!

The 2-28 Incident

worksheet by Matthew Clark

In 1945, World War 2 ended, and with it, 50 years of Japanese rule over Taiwan. Control over the island of Taiwan was handed over to the Republic of China (R.O.C.) at that point. The R.O.C. told a man named Chen Yi to rule Taiwan.

At that time the R.O.C. was in a civil war on the mainland of China at the time, and Chen Yi mismanaged Taiwan badly to send money and food to the mainland to help the R.O.C. Many people lost their businesses, homes and some even went hungry from food shortages in Taiwan. After 2 years of this, many people were very angry all over Taiwan.

On the evening of February 27^th, 1947, the police took away a large amount of cigarettes from an older woman who was selling them without government permission. While she was asking for her cigarettes to be returned, one of the agents hit her in the head with his gun. Many people were watching, and looked very angry, and one of the policemen shot his gun into the crowd. One person was killed.

On February 28^th the angry Taiwanese attacked several government offices and took control of Taipei for over 1 week. However, outside of Taipei, nobody was in control of the island and many people stole money from banks and post offices. Chen Yi declared martial law and asked for help from the mainland.

On March 8^th, the Kuomintang’s army arrived. People who were out at night after the curfew could be killed. Many Taiwanese high school students who had served with the Japanese army were targeted and killed. Many people were put into jail. The state of martial law, now called the “White Terror” continued until 1987.

The holiday on February 28^th, was created to tell this story so that future leaders of Taiwan remember it is best to carefully listen to their people.

Vocabulary

World War 2            世界戰爭2     control             控制                civil war          內戰

Mainland                 大陸                mismanage     管理不善        permission      允許

food shortage          糧食短缺        Cigarette         香煙                gun                  槍

Martial law             戒嚴                curfew             宵禁                jail                   監獄

Questions

 

( B ) 1. Who was in control of Taiwan in 1945?

(A) Ma Ling Jiu                (B) Chen Yi              (C) Hera Takashi             (D) Chen Shuei Bien

( D ) 2. Why were many people in Taiwan angry in 1947?

(A) They weren’t angry, they were happy!

(B) They didn’t like their leader’s new haircut.

(C) They lost money on the stock market.

(D) Their leader sent all their money and food to China, and they were hungry and

poor.

( B ) 3. What happened on Feb. 28^th, 1947?

(A) Many people in Taipei had a big party.

(B) Many angry people attacked government offices and banks all over Taiwan.

(C) A policeman hit a woman and shot a person who was watching.

(D) Chen Yi got a lot of food sent from China to Taiwan.

One Day, Your Car May Drive Itself!

 

Soon you could be able to step into your car and tell it where you want to go. This kind of car is called an ‘autonomous car’, or a ‘robot car’.

Some of the advantages of using an autonomous car could be: fewer crashes, as the robotic car would be safer than human drivers. Bad drivers who put others in danger will not be able to hurt people anymore. If a person wants to sleep, then they can just sleep- and get to where they want to go. Even a child could ‘drive’ a robotic car where they wanted to go alone. You could talk to your friends all you wanted while driving; you could even do your work while travelling in your car. We may even be able to fit more cars onto roads if all cars were robotic, as they would all be travelling at the same speed. You would know when you would arrive.

Parking problems in cities would go away; the car could let people off at the place they want to go, then park somewhere else by itself and return to pick the people up when they tell it to come. Robotic cars could reduce the amount of total cars needed worldwide and help make the world a cleaner place with less air pollution. If some people were willing to share their robotic car with other people when they were not using their car, then even less cars would be needed.

Robot cars can ‘see’ the world around them using radar, GPS, and cameras. A large internet company named Google has already created a working robotic car in 2009. Another car company, General Motors, has announced that they will be testing robot cars in the USA by 2015 and hope to have them for sale by 2018. Let’s hope that we can all have a safer, faster, more enjoyable future!

 

Vocabulary

 

1. autonomous        自主                2. Advantage           優點        3. Crash           崩潰

4. parking                停車                5. Reduce                        減少

6. Air pollution        空氣污染        7. share           股                    8. Radar          雷達

9. Announce            公佈

 

 

 

 

Questions

( B ) 1. What way will a robotic car NOT help us?

(A) Safer roads.                                               (B) Better food.

(C) Less air pollution.                                      (D) Easier parking.

 

( C ) 2. How do autonomous cars ‘see’ the world around them?

(A) The driver tells them.                               (B) A child tells them.

(C) Radar, GPS, and cameras.                         (D) Radar, GPS, and magic.

 

( B ) 3. When may you be able to buy yourself an autonomous car?

(A) In 2012.                                                     (B) In 2018.

(C) In 2013.                                                     (D) In 2015.

Lin-Bending new words

 

Jeremy Lin is the newest basketball star to get so much attention from people all over the world. He is the first Taiwanese-American basketball player in the NBA. His name has been written so many times that new, clever ways of saying it are popular with news writers in America so that stories about him stay interesting. For example, the story of his rise is seen as a “Linderella (Cinderella) story”. Many people find his story “Linplausible” (implausible), or even “Linpossible” (impossible) to believe. But most people find his story to be Linsational (sensational).

Nobody is sure if any of these nicknames or expressions will last for very long. Some people think his fame may be “gone in a Linute” (minute), but most think he will be around as basketball rises, particularly across Asia, as the exciting sport that everyone in the world loves to play. Already, the “Global Language Monitor” a group which tracks language use in print media, has declared “Linsanity” (insanity) to have officially entered the English language now that it has reached 25 000 citations across the English writing world, a measure of the attention he gets.

One thing is for sure, everybody’s ‘linning’ (winning) when they get to see this amazing Taiwanese- American player play basketball with the best basketball players in the world.

 

Vocabulary

Clever              聰明                implausible   難以置信       sensational      轟動的

‘Gone in a minute’  “飄在一分鐘”

fame        名譽                particularly     尤其

Print media     印刷媒體        insanity            精神錯亂        citation            引用

 

Questions

 

(C) 1. What sport does Jeremy Lin make money playing?

(A) Soccer                (B) Baseball             (C) Basketball          (D) Table Tennis

 

(D) 2. How many people must use a new word before it officially becomes recorded by “The Global Language Monitor” ?

(A) One hundred.                                    (B) Twenty five times ten.

(C) Two thousand five hundred.              (D) Twenty five thousand.

 

(B) 3. Where do Jeremy Lin’s parents come from?

(A) China.                        (B) Taiwan               (C) Canada              (D) USA

I figure I should post some of the articles I spend down-time writing here for posterity. Perhaps one day someone will want to use them to teach ESL students if they don’t get published by the company I currently work for.

I figure I will see how well google translate works for some of the keywords that aren’t in the public English books.

Any feedback from Mandarin speakers re: mistranslation of words is welcome. I blame Google translate and my lack of typing ability in Mandarin (and my semi-lack of patience to bother learning typing it). So in advance, this is my apology if the word translation isn’t accurate. I do try to control the vocab and keep it limited to what Ss in Taiwan learn in the school system (at least the 1200 govt’ required words + whatever the Nani textbooks toss in.) So it shouldn’t be too hard for students, but hopefully both Ss and teachers will find the articles interesting. I spend time defining words that are outside that boundary list.

-Matt Clark.

This is an article I am writing- it is the first edit. I fully know I won’t be allowed to publish my funny/sick bits near the end, but I figured I will post it here because it amuses me.

Valentine’s Day

The celebration of Valentines Day on February 14^th, is a day with an interesting history. These days, it is a celebration of romantic love. In the past, it was merely a day that at most, a religious dinner that noted the religious sacrifice of several men who were named “Valentine,” for the Catholic church. Valentines’ Day was also often perceived as approximately the ‘first’ day of spring in medieval European literature. The English poet, Chaucer wrote about birds choosing their mates on this day in 1381. Before this poem was written, there was no association with romantic love on this day.

After Chaucer wrote of St. Valentines’ day being the day that birds will choose their mates, the earliest Valentine card written was a love letter of an imprisoned French nobleman to his wife, after his capture at the battle of Agincourt in the 15^th century. Almost 500 years after Chaucer, it became quite fashionable for young members of the French and English royal court to send hand-written love notes to each other in the era of the 1840s to the 1870’s that they called “Valentines,” to amuse themselves and to express their romantic interest in one another. This tradition expired for many decades, and was renewed in the 1920’s by the publishing industry seeking a new way to profit using pre-written romantic poems mass produced using the printing press.

These days, a card that expresses a romantic interest in another is termed a “Valentine.” A card publishing industry has appeared based on selling people pre-made love poems to show the person they desire a token of their interest on this date. Most modern Valentines’ day cards are impersonal greeting cards with stock poems that elementary school teachers will require their students to give one another, to follow the ‘tradition’. Some people will even give the object of their affections gifts of chocolate or jewelry with their cards. Valentines’ day is a nice way to show somebody you have a romantic interest in them without embarrassing yourself too much because, well, everybody looks stupid together on this day. Some business owners love Valentines’ Day, because it increases their short-term profit for the month and they often try to encourage young men to spend more money on this day to publicly compete for the demonstration of their interest towards the lucky women who receive their (often unwanted) gifts. The restaurant industry loves this day, as it allows them to overcharge for a ‘private’ dinner for two people who are surrounded by crowds of other people eating ‘privately’ together and making sure they are seen ‘privately’ spending time with their trophy/object of desire; the condom industry also loves this day as many people who are fortunate spend money on their products prior to this day. Valentines Day is unfortunately terrifying to environmentalists, street cleaners, and recycling pick up workers due to the wasteful packaging of discarded cards and chocolate wrappers littered in parks and schoolyards after this day.

 

 

 

http://hilobrow.com/2011/11/04/douglas-rushkoff/

Basically it is a summary of how capitalism has been fucking us for centuries and finally has nowhere else to go. It is at its apex; there is no value to be milked from the masses anymore.

Now it collapses. And he suggests some alternative ways we can exist other than the treadmill.

 

 

 

 

 

I will pass on an email I created after reading a common mistake being taught in our tests…. It drives me batshit insane.

Email concerning incorrect usage of ‘much’

 

I saw this on a test today and I often see it taught incorrectly in Taiwan while I was teaching. Lets cut it off at the source: US:

 

“I drink much milk everyday.”

MUCH is not a correct or acceptable answer.

 

From my textbook:

-Much is not usually used in affirmative statements. Use “a lot of” instead.

Correct: This recipe has a lot of sugar in it.

Incorrect: This recipe has much sugar in it.

(p 266, Grammar Sense 2, Susan Kesner Bland, Oxford University Press, 2004.)

 

When used as a determiner with non count nouns they should be non count nouns; and usually is used in a negative or depressing sentence.

 

There isn’t much danger.

I don’t see much of a difference.

That gives the president too much power!

There is so much hardship in the world.

 

If you use it with something you can touch in a positive way it needs another helper… the as… as… pattern gets used with ‘much’…

-I want as much money as possible.

-I drink as much milk as I can.

 

I hope this helps everyone!