Monthly Archives: July 2011
‘Why am I still teaching?’: New episode on my Teachers’ Stories podcast
http://paulsze.podomatic.com/player/web/2011-07-28T00_31_25-07_00
“Why am I still teaching?”
Why do I want to teach? Each year, I interview dozens of candidates who apply to the Faculty’s two initial teacher training programmes: the B.Ed., and the PGDE. Most of the applicants have never taught before. During the interviews, they … Continue reading
Mr Leung Chun Ying’s response to my challenge
Mr Leung Chun Ying replied to my message last night. To be fair to him, I copy his response below, and let you, the reader, judge the validity of his arguments: === Dear Mr Sze Many thanks for sharing your … Continue reading
Dear Mr Leung: I don’t question your views; I question your integrity
The following is a message I sent to Mr Leung Chun Ying’s website tonight. I have to copy my message below, because messages written to him through his website will not show therein. === Dear Mr Leung It is not … Continue reading
Teaching as vocation
Why would anyone want to become a teacher today? The workload is backbreaking; the enthusiasm to teach could be dampened by hundreds of chores unrelated to teaching; parents could be critical and unsupportive; the distorted ecology of education could turn … Continue reading
中英對談：動詞結構
(Published in Ming Pao, June 30, 2011: http://life.mingpao.com/cfm/language3.cfm?File=20110630/language03/a01.txt) 【明報專訊】“Ben﹕最近內地有藝術家「被失蹤」，這當然是網民的創意說法，但英文有沒有相類似的講法？” “Paul﹕直譯的說法是is/was disappeared*，但恐怕會被認為是錯誤而不是創意。” ■中文 動詞的結構與搭配問題從來都是學習語言的一大難題。有學生告訴我，她的表弟是加拿大出生的香港人，有次表弟的媽媽想他多說點粵語，叫他把I’ll wake you up用粵語講，他說道：「我起你身*。」跟地道的說法「我叫你起身」比較，「起你身」破壞了動賓結構「起身」只可給詞尾分隔的原則，例如「起鰦身」， 「鰦」是動詞詞尾。很明顯，表弟不懂這分隔原則，而把wake you up直譯過來。另外，既然「起身」不能給名詞分隔，換言之，是個不及物或不帶動賓詞詞組，所以便需要加「叫」這及物動詞組成「我叫你起身」。 上文談結構，現在談搭配。很多時，新聞報道是這樣說的﹕「人質被處決。」驟眼看沒什麼問題，但細想一下，「人質」是無辜的，而「處決」是把犯嚴重罪行的人處死，兩詞組一併，就是把沒有犯嚴重罪行的、無辜的人質處死，顯然邏輯不太通，所以較理想的說法是「人質被殺死」。 ──香港中文大學中國語文及文學系 高級導師歐陽偉豪博士（Ben） ■英文 英文動詞的性質分得很清楚，一個動詞可以是及物動詞（transitive verb），例如want和get；可以是不及物動詞（intransitive verb），例如sleep和stroll；也可以同時具備兩種詞性，例如play和read。但除了基本詞性外，每一動詞都需要用於特定句式，let和 allow意思幾乎相同，但我們可以說The teacher allowed the students to take a break，卻不能說The teacher let the students to … Continue reading
