Music legend Michael Jackson dies
Source: 26th June 2009, BBC Music legend (傳說, 傳奇人物) Michael Jackson has died at the age of 50, after suffering a cardiac arrest (心臟突然停頓) at his home. Jackson, who had a history of health problems, had been due to (=arranged or expected to) stage (舉行)a series of comeback concerts in the UK in July. 但也有其他情況,如:(1) She needs more friends of her own age (同齡的朋友). (2) children from 5 -10 years of age (五至十歲的小童) * Young people of all ages (任何年齡的年青人) go there to meet. Paramedics (醫護人員) had been called to the Beverly Hills mansion Michael Jackson had been renting whilst he prepared for a series of fifty sold-out shows in London next month. vain指「徒然」、「落空」,故in a vain attempt to便變成「無法」、「嘗試失敗」之意。 (1) Michael was taken to the hospital. (2) Hundreds of fans have maintained (1) + (2) Michael was taken to the hospital and hundreds of fans have maintained a vigil outside it. Advanced (1) + (2): Hundreds of fans have maintained a vigil outside the hospital to which he was taken.
分析:
- at the age of , age常用at做preposition,例如: He left school at the age of 18.
- lift有舉起之意,電梯就是把你舉起,airlift即空運
- carry out是很常用的動詞片語,即「執行」、「實行」、「落實」,例如: to carry out a promise / a threat / a plan / an order (落實/實踐承諾、計劃等);to carry out an inquiry / an investigation / a survey (進行調查、進行研究等,但請留意,只有劣質中文才常用「進行」,很多時都不用直譯英文的「進行」。)
- 留意mansion和Michael之間隱藏了relative pronoun that,嚴格的英文應用where,但今日很多時用that代替。
-為何用had been called (Past Perfect Tense),想必是因為之前已交代米高的死亡,而救護員被召是先於米高死亡,故可用had been called。
- whilst = while,留意時式的運用,這不容易明白,需慢慢思考。
- sold-out以past participle加hyphen合併而成形容詞,在英文很常見。
The singer's brother Jermain told a news conference that after they failed to resuscitate (救醒,使…復甦) him, Jackson was transferred to a nearby hospital where a team of doctors worked for more than an hour in a vain attempt to revive him.
- 不是見after(即有先後的過去動作)便要用past perfect,因為after/before已很清楚表達了時序,所以也可用past tense,尤其fail這用表達狀態的動詞,用上past perfect表「完成狀態」顯得更怪。
-in an attempt to是常見片語,指「嘗試」,例如:Two factories were closed in an attempt to cut costs (兩間廠房給關掉,以節省成本)。
- revive也是「使…復甦」,與resuscitate近似,後者語氣較嚴謹。
Only a few hours earlier Michael Jackson had been rehearsing at a local sports stadium, but concerns about his fitness for the concert tour had already begun to circulate, amid reports that he was looking frail (虛弱).
- frail形容人是指虛弱,形容物時指脆弱,例如the frail stems of the flowers
Hundreds of fans have maintained a vigil (守護, 守夜) outside the hospital to which he was taken, some to mourn his passing, others to celebrate his music.
- 報導時,fans仍然為Michael守夜,故用Present Perfect – 在過去發生的動作,跟現在還有關係。
- celebrate, 這裏並非「慶祝」,是「讚頌」、「歌頌」
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