2015年9月29日 星期二

English Vocabulary and Etymology(Week2)

  • Prefix/Root/Suffix

pre-:before

predict (v.) to say that an event or action will happen in the future
example:I predict that it will rain tomorrow.

prepare (v.) to make or get something or someone ​ready for something that will ​happen in the ​future.
example:I am preapring the test now.

con-:together/with


conclude (v.) to end a speech, meeting or piece of writing.
example:We concluded ourmeeting at 9 o'clock. 
 



ann-:year

annual (adj.) happening once every year, or relating to a period of one year
example:Employees are entitled to an annual paid leave of fifteen days.

anniversary (n.) the day on which an important event happened in a previous year.
example:Today is the anniversary of the day I married you.

ac-:take it

acknowledge (v.) to accept, admit or recognize something, or the truth or existence of something.
example:I acknowledge that her criticism is correct.

acquire (v.) to get something
example:I acquire knowledge from the teacher

mor-:death

mortify (v.) to make someone very ​embarrassed.
example:The teacher was mortified by his own inability to answer such a simple question.

English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the fifth century, are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England. Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London and the King James Bible as well as the Great Vowel Shift.Through the worldwide influence of the British Empire, modern English spread around the world from the 17th to mid-20th centuries.


*French(word)+Anglo-Saxon(grammar)=English

  • Three Important Person

1.William Caxton
William caxton.jpg An English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer. He is thought to be the first English person to work as a printer and the first to introduce a printing press into England, which he did in 1476.He was also the first English retailer of printed books.

2.King James I
James I of England by Daniel Mytens.jpgKing James Bible is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611. In 1612, the first King James Version using Roman Type was issued. This quarto version is only second to the 1611 folio KJV.In January 1604, James I convened the Hampton Court Conference where a new English version was conceived in response to the perceived problems of the earlier translations as detected by the Puritans, a faction within the Church of England.


3.Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson by Joshua Reynolds.jpg An English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755. It had a far-reaching effect on Modern English and has been described as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship". This work brought Johnson popularity and success. Until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary 150 years later, Johnson's was viewed as the pre-eminent British dictionary.

*Dictionary:1806,Noah Webster wrote adictionary with new easier American spellings.

  • Vedio:What is literature for?

https://tw.voicetube.com/videos/21112


English Vocabulary and Etymology (Week1)

a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) which have similar grammatical properties.


 

 Cupid and Psyche is a story from the Latin novel Metamorphoses, also known as The Golden Ass, written in the 2nd century AD by Apuleius. It concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psyche (/ˈsk/, Greek: Ψυχή, "Soul" or "Breath of Life") and Cupid (Latin Cupido, "Desire") or Amor ("Love", Greek Eros ’′Ερως), and their ultimate union in a sacred marriage.



  • Vedio:The History Of English in 10 Minutes

 
  • Prefix/Root/Suffix

de-:down/away from
 
depreciate (v.) to (​cause something to) ​lose ​value, ​especially over ​time
example:Our ​car depreciated by $1,500 in the first ​year we ​owned it.
 
decline (v.) to ​gradually ​become less, ​worse, or ​lower
example:His ​interest in the ​project declined after his ​wife ​died.
 
-itis-:Inflammation
 
arthritis (n.) a serious condition in which a person's joints become painful, swollen and stiff
example:In later life she was crippled with arthritis.
 
-meter:measure
 
thermometer (n.) a ​device used for ​measuring ​temperature
example:I bought a new thermometer yesterday.
 
hydrometer (n.) a piece of equipment used to measure the density
example:This hydrometer is broken.



Western Literature(Week2)

Prefix/Root/Suffix

e-: out of    example: eliminate ; evacuate


dia-: through    example: dialogue ; dialect ; diagnosis ; diameter


de-: down/away from    example: depature ; decline ; depreciate


mono-: one   example: monoatomic ; monocrap ; monochroic


-the-: God    example: atheist ; theism


-ploy-: many   example: ploygamy ; monoploy


-rium/-eum: room    example: Aquarium ; museum ; equilibrium


-spect-: to look    example: spector ; inspect ; perspective


audi-: to listen    example: auditorium


a/ab-: no    example: amoral ; aboriginal

In Greek mythology, Atreus was a king of Mycenae in the Peloponnese, the son of Pelops and Hippodamia, and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. Collectively, his descendants are known as Atreidai or Atreidae.
Atreus and his twin brother Thyestes were exiled by their father for murdering their half-brother Chrysippus in their desire for the throne of Olympia. They took refuge in Mycenae, where they ascended to the throne in the absence of King Eurystheus, who was fighting the Heracleidae. Eurystheus had meant for their stewardship to be temporary, but it became permanent after his death in battle.


 A mythical Greek king of Thebes, the son and killer of Laius, son and consort of Jocasta, and father and sibling of Polynices, Eteocles, Antigone, and Ismene. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus accidentally fulfilled the prophecy, despite his efforts not to, that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family. When the truth was discovered, his wife-mother hanged herself, and Oedipus gouged out his own eyes. They had four children together. The story of Oedipus is the subject of Sophocles's tragedy Oedipus the King, which was followed by Oedipus at Colonus and then Antigone. Together, these plays make up Sophocles's three Theban plays. Oedipus represents two enduring themes of Greek myth and drama: the flawed nature of humanity and an individual's role in the course of destiny in a harsh universe.







*extra:Oedipus complex
the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrates upon a child's desire to have sexual relations with the parent of the opposite sex (i.e. males attracted to their mothers, and females attracted to their fathers).

The goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, mathematics, strength, war strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Minerva is the Roman goddess identified with Athena. Athena is known for her calm temperament, as she moves slowly to anger. She is noted to have only fought for just reasons, and would not fight without a purpose.

Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu.

 

  • Birth of God


Cronus sired several children by Rhea: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon, but swallowed them all as soon as they were born, since he had learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overthrown by his son as he had previously overthrown Uranus, his own father, an oracle that Rhea heard and wished to avert.
When Zeus was about to be born, Rhea sought Gaia to devise a plan to save him, so that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his own children. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Cronus a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallowed.

2015年9月23日 星期三

Western Literature(Week1)

 

 

A Greek lyric poet, born on the island of Lesbos. The Alexandrians included her in the list of nine lyric poets. She was born sometime between 630 and 612 BCE, and it is said that she died around 570 BCE, but little is known for certain about her life. The bulk of her poetry, which was well-known and greatly admired through much of antiquity, has been lost; however, her immense reputation has endured through surviving fragments.

 

The origin of Lesbian

A lesbian is a female homosexual; a female who experiences romantic love or sexual attraction to other females.The term lesbian is also used with regard to sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexuality or same-sex attraction.  

  • Hellenism 2004

  • Roman symbol

1--->I 
 5--->V
10--->X
50--->L
100--->C
500--->D
1000--->M
遇到 4,9(-)
Ex.4--->IV 
(4=5-1)
9--->IX
14--->XIV
90--->XC 
(90=100-10)
2015--->MMXV
 In Greek myths, Helen was considered the most beautiful woman in the world. By marriage she was Queen of Laconia, a province within Homeric Greece, the wife of King Menelaus. Her abduction by Paris, Prince of Troy, brought about the Trojan War. Elements of her putative biography come from classical authors such as Aristophanes, Cicero, Euripides and Homer (both The Iliad and The Odyssey).