2015年10月22日 星期四

Western Literature(Week5)

The Greek goddess of chaos, strife, and discord. Her name is the equivalent of Latin Discordia, which means "discord". Eris' Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Latin counterpart is Concordia. Homer equated her with the war-goddess Enyo, whose Roman counterpart is Bellona. The dwarf planet Eris is named after the goddess, as is the religion Discordianism.

Eris Antikensammlung Berlin F1775.jpg

The personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods. She is also known as one of the goddesses of the sea and the sky. Iris links the gods to humanity. She travels with the speed of wind from one end of the world to the other, and into the depths of the sea and the underworld.

Iris is frequently mentioned as a divine messenger in the Iliad which is attributed to Homer, but does not appear in his Odyssey, where Hermes fills that role. Like Hermes, Iris carries a caduceus or winged staff. By command of Zeus, the king of the gods, she carries an ewer of water from the River Styx, with which she puts to sleep all who perjure themselves.

Guerin Pierre Narcisse - Morpheus and Iris 1811.jpg

  • Writing system

1) cuneiform script:One of the earliest systems of writing.It was on clay tablets and in cuneiform script that the great Sumerian epic poem Gilgamesh was written down.

2) hieroglyphic:The writing system is invented by Egyptians. It is an adjective formed from the Greek words for "sacred"and "carving."It combines logographic and alphabetic elements. Its most conspicuous and continuous use is for inscriptions carved on temple walls and public monuments.

3) Phoenician alphabet:The Phoenician alphabet consisted of twenty-two simple signs for consonantal sounds. Through trade, the Phoenician script spread all over the Mediterranean.

  • Three ancient cultures

1) Hebrews




  • Monotheism: It is defined by the Encyclopædia Britannica as belief in the existence of one god or in the oneness of God. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church gives a more restricted definition: "belief in one personal and transcendent God", as opposed to polytheism and pantheism.


2) Greeks
  • Hellenes: The origin of the people who eventually called themselves Hellenes.

    Peloponnesian war alliances 431 BC.png
  • Peloponnesian war:name of the conflict between Athens and Sparta that broke out in 431 and continued, with an interruption, until 404. Athens was forced to dismantle its empire. The war however, was not decisive, because within a decade, the defeated city had regained its strength. The significance of the conflict is that the divided Greeks could not prevent the Persian Empire from recovering their Asian possessions. Besides, this violent quarter of a century had important social, economic, and cultural consequences.  

3) Romans
  • Carthage:a city in Tunisia that was once the center of the ancient Carthaginian civilization. The city developed from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC into the capital of an ancient empire.  The city of Carthage is located on the eastern side of Lake Tunis across from the centre of Tunis. According to Greek historians, Carthage was founded by Canaanite-speaking Phoenician colonists from Tyre (in modern Lebanon) under the leadership of Queen Elissa or Dido. It became a large and rich city and thus a major power in the Mediterranean. The resulting rivalry with Syracuse, Numidia, and Rome was accompanied by several wars with respective invasions of each other's homeland.
Dido  Queen of Carthage




Statuia lui Ovidiu.jpg

    







2015年10月20日 星期二

Western Literature(Week4)

 A characteristic of Homer's style is the use of epithets, it is a tag or nickname that can be used on its own or together with the real name, depending on other features of the Greek language.Such as "swift-footed" Achilles.
"into the middle things", it is a narrative technique in which a story opens in the middle or end rather than the beginning.
 the founder of the Roman Empire and its first Emperor, ruling from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The reign of Augustus initiated an era of relative peace known as the Pax Romana (The Roman Peace).

 

 

a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald.The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession for the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan.

F Scott Fitzgerald 1921.jpg
F.Scott Fitzgerald
Gatsby 1925 jacket.gif

  • Prefix/Root/Suffix

com-:with ; together

combat (v.) to fight or contend against; oppose vigorously
example: He resolved to combat with his bad habits.

compose (v.) to make or form by combining things, parts, or elements
example: Tina composed his speech from many research notes.


-vok-:to call

provoke (v.) to anger, enrage, exasperate, or vex
example: If you provoke th dog, it may bit you.

evoke (v.) to call up or produce (memories, feelings, etc.)
example: That old movie evoked memories of my childhood.

ad-:to ; toward

adopt (v.) to choose or take as one's own; make one's own by selection or assent
example: The plan was adopted after some discussion.


adventure (v.) to take the risk involvedexample: No man w ould adventure it.

  • Vocabulary

pyre (n.) a funeral for burning a dead body
example: The glow of funeral pyre slowly dies by the river.

outrageous (adj.) feeling shameful / violent in action or temper
example: Some of his suggestions is outrageous.

 

2015年10月17日 星期六

English Vocabulary and Etymology(Week4)

Prefix/Root /Suffix


syn/sym-:with ; together


sympathy (n.) the feeling of compassion
example:I have much sympathy for her poor life.


synchronize (v.) to (cause to) happen at the same time
example: The show was designed so that the lights synchronized with the music


*SARS: severe acute respiratory syndrome


-path-:feeling


pathetic (adj.) the feeling of sadness, sympathy 
eample: The refugees are pathetic.


-odor-:smell ; scent


deodorize (v.) to rid of odor, especially unpleasant odor
example: We deodorized the room with the freshener. 


e-:out

eliminate (v.) remove or take away
example: I eliminate cockroaches with the pesticide.


evacuate (v.) move people from a dangerous place to somewhere safe
example: The fireman evacuate people from the burning house.


-chant-:curse


enchantress (n.) a woman with magical power
example: The enchantress is always a villain in the story.


bi-:two

bicycle (n.) a kind of transportation with two wheels
example: I ride bicycle to the bookstore.


bilingual (adj.) (of a person) able to use two languagesor(of a thing)using two languages
example: This is a bilingual dictiontary.


dis-:negative

disable (adj.) make someone unable or weak or destroy the capability
example:She is disabled in this accident.
 
disagree (v.) to not have the same opinion ; not agree
example: I disagree with you on this issue.


-itis:inflammation


arthritis (n.) acute or chronic inflammation of a joint
example: My grandfather has arthritis.


sinusitis (n.) inflammation of sinuses(hollow spaces in the bones of the face)
example: My teacher has severe sinusitis.


gastritis (n.) inflammation of stomach
example: I am suffering from grastritis.

*-ly ---> adjective
example:friendly ; lovely ; elderly ; deadly

Vocabulary

tailored (adj.)  a piece of clothing is shaped to fit a person's body closely
example: This is your tailored custume.

administration (n.)  the arrangements and tasks needed to control a operation of a plan or a organization
example: We have already made a administration for our vacation.

candid (adj.) frank ; fair
example: This is a candid decision.

Fatal woman

A femme fatale is a stock character of a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art. Her ability to entrance and hypnotise her victim with a spell was in the earliest stories seen as being literally supernatural; hence, the femme fatale today is still often described as having a power akin to an enchantress, seductress, vampire, witch, or demon, having power over men.
The phrase is French for "fatal woman". A femme fatale tries to achieve her hidden purpose by using feminine wiles such as beauty, charm, and sexual allure. In some situations, she uses lies or coercion rather than charm. She may also make use of some subduing weapon such as sleeping gas, a modern analog of magical powers in older tales. She may also be (or imply that she is) a victim, caught in a situation from which she cannot escape; The Lady from Shanghai (a 1947 film noir) is one such

example.




















    Example: Salome            
In the New Testament, Gospel of Mark 6:15-29 and Gospel of Matthew 14:1-12, the story of Salome is told: her stepfather, Herod Antipas, asked her to dance for him at a banquet, and promised her anything she asked for in return. Prompted by her mother, Herodias, who had been angered that St. John the Baptist had criticized her marriage, Salome asked for the head of St. John the Baptist.





2015年10月5日 星期一

English Vocabulary and Etymology(week3)

  • How languages evolve-Alex Gendler


A story told in the Book of Genesis of the Tanakh (also referred to as the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament) meant to explain the origin of different languages.
According to the story, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar
There they agreed to build a city and tower; seeing this, God confounded their speech so that they could no longer understand each other and scattered them around the world.
After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation is a comprehensive study of the subject of language and translation. It is both a controversial and seminal work  that covers a great deal of new ground and has remained the most thorough book on this topic since its publication.
  • How to learn any language in six months

 
 
* 4 important words
  1. Memory
  2. Attention
  3. Meaning
  4. Relevance
* 5 principles
  1.  focus on language content that is relevant to you
  2. use your new language as a tool to communicate from day 1
  3. when you first UNDERSTAND the MESSAGE, you will unconsiously ACQUIRE the Language
  4.  learning language is not about knowledge, but Physiological Training
  5.  psycho-physiological STATE Matters
 * 7 actions 
  1.  Listen A LOT = Brain Soaking
  2.  Focus on getting the meaning FIRST (before the words)
  3.  start mixing
  4. focus on the core
  5.  get a language parent
  6. copy the face
  7. DIRECT CONNECT to Mental Images
  • Prefix/Root/Suffix

di-:two ; twice ; doudle

divorce (v.) the couple end their marriage
example:Tom and Helen divorced last month.

divide (v.) ​separate into ​parts or ​groups
example: After the Second World War Germany was divided into two ​separate ​countries.

-gen-/-gene-:birth ; begining

generation (n.) all the ​people of about the same ​age within a ​society or within a ​particular ​family
example: My parents and I have generation gap.

photogenic (adj.) having a face that looks attractive in photographs
example: Pony is photogenic in this photo.

eu-/euph-:good ; well

euphoric (adj.) extremely happy and excited
example: I have a euphoric mood when I win the game.

sub-:under

subsidize (v.) to pay part of the cost of something
example: The ​refugees ​live in subsidized ​housing ​provided by the ​authorities.

Western Literature(Week3)

alt textThe goddess Eris(the goddess of Discord) wasn't invited to the wedding of the Thessaly king Peleus and the sea-nymph Thetis . She was angry. She tossed in the midst of the feast of the gods at the wedding as a prize of beauty, thus sparking a vanity-fueled dispute among Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite that eventually led to the Trojan War .

  • Achilles' heel

Meaning:a fatal weakness

origin:In Greek mythology, when Achilles was a baby, it was foretold that he would die young. To prevent his death, his mother Thetis took Achilles to the River Styx, which was supposed to offer powers of invulnerability, and dipped his body into the water. But as Thetis held Achilles by the heel, his heel was not washed over by the water of the magical river. Achilles grew up to be a man of war who survived many great battles. But one day, a poisonous arrow shot at him was lodged in his heel, killing him shortly after.

  • The origin of four seasons

Ceres(Rome:Demeter): the goddess of agriculture

Persepone(Rome:Cora): the daughter of Ceres/the wife of Hades

Hades(Rome:Pluto): the god of the underworld

  Story: Demeter's virgin daughter Persephone was abducted to the underworld by Hades. Demeter searched for her ceaselessly, preoccupied with her loss and her grief. The seasons halted; living things ceased their growth, then began to die. Faced with the extinction of all life on earth, Zeus sent his messenger Hermes to the underworld to bring Persephone back. Hades agreed to release her if she had eaten nothing while in his realm; but Persephone had eaten a small number of pomegranate seeds. This bound her to Hades and the underworld for certain months of every year.When Persephone's time in the underworld corresponds with the unfruitful seasons, and her return to the upper world with springtime.

Pomegranate DSW.JPG
*Pomegranate:a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between 5 and 8 m (16 and 26 ft) tall.


  •  Plot