As Milton Friedman (who Sandel dismisses without engaging) once noted, “no one who buys bread knows whether the wheat from which it is made was grown by a Communist or a Republican, by a constitutionalist or a Fascist, or, for that matter, by a Negro or a white.
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Bernard English
Online English Tutor/Teacher
- Native Speaker of American English Conversation practice. Chatting or in-depth discussion of news articles. TOEFL-IELTS practice / CV, SOP, journal paper, essay revision 英語家教 彈性排課, 免通勤, 托福, 職場英文, 履歷/論文修改…等。 請看我的學生推薦信。
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email: bernard.english@gmail.com
Saturday, August 27, 2022
Book Review: What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets by Tom G. Palmer SOURCE: The Cato Institute
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
New Rule: Make the Mall Great Again | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
Friday, March 12, 2021
Saudi Arabia's wants to build a 105-mile-long 'Line' city in the desert By Stephanie Pappas FROM Live Science
Friday, December 25, 2020
1982 THROWBACK: "VALLEY GIRLS" from CBS News and Hezakya Newz & Films
Language Dossier gives lots of examples of Valspeak, most of which have faded away. But at least three annoying variations have made it around the world, unfortunately also to Taipei:
1. totally 2. like 3. so
Listen to a CBS News clip interviewing some Valley Girls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIOocUQkfzk
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Report On Donald Trump Taxes Begs The Question: Who Is Paying Trump? | The Last Word | MSNBC
How Social Media Have Changed Campus Climate by Ilana Redstone and John Villasenor FROM reason.com
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
David R. Williams · TEDMED 2016 How racism makes us sick FROM TED Talk
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Egypt to give Saudi Arabia two Red Sea islands FROM Al Jazeera
Sunday, December 4, 2011
7 Tips to Know If You're Boring Someone by Gretchen Rubin FROM Psychology Today
Monday, May 24, 2010
howjsay.com (words pronounced)
Saturday, February 20, 2010
A free online Talking Dictionary of English Pronunciation [British English] by Tim Bowyer
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Annoying Words By MICHAEL HILL FROM Associated Press
"The popular slacker term of indifference was found 'most annoying in conversation' by 47 percent of Americans surveyed in a Marist College poll released Wednesday."
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Oxford Researchers List Top 10 Most Annoying Phrases By Charlotte Bailey FROM The Telegraph
1 - At the end of the day
The article mistakenly says that the word synergy began as office lingo. It was actually coined by the American sociologist Lester F. Ward (1841-193), though its meaning has changed. He coined lots of others too, but this is probably his most successful neologism.
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science
Thursday, August 14, 2008
How to think faster, better on your feet FROM CNN
Life coach Gail Blanke went to acting school to learn to improvise in any situation. Turns out the tricks that actors use on stage can help you score a date, land a job -- or just make any conversation more engaging.There's no getting around it. We live in an unscripted world. You can rehearse in front of a mirror till the cows come home -- for that job interview, for that meeting where you're expected to speak, for the moment when you finally walk up to that very attractive guy at the gym and introduce yourself. But the minute there's another person involved, the script goes out the window. If you mean to make an impression, you have to be able to think on your feet, hurl yourself into the moment, and improvise.
How? Well, obviously, some people are simply naturals. To help the rest of us develop some techniques, I turned to the professionals.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Inogolo: English Pronunciation Guide to the Names of People, Places, and Stuff
Friday, June 6, 2008
What American accent do you have?
To most Americans, an accent is something that only other people have, those other people usually being in New York, Boston, and the South. And of those other people, half of the ones you meet will swear they "don't have an accent."
Well, strictly speaking, the only way to not have an accent is to not speak. If you're from anywhere in the USA you have an accent (which may or may not be the accent of the place you're from). Go through this short quiz and you'll find out just which accent that is.
Friday, November 2, 2007
How to Pronounce -ed in English
How to Pronounce -ed in English
The past simple tense and past participle of all regular verbs end in -ed. For example:
base verb (v1) | past simple (v2) | past participle (v3) |
---|---|---|
work | worked | worked |
In addition, many adjectives are made from the past participle and so end in -ed. For example:
- I like painted furniture.
The question is: How do we pronounce the -ed?
The answer is: In 3 ways - / Id/ or / t/ or / d/
If the base verb ends in one of these sounds: | example base verb*: | example with -ed: | pronounce the -ed: | extra syllable? | |
unvoiced | /t/ | want | wanted | / Id/ | yes |
voiced | /d/ | end | ended | ||
unvoiced | /p/ | hope | hoped | / t/ | no |
/f/ | laugh | laughed | |||
/s/ | fax | faxed | |||
/S/ | wash | washed | |||
/tS/ | watch | watched | |||
/k/ | like | liked | |||
voiced | all other sounds, for example... | play | played | / d/ | |
allow | allowed | ||||
beg | begged |
* note that it is the sound that is important, not the letter or spelling. For example, "fax" ends in the letter "x" but the sound /s/; "like" ends in the letter "e" but the sound /k/.
Exceptions
The following -ed words used as adjectives are pronounced with /Id/:
|
|
|
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Amir Khan - The 'You know what I mean' interview
Don't sound like this guy by repeatedly saying "You know what I mean."
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Some Suggestions for Speaking on the Phone
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/CD018
[Also] pay attention to your vocal quality , consisting of rate, pitch, volume, clarity, and tone . Is your voice rate too fast or too slow? The average speech rate is 140 words per minute. Fast talkers come across as untrustworthy or too busy to talk. Callers may think of slow talkers as mentally slow. Pitch is the highness or lowness of your voice. High-pitched talkers tend to grate on people's nerves, while low-pitched talkers sound mechanical, almost robotic. Volume is how loud or soft you talk. Loud people are perceived as brash, overbearing; soft speakers are seen as shy, wimpy. Clarity takes in how your words are understood. Do you articulate your words, or do you slur them together? A problem in the South is dropping end consonants ("droppin'" for "dropping") or mispronouncing some words ("git" for "get"). Lastly, tone is the expressiveness in your voice. It makes up 38 percent of the communication message, so make it count. Be expressive.
vocal quality: 聲音的品質
rate: 率
pitch: 高/低音
volume: 音量
clarity: 清晰
tone: 音調
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Using the Phonetic Alphabet to Spell Words
Letter | Pronunciation | Letter | Pronunciation |
A | Alpha (AL fah) | N | November (no VEM ber) |
B | Bravo (BRAH VOH) | O | Oscar (OSS cah) |
C | Charlie (CHAR lee) | P | Papa (pah PAH) |
D | Delta (DELL tah) | Q | Quebec (keh BECK) |
E | Echo (ECK oh) | R | Romeo (ROW me oh) |
F | Foxtrot (FOKS trot) | S | Sierra (see AIR rah) |
G | Golf (GOLF) | T | Tango (TANG go) |
H | Hotel (hoh TELL) | U | Uniform (YOU nee form) |
I | India (IN dee ah) | V | Victor (VIK tah) |
J | Juliet (JEW lee ETT) | W | Whiskey (WISS key) |
K | Kilo (KEY loh) | X | X Ray (ECKS RAY) |
L | Lima (LEE mah) | Y | Yankee (YANG key) |
M | Mike (MIKE) | Z | Zulu (ZOO loo) |
The above table can be used to avoid misunderstandings when spelling words.
For example the name Smith would be spelled as follows:
S as in Sierra.
M as in Mike.
I as in India.
T as in Tango.
H as in Hotel.
If pilots feel this is a useful tool, ESL speakers shouldn't hesitate to use it when communicating important information. Americans also often use A as in Apple, S as in Susan, and others. The table is the more "official" guide.
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