TPS News

Dear TPS Fans,

非常感謝您對TPS「你按讚了沒！」活動的支持與參加，本活動已圓滿順利結束。
「你按讚了沒！」活動，是請所有喜愛TPS、熱愛英文的朋友與粉絲們，在過去2011這一年裡TPS所刊登的英文競賽與學術專欄中，勾選最多、最受大家喜愛的前三個項目中，各隨機抽出兩名幸運得主。TPS團隊已於本周抽出幸運得主，在此特別感謝賴O薇小姐與陳O吟小姐為抽獎過程進行公平見證。得獎的幸運得主將獲贈誠品書店/誠品商場的購物禮券，價值新台幣三百元。以下分別公布勾選最多的前三名項目與得獎者名單，我們將於5個工作天內將獎品寄出。

第一名：1. Spot the Error Contest 你是挑錯的高手嗎?
幸運得主：蔡政達、Hui-Ling Wu
最佳留言：
(1) 藉此提醒自己在寫作上哪些地方要避免出錯
(2) helped to pay attentions to words which caused confusion easily
(3) helped me to understand the consequences of making mistakes in writing
(4) really makes us think about the little mistakes that can make a difference when writing professionally
(5) 很有趣，非常富有挑戰性
(6) 可以訓練自己的觀察力

第二名：6. What does that mean? 你真的瞭解這個慣用語嗎?
幸運得主：徐翠雲、Anna Hsiao
最佳留言：
(1) 畢竟不是在英語環境中,所以不瞭解慣用語.
(2) 可以用在生活上
(3) 幫助自己了解慣用語該如何使用
(4) 知道慣用語的由來，學起來更能得心應手
(5) 在國外生活有幫助

第三名：8. 學術論文專欄-12個獲得學術認可的論文撰寫技巧
幸運得主：廖沛雅、李坤育
最佳留言：
(1) 正確書寫的原則與優勢
(2) 對於寫論文被接受的可能性非常有幫助
(3) 對大學生有幫助

恭禧以上六位幸運得主，也感謝所有參加的朋友與粉絲們給予本活動與TPS競賽/專欄的正面回饋與鼓勵。
過去一年裡，TPS努力耕耘學識專欄與創作英文競賽，一直以來獲得大家的鼓勵與回響。展望2012年，我們會繼續努力，將好知識分享給你們。好東西需要大家的支持與參與，TPS才能精益求進，推出更多更有趣的活動。期待大家的繼續參加，並呼籲所有喜愛英文的朋友與粉絲們，英文實力是需要挑戰與培養的，繼續燃燒你對英文的熱情吧！我們未來還有更多實用的知識專欄、富挑戰性的競賽與豐富的獎品，您一定不想錯過！

再次感謝大家的參與，敬祝大家 新年快樂、順心如意。


TPS Team

並非所有與學術議題相關的文章，就能稱之為「學術文章」。本篇專欄將節錄不同學術議題的內容，分析常見的寫作錯誤，並分享潤修與寫作的技巧。
Not all articles written on academic topics are written in proper academic English. In this "This is not academic writing" column we examine short excerpts from academic texts to illustrate common writing errors and explain how to correct them.

Unacceptable 不被認可的文章

“Fish have been a staple of man’s diet for at least 40,000 years; archaeologists have uncovered evidence from that long ago of ancient human consumption of the saltwater and freshwater fishes in eastern Asia. Methods of catching them through the millennia have ranged from skewering the fishes with spears to capturing them in submerged baskets. In ensuing centuries, the baskets changed into netting and the spears into hooks and lines, and most of the fishes changed into something else, too. One fish that didn’t change—the coelacanth—dates back about 360 million years. Occasionally a living specimen of the large fish with glowing green eyes is caught by unsuspecting fishermen.”

This passage gives a rudimentary introduction to the practice of fishing. Unfortunately, the writer displays only rudimentary understanding of language. A cliché—“a staple of man’s diet”—is more accurately and pleasingly stated this way: “eaten by humans.” The writer gets wordy—“skewering the fish with spears”—when a simple “spearing the fish” will do. It is unknown why the writer consistently uses the awkward-sounding “fishes” when “fish” is commonly accepted as the plural form of the word. And the modifier “about” is used inappropriately in “about 360 million years,” as if the writer is uncertain if it was 360 million years ago or, perhaps, just 359 and a half million years ago! What other questionable language usage do you see?
這段文章初步介紹捕魚的方法，很可惜，作者的寫作技巧也很初步。首先，與其用 “a staple of man’s diet”（人類的主食）這種陳腔濫調，不如用 “eaten by humans”（為人所食用）來得精確適當。而 “skewering the fish with spears”（用魚叉叉魚）也太囉嗦，簡單說 “spearing the fish”（叉魚）就可以了。此外，作者不知為何一直用 “fishes” 這個拗口的詞，通常 “fish” 即可當作複數名詞。此外 “about 360 million years”（約三億六千萬年）這裡 “about” 一詞也用得不恰當，作者是想確認到底是三億六千萬年前，還是只有三億五千九百五十萬年前嗎？你還看到其他有問題的用法嗎？

Acceptable 認可的文章

“Fish have been eaten by humans for at least 40,000 years; archaeologists have uncovered evidence from that long ago of ancient consumption of the saltwater and freshwater creatures by eastern Asian people. Methods of capture through the millennia have ranged from spearing the fish to enclosing them in submerged baskets. In ensuing centuries, the basketry evolved into netting and the spears into hook-and-line devices, and most of the fish evolved, too. One that hasn’t—the coelacanth—dates back 360 million years. Occasionally, a living specimen of the large fish with phosphorescent green eyes is hauled to the surface by startled fishermen.”

真正的學者不會竊取他人的想法，不過研究過程中，有時可能無意間侵占了其他研究者的想法或表達方式。本系列「避免抄襲的七大方法」提供訣竅，幫助你避免不小心冒用他人的心血結晶。每則訣竅將刊登在 TPS 專頁。
A true scholar is not a thief. Yet stealing another researcher’s ideas or method of expressing them sometimes happens inadvertently in the course of research. How to avoid accidentally passing off someone else’s work as your own is the subject of this series, “7 Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism.” Each of the tips will be presented on the TPS Fan page before being compiled with the others as a series.

Tip # 1 – Know plagiarism when you see it
方法一：了解何為剽竊

First of all, the assumption is that no true scholar wants credit for another scholar’s work. Such a desire nullifies any claim to being a scholar, after all, for a plagiarizer quite evidently has not learned enough to teach anyone anything. The root word of plagiary refers to kidnapping; there is no question that a plagiarist is a person trading in ill-gotten information. So every true researcher should be able to identify plagiarism and want to avoid it to ensure the integrity of a work.
首先，我們假設真正的學者不會侵占其他學者的心血，否則他就失去學者的資格；畢竟，如果一個人只會剽竊，他的學識必定不足以為人師。剽竊 (plagiary) 一詞的詞根意謂巧取豪奪，無疑地，剽竊者傳遞的知識都是以不正當的方式取得。因此，每個真正的研究者應該要能判別何為剽竊，並竭力避免，如此工作成果在道德誠信上才站得住腳。

Yet accidents happen. An academic project of any length has multiple entry points for inadvertent plagiarism by the most respected researcher. Such slip-ups—with the attendant embarrassment and professional penalties upon exposure—can be avoided if a researcher knows what constitutes plagiarism and maintains a guard against it. This presumes a scholar is not outright copying material or otherwise trafficking in forgery. For that, there is no hope.
不過，意外難免，一篇論文不論長短，即使由最德高望重的學者撰寫，也有許多機會在無意間造成剽竊；這種行為如果一旦揭露，不僅作者無地自容，還會遭到學術懲處。如果研究者知道何謂剽竊，並戒慎警惕，這種錯誤就可以避免。前提是，學者並非直接抄襲他人作品，也未大量使用捏造資料，因為這種行為是無藥可救的。

Plagiarism’s danger area for honest researchers is about fully giving credit. When credit for authorship is insufficiently accorded, a reader attributes to the writer something properly attributed to someone else. This can happen through incomplete quotations, or paraphrases that really are exact quotes, or from some other failure to fully identify a source. It is critical that a researcher separate original and borrowed ideas by clearly declaring the latter. Know your mind.
對誠實的研究者而言，剽竊最可能發生在未充分說明資料出處時。未充分註明出處，讀者可能把應歸功給原作者的內容歸功給其他人；這種情況包括引用不完全、應換句話說時卻照抄原文，或者未充分註明資料來源。研究者一定要分清自己原創的想法，與借用自他人的想法，若為借用，必須明確說明。你必須能掌握自己的思想。

Suggested answer: “After he entered the classroom building, the instructor strode the hallway like a captain patrolling a lower deck.”

To “stride” is to take long steps, a physical act that conveys confidence and authority. A less confident person might take mincing steps. In terms of “s” words, a casual visitor might “stroll” the hallway, a young, happy person “skip” along the hallway, a furtive one “slip” through it. But an instructor is a person of authority in a classroom building and walks its hallways in the manner of a ship’s captain visiting a lower deck—with commanding presence. A well-chosen verb will accurately convey the character of a sentence.
“ Stride” 是指邁大步前進，這個動作傳達出自信與權威。缺乏自信的人步伐可能較小且破碎。說到其他 “S” 開頭的動詞，悠閒的人可能 “stroll”（漫步）過走廊，快樂的年青人可能 “ skip” （繃繃跳跳）過走廊，鬼鬼祟祟的人可能 “slip”（溜）過走廊。不過老師是學校裡的權威人物，走在走廊上，就像船長走在下甲板，有股威風凜凜的氣勢。動詞選得好，就能準確傳達出句子的特徵。

Dear TPS Fans,

Happy New Year! Here is our first puzzle of 2012. Everyone is welcome to join in and try your luck!"

The sentence below is missing a verb that begins with the letter “s.” Insert a word starting with “s” that best fits the tenor of the sentence, and then defend your word choice in five or fewer words. The first TPS Fan to respond with what the judge considers the most effective verb choice will win a ¬¬¬NT$200 7-11/Starbucks Gift Certificate. The name of the winner will be published tomorrow on this TPS Fans page. Please post your answers below. Good luck!
以下句子缺少一個以 “S” 開頭的動詞，請加入一個最符合句子意思的 “S” 開頭動詞，以及五個字以內的理由，我們將提供7-11／星巴克咖啡禮券兩百元，頒給第一位想出最佳解答的粉絲。解答與獲獎粉絲姓名將在明天公布於本 TPS 專頁。請將答案寫在下方，幸運兒可能就是你！

題目Contest Sentence:

“After he entered the classroom building, the instructor s______ the hallway like a captain patrolling a lower deck.”

Dear TPS Fans,

Don’t look now, but the end of 2011 is nearly here. We hope whatever you hoped to accomplish this year is now a matter of record. We offer our very best wishes for your academic and personal ventures in the new year.

Enjoy the holiday fun tonight and tomorrow, and we’ll see you next year—next week!

TPS Staff

很多字詞並非表面所見的意思，字詞的組合會產生不同的解釋。這樣的慣用法，我們稱之為「比喻」。一個成功的比喻，作者本身必須相當瞭解字詞的源起。以下的句子為讀者介紹一個比喻及其來源。
Imagery buries itself in language and takes on new meaning. The transplanted and transformed sets of words are called “figures of speech.” For a figure of speech to be effective, however, a writer must first understand the original meaning of the phrase. The following sentence contains a common figure of speech. Its original meaning is explained.

“The student was undaunted by the scope of the work and turned in a groundbreaking paper on 19th-century Polynesian authors.”
「這位學生並未因研究範圍廣泛而卻步，最後交出一篇開創性的論文，探討十九世紀波里尼西亞的作家。」

Some figures of speech are so tightly interwoven into the language that they almost have lost their original meaning. “Groundbreaking” is such a word. It originated in the rural parts of the world and referred to the opening of sodded pasture to cultivation via plowing—that is, the breaking apart of the rooted soil and burying of existing plant growth so that a sower or implanter of seed can introduce a new crop. A plowed, or broken-apart, field is transformed. It is changed in character from a static condition to a growth condition with a whole new future.
有些經常使用的修辭手法與日常語言已密不可分，幾乎已經偏離了原本的意義，“Groundbreaking”（開創的）就是一個例子。這個詞原本出自農業社會，指犁田翻土以供耕作，讓底層的土壤崩解，使生長的植物埋入土中，用來播種、耕植新的作物。土地經過墾殖而分解，就像是從原本靜止的狀態，轉換為生氣勃勃的新生狀態。

In the given sentence, “groundbreaking” has nothing to do with the soil. Rather, it uses the word to describe the change wrought by an academic paper. New scholarly “ground” was broken. The paper introduced new thinking or new information to a cadre of literary thinkers. It dramatically departed from previous scholarship in a way that demonstrated fresh thinking or an innovative approach. By so doing, the writer changed the static character of scholarly understanding of a pantheon of writers and opened the way for a future reordering of the literary constellation.
例句中，“groundbreaking” 與土壤無關，而是用來形容論文造就了變革。原本的學術土壤崩解，論文為文學圈主要學者帶來新的思考方向和新資訊，與過去的學識想法極為不同，想法極富新意，研究模式極為創新。也就是說，作者一改學術界過去對偉大作家僵化的偏見，為日後的才子俊秀開創嶄新的研究先河。

TPS的編輯教授在此歡迎關於學術文章的所有詢問，當然，其實他並沒有足夠的時間給你。他擁有終身教職的教授身份，也是著名的學術巨作作者。即便如此，他仍大方地接受你們的詢問。將關於學術方面的詢問寫在下方，你將獲得教授的親自指導，陶冶對學術的探索與啟發。
The professor awaits your query on academic writing, though in all honesty, he doesn’t have a lot of time for you. He is a tenured full professor and working on yet another magnificent academic tome. Even so, he has graciously consented to entertain your question. Submit it and prepare to be edified.

QUESTION: I seem to lack “tense sense.” That’s how a classmate puts it. I can’t seem to get the tense right in many of my research paper sentences, switching back and forth between present and past tenses. Is there a rule to help me?
根據我同學的說法，我好像沒有什麼「時態知覺」，論文裡很多句子的時態都有問題，在現在和過去式之間擺盪著。有什麼規則可以幫幫我嗎？

“Tense sense.” Cute. I suppose your classmate says using periods and commas inconsistently is “punctuation fluctuation” and being pretentious in your word choices is “grammar glamour.” (If I continue much longer in this vein, I will be guilty of “cluster bluster.”) Yes, correct and consistent use of verb tense in sentences helps weld a paper into a whole document, whereas sloppily constructed sentences loosen the grip of a paper on a reader. The impact of shifting tenses often is so subtle that a reader can’t pin down the cause of the drift; however, it is sensed.
「時態知覺」，說得好。我猜你同學會用「標點動亂」來形容句點和逗點使用失當，用「字彙自戀」形容矯揉造作的用詞（再舉例下去，我就犯了「範例氾濫」的毛病了）。的確，正確的動詞時態能連接句子，打造完整的文章；句子結構如果鬆散，文章就無法吸引讀者。時態改變的影響很微妙，讀者可能說不出所以然，不過仍然感覺得出差別。

Generally, an introductory section of a paper uses the present tense to good advantage. The body of the work is often couched in the past tense in describing completed research and materials of generally established authority. The concluding segments of a paper often allude to future research on a subject, which can, of course, employ the future tense. While a writer is not locked into this pattern of tense usage, it is a functional application of tenses and, in the end, how writing functions is the critical difference between clear communication and fogginess.
一般來說，論文的前言會用現在式，強調文章的優點；而論文主體措辭多半用過去式，描述已經完成的研究與可信的資料；結論部分通常引申該主題未來的研究，因此便可以使用未來式。雖然這種用法並非硬性規定，但幾乎已經成了標準公式。何況，文章能清楚說明概念，或概念模糊不清，端視文法是否正確發揮功能。

No neat rules have been formulated to guide academic writers except to have clearly in mind both time and place. This is especially important if an attempt is made to tinker with timelines for dramatic effect. For example, it can gratify a writer and enlighten a reader when a particularly satisfying research moment is reported in a tense that transports the reader back to the exciting moment of discovery. You are there! Yet if the transition into and out of the present tense is not smooth and seamless, the reader is not excited; he is confused by the shifting perspective.
使用時態並無簡潔的規則可循，作者心中必須清楚了解時間和地點，特別是若想要改變時間順序，創造戲劇化的效果，這點觀念特別重要。舉例來說，若時態的改變，能帶領讀者回到研究發現那振奮人心的一刻，創造如親眼目睹的效果，不僅作者心滿意足，讀者也能受到啟發。但若改用現在式，轉換必須流暢自然，否則讀者非但不會受感動，反而會因為切入角度變動不定而困惑不已。

Answer: We believe the sentence is best completed this way:

“Riffling the pages of a calendar makes my heart race, with the days and weeks and months flowing past my eyes so fast that panic blurs my perspective.”

The four words resonate with meaning that is faithful to the rest of the sentence. The writer admits to feeling panicky by the swift passage of time, albeit a figurative passage. The feeling is so strong that it overcomes the writer’s perspective, with the writer wisely using “blurs” instead of “overcomes.” The word “blurs” fits perfectly with “riffling,” to a heart that is racing, and to pages that are moving “so fast.” Furthermore, the word “perspective” has double meaning. It alludes to “eyes” and also to the calendar, a device that lets us “see” time. The combination of these four words completes the sentence and the thought.
這四個字忠實呼應句子其他部分。作者以比喻的文字，坦承他對時光飛逝感到惶恐，感覺非常強烈，甚至掩蓋了作者的視線。此處作者很巧妙地用 “blurs”（模糊不清）取代 “overcomes”（掩蓋），一來 “blurs” 和 “riffling”（急速翻過）搭配正好，也和加速的心跳、快速翻飛的日曆互相呼應。此外，“perspective”（視線）也有兩種意思，除了讓人聯想到眼睛，也暗指讓我們「看到」時間的日曆。這四個字結合在一起，讓句子的意義更加完整。

No formula exists for the writing of a superior sentence, but this much is known: The best sentence has no weak part. The following sentence is incomplete. In 5 or fewer words, complete the sentence in a way that strengthens the whole of it. The first TPS Fan to complete the sentence as we believe it is best completed will win a NTD200 7-11 / Starbucks Gift Certificate. Another Starbucks certificate will be awarded to the first Fan to complete it in an alternate way that, in our estimation, also is effective. The explanation and the names of the winners will be published tomorrow on this TPS Fans page.
怎麼寫出好句子沒有標準答案，不過起碼我們知道，優秀的句子每個環節都很完美。下面有一句未完成的句子，請用五個字以內完成句子接龍，寫出完整的句子。最先完成句子，並寫出最佳解答的一位TPS 粉絲，將獲得兩百元統一超商／星巴克禮券；另增設特別獎一名，頒給符合文意又別具創意的粉絲。接龍解答與獲獎粉絲姓名將在明天公布於本 TPS 專頁，敬請密切鎖定、先睹為快！

題目Contest Sentence:

“Riffling the pages of a calendar makes my heart race, with the days and weeks and months flowing past my eyes so fast that ___ ___ ___ ___ ___.”