聯合翻譯有限公司/聯合翻譯社

After taking a hit recently because of Apple’s patent lawsuits, HTC shares went limit up Wednesday, propelled by support from Google and a stock buyback program. Its performance helped the Taiwan Stock Exchange rise 2.13 percent to close at 8,706.17 points.

(Someone) can’t get a good signal：收訊不良
(Someone) can’t hear one’s phone (mobile, cell phone)：沒有聽到手機響

寫在前頭:
作者是一位在新竹任教的英文老師

China and Taiwan may be separated by just a narrow body of water but, like many other aspects of the cross-Strait relationship, the two film markets have remained largely separate from each other.

That is now changing with Night Market Hero, the first Taiwanese film to be allowed to enter the Chinese market under a broad trade deal signed last year.

The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) raised the minimum liquidity ratio for financial institutions to 10% from 7%.  The move will come into effect from 1 October 2011, and is designed to bring the statutory liquidity ratio in line with where most banks are currently operating (i.e. not in response to any rise in banking system risks).  The latest figures from the central bank indicated an overall liquidity ratio of 32.5% at the end of May.  The move is expected to strengthen risk management in the banking system over the longer term.

Break out the party favors and the bubbly it's almost time to ring in the New Year! Here's a quick glance at the famous New Year's Eve events that will be taking place across the world.

The big ball descending in Times Square is watched by a million people in the flesh, and a billion more around, and if New York is the refined parent at New Year's Eve, then Berlin is the drunken uncle. Over a million people gather for Berlin's overwhelming celebration, with a massive fireworks display, music, dancing, light shows, international food stands, and beer tents.

Taiwan has won the first IBAF Under-12 Baseball World Championship in Taipei on Sunday by edging Cuba 3-2 in the championship game.

As you know 是個大家耳熟能詳的片語，意為「如你所知」，但它現在也被用來做為在說出責怪他人明知故犯、貶抑他人什麼都不知道或表達內心不悅的話時的開頭語，此時說話者是在表達「如你所知，但其實你一點都不知道」或「你懂，懂個 ×」的意思。例如：

As you know, Teresa is my girlfriend. Why did you ask her to go out with you? (如你所知，泰瑞莎是我的女友。為什麼你還叫她跟你約會呢?) — 這不是擺明你明知故犯，橫刀奪愛嗎!? 或是你壓根兒不知道泰瑞莎就是我的女朋友，那你還真是無知呢!

英國 15 歲癌末少女 (girl with terminal cancer) 愛麗絲‧派恩 (Alice Pyne) 效法電影《一路玩到掛》(The Bucket List)，列出她的「遺願清單」(bucket list)。愛麗絲日前將清單上傳到微網誌推特 (Twitter) 後引起廣大迴響，三天內她的大多數願望即獲得實現。 愛麗絲住在英格蘭西北部的艾佛斯頓鎮，四年前被診斷罹患一種白血球癌症「何杰金氏淋巴瘤」(Hodgkin’s lymphoma)，雖然接受化療，但病情卻無起色。最近一次掃描檢查顯示，癌細胞已擴散到愛麗絲全身，她也明白自己來日無多，「我和癌症搏鬥差不多四年，現在我知道病魔占了上風，看來我打不過它了。」 愛麗絲看過電影《一路玩到掛》後獲得啟發，想效法好萊塢資深影星傑克尼柯遜 (Jack Nicholson) 和摩根費里曼 (Morgan Freeman) 飾演的兩名癌末老人，列出死前想做的事，決心在死前完成許多曾夢想過卻未實現的願望。 2008 年 1 月 18 日殺青的《一路玩到掛》，片名源自英文成語 kick the bucket (死亡的委婉語，即「翹辮子」或「兩腳一伸」)。問題是 bucket (水桶) 如何跟死亡扯上關係?《牛津英語大辭典》(Oxford English Dictionary, OED) 對此有兩種說法，一說是想上吊自殺的人脖子套繩索，站在水桶 (pail or bucket) 上，踢開水桶後就斷氣，一命嗚呼。但 OED 亦表示此種說法純屬臆測。 《牛津英語大辭典》的第二種說法似乎比較可信：在 16 世紀的英格蘭，bucket亦有「橫樑」(beam) 的意思；1597 年莎士比亞歷史劇 (Shakespearean history)《亨利四世》第二部 [...]

Chinese President Hu Jintao is working to increase interaction between the people on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. He even attended a Taiwanese youth activity in China that featured Taiwan’s famed dancing god.

這三個字指的都是報復、報仇。avenge 是個及物動詞，意為「為…報仇；為…進行報復」，所以 He swore to avenge his brother. 的意思是「他發誓要為他的兄弟報仇」而不是「他發誓要向他的兄弟報仇」；They avenged his death by burning the village. (他們燒毀村子，為他的死復仇)。若要指出報復、報仇的對象，則使用 on + 某人，如 He resolved to avenge the insult on the boss. (他決意為受辱向老板進行報復)。

當動詞用的 revenge也意為「為…報仇；為…進行報復」，但其所暗示的復仇動機比 avenge 要來得強烈一些。revenge 常與反身代名詞連用來構成 revenge oneself on somebody (for something) 句型，意為「(為某事) 向某人報復」：He revenged himself on those who had killed his parents. (他向那些殺害他雙親的人進行報復)；Tom wanted to revenge himself on John for his arrogance. (湯姆想報復約翰的傲慢無禮)。avenge 亦可與反身代名詞連用來構成 avenge oneself on somebody (for something) 句型：They avenged themselves on their enemy. (他們向敵人報復)；They began to avenge themselves on their neighbors for the years of suppression. (他們因為鄰居多年的壓迫而開始報復)。然而，avenge 和 revenge 雖然同義，但在標準英語用法中，我們可以寫成 He avenged his parents. (他為他的雙親報仇)，卻不能寫成 He revenged his parents.，或者說這樣的寫法相當罕見。

New gene-based tests that map out a person's entire genetic code can help explain why a child has birth defects or developmental delays, but they are also exposing some dark family secrets.

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston recently started using such tests and have uncovered several cases of likely incest, says Dr. Arthur Beaudet, chairman of molecular and human genetics at Baylor.

這是一個非常實用的句型，屢見不鮮，由於在翻閱最新一期《經濟學人》(The Economist) 雜誌時又見到這個句子的應用，因此實有必要提出來跟大家分享一下。

這個句型的關鍵在於 "is anything to go by"，它的意思大概是「根據我們的經驗」、「根據作者的經驗」或「根據說話者的經驗」，其中 go by 意為「依照；遵循；根據…來判斷」。例如：

A second Taiwanese taekwondo athlete has qualified for the Olympics in London next year. Tseng Li-cheng 曾櫟騁took gold in a qualification tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan. She joins Yang Shu-chun, who qualified for the Olympics earlier in the tournament.

http://blog.cybertranslator.idv.tw/archives/1246

An iceberg's crash into an Antarctic glacier last year cracked off a huge swathe of ice, bringing to light a vast span of the Southern Ocean and providing scientists with a chance to conduct experiments that may help understand climate change.

The incident, in which the iceberg clipped the Mertz Glacier in East Antarctica and broke off nearly 78 kilometers of glacier tongue, exposed a section of ocean water previously covered in hundreds of meters of ice and brought to light marine life including sea stars as big as hubcaps.

A：首先來看 I never knew it.，這句有兩個意思。由於過去式是在表示動作或狀態發生在過去、結束在過去，所以 I never knew it. 可能被認為主詞所指的那個人已不在人世，因此他或她再也不知道或永遠都不知道那件事了。譬如說，She never married. 這句十之八九會被認為她已過世，所以我們才說「她從未結過婚」，否則即使七老八十都不能被排除結婚的可能性。不過，"I never knew" 也是一句現在常用的口語，意為「我以前一直不知道」，如 I never knew that John was married. (我以前一直不知道約翰結婚了) － 這是說，我在說話當時才知道約翰已經結婚了，以前並不知道。再舉一例： A：Vivian’s got a 20-year son. (薇薇安有個 20 歲大的兒子) B：Oh, I never knew! (哦，我以前一直不知道) 同樣地，這是我第一次知道薇薇安有個這麼大的兒子，以前並不知道，到現在才知道。 至於 I’ve never known it.，這是現在完成式與 never 連用的句型。現在完成式是在表示動作或狀態發生在過去，一直持續到現在或到現在依然存在。所以這句的意思是說，我一生中或有生以來直到現在都不知道、不瞭解或不懂得某件事。例如： I’ve never had any problems with my teeth. [...]

Organic cotton and reusable bags are steps toward the greening of the fashion industry, but some 29 top-tier designers have agreed to participate in the U.S. Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) Clean by Design program, which will teach them how to integrate greener practices into many aspects of their businesses, from raw materials, fabric finishing and production, to packaging, recycling and shipping.

Taiwanese American designer Jason Wu is interested in tackling the dyeing process: "The information I want for myself from this is: What dyes should we use? What does 'naturally dyed' mean? Is it better for the environment? If it's using thousands of insects that are part of the ecosystem to create the dyes, is that better? I really don't know."

Florida marine conservationists have come up with a simple recipe for fighting the invading lionfish that is gobbling up local reef life — eat them.