WEEK 18 字源筆記

Final Exam

WEEK 18 西概筆記(Western Literature)

Final Exam

WEEK 17 字源筆記

1. prefix, root and suffix

com : with; together                       eg. complement, companion
complement (v.) to combine well with something, often something that has different qualities

compliment (n.) something nice that you say to praise someone

 
dis : negative                                  eg. discreet 
discreet (adj.) careful not to say anything that is secret or that could upset someone 

sub, sup : under                              eg. subordinate, superior
subordinate (adj.) having less power or authority than someone else

ad : forward                                     eg. advocate, adventure, adroit
adroit (adj.) clever or skillful 

ob, op : against                               eg. obstacle, opponent
obstacle (n.) a difficulty or problem that prevents you from achieving something 

opponent (n.) 

-al : standing for noun                    eg. removal, refusal, approval, rehersal

2. extra information

a. Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and, during the American Civil War, a Union spy. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped abolitionist John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era was an active participant in the struggle for women's suffrage

b. Checkmate

Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is a game position in chess (and in other board games of the chaturanga family) in which a player's king is in check (threatened with capture) and there is no way to remove the threat. Checkmating the opponent wins the game.

c. reach 

reach the goal
reach the agreement
reach the age of majority

3. About final exam

會考 Kent Smith Chapter 22 (fill-ins)

WEEK 17 西概筆記(Western Literature)

1. Stories

a. Samson

Samson, meaning "man of the sun", is one of the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Hebrew Bible .
According to the biblical account, Samson was given supernatural strength by God in order to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats such as killing a lion, slaying an entire army with only the jawbone of an ass, and destroying a pagan temple. Samson had two vulnerabilities, however: his attraction to untrustworthy women and his hair, without which he was powerless. These vulnerabilities ultimately proved fatal for him.

b. Delilah

  
Delilah is a character in the Hebrew bible Book of Judges, where she is the "woman in the valley of Sorek" whom Samson loved, and who was his downfall. Her figure, one of several dangerous temptresses in the Hebrew Bible, has become emblematic: "Samson loved Delilah, she betrayed him, and, what is worse, she did it for money," Madlyn Kahr begins her study of the Delilah motif in European painting.
→ Fatal woman

The Philistines approach Delilah and induce her (with 1,100 silver coins) to try to find the secret of Samson' s strength so they can get rid of it and capture their enemy. Samson, refuses to reveal the secret, teases her, telling her that he will lose his strength should he be bound with fresh bowstrings.She does so while he sleeps, but when he wakes up he snaps the strings. She persists, and he tells her he can be bound with new ropes. She ties him up with new ropes while he sleeps, and he snaps them, too. She asks again, and he says he can be bound if his locks are woven together.She weaves them together, but he undoes them when he wakes. Eventually after much nagging from Delilah, Samson tells Delilah that he will lose his strength with the loss of his hair. Delilah calls for a servant to shave Samson' s seven locks. Since that breaks the Nazirite oath, God leaves him, and Samson is captured by the Philistines, who blind him by gouging out his eyes. After being blinded, Samson is brought to Gaza, imprisoned, and put to work grinding grain and making milk by turning a large millstone.

c. Beatrice Portinari

Beatrice Portinari was a Florentine woman who has been commonly identified as the principal inspiration for Dante Alighieri's Vita Nuova, and is also commonly identified with the Beatrice who appears as one of his guides in the Divine Comedy in the last book, Paradiso, and in the last four cantos of Purgatorio. There she takes over as guide from the Latin poet Virgil because, as a pagan, Virgil cannot enter Paradise and because, being the incarnation of beatific love, as her name implies, it is Beatrice who leads into the Beatific vision.

d. Purgatorio

Purgatorio is the second part of Dante's Divine Comedy, following the Inferno, and preceding the Paradiso. The poem was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegory telling of the climb of Dante up the Mount of Purgatory, guided by the Roman poet Virgil, except for the last four cantos at which point Beatrice takes over as Dante's guide. In the poem, Purgatory is depicted as a mountain in the Southern Hemisphere, consisting of a bottom section (Ante-Purgatory), seven levels of suffering and spiritual growth (associated with the seven deadly sins), and finally the Earthly Paradise at the top. Allegorically, the poem represents the Christian life, and in describing the climb Dante discusses the nature of sin, examples of vice and virtue, as well as moral issues in politics and in the Church. The poem outlines a theory that all sin arises from love – either perverted love directed towards others' harm, or deficient love, or the disordered or excessive love of good things. 
→ 最底下是 Satan 犯了 hubris的罪行

e. Moses

Pharaoh had commanded that all male Hebrew children born be drowned in the river Nile, but Moses' mother placed him in an ark and concealed the ark in the bulrushes by the riverbank, where the baby was discovered and adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. One day after Moses had reached adulthood he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew. Moses, in order to escape Pharaoh's death penalty, fled to Midian (a desert country south of Judah).

He encountered the God of Israel speaking to him from within a "burning bush which was not consumed by the fire" on Mount Horeb (which he regarded as the Mountain of God).There, on Mount Horeb, God revealed to Moses his name YHWH (probably pronounced Yahweh) and commanded him to return to Egypt and bring his Chosen People (Israel) out of bondage and into the Promised Land (Canaan). 
God sent Moses back to Egypt to demand the release of the Israelites from slavery. Moses said that he could not speak with assurance or eloquence, so God allowed Aaron, his brother, to become his spokesperson.

After the Ten Plagues, Moses led the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, after which they based themselves at Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. After 40 years of wandering in the desert, Moses died within sight of the Promised Land.

f. Plagues of Egypt

The Plagues of Egypt, also called the ten biblical plagues, were ten calamities that, according to the biblical Book of Exodus, the God of Israel inflicted upon Egypt to persuade the Pharaoh to release the ill-treated Israelites from slavery. Pharaoh capitulated after the tenth plague, triggering the Exodus of the Hebrew people. The plagues served to contrast the power of the God of Israel with the Egyptian gods, invalidating them.

For the last plague, the Torah indicates that they were only spared from the final plague by sacrificing the Paschal lamb, marking their place directly above their doors with the lamb's blood, and eating the roasted sacrifice together with Matzot in a celebratory feast. The Torah describes God as actually passing through Egypt to kill all firstborn children and cattle, but passing over (hence "Passover") houses which have the sign of lambs' blood on the doorpost.

g. Manna 瑪那神糧

Manna sometimes or archaically spelled mana, is an edible substance that, according to the Bible and the Quran, God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert. 

h. Jesus knocking at the door

 

2. Other stories

a. Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton . The first version, published in 1667, consisted of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books (in the manner of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. It is considered by critics to be Milton' s major work, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time.
The poem concerns the Biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton' s purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men".

→ Satan = Lucifer = Prince of Darkness 

b. The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger. A controversial novel originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage angst and alienation.

"Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.""Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it." Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it's a game, all right—I'll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren't any hot-shots, what's a game about it? Nothing. No game.

c. Three famous museums in the world

Hermitage Museum

The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Louvre

The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is one of the world's largest museums and a historic monument in Paris, France. 

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum dedicated to human history, art, and culture, located in the Bloomsbury area of London. 

d. Hark the herald angels sing

Part of lyrics : 

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!" 

3.  prefix, root and suffix

para : 平行並列                                 eg. paragraph, Paradiso, parachute
parachute (n.) a large piece of cloth joined to heavy strings, used by someone jumping out of a plane

 

WEEK 16 字源筆記

1. prefix, root and suffix

succeed, success, successful, successful, successive, predecessor
predecessor (n.) the person who had a job or official position before someone else

der : skin                                        eg. hypodermic, dermatology
hypodermic (n.) a narrow plastic tube with a needle used for putting drugs into your body through the skin

dermatology (n.) the scientific study of skin diseases and the treatment of people who have them 

dum : document                             eg. memorandum, referendum 
memorandum (n.) a short written statement containing information about a particular subject, passed between officials in a government or organization
referendum (n.) an occasion when everyone in a country can vote to make a decision about one particular subject

 
ob : negative                                  eg. obsequious, obstacle
obsequious (adj.) too keen to please someone, in a way that does not seem sincere

amend : fix, replace                        eg. amendment
amendment (n.) a change made to a law or agreement

 

2. extra information

a. Francis of Assisi

Saint Francis of Assisi born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally named as Francesco was an Italian Roman Catholic friar and preacher. In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades. By this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order. Once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. Francis is also known for his love of the Eucharist. In 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas live nativity scene.In 1224, he received the stigmata, during the apparition of Seraphic angels in a religious ecstasy making him the first recorded person to bear the wounds of Christ's Passion. （被烙印後聽得懂鳥語）

b. Steven Crane

Stephen Crane was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism. He is recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation.
The ninth surviving child of Protestant Methodist parents, Crane began writing at the age of four and had published several articles by the age of 16. Having little interest in university studies, he left college in 1891 to work as a reporter and writer. Crane's first novel was the 1893 Bowery tale Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, generally considered by critics to be the first work of American literary Naturalism. He won international acclaim in 1895 for his Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage, which he wrote without having any battle experience.

c. Red Herring

A red herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important issue. It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary device that leads readers or audiences towards a false conclusion. A red herring might be intentionally used, such as in mystery fiction or as part of rhetorical strategies (e.g. in politics), or it could be inadvertently used during argumentation.

WEEK 16 西概筆記(Western Literature)

1. Stories

a. Seven deadly sins

The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a Western religious grouping and classification of vices. This grouping emerged in the fourth century AD and was used for Christian ethical education and for confession. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a mortal or deadly sin is believed to destroy the life of grace and charity within a person. Though the sins have fluctuated over time, the currently recognized list includes pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. There is a parallel tradition of seven virtues.

b. Psalm 23 (King James version)

1. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.   

 

c. Cain and Abel

Cain and Abel were, according to the Book of Genesis, two sons of Adam and Eve. Cain is described as a crop farmer and his younger brother Abel as a shepherd. Cain was the first human born and Abel was the first human to die. Cain committed the first murder by killing Abel. Interpretations of Genesis 4 by ancient and modern commentators have typically assumed that the motives were jealousy and anger.

→ Am I my brother' s keeper? 

 

d. Lot

 

Lot is a person mentioned in the biblical Book of Genesis chapters 11–14 and 19. Notable episodes in his life include his travels with his uncle Abram (Abraham), his flight from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, during which Lot's wife became a pillar of salt, and the seduction by his daughters so that they could bear children. 

 

e. Adam and Eve

 

The serpent assures the woman that God will not let her die if she ate the fruit, and, furthermore, that if she ate the fruit, her "eyes would be opened" and she would "be like God, knowing good and evil", Gen. 3:5. Indeed, the woman sees that the fruit of the tree of knowledge is a delight to the eye and that it would be desirable to acquire wisdom by eating the fruit. The woman eats the fruit and gives some to the man Gen. 3:6. With this the man and woman recognize their own nakedness, and they make cloths of fig leaves and loincloth.

→ 男人必須辛勤工作直到汗水滴進泥土里長出 daily bread

→ 女人要承受生產的痛苦

→ 蛇要用自己腹部的鱗片匍匐前進（原本有腳）

 

f. 40 → 舊約聖經中漫長的數字

For example,   

Jesus is tested in the wilderness by evil in 40 days.

Moses was on the mountain with God for 40 day.

It rained for 40 days and 40 nights when God wanted to cleanse the world and start over.

 

 

 

2. Other stories

a. George W. Bush 's 911 speech

 

Tonight, I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.” 

b. WASP

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) is an informal, sometimes disparaging term for a group of high-status and influential White Americans of English Protestant ancestry. The term applies to a group believed to control disproportionate social, political, and financial power in the United States. It describes a group whose family wealth, education, status, and elite connections allow them a degree of opportunity held by few others.

 

→ Stuart Little

 

c. My sister's keeper

My Sister's Keeper is a 2004 novel written by Jodi Picoult. It tells the story of 13-year-old Anna, who sues her parents for medical emancipation when she is expected to donate a kidney to her sister Kate, who is dying from leukemia.

 

 

d. Orpheus and Eurydice

 

...Orpheus was delighted; he thanked the gods and left to ascend to the world. He was trying to hear Eurydice’s steps, but he could not hear anything and he started believing that the gods had fooled him. Of course Eurydice was behind him, but as a shadow, waiting to come to light to become a full woman again. Only a few feet away from the exit, Orpheus lost his faith and turned to see; Eurydice was behind him, but her shadow was whisked back among the dead. Eurydice was gone forever. 

 

e. 去過冥府回來過的人

 

Psyche, Odysseus, Aeneas, Orpheus, Charon 

 

f. Eyes wide shut

 

Eyes Wide Shut is a 1999 erotic thriller film loosely based upon Arthur Schnitzler's 1926 novella Traumnovelle (Dream Story). The story, set in and around New York City, follows the sexually charged adventures of Dr. Bill Harford, who is shocked when his wife, Alice, reveals that she had contemplated an affair a year earlier. He embarks on a night-long adventure, during which he infiltrates a massive masked orgy of an unnamed secret society.

 

 

 

WEEK 15 字源筆記

1. prefix, root and suffix

script : writing                                 eg. prescription, subscription
prescription (n.) a piece of paper that a doctor gives you that says what type of medicine you need

subscription (n.) an agreement to pay an amount of money so that you will receive something such as a magazine or a service. You take out a subscription, usually for a year, and renew it if you want to continue the arrangement for another year.

ubi : all around                               eg. ubiquitous, ubiety
ubiquitous (adj.) present everywhere

ubiety (n.) the property of having a definite location at any given time; the state of existing and being localized in space

2. extra information

a. New Testament

→ the four gospels
→ the act
→ the Book of Revelation

b. Blessed Virgin Mary

According to the New Testament, Mary, also known as St Mary the Virgin, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Mary, Mary the Mother of God, or the Virgin Mary—amongst other titles, styles and honorifics—was a Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth and the mother of Jesus. 

c. immaculate conception

The Immaculate Conception, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, was the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne, free from original sin by virtue of the foreseen merits of her son Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church teaches that Mary was conceived by normal biological means, but God acted upon her soul (keeping her "immaculate") at the time of her conception. 

d. Thomas Anthony Dooley III

Thomas Anthony Dooley III was an American who, while serving as a physician in the United States Navy and afterwards, became famous for his humanitarian and anti-communist political activities in South East Asia and the United States until his early death from cancer. He authored three popular books that described his activities in Vietnam and Laos: Deliver Us From Evil, The Edge of Tomorrow, and The Night They Burned the Mountain. These three were later collected into a single volume and published as "Dr. Tom Dooley's Three Great Books." The book jacket of "The Edge of Tomorrow" states that Dooley traveled "to a remote part of the world in order to combat the two greatest evils afflicting it: disease and Communism.


Deliver us from evil → And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (From the Lord's Prayer)


e. Our Father in heaven

The prayer as it occurs in Matthew 6:9–13 

(part of the text)

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.