ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

Why do I blog?

The reason changes from time to time. 

French Proverb:  While the dogs growled at each other, the wolves devoured the sheep. 

鶴蚌相爭，漁翁得利

While the dogs growled at each other, the wolves devoured the sheep.

What is the difference between "is beginning" and "has begun"? 

is beginning => (in present progressive tense: action still in progress, at this very moment) means we are still at the very early stage of an action.  We are starting an action but haven't completely comprehended what this means. 

has begun => (in present perfect tense: actions began in the past, time unspecified, and completed in the recent past or have an effect in the present.) means we are over the very early stage of an action and have started an action.  The action has an impact in the present and we have somewhat comprehended what this means.    

Memories live on  

A poem dedicated to my father-in-law and to those who lost their love ones

Written by Elisa English

What a hypocrite and so cunning.  I have to admit that Obama is one smart guy.  He sure knows how to secure and increase votes for his party’s election by exempting the union members from exercise tax, by rewarding illegal immigrants with amnesty and by condemning Republicans for failure of immigration reform.

His rationale for his immigration reform was the impossibility to deport these eleven million illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States.  The only solution is to turn all of them into legal immigrants.  Why don’t we broadcast to the world that sneaking into the United States is no longer illegal.  As long as you set a foot on the American soil, you will become a US citizen.  Isn’t this sweet? 

Elisa講解: 用詞差異分析

Is it “all” or “all of”?

Unemployed not Allowed

It is the cynical me talking again.  I was shocked to read a news article from Yahoo Finance regarding job screening.  This is the link to that article: Out-of-work job applicants told unemployed need not apply.  http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Outofwork-job-applicants-told-cnnm-3498252371.html?x=0

Elisa講解: 用詞差異分析

While the words “jealousy” and “envy” seem to be used interchangeably, there is a difference between "envy" and "jealousy".  Jealousy involves negative emotion (嫉妒), while envy may mean positive (羨慕).

For example:

My son’s school closed last Friday, so I have been busy juggling between him and my work for the past few days before the summer program starts.  His summer program started this Wednesday, so I finally get some breathing room.  Now, I have a little time blogging again.  Don’t call me a slacker.  I am not hiding, though I do sometimes feel like hiding from the crowds.  It is a gorgeous day after the storm last night.  There wasn’t any damage to our house.  Our neighbor’s huge tree was knocked down by the wind.  Luckily, there wasn’t any damage to their house.  We do have quite a few big trees.  Some are really close to our house.  I have read some news lately about the tornado and how some victims were killed during their sleep.  It would be hard to escape when tornado comes during your sleep.  Oh, I am mumbling again.  This isn’t the topic of my article today.  I like reading comic strips and have bought several comic books throughout the years, such as Snoopy (http://comics.com/peanuts/), Garfield (http://www.garfield.com/comics/todayscomic.html ), Dilbert, Calvin and Hobbes (http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes), and Cathy (a comic strip drawn by Cathy Guisewite http://www.gocomics.com/cathy/).  Last night, on a whim, while watching weather channel on tornado hits in Minnesota, I decided to look for the comic books that I bought over the years, but I couldn’t find any of them.  I might have thrown them away during the move.  What a waste!  Now I can only regret.  Some of them might even be a classic.  It has been ten years since the death of Charles M. Schulz and his final Peanuts Sunday strip.  I might get a fortune from selling them.  Oh, well.  I am not a person who wins the lottery.     

Okay, so what is my point?  Nothing significant.  I just want to talk about comic strips.  I used to read Dilbert.  If you haven’t, you should.  They are truly funny.  It is one of my favorite next to Cathy.  I always feel that Cathy is a reflection of me.  Anyway, this is the link to the official Dilbert website http://www.dilbert.com/.  You can find the comic strips published from April 16, 1989 until now.  This is the link to the first published Dilbert comic strip http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1989-04-16/.  Dilbert is an American comic strip, written and drawn by Scott Adams, known for its satirical office humor about a group of dysfunctional cynical white-collars in a micromanaged office in the United States, working pointlessly and without motivation for a clueless and incompetent management. I started reading Dilbert in 1992 when I worked at Wells Fargo Bank (then Norwest Bank).  Then, I was too green to see through all the irony in the workplace.