寫英文最大問題是時態不清，發生在過去的事就用過去式，發生在現在的就用現在式，這是一般說法，也是沒什麼大用的說法，問題是，在中文腦筋中，什麼是發生在過去的事？在課堂中，學生寫道：I come to this class to improve my English，我說，要改成I came to this class to improve my English，學生大惑不解，老師，我不是「現在」明明坐在這兒嗎？
嗯！這個有點難說明白，不如先看其他的例子
Moonlight on the Colorado是一首很美的美國名謠，也是學時態的好例子：
Moonlight on the river of Colorado
How I wish that I were there with you
As I sit and pine, each lonely shadow,
Takes me back to the day we once knew. (前面用了once, 這裡非用過去式knew不可)
We were to wed, in harvest time you said,(海誓山盟己是雲煙)
That' why I'm longing for you (可憐的人，現在還在等)
When it's moonlight on the Colorado
Wonder if you're waiting for me, too.
這首歌和很多情歌一樣，觸景傷情，觸的是現在的景，傷的是過去的情，所以歌詞中現在過去式並存。 用現在或過去式，用邏輯去想即可，重要的是，要去「想」這個問題
4 則留言:
Hi, Hijewel:
It's my pleasure to meet you at Wen-I's house 2/8/2009. I have to thank Hanlin for guiding me to this blog. I enjoy reading your English teaching.
The lyrics of the song "Moonlight on the Colorado" you cited here is different from the lyrics that I got from several web sites. At first, I thought "Takes my back to the day we once knew" should be "Takes me back to the day we once knew". It was just a typo error. But as I searched the lyrics of the song, I found out that there are quite some discrepancies between your version and the version I got from the web sites. In Taiwan we always get free printed lyrics when you buy CDs or cassette tapes. However, it is not unusual to find errors in those printed lyrics. Is your version is based on the printed lyrics coming with the music CD? Please allow me to bring this to your attention.
Ching-Lin (Pinhua) Chen
chenchingline@yahoo.com
It's embarrassing that I had a typo error in my previous posting. This is an updated message.
The lyrics of the song "Moonlight on the Colorado" you cited here is different from the lyrics that I got from several web sites. At first, I thought "Takes my back to the day we once knew" should be "Takes me back to the day we once knew". It was just a typo error. But as I searched the lyrics of the song, I found out that there are quite some discrepancies between your version and the version I got from the web sites. In Taiwan we always get free printed lyrics when you buy CDs or cassette tapes. However, it is not unusual to find errors in those printed lyrics. Is your version based on the printed lyrics coming with the music CD? Please allow me to bring this to your attention.
Dear Pinhua:
Thank you for your comment.
I copied the lyrics from the music sheet that my singing group used. For old folk songs like this one it is possible that the lyrics changed over the long period of time. By the way, you write very well.
Dear Hijewel:
It's delightful to have your encouragement.
By the way, your article 上電視的反響 has been polluted by hackers. You may ask the blog host to remove the two messages replied to that article.
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