iWriting線上寫作網

明天是白色情人節，有什麼特別的計畫嗎？Scott要跟大家分享他的情人節，一起看看加拿大人怎麼過這個浪漫的節日吧！
In Canada, Valentine's Day is very important for couples! Almost every Canadian couple celebrates Valentine's Day by giving something to their sweetheart, going out for dinner, or just spending an evening relaxing together. Traditionally on Valentine's Day the man will give the woman flowers or a box of chocolates, but now many couples exchange gifts! 
On the other hand, many people who are single do not like Valentine's Day, they think it is a waste of time and money. I prefer to think of it as an excuse to spend quality time with the people you love! So I spend time with my girlfriend on Valentine's Day. We might go out for dinner to our favorite place, or maybe get some ice cream and walk in the park; it does not matter as long as we are together!
If my girlfriend and I do decide to go out for dinner, we like to order from restaurants, but do not like to stay there and eat. We usually take the food and go to one of our houses, the beach or on top of a mountain. It is very romantic to have dinner somewhere that has a nice view! In Victoria there is a mountain called Mount Tolmie where you can drive to and look over Victoria. It is very beautiful during the night with all the street lights lit up and the stars above you. Some of the places we like to go and eat at are Baan Thai (Thailand food), Café Mexico (Mexican food) and Pagliacci’s (Italian food). There are many, many other good places to eat in Victoria, it is very multicultural and it is easy to find food from almost every ethnicity.
There is no lack of flowers to give to your loved ones in Victoria. Named the ‘city of gardens’ it even has flowers hung from street lights downtown! There is also a place called the Butchart Gardens that is beautiful to walk through. During the spring and summer it is full of flowers, and during the winter it has a cover of snow with Christmas lights everywhere! Another nice place to walk is along the ‘inner harbour’ of Victoria, especially during the evening/night when the lights are reflecting off the water.
These are only a small portion of all the great things to do with your loved ones in Victoria. If you ever get a chance to come to Victoria, you will see what I mean! It is a very romantic city, and the perfect place to spend Valentines Day. 

Many of the people who come to visit this blog were or are students of the Criterion Virtual Writing Class. You began to know Stephanie, who guided you through the 6 weeks of the course in her PPTs, and learnt many things about writing an essay. As a Virtual Teacher, I saw many of you improve your writing, going from strength to strength. It was beautiful.
And now, we have a special new Virtual Class – especially for people taking the TOEIC test, or those who want to improve their business writing prowess. Introducing: 　In this 8 week course, you will learn how to answer all the questions in the new writing section of the TOEIC – sentences, emails and essay questions. This course is designed to prepare people to not only take to test, but to also succeed in communicating with others in professional English. Learn how to write business emails – the most widely used form of communication is email because it is quick, convenient and economic. Learn to Write Essays – whether your manager asks you to write a report or you need to write a letter to a client, knowing how to write an essay is an essential skill to complete these and other tasks!

新年快樂，總統大選即將到來，Ian 也不甘示弱的發表了一篇他的政見，請大家參考一下吧！
Canada and Taiwan should be Sister Countries I think that Canada and Taiwan should be sister countries. Why is that? It is because other than food and language, Canada and Taiwan actually have a lot of things in common. Today I would like to bring these things to everyone’s attention. 
 Canada and Taiwan are international countries

Hey I’m Scott, a new member of the iWriting team!  I’m from the West Coast of Canada and I grew up in Victoria , which is on Vancouver Island . 
Vancouver Island is slightly smaller than Taiwan , but only has a population of 734,860.  I study Pacific and Asian Studies at the University of Victoria.

With my family I spend time on our sailboat, the Adrift.

This is my cousin Jen in her family’s boat, my sister Stef on the left, myself cooking in the glasses and my cousin Steve in the black.
There are many things to do with friends on Vancouver Island including great camping, beaches for surfing and skimboarding and many other things.

This is camping in Tofino, Steve is on the left and myself on the right.

This is just another picture of me and my friends having some fun in Victoria !
I am greatly looking forward to living in Asia and being a part of the team!

 

＊以上優惠至2008年1月底止，請把握時間！

這幾天天氣又變涼了，才忽然感受到聖誕節的氣氛，今天Riana要跟我們分享她的聖誕節趣事，聖誕節到底要怎麼過呢？趕緊來計劃一下吧！
Every week on Thursday I meet up with my friends, Joanna and Xiao Hua, to have language exchange. We usually meet up in a coffee shop such as Dante (丹堤) or Starbucks (統一星巴克). ！
First we order some coffee or cakes. Now that Christmas (聖誕節) is coming, Starbucks has some really awesome coffees that you can try. Whenever I order coffee, unsweetened latte is definitely my favorite. But recently I tried the gingerbread latte (畺汁那堤), which tastes of cinnamon and nutmeg and Christmas all in one! Both Joanna and Xiao Hua have Starbucks cups, so whenever they use their own cups instead of the stores, they can save NT$10 each time. I'm thinking of buying a cup now because we go there so often!！
For a normal latte though, I prefer going to a cute café. Usually chain stores' coffee are ok, but to enjoy a truly skillfully made coffee you need to go somewhere quieter where the heart and soul goes into making coffee. Maybe I will introduce you to some of my favorite cafes in Taiwan in another article.！
But Christmas is coming, and so the last conversation with my language exchange partners was about celebrations. I think that Taiwanese people don't really celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense. Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ, but if you are not religious (like me) then it is a time of peace and goodwill. People don't go to work and instead spend time with their family. During Christmas I'm always merry-making with my family, eating special meals together and giving gifts to everyone. We play with the younger children and make Christmas day truly special for them, because for children Christmas is a magical day filled with laughter, good things and family. Personally, I think giving gifts is a little bit silly, because many of these gifts we don't need. I enjoy cooking special meals for my family and singing Christmas carols with the children. One year I even made a gingerbread house and decorated it to look like a snow-covered cottage!！
I think this year I will travel to Taichung (台中) to see my “Taiwanese Family”, and eat a special dinner with them. I will call my family back in Australia and wish them “Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!”… already I'm making a special package of gifts from Taiwan to send them. I think it will bring them joy and surprise to taste some special Taiwanese foods and see some interesting photos and toys. It will be a special Christmas – my first time to celebrate without my family!
Joanna told me that Chinese New Year (春節) is probably the biggest celebration for Taiwanese. When I first came to Taiwan, I arrived just before the Chinese New Year. It was so exciting to travel around with my friend and visit her family. I feel like I tried so many Taiwanese foods, and everyday I had to eat so much! It felt like it was Christmas every day for a week… I think that Taiwanese are very lucky to celebrate such a festivity with their friends and family for a whole week!
The traditions are also very interesting to learn – like how you need to visit the older people in your family on the first day, then for married daughters to visit their parents on the second, and so on. I think that Chinese New Year is much more interesting and meaningful than Christmas, because of the many traditions and family-orientated activities!
看完了文章，今天晚上的聖誕派對有靈感了嗎？聖誕節必備的薑餅、肉桂、肉豆蔻你準備好了嗎？出門狂歡前，先複習一下今天的單字吧！
awesome..........令人敬畏的

Riana的台南之旅下集來囉！
讓我們從外國朋友的角度來看台南吧！At Chien Shan Pi Reservoir the accommodation was so cozy! We stayed in log cabins with big fluffy beds and pillows.

 

When I woke up, I realized how nice, soft and comfortable the beds were! I had slept so well, I didn’t want to get up straight away. When I did get up, I went around the resort with my friend taking pictures. It was very nice in the morning, and we discovered the entire resort by ourselves before breakfast. After we’d eaten, we played in the dragon “water bicycles” – racing against colleagues in other water bicycles, feeding the fish in the pond and just enjoying a peaceful time out on the lake. Chien Shan Pi Reservoir is really a very beautiful place!

你愛台灣嗎？你知道我們住的地方有種魔力，能讓許多外國朋友千里迢迢的跑到台灣！
猜猜看是什麼原因，讓Ian愛上台灣，快點來看看這篇文章！

What is one reason that every foreigner loves living in Taiwan ? It’s one of the same reasons Taiwanese people love living in Taiwan . We love to eat Taiwanese food.


In Canada we rarely go out for dinner because it is not very convenient. It is also very expensive unless you want to eat McDonald’s every day. They made a movie, “Super-size Me”, about eating McDonald’s every day, and it doesn’t look very healthy. (They put a McDonald’s advertisement in our elevator, but to be honest I haven’t seen one person from our company buy it!)

However, in Taiwan you can eat out every day, and it’s not too expensive or unhealthy. In fact, I have not cooked a meal since I moved to Taiwan 11 months ago. I eat out every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!


A lot of the time I eat at restaurants around my office because that is where I spend most of my time. In the morning I love to visit the 蛋餅 and 豆漿 (soybean milk) shop just outside of 大安 station. I usually get the same thing all the time: 2 蛋餅 and a glass of warm soybean milk. 

There’s also a nice lady who sells fruit and vegetarian sandwiches. She says “Good morning” to me every time I walk past.


Lunch and dinner are a little more exciting. For lunch there are so many good places to eat around the office. One of my favorite places is just beyond the breakfast store I visit most mornings. We call it “The Red Brick Place” because the walls at the front of the store are all made of red brick, but I think the real name of the store is Formosa Chiang (鬍鬚張)….. I think. They have the best 滷肉飯, and they also have really good soups. I like the pork-bitter melon soup the best.


There’s also another really good place called Long Hua. It’s not actually a Taiwanese restaurant, but it is still really good. They sell Hong Kong style meat, and not only is it delicious, they also give you huge portions.


Sometimes foreigners have to go out and get some Western, so Riana and I might go to ‘Bear and Two Friends’ for some Italian food. This place has a really nice atmosphere and because Riana and I are the ‘Two Friends’, we have to stop in one in a while. 


After a good meal you always need a good desert. Café 85 is an excellent coffee shop that reminds me of Tim Horton’s back in Canada , but a more Taiwanese alternative is Dou Hua. I love Dou Hua. I always get an extra serving of peanuts, red beans, green beans and barley. It’s good to know that you can have desert and be healthy at the same time.


Of course there are also the night markets. We don’t have anything like them in Canada , so I really like the way I can buy a little of everything and it’s not expensive at all. I went to one night market around Chinese New Year and I couldn’t believe how many people were there. Can you guess which night market it was?

All in all, the food is definitely a huge benefit of living in Taiwan . I am going to have to start my own hot pot restaurant in Canada when I go home so I won’t miss out while I’m gone.

看完Ian介紹的食物，肚子是不是也餓了呢？
偷偷告訴你「兩個朋友一隻熊」可是BBS美食版推薦的餐廳唷！
快去吃吃看吧！地址是台北市大安區信義路4段30巷50弄3號1樓，
說不定你會遇到Ian正在裡面享受美食喔！

Tim Horton’s 是加拿大一家聯鎖店，裡面賣很多好吃的甜甜圈(Donuts)，
最有名的就是Timbits，有機會去加拿大，一定不要錯過喔！

品嚐完美食，也不要忘記複習單字唷！

rarely               很少
advertisement   廣告
meal                餐
soybean          黃豆(不是yellow bean喔！)
vegetarian        素食
portion             一客/一份(食物)
Western          西式的(大寫)
atmosphere     氣氛
alternative       選擇
barley             大麥