iWriting線上寫作網

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

猜猜看，看起來高高瘦瘦的Ian喜歡看哪種運動比賽呢？"go tailgating"是什麼意思呢？這週Ian要介紹加拿大人最熱衷的比賽，我們一起來認識一些觀賞比賽會用到的單字片語吧！文章有點長，耐著性子讀完，保證你獲益良多！加油加油！！I’m sure that there are lots of people out there who love sports just as much as I do, maybe even more, so today I want to tell everyone a story about the greatest sporting event I have ever witnessed live.I was born in Montreal, and I lived there for the first 10 years of my life. In grade 5 my dad was transferred to a job in Kansas City, Kansas, so our family moved to the United States. At this time I was introduced to a new sport… football.

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

你有見過聖誕老人嗎？
Riana跑去台南玩耍
竟然遇到了聖誕老人！
一起來看看，Riana的台南奇遇！ 

After many long hard-working months, our company announced that we would be going to Tainan for a 2 day tour. I was very excited because I have never been to Tainan , and my friends had told me many interesting facts about this historical city of Taiwan . I was ready to see all the wonderful sights planned for our tour, and to taste some of the famous local cuisine!

Day 1

Very early on a Friday morning, I made sure to wake in time to meet my colleagues in front of our company building.We drove to Tainan for many hours, and arrived at Chien Shan Pi Reservoir (尖山埤水庫) in time for lunch. Some of the first differences I noticed between Taipei and Tainan was the air temperature. Tainan was cold and windy! I thought that it would be warmer, but maybe it was just the weekend that we were there… thankfully, after putting our bags in our rooms we went to the restaurant to eat a warm and hearty lunch.



The activities for Friday included eating some fresh oysters at the Wild Bird Society of Happy Family (黑琵家族野鳥學會). I sat with my colleagues in a circle around the barbeque which was very cozy. As we chatted, we cooked and ate the oysters – yummy! After some time, we left to start a tour on a boat and were shown how the oysters were kept in farms. Our tour guides were quite interesting, and told everyone interesting facts. 



The next thing on our tour itinerary was to visit the Salt Mountain . Long ago when salt became unprofitable, the owners turned their business into a tourist attraction; where you can see Santa and his reindeer at the bottom of the mountain, or climb to the very top to look at things far away. I was surprised to learn that out of the two mountains, one of them is made from Australian Salt! I thought that was really cool, that in the middle of one of Taiwan ’s historical cities, there is a reminder of my homeland. I made sure to take a picture with the mountain and my colleagues


After running around and exploring all these places, everyone was getting a little tired and hungry. So we returned back to the resort and feasted on some more delicious Tainan dishes for dinner. I ate an interesting dessert for the first time – it was sweet potato dipped in toffee, all sticky and sweet until you dipped it into cold water so it could turn hard. It was really tasty! Then we all had free time to relax and look around the resort before we slept. My manager, May, and I were really full after eating all that yummy food and so we decided to go for a swim in the pool. It was really beautiful to swim at night, and although there weren’t any stars to see, I could still admire the night view.

And then… sleep. 

又吃又喝又玩，Riana一定睡得很香甜！
我們來複習一下單字吧！

announce historical city cuisine colleague oyster cozy itinerary unprofitable resort feast

宣佈 古都 菜餚 同事 牡蠣 愜意 行程 無利益 渡假村 筵席

　

　

經過了短暫的休息，Criterion線上英文寫作班部落格要重新開張囉！寫作班的外國老師們將與大家分享在台灣生活的趣事，老師們也會提供學習英文的小技巧。快點訂閱Criterion線上英文寫作班部落格，隨時掌控最新訊息！

Dear All
Criterion線上英文寫作班部落格即將進行內容調整，即日起將暫停新文章發表。
在全新部落格的籌備期間，歡迎您閱讀您曾在此錯過的文章內容，持續學英文；同時也期盼能夠持續得到您的回應，給予我們您的建議。

你有養狗嗎？Ian在加拿大有養一隻狗，他的狗Mickey頂多只在家附近走走。但是Ian來到台灣後，發現台灣的狗兒們居然會坐上主人的機車四處跑，這點讓Ian感到非常不可思議！
My dog's name is Mickey. He is truly an awesome dog, I think perhaps the coolest dog ever.
Mickey was always a smart dog. He learned how to understand our words, so if we said the word 'walk', he would get really excited because he thought he was going for a walk. We started to speak out the letters of the word, like this 'W - A - L - K', instead of saying the word, but he learned how to spell the word too.
When Mickey got older, he didn't like to walk very much, so we would encourage him to go outside by giving him a cookie every time he came in from out to the bathroom. He caught on to this pattern pretty fast.
He would bark to go outside, and when we let him out he would just stand on the porch. Then he would bark to come back in after 20 seconds and he would walk directly to the cookie cupboard and stand there and bark for a cookie.

Today I am going to introduce another sentence pattern, but first a review of the patterns from the last two weeks. The answers to last weeks questions are at the bottom.Simple Sentence

主詞 Subject	動詞 Verb	述語 Object
I	am	a student.

 

 

 

 

Riana在澳洲的時候，有一個最大的嗜好是和他的朋友一起下廚，他們通常會選定一個主題，決定今天要做哪一國的料理。
你喜歡烹飪嗎？或許下次你會在超級市場遇到正在採買食材的Riana喔！別忘了跟他打個招呼
One of my favourite hobbies in Australia was cooking with my friends. We had a special way of deciding what to cook though. Usually we picked a country, such as Mexico , India or Japan . Then we would find music and recipes from that country on the internet. After comparing what we’d found, we would choose the best looking ones.
We often cooked on a Friday night after our university classes. We’d go home together and start playing music. Each of us had bought some of the ingredients to make the meal. For example, one of my best friends from my Japanese class wanted to cook asparagus pie one day. She asked if I'd like to come and cook with her because we always cooked funny things together.

2007，8月號之2，主題：飯店！

每週一，我們將會介紹一些實用的單字、片語，藉由簡短的對話內容，讓你輕鬆學英語！

盛夏來臨！7、8月份又到了出國旅遊的旺季。這個暑假，Criterion線上英文寫作班將教你在『機場』與『飯店』常用的實用英語。

8月的第二個禮拜，訂房！

SECTION 2/4
After taking the taxi to the Hotel D in part 1, the girls pay the driver and enter the hotel lobby.

本週三，8月8號是台灣人過的父親節；而在澳洲，父親節是在9月的第一個星期天。
這個禮拜你有好好的為辛苦的爸爸過父親節嗎？想知道Riana在澳洲都是怎麼度過父親節的嗎？
現在Riana要與你開始本週的父親節主題