「乱」中有序

文：

教育资讯教育传媒香港教育杂志专家分享英语词汇露云娜老师

上期与各读者分享了常用英语词汇在加了「s」后便有机会脱离原来意思，变成新字。有同学慨叹这做法令人无所适从，反问为何英语中没有更多不同的词汇表达个别意思。其实同学正指出学习英语的盲点——「乱」。「乱」不在英语，而是在学习过程当中，皆因同学还未能接受英语的构造特色。试想一下，颜色原来也只有三种原色：红、黄、蓝，为何我们能拥有一个七彩缤纷的世界，有各式各样的色彩呢？答案是：要重复使用。

笔者认为英语学习就是要懂得有条理地解「乱」。不要老是套用母语中文的学习模式。否则就像质疑动物为何不像人类用两条腿走路而要用上四条腿的思维一样。大家或许不知道有些极端例子，被很多英语冷知识（English Trivia）提及，并已记录于《健力士世界纪录大全》内: 一个「set」字可拥有多达430种用法。读者若然评价自己或子女的英语水平不足，或许需要认真地反思过往的学习模式是否能真正有效地学习？正如拳王阿里Muhammad Ali亦以一词多用的金句去勉励大家:「Don't count the days, make the days count.」(「别数算日子，让日子过得有意义。」)

今期继续对比一下常用英语有「s」与没有「s」的差别。


1	green (adj.)	绿色	greens (n.)	青菜
	I like my green shirt.		Eat up your greens, they are good for you.
2	iron (n.)	铁	irons (n.)	铁链
	It is difficult to bend an iron bar.		It was common for prisoners to be tied in irons.
3	light (adj.)	轻	lights (n.)	灯
	This pen is very light.		Don’t leave the lights on when you are not in the room.
4	mean (v.)	意思是	means (n.)	方法
	What does this vocabulary mean?		Do you have any means of identification?
5	paper (n.)	纸	papers (n.)	文件
	This card is made of paper.		I put all my papers on my desk.
6	physic (n.)	药物	physics (n.)	物理
	Chinese medicine is the treasure of Chinese traditional physic.		Michelle is a physics teacher.
7	regard (v.)	看待	regards (n.)	问候
	Don’t regard this very seriously.		Best regards
8	respect (v.)	尊重	respects (n.)	方面
	Most students respect their teachers.		The two theories differ in many respects.
9	right (adj.)	正确的	rights (n.)	权利
	You’ve made a right choice.		We should consider the rights of others.
10	sometime (adv.)	某时候	sometimes(adv.)	有时
	Give me a call sometime.		John and Peter sometimes go fishing on Sundays.
11	wood(n.)	木	woods(n.)	树木
	This table is made of wood.		The students walked slowly through the woods.
12	work(v.)	工作	works(n.)	作品
	Most people work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.		The young writer has written over 30 works of fiction.