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National News

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or generations, the Lantern Festival, which ¹ the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar calendar, has been seen ²the finale of the Chinese New Year holidays. In Taiwan, a different city is chosen each year to host a large event that represents the entire country. This year the world famous Taiwan Lantern Festival is being held in Chiayi City. The centerpiece of this year’s festival is a ³lantern in the form of a pig. This is because 2007 is the year of the pig and each year’s main lantern takes the shape of the animal that represents the year. The lantern is 18 meters in height and weighs 20 tons and is meant to bring prosperity and harmony to the coming year. The festival in Chiayi is expected to draw many visitors from all over Taiwan and even other parts of the world.

While the ⁴of the Taiwan Lantern Festival changes from year to year, there is another popular event that is always held in the same place. The small town of Yien-Shui in Tainan County puts on an annual firecracker show that is ⁵. The amazing display of beehive firecrackers attracts thrill seekers from far and wide. The centerpiece of this year’s event is a huge statue of the war god Guan Gong which ⁶80 thousand firecrackers. The event is not ⁷ risks, however, and each year there are numerous injuries from the exploding firecrackers.

One interesting feature of this year’s lantern festival is the ⁸that will be made to ⁹the world’s longest firecracker. The 13 kilometer long firecracker ¹⁰ the Legend of the Fire Dragon will break the existing Guinness World Records for the longest string of firecrackers ever.

Cloze

giant is made up of as named attempt

location falls on second to none  set off without

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Guinness World Records:《金氏世界紀錄大全》。這是一本記載著世界之最的書，

包括天文地理，歷史科學不同領域的世界紀錄等，該書每年均會出版一次。現在，《金氏 世界紀錄大全》是全球最暢銷的有版權系列書籍。(from www.wikipeida.com)

Vocabulary & Idioms

Lantern Festival ['lænt n 'f st v ] n. 元宵節

lunar calendar ['lun 'kæl nd ] n. 陰曆

finale [f 'n l ] n. 終曲；結局

centerpiece ['s nt pis] n. 最重要的人或物

ton [t n] n. 公噸

harmony ['h rm n ] n. 和諧

annual ['ænj l] adj. 年度的

beehive firecracker ['biha v 'fa r kræk ] n. 蜂炮

thrill [ r l] n. 興奮；激動

seeker ['sik ] n. 追求者

risk [r sk] n. 風險

injury [' nd r ] n. 傷害

Patterns

For generations, the Lantern Festival, which falls on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar calendar, has been seen as the finale of the Chinese New Year holidays.

表示從過去繼續到現在的動作或狀態，應以現在完成式表示。這樣的句子中常會看到 for ＋一段時間 （已有……的時間）

for the last /past ＋一段時間…… （過去……以來）

He has stayed up preparing for the college entrance examfor the last few weeks.

The event is not without risks.

not...without + V-ing/N(P) （無……不……；每……必……）

這是雙重否定（負負得正）的句型，用兩個否定詞來表示肯定的意義。

There isnosmokewithoutfire. （無風不起浪。）

Translation

好

幾世代以來，元宵節，也就是農曆第一個月的第十五天，一直被視為是春節假期的尾聲。在台灣，每年有 一個不同的城市被選出來舉行一個代表整個國家的大型慶典。今年聞名世界的台灣燈會將在嘉義市舉行，

今年燈會的主燈是一個巨大的小猪花燈，這是因為2007 年是猪年，而每年的主燈都會以代表當年的生肖為 主題造型。這個花燈的高度18 公尺且重達 20 公噸，並象徵著可以為未來一年帶來繁榮及和諧。嘉義燈會預期會吸引 來自台灣各地，甚至世界其他地方眾多遊客前往。

雖然台灣燈會每年都會更換地點，但是有另一項受歡迎的慶典活動總是在同一個地方舉行。位於台南的鹽水小 鎮，舉行一年一度，絕無僅有的蜂炮節。這項令人驚奇的蜂炮施放吸引了遠近各地追求刺激的人。今年此項盛事的主 題是一座含有8 萬支蜂炮的戰神關公雕像。然而這項活動卻具危險性，每年有很多人因炸開的鞭炮而受傷。

今年燈會另一有趣的特色是嘗試施放世界最長的的鞭炮。這個長13 公里，名為火龍傳奇的鞭炮，將會打破世界 最長鞭炮的金氏世界紀錄。

Answer

G C A F H B J E I D

發行人：李枝昌 執行編輯：劉婉婷

龍騰英文網：http://english.lungteng.com.tw 龍騰全球網：http://english.lungteng.com.tw

創刊日 ：2007 年 4 月 2 日 出刊日：2007 年 4 月 2 日

客服專線：0800-081281 電話：(02)2299-9063 傳真：(02)2299-9069 發行所：龍騰文化事業股份有限公司 地址：248 台北縣五股鄉五權七路 1 號

Before You Read

作者：洪孟萍

Angus James Bain

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International News

he 2007 Oscar ceremony presented two veteran film figures with a chance to finally win an award.

Actor Peter O’Toole received his eighth acting nomination and director Martin Scorsese received his sixth directing nomination. Many Oscar fans were hoping they would both win. In the end, however, it was only Scorsese who ended his long run of Oscar losses.

Martin Scorsese is best known for making gangster movies and movies about people with emotional problems. Some of his critical successes include Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Casino, Gangs of New York and The Aviator. Long considered one of the best directors in Hollywood, Martin Scorsese’s failure to win an Oscar puzzled many people. It seemed that every year he was nominated, the people who voted for the winner thought another director’s performance was just a little bit better. His 2006 crime drama The Departed ended that losing streak when he was awarded the Oscar for directing. The Departed also went on to win the award for best picture.

Veteran Irish actor Peter O’Toole is best known for his signature role as T. E. Lawrence in the 1963 movie blockbuster Lawrence of Arabia. It was both his first film role and his first nomination for an acting Oscar.

The 74 year-old actor went on to make many more films over the following 43 years and in that time he collected another seven nominations. Unfortunately, for both him and his fans, he has never won. He was nominated a record eighth time for his role in the film Venus but lost out to another veteran actor named Forest Whitaker. If he continues acting, however, he may one day join Martin Scorsese in winning a golden statuette.

Multiple Choices

How many Oscar nominations do O’Toole and Scorsese have between them?

1  14  12  43

Why was it a mystery to many people that Martin Scorsese had never won an Oscar?

Because he is considered one of the best directors in Hollywood.

Because he is considered one of the best actors in Hollywood.

Because he’s been making films for forty-three years.

Because he had received eight directing nominations.

According to the passage, which of the following is false?

Forest Whitaker was one of the 2007 Oscar winners.

Peter O’Toole’s role in the movie Lawrence of Arabia won him an Oscar.

Martin Scorsese eventually won an Oscar after losing five times.

The Departed won more than one Oscar this year.

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The Oscars^:奧斯卡獎，又稱為學院獎（The Academy Awards），為美國電影藝術與 科學學院（The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences）每年頒發的獎。獎座為一 座小雕像，授予上一年度上映電影中表現出色者，及頗具創意，技巧非凡者。據說，奧 斯卡這個名稱是出自於學院一位女秘書之口，她說這座雕像酷似她的叔父奧斯卡。

critical success^: 在文中指影評人覺得成功的電影。box-office success 則是票房好的 電影。一部票房高的電影並不一定受影評青睞，反之亦然，一部受影評讚賞的電影並不 一定賣座。

Vocabulary & Idioms

ceremony ['s r mon ] n. 典禮

present [pr 'z nt] v. 授予；交給

veteran ['v t r n] n. 經驗豐富的人

nomination [ n m 'ne n] n. 提名

gangster ['gæ st ] n. 匪徒

critical ['kr t k ] adj. 批評的

puzzle ['p z ] v. 使困惑

nominate ['n m net] v. 提名

losing streak ['luz strik] n. 連連失敗

signature role ['s gn t 'rol] n. 招牌角色

blockbuster ['bl k b st ] n. 賣座電影

unfortunately [ n'f rt n tl ] adj. 不幸地

statuette [ stæt ' t] n. 小雕像

Patterns

Long considered one of the best directors in Hollywood, Martin Scorsese’s failure to win an Oscar puzzled many people.

＝Because Martin Scorsese was long considered one of the best directors in Hollywood, his failure to win an Oscar puzzled many people.

本句為分詞構句。連接詞省略後，主詞因前後一致被省略。而be 動詞改為 being 後，又被省略。

Translation

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007 年的奧斯卡頒獎典禮給了電影界兩位大老級的人物贏得獎項的機會。演員彼德．奧圖獲得他第八次的演員 提名，而導演馬丁．史柯西斯獲得他第六次導演提名。許多奧斯卡迷都希望他們兩個人最後都能成為贏家。然 而，最後只有馬丁．史柯西斯結束了他長期的奧斯卡挫敗。

馬丁．史柯西斯以拍攝和幫派和有情緒問題的人物有關的電影最為著名。一些他極受影評青睞的成功作品包括 了：《計程車司機》、《蠻牛》、《賭國風雲》、《紐約黑幫》，及《神鬼玩家》。雖然他一直被認為是好萊塢最棒 的導演之一，但對大部分的人而言，為何他從未得到奧斯卡一直令人不解。似乎他被提名的那一年，那些投給得獎的 人，都覺得另一位導演表現剛好比他好一點點。他2006 年的犯罪劇情片《神鬼無間》，在他獲得奧斯卡最佳導演時，

結束了接連失敗的命運。《神鬼無間》也接著贏得了最佳影片的獎項。

愛爾蘭大老級的演員彼德．奧圖以他在1963 年賣座電影《 阿拉伯的羅倫斯》中的羅倫斯的招牌角色最為著名，

那是他第一部電影的角色，也是他第一次被提名奧斯卡最佳演員。這位現已74 歲的演員，在他接下來的 43 年中，在 更多電影中擔綱演出，並在那段期間榮獲另外七次提名。令他及他的影迷覺得不幸的是，他從未獲獎。他以在電影

《維納斯女神》中的角色獲得他第八次的提名，但卻輸給了另一位演員佛瑞斯特．懷特克。然而如果他能繼續演戲，

有一天他也可能加入馬丁．史柯西斯贏得小金人的行列。

Answer

B A B

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