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在《康熙來了》節目中,黃國倫提到第一句:On a dark desert highway,其中因為dark desert這樣的連接字組比較難發音,而K音能以省略或轉弱不發。這即是蠻典型的兩個有聲子音相連所造成的問題,在(我以前)國中英文課本會特別教,動詞如果加上ed該怎麼發音,譬如:worked,當時,英文老師就會教:有聲子音末尾就會接有聲子音,而在此音標上就會產生kt兩個有聲子音的狀況;歌詞中的dark desert,照理說,也是可以硬發出來的,但是在日常生活(口語對話、唱歌)上,是不會這樣做的,是比較會傾向發音成:dardesert,把一個有聲子音留下來,然後連音連過去(如果仔細聽原唱歌曲,會發現k音隱隱約約,只剩下d的感覺)。

《康熙來了》的這段給我們學習英文有什麼啟示,(妙麗舉手):學英文要學唱英文歌。關於用英文歌學英語,很多人提出這建議,我也非常贊同,但我建議要採取英文歌學英文的人,英文歌不僅要選自己喜歡的,也盡量要選咬字清晰一點,有些英文歌可能連自己母語人士都很吃力,那類的歌曲就不適合拿來做為借鏡(譬如:rap)。但另一個啟示是我要在這邊提醒學英文有志之士,英文是拼音文字,是先有音而後寫字的,因而英文的許多特性是建立在聲音上,很多英文學習課本(就連英文母語人士也會在教學時強調),英文是一個非常注重melody(旋律)的語言,換成白話文,就是最好的英文口說就像在唱歌,他很強調節奏、節拍、韻律、起伏的,而這部份中文學生很難掌握的。

至於這首歌在Wiki上的介紹,有時間可以多所閱讀(以後會說明,英文文章怎麼讀會比較快一點,如果你跟我一樣是喜歡慢慢看的人),裡頭提到歌詞的interpretation(這邊不多做詮釋,要知道這歌詞是講鬼屋、精神病院、戒毒中心,就請看其它網頁了),有段很有趣:

In a 2009 interview, Plain Dealer music critic John Soeder asked Don Henley this about the lyrics:

    On "Hotel California," you sing: "So I called up the captain / 'Please bring me my wine' / He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.'" I realize I'm probably not the first to bring this to your attention, but wine isn't a spirit. Wine is fermented; spirits are distilled. Do you regret that lyric?

Henley responded,

    "Thanks for the tutorial and, no, you're not the first to bring this to my attention—and you're not the first to completely misinterpret the lyric and miss the metaphor. Believe me, I've consumed enough alcoholic beverages in my time to know how they are made and what the proper nomenclature is. But that line in the song has little or nothing to do with alcoholic beverages. It's a sociopolitical statement. My only regret would be having to explain it in detail to you, which would defeat the purpose of using literary devices in songwriting and lower the discussion to some silly and irrelevant argument about chemical processes."

nomenclature (n)命名法
Wine > ferment (v)發酵
Spirit > distill (v)蒸餾
alcoholic beverages

有時間自己讀讀看吧,但這邊就可能有文化障礙了(連我障礙也不小),wine is not a spirit,雖然wine和spirit都屬於alcoholic beverage,但是製作方法不同,所以其實是不同的酒類(至於怎麼不同法,這個可能要親自嚐看看了)。此外,我覺得會有文化障礙的是beverage (any type of drink except water) ,雖然翻譯是飲料,似乎跟drink一樣的意思,但是如果有機會坐在美式或外國餐廳,beverage會出現在menu(菜單)上,而且雖然說是「飲料」,但很多時候常常那一欄都蠻可能是酒類或含酒精(beer...)(純粹個人經驗,囧),當然也有一些普及型的飲料,但有些餐廳反而給他歸類在soft drink中。所以,這句說:I've consumed enough alcoholic beverages in my time. 動詞用consume,名詞用alcoholic beverage,其實是非常道地的用法,中式英文很難在腦中講出這樣的句子,不僅是能力上,也是文化上的

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