in ten years

nicolemummy

今日工人打電話俾我, 話nicole想見媽媽, 叫我快d番黎. 我就話:"i'll be back in an hour".

這令我諗起好多年前, 某年的會考英語composition有條題目, 大約係"your life in ten years"咁上下. 呢單野差唔多做左新聞頭條. 有大約40%考生揀左呢條答. 而好多人都用左past tense去答. 只有好少人識用FUTURE TENSE去答. 用PAST 個D, 按理應扣分, 因為離題, 但因太多人"中招", 所以當年有少少情商餘地...

當年, 我睇完報紙, 先知原來"IN XXXXX"係FUTURE TENSE咁用. 我由細到大D英文老師都無教過我, D 名校同平凡校既英語真係有分別架.

到我大過, 先至覺得, 如果考生用PAST tense, 真係好離譜架...

nicolemummy

這使我諗起, 當年做中學生係點學英文..... 好鬼攪野. 中文動詞係無過去式既. 所以, 要作文寫過去式係好難. 無奈, 作文通常應用過去式既.

咁樣, 我通常作文時, 會用腦用中文轉英文去作個篇文. 作完後, 餘下10分鐘, 就做GLOBAL REPLACE. 將D 動詞轉哂過去式.  

難怪, 在香港學英文是如此不濟.... 我讀中學時, 當有很多疑問----為何每日都讀1小時SCMP, 英文都是不好? 為何師兄師姐的會考英語成績那麼好(一蟹不如一蟹)? 為何名校生的英語永遠全部CREDIT? 而自己的學校, 就算最好英語成績的都只是拿B, 亦全級只有3-4人CREDIT...

nicolemummy

當年學英語(恐怕現在更是如此), 老師為了我們易於記憶, 會把一篇文章分成很多phrase. 每個phrase就有中文解釋及文法用法, 我們就砌puzzle咁砌句子出黎.

"in xxxxx" 意思是"在幾時以內"... in 是裡面的意思, 小一都讀過. 所以"in 10 years", 小學高年級都可以解到"在十年內"的意思.

"your life in 10 years".... 連小學高年級生都可以釋到, 釋成"在這十年內你的人生"...

因為作文好少用future tense, 個個人如果係用中文思想去看這作文題目, 好直接就釋成,"在這(過去)十年間你的人生"... 結果就"中招"

nicolemummy

但, 如果係名校學生, 佢地亞校長已經係"鬼佬", "鬼婆", 又或者佢地有神父修女, 又或者英語老師本人已經係西人. "in xxxxxx"呢類句子就是日常成日出現.

"You have to hand in your work in 10 minutes"
"You have to clean up yourself in 30 minutes"
"Hurry! The plane will depart in an hour"
"That's easy. You can catch up in no time"

如此, 佢地無可能會聯想"in xxxxx" 會係past tense. 我想佢地睇到報紙其他考生用past tense, 都會    . 心中仲會鬧:"有無攪錯, 錯得咁離譜, 都有得商確?"




突然, 有感而發....

veronica_chan

想搭下咀。
記得小五、小六時，狂"背"英文grammar升中，阿媽逼我狂做補充練習，係有條rule，"in "一個數得出的時間(n years, n days, n min)要用將來式，好多補充練習都有這題目，所以我唔係讀名校都知道。

nicolemummy

veronica,

咁你應該都幾後生.... 因為個單野出現之後, 好多英文書都update左呢個經典grammar嚮教科書度....   

veronica_chan

nicolemummy,
我 34 lor wor
Veronica

nicolemummy

hi veronica,

喂, 呢度人多,   , 俾人知道年齡唔係咁好...     

p.s. 你既年齡, 都好後生口者

淑筠媽咪

妳地都好,學校老師咁盡責.我個英文老師日日發夢做歌聲.教到我英文好差.會考之前連pass paper都冇睇過.到考咪知死.
我都唔知我個乜英文老師,只係教idoms.乜都唔教.連文法都唔教.死唔死.
所以我對香港教育制度冇信心.上中學,我一定送對仔女去外國讀書.

nicolemummy

hi 淑筠媽咪,

其實, 香港教育都不是太不濟的. 起碼, 我想它也教過我....也算"開竅"啦

我常常回想我的童年. 因為看見nicole, 相比之下, 我覺得現在的小朋友太幸福了. 我小時爸爸媽媽只能用勞力去換取金錢養活我們. 那裡來像veronica那樣的課外補充習作? 很多時, 連學校基本的書簿費也成為一個擔子...

我很懷念那位中四中五的英文老師. 聽小道說, 她當年是香港大學文學院的校花. 我們曾問她的profile, 她說她會考英文拿A, 在她的中學, 無可能有人英文唔credit. 如果只拿C, 人家一眼都唔望你. 她又說, 然而, 她中學很少人中文拿CREDIT. 本來, 她以為自己的中文無望及格, 竟然給她幸運地拿了E.

對於她所說的, 我感到不可思議. 當年的我, 絕對相信中文可以CREDIT, 因為這是我的母語嘛; 但要我拿英語CREDIT, 簡直是天荒夜譚. 她的說話, 全然跟我的邏輯不一樣, 所以直到現在也非常深刻.
    

gigi2

Hello, Nicolemummy,

Your story recalled my memory.

At Form 4 & 5, our English teacher joined us from a very famous Girls school.  At the beginning, we disliked her just because she always made complaint about our poor English standard.  Sometimes she would mention how the high level of her old students were in her old Girls school and we always grumbled that she should go back to there rather than stay with us.  Nevertheless, she really got her own way of teaching us in the effective way.  She dedicated a lot of times and efforts to encourage, stimulate and raise our standards during these 2 years and all of us appreciated with her after obtained the HKCEE result.  

For your discussion  'In', I would like to share more.  Perhaps I studied in a traditional school which run by a group of Sisters (NET) and we got used to hear about in the examination, ‘Girls, you only have 10 minutes left’ or ‘Girls, you have to stop writing in 5 minutes'.  So we understand that ‘IN’ for this situation is talking about future happenings.

nicolemummy

hi gigi2,

請問甚麼是NET?

講起中學學英文, 感受真的很多呀! 在考會考時, 我最擔心就係英文. 我每日花1小時去讀SCMP, 查字典, 抄VOCAB. 比起其他學科, 花的時間多3陪呢!

我仲記得當時有好多英文補習學店---如太子道的英訊, 又收佢地好多D免費英語學習雜誌. 奈何家中無錢, 從未有要去上補習班的意圖...

依家諗番, 雖然D雜誌用中文學英文PHRASE好有趣生動, 但係始終都BRUSH UP唔到D英文. 關鍵係, 中學將D英文當數學咁教.... 見到since, ago要用past perfect tense, 而is/are/am going to就係future tense... 一d都唔似language... 我當時諗, 其實學英文同學數學差不多啫...

gigi2

NET is native English teacher.

Learning esp. the second language is life long process which I'm always working hard for.