On June 1, 1865, Senator Charles Sumner commented on what is now considered the most famous speech by President Abraham Lincoln. In his eulogy on the slain president, he called it a "monumental act." He said Lincoln was mistaken that "the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here." Rather, the Bostonian remarked, "The world noted at once what he said, and will never cease to remember it. The battle itself was less important than the speech."

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm

Abraham Lincoln
The Gettysburg Address

亞伯拉罕．林肯
蓋茨堡演講詞

偉大的蓋茨堡戰役於一八六三年七月在這個賓夕法尼亞小鎮的街上及其周圍地區持續了三天之久，此次戰役是內戰的轉捩點。國會決定把這一片曾有許多英勇戰士犧牲生命的戰場建為國家公墓。林肯總統親自從華盛頓前來為此墓地舉行揭幕禮。他在一八六三年十一月十九日所發表的獻詞雖然很短，但卻是所有闡釋民主信念的最雄辯動人的演詞之一。

八十七年以前，我們的祖先在這大陸上建立了一個新的國家，它孕育於自由，並且獻身給一種理念，即所有人都是生來平等的。

當前，我們正在從事一次偉大的內戰，我們在考驗，究竟這個國家，或任何一個有這種主張和這種信仰的國家，是否能長久存在。我們在那次戰爭的一個偉大的戰場上集合。我們來到這裡，奉獻那個戰場上的一部分土地，作為在此地為那個國家的生存而犧牲了自己生命的人永久眠息之所。我們這樣做，是十分合情合理的。

可是，就更深一層意義而言，我們是無從奉獻這片土地的－－無從使它成為聖地－－也不可能把它變為人們景仰之所。那些在這裡戰鬥的勇士，活著的和死去的，已使這塊土地神聖化了，遠非我們的菲薄能力所能左右。世人會不大注意，更不會長久記得我們在此地所說的話，然而他們將永遠忘不了這些人在這裡所做的事。相反，我們活著的人應該獻身於那些曾在此作戰的人們所英勇推動而尚未完成的工作。我們應該在此獻身於我們面前所留存的偉大工作－－由於他們的光榮犧牲，我們要更堅定地致力於他們曾作最後全部貢獻的那個事業－－我們在此立志誓願，不能讓他們白白死去－－要使這個國家在上帝庇佑之下，得到新生的自由－－要使那民有、民治、民享的政府不致從地球上消失。

http://www.ait.org.tw/infousa/zhtw/PUBS/livingDoc/gettysburg.htm

林肯的蓋茲堡演說

《蓋茲堡演說》（英語：Gettysburg Address）是美國前總統亞伯拉罕·林肯最著名的演說，也是美國歷史上為人引用最多之政治性演說。

在八十七年前，我們的國父們在這塊土地上創建一個新的國家，乃基於對自由的堅信，並致力於所有男人皆生而平等的信念。〔註：father在此應避免有血緣的聯想。在當時的人，尤其是在政治上，沒有男女平等的觀念，men指的是男人，而且沒有說出來的還是白種男人而已。為求忠實，不應將其視為人類的通稱。）（基於當時社會文化，故也可看作「凡人皆生而平等」。）

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

當下吾等被捲入一場偉大的內戰，以考驗是否此國度，或任何肇基於和奉獻於斯者，可永垂不朽。吾等現相逢於此戰中一處浩大戰場。而吾等將奉獻此戰場之部分，作為這群交付彼者生命讓那國度勉能生存的人們最後安息之處。此乃全然妥切且適當而為吾人應行之舉。

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

但，於更大意義之上，吾等無法致力、無法奉上、無法成就此土之聖。這群勇者，無論生死，曾於斯奮戰到底，早已使其神聖，而遠超過吾人卑微之力所能增減。這世間不曾絲毫留意，也不長久記得吾等於斯所言，但永不忘懷彼人於此所為。吾等生者，理應當然，獻身於此輩鞠躬盡瘁之未完大業。吾等在此責無旁貸獻身於眼前之偉大使命：自光榮的亡者之處吾人肩起其終極之奉獻—吾等在此答應亡者之死當非徒然—此國度，於神佑之下，當享有自由之新生—民有、民治、民享之政府當免於凋零。

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

注釋： Of the people, By the people, For the people ——

為(wéi)人民所擁有的，被人民所選出的，為(wèi)人民而服務的 —— 民有、民治、民享。

http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/%E8%93%8B%E8%8C%B2%E5%A0%A1%E6%BC%94%E8%AA%AA

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Jun 29 Fri 2012 01:01
on the go

on the go

(adjective)

(of a person) very busy and active

Familiarity information: ON THE GO used as an adjective is very rare.

http://www.audioenglish.net/dictionary/on_the_go.htm

very busy

I've been on the go all day and I'm really tired.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/on-the-go?q=on+the+go#on-the-go__1

隨時隨地

http://tw.dictionary.yahoo.com/search?p=on+the+go&fr=yfp&ei=utf-8&v=0

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Jun 20 Wed 2012 01:35
thesaurus

thesaurus /θɪˈsɔrəs/

(尤指同義詞等的) 詞典; 百科全書; 彙編...

plural thesauri /θɪˈsɔraɪ/

or thesauruses /θɪˈsɔrəsəz/

http://tw.dictionary.yahoo.com/search?p=Thesaurus&fr=yfp&ei=utf-8&v=0

http://oaadonline.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/Thesaurus

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Jun 20 Wed 2012 00:46
wage / salary

wage

a regular amount of money that you earn, usually every week, for work or services

wages of $500 a week

a weekly wage of $500

wage cuts

a wage increase of 3%

Wages are paid on Fridays.

Tax and insurance are deducted from your wages.

http://oaadonline.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/wage

salary

money that employees receive for doing their job,

especially professional employees or people working in an office,

usually paid once or twice a month

an annual salary of $40,000

a 9% salary increase

She's on a salary of$55,000.

He receives a base salary of $215,000, plus bonuses based on performance.

http://oaadonline.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/salary

Thesaurus: income

pay salary wage/wages overtime earnings

These are all words for money that a person earns or receives for their work.

income money that a person receives for their work,

or from investments or business:

people on low incomes

pay (often used in compounds) money that employees earn for doing their jobs:

We all took pay cuts when sales figures fell.

A large percentage of my paycheck goes towards health insurance for my family.

The job offers good pay and benefits.

salary a fixed amount of money that employees earn (usually per year)

for doing their jobs:

She was offered a starting salary of $33,000 per year.

NOTE A person's salary does not change,

no matter how many hours per week the person works.

pay, salary, or wage?

Pay is the most general of these three words.

The term wages is used in accounting to describe the amount of money someone earns

before any taxes or other payments are taken away.

Employees who work in offices or professional people, such as teachers or doctors,

usually receive a salary that is paid once or twice a month,

but is usually expressed as an annual figure.

overtime money that a person earns for working more hours than

they had originally agreed to work:

She earned $500 in overtime by working the entire holiday weekend.

earnings (business) money that a person earns for their work:

The industry has seen a rise in average earnings over the past two years.

PATTERNS

(a) high/low/basic income/pay/salary/wage/earnings

to earn an income/your pay/a salary/a wage/overtime

to earn $... in income/pay/salary/wages/overtime

to live on/support a family on a(n) income/salary/hourly wage of…

http://oaadonline.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/salary

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Jun 19 Tue 2012 01:25
你並不特別！美國高中教師畢業贈言爆紅

作者： NewTalk 新頭殼 | 新頭殼 – 2012年6月15日上午5:06

李連傑/綜合報導

今年美國畢業季最火紅的一句話是：「You are not special！」

.....................................................................................

麥卡洛鼓勵畢業生們去做任何想做的事，不為別的，就因為熱愛而且相信它很重要。

「去爬山；爬山，是因為你可以看到世界，而不是讓世界可以看到你。」

生活就是成就；麥卡洛最後對畢業生：「恭喜，祝好運！為你們、為我們，請過好你們自己的特別生活。」

這段超過12分鐘的致辭影片，一星期來在網路爆紅，美國媒體更是爭相報導，評價絕大多數是正面的，並譽為2012年最佳畢業贈言，標題就是「You are not special！」

這位老師的知名度也一夕勁揚，幾乎不輸他同名和父親David McCullough。

老麥卡洛是美國知名的歷史學者，得過兩次普立茲獎、兩座國家圖書獎、兩次法蘭西斯派克曼獎、洛杉磯時報圖書獎、紐約公立圖書館文學金獅獎，以及美國公民可獲得的最高文職獎總統自由勳章。

http://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E4%BD%A0%E4%B8%A6%E4%B8%8D%E7%89%B9%E5%88%A5-%E7%BE%8E%E5%9C%8B%E9%AB%98%E4%B8%AD%E6%95%99%E5%B8%AB%E7%95%A2%E6%A5%AD%E8%B4%88%E8%A8%80%E7%88%86%E7%B4%85-210626908.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lfxYhtf8o4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfdhFFSlNnw

[David McCullough, Jr. - You Are Not Special Commencement Speech - Wellesley High School]

[Wellesley High School Teacher David McCullough, Jr. ]

Dr. Wong, Dr. Keough, Mrs. Novogroski, Ms. Curran, members of the board of education, family and friends of the graduates, ladies and gentlemen of the Wellesley High School class of 2012, for the privilege of speaking to you this afternoon, I am honored and grateful. Thank you.

So here we are… commencement… life’s great forward-looking ceremony. And don’t say, “What about weddings?” Weddings are one-sided and insufficiently effective. Weddings are bride-centric pageantry. Other than conceding to a list of unreasonable demands, the groom just stands there. No stately, hey-everybody-look-at-me procession. No being given away. No identity-changing pronouncement. And can you imagine a television show dedicated to watching guys try on tuxedos? Their fathers sitting there misty-eyed with joy and disbelief, their brothers lurking in the corner muttering with envy. Left to men, weddings would be, after limits-testing procrastination, spontaneous, almost inadvertent… during halftime… on the way to the refrigerator. And then there’s the frequency of failure: statistics tell us half of you will get divorced. A winning percentage like that’ll get you last place in the American League East. The Baltimore Orioles do better than weddings.

But this ceremony… commencement… a commencement works every time. From this day forward… truly… in sickness and in health, through financial fiascos, through midlife crises and passably attractive sales reps at trade shows in Cincinnati, (parents get that) through diminishing tolerance for annoyingness, through every difference, irreconcilable and otherwise, you will stay forever graduated from high school, you and your diploma as one, ‘til death do you part.

No, commencement is life’s great ceremonial beginning, with its own attendant and highly appropriate symbolism. Fitting, for example, for this auspicious rite of passage, is where we find ourselves this afternoon, the venue. Normally, I avoid clichés like the plague, wouldn’t touch them with a ten-foot pole, but here we are on a literal level playing field. That matters. That says something. And your ceremonial costume… shapeless, uniform, one-size-fits-all. Whether male or female, tall or short, scholar or slacker, spray-tanned prom queen or intergalactic X-Box assassin, each of you is dressed, you’ll notice, exactly the same. And your diploma… but for your name, exactly the same.

All of this is as it should be, because none of you is special.

You’re not special. You are not exceptional.

Contrary to what your U9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing 7th grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you… you’re nothing special.

Yes, you’ve been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped. Yes, capable adults with other things to do have held you, kissed you, fed you, wiped your mouth, wiped your bottom, trained you, taught you, tutored you, coached you, listened to you, counseled you, encouraged you, consoled you and encouraged you again. You’ve been nudged, cajoled, wheedled and implored. You’ve been feted and fawned over and called sweetie pie. Yes, you have. And, certainly, we’ve been to your games, your plays, your recitals, your science fairs. Absolutely, smiles ignite when you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at your every tweet. Why, maybe you’ve even had your picture in the Townsman. And now you’ve conquered high school… and, indisputably, here we all have gathered for you, the pride and joy of this fine community, the first to emerge from that magnificent new building…

But do not get the idea you’re anything special. Because you’re not.

The empirical evidence is everywhere, numbers even an English teacher can’t ignore. Newton, Natick, Nee… I am allowed to say Needham, yes? …that has to be two thousand high school graduates right there, give or take, and that’s just the neighborhood N’s. Across the country no fewer than 3.2 million seniors are graduating about now from more than 37,000 high schools.

That’s 37,000 valedictorians… that’s 37,000 class presidents… 92,000 harmonizing altos… 340,000 swaggering jocks… 2,185,967 pairs of Uggs. But why limit ourselves to high school? After all, you’re leaving it. So think about this: even if you’re one in a million, on a planet of 6.8 billion that means there are nearly 7,000 people just like you. Imagine standing somewhere over there on Washington Street on Marathon Monday and watching 6,800 ‘yous’ go running by. And consider for a moment the bigger picture: your planet, I’ll remind you, is not the center of its solar system, your solar system is not the center of its galaxy, your galaxy is not the center of the universe. In fact, astrophysicists assure us the universe has no center; therefore, you cannot be it.[applause] Neither can Donald Trump… which someone should tell him… although the hair is quite a phenomenon.

“But, Dave,” you cry, “Walt Whitman tells me I’m my own version of perfect! Epictetus tells me I have the spark of Zeus!” And I don’t disagree. So that makes 6.8 billion examples of perfection, 6.8 billion sparks of Zeus.

On LYBIO.net you can find - The Largest community of social networking with text-script-video blogging service. http://www.lybio.net

You see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless. In our unspoken but not so subtle Darwinian competition with one another–which springs, I think, from our fear of our own insignificance, a subset of our dread of mortality — we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement. We have come to see them as the point — and we’re happy to compromise standards, or ignore reality, if we suspect that’s the quickest way, or only way, to have something to put on the mantelpiece, something to pose with, crow about, something with which to leverage ourselves into a better spot on the social totem pole.

No longer is it how you play the game, no longer is it even whether you win or lose, or learn or grow, or enjoy yourself doing it… Now it’s “So what does this get me?” As a consequence, we cheapen worthy endeavors, and building a Guatemalan medical clinic becomes more about the application to Bowdoin than the well-being of Guatemalans.

It’s an epidemic — and in its way, not even dear old Wellesley High is immune… one of the best of the 37,000 nationwide, Wellesley High School… where good is no longer good enough, where a B is the new C, and the mid-level curriculum is called Advanced College Placement. And I hope you caught me when I said “one of the best.” I said “one of the best” so we can feel better about ourselves, so we can bask in a little easy distinction, however vague and unverifiable, and count ourselves among the elite, whoever they might be, and enjoy a perceived leg up on the perceived competition. But the phrase defies logic. By definition – by definition there can be only one best. You’re it or you’re not.

If you’ve learned anything in your years here I hope it’s that education should be for, rather than material advantage, the exhilaration of learning. You’ve learned, too, I hope, as Sophocles assured us, that wisdom is the chief element of happiness. Second is ice cream… just a – just an fyi. I also hope you’ve learned enough to recognize how little you know… how little you know now… at the moment… for today is just the beginning. It’s where you go from here that matters.

As you commence, then, and before you scatter to the winds, I urge you to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance. Don’t bother with work you don’t believe in any more than you would a spouse you’re not crazy about, lest you too find yourself on the wrong side of a Baltimore Orioles comparison. Resist the easy comforts of complacency, the specious glitter of materialism, the narcotic paralysis of self-satisfaction. Be worthy of your advantages.

And read… read all the time… read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life. Develop and protect a moral sensibility and demonstrate the character to apply it. Dream big. Work hard. Think for yourself. Love everything you love, everyone you love, with all your might. And do so, please, with a sense of urgency, for every tick of the clock subtracts from fewer and fewer; and as surely as there are commencements there are cessations, and you’ll be in no condition to enjoy the ceremony attendant to that eventuality no matter how delightful the afternoon.

The fulfilling life, the distinctive life, the relevant life, is an achievement, not something that will fall into your lap because you’re a nice person or mommy ordered it from the caterer. You’ll note the founding fathers took pains to secure your inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness–quite an active verb, “pursuit” – which leaves, I should think, little time for lying around watching parrots roller skate on Youtube.

The first President Roosevelt, the old rough rider, advocated the strenuous life. Mr. Thoreau wanted to drive life into a corner, to live deep and suck out all the marrow. The poet Mary Oliver tells us to row, row into the swirl and roil. Locally, someone… I – I forget who… from time to time encourages young scholars to carpe the heck out of the diem. The point is the same: get busy, have at it.

Don’t wait for inspiration or passion to find you. Get up, get out, explore, find it yourself, and grab hold with both hands. Now, before you dash off and get your YOLO tattoo, ah let me point out the illogic of that trendy little expression–because you can and should live not merely once, but every day of your life.

Rather than You Only Live Once, it should be You Live Only Once… but because YLOO doesn’t have the same ring, we shrug and decide it doesn’t matter.

None of this day-seizing, though, this YLOOing, should be interpreted as license for self-indulgence. Like accolades ought to be, the fulfilled life is a consequence, ah a gratifying byproduct. It’s what happens when you’re thinking about more important things.

Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you. Go to Paris to be in Paris, not to cross it off your list and congratulate yourself for being worldly. Exercise free will and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others, the rest of the 6.8 billion – and those who will follow them. And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special.

Because everyone is.

Congratulations. Good luck. Make for yourselves, please, for your sake and for ours, extraordinary lives.

[applause]

http://lybio.net/david-mccullough-jr-you-are-not-special-commencement/speeches/