▲ 阿拉伯聯合大公國哈里發港口（Khalifa Port）。（圖／達志影像／美聯社）
文／Buffy Kao
近日阿拉伯聯合大公國宣布要採取周休2.5日的措施，將目前周五、周六的休息日，改成從周五下午開始，持續到周日，此項政策將從明年正式上路，為的是在配合穆斯林周五參拜的習俗，以及與世界接軌的願景中取得平衡，本次讓我們來看看國外新聞如何報導這項世界首例吧！
調整周末的目的
That's significant for two reasons: It likely makes the UAE the first nation to formalize a workweek shorter than five days, and it also brings the country more in line with Western schedules. (npr)
（這項措施的重大意義在於兩個原因：這可能使阿聯酋成為第一個將每周工作時間縮短到五天以內的國家，並且讓國家更能接軌西方世界的工作時間表。）
formalize (v)「正式化、使定型」，動詞來自於名詞form，form有「形狀、表格」之意，經常出現在多益測驗中，如fill out the form「填表格」。而form也可以當成動詞，代表「成形」。form加上「-al」變成形容詞formal，是「正式的」意思；加上字首「in-」成為反義詞，informal就是「不正式的」；加上字尾「-tive」則成為形容詞變化，formative的意思是「成形的」
A solution began to form in her mind.
（她想到了一個解決辦法。）
She spent her formative years in Africa.
（她在非洲度過了性格形成的時期（成長期）。）
form的名詞變化是formation，用法如a rock formation（一塊岩石的結構）、cloud formations（雲的形狀），新聞中使用的formalize則是字尾「-lize」的變化。光是form一個單字就可以延伸出許多單字，可見字首字尾變化的形式有多豐富，只要懂得字根、字首、字尾的規則，不需要刻意背單字，就可以用倍數成長的方式來記單字，這才是增加單字最省力的方式。
They offered me the job, but the contract has not been formalized yet.
（他們把工作給了我，但是還沒有正式簽合同。）
bring...in line with「與…接軌、同步」。bring有「帶來」的意思，因此這個動詞片語就是帶到某個層級，in line with是和某人在同一條線上，因此可以理解成「同步、接軌」的意思，with後方則要記得接同步的對象。be in line with也有「一致、同步」的意思，在各種英文句子中都經常使用。
You need to talk to that new student and bring him into line with the rules of our school.
（你必須和那位學生聊聊，讓他了解學校的規則。）
The company's results are in line with stock market expectations.
（公司業績與股票市場預期一致。）
政策何時生效
The changes apply to federal government entities and will take effect on Jan. 1. After that point, Monday through Thursday workdays will run from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Friday hours will be 7:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. (WYPR)
（這些改變適用於聯邦政府，將在1月1日生效。往後，周一到周四的工作日將會從上午7:30到下午3:30，周五的工作時間則是從早上7:30到中午12點。）
apply to (v.)「適用於、應用」在多益測驗中最常見的用法就是「申請」的意思。但其實apply有很多意思，除了申請的意思，還可以解釋為「應用」、或是「適用於…」的意思。
Those were old regulations - they don’t apply anymore.
（那些都是舊規定，不再適用了。）
By the time I saw the job advertised, it was already too late to apply.
（我看到招聘廣告的時候，已經太晚了，錯過了應徵時機。）
apply作「申請」的意思時，後方可以接 to 或for，但apply for後面通常接的是「要申請的東西／工作」；to則是接「申請這個工作的對象／機構。」
I‘ve applied for a new job with the local newspaper.
（我已經申請了地方報紙的一個職位。）
We’ve applied to a charitable organization for a grant for the project.
（我們已經向一個慈善組織提出申請，請求其對這個計劃提供資助。）
apply的名詞變化是application，就是我們app的原形單字，所以手機中的app中文就是「應用軟體」的意思。而application form則表示「申請表」。
The design has many applications.
（這個設計有很多用途。）
Have you filled in the application form for your passport yet?
（你填寫護照申請表了嗎？）
take effect「生效」這個動詞片語在談論政策時經常使用；effect是「效果」的意思，動詞affect代表「影響」，而形容詞effective「有效的」和efficient「有效率的」同樣是多益測驗中常見的形容詞，後者的用法包含了時間的因素，就是在短時間內有效果，因而變成有效率的。
take effect後方接的介系詞取決於如何表達時間，這裡接特定日期，因此用on；如果後方要接月份，則是要使用in，因此大家需要先判斷時間上的表達再決定介系詞的用法。
【多益模擬試題】
June 8
Ms. Eunice Cha
Project Leader
B.S. Consultants
10-EE Central City Building
Bangalore 560 097 India
Dear Ms. Cha:
I very much enjoyed your talk at the International Conference on Public Architecture in Mumbai. I especially appreciated your assessment of the competing demands of function, budget, and public expectations on municipal projects.
Our firm has recently been awarded the contract for the design of a large public swimming facility here in Singapore, and I think that our staff would be most interested in your remarks. It would provide useful discussion points for us as we plan and execute the project.
Would it be possible to obtain a copy of your speech and reproduce twenty copies for our internal use only? We would not distribute any part of it outside the company without first obtaining permission from you, nor would we include any part of it in any of our presentations external bodies without your permission and without acknowledgement of you as the author.
It might be that you have plans to publish the material in some form in a journal or trade magazine. If that is the case, I understand that you would not want to release it to us. In that event, would you please inform me when and where it will be published?
Thank you very much for your consideration and for a superb presentation.
Sincerely,
David Wong
President
Wong Architecture, Pty. Ltd.
1. What can be inferred about Mr. Wong?
(A) He attended a presentation given by Ms. Cha.
(B) He is seeking employees for his architecture firm.
(C) He would like to submit an article for publication.
(D) He wants to purchase a subscription to a trade journal.
2. What is Mr. Wong’s company working on?
(A) Giving a public presentation
(B) Planning an awards ceremony
(C) The construction of a new conference center
(D) The design of a swimming pool
3. What is Mr. Wong requesting?
(A) The opportunity to bid on a contract
(B) Copies of published project design plans
(C) Permission to distribute information to his colleagues
(D) A review of a municipal annual budget
解析：
1. 正解為(A)。題目問「文章暗示王先生什麼事？」第一段王先生就提到「我非常喜歡你在孟買國際公共建築會議上的演講。」故(A)「他參加了一場查小姐的演講」為正解。
2. 正解為(D)。題目問「王先生的公司正在做什麼？」在第二段提到「我們公司最近獲得了新加坡一個大型公共游泳設施的設計合同。」故(D)為正解。文中award就是give「給予」的意思。
正解為(C)。題目問「王先生要求什麼？」在第三段有提到「有可能獲得一份你的演講稿，並複制製20 份僅供我們內部使用嗎？」故(C)「允許可以發送訊息給同事」為正解。
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