▲ 網球天王費德勒 。(圖/達志影像/美聯社)
文/Buffy Kao
網球天王費德勒(Roger Federer)於上周四(15日)宣布引退,為長達24年的職業生涯畫下了句點。回顧過去,他曾經贏得20個大滿貫冠軍,與對手納達爾和喬克維奇稱為「網壇三巨頭」,如今這名年屆41歲的傳奇即將引退,令許多球迷感到不捨。今天就讓我們從他的引退宣言來看學TOEIC測驗的常考英文吧!
acknowledge認可、承認
費德勒在Twitter上發聲明宣布退休,其中一段這樣感謝他的團隊:
I really want to thank and acknowledge my amazing team..., who have given me the best advice and have always been there for me.
(我真的想要感謝和認可我優秀的團隊…,你們給予我最棒的建議,且一直陪伴著我。)
acknowledge解釋為「認可」,單字來自於knowledge「知識」,字首「ac-」有「朝向某方向」的意思,代表come to understand or recognize的意思,因此就是「認可、承認」的意思。
acknowledge後面加上動名詞,表達承認做了某件事情,動詞後面加上動名詞表達已經做了某件事情,其他常見動詞還有forget。forget後方加上to V則表達忘記做某件事情。
She acknowledged having been at fault.
(她承認自己有過錯。)
She forgot turning on the TV.
(她忘記已經開了電視。)
She forgot to turn on the TV.
(她忘記要開電視了。)
acknowledge加上that名詞子句的用法,則代表承認某件事情。
She acknowledged that she had been at fault.
(她承認自己有過錯。)
All I want is some acknowledgment that his behavior is unreasonable.
(我只要你們承認他的行為是無理取鬧就好。)
名詞變化acknowledgment則是去掉e並在字尾加上「-ment」。
We sent her a copy of the book in acknowledgment of her part in its creation.
(我們寄給她一本書以感謝她為這本書的問世所做的貢獻。)
片語in acknowledge of 代表「認可某件事情」,除了動詞加上受詞的用法,也可以採用名詞變化。若用動詞改寫則是We sent her a copy of the book to acknowledge her part in its creation.
loyal忠誠的、royal皇室的
I want to thank my loyal sponsors, who are really like partners to me; and the hard-working teams and tournaments on the ATP Tour.
(我想要感謝我忠誠的贊助商,你們真的就像是我的夥伴,以及ATP巡迴賽事中勤奮不懈的團隊。)
loyal sponsors解釋為「忠誠的贊助商」。loyal (a)是「忠誠的」,注意不要和royal「皇室的」搞混。名詞變化是在字尾加上「-ty」成為loyalty,是常見的名詞字尾變化,其他相同用法還有certain、certainty「確認、絕對」;cruel、cruelty「殘酷」、honest、honesty「誠實」。
Jack has been a loyal worker in this company for almost 50 years.
(Jack是這間公司忠誠的員工,已經工作了快50年了。)
若要表達對某人忠誠,則可使用介系詞to加上忠誠的對象。
She’s very loyal to her friends.
(她對朋友非常忠誠。)
sponsor (n)是「贊助商」的意思,當動詞時則解釋為「贊助」,屬於動詞名詞同型的單字。
The team is sponsored by JVC, so the players wear the letters JVC on their shirts.
(該隊是由JVC公司贊助的,所以隊員們的襯衫上都有JVC的字母。)
I have over 50 sponsors for next week’s race.
(我下周的比賽有超過50個贊助商。)
另外一個名詞變化sponsorship則是較抽象的概念,指的是「贊助的行為或狀態」,例如the brands sponsorship of sports events(體育賽事的品牌贊助)。另外也有「贊助費」的意思,in加上sponsorship則表達「從…得到贊助費」。
The orchestra receives £2 million a year in sponsorship from companies.
(該樂團每年從這些公司獲得200萬英鎊的贊助費。)
【多益模擬試題】
1. The guest speaker highlighted some ideas for ________ introducing change in the workplace.
(A) success
(B) succeed
(C) succeeding
(D) successfully
2. Conference participants interested in industrial development should ________ schedule a visit to Bridgeville’s factories.
(A) practically
(B) definitely
(C) recently
(D) fortunately
3. The gift shop in the hotel lobby specializes in handcrafted gift items, each one of them unique and ________.
(A) memory
(B) memorize
(C) memories
(D) memorable
解析:
1. 正解為(D)。語意為「這名客座演講者標明了一些要成功引進職場變革的想法。」本題要考副詞修飾動詞的文法, 動詞introduce前面要加上副詞,表達「成功引進」的概念,故(D)為正確答案。
2. 正解為(B)。語意為「對工業發展感興趣的與會者一定要安排參觀Bridgeville工廠。」本題是文法題,答案要選副詞,修飾後面動詞schedule,(A)幾乎,(C)最近,(D)很幸運地。definitely schedule「絕對要安排」符合句意,故(B)為正確答案。
3. 正解為(D)。語意為「位於飯店大廳的禮品店專賣手工品,每個都很獨特和令人難忘。」這本題要考對等連接詞and的用法,空格前後接的詞彙必須詞性相同,因為unique為形容詞,因此後方也要搭配形容詞,故(D)「難忘的」為正確答案。
延伸閱讀》學英文/球王喬科維奇勝訴!可離開隔離中心 電影「返校」也用這個字?
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