Baby

我的小儿子只有两岁，处处需要父母的照顾。我们无微不至地照料他，跟我小时候相比，他可幸福多了。

　　TEACHER'S

　　Dear students，

　　This is Sunday afternoon now. My wife has taken my daughter out to have a piano class at Tom Lee in Shatin Plaza. Our Filipino maid， Esther， is on holiday today. I have been left all alone at home baby-sitting my two-year-old son. Luckily， he is now having an afternoon sleep， so I can sit down and write something.

　　Oh， my God. I hear noises from the bedroom. Probably my son is getting up. I had better stop now. I am afraid I have to wait until midnight to continue this STS. Sorry！

　　…stop…

　　Well， it is 11：51 P.M.， almost midnight. All are sleeping except me. This is the best time to think and to write. I have to do it fast before I feel too sleepy to go on. One of you said I am a good father and husband. Actually， I am not sure it I am. But let me tell you that my kids， like many of you， are much， much luckier than I used to be. I always see my kids to bed； take them down to have a walk after dinner； buy them some funny and educational videos and toys…… but my father never did these things for me. He was not a wicked （very bad） person but he spent most of his time drinking， smoking and gambling. My mother sometimes told me that when I was small， my skin was often burnt by his lighted cigarette ends because of his carelessness. I hated him very much， especially when I saw that my mother had to pay his gambling debts with her hard earned money （she was working as a cleaning worker in restaurants）。 I hated him so much that I did not feel sorry even when I saw him trying to kill himself by swallowing lots of sleeping pills. I just said to my brother， “check out whether he is dead or not.” He did not succeed in committing suicide （killing himself） but he was finally killed by cancer some 17 years ago. I think I should not have hated him so much. Maybe he just could not control himself； maybe he wanted to change but he could not manage to. I'm sorry that I didn't do anything to make him feel better.

　　Oh， I still have to set the quiz paper for S. 4D. It was lucky that Eva reminded me that you don't have an English class tomorrow. Otherwise， I would think that I have to set two quiz papers before I can sleep. You may wonder why I have to spend so much time and effort on this STS programme. Well， I don't know how to explain it to you but perhaps later you will understand more. I am sure it is important to you， to me and probably to the whole school. Honestly， I am feeling that this is the most meaningful thing I have ever done in this school. Keep all your STSs and my STSs in good conditions， my dears. They will be very useful to you， and you have to do something special with all these STSs during the second term.

　　Dennis

　　此处的class可写作lesson但不能用course，因为course是指由多门课组成的“课程”。

　　is on holiday = has a day off

　　这里用被动语态可传递一种“无奈”感。

　　baby-sitting是指照顾“婴孩”，而looking after则是指照顾“任何年龄”的人士。

　　噪音或声音通常都是混合了几种声浪，故常用复数noises.

　　这里用afraid并非表明“惧怕”或“害怕”，而是指“恐怕”：恐怕某些不利的事会发生。

　　这句子的意思是：I feel so sleepy that I can't go on.

　　留意不同解释：

　　·ensure/make sure that =确保

　　·be sure that =肯定／有把握

　　I used to be或I used to do等都是以一段过去时出现因为是用来说明从前的情况。

　　留意正确用法：

　　·spent…to drink×

　　·spent…drinking√

　　·spent…on alcohol√

　　留意不同解释：

　　·sometime =在某个时候

　　some time =一点时间

　　·sometimes =有时候／偶尔

　　用被动语态可强化“无奈／无助”感。

　　debt 是不用发b音的。

　　这里可用commit suicide采代替kill himself，以表现英语能力。

　　留意正确用法：

　　·succeed to kill… ×

　　·succeed in killing…√

　　·manage to kill…√

　　此处的some是“大约”的意思。

　　这里用should not have hated him，而不用should not hate him星表示后悔的说法，意思是：“当时我不应该那么恨他。”

　　这里的otherwise是连词有两种用法：

　　·…tomorrow. Otherwise，…

　　·…tomorrow， otherwise…

　　其他的说法有：

　　·…how to do it.

　　·…what to buy.

　　·…who to ask.

　　若可能性相当大，可说：most probably，…

　　留意不同解释：

　　·the most meaningful =最有意义的

　　·most meaningful =十分有意义的

　　留意正确用法：

　　·…something special√

　　·…some special things√

　　·…special something×

　　·…some things special×

　　LANGUAGE

　　Bare infinitive

　　在前一章里，我强调在介词之后的动词必须变为动名词（gerund）。基于这个原因，当to作为一个介词（preposition）的时候，后面的动词也应变为动名词。常见的例子有：

　　EXAMPLE

　　1.I am looking forward to （介词） receiving your letter.

　　2.I hope you can get used to （介词）having eight classes a day.

　　3.He is addicted to（介词）betting on horses.

　　在绝大部分情况下，to之后的动词不能作任何改变，我们把“to+动词”称为“不定式”（infinitive），请看本单元的例子。

　　EXAMPLE

　　I have to wait（不定式） until midnight to continue（不定式） this STS.

　　但同学们须留意，在make和let之后的不定式则要省略to，这称为“不带to 的不定式”（bare infinitive），请看本单元的例子。

　　EXAMPLE

　　1. But let me tell（不带to的不定式） you——my kids，…

　　2.… I didn't do anything to make him feel（不带to的不定式）better.

　　不少同学遇到困难时都希望找我倾诉，可惜我总是忙得不可开交。幸好我们有STS的沟通渠道。请在学生们的STSs中找出跟infinitive或gerund有关的错误，并画上横线或打×；没有错误的请打√。

　　Test Your Understanding

　　1.I have two younger sisters. One of them is very naughty. It is because she often loses her temper and she makes me to lose my temper. My grandmother always lets her doing anything she likes. When we have a quarrel， she usually cries. They always say that I make her cries.

　　2. I have a question to ask you， but when I wanted to write it down， I forgot what it is. Let me thinking about it for a while. I have got it now. I want to ask you what language you use when talking with your kids. I feel interested. If you use English， do they understand？ I hope that I can also get used to use English outside the classroom.

　　3. Sometimes I want to ask you questions during lunch time. But I see you talking with other teachers. I didn't want to stop you. I know that happy chats can make you feeling happy in such a boring job. Could you let me to have your home phone number so that I can ask you questions？ But if you think it is not a good idea， forget it. I don't mind.