20100202 Jules Verne Adventures in Imagination (2)

Jules Verne: Adventures in Imagination.

At the age of 28, Verne married Honorine Morel, a young widow who had two daughters. With a family to support, Verne began working as a stockbroker. But he continued to write, getting up at 5 a.m. to write before going to his job in the afternoon. Verne's break finally came in 1862 when he met publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel.
Hetzel saw potential in Verne's stories and advised Verne on how to make them better. Verne successfully published his first book in 1863 and went on to write 54 novels.

In his books, Verne enthralls readers with tales of extraordinary adventures. For example, in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Verne's characters explore oceans in a submarine. In Around the World in 80 Das, a man makes a bet to circle the globe in 80 days. Known as a visionary, Verne portrayed skyscrapers, automobiles and air conditioners in Paris in the 20th Century. None of those things existed then; they sprung from Verne's imagination. But he would not be surprised that today they are reality.



widow n. 寡婦
eg: The poor widow had to give up her children and send them to the orphanage.

widower n. 鰥夫
eg: After the accident, Patrick found himself a widower with three kids.

stockbroker n. 股票(或證券)經紀人
=> one who buys and sells stocks

publish v. 出版
eg: The author's latest novel was published in 1999.

publisher n. 出版商
=> a person who does publishing
eg: His book was published by Random House, a world-renown publisher.
eg: Dave works for a publisher that only publishes text books.

extraordinary adj. 離奇的/使人驚奇的
=> not ordinary

-ary 人
vision n. 遠見/願景
visionary n. 有遠見的人
eg: The Nobel Prize winner was a visionary who started a new era in his professional field.

enthrall v. 迷住/吸引住
=> charm/catch one's imagination
eg: The magician enthralled the child.

portray v. 描寫
eg: Dickens portrayed his characters to the life.

skyscraper n. 摩天樓
eg: This is the highest skyscraper in the world.




//== Chat room ==//

break 幸運/好運
=> a piece of good luck

a big break
a lucky break
eg: He got his big break when he was in college.
=> 當他讀大學的時候，幸運女神眷顧了他

break a leg 祝福，祝……成功
=> 在演藝圈祝福某個演員在表演的時候能夠有好運
=> 因為許多演員迷信覺得講good luck反而不吉祥，故講break a leg




//== Grammar on the Go ==//

With a family to support, Verne began working as a stockbroker.
= Because Verne has a family to support, he began working as a stockbroker. (Sounds too long)

eg: With only a few dollars left in his wallet, Sam needed to find an ATM soon.
eg: With three meetings to attend and several reports to finish, Tara knew her day was going to be a busy one.