20100628 Life With Louisa (1)

Life With Louisa

Life became fiction for American author Louisa May Alcott

Many notable authors dig deep into their imaginations or search far and wide to find inspiration for their stories. Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), however didn't have to look much further than her family.

Growing up

The second of four daughters born to Amos Bronson and Abigail May Alcott, Alcott had a childhood that was far from typical. She and her three sisters, Anna, Elizabeth and May, were educated by their deeply philosophical father and raised to practice "plain living and high thinking." Simplicty came in the form of communal living, where Alcott learned to abstain from eating meat and animal products, drink only water, and bathe in unheated water.

As for high thinking, Alcott was regularly enlightened by family friends and American literary greats Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Frequent visits to Emerson's vast library, walks into nature with Thoreau and intellectual insight from Hawthorne inspired and influenced Alcott a great deal. Surrounded by such passionate and knowledgeable authors, Alcott developed an early love for writing. With her rich imagination, this self-proclaimed tomboy penned stories she and her sisters would later act out for friends.

notable adj. 顯著的/著名的

notable for 以某種特質而文明

=> someone who is respected by his reputation

=> deserved to talk about

=> remarkable

eg: Getting both countries to cease fire was one of the U.N.'s notable achievements.

=> 能夠讓兩個國家停火是聯合國顯著的成就之一。

eg: The museum is notable for its complete collection of famous impressionists.

=> 這座美術館以擁有聞名印象派主義者完整的收藏而聞名。

abstain v. 戒除/避開

abstain from something

=> you don't eat it, you don't do it

eg: He admitted himself into a rehab center in order to abstain from alcohol.

=> 他讓自己住進勒戒中心好讓自己戒掉酒隱。

eg: The doctor told him to abstain from excessive exercise.

=> 醫生告誡他要避免過度的運動。

proclaim v. 宣稱

self-proclaimed 自稱的

eg: Josh is a self-proclaimed expert in management.

=> Josh自稱為管理專家。

eg: The self-proclaimed speed-reading genius made a fortune by selling DVDs.

=> 這位自稱是速讀天才的人靠賣DVD賺了很多錢。

communal adj. 公共的/社區的/自治體的/市鎮鄉的

=> live together, everybody shares everything in common

enlightened v. 啟發/啟迪

=> educated so that you come to understand something

knowledgeable adj. 有知識的/博學的/有見識的

=> have a lot of knowledge

=> intellegent

tomboy n. 男孩似的頑皮姑娘

=> a girl who acts like a boy

//== Chat room ==//

dig 挖掘/調查

=> dig for something

=> look for something

dig deep 仔細的尋找/探索

=> take a lot of researches to find ...

dig around 到處調查

dig a hole for yourself 使自己陷入困境

=> 字面上"幫自己挖一個洞"，引申為使自己陷入困境

eg: dig a hole for himself

dig himself out of the hole 努力的使自己脫困

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

The second of four daughters born to Amos Bronson and Abigail May Alcott, Louisa had a childhood that was far from typical.

=> Four daughter were born to Amos Bronson and Abigail May Alcott and Louisa was the second daughter

The second of four daughters....

=> talk about birth order

eg: Tim is the youngest of three sons in his family.

eg: Sharon is the third of five children in her family.