時光機'time machine'

時光機

Iranian scientist claims to have invented 'time machine'
 

(The telegraph By Ahmed Vahdat)
 

An Iranian businessman claims to have mastered time with a machine that allows users to fast forward up to eight years into the future.

Ali Razeghi, a Tehran scientist has registered "The Aryayek Time Traveling Machine" with the state-run Centre for Strategic Inventions.

 

The device can predict the future in a print out after taking readings from the touch of a user, he told the Fars state newsagency.

 

Razaeghi, 27, said the device worked by a set of complex algorithims to "predict five to eight years of the future life of any individual, with 98 percent accuracy".

 

As the managing director of Iran's Centre for Strategic Inventions, Razeghi is a serial inventor with 179 other inventions listed under his own name. "I have been working on this project for the last 10 years," he said.

 

"My invention easily fits into the size of a personal computer case and can predict details of the next 5-8 years of the life of its users. It will not take you into the future, it will bring the future to you."

 

Razeghi says Iran's government can predict the possibility of a military confrontation with a foreign country, and forecast the fluctuation in the value of foreign currencies and oil prices by using his new invention.

 

"Naturally a government that can see five years into the future would be able to prepare itself for challenges that might destabilise it," he said. "As such we expect to market this invention among states as well as individuals once we reach a mass production stage."

 

Razeghi said his latest project has been criticised by friends and relatives for "trying to play God" with ordinary lives and history. "This project is not against our religious values at all. The Americans are trying to make this invention by spending millions of dollars on it where I have already achieved it by a fraction of the cost," he said. "The reason that we are not launching our prototype at this stage is that the Chinese will steal the idea and produce it in millions overnight."

 

** Words

1.  claim 聲稱     2. telegraph 電報     3. master 控制    4. forward 向前

5.  register 登記       6. centre (=center) 中心      7. strategic 戰略的

8.  device 設置，裝備       9. predict 預測           10. newsagency 報紙經銷商   

11.complex 複雜           12. algorithim 互除法       13. accuracy 正確性

14.serial 一系列的        15. work on 從事           16. military 軍事的

17.confrontation 對質，比較     18. forecast 預報     19. fluctuation 波動；變動

20.currency 貨幣          21. destabilise 使不穩定      22. criticise 批評  

23. ordinary 普通的       24. religious 宗教的          25. fraction 片段 

26. launch 開始           27. prototype 標準

 

** Grammar

1.  As the managing director of Iran's Centre for Strategic Inventions, Razeghi is a serial inventor with 179 other inventions listed under his own name.

(a) 表附帶狀況: with + 名詞 ~，為介係詞片語，有形容詞的功用，放在名詞後面做後位修飾。

(b)過去分詞listed 有被動的意思

2.  I have been working on this project for the last 10 years," he said.

(a) 現在完成進行式 have / has + been + V-ing

(b) for the last 10 years 過去這十年來，用在現在完成式或現在完成進行式

3.  "Naturally a government that can see five years into the future would be able to prepare itself for challenges that might destabilise it," he said.

(a)   關係代名詞引導形容詞子句，放在名詞後面修飾名詞。

4.  The Americans are trying to make this invention by spending millions of dollars on it where I have already achieved it by a fraction of the cost.

(a)   藉由~ : by + 方法 ； with + 工具

 

囤積癖Buried Alive: Saving, Collecting and Hoarding

囤積癖

 

Buried Alive: Saving, Collecting and Hoarding

 

(Allan Schwartz, LCSW, Ph.D Dr. Schwartz's Weblog)

 

What is meant by hoarding? The clinical definition of a hoarder is someone who has collected so much stuff that they can’t properly use rooms in their home, such as cooking on their stoves in the kitchen or sleeping in their beds because of piles of junk that have been accumulated. The hoarder is someone who is unable to throw anything out and who must shop for more stuff. There are often health risks to the hoarder, his family and to neighbors. The clutter and garbage attracts such things as insects, rodents and diseases. There is also the danger of fire and even cave-ins caused by the weight of carelessly piled possessions.

 

But, what is hoarding vs. what is collecting?

 

There are two very interesting programs on television connected to the problem of hoarding. One of them is on TLC and is called "Hoarding: Buried Alive" and the other is on the History channel called "Pickers." What is so interesting is that, while "Hoarding" deals with people who fit the clinical definition described above, "Pickers" deals with people who collect old things as a hobby. In both case, the hoarders or collectors, there are people who are unable to part with their possessions even when offered lots of money. On Hoarders, collecting junk is maladaptive behavior that is a form of mental illness related to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). On Pickers similar people appear to be smart businessmen who enjoy buying and collecting old junk as a kind of hobby and as a way of earning money by selling what they accumulate. The fact is that in both cases people are hoarding.

 

Where do the "pickers" fit in? As depicted in the program, pickers are people who rummage through the junk collected by other people for the purpose of buying items that they can sell at a profit. On the program, the two pickers own a store where their purchased items are sold to people who are either decorating anything from their own businesses to their apartments, houses or condominiums. Even though the pickers make their purchases in order to sell at a profit, is it possible that they, too, are hoarders? After all, if you have seen the program you know that much of what they buy is filled with dust, rot and rust. Is this purely picking or is it possible that this is hoarding.

 

Added to the mystery is where to place those who collect things for investment? There are people who collect postage stamps, gold and silver coins, and original works of art, among other similar hobbies? Is it possible that they are hoarders?

 

The question posed here is similar to the puzzle of what types of behavior are normal or abnormal? Like so many things in life, hoarding exists on a continuum that ranges from normal to abnormal. Collecting postage stamps in an album filled with new or mint stamps from around tbe world is a normal or healthy kind of collecting. It's a financial investment that does not interfere with living on a daily basis. On the other hand, accumlating piles of junk in one's home so that there is no place to sleep, cook, eat and even go to the toiletter, does interfere with daily life. In the wors of cases this type of accumlation can and does become a fire and health hazard.

 

** Words

1.hoard 貯藏物     2. clinical 客觀的    3. definition 定義    4. properly 適當地 

5. accumulate 累積     6. risk 風險    7. clutter 凌亂    8. rodent 囓齒目動物 

9. cave-in 塌落      10. possession 所有物       11. maladaptive 適應不良的  

12. related to 與~有關     13.Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder 過度強迫症 

14. depict 描述      15. rummage 翻找    16. profit 利益     17. purchase 購買  

18. condominium 各戶有獨立產權的公寓      19. rot 腐爛      20. rust 生鏽

21. mystery 神秘       22. investment 投資       23. postage stamp郵票 

24.original 起初的       25. abnormal 不正常的       26. continuum 連續

27. range 範圍      28. mint 造幣廠      29. financial 財政的  

30. interfere 妨礙；衝突     31.toiletter     32. hazard 危險

 

** Grammar

1.   The clinical definition of a hoarder is someone who has collected so much stuff that they can’t properly use rooms in their home, such as cooking on their stoves in the kitchen or sleeping in their beds because of piles of junk that have been accumulated.

(a)        關係代名詞

先行詞/關係代名詞	主格	所有格	受格
人	who	whose	who(m)
事物	which	whose	which
人+事物	that		that

(b)        關係代名詞所引導的句子稱為”形容詞子句”，修飾之前的先行詞(名詞)

(c)         先行詞+ (關係代名詞當主格who/which/that + 動詞 ~)

      + (關係代名詞當所有格whose + 名詞 ~)

      + (關係代名詞當受格whom/which/that + 主詞 + 動詞 ~)

(d)        關係代名詞當受格時可省略

(e)        例如: such as + 名詞 / 動名詞(V-ing) ; for example + 句子

2.   There are two very interesting programs on television connected to the problem of hoarding. One of them is on TLC and is called "Hoarding: Buried Alive" and the other is on the History channel called "Pickers.

(a)        one ~ the other ~: 其一 ~ 另一個 ~(用於二者之間)

(b)        one ~ another ~ that other ~: 其一 ~ 另一 ~ 最後一個 ~ (用於三者之間)

(c)         過去分詞(pp)，可當形容詞用，放在名詞後面做後位修飾，有 被動 或 已經~ 的意思

3.   In both case, the hoarders or collectors, there are people who are unable to part with their possessions even when offered lots of money.

(a)        關係代名詞引導形容詞子句

(b)        能夠: be able to + 動詞  ； be capable of + 名詞/動名詞(V-ing) ；

enable + 人 + to + 動詞

(c)         過去分詞: offered有被動的意思

4.   The fact is that in both cases people are hoarding.

(a)        名詞子句有三種，其一是 that + 完整子句

(b)        名詞子句可當句子裡的主詞，受詞，或be動詞之後的補語

5.   As depicted in the program, pickers are people who rummage through the junk collected by other people for the purpose of buying items that they can sell at a profit.

(a)        關係代名詞引導形容詞子句

(b)        為了~: in order to + 動詞 ；so as to + 動詞 ； with a view to + 動名詞 ；with an eye to + 動名詞 ； for the purpose of + 動名詞

6.   On the program, the two pickers own a store where their purchased items are sold to people who are either decorating anything from their own businesses to their apartments, houses or condominiums.

(a)        關係副詞 = 介係詞 + which

(b)        對等連接詞either ~ or ~: 不是~就是~，用來連接相對等的單字，片語或句子

7.   The question posed here is similar to the puzzle of what types of behavior are normal or abnormal?

(a)        過去分詞posed 有被動的意思

(b)        與~相似: be similar to

8.   It's a financial investment that does not interfere with living on a daily basis.

(a)        分裂句: It is + 強調部分 that  + 主詞 + 動詞 ~ .

It was yesterday that they had a party.

(b)        分裂句: It is + 強調部分 that + 動詞 + ~ .

It is you that won the first prize.