Taipei, the marvelous city

Brief Intro to Taipei Transportation

2009-02-14T09:32:00.024+08:00

Taipei new comers, especially for those of you who have never been to any other Asian countries, probably will have hard time to get around in Taipei at first. But don't worry at all, you pick up this stuff in a day or two. It is fairly easy.

Taipei MRT (Metropolitan Rapid Transit)

The MRT is a must know to get around the Taipei area. If you see a comic sign like two blue hands holding something, the left hand up, the right hand down, you are near one of the MRT stations.

Three major routes are built in Taipei metro, blue route, brown route, and red/green route.

The blue route is from Nangan to Yongning station, crossing Taipei City from its east until Banciao City.
The brown route is from Zhongshan Junior High School to Taipei Zoo station, crossing Taipei City from its middle north to its south east.
The red/green route is Danshui to Xindian station, crossing Taipei City from its north west to its south west.

MRT tickets can be purchased at vending machines or the service counter at any station. But easy cards (called Yoyoca in Mandarin) are the most recommended because they all offer 20% discount. Several kinds of easy cards can be purchased at the service counter at all MRT stations.
The regular card costs NT$500 (including NT$100 deposit). Adults from 20 to 65 years old use the regular card.
The student card costs NT$500 (including NT$100 deposit). Students over 12 years old use the student card.
The preferential card costs NT$300 (including NT$100 deposit). Children from 6 to 12 years old, non-Taipei citizens over 65 years old, or disabled use the preferential card.

Easy cards can be added value by multiples of NT$100.

For more information about MRT fare, check out Metro Tickets.

Taipei Bus

Taipei bus is cheap, convenient, and goes almost everywhere in Taipei. But you have to know the system well before getting on one. Buses are not always on time, and that is something everyone has to keep in mind.

The bus fare is NT$15 for the regulars, NT$12 for student card users, and NT$8 for the preferential card users. If we transfer from MRT within an hour, we get NT$7 deduction. Taipei bus passengers can pay with coins or scan easy cards on scanners.

Some routes of Taipei bus goes very long trip, and passengers who commute longer distance usually have to scan or pay one more time. How to know that is not hard. When we get on a bus, check a indication hanging above the driver or on the right pole of the driver.
上車收票 means we pay when we get on the bus.
下車收票 means we pay when we get off the bus.

Let's say when we get on the bus, and the indication shows 上車收票; then we pay right there. Before we get off the bus, check again the indication. If it switches to 下車收票, that means we ought to pay again.

Check out Taipei e-bus System for route information.

Taxi

Taxis in Taipei are bright yellow. Usually you can wave one on the street, or call one before you go out. Most of taxi drivers cannot speak English, but you can ask someone to write your destination on paper, and hand it to the driver.

Taipei taxi costs about NT$110 from Taipei Main Station to Taipei City Hall Station. For mathematics geeks, Taipei taxi costs is listed below.

0600~2300: starts at NT$70; after 1.5km it increases NT$5 every 300m; speed below 5 km an hour, it increases NT$5 every 2 minutes
2300~0600: starts at NT$70; after 1.25km it increases NT$5 every 250m; speed below 5km an hour, it increases NT$ every 1 minutes 40 seconds

In plain language, the night time costs about 15% more than the day time.

Taiwan is such a warm place

2008-11-18T07:50:00.010+08:00

台灣的好人到處都有。上星期六我在師大夜市丟了手機，這位好心人由手機中找到我的好友，並將手機當面交給他。所以這裡不僅要謝謝這位好心又不留名的女孩，也要謝謝我的好友Yalcin。

I lost my cell phone last Saturday evening while my wife and I were enjoying the night out at Shida night market(1). It was quite a night since we hadn't had many chances to go out just two of us. Frankly, I was not aware that my phone was lost.

On the way home, I saw Yalcin standing in front of Watsons(2) on Shida road, where he supposed to meet a girl, who called him from my lost cell. I was so moved about her kindness, and I still am.

Two girls showed up and handed Yalcin my cell phone, and then walked into the crowd. I did not know what to do but just watched them walked away. Lost and found has been long gone in this city. I don't know how much is enough to show my appreciation and not offend them.

Well, may God bless them, and Buddha protect them. I shall hold their kindness and pass it to the next person.

Shida night market: 師大夜市，國立師範大學的正式英文是National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU)，不過師大夜市通常叫做 Shida night market，而不是NTNU night market。

Watsons: 屈臣氏

Objective Pronoun

2008-06-25T22:28:00.003+08:00

代名詞可為接受動作的直接受詞

John's suit no longer fits (he, him).
Answer: John's suit no longer fits him.

(Who, Whom) did she finally invite to the dinner party?
Answer: Whom did she finally invite to the dinner party?
代名詞可為接受動作的間接受詞

如果動詞和代名詞之間可以加入to或for，則代名詞為間接受詞

Jennifer gave (he, him) the birthday gift.
Answer: Jennifer gave (to) him the birthday gift.

The news gave (we, us) a shock.
Answer: The news gave (to) us a shock.
作為介系詞之後的受詞

Sit by (I, me)
Answer: Sit by me.

The man for (who, whom) they waited never arrived.
Answer: The man for whom they waited never arrived.

其他例句：

The ceremony will be given for Tucker, Garcia, and (I, me).
Answer: The ceremony will be given for Tucker, Garcia, and me.

Mary cannot decides who should be her boyfriend between John and (I, me).
Answer: Mary cannot decides who should be her boyfriend between John and me.

Subjective Pronoun

2008-06-25T06:44:00.000+08:00

Subjective case (主格)類的代名詞包括 I, you, he, she, it, we, they, who, whoever，接下來討論主格代名詞在什麼時候適用。

使用subjective case來表示動詞的主詞
John and (I, me) like to play tennis on weekend.
Answer: John and I like to play tennis on weekend.

把and連接詞及其他的主詞移除，簡化句子後較容易選擇正確的代名詞。
I like to play tennis on weekend.
Me like to play tennis on weekend.
兩句文字的前一句才是正確的。

在英文中使用多主詞時，記得把I放在最後面；John and I絕不可說成或寫成”I and John”。

其他例句
(Who, Whom) do you believe is the better player?
Answer: Who do you believe is the better player?
通常，you believe, you think, you suppose, you feel類的語句，省略後也不會影響語義。因此把 do you believe 省略後，Who (do you believe) is better player? 即可看出為什麼要使用Who而不選Whom。
代名詞也會被用作predicate nominative(主詞補語)
主詞補語是緊接在linking verb(連結動詞)的名詞或代名詞，給予主詞不同的意義。linking verbs如being形式(am, is , are, etc.)，感官動詞(look, smell, taste, etc.)，狀態動詞(appear, seem, become, etc.)。
The winner of the game is (I, me)
Answer: ”The winner of the game is I.”，因為I重新詮釋主詞 the winner of the game。
其他例句
The man who called the police was (he, him).
Answer: The man who called the police was he.

使用主詞補語通常會讓語句讀起來較不自然甚至太過正式，因此在一般的文章中，通常會改寫為較通順的語句。

The person I chose was he.
The winners were they.
可改寫為
He was the person I chose.
I chose him. (比較好)
及
They were the winners.
They won. (比較好)

"It is I."或"It is me."是正確的用法？嚴格來說，正確的寫法應為”It is I.”，但是”It is me” (及It is us”)越來越常被用到，已經成為特例的用法。

Pronoun Intro

2008-06-17T07:16:00.000+08:00

在英文詞句裏，Pronoun(代名詞)是用來替代noun(名詞)，寫作時若沒有代名詞，則文章將顯得不自然且可讀性不高。
Richard left Richard's house, taking Richard's dog with Richard.
Richard left his house, taking his dog with him.
第二句很明顯地要比第一句來得簡捷而且通順，善用代名詞可以讓文章更流暢活潑。

使用代名詞，首先要注意的是case。在英文中，只有名詞和代名詞有case(詞格)。
Case是指文字的形態會因在句子中的前後文而改變。英文有三種Case，nominative/subjective (主格), objective (受格),和possessive (所有格)。
如何適當使用主格和受格，如who或whom的選擇，不是一件容易的事。
另外代名詞必須與所代表的antecedent(前置詞)同頻率，特別在數量及性別要能一致。

接下我們簡單介紹一下三種代名詞格

在Nominative case中，代名詞被用為主詞，為作動作的人事物。
I dropped the plate.
在objective case中，代名詞用來當作受詞，為接受動作的人事物。
Give the plate to me.
在possessive case中，代名詞用來代表所有權，代表擁有人事物的關係。
The plate is mine.

下表列出代名詞的三種詞格

Nominative (主詞)	Objective (受詞)	Possessive (所有權)
I	me	my, mine
you	you	your, yours
he	him	his
she	her	her, hers
it	it	its
we	us	our, ours
they	them	their
who	whom	whose
whoever	whomever	whosoever