黑暗觀光 Dark Tourism 如果你有Netflix，你可能看過電視叫黑色旅人。電視關於黑暗觀光即係是去又好奇怪又好危險的地方。大部分，這樣的地方包括戰爭，輻射，連環殺手的房子，鬼城，專政的國家，什麼的。基本上，這樣的地方都有死亡的因素。 If you have Netflix, you’ve probably seen a show called Dark Tourist. The show is about dark tourism which is going to strange and dangerous places. Mostly, these places include war, radiation, homes of serial killers, ghost towns, dictatorships, and so on. Basically, these places all have elements of death. 雖然我對黑暗觀光有道德問題，但是如果我說我不瞭解為什麼存在我就說謊。即使生活有的時候很無聊，但是去很危險的地方讓我們感謝生活更多。 Although I have some ethical concerns about dark tourism, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t understand why it exists. Even though life can be boring sometimes, going to dangerous places makes us appreciate life more. 連我都想去一個黑暗觀光的地方。我對切爾諾貝利很好奇。我不一定了解為什麼但是我想去看。 Even I want to see one dark tourist place. I’m very curious about Chernobyl. I don’t completely understand why but I want to see it. 你們呢？你們對黑暗觀光覺得什麼？你想去危險的地方旅行嗎？ What about you? What do you think about dark tourism? Do you want to travel to dangerous places?

一件很恐怖的事 我兩個禮拜以前當從工作回家的時候我看到很恐怖的東西。我一開樓的前門我就看到超級大的蜘蛛。 When I returned home from work a couple weeks ago, I saw something frightening. As soon as I opened the from door of the apartment building, I saw an enormous spider. 我恨蜘蛛。我總是恨蜘蛛。我知道因為它們吃蝇所以很有用但我不在乎。它們應該住在外面。 I hate spiders. I’ve always hated spiders. I know they eat flies which makes them useful but I don’t care. They should live outside. 真的。這隻太大了。你們都看過魔戒嗎？你記得當佛羅多跟山姆差一點被那隻很大的蜘蛛吃掉了的時候嗎？我覺得那隻蜘蛛跟住在我房子裡面的蜘蛛是一樣的。如果我忽然人間蒸發，我可能被蜘蛛吃掉了。 Seriously. This spider is too huge. Did you all see The Lord of the Rings? Do you remember when Frodo and Sam were almost eaten by that big spider? I think that spider and the spider in my apartment building are the same. If I disappear suddenly, then I was probably eaten by the spider.

你的孩子不是你的孩子 我開始看台灣電視「你的孩子不是你的孩子」. 我以為是台灣的黑鏡但是完全不一樣。 I started watching a Taiwanese show called “On Children.” I thought it would be a Taiwanese Black Mirror but it’s completely different. 黑鏡是在講高科技對我們影響的電視。你的孩子不是你的孩子是講世俗的社會，逼迫孩子必須成功的壓力。大部分在戲裡面成功的壓力有很壞的結果。在戲裡面高科技不太重要但也是不可或缺的一部分。 Black Mirror is a show that focuses on how we use technology to hurt each other. On Children discusses how society pressures children to succeed. Mostly the pressure to succeed leads to tragic results. The technology is not important but it does play a part. 我沒看過很多亞洲電視但是我至今覺得台灣有最有趣的，因為是比較創新的。我覺得亞洲電視有太多浪漫的故事，因此讓我耳目一新，可看不一樣的類型。所以如果你還沒看，我推薦你看你的孩子不是你的孩子。我也推薦你看天黑請閉眼。 I haven’t seen a lot of Asian TV shows but so far, I think Taiwan has the most interesting ones because they’re more creative. I think Asian TV has too many romance stories so it’s refreshing to watch a different genre. If you haven’t seen it already, I recommend you watch On Children. I also recommend you watch Close Your Eyes Before it’s Dark.

星期六的夜晚 It’s late at night on a Saturday. I’m curled up in bed and reading a manga by Junji Ito. I keep my feet off the floor so that no monster can grab me. It’s a frightening story and I am anxiously turning the pages, wondering what will happen next. I am young. Younger than I am now and my imagination runs wild. 星期六的夜晚。我全身捲在被子上一邊在看伊藤潤二的漫畫，我把我的腳抬起來以免被怪物抓到。一個恐怖的故事，我緊張的翻到下一頁不知道接下來會發生什麼。我比較年輕時我的想象力比較豐富。 This is not the first time I’ve been in this situation. Truth is, I’ve always liked scary stories. Ever since I was a kid I would watch scary movies, read scary books, or play scary games regardless of my parents permission and I always curled up in bed, hiding from monsters that lurked in the shadows. 這已經不是我第一次在這種情況下。老實說，我總是喜歡很恐怖的故事。從小不管我父母允不允許，我喜歡看恐怖電影，看恐怖的書，與玩恐怖電玩，而且我總是躲在被子裏，害怕那些怪物躲在陰暗角落。 I think I liked being scared. But why? 我覺得我喜歡被嚇。為什麼？ I think because there are many frightening things in the world. Things we don’t understand and maybe, like the characters in Junji Ito’s stories, we’re all at the mercy of things beyond our control. The horror genre can explore many themes. Fear, insecurity, the unknown, the fear of failure, the fear of the future and whatever else. And maybe the comfort in all this is that we are not alone with these fears. In the end, we all have something in common. 我覺得因為這個世界有很多很嚇人的東西。我們不了解的東西，和，也許，像在伊藤潤二的故事的那些角色，我們都受到我們無法控制的事情的擺佈。恐怖類型有不同的呈現方式。害怕，沒安全感，未知的，害怕失敗，恐懼未來，什麼的。重點是我們並不是一個人去面對這些恐懼。最後我們都會有一些共同點。 It’s late at night on Saturday. I’m curled up in bed reading a manga by Junji Ito. I keep my feet off the floor so that no monsters will grab me. I’m an adult now. Not a child anymore. I know there’s nothing under my bed. I know that I’m safe and I know monsters do not exist and they certainly don’t live under beds. But just in case.... 星期六的夜晚。我全身捲在被子上一邊在看伊藤潤二的漫畫，我把我的腳抬起來以免被怪物抓到。我現在是大人了。我不是孩子了。我知道我的床下面沒有怪物。我知道我一定安全而且我知道怪物不存在也不住在床下面。但只是以防萬一.....

尷尬的句子-Embarrassing Sentences 我正要用新的文法。Uh oh。 我們都知道學習語言不容易。我們練習說話時偶爾說很尷尬的句子然後我們的朋友笑話我們。 We all know learning a language isn’t easy. When we practice speaking we will occasionally say a really embarrassing sentence and then our friends will laugh at us. 身為一個想學習外語的人你必將會說很尷尬的句子所以你也許害怕跟母語人士說話。 As a person learning a foreign language, you will inevitably say an embarrassing sentence and you might be afraid to speak to a native speaker. 我的忠告是你不需要害怕說錯。只要你有很好的幽默感就知道這些尷尬的事才不太尷尬。而且你會知道母語人士瞭解你還學習然後他們會幫你練習。沒什麼大不了。 My advice is: you don’t need to be afraid of saying something wrong. As long as you have a good sense of humor you’ll realize that these awkward situations aren’t that awkward. Furthermore you’ll realize that native speakers will understand that you’re still learning and they’ll help you you practice. It’s really not a big deal. 今天我想告訴你們關於一些我說錯的次。我希望讓你們笑而且鼓勵你們變得比較勇敢一點。 Today I’d like to tell you about some times I’ve said something wrong. I hope it will make you laugh and also encourage you to be a little more brave. 我要告訴我的朋友「我去過綠島了」不過我說「我去過綠屌了」。哎呀！ I wanted to tell my friend “I’ve been to Green Island” but I said “I’ve been to green penis.” Oh no! 我一次唸「自立」。我唸時我說「自慰」因為我以為「立」發音是「位」。Oops。 One time I wanted to say “independent.” When I read aloud I said “masturbation” because I thought 立 (li) was pronounced like 位 (wei) and 位 (wei) sounds the same as 慰 (wei). So I was saying 自位 but it sounded like 自慰. Oops. 我知道華人說「媽媽」但是我知道他們有的時候只說「媽」。所以我說「這個是我的。這個是他的。這個是他媽的」。 Hard to translate but I wanted to say “this is his mother’s” but I ended up saying “this is fucking.” 所以你下次說錯只笑繼續說話。哈哈 So next time you say something wrong just laugh and keep talking. Haha 你們想說話關於一件很尷尬的語言故事嗎？ Do you have an embarrassing language story you’d like to share?

我等著颱風假 我是亞利桑那人。如果你不知道，亞利桑那就是沙漠因此天氣很乾。不常下雨而且經常有旱災。 我搬家來台灣以後我原來不習慣台灣天氣。台灣有濕度但是亞利桑那沒有。亞利桑那有很多砂但是台灣沒有（海邊砂不一樣）。台灣有好多樹但是亞利桑那有仙人掌。亞利桑那夏天誰都受不了但是台灣夏天誰都受........ 噢。沒關係。亞利桑那夏天跟台灣的一樣。哈哈 反正台灣有的時候有颱風但是亞利桑那一定沒有。我第一年在台灣我很興奮看到颱風。其實，我只要颱風來因為我要放假。我知道颱風又不方便又很危險但是我非常要放假。所以2016年，我第一年，颱風是中秋節來因此我已經放假了。 [emoji] 2017年颱風週末來所以我已經不需要上班了 [emoji] 2018年上半颱風差一點到了然後颱風說「沒關係。我寧願去香港」。 [emoji] 2018年七月颱風來了。我到底放假了。 [emoji] I’m an Arizonan. If you don’t know, Arizona is a desert so the weather is very dry. It doesn’t rain often and we frequently have droughts. After I moved to Taiwan I was originally not really used to the weather. Taiwan has humidity and Arizona doesn’t. Arizona has a lot of sand and Taiwan doesn’t (beach sand does not count). Taiwan has a lot of trees and Arizona has a lot of cacti. In Arizona, nobody can stand the summer and, in Taiwan, nobody can stand the......... oh. Never mind. Arizona summers and Taiwan summers are the same. Haha. Anyway, Taiwan has typhoons sometimes and Arizona definitely doesn’t. I was really excited to see a typhoon my first year in Taiwan. Actually, I just wanted the typhoon to come so I could get a day off. I know typhoons are really inconvenient and dangerous but I really wanted a day off. So in 2016, my first year, the typhoon came during Mid-Autumn Festival so I already had the day off. [emoji] In 2017 the typhoon came on a weekend so I didn’t need to go to work anyway. [emoji] In the first half of 2018 the typhoon almost came but then said “Never mind. I would rather go to Hong Kong.” [emoji] On July 2018 the typhoon came. I finally got a day off. [emoji]

黑鏡-Black Mirror 我開始看黑鏡。如果你不知道，黑鏡就是科幻選集電視。每集有不一樣的故事而且分析民眾怎麼用技術。大部分黑鏡很憤世嫉俗的但是有的時候讓觀眾樂觀一點或是至少讓觀眾自己決定如果集的技術好不好。 我最愛的集是San Junipero。我喜歡這集之所以是因為你可以跟別的人有很有趣的討論。我肯定推薦你看這集。話又說回來，我的問題題是你寧願永遠住在你不能去世的虛擬實境或是你很老時自然去世？ I started watching Black Mirror. If you don’t know, Black Mirror is a sci-fi anthology series. Every episode has a different story and analyzes how people use technology. For the most part the show is very cynical but sometimes it gives the audience a little hope or, at least, let’s them decide for themselves if the technology in the episode is good or not. My favorite episode is San Junipero. The reason why I like this episode is because you can have a good conversation with other people. I definitely recommend you watch it. That said, my question is would you rather live forever in a virtual reality where you cannot die or naturally pass away when you get old?

"So bad it's good." 我有22歲的時候, 我去看The Room. 是邪典電影. 如果你不知道, The Room是一個很壞的電影. 很多人相信The Room就是最壞的. 他們都沒錯. 你一開始看The Room你就馬上明白為什麼. 演戲嗎? 超壞. 演員不能表演! 故事嗎?撲朔迷離啦! 誰都不能了解. 每個部份都不好. 但是...... 雖然這個電影很壞看但是說The Room是最壞的電影的人也相信The Room是非常好看的. 他們愛這個電影. 我也愛. 為甚麼? 在英文我們有的時候說"so bad it's good"描述東西. 當然我們知道這個電影很壞. 但是電影也讓我笑. "So bad it's good"意思是這個東西很壞但是有特別的壞. 我們以此成心要去看這個電影. 你們知道一個so bad it's good的電影? 什麼電影雖然很壞看但是你喜歡因為讓你笑?你有嗎? 你知道一個類似的中文邪典電影嗎? When I was 22 I went to see a movie called The Room. It's a cult film. If you don't know, The Room is a bad movie. Many people believe it's the worst movie ever. They're not wrong. As soon as you start watching it, you'll immediately understand why. The acting? It's awful. The actors can't act. The story? Bewildering. Nobody can understand it. Everything about it is just wrong! But.... Even though it's bad, the people who think it's bad also think that it's very fun to watch. They love this movie. I do to. Why? In English, we sometimes say "so bad it's good" to describe something. Of course we know it's bad but it also makes us laugh. "So bad it's good" means that this thing is bad it's a special kind of bad. Because of this, we will deliberately go and see this movie. Do you know a movie that is "so bad it's good?" What movie, even though it's bad, do you like because it made you laugh? Do you have one? Do you know a similar cult movie in Chinese?

我到日本去旅行了(Past Tense) 去年我到日本去了. 我的朋友在住日本所以訪問了她. 我坐飛機從美國到青森日本去了. 我在日本日本七個天了. 我覺得夏季去最好 , 因為沒有雪. 我不喜歡雪. 我在日本看到 Nebuta, 吃日本菜, 和跟我的好朋友炭索國家. 我覺得你們應該旅行日本, 因為 日本很美. 我重要旅行日本.