Adventures for a Cause (2)

What if you want to experience an adventure for a cause, but horses aren't your thing? Never fear; there are others to choose from  - after raising that 1000 pounds.

The Mongol Rally
What's more exciting than a 16,000-kilometer road trip across mountains, deserts and other rugged terrain? Doing it in a vehicle with an engine smaller than 1.2 liters! Mongol Rally participants follow another "un-route" that consists of a starting point in the U.K., a finish line in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and nothing in between. After all, it's an adventure, not a guided tour.

The Rickshaw Run
When asked how to travel across India, almost no one would say, "drive a rickshaw." These three-wheeled, 145.45cc vehicles were built for short trips on roads, not a 3,000- to 5,000-kilometer journey.

Attempting this journey sounds utterly crazy - but it can be great fun. Just watch out for cows in the road.

The Bajai Rally
Even more impractical than India's rickshaw is Indonesia's Bajai, or tuk-tuk. These motorized rickshaws are loud, poorly designed and prone to breaking down.

But that didn't stop adventure-seekers from taking them through jungles and over mountains, finding their own routes across Indonesia. Although discontinued, this adventure lives on in people's memories.

Info Cloud

In today's lesson, our author mentions vehicles that were built for short trips on roads.

But then, two sentences later, she warns, "Watch out for cows in the road".

"On roads" and "in the road" - does this mean "on" and "in" are interchangeable?  Not exactly.

If you remember, we touched on prepositions a bit last week, but because they're so difficult for ESL students, we thought they deserved another look.

Now, in order to really master them, you need to be aware of three pitfalls.

The first is choosing the wrong preposition.

This problem often surfaces because students translate prepositions directly from there native language.

For example, Germans will say, "Aspirin is good against headaches".  But to use the same preposition translated into English would be a mistake because idiomatic English says, "Aspirin is good for headaches".

Right! The second pitfall is adding a preposition where one isn't needed. "They went to outside" is a good example. Here the preposition "to" is not needed.

And then, there is an opposite problem.

Not using a preposition when one is needed. As in, "I like listening music".

Here we do need that preposition- to.

So, how do we avoid these pitfuls and master prepositions?

Sorry, no shortcuts.

Just good old-fashioned memorization.

介系詞很短但不能小看它
通常有三大錯誤: 用錯, 隨便亂加, 忘記用!


Language Lab
rally n. 本文指 汽車競賽會
a car race that is usually held on public roads
- The best frivers from around the world went to the New Zealand Motor Rally.
全世界的好手都來參加紐西蘭的摩托車公路賽
rally n. 群眾的大會或聚會
a large public meeting, especially one that is held outdoors to support a political idea, protest etc
- This rally was organized to help raise money for the victims of the earthquake.
這個大會的招聚是為了要募款幫助地震的災民

rugged adj. 高低不平的, 崎嶇
/ˈrʌgəd/
land that is rugged is rough and uneven
- This rugged area is only accessible by four-wheel-drives.
這個地勢高低不平的區域只有四輪驅動車子可以到達
- The rugged yet beautiful coastline attracts many visitors each year.
這個崎嶇又美麗的海岸線, 每年都吸引了許多觀光客

impractical adj. 不切實際的, 不合用的 [im否定字首/ practical 實際的]
not practical: such as a : not easy to do or use : not suitable for the situation
- It's impractical to spend a lot of money buying lotto tickets.
花一堆錢買樂透彩是不切實際的
practical adj. 實際的
- Sandra is very practical. She knows what a good deal is.
Sandra是非常務實的女孩, 她知道什麼是合理的買賣

prone adj. 容易如何如何的 [後面可接不定詞+動詞]
/ˈproʊn/
 likely to do, have, or suffer from something — usually + to
- He's prone to get angry whenever he's under pressure.
他一有壓力就容易發脾氣
prone to(介系詞)+ N/V-ing
- Arnold is prone to making hasty decisions.
Arnold 很容易做出輕率的決定


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