作者: 超凡遠距英語口筆譯

根據描述回答問題

1. a. Dan was leaving the room when I walked in.
   b. Sam had left the room when I walked in.
   Q: Who did I run into?                                      
   Ans:   A. Dan             B. Sam
2. a. When the rain stopped, Gloria was riding her bicycle to work.
   b. When the rain stopped, Tom rode his bicycle to work.
   Q: Who got wet on the way to work?               
   Ans:   A. Gloria         B. Tom
3. a. Ken went to the store because he was running out of food.
   b. Ann went to the store because she had run out of food.
   Q: Who is better at planning ahead?                 
   Ans: A. Ken                 B. Ann
4. a. Lin taught at this school for nine years.
   b. Smith has been teaching at this school for nine years.
   Q: Who is teaching at this school now?            
   Ans: A. Lin                  B. Smith
5. a. Alice was walking to the door when the doorbell rang.
   b. George walked to the door when the doorbell rang.
   Q: Who had been expecting the doorbell to ring?                              
   Ans:   A. Alice           B. George
6. a. When I got there, Marie had eaten.
   b. When I got there, Joe ate.
   Q: Who was still hungry when I got there?      
   Ans:   A. Marie          B. Joe
7. a. I looked across the street. Mr. Fox was waving at me.
   b. I looked across the street. Ms. Cook waved at me.
   Q: Who began to wave at me before I looked across the street?              
   Ans:   A. Mr. Fox      B. Ms. Cook
8. a. Sara had never had any boyfriend until Tom appeared.
   b. Martha has never had any boyfriend since Tom disappeared.
   Q: Who is probably in love with Tom at the moment?               
   Ans:   A. Sara            B. Martha

Character, characteristic, trait, personality trait, personality, feature
特性、個性、特徵、特質、人格，在定義上將這些字完全區隔是不可能的任務，倒是可以區分哪個字有其他的字沒有的「特質」🙂。

1. Character是人或物不易具備的正面特質，是feature, trait, characteristic這些特性點滴累積的⸢風格⸥或⸢風骨⸥或⸢特性⸥，所以會有a man of character或a person of good character (有風骨的人)這種說法，也可以用以描述地方或物體。例如：
   *It would be very out of character of her to lie. 說謊有違她的風格。
   *My hometown has lost its character. 我的家鄉已經沒了往日格調。

我們也可以從下面這句話體會character跟trait的差別：

*Self-sacrifice is the greatest trait of good character. 犧牲是最偉大的特質。

2. Trait：行為特質。用以區分與他人不同的明顯行為特質，意思與characteristic類似。與characteristic最大不同在於trait不用於描述外表特徵。character是好幾種trait或characteristic的綜合呈現。

*People with small eyes share some special traits. 小眼睛的人共有一些特質。

3. Characteristic：行為特質或外表特徵。用以區分與他人不同的明顯特質或外表特徵。但與trait稍有不同，characteristic多用於可觀察到的行為特質或外表特徵，例如慷慨、大眼睛等。

*The family has an obvious characteristic, big nose.

4. Feature：特性。常用於商品的特性，用於這一方面時偶而也會使用characteristic。feature跟其他幾個字最大的不同是可當動詞使用，表達「呈現重要性」，例如：

*The video will feature highlights from recent sports games.
影片會呈現最近的球類比賽的精彩片段。

5. Personality：個性。從拼字知道personality只用於人。當我們說某個人很好奇、有忌妒心、很友善…等等，這些都是personality。另外也有「名人」的意思，TV personality就是電視名人。

*Amy is no oil painting, but she has a lovely personality.
Amy不吸引人，但是個性很好。

至於這些字義重疊的部分，雖有細微差別，不會有誤解或奇怪說法就沒關係。多閱讀自然就會有所區分，雖然我們無法解釋，用對、不被誤解就好，不必太糾結。重要的是整體表達。

shore, coast, beach…還有bank都是海岸嗎?

我們來分清楚，因為大多數學習者一想到海邊就想到beach。

Shore：海岸或湖岸。陸地跟水域交接的地方，這一個地區經常會時而暴露出陸地、時而被水域所覆蓋，如果這一個地區是由沙子或小石頭等沉澱物質所組成的，就可以稱為beach。整條水域跟陸地交接的這一條線就稱為shoreline (海岸線或湖岸線)。Shoreline是一條隨著潮汐變動的線，通常是指我們在現場時眼睛看到的陸地與水域交界線。

Beach：海灘或湖岸。是沙子或者小卵石沉積而成的非實體陸地，通常是由低潮汐時的水陸交接線一直延伸到陸地上的地理環境改變，例如：懸崖、沙丘、或者植被。beach是shore的一部份。

Coast：沿岸(地區)。是延著海岸線到內陸地勢改變地整個長條形地區，可以包括海岸地區的整個城市。Coastline通常是由空中高處往下看所描繪的陸海交接線。

Bank：河岸。是沿著河流的隆起陸地。

Influence (影響) vs. Affect (影響)
英語學習最大的挑戰就是像這種中文定義一樣時，到底該用哪一個在英文句子中。如果學習者有經常閱讀的習慣，就能感覺不同，雖然可能無法解釋。如果學習者有使用英英字典，就能學會如何解釋差異。
以下是Cobuild字典中的用法例句，Cobuild字典是採用例句說明：
(1) If someone or something influences a person or situation, they have an effect on that person’s behavior or that situation.
(2) If something affects a person or thing, it causes them to change in some way.
以下是Cambridge劍橋字典的定義，Cambridge有例句及定義。
(1) To influence is to change how someone or something develops or behaves.
(2) To affect is to cause a change.
以下是我的說明：
(1) 當你affect某事或某人，你就對那事或人造成改變。
(2) 當你influence某情況或某人，你就對那情況或人的行為造成改變。
所以用法上最常見的錯誤就是用influence當動詞，而用沒有行為(behavior)的東西如岩石、危機、命運…等當受詞。
下列兩個句子可以幫你發現使用上的差異。
(1) Air pollution affects temperature. 空汙影響溫度。
(2) Air pollution influences temperature pattern. 空氣汙染影響溫度模式。
但是Air pollution affects climate. 或 Air pollution influences climate. 都可以，這是因為climate本身字義的關係。

now還是nowadays?

Henry was often in car accidents before, but he drives safely now.
就表達而言，這句子的最後一個字now是可以用 nowadays來代替的。now強調「當下；現在，此刻」。nowadays強調「近來；當前；現階段」。

但是從下列句子就能感受到now跟nowadays意義不同：

1. Do you want to play basketball now? 說成Do you want to play basketball nowadays?就不合邏輯，雖然文法正確。
2. Joan never liked to play basketball before, but she seems to like it nowadays. 說成Joan never liked to play basketball before, but she seems to like it now. 就OK啊!
3. Let’s go somewhere now. 說成Let’s go somewhere nowadays.會很奇怪!
4. Kick bike is a thing of the past. It’s not popular nowadays.此處的nowadays可以改成now。

看出來了嗎？描述當下的動作用now (用nowadays就不合邏輯)；描述當前的趨勢用nowadays (但用now來代替也可以)。