Say the magic word 謝謝

 |2012.11.25
3900觀看次
字級

提要

magic word有什麼神奇之處?說了「神奇的字」 可以緩和氣氛、拉近距離,甚至讓原本不和的人們「相看兩不厭」。「神奇的字」 除了「謝謝」,還有「請」、「對不起」,效果也很顯著。



下面是一個有趣的故事,描述一群粗魯的孩子學會禮貌的過程。



Miss Lily was a fourth grade teacher, her students had a serious problem. None of them ever said thank you. They never said it to the teacher, to each other, or anyone. She decided to see if she could find a way to get them to start saying it, so she came up with a plan.

"Starting today," she told her class, "we are going to have a contest. Here on my desk is a very nice prize. It is a popular videogame system and three of the coolest games they make. Anyone can win this; all you have to do is say the magic word. The first person who says the magic word will win the prize."

The kids were very excited, every one of them was certain that he or she could guess the word. The kids started calling out every word that they could think of. "AARDVARK! TORTOISE! HAMBURGER! CHOCOLATE!"they shouted all at once.

This went on for quite some time until the teacher finally said, "ENOUGH!From now on, you cannot just shout out words. You have to use the magic word in a sentence during conversation with each other or with me."

It was amazing how many words were used that the students had never said before. "Miss Lily, you look SPIFFY today," one boy said.

"Miss Lily, I am going to eat POTATO for lunch."

Things were rather strange for a long time after that day. However, after a month had gone by without any of the children guessing the magic word, it seemed that no one was going to win the prize.

Then one day, a new boy Paul transferred from another school. It was his first day and the kids laughed at him when he came into the room because he had red, bushy hair, wore thick glasses, and dressed in clothes that the kids said were un-cool.

The teacher was angry with her class for being so rude. "STOP IT!Paul is new here, and I want you to make him feel welcome."

Then the teacher said to Paul, "We are very glad to have you in our class. Do you have a pencil?"

"No. I haven't had a chance to get any school supplies yet," Paul said.

"Well, here is a pencil you can have," the teacher said as she handed him a plain yellow pencil.

Paul took it and said, "Thanks."

"Well, we have a winner!" Miss Lily announced.

The kids in the class were shocked. "WHAT? WHAT DID HE SAY?"

"He said the magic word. It was thanks. That's all anyone of you had to say, and not one of you ever said thanks or thank you for anything. You didn't say it to me or to each other."

Paul became very popular after that. Everyone wanted to come over to his house and play the new video games with him. He was a very friendly person and was happy to have the guys come over to his house. The kids from school found out that Paul was a pretty good guy after all, and they ended up liking him and learning to be more polite.

解說

莉莉小姐是一位小學四年級的老師,她的學生有個共同的問題,無論任何情況、對任何人,他們都不說「謝謝」。 她想了一個辦法,希望能讓他們開始說「謝謝」。

她對她的學生說:「從今天開始,我們將會有一場比賽。在我的桌上,有最流行的電動玩具還有三個最新的遊戲軟體。第一個說出『神奇的字』的人,就能得到。」

可以想像,孩子們都非常興奮。每個人都覺得獎品非自己莫屬。他們開始大喊他們能想到的每一個字。 「食蟻獸!」 「烏龜!」 「漢堡!」「巧克力!」

這種情況持續了相當長的一段時間,直到老師最後說,「夠了!」「從現在開始,別再大喊了。你們對彼此說話或與我的談話中,必須在句子裡使用這個『神奇的字』。」

究竟有多少個字,是孩子們從來沒有說過的呢? 「莉莉小姐,你今天看起來真是『酷帥』,一個男孩試著說。」

「莉莉小姐,我拿『馬鈴薯』當午飯。」

那一天,時間就在這些稀奇古怪的句子間流逝。 一個月過去了,沒有任何孩子猜中這個『神奇的字』,看來,沒有人會贏得這個獎品了。

某一天,當一個新轉學來的男生保羅走進教室時,全班哄堂大笑,因為他有一頭紅又蓬鬆的亂髮、戴著厚厚的眼鏡,還穿著孩子們認為「完全不酷」的服裝。

莉莉小姐很生氣學生如此無禮,「安靜!」 「保羅是新來的,我希望你們讓他覺得受歡迎。」

然後老師對保羅說,「很高興有你來我們班,你有沒有鉛筆?」

保羅回答:「沒有,我還沒機會去買文具。」

「嗯,這有支鉛筆,可以給你,」老師說著,遞給他一支普通的黃色鉛筆。」

保羅接過鉛筆說:「謝謝。」

「好,有人贏得獎品了!」莉莉小姐宣布。

全班都很震驚了「什麼?他說了什麼?」

「他說了『神奇的字—謝謝』。這是你們都應該常說的話,但沒有一個人曾經表示感謝,無論是對我或對你們彼此。」

保羅從此非常受同學歡迎,每個人都想到他家跟他一起玩新電動玩具,他也非常歡迎他們。 孩子們也發現,他們喜歡保羅的和善性情,自己也慢慢變得有禮貌了。



有求於人,而別人對你說:「say the magic word」時,意思就是:「請我幫忙,要說好聽的話(要有禮貌)」,這時候趕緊說「please」就對啦!


找出隱藏的字

H M L E O N J Y D M A

O V I C O I N R W L M

W E C N E T N E S R A

E S N U V F V G X L Z

V I E O X T L N N V I

E O P N K F R I V N N

R T Z N U Z M R G A G

A R G A P O P U L A R

X O I D E O G D M E C

O T R E F S N A R T U

M T U O H T I W U T T

Y J H D E C I D E U E



※因為是找字遊戲,所以有些的字沒有按照傳統英文字由左到右的規矩,有的由右到左,有的字上下排列。

你至少可以找到十個字。這些字都可以在內文之中找到。



解答

你至少可以找到decide;however;amazing;announce;tortoise;transfer;without;sentence;during;popular等十個字。這些字都可以在內文之中找到。

(※可以挑戰更多,例如第二行可以找到coin,最後一列可找到cute.)



WOW!原來如此

SPIFFY

Spiffy源自spiffing(出色的)這個字,也就是「A fun/cute way of expressing general satisfaction with a thing/situation/person.」(對於人、事、情況表示滿意的趣味方式。)

在本中,孩子想得到獎品,又想「很有技巧地」在句子中使用「神奇的字」,於是說出「老師今天看起來真是『酷帥』!」 順便也拍了一下馬屁。



thank

thank, thanks, thank you都是謝謝、謝謝你,但是在速食店打工時,「謝謝」 其實是「知道了,謝謝你」的意思。

麥當勞漢堡台後方站著一名品管員(Quality Control),他的職責等於是指揮中樞,看著現有的產品數量與顧客多少,決定在幾分鐘內,還要幾個「大麥克」、「蘋果派」;相關的工作站聽到指令之後,表示「知道了,謝謝你」,就簡略地說「謝謝」 。大聲地說「謝謝」的同時,也抒發了工作的緊張氣氛。


tortoise

tortoise(陸龜)與 turtle(海龜)甚至terrapin(鱉)都可統稱為烏龜,因為「 For the most part, the difference between a tortoise and a turtle is more of a matter of semantics than a strict scientific separation.」(在一般情況下,陸龜與海龜的區別只是一個語義問題,並非嚴格的科學分類。)

tortoise的四肢像蜥蝪,粗壯有爪,方便牠在地面四處遛躂;turtle的四肢扁平如槳,讓牠在水中快樂悠游,還滿好分辨的。

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