far reaching意思的八卦，Yahoo名人娛樂都在討論

One Song a Day - Italian Story 意大利的故事. Chinese translation and song link below.
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A simple love letter kind of song, I wrote primarily in English in northern Italy, everything was simple and direct. It was during a wedding party I went to in a little mountain town called Barga, where I would take short excursions everyday, taking public transport here and there, watching the world go by while collecting words that floated in the air. It might appear to be too plain and simple, but why not?
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Italian Story
(Chet Lam)
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From the Florence sun to the Venice moon
On and on I travel
Without you, the road is too long
Time is too slow
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The sunflowers long for the light of the day
Reaching for something that’s so far away
To the sun they grow
To the only one they know
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Save some sunshine, I ask the angels
For someone waiting home
I've tasted Lucca, I've savoured Rome
But I'd trade my freedom
For you and me to be close
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You are the water of my river
You are the sun in my cathedral
You are the youth of my fountain
You are the knight of my castle
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Questions are written in the stars
Answers are hidden on the road
Stories are the first victory of my quest
You are the last piece of my puzzle
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我常用三種語言創作，什麼時候國語，什麼時候粵語，什麼時候英文，完全取決於我創作時即時想到的是那一種語言；這首歌在意大利北部的山城小鎮Barga用英語創作，先有文字，後有旋律；有些文字跟意思，換作中文就會顯得怪怪的，相反亦然；《意大利的故事》一切都來得很直接，生命已經怎樣也不夠長，可能有時就是需要這麽直接。
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意大利的故事
（曲詞：林一峰）
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從佛羅倫斯的太陽
到威尼斯的月亮
我一路前行
沒有你 路太長 時間太慢
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太陽花盼望著日光
希望觸到遙遠的東西
只向著太陽生長
那是它們唯一知道的方向
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我向我的天使祈禱
保守在等著誰回家的人
我嚐過路卡 我呫過羅馬
但我願以我的自由
換取我們能一起
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你是我河流裡的水
你是我教堂裡的陽光
你是我泉源的生命力
你是我城堡裡的騎士
問題寫在夜星之間
答案隱藏在路途中
故事是我征途上第一份禮物
你是我故事裡最後一塊拼圖
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#一日一首林一歌 #林一峰 #chetlam #travekogue #travelogue4escape
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https://instabio.cc/ChetLamItalianStory

[美國文化觀察]

川普前幾天說, 以後的移民要在移民美國時, 就要會說英文. 經濟學人這篇文章講的挺好: 其實移民移居美國後, 早晚都會說英文的.

在我身上其實也應證了這說法. 旅居美國十幾年, 雖然平常有跟此地的台灣同胞保持互動, 但因為身處在美語環境, 也為了生存下去, 所以我漸漸地習慣說英文, 聽英文歌, 看美國電視, 看原文書. 我也很清楚地意識到, 自己的母語(中文)能力在退化中. 所以我前幾年開始接英翻中的case, 而兩年前也開始藉著寫中文個股分析與開部落格來彌補這問題. 很多時候不是我故意在秀英文, 而是我真的不知道該用甚麼中文字來表達意思了, 或是我覺得用英文能夠更傳神地表達我的想法.

"Rather than refusing to learn English, today’s immigrants actually abandon their first language much more readily than previous generations. German, the language spoken by the president’s ancestors, is a case in point. Germans arrived in America in big waves in the middle of the 19th century. Generations later, they were still speaking German at home; a small number were even monolingual in German despite being born in America. Only with America’s entry into the first world war did German-speakers drop their suddenly unpopular language.

Today the typical pattern is that the arriving generation speaks little English, or learns it imperfectly; the first children born in America are bilingual, but English-dominant, and their children hardly speak the heritage language. This is as true of Hispanics as it is of speakers of smaller languages—and all without a lecture from the White House."

以下是全文:
DONALD TRUMP’s young administration is adept at one particular manoeuvre. Whenever the president is having a terrible time in the press, for some embarrassing statement, interview or imbroglio, the White House announces a far-reaching policy designed to stoke up his nationalist base while infuriating his opponents. In February it was the proposed ban on visitors from seven mainly Muslim countries. Last month it was the announcement on Twitter that he would not let transgender soldiers serve in the military.

In each case, the new policy tends to hurt people who can be portrayed as threatening outsiders to ordinary Americans who work hard and pay their taxes. Yesterday’s announcement to back a months-old plan to overhaul America’s immigration rules falls in the same category. If implemented, it would reward applicants with sought-after job skills who already speak English, at the expense of low-skilled workers without language skills.

This may seem perfectly sensible: after all, skilled immigrants are a good thing. But as an ongoing shortage of farm workers in California shows, unskilled immigrants are just as crucial. Equally, it is a good thing if immigrants speak English. But they need not speak it before arrival: as it is impossible to participate fully in American life without speaking English, the incentive to learn it quickly is overwhelming.

The administration’s emphasis on English skills therefore harks back to an old myth that the linguistic make-up of America, which has been an English-dominant country for a long time, is changing: that the status of English is somehow threatened, especially by Spanish, but more generally by the notion that English is no longer needed in the economy.

The myth goes something like this: today’s immigrants want to come to America to isolate themselves into communities that do not speak English. American policy tacitly encourages this by not being tough enough in requiring English. In the past, immigrants happily learned English quickly; “my grandpa came here from the old country but he refused to speak his old language; he insisted on getting by in his broken English until he was fluent.” But today’s immigrants no longer do so, as multiculturalism has replaced the melting pot.
All of this is wrong. America began as a thin band of English colonies clinging to the eastern coast, vastly outnumbered by speakers of other languages. The foreign-born percentage of the population peaked not last year—the administration likes to talk of “unprecedented” numbers—but in 1890, when the share of foreign-born residents was at an all-time high of 14.8%. This proportion has risen again after declining in the mid-20th century (it stood at 12.9% in the 2010 census). America today has multilingual big cities with their voting instructions in Korean, Chinese and Russian.

Historically, this is the norm rather than the exception: the years from 1925 to 1965, when immigration was almost completely cut off, were unusual. But those born from the 1940s to the 1960s became used to the low numbers of foreign-born residents, regarding this state as normal. That in turn supported a belief that America has always naturally belonged completely to English.
For most of its history, America was precisely the “polyglot boardinghouse” Teddy Roosevelt once worried it would become. That history has turned out very well not just for America, but for English—the most successful language in the history of the world. Along with American power, English has spread around the globe. At home, wave after wave after wave of immigrants to America have not only learned English but forgotten the languages their parents brought with them.

Rather than refusing to learn English, today’s immigrants actually abandon their first language much more readily than previous generations. German, the language spoken by the president’s ancestors, is a case in point. Germans arrived in America in big waves in the middle of the 19th century. Generations later, they were still speaking German at home; a small number were even monolingual in German despite being born in America. Only with America’s entry into the first world war did German-speakers drop their suddenly unpopular language.

Today the typical pattern is that the arriving generation speaks little English, or learns it imperfectly; the first children born in America are bilingual, but English-dominant, and their children hardly speak the heritage language. This is as true of Hispanics as it is of speakers of smaller languages—and all without a lecture from the White House.

<4/27 S的聽懂英文歌曲專欄>
Colorful (from the movie rockstar)
歌詞難度四顆星

今天介紹英文歌 是一首從電影裡面挑出來的電影主題曲
這部電影是由熊麻吉的男主角馬克華柏格早期拍的HBO自製電影
女主角則是由大家都很熟悉的Jennifer Aniston演出
片名叫做Rock Star
喜歡音樂的不要錯過了這部好電影！

電影內容是在闡述一個樂團主唱
如何發揮自己的能耐 迷失自己 後來又找回自己的一段故事

一樣歌詞列在下方
同樣附上我的小翻譯～

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The show is over close the story book
表演結束 該把故事書闔起來了
There will be no encore
不會再有安可了
And all the random hands that I have shook
所有我握過的手
Well they're reaching for the door
他們朝門而去了
I watch their backs as they leave single file
我看著他們的背影
But you stood stubborn, cheering all the while
但你依然站在原地 不停地為我喝彩

I know I can be colorful
我也許可以綻放光芒
I know I can be gray
我知道也有可能灰暗
But I know this loser's living fortunate
但我知道我這個遜砲很幸運
Cause I know you will love me either way
因為我知道 不論怎樣你還是會愛我

Most were being good for goodness sake
大部分的人都是勉為其難的當好人
But you wouldn't pantomime
但你不是只是做做樣子
You are more beautiful when you awake
你剛醒著的時候漂亮多了
Than most are in a lifetime
比你其他大部分的人生都美
Through the haze that is my memory well
通過我記憶中的濃霧
You stayed for drama though you paid for a comedy
你原本只想過的喜劇卻變成了劇情片
（這句話的意思是 女主角只想平凡的過日子 卻因為愛上男主角 而他的天賦讓他們的人生變成劇情片 這是意義上的翻譯 看過電影就懂）

I know I can be colorful
I know I can be gray
But I know this loser's living fortunate
Cause I know you will love me either way

Look ahead as far as you can see
We'll live in drama but we'll die in a comedy
I know I can be colorful...