英語學習筆記

Willian & Victoria
    The name Willian is of old Germanic origin and its meaning is "protection." Short forms and variants came into being with a common basic meaning of "will," "determined," or "resolute." Variants of this name include Wilson, Will and Bill. Famous people with this name include King William I of England, a.k.a. William the Conqueror

Wal-Mart Sneezes, China Catches Cold

_{by Gordon Fairclough}

    Several months ago, Chinese clothing executive Shao Zhuliang got bad news from his U.S. agent: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., his biggest customer, wouldn't be placing any orders for the spring 2008 season.
    Now, Mr. Shao says, he is scrambling to line up other buyers from Europe, Japan and South Korea to keep production lines running this summer at Boshan Linar Garments Co. in eastern China's Shandong province.
    Wal-Mart "said they had inventory piled up over there," says Mr. Shao, who heads Boshan's sales department. "It's always hard to make money from Wal-Mart orders, but without them, we are finished."
    A softer U.S. economy, rising gasoline prices and business miscues have left the world's largest retailer with a growing amount of unsold goods in its stores, including about $2 billion worth of clothes and home-decor products. With about 10% of Wal-Mart's revenue coming from apparel, the excess has several analysts trimming profit estimates for this year by as much as five cents a share.

Bill: I aced my mathematics test again!
Tori: Congrats! You really have a talent for math.

Will: I messed up on the midterm exam. I guess I can't graduate with you this year!
Vickie: You can still make up for it by doing well on the final, can't you?

Kingston Technology Goes "Traveling" at Computex Taipei 2007
  Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, is expected to publicize important news on its HyperX High-performance memory division, as well as several key additions to its Flash memory line during Computex Taipei 2007, which runs June 5-9, 2007. Playing up the global scale of the world's second-largest trade show, Kingston will adopt a "World Traveler" theme in its booth.
  Global travelers demand uncompromising computing power even on-the-fly, so Kingston will be demonstrating live its new DDR3 1500MHz HyperX and DDR2 800MHz ultra-low latency HyperX memory modules. Its 512MB and 1BG DDR3 1066MHz HyperX memory modules recently passed Intel Platform (PMO) Validation, paving the way for the next generation of high-performance computing. DDR3 technology offers significant memory performance gains, at lower voltage and less power consumption.
  Kingston will also debut its DataTraveler Style, a sleek USB Flash drive that allows users to carry digital data with personalized expression, with a series of "skins" or use Kingston's web site to design, upload and print their own.
  Keeping world travelers amused is the DataTraveler Mini Fun or Sudoku Game. This popular numbers puzzle game now comes preloaded on the DT Mini Fun with available up to 4GM of onboard storage.

Alcatraz Island
I'm so excited! I've finally arrived in San Francisco for the Big City Adventure treasure hunt. I'm on my way to the first location, the famous island of Alcatraz. The prison there was deemed escape proof.

Wilson: Know what? Last week I went shopping and found that I could no longer fit in the clothing size I used to wear. I feel so frustrated.
Vicky: I told you not to be such a couch potato a thousand times! It's time for you to take action!
Wilson: Do you have any recommendations for me?
Vicky: Yep. You can start by eating less and exercising more. By the way, this reminds me of a story that I read in the China Post. Australian researchers found that the combination of exercise and fish oil supplements helps reduce body fat more effectively. I guess you can give it a shot!
Wilson: That sounds great! Anything else?

Baker Beach
Guess what I found at the beach? No, not some shells or a crab, try a 95,000 pound cannon! Baker Beach is part of the Presidio, an old military base dating back to 1776. The World War II era bunkers and a replica

Union Square
Union Square is the heart of the shopping, hotel and theater district. The open square is surrounded on all sides by fine department stores and imposing hotels. The name comes from the pro-union rallies held there just prior to the American civil war. The huge column in the center commemorates

Golden Gate Bridge
This has to be the most recognizable bridge in the world. Interestingly, its distinctive color was somewhat of an accident. During construction, the bridge was painted in red-orange primer to protect against rust. The designers happened to like the way the primer looked, and thus,