Don’t let thoughts of what you could be doing steal your happiness
錯失恐懼症 別讓「害怕錯過的恐懼」偷走你的快樂
It’s a common experience: You’re scrolling through a social media page, and you see pictures of friends traveling or going to parties. Suddenly you start to wonder why you’re not doing those things. Are you missing out on something fun and exciting because you’re locked into everyday life? This experience has come to be known as the fear of missing out, sometimes abbreviated FOMO. To some extent, people have always worried about missing out on things. But with the rise of social media, FOMO is becoming much more common.
Wanting to be in on the fun when exciting things are happening is completely normal. But for some people, it can lead to an obsession with checking their phones to find out what other people are doing. Even while doing things that are fun or necessary, people can feel like there’s something better going on elsewhere. This urge to connect can ironically lead them to disconnect from the people they are actually with. It prevents them from being satisfied with the good things in their lives. It can even be dangerous; some people try to check messages while driving.
Info Cloud
GIF的正確發音，/gɪf/ or /dʒɪf/?
Hello, and welcome to Info Cloud, friends. Rex, today we have a very controversial lesson.
Oh, no. You're not going to talk about politics, are you?
No, no, no .... I'm going to talk about GIFs /gɪfs/.
Wow, those little moving pictures we send over Line or Facebook? I think you mean GIFs /dʒɪfs/.
See? There's where the controversy comes in. It seems that no one can really agree on how to pronounce this word.
This argument has been going on for so long that earlier this year even Time magazine published an article about it.
GIF /gɪf/ stands for Graphics Interchange Format, which is pronounced with the hard G sound, /g/.
But the inventor of the GIF/dʒɪf/ has announced many times over the years that GIF /dʒɪf/ should be pronounced J-I-F, JIF, like the peanut butter brand.
Exactly. However, here's where the debate gets interesting. A survey was done by a digital marketing company back in 2014. And it turns out more Americans pronounce it with a hard G rather than a soft one.
But if you look GIF /dʒɪf/ up in a dictionary, you'll find both pronunciations are listed as correct. I think I'll stay to pronouncing it with a J sound.
That's fine by me. Anyways, regardless of how you say GIF /gɪf/, /gɪf/ or JIF/dʒɪf/, you'll always find someone to tell you you're saying it wrong.
我們經常會在社群媒體上看到一些會動的圖片，但是它又不是影片，而是一種叫做GIF的動態圖。GIF的完整名稱是 Graphics Interchange Format 圖像互換格式。
其實部份的人都有在網路上看到過，但是關於GIF的正確發音，引起了不少爭議，到底要念 /gɪf/ 還是 /dʒɪf/? 眾說紛紜，因為英文字母 G 有兩種發音，可能你會覺得沒什麼大不了，只是發音的問題而已嘛，但是爭議卻來自於美國白宮和英國牛津辭典都正式地在平台上表示可以唸/gɪf/，但是發明GIF的人卻公開地糾正那是錯誤的，正確的發音是/dʒɪf/，引起外界的熱烈討論。
Language Lab
miss out [phrasal verb] 錯過好機會
to lose an opportunity : to be unable to have or enjoy something
- Chad missed out on all the excitement because he was busy talking on the phone.
Chad 錯過所有精采的部分，因為他忙著講電話。
[很多人都在參加某個生日派對，唯一有一個人還沒出現，你可以跟那個人說]:
- Why are you still at home, you’re missing out on all the fun at the birthday party!
你怎麼還在家? 你這樣會錯過生日派對所有好玩的。
[假設你想說服一個人，希望他也能夠跟大家一起打球，你可以說]:
- Everyone else is playing ball, are you sure you want to stay inside and miss out on all the action?
大家都在打球，你確定你要待在室內，錯過這個充滿刺激的機會嗎?
abbreviate v. 縮寫 (重音在第二音節)
/əˈbriːviˌeɪt/
to make (something) shorter
- While taking notes, Clara had to abbreviate a lot of the words because she had to write things down fast.
Clara 在寫筆記的時候，縮寫了很多字，因為她得把該寫的東西快速寫下來。
- I got a handwritten message from the secretary, but I can’t understand it because she had abbreviated a lot of words.
我從秘書那邊收到一張紙條，但是我看不懂，因為秘書把很多字都縮寫了。
abbreviation n. 縮寫的字或簡稱 (重音在第四音節)
/əˌbriːviˈeɪʃən/
a shortened form of a word or name that is used in place of the full word or name
- Mr. is an abbreviation for mister.
Mr. 是英文字mister的縮寫。
- The abbreviation for without is w/o.
英文字without的縮寫是w/o。
obsession n. 一個會讓人一直去想或是忘不掉的人事物
a state in which someone thinks about someone or something constantly or frequently especially in a way that is not normal
- What started out as a simple curiosity for Diana has now become an obsession.
Diana 一開始只是感到好奇而已，但是現在她已經很癡迷了。
- Ralph enjoys collecting stamps and has some very rare ones, but his stamps collection is just a hobby and not an obsession.
Ralph 喜歡收集郵票，而且有幾張非常稀有的，但是他對郵票不是很入迷，只是一個嗜好而已。
obsess v. 一直想或是忘不掉
to be the only person or thing that someone thinks or talks about
- Stop obsessing about the problem, there’s nothing you can do to change the situation.
不要一直去想那個問題，你無法改變現實狀況。
- Nobody wants to work with Maria because she is such a perfectionist and obsesses over little things.
沒有人想跟Maria合作，因為她是一位完美主義者，而且會為小事情放不開。
ironically adv. 出乎意料地、諷刺地
/aɪˈrɑːnɪkli/
using words that mean the opposite of what you really think especially in order to be funny;
strange or funny because something (such as a situation) is different from what you expected
- A lot of people joined this business to get rich, but ironically most of them end up bankrupt.
很多人加入這一行是為了賺大錢，但是諷刺的是，他們大部分後來都破產了。
- Ironically, this kind of plant grows better in an environment with very little water.
很諷刺的是，這種植物要在一個水很少的環境才會好好生長。
ironic adj. (形容事情很) 諷刺的、出乎意料的
using words that mean the opposite of what you really think especially in order to be funny;
strange or funny because something (such as a situation) is different from what you expected
- Don’t you think it’s ironic that the richest man in the group is the one who drives the oldest and ugliest car?
你會不會覺得很諷刺，我們當中最有錢的人，竟然是開最老舊又最醜的車呢。
- Isn’t it ironic how we have the technology to help us save time but we find ourselves busier than before?
我們擁有可以幫助我們節省時間的科技，但是卻比以前更忙，這不是很諷刺嗎?
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