A powerful story of love, mercy and forgiveness
悲慘世界 一部充滿慈愛、憐憫、寬恕的經典巨著
"They have me a number and murdered Valjean when they chained me and left me for dead. Just for stealing a mouthful of bread."
The main character, Jean Valjean sings these painful words in the musical Les Miserables. He is describing what he endured during his 19 years in prison for stealing bread and for trying to escape. Upon his release, Valjean is given a document indicating that he is on parole. For this reason, everyone rejects him, making it impossible for him to buy food or find a place to stay.
The first person to show him any kindness is a priest named Myriel. He invites Valjean into his home, feeds him and gives him a warm bed to sleep in. Sadly, Valjean repays the priest by stealing his silver. As Valjean runs away, he's caught and returned to Myriel. The priest then does something incredible! He states that he gave Valjean the silver; no theft was committed. Valjean doesn't understand why Myriel helps him, but it transforms his life forever. Before Valjean leaves, the priest makes him promise to become an honest and upright citizen.
Info Cloud
pay your dues
Welcome to Info Cloud, everyone. Today I'd like to talk about what it means when someone says that they've paid their dues.
Generally, this means that someone has done a lot of work or gone through a lot of hardship and now deserves the rewards of their work.
Dues are also another word for membership fees. So if you want to be a member of a professional group, for example, you pay your membership.
If the payment is on a regular basis, those payments are called dues. So when you pay your dues, you get the benefits from your membership.
Now let's say you are working your way up in a company. You start at a low level, and you get a lot of boring work that has to be done.
You can also refer to that as paying your dues. You are doing a lot of work you don't enjoy. The benefit is that one day you will get a promotion.
There is one last way we use this phrase. It's for when you make a mistake and you have to pay your dues.
That means that you work hard to make up for what you did wrong.
And if you pay your dues, that also means that you make up for what you did, and now you deserve the benefit of being forgiven.
當我們收到帳單時，第一個看的就是這個月的應繳金額，英文是due，因此 pay your dues 就是支付你的應繳款項，通常是指每個月必須支付的會費，像是俱樂部或是社團等等。
不過，pay your dues也有另外一種意思，那就是一個人在奮鬥過程中，付出的代價。You need to pay your dues to work your way up. 為了一步一步往上爬，你必須努力付出代價。通常是做一些很辛苦的雜事，希望有一天可以看到成果。
pay your dues 也可以用來形容一個人做錯事情，現在正在努力地彌補自己所犯下的錯誤。I was lazy, and now, I am paying my dues. 我之前太懶惰了，現在要努力地補救。
Language Lab
endure v. 忍受
to continue to exist in the same state or condition
- Charles practices his saxophone every day, and his wife has to endure the noise.
Charles 每天都會練習吹薩克斯風，而他的妻子必須忍受噪音。
- We had to endure the heat because the A/C was broken.
我們必須忍受熱，因為冷氣機壞了。
endure v. 持久、保持
a : to experience (pain or suffering) for a long time;
b : to deal with or accept (something unpleasant)
- Dinah started a weight-loss plan in January, and endured until September.
Dinah 一月開始實施瘦身計畫，並維持到九月。
- When the company first started, it did well and was able to endure for several years before it was bought over by a bigger company.
那家公司剛開始做的很好，而且維持了好幾年，直到它被一家大公司買去。
document n. 文件
an official paper that gives information about something or that is used as proof of something
- The secretary keeps all the important documents in this drawer.
秘書把所有的重要文件都放在這個抽屜裡。
- The documents were on the manager’s desk, but now they are gone!
文件本來都在經理的辦公桌上，但是現在不見了。
document v. 記載、記錄
to create a record of (something) through writing, film, photography, etc.
- It was our little boy’s first time seeing a dolphin, and we were able to document the moment with this little video.
我們家小朋友第一次看到海豚的時候，我們能夠錄下小影片來記錄那一刻。
- Many of the town’s past events were documented in these old books, and now the town historian would like these books to be protected.
鎮裡以前所發生的一些事情都有被記載在這些舊書卷裡，而鎮上的歷史家西望這些書卷可以好好被保存。
repay v. 報答
to do or give something in return for (something);
to do something for (someone) in return for what that person has done for you
- After all the wonderful things Edmond has done for you, and this is how you’re repaying him?
Edmond 為你做了那麼多好事，而你竟然是這樣報答他?
- Sara wanted to repay the stranger for his kindness, but the man just walked away.
Sara 想要報答那位陌生人的好心幫忙，但是那個人就走掉了。
repay v. 還錢
to pay back (money that you have borrowed)
- Fiona borrowed some money from Glen, and now she needs to repay him.
Fiona 跟Glen借了一些錢，她現在得還他錢。
- Hilary has finally graduated from college, but now she has to work on repaying her school loan.
Hilary 終於大學畢業了，她現在得開始專心還她的學貸。
transform v. 完全地改變、從裡到外地改變
to change (something) completely and usually in a good way
- After the snow storm, the whole valley was transformed into a world of ice.
暴風雪過後，山谷就變成了冰天雪地。
- My neighbor wants to lose weight and is looking for an easy way to transform herself into a skinny person.
我的鄰居想要減重，而且他再找一個輕鬆可以變苗條的方法。
transformation n. 大改變、很大的變化
a complete or major change in someone's or something's appearance, form, etc.
- Irene used to be very casual, but now she has to dress up all the time for her job, and the transformation is huge!
Irene 以前衣著都很隨便，但是她現在必須為了工作天天打扮，整個人變得完全不一樣。
- In the movie, a scientist transforms a dog into a human being, but the transformation isn’t complete, and the scientist has to fix the problem.
在影片裡，有一位科學家把一隻狗變成一個人，但是改變過程並非完全成功，而那位科學家必須想辦法解決問題。
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