關於 many oxford dictionary ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

Throwback v2.

Before i joined debating, my English was not fluent & my general knowledge was even worse.

I thought Africa was a country & Egypt was a continent.

I do believe that hardwork will take me places.

I would memorize the english dictionary & watch as many documenteries/videos/movies in English.

I was jealous of my counterparts in Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard etc.

They get the best of debaters from all over the world to join their Uni & expose them to the best of trainings & competitions.

When i was in highschool, i'll watch their videos on Youtube & put it on replay until i'm well-versed with their style of debating.

My Highschool didn't allow for smartphones/laptops, so i smuggled in a low-specs second hand Acer laptop & hid it in the "English room" so that i can watch the videos from 10pm to 1am, daily.

In the Youtube Videos, when they forwarded an argument i never thought of, i'll reverse my thinking process & brainstorm how i overlooked this uniqie angle. I want to be as sharp & smart as the best in the world.

Fast forward, the photo above was taken at Cambridge University when i was awarded the Top 10 Debater for the Cambridge IV (Open).

This was the first time (that i could remember of), a debater from an Asian University from an ESL status, got into the top 10 list.

Usually, we will be awarded with a bottle of wine or champagne, but the organisers were kind enough to replace it with Chocolates when they found out i made the Top10 list.

The following year, Cambridge appointed me as their Co-Chief Judge of the Cambridge IV. Interestingly, another record was broken when a Malaysian team from UITM won the whole championship. I could never be prouder for Malaysia!

Message is, Hardwork is key. Anything is possible when you put your mind to it.

Want to learn more?

Join me for my x5 #ThunderBOLD classes where i teach about Debating, Critical Thinking, Public Speaking & more for only RM200 where 100% will go to buying tablets for the underprivileged students.

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【動物園該是甚麼樣子？】
#動物園該做甚麼
#是由動物園自己決定
#讀書心得預告

在我對一些比較熱門的議題，比如新竹動物園的重生或者動物園與保育的關係發表看法時，偶爾會有一些網友跳出來以自己的經驗、觀點評論道「動物園從來不是為了動物而建的」以及「動物不需要動物園」還有「動物園是商業產品」等等。

我不會說他們是錯的，因為世界上的動物園確實有各式各樣的存在形式，甚至連字典對於這個名詞的解釋都大相逕庭。比如在Cambridge English Dictionary中對於「zoo」的解釋是「一個飼養動物，特別是野生動物，以供人觀看或研究的場域(an area in which animals, especially wild animals, are kept so that people can go and look at them or study them)」；而當我們看到Oxford Learner's Dictionaries，解釋則變成了「一個為了讓大眾觀賞而飼養野生動物並在同時對牠們進行研究、繁殖以及保護的地方(a place where many kinds of wild animals are kept for the public to see and where they are studied, bred and protected)」；到了亞洲，就算同在日本，不同辭典一樣也對該詞彙給出截然不同的釋義，比如新明解的「把抓來的動物放在人工的環境裡規律地餵食，背離野生，作為會動的標本向人展示並兼具啟蒙意義的娛樂設施」以及小學館的數位大辭泉中「飼育從世界各地收集來的各種動物，以調查、保護、教育、娛樂等為目的的設施」；至於我們台灣的教育部國語辭典，則是給出了「畜養各種動物，供人觀賞、研究或教學的場所」這樣的解釋。

我想，曾經閱讀過本專頁貼文的朋友都不難發現，以上的釋義沒有一個能涵蓋現今動物園行業的複雜性，甚至，沒有一個提到「保育(Conservation)」這個字眼。那麼重點來了，世界上的動物園們又是如何定義自己的呢？

基本上，我們可以從各個機構的「Mission」以及「Vision」中看出端倪，前者可以解釋為「職責」，也就是該機構正在做的事情，而後者則是希望有朝一日能靠著恪守職責達成的「願景」。時常被評價為英國第一、世界頂尖的Chester Zoo，在2018之前訂定的Mission為「成為保育全球生物多樣性的主力(To be a major force in conserving biodiversity worldwide)」，而Vision則是「一個多樣化、興旺發展並且永續的自然世界(A diverse, thriving and sustainable natural world)」，很明顯的，前些段落的字典們所提供的解釋完全無法觸及像Chester Zoo這樣的存在。（2018年後的版本會在讀書心得的正篇中討論）

曾經被我多次提到的Pairi Daiza，作為一座被認為與保育連結不深、以文化娛樂為主要導向的動物園，他們替旗下基金會訂定的Mission為「Support our adventure, outside the walls of Pairi Daiza」。而他們篩選、執行保育的依據則是「是否能達到人類文化與自然的和諧共處」，屬於「延續冒險」的途徑之一，且正因為讓人看到了他們朝著自己的願景邁進的樣貌與態度，基本上沒有人會批評他們「為了人類犧牲動物」，反倒是佩服他們對於重現文化景觀的投入。

至於我們的台北動物園與新竹動物園，前者在政策白皮書中(https://bit.ly/2UFKgVk)，把總目標列做「成為世界一流的生物多樣性教育與保育機構」;後者雖然沒有在官網中明確的給出，但「拉近人與動物的距離，打造全新的生命教育場域」是在相關報導中被重點提及的目標。可以看出，台灣的動物園夥伴們在訂定Vision這一方面，雖然格局相較Chester以及Pairi Daiza要來得小一些，沒有跳脫出園區的框架，但總體而言，台北想走的方向與Chester更相近，新竹則與Pairi Daiza同樣以「人」為關注重點。

至於中國最有名的長隆野生動物世界，做為中國式野生動物園的代表，在官網上對自己的描述為「以大规模野生动物种群放养，集动、植物的保护、研究、旅游观赏、科普教育为一体，具有国际水准的野生动物园，是动物种群众多、大型的野生动物主题公园」，也就是說，他們的自身定位是「主題公園」，描述中提到的保護、研究、科普則像是這個公園存在的「依據」。

雖然我個人並不欣賞這樣的詮釋，但我不會沒事就批評長隆在亂搞、汙衊動物園，因為他們的作為確實與自身定位相符且證明了這是一個成功的「商業模式」，實實在在的是現階段「動物園」的體現形式之一。但是若是因為習慣了長隆這樣的導向，轉過頭來說Chester這樣以保育為目標的機構很虛偽，或者在我評論一個機構現行狀況與自身目標的差距時，把長隆的那一套當作唯一解並且用來「指導」那就有點有趣了，因為雖然談論的名詞一樣是動物園，但實際上已經是不同的概念。

就好像，本專頁的名稱是「走近動物園」，我給自己的定位是分享我對動物園的觀察，邀請各位一同走近、仔細看看動物園的存在。倘若每次發完文章都有人因為我沒有分享可愛的動物影片或者科普某一物種的生理資料，而批評說我的文章重點錯誤、欠缺全方位考量，那未免有點莫名其妙，因為那並不是我給自己的定位。

說了這麼多希望大家還記得，就像開頭的hashtag提到的一樣，這是一篇讀書心得的預告，關於我平常談論的「動物園」以及更多相關的東西，我會在將來《The Call》的觀後感裡提及，不過我雖然已經列好了大綱，但目前還沒有開始寫的計畫，如果有很多人想看的話那我會考慮早點開工，謝謝。

圖片是Chester Zoo的眼鏡熊展區，Chester在牠們原產地玻利維亞的研究主要針對在干旱森林中熊的種群動態以及人熊衝突。

[ MY JOURNEY OF MASTERING METAPHYSICS II ]

If you have been thinking of learning Chinese Metaphysics 玄學, I need to be honest with you.

Training to be a competent Metaphysics practitioner is not for the weak-minded, or those in for a quick buck.

Sorry for bursting your bubble of fallacies.

You can choose to specialize in one or a few genres. If you have a very brilliant and dedicated Shifu as your teacher, you are expected to be competent in many areas. And I mean, M-A-N-Y.

When I was about 13 years old, I came up with this game of adding up the numbers in a car plate. So in the many car rides I had with my younger sister, we would be competing to see who got the answer first, of any car that passed us by.

I always have an edge over her, being five years older. It takes me only two seconds or less to get the total sum of four random numbers.

I now think that was Divine Intervention preparing me for my inevitable future.

During my painful training as a Metaphysics practitioner, my mental dexterity was stretched wider than capabilities of the Elastic Girl. The homework was endless. The pressure was forever mounting.

In my bookshelves, I have easily 200 or more books on Metaphysics and Buddhism, mainly from Taiwan and Hong Kong. 90% are read. 70% of them are read more than once. Or even thrice.

Shifu believes that an able practitioner is one who has many real-life experiences, not just from reading books.

For starters, he wanted us to go out there and with whatever knowledge we have at that time, consult people for free and solve their problems. Master that ability to read people as if they are naked, so that they don't need to tell you their Bazi or Chinese names, and you would know their past, present and future.

When you can read a person very well, you can already read their living environments, without being physically there. Hence the saying, 人如其屋，屋如其人.

I now take about 10 seconds to read a person completely inside out. But Shifu does it in a split second. #姜還是老的辣 #oldgingeristhespiciest

My early years of training were very harsh.

When I go for my flight, during those long lull periods, I have to talk to a colleague, be it my junior or senior, about Metaphysics. It usually starts off with me analyzing my colleague's Chinese name and the conversation will flow from there. Love life problems, career choices, children issues, etc. Sure there were many awkward starts, embarrassing pauses but these interactions sure honed my skills and confidence fast.

When we dine at a restaurant, right after the waitress takes our order and leaves Shifu would turn round and ask us, so what is the most distinguishable feature on the waitress' face? What problem is she facing now? What does that mole on her face signify?

Insert *Blank looks all round the table.*

Got mole meh?

One of our most memorable impromptu training comes from cab rides. Taxi drivers are notorious for being opinionated, especially the older ones. Learning how to talk to them about Metaphysics and Buddhism was a nerve-zapping challenge for many of us.

If we shun away, we get scolded by Shifu. And gentle isn't exactly an adjective you would use to describe his chiding.

If we have the courage of a lion, as novices at that time, we fall short in the confidence and knowledge department, and the conversation usually ends with the taxi driver having the final (wrong) say.

Insert *bang head against wall*.

Once, we were at Uniqlo Suntec. Shifu wanted us to go up and advised the mother of a young male teenager, about a particular facial feature he has.

The mother was none other than Pan Lingling. She was at the store together with Rebecca Lim, Belinda Lin, Chew Chor Meng, Chen Han Wei, her husband and her son. Intimidated by their celebritity status, my Dharma Brother shook his head and did not dare to approach them.

I took a deep breath, walked up to the group and said what I should, pretending that I did not know who they were. Turned out that another practitioner had once told Pan Lingling about her son's feature too. #gladItried

It wasn't lead conversion that Shifu wanted us to learn. It was the willingness to help people and the guts to stand by the ancient knowledge of our sages, that Shifu hopes for us to master. A good doctor will never back away from treating a patient, just because the patient is very famous, right?

I used to write many lengthy Bazi reports, using the Bazi of famous people and people around me as case studies. I wrote countless reports analyzing Chinese names of people I know and people I don't know.

None of my reports passed Shifu's scrutiny on the first round. So there were often many, many, many rounds of correction...

I used to spend many late nights poring through the modern Chinese dictionary and the Kang Xi Chinese dictionary, coming up with suitable Chinese names for a fictitious Bazi. I figured it is that kind of nightmare that will wake me up if one day I slip into a coma.

I had to learn to write in traditional Chinese, as the art of 姓名學 Name Analysis is built on the foundation of traditional Chinese characters, not the simplified form that we are writing now.

The first time I wrote a 2-pager in traditional Chinese, it took me four hours.

I have sat in for hundreds and hundreds of Bazi consultations and Feng Shui audits.

Every time Shifu finished a Feng Shui audit or any consultation, we have to tell him what we had learn from the audit and explain why he did what he did. Without looking at our notes. Eloquence, memory power and solution suitability are the key points he is looking for. If any one of us screws up, never mind, just go home and write a report, detailing everything. 😱😱😱

Formulas for Bazi and Feng Shui (Yin House and Yang House) to memorize run as long, if not longer, as the Oxford Dictionary.

What I have shared is probably only 30% of what I had gone through as a Metaphysics apprentice.

Is it easy to learn to be a Chinese Metaphysics practitioner?

That depends on what caliber you aim to be.

To be continued.

牛津字典最近將港式英語之一「Add oil」列入字典，受人關注。但其實我哋仲有好多常用嘅港式英語，例如「Laugh die 」、「People mountain people see」等，今次就邀請外國人估吓佢哋點解！即刻睇佢哋點譯！
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Chinglish "Add oil" has been officially added to the Oxford Dictionary. And there are still many popular chinglish expressions in Hong Kong, see how the foreigners explain that!
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