开卷书摘》全球首例！阿联 formalize周休2.5日

近日阿拉伯联合大公国宣布要採取周休2.5日的措施，将目前周五、周六的休息日，改成从周五下午开始，持续到周日，此项政策将从明年正式上路，为的是在配合穆斯林周五参拜的习俗，以及与世界接轨的愿景中取得平衡，本次让我们来看看国外新闻如何报导这项世界首例吧！

调整周末的目的

That's significant for two reasons: It likely makes the UAE the first nation to formalize a workweek shorter than five days, and it also brings the country more in line with Western schedules. (npr)

（这项措施的重大意义在于两个原因：这可能使阿联酋成为第一个将每周工作时间缩短到五天以内的国家，并且让国家更能接轨西方世界的工作时间表。）

formalize (v)「正式化、使定型」，动词来自于名词form，form有「形状、表格」之意，经常出现在多益测验（https://bit.ly/3sjEYRK）中，如fill out the form「填表格」。而form也可以当成动词，代表「成形」。form加上「-al」变成形容词formal，是「正式的」意思；加上字首「in-」成为反义词，informal就是「不正式的」；加上字尾「-tive」则成为形容词变化，formative的意思是「成形的」

A solution began to form in her mind.（她想到了一个解决办法。）

She spent her formative years in Africa.（她在非洲度过了性格形成的时期（成长期）。）

form的名词变化是formation，用法如a rock formation（一块岩石的结构）、cloud formations（云的形状），新闻中使用的formalize则是字尾「-lize」的变化。光是form一个单字就可以延伸出许多单字，可见字首字尾变化的形式有多丰富，只要懂得字根、字首、字尾的规则，不需要刻意背单字，就可以用倍数成长的方式来记单字，这才是增加单字最省力的方式。

They offered me the job, but the contract has not been formalized yet.（他们把工作给了我，但是还没有正式签合同。）

bring...in line with「与…接轨、同步」。bring有「带来」的意思，因此这个动词片语就是带到某个层级，in line with是和某人在同一条线上，因此可以理解成「同步、接轨」的意思，with后方则要记得接同步的对象。be in line with也有「一致、同步」的意思，在各种英文句子中都经常使用。

You need to talk to that new student and bring him into line with the rules of our school.（你必须和那位学生聊聊，让他了解学校的规则。）

The company's results are in line with stock market expectations.（公司业绩与股票市场预期一致。）

政策何时生效

The changes apply to federal government entities and will take effect on Jan. 1. After that point, Monday through Thursday workdays will run from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Friday hours will be 7:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. (WYPR)（这些改变适用于联邦政府，将在1月1日生效。往后，周一到周四的工作日将会从上午7:30到下午3:30，周五的工作时间则是从早上7:30到中午12点。）

apply to (v.)「适用于、应用」在多益测验中最常见的用法就是「申请」的意思。但其实apply有很多意思，除了申请的意思，还可以解释为「应用」、或是「适用于…」的意思。

Those were old regulations - they don’t apply anymore.（那些都是旧规定，不再适用了。）

By the time I saw the job advertised, it was already too late to apply.（我看到招聘广告的时候，已经太晚了，错过了应徵时机。）

apply作「申请」的意思时，后方可以接 to 或for，但apply for后面通常接的是「要申请的东西／工作」；to则是接「申请这个工作的对象／机构。」

I‘ve applied for a new job with the local newspaper.（我已经申请了地方报纸的一个职位。）

We’ve applied to a charitable organization for a grant for the project.（我们已经向一个慈善组织提出申请，请求其对这个计划提供资助。）

apply的名词变化是application，就是我们app的原形单字，所以手机中的app中文就是「应用软体」的意思。而application form则表示「申请表」。

The design has many applications.（这个设计有很多用途。）

Have you filled in the application form for your passport yet?（你填写护照申请表了吗？）

take effect「生效」这个动词片语在谈论政策时经常使用；effect是「效果」的意思，动词affect代表「影响」，而形容词effective「有效的」和efficient「有效率的」同样是多益测验中常见的形容词，后者的用法包含了时间的因素，就是在短时间内有效果，因而变成有效率的。

take effect后方接的介系词取决于如何表达时间，这里接特定日期，因此用on；如果后方要接月份，则是要使用in，因此大家需要先判断时间上的表达再决定介系词的用法。

【多益模拟试题】

June 8

Ms. Eunice Cha

Project Leader

B.S. Consultants

10-EE Central City Building

Bangalore 560 097 India

Dear Ms. Cha:

I very much enjoyed your talk at the International Conference on Public Architecture in Mumbai. I especially appreciated your assessment of the competing demands of function, budget, and public expectations on municipal projects.

Our firm has recently been awarded the contract for the design of a large public swimming facility here in Singapore, and I think that our staff would be most interested in your remarks. It would provide useful discussion points for us as we plan and execute the project.

Would it be possible to obtain a copy of your speech and reproduce twenty copies for our internal use only? We would not distribute any part of it outside the company without first obtaining permission from you, nor would we include any part of it in any of our presentations external bodies without your permission and without acknowledgement of you as the author.

It might be that you have plans to publish the material in some form in a journal or trade magazine. If that is the case, I understand that you would not want to release it to us. In that event, would you please inform me when and where it will be published?

Thank you very much for your consideration and for a superb presentation.

Sincerely,

David Wong

President

Wong Architecture, Pty. Ltd.

1. What can be inferred about Mr. Wong?

(A) He attended a presentation given by Ms. Cha.

(B) He is seeking employees for his architecture firm.

(C) He would like to submit an article for publication.

(D) He wants to purchase a subscription to a trade journal.

2. What is Mr. Wong’s company working on?

(A) Giving a public presentation

(B) Planning an awards ceremony

(C) The construction of a new conference center

(D) The design of a swimming pool

3. What is Mr. Wong requesting?

(A) The opportunity to bid on a contract

(B) Copies of published project design plans

(C) Permission to distribute information to his colleagues

(D) A review of a municipal annual budget

解析：

1. 正解为(A)。题目问「文章暗示王先生什么事？」第一段王先生就提到「我非常喜欢你在孟买国际公共建筑会议上的演讲。」故(A)「他参加了一场查小姐的演讲」为正解。

2. 正解为(D)。题目问「王先生的公司正在做什么？」在第二段提到「我们公司最近获得了新加坡一个大型公共游泳设施的设计合同。」故(D)为正解。文中award就是give「给予」的意思。

正解为(C)。题目问「王先生要求什么？」在第三段有提到「有可能获得一份你的演讲稿，并复制制20 份仅供我们内部使用吗？」故(C)「允许可以发送讯息给同事」为正解。

文／Buffy Kao