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韓Sir 資深英語教師
特區副局長 ( Undersecretaries)的資歷和遴選過程事宜鬧得熱烘烘的，究竟他/她們是 under-qualified (資歷不足)還是 over-qualified (資歷過高)，在此不便置喙。只想趁機跟大家再談談 under 和 over 這兩個極有用的字首，在英語世界內稱為 “prefix”，這種字首，又稱前綴，置於某些單詞之前，用來增加或改變其意義，很多是把一些單詞變為反義的，如 happy- unhappy，satisfied- dissatisfied，legible (清晰易讀的)- illegible (難以辨認的) 等；一些表達前或後的，如 pre-historic (史前的)，post-mortem (事後反思或驗屍) 等；一些表達支持或反對的，如 pro-democracy (支持民主)，anti-apartheid (反對種族隔離) 等。
今天集中介紹 “over” 和 “under”這兩個前綴。請看下列舉例：
If you overeat, you are likely to become obese.
(如果你吃得過多，就很容易變得過胖。)
She was over-anxious to do her job well.
(她過分擔心要把工作做好。)
Parents should not over-compensate their children for their absences from home by giving them too much pocket money.
(父母不應因為無法照顧孩子而矯枉過正給他們太多零用錢。)
The hospitals are seriously under-financed.
(這些醫院都嚴重資金不足。)
Schools in Hong Kong are seriously under- staffed.
(本港學校教職員工嚴重不足。)
Many children in Africa are undernourished.
(很多非洲兒童都營養不良。)
考考您能否於下列句子適當填上 “over” 或 “under”：
Nurses in that hospital complained that they are ___ -worked and ___- paid.
You are only slightly ___weight ; there is no need for slimness programmes.
The ____ground car-parks solved the problem of traffic congestion on the road surfaces. Mr. Lee complained that the shop ____-charged him for the camera by $300.
Hong Kong teachers are ____-loaded with too many non-teaching duties.
The problems of the ____developed countries will always remain intractable.
The universities offer many ____ graduate courses for first year students.
She took an ____dose of sleeping pills and never woke up.
whatsoever.
Key : 1. over/under 2. over 3. under 4. over
5. over 6. under 7. under 8. over
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