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Lydia Lui
The Bible is a good resource for learning English not only because it is a world's classic, beautifully-written, but also many versions are free and available on the Internet now. Some websites also provide reading-aloud audio clips(朗讀聲帶)alongside the text, which make them good companions(n.伴侶)to English learners. Recently, I have found the "Easy English" version(I call it EEV here)which targets English learners and therefore is written in limited vocabulary and grammatical forms.
Here I take my favourite chapter Psalm 139 as an example to compare this version(i.e. EEV)to the popular New International Version(NIV).
The following contents are from Psalm 139:1-6, NIV:
1. O Lord(上主), you have searched me and known me!
2. You know when I sit down and when I rise up(站起來); you discern(v.覺察)my thoughts from afar(adv.遠處).
3. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted(adj.熟悉)with all my ways.
4. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold(v.看見), O Lord, you know it altogether.
5. You hem me in(v.phr.包圍), behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
The Followings are from Psalm 139:1-6, EEV:
1. *LORD, when you look at me you know all about me.
2. You know when I sit down. And you know when I get up. You understand what I am thinking about(even when you are)far away.
3. You see when I go(somewhere). And you see when I stay(at home). You remember everything that I do!
4. For example, before I say a word, *LORD, you know all about it.
5. You are all round me, in front(of me)and behind(me). You have put your *hand upon me.
6. What you know(about me)is *wonderful. I cannot understand it. It is so high that I cannot climb up to it.
Firstly, the only tense used is simple present, so the tense in verse(n.章節)1 of NIV is changed while keeping basically the same meaning. Secondly, the sentence length is reduced, for example, verse 2 is reduced from 31 words in NIV to two 13-word sentences in EEV. Thirdly, through the six verses, the vocabulary in EEV is so limited that I do not need to provide any help for readers to understand while in NIV, there is much to explain.
Sometimes, it's not the difficult words but the set of easy words that puts us off(使我們失去興趣)because we don't understand them when they are put together. The EEV is accompanied by short notes to understand the already simple text. For example, in verse 3, we may know the words "path" and "lying down" but we still don't understand the meaning of the sentence. With EEV, it's simple to understand "go somewhere" and "stay at home". In verse 6, it's hard to understand why some knowledge is "high". The EEV shows us the picture with the words "climb up" and elaborate this imagery(n.意象)in the note saying "too understand this is like climbing a very high mountain. It is too high to get to the top!"
For English learners, instead of skipping important texts like the Bible, why don't we start appreciating it early with a simpler version? Check out the rest on your own! Click on http://www.easyenglish.info/ now! ■lydialuieng@gmail.com
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