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＊ Go carolingà報佳音

A more popular activity in decades past, Christmas caroling is a wonderful way to share the spirit of the holiday season. Caroling may require planning, but your efforts will provide joy to participants and listeners alike. Go caroling to make the holidays extra special.

Instructions

1.      Gather a group interested in caroling. Consider friends and family, Boy Scout Troops, church groups and other groups of volunteers. A sizeable group is always nice, but caroling can even be done solo.

2.      Plan a date. The activity usually takes place in the evening in close proximity to the holidays. Note that Go Caroling Day is December 20, if you'd like to share in this national celebration of holiday singing.

3.      Determine where you would like to go caroling. Walking a neighborhood and making leisurely stops in front of houses is always an option. Some groups prefer to go caroling at a specific location, such as a nursing home, orphanage, an office or a home for people with special needs. If you want to carol inside a facility, call the administration in advance to arrange a time.

4.      Prepare music. Find 10 to 20 songs you'd like to perform while caroling, and make copies of the lyrics for each member of the group. Set aside at least one or two days for rehearsal. Concentrate on harmony.

5.      Meet at a designated location on your caroling day and carpool to your destination. Wear lots of layers and bundle up with coats, mittens, hats and scarves if you'll be walking around outside.

6.      Enjoy your time as a group, sharing the holiday spirit by caroling to others. Encourage those you're entertaining to join in with you while singing.

7.      Invite the group to gather after caroling to enjoy a special holiday treat, such as cookies and hot chocolate.

＊ Christmas Song à It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Andy Williams

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is a popular Christmas song written in 1963 by Edward Pola and George Wyle. It was recorded and released that year by pop singer Andy Williams for his first Christmas album, The Andy Williams Christmas Album. However, the song was not released as a promotional single by Williams' record label (Columbia Records) that year, as they instead opted to promote his cover of "White Christmas" as the official promo single from the album.

Lyrics:

There'll be parties for hosting 
Marshmellows(棉花糖) for toasting
And caroling out in the snow 
There'll be scary ghost stories 
And tales of the glories of 
Christmases long, long ago

 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFtb3EtjEic

＊ Iamb pentameter

Iambic pentameter (from Greek: ἰαμβικός πεντάμετρος, iambikos pentametros, meaning to have five iambs) is a commonly used metrical line in traditional verse and verse drama. The term describes the particular rhythm that the words establish in that line. That rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables; these small groups of syllables are called "feet". The word "iambic" describes the type of foot that is used (in English, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable). The word "pentameter" indicates that a line has five of these "feet."

These terms originally applied to the quantitative meter of classical poetry. They were adopted to describe the equivalent meters in English accentual-syllabic verse. Different languages express rhythm in different ways. In Ancient Greek and Latin, the rhythm is created through the alternation of short and long syllables. In English, the rhythm is created through the use of stress, alternating between unstressed and stressed syllables.

Simple example

An iambic foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The rhythm can be written as:

da DUM

The da-DUM of a human heartbeat is the most common example of this rhythm.

A standard line of iambic pentameter is five iambic feet in a row:

da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM

The tick-TOCK rhythm of iambic pentameter can be heard in the opening line of Shakespeare's Sonnet 12:

When I do count the clock that tells the time

It is possible to notate this with a "/" marking ictic syllables (experienced as beats) and a "×" marking nonictic syllables (experienced as offbeats). In this notation a standard line of iambic pentameter would look like this:

×   /   ×   /   ×   /   ×   /   ×   /

The following line from John Keats' To Autumn is a straightforward example:

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

The scansion of this can be notated as follows:

 ×   /     ×  /     ×     /     ×  / ×    /

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

＊ Sonnet à前8句，後6句

examples:

＊ Dark complexion à暗沉

＊ I forgot my lines. à我忘詞了。

＊ British National Anthem, God Save the Queen

"God Save the Queen" (alternatively "God Save the King" during the reign of a male sovereign) is an anthem used in a number ofCommonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The words and title are adapted to the gender of the currentmonarch, i.e. replacing "Queen" with "King", "she" with "he", and so forth, when a king reigns. The author of the tune is unknown, and it may originate in plainchant, but a 1619 attribution to John Bull is sometimes made.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN9EC3Gy6Nk

＊ National Anthem of the United States, The Star-Spangled Banner (星條旗)

"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navyships in Chesapeake Bay during the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812.

        1814年9月，英國軍隊侵佔首都華盛頓，放火燒燬國會大廈、總統宅第、財政部大樓和其他政府大樓。英軍從華盛頓撤退時，俘虜了一位年長的內科醫生威廉‧比尼斯。比尼斯醫生是馬里蘭州律師弗朗西斯‧斯科特‧克伊的私人朋友。

克伊(1779─1843)被派去協助與英國海軍交涉釋放他的朋友。克伊和負責戰俘交換的政府官員約翰‧S‧斯金納一起坐掛著休戰旗的船到英國艦隊去提出他們的要求。1814年9月7日，他們的要求獲准。但是，恰巧這時英軍正準備進攻巴爾的摩，他們不肯放走這些來訪的美國人。克伊和斯金納只好跟著英國艦隊航行，無可奈何地看著英軍在9月13─14日晚，先是侵佔巴爾的摩附近，接著又炮擊麥克亨利堡，透過硝煙和薄霧，他們依稀看到堡壘上頭飄揚著一面巨大的美國國旗。當炮擊結束，黎明到來時，他們焦慮地探望前方，看看麥克亨利堡上飄的是哪一方的旗幟。使他們感到欣慰的是那兒飄的還是星條旗。在他們等待釋放時，克伊就開始起草一首詩。9月16日晚，克伊在巴爾的摩一家旅館裏把這首詩創作出來，詩中重現了戰鬥的經過。

第二天，這首詩在巴爾的摩印成傳單，題名為《保衛麥克亨利堡》。一個月後，這首詩又被重新題名為《星條旗》，並配上《致天上的酒神》的曲調，這支曲克伊非常熟悉，(歷史學家認為，他在寫這首詩時，可能就想到了這支曲。)1814年10月19日，這支歌在巴爾的摩劇院演唱。

在好多年的時間裏，這支歌曾是許多流行的愛國歌曲之一，而且與《嗨！哥倫比亞》及《亞美利加》競爭作為國歌。在美國內戰中，這支歌受到聯邦軍的青睞，並在那以後的幾十年裏變得越來越流行。1895年，陸軍規定在降旗時必須奏《星條旗》。1904年，海軍部長下令早晚對軍艦旗敬禮時都得奏《星條旗》。儘管一直有人批評這支歌(有些人認為曲調太難唱，或者歌詞太晦澀，或者認為這文歌太尚武)，但是，國會還是在1931年採納《星條旗》作為國歌。

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i426pbQJZ_g

＊ Walter Whitman àThe father of free verse

Walter Whitman, was born on the 31st of May, 1819 in Long Island, New York, US. He was an essayist, poet and journalist, as well as a volunteer nurse in the course of the American Civil War (1861–65). Walt Whitman participated in the shift from transcendentalism towards realism, and both views are present in his works. Walt Whitman, being one of the most influential American poets, is often refered to as "the father of the free verse".