關於 every so often用法 ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

#你不知道的美國大小事 #hardnut
Food Idioms 💬 美國生活用語之其他食物：Nut
上班昏昏欲睡嗎？來嗑點健康的堅果吧～

1⃣ sb. is a nut
2⃣ work for peanuts
3⃣ from soup to nuts
4⃣ in a nutshell
5⃣ sb./sth. is a hard nut

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Other than fruit, what else makes a healthy snack? Nuts! While there may not be as many nut-related idioms (unless you include those related to a certain part of the male anatomy, but we won’t go there), there are still enough to tide you over till the next meal.
除了水果，還有什麼健康的零嘴？堅果！雖然與堅果相關的美國用語不是很多（除非你想討論十八禁的用語，但我們可是清新健康的英語學習頻道），不過已經足以讓你撐到晩餐時間囉！

Let’s start with the word nut itself. Aside from being a tasty snack, 1⃣ a nut can be a strange or crazy person: Just ignore that guy—he’s a nut. A nut can also be an enthusiast: Tom is a tennis nut—he plays every day. Or add an “s” and you have an adjective meaning “crazy”: You’d have to be nuts to go skydiving!
我們先來談談nut這個字。它除了很好吃，nut還可以指「瘋子或怪人」，如： Just ignore that guy—he’s a nut.（不要理那個人──他是個瘋子）。nut也可以指「對某事相當狂熱者」，如：Tom is a tennis nut.（湯姆是個網球愛好者。）也就是說他天天打網球。在nut後面加個s就變成形容詞用法，指「瘋狂的」，如：You’d have to be nuts to go skydiving!（你一定是瘋了才去跳傘！）

Technically, peanuts aren’t nuts (they’re actually legumes), which may be why they’re so cheap. So cheap, in fact, 2⃣ that “peanuts” can mean “a very small amount of money”: Students often have to work for peanuts.
嚴格來說，花生雖然有nut幾個字，但並非堅果類（其實是莢豆的一種）。所以其實花生很便宜，因為太便宜了，所以peanuts可以指「非常便宜，花不了幾毛錢」，如：Students often have to work for peanuts.（學生常為了幾斗米折腰。）

At one time, a formal dinner started with soup and ended with port and nuts, so 3⃣ “from soup to nuts” came to mean “leaving nothing out, from beginning to end”: That store sells everything from soup to nuts.
以前的正餐是以湯品開始，以波特酒與堅果為結尾，所以from soup to nuts後來有「任何東西都有；從頭到尾」的意思。如：That store sells everything from soup to nuts.（那間商店的商品包羅萬象。）

If you’re a tree, what’s inside a nutshell—a nut—is both small and important. For this reason, 4⃣ “in a nutshell” has come to mean “in sum, in brief”: It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, I got fired. Another thing about nutshells is that they’re hard, which makes a nut tough to crack. 5⃣ If a person, problem or situation is “a tough/hard nut to crack,” it means they’re difficult to deal with or understand: I’ve known Bob for a year, but he’s a tough nut to crack.
如果你是一棵樹，堅果外殼裡面會有什麼──既小但又很重要的堅果。因此in a nutshell延伸為「簡單來說，一言以蔽之」。如：It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, I got fired.（說來話長。不過一句話，我被炒魷魚了。）另外，堅果殼太硬，常要花很大力氣才撬得開，所以我們如果說某人事物是a tough/hard nut to crack，就是說他們「很難搞，或很難捉摸」。如：I’ve known Bob for a year, but he’s a tough nut to crack.（我認識鮑伯一年了，不過他真的很謎。）

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#EZTalk #你不知道的美國大小事 #badapple
Food idioms Part 1
🇺🇸美國生活用語～水果篇🍎

蘋果有好有壞，你知道bad apple是什麼意思嗎？可不是白雪公主吃了昏去的那顆毒蘋果喔～

Because food plays such an important role in people’s lives, it’s only natural that it would make its way into commonly used idioms. Everybody loves fruit, so let’s start with fruit-related idioms!

Apples are probably the most common fruit in the English-speaking world, so there are plenty of apple-related expressions. One of the oldest, which can be found in Shakespeare, and even the Bible, 🍎is “apple of one’s eye,” which means “sb. very precious or dear.” Ex: Bill’s daughter is the apple of his eye. And because apple pie is the classic American dessert, 🍎 “as American as apple pie” is used to describe things that are typically American. Ex: Blue jeans are as American as apple pie.

But not all apples are good. The expression 🍏 “bad apple” comes from the old saying: “One bad apple spoils the barrel,” which means it only takes one bad person to ruin a group or project. Ex: There’s always a bad apple at every workplace. The apples in the following expression can be either good or bad: 🍏 “The apple never falls far from the tree,” which means that, for better or worse, children often have the same traits as their parents. Ex: Kim is a talented musician just like her father, so I guess the apple never falls far from the tree.

【✍關鍵單字】
1. make one’s way (to/into)：本意為「前進」，也可作為譬喻用法，指「有所進步、進展」，或是「取得成功」。
2. precious：「珍貴的」
3. One bad apple spoils the barrel. spoil指「糟蹋、毀掉」，barrel指「釀酒桶」，整句原意是一顆壞掉的蘋果就會破壞整桶酒的風味，對應到中文就是「一顆老鼠屎，壞了一鍋粥」。

【📕中譯】
食物是生活不可或缺，因此自然會有許多從食物衍生出的用語。而每個人都喜歡吃水果，我們就先來聊聊與水果相關的諺語。

蘋果大概是英語系國家最常見的水果，因此英語中有一大票跟蘋果相關的諺語。其中一個可追溯到莎士比亞時期、甚至在聖經中就出現的古老用法是：apple of one’s eye「眼裡的西施」，指「相當珍貴的人」。例如：Bill’s daughter is the apple of his eye.（女兒是比爾眼中的寶貝。）此外，由於蘋果派是經典的美國點心，所以as American as apple pie「（像蘋果派）具美國特色的」這個片語可以用來敘述任何一想到美國就會想起的事物，如：Blue jeans are as American as apple pie.（牛仔褲是典型美國事物。）

不過，可不是每顆蘋果都是好蘋果呦。bad apple一詞來自於古老俗語One bad apple spoils the barrel.（一顆老鼠屎，壞了一鍋粥。）指團隊中只要有一個害群之馬就會壞事。如：There’s always a bad apple at every workplace.（每個職場中都會有顆老鼠屎。）接著要介紹的這顆蘋果則是可好可壞：the apple never falls far from the tree「掉落的蘋果必離樹不遠；有其父必有其子，或上樑不正下樑歪」，這句話可以用來稱讚或貶低某人，如：Kim is a talented musician just like her father, so I guess the apple never falls far from the tree.（金跟她爸一樣，是個天才音樂家，我想這就是有其父必有其女。）

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🔔 按下「搶先看」，每週五【美國大小事】，由 Judd 編審分享最即時美國新鮮事！想知道更多美國文化，請看 👉 http://bit.ly/EZTalk嚴選

分享一下Yuko Shimizu 3/1 時的分享(有點繞口)
原文大家可以自己看，看不懂可以翻譯一下，大概就是說剛開始使用數位繪圖創作的插畫師們，往往會遇到很多困難，會有挫折感，但其實這也發生在許多成功將自己的繪畫形式轉變成數位化的插畫師們的初期，唯一能解決的方式就是不斷實驗。數位繪畫不是讓你能夠快速繪製完一個作品的捷徑，並無法像魔術一樣變出你想要的成品！頂多是節省等顏料乾的時間和重新繪製時可以少去重新買材料的費用。
在其他方面，一樣也是需要去購買數位筆刷、繪圖板、螢幕等不便宜的數位藝術硬體軟體。
許多使用線條做創作的插畫師們，往往都會被人問到是如何讓線條變色的，我的回答跟Yuko的是一致的！那就是每個人的方式不一樣，只能自己去用腦思考實驗出自己擅用的方式！只有自己實驗出來的東西，你才能繼續延伸它的用法，做出更多不同的效果。
2014年時，我曾經在韓國插畫師Dongyun Lee 的工作室當助手，當時確實很想問他是怎麼讓線條變色的，但是我心裡卻有個心態是...如果不是我自己想出來的，那我就是比他弱一節，而我不想是這樣子！所以我花了兩三個星期實驗出我自己的方法，而這兩個星期我其實遇到很多挫折，但就是不斷的在網路上看photoshop的軟體使用，熟悉功能後，再嘗試著把線做到我想要的樣子。
其實我在創作私庫教的「Photoshop插畫創作」的時候,也會遇到上課的學生問我這些問題，但是我只會教他們如何線稿製作，而線的變色還是需要靠學生自己在日後的練習中以自己的方式做出來。
最後想說，藝術創作數位化，其實不是很多人想像的簡單，跟任何專業一樣，必須不斷地自己做嘗試與實驗！
也希望給對數位創作或是設計不是很了解的朋友們，不要以為我們藝術設計者都有魔法棒能夠隨便變出漂亮精美的圖...我們經歷了好幾個晚上不睡覺、熬過對於自身作品上美感的病態要求與精神折磨，才能將這樣的結晶呈現出來，基本上是用身體和心靈上的健康換來的。

#插畫 #分享 #經驗 #插畫師

This week in my class I teach with @marcoschinart at @svanyc @svailluscart (4th year portfolio class), we had a midterm individual review. One of the students just started coloring digitally, and was having a lot of difficulties. The best advice we could give her was that coloring digitally won't make it faster. It's just less messy (no water, no physical coloring supplies, etc). Which is true. When we, professionals, use digital medium for coloring, people assume we have these magic tricks and buttons to press. We often get questions like 'how do you change the color of the lines?' Like it's something we can answer in one short sentence. But it's not that simple.,Even just to change line color, there are many ways I do, and I pick which and how according to that specific part of the picture. And it often takes multiple trial and errors to do it right. No formula, no simple tricks. The beauty of creating artwork is that there is no one answer to a question, there are just multiple possibilities. And lots and lots of hours and patience. Every time I stumble onto a problem I can't solve with my Photoshop skill, I either ask peers, or just ask the Internet. Every time I learn something new, I get better just a bit. PS: big thank you to my coloring assistant @tatianacordobaart for working overtime last few weeks so much of the base coloring prep is done. Without you, there is no meeting of deadlines. And happy big birthday to you!) PSS: the file size is enormous during coloring process, because of the way I color. But once flattened to ship out to the client, the file size is usually ok-ish.