1. To err is human, to forgive divine.
(Everyone has their faults, only God can forgive.)
To err is human, to forgive supine.
(Everyone has made mistakes, only cowards forgive.)
2. I came, I saw, I conquered.
(I came , I saw, I conquered. )
I came, I saw, I concurred.
(I came, I saw, I was convinced.)
Rome Caesar's heroic words, if the stress of the last word is slightly shifted, the hero becomes discouraged!
3. On the eve of World War II, Mussolini, the Italian dictator, dominated the Mediterranean. Britain, the leader, was helpless. The commentator used an idiom in a humorous tone and said: "Britannia rules the waves, Mussolini waives the rules." (Britannia rules the world, Mussolini is lawless.) Rules (verb "to control" or noun "law") is a dual-use word, while waves (waves) and waives (contempt) have the same pronunciation. . Turning this sentence upside down immediately creates a sharp sarcasm.
4. Tom Paine, the martyr of the American Revolution, has an immortal saying: "These are times that try men's souls." (This is a time when our souls are tested.) After the Korean War, President Syngman Rhee was overthrown, and the politics of the Republic of Korea once fell into chaos. An American reporter stationed in Seoul at that time said sarcastically: “These are times that try Seoul’s men.” (This is a troubled era for people in Seoul.) The pronunciation of Seoul and soul are exactly the same. The positions of the last two words are reversed, which has the same meaning but the same purpose.
Early Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley (1685~1753) was very interested in the education of the North American colonies at that time. He once wrote a poem: "West ward the course of empire takes its way." Also known as Britain. Christopher Marlowe (1564~1593), a dramatist who was earlier than Shakespeare, sung about the disaster of the Trojan War in ancient Greece and the peerless beauty Helen. He wrote in a poem: "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships...?" Both are Western. A famous saying in culture.
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