Hi, everyone and happy new year. 一年前的今天, 我們在新年特輯里講到了new year resolution新年的決心. In this episode, Lulu is gonna walk you through some very interesting and natural expressions to do with starting and beginning. We're also going to look at some inspiring quotes about new beginnings. Let's get started.

To talk about the word “start”. It's usually about something new, exciting. For example, start up a new company. Nowadays you look around, there's so many startups. 初創公司就被叫做startup. And in English, when you say start a family, it doesn't mean getting married. It actually means having a child. For example, a married couple would say we're planning to start a family next year. That means they are ready to have a baby. But apart from these basics, there are many idioms in English with the word “start”.

The first one is a fresh start, to get off to a fresh start. This means everything's new, everything's exciting. For example, you might say I'm excited to get off to a fresh start with my new job. 新工作, 全新的開始. Same can be said about new relationships, new homes, a new stage in your life or a brand new year. In comparison to a fresh start, we can also have a head start. Getting a head start means to get ahead of schedule or to start before other people. To have a head start. 有搶得先機或者提前做某件事的意思. For instance, the report isn't due until next Friday, but I'm going to get a head start on it by doing some research over the weekend. The report isn't due until next Friday, but I'm going to get a head start on it by doing some research over the weekend. Although getting a head start is a great attitude, it is a huge Challenge for a procrastinator like me. 如果你也和璐璐一樣, 是個procrastinator拖延癥患者, a head start might be a bit of a Challenge to you.

In addition to fresh start and head start, you also hear the expression, jump start or kick start. Sounds very vibrant, doesn't it？You have jump and kick. Actually to jump start originally means to jump start a car that is connecting the car to another car's battery using cables in order to restart it. 其實jump star的原意是指一輛汽車上電池沒電了, 發動不了, 就可以用兩根電纜線把沒有電的電池和另一輛車上的好電池相連, 幫助這輛車啟動. 這個就叫做 jump start. You might have seen it in TV shows and movies a lot. In day to day speech when you say jump start something or kick start something. It means to put things in motion, especially if they were previously stopped or slow. For example, this seasonal promotion might help jump start sales again. 這一季的推廣活動應該可以刺激銷售額重新增長. This seasonal promotion might help jump start sales again.

As for kick start. An example would be we need to find ways to kick start this project, 要想辦法啟動這個項目. Actually, I once mentioned in the buzzword segment, there is a website called kick starter, which is a crowd funding website that helps fund creative projects. 之前我在buzzword里面也提到過, 其實有一家很有名的支持創意項目的眾籌網站, 就叫做 kick starter.

So far we have talked about fresh start, head start, kick start, jump start. And perhaps a more common expression you would hear in day to day speech is to start over. If you start over, it means you begin again. Usually because the past wasn't so great, you experienced some difficulty, some challenges, mistakes or even failures. You might say she is planning to start over after her divorce and move on with her life. 離婚之后她計劃重新開始自己的人生.

Actually nowadays it is getting rather common for people to start over later in their life. And that I find to be really inspirational. I guess it's never too late to start over. As long as you have enough determination. Sometimes people would also say they want to start over with a clean slate, a clean slate. It's like a blank board. Basically, everything has been erased. Clean slate 白板一塊, 其實就是零過去, 重新開始. To start over with a clean slate. Actually, a new year often gives people the opportunity to start over with a clean slate, to forget your regrets and just start a new. Another expression with start is to start from scratch. Starting from scratch means to start from basics, to start from zero. 從0開始, for instance, someone might start from scratch and become very successful. 白手起家也可以叫做start from scratch. Or in more daily scenarios, I might say I prefer starting my cooking from scratch instead of using packets from the supermarket.

我做菜的時候就喜歡 starting from scratch. 從頭開始, 自己動手. 只用最原始的食材, 不會去買超市里現成的料包或者半成品. To me personally, then when I finish the cooking, I feel more a sense of achievement. After all, these expressions about starting, let's look at one more expression with the word “begin”. This is highly relevant. This is begin to see daylight. After a lot of challenges, difficulties along dark time. If we start to see the end of it, the hope, we can say we begin to see daylight. I know a lot of us have gone through a very difficult year, mostly due to the pandemic.

So now, with the news about the vaccines, we begin to see daylight after a whole year affected by the pandemic. 經歷了一年的疫情, 關于疫苗的新聞讓我們看到了希望的曙光. With the news about the vaccines, we begin to see daylight after a whole year affected by the pandemic. Those were some of the expressions that you can readily use when you want to talk about new start, new beginning. If you go online, you can find so many quotes about a fresh start. Here are a few of my favorites that I would like to share with you. The first one is hit the reset button, whatever happened yesterday, forget about it. Get a new perspective. Today is a new day. Fresh start begins now. Hit the reset button, 按下重啟鍵, whatever happened yesterday. Forget about it. Get a new perspective. Today is a new day. Fresh start begins now. Very simple words, but seems to be fitting for the New Year's Day.

Now I know a lot of people including me procrastinate. We put off a new start. Very often, our excuse is that we will wait for the conditions to be right. 我相信很多時候, 包括我自己在內的不少人都會覺得說, 我們要等到時機成熟, 然后才能重新開始.

The second quote says, do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect. And quote number three, a famous writer George Elliot said it is never too late to be what you might have been. It is never too late to be what you might have been. Essentially, she is saying don't just stay where you are and regret about all these missed opportunities.

Start now. It's never too late. Quote number four is from the very famous Martin Luther King. He said, take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step, 下定決心走出第一步吧. 即使你不能完全看清前路, 但是走出第一步就是勝利. Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step. The last one, also one of my favorites from Albert Einstein, an especially inspiring quote in this day and age with all the information, opinions, negativity around us. Einstein said out of clutter, find simplicity; from discord, find harmony; in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity在喧雜中尋找單純, 紛爭中覓得和諧. 艱難中抓住機遇. Out of clutter, find simplicity; from discord, find harmony; in the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.

So to wrap up this 2021 new year special about new beginnings, instead of sharing all of your new year resolution, what is that one thing that you finally decide to start this year？在今天的留言區和我們分享你新年決定做的全新嘗試, 相信你也會成為別人的 inspiration. Happy new year again to all of you. I'll see you next time.