【明報專訊】Christmas is coming! Pat has received a lot of presents with beautiful wrappings from Santa Claus, but she is making a mess of the place. Wait! Who's in the Santa costume?

Eason: Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!

Pat: Presents for me? Thank you Santa!

Pat: What is this?

Pat: Ouch!

Bill: Watch out! See how you've injured yourself!

Bill: Santa has misspelled "Christmas". Oh! You are Eason!

■English highway﹕-words and collocations

mis-

"mis-" is a prefix that is added to the beginning of a word. The prefix means "badly" or "wrongly" or has a negative force.

e.g. It is our misfortune that our car has broken down halfway to our hotel.

e.g. Sally is sad because she has been mistreated in school.

■Quiz

In the following sentences, one of the words can be added with "mis-" at the front. Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the word.

(answers on next text)

1. Peter pronounced the word incorrectly.

Peter ______________ the word.

2. You placed the books in the wrong place.

You ______________ the books.

3. Ken and Betty understood each other's views wrongly.

Ken and Kitty _____________ each other's views.

■Glossary

wrapping (n) 包裝材料

mess (n) 髒亂

injure (v) 使受傷

misspell (v) 拼寫錯