It’s the longest and mightiest of the world’s rivers, flowing through the planet’s largest tropical rain forest. But the colossal Amazon basin is under siege in ways that could alter the face of the planet, making it the scene of one of the most important human adventures imaginable. Join Jean-Michel Cousteau and his team as they rediscover the Amazon of today. Spanning 322km at its entrance, the Amazon is the widest river in the world. Some of its flat channels are perfect for the phenomenon known by local people as the big roar. In wave after wave, the pororoca — a rare instance of water flowing upstream — pours in, up to 257km an hour, in a wall of water that can reach 7m high.
這是世上最長也最大的河流,流經全球面積最廣的熱帶雨林。但廣闊的亞馬遜盆地正遭遇攻擊,這些威脅可能改變地球的面貌,並讓這裡成為最重要的人類冒險場景之一。加入尚米榭•庫斯托和他的組員,重新認識現代亞馬遜。河口寬達三百二十二公里,亞馬遜是世上最寬的河流,部分平坦河道是當地人稱為大呼嘯的河口湧潮壯觀景象,一波波河口湧浪以時速二十五點七公里湧上,形成七公尺高的水牆。
Of the rich biodiversity found here, perhaps no animal is more of an icon of the Amazon than the pink river dolphin, or boto. Its vivid pink color is a display of the male’s maturity, something to show off like antlers of a deer. Largest of the river dolphins, they are protected by law. But it’s the mythology that surrounds them that has been their greatest protection. Dolphins are part of the culture, the folklore of the Amazonian people. They are the focus of many legends and supernatural stories, such as the story of the dolphin that can transform itself into a handsome man or beautiful woman to enchant people.
在當地發現的豐富多樣生物之中,堪稱亞馬遜頭號代表的是粉紅淡水豚,俗稱波托,亮粉紅體色是成年雄豚的象徵,跟公鹿的角一樣做為自我展現。最大的淡水豚受到法律保護,但相關神話才是粉紅淡水豚最大的保護網。淡水豚是亞馬遜部落文化和民間傳說的一部分,有很多相關傳說和神話故事,例如淡水豚會變成俊男或美女來誘惑人類。
Created by the Brazilian government in the late 90s, the Javari Valley indigenous reserve protects more than 77,000km² for indigenous tribes. No outsiders may enter without permits. However, illegal loggers, fishermen and hunters invade this area. And the possibility of federal road construction through the reserve remains an issue. An important topic is how humans are going to manage this ecosystem, and it seems that the natives will have to be heavily involved in this process. Of course, the bad news is the native populations are going under. Between diseases and other impacts from the outside, they’re really in trouble. The violent land grab for cattle, lumber, gold and oil, combined with the effects of diseases like malaria and hepatitis, which remain widely untreated, have devastated indigenous people.
一九九0年代後期由巴西政府設立的伐利多賈瓦利原住民保留區,為原住民保存超過七萬七千平方公里的土地,外人必須申請通行證才能進入,但非法伐木、捕魚和打獵在這裡仍層出不窮。人類要怎麼管理這個生態系統,答案很明顯,不交由原住民管理就不會成功的消息是原住民的處境惡劣,疾病和外界的衝擊讓他們陷入大麻煩,外界奪取土地畜牧、伐木、淘金和開採油礦,加上罹患瘧疾和肝炎等疾病的多數病患
未曾就醫,在在對原
住民造成重創。
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50