A closer look 說古論今
Taiwan is surrounded by water, but San Marino is surrounded by another country. It is a small independent nation located in the northern half of Italy, and one of the smallest countries in the world. It is so small that the population of Neihu district in Taipei alone is about 10 times greater than San Marino's!
San Marino may be small, but it has a lot of culture and history. It claims to have become independent in 301, which would make it the oldest republic in the world. It shares many of the same cultural traits as Italy, including love of wine, cheese and soccer. However, San Marino's national soccer team hasn't enjoyed the same success that the Italian team has. In its international soccer competition history, it has won just one in over 70 matches. Car racing is another popular sport, but the country is too small to hold its own race. Instead, the San Marino Grand Prix is held 100km north in Italy.
Even though San Marino has a lot of cultural ties with Italy, which is a much bigger and more powerful country, it still proudly defends its independence. The people of San Marino elect their own leaders and make their own laws independent of Italy. In 1862 the two countries signed a friendship treaty asserting San Marino's independence, and it is still in use today.
台灣四面環海,但聖馬利諾共和國卻座落在另一個國家境內。聖馬利諾是一個面積不大的獨立國,位於義大利北半部,是全世界幅員最小的國家之一。聖馬利諾如此迷你,光是台北市內湖區的人口就比聖馬利諾要多十倍!
聖馬利諾也許狹小,但卻擁有豐富的歷史與文化。聖馬利諾聲稱早在西元三○一年就已獨立,讓這個國家成為全世界最古老的共和國。聖馬利諾與義大利有許多相同的文化特徵,包括熱愛飲酒、起司與足球。然而,聖馬利諾國家足球隊卻未與義大利隊享有同樣的成功。歷史上聖馬利諾參加過七十多場國際足球賽,只有贏過一次。賽車是聖馬利諾另一項廣受歡迎的運動,但由於這個國家實在太小了,所以無法自己舉辦賽車賽。相反的,聖馬利諾一級方程式賽車賽實際上是在一百公里外的義大利北部舉行的。
雖然聖馬利諾與義大利在文化上有許多連結,義大利卻強大許多,不過聖馬利諾仍驕傲地捍衛自己的獨立地位。聖馬利諾人民可以選舉自己國家的領導人,也不依靠義大利來創造自己的法令。一八六二年時,這兩國簽署友好條款,維護聖馬利諾的獨立狀態,這個條款迄今適用。
PHOTO:AP
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The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
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