The creators of Disney World's newest attraction traveled through the Himalayas for weeks at a time, gathering local stories, studying the plants and wildlife and buying ornamental touches for their village from the Kathmandu Valley.
After five trips to China and Nepal, their world started to come alive in the form of Serka Zong, a mythical Nepalese mountain village in the heart of Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom theme park in Florida.
Serka Zong is part of the Animal Kingdom's newest attraction, Expedition Everest, which officially opens tomorrow, according to Joe Rohde, the creative executive for Walt Disney Imagineering who helped bring the village to life.
PHOTO: AFP
Visitors walk through Serka Zong, with its real museum and make-believe Internet cafe and supply store, on their way to a roller coaster ride through the mountain and an encounter with a creature known as the Yeti, the mountain's legendary protector.
The attraction is much like a village in Nepal, green and beautiful, with buildings decorated with the same wood carvings one would see in the Himalayas. Nearly 2,000 pieces of wood used in the buildings were made by Newari woodcarvers in the Kathmandu Valley. And some 8,000 items -- including furniture and wall decorations -- were bought in the Himalayas.
In addition to gathering information to create Expedition Everest, Disney also paid for a real-life trip for scientists from Conservation International (CI), a US-based nonprofit group commited to protecting biodiversity.
The CI team traveled to China and Nepal to study native plants, insects and animals and to help locals develop ways to better protect their environment. (AFP)
迪士尼世界最新熱門景點的創作家花了數週時間一次遊遍喜馬拉雅山,收集當地故事,研究植物與野生動物,並從加德滿都谷地為他們的遊樂村添購當地風味的裝飾品。
五度考察中國與尼泊爾後,迪士尼世界開始活了起來,化身為尼泊爾神話中的山地村落「瑟卡宗」,就位於佛羅里達州迪士尼世界動物王國主題樂園的心臟地帶。
協助讓這座村落真實重現的華特迪士尼幻想工程創意總監喬伊.洛德表示,瑟卡宗是動物王國最新熱門景點「探索埃佛勒斯峰」的一部分,將於明天正式開幕。
遊客可以步行暢遊設有真實博物館、虛擬網咖與補給商店的瑟卡宗,沿途搭乘翻山越嶺的雲霄飛車,並與傳說中守護喜馬拉雅山的雪人相見歡。
這個景點像極了蒼翠絕美的尼泊爾村落,各式建築裝飾著與喜馬拉雅山裡同樣的木雕作品。將近有兩千件建築物所採用的木製品是由加德滿都谷地的尼瓦爾族木雕師打造的,也約有八千件家具與牆面飾品等成品是由喜馬拉雅山空運過來的。
除了蒐集資訊來打造「探索埃佛勒斯峰」之外,迪士尼也雇請國際保育組織的科學家展開一段真實旅程。這個美國的非營利組織致力於保護生物多樣性。
國際保育組織小組曾到中國與尼泊爾研究當地原生的動植物與昆蟲,並協助當地民眾發展更能保護環境的方法。
(法新社/翻譯:賴美君)
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
A: What’s even more horrible is that the five suspects who purposely supplied ketamine to actor Matthew Perry were all his “friends.” B: Who exactly are the five suspects? A: They include Matthew’s two doctors, a broker, a drug dealer, and even his live-in assistant. B: Those scumbags should go to jail. A: Yeah, one of the doctors may be sentenced to up to 120 years in prison. A: 更可怕的是,提供男星馬修派瑞「K他命」的5人全是他的「朋友」。 B: 嫌犯是誰啊? A: 其中包括他的2位醫生、1位仲介、1位毒販、甚至他的同居助理! B: 那些人渣真該去坐牢。 A: 對啊,其中1位醫生可能面臨120年徒刑。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Continued from yesterday(延續自昨日) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Finally, cultural influence also plays a role in which hand people prefer. Historically, items that require physical manipulation have been designed for right-handed use. For example, tools like scissors and musical instruments are often constructed with right-handers in mind, making it difficult for left-handers to use them. __4__ While these factors offer some explanation, they remain speculative. The precise reasons for the global prevalence of right-handed people continue to be debated. Nevertheless, left-handedness will remain a phenomenon of great curiosity among scientists and researchers for many years to come. 最後,文化影響也在人們偏好哪一隻手上扮演一角。歷史上,需要用到肢體操作的物品都被設計來供右手使用。舉例來說,像是剪刀、樂器等工具常常就是考慮到右撇子而打造的,造成左撇子難以使用這些工具。因此,許多天生就是左撇子的人可能就必須透過學習使用右手來適應。 雖然這些因素都提供了一些解釋,但它們仍是推測而已。全球右撇子如此普及,確切的原因仍持續被爭論著。不過,在未來的許多年裡,左撇子依然會是科學家和研究人員相當好奇的一個現象。 What Did You Learn? (A) Specifically, different areas of