Most people think that the Wright brothers were the first people to fly when they built the first airplane in 1903. However, people in France were flying more than 100 years before that.
Instead of flying in an airplane, two French brothers made a giant balloon out of paper, which they first flew in 1783. When flying the balloon, people sat on a flat piece of wood hanging underneath the balloon and made a fire. The fire heated the air inside the balloon, which made it rise. However, the balloon didn't fly for very long because the paper started to catch on fire.
When the balloon landed nine kilometers away, the people there had never seen a flying balloon before. They got scared and tried to destroy it, but luckily the pilots stopped them. (Marc Langer, staff writer)
PHOTO : AP
多數人認為在一九○三年打造了第一架飛機的懷特兄弟是最早飛上青天的人,其實法國人翱翔天際的時間要比懷特兄弟早一百年。
這對法國兄弟不是以飛機飛行,而是以紙製成一個巨大氣球,在一七八三年首航。飛行時,人坐在垂掛於氣球下方的木板上,以火加熱氣球內的空氣,使之上升,不過氣球沒有飛得太遠,因為紙著火了。
氣球降落在九公里外的地方,那裡的人從沒看過會飛的氣球,所以心生恐懼,想摧毀氣球,幸好被兩位飛行員阻止了。 (翻譯:鄭湘儀)
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
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into
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)