Great Britain was the first country to use stamps back in 1834. Before that time, people used a system to deliver mail that might seem strange to you.
Before stamps, the person who received a letter had to pay for its delivery. This caused problems because sometimes the person who got the letter didn't want to pay for it, so many letters were not delivered. To solve this problem, Britain created stamps. This made sure that the person who sent the letter had to pay for it.
Most stamps today are made of paper, but some stamps in the past have been made out of strange things. The US once made a stamp out of plastic, and Switzerland made a stamp out of wood. There have even been stamps made out of gold! (Marc Langer, staff writer)
PHOTO : EPA
西元一八三四年,英國是第一個使用郵票的國家,在此之前,人們使用的郵政系統對你來說可能有點古怪。
郵票發明以前,收件者必須支付郵資。這種做法造成一些問題,因為有時收件者不願意付郵資,使得許多信件無法投遞。英國為解決這個問題發明了郵票,確定了由寄件者給付郵資。
今日多數郵票是以紙製成,但過去有些郵票的製作材料卻不太尋常,美國曾以塑膠製作郵票;瑞士曾以木材製作郵票,甚至出現過以黃金打造的郵票。 (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
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)
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
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110