The tiny South Pacific Ocean country Vanuatu, population 200,000, is the happiest country on earth, according to a study measuring people's wellbeing and their impact on the environment.
This is according to the Happy Planet Index, put together by the British think-tank New Economics Foundation (NEF). The study looks at life satisfaction, how long the people of the country are expected to live and their environmental footprint -- the amount of land needed to sustain the population and handle its energy use.
Other island nations like Vanuatu also did very well.
PHOTO: AP
The so-called “Group of Eight,” the world's eight largest industrial powers, were mostly ranked in the bottom half. Of them, Italy did best in 66th place, ahead of Germany (81), Japan (95), Britain (108), Canada (111), France (129), the United States (150) and Russia, in lowly 172nd place.
Andrew Simms, NEF's policy director, said the index compared the “success or failure of countries in giving their citizens a good life while respecting the environmental resource limits on which all our lives depend.”
Nic Marks, the head of NEF's center for wellbeing, pointed out that the index shows “patterns that show how we might better achieve long and happy lives for all, whilst living within our environmental means.”
“The challenge is, can we learn the lessons and apply them?”
“Don't tell too many people, please,” said Marke Lowen of Vanuatu Online, the republic's online newspaper.
“People are generally happy here because they are very satisfied with very little,” he said.
“This is not a consumer-driven society. Life here is about community and family and goodwill to other people. It's a place where you don't worry too much.”(AFP)
根據一份衡量人民幸福與對環境影響的研究,南太平洋的蕞爾島國萬那杜是全球最快樂的國家。
這項結果是根據英國智庫「新經濟基金會」評比的「快樂地球指數」而來。這項研究針對生活滿意度、理想壽命及人們在環境遺留的足跡(需要多少土地來供應人口、解決能源問題)來進行評估。
其他與萬那杜一樣的島國排名也不錯。
被稱為「G8」的世界八大工業國大多都排名在後半部,義大利以第六十六名掛帥,領先德國(八十一名)、日本(九十五名)、英國(一百零八名)、加拿大(一百一十一名)、法國(一百二十九名)、美國(一百五十名),俄羅斯則遠落至一百七十二名。
新經濟基金會的政策主任安德魯.西姆斯表示,這項指數比較出「在尊重人類生命所仰賴的環境資源限度時,各國給予人民美好生活之成敗與否」。
新經濟基金會的福祉中心主任尼克.馬克斯指出,這個指數顯示「一些模式,看我們珍惜環境資源的同時,如何更能達成長壽且快樂的生活」。
「挑戰在於︰我們能否學到教訓,並加以應用?」
萬那杜網路報Vanuatu Online 的麥爾科.羅威說︰「請不要告訴太多人。」
他說︰「這裡的民眾普遍都很快樂,因為他們相當知足常樂。」
「這裡不是消費者導向的社會。這裡的生活是關於社區、家庭及對他人的善意。這是你不會擔憂太多的地方。」 (法新社/翻譯︰賴美君)
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)
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
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