Meet Kathleen the mouse and Mark the elephant. Kathleen is very brave and likes adventure, but Mark is very shy and scared of many things. But friends stay together, so Mark follows Kathleen wherever she goes. Sometimes they get into some very sticky situations.
見見老鼠凱薩琳和大象馬克。凱薩琳非常勇敢又喜歡冒險,但馬克的個性十分害羞,對許多事情都感到害怕。不過,朋友都喜歡黏在一塊兒,所以凱薩琳走到哪兒,馬克就會跟到哪兒。有時候,他們也會碰上非常棘手的情況...
Finding an apartment 找公寓
"I'd like to move," Mark said to Kathleen one day when they were watching TV. "I think I need a bigger place with a new atmosphere."
"That sounds reasonable," Kathleen replied. "Where do you want to move to?"
"Well, I want a bigger apartment. I feel cramped in here. And I'd like to be next to a night market. Can you help me find a place?"
"No problem! I'll start tomorrow," Kathleen said.
A week later, Kathleen and Mark were going to see a new apartment. They rang the doorbell downstairs.
"Come in, come in!" the raspy voice called through the intercom as the door opened. A dark staircase loomed in front of them.
Mark and Kathleen went up to the second floor. The apartment door creaked open, revealing the landlord in the shadows. "Welcome!" he said.
Mark was feeling nervous. "Relax," Kathleen whispered to Mark. Then, turning to the landlord, she said, "May we come in? Can you turn on another light?"
"Of course." The landlord flipped a lightswitch and the room got bright. Only then did Mark and Kathleen see that the "landlord" was a hungry-looking crocodile. And there were five other crocodiles with forks standing near the oven ...
「我想要搬家,」有一天馬克和凱薩琳在看電視時,馬克對凱薩琳說,「我想要一個空間更大、有嶄新氣象的地方。」
「聽起來挺合理的,」凱薩琳回答,「你想搬去哪裡?」
「這,我想要一間更大的公寓,我覺得這裡很擠,而且我想住在夜市附近,你可以幫我找房子嗎?」
「沒問題!我明天就開始找。」凱薩琳說。
一個星期後,凱薩琳和馬克去看一間新公寓,他們在樓下按門鈴。
「請進,請進!」對講機傳來刺耳的聲音,此時門被打開,眼前出現一條黑漆漆的樓梯。
馬克跟凱薩琳走上二樓,公寓的門喀啦一聲開啟,陰暗中隱約可見房東身影,「歡迎!」房東說。
馬克覺得緊張。「放輕鬆,」凱薩琳對馬克悄悄地說,然後轉頭對房東說,「我們可以進來嗎?你可以開另一盞燈嗎?」
「當然。」房東按了一個開關,房間就亮了起來,馬克和凱薩琳這時才看見房東是一隻看起來飢腸轆轆的鱷魚,而且烤箱旁邊還站著五隻手裡拿著叉子的鱷魚… (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