China's table tennis super league, which started 10 years ago, is in trouble because of money problems and falling public support.
As the league prepares to launch a new season next June, the China Daily said fewer people went to league matches and sponsors were turning their back on the sport.
The article said that sponsors and the public were upset that big name players often could not play for the teams in the league because they were playing for China at the world level.
It said the problem was highlighted by the fact that Ma Lin, the men's world number one player bought a year ago for five million yuan (NT$21 million), was sold this year for just over 20 percent of that sum.
China has been the world's top table tennis nation for decades and hopes to win all the gold medals for ping pong at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
(Jason Cox, staff writer with AFP)
十年前創立的中國乒乓球超級聯賽因為財務問題和民眾支持度下降而前景堪憂。
「中國日報」指出,乒乓球聯賽雖在為即將到來的六月球季預備,但觀看聯盟比賽的民眾卻愈來愈少,而贊助商也不願意為這項運動掏腰包。
文章中提到,贊助商和民眾對於明星選手通常因為代表中國參加世界級的賽事,而無法在聯盟中出賽感到憤怒。
世界排名第一的男子選手馬林身價滑落更突顯了這項問題,他一年前的身價為五百萬人民幣(新台幣兩千一百萬元),今年的身價只有去年的20%。
幾十年來中國一直是世界頂尖的乒乓球王國,期望在二○○八年北京奧運一舉奪下所有金牌。
(翻譯︰鄭湘儀)
Taiwanese cuisine boasts a rich culture of thick soups, with various options available at street vendors or high-end restaurants. In English, this style of dish is typically called “thick soup.” Western cuisine typically uses flour, cream, or mashed vegetables to create a creamy consistency, while in Taiwan, thick soups are made by simply incorporating food starch into the soup and creating a smooth and silky texture. Tutuo fish in thick soup is such a soup with fried tutuo fish chunks, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and wood ears. 台灣羹品飲食文化豐富,無論是巷口小店或是高檔餐廳,都有提供羹料理。羹在英文稱作「濃湯」,西式濃湯是以麵粉、鮮奶油、蔬菜泥等達到濃稠的口感,台灣的羹湯用太白粉即能做出濃稠絲滑的湯頭。土魠魚羹就是在勾芡的羹湯中加入炸土魠魚塊、香菇、竹筍、木耳等食材的料理。 boast (v.) 擁有(令人驕傲的事物) consistency (n.) 濃稠度 chunk (n.) 厚塊,大塊 wood ear (n. ph.) 木耳 The star of this
Huge stretches of coral reef around the world are turning a ghostly white this year amid record warm ocean temperatures. On April 15, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed the world’s fourth mass global bleaching event is underway — with serious consequences for marine life and for the people and economies that rely on reefs. WHAT ARE CORALS? Corals are invertebrates that live in colonies. Their calcium carbonate secretions form hard and protective scaffolding that serves as a home to many colorful species of single-celled algae. The two organisms have evolved over millennia to work together, with corals providing shelter to algae,
A: So who were Hollywood’s highest-paid stars of 2023? B: No. 5 to No. 2 were: Matt Damon with US$43 million, Ryan Gosling with US$43 million, Tom Cruise with US$45 million, and Margot Robbie with US$59 million. A: Didn’t Tom Cruise top the list? B: Nope, Adam Sandler was No.1, having made US$73 million, which is about NT$2.34 billion. A: Wow, maybe I should change my career to acting. A: 好萊塢去年的片酬排行榜前幾名是誰? B: 第5到2名是︰麥特戴蒙、4300萬美元,雷恩葛斯林、4300萬美元,湯姆克魯斯、4500萬美元,瑪格羅比、5900萬美元。 A: 冠軍竟然不是阿湯哥? B: 是亞當山德勒、片酬7300萬美元,大約23.4億台幣! A: 天啊或許我也該轉行當演員啦。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
A symbol of purity and cleanliness, the color white is the standard color for coats worn by doctors. While this has been the case for well over 100 years, it hasn’t always been so. In fact, before the late 19th century, doctors wore formal black attire, which was similar to that worn by clergymen. Black was chosen for practical reasons—it hid stains from medical procedures and presented a sense of seriousness. The major reason for the color change of the doctor’s coat was to distinguish qualified, professional doctors from those with little or no medical training. Since medical science