In a gloomy era of declining newspaper readership, The Philadelphia Inquirer went hog wild over an uptick in its circulation.
"PIGS FLY!" screamed the banner headline in a mock four-page newspaper (named the Impossible News) tucked inside the Inquirer and its sister paper, the Philadelphia Daily News, on May 4.
"They said this day would never come," the lead article started. "They were wrong."
PHOTO: AP
A photo illustration on Page 1 of the mock paper showed winged pigs flying over the top of the building housing the Inquirer and Daily News. A giant flying pig was also projected overnight onto the building's facade — to the accompaniment of loud grunting sounds.
After three years of heavy circulation declines, the Inquirer reported this week that average weekday paid circulation rose 0.6 percent, or 2,136 copies, to 352,593 for the six-month period ending March, compared with the same period a year ago.
Overall, weekday circulation at US daily newspapers fell 2.1 percent during the same reporting period. The two papers with the highest circulation in the country, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal, saw circulation rise 0.2 and 0.6 percent respectively.
The Inquirer and Daily News were sold last year to a group of private investors led by Brian P. Tierney, a former advertising and public relations executive who is now the papers' publisher. He has been aggressively marketing the newspapers, and attributed the reversal of fortune to "doing all the commonsense things that hadn't been done before."
Other headlines in the special section: "Hell Freezes Over," "Half-empty Glass Rises to Half-full" and "They Said it Couldn't Be Done! Good News Unravels Wet Blankets." (AP)
在閱報率逐漸衰退的陰鬱年代,《費城詢問報》對其發行量上揚感到興奮不已。
五月四日當天,《費城詢問報》與其姊妹報《費城每日新聞》都夾著頭版橫幅標題為「飛天豬!」的四頁《寰宇蒐奇新聞》假報紙。
「人們說不會有這麼一天,」頭條新聞開頭為︰「他們錯了。」
這份假報紙的頭版照片是好幾隻長翅膀的豬,飛翔在《費城詢問報》與《費城每日新聞》的報社大樓上空。報社建築的正面在夜間還有一隻巨大的飛天豬投影圖—搭配著震耳的豬叫聲。
《費城詢問報》的發行量嚴重下滑了三年,本週傳出佳音,以迄三月為止的前六個月來看,其平日發行量較去年同期成長0.6%,增加兩千一百三十六份,衝到三十五萬兩千五百九十三份。
同一時期,美國所有日報的平日發行量平均下跌了2.1%。全美發行量最高的《今日美國報》與《華爾街日報》發行量則分別成長了0.2%與0.6%。
《費城詢問報》與《費城每日新聞》去年被前廣告公關老闆布萊恩.提爾尼所領導的私人投資集團買下,提爾尼為現任發行人。他積極行銷這兩份報紙,將否極泰來歸功於「做了以前沒做過的常識之道」。
特別號的其他文章標題還包括︰「地獄凍結」、「半瓶水變半滿」與「人們曾唱衰!佳音一掃衰氣」。
(美聯社/翻譯︰賴美君)
SAY WHAT? 說說看
go hog wild 興奮不已
If someone goes hog wild, then he or she is wildly excited. The phrase was probably coined in America around 1900 and is a metaphor for an excited pig. "After I showed the kids their new water guns, they went hog wild and started to have a water fight."
Other idioms with hog include hogwash, which means nonsense, and to go whole hog which means "to do something thoroughly." For example: "Dan decided to go whole hog for his barbecue, preparing 10 different kinds of meat."
假如有人「goes hog wild」,那個人就是興奮不已。這個片語可能起源於一九○○年代的美國,隱喻興奮的豬。例如︰「我給孩子們看他們的新水槍,他們開心極了,開始打水仗」。
其他與豬(hog)相關的俚語還有意指廢話的「hogwash」,與表示「徹底實行」的「go whole hog」。例如︰「丹決定貫徹烤肉的計畫,準備了十種肉類」。
OUT LOUD 對話練習
Linsey: I subscribed to the Taipei Times yesterday.
Hilary: Oh? Not so many young people subscribe to newspapers anymore.
Linsey: Well, besides reading the news, I like the comics, crossword puzzle and information on movie times.
Hilary: I hadn't thought of that. Newspapers really do have a lot of useful information.
Linsey: More information than you can shake a stick at!
琳西:我昨天訂了《英文台北時報》。
希拉蕊︰喔?現在年輕人都不太訂報紙了。
琳西:嗯,除了閱讀新聞之外,我也喜歡漫畫、填字遊戲與電影放映資訊。
希拉蕊︰我沒想過那些。報紙真的提供了許多有用資訊。
琳西:資訊多得數不清!
shake a stick at 多得數不清
If there is more of something than you can shake a stick at, then there is a lot of it. "Michael had more cats than you could shake a stick at. I couldn't even count them all!"
假如有很多東西是你可以「shake a stick at」的,就是數目眾多。例如︰「麥可養的貓多得數不清。我數都數不完!」
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