Ladybugs, 720,000 of them, have been released in the middle of New York City. They will help protect one of the city's biggest apartment complexes from pests.
Over the next few weeks, the ladybugs will crawl into plants in the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex. They'll search for insects whose smell attracts them - including many pests.
The bugs were purchased at US$16.50 (NT$537) for 2,000. Because of the bugs, the complex's owner can avoid using chemical pesticides.
PHOTO:AP
"In most cases, we reach for a can of pesticide, and we kill not only the 'bad guys,' but the 'good guys,'" said Eric Vinje, owner of the company that supplied the ladybugs. "All we're doing here is putting more of the 'good guys' [in] to tip the scale."
Vinje said a ladybug can eat up to 50 pests a day, plus insect eggs.
(Staff Writer, with AP)
有七十二萬隻的瓢蟲被釋放在紐約市中央,牠們將協助紐約市內一幢最大的複合式公寓免於害蟲侵擾。
在接下來的幾週內,這些小瓢蟲將慢慢進駐「史黛威森鎮與彼得酷派村」複合式住宅區中。牠們會在植物上爬行,並循著氣味尋找小昆蟲,其中包括了許多害蟲。
這些小瓢蟲兩千隻要價十六塊半美元(新台幣五百三十七元),牠們可以讓住宅區的居民不必使用化學殺蟲劑就能除蟲。
「大部份的情況下,我們隨手就拿殺蟲劑來噴。這樣一來,我們不只除掉『害蟲』,也把一些『益蟲』給殺了,」提供瓢蟲的公司的負責人艾瑞克.芬傑說:「我們的做法就是放更多『好蟲』進去,讓牠們在裡面發揮作用。」
芬傑說,一隻瓢蟲一天就可以吃掉五十隻害蟲,其中也包括了蟲卵。
(美聯社∕翻譯:袁星塵)
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,
In Taiwan, a quick stop at a local convenience store allows you to grab a hot dog whenever you want. But have you ever wondered how this popular snack got its unique name and became a leading light of American cuisine? First, the name “hot dog” is actually a combination of different ideas. Vendors called the sausages “red hot” to get customers to buy one fresh off their grills. As for the “dog” part, it’s a playful joke to compare the meat of the sausage to that of a dog—specifically , a dachshund. This small, long dog breed was
A: Also, police seized seven pornographic videos featuring minors that entertainer Mickey Huang purchased in his hard disc. B: That’s just outrageous! A: His ex-girlfriend entertainer Little S and some others are calling for a legal amendment to increase the penalty. B: The buyers and sellers should both be punished heavily. A: But the porn sellers’ Web sites are mostly overseas, so they are hard to catch. A: 此外警方也在黃子佼的硬碟裡,查到7部他買的未成年色情片。 B: 真是令人火大! A: 他的前女友小S等人,還呼籲修法,加重相關的罰則。 B: 購買者和販賣者雙方都該重罰。 A: 不過色情網站大多設在海外要抓也不容易吧。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)