Mark put on his oldest clothes. He had just been hired to be a special kind of garbage collector. In an effort to improve the environment, the city had decided to have Mark collect garbage without a truck.
"Good luck, Mark," Kathleen said. "Let's get dinner tonight to celebrate."
"OK," Mark replied. "Let's meet at the Grub and Grill at 7:30."
The day started out easy. Mark walked around the neighborhood and people put their garbage into two large bags that Mark had slung over his back. But by the end of the day the bags were very heavy.
"I need a break," Mark thought. "I'll just take a quick nap in this park."
Mark sat on a bench and dozed off. He woke up two hours later.
"Oh no!" he shouted. "I have to go dump this garbage and meet Kathleen."
Mark quickly walked to the city dump. But he didn't have time to go home and take a shower before dinner.
"I smell like trash," Mark said. "What can I do?"
As Mark was walking to the restaurant, he passed by an automatic car wash. Mark decided it was the only way to clean up before dinner. He paid the dumbfounded attendant and began walking through the machine …
(Michael Kearney, Staff Writer)
馬克換上他最老舊的衣服。他才剛被僱為特種清潔隊員。致力改善環境的市政府決定捨棄垃圾車,請馬克負責收集垃圾。
「祝你好運,馬克,」凱薩琳說:「我們今晚一起吃頓飯慶祝一下吧。」
「沒問題,」馬克回答:「那我們七點半在『食物與燒烤』見囉!」
一開始還蠻輕鬆的,馬克在住家附近走著,民眾紛紛把垃圾放進吊掛在馬克背上的兩個大袋子裡,但一天下來,袋子已經變得沉重不堪。
「我需要休息一下,」馬克心想:「我在這公園裡小睡片刻就好。」
馬克就這麼坐在長椅上打起盹來了。等他一覺醒來,已經過了兩個小時。
「喔,天啊!」他大叫著說:「我還得去倒掉這垃圾,然後跟凱薩琳碰面呢。」
馬克快步走向市府垃圾場。但他沒時間回家沖個澡再去赴約。
「我渾身上下都是垃圾的味道,」馬克說:「該怎麼辦呢?」
在前往餐廳的途中,馬克行經一部自動洗車機,他當下決定這是讓他一身清爽赴約的唯一方法。他付了錢給目瞪口呆的服務人員,開始走進洗車隧道...(翻譯:林倩如)
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