For a former diplomat, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is drawing a lot of flak at home over his behavior with heads of state on his first major trip abroad. However, he may have redeemed himself in China.
First he outraged the opposition by flipping a salute to US President George W. Bush; then he got in trouble for not bending his neck when he met Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
Rudd’s behavior towards Bush was described as “conduct unbecoming of an Australian prime minister” and as carrying a “subservient connotation.”
PHOTO: AFP
Days later, at an audience with the queen at Windsor Castle, Rudd failed to show her enough respect, conservative Senator George Brandis said last Wednesday.
“It’s interesting that the prime minister of Australia doesn’t afford the appropriate formal courtesy to the person who is at least nominally Australia’s head of state, but makes this flamboyant and rather obsequious gesture to the president of the United States.”
Rudd laughed off the original criticism of his salute to Bush at a NATO meeting in Bucharest, saying “it was just a joke.”
Meanwhile Rudd impressed students last Wednesday with his flawless Chinese at China’s Peking University while leaving the audience laughing over quick witticisms on China’s history and culture.
Although Rudd’s comments about “significant human rights problems in Tibet,” might draw ire from his hosts Premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao, China’s top students appeared unfazed.
“I agreed with what he said,” said Li Yang, a graduate student in environmental sciences. “The Tibetan issue should be resolved without violence and through dialogue, this is correct.”
A computer science graduate, surnamed Chen said “I enjoyed his discussion on how China needs to integrate with the world, this was very important ... his message was that everyone needs to deepen understanding and the first step is through language learning.”(Staff writer ,with afp)
前外交官暨現任澳洲總理陸克文展開首場重要外交之旅,但他與其他各國元首的互動卻在家鄉引起一陣撻伐。然而,他或�?齒^自己在中國的名聲。
一開始是他對美國總統布希舉手行禮的動作激怒了反對黨;接著他會晤英國女王伊麗莎白二世時沒有行鞠躬禮又招致批評。
陸克文對布希行禮的舉動被形容為「有失澳洲總理身份」,感覺像是在「抱美國大腿」。
保守派參議員喬治.布蘭迪上週三表示,幾天後,陸克文到溫莎堡覲見英女王時,竟未對女王展現出應有的尊敬。
「有趣的是,澳洲總理沒對至少名義上是澳洲元首的英女王展現恰當的正式禮儀,卻對美國總統�?o個浮誇甚至相當阿諛諂媚的手勢。」
陸克文對他在布加勒斯特舉行的北約峰會上對布希行禮所引來的批評一笑置之,並說:「那只是個玩笑。」
同時,陸克文上週三在中國北京大學演講時,他流利的中文讓聽講的學生驚艷;談及中國歷史和文化時的妙語如珠也搏得哄堂大笑。
即使他談到「西藏的人權問題值得我們關注」,可能會激怒東道主中國總理溫家寶和中國國家主席胡錦濤,但中國最高學府的學生似乎不以為忤。
「我同意他說的,」一個環境科學研究所學生李揚(音譯)說:「西藏議題應該透過對談而非暴力手段解決,這點完全正確。」
一位資訊科學系的陳姓畢業生說:「我很欣賞他對中國應如何融入全球的論述,這點相當重要…他傳遞的訊息是每個人都應該深入了解,而且第一步就是要透過語言學習。」(法新社�翻譯:袁星塵)
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