Here are some good games to play on Earth Day. Get a dry kitchen sponge and a bowl of water. The water in the bowl is like electricity in a socket. Put the kitchen sponge in the bowl. What happens to the water?
The sponge is like an appliance left on standby. Even though the appliance isn’t being used it still uses lots of electricity. Generating electrity uses up the world’s resources. If we want our world to stay clean and beautiful we need to save energy.
When you get home from school, turn off all the lights in the living room. Count how many little red standby lights you can see. How many clocks? Try the same in your bedroom and in your kitchen. Which room has the most appliances on standby? Can you make the standby lights go out?
PHOTO: CATHERINE THOMAS, TAIPEI TIMES
Imagine that aliens are coming to invade the Earth! The only way that they can tell if anyone is home is if they can see any lights or LEDS while you are sleeping! Can you make your home alien-proof?
Why not ask your parents to get you a power bar with an on/off switch for your room? Then you can save lots of electricity just by turning off one switch when you go to bed or school.
(CATHERINE THOMAS, STAFF WRITER)
在地球日可以進行一些好玩的遊戲。拿一塊乾的廚房用海綿和一碗水，碗裡的水就像是插座裡的電一樣，把海綿放到碗中，碗中的水會怎麼樣呢？
海綿就像一個待機中的電器一樣，即使這個電器不是在使用中，卻仍在消耗大量電力；發電會耗盡地球資源，如果我們希望我們身處的世界保持整潔美麗，就必須節省用電。
你放學回家時，把客廳的電燈都關掉，然後數數看你看到多少顯示待機狀態的小紅燈？有多少時鐘？同樣也到你的房間和廚房算算看，哪個房間裡的待機電源燈最多？你可以讓這些電源燈熄滅嗎？
想像外星人入侵地球！它們判別有沒有人在屋子裡的唯一方式，就是在夜深人靜時看有沒有任何光源或是二極光顯示！你有辦法防止外星人入侵你家嗎？
何不請父母買個有開關鍵的電源延長線放在你的房裡？這樣你去上學或是睡覺的時候，只要把電源開關關掉就能省下很多電囉！
（翻譯：袁星塵）
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1. 他手術醒來時並不覺得痛。 ˇ He felt no pain when he awoke from surgery. χ He felt painless when he awoke from surgery. 註：painless 是「無痛的」、「不使人感覺痛苦的」，用於事物，如 painless death（善終）。說人覺得痛或痛苦，須用 to feel a pain；說人不覺得痛或痛苦，該用 to feel no pain。 2. 恐懼與自我懷疑是創意的死敵。 ˇ Fear and self-doubt are the deadly enemies of creativity. χ Fear and self-doubt are the dead enemies of creativity. 註：dead 是「已經死去」的意思。表示「致命的」、「勢不兩立」、「極端的」，應該用deadly。deadly 通常作形容詞，例如：deadly poison（劇毒）、deadly hatred（深恨）、deadly enemy（死對頭）等。 3. 他做事很認真負責，頗受同事尊敬。 ˇ Being a conscientious worker, he is respected by his coworkers. χ Being a conscious worker, he is respected by his coworkers. 註：conscious 是「有知覺的」、「神志清醒的」。例如： He is conscious of his responsibility. 或 He is conscious that he has a responsibility. （他感到他有責任。） 表達「認真負責的」、「按良心辦事的」應用 conscientious。此外，當代美語裡，除律師、學者外，使用「同事」一詞時多用 co-worker，少用 colleague，以免讓人覺得自命不凡。 4. 我一想起這件事總是感到慚愧。 ˇ The very thought of it
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