Massage machine mayhem 恐怖的按摩機
One day Mark and Kathleen went to the mall to get some supplies for the summer. Mark needed new swim trunks and sunglasses while Kathleen wanted to get a volleyball set and a big hat to block the sun.
They walked around the mall for hours. Kathleen couldn’t find a hat she liked.
“Why don’t you just get that red one?” Mark asked.
“There are flowers on it. I don’t like hats with flowers,” Kathleen said.
“You’re being too picky,” Mark complained.
Eventually Kathleen did find a hat she liked. But by that time the two friends were beat.
“I have an idea!” Kathleen said. “Let’s go to the store with the massage chairs. They let you have a free trial.”
Finally Mark felt that things were looking up again.
They went to the store. Kathleen sat in a massage chair, and Mark put his feet into a special machine for massaging the legs.
After about 20 minutes Mark and Kathleen were ready to go. But Mark couldn’t turn the machine off and couldn’t get his feet out.
“That’s strange,” Mark said.
He tried using his trunk to pry his legs away from the machine. But then his trunk got stuck, too!
Mark shouted, “Kathleen, help me…!”
(MICHAEL KEARNEY, STAFF WRITER)
某天馬克和凱薩琳去一家購物中心採買一些夏日用品,馬克要買新泳褲和太陽眼鏡,凱薩琳則是想買一組排球用具和一頂大遮陽帽。
他們在購物中心逛了好幾個小時,凱薩琳都選不到喜歡的帽子。
馬克問:「妳怎麼不選那頂紅色的?」
凱薩琳說:「那頂上面有花,我不喜歡有花的帽子。」
馬克抱怨說:「妳太龜毛了啦。」
最後凱薩琳還是沒有選到喜歡的帽子,但他們兩人已經累壞了。
凱薩琳說:「我有個點子!我們去那間有按摩椅的店吧,他們可以讓你免費試用。」
這下馬克才終於又振作了起來。
他們到了那間店,凱薩琳坐上一台按摩椅,馬克把他的腳放到一部專門按摩腿部的按摩機中。
大約二十分鐘後,馬克和凱薩琳準備離開,但馬克卻無法關掉那台機器,也無法把他的腳抽出來。
馬克說:「這好奇怪。」
他想用鼻子把腿從機器中撬出來,結果他的鼻子也卡住了!
馬克大叫:「凱薩琳,救救我…!」
(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
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
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into
A: As well as Eid al-Fitr, Southeast Asia is celebrating the Water Festival this week. B: And this year, Thailand is expanding the celebration between April 12 and 16 for the event, officially known as the Songkran Festival, expecting to make 24.3 billion Thai baht in tourism revenue. A: Does Taiwan celebrate the Water Festival? B: Some local cities and counties do have similar activities. A: Let’s go experience the festival then. A: 除了「開齋節」外,東南亞「潑水節」本週也盛大登場! B: 泰國今年從4月12日到16日擴大「宋干節」連假,預估觀光收入可高達243億泰銖。 A: 台灣會慶祝「潑水節」嗎? B: 有些縣市會舉辦類似活動。 A: 那我們也去體驗一下吧。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)