An old painting dropped off at a thrift store in Maryland, US, turned out to be the work of a famous French artist. And thanks to a quick thinking store employee, the charity is over US$40,000 (NT$1,216,200) richer.
The painting was left at the store along with regular donations like pots, pans, old clock radios and other items. It shows a scene from a Paris street, and was painted by Edouard-Leon Cortes around the early 20th century. Flower Market, as the painting is known, was sold at an auction in London for US$40,600 (NT$1,234,400).
“It could have very easily ended up put in a pile, and sold for $20,” says Ursula Villar, a director for the charity that discovered the painting.
PHOTO: AP
Store manager Terri Tonelli said employees asked her to look at the painting because they thought it might be valuable. She found the artist’s name on Google and discovered he was a famous painter.
Charities aren’t required to return the donations they receive. So for the person who donated the painting, there’s little chance of getting his or her money back.
(STAFF WRITER, WITH AP)
一幅被送到美國馬里蘭州一間二手慈善商店的舊畫作,原來是法國某知名畫家的作品。幸虧有位反應敏銳的員工,這家慈善商店因此增加了四萬美元(新台幣一百二十一萬六千兩百元)以上的收入。
這幅畫作和壺、鍋、舊鬧鐘收音機等一般捐贈物品一起被送到店裡來。畫中描繪的是巴黎街景,作者是二十世紀初期左右的愛德華萊昂.科爾特斯。這幅被稱為「花市」的畫,之前在倫敦拍賣會上以四萬零六百美元(新台幣一百二十三萬四千四百元)賣出。
發現這幅畫的是這家慈善商店的主任烏蘇拉.維勒,她說:「它原先很可能會被堆到一大堆東西裡,然後以二十元出售。」
商店經理泰麗.托奈里說,員工覺得這幅畫可能很值錢,於是請她看看。她在Google上查到這個作者的名字,發現他是個名畫家。
慈善機構無須將他們收到的捐贈物品歸還。所以對這幅畫的捐贈者來說,拿回這筆錢的機會微乎其微。
(美聯社�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