When an Iraqi lieutenant ordered him off the bus, Saddam Hussein thought his number was up. Limbs quaking, he obediently trailed after the soldier — who then stood sharply to attention and saluted him.
“He chanted songs to the glory of the former president. Then, happy with his joke, he told me to get back in the bus, to my great relief,” said the Iraqi photographer with the same name as the dictator who was executed in December 2006.
The man with the infamous namesake is based in Fallujah, the town which symbolized the anti-American uprising after 2003, and he hasn’t always had an easy life. But he insists the name has done him more good than harm despite the other Saddam’s evil reputation.
He was born in 1979, the year that Saddam Hussein came to power. With his father absent, his mother and aunts failed to agree on a first name for the eldest of seven boys and it was the doctor who suggested calling him Saddam when he learned that the family name is Hussein.
Although he looks nothing like the former dictator, the name brought certain advantages to the youngster. “In exams, the teachers gave me 10 extra marks because of my name,” he admitted, adding that it also helped with girls.
When Saddam was overthrown in April 2003, the younger man’s mother begged him to change his name but he refused. “It has served me well,” he said.(AFP)
一位伊拉克陸軍中尉命令坐在巴士上的薩達姆.海珊下車,他以為他死期將近。他雙腿顫抖,順從地跟在這位士官後頭──然後這位中尉突然立正站好向他敬禮。
這位和二OO六年十二月被處決的獨裁者海珊同名同姓的伊拉克攝影師說:「他高唱頌讚這位伊拉克前總統的歌曲,接著,對自己開這個玩笑感到洋洋得意的他叫我回到車上,這才令我大大鬆了一口氣。」
這位和惡名昭彰的海珊同名同姓的攝影師住在法魯加鎮,這個小鎮二OO三年後成為反美暴動的象徵,此後他的好日子不再。但他堅稱,雖然海珊惡名在外,但這個名字對他來說還是利多於弊。
他出生於一九七九年,同年海珊上任掌權。身為七兄弟老大的他,父親不在身邊,母親和阿姨們又對該取什麼名字意見不同,結果是醫生聽說他們家姓海珊,才建議她們叫他薩達姆。
雖然他長得和那位前獨裁者一點也不像,但這個名字還是為這個年輕人帶來某種程度的好處。他承認:「考試時,老師會因為我的名字多送我十分。」此外,這個名字也讓他在女孩間吃得開。
當海珊政權在二OO三年四月被推翻時,這位年輕人的母親懇求他改名,但他拒絕了。他說:「這個名字對我助益很大。」(法新社�翻譯:袁星塵)
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
On blazing hot summer days, fresh ingredients and cool refreshments straight from a refrigerator feel like nothing short of a miracle. However, chilled foods didn’t begin with modern refrigerators. In fact, the origin of refrigeration precedes the invention of this now-indispensable appliance by centuries. Initially, the quest for refrigeration was motivated more by the desire to cool beverages than to preserve food. The ancient Greeks and Romans, for instance, used snow stored in insulated pits to chill wine. Around the fourth century BC, the Persians made a significant stride in refrigeration techniques when they devised the yakhchal. Fashioned from
Continued from yesterday(延續自昨日) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Finally, cultural influence also plays a role in which hand people prefer. Historically, items that require physical manipulation have been designed for right-handed use. For example, tools like scissors and musical instruments are often constructed with right-handers in mind, making it difficult for left-handers to use them. __4__ While these factors offer some explanation, they remain speculative. The precise reasons for the global prevalence of right-handed people continue to be debated. Nevertheless, left-handedness will remain a phenomenon of great curiosity among scientists and researchers for many years to come. 最後,文化影響也在人們偏好哪一隻手上扮演一角。歷史上,需要用到肢體操作的物品都被設計來供右手使用。舉例來說,像是剪刀、樂器等工具常常就是考慮到右撇子而打造的,造成左撇子難以使用這些工具。因此,許多天生就是左撇子的人可能就必須透過學習使用右手來適應。 雖然這些因素都提供了一些解釋,但它們仍是推測而已。全球右撇子如此普及,確切的原因仍持續被爭論著。不過,在未來的許多年裡,左撇子依然會是科學家和研究人員相當好奇的一個現象。 What Did You Learn? (A) Specifically, different areas of