New Zealand dominated the 13th Golden Shears World Championships in sheep shearing held in Norway, taking home four of the six titles up for grabs earlier this month.
New Zealand won both the individual and team events in wool handling and machine shearing.
Around 100 sheep shearers from 28 countries, including Australia, Montenegro, France, the US and of course New Zealand, displayed their skills in the four-day competition, which for the first time ever was held in a non-English speaking country.
PHOTO: AFP
“This is not just about speed but is also a question of technique,” explained event spokeswoman Elin Ravndal Bell.
“Shearers who cut their animals lose points,” she said.
It can take as little as 20 seconds to shear an entire sheep, but at the world championships the times usually average around 30 to 40 seconds.
Clipping with scissors, or blade shearing, meanwhile takes around two minutes.
New Zealand’s wool handling team needed just seven minutes 53 seconds to polish off 16 lambs, while its machine shearing team finished 20 lambs in 16 minutes 15 seconds.
Lesotho clinched the team blade shearing title, shearing 10 lambs in 13 minutes 49 seconds. South Africa’s Zweliwile Hans took home the individual blade shearing honors, finishing 10 lambs in 21 minutes 20 seconds.(AFP)
第十三屆世界金羊毛剪錦標賽本月稍早在挪威舉行,結果紐西蘭代表隊就包辦了六個比賽項目中的四項冠軍。
紐西蘭分別在羊毛處理和機械剪毛的個人組和團體組項目中獲勝。
本屆共有來自澳洲、蒙特內哥羅、法國、美國和紐西蘭等二十八個國家的近一百位剪羊毛好手前來參賽,他們在為期四天的比賽中拿出看家本領;這次也是該錦標賽首次在非英語系國家舉辦。
主辦單位的女發言人愛琳.瑞凡道.貝爾解釋:「這不僅考驗選手的速度,也在考驗他們的技巧。」
她說:「剪傷綿羊的選手會被扣分。」
用機械完整修剪一隻羊的時間可以短至二十秒,但在世界錦標賽中,平均速度通常介在三十秒到四十秒間。
不管是用剪刀剪,或用剃刀修,約需費時兩分鐘。
紐西蘭團體組在羊毛處理項目中,僅花了七分鐘又五十三秒就迅速處理完十六隻小羊;他們的機械剃毛團隊則花了十六分又十五秒剪完二十隻小羊。
賴索托的選手贏得剃刀項目的團體組冠軍,他們在十三分鐘又四十九秒內剃完了十隻小羊。南非的佐威利瓦.漢斯則抱回剃刀項目的個人組冠軍,他在二十一分又二十秒內就剃完十隻小羊。(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