French President Nicolas Sarkozy shared his memories of the fall of the Berlin Wall, telling his Facebook fans he chipped away at the concrete slabs with a pickaxe on Nov. 9, 1989.
Sarkozy posted his personal account before heading to Berlin to join European leaders for joyous celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the wall.
The president recounted that he traveled to Berlin from Paris on the morning of Nov. 9 after hearing the first news reports of the mass influx of East Germans to West Berlin.
Then a 34-year-old member of parliament, Sarkozy was with other French politicians who headed straight for the Brandenburg gates “where an enthusiastic crowd had gathered to welcome the looming opening of the Wall.”
“We then headed for Checkpoint Charlie to see the eastern side of the city and finally confront this wall and I was able to take a pickaxe to it,” recounted Sarkozy.
“Around us, families were gathering to knock down the cement. Some shared their feelings with us, their new ambitions and their emotions after decades of separation,” he added.
“The night continued in a climate of general enthusiasm: the German people were reunited, heralding the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a period of great freedom in Europe.
“It is this freedom that we are still defending in Europe and that we are celebrating 20 years on,” wrote Sarkozy.
A picture of a younger Sarkozy standing next to an unidentified man and chipping away at the graffiti-pocked Berlin Wall was posted on his Facebook page.
(AFP)
法國總統尼可拉斯.薩柯茲在Facebook上和粉絲分享他對柏林圍牆倒塌的記憶,他說一九八九年十一月九日那天,他用一把尖鋤敲鑿了這面水泥牆。
薩柯茲前往柏林和歐洲眾領袖一同參加柏林圍牆倒塌二十週年紀念活動前,在Facebook 的個人檔案上張貼了這則訊息。
薩柯茲敘述,一九八九年十一月九日早上,他一看到新聞報導說有大批東德民眾湧進西柏林後,就起身從巴黎前往柏林。
當時三十四歲、擔任國會議員的薩柯茲,和其他法國政治圈的友人直接殺到布蘭登堡門,「那裡早已聚集了一群熱情的民眾,等著迎接柏林圍牆開放」。
薩柯茲描述:「然後我們前往查理檢查哨,看看東柏林的情況,最後來到這面牆前,用尖鋤在上面又敲又鑿。」
他補充說:「在我們四周,許多家庭一起敲打這面水泥牆。有些人和我們分享他們的觀感、新的抱負,以及分離數十年後的激動心情。」
「那晚瀰漫著熱血沸騰的氛圍:兩德人民再度重逢,這宣告冷戰結束、歐洲大自由時代的來臨。
薩柯茲寫道:「我們歐洲人至今仍致力捍衛的正是『自由』,而這也是我們二十年來所頌揚的價值。」
張貼在Facebook的照片中,年輕的薩柯茲站在一名身份不詳的男子身旁,拿著尖鋤敲打滿是塗鴉的柏林圍牆。
(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
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