Hadrian’s Wall, a Roman-era fortification spanning the width of northern England, was lit up from end to end by volunteers carrying flaming torches Saturday.
As night fell, 500 gas flames were lit at 250m intervals for 135km from Wallsend in northeast England to Bowness-on-Solway in the northwest.
This created a coast-to-coast line of light along the route of a path which runs next to the wall.
Hadrian’s Wall was built in 122 AD on the orders of the Roman emperor Hadrian to mark his empire’s northern frontier. It is the largest monument from the ancient era in northern Europe and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
While some sections of the wall have seen better days, there are many places where the original brickwork is still fully intact.
The torch-lighting event marked British Tourism Week and the 1,600th anniversary of the Roman departure from Britain in 410 AD.
“When you see you the lights here, it’s easy to imagine what it must have been like to be stationed here up on the wall,” said Linda Tuttiett, chief executive of Hadrian’s Wall Heritage, which looks after the wall and organized the event.
(AFP WITH STAFF WRITER)
志工們上週六帶著火炬,從起點到終點照亮橫跨英國北部、於羅馬時代建造的防禦工事「哈德良城牆」。
當夜晚降臨,志工們點燃了五百支火炬,每支火炬各間隔兩百五十公尺,在全長一百三十五公里的哈德良城牆上一字排開,從英國東北部的沃爾森延伸到西北部的博尼斯。
這項創舉以燈火沿著城牆,打造出了連貫英國東西兩岸的閃亮大道。
羅馬皇帝哈德良西元一二二年時下令建造該城牆,作為其帝國北部的邊界。它是歐洲北部最大的古代歷史遺跡,也被聯合國教科文組織評定為世界文化遺產。
該城牆某些區段的風貌已不復以往,但大部分的區段,原始磚造建築體至今仍完整無缺。
點燃火炬的活動是為了宣傳英國觀光週,並紀念羅馬人在西元四一0年撤離英國的一千六百週年紀念日。
「哈德良城牆公司」執行長琳達•塔堤耶說︰「當你在這裡目睹這些火炬,便很容易想像當年軍隊駐紮的情景。」她的公司負責維護該城牆並籌辦此活動。(法新社╱翻譯:張愛弟)
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: 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)