Pao-pao, a colorful parrot from Banciao City in Taipei County, can not only dance and understand what its owner says, but is also a fan of betel nut. Such is the bird’s love of betel nut, that it has astounded onlookers by eating it directly out of its owner’s mouth.
The bird’s owner, Tsai Ching-chuan, says that his parrot’s IQ is similar to that of a child, and that the bird has formed a strong bond with him. However, Pao-pao doesn’t like to eat bird food, preferring instead to feast on betel nut.
Tsai has had Pao-pao for seven years now, and in the beginning he fed it regular bird food. But one day when he was chatting with friends, he popped a piece of betel nut into his mouth, only for Pao-pao to put its beak in his mouth as well. Everybody was surprised, and initially thought that Pao-pao was trying to kiss him. Eventually they realized that Pao-pao was in fact trying to eat the betel nut, and is actually something of a betel nut aficionado, only eating it when it’s fresh.
According to Tsai, local betel nut stand owners all know that Pao-pao is a betel nut-loving parrot. Whenever he goes to restock on betel nut, the stand owners give an extra piece for Pao-pao. The bird then performs a little dance to show how much she enjoyed it.
A city representative surnamed Shih, who is an old friend of Tsai, noticed the bird’s popularity. Now she plans to take advantage of it by taking Pao-pao with her when she goes to meet voters.
Tsai said he was offered NT$200,000 to sell Pao-pao, but he and his wife are really attached to their pet. Pao-pao also brings good fortune to Tsai and his wife. Whenever it squawks “Mama fa-tsai” (mama makes money), Tsai’s wife goes out and buys a winning lottery ticket. (LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY TAIJING WU)
台北縣板橋市民蔡清全飼養十二色吸蜜鸚鵡,不僅聽話、愛跳舞,還喜歡吃檳榔,有時等不急就直接伸頭到他的嘴裡搶,宛如「人鸚接吻」,畫面令人噴飯!
蔡清全說,鸚鵡智商和小孩差不多,會和飼主產生感情。不過,「寶寶」平常不喜歡吃飼料,竟以檳榔果腹。
蔡清全說,寶寶已養了七年多,剛買回來也是餵牠吃飼料,但有次和朋友聊天,才剛把檳榔放進口中嚼,寶寶竟把頭伸進他的嘴裡,大家都嚇了一跳,以為這隻母鸚鵡要和他接吻,後來眾人才發現,寶寶原來也是喜歡吃檳榔的「紅唇族」,且只吃「菁仔」。
蔡清全說,現在連檳榔攤老闆都知道寶寶是隻愛吃檳榔的鸚鵡,只要去買檳榔都會多送一顆給寶寶,牠還常吃得開心跳舞。
市民代表石一佑和蔡清全是多年好友,最近她也看上寶寶的吸睛效果,打算邀請寶寶陪她跑攤、拜票助選,相信走到哪都會很受歡迎。
蔡清全說,曾有人開價二十萬元要買寶寶,但他和老婆都捨不得割愛,且寶寶有時還會開金口招財運,只要牠一喊「媽媽發財!」蔡太太當天買的樂透就會中獎,屢試不爽。(自由時報記者蔡偉祺)
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
Drive-through (or drive-thru) restaurants provide people with the immense convenience of being able to purchase and pick up meals without needing to leave their vehicles. These restaurants have been around for decades, and their success has spawned a number of equally handy services. The drive-through concept originated with the drive-in restaurant, the first of which was established in the US in 1921. Patrons would order and eat the food that was delivered to their cars by workers called “carhops.” Ten years later, a drive-through service was introduced, but it was not until 1947 that the first exclusively drive-through restaurant opened its
On Tuesday last week, the flame for this summer’s Paris Olympics was lit at the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games in southern Greece in a meticulously choreographed ceremony. It will then be carried through Greece for more than 5,000km before being handed over to French organizers at the Athens venue used for the first modern Olympics in 1896. The pageantry at Olympia has been an essential part of every Olympics for nearly 90 years since the Games in Berlin. It’s meant to provide an ineluctable link between the modern event and the ancient Greek original on which it was initially modelled. Once
A: “Forbes” magazine just revealed Hollywood’s top 10 highest-paid stars of 2023. B: How much did those superstars make last year? A: Denzel Washington was at No. 10, having made US$24 million, which is about NT$771 million. B: That’s an astronomical figure to me. A: No. 9 to No. 6 were: Ben Affleck with US$38 million, Jason Statham with US$41 million, Leonardo DiCaprio with US$41 million, and Jennifer Aniston with US$42 million. A: 《富比世》最近公布了好萊塢去年的片酬排行榜。 B: 大明星的片酬到底有多高? A: 第10名是丹佐華盛頓、片酬2400萬美元,大約7.7億台幣。 B: 天啊這根本是天文數字! A: 第9到6名是︰班艾佛列克、3800萬美元,傑森史塔森、4100萬美元,李奧納多狄卡皮歐、4100萬美元,珍妮佛安妮斯頓、4200萬美元。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)