After collecting 187 child abuse-related news reports from this year, the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) found that physical abuse was at the top with 36 percent, while sexual abuse accounted for 34 percent and negligent care 26 percent. The most stunning discovery made was that negligent care caused death 56 percent of the time, even higher than deaths caused by physical abuse, which caused death 45 percent of the time. These results make negligence the greatest cause for concern when it comes to child safety, so adults need to be careful not to leave young children unattended as it could lead to fatal circumstances.
TFCF executive director Miguel Wang says that out of the 27 children who died due to negligent parenting this year and had an average age of 4.4 years, nearly 60 percent were in accidents while they were left unattended. The top three causes of death due to negligence included drowning, suffocating and falling from buildings. When compared to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, the number of children harmed or injured due to negligent care has increased by 31 percent over the past eight years.
Wang says that even though the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act stipulates that children six years old or younger are not legally allowed to be left alone or looked after by an unsuitable caretaker, many poor families are left with no other option but to let a slightly older brother or sister take care of the younger child, or simply leave the child unattended.
Photo: Chang Jui-chen, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者張瑞楨
TFCF invited seven experts working in the fields of social work, law and medicine to select 10 major news stories related to child protection. Four of the stories selected were related to negligent care: the charred bodies of three young brothers holding on to each other after waiting to be rescued during a fire; a four-year-old who fell from a window on the ninth floor after getting through its metal bars; a week-old infant who drowned in a bathtub while the mother was tending to another child; and a two-day-old infant girl who died from exposure to the sun after being left lying naked on a tar road for 12 hours.
Liu Shu-chiung, a professor in the Department of Social Work at National Taiwan University, is highly critical of the government’s ineffective child protection policies. She urges the Cabinet to convene a consortium of social work and legal experts that would be responsible for coming up with more effective ways to protect children, and annually release reports of children’s deaths to hopefully remedy the situation by better understanding causes of death, the circumstances, and the problems involved.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
家扶基金會蒐集今年一八七則兒虐新聞發現，遭身體虐待佔百分之卅六比率最高，其次為性侵傷害百分之卅四、照顧疏忽百分之廿六。令人咋舌的是，兒童因照顧疏忽致死率百分之五十六高居第一，遠高於身體虐待致死率百分之四十五，「大人粗心、小孩枉死」成為兒童安全一大隱憂！
家扶執行長王明仁指出，因照顧疏忽不幸死亡的廿七名兒童，平均僅四點四歲，近六成是獨處時發生意外，尤以溺斃、悶死及墜樓為前三大主因。比對內政部統計，因照顧疏忽導致兒童受害的人數，八年激增百分之卅一。
王明仁說，儘管兒童及少年福利與權益保障法規定不能讓六歲以下兒童獨處或由不適當者代照顧，但弱勢家庭不少迫於經濟，由稍大孩子照顧年幼弟妹或任由孩子獨處。
家扶邀社工、法界、醫界等七位專家選出今年十大兒保新聞，照顧疏忽類佔四則，分別是火噬三兄弟焦屍交纏似待援；四歲童鑽鐵窗欄縫自九樓墜地亡；哄這娃漏那娃、週歲嬰溺斃浴缸；出生兩天的女嬰棄柏油路赤身曬十二小時。
台大社工系教授劉淑瓊痛批政府兒保政策是「捉瞎」！疾呼行政院邀集社政、司法等專家，召開兒保協調會報，每年定期公佈兒童死亡報告，了解死因、樣態、問題，才能對症下藥！
（自由時報記者謝文華）
1. negligence n.
疏忽 (shu1 hu1)
例: The driver’s negligence caused the accident.
(司機的疏忽導致車禍。)
2. drown v.
溺斃 (ni4 bi4)
例: She almost drowned. The lifeguard saved her life.
(她差點被淹死，是救生員救她一命。)
3. char v.
燒焦 (shao1 jiao1)
例: You charred the steaks. Looks like we’ll be going out for dinner again.
(你燒焦牛排了，看來我們又要去外面吃晚餐。)
Tourists will benefit as yen falls 日本6月將開放觀光！日圓「貶值」學換匯英文 自疫情爆發至今已超過兩年，全球逐漸邁向與疫情共存的方式，日本政府也將陸續鬆綁邊境管制，最快有機會六月就開放外國觀光客以團體旅遊方式入境。加上日圓近期狂貶，來到二十年來新低點，專家預估，日本將迎來新一波的旅遊熱潮。今天我們就從國外報導的日圓貶值現象，提前為旅日做好準備吧！ yen weakness 日圓疲軟 Yet economists see building pressure for a shift if persistent yen weakness exacerbates inflation by raising import costs, particularly for energy, and reckon that 125 is a key level. （然而，若是日圓持續疲軟而提高進口成本，尤其在能源上，將加重通貨膨脹，經濟學家認為政策轉變的壓力很大，並預估貶破125是關鍵點。） yen weakness是「日圓疲軟，weak (a.)意思是「虛弱的、疲弱的，加上「-ness」名詞字尾，代表「疲軟的概念；加上「-en」動詞變化則有「弱化、削弱」的意思。 The bill would seriously weaken environmental protections. （這項法案將嚴重削弱對環境的保護。） exacerbate (v.)「惡化、加劇、加重，英文的定義為to make something that is already bad even worse（使某件已經很糟的事情更糟）。文章中提到通膨（inflation）加劇，將會對經濟造成負面的影響，因此可以看出作者的態度是不樂觀的。 This attack will exacerbate the already tense relations between the two communities.（這次襲擊將令兩個原本已經處於緊張狀態的團體關係更加惡化。） 提高成本raise、rise怎麼用？ raise import cost是「提高進口成本，討論數據「上升、下降時，經常使用raise和rise這兩個動詞，但是特別注意兩者使用方式有所不同。raise是及物動詞(vt)，後方必須要接一個受詞（名詞），如raise your hand、raise the eyebrows；然而，rise是不及物動詞(vi)，不能直接加上受詞，而是要在中間穿插一個介系詞作為連結功能的用途，如常見的go (to) school、listen (to) music等，因此rise的用法就是inflation rises，常見的the sun rises in the east就是如此。 The government plans to raise taxes. （政府計畫增稅。） Inflation is rising by 2.1 percent a month. （通貨膨脹一個月增長百分之二‧一。） 升值、貶值怎麼說？ Japanese yen depreciation is a big problem for the Japanese economy, because
A: Are there any other organisms facing extinction? B: Reportedly, over 40 percent of amphibians, 25 percent of mammals and 13 percent of birds could face extinction. A: These are really frightening statistics. B: If humans do not look after the animal kingdom, one day we too might become extinct. A: 那其他生物會不會也面臨絕種危機啊？ B: 據說百分之四十的兩棲動物、百分之二十五的哺乳動物、百分之十三的鳥類都可能滅絕。 A: 這些數字看起來好驚人。 B: 如果人類再不保護動物，總有一天自己也會滅絕。 （Translated by Edward Jones, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩） Audio recordings for Speak Up! dialogues will be suspended until further notice due to the pandemic.
After causing a stir with his first appearance at the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years for his new film Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise made another stunning appearance at the film’s London premiere in Leicester Square on the evening of May 19. Having been given the honor of walking the red carpet with Prince William and his wife the Duchess of Cambridge, Cruise, being the perfect gentleman, extended his hand to the Duchess as she navigated a set of stairs. The sweet moment was spotted by onlookers and greeted with a barrage of camera flashes from the assembled media, while
The Grammys: Music Lovers’ Festival 葛萊美獎：音樂人的盛典 There are few awards ceremonies that get more attention than the Grammys. This annual ceremony, first held more than six decades ago, recognizes outstanding achievements in the music industry. The trophy that is presented to winners is in the shape of an old-fashioned record player called a gramophone. The idea for the Grammys first came about in the 1950s. People in the recording industry were concerned that musicians, singers and songwriters were not getting the same recognition as people working in film and television. The movie industry, for example, had been awarding Oscars since 1929, and the television industry handed out
RSS