At 103 Lee Liu Su is still bright-eyed and perky-eared, and many professors and university students concede inferiority as verses of antiquity flow from her lips. Lee garnered immense admiration from her audience when she recited, without the slightest bit of hesitation, Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi’s “Swallow song for Liu the elder” in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) at the Dounan Township Office’s auditorium on Aug. 3.
Lee was born in 1911 in Gukeng Township’s present-day Yongguang Village — formerly called Kantoucuo Village. She belonged to Yong Guang Elementary School’s sixth graduating class, which at the time was also called Kantoucuo Elementary School. Although able to speak fluent Japanese after graduating, having attended elementary school during Japanese colonial rule, Lee could still only read a limited number of Chinese characters. At the age of 17, she was married off to Dounan Township, where her father-in-law Lee Yun-tsong taught her to read Chinese characters.
Lee Shao-chu, Lee’s daughter, says that her grandfather appreciated literature and was well-versed in poetry. Lee first fell in love with poetry on her third day of marriage, when her father-in-law began teaching her Chinese characters, poetry from the Tang Dynasty and ancient verses. It seems like 80-odd years have passed in the blink of an eye. Lee read books and recited poems every day until she turned 100 and her eyesight began rapidly deteriorating. After many admonishments from her family, Lee gradually decreased the time she spent reading.
Photo: Huang Shu-li, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者黃淑莉攝
Lee demurely says that since she is getting on in years, she often remembers the title of a poem but forgets the first line when trying to recite it, so she either has to take a moment or ask someone standing next to her to remind her. Because she studied with her father-in-law for five years when she was young, she managed to memorize all 300 of the classic Tang poems in Taiwanese so well that she could actually recite them backwards and forwards.
Lee was voted model senior this year. At the commendation ceremony on Sunday last week, many present were humbled when Lee signed her name so carefully and neatly. Guests at the event requested that she recite Bai’s “Swallow song for Liu the elder.” This time she did not require any cues from anyone, and reeled off all 150 words of the poem at one go without any pause or stutter. Lee was on a roll and also fluently recited all 70 words from Li Bai’s “Drinking alone under the moonlight.” Everyone applauded and sang her praises.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
一○三歲人瑞李劉肅耳聰目明,古詩朗朗上口,讓許多老師、大學生自嘆弗如;她八月三日在斗南鎮公所禮堂以台語背誦唐朝詩人白居易的「燕詩示劉叟」,一氣呵成令人讚嘆。
一九一一年出生的李劉肅為古坑崁頭厝人,是永光國小前身崁頭厝公學校第六屆畢業生,因當年是日治時期唸小學,畢業後雖然日語流利,但漢字認識不多,十七歲嫁至斗南後,才跟著公公李雲從學漢字。
李劉肅的女兒李韶珠說,爺爺喜歡文學,對詩詞很有研究,媽媽結婚第三天,就跟著爺爺學識字、讀唐詩及古詩,就此愛上詩詞,八十幾年如一日,每天都會讀書、吟詩,直到一百歲後因視力退化嚴重,在家人苦勸下,才減少讀書時間。
李劉肅則謙虛的說,現在年紀大了,雖記得詩名,但要背誦詩詞,卻常想不起第一句,常需要想一下或旁人提示;年輕時因為跟著公公讀了五年書,唐詩三百首以台語背誦,還真倒背如流。
李劉肅今年當選模範老人,上週日出席表揚活動時,自己拿筆簽名,字跡工整許多人都自嘆不如。在來賓要求下,她當場背誦「燕詩示劉叟」,這回不需任何提示,一百五十字的古詩一氣呵成,都沒有「跳針」,心花一開,她又吟唱李白的「月下獨酌」,七十字一樣很流暢,大家拍手叫好。
(自由時報記者黃淑莉)
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