On Jiaxing Road in Hsinchu County’s Jhubei City there is a convenience store that has more than 80 kinds of flowers and potted plants. The fragrance of flowers fills the air. Customers can shop and appreciate the flowers at the same time, which makes the shop one of a kind.
Shop manager Ma Yen-ping said she and her husband used to plant flowers at home. Half a year ago, they invested their money and opened the convenience store. By combining work with their gardening hobby, they renovated the store with their own hands and planted more than 80 varieties, including orchids, lilies, jonquils, roses, hydrangeas and morning glories.
Ma says that although she has to make an effort to care for the flowers every day, fertilizing, irrigating and tidying up the environment, which takes a lot of hard work, the flowers do attract a lot of visitors. Some come a long way to visit the shop after hearing about it. The visitors enjoy the flowers while having a cup of coffee. Now they have planted a number of cherry stones, so if they grow well people will even be able to enjoy cherry blossoms. In addition to flowers, she has also planted tomatoes and strawberries.
Photo: Wang Chun-chieh, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者王駿杰
(Liberty Times, translated by Ethan Zhan)
新竹縣竹北市嘉興路上有一家便利商店,種植多達八十餘種花卉、盆景,花香四溢,客人購物還可賞花,相當另類!
店長馬艷萍說,她與丈夫在家常栽種花卉,半年前投資開設便利商店,結合園藝興趣,自己動手改造門市空間,陸續栽種蘭花、百合、長壽花、玫瑰、繡球花、牽牛花等,共有八十多種。
馬艷萍說,每天都要花心力施肥、澆水、整理環境,雖然辛苦,卻因此吸引許多顧客,還有民眾慕名遠道而來,邊喝咖啡邊賞花。她與丈夫還種了數棵櫻花樹苗,如栽種成功,以後還可賞櫻,除了花卉,她也種番茄、草莓。(自由時報記者王駿杰)
Taiwanese cuisine boasts a rich culture of thick soups, with various options available at street vendors or high-end restaurants. In English, this style of dish is typically called “thick soup.” Western cuisine typically uses flour, cream, or mashed vegetables to create a creamy consistency, while in Taiwan, thick soups are made by simply incorporating food starch into the soup and creating a smooth and silky texture. Tutuo fish in thick soup is such a soup with fried tutuo fish chunks, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and wood ears. 台灣羹品飲食文化豐富,無論是巷口小店或是高檔餐廳,都有提供羹料理。羹在英文稱作「濃湯」,西式濃湯是以麵粉、鮮奶油、蔬菜泥等達到濃稠的口感,台灣的羹湯用太白粉即能做出濃稠絲滑的湯頭。土魠魚羹就是在勾芡的羹湯中加入炸土魠魚塊、香菇、竹筍、木耳等食材的料理。 boast (v.) 擁有(令人驕傲的事物) consistency (n.) 濃稠度 chunk (n.) 厚塊,大塊 wood ear (n. ph.) 木耳 The star of this
Huge stretches of coral reef around the world are turning a ghostly white this year amid record warm ocean temperatures. On April 15, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed the world’s fourth mass global bleaching event is underway — with serious consequences for marine life and for the people and economies that rely on reefs. WHAT ARE CORALS? Corals are invertebrates that live in colonies. Their calcium carbonate secretions form hard and protective scaffolding that serves as a home to many colorful species of single-celled algae. The two organisms have evolved over millennia to work together, with corals providing shelter to algae,
A: So who were Hollywood’s highest-paid stars of 2023? B: No. 5 to No. 2 were: Matt Damon with US$43 million, Ryan Gosling with US$43 million, Tom Cruise with US$45 million, and Margot Robbie with US$59 million. A: Didn’t Tom Cruise top the list? B: Nope, Adam Sandler was No.1, having made US$73 million, which is about NT$2.34 billion. A: Wow, maybe I should change my career to acting. A: 好萊塢去年的片酬排行榜前幾名是誰? B: 第5到2名是︰麥特戴蒙、4300萬美元,雷恩葛斯林、4300萬美元,湯姆克魯斯、4500萬美元,瑪格羅比、5900萬美元。 A: 冠軍竟然不是阿湯哥? B: 是亞當山德勒、片酬7300萬美元,大約23.4億台幣! A: 天啊或許我也該轉行當演員啦。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
A symbol of purity and cleanliness, the color white is the standard color for coats worn by doctors. While this has been the case for well over 100 years, it hasn’t always been so. In fact, before the late 19th century, doctors wore formal black attire, which was similar to that worn by clergymen. Black was chosen for practical reasons—it hid stains from medical procedures and presented a sense of seriousness. The major reason for the color change of the doctor’s coat was to distinguish qualified, professional doctors from those with little or no medical training. Since medical science