On Monday last week Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan commended students who won prizes in the Piano Ranking Association (PIARA) competition in Hamamatsu, Japan and the Hong Kong-Asia Piano Open Competition, as well as their coaches. Wu Yen-ni, a third-grade student at Chung Hsing Junior High School, beat more than 100 other talented pianists from various Asian countries to take second place in the Hong Kong-Asia Piano Open Competition, and she also won first place in this year’s music class admission exam for northern Taiwan.
Wu started learning to play the piano when she was four years old. Laughing, she says that at first she only liked playing the piano, but not practicing. Only in the fifth grade of elementary school, when she met her inspirational teacher Hsiao Su-yin, did she change her attitude to the piano, she says. In the Hong Kong competition, her talent stood out among more than 100 contestants from Taiwan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea, taking her into the finals, where she won second place in the Beethoven sonata section. She will soon continue her studies at Wu-Ling Senior High School, where she will attend music classes.
“I am not gifted, so I just have to practice harder,” says Wu modestly. She says that playing the piano is a joy, but practicing entails a lot of hard work. She practices for three hours or more every day after she goes home, and seven or eight hours on weekends and holidays.
(Liberty Times, translated by Julian Clegg)
Photo: Lin Chin, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者林近
桃園市長鄭文燦上週一表揚「日本濱松PIARA鋼琴大賽」與「香港亞洲鋼琴公開賽」獲獎學生及指導教師,中興國中三年級的吳彥妮打敗上百位亞洲各國的鋼琴好手,在「香港亞洲鋼琴公開賽」榮獲第二名,她也是今年北區音樂班甄試榜首。
吳彥妮從四歲起學鋼琴,她笑說,原本只是喜歡彈鋼琴,但不喜歡練鋼琴,直到小學五年級遇到啟蒙恩師蕭夙吟,才改變她對鋼琴的態度;她這次從上百名來自台灣、中國、新加坡、香港及韓國等地的選手脫穎而出,闖進決賽拿下貝多芬奏鳴曲組第二名。她將到武陵高中音樂班就讀。
「我沒有天分,所以我只能更努力地練習!」吳彥妮謙虛地說,彈鋼琴很快樂,但練習的過程很辛苦,平日放學回家後都練習三小時以上,假日更練習七到八小時。
(自由時報記者林近)
A: Wow, three Taiwanese restaurants just won the 2024 “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants” awards. B: Awesome! Which three restaurants? A: Taipei’s Logy at No. 22 and MUME at No. 34, and Taichung’s JL Studio at No. 33. B: Actually, there are many more great establishments in Taipei. How about other Asian cities? A: Singapore claimed nine spots this year, making it Asia’s new “food capital.” A: 2024「亞洲50最佳餐廳」名單揭曉了,台灣有3家餐廳上榜。 B: 好厲害,哪3家? A: 台北的Logy和MUME分獲第22和34名,台中的JL Studio獲第33名! B: 其實台北還有很多好餐廳,那其他的亞洲城市呢? A: 新加坡今年入選9家,可說是亞洲美食之都。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Let’s explore another delicacy primarily known to Tainan locals: floating milkfish in thick soup. Despite its peculiar name, this dish is another Tainan specialty that showcases the popularity of milkfish, which is made into fish paste and served in thick soup. Unlike the version with tutuo fish, which also adds other ingredients to its thick soup, the floating milkfish version primarily features the “floating fish” itself in its thick soup, ensuring that the fish paste remains the star of the dish. 讓我們來探索另一道台南人熟悉的美食:浮水魚羹。這道菜名奇特的美食,再再展現了台南虱目魚料理的多樣。浮水魚羹是用虱目魚漿做成的羹品,雖然和𩵚魠魚羹一樣是羹湯,但不像𩵚魠魚羹會在湯中加入其他食材,而是讓虱目魚漿成為這道料理的主角。 peculiar (adj.) 獨特的;古怪的 The belly of a milkfish is considered the most
The practice of freezing embryos as part of in vitro fertilization (IVF) was thrown into chaos in Alabama this year, when the state supreme court ruled that such embryos should be considered children, exposing clinics to wrongful death claims in the event they are destroyed in the thawing process. In 2021, more than 80 percent of US IVF procedures involved the transfer of frozen embryos, according to a recent report by the US Department of Health and Human Services. HOW IS EMBRYO FREEZING USED IN IVF? IVF uses high doses of hormones to stimulate ovaries to produce as many eggs as possible. Once
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