Pingtung City’s Chienkuo Elementary School threw a costume party at Christmas last year, and Ku Yu-kai, a kindergarten student, drew everybody’s attention by transforming himself into Optimus Prime, a Transformers character. His smart suit was tailor-made by his father, Ku Hsin-wei, who spent three months on the production with ivory board, cardboard and foam. It cost him less than NT$1,000 to get it done.
Ku Hsin-wei says both he and his son loved the Transformers, but since the elegant party costumes on the market were pricey and none of the transformer suits fit his son, he decided to make one himself. After the decision was made, he started to search for relevant information on the Internet.
“We had to put up with the mess in the house,” said Ku Hsin-wei, smilingly. The production process required constant modification; as a result, scraps of paper were constantly flying around in the house. Having his family endure the messy living environment was the most challenging part of making the Optimus Prime outfit.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
照片：自由時報記者邱芷柔攝
Ku Hsin-wei is a professional soldier. He made use of his skills when he was off-duty or on holiday. His work not only attracted everyone’s attention in the party, it also made several other parents want to learn the craft from him. He said that although a ready-made suit might be handy, a hands-on production experience can not only improve parent-child relationships, it can also help children understand that if you have the will, you can make your dreams come true.
(Liberty Times, translated by Ethan Zhan)
Photo courtesy of Ku Hsin-wei
照片：辜鑫緯提供
屏東市建國國小去年舉辦造型耶誕派對，幼兒園學童辜昱愷身著變形金剛大黃蜂，吸引全場目光。原來他的一身勁裝是出自爸爸辜鑫緯的巧手。辜鑫緯花三個月的時間為兒子量身打造，以西卡紙、厚紙板及泡棉為材料製作，不到一千元就搞定。
辜鑫緯說，他和兒子都喜歡變形金剛，但市面上精緻的派對服裝不僅昂貴，也沒有大小適中的變形金剛服飾，所以他決定自己動手做。決定之後，他就開始上網找相關資料。
「必須忍受家裡髒亂。」辜鑫緯笑說。製作過程中必須不斷修改，因此家裡常常紙屑亂飛。讓家人忍受住家髒亂，是打造大黃蜂最困難的部分。
辜鑫緯是職業軍人，利用下班與休假時間發揮巧手功力，不僅在派對中吸引全場目光，不少家長還打算向他拜師學藝。他說，現成的服飾雖然方便，但親自動手做的過程除了增進親子關係，也能讓孩子知道，只要有心，夢想就能實現。
〔自由時報記者邱芷柔／屏東報導〕
Candles were made from animal fats in ancient times. As knowledge and materials improved, people began making them with beeswax and vegetable wax, which burned more cleanly and produced less odor. Before __1__ lighting, candles were considered highly valuable. In many religions, they came to symbolize life and wisdom. Even today, candles are frequently used in religious rituals and for cultural celebrations. The __2__ toward industrial candle making began in 1834, when Joseph Morgan patented a machine that could produce molded candles without interruption. His __3__ marked the start of mechanized production, though for many decades, candles were still
Every few years, the World Baseball Classic (WBC) offers sports fans a real World Series. At its finest, as in the shocking upset on Tuesday last week of the US team by Italy, the games generate the kind of electricity fans feel at the FIFA World Cup. That’s exactly how Major League Baseball (MLB), which owns the WBC, wants it. The tournament, first played in 2006, was designed to boost the league’s profile beyond North America and help it become a global game. In most respects, it’s done better than expected. Yet as the WBC grows, the structure, timing and staging of
Jane Goodall, the pioneering scientist whose groundbreaking research changed our understanding of chimpanzees and reshaped the study of animal behavior, has died at the age of 91. The Jane Goodall Institute confirmed that she passed away from natural causes in California in October 2025 while on a speaking tour. Born in England, Goodall gained international fame in the 1960s after traveling to Tanzania to study wild chimpanzees under the guidance of anthropologist Louis Leakey. At the time, she had no formal scientific training, yet she lived among the animals and recorded their behavior in remarkable detail. Her discovery that
Dos & Don’ts — 想想看，這句話英語該怎麼說？ 1. 她德語說得和她老師一樣流利。 ˇ Her German is as fluent as her teacher’s. ˇ She speaks German as fluently as her teacher (does). χ Her German is as fluent as her teacher. 註︰這裏所比的是「她的德語」和「她老師的德語」，而不是把她的德語和她的老師這個人相比，所以必須說 her teacher’s，即 her teacher’s German。或把「她說德語」和「她老師說德語」比較。 2. 一般認為北部人生活步調和南部人不同。 ˇ The people of the North are generally described as different from those of the South in terms of pace of life. χ The people of the North are generally described as different from the South in terms of pace of life. 註︰所不同者是北部人和南部人，而不是北部人和南部地區的比較，所以應加 those of，those 代替 the people，以免重複。 3. 他的新小說和上一本風格不同。 ˇ The style of his new novel is different from that of his last one. ˇ His new
RSS