The Tests for the Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students are scheduled to kick off next month. On April 17, the Dawang Tiangong Temple in Tainan’s Yongkang District held a ceremony to pray for students taking the tests. Many parents hoping to receive divine blessings attended the event with their children.
This is the third straight year in which the Dawang Tiangong Temple has held a blessing ceremony in April under the theme of “enlightening the student test-takers.” Temple chairman Wang Da-ming says the ceremony intends to help the students get admission to their desired schools by invoking the five deities of study, including Lord Wenchang, worshiped at the temple. Nearly a thousand people who signed up for the ceremony arrived continuously throughout the day.
Students from the nearby Dawang Junior High School, led by school principal Yang Li-chun, came to take part in the ceremony. Yang emphasized that students were free to decide whether to attend the ceremony or not, according to their own religious beliefs. He hoped the blessings from the gods would help students focus on preparing for the tests and keep them calm during the exam so that they can fully demonstrate their learning and earn good grades.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者吳俊鋒
The temple has also prepared a variety of offerings, each having a different symbolic meaning. Among the impressive array of offerings were scallions, celery, bamboo shoots, stuffed buns and rice dumplings, respectively symbolizing intelligence, love for learning, success, school admission and winning. There were also osmanthus for wealth, kumquat leaves for good fortune, salad oil for hard work, white radish for good omens and sugar cane for promotion.
(Liberty Times, translated by Yu-an Tu)
國中教育會考下個月登場,台南市永康區大灣天公廟四月十七日為應試的學生們舉辦祈福法會,不少家長帶著孩子參加,希望神明保佑。
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者吳俊鋒
大灣天公廟已連續第三年在四月份舉辦以「開竅考生」為主題的祈福大典。該廟董事長王大明表示,主要是透過法會,恭請供奉的五文昌帝君降臨,保佑眾學子金榜題名,有近千人報名,陸續前來參拜。
附近的大灣中學,由校長楊力鈞帶隊參拜,他強調這場祈福活動基於考生的個人信仰,採自由報名。他希望考生能在神明加持下專心準備考試,並冷靜應試,充分發揮實力取得好成績。
廟方也準備各具寓意的供品,有象徵「聰明」的蔥、「勤學」的芹菜、「順利」的竹筍、「包上」的包子、「包中」的粽子、「貴氣」的桂花、「吉利」的金桔葉、「加油」的沙拉油、「好彩頭」的白蘿蔔,以及「節節高昇」的甘蔗等,琳瑯滿目。(自由時報記者吳俊鋒)
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