Every year between March and May young sea turtles return to coastal waters for food. According to statistics from a sea turtle rescue center in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District, however, in the past several months there has been a considerable increase in the number of stranded sea turtles reported. This year, up until the beginning of July, there have already been 70 cases of stranded sea turtles, compared to only 20 for 2014 as a whole. Environmental activists fear that, if the situation does not improve, the sea turtles’ annual homecoming will consign many to an early death.
According to a report by the China Times, the excessive amount of garbage along the coast has caused many sea turtles to ingest trash. Many sea turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish and eat them, which causes blockages within their digestive system, and this can be fatal.
With more sea turtles in need of help, the two sea turtle rescue centers in Taiwan have both taken in more sea turtles in a critical condition than they can manage. Due to the rising number of stranded sea turtles, they have found themselves understaffed and underfunded. At the sea turtle rescue center in New Taipei City, which lacks sufficient funding, a research assistant had to visit nearby seafood stores to raise funds and collect food donations for its turtles so that they could provide enough food for the animals.
Photo: Liu Yu-hsi, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者劉禹慶
(Liberty Times, translated by Tu Yu-an)
每年三到五月年幼的海龜都會返回海岸覓食,但根據新北市貢寮海龜救傷中心統計,過去數個月來通報救援的海龜數量大幅增加,今年起至七月初已達到七十隻,而在二O一四年一整年只有二十隻。環保人士憂慮,情況若不改善,海龜每年返鄉恐成死亡之旅。
根據《中國時報》報導,因為海岸垃圾過多,常使海龜誤食。不少海龜將塑膠袋誤認為水母,吞食後造成腸胃阻塞致死。
據報導,待救海龜變多,使得台灣兩處救龜中心的加護病房呈現「爆滿」狀態,也因龜數眾多,照護人力及費用都大為增加。新北市貢寮海龜救傷中心因經費不足,研究助理不得已只好到附近漁貨店家替病龜募集餐費及食物,以免海龜斷食。
(自由時報綜合報導)
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
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into