A music concert with a difference took place this evening at Taichung’s Fulfillment Amphitheater: most of the performers were visually impaired band members and musicians. The idea of the concert — called “Listen. See,” to reflect how the visually impaired create imagery in their minds though listening — was to give the performers a chance to demonstrate their musicality and increase their exposure, in the hope that others might offer them some gigs. For them, this would be a dream come true.
Each performer has their own story to tell. Hsia Kuan-ting was born prematurely, with total blindness in both eyes. When five years old, Hsia’s parents discovered he was particularly sensitive to music, and he started to learn the piano. In order to overcome the handicap of not being able to see the piano’s keys, his teacher had to guide his finger tips to feel over each of the keys, one note at a time. While at high school, Hsia fell in love with the violin and later chose to major in the violin for both his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. His dream is to form a jazz band.
(This article was originally published on Oct. 10
Photo: Chang Ching-ya, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者張菁雅
in the Liberty Times. Translated by Edward Jones)
今晚在台中市圓滿戶外劇場有一場特別的音樂會,演出者主要是視障樂團與視障音樂工作者。這場音樂會名為「聽.見」,代表視障者由「聽」達到「見」之意象,希望藉此呈現他們在音樂上的努力,增加其曝光機會,進而請各界提供演出機會,讓他們一圓夢想。
每位演出者都有一段故事,夏官鼎因早產導致雙眼全盲,五歲時,家人發現他對音樂的敏感度特別高,開始學習鋼琴,為了克服看不到琴鍵的障礙,老師必須帶著他的十指,一個音一個音摸索。高中時,他喜愛上小提琴,大學到研究所都把小提琴當作主修,現在他的夢想是能組一個爵士樂團。(自由時報記者張菁雅/本文已於十月十日刊登)
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