Are you a dog person or a cat person? (4/5) 你是擁狗派還是擁貓派？（四）
A: I saw on TV that cats and dogs are very different, and in some cases completely opposite. For example, when a dog wags its tail, it means it’s happy, but with cats, it means they’re angry. B: Yes, that’s right. If you think a cat is happy when it does this and you go and stroke it, you want to watch out for those claws! A: Whenever I go home, our dog gives me a warm welcome, wagging his tail as if his life depended on it, and keeps licking my face, even forgetting the food in his bowl: it’s really quite touching. Cats don’t even begin to compare in that regard. B: Yes, but they just show how they feel in a different way. Cats tend to be more aloof. I think cats love their owners, too. They just pretend that they don’t care. A: 我看電視介紹說，貓跟狗的個性很不一樣，甚至有些地方是完全相反的，比如說，狗搖尾巴是表示很開心，如果換做是貓，就是在生氣！ B: 嗯說得沒錯，如果這個時候你以為貓很高興就去摸牠，小心貓爪伺候！ A: 我每次回去，我家的狗都熱烈歡迎我，好像用盡全身力氣來搖尾巴，不停舔我的臉，連飯都顧不得吃，我真的好感動啊！這點貓就遠遠比不上。 B: 對啦，牠們只是表達的方式不同，貓走的比較是高冷路線。我覺得貓也是很關心主人，只是都假裝不在乎。 （Translated by Paul Cooper, Taipei Times／台北時報林俐凱） English 英文: Chinese 中文:
Are you a dog person or a cat person? (3/5) 你是擁狗派還是擁貓派？（三）
A: I prefer dogs to cats. I think dogs are friendlier. B: Dogs are not friendly! When I was little, I was chased by a pack of dogs: the way they bared their fangs at me was terrifying! Even now, I still haven’t got over the psychological trauma. A: Cats can be scary, too! I have a friend who has a dog and a cat, and the dog is petrified of the cat. B: That’s not the same. You only hear about people being mauled to death by dogs, you never hear stories about cats mauling humans to death. A: That’s probably because some people are cruel to dogs, and make them think that all people are nasty, so when they see humans they bite them out of self-defense. A: 跟貓比起來，我比較喜歡狗，因為狗比較友善。 B: 狗才不友善咧！我小時候還被一群狗追過，牠們齜牙咧嘴的樣子好可怕！我到現在都還沒有擺脫這個陰影。 A: 貓也很兇啊！我朋友家裡養狗也養貓，那隻狗怕貓怕得要死！ B: 那不一樣吧，我們只聽過人被狗咬死，好像都沒聽過貓把人咬死的新聞。 A: 那一定是因為有人對狗殘忍，讓狗以為人都很壞，所以狗看到人才會出於自衛去咬人。 （Translated by Paul Cooper, Taipei Times／台北時報林俐凱） English 英文: Chinese 中文:
Adapted from 2014 South Korean blockbuster “Man in Love,” a Taiwanese black comedy of the same name smashed the box office on April 11, overtaking “Gatao — The Last Stray” as this year’s best-selling Taiwanese film in just 11 days by grossing over NT$160 million (US$5.6 million). Starring actor Roy Chiu and actress Ann Hsu, “Man in Love” tells the bittersweet romance of a debt collector who falls in love with the person he has been sent to collect the debt from. It is the first feature film by music video director Yin Chen-hao, who has added a variety of grassroots elements and traditional food to the movie to stir the collective memories of the audience. Meanwhile, after being postponed for months by the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korean sci-fi film “Seo Bok” finally hit the screen in Taiwan last week, three days before its global release. Starring Korean superstars Gong Yoo and Park Bo-gum, the film revolves around Seo Bok, the first human clone, who holds the secret to eternal life. This highly-anticipated movie could yet shake the throne of “Man in Love.” (Eddy Chang, Taipei Times) 台灣的黑色喜劇《當男人戀愛時》，改編自南韓二○一四年熱門電影《不標準情人》，該片四月十一日打破票房紀錄，只花了十一天就大賣超過一億六千萬（五百多萬美元），取代《角頭－浪流連》成為今年最賣座國片。 《當男人戀愛時》由演員邱澤、許瑋甯主演，是關於討債者愛上負債人的苦樂參半的故事，亦是音樂錄影帶導演殷振豪的首部劇情長片，他在片中還加入各式的本土元素及傳統小吃，以喚起觀眾共同記憶。 受武漢肺炎（新冠病毒，COVID-19）影響，南韓科幻大片《永生戰》在延遲數月之後，上週終於提早全球三天搶先在台上檔。該片由南韓兩大男神孔劉、朴寶劍主演，劇情圍繞在世上首位複製人「徐福」身上，因為他掌握著人類永生的秘密，在上映前即備受期待，可望挑戰《當男人戀愛時》票房冠軍寶座。 （台北時報張聖恩）
A: Does the cat belong to the temple? B: No. The temple acolyte says she goes there every day, but she’s afraid of strangers, and just hides in a corner. A: Doesn’t anyone feed her? B: Yes, but she doesn’t come out to eat. She eats the food I take, though! A: Wow, Her Majesty has trained you well! B: Ha, I think we have a special connection. A: 那隻貓是廟裡養的嗎？ B: 不是。廟祝說牠幾乎每天都會來，可是牠蠻怕生的，只是躲在角落。 A: 沒有人餵牠嗎？ B: 有啊，可是牠都不出來吃。不過我帶去的東西，牠都會吃耶！ A: 哇！貓皇欽點你了！ B: 哈哈，我覺得我跟那隻貓還蠻有緣份的。 （Translated by Paul Cooper, Taipei Times／台北時報林俐凱） English 英文: Chinese 中文:
With water in short supply all over Taiwan, zone-by-zone water restrictions have been implemented in Miaoli County, Taichung and the northern part of Changhua County. The Fong-Yi Group has responded to the government’s call to save water by launching a water-saving campaign in 104 communities throughout Taiwan. Any household whose water bill for March and April this year shows that it has used less water compared to the same period last year, with a reduction of more than 5 percent, will have the chance to win a luxury cookware set worth nearly NT$10,000. Taichung faces a serious water shortage, with everyone sharing in the hardship and cutting back on water use. The Fong-Yi Group says that in most cases the biggest household water users are mothers and grandmothers who use it for kitchen and housework purposes, and this is why it decided to offer luxury cookware sets as the prize. Residents have responded enthusiastically to the water-saving publicity in communities under the Fong-Yi banner by exchanging ideas and sharing tips about how to save water. For example, you can use water collected from air conditioners to water plants or mop the floor, or water from washing clothes or baths and showers to flush the toilet. Rice-washing water can be used to do the washing-up, thus reducing pollution as well as saving water. You can also sweep the floor instead of mopping it or mop the floor less frequently. A female Fong-Yi community resident surnamed Tsai says that since the water restrictions started in Taichung on April 6, with the water supply restricted to only five days in the week, she has been telling her children not to spend more than five minutes in the shower and to collect the shower water to flush the toilet. She has also been placing a small washbowl
A: Why didn’t we see you at the BBQ yesterday? B: I went to the temple. A: Heavens, since when did you become so pious? B: Actually, I went there to see the cat. A: The cat? Oh, you mean the cat that scared us half to death during the night last time? B: Oh, don’t put it like that, she’s lovely. A: 昨天烤肉，你怎麼沒來？ B: 我到廟裡去了。 A: 天哪，你什麼時候變得那麼虔誠？ B: 其實我是去看貓啦！ A: 貓？啊，就是上次半夜把我們嚇得半死的那隻貓嗎？ B: 哎呀，別這麼說，牠其實好可愛。 （Translated by Paul Cooper, Taipei Times／台北時報林俐凱） English 英文: Chinese 中文:
Opened on Feb. 5, Pingtung’s Civic Park, constructed on the site of an old paper mill belonging to Taiwan Sugar Corp. (Taisugar), last week won the Platinum Award in the 2021 MUSE Design Awards’ category of Landscape Design in the US. Sugar was once a major industry in Taiwan, and the Pingtung Sugar Factory was one of the country’s three main sugar factories, along with those in Tainan’s Hsinying District and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township. Sugarcane pulp, a by-product of sugar manufacturing, could be used as a raw material for papermaking. To meet the increasing demand for paper in Taiwan, and as part of Taisugar’s efforts to diversify, a paper mill was established in Pingtung in September 1977 to put this pulp to good use. Pingtung’s Civic Park is the first park in Taiwan made from a repurposed industrial site. Pingtung County Government redesigned the preparation pit and wastewater sedimentation tank of the old pulp mill, retaining the original wall with its rusty surface texture. The pulp has been preserved and repurposed to give the historical site a new lease of life with a modern aesthetic touch. The ingenious design has transformed parts of the existing building into a trampoline, a selfie mirror and a “landscape theater.” At night, the dream-like ambience created by the lighting and water reflections make the park a popular spot for photography and a social media check-in site. (Translated by Lin Lee-kai, Taipei Times) 以台糖紙漿廠舊址活化的屏東縣民公園二月五日開放，上週勇奪二○二一美國「繆思女神獎盃」景觀設計類「鉑金獎」。 台灣糖業盛極一時，屏東糖廠曾與台南新營、雲林虎尾並列三大總廠，製糖所產生的大量蔗渣，是造紙的絕佳原料。隨著時代演變，台灣文化用紙需求增加，台糖開始多角化經營，於一九七七年九月興建屏東紙漿廠。 屏東縣民公園為台灣第一座工業遺址的公園。縣府將舊紙漿廠的備料地坑與廢水沉澱池重新規畫設計，保留了原始牆面紋理、輔以鏽化地標意象，保留紙漿生產製程場域的活化空間，讓歷史能夠呈現，又具有現代的美感，巧妙設計變成彈跳床、鏡面自拍，以及「地景劇場」，令人耳目一新，夜間燈光更營造出夢幻打卡景點，成為最美的水與光的影像。 （自由時報記者邱芷柔、葉永騫）
Taiwan’s national drink, pearl milk tea, has taken the world by storm in recent years, and it is the addition of tapioca balls — also known variously as “pearls,” “boba” and “bubbles” — that creates the beverage’s unique flavor and textural experience. However, foreign media are reporting that logistical delays have caused both Taiwan-produced tapioca balls and tapioca powder from Thailand to be stuck inside shipping containers as the shipments await customs approval. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the global shipping industry, goods and commodities shipped from Asia, including Taiwan and Thailand, have become held up at US ports, caught up in a backlog of unprocessed shipments. This has led to shortages of some raw materials, causing many US drinks vendors to grumble nonstop. One such vendor has fumed that with no tapioca balls, many customers will not set foot inside the shop to buy a drink. Oliver Yoon, global vice president of sales and marketing at Boba Direct, a pearl milk tea product supplier based in Arlington Heights, Illinois, US, says that about one month ago the company began to experience shortages of raw materials. Yoon adds that it is a nationwide crisis and says he expects the situation will not begin to improve until the end of the month. Tea & Others shop owner Alex Ou says some customers will not buy a drink if the shop has run out of boba, adding: “They are literally here for the boba.” Ou says he hopes that customers can be patient, since the shortage of raw materials is only temporary. Nonetheless, it is understandable that this is a depressing time for many businesses, adds Ou. According to California-based supplier US Boba Co, 99 percent of boba comes from overseas, and although the company has a boba factory in the US,
B: The other good thing about the apartment we saw is that it is unfurnished. It has a refrigerator and washing machine, but that’s it. A: Why is that a good thing? I thought you would want it to be furnished, so you didn’t have to fork out for new furniture. B: We own most of what we need. We have a bed, sofa, dining table, chairs and a chest of drawers from the last apartment. A: It’s all good then. Don’t forget to ask about whether there is a management fee, and remember that you will need to pay the agent: I think they usually ask for half a month’s rent. B: 我們去看的那間公寓，它的另一個優點是不附傢俱，只有冰箱和洗衣機。 A: 為什麼這算優點啊？我以為你希望它附傢俱，這樣就不用自己花錢買新的了。 B: 需要用的，我們大部分都有了。我們有床、沙發、餐桌、五斗櫃，是從上一間公寓搬過來的。 A: 那這樣就沒問題了。別忘記問是不是需要繳管理費，而且你也需要付仲介費，費用通常是半個月的房租。 （Paul Cooper, Taipei Times／台北時報林俐凱譯） English 英文: Chinese 中文:
B: We went to view an apartment yesterday. It checked all the boxes for me, but my partner was not entirely convinced. A: Well, it’s an important decision. You will have to give it a lot of thought before you take the plunge. B: I know. It has a modern kitchen with newly fitted units and a spacious bathroom. All the walls are clean and there is plenty of storage in the bedrooms. A: It sounds pretty good to me. Why was your partner undecided? B: The main bedroom overlooks a main road. It could be quite noisy at night. We need to go back after dark to see if the noise levels are acceptable. B: 我們昨天去看了一間公寓，我需要的條件它都符合了，可是我另一半不太滿意。 A: 租房子是重要的決定，出手之前要想清楚。 B: 我知道。它有現代化的廚房，設備都是新的，還有空間寬敞的浴室。牆壁都很乾淨，而且臥室裡有很多收納空間。 A: 這聽起來很不錯啊？你另一半還要考慮什麼？ B: 那個主臥室旁邊底下是一條大馬路，晚上可能會蠻吵的。我們需要在天黑以後再去一次，看看噪音是不是在能接受的範圍內。 （Paul Cooper, Taipei Times／台北時報林俐凱譯） English 英文: Chinese 中文:
A: How are you looking? Are you walking around neighborhoods you like and seeing if people have placed signs in their windows? B: No, we’re looking online, filtering for neighborhoods we would want to live in and setting the range we are willing to pay. A: Do you need to specify what kind of apartment you’re searching for? B: Yes. We’ve checked the boxes for a new building with an elevator, for at least two rooms and a balcony, and at least 20 ping. We need space for the dogs. A: You have dogs? Then you’d better also check whether the landlord will accept pets. A: 你們是怎麼找房子的？是到你想租的區域走一走，看有沒有人把出租的廣告貼在窗子上嗎？ B: 不是，我們是上網找的，用我們想住的地方來搜尋，然後設定價格區間。 A: 你需要具體說明要找怎樣的公寓嗎？ B: 需要。我們勾選了有電梯的新房子、最少有兩個房間、有陽台，而且面積至少二十坪，我們需要養狗的空間。 A: 你有狗啊？那你最好也要跟房東確認一下能不能養寵物。 （Paul Cooper, Taipei Times／台北時報林俐凱譯） English 英文: Chinese 中文:
With the market for “Boys’ Love” (BL) dramas continuing to boom in Asia, the “Korean wave” is catching up with this trend. Despite the sensitivity surrounding LGBT issues, the first Korean BL series “Where Your Eyes Linger” was released online in May last year, followed by several BL shows within less than a year — including the hit drama “To My Star.” Starring actors Son Woo-hyun and Kim Kang-min, “To My Star” tells the romance of a free-spirited superstar and a straight-faced chef. Since the nine-episode mini series premiered in January, the adorable couple has caught the attention of fans in Taiwan and many other Asian countries and, at the request of Asian fans, the entire series has been combined into a movie version, with the DVD hitting the Taiwanese market last week. Meanwhile, three local BL dramas are currently airing in Taiwan, while LGBT video platform GagaOOLala’s new BL drama “Papa & Daddy” is set to debut on Friday next week, showing that the “pink economy” continues to thrive. (Eddy Chang, Taipei Times) 隨著「BL」劇（男男戀）在亞洲市場相繼爆發，「韓流」影視也終於跟上這股潮流。雖然同志議題在社會中較敏感，南韓的首部BL網劇《在你的視線停留》仍在去年五月推出，隨後不到一年有多部作品跟進——其中包括人氣影集《致我的星星》。 《致我的星星》由韓星孫宇賢、金江珉主演，是自由奔放的巨星和外冷內熱的廚師的故事。這部共九集的迷你網劇自一月開播後，這對可愛的情侶便吸引了台灣及亞洲各國粉絲的目光。為回應亞洲影迷要求，片商還將九集內容集結成電影版發行，DVD已於上週在台開賣。 同時，三部本土BL劇目前正在台灣熱映，同志影音平台GagaOOLala的新劇《酷蓋爸爸》亦將於下週五加入戰局，顯示跟同志題材相關的「彩虹經濟」持續升溫。 （台北時報張聖恩）
A: How much are you willing to pay for rent? B: Well, we’re thinking of NT$20,000 per month, but we could stretch it to NT$25,000. A: I think you might have to aim slightly higher. I doubt you’ll find a nice place for that. You could try, but you might be looking for a long time. B: I’m happy to spend a good whack of my salary on renting a comfortable apartment, but my partner would prefer to rent a smaller place and save to buy later on. A: 你房租預算是多少？ B: 嗯，我們大概預估月租兩萬，不過也可以提高到兩萬五啦。 A: 我覺得你可能需要把預算稍微調高一點，不然你這種預算大概找不到什麼好房子。你還是可以用這個價位試試看啦，不過可能要花很長的時間才找得到。 B: 我是很願意砸薪水來租一間住起來舒服的公寓，可是我的另一半寧可租小一點的房子，把錢省下來以後買房。 （Paul Cooper, Taipei Times／台北時報林俐凱譯） English 英文: Chinese 中文:
The four-day Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend is over. According to the Tainan City Government Fire Bureau, there were 143 fires in cemeteries and wooded areas during the same period around Tomb Sweeping Day last year. To reduce the occurrence of cemetery fires and save firefighters from getting exhausted as they rush around putting out fires, the Fire Bureau, as well as advising the public how to prevent fires, has also developed several effective tools for preventing and fighting fires in cemeteries, including drone broadcasts, leaf-blower fire extinguishers and fire-extinguishing brooms, which were all developed inexpensively. The Fire Bureau says that these firefighting tools and strategies proved effective during this year’s Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend, during which cemetery, wood and scrub fires have been reduced to 104 incidents. The Fire Bureau believes that the “three uses” demanded by Mayor Huang Wei-che, namely using big data to identify hotspots, using technology to assist in rescue operations and using case studies to reinforce public information, have proven effective at preventing and extinguishing fires. The Police Bureau’s Traffic Police Corps also says that because of the continued threat of COVID-19 outbreaks, with regard to people and vehicles involved in tomb sweeping during this year’s festival, traffic flows around Tainan’s 30 main cemeteries and columbaria were all significantly down on last year, but there were still large numbers of visitors and vehicles at 12 major scenic areas within the jurisdiction. The Police Bureau set up a total of 178 traffic control posts and mobilized 2,495 police officers to maintain the free flow of traffic around cemeteries, scenic areas and all main roads. To strengthen disaster prevention around Tomb Sweeping Day this year, the city government’s Bureau of Civil Affairs Bureau and district offices reduced the accumulation of combustible materials ahead of time by weeding public
A: How’s the house-hunting going? Have you found yourself a new apartment yet? B: We’ve just started looking, but we’re not having too much luck. A: Where are you looking? B: Anywhere will do, to be honest, so long as it’s near an MRT station. I would prefer to be reasonably close to work. A: 你房子找得怎麼樣了？找到新公寓了嗎？ B: 我們才剛開始找，可是手氣不太好。 A: 你要找的是哪裡的房子啊？ B: 其實地點不拘，只要離捷運站近就可以了。我比較偏向找離我上班地點近一點的地方。 （Paul Cooper, Taipei Times／台北時報林俐凱譯） English 英文: Chinese 中文:
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, with nearly 600 people killed in a crackdown on anti-coup protests — nearly 50 of the dead were children — and more than 2,700 arrested. The Committee for Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) — a group of MPs from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party — said on Wednesday last week that its lawyers would meet UN investigators to discuss alleged atrocities committed by the junta. “CRPH has received 180,000 items of evidence. This evidence shows widescale abuses of human rights by the military,” the group said in a statement. They include more than 540 extrajudicial executions, 10 deaths of prisoners in custody, torture, illegal detentions and disproportionate use of force against peaceful protests, the statement said. As well as breaking up protests and making arrests, the security forces have also sought to shut off news of the crisis. Internet access has been throttled, and independent media outlets raided and shut down. The military insists that it is responding proportionately to what it says are violent, armed protesters. It has defended seizing power, pointing to allegations of voting fraud in the election in November last year which Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won comfortably. The growing bloodshed has prompted warnings that Myanmar could slide into broader civil conflict, particularly after 10 ethnic rebel armies came out in support of the protest movement. (AFP) 緬甸自從二月一日軍方將文職領導人翁山蘇姬趕下台以來，一直處於動蕩中，軍方鎮壓反政變抗議活動，已造成近六百人喪生──其中近五十人為兒童，逾兩千七百人被捕。 由翁山蘇姬所屬政黨之國會議員所組成的「緬甸聯邦議會代表委員會」（CRPH）上週三表示，其律師將與聯合國調查人員會面，討論軍政府被控所犯之暴行。 「緬甸聯邦議會代表委員會已收到十八萬項證據。證據表明，軍方大規模侵犯人權」，該委員會在一份聲明中表示。聲明說，這些事件包括五百四十多起非法處決、十名在押囚犯死亡、酷刑、非法拘禁，以及對和平抗議活動過度使用武力。 除了驅散抗議活動與逮捕民眾，安全部隊還試圖封鎖有關此危機情勢之消息；網路連線受到箝制，獨立媒體管道被查抄並關閉。 軍方堅稱，它是在對其所謂的暴力武裝抗議者做出適當反應，並辯稱，軍方奪取政權是由於翁山蘇姬所屬之政黨在去年十一月的選舉中，因作票而輕鬆勝選。 日益嚴重的流血事件讓人們警覺，緬甸可能會陷入範圍更廣的內戰，尤其是在十個少數民族叛軍表態支持抗議運動後。 （台北時報林俐凱編譯）
With the nation in the middle of a long period of drought, the water level at Sun Moon Lake has dropped significantly, exposing numerous objects that had been sitting at the bottom of the lake. One visitor who incautiously dropped his iPhone into the lake one year ago was recently reacquainted with his long-lost gadget as a result of the severe drought. The tourist, surnamed Chen, shared the news on the Facebook group “Baofei Commune.” Chen says he took part in a stand up paddle board activity one year ago at Sun Moon Lake. Chen says that he fell into the water many times and on one of these occasions, while his attention was averted, the iPhone that was hung around his neck fell into the lake. Chen says that after he realized he had lost his phone he felt so dejected that he had no desire to continue paddle boarding. However, one year later Chen was astounded to receive a message from the paddle boarding company informing him that his phone had been found. Chen was shocked and overjoyed, calling it a miracle. Because Chen had placed the iPhone inside a waterproof protective case, not only had the phone not been damaged by water, but, after connecting the charging cable, Chen was able to turn it on and use the device as if nothing had happened. Chen was so surprised that he decided to share the experience on Facebook. The Nantou County Sun Moon Lake Water Tourism and Recreation Development Association has confirmed Chen’s account, stating that the lake’s water level has recently fallen significantly because of the severe drought. Water has drained out of the stand up paddle boarding recreation area, which necessitated the association to rearrange the rows of kickboards and canoes moored on floating docks on the shoreside sandbanks.
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