Airport amenities
As a researcher who has investigated the role of self-selected leisure reading for the past three decades, I was, at first, very happy to see that there is a reading zone at the Taipei airport (at Gate C-5, Eva Airlines).
Our research has concluded that leisure reading has a powerful effect on both first and second-language development: Those who read a great deal on their own develop large vocabularies, good writing style, better grammar, and learn a lot about a wide variety of topics. The reading zone at C-5 seems to be a strong endorsement of pleasure reading.
My inspection of the area on two occasions, about 10 days apart, showed, however, that nobody sitting in the area was reading any of the books displayed.
I noticed that the waiting passengers were not sitting around bored. They had their own reading material, were talking, or were busy with their computers.
My concern is that the lack of interest in the reading zone (admittedly based on two brief observations) will be interpreted as a lack of interest in reading.
This is not the correct interpretation. There are good reasons why waiting passengers were not reading the material displayed.
About 99 percent of what was displayed were books, and most were novels. There were very few magazines. Reading zone users are not allowed to take books out of the reading zone area: They have to be returned. Travelers waiting for a flight are not going to start reading a novel that they certainly cannot finish during the typical waiting period.
Taipei airport should keep the reading zone, but include more “quick reads,” especially magazines. Passengers should be allowed to borrow books and return them at their destination.
Travelers about to get on long flights who forgot to pack a book will be grateful. And publishers might want to donate the opening chapter of some of their newest books, especially books available in airport bookstores at the passengers’ destination.
Stephen Krashen
Professor emeritus,
University of Southern California
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS