Meet Kathleen the mouse and Mark the elephant. Kathleen is very brave and likes adventure, but Mark is very shy and scared of many things. But friends stay together, so Mark follows Kathleen wherever she goes. Sometimes they get into some very sticky situations.
“New Skates”
Kathleen was excited. She had bought Mark a present. The only problem was, he was still sleeping. And because he wasn’t awake, he couldn’t see his present. If he didn’t see his present, they couldn’t go outside and play with it.
Kathleen stood outside Mark’s door and listened to him snoring. Then the snoring stopped. She heard a crash.
“Yay!” she yelled. Kathleen knew that the crashing sound meant that Mark had found his present.
“Kathleen!” he yelled. “Why did I trip over a pair of skates?!”
“Suprise!” she said. “I bought you a present. I bought myself one too!” she laughed. “Hurry up and come outside so we can play with our new skates.”
Thirty minutes later, Kathleen and Mark were sitting on a bench in the park with their new skates on.
“Ready?” Kathleen asked as she stood up.
“No.” Mark answered, looking scared. “I tripped over the skates before I even put them on my feet. What do you think will happen if I try to move when I’m actually wearing them?” he asked.
Kathleen pulled on his trunk and tried to skate away. “Let’s GO!” she said.
“I really don’t know about this,” said Mark, but he stood up and skated shakily after her. (Kayleen Hartman, staff writer)
凱薩琳很興奮，她買了一件禮物給馬克，問題是，馬克還在睡覺，他還沒醒來，所以沒辦法看見他的禮物，如果他沒看到他的禮物，他們就沒辦法到外面玩。
凱薩琳站在馬克的門外，聽他打鼾。接著，打鼾聲停止了，她聽見了撞擊聲。
「耶！」她高呼，凱薩琳知道那撞擊聲表示馬克已經發現了他的禮物。
「凱薩琳！」他大聲嚷嚷，「為什麼我被一雙溜冰鞋絆倒？」
「驚喜！」她說，「我買給你一份禮物，也買給我自己一份。」凱薩琳笑著。「趕快到外面來，這樣我們就可以玩新的溜冰鞋。」
三十分鐘後，凱薩琳和馬克穿著他們新的溜冰鞋，坐在公園的板凳上。
「準備好了嗎？」凱薩琳起身問馬克。
「不。」馬克回答，看起來很害怕的樣子。「我在還沒穿上溜冰鞋前就被它絆倒，如果我真的穿上它移動，你覺得會發生什麼事？」他問。
凱薩琳拉著他的象鼻，想要溜去別處。「我們走！」她說。
「我不確定我是否該這麼做。」馬克說著，但他還是起身，搖搖晃晃地跟著凱薩琳溜。 （翻譯：鄭湘儀）
Street lights are often taken for granted until a power outage plunges the world into darkness. When that happens, the value of these lighting installations becomes evident as the world turns into a more dangerous place for pedestrians and motorists alike. The Chinese could claim to be the first to have constructed a crude type of street light. Around 500 BC, residents of Beijing employed a type of street lamp that used hollow bamboo pipes and natural gas vents to create burning torches. Later, ancient Romans adopted lamps fueled by vegetable oil, which relied on slaves to light and
A: Who else is on Billboard’s list: “The 25 greatest pop stars of the 21st Century?” B: No. 15 to 6 are: Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Usher, Adele, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Kanye West and Britney Spears. A: I can’t believe that Adele’s only at No. 10. B: No. 5 to 1 are: Lady Gaga, Drake, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Beyonce. A: Well, they surely deserve the honor. A: 《告示牌》雜誌的「21世紀最偉大的25位流行歌手」，還有誰上榜啊？ B: 第15至6名是：麥莉希拉、大賈斯汀、妮姬米娜、阿姆、亞瑟小子、愛黛兒、亞莉安娜、小賈斯汀、肯伊威斯特、小甜甜布蘭妮。 A: 真不敢相信愛黛兒只排第10名。 B: 第5至1名是：女神卡卡、德瑞克、蕾哈娜、泰勒絲、碧昂絲。 A: 這幾位真是實至名歸！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
A: The 21st Century is now entering its 25th year. B: So Billboard has released a list: “The 25 greatest pop stars of the 21st Century.” A: Who are the greatest pop singers? B: No. 25 to 16 are: Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran, Bad Bunny, One Direction, Lil Wayne, Bruno Mars, BTS, The Weeknd, Shakira and Jay-Z. A: Wow, my favorite K-pop supergroup BTS has made it to the list. A: 21世紀正在邁入第25個年頭了。 B: 《告示牌》雜誌特別公布：「21世紀最偉大的25位流行歌手」。 A: 最偉大的歌手有哪些？ B: 第25至16名是：凱蒂佩芮、紅髮艾德、壞痞兔、1世代、小韋恩、火星人布魯諾、防彈少年團（BTS）、威肯、夏奇拉、Jay-Z。 A: 哇，我最愛的韓流天團BTS也上榜了！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
Spoiler alert and shift blame 破梗&甩鍋 在新冠疫情期間，無論是因為封城 (lockdown) 還是居家隔離 (self-isolation at home)，人們關在家中使用網路的時間大增。這也讓一些原本只存在於網路論壇的用語廣為普及。我們來談一下破梗 (spoiler alert) 與甩鍋 (shift blame) 這兩個用語。 有位古典文學教授 Joel Christensen 針對領導統御與疫情控制寫了一篇以古喻今、相當深入的文章：“Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales”，文中出現一些講法，可用來翻譯上述的流行語： In the 5th century B.C., the playwright Sophocles begins Oedipus Tyrannos with the title character struggling to identify the cause of a plague striking his city, Thebes. (Spoiler alert: It’s his own bad leadership.) (Joel Christensen, “Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales,” The Conversation, March 12, 2020) 作者提到 Oedipus（伊底帕斯）想找出瘟疫何以降臨他的城邦的緣由，加了一句：Spoiler alert: It’s his own bad leadership.（破梗：領導無方）。Spoiler alert 就是「破梗」，如果用在有人洩漏電影劇情的情境中，也可以翻作「小心爆雷」或「劇透警告」。疫情之下，在家看影集、電影成了很多人的娛樂，但要小心劇透 (spoilers)，很多 YouTube 上的影評在開頭也都會說 Spoiler alert!，警告還沒看過電影的觀眾小心爆雷、劇透。 至於「甩鍋」，源自大陸網民用語，通常意指某人犯了錯之後想推卸責任、轉移焦點、甚至讓別人背黑鍋的做法。疫情爆發後，相關網路資訊量爆增，許多中國網民也想找人為這場疫情負責，紛紛呼籲地方政府首長、地方黨書記不要「甩鍋」。 其實，在古代文學《奧德賽》中，就有「將自己的責任怪罪眾神」的說法，試用時下流行的「甩鍋」來重新翻譯： Humans are always blaming the gods for their suffering, but they experience
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