A prankster dropped thousands of colored plastic balls down the Spanish Steps in Rome last week.
Graziano Cecchini said he had dropped more than 500,000 balls down the Spanish Steps because he is unhappy with Italy's current social and political problems.
Cecchini said that the prank was art to show the problem "we have in Italy - the lies that they tell us."
PHOTO:AFP
Bemused passers-by, including many tourists, watched as city street-sweepers tried to collect the balls bouncing down the Steps. The Steps lead to the Piazza di Spagna or Spain Square.
"At last some color!" one local Roman watching the scene on a gray winter's day said. Several tourists kept some of the balls for themselves, maybe as an unusual souvenir from the Italian capital.
"A harmless cultural jest," is how Rome's culture superintendent, Silvio Di Francia described Cecchini's action.
But not everyone was amused. Police might charge Cecchini and two helpers with "disrupting public service ." (DPA)
上週,一名惡作劇的人從羅馬的西班牙台階傾倒了無數顆彩色塑膠小球。
葛濟安諾.薩奇尼說,因為不滿義大利當前諸多社會和政治問題,才會從西班牙台階上倒下超過五十萬顆球。
薩奇尼說這次惡搞是一種藝術,目的在凸顯「義大利面臨的問題─政客對人民撒謊」。
許多路過民眾和遊客看到此景都呆住了,他們看著羅馬市清潔人員努力撿起在台階彈跳的彩球;西班牙台階向上走會通往「the Piazza di Spagna(西班牙廣場)」。
「終於有些色彩了!」羅馬當地一位民眾看著這幕景象對比當天陰晦的天色。好幾名遊客撿拾彩球,或許是想作為義大利首都之行的獨特紀念品。
「一個無傷大雅的文化玩笑」,羅馬市文化局長希維爾.迪.法蘭西亞這麼形容薩奇尼這次的行為。
但並非人人都覺得這次惡搞很有趣;警方可能會依「妨礙社會秩序」罪名法辦薩奇尼和他的兩位幫手。(德通社/翻譯:袁星塵)
Chinese startup DeepSeek’s launch of its latest AI models, which it says are on a par or better than industry-leading models in the US at a fraction of the cost, is threatening to upset the technology world order. The company has attracted attention in global AI circles after writing in a paper last month that the training of DeepSeek-V3 required less than US$6 million worth of computing power from Nvidia H800 chips. DeepSeek’s AI Assistant, powered by DeepSeek-V3, has overtaken rival ChatGPT to become the top-rated free application available on Apple’s App Store in the US. This has raised doubts about the reasoning
Recently, the Iraq parliament’s preliminary approval of a controversial proposal to drastically lower the legal marriage age for girls from 18 to nine has sparked widespread concern. This move has drawn strong reactions both domestically and internationally, as many worry it will exacerbate child marriage issues and severely infringe upon women’s rights. At the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994, Iraq explicitly prohibited the legalization of child marriage. Currently, the legal marriage age for both men and women is 18, although women can marry at 15 with a guardian’s consent. The newly proposed amendment to the Personal
A: Any plans for Valentine’s Day tomorrow? B: I’ll go to karaoke with a group of fans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the late pop diva Whitney Houston’s debut. A: Sounds like fun. B: She released her eponymous album “Whitney Houston” on Feb. 14, 1985, launching a glorious career that spanned over four decades. A: Can I join you for karaoke? A: 明天情人節你要幹嘛? B: 我要和一群歌迷去KTV,慶祝流行天后惠妮休斯頓出道40週年! A: 哇好像很好玩。 B: 她在1985年2月14日發行同名專輯《惠妮休斯頓》,並開啟了輝煌的40年演藝生涯。 A: 我能跟你一起去KTV嗎? (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
A: I remember that the late pop diva Whitney Houston’s 1985 debut album “Whitney Houston” is a diamond album, meaning it sold over 10 million units in the US. B: Her 1987 album “Whitney” and 1992 soundtrack “The Bodyguard” have also reached diamond status, making her the only black singer with three diamond albums. A: Many people think that her songs are difficult to sing. B: I challenge you to sing her megahit “I Will Always Love You” at tonight’s karaoke party. A: OK, challenge accepted. A: 我記得流行天后惠妮休斯頓的1985年出道專輯《惠妮休斯頓》還是一張鑽石唱片呢,表示在美國狂賣超過1千萬張。 B: 她1987年的次張專輯《惠妮》、1992年的電影《終極保鑣》原聲帶也獲得鑽石唱片認證,使她成為唯一擁有3張鑽石唱片的黑人歌手! A: 而許多人覺得她的歌都很難唱。 B: 那我挑戰你在今晚的KTV派對唱她的名曲《我將永遠愛你》。 A: 好啊我接受你的挑戰。 (By Eddy