wherever she goes. Sometimes they get into some very sticky situations.
見見老鼠凱薩琳和大象馬克。凱薩琳非常勇敢又喜歡冒險，但馬克的個性十分害羞，對許多事情都感到害怕。不過，朋友都喜歡黏在一塊兒，所以凱薩琳走到哪兒，馬克就會跟到哪兒。有時候，他們也會碰上非常棘手的情況...
The long way round 漫漫長路
“Phew, its hot,” Kathleen sighed.
“Well, at least it isn’t raining!” Mark said cheerfully. He was really enjoying their holiday in Pakistan. “What shall we go see next?”
“Maybe we should head over to the Shah Faisal Masjid mosque,” Kathleen suggested. “It’s supposed to be one of the biggest in the world.”
“Cool! We can check out the huge silver globe statue on the way,” Mark said.
Kathleen and Mark set off toward the statue, admiring the greenery along the way. As they turned a corner they saw crowds lining the street.
“Oooh, what’s going on here?” Kathleen asked.
“Way too many people, that’s what,” Mark replied grumpily. “Come on, let’s cut across that park, or we’ll never get to see any of the sights.”
Mark and Kathleen were soon enjoying the peaceful park. “That’s more like it,” Mark said. “The problem with big crowds is that you never know if they’re going to be happy or angry. It’s best to stay well out of the way.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Kathleen replied, ”but I wonder what they were all waiting to see.”
Just then there was a loud commotion behind them. Kathleen and Mark spun round. A big mass of scary looking men wearing blue tracksuits was heading right for them. And right in the middle of them was a torch!
“Get out of the way! Move! Move you stupid elephant!” they roared ...
(CATHERINE THOMAS, STAFF WRITER)
凱薩琳嘆息著說：「唉，天氣好熱喔。」
馬克開心地說：「唔，至少沒有下雨啊！」他相當沉浸在他們的巴基斯坦之旅。「我們接下來要去看什麼呢？」
凱薩琳建議說：「也可以去參觀費瑟國王清真寺，那算是全世界最大的清真寺耶。」
馬克說：「酷！我們還可以順路去看那個巨大的銀球雕塑。」
凱薩琳和馬克朝著雕塑出發，他們一路欣賞路旁的綠色植物；轉過一個彎後，他們看到一大群人在街上排隊。
凱薩琳問：「哇，這裡發生了什麼事啊？」
馬克不耐煩地回答：「就是人太多了。走吧，我們穿過那個公園吧，否則我們就什麼景點都看不到了。」
不一會兒，馬克和凱薩琳便徜徉在寧靜的公園。馬克說：「這才像樣嘛；一大群人聚在一起的問題在於，你不會知道他們是歡欣或憤怒的一群人，所以最好離他們遠一點。」
「我想你說得對，」凱薩琳回答：「但是我很好奇他們在等什麼。」
就在此時，他們背後傳來一陣騷動聲，凱薩琳和馬克轉過身來，看到一大群穿著成套藍色運動服、目露兇光的男子正朝著他們跑來，而他們正中間有一支火把！
他們大喊：「閃開！讓路！你這隻愚蠢的大象快滾！」(翻譯：袁星塵)
1. greenery n.
綠色植物 (lü4 se4 zhi2 wu4)
例: It’s always lovely to come across a patch of greenery in the city.
(在都市裡經過一塊綠地總是讓人感覺心曠神怡。)
2. commotion n.
騷動 (sao1 dong4)
例: Helen caused a commotion when she found she’d lost her phone.
(海倫發現她的電話不見時引起一陣騷動。)
3. mass n.
民眾 (min2 zhong4)，眾多 (zhong4 duo1)
例: There were masses of people at Taipei 101 on New Year’s Eve.
(跨年夜有�?螻雪|聚集在台北一Ｏ一。)
4. torch n.
火把 (huo2 ba3)
例: We used torches to light up the garden path.
(我們用火把照亮花園小徑。)
1. Where are Mark and Kathleen?
a. Taipei.
b. Pakistan.
c. San Francisco.
d. London.
2. Why do they cut across the park?
a. Mark hates streets.
b. Kathleen wants to.
c. The street is too crowded.
d. It’s unclear
Write your own ending to the story! 寫下你的故事結局:
Idea 1: Mark is upset that the men wearing blue tracksuits called him stupid. What does he do? Does he move or stay put? Does he try to put out the torch with water from his trunk? What do the men do?
想法一: 馬克很氣那些罵他遲鈍的藍衣男子，他會怎麼做？他會讓開還是停在原地？他會想用象鼻裡的水澆熄火把嗎？那些男子又會怎麼做？
Idea 2: The men don’t notice Kathleen because they’re too busy shouting at Mark. What does Kathleen do? Does she try to scare the men back by running up their legs? Are the men scared? What does Mark do?
想法二: 這些男子忙著趕走馬克，所以沒有注意到凱薩琳的存在，凱薩琳會怎麼做？她會爬到他們腿上來嚇阻他們嗎？這些男子會被嚇到嗎？馬克會怎麼做？
Idea 3: Mark and Kathleen try to quickly move aside to let the men pass, but Kathleen slips and lands right in their path. Mark tries to reach over and grab her with his trunk, but he accidently blows the torch out. What do the men do? Does Kathleen manage to get away unhurt? What happens to Mark? Is the torch relit?
想法三: 馬克和凱薩琳想趕快靠邊讓道，但凱薩琳滑了一跤，正好跌坐在男子們會經過的路上；馬克想用他的象鼻把凱薩琳攬過來，但他卻不小心把火把弄熄了。那群男子會怎麼做？凱薩琳能平安脫逃嗎？馬克會怎麼樣？火把會被重新點燃嗎？
What happened? : 1. b 2. c
Match it: 1. E 2. D 3. C 4. A 5. B
In the early hours of Monday morning last week, the First Tank Company of the Second Combined Arms Battalion of the army’s 584 Armor Brigade set out from its barracks for a combat readiness patrol. As the unit was passing along the Bade Road section of Provincial Highway 1 in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township, a CM11 tank accidentally knocked over a set of traffic lights at an intersection and drove up onto the median divider island. Fortunately the accident did not cause any harm to personnel or equipment. The unit immediately contacted the relevant department of Hsinchu County Government to
A: Are there any other organisms facing extinction? B: Reportedly, over 40 percent of amphibians, 25 percent of mammals and 13 percent of birds could face extinction. A: These are really frightening statistics. B: If humans do not look after the animal kingdom, one day we too might become extinct. A: 那其他生物會不會也面臨絕種危機啊？ B: 據說百分之四十的兩棲動物、百分之二十五的哺乳動物、百分之十三的鳥類都可能滅絕。 A: 這些數字看起來好驚人。 B: 如果人類再不保護動物，總有一天自己也會滅絕。 （Translated by Edward Jones, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩） Audio recordings for Speak Up! dialogues will be suspended until further notice due to the pandemic.
Tourists will benefit as yen falls 日本6月將開放觀光！日圓「貶值」學換匯英文 自疫情爆發至今已超過兩年，全球逐漸邁向與疫情共存的方式，日本政府也將陸續鬆綁邊境管制，最快有機會六月就開放外國觀光客以團體旅遊方式入境。加上日圓近期狂貶，來到二十年來新低點，專家預估，日本將迎來新一波的旅遊熱潮。今天我們就從國外報導的日圓貶值現象，提前為旅日做好準備吧！ yen weakness 日圓疲軟 Yet economists see building pressure for a shift if persistent yen weakness exacerbates inflation by raising import costs, particularly for energy, and reckon that 125 is a key level. （然而，若是日圓持續疲軟而提高進口成本，尤其在能源上，將加重通貨膨脹，經濟學家認為政策轉變的壓力很大，並預估貶破125是關鍵點。） yen weakness是「日圓疲軟，weak (a.)意思是「虛弱的、疲弱的，加上「-ness」名詞字尾，代表「疲軟的概念；加上「-en」動詞變化則有「弱化、削弱」的意思。 The bill would seriously weaken environmental protections. （這項法案將嚴重削弱對環境的保護。） exacerbate (v.)「惡化、加劇、加重，英文的定義為to make something that is already bad even worse（使某件已經很糟的事情更糟）。文章中提到通膨（inflation）加劇，將會對經濟造成負面的影響，因此可以看出作者的態度是不樂觀的。 This attack will exacerbate the already tense relations between the two communities.（這次襲擊將令兩個原本已經處於緊張狀態的團體關係更加惡化。） 提高成本raise、rise怎麼用？ raise import cost是「提高進口成本，討論數據「上升、下降時，經常使用raise和rise這兩個動詞，但是特別注意兩者使用方式有所不同。raise是及物動詞(vt)，後方必須要接一個受詞（名詞），如raise your hand、raise the eyebrows；然而，rise是不及物動詞(vi)，不能直接加上受詞，而是要在中間穿插一個介系詞作為連結功能的用途，如常見的go (to) school、listen (to) music等，因此rise的用法就是inflation rises，常見的the sun rises in the east就是如此。 The government plans to raise taxes. （政府計畫增稅。） Inflation is rising by 2.1 percent a month. （通貨膨脹一個月增長百分之二‧一。） 升值、貶值怎麼說？ Japanese yen depreciation is a big problem for the Japanese economy, because
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