A circus in the US is under fire for bringing back animal acts a year after earning praise from animal rights groups for dropping them to keep up with changing public attitudes.
The Melha Shrine Circus, which has seven performances over four days scheduled for May in Massachusetts, brought back performing elephants, tigers and dogs because that’s what people want, circus chairman Allen Zippin said.
The circus lost money for the first time in its 63-year history in 2016. “Paid attendance was down 6,500 people last year,’’ when compared to 2015, he said. “We had people asking for refunds after finding out there were no animals.’’
Photo: AP
照片：美聯社
Animal rights activists have been pressuring circuses to drop animal acts for years, saying the acts are cruel and inhumane.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had praised the Melha Shriners last year, but the group was quick to condemn the return of animal acts. “All it does is teach kids that it’s OK to bully and subjugate,’’ said Rachel Mathews, PETA’s associate director of captive animal law enforcement.
(AP)
美國的梅哈聖壇馬戲團近期因重新推出動物表演而飽受批評。該馬戲團去年才基於大眾對於動物表演觀感不佳而終止所有動物表演，並一度贏得動保團體的讚賞。
梅哈聖壇馬戲團預定於五月連續四天在麻州進行共七場表演。馬戲團團長艾倫紀平表示，馬戲團讓大象、老虎和狗重回舞台是為了滿足觀眾的希望。
該馬戲團自六十三年前成立以來，去年第一次經歷虧損。「看前年相比，去年買票來看表演的觀眾少了六千五百人。」紀平說，「甚至有觀眾因發現表演中無動物可看而要求退票。」
近年來，許多動保人士指出動物表演的殘忍，並積極要求馬戲團終止動物表演。
去年才讚揚梅哈聖壇馬戲團終止動物表演的善待動物組織，也立即譴責該馬戲團讓動物重返舞台。在該組織負責豢養動物相關執法的主管瑞秋馬修說：「這些表演只會讓孩童以為欺侮和征服是對的事。」
(台北時報編譯涂宇安譯)
Computex, Asia’s biggest electronics conference, kicked off Monday in Taipei, and as in years past drew industry chieftains from Nvidia Corp.’s Jensen Huang and Qualcomm Inc.’s Cristiano Amon to Young Liu of Foxconn, which makes the bulk of the world’s iPhones and Nvidia servers. But while last year’s event was a celebration of the post-ChatGPT AI boom, executives this time are likely grappling with the uncertainty of the Trump administration’s effort to reshape the global trade order — disrupting a decades-old model for tech manufacturing. This year’s exhibition will of course feature the hardware required to bring artificial intelligence to life.
A: Where will the 35 sports of the 2025 World Masters Games be held? B: Apart from Taipei and New Taipei City, some games will take place in Yilan County, Taoyuan County, and Hsinchu County and City. A: The news says about 25,000 people, including many celebrities and sports stars, have already registered for the games. B: Even Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an, who is 47, registered for softball and squash. New Taipei Mayor Hou You-yi, who is 68, also registered for table tennis. A: And it will be the largest sports event ever in Taiwan’s history. How exciting. A:
Dog owners often wish they could understand their pets’ thoughts. “Dog buttons” might turn their dream into a reality. These specially designed buttons, __1__ sound chips, enable dogs to communicate their needs by pressing buttons corresponding to pre-recorded words like “walk,” “play,” “outside,” and “food.” This bridges the communication __2__ between humans and their canine companions. The science behind dog buttons is based on the concept of associative learning. It’s a process __3__ learners can link actions with outcomes. For instance, if an owner consistently presses the “walk” button and then takes their dog for a walk, the dog
1. 眾所皆知，資訊產業是我國經濟的基礎。 ˇ As everyone admits, the IT industry is the backbone of our economy. χ As everyone admits that the IT industry is the backbone of our economy. 註：這裏 as 作關係代名詞，引導從屬子句。誤句多了 that， IT industry is. . . 就變成從屬句，欠缺了主句，結構上錯誤。又如： As my friend pointed out, necessity is the mother of invention. As is known to all, grammar is not the only important thing in language study. 2. 她心情總是非常好。 ˇ She is always in a good mood. χ She always is in a good mood. 註：always, often 一般放在行為動詞之前，連繫動詞、助動詞之後： He always behaves well. He is always happy and gay. He is always reading. 其他用法類似的副詞，還有 still、also、hardly、seldom、never 等。 3. 你看！他還在寫報告呢。 ˇ Look! He is still working
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