If you do an Internet search for “watch sport on TV” you get references to cricket, soccer, and Premier League football matches. If you type in “watch sports on TV” you get links about NBA basketball, NFL football and MLB baseball games. That’s because, when it comes to this topic, the British and the Americans cannot even agree on what to call sports. In British English, it’s “sport;” in American English, it’s “sports.”
There are other differences, of course. Football in America is a very different game from the football of the World Cup. What the British call football, the Americans call soccer. When the Brits talk about the US game, they call it American football. For the British, cricket and football is played on a pitch, and the players wear a kit; when playing sports like baseball or football, the Americans play on a field (in baseball, “pitch” is something you do with the ball) and wear a uniform. If both teams score the same amount of points in the UK, it’s called a draw; in the US it’s called a tie. If the match is completely scoreless in the UK, the score is nil-nil; in the US, the game score is said to be zero-zero.
(Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)
如果您在網路上鍵入「watch sport on TV」（在電視上觀看體育比賽）搜尋，會出現板球、足球和英超足球比賽。若您鍵入的是「watch sports on TV」，便會出現NBA籃球、NFL美式足球和MLB美國大聯盟棒球比賽的相關連結。之所以如此，是因為講到運動競賽，英國人和美國人連要用什麼字來稱呼都爭執不下──英式英文是說「sport」，美式英文則是說「sports」。
英、美的體育競賽用語當然還有其他不同之處。在美國，「football」是和世界杯足球賽截然不同的運動。英國人所說的「football」，美國人稱為「soccer」。英國人談到美國的「football」比賽時，會用「American football」（美式足球）一詞稱之。對英國人來說，板球和足球是在「pitch」（球場）上進行的，球員穿著「kit」（球隊制服）；美國人在玩棒球或橄欖球這些運動時，會用「field」一字來指「球場」（「pitch」在美式英文中的意思是「投球」）、用「uniform」來指「制服」。如果兩隊得分相同，在英國稱為「a draw」（和局）；在美國則稱為「a tie」。如果這場比賽兩隊都沒有得分（零比零），在英國稱為「nil-nil」，在美國說「zero-zero」。
（台北時報林俐凱譯）
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
照片：維基共享資源
Taiwan Travelogue, the novel by Taiwanese author Yang Shuang-zi and translated into English by Lin King, won the prestigious International Booker Prize in London on May 19. It marks the first time a Taiwanese literary work has received the International Booker Prize, setting a historic milestone both for Taiwanese literature and for the award itself. Prior to this achievement, Taiwan had only once appeared on the Booker radar, when Taiwanese author Wu Ming-yi was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2018 with The Stolen Bicycle. The International Booker Prize honors works of fiction translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland.
As climate change and urbanization push city temperatures higher, walking outdoors is becoming increasingly uncomfortable in many parts of the world, especially when prolonged time spent in sunlight is involved. As a result, outdoor lovers are now seeking cooler, shaded walking routes. However, most mainstream map apps still do not __1__ shaded footpaths. Enter routing.osm.ch — a Swiss web-based route planner that introduces a novel solution to this problem. Its “Vampire mode,” named after the legendary creatures’ fear of being __2__ natural light, was developed by a Swiss research team led by Professor Stefan Keller. The platform combines open data from
Cities around the world are testing “robotaxis,” hoping that autonomous vehicles will ease traffic and reduce emissions. However, recent analyses suggest these expectations may be overly optimistic. According to consulting firm Kearney, robotaxis could actually make congestion worse rather than better. Because self-driving rides are expected to be cheaper and more convenient than traditional taxis, more people may choose them over walking, biking, or using public transportation. This shift would put more cars on already crowded roads. Another concern is “deadheading,” which refers to robotaxis traveling without passengers between rides. Since autonomous fleets need to reposition themselves throughout the day, these
1. 該協會於全球九十個國家擁有逾一百萬名會員。 ˇ The association consists of over 1 million members in 90 countries. χ The association consists in over 1 million members in 90 countries. 註：consist of 是「由……組成」，而consist in是「在於」、「就是」，比較下列句子： Our department consists of three sections. Success consists in perseverance. Happiness consists in doing one’s duty. 2. 我們的任何錯誤將來都可能帶來麻煩。 ˇ Any mistakes on our part now may lead to problems later on. χ Any mistakes on our part now may lead into problems later on. 註：說「導致」、「引起」用lead to，如to lead to trouble，to lead to disaster，to lead to problems，to lead to something unpleasant等。表示「向某物內部的動向」可用into，如go into a room，to come into a building，to get into trouble等。 3. 這本書是E．M．福斯特的作品，不是喬治．歐威爾。 ˇ This book was written by E. M. Foster, not
RSS