A: What an idiot I am! There’s nothing wrong with the air conditioner. It’s the remote that’s not working.
B: Is the remote faulty, or are the batteries dead?
A: I changed the batteries, but it’s still not doing anything. See, I bought this new one online.
Photo: Pan Tzu-chiang, Liberty Times 照片：自由時報記者潘自強
B: Wow, nice! And you even bought the right model!
A: The seller was really patient, and told me exactly which model I needed to buy. But I think that remotes die so quickly, and you have no choice but to throw them away. It’s really not very environmentally friendly.
A: 我真是豬頭啊，冷氣機根本沒壞，是遙控器壞了！
B: 遙控器到底是壞了，還是電池沒電？
A: 我換了電池還是沒反應。所以你看，我就上網買了這個新的遙控器！
B: 哇，厲害！虧你還買對了型號！
A: 那個賣家很有耐心，詳細告訴我買哪一支才是對的。不過我覺得遙控器動不動就壞，最後只能丟掉，真的很不環保。
（Translated by Paul Cooper, Taipei Times／台北時報林俐凱）
English 英文:
Chinese 中文:
“Have no choice but to”
This phrase means that you have to do something. You can also use “alternative” or “option” instead of “choice.”
With the nation in the middle of a long period of drought, the water level at Sun Moon Lake has dropped significantly, exposing numerous objects that had been sitting at the bottom of the lake. One visitor who incautiously dropped his iPhone into the lake one year ago was recently reacquainted with his long-lost gadget as a result of the severe drought. The tourist, surnamed Chen, shared the news on the Facebook group “Baofei Commune.” Chen says he took part in a stand up paddle board activity one year ago at Sun Moon Lake. Chen says that he fell into the
A: How’s the house-hunting going? Have you found yourself a new apartment yet? B: We’ve just started looking, but we’re not having too much luck. A: Where are you looking? B: Anywhere will do, to be honest, so long as it’s near an MRT station. I would prefer to be reasonably close to work. A: 你房子找得怎麼樣了？找到新公寓了嗎？ B: 我們才剛開始找，可是手氣不太好。 A: 你要找的是哪裡的房子啊？ B: 其實地點不拘，只要離捷運站近就可以了。我比較偏向找離我上班地點近一點的地方。 （Paul Cooper, Taipei Times／台北時報林俐凱譯） English 英文: Chinese 中文:
A: How much are you willing to pay for rent? B: Well, we’re thinking of NT$20,000 per month, but we could stretch it to NT$25,000. A: I think you might have to aim slightly higher. I doubt you’ll find a nice place for that. You could try, but you might be looking for a long time. B: I’m happy to spend a good whack of my salary on renting a comfortable apartment, but my partner would prefer to rent a smaller place and save to buy later on. A: 你房租預算是多少？ B: 嗯，我們大概預估月租兩萬，不過也可以提高到兩萬五啦。 A: 我覺得你可能需要把預算稍微調高一點，不然你這種預算大概找不到什麼好房子。你還是可以用這個價位試試看啦，不過可能要花很長的時間才找得到。 B: 我是很願意砸薪水來租一間住起來舒服的公寓，可是我的另一半寧可租小一點的房子，把錢省下來以後買房。 （Paul Cooper, Taipei
How’s the house-hunting going? (3/5) 你房子找得怎麼樣了？（三） A: How are you looking? Are you walking around neighborhoods you like and seeing if people have placed signs in their windows? B: No, we’re looking online, filtering for neighborhoods we would want to live in and setting the range we are willing to pay. A: Do you need to specify what kind of apartment you’re searching for? B: Yes. We’ve checked the boxes for a new building with an elevator, for at least two rooms and a balcony, and at least 20 ping. We need space for the dogs. A: You have dogs? Then you’d better also check whether the
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