A: What is that app anyway? First it sends you on a wild goose chase, and then it decides to tell you how to ride home when you haven’t even got to your destination.
B: Tell me about it! Either I’m really stupid, or this bike app is badly designed. You don’t need to say which one you think it is.
A: How much did you pay for it?
Photo: Pixabay 照片： Pixabay
B: It’s free, but you have to pay if you want to access some premium functions. I’m doing the free week trial for the premium content, but if things go on like this…
A: 那到底是什麼應用程式啊？它先是指引你漫無目的地亂走，然後又告訴你要怎麼騎回家，你都還沒到達目的地咧！
B: 說的沒錯！不是我太笨，就是這個自行車App設計得太爛。你不用說哪一個才是對的。
A: 這App花了你多少錢啊？
B: 這是免費的。不過如果你想使用進階的功能，就必須付費。我現在用的是進階功能一星期免費試用，不過如果照現在的情況繼續下去的話……。
(Paul Cooper, Taipei Times / 台北時報林俐凱譯)
Audio recordings for Speak Up! dialogues will be suspended until further notice due to the pandemic.
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
A: What’s even more horrible is that the five suspects who purposely supplied ketamine to actor Matthew Perry were all his “friends.” B: Who exactly are the five suspects? A: They include Matthew’s two doctors, a broker, a drug dealer, and even his live-in assistant. B: Those scumbags should go to jail. A: Yeah, one of the doctors may be sentenced to up to 120 years in prison. A: 更可怕的是，提供男星馬修派瑞「K他命」的5人全是他的「朋友」。 B: 嫌犯是誰啊？ A: 其中包括他的2位醫生、1位仲介、1位毒販、甚至他的同居助理！ B: 那些人渣真該去坐牢。 A: 對啊，其中1位醫生可能面臨120年徒刑。 （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
On blazing hot summer days, fresh ingredients and cool refreshments straight from a refrigerator feel like nothing short of a miracle. However, chilled foods didn’t begin with modern refrigerators. In fact, the origin of refrigeration precedes the invention of this now-indispensable appliance by centuries. Initially, the quest for refrigeration was motivated more by the desire to cool beverages than to preserve food. The ancient Greeks and Romans, for instance, used snow stored in insulated pits to chill wine. Around the fourth century BC, the Persians made a significant stride in refrigeration techniques when they devised the yakhchal. Fashioned from
RSS