Retired teacher Sunny Hsu majored in advertising design and he is a former director of general affairs of National Keelung Commercial and Industrial Vocational Senior High School. His mother is in her 80s and suffered a brain injury that prevents her from expressing her thoughts clearly, so in 2018 he decided to go back to his hometown Penghu County to look after her, returning to Keelung for one week of each month to visit his wife and daughter. Being a keen photographer, when Hsu is staying in Penghu he often hops on a bus and goes around taking photos of rural and human scenes. On one occasion, he happened to take a bus to Longmen Village in Husi Township.
While he was in the countryside around Longmen, Hsu come across an old yellow cow. While chatting with the cow’s owner, he found out that she was 20 years old and because of her age and loss of strength in her hind legs, she could no longer plow the fields, so her three co-owners had sold her to a butcher. Having sought his elderly mother’s agreement, and with the encouragement of many friends and former students, Hsu bought the old yellow cow for NT$30,000 and named her “Sanwan,” which means 30,000. Sanwan also sounds like the Taiwanese Hoklo for “three slows,” which means “come over in your own time, take your time eating and do not rush to leave.” From that day on, Hsu has been getting his first-ever experience of keeping cattle.
Every morning, Hsu and his elderly mother go to the Beichen Market, where he asks the vegetable vendors for corn leaves and other leftover vegetables, which he then drives over to Jianshan Village in Husi Township. When the vegetable vendors found out about Hsu’s act of kindness, they wrote a poem to express their gratitude. Hsu has also applied his talents to designing Sanwan-themed stored value cards and greetings cards, and because of Sanwan he came to know a group of artists who were staying in Penghu and working to pay for their lodgings. He also made sketch of Sanwan into a calendar and gave copies of it to the friends and relatives who had helped him. As for Sanwan’s ultimate destiny, Hsu still hopes she can return to her hometown of Longmen and stay there for the rest of her life. Many elderly people from Longmen have gone to visit Sanwan and they all say they would like to see that happen.
Photo: Liu Yu-ching, Liberty Times 照片:自由時報劉禹慶
(Liberty times, translated by Julian Clegg)
主攻廣告設計、從基隆七堵商工總務主任退休的許光晴老師,因老母親已八十餘歲高齡,腦神經曾受過傷,無法清楚表達意識,因此二○一八年毅然決然孤身返鄉澎湖照顧母親,每個月返回基隆一周探視妻女。由於他喜愛拍照,留澎期間常愛搭乘公車四處閒逛,拍攝鄉間及人文風情,一次偶然機會搭車前往湖西鄉龍門村。
許光晴在龍門鄉間巧遇一頭老黃牛,在與主人閒談之中,才知道老黃牛已二十歲,由於年邁加上後腳無力,已無法耕作,因此三位共同持有人已賣給收購的肉販子,他在徵求母親同意及眾多學生親友鼓勵下,出資三萬購買老黃牛,並取名「三萬」,除了價格外,也取台語諧音「慢慢來、慢慢食、慢慢走」,從此展開人生首次的養牛歷程。
Photo from Sanwan’s Facebook page 照片摘自三萬的臉書粉絲頁
每日上午許光晴與母親就前往北辰市場,向菜販要玉米葉等殘菜,再專車送往湖西鄉尖山村。菜販得知老師愛心寫詩表達謝意;他還發揮專長,為三萬設計儲值卡、賀卡,更因三萬與抵澎以工代宿的一群畫家結緣,將三萬的素描作品集結成月曆,都分送給曾提供協助的親友們。對於三萬最終的宿命,許光晴還是希望老黃牛重返龍門老家,在家鄉中終老,現已有許多龍門耆老專程前來探望三萬,都表達相當的意願。
(自由時報劉禹慶)
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
After causing a stir with his first appearance at the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years for his new film Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise made another stunning appearance at the film’s London premiere in Leicester Square on the evening of May 19. Having been given the honor of walking the red carpet with Prince William and his wife the Duchess of Cambridge, Cruise, being the perfect gentleman, extended his hand to the Duchess as she navigated a set of stairs. The sweet moment was spotted by onlookers and greeted with a barrage of camera flashes from the assembled media, while
The Grammys: Music Lovers’ Festival 葛萊美獎:音樂人的盛典 There are few awards ceremonies that get more attention than the Grammys. This annual ceremony, first held more than six decades ago, recognizes outstanding achievements in the music industry. The trophy that is presented to winners is in the shape of an old-fashioned record player called a gramophone. The idea for the Grammys first came about in the 1950s. People in the recording industry were concerned that musicians, singers and songwriters were not getting the same recognition as people working in film and television. The movie industry, for example, had been awarding Oscars since 1929, and the television industry handed out
The Fullon Hotel Fulong has announced that this year’s Fulong International Sand Sculpture Art Festival will take place from tomorrow until Oct. 10 at the Fulong Beach Resort in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District. This year’s sand sculpture festival has joined hands with Taiwan’s classic Pili budaixi glove puppet theater to create 36 sand sculptures that depict more than 30 popular characters from the Pili puppet shows. The centerpiece is an 8 meter-high sculpture of one of the main characters, Su Huan-chen, displaying his martial skills. Transforming into three different styles on the beach, he will defeat his greatest foes. In coordination