對話 Dialogue
清清：明天就是聖誕節了！日子過得真快啊！
Qīngqing: Míngtiān jiùshì Shèngdàn jié le! Rìzi guò de zhēn kuài a!
Photo: Pixabay/ 照片：Pixabay 提供
華華：今天晚上是聖誕夜，一般說是耶穌誕生的時間，也是平安夜。
Huáhua: Jīntiān wǎnshàng shì Shèngdàn yè, yìbān shuō shì Yēsū dànshēng de shíjiān, yěshì Píngān yè.
清清：平安夜和聖誕節原本是基督教的大事，現在不是教徒也都跟著慶祝，可是有很多人都不知道這個節日的意義。
Qīngqing: Píngān yè hé Shèngdàn jié yuánběn shì Jīdūjiào de dàshì, xiànzài búshì jiàotú yě dōu gēnzhe qìngzhù, kěshì yǒu hěnduō rén dōu bù zhīdào zhège jiérì de yìyì.
華華：對啊！我還聽說過，小朋友都以為是聖誕老公公的生日呢！
Huáhua: Duì a! Wǒ hái tīng shuōguò, xiǎopéngyǒu dōu yǐwéi shì Shèngdàn Lǎogōnggong de shēngrì ne!
清清：真有意思！在自己的床頭掛上紅襪子，等著「壽星」來送禮物一一這樣對嗎？
Qīngqing: Zhēn yǒuyìsi! Zài zìjǐ de chuángtóu guàshàng hóng wàzi, děngzhe “shòuxing” lái sòng lǐwù -- zhèyàng duì ma?
華華：我小時候還真相信世界上有聖誕老人的存在呢！
Huáhua: Wǒ xiǎoshíhòu hái zhēn xiāngxìn shìjiè shàng yǒu Shèngdàn Lǎorén de cúnzài ne!
清清：對了！大衛在家裡布置了一棵聖誕樹，晚上請我們去參加派對，交換禮 物，你準備好了嗎？
Qīngqing: Duìle! Dàwèi zài jiālǐ bùzhì le yì kē shèngdànshù, wǎnshàng qǐng wǒmen qù cānjiā pàiduì, jiāohuàn lǐwù, nǐ zhǔnbèi hǎole ma?
華華：準備好啦！希望你會抽到我的禮物，絕不會讓你失望的！
Huáhua: Zhǔnbèi hǎo la! Xīwàng nǐ huì chōudào wǒ de lǐwù, juébúhuì ràng nǐ shīwàng de!
翻譯 Translation
Qingqing: Tomorrow is Christmas; How time flies!
Huahua: Tonight is Christmas Eve, which is generally said to be the time of Jesus’s birth; it’s also known as Silent Night.
Qingqing: Christmas Eve and Christmas were originally significant events for Christians, but now even non-believers celebrate it. However, many people don’t know the meaning of this holiday.
Huahua: That’s right. I’ve even heard that little kids think
it’s Santa Claus’ birthday.
Qingqing: That’s so interesting. Hanging red stockings by the bed, waiting for the “birthday star” to bring gifts — is that right?
Huahua: When I was a child, I really believed that Santa Claus existed.
Qingqing: By the way, David set up a Christmas tree at his house and invited us to a party tonight to exchange gifts. Are you ready?
Huahua: I’m ready. I hope you’ll pick my gift; I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.
生詞 Vocabulary
1. 聖誕節 (Shèngdàn jié) Christmas
2. 耶穌 (Yēsū) Jesus
3. 誕生 (dànshēng) to be born, birth
4. 基督教 (Jīdūjiào) Christians
5. 教徒 (jiàotú) believer, follower
6. 聖誕老公公/老人 (Shèngdàn Lǎogōnggong / Lǎorén) Santa Claus
7. 床頭 (chuángtóu) headboard, bedside
8. 布置 (bùzhì) decorate, arrange
教材音檔 Audio Files
國立清華大學華語中心提供
By National Tsing Hua University Chinese Language Center:
Street lights are often taken for granted until a power outage plunges the world into darkness. When that happens, the value of these lighting installations becomes evident as the world turns into a more dangerous place for pedestrians and motorists alike. The Chinese could claim to be the first to have constructed a crude type of street light. Around 500 BC, residents of Beijing employed a type of street lamp that used hollow bamboo pipes and natural gas vents to create burning torches. Later, ancient Romans adopted lamps fueled by vegetable oil, which relied on slaves to light and
A: Who else is on Billboard’s list: “The 25 greatest pop stars of the 21st Century?” B: No. 15 to 6 are: Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Usher, Adele, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Kanye West and Britney Spears. A: I can’t believe that Adele’s only at No. 10. B: No. 5 to 1 are: Lady Gaga, Drake, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Beyonce. A: Well, they surely deserve the honor. A: 《告示牌》雜誌的「21世紀最偉大的25位流行歌手」，還有誰上榜啊？ B: 第15至6名是：麥莉希拉、大賈斯汀、妮姬米娜、阿姆、亞瑟小子、愛黛兒、亞莉安娜、小賈斯汀、肯伊威斯特、小甜甜布蘭妮。 A: 真不敢相信愛黛兒只排第10名。 B: 第5至1名是：女神卡卡、德瑞克、蕾哈娜、泰勒絲、碧昂絲。 A: 這幾位真是實至名歸！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
Undersea cables are conductors wrapped in insulating materials and laid on the seabed. Their main functions are telecommunications or power transmission. The core of the undersea cables used for Internet signals is optical fiber, using light to transmit Internet signals. Taiwan’s communications are currently handled by 10 domestic undersea cables and 14 international undersea cables. About 99 percent of Taiwan’s Internet bandwidth relies on undersea cables, making them Taiwan’s “digital lifeline.” The demands on the cables’ bandwidth are only set to increase with the development of artificial intelligence (AI), which relies on the data fed into it. Today, data is
Spoiler alert and shift blame 破梗&甩鍋 在新冠疫情期間，無論是因為封城 (lockdown) 還是居家隔離 (self-isolation at home)，人們關在家中使用網路的時間大增。這也讓一些原本只存在於網路論壇的用語廣為普及。我們來談一下破梗 (spoiler alert) 與甩鍋 (shift blame) 這兩個用語。 有位古典文學教授 Joel Christensen 針對領導統御與疫情控制寫了一篇以古喻今、相當深入的文章：“Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales”，文中出現一些講法，可用來翻譯上述的流行語： In the 5th century B.C., the playwright Sophocles begins Oedipus Tyrannos with the title character struggling to identify the cause of a plague striking his city, Thebes. (Spoiler alert: It’s his own bad leadership.) (Joel Christensen, “Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales,” The Conversation, March 12, 2020) 作者提到 Oedipus（伊底帕斯）想找出瘟疫何以降臨他的城邦的緣由，加了一句：Spoiler alert: It’s his own bad leadership.（破梗：領導無方）。Spoiler alert 就是「破梗」，如果用在有人洩漏電影劇情的情境中，也可以翻作「小心爆雷」或「劇透警告」。疫情之下，在家看影集、電影成了很多人的娛樂，但要小心劇透 (spoilers)，很多 YouTube 上的影評在開頭也都會說 Spoiler alert!，警告還沒看過電影的觀眾小心爆雷、劇透。 至於「甩鍋」，源自大陸網民用語，通常意指某人犯了錯之後想推卸責任、轉移焦點、甚至讓別人背黑鍋的做法。疫情爆發後，相關網路資訊量爆增，許多中國網民也想找人為這場疫情負責，紛紛呼籲地方政府首長、地方黨書記不要「甩鍋」。 其實，在古代文學《奧德賽》中，就有「將自己的責任怪罪眾神」的說法，試用時下流行的「甩鍋」來重新翻譯： Humans are always blaming the gods for their suffering, but they experience
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