李老師陪你探索英文世界 Exploring English with Ms. Lee

Being an avid reader, this tiny town is definitely my paradise, and on my bucket list to visit someday. Hobart, a small village with only 400 residents in New York state, has eight independent bookstores. One specializes in mysteries and science fiction. One caters to lovers of arts. It has attracted so many book lovers that it hosts several book festivals every year as well as some book sales events. The whole book trend began in 2002 when a lawyer named Diana Adams from Manhattan decided to open an antique bookstore which is now known for selling books published in 1850. She wanted to do this because this little town was having trouble attracting businesses even after a local entrepreneur offered to rent out his vacant storefront properties for a dollar a year. The idea came after she heard about this small town in Wales, which houses 20 bookstores despite its small population. No longer does Hobart have trouble luring visitors. In fact, it has become a destination of pilgrimage for readers and writers alike. So perhaps instead of going to one of those hot tourist spots which are always crowded and expensive, you can go to Hobart, where you can get a book and a cookie for only $2 and engage in stimulating conversations with fellow book lovers.

Isabella Ducrot doesn’t fit into your image of a young, struggling artist. In fact it wasn’t until 2019, at the age of 88, did her works become internationally recognized. Today this Italian widow is still discovering the joy of painting at the age of ninety-three. This summer a prestigious museum in France is hosting her first international solo museum show, calling her “a young artist with a young career”. Despite her late start, Ducrot is experiencing a full blossom of artistic productivity. Collectors of her works remark that her paintings exude this intense sense of play and discovery that one will never guess that it’s created by a ninety-one year old. Besides painting, she has also flourished as a writer of essays and short stories. Every morning between eight-thirty and ten-thirty she writes because that’s when she writes most intelligently. She began to study philosophy in earnest in her sixties by taking philosophy classes at a local university and working privately with scholars. Being very old has intensified her sense of present. If she has wisdom to offer, it has to do with living fully, even without a future. She said, “ because we are like prisoners in a jail, we know that there’s no tomorrow. This is an experience, to be so old.”

This summer, popular tourist spots are flooded with even more tourists. Many residents are fed up with the situation, and some of them have even taken their anger to the streets or out on innocent tourists, like what my previous episode said about Barcelona. The city government of Copenhagen is actually taking a different approach. As a saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them. And in Copenhagen’s case, they even went a step further. It decided to reward tourists who behave environmentally responsible. Beginning July this year, visitor who display climate-friendly behavior by participating in the city’s green initiative, such as cycling, traveling by train, will be granted access to museum tours, kayak rental, free meals and more. How does this new policy work? Well, for example, Copenhagen surf school will offer a free lunch to surfers who participate in 30 minutes of beach cleanup after finishing their surf course. The city hopes that other cities around the world will follow suit and come up with their own incentives to encourage more sustainable tourism behavior.

A group of seventh and eight graders in Pennsylvania set up fake TikTok accounts impersonating their teachers. In other words, they used their teachers’ names to create fake accounts, which they uploaded reels full of pedophilia hints, racist and homophobic memes as well as make-up sexual hookups among teachers. Hundreds of students viewed, followed, and commented on the fake accounts. The online harassment has made some teachers worry that social media platforms are turning students into young adults who show lack of empathy. Fearing that they might become the next victims, some teachers are hesitant to punish students who act up in class. Some teachers find the whole incident demoralizing. One teacher said that he had spent years building a reputation as a dedicated teacher, but an impersonator simply assassinated his character with few memes. One educators said that spending hours and hours on TikTok has desensitized (鈍化）the students to the fact that teachers are humans with feelings.

In October of 2023, some female high school students in New Jersey discovered that some boys at school used artificial intelligence software to fabricate some nude photos of them and started circulating those images online. The same event also happened to a group of high school girls living in Texas. This news is worrisome because it shows that you don’t have to be technically savvy to know how to create fake images that look very authentic and realistic. This technology is readily available for everyone. All users have to do is upload a photo to an app and ask AI to make a version where the subject of the image is naked. And once the photo is made, it can be spread like a wildfire on social media. What makes the victims and their parents even more upset is that school are not aggressively dealing with the problem. School spokespersons say that they have consulted the cases with local police and that schools are having difficulties dealing with challenges and impact that artificial intelligence and other latest technology that are available to teenagers at any time and anywhere present. Simply put, they don’t have any experience on how to deal with this phenomenon. I think this is a deeply traumatizing experience for the girls who are victims to deep fake nude because school is supposed to be this safe and protective environment where you go and learn and make friends. Instead you end up being victimized and humiliated.

In October of 2023, some female high school students in New Jersey discovered that some boys at school used artificial intelligence software to fabricate some nude photos of them and started circulating those images online. The same event also happened to a group of high school girls living in Texas. This news is worrisome because it shows that you don’t have to be technically savvy to know how to create fake images that look very authentic and realistic. This technology is readily available for everyone. All users have to do is upload a photo to an app and ask AI to make a version where the subject of the image is naked. And once the photo is made, it can be spread like a wildfire on social media. What makes the victims and their parents even more upset is that school are not aggressively dealing with the problem. School spokespersons say that they have consulted the cases with local police and that schools are having difficulties dealing with challenges and impact that artificial intelligence and other latest technology that are available to teenagers at any time and anywhere present. Simply put, they don’t have any experience on how to deal with this phenomenon. I think this is a deeply traumatizing experience for the girls who are victims to deep fake nude because school is supposed to be this safe and protective environment where you go and learn and make friends. Instead you end up being victimized and humiliated.

As a parent, you should know more and more young people are experimenting with vaping, or e-cigarettes, so it’s crucial that you are aware of the danger posed by vaping. Foremost, e-cigarettes often contain more nicotine than regular cigarettes, so they are more addictive and harmful. Moreover some substances found in e-cigarettes have been linked to an increased risk for cancer. What’s more, scientists have yet to gain enough data regarding long-term effects of vaping on adolescent health and development. To make e-cigarettes more appealing to teens, companies package them with fruit and candy flavors and sleek designs. If you discover your teen is vaping, don’t react in an aggressive manner. The calmer you are, the likelier your kid is willing to confide in you and listen to some suggestions. Then try to find out what drove them to vape. Was it peer pressure, depression, or academic anxiety? Because vaping is a relatively new problems, scientists are still trying to find out what the best ways to help teens quit are. So be supportive and empathetic through their path to quit vaping.

Administrators at a middle school in North Carolina in the US are finally fed up. Tired of students skipping up on classes in order to create TikTok videos in front of school bathroom mirrors, they removed all the mirrors. The spokesperson of the school said that some students were asking to use the bathroom seven or more times a day and spending at least five minutes filming in it. As to the effectiveness of the measure, the spokesperson said, since removing the mirrors, we have seen drastic decrease in bathroom visits from students. Parents and social media users support the school’s approach. However, some education experts said the success of this tactic might be short-lived because students will eventually find another way to make TikTok videos while they are in schools.

Fed up with housing shortage, overcrowding, and increasingly high cost of living, the residents of Barcelona took their anger to the streets on the second Saturday of July. About 2800 people joined the demonstration. Some carried signs that said tourist, go home, and you are not welcome. Some even squirted water guns at diners eating al fresco (戶外用餐）. The demonstration as well as with anti-tourist sentiment might hurt the tourism industry, which is core to Barcelona’s economy. But many locals say that tourists are everywhere, crowding monuments, streets, and restaurants. Moreover, by catering to the needs of tourists, the local are also afraid that Barcelona might lose its other unique, genuine characters, since most tourists tend to want to see the same attractions and sample the same food, like paella (海鮮飯）. However, for people who have jobs in the hospitality industry, tourism is fundamental, so they believe taking frustration out on tourists is not the proper way to solve the problems. After all we are all tourists. We all travel.

如大家所預期的現任知事小池百合子成功邁向第三個任期。紐約時報這次用很有趣的角度報導東京都知事選舉。標題為