通勤學英語 15Mins Today

Topic: In Britain, Rising Prices and Shortages Evoke 1970s-Style Jitters

Long lines at gas stations, rising fuel prices, empty shelves in supermarkets and worries about runaway inflation.

加油站大排長龍，燃料價格上漲，超市貨架空無一物，大家憂心通貨膨脹失控。

Britons have emerged from 18 months of pandemic-imposed hibernation to find their country has many of the same afflictions it had during the 1970s. There is nothing Austin Powers-like about this time machine: Unlike the swinging '60s, the '70s were, by all accounts, some of the bleakest days in postwar Britain; even contemplating a return to them is enough to make leaders of the current government shiver.

英國人從疫情造成的18個月冬眠中醒來，發現國家遭遇許多與1970年代相同的痛苦。這次時光機器情節跟電影「王牌大賤諜」毫無相似之處：不同於動盪的1960年代，人們都說1970年代是戰後英國最淒涼的日子。只是想到要回到當時，就足以讓現任政府領導人不寒而慄。

The sudden burst of doomsaying in Britain is rooted at least as much in psychology as economics. While there is no question the country faces a confluence of problems — some caused by the pandemic, others by Brexit — experts said it was far too soon to predict that Britain was headed for the kind of economic malaise and political upheaval that characterized that decade.

英國突然爆發的末日預言，源自心理學的份量跟經濟學一樣多。無疑地，這個國家面臨一系列問題，一些由疫情引起，另一些由英國脫歐造成。專家們說，現在就預測英國將陷入那十年特有的經濟低迷與政治動盪，仍為時過早。

“It’s a combination of things that could, in principle, lead to that, but are quite survivable on their own,” said Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at Kings College London. “We always talk about the 1970s, but it’s half a century later, and all sorts of things are different.”

倫敦國王學院經濟學教授波特斯說：「原則上來說，這樣的多種因素組合可能導致那種情況，但個別也能發揮作用。我們總是在談論1970年代，但已過去半個世紀了，一切都不一樣了。」

Britain’s economy, he noted, has bounced back faster from the pandemic than many experts predicted. The shortages in labor and some goods are likely a transitory effect of reopening much of the economy after prolonged lockdowns. Rising wages and supply bottlenecks are driving up the inflation rate, while the fuel shortages that have closed dozens of gas stations reflect a shortage of truck drivers, not of energy supplies.

他指，英國經濟從疫情中恢復的速度比許多專家預測還快。勞動力和一些商品短缺，可能是長期防疫封鎖後重新開放大部分經濟活動的短暫影響。工資上漲和供應瓶頸正在推升通膨率，而造成數十家加油站關閉的燃料短缺，反映的是卡車司機短缺，而非能源供應問題。

Nor does Britain have the aging industrial base and powerful unions it had in the 1970s. Labor unrest led to crippling strikes that brought down a Conservative prime minister, Edward Heath, and one of his Labour Party successors, James Callaghan, after what the tabloids called the winter of discontent, in 1979.

英國也沒有1970年代那樣老化的工業基礎與強大工會。1979年發生小報所稱的「不滿之冬」，勞工騷亂導致嚴重罷工，造成保守黨首相奚斯及他的工黨繼任者之一卡拉漢下台。

And yet the parallels are suggestive enough that the right-leaning Daily Mail warned that “Britain faces winter of woe” — a chilly welcome for Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he returned from the United States, having celebrated a new submarine alliance and rallied countries in advance of a U.N. climate change conference in Scotland in November.

然而，一些相似之處足以引發聯想，讓右傾的每日郵報發出「英國面臨災難冬天」警告。對訪美歸來的英國首相強生而言，這是個冷淡迎接，他才剛慶祝新的潛艦聯盟成立，並在11月蘇格蘭聯合國氣候變遷會議前團結各國。

“That is a very easy ghost to resurrect,” said Kim Darroch, a former British ambassador to Washington who now sits in the House of Lords. “But these are real problems. You can just see this perfect storm coming.”

英國駐華府前大使、現為上議院議員的達洛許說：「那是個很容易復活的鬼魂，但這些都是實實在在的問題。你可以看到這場完美風暴逼近。」Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/5804159

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Topic: British hospitals use blockchain to track COVID-19 vaccines

Two British hospitals are using blockchain technology to keep tabs on the storage and supply of temperature-sensitive COVID-19 vaccines, the companies behind the initiative said on Tuesday, in one of the first such initiatives in the world.

英國有兩家醫院正以區塊鏈技術來監控武漢肺炎（新型冠狀病毒病，COVID-19）疫苗儲存與供應的動態，這些疫苗對溫度極其敏感。負責該計畫的公司上週二表示，這是此新做法的全球首例之一。

Two hospitals, in central England’s Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick, are expanding their use of a distributed ledger, an offshoot of blockchain, from tracking vaccines and chemotherapy drugs to monitoring fridges storing COVID-19 vaccines.

這兩家分別位於英格蘭中部埃文河畔史特拉福及華威的醫院，將分散式帳本（區塊鏈的一種）技術的應用範圍擴大，從追蹤疫苗及化療藥物之動向，到監視儲存武漢肺炎疫苗的冰箱。

The technology will bolster record-keeping and data-sharing across supply chains, said Everyware, which monitors vaccines and other treatments for Britain’s National Health Service.

Everyware發布聲明表示，這項技術將加強整個供應鏈的紀錄保存與數據共享。Everyware為英國國民保健署監控疫苗及其它藥物之動向。

Logistical hurdles are a significant risk to the speedy distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, but have resulted in booming business for companies selling technology for monitoring shipments from factory freezer to shots in the arm.

物流的障礙對快速配送武漢肺炎疫苗構成了威脅，但提供監控技術的公司卻因此大發利市──它們監控疫苗的運送，從藥廠冷凍庫開始，直到注射入手臂。

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech’s shot, for example, must be shipped and stored at ultra-cold temperatures or on dry ice, and can only last for up to five days at standard fridge temperatures. Other vaccines, such as Moderna Inc’s, do not need such cold storage and are therefore easier to deliver.

舉例來說，輝瑞公司及德國生物新技術公司所生產的疫苗，其運輸和儲存都必須處於超冷溫度或置於乾冰上，而且在標準冰箱溫度下最多只能保存五天。其他疫苗，例如莫德納公司所生產的疫苗，則不需要這樣的冷藏，因此更易於運送。

Firms from finance to commodities have invested millions of dollars to develop blockchain, a digital ledger that allows secure and real-time recording of data, in the hope of radical cost cuts and efficiency gains.

從金融公司到日用品公司，有許企業已投資數百萬美元來發展區塊鏈。區塊鏈是一種數位帳本，可以安全、即時地記錄數據，以期大幅度削減成本並提高效率。

Blockchain originated from Bitcoin, and it was created for the sake of Bitcoin — Bitcoin being blockchain’s first application. A blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, that are linked using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp and transaction data. By design, a blockchain is resistant to modification of its data.

區塊鏈的起源為「比特幣」，為了比特幣而產生了區塊鏈──比特幣為區塊鏈的第一個應用。區塊鏈為以密碼學串接並保護內容的串連文字紀錄（又稱區塊）。每一個區塊包含了前一個區塊的加密雜湊、相應時間戳記以及交易資料，這樣的設計使得區塊內容具有難以篡改的特性。

Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2021/01/25/2003751156

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Topic: Plastic-Bag Charge in England Prompts Applause, Anger and Humor

Some critics predicted chaos, confusion and "bag rage." But while this week's introduction of a 5 pence charge for plastic shopping bags in England did not lead to a nationwide mutiny, as some had warned, it did prove polarizing.

Environmentalists, for the most part, praised the government initiative introduced on Monday（Oct.5）, saying it would reduce pollution and waste. After all, it can take 1,000 years for a plastic bag to decompose, according to an estimate by Nick Clegg, who was deputy prime minister at the time the step was announced. Last year, major supermarkets in England handed out roughly 7.6 billion single-use plastic bags, about 140 per person, the government has estimated.

一些批評者預言此事必會引發混亂、困惑及「袋怒症」。實則，英格蘭本周開始每個塑膠購物袋收取5便士並未出現全境性反彈，然而正如部分人士所警告的，它的確引起了兩極化的反應。

環保派多半讚揚政府周一（10月5日）推出的這個行動，表示這將使汙染和廢棄物減少。畢竟，據措施宣布時擔任英國副首相的尼克．克萊格估計，一個塑膠袋可能要長達1千年才能分解。政府估計，英格蘭主要超市去年約發出76億個一次性塑膠袋，平均每人約拿140個。

The government hopes the fee, equivalent to about 8 cents, will help reduce the cost of cleaning up garbage by 60 million pounds, or about $80 million, over the next decade.

Stores and supermarkets are being encouraged to donate the proceeds from the bag charge to charitable causes, and are expected to raise 730 million pounds for such endeavors.

政府希望，每個袋子收費約合8美分（台幣2.4元）的作法，能使未來10年的垃圾清理成本減少6千萬英鎊，約合8千萬美元（台幣24億元）。

當局鼓勵商店與超市將塑膠袋收入捐給慈善事業，如此預計可募得7.3億英鎊。

But critics of the new fee say it will stoke mayhem, given the long list of exemptions; shoppers can still get a free plastic bag if they are buying pet fish; raw fish, meat or poultry; unwrapped blades (including axes, knives and razor blades); takeout food; or loose seeds and flowers. There are also worries that customers might verbally abuse supermarket cashiers, and some retailers have provided members of their staff with training on how to cope with angry shoppers.

但批評新費用者說，一長串的豁免項目將引起混亂；若消費者購買寵物魚、生魚、肉或家禽、未包裝的刀片（包括斧頭、刀和刮鬍刀片）、外賣食物或零散的種子和花，仍可拿到免費塑膠袋。也有人擔心顧客會辱罵超市收銀員，有些零售業者已開始訓練員工如何應付憤怒的顧客。

Then there were worries that shoppers would throng the British capital’s already harried streets, clutching, for example, jars of tomato sauce. One man who didn’t want to pay for a plastic bag for a single item was seen walking down a street in North London holding a package of wrapped salmon. Yet another fear is that there will be a glut of eating at checkout counters as wily consumers try to scarf down food before paying for it.

然後令人憂心的是，消費者將把本已忙碌的英國首都街道擠滿，手上抓著罐裝番茄醬之類東西。有位老兄不想為單一物品付塑膠袋的錢，抱著一袋包裝好的鮭魚走在北倫敦街頭。另有件事讓人憂心，很多人會在結帳櫃檯吃將起來，精於盤算的消費者會試圖把食物吃掉再付帳。

That similar plastic-bag charges exist in the other parts of Britain — Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland — seems to not influence the critics. In Wales, use of plastic bags has dropped 79 percent since a 5 pence charge was put in effect in 2011.

The new rules in England apply to retailers with more than 250 full-time employees. Retailers that fail to properly enforce the measure can be fined up to 5,000 pounds.

英國其他地區（威爾斯、北愛爾蘭及蘇格蘭）都收取類似塑膠袋費，但批評者似乎並未因而降低音量。威爾斯2011年開始收取5便士至今，塑膠袋用量減少了79%。

英格蘭新規定適用於全職員工超過250人的零售業者，未適切執行者最高可罰5千英鎊。

Similar efforts to regulate plastic bag have been put in place across the world.

In 2002, Bangladesh became the first country to introduce a ban on thin plastic bags amid concerns that they were clogging drainage pipes and contributing to devastating flooding.

規範塑膠袋使用的類似努力已在全球各地實施。

孟加拉2002年成為第一個推出薄塑膠袋禁令的國家，因為擔心塑膠袋堵住排水管且造成毀滅性洪災。

In 2008, Rwanda banned plastic bags outright, helping to solidify its image as one of the most environmentally conscious nations in East Africa.

In the United States, many communities have regulated or even prohibited the bags. Since 2007, they have been banned in nearly 100 municipalities in California, including Los Angeles. In 2014, California banned stores from giving out free plastic bags. The law was to take effect in July, but after lobbying by opponents of the bill, including the bag industry, a referendum on whether to repeal the ban is planned for November 2016.

盧安達在2008年完全禁用塑膠袋，鞏固了它東非環保意識模範國的形象。

在美國，許多社區已規範或甚至禁用塑膠袋。2007年起，塑膠袋已在加州洛杉磯等近百城市禁用。加州2014年立法禁止商店發放免費塑膠袋，原定當年7月生效，但在包括塑膠袋產業在內的反對者遊說下，計畫於2016年11月就是否廢除禁令進行公投。

Only a tiny fraction of plastic bags are recycled, while many end up in kitchen cupboards, floating through the air or wasting away slowly in landfills. "Plastic bags end up everywhere — stashed in cupboards, floating down canals, littering our streets or killing wildlife," Friends of the Earth, a British environmental group, said in a statement welcoming the new measure.

However, the TaxPayers' Alliance, an anti-tax group, said the new measure would burden families who are already struggling to get by.

只有極小部分塑膠袋被回收再利用，卻有許多最後待在廚房櫥櫃內、飄浮在空中，或在垃圾掩埋場慢慢腐爛。英國環保團體「地球之友」在歡迎這項新措施的聲明中說：「塑膠袋落得到處都是 -- 藏身於櫥櫃內、飄流在運河中、散布在我們的街頭，或殺死了野生動物。」

然而，反稅團體「納稅人聯盟」說，新措施將使那些已在掙扎圖存的家庭負擔更重。

A 2013 study by the Washington-based National Center for Policy Analysis, which champions laissez-faire economics, argued that paper and reusable bags were worse for the environment than plastic bags when it came to energy and water use, and to greenhouse gas emissions. "Every type of grocery bag incurs environmental costs," wrote H. Sterling Burnett, the author of the study.

提倡自由放任經濟的華府美國國家政策分析中心在2013年的研究報告中主張，就能源和水的使用及溫室氣體排放而言，紙袋跟環保袋比塑膠袋更不環保。報告作者史特林．柏奈特寫道：「每種食品雜貨袋都有環境成本。」

Whatever the arguments, the rules have inspired a mix of applause, resentment, fear and no little humor. "Can England cope with the bag charge, or will there be a bagpocalypse?" Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett asked in the British daily The Guardian. "Plastic Bags Chaos Looms," read a headline in The Daily Mail. Chloe Metzger, a 21-year-old blogger and student, wrote on Twitter: "I understand the whole #plasticbags thing but it couldn't be more annoying."

無論主張為何，新規定已引發多種反應，掌聲，怨恨，憂懼，還有不少的幽默。雷亞儂．露西．科斯雷在英國衛報上問道：「英格蘭能處理好塑膠袋收費嗎，或是將出現袋之末日？」每日郵報的標題則寫道：「塑膠袋亂局一觸即發。」21歲的學生部落客克羅伊．梅茲傑在推特上寫道：「我完全明白塑膠袋這檔事，但它讓人煩透了。」

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/287605/web/

Elden Ring 艾爾登法環

Elden Ring is an action role-playing game played in a third-person perspective with gameplay focusing on combat and exploration.Director Hidetaka Miyazaki explained that players start with a linear opening but eventually progress to freely explore the Lands Between, including its six main areas, as well as castles, fortresses, and catacombs scattered throughout the open world map.

Combat in Elden Ring relies heavily on character-building elements found in previous Souls games and related intellectual properties, such as calculated and close-ranged melee-based combat with the use of skills, magic abilities, as well as blocking and dodging mechanics. Elden Ring introduces mounted combat and a stealth system, the latter being a core gameplay element from Sekiro; these features are expected to encourage players in strategizing their combat approach with each unique enemy they encounter.

Elden Ring 艾爾登法環 是一款以第三人稱視角進行的動作角色扮演遊戲，遊戲玩法側重於戰鬥和探索。導演宮崎英孝解釋說，玩家從線性開場開始，但最終可以自由探索之間的土地，包括它的六個主要區域，以及散佈在整個開放世界地圖中的城堡，堡壘和地下墓穴。

遊戲中的戰鬥很大程度上依賴於之前黑魂《Souls》遊戲中的角色塑造元素和相關內容，例如使用技能、魔法能力以及格擋和閃避機制的計算和近距離近戰戰鬥。 艾爾登法環 引入了坐騎戰鬥和隱身系統，後者是Sekiro的核心遊戲元素;這些功能有望鼓勵玩家與他們遇到的每個獨特敵人制定戰鬥策略。

Volodymyr Zelensky 澤倫斯基

Like many people from Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, he grew up as a native Russian speaker, but he also acquired fluency in both Ukrainian and English. In 1995 he entered Kryvyy Rih Economic Institute, the local campus of Kyiv National Economic University, and in 2000 he graduated with a law degree.

Although Zelensky was licensed to practice law, his career was already headed in a different direction. While still a student, he had become active in theatre, and this would become his primary focus.

In addition to working in television during this period, Zelensky appeared in a number of feature films, including the historical farce Rzhevskiy Versus Napoleon (2012) and the romantic comedies 8 First Dates (2012) and 8 New Dates (2015).

像烏克蘭第聶伯羅彼得羅夫斯克地區的許多人一樣，他從小就以俄語為母語，但他也精通烏克蘭語和英語。1995年，他進入基輔國立經濟大學當地校區Kryvyy Rih經濟學院，並於2000年畢業，獲得法律學位。

雖然澤倫斯基獲得了執業執照，但他的職業生涯已經朝著不同的方向發展。當他還是一名學生時，他已經活躍在戲劇中，這將成為他的主要關注點。除了在此期間從事電視工作外，澤倫斯基還出演了許多故事片，包括歷史鬧劇《澤夫斯基與拿破崙》（2012年）和浪漫喜劇《8次第一次約會》（2012年）和《8次新約會》（2015年）。

延伸測驗:

1. What kind of game is Elden Ring?

A. ACT

B. RPG

C. SIM

2. What are the languages President Zelensky is fluent in?

A. Mandarin, English, Ukrainian

B. Russian, English, Ukrainian

C. Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K335: Ukraine? Putin’s Bigger Fear May Lie in Poland

Tomasz Czescik, a Polish archaeologist and television journalist, walks his dog each morning through a forest near his home here on NATO’s eastern flank, wandering along the edge of a green chain-link fence topped with razor wire.

波蘭考古學家和電視記者 Tomasz Czescik 每天早上都會​​帶著他的狗穿過他家附近的森林，這裡位於北約東翼，沿著頂部是鐵絲網的綠色鏈環柵欄的邊緣徘徊。

He enjoys the fresh air and morning quiet — until loudspeakers on the other side of the fence, strung with “Keep Out” signs in Polish, English, German and Russian, start blasting “The Star-Spangled Banner” at high volume.

他喜歡清新的空氣和清晨的寧靜——直到另一邊的擴音器柵欄的一側，掛著波蘭語、英語、德語的“Keep Out”標誌和俄羅斯人，開始大音量播放美國國歌“星條旗”。

“I don’t know anyone who has ever been inside there,” Czescik said, pointing across the fence toward a cluster of haze-shrouded buildings in the distance.

“我不知道有誰去過裡面，”切西克說，越過柵欄指向一簇被陰霾籠罩的建築物在遠處。

The fence is the outer perimeter, guarded by Polish soldiers, of a highly sensitive U.S. military installation, expected to be operational this year, which Washington insists will help defend Europe and the United States from ballistic missiles fired by rogue states like Iran.

圍欄是由波蘭士兵守衛的外圍外圍敏感的美國軍事設施，預計今年投入使用，華盛頓堅稱，這將有助於保護歐洲和美國免受伊朗等流氓國家發射的彈道導彈的攻擊。

But for President Vladimir Putin of Russia, the military base in Poland and another in Romania are evidence of what he sees as the threat posed by NATO’s eastward expansion — and part of his justification for his military encirclement of Ukraine. The Pentagon describes the two sites as defensive and unrelated to Russia, but the Kremlin believes they could be used to shoot down Russian rockets or to fire offensive cruise missiles at Moscow.

但對於俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾·普京來說，波蘭的軍事基地和羅馬尼亞證明了他認為的威脅北約東擴——以及他為軍隊辯護的部分理由包圍烏克蘭。五角大樓將這兩個地點描述為防禦性的，與俄羅斯無關，但克里姆林宮認為它們可用於擊落俄羅斯火箭或向莫斯科發射進攻性巡航導彈。

As he threatens Ukraine, Putin has demanded that NATO reduce its military footprint in Eastern and Central Europe — which Washington and European leaders have refused to do. Putin has been fuming about U.S. missiles near Russia’s border since the Romanian site went into operation in 2016, but the Polish facility, located near the village of Redzikowo, is only about 100 miles from Russian territory and barely 800 miles from Moscow itself.

普京威脅烏克蘭，要求北約削減軍力在東歐和中歐的足跡——華盛頓和歐洲領導拒絕了。普京一直對附近的美國導彈感到憤怒自羅馬尼亞站點於 2016 年投入運營以來的俄羅斯邊境，但位於 Redzikowo 村附近的波蘭工廠距離距俄羅斯領土 100 英里，距莫斯科僅 800 英里。

“Are we deploying missiles near the U.S. border? No, we are not. It is the United States that has come to our home with its missiles and is already standing at our doorstep,” Putin said in December at his annual news conference.

“我們是否在美國邊境附近部署導彈？不，我們不是。它是帶著導彈來到我們家的美國

站在我們家門口，”普京在去年 12 月的年度新聞中說會議。

Beata Jurys, the elected head of Redzikowo, said she had never been inside the facility, installed on the grounds of a former Polish air force base and a shuttered civilian airport. But the finger-pointing by Moscow and Washington has made her village a potential target in the event of war.

Redzikowo 的民選負責人 Beata Jurys 說她從來沒有進去過該設施安裝在前波蘭空軍基地的場地上和一個關閉的民用機場。但是莫斯科的指責和華盛頓已將她的村莊作為發生戰爭的潛在目標。

“If something happens," she said, "we will be the first to know, unfortunately.”

“如果發生什麼事，”她說，“不幸的是，我們將是第一個知道的。” Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/6125264

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K334: Pollution causing more deaths than COVID, action needed, says UN expert

Pollution by states and companies is contributing to more deaths globally than COVID-19, a UN environmental report published on Tuesday last week said, calling for “immediate and ambitious action” to ban some toxic chemicals.

上周二發佈的一份聯合國環境報告稱，國家和公司的污染導致全球死亡人數超過COVID-19，呼籲"立即採取雄心勃勃的行動"禁止一些有毒化學品。

The report said pollution from pesticides, plastics and electronic waste is causing widespread human rights violations and at least 9 million premature deaths a year, and that the issue is largely being overlooked.

該報告稱，農藥，塑膠和電子廢物的污染正在造成廣泛的侵犯人權行為，每年至少有900萬人過早死亡，這個問題在很大程度上被忽視了。

The coronavirus pandemic has caused close to 5.9 million deaths, according to data aggregator Worldometer.

根據數據聚合器Worldometer的數據，冠狀病毒大流行已造成近590萬人死亡。

“Current approaches to managing the risks posed by pollution and toxic substances are clearly failing, resulting in widespread violations of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” the report’s author, UN Special Rapporteur David Boyd, concluded.

"目前管理污染和有毒物質構成的風險的方法顯然失敗了，導致清潔，健康和可持續環境的權利受到廣泛侵犯，"該報告的作者，聯合國特別報告員大衛博伊德總結道。

Due to be presented next month to the UN Human Rights Council, which has declared a clean environment a human right, the document was posted on the Council’s Web site on Tuesday last week.

該檔將於下個月提交給聯合國人權理事會，該理事會已宣佈清潔環境為人權，該檔已於上週二發佈在理事會的網站上。

It urges a ban on polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl, man-made substances used in household products such as non-stick cookware that have been linked to cancer and dubbed “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down easily.

它敦促禁止多氟烷基和全氟烷基，這是家用產品中使用的人造物質，例如與癌症有關的不粘炊具，被稱為"永遠的化學物質"，因為它們不容易分解。

That term, originally used to describe nuclear test zones, was expanded in the report to include any heavily contaminated site or place rendered uninhabitable by climate change.

該術語最初用於描述核試驗區，在報告中已擴大到包括任何因氣候變化而無法居住的嚴重污染場地或地方。

It also seeks the clean-up of polluted sites and, in extreme cases, the possible relocations of affected communities — many of them poor, marginalized and indigenous — from so-called “sacrifice zones.”

它還尋求清理受污染的地點，在極端情況下，可能將受影響的社區——其中許多是貧窮、邊緣化和土著——從所謂的"犧牲區"遷移出去。

UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet has called environmental threats the biggest global rights challenge, and a growing number of climate and environmental justice cases are invoking human rights with success.

聯合國人權事務負責人蜜雪兒·巴切萊特（Michelle Bachelet）稱環境威脅是最大的全球人權挑戰，越來越多的氣候和環境正義案件成功地援引了人權。

Chemical waste is set to be part of negotiations at a UN environment conference in Nairobi, Kenya, starting on Monday next week, including a proposal to establish a devoted panel, similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

化學廢物將成為下週一在肯亞內羅畢舉行的聯合國環境會議談判的一部分，其中包括一項建立類似於政府間氣候變化專門委員會的專門小組的提案。Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2022/02/22/2003773512

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K333: Enemy at the gates: The background to the Ukraine crisis

At the core of the Ukraine crisis is a puzzle: Why would Russian President Vladimir Putin push Europe to the brink of war to demand the West not do something that it has no plan to do anyway? Russia says NATO, the American-led alliance that has on its hands the biggest European crisis in decades, must never offer membership to Ukraine, which gained independence as the Soviet Union broke apart about 30 years ago. Ukraine has long aspired to join NATO, but the alliance is not about to offer an invitation, due in part to Ukraine’s official corruption, shortcomings in its defense establishment and lack of control over its international borders.

烏克蘭危機的核心是一個謎：為什麼俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾·普京（Vladimir Putin）要把歐洲推向戰爭的邊緣，要求西方不要做一些它無論如何都沒有計劃做的事情？俄羅斯表示，北約是美國領導的聯盟，幾十年來最大的歐洲危機，絕不能向烏克蘭提供成員資格，烏克蘭在大約30年前蘇聯解體時獲得了獨立。烏克蘭長期以來一直渴望加入北約，但該聯盟不打算發出邀請，部分原因是烏克蘭官員腐敗，國防機構存在缺陷以及缺乏對其國際邊界的控制。

Putin’s demands go beyond the question of Ukraine’s association with NATO, but that link is central to his complaint that the West has pushed him to the limits of his patience by edging closer to Russian borders. He asserts that NATO expansion years ago has enhanced its security at the expense of Russia’s.

普京的要求超出了烏克蘭與北約的聯繫問題，但這種聯繫是他抱怨西方通過靠近俄羅斯邊境將他推向耐心極限的核心。他斷言，北約多年前的擴張以犧牲俄羅斯為代價加強了其安全。

Why is Putin worried about Ukraine joining NATO? The stated reason is that a further eastward expansion of NATO would pose a security threat to Russia. Washington and its allies deny this is a valid worry, since no NATO country is threatening to use force against Russia.

普京為什麼擔心烏克蘭加入北約？聲明的原因是北約進一步東擴將對俄羅斯構成安全威脅。華盛頓及其盟國否認這是一個合理的擔憂，因為沒有北約國家威脅要對俄羅斯使用武力。

More broadly, Putin wants NATO to pull back its existing military presence in Eastern Europe, which includes a regularly rotating series of exercises in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, all former Soviet states.

更廣泛地說，普京希望北約撤回其在東歐的現有軍事存在，其中包括在立陶宛，拉脫維亞和愛沙尼亞等所有前蘇聯省份定期輪換的一系列演習。

Putin also opposes NATO’s missile defense presence in Romania, a former Soviet satellite state, and a similar base under development in Poland, saying they could be converted to offensive weapons capable of threatening Russia.

普京還反對北約在前蘇聯衛星國羅馬尼亞的導彈防禦存在，以及在波蘭正在開發的類似基地，稱它們可以轉化為能夠威脅俄羅斯的進攻性武器。

Ukraine has deep historical and cultural ties to Russia, and Putin has repeatedly asserted that Russians and Ukrainians are “one people.” He has said that large chunks of Ukrainian territory are historical parts of Russia that were arbitrarily granted to Ukraine by communist leaders under the Soviet Union.

烏克蘭與俄羅斯有著深厚的歷史和文化聯繫，普京一再斷言俄羅斯人和烏克蘭人是"一個民族"。他曾說過，烏克蘭的大部分領土是俄羅斯的歷史部分，是蘇聯領導下的共產主義領導人任意授予烏克蘭的。

Putin’s own actions, however, have served to strengthen Ukrainians’ sense of national identity. After Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula and instigated a rebellion in eastern Ukraine in 2014, Ukraine’s desire to align itself with the West and join NATO only grew.

然而，普京自己的行動有助於加強烏克蘭人的民族認同感。在俄羅斯佔領克里米亞半島並於2014年在烏克蘭東部煽動叛亂后，烏克蘭與西方結盟並加入北約的願望只會增長。Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2022/02/15/2003773113

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K332: About Thailand - Woman cut rope holding painters 26 floors high

A resident of a high-rise condominium in Thailand cut the support rope for two painters, apparently angry she wasn’t told they would be doing work, and left them hanging above the 26th floor.

泰國一棟高層公寓大廈的一名住戶，剪斷2名外牆油漆工的支撐繩索，讓他們懸吊在26樓高，顯然是對未被告知施工一事動怒。

The woman is facing attempted murder and property destruction charges, and could face a prison term up to 20 years.

該名女性住戶面臨蓄意謀殺和財物毀損罪名，可能被判囚20年。

One of the painters, a Myanmar national named Song, told the Thai media that he and his friends had lowered themselves from the 32nd floor to repair a crack on the building.

其中一名緬甸籍宋姓油漆工向泰國媒體表示，他和朋友從32樓垂降，準備修復大廈的裂痕。

When he reached the 30th floor, he felt that the rope was heavier and when he looked down, he saw someone on the 21st floor open a window and cut his rope. He tried asking for help from other units, but nobody was in. The third colleague continued to support them from the top floor until a couple rescued them.

到達30樓外後，他感到繩索變重，往下竟看到有人從21樓打開窗戶剪斷繩索。他試著向其他住戶求救，但沒人在家，第3名同事則持續從頂樓支撐著他們，直到一對夫婦救了他們。

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Thai chain’s cannabis pizza: trendy but won’t get you high 泰國連鎖餐廳的大麻披薩：夠時髦卻不會讓人飄飄然

One of Thailand’s major fast food chains The Pizza Company has introduced "Crazy Happy Pizza", an under-the-radar product topped with a cannabis leaf. It’s legal but won’t get you high.

泰國大型連鎖餐廳之一「披薩公司」推出一款擺上一片大麻葉的低調新品「極樂披薩」，這是合法的產品，並不會讓人飄飄欲仙。

"It’s just a marketing campaign. And you can taste the cannabis and then if you have enough, you may get a bit sleepy," said the general manager.

餐廳總經理說：「這只是行銷方式，可以讓人品嚐大麻，只是如果吃太飽，可能會有點想睡覺。」

The Crazy Happy Pizza is a mashup of toppings evoking the flavors of Thailand’s famous Tom Yum Gai soup along with a deep-fried cannabis leaf on top. Cannabis is also infused into the cheese crust and there’s chopped cannabis in the dipping sauce. A 9-inch pie costs only 499 baht.

「極樂披薩」混搭各種食材，使人聯想到泰國著名的酸辣蝦湯，上頭再放上一片酥炸的大麻葉。不僅起司餅皮填入大麻，沾醬也加入碎葉片。一塊9吋披薩僅售499泰銖（約463台幣）。

Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to remove specific parts and extracts of cannabis from its controlled narcotics list in December 2020, and later allowed them to be used in foods and beverages.

泰國在2020年12月成為首個將大麻特定部位和萃取物移出致幻毒品的東南亞國家，之後更允許在菜品或飲料中使用大麻。Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1499658 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1503512

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K331: Cherokee on a smartphone: Part of a drive to save a language

By itself, being able to read smartphone home screens in Cherokee won’t be enough to safeguard the Indigenous language, endangered after a long history of erasure. But it might be a step toward immersing younger tribal citizens in the language spoken by a dwindling number of their elders.

能夠閱讀切諾基的智能手機主屏幕並不足以保護Cherokee原住民語言，在長期歷史消除後瀕臨滅絕。但這可能是朝著讓年輕的部落居民沉浸在越來越少的長者所說的語言中邁出的一步

That’s the hope of Principal Chief Richard Sneed of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who’s counting on more inclusive consumer technology — and the involvement of a major tech company — to help out.

這是Cherokee印第安人東部樂隊首席首席理查德斯尼德的希望，他指望更具包容性的消費者技術以及一家大型科技公司的參與來提供幫助。

Sneed and other Cherokee leaders have spent several months consulting with Lenovo-owned Motorola, which last week introduced a Cherokee language interface on its newest line of phones. Now phone users will be able to find apps and toggle settings using the syllable-based written form of the language first created by the Cherokee Nation’s Sequoyah in the early 1800s.

斯尼德和其他 Cherokee 領導人花了幾個月的時間諮詢聯想旗下的摩托羅拉，後者上週在其最新的手機系列中引入了 Cherokee 語言界面。現在，手機用戶將能夠使用 1800 年代初切諾基民族的 Sequoyah 首次創建的基於音節的語言的書面形式來查找應用程序和切換設置。

Several big tech companies have expressed interest in recent years in making their technology work better for endangered Indigenous languages, more to show their good will or advance speech recognition research than to fulfill a business imperative. Microsoft’s text translation service recently added Inuinnaqtun and Inuktitut, spoken in the Canadian Arctic, and grassroots artificial intelligence researchers are doing similar projects throughout the Americas and beyond. But there’s a long way to go before digital voice assistants understand these languages as well as they do English — and for some languages the time is running out.

近年來，幾家大型科技公司表示有興趣讓他們的技術更好用於瀕臨滅絕的原住民語言，更多的是為了表達他們的善意或推進語音識別研究，而不是為了滿足商業需求。微軟的文字翻譯服務最近增加了在加拿大北極地區使用的因紐納克頓語和因紐特語，基層人工智能研究人員正在整個美洲及其他地區開展類似的專案。但是，數位語音助手要像理解英語一樣理解這些語言還有很長的路要走——而對於某些語言來說，時間已經不多了。

Sneed and Benjamin Frey, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said they recognize that some Cherokee will have concerns about tech companies making a product feature of their work to preserve their language — whether it’s a text-based interface like Motorola’s or potential future projects that could record speech to build a voice assistant or real-time translator.

斯尼德和Cherokee印第安人東部樂隊成員、北卡羅來納大學教堂山分校教授 Benjamin Frey 表示，他們認識到，一些Cherokee人會擔心科技公司會擔心科技公司會在他們的工作中使用產品功能來保護他們的語言——無論是像摩托羅拉這樣的基於文本的界面，還是未來可能會錄製語音或語音助手或實時翻譯的項目。

Frey didn’t grow up speaking Cherokee, largely due to his grandmother’s experiences of being punished for speaking the language when she was sent to boarding school. For over 150 years, Indigenous children in the US and Canada were taken from their communities and forced into boarding schools that focused on assimilation.

Frey長大後並沒有說Cherokee語，這主要是因為他的祖母在被送到寄宿學校時因為說這種語言而受到懲罰。 150 多年來，美國和加拿大的原住民兒童被帶離他們的社區，被迫進入專注於同化的寄宿學校。

She and others of her generation were beaten for speaking the language, had her mouth washed out with soap and was told that “English was the only way to get ahead in the world,” Frey said.

她和她那一代的其他人因為說這種語言而遭到毆打，用肥皂漱口，並被告知“英語是在世界上取得成功的唯一途徑” Frey 說。

Frey hopes the new tool will be a conversation-starter between older Cherokee language speakers and their tech-savvy grandkids.

Frey 希望這個新工具能成為講Cherokee語的老人和他們精通技術的孫輩之間的對話開始者。Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2022/03/08/2003774355

Topic: Can Germany’s New Chancellor Revive the Left in Europe?

Last December, as he was plotting what most considered to be a hopeless bid to become Germany’s next chancellor, Olaf Scholz interrupted his campaign preparations for a video call with an American philosopher.

去年12月，蕭茲策畫競選德國下任總理，被多數人認為毫無希望之際，他為了與一名美國哲學教授視訊通話而暫停參選準備工作。

Scholz, a Social Democrat, wanted to talk to the philosopher, Michael J. Sandel of Harvard, about why center-left parties like his had been losing working-class voters to populists, and the two men spent an hour discussing a seemingly simple theme that would become the centerpiece of the Scholz campaign: “Respect.”

社會民主黨籍的蕭茲想跟美國哈佛大學哲學教授桑德爾談談，像他的黨這類中間偏左政黨為何失去勞動階級選民，眼看這些人轉而支持民粹主義者。兩人花了一小時討論一個看似簡單、後來成為蕭茲競選骨幹的主題「尊重」。

Scholz is Germany’s ninth postwar chancellor — and the first Social Democrat in 16 years — succeeding Angela Merkel and heading a three-party coalition government. Defying polls and pundits, he led his 158-year-old party from the precipice of irrelevance to an unlikely victory — and now wants to show that the center-left can again become a political force in Europe.

蕭茲是德國戰後第九位總理，也是16年來首位社民黨籍總理，接替梅克爾並領導三黨聯合政府。他打破民調和專家預測，帶領他那成立158年的政黨，走出被認為無關緊要的險境，取得難以置信的勝利，如今他希望展現中間偏左勢力能再度成為歐洲一支政治力量。

For the center-left in Europe, Scholz’s victory comes at a critical moment. Over the past decade, many of the parties that once dominated European politics have become almost obsolete, seemingly bereft of ideas and largely abandoned by their working-class base.

對歐洲中間偏左勢力而言，蕭茲勝選的時機很重要。過去十年來，許多一度主導歐洲政治的這類政黨變得幾乎被淘汰，他們看來沒有主張，而且大致被他們的勞動階級基本盤放棄。

The political energy has been on the right, especially the populist far right, with many American conservatives flocking to countries like Hungary to study the “illiberal democracy” of Viktor Orban, that nation’s far-right prime minister.

政治能量在右派這邊，尤其是民粹極右派，許多美國保守派人士湧入匈牙利這類國家，研究該國極右派總理奧班的「不自由民主思想」。

“The biggest concern in politics for me is that our liberal democracies are coming increasingly under pressure,” Mr. Scholz says about himself on the Social Democrats’ website. “We have to solve the problems so that the cheap slogans of the populists don’t catch.”

蕭茲在社民黨網站上描述自己：「對我而言政治上最大的憂慮是，我們的自由民主政體承受愈來愈大的壓力。我們必須解決這些問題，好讓民粹主義者的廉價口號無法打動人心。」

Last year, in the middle of the first Covid-19 lockdown, Mr. Scholz read Professor Sandel’s latest book, “The Tyranny of Merit” in which the Harvard philosopher argued that the meritocratic narrative of education as an engine of social mobility had fueled resentment and contributed to the rise of populists like Mr. Trump.

去年德國實施首次新冠肺炎防疫封鎖時，蕭茲閱讀了桑德爾教授最新著作「成功的反思」，這位哈佛哲學教授在書中主張，菁英領導體制陳述的「教育是社會流動的動力」，助長憤恨並促成美國前總統川普這種民粹政治人物崛起。

“The backlash of 2016 vividly expressed that simply telling people, ‘You can make it if you try,’ was not an adequate response to the wage stagnation and job loss brought about by globalization,” Professor Sandel said in an interview. “What Social Democratic elites missed was the insult implicit in this response to inequality, because what it said was, ‘If you’re struggling in the new economy, your failure is your fault.’”

桑德爾受訪時說：「2016年的強烈反應鮮明表達出，僅僅告訴人們『去嘗試就能做到』，並非對全球化造成的薪資停滯和失業的適切回應。社民黨菁英沒注意的是，這種對於不平等現象的回應隱含著侮辱，因為它說的是，『如果你在新經濟裡苦苦掙扎，你失敗是你自己的錯』。」Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/5970225

Topic: Europe’s COVID Culture War Plays Out in Pockets of Germany

Sven Müller is proudly unvaccinated. He thinks COVID-19 vaccines are neither effective nor safe but a way to make money for pharmaceutical companies and corrupt politicians who are taking away his freedom.

斯凡．穆勒對未接種疫苗感到自豪。他認為新冠疫苗既不有效也不安全，是幫製藥公司及剝奪他自由的腐敗政客賺錢的一種方式。

Under state rules to stem coronavirus infections, he is no longer allowed to go to restaurants, to the bowling alley, to the cinema or to the hairdresser. From next week, he will be barred from entering most shops, too. But that has only strengthened his resolve.

遏制新冠病毒感染的邦法規定，他不得進入餐館、保齡球館、電影院或找理髮師。從下周起，他還被禁止進入多數商店，但這只會堅定他的決心。

“They can’t break me,” said Müller, 40, a bar owner in the town of Annaberg-Buchholz, in the Ore Mountain region in the eastern state of Saxony where the vaccination rate is 44% — the lowest in Germany.

40歲的穆勒說：「他們打不倒我。」他是德東薩克森邦厄爾士山區安娜貝格布赫霍爾茨鎮的一名酒吧老闆，當地疫苗接種率是全德國最低的44%。

Müller personifies a problem that is as sharp in some parts of Europe as it is in the United States. If Germany had red and blue states, Saxony would be crimson. In places like this, pockets of unvaccinated people are driving the latest round of contagion, filling strained hospital wards, putting economic recoveries at risk and sending governments scrambling to head off a fourth wave of the pandemic.

歐洲某些地區，有個問題與美國一樣激烈，穆勒是此事化身。若德國有紅州和藍州，薩克森邦將是深紅。在這樣的地方，一小群未接種疫苗的人正引發最新一波疫情，使得捉襟見肘的醫院病房人滿為患，令經濟復甦面臨風險，並讓政府在阻止第四波疫情爆發上疲於奔命。

Western European governments are resorting increasingly to thinly veiled coercion with a mixture of mandates, inducements and punishments.

西歐國家政府正逐漸採取幾乎不加掩飾的強制手段，包括強制令、誘導及處罰。

In many countries, it is working. When President Emmanuel Macron announced in July that vaccine passports would be required to enter most social venues, France — where anti-vaccine sentiment was strong — was one of the least vaccinated countries in Europe. Today it has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world.

在許多國家，此舉正在發揮作用。今年7月，法國總統馬克宏宣布，進入大多數社交場所必須持有疫苗護照。當時，反疫苗情緒強烈的法國是歐洲接種疫苗最少的國家之一。如今它是世界上疫苗接種率最高國家之一。

Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy followed Macron’s lead with even tougher measures. There, and in Spain, too, attempts by populist parties to stoke a broad-based anti-vaccine backlash have largely been snuffed out.

義大利總理德拉吉跟隨馬克宏帶領，採取了更嚴厲措施。在西班牙，民粹主義政黨激起廣大反疫苗反對聲浪的企圖，基本上也被撲滅。

But regional resistance against the coronavirus vaccine remains. In Central and Eastern Europe — and in the German-speaking countries and regions bordering them — the problem is more stubborn.

但地區性抗拒疫苗的情況依舊存在。在中歐、東歐及相鄰的德語國家和地區，這個問題更棘手。

In Italy, the northern province of Bolzano — bordering Austria and Switzerland, where 70% of the population is German-speaking — has the country’s lowest vaccination rate.

在義大利，靠近奧地利與瑞士邊界的北部省分波爾察諾有70%人口講德語，該省疫苗接種率全國最低。

“There is some correlation with far-right parties, but the main reason is this trust in nature,” said Patrick Franzoni, a doctor who spearheads the inoculation campaign in the province. Especially in the Alps, he said, the German-speaking population trusts fresh air, organic produce and herbal teas more than traditional drugs.

在該省率先發起疫苗接種運動的醫師派崔克．佛蘭佐尼說：「這與極右翼政黨有些關係，但主要原因是對自然的信任。」他表示，尤其在阿爾卑斯山區，說德語的民眾更相信新鮮空氣、有機農產品與花草茶，而不是傳統藥物。Source article : https://udn.com/news/story/6904/5919791

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Topic: It's Election Season in Germany. No Charisma, Please!

The most popular politician who would like to be chancellor isn’t on the ballot. The leading candidate is so boring people compare him to a machine. Instead of “Yes, We Can!” voters are being fired up with promises of “Stability.”

可能成為總理的最受歡迎政客，不在選票上。居於領先的候選人太無趣，人們將他和機器相比。沒有「是的，我們能！」選民對各種「穩定」的承諾感到激憤。

Germany is having its most important election in a generation but you would never know it. The newspaper Die Welt recently asked in a headline: “Is this the most boring election ever?”

德國正舉行一個世代中最重要的一次選舉，但你可能不會知道。《世界報》最近在標題這樣問，「這是歷來最無聊的一次選舉嗎？」

Yes and no.

是，也不是。

The campaign to replace Chancellor Angela Merkel after 16 years of her dominating German and European politics is the tightest in Germany since 2005, and it just got tighter. The Social Democrats, written off as recently as a month ago, have overtaken Merkel’s conservatives for the first time in years.

在總理梅克爾主導德國和歐洲政治16年後，這場準備取代她的競選是2005年以來最激烈的，且會更緊繃。直到一個月前都還很邊緣的社會民主黨，已超前梅克爾的保守派系，是近年首見。

But the campaign has also revealed a charisma vacuum that is at once typical of postwar German politics and exceptional for just how bland Merkel’s two most likely successors are. No party is polling more than 25%, and for much of the race the candidate the public has preferred was none of the above.

不過這次競選也顯露領袖魅力的真空狀態，這是戰後德國政治的常態，尤其顯示最有可能接替梅克爾的兩個人有多平淡。沒有政黨在民調中支持率超過25%，而競選中大多數時間，大眾偏好的候選人也非上述兩位。

Whoever wins, however, will have the job of shepherding the continent’s largest economy, making that person one of Europe’s most important leaders, which has left some observers wondering if the charisma deficit will extend to a leadership deficit as well.

然而，不論誰會勝出，將負責帶領歐陸最大經濟體，成為歐洲最重要的領袖之一，這也讓一些觀察家想知道，欠缺領袖魅力是否也會延伸為欠缺領袖能力。

While the election outcome may be exciting, the two leading candidates are anything but.

選舉結果也許令人興奮，兩名領先的候選人卻不讓人這麼覺得。

Less than a month before the vote, the field is being led by two male suit-wearing career politicians — one balding, one bespectacled, both over 60 — who represent the parties that have governed the country jointly for the better part of two decades.

距離投票日不到一個月，選舉由兩個穿西裝男性職業政客領先，一個禿頭，一個戴眼鏡，兩人都年過60，他們代表的政黨在過去20年中大部分時候聯合治理國家。

There is Armin Laschet, the governor of the western state of North-Rhine Westphalia, who is running for Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats. And then there is Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat who is Merkel’s finance minister and vice chancellor.

北萊因–西伐利亞邦邦總理拉謝特，代表梅克爾的保守派基督教民主黨參選。社會民主黨的蕭茲，是梅克爾的財政部長及副總理。

The candidate of change, Annalena Baerbock, the 40-year-old co-leader of the Greens, has a bold reform agenda and plenty of verve — and has been lagging in the polls after a brief surge before the summer.

代表改變的候選人，是40歲的綠黨共同黨魁貝爾伯克，提出大膽的改革政見並充滿活力，她在夏季之前支持度短暫上升，目前落後。

It’s a nail-biter, German-style: Who can most effectively channel stability and continuity? Or put another way: Who can channel Merkel?

這是德式的緊張：誰能最有效引領穩定與延續，或者說，誰能複製梅克爾？

For now it seems to be Scholz — a man Germans have long known as the “Scholz-o-mat” or the “Scholz machine” — a technocrat and veteran politician who can seem almost robotically on message. Where others have slipped up in the campaign, he has avoided mistakes, mostly by saying very little.

目前看來似是蕭茲，德國人認識已久的「蕭茲機器人」或「蕭茲機器」，一名技術官僚及資深政客，傳達訊息時像是機器人。其他候選人在選戰中不小心失言時，他避免犯錯，大多數是因說得很少。Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/5739953

Suck (verb)

字典內容：https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suck#suck-it-up

Definition定義:

a: to draw (something, such as liquid) into the mouth through a suction force produced by movements of the lips and tongue - sucked milk from his mother's breast

b: to draw something from or consume by such movements - suck an orange suck a lollipop

c: to apply the mouth to in order to or as if to suck out a liquid - sucked his burned finger

其他片語：

縮小腹 Suck in

1. While I served in the army, I was told to suck in my stomach.

接受不好的事 Suck it up

1. We were very sad losing the game, but my coach told us to suck it up.

馬屁精Suck-up

1. Whenever I compliment the teacher, other students all me a suck-up.

Slang 俚語

很爛/不好

1. You suck!

小測驗:

Which sentence below is NOT correct?

1. His performance sucked during the game.

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K330: About food - Food is more expensive than it has been in decades

Bad news for American consumers: It’s getting more expensive to dine out, and it’s getting more expensive to eat at home.

美國消費者有一個壞消息：在外用餐愈來愈貴，在家吃也愈來愈貴。

Restaurant prices spiked 5.8% over the 12 months ending in November without seasonal adjustments, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. That’s the largest 12-month increase since the year ended January 1982.

美國勞工統計局週五表示，截至去年11月的過去12個月，餐廳價格在無季節性調價的情況下飆升5.8%，為自在1982年1月結束的一年以來的12個月最大增幅。

And unfortunately for those hoping to curb spending by turning to home cooking, grocery prices are also at record highs.

不幸的是，對那些想在家煮飯以控制支出的人來說，食物與雜貨價格也處於歷史新高。

The sharp increases underscore the fact that restaurants and food makers are not immune to supply chain and labor pressures contributing to pricing increases across the board.

價格暴漲凸顯此一事實，即餐廳與食物製造廠商也無法不受到導致價格全面上漲的供應鏈斷鏈與缺工壓力的影響。

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Giant strawberry earns Israeli farmer a Guinness World Record 大草莓替以色列農夫贏得金氏世界紀錄

Israeli farmer Chahi Ariel has grown the world’s heaviest strawberry, according to Guinness World Records.

根據《金氏世界紀錄大全》，以色列農夫查希．埃里兒種出全世界最重的草莓。

At 289 grams, the strawberry was about five times the average weight of a regular berry of the local Ilan variety, said Nir Dai, a researcher at Israel’s Volcani Institute where the strain was developed.

重達289公克，服務於研發該品種的以色列「火山中心」研究人員尼爾．戴說，這顆草莓約是當地「伊蘭」品種正常苺果平均重量的5倍。

The strawberry was 18 cm long and 34 cm in circumference, the online Guinness entry said.

網路上的金氏登錄資料說，這顆草莓18公分長、圓周為34公分。

Ariel had been hoping he was onto a winner when they saw how big the fruit were growing on his family farm last year. He has been waiting for confirmation it was a record while keeping the giant strawberry in the freezer as proof.

埃里兒去年看到家族農場的水果生長尺寸後，一直期盼成為贏家。等著紀錄確認的同時，他把這顆大草莓放進冰箱保存當證據。

Unusually cold weather in early 2021 slowed the strawberry’s ripening process, allowing it to continue gaining weight, according to the record book’s website.

根據這本紀錄冊的網站，2021年初不尋常的寒冷天氣延緩了這顆草莓的熟化過程，讓它得以繼續變重。Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1502493 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1502680