通勤學英語 15Mins Today

Hello 通勤家族，歡迎收聽Look Back Sunday回顧星期天，在這個節目John老師會彙整過去不同國家與主題的熱門跟讀文章，讓你可以在十五分鐘內吸收最精華的世界時事趣聞！我們這週聽聽比利時的趣聞，Let's get right to it!

For years it was just an urban myth. Then the diggers moved in and found it was true - that the heart of a former mayor of the eastern Belgian city of Verviers really was buried under a fountain.

多年以來，這不過是個都市神話。然後，挖土機進駐，發現是真的—比利時東部韋爾維耶市前市長的心臟，真的埋在一座噴泉下。

A small metal box, containing Pierre David’s heart in an ethanol-filled jar, was uncovered during renovation work on the city’s ornate stone fountain last month.

上月在該市裝飾華麗的石頭噴泉翻修工程中，發現了一個小金屬盒，內含一只充滿乙醇、放有皮埃爾．大衛心臟的廣口瓶。

The relic is mentioned in civic documents, but until it was found "no one really believed it," Verviers city councillor Maxime Degey told Reuters.

韋爾維耶市議員馬克西姆．德杰告訴路透，民間文件曾提及此遺物，但直到它被發現前，「沒人真的相信」。

David, the city’s first mayor after Belgium became an independent country, was still in office when he died in 1839 after falling from a building.

大衛是比利時成為獨立國家後的該市首任市長，1839年在位時墜樓身亡。

Authorities built a fountain in his honour and, with his family’s permission, placed his heart under a stone in the monument in 1883.

為了向他致意，當局建了個噴泉，並在其家屬允許下，1883年把他的心臟放在這座紀念建物一塊石頭下。

The box is on display at the Verviers Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics. It will be returned to the Fontaine David in the city’s Place Verte once the renovation is complete.

這個盒子正在「韋爾維耶繪畫與陶瓷博物館」展出。一旦位於該市「綠色廣場」的「大衛噴泉」整修完畢，它將回歸原處。

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Belgians looking for a different culinary experience will once again be able to eat 50 metres above the ground as the dining-in-the-sky experience returns from COVID-19 lockdown with a new, socially distanced feel.

尋求不同餐飲經驗的比利時人，將再次能夠於地面50公尺上方吃東西，因為高空用餐經驗從2019冠狀病毒疾病行動限制令後，正以著一種新的社交距離感重返。

Belgium-based Dinner in the Sky, which has been set up in some 60 countries since its 2006 launch, involves diners strapped into seats at a table suspended from a crane while well-known chefs cook and serve from the centre.

2006年開張以來在將近60國設立的比利時「空中餐廳」，把用餐者和一架起重機吊著的餐桌座位繫在一起，而知名主廚們在中間烹調服務。

Their original platform sat 22 people together along the perimeter, but in the COVID-19 era, up to 32 diners will now reserve four-person private tables spaced apart. The chefs and servers also have a little more space to roam.

他們原本的平台是22人圍著坐，但在2019冠狀病毒疾病時代，多達32名用餐者現在將預約彼此間隔的4人桌。主廚和侍者也有多些空間遊走。

Dinner in the Sky offers three sittings - for lunch and two for dinner over the coming two weeks. The price is 295 euros per head or 150 euros for weekend afternoon cocktails.

「空中餐廳」提供3個入席時段—未來2週有午餐以及晚餐2個時段。價位是平均每人295歐元，或週末下午雞尾酒150歐元。

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1402192 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1400700

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布魯塞爾一家新創公司，藉著推出脆口的蟋蟀當做肉類以外的蛋白質另類選擇，希望在比利時掀起一波料理革命。

Eco-friendly ’Little Food’ said its crickets, which can be eaten dried, in different flavors such as garlic or tomato, or turned into flour, were also friendlier on the environment.

對生態友好的「小食」說，蟋蟀可以用各種不同口味乾吃，例如蒜頭或番茄，或是化為粉狀，相較於一些畜牧業，都是對環境更友善。

"For the same amount of protein as a cow for instance, they （crickets） need 25 times less food, they need 300 times less water, and they produce 60 times less greenhouse gases," Little Food cricket breeder Nikolaas Viaene said.

「小食」蟋蟀飼養員尼可拉斯．維安納說：「拿牛當例子，要取得等量的蛋白質，蟋蟀所需食物少了25倍，用水少了300倍，而牠們製造的溫室氣體少了60倍。」

While eating insects is common practice in a number of countries, such as China, Ghana, Mexico and Thailand, Brussels residents seemed unsure about putting crickets on the menu.

當吃蟲在一些國家司空見慣，例如中國、迦納、墨西哥和泰國，布魯塞爾居民對於把蟋蟀放進菜單，則顯得躊躇猶豫。

Strolling in downtown Brussels, Efthimia Lelecas declined the offer of a cricket snack： "No, I’m not eating that," she said. "No, no, that looks awful, no, no...no."

漫步在布魯塞爾市中心，埃弗奇米亞．樂勒卡斯拒絕一份送上門的蟋蟀零食，她說：「不，我不要吃那個。」「不、不，那看來好可怕，不、不……不。」

Source article: http://iservice.ltn.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=1115149&day=2017-07-01

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推廣騎自行車的比利時部長發現自己的單車被偷了

A Belgian minister arrived by bike to a news conference to promote cycling on Tuesday, only to find it had been stolen when he left half an hour later.

週二，比利時一位部長為了推廣騎自行車，騎單車至新聞發佈會現場，半小時後離開，卻發現自己的單車被偷了。

Ben Weyts, minister of mobility for the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders, unveiled a plan to invest 300 million euros （$320 million） in cycle lanes until 2019, as part of a wider program to promote alternative modes of transport.

班．維茨，荷語法蘭德斯區的交通部長，推出一項斥資3億歐元（3億2000萬美元）在2019年前興建自行車專用道的計畫，作為範圍更廣泛的推廣替代性交通模式的一部分。

"We left the bike in racks at the station and locked it," a spokesman for the minister said. "When we got back half an hour later, it was gone."

「我們把單車停在停車架上，還上了鎖，」該位部長的發言人說。「當我們半小時後回來，車就沒了。」

While Belgium is a country obsessed with cycling as a sport, cars are the main method of commuting to work, leading to some of the worst road congestion in Europe.

比利時仍堅信騎自行車是一種運動，汽車還是通勤上班的主要工具，使得比國的交通壅塞情況在歐洲數一數二。

The minister had to call his driver to pick him up from the station in Halle, just south of Brussels, the spokesman said, and hoped police would discover the bicycle thief with the help of security camera footage.

發言人說，部長只好打電話給他的司機，要司機到位於布魯塞爾南部的哈勒自行車站接人，自行車只能指望警方透過監視器影像的協助找出小偷。

Source article: http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/paper/1079689

Summary:

In this dual article episode, we find that Microsoft has opened a permanent work from home policy for employees in response to the struggles of getting to office amidst the pandemic. Once the pandemic subsides, Microsoft employees can choose to work from home permanently with their manager’s approval. Next piece of news is about the Korean government moved kindergarten and elementary school students back online in response of the surge in the number of COVID19 infections.

原跟讀文章: https://www.15mins.today/blog/ep-997-about-wfh-microsoft-to-let-employees-work-from-home

Vocabulary and Sample Sentences:

Provisions n. action of supplying or providing something / financial or other arrangements

• In response to COVID19, Microsoft expanded their work-from-home provisions.

Drag on ph. V – process or situation that continue at unnecessary length

• If the COVID19 situation drags on, the market may react badly.

Surge n. - powerful upward or forward movement

• The number of Porsches surged in the streets of Taipei.

每日英語跟讀Podcast，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K035: About New Zealand- Mittens the cat could become New Zealander of the Year

Mittens, a famous feline from Wellington, is in the running to be voted New Zealander of the Year, going up against Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr. Ashley Bloomfield.

來自威靈頓的知名母貓「米坦斯」，正在角逐紐西蘭年度人物票選，對上紐西蘭總理賈欣達．阿爾登與衛生部衛生事務首長艾希莉．布魯斐德博士。

The feline joins a host of nominees for the annual Kiwibank award, including figures from sectors such as politics, media, health, music and design.

這隻母貓獲得年度奇異鳥銀行獎的多項提名，該獎項包括政治界、媒體界、衛生界、音樂界與設計界的年度人物。

Other nominees for New Zealander of the Year include microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles and lawmaker Chloe Swarbrick.

其他紐西蘭年度人物的被提名人，還有微生物學家蘇西．威爾斯，與國會議員克羅伊．史瓦布里克。

The Wellington Museum has also dedicated a mini exhibition to Mittens and his adventures, named "Floofy and Famous." And in May the mayor of Wellington, Andy Foster, gave Mittens the key to the city, an honor previously granted to "The Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson.

威靈頓博物館也已經為米坦斯與牠的冒險辦了一場迷你展覽，名為「蓬鬆而知名」。5月時，威靈頓市市長安迪．佛斯特也給米坦斯這座城市的鑰匙，一項以前曾授予「魔戒」導演彼得．傑克森的榮譽。

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New Zealanders have voted in favor of legalizing euthanasia for people with a terminal illness － clearing the way for the controversial proposition to become law in 2021.

紐西蘭人已投票贊成絕症病患安樂死合法化——剷除讓此一具有爭議性的提案在2021年立法的障礙。

More than 65% of voters backed the proposed law, according to preliminary results of a referendum announced by the country’s electoral commission Friday.

根據該國選舉委員會週五宣布的公投初步結果，超過65%的選民支持這項法律議案。

Lawmakers voted 69-51 to approve the End of Life Choice Act 2019 last year before sending the issue to a referendum.

該法案在（紐國）國會議員去年以69比51通過「2019終結生命選擇法」後，送交公投。

More than 2.4 million people took part in the poll, which was conducted alongside New Zealand’s general election on October 17.

超過240萬人參加與10月17日紐西蘭大選一同舉行的投票。

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1422581; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1396855

每日英語跟讀Podcast，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K034: How Good Child Care Helps Mothers, and the Men They Raise

As many American parents know, hiring care for young children during the workday is punishingly expensive, costing the typical family about a third of its income.

Helping parents pay for that care would be expensive for society, too. Yet recent studies show that of any policy aimed to help struggling families, aid for high-quality care has the biggest economic payoff for parents and their children — and even their grandchildren. It has the biggest positive effect on women’s employment and pay. It’s especially helpful for low-income families, because it can propel generations of children toward increased earnings, better jobs, improved health, more education and decreased criminal activity as adults.

許多美國父母都知道，在上班日請人照顧幼兒的費用高得要命，得花掉一般家庭三分之一的收入。

幫助父母支付托兒費也需花費很高的社會成本。不過，最近的一些研究顯示，在幫助經濟困難家庭的所有政策中，資助高品質托兒照顧，對父母和他們的子女，甚至孫子輩，都能獲得最大的經濟回報。對婦女就業和受薪有最大的正面效益。這對低薪家庭幫助尤其大，因為可以促使世世代代的兒童成年後邁向更高的薪水、更好的工作、更健康的身體、更高的教育程度和較少的犯罪活動。

Affordable care for children under 5, long a goal of Democrats, is now being championed by Ivanka Trump.

The Department of Health and Human Services says child care should cost 7 percent of a family’s income at most — but 42 percent of families who buy care for young children spend considerably more than that, according to census data analyzed by Beth Mattingly at the University of New Hampshire. A report by New America and Care.com put the average cost of child care in the United States at $16,514 a year.

5歲以下兒童的可負擔托兒照顧，是民主黨長期以來的目標，現在由伊凡卡．川普領軍推動。

美國衛生暨人類服務部表示，托兒照顧頂多只應花掉一個家庭收入的7%，但根據新罕布夏大學的貝絲．麥亭利對人口普查資料的分析，花錢請人照顧幼兒的家庭有42%花費遠高過這個比率。「新美國與照顧網站」的一份報告估計，在美國請人照顧兒童的平均花費為每年1萬6514美元。

It’s children with parents who can least afford high-quality care who benefit most from it, research has found. That is because affluent children have better alternatives. For well-off children, some studies have linked day care, especially low-quality care early in life, to achievement and behavior problems.

A powerful new study — which demonstrated long-term results by following children from birth until age 35 — found that high-quality care during the earliest years can influence whether both mothers and children born into disadvantage lead more successful lives. The study was led by James J. Heckman, a Nobel laureate economist at the University of Chicago.

研究發現，父母最無力負擔高品質托兒照顧的孩子受益最大。這是因為富裕家庭的兒童有更好的其他選擇。針對富家子弟，一些研究認為托兒照顧，特別是年幼時的低品質照顧，與長大後的成就和行為問題有關聯。

有項強有力的新研究藉由追蹤兒童出生到35歲的過程以展現長期結果，發現最年幼幾年的高品質照顧，對母親與生在弱勢家庭的孩子能否邁向成功人生，有一定影響力。這項研究由芝加哥大學獲諾貝爾獎的經濟學家詹姆士．赫克曼帶領。

“They’re engaged more in the workforce, they’re now active participants of society, they’re more educated, they have higher skills,” Heckman said. “So what we’ve done is promoted mobility across generations.”

The study analyzed two well-known experimental programs in North Carolina, which offered free, full-time care to low-income children age 8 weeks to 5 years, most of whom were black and lived with a single mother. The children in the control group were at home or in lower-quality programs.

The mothers of those in the experimental program earned more when the children were in preschool, and the difference was still there two decades later.

赫克曼說：「他們更投入勞動，他們現在是活躍的社會參與者，他們的教育程度更高，他們有更好的技能。因此，我們所做的是促進跨世代的流動性。」

這項研究分析北卡羅來納州兩項著名的實驗計畫，此二計畫對8周到5歲的低收入家庭兒童提供免費、全天照顧，主要是與單親媽媽同住的黑人小孩。對照組的兒童在家或接受較低品質的托兒計畫。

實驗計畫兒童的母親在孩子上幼稚園時已能賺得更多收入，20年後這差距依然存在。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/314555/web/

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K033: Japanese astronaut posts night view of Tainan and Kaohsiung

On Nov. 15, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida, sending the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft with a four astronauts on board to meet up with the International Space Station (ISS). The crew members were US astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, along with Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi. The spaceship docked with the ISS on Nov. 16.

美國佛州卡納維爾角甘迺迪太空中心十一月十五日發射「SpaceX」的「獵鷹九號」火箭，將載有四名太空人的「載人飛龍堅韌號」太空船送上國際太空站，分別是美籍太空人邁克爾·霍普金斯、維克多·葛洛佛、香農·華克和日籍太空人野口聰一。太空船於十六日與國際太空站完成對接。

Noguchi has used his Twitter account to post photographs taken from space of the Earth’s surface, including Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya and Osaka in Japan as well as Florida, Washington DC and New Orleans in the US.

野口陸續透過推特帳號發布他從太空拍攝的地面照片，包括日本東京、京都、名古屋、大阪，以及美國佛羅里達、華盛頓特區、紐奧良等地。

As the ISS orbits around the Earth, on Dec. 4 Noguchi posted an aerial photo of Hong Kong and Macau and another one of Taiwan. He wrote in English “Taiwan is cloudy tonight — this is the best I got,” followed in Japanese by “Sorry to everyone in Taiwan; this is not a good photo.” He also noted that the cities in the photo were Kaohsiung and Tainan at night.

隨著國際太空站繞行地球，野口十二月四日貼出香港、澳門，以及台灣的空拍照，他用英文表示「台灣今晚是陰天，這是我拍得最好的了」，再用日文寫「台灣的大家抱歉，這不是一張好照片。」他也註明照片中的城市是台灣的高雄和台南的夜間景色。

A lot of the comments posted below said that Noguchi had captured the murky feeling of Taiwanese cities on a cloudy night. Many of the comments praised the photo, saying things like “It is very atmospheric” and “I have seen a night view of Taiwan on a return flight from Vietnam — it left a deep impression, and I am glad to see it again.” Others wrote “It is interesting to see how each city’s lights are different” and “It is really beautiful — Thank you for taking a photo of Taiwan and posting it online.”

不少在下面留言的網友認為，野口將陰天的台灣城市拍出美麗的朦朧感，紛紛留言稱讚「相當有氣氛」、「我從越南的回程航班上看過台灣夜景，非常令人印象深刻，我很高興再次見到它」。另外有人寫「有趣的是，每個城市的燈光都不一樣」、「真的是太美麗了，謝謝你拍了台灣並把台灣貼出來」。

Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/12/22/2003749135

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K032: The Silent Film Returns - on Social Media

The summer’s hottest destination for video entertainment is a U.K.-based social media brand called LADbible. In July alone, the viral clips that churn out of its Facebook page were viewed more than 3 billion times.

Although the site is nominally branded around young British men, its offerings hold an oddly universal appeal. On a recent afternoon, it served up videos of a guy accidentally hitting himself in the head with a baseball bat; a pizza being made out of french fries; a dog bathing in a Jacuzzi; a woodworker crafting a salad bowl; a tourist riding a slide down the Great Wall of China and a manatee kissing a snorkeler.

今夏最受歡迎的影片娛樂目的網站，是總部設於英國的社群媒體品牌LADbible。光是7月，從它臉書頁面流出的網路爆紅短片瀏覽量就超過了30億次。

雖然該網站名義上是個英國年輕男性品牌，提供的內容卻有著奇特的普世吸引力。不久前的某個下午，該網站播放的影片包括：某人不小心用棒球棒打到了自己的頭，用薯條製作一塊披薩，一隻狗在按摩浴缸洗澡，一名木匠製作沙拉碗，一名遊客沿著中國長城滑下來，以及一隻海牛親吻一名浮潛者。

The videos are curated from disparate sources, filmed on smartphones and GoPros around the world, but they all have one thing in common: They’re best watched silently. If they even have sound, it’s completely beside the point.

We are living in the golden age of the silent video. Although we may still pop headphones in to watch a YouTube rant, social media has cultivated its own mute visual culture. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are designed to encourage endless scrolling, and that boosts videos that are made to catch the viewer’s eye without offending her ear with grating bursts of noise.

這些影片取自各種不同來源，以智慧手機跟GoPro攝影機在全球各地進行拍攝，但它們都有個共同點，就是最好默默地觀賞這些影片。若它們有聲音，就完全偏離了網站主題。

我們正活在靜音影片的黃金時代，即便我們可能還會戴著耳機在YouTube上觀看大聲播放的影片，社群媒體卻已發展出自己的無聲視覺文化。臉書、推特與Instagram在設計上就是要鼓勵無限滾動，而無限滾動助長了能吸引觀看者目光，卻不會讓刺耳聲音冒犯耳朵的影片。

The clips that spread the furthest online are the ones that can be consumed anywhere without disruption: on the subway, the sidewalk or in the doctor’s office; next to a partner in bed, behind the counter at work or under the desk in class. They’re the ones that allow for private experiences in the most public of places. And in the internet’s global marketplace, they’re the ones that transcend language barriers, instantly legible to viewers in Peoria or Paris.

Tubular Labs, the online video analytics company that placed LADbible at the top of its rankings, has found that of videos posted to Facebook by media companies, 46 percent of views go to videos that are completely silent or just accompanied by music. And in practice, an even higher proportion of social videos are watched silently. Advertising agency BBDO Worldwide says that more than 85 percent of its clients’ Facebook videos are viewed with the sound off.

在網路上被傳播最多的短片，正是那些在任何地方都可不受干擾地享用的影片，例如地鐵上，人行道上，醫生辦公室裡，抑或是床伴旁邊，工作場所櫃台後面，或是教室課桌底下。它們是讓你能在最公開的地方私下體驗（觀賞）的東西。而在網路的全球市場中，它們是那些能超越語言障礙，讓你不論人在皮奧利亞或是巴黎都能立馬一目了然的東西。

將LADbible列為自家排行榜首位的網路影片分析公司Tubular Labs發現，各媒體公司張貼於臉書的影片，完全無聲或只伴隨音樂者占了46％的瀏覽量，且實際上，靜音觀賞社群影片的比率則又更高。廣告機構天聯表示，逾85%客戶在觀賞臉書影片時會關掉聲音。

All of that has given rise to a particular kind of video spectacle on social media, one that is able to convey its charms without dialogue, narrative or much additional context. To entertain soundlessly, viral video makers are reanimating some of the same techniques that ruled silent film more than 100 years ago.

以上種種使得社群媒體上出現一種特殊的影片現象，一種在沒有對話、敘述或許多額外背景情況下就能傳達其魅力的景象。網路爆紅影片製作者為了做出無聲娛樂，正重拾100多年前主宰默片的一些相同技術。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/320172/web/

每週Vocab精選詞彙Podcast，就在https://www.15mins.today/vocab

用email訂閱就可以收到通勤學英語節目更新通知。

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K031: Junk food habit affects sleep quality

French fries and hamburgers are popular with teenagers. Everyone knows that these high-calorie foods can lead to chronic illnesses such as heart disease and high blood pressure, but, according to a report published by Medical Xpress, a study led by the University of Queensland in Australia has found that eating too much junk food can also have an impact on teenagers’ sleep quality.

薯條、漢堡等速食及飲料很受青少年喜愛。眾所皆知這些高熱量食物會導致慢性疾病，如心臟病和高血壓等。不過，「醫療快訊」報導，澳洲昆士蘭大學帶領的一項研究發現，吃過多的垃圾食品還會影響青少年的睡眠品質。

According to the research results, teenagers who drink more than three soft drinks per day were 55 percent more likely to report sleep disturbance than those who only drink one cup per day. Males who ate fast foods on more than four days per week were 55 percent more likely to report sleep disturbance than those who ate them only once a week, while females were 49 percent more likely to do so.

根據研究結果，每天喝三杯以上飲料的青少年自稱有睡眠障礙的機率，比每天只喝一杯軟飲料的青少年高百分之五十五。每週吃四天以上速食的男性自稱有睡眠障礙的機率，比那些每週只吃一次速食的男性高百分之五十五，而女性的機率高出百分之四十九。

This global study examined unhealthy diets and stress-related sleep disturbance in high school students from 64 countries. The study found that 7.5 percent of adolescents reported having stress-related sleep disturbance, which was more common among females than males and increased with more frequent consumption of carbonated soft drinks, as did the occurrence of sleep problems. Because carbonated drinks often contain caffeine and large amounts of sugar, while fast foods are high in energy but poor in nutrients, long-term consumption can cause nutritional imbalances.

這是一項針對全球不健康飲食和與壓力有關的睡眠障礙研究，涉及來自六十四個國家的高中生。研究表明，百分之七點五的青少年自稱有壓力相關的睡眠障礙，其中女性比男性更常見，且隨著碳酸飲料的頻繁飲用而增加，睡眠障礙的比率也愈高。因為碳酸飲料通常含有咖啡因和高糖分，而快餐食品高熱量但較缺乏營養，長期攝取會營養不均衡。

These data were collected from global health surveys conducted by the WHO between 2009 and 2016, which included about 170,000 students aged 12 to 15 years from 64 low, middle and high-income countries in Southeast Asia, Africa, South America and the eastern Mediterranean.

這些數據收集自二○○九年至二○一六年世界衛生組織的全球健康調查，其中包括來自東南亞、非洲、南美部分地區和地中東海東部地區的六十四個低、中、高收入國家的約十七萬名十二至十五歲的學生。

The research team said that frequent intake of soft drinks and eating of fast foods is closely associated with sleep problems in teenagers, and that this phenomenon is particularly clear in high-income countries. The research team said that these findings are worrying because poor-quality sleep has an adverse impact on adolescent health and cognitive development. They suggested that policies should be formulated that target these unhealthy behaviors.

研究團隊表示，青少年經常喝飲料、吃速食與睡眠障礙之間關聯密切，這現象尤其在高收入國家特別明顯。研究團隊指出，這些發現令人擔憂，因為睡眠品質差會對青少年的健康和認知發展產生不利影響。他們建議應針對這些不健康的行為制定相關政策，使青少年能健康成長。

Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2021/01/05/2003749938

Hello 通勤家族，歡迎收聽Look Back Sunday回顧星期天，在這個節目John老師會彙整過去一年不同國家與主題的熱門跟讀文章，讓你可以在十五分鐘內吸收2020年最精華的世界時事趣聞！我們這週看看澳洲的趣聞，Let's get right to it!

Topic: Australia’s bushfires: 2019 like nothing seen before

As the bushfires in Australia this year extend across five million hectares, an area larger than many countries, stories of destruction have become depressingly familiar.

大火不斷延燒，澳洲本季野火所焚毀的面積超過了五百萬公頃，比許多國家的面積都還要大，災情不斷傳出，在在都是慘重的破壞，令人灰心。

So far 24 people and 460 million animals have been killed. In New South Wales (NSW), the worst-affected state, up to 1,365 homes have been destroyed. It is too early for a thorough examination of?the impact on wildlife, including the many threatened species in the fires’ path.

目前已知大火造成了二十四人死亡、四點六億隻動物喪命。新南威爾斯省的災情最為嚴重，已有多達一千三百六十五座房屋被毀。現在仍無法全面調查野生生物所受的影響，包括火舌所席捲的區域中許多瀕危的物種。

Does this qualify as unprecedented? Plenty of experts say yes, but not all politicians and newspaper columnists are convinced. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison acknowledged the fires were severe, but also adopted a familiar line: Australia has always had bushfires. That’s true. But a key question is whether it has always had bushfires like this.

這樣的大火算是前所未見的嗎？許多專家都說是的，但並非所有的政客和報紙專欄作家都這麼認為。澳洲總理史考特‧莫里森承認大火很嚴重，但也採用了一套常見的說詞：澳洲一直都有森林火災。確實如此。但一個關鍵問題是，澳洲是否一直都有像這樣的森林大火。

David Bowman, director of The Fire Centre at the University of Tasmania, says the most striking thing about this fire season is the continent-scale nature of the threat. “The geographic range, and the fact it is occurring all at once, is what makes it unprecedented,” Bowman says. “There has never been a situation where there has been a fire from southern Queensland, right through NSW, into Gippsland, in the Adelaide Hills, near Perth and on the east coast of Tasmania.”

塔斯馬尼亞大學消防研究中心主任大衛‧鮑曼表示，這次火災季節最突出的是，災情的威脅橫跨整個大陸。鮑曼說：「由於它所影響的地理範圍，且是同時發生，因此這火災是空前的」。「從未發生過像這樣的情況，大火從昆士蘭省南部燒到新南威爾斯省，吉普斯蘭、阿德雷德山、珀斯附近都燒起來，還有塔斯馬尼亞島東岸。」

He says one of the less explored issues, though it has begun to receive some attention in recent days, is the economic impact of having prolonged fires that affect so many Australians. “You can’t properly run an economy when you get a third to a half of the population affected by smoke, and the media completely focused on fires,” he says.

他說，有個問題雖近來已有人開始關注，但研究較少，那就是長時間的大火對許多澳洲人造成了經濟上的影響。他說：「當有三分之一到一半的人口受到煙塵影響，而媒體完全聚焦於火災時，就無法正常經營經濟」。

There are also fears critically endangered Wollemi pines have burned in the fires tearing through the Blue Mountains. They were thought extinct until discovered by bushwalkers in 1994. Their whereabouts had been kept secret from the public to keep them safe.

也有人擔心，瀕臨滅絕的瓦勒邁杉已在肆虐藍山的大火中被燒毀。一九九四年登山客在藍山發現了瓦勒邁杉，在此之前該樹種被認為已經滅絕。為保護瓦勒邁杉，其發現地點一直秘而不宣。

Authorities say the smoke that has smothered Sydney, Canberra and other centers and towns in recent weeks has produced pollution up to 11 times greater than the hazardous level for human health. In Sydney, the air pollution has been hazardous for at least 30 days.

澳洲政府表示，最近幾週以來，煙塵壟罩了雪梨、坎培拉與其他城鎮，所造成污染之巨，是足以造成人類健康危害程度的十一倍。在雪梨，空氣污染達有害程度的情況，已有至少三十天。

The explanation should be familiar by now: greenhouse gas emissions do not cause bushfires, but they play a demonstrated role in increasing average and particularly extreme temperatures and contribute to the extraordinarily dry conditions afflicting eastern Australia.

Scientists cite the near absolute lack of moisture in the landscape as a key reason the fires have been so severe.

Multiple studies, here and overseas, have found the climate crisis is lengthening the fire season.

以下的解釋如今應不陌生了：溫室氣體的排放不會引起森林大火，但它對於提高平均溫度，尤其是提高極端溫度，有舉足輕重的作用，助長了澳洲東部極端乾燥的成災條件。

科學家指出，地景中幾乎完全沒有水分，是火災如此嚴重的關鍵原因。

澳洲國內外所進行的多項研究已發現，氣候危機正在拉長火災季節。

Source article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/01/07/2003728808

Next Article

Topic: 7.5 billion-year-old meteorite contains oldest material ever found on Earth

Scientists analyzing a meteorite that fell down onto an Australian village in 1969 have discovered that the rock contained many particles of stardust that existed before our solar system was formed, dating them to around 7.5 billion years ago, making them the oldest material ever found on the Earth. The study findings have been published in the American scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

科學家對一九六九年墜落在澳洲的一顆隕石進行分析，發現其中含有許多在太陽系形成前就已存在的星塵，最久遠者更可追溯到約七十五億年前，是迄今在地球上能找到的最古老物質。研究結果刊登於美國國家科學院院刊。

The meteorite that was analyzed fell to the Earth in the area around the village of Murchison in Victoria, Australia on Sept. 28, 1969. A team of scientists from the US and Switzerland placed ground particles of the meteorite in acid to remove all the material, leaving only the stardust. They then measured the length of time that this stardust would have been exposed to cosmic rays, in order to determine its age.

這顆被分析的隕石是在一九六九年九月二十八日墜落於澳洲維多利亞省默奇森附近。來自美國及瑞士的研究團隊將隕石磨碎後溶於酸中，只留下其中的星塵，並測量這些星塵暴露於宇宙射線下的時間，以確定其年齡。

According to Philipp Heck, the primary author of the study, they determined that 90 percent of the stardust in the meteorite was dated to between 4.6 billion and 5.5 billion years ago, with the remaining 10 percent being over 5.5 billion years old, of which the oldest was around 7.5 billion years old. By comparison, the solar system started to form around 4.6 billion years ago.

Although this stardust is the oldest material discovered thus far on Earth, Heck believes that there is even more material older than the solar system in the Murchison meteorite and in other meteorites, it’s just that they have yet to be discovered by scientists.

雖然成功發現迄今地球上最古老的物質，但赫克相信，默奇森隕石及其他隕石中還有更多比太陽系更古老的物質，只是還沒有被科學家發現。

Source article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/01/20/2003729528

Next Article

Topic: About Australia - Australia wins AI ’Eurovision Song Contest’

Dutch broadcaster VPRO decided to organise an AI Song Contest after the country won the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. The aim was to research the creative abilities of AI and the impact it has on us, as well as the influence it could have on the music industry, according to the official Eurovision website.

荷蘭廣播公司VPRO決定舉辦一場AI歌曲大賽，在這個國家贏得2019年歐洲歌唱大賽後。歐洲歌唱大賽官方網站指出，（比賽的）目標是研究AI的創意能力、對我們的衝擊，以及它對音樂產業的影響。

Thirteen teams entered the contest, with Australia beating out Sweden, Belgium, the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands to take home the title, giving fans a taste of Eurovision after 2020 contest was cancelled due to COVID-19.

共有13組人馬參賽，最後由澳洲擊敗瑞典、比利時、英國、法國、德國、瑞士與荷蘭等對手，將冠軍頭銜帶回家，在2020年歐洲歌唱大賽因為2019冠狀病毒流行病（COVID-19）疫情取消後，讓歌迷一嚐大賽的滋味。

The winning song, titled Beautiful the World, includes audio samples of koalas, kookaburras and Tasmanian devils, and was made by music-tech collective Uncanny Valley as a response to the Black Summer bushfires.

獲勝曲的題目為「Beautiful the World」，含有無尾熊、笑翠鳥與袋獾的聲音樣本，由音樂技術團體「恐怖谷」製作，回應黑暗夏日的叢林大火。

Next Article

Topic: Night at the museum：Australian police arrest German student over break-in 博物館之夜：澳洲警方逮捕闖入的德國學生

Australian police on Monday charged a German student with breaking into a Sydney museum as security footage showed him allegedly taking selfies next to dinosaur exhibits.

澳洲警方週一指控一名德國學生闖入雪梨一間博物館，據稱安全監控影像顯示他當時在恐龍展品旁自拍。

New South Wales（NSW）Police said that Paul Kuhn broke into the Australian Museum on May 10 around 1 a.m. local time, using some nearby scaffolding to gain access, before exploring the exhibits for 40 minutes.

新南威爾斯州警方表示，保羅．孔恩探索展品長達40分鐘，之前他利用周圍一些鷹架，在當地時間5月10日上午1點左右闖入澳洲博物館。

“He’s taken some selfies with some of the displays. He’s also stolen a hat and a picture（from）the wall and eventually left,” Sean Heaney, chief inspector, NSW Police told reporters in Sydney.

新南威爾斯州警方總督察尚恩．希尼在雪梨告訴記者，「他和部分陳列品自拍了一下。他也從牆上偷了一頂帽子和一幅畫，最後離開。」

The 25-year-old student appeared on Monday in court where he faced charges of stealing a cowboy hat and a piece of artwork.

這名25歲的學生週一現身法院，當庭面臨偷竊一頂牛仔帽和一件藝術品的罪名指控。

He was granted bail on the condition that he surrenders his passport and adheres to a curfew.

在交出護照並遵守宵禁的條件下，他獲准保釋。

The Australian Museum is the country’s oldest. It has been closed to the public since August 2019 for renovations.

澳洲博物館是該國歷史最悠久的博物館。自2019年8月整修以來，就對大眾關閉。

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1374692; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1373759

Next Article

Topic: About Australia - Australian stinging trees contain ’scorpion-like venom’

Australia is notorious for its venomous spiders, snakes and sea creatures, but researchers have now identified "scorpion-like" toxins secreted by a tree that can cause excruciating pain for weeks.

澳洲的有毒蜘蛛、蛇和海洋生物惡名昭彰，但是研究人員現在辨識出一種樹木分泌的「類似蠍子」的毒物，能使人極度疼痛達數週。

Split-second contact with the dendrocnide tree, a rainforest nettle known by its indigenous name gympie-gympie, delivers a sting far more potent than similar plants found in the US or Europe.

與這種生長在熱帶雨林、當地名為「金皮金皮」的火麻樹屬樹木接觸瞬間，就能造成劇烈刺痛，疼痛程度遠比在美國或歐洲發現的類似樹種還嚴重。

Irina Vetter, an associate professor at the University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience, said the research team discovered a new class of neurotoxin miniproteins, which they christened ’gympietides’.

昆士蘭大學分子生物科學研究所副教授維特說，研究團隊發現一類新的神經毒素微蛋白，他們將它命名為「金皮潮」。

Vetter said the long-lasting pain inflicted by the tree may be explained by the gympietides permanently altering the chemical makeup of the affected sensory neurons － not due to the fine hairs getting stuck in the skin.

維特說，「金皮潮」會對受影響的感覺神經元化學組成，造成永久性的改變，而非細小絨毛卡在皮膚裡，這或許可解釋這種樹為何造成長時間的疼痛。

Next Article

Topic: Magpie swoops Australian reporter moments before he goes on air／準備進入現場報導前 澳洲記者遭喜鵲俯衝猛撲

A magpie swooped an Australian reporter in the face on Monday, moments before the journalist went live on air for the evening bulletin.

1隻喜鵲週一俯衝撲向一名澳洲記者的臉，就在這名記者為晚間時段準備現場報導之前。

Nine Network reporter, Brett McLeod, was preparing for his live cross outdoors when the crow-like bird dived at his face but he quickly regained his composure and delivered his piece to the camera.

這隻像烏鴉的鳥朝他臉上俯衝時，「九號電視網」記者布雷特．麥克利奧德正準備在戶外進入現場報導，但他迅速恢復沉著並對鏡頭完成報導。

The black-and-white Australian magpie, not related to the European magpies famous for taking glittering treasures for their nests, tend to attack anyone who comes close to their suburban nests.

黑白相間的澳洲喜鵲，和帶發光寶物回巢而知名的歐洲喜鵲無關，往往對接近牠們位於郊外鳥巢的任何人發動攻擊。

Spring is widely known as the ’swooping season’ to Australians when birds, mostly magpies, attack humans and even other birds when they stray too close while its fledglings hatch and nest.

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1409467 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1410492

每日英語跟讀Podcast，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing

Summary:

Since the investigations into Russian manipulation of US elections, FB, Twitter and other major social media companies have strived to crack down on fake news and fake information. However, according to social media analytic firms, false and misleading information tripled from Q3 of 2016 to Q3 of 2020. About two thirds of the likes and comments were of the articles published by “false content producers” or “manipulators”. These publishers pose as news sites online.

原跟讀文章: https://www.15mins.today/blog/ep-994-on-facebook-misinformation-is-more-popular-now-than-in-2016

Vocabulary and Sample Sentences

Disinformation n. false information intended to mislead

• Online social media were used to spread disinformation during the elections.

Manipulator n. a person who controls or influences others in a clever way

• Manipulators on FB or Twitter can pose as news outlets.

Legitimate adj. conforming to the law or rules

• Reuters, Bloomberg, and Associated Press are legitimate news outlets.

每日英語跟讀Podcast，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K030: Russia's Villages, and Their Culture, Are 'Melting Away'

With its winding dirt lanes framed by lilacs, quaint wooden houses and graceful onion-domed church, the tiny farming hamlet of Baruta was once a postcard of Russian bucolic bliss.

俄國西北部普斯科夫區域的巴魯塔小農村曾是俄國田園的幸福象徵，蜿蜒的土路旁盡是丁香、古雅的木屋和優美的洋蔥圓頂教堂。

No longer. More people lie in the tightly packed church cemetery than inhabit the village. Agriculture is slowly withering, too.

此景不再。在擁擠不堪的教堂墓地安息的人，比住在村裡的多。農業也逐步衰退。

With Russia's natural population growth entering an extended period of decline, villages like Baruta are disappearing from across the country’s continental expanse.

由於俄國人口的自然增長進入長期衰退期，像巴魯塔這樣的村落正從廣袤的俄國大陸各地消失。

"We have not had a wedding or a baptism for quite some time — we mostly have funerals," said a resident, Alexander Fyodorov, 59, one of just 17 men left in what was a thriving collective of some 500 farmers.

59歲居民費奧多羅夫說：「我們好一段時間沒有婚禮或洗禮了——多半是喪禮。」他曾是一個約有500農民、蓬勃發展的集體農場的一分子，如今農場只剩下17個男人，他是其中之一。

President Vladimir Putin frequently cites hardy population growth as a pillar of restoring Russia's place atop the global order. There is a pronounced gap, however, between the positive terms in which Putin and his advisers habitually discuss demographic trends and the reality of the numbers.

俄國總統普亭常說，強勁的人口成長是讓俄國重居新全球之首的基礎。不過，普亭與顧問們討論人口趨勢時慣常使用的正面詞語，和真實人口數目差距甚大。

Russians are dying faster than they are being born, demographers said. Given the general hostility toward immigration, the question is to what degree the population of 146 million, including annexed Crimea, might shrink.

人口學者說，俄國人死亡的速度比出生快。在俄國人普遍對移民懷有敵意的情況下，俄國總數1億4600萬（包括兼併來的克里米亞）的人口勢將減少，問題只在減幅的大小。

The number of deaths exceeded the number of births in 2016 by a few thousand, and the prognosis for the years ahead is poor. From 2013-2015, extremely modest natural growth peaked in 2015 with just 32,038 more births than deaths.

去年俄國死亡人數超越出生人數幾千人，未來幾年前景也不樂觀。2013到2015年極微小的人口自然增長在2015年達到高峰，出生數只比死亡數多3萬2038人。

"The statistics and the propaganda are very different things," said Natalya V. Zubarevich, an expert in social and political geography at Moscow State University.

莫斯科國立大學社會與政治地理學專家祖巴列維奇說：「統計數字和宣傳大不相同。」

In terms of population loss, Pskov, which borders Latvia and parts of Estonia, is among the worst hit regions in Russia. The population peaked at around 1.8 million in the 1920s, said Andrei Manakov, a demographer at Pskov State University. It is down to 642,000, and projected to drop to about 513,000 by 2033.

普斯科夫與拉脫維亞和愛沙尼亞部分地區接壤，是俄國人口減少最嚴重的區域之一。普斯科夫國立大學人口學者馬納科夫說，1920年代這裡的人口達到高峰，約180萬。現在降到64萬2千人，料將在2033年前降到大約51萬3千人。

Researchers estimate that out of 8,300 area villages in 1910, 2,000 no longer have permanent residents.

研究人員估計，1910年這裡的8300個地區村落中，2000個不再有常住居民。

Under the most optimistic projections by demographers, Russia’s population by 2050 will stay the same, about 146 million, if immigration from Central Asia — which has also been dropping — balances out low birthrates. Less optimistic figures put the population around 130 million by 2050, and the most pessimistic say fewer than 100 million.

人口學者最樂觀的預測是，如果來自中亞的移民（也正在逐漸減少）能彌補俄國的低出生率，2050年俄國人口會跟現在一樣，大約1億4600萬。較不樂觀的數據是2050年人口約為1億3000萬，最悲觀的是不到1億。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/318780/web/