通勤學英語 15Mins Today

每日英語跟讀 Ep.999: Young and Jobless in Europe:‘It’s Been Desperate’

Like millions of young people across Europe, Rebecca Lee, 25, has suddenly found herself shut out of the labor market as the economic toll of the pandemic intensifies.Her job as a personal assistant at a London architecture firm was eliminated in September.

隨著疫情造成的經濟災情加劇，25歲的蕾貝卡‧李伊跟歐洲數百萬青年一樣，突然發現自己被勞動市場拒於門外。她在倫敦一家建築師事務所的個人助理工作，在9月被裁撤了。

具有西敏寺大學插畫學位的李伊送出近百份工作申請。在遭到數十次拒絕後，終於跟一個家庭援助慈善機構簽下為期兩個月的合約，時薪10英鎊（約13美元）。

“At the moment I will take anything I can get,” Lee said. “It’s been desperate.”

李伊說：「現在什麼工作我都肯幹。我已經走投無路了。」

The coronavirus pandemic is rapidly fueling a new youth unemployment crisis in Europe. Young people are being disproportionately hit, economically and socially, by lockdown restrictions, forcing many to make painful adjustments and leaving policymakers grasping for solutions.

新冠病毒大流行正在歐洲迅速引發新的青年失業危機。封鎖限制措施對年輕人在經濟與社會上造成超出比例的打擊，迫使許多人做出痛苦的調整，也讓決策者急於尋求解方。

Years of job growth has eroded in a matter of months, leaving more than twice as many young people than other adults out of work. The jobless rate for people 25 and under jumped from 14.7% in January to 17.6% in August, its highest level since 2017.

數年來的就業成長在短短幾個月內消失了，失業的年輕人是其他成年人的兩倍多。25歲及以下族群失業率從1月的14.7%躍升至8月的17.6%，來到2017年來最高水準。

Europe is not the only place where younger workers face a jobs crunch. Young Americans are especially vulnerable to the downturn. But in Europe, the pandemic’s economic impact puts an entire generation at risk, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

歐洲並非年輕勞工面臨就業危機的唯一地方。美國的年輕人尤其容易受到經濟衰退影響，但根據經濟合作發展組織的數據，這場疫情在歐洲造成的經濟影響，卻讓一整個世代面臨風險。

Young people are overrepresented in sectors where jobs are disappearing, including travel, retail and hospitality. Graduates are facing unprecedented competition for even entry-level positions from a tsunami of newly laid-off workers.

在就業機會正在消失的產業裡年輕人比例過高，這些產業包括旅遊、零售與餐館飯店業。畢業生即便謀求基層職位，也得與一海票剛遭解雇的勞工進行空前激烈的競爭。

The scarring effects may linger. “If you’re unemployed earlier on in your career, you’re more likely to experience joblessness in the future,” said Neal Kilbane, a senior economist at Oxford Economics.

牛津經濟研究院資深經濟學家尼爾‧基爾班表示，這種疤痕效應可能會持續下去。「若在個人職涯早期就失業，未來失業的可能性就更大。」

The European Union is trying to cushion the blow by encouraging businesses to recruit young people. But such programs may have little impact as Europe confronts its worst recession since World War II.

歐盟正嘗試透過鼓勵企業招聘年輕人來緩解這一衝擊，但在歐洲面對二戰以來最嚴重經濟衰退之際，這類計畫只恐成效甚微。

Europeans coming of age in the pandemic are lowering their expectations of the jobs and careers they can get. Many are resorting to internships, living with parents or returning to school to ride out the storm. Young workers without higher education risk sliding even further.

在疫情期間成年的那些歐洲人，已壓低自身對於可獲得工作與職涯的期望。許多人利用實習、與父母同住或者重回學校來度過危機。未受過高等教育的年輕勞工，前景更不容樂觀。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/359091/web/

每日英語跟讀 Ep.998: In Amish Country, the Future Is Calling

A young woman, wearing a traditional full-length Amish dress and white bonnet, stepped away from a farmers market, opened her palm and revealed a smartphone. She began to scroll through screens, seemingly oblivious to the activity around her.

Not far away, a man in his late 60s with a silvery beard, wide-brimmed straw hat and suspenders adjusted the settings on a computer-driven crosscut saw. He was soon cutting pieces for gazebos that are sold online and delivered around the country.

一名穿著艾美許傳統長衣裙、戴白色帽子的年輕女子，從一個農民市集走出來，她張開手掌，露出一支智慧型手機。她開始滑手機螢幕，似乎對四周的活動渾然不覺。

不遠處，一名年近70、蓄銀白山羊鬍、頭戴寬邊草帽、穿吊帶褲的男子，調整了電腦控制的橫切鋸的設定。他即將切割木料以製作涼亭，成品在網路上銷售，運送到全國各地。

The Amish have not given up on horse-drawn buggies. Their rigid abstinence from many kinds of technology has left parts of their lifestyle frozen since the 19th century: no cars, TVs or connections to electric utilities, for example.

But computers and cellphones are making their way into some Amish communities, pushing them — sometimes willingly, often not — into the 21st century.

艾美許人沒有放棄馬車。他們嚴格戒絕多種科技產品，以致部分生活方式停留在19世紀：例如，沒有汽車、電視或與電力公司的連結。

然而，電腦和手機正打入一些艾美許人的社區，把他們推進21世紀──他們有時候甘願如此，但通常不是。

New technology has created fresh opportunities for prosperity among the Amish, just as it has for people in the rest of the world. A contractor can call a customer from a job site. A store owner’s software can make quick work of payroll and inventory tasks. A bakery can take credit cards.

But for people bound by a separation from much of the outside world, new tech devices have brought fears about the consequence of internet access. There are worries about pornography; about whether social networks will lead sons and daughters to date non-Amish friends; and about connecting to a world of seemingly limitless possibilities.

就和世上其他人一樣，艾美許人也因新科技而獲得發達的新機會。包商可以從工地打電話給業主。商店老闆的軟體可以快速處理有關薪水和盤點的工作。麵包店可以收受信用卡。

不過，對於藉由與大部分外在世界隔絕而凝聚在一起的人來說，新科技裝置帶來對於上網後果的恐懼。擔心網路色情人侵；擔心社群網站會讓兒女與非艾美許人的朋友約會；擔心與一個似乎有無限可能的世界接觸。

“Amish life is about recognizing the value of agreed-upon limits,” said Erik Wesner, an author who runs a blog, Amish America, “and the spirit of the internet cuts against the idea of limits.”

John, who works a computerized saw at Amish Country Gazebos near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, likened it to the prohibition on automobiles.

經營「艾美許的美國」部落格的作者艾瑞克．韋斯納說：「艾美許人生活的基礎是認可大家同意的限制的價值，而網路的精神與限制的概念牴觸。」

在賓州蘭開斯特市附近的「艾美許鄉村涼亭」商店用電腦化鋸子的約翰，用不准使用汽車來打比方。

“Not using cars is a way of keeping us together,” he said. (Like most of the people interviewed for this article, he declined to give his surname, out of an Amish sense of humility; many refrained from having their faces photographed for the same reason.)

“There’s always a concern about what would lead our young folk out of the church and into the world,” John added.

The internet also threatens another Amish bonding agent: For a society in which formal education ends after eighth grade, youngsters learn a trade or craft alongside a relative or other member of the community.

他說：「不用汽車是讓我們凝聚在一起的一種方式。」（如同這篇報導訪問的大多數人，他不願透露他的姓氏，出於艾美許人的謙遜；許多人基於相同理由不願意讓人拍攝他們的臉。）

約翰接著說：「會引導我們的年輕人走出教堂，走進世界的東西，總是讓人們不安。」

網路也威脅到艾美許人的另一種粘著劑：這個社會裡的正式教育在八年級之後結束，年輕人跟著一位親戚或社群的其他成員學習一門行當或一種手藝。

每日英語跟讀 Ep.997: About WFH - Microsoft to let employees work from home permanently

美國媒體週五報導，軟體業巨擘微軟將允許讓員工選擇永久在家工作，在武漢肺炎（新型冠狀病毒病，Covid-19）大流行疫情下，微軟成為最新擴大讓員工遠距上班的雇主。

US tech news website The Verge said most Microsoft employees are still at home as the health crisis drags on, and the company doesn’t expect to reopen its US offices until January of next year at the earliest.

美國科技新聞網站The Verge稱，在這場健康危機拖延之際，大多數微軟員工仍在家辦公，微軟預期最早明年1月才會重新開放在美國的辦公室。

But when it does, workers can choose to work from home permanently with their manager’s approval, although they will have to give up their office space.

但當它重開，員工經主管批准，可以選擇常態性在家工作，儘管他們將必須放棄他們在辦公室的空間。

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Working parents’ woes deepen as schools shut down again 學校再次關閉 在職父母的麻煩加深

Working parents of kindergarten and elementary school students are struggling again to find suitable childcare options, as all schools in the Seoul metropolitan area have been ordered to move classes online until Sept. 11.

（南韓）幼兒園和小學學生的在職父母，正再次努力尋找合適的育兒選項。因為首都圈的所有學校，均已被通令將課程改為線上，直到9月11日。

Although the measure was in response to the recent surge in the number of infections among students, teachers and other education workers, remote learning poses a burden to working parents as younger children are less likely to stay focused on lectures for a longer time.

儘管這些措施旨在因應最近在學生、教師與其他教育工作者中，感染人數激增的疫情，但遠距學習對在職父母造成負擔，因為較年幼的孩童，比較不可能長時間專注於課程。

The only option for working parents is sending their children to "emergency child care" classes, set up at schools for kindergarteners and younger elementary students who are in need of care during the day.

在職父母的唯一選項，是將他們的小孩送到「緊急托兒」班，學校的緊急托兒班是為了有日間照顧需求的幼兒園生及低年級小學生而設。

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1410043 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1396438

每日英語跟讀 Ep.996: About Cats - ‘MeowTalk’ app to help you better understand your cat

貓奴注意了！未來你的主子有任何命令，不論是肚子餓了、心情不好、拒絕被打擾，你將無法以聽不懂喵星語為藉口，必須奉命遵從，而這一切都要多虧進步的AI科技。

Attention, cat lovers! You will soon be unable to pretend that you don’t understand your cats’ language anymore. Thanks to AI translation, you will have to obey any order — “Feed Me! I’m angry! Leave me alone!” — without further ado.

根據BBC報導，前亞馬遜旗下語音助理Alexa美國籍工程師發明了一款App「MeowTalk」，這款App能透利用AI人工智慧科技翻譯喵星語。

Why? A former Amazon Alexa engineer has developed an app, “MeowTalk,” that aims to translate your cat’s meow, according to the BBC.

只要透過MeowTalk錄下喵喵聲，就能辨識貓咪所要傳達的意思。當然，主人必須要先將喵星語翻譯，再輸入資料庫提供AI學習。主人越常使用這款App，隨著資料庫內存資料增加，App內建的機器學習軟體對個別貓咪的翻譯準確度越高。

You can recognize the meaning of a cat’s meow by simply recording the meowing sound on a MeowTalk. The user must first translate the Meow language and then enter it into the database for AI learning. The more owners use the app, the more accurate the app’s machine learning software will be at translating individual cats.

由軟體公司Akvelon所研發的App目前內建辭彙只有13種，包括像是「餵我！」、「我很不爽！」、「讓我一個人靜靜！」等片語。

The app, developed by software engineering team Akvelon, currently has only 13 vocabulary phrases, including “Feed Me! “I’m angry! “Leave me alone!”

事實上，研究指出，貓咪世界裡並沒有一種全球通用的喵星語，通常貓咪只會對人類喵喵叫，而不會對同伴。

According to the study, there is no universal language in the cat world, and cats only meow to humans, not to their companions.

若是貓咪真的有語言，那麼不同主人的貓，會依其主人的習慣，而擁有其專屬、獨一無二的語言，因此，不同使用者下載這款App，會得到不同的翻譯結果。

If a cat does have a language, then cats of different owners will have their own, unique language, depending on the habits of their owners. Therefore, different users will get different translation results.

MeowTalk在 Google Play Store和 Apple’s App Store皆已開放免費下載。然而，評價也相當兩極化，有人覺得這款App和貓咪一樣難以捉摸，也有人覺得非常好用，這款App讓貓奴能聽懂主子的所有命令。

The app is available free on both Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. However, the translator has received mixed reviews, with some finding the app as whimsical as a cat while others said that the app allows a servant to understand a cat’s commands.

Source article: https://chinapost.nownews.com/20201123-1854007

每日英語跟讀 Ep.995: Taiwan’s mikado pheasant officially back from the brink

The mikado pheasant, also known as “emperor’s pheasant,” is a species of pheasant endemic to Taiwan that is featured on Taiwan’s NT$1,000 bill. The mikado pheasant was once on the verge of extinction. However, thanks to the hard efforts of conservation workers, it has now returned to stable population levels. The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday shared the good news on its official Facebook page. It is a hard-won achievement that has been 30 years in the making. The ministry used the post to remind the public that if they encounter mikado pheasants while in mountainous or forest areas, they should admire the birds from a distance and refrain from disturbing them. The ministry also said that it hopes everyone will work together to protect Taiwan’s ecological diversity.

被印在千元鈔上的台灣特有種鳥類「帝雉」原已瀕臨絕種，不過在相關單位復育人員努力下，如今已復育有成。內政部週四特別在臉書粉專分享相關訊息，表示這是經過三十年的努力，提醒民眾若在山林巧遇牠們，可以遠遠欣賞，不要刻意驚擾，也期盼大家未來共同努力守護生態多樣的台灣。

Taiwan is the only country in the world to have achieved success with a mikado pheasant breeding program. Since it was discovered that the mikado pheasant faced extinction, during 30 years of observation, the bird’s population within Yushan National Park has increased from just over 5,000 in 1986 to more than 10,000 today.

全世界只有台灣有的帝雉復育有成。經過三十年觀察，發現瀕臨絕種的帝雉，已經從一九八六年玉山國家公園觀測到的五千多隻，提升到目前的超過一萬隻。

According to the Yushan National Park Administration Office, the mikado pheasant’s name was coined in 1906 when British ornithologists traveled to Yushan to collect specimens and inadvertently discovered two tail feathers of a male mikado pheasant on the headdress of a Tsou Aborigine. After being sent back to Britain for identification, the bird was announced as a new species.

根據玉山國家公園管理處，帝雉命名起源於西元一九○六年，由英國人深入玉山進行蒐集標本工作時，無意間在鄒族人的頭飾上發現了兩根雄帝雉的尾羽，經送回英國鑑定後，發表為新品種。

The mikado pheasant often inhabits high mountains at an altitude of 1,800 to 3,300m above sea level and it likes dense fog. In addition to Yushan National Park, the mikado pheasant can also be seen at Shei-Pa National Park and Taroko National Park.

帝雉常棲息於海拔一千八百到三千三百公尺高山上，喜歡濃霧，不只在玉山國家公園、雪霸國家公園，還有太魯閣國家公園都可以看到牠的蹤跡。

Summary

About 20 years ago, a landmark study found that toddlers before the age of 3 in low-income families would hear 30million less words than the more affluent families, putting them at disadvantage before they start school. Now, a growing number of researches has found that it’s the quality of communication between children, parents, and caregivers that is more important than the number of words children hear. According to research observations, the frequent use of parentese — the slow, high-pitched voice commonly used for talking to babies — were reliable predictors of language ability at age 2. Professor Anne Fernald of Stanford suggests that increased quantity of language inevitably leads to better quality. When you learn to talk more, you tend to speak in more diverse ways and elaborate more, and that helps the child’s cognitive development.

原討論文章: https://www.15mins.today/blog/ep-938-new-thoughts-on-math-of-effective-baby-talk

Vocabulary and Sample Sentences:

Affluent adj. having a great deal of money

• The affluent families were previously thought to have an advantage in children’s development.

Correlation n. mutual relationship or connection to two or more things

• The total number of words heard by a child has no correlation to the child’s future ability.

Proficiency n. high degree of competence or skill

• Toastmasters club is a great place to improve your English proficiency.

每日英語跟讀 Ep.994: On Facebook, Misinformation Is More Popular Now Than in 2016

During the 2016 presidential election, Russian operatives used Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media platforms to spread disinformation to divide the American electorate. Since then, the social media companies have spent billions of dollars and hired tens of thousands of people to help clean up their act.

2016年總統大選期間，俄國特務利用臉書、Instagram、推特和其他社群媒體平台，散播假訊息以分化美國選民。自此之後，社群媒體公司已花費數十億美元，雇用數萬人以協助清除此類行為。

But have the platforms really become more sophisticated at handling misinformation?Not necessarily.

但是，這些平台在處理不實訊息上真的變得更為老練了嗎？不盡然。

People are engaging more on Facebook today with news outlets that routinely publish misinformation than they did before the 2016 election, according to new research from the German Marshall Fund Digital, the digital arm of the public policy think tank. The organization , which has a data partnership with the startup NewsGuard and social media analytics firm NewsWhip, published its findingspublished its findings earlier this month.

根據（美國）公共政策智庫「德國馬歇爾基金會」的數位部門「德國馬歇爾基金數位」的新研究，比起2016年大選之前，民眾今日在臉書上更常接觸慣常發布錯誤訊息的新聞網站。這個組織和新創企業NewsGuard及社群媒體分析公司NewsWhip是數據資料合作夥伴，本月稍早發表了前述結果。

In total, Facebook likes, comments and shares of articles from news outlets that regularly publish falsehoods and misleading content roughly tripled from the third quarter of 2016 to the third quarter of 2020, the group found.

該組織發現，整體而言，慣常發布錯誤與誤導性內容的新聞網站所發布的信息，在臉書上獲得的讚、留言和分享數，自2016年第三季至2020年第三季約增為三倍。

About two-thirds of those likes and comments were of articles published by 10 outlets, which the researchers categorized as “false content producers” or “manipulators.” Those news outlets included Palmer Report and The Federalist, according to the research.

這些讚和留言約三分之二是針對來自10個新聞網站的報導，研究人員把這些媒體歸類為「不實內容製造者」或「操縱者」。根據前述研究，這些媒體包括帕爾默報告和聯邦主義者。

The group used ratings from NewsGuard, which ranks news sites based on how they uphold nine journalistic principles, to sort them into “false content producers,” which repeatedly publish provably false content; and “manipulators,” which regularly present unsubstantiated claims or that distort information to make an argument.

這個組織使用來自NewsGuard的評分，依據新聞網站遵循九項新聞守則的程度加以排名，將它們歸類為重複刊登可證實為誤之內容的「不實內容製造者」，以及例常提出缺乏根據的說法，或扭曲資訊以支持其論點的「操縱者」。

“We have these sites that masquerade as news outlets online. They’re allowed to,” said Karen Kornbluh, director of GMF Digital. “It’s infecting our discourse, and it’s affecting the long-term health of the democracy.”

「這些網站假扮成網路新聞機構，它們被允許這麼做。」馬歇爾基金數位的執行長凱倫‧康卜勒說。「這正在毒害我們的公共論述，以及民主政治的長期健康。」

Kornbluh said Facebook users engaged more with articles from all news outlets this year because the coronavirus pandemic forced people to quarantine indoors. But the growth rate of likes, shares and comments of content from manipulators and false content producers exceeded the interactions that people had with what the researchers called “legitimate journalistic outlets,” such as Reuters, Associated Press and Bloomberg.

康卜勒說，臉書用戶今年更常接觸所有新聞機構的文章，因為新冠肺炎疫情迫使人們待在室內隔離。但是用戶給予操縱者和不實內容製造者所提供信息的讚、分享和留言的增加率，已超過用戶和研究人員所稱的「合法新聞機構」之互動程度，路透、美聯社和彭博資訊即屬後者。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/358604/web/

每日英語跟讀 Ep.993: The New, Hip Co-Working Spaces

Technology has upended where we work. The line between work and play has been blurred, and the difference between the office and home has all but disappeared.

As a result, there's a new class of white-collar workers who roam the earth looking for places to get their jobs done.

科技顛覆了我們工作的場所。工作與玩樂之間的界線模糊了，辦公室和家的區別也幾乎消失了。

因此，出現了新一類的白領工作者，他們在地球上四處遊走，尋找完成他們工作的地方。

Some of them work from home, curled up on the couch or in a home office — maybe with a drone hovering nearby. Others camp out at expensive cafes, refilling their mugs of fancy coffee throughout the day.

But increasingly, these untethered employees are gathering in a new kind of office known as the co-working space.

他們當中有些人在家工作，蜷縮在沙發上或是家庭辦公室裡，或許還有架無人機在附近盤旋。其他人則是在昂貴的咖啡店內紮營，整天將他們的昂貴咖啡不斷續杯。

然而，這些不受束縛的員工正聚集在一種被稱為共同工作空間的新的辦公室，而且此風日盛。

Surely, you've heard of these places. But their numbers have multiplied across the country in the past few years, filling a niche for those who need more than a cafe but less than an office.

They now come in a wide range of options. Some are fancy; some are not. Some require memberships; some do not. Some target technology workers; others are for writers or small businesses. And in the Los Angeles area, there seems to be a co-working option for every neighborhood and every profession.

你肯定聽說過這些地方，然而它們的數量過去幾年裡在全國卻呈倍數成長，滿足了那些需要一處不只是咖啡店，卻又不像辦公室的場所的小眾的需求。

這種場所如今可有多樣的選擇。有些很昂貴，有些則不會。有些需要是會員，有些則不用。有些瞄準科技業員工，也有些針對作家或小企業。而在洛杉磯地區，每個區里和行業似乎有都共同工作空間可供選擇。

Before you rush out to join a co-working space, there are pros and cons to consider.

Some believe working away from a traditional office improves productivity. A study published last year in The Quarterly Journal of Economics examined Ctrip, a 16,000-employee Chinese travel agency, where call-center employees were randomly assigned to work in either the office or the home. Those who worked from home were 13 percent more productive, the report found. When Ctrip gave all its workers the option to work from home, productivity grew even further, to 22 percent.

在你急著加入共同工作空間前，必須考量其中利弊。

有些人認為不在傳統辦公室工作能提高生產力。去年發表在經濟學季刊的一項研究報告對於攜程進行了研究。攜程是家有1萬6000名員工的中國大陸旅行社，其客服中心員工被隨機分配到辦公室或是在家工作。這篇報告發現，在家工作的員工生產力多了13%。當攜程讓所有員工在家工作時，生產力更進一步成長22%。

Another study published last year in the journal Sleep Health, found that people who had flexible work schedules slept better than those who had to report to the office at specific times.

But there are studies that raise doubts about working remotely. "How Effective Is Telecommuting?" published last year in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest, found that working from home can make people feel sad. The report says this is likely because of the social and professional isolation experienced from being home alone for too long.

另個去年發表於睡眠健康期刊的研究報告發現，享有彈性工作時間的人比那些必須在特定時間向辦公室報到的人睡得更好。

但也有研究對於遠距工作提出了質疑。去年發表於公共利益心理科學期刊的研究報告「電子通勤效果如何？」發現，在家工作會讓人感到悲傷。報告稱，這很可能是孤獨在家太久而產生的社會與職業隔離感造成的。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/293698/web/

每日英語跟讀 Ep.992: About the US -Awash in red ink：US posts record $3.1T 2020 budget deficit

The federal budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3.1 trillion in the 2020 budget year, more than double the previous record, as the coronavirus pandemic shrank revenues and sent spending soaring.

由於新型冠狀病毒疫情造成盈餘縮減以及開支增加，2020預算年度的聯邦預算赤字達3.1兆美元，是有史以來最高，也是之前紀錄的2倍多。

It was the government’s largest annual shortfall in dollar terms, surpassing the previous record of $1.4 trillion set in 2009.

這是美國政府以美元計最大的年度財政缺口，超過之前在2009年創下的1.4兆美元紀錄。

The 2020 deficit, in terms of its relationship to the economy, represented 15.2% of total gross domestic product, the sum of all the goods and services produced by the country. That was the highest level since 1945, when the U.S. was borrowing heavily to finance World War II.

以對經濟的關係而言，這筆2020年赤字代表整體國內生產總值的15.2%，是自1945年以來最高，當年美國大量舉債支持第二次世界大戰的開銷。

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Dogs and cats vying to be mayor of California neighbourhood 狗與貓爭奪加州社區區長的寶座

One Californian neighborhood had had enough of the acrimonious atmosphere among people ahead of the November 3 US elections.

1個加州社區已經受夠了11月3日美國大選前，人與人之間充滿火藥味的氛圍。

So the local street’s mayoral contest this weekend will be fought by cats and dogs, instead.

因此，這條地方街道本週末的區長競選，將改由貓與狗們角逐。

The 55th Street mayoral race in Oakland started with an incumbent cat named Wally running unopposed, but then other pets pounced at the opportunity to make the race competitive.

奧克蘭第55街的區長選戰，最初只有目前在職、名為沃利的貓欲競選，沒有競爭對手，但後來其他寵物也撲向了這個機會，替選戰增添了競爭力。

Kirstyn Russell’s 10-year-old Tabby has a campaign sign in the yard with the slogan ’Change Meow.’

科斯汀．羅素的10歲虎斑貓在陽台有塊競選標示，上面寫了標語「改變喵」。

Mary Owen has an 11-year-old Shiba Inu named Mimi, running with the slogan ‘She’ll bark when it matters.’ She said the light-hearted race was a chance to share the importance of civic engagement with children.

瑪莉．歐文有1隻11歲的柴犬咪咪，以「她會在重要的時候吠」為標語競選。她說，這場輕鬆愉快的選戰是1個能與小孩分享公民參與的重要機會。

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1411764 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1413456

每日英語跟讀 Ep.991: Colleges Slash Budgets in the Pandemic,With ‘Nothing Off-Limits’

Ohio Wesleyan University is eliminating 18 majors. The University of Florida’s trustees last month took the first steps toward letting the school furlough faculty. The University of California, Berkeley, has paused admissions to its doctoral programs in anthropology, sociology and art history.

美國俄亥俄衛斯理大學取消了18個科系。佛州大學董事會9月採取初步措施，目標是讓校方有權放教師無薪假。柏克萊加州大學則暫停招收人類學、社會學和藝術史的博士班學生。

As it resurges across the country, the coronavirus is forcing universities large and small to make deep and possibly lasting cuts to close widening budget shortfalls. By one estimate, the pandemic has cost colleges at least $120 billion, with even Harvard University, despite its $41.9 billion endowment, reporting a $10 million deficit that has prompted belt tightening.

由於全美各地新冠肺炎疫情再度惡化，美國各大學不論規模大小，都被迫大砍支出，以彌補逐漸擴大的預算缺口，刪減的支出可能長期都不會恢復。有人估計，疫情至少使美國各大學合計損失1200億美元，就連坐擁419億美元辦學基金的哈佛大學也出現1000萬美元預算赤字，被迫勒緊褲帶。

The persistence of the economic downturn is taking a devastating financial toll, pushing many to lay off or furlough employees, delay graduate admissions and even cut or consolidate core programs like liberal arts departments.

經濟持續疲軟造成極其嚴重的財務災情，迫使許多大學裁員或放無薪假，推遲研究所學生入學，甚至取消或合併文科等核心學程。

The University of South Florida announced last month that its College of Education would become a graduate school only, phasing out undergraduate education degrees to help close a $6.8 million budget gap. In Ohio, the University of Akron, citing the coronavirus, successfully invoked a clause in its collective-bargaining agreement in September to supersede tenure rules and lay off 97 unionized faculty members.

南佛州大學上個月宣布，其教育學院將只留下研究所，分階段取消大學部，以彌補680萬美元的預算缺口。在俄亥俄州，艾克朗大學以疫情為由，在9月成功援用團體協約一項條款取代任期規則，裁掉97名加入工會的教師。

“We haven’t seen a budget crisis like this in a generation,” said Robert Kelchen, a Seton Hall University associate professor of higher education who has been tracking the administrative response to the pandemic. “There’s nothing off-limits at this point.”

西東大學高等教育副教授柯爾欽一直在關注校方對疫情的反應，他說：「這是一個世代以來從未見過的預算危機，在這種關頭，沒有什麼不能碰。」

Even before the pandemic, colleges and universities were grappling with a growing financial crisis, brought on by years of shrinking state support, declining enrollment, and student concerns with skyrocketing tuition and burdensome debt. Now the coronavirus has amplified the financial trouble systemwide, though elite, well-endowed colleges seem sure to weather it with far less pain.

早在疫情爆發前，美國大專院校就為日益嚴重的財務危機而掙扎，原因是州政府補助日漸減少，學生註冊數下滑而且介意學費高漲和學貸負擔沉重，如今，疫情擴大了整個高教體系財務問題，不過，辦學基金厚實的菁英大學似乎可度過難關，且承受的痛苦會少得多。

“We have been in aggressive recession management for 12 years — probably more than 12 years,” Daniel Greenstein, chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, told his board of governors as they voted to forge ahead with a proposal to merge a half-dozen small schools into two academic entities.

賓州高等教育體系董事會表決通過，大力推動將6個小規模學院併為兩個學術單位，當時總校長葛林斯坦對董事會說：「我們積極從事於衰退問題管理已有12年，應該還不止12年。」

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/359091/web/