通勤學英語 15Mins Today

每日跟讀#753: About Taiwan : The most beautiful part of South-Link Highway to open by the year end

台九線新南迴公路最南段預計於12月20日通車。新南迴公路拓寬工程分為三段，其中最南端的台東達仁鄉安朔至屏東縣獅子鄉草埔路段全長11公里，沿途穿越高山峻嶺，高架道路越過澗溪壑谷，以及長達4.6公里的草埔隧道，被譽為全台灣最美公路。

The last section of the South-Link Highway, which connects Pingtung and Taitung, will open on Dec. 20, according to the Directorate General of Highway. The aforesaid section, which links Anshuo, Daren Township in Taitung to Caopu village and Shihzih Township in Pingtung, is known for its scenic landscapes, endless mountains, deep valleys and a 4.6-km-long tunnel along the way.

預計最南段開通後，台東到屏東行車時間將縮短30分鐘。然而，徒步、機車環島的民眾必須注意，草埔隧道基於安全，禁行機車（含重機）、自行車與徒步行人。上述用路人必須使用舊省道往來臺東與屏東。

The travel time between Pintung to Taitung will be reduced by 30 minutes after the construction of the southernmost section of the Provincial Highway 9 is open to the public. Yet, it should be noted that those who travel on foot, by bike or scooter (including motorcycles) are not allowed to enter the Caopu tunnel for safety reasons; instead, they should travel between Pingtung and Taitung through the old Provincial Highway.

其餘兩段新南迴公路包括台東縣太麻里香蘭至金崙段、金崙至大鳥段今年已經陸續通車。

The other two sections of the South-Link Highway opened earlier this year.

Next Article:

玉山頂端驚現UberEats外送員 網友驚呼：「最強外送員」| An UberEats courier seen at the top of Yushan mountain

前陣子一名中國外送員「使命必達」，將水果籃外送至海拔1,545公尺的泰山，影片在網路上掀起討論。然而，台灣近期也有一位「使命必達」的外送員，更厲害的是，他背著外送袋登上台灣山岳第一高峰，海拔標高3,952公尺的玉山。

A video that showed a Chinese courier delivering a fruit basket to the top of the Taishan Mountain in Shandong on foot created a stir online. Well, the local mountaineer, surnamed Liu, was seen standing at the highest peak of Taiwan – Yushan Mountain with an UberEats delivery bag.

劉姓山友於臉書「登山借問站」PO文，貼出一系列玉山主峰、北峰、西峰登頂照，令人眼睛一亮的是，照片裡的主角竟然背著「UberEats」外送員袋子，網友驚呼：「這一餐應該滿貴的。」

In a Facebook post, a series of photos captured Liu posing at the top of Yushan Peak, North Peak and West Peak with a delivery bag went viral.

劉姓山友在PO文中寫道：「人客啊..外送到了…跑了西北主..你到底在哪裡啊!?」照片中，劉姓山友擺出撥打電話的姿勢，讓網友笑翻，直呼：「真的是最強外送員！」

“I’m arriving at the Yushan North, West peaks but still can’t find you. Where are you?” Liu wrote in his post. In response to the photos, netizens said: “He is the best courier.”

另外，劉姓山友告訴The China Post，拍攝UberEats外送袋登頂照只是純粹搞笑拍照留念，至於將UberEats外掛在背包上並不會為攀登增加難度，只是多了一個重量。而這也是劉姓山友第一次將外送袋背上山。

The mountaineer told The China Post that he was trying to be funny, so he carried a delivery bag to the peaks while climbing up to the Yushan Mountain. Besides, he said that carrying a delivery bag wasn’t a challenging task and this was the first time he brought it to the mountain top.

網友反應熱烈表示，「太有梗了」、「UberEats應該支付你廣告費才對」、「客人在東峰，你跑西北主幹嘛」、「中央尖山等你送來」。

In response to the post, one commented, “That’ s so funny,” another said, “UberEats should pay you for the advertisement.” The other remarked, “What are you doing at the West and North peaks? Your customer is waiting at the East peak.”

Source article: https://chinapost.nownews.com/20191209-894304 ; https://chinapost.nownews.com/20191206-887807

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每日跟讀#752: Not such a bright idea: why your phone’s ‘night mode’ may be keeping you awake

Many smartphone screens switch to warmer colors in the evening to help you sleep better — but research suggests the science behind this is all wrong.

許多智慧型手機螢幕會在晚上切換成較溫暖的顏色，來幫助使用者睡得更好。然而，最近一份研究顯示，這項功能背後的科學根據完全是錯誤的。

“Night mode” is one of those features you may be aware of only because your phone keeps telling you about it. At some point while you are lying in bed at night sending texts, your screen may politely suggest you activate a function that shifts the colors of your screen from the colder to the warmer end of the spectrum. It is supposed to help you sleep better.

「夜間模式」是一種只有在手機不斷跳出提醒時，你才會注意到的功能。當你晚上正躺在床上傳訊息的某個時間點，手機螢幕也許會禮貌性地建議你開啟一項功能，讓手機螢幕的顏色從較冰冷的色調切換到光譜上較溫暖的那一端。這個設計據稱是為了讓你睡得更好。

Findings in a study led by Tim Brown, a scientist from the University of Manchester, and published in Current Biology suggest this is the very opposite of correct. The research, carried out on mice, appears to rubbish the notion that blue light disrupts sleep. All things being equal, warm yellow light is worse.

So, where did the idea of limiting blue light from screens originate? “There was definitely a valid scientific idea about why those things would work,” says Brown. It started about 20 years ago with the discovery of the role that melanopsin — a light-sensitive protein found in the eye — plays in regulating the body clock.

由曼徹斯特大學的科學家提姆‧布朗主持，並發表於期刊《當代生物學》的這份研究指出，事實恰好相反。該研究以老鼠做為實驗對象，似乎抨擊了「藍光干擾睡眠」的概念。研究認為，在所有條件不變的情況下，溫暖的黃光其實更妨礙睡眠。那麼，限制手機螢幕發出藍光的想法是從哪裡來的呢？布朗表示：「過去確實有可信的科學觀點，解釋那些功能為什麼有效。」這類觀點來自於大約二十年前，科學家發現「視黑蛋白」──眼睛裡的一種感光蛋白質──在調節生理時鐘時扮演的角色。

“The melanopsin system is fundamentally there to detect brightness,” says Brown. Because melanopsin was better at detecting short-wavelength photons, he says, it was thought it was biased in favor of blue light. In fact, it is the retina’s cone cells that determine color. “The cone system also plays a role, and they’re doing the opposite of what most people thought,” says Brown.

布朗指出：「視黑蛋白系統在眼睛裡最根本的作用是偵測亮度。」他進一步解釋說，因為視黑蛋白偵測短波長光子的能力較佳，所以當時認為這種蛋白質較容易受藍光影響。事實上，視網膜的錐細胞才是真正決定顏色的器官。他表示：「錐細胞系統也參與了調節生理時鐘的機制，而它們的運作方式其實跟絕大多數人以為的完全相反。」

According to the study, brightness levels are more important than color when it comes to stimulating the body clock. However, when the light is equally dim, blue is more relaxing than yellow. This makes basic sense: daylight is yellow, twilight is blue, and sunrise and sunset are pretty reliable ways to tell your body clock what time it is. Of course, at this point, we only know it works on mice — and mice don’t have phones. “We think there is good reason to believe it’s also true in humans,” says Brown.

根據這項研究，就刺激生理時鐘的層面而言，光線的亮度其實比顏色還來得重要。不過，在光線同樣昏暗的情況下，藍光其實比黃光更能讓人放鬆。這是很有道理的：日光是黃色的，薄暮則呈現藍色，而日出與日落更是非常可靠的方式，讓你的生理時鐘知道現在的時間。當然，在這個階段，我們只知道這項觀點能在老鼠身上驗證──而老鼠卻沒有智慧型手機。布朗表示：「我們認為仍然有充分理由可以相信人類也是如此。」

There is perhaps a more obvious truth to be drawn — if your phone is telling you to switch to night mode, it is time to put down your phone. It is not the color of the screen that is keeping you awake; it is all the stuff your phone offers as an alternative to sleep at 2am. There is only one real night-mode switch: the off button.

我們也許還能推論出一項更明顯的事實──當手機提醒你將螢幕調整為夜間模式時，就是該放下手機的時候了。並不是手機螢幕的顏色讓你一直醒著，而是手機提供的所有東西，在凌晨兩點鐘構成你睡覺之外的另一個選項。其實，真正的「夜晚模式」開關只有一種，那就是手機的關機鍵。

Source article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2019/12/29/2003728334

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Welcome to 15 minutes.Today, the home of English shadowing. I'm your host Gavin, and this is InTense Episode 31.

Well guys, in this episode we're going to be looking at more prepositions. Now, this one is a bit interesting because I tried to find some examples and unlike prepositions of time, I didn't really find any examples on Google. So, this is something that I'm calling prepositions of media, as in media, TV Internet, email, etc etc. So, what does this mean? Well, when we talk about where we read something or something we have either in or on. Sometimes students struggle with that. So, we read something in a book, so anything that opens up, closes like a book, magazine, newspaper, or an email, you will have to open it. I would suggest in but the big one is on - we saw it on the Internet on TV, on Facebook, the show was on a stage. Yes, it was on a CD on the radio and of course now with Internet it's on YouTube, but of course we use in connected with that sometimes. So, it's on the Internet, in an article or on YouTube in a video that's where you see it. So, let's see if we sort of go back in time, you saw stuff, I saw it in person, and then you know we got the printed word, and then I read it in a letter, I read it in a book , then came the radio. And I heard it on the radio, then came TV, and I saw it on TV or then, well, we could do movies and that's in - I saw it in a movie, at the movie theater. Then the last big one, the newest, the Internet - I read it on the Internet, I saw it on Facebook, I saw it on YouTube, I read it on Facebook, in a message, on the Internet. And I opened up my email, I read what he said in my email.

OK, so I hope that's useful to you so let's get started with the questions.

Did Jane read it in an email? Yes, she read it in an email.

Did Jane read it in an email? No, she did not read it in an email.

Did Peter see it in a book? Yes, Peter saw it in a book.

Did Peter see it in a book? No, he did not see it in a book.

Did you read it on the Internet? Yes, I read it on the Internet.

Did you read it on the Internet? No, I did not read it on the Internet.

Did you see it in person? Yes, I saw it in person.

Did you see it in person? No, I did not see it in person.

Did you read it in a comic book? Yes, I read it in a comic book.

Did you read it in a comic book? No, I did not read it in a comic book.

Did John and Jane see it on TV? Yes, they saw it on TV.

Did John and Jane see it on TV? No, they did not see it on TV.

Did Peter read it in an email? Yes, he read it in an email.

Did Peter read it in an email? No, he did not read it in an email.

Did you see that on Facebook? Yes, I saw that on Facebook.

Did you see that on Facebook? No, I did not see it on Facebook.

Did Mary search for it on Google? Yes, she searched for it on Google.

Did Mary search for it on Google? No, she did not search for it on Google.

Did Jeff receive a message online? Yes, he received a message online.

Did Jeff receive a message online? No, he did not receive a message online.

Did Jane backup the file to the cloud? Yes, she backed up the file to the cloud.

Did Jane backup the file to the cloud? No, she did not backup the file to the cloud.

Well there you go guys. I hope that is helpful. I hope you notice the last one, I forgot to mention that we back things up to the cloud. We copy things up to the cloud. Right! You copy it to your computer. So, have a great day keep practicing and catch you next time. Bye!

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Summary:

Many companies and institutions use personality tests as a way to determine the nature of the individual to see if it matches the job applied. One of the tests are Taylor Hartman’s Color code – red means you are motivated by power, yellow is motivated by fun. In the case mentioned in the article, the personality test does not have a direct influence on hiring, it helps the managers to understand the interviewee better. Other tests include Clifton Strengths and Insights Discovery. Time magazine is famous for using DiSC model to diagnose a person’s dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness. Helen Fisher’s temperament inventory identifies whether you are a testosterone, dopamine, estrogen, or serotonin.

Full article: https://www.15mins.today/blog/709-personality-tests-are-the-astrology-of-the-office

Vocabulary and Sample Sentences:

Layperson / layman n. - normal people, regular Joe

• To the layperson, personality tests do not mean much.

Motivate v. Provide sb. - With a reason for doing something.

• If you get personality test categorizes you as red, you are a person who is motivated by power.

Dominant adj.- have power and influence over others

• Dominant people in the office tend to want to work in leadership positions. 

每日跟讀#751: Silicon Valley’s Biggest Foe Is Getting Even Tougher

Margrethe Vestager spent the last five years developing a well-earned reputation as the world’s top tech industry watchdog. From her perch overseeing Europe’s competition rules, she fined Google more than $9 billion for breaking antitrust laws, and forced Apple to pay about $14.5 billion for dodging taxes.

瑪格麗特．維斯特格過去五年闖出她應得的名聲，成為全球最高階的科技業監督人。她掌管歐洲的競爭規則，裁處谷歌須為違反反壟斷法繳交90多億美元罰款，並迫使蘋果為逃稅繳納約145億美元罰款。

Now she says that work, which made her a hero among tech critics, did not go far enough. The biggest tech companies continue to test the limits of antitrust laws, behave unethically and push back against government intervention, she said.

這些事蹟使維斯特格成了批評科技業者眼中的英雄。現在她說，這樣還不夠，科技業最大的幾家公司仍在探測反壟斷法的底線，持續不道德的行為，並抗拒政府的介入監管。

But she said the public’s growing skepticism about technology has given her an opportunity for a tougher approach.

不過她說，大眾對科技業疑慮日深，使她得以更強硬。

“In the last five years,” Vestager said in an extended interview, “some of the darker sides of digital technologies have become visible.”

維斯特格接受為時頗長的訪問時說：「過去五年，數位科技一些陰暗面變得明顯可見。」

So Vestager, a 51-year-old former Danish lawmaker, is doubling down. She has signed on for a rare second five-year term as the head of the European Commission’s antitrust division, and assumed expanded responsibility over digital policy across the 28-nation bloc.

所以，51歲的丹麥前國會議員維斯特格加倍努力。她已展開歐盟執委會反壟斷主管罕見的第二個五年任期，並對歐盟28成員國的數位政策握有更大的權力。

With the new power, she has outlined an agenda that squarely targets the tech giants. She’s weighing whether to remove some protections that shield large internet platforms from liability for content posted by users. She is also working on policies to make companies pay more taxes in Europe and investigating how the companies use data to box out competitors.

維斯特格憑著新權力，制訂了直接針對科技巨擘的行動計畫。她在考慮是否取消一些保護措施，這些措施讓大型網路平台不必因為用戶上傳的內容而受罰。她並且正在研擬政策，要讓這些公司在歐洲繳更多稅，並調查這些公司如何利用資料阻絕競爭對手。

Vestager has pledged to create the world’s first regulations around artificial intelligence and called for giving collective bargaining rights to so-called gig economy workers like Uber drivers. The push comes on top of an investigation into Amazon’s use of data to gain an edge on competitors that had already started, and her look into accusations of unfair business practices by Facebook and Apple.

維斯特格矢志制定世界第一套針對人工智慧的規範，並要求賦予優步司機這類所謂零工經濟的勞工集體談判權。維斯特格推動這些政策之際，歐盟已經開始調查亞馬遜如何利用資料取得競爭優勢，同時維斯特格也正在調查臉書和蘋果被指控的不公平商業行為。

“She has these accomplishments, but she didn’t get as much as she wanted,” said David Balto, a former lawyer in the Justice Department’s antitrust division whose clients now include large tech companies. “Now she can be more aggressive.”

律師巴爾托曾在美國司法部反壟斷部門任職，目前的客戶就包括科技業大公司，他說：「維斯特格取得了這些成就，但並不如自己預期的多，現在她可以更強勢。」

But Vestager’s agenda amounts to a wish list. Her success will depend on support and collaboration from other European officials who are already grappling with challenges like Britain’s exit from the European Union, the rise of populism and fraying diplomatic relations with the United States.

不過，維斯特格的行動計畫只是一份願望清單，要成功有賴歐盟其他官員支持合作，而他們已為英國脫離歐盟、民粹風潮興起和與美國外交關係緊張等種種挑戰而頭痛。

It will require standing up to relentless resistance from the tech companies, too.

“One of the important things is, of course, to prioritize because otherwise you will be in the process of back and forth for a very, very long time,” Vestager said.

維斯特格要成功，還得禁得起科技公司持續不斷的強烈抵抗。

維斯特格說：「當然，很重要的一點是要排出事情的優先順序，否則你會進進退退很長、很長一段時間。」

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/347894/web/

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