A closer look 說古論今
Turkmens have always been nomads. Each group of nomads has its own dialect, clothing and religious beliefs. They are famous for the rugs that they make, which for some people provide a large portion of the family income. Like the customs of the nomadic groups, the rugs vary depending on which group made them. Perhaps one of the few common traits among all the people of Turkmenistan is that although the official language is Turkmen, almost everyone speaks Russian, even people far removed from the cities. Russian is useful for communication between groups that speak different dialects.
Life in Turkmenistan can be difficult. The people have traditionally lived in the country's deserts, and have been reluctant to move to the cities. Turkmenistan has large natural gas and oil resources, but during the 1990s it was forced to concentrate on exporting cotton because Russia would not help export the gas. Today, 50 percent of the land that can be used for farming in Turkmenistan is planted with cotton.
PHOTO: AFP
Life outside the cities was made even harder in February of 2005 when Turkmenistan's president, Saparmurat Niyazov, decided to close all the hospitals in the country outside of the capital, Ashgabat. He said that if anybody became sick, he or she could just come to the capital. He also ordered that all public libraries outside of the cities be closed, saying that people in rural areas don't read. In 1999, he was named president for life. (Taipei Times)
土庫曼人向來是遊牧民族。每一個遊牧族群都有自己的方言、衣著服飾與宗教信仰。他們的手工地毯聞名遐邇，是某些家庭收入的主要來源。如同遊牧族群的風俗各異，這些地毯的風格也依據各族群各異。土庫曼人少數共通點之一就是，雖然官方語言為土庫曼語，但幾乎所有人都講俄語，即便是遠從城市移居而來的人也如此。不同方言的各族群溝通時，俄語就派上用場。
在土庫曼生活艱難。土庫曼人傳統生活於沙漠地帶，一直不願移居到城市。土庫曼人擁有大量的天然氣與石油資源，不過一九九○年代由於俄羅斯不願協助其出口天然氣，被迫將重心放在棉花出口上。目前土庫曼有五成的農業用地種植棉花。
二○○五年二月，土庫曼總統尼亞佐夫決定關閉首都阿什哈巴特以外的所有醫院，讓城市外的生活更加困難。他表示，假如有人生病，只要到首都就醫即可。他認為鄉村地區的人民並不閱讀，下令城市以外的公立圖書館關門。一九九九年，尼亞佐夫被任命為終身職的總統。 （翻譯：賴美君）
In an effort to fight phone scams, British mobile phone company O2 has introduced Daisy, an AI designed to engage phone con artists in time-wasting conversations. Daisy is portrayed as a kindly British granny, exploiting scammers’ tendency to target the elderly. Her voice, based on a real grandmother’s for authenticity, adds to her credibility in the role. “O2” has distributed several dedicated phone numbers online to direct scammers to Daisy instead of actual customers. When Daisy receives a call, she translates the scammers’ spoken words into text and then responds to them accordingly through a text-to-speech system. Remarkably, Daisy
Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。 Emma had reviewed 41 resumes that morning. While the ATS screened out 288 unqualified, she screened for AI slop. She could spot it a mile away. She muttered AI buzzwords like curses under her breath. “Team player.” “Results-driven.” “Stakeholder alignment.” “Leveraging core competencies.” Each resume reeked of AI modeling: a cemetery of cliches, tombstones of personality. AI wasn’t just changing hiring. It was draining the humanity from it. Then she found it: a plain PDF cover letter. No template. No design flourishes. The first line read: “I once tried to automate my
Every May 1, Hawaii comes alive with Lei Day, a festival celebrating the rich culture and spirit of the islands. Initiated in 1927 by the poet Don Blanding, Lei Day began as a tribute to the Hawaiian custom of making and wearing leis. The idea was quickly adopted and officially recognized as a holiday in 1929, and leis have since become a symbol of local pride and cultural preservation. In Hawaiian culture, leis are more than decorative garlands made from flowers, shells or feathers. For Hawaiians, giving a lei is as natural as saying “aloha.” It shows love and
1. 他走出門，左右看一下，就過了馬路。 ˇ He walked outside, looked left and right, and crossed the road. χ He walked outside and looked left and right, crossed the road. 註︰並列連接詞 and 在這句中連接三個述語。一般的結構是 x, y, and z。x and y and z 是加強語氣的結構，x and y, z 則不可以。 2. 他們知道自己的弱點以及如何趕上其他競爭者。 ˇ They saw where their weak points lay and how they could catch up with the other competitors. χ They saw where their weak points lay and how to catch up with the other competitors. 註：and 一般連接同等成分，結構相等的單詞、片語或子句。誤句中 and 的前面是子句，後面是不定詞片語，不能用 and 連接，必須把不定詞片語改為子句，and 前後的結構才相等。 3. 她坐上計程車，直接到機場。 ˇ She took a cab, which took her straight to the airport. ˇ She took a cab and it took her straight
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