Angelina Jolie, Hollywood superstar and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, is reportedly planning to adopt an aboriginal child from Hualien. The little girl, identified as Hsiao Kai-wan, is a four year old orphan and will be the fifth child for the actress and her partner, screen idol Brad Pitt.
Jolie, 31, filed adoption papers in Hualien in late January through a US based agency, April's Premier Adoption Agency. She plans to adopt the girl as a single parent because she is unmarried, officials have said. Taiwanese law does not stipulate that adopters must be married.
The Taiwanese adoption process is relatively straight forward. Prospective parents must file an application with the Taiwan Supreme Court. The Supreme Court then delegates the case to the relevant Taiwan District Court. The process, including the approval of the home study, child referral and formal completion of the process takes around 10 months. The prospective parent must appear before the appropriate District Court in person towards the end of the process.
PHOTO: AP
Adoptions of Taiwanese orphans by American citizens have risen steeply from 48 adoptions in 2002 to 187 last year.
Jolie and her partner Pitt already have four other adopted children: Maddox, from Cambodia, aged five; two-year-old daughter Zahara, who was adopted from Ethiopia; and three and a half year old Pax Thien, whom Jolie adopted from Vietnam in March of this year. Jolie and Pitt also have a biological daughter, Shiloh, born to the couple last May in Namibia.
Jolie reportedly has tattoos of the geographical coordinates of her children's birthplaces — Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Addis Alem, Ethiopia; and Swakopmund, Namibia. (Catherine Thomas, Staff Writer, With Agencies)
根據報導，擔任聯合國難民事務高級專員公署親善大使的好萊塢超級巨星安吉莉娜裘莉，正計畫收養花蓮一名原住民兒童。這個名叫蕭凱婉的四歲孤女，將成為裘莉及其銀幕偶像情人布萊德彼特的第五名子女。
三十一歲的裘莉一月底透過總部設在美國的收養機構「April's Premier」向花蓮方面遞出領養申請。承辦人員表示，未婚的她打算以單親身分收養這名女童。台灣法律並未規定領養人必須已婚。
台灣的領養申請手續相當簡單，有意領養的父母須先向最高法院提出申請，最高法院再將申請案派發相關地方法院處理。整個申請過程包括到府訪查認可、兒童推薦到手續正式完成，需時約十個月。在申請完成前，有意領養的父母必須親自到相關地方法院辦理手續。
美國民眾申請領養台灣孤兒的案件已從二００二年的四十八件驟增到去年的一百八十七件。
裘莉與男友布萊德彼特已領養了四名小孩：五歲的柬埔寨男童馬達克斯、兩歲的衣索比亞女童撒哈拉及今年三月才收養的三歲半越南男童派克斯。裘莉與彼特還有個去年五月在納米比亞出生的親生女兒希洛。
據報導，裘莉的身上刺有小孩出生地座標的刺青─柬埔寨的金邊、衣索比亞的阿迪斯阿聯及納米比亞的斯瓦科蒙特。
（綜合外電／翻譯：林倩如）
Street lights are often taken for granted until a power outage plunges the world into darkness. When that happens, the value of these lighting installations becomes evident as the world turns into a more dangerous place for pedestrians and motorists alike. The Chinese could claim to be the first to have constructed a crude type of street light. Around 500 BC, residents of Beijing employed a type of street lamp that used hollow bamboo pipes and natural gas vents to create burning torches. Later, ancient Romans adopted lamps fueled by vegetable oil, which relied on slaves to light and
A: Who else is on Billboard’s list: “The 25 greatest pop stars of the 21st Century?” B: No. 15 to 6 are: Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Usher, Adele, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Kanye West and Britney Spears. A: I can’t believe that Adele’s only at No. 10. B: No. 5 to 1 are: Lady Gaga, Drake, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Beyonce. A: Well, they surely deserve the honor. A: 《告示牌》雜誌的「21世紀最偉大的25位流行歌手」，還有誰上榜啊？ B: 第15至6名是：麥莉希拉、大賈斯汀、妮姬米娜、阿姆、亞瑟小子、愛黛兒、亞莉安娜、小賈斯汀、肯伊威斯特、小甜甜布蘭妮。 A: 真不敢相信愛黛兒只排第10名。 B: 第5至1名是：女神卡卡、德瑞克、蕾哈娜、泰勒絲、碧昂絲。 A: 這幾位真是實至名歸！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
A: The 21st Century is now entering its 25th year. B: So Billboard has released a list: “The 25 greatest pop stars of the 21st Century.” A: Who are the greatest pop singers? B: No. 25 to 16 are: Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran, Bad Bunny, One Direction, Lil Wayne, Bruno Mars, BTS, The Weeknd, Shakira and Jay-Z. A: Wow, my favorite K-pop supergroup BTS has made it to the list. A: 21世紀正在邁入第25個年頭了。 B: 《告示牌》雜誌特別公布：「21世紀最偉大的25位流行歌手」。 A: 最偉大的歌手有哪些？ B: 第25至16名是：凱蒂佩芮、紅髮艾德、壞痞兔、1世代、小韋恩、火星人布魯諾、防彈少年團（BTS）、威肯、夏奇拉、Jay-Z。 A: 哇，我最愛的韓流天團BTS也上榜了！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
Spoiler alert and shift blame 破梗&甩鍋 在新冠疫情期間，無論是因為封城 (lockdown) 還是居家隔離 (self-isolation at home)，人們關在家中使用網路的時間大增。這也讓一些原本只存在於網路論壇的用語廣為普及。我們來談一下破梗 (spoiler alert) 與甩鍋 (shift blame) 這兩個用語。 有位古典文學教授 Joel Christensen 針對領導統御與疫情控制寫了一篇以古喻今、相當深入的文章：“Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales”，文中出現一些講法，可用來翻譯上述的流行語： In the 5th century B.C., the playwright Sophocles begins Oedipus Tyrannos with the title character struggling to identify the cause of a plague striking his city, Thebes. (Spoiler alert: It’s his own bad leadership.) (Joel Christensen, “Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales,” The Conversation, March 12, 2020) 作者提到 Oedipus（伊底帕斯）想找出瘟疫何以降臨他的城邦的緣由，加了一句：Spoiler alert: It’s his own bad leadership.（破梗：領導無方）。Spoiler alert 就是「破梗」，如果用在有人洩漏電影劇情的情境中，也可以翻作「小心爆雷」或「劇透警告」。疫情之下，在家看影集、電影成了很多人的娛樂，但要小心劇透 (spoilers)，很多 YouTube 上的影評在開頭也都會說 Spoiler alert!，警告還沒看過電影的觀眾小心爆雷、劇透。 至於「甩鍋」，源自大陸網民用語，通常意指某人犯了錯之後想推卸責任、轉移焦點、甚至讓別人背黑鍋的做法。疫情爆發後，相關網路資訊量爆增，許多中國網民也想找人為這場疫情負責，紛紛呼籲地方政府首長、地方黨書記不要「甩鍋」。 其實，在古代文學《奧德賽》中，就有「將自己的責任怪罪眾神」的說法，試用時下流行的「甩鍋」來重新翻譯： Humans are always blaming the gods for their suffering, but they experience
RSS