The latest creation by Japanese fashion designer Tae Ashida is truly out of this world — a blue cardigan and short pants outfit she made for her country’s astronaut Naoko Yamazaki.
The US space shuttle Discovery blasted off with Yamazaki and two other female crew on board, bound for the International Space Station (ISS) on a historic mission that put more women in orbit than ever before.
Ahead of her departure, Yamazaki, 39, asked Ashida, daughter of Japanese fashion guru Jun Ashida, to design her work clothes for the 13-day space mission and she came up with a slim knit cardigan in light blue with navy blue shorts.
“As a female designer, I chose a design and color with a sense of grace ... so that she can feel at ease as she carries out a tough mission in a male-dominated, bleak atmosphere,” Ashida said.
“It’s like a dream come true to see my clothes worn in space,” said Ashida. “I’m looking forward to seeing her wear my design.”
Yamazaki also brought a miniature version of the traditional Japanese harp, known as a koto, to the station to play an ensemble with her countryman Soichi Noguchi, who has carried his Japanese flute to the station.
Yamazaki asked a Japanese musical instrument factory to make a miniature version of the koto, which usually measures about 1.8m, to meet the size limit for her space shuttle cabin luggage.
“The sound is quite different from that of an authentic one, but I’m very much looking forward to seeing her play the koto in space,” said instrument maker Kenzo Ogawa, who produced the mini harp.(AFP)
日本時裝設計師蘆田多惠的作品，果真只應天上有─她為自己的同胞，女太空人山崎直子，設計藍色羊毛衫加短褲的太空工作服。
美國發現號太空梭這次升空，是搭載山崎直子和另兩名女性太空人上國際太空站，成為史上將最多女性送上外太空的任務。
升空之前，三十九歲的山崎便商請服裝設計大師蘆田淳的女兒蘆田多惠，幫她設計這十三天太空任務要穿的工作服，於是蘆田多惠便想出這一套淡藍色針織羊毛衫與海軍藍短褲。
蘆田多惠說：「身為女性設計師，我選擇優雅的設計和顏色…讓她在以男性為主又陰暗的工作環境中，能感到舒適自在。」
蘆田多惠表示：「看到有人在外太空穿我設計的衣服，就像美夢成真似的。我期待看她穿我設計的衣服。」
山崎直子也帶了小型的日本傳統十三弦古箏上太空，準備與另一位帶著日本笛上太空的同胞野口聰一來一段合奏。
山崎直子特別商請樂器工廠替她打造這小型古箏，以便帶進太空梭。正常的十三弦古箏長度大約有一．八公尺。
製造這個迷你古箏的樂器師傅大川健三說：「這把古箏的聲音與正常古箏的聲音很不一樣，但我非常期待看到她在外太空彈奏這琴。」（法新社╱翻譯：吳岱璟）
Undersea cables are conductors wrapped in insulating materials and laid on the seabed. Their main functions are telecommunications or power transmission. The core of the undersea cables used for Internet signals is optical fiber, using light to transmit Internet signals. Taiwan’s communications are currently handled by 10 domestic undersea cables and 14 international undersea cables. About 99 percent of Taiwan’s Internet bandwidth relies on undersea cables, making them Taiwan’s “digital lifeline.” The demands on the cables’ bandwidth are only set to increase with the development of artificial intelligence (AI), which relies on the data fed into it. Today, data is
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
Recent events in Taiwan have highlighted the contentious nature of “priority seating” on public transportation. Incidents, such as passengers experiencing emotional distress after being compelled to give up their seats and elderly individuals attacking others after being refused a seat, have prompted a national reassessment of this policy. Some voices in Taiwan now advocate for abolishing priority seats to prevent such conflicts. This issue is not unique to Taiwan. In South Korea, where respect for the elderly is deeply ingrained, priority seating has led to similar confrontations. Younger passengers often face accusations of disrespect if they do not yield seats. In
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