According to an investigation conducted by the Ministry of the Interior, there are 120 plots of land covering 46 hectares that were expropriated by the government for yet-to-be-built schools, and 103 of those plots have been sitting there waiting to be developed for more than 20 years. Most of the plots have been left unused as fallow land, while some have been turned into simple sports grounds, green parks, or, in some cases, are being occupied by local residents.
The ministry says that, due to the fertility crisis, land that was expropriated for building schools more than 20 years ago will probably never actually see schools built. Hsinchu City, Chiayi City, Taitung County, Penghu County, Kinmen County and Lianchiang County are the only municipalities that have used all expropriated land that was originally intended for building schools. Among the other municipalities, Greater Taichung, with 39 plots, has the greatest amount of unused land that was initially expropriated for building schools. Greater Kaohsiung comes in second place with 16 plots, while Taipei comes in third with 10 unused plots of land.
Despite this, local governments would still like to keep 80 plots of land to build schools, and are only willing to put 25 of the plots up for city planning review to possibly change the use of the land for other purposes.
Photo: Hu Chien-sen, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者胡健森
The ministry says that its Urban Planning Commission will be gradually re-examining and improving the situation, comprehensively looking at unused plots of land that were intended for the construction of schools from an urban planning perspective so that the land can hopefully be used for a merited purpose.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
根據內政部調查，全國約有一二○處已徵收卻未興建學校的學校用地，面積逾四十六公頃，其中一○三處徵收時間超過二十年，卻仍遲未開闢，目前多數土地現狀為荒蕪未使用，或做簡易運動場、綠美化公園，甚至部分遭民眾佔用。
內政部表示，面對少子化衝擊，各縣市手中逾二十年未開闢卻已徵收的學校用地，未來將更難興建學校。目前僅新竹市、嘉義市、台東縣、澎湖縣、金門縣、連江縣等縣市內沒有已徵收尚未使用的學校用地，其餘縣市均有，以台中市最多，約有三十九處；高雄次之，約有十六處；台北市有十處，是已徵收、但閒置學校用地第三多的縣市。
就算如此，各縣市政府仍認為其中八十處應保留做為開闢學校用途，僅二十五處願意列入都市計畫檢討，欲變更為其他使用分區用地。
內政部表示，將透過內政部都市計畫委員會逐步審議與改善，將閒置學校用地納入都市計畫通盤檢討，期望達到地盡其用及符合土地正義的目標。
（自由時報記者徐義平）
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
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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
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