Erlun Village in Pingtung County used to be the local township administration center during the Japanese colonial era, but that role was later replaced by Jhutian Village, ending Erlun’s days of glory. Erlun villagers became more and more closed-minded. For years, weeds grew along the walls and corners of the village. People stopped caring about one another and allowed even the most inconsequential things to cause disputes.
Village Warden Li I-jen says that “Erlun,” when pronounced in Hakka, sounds like “argument.” It is quite common for Erlun villagers to have arguments or quarrels with one another over things like the neighbor’s dog barking too loudly, somebody’s car not being parked properly or someone’s weeds not being tidied up regularly. These disputes could even end up in a mediation committee. In his nearly 10 years as village warden, Li’s highest record is settling four disputes in one day.
Since the community development association obtained funds and invited artists to work in the village, 10 walls of various sizes have been redesigned, and the originally bleak corners have also been brightened up with lively colorful paintings.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者邱芷柔
The murals in Erlun Village mostly depict bustling scenes from the village’s past and life in the countryside. Li said that not only has the village recently seen more tourists visiting, but the villagers also have started helping each other. Mediation cases have been greatly reduced, as if the murals had brought out shared memories that join people together, he says.
(Liberty Times, translated by Ethan Zhan)
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者邱芷柔
屏東縣二崙村在日治時代前是當地的行政中心，後來行政中心轉往現在的竹田村，二崙村繁榮景象不再，村民越來越封閉，多年來社區牆面、角落都雜草叢生，大家自掃門前雪，連芝麻小事都要計較。
二崙村村長李毅仁說，「二崙」的客家話與「議論」發音相同，而住在二崙村的村民常有議論、紛爭情形，隔壁的狗太吵、車子沒停好、雜草沒整理都能鬧上調解會，他當村長近十年期間，最高紀錄一天就要處理四件調解案。
經過社區發展協會爭取經費，邀請藝術家下鄉後，目前社區有十面大小不一的牆面被換上新裝，原本黯淡的角落也因為生動活潑的彩繪變得明亮。
二崙村內的壁畫，多以描繪二崙村過去繁榮景象與農村生活為主。李毅仁說，最近不僅觀光客變多了，村民也開始互相幫忙，調解案件量大大減少，就像是壁畫牽起大家共同記憶一樣。
(自由時報記者邱芷柔)
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