During Christmas, a time of reunion for Germans, besides the cheery Santa Claus, you can also spot his intimidating sidekick, Knecht Ruprechtw. Simon, who has been in Taiwan for a year, says, "It's like good cop/bad cop." But make no mistake. Although sinister in appearance, Knecht Ruprechtw is not really a bad guy. It is said that he is an important helper for Santa Claus. Dressed in a black robe, Knecht Ruprechtw clutches a long broom in his hand and has a sack slung over his shoulder. He beats naughty kids, puts them in his sack, and then brings them back to the black forest or tosses them into the river, while Santa Claus rewards well-behaved children with candy or treats. Simon recalls one time when he had been misbehaving and his mother put a little stick, a symbol of Knecht Ruprechtw's broom, in his socks to warn him to behave himself or else Knecht Ruprechtw would come and beat him up. "And it works. Really!" he says and smiles.
在德國闔家團圓的聖誕節,除了有慈眉善目的聖誕老公公,他身旁還可以看到一位幫手Knecht Ruprechtw。來台灣一年多,目前在台北學中文的畢思蒙說:「他們兩個,一個扮白臉、一個扮黑臉。」別誤會,看起來凶神惡煞可不是壞人,傳說他是聖誕老公公的幫手,身穿黑袍,手拿掃帚,背掛布袋,當聖誕老公公給好孩子糖果或禮物,他就賞壞孩子幾棍,綁進背後的袋子裡,帶回黑森林或丟進河裡。他回憶,有一次小時候太頑皮,媽媽在他的襪子裡放小樹枝(象徵牛頭公公的掃棍)當作警告,說如果他不乖,牛頭公公就會來打他屁股,畢思蒙笑說:「這招還滿有效的。」
In Germany, the holiday goes all the way from Christmas to New Years, during which there are two things that a German must do: watch the British TV schetch Dinner for One on New Year's Eve and play Bleigi?en.
PHOTO: CHENG HSIANG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
德國團圓假期一路從聖誕節延燒到新年,這時舉家必做兩件事:除夕夜收看英國人演出的「一個人的晚餐」和玩Bleigi?en。
The ten-minute-long Dinner for One has been rebroadcast on New Year's Eve over 230 times over the past 40 years. "It's just really silly and funny. You can never get tired of it," says Simon. The story is about a 90-year-old lady, Sophie, who wants to invite her good friends over for her birthday, but doesn't realize that all her friends have passed away. To please Miss Sophie, the poor old butler, James, has to play all her friends one after the other having dinner and drinking wine with her, while at the same time preparing the meals as he keeps tripping over a tiger-skin rug. As the night goes on, James gets drunk, begins to lose consciousness and starts to mumble to himself; bumbling as he is, he still has to prepare Sophie for bed. Although the plot is quite simple, this black-and-white sketch, filmed in 1963, has become an indispensable source of laughter for the reputedly solemn German people during this time of reunion.
「一個人的晚餐」,總長十分多鐘,每年都會在除夕重播,四十餘年來已被重複播放超過兩百三十次,畢思蒙說:「戲有點笨可是很逗趣,百看不厭。」影片主要情節是一位高齡九十的蘇菲太太過生日,想邀請她的好友們到家裡用餐,不過由她不知好友們早已逝世,可憐的老管家詹姆士為了取悅主子,除了準備餐點,只好一人分飾多角假扮蘇菲的好友,與她進餐飲酒。全劇只見老管家一直被虎皮地毯絆倒,愈喝愈醉,上酒的步伐愈來愈顛簸,說話也語無倫次,還得伺候蘇菲太太就寢。儘管劇情簡單,這部一九六三年錄製的黑白喜劇小品卻是平素嚴肅的日耳曼民族跨年時不可或缺的開心果。
PHOTO: CHENG HSIANG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Another holiday ritual is playing Bleigi?en (lead founding), a game to predict your luck in the next year. First players light a candle, put a piece of lead (although tin is a common substitute) on a metal spoon and melt it over the candle. Then they pour the liquified lead into a bowl of cool water. The lead will quickly solidify into a strange shape. Players use a gut feeling to judge the results and then check what the meaning of the shape is. For example, a butterfly means unstable fortune; a deer antler signifies frustration in love; a fish foretells good fortune when gambling; a pig indicates you won't go hungry, etc.
玩Bleigi?en也是新年例行公事之一。它是一種預測新年運氣的遊戲,把鉛(或錫)放進湯匙以燭火燒融,融化後丟進水裡,冷卻凝固後,映著燭火,以第一直覺判影子的形狀,每個形狀都代表著不同的運氣,例如蝴蝶代表時運不穩;鹿角代表為愛消沉;魚表示賭運佳;豬表示不會挨餓...等等。
But even if that goes badly for you, there's still a way to have a hand in shaping your luck in the New Year.
"In the old days in Germany, a blocked chimney was considered bad luck because you couldn't cook or warm the house. After fixing it, chimney sweeps traditionally brought the bill at the New Year. So it's considered good luck if you shake hands with them or even just touch the buttons of their clothes at the New Year," adds Simon.
不過,如果你手氣不佳,你還是有機會在明年的運勢為自己扳回一城。此外,畢思蒙說:「從前煙囪阻塞,不能開火取暖會被視為一種惡兆,而來清理煙囪的工人通常會在新年送上帳單,所以我們相信,若能在新年和清理煙囪工人握手或碰他衣服的鈕扣,能為自己新年帶來好運。」
NASA decided Saturday last week it’s too risky to bring two astronauts back to Earth in Boeing’s troubled new capsule, and they’ll have to wait until next year for a ride home with SpaceX. What should have been a weeklong test flight for the pair will now last more than eight months. The seasoned pilots have been stuck at the International Space Station since the beginning of June. A cascade of vexing thruster failures and helium leaks in the new capsule marred their trip to the space station, and they ended up in a holding pattern as engineers conducted tests and
A: The Michelin Guide for this year has been revealed. B: Which restaurants have been awarded three stars this time? A: Taipei’s Le Palais and Tairroir and Taichung’s JL Studio. B: Those fancy restaurants all look expensive. A: Then you can try the more affordable Bib Gourmand. A: 今年的《米其林指南》終於公佈了。 B: 榮獲3星的有哪幾家? A: 有台北的「頤宮」、「態芮」,和台中的「JL Studio」! B: 可是他們好像都不便宜耶。 A: 那你還可以參考價格比較親民的《必比登推介》。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
With summer approaching, many people are planning some fun water activities. Standup paddle boarding (SUP), which simply involves standing on a large board and propelling yourself with a paddle, is becoming increasingly popular. The history of SUP dates back thousands of years, with early forms found as early as 3000 BC across various regions like Peru and China. However, the contemporary version of SUP originated in Hawaii in the 1940s, when local surfer John Ah Choy, unable to surf traditionally due to his age, started standing on his board and using a canoe paddle. This style eventually evolved into the SUP
新冠疫情期間,媒體曾經報導「廣州零號感染源,疑透過餐廳空調傳播」,之前媒體也常出現「零號病人」之類的報導,諸如:「義大利 0 號病人出院,遭起底竟是......」,「紐約確診人數近6萬,……零號病人出院」。 所謂「零號病人」,就是台灣平常我們說的「首例」。如:「台首例武漢肺炎病患出院」,【獨家專訪】台灣首例武漢肺炎確診個案治癒過程! 「零號病人」英文叫 patient zero 或 index case,其實就是某個國家/地區第一個列入紀錄的案例。關於 index case,Wikipedia 的定義如下: The index case (sometimes referred to as patient zero) is the first documented patient in a disease epidemic within a population, or the first documented patient included in an epidemiological study. 為何第一個案例會說成patient zero?BBC 有一則關於新冠肺炎的報導裡提到它的由來: 愛滋病流行期間意外創造了「零號病人」一詞。80年代初期,美國美國疾病管制與預防中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)的研究人員調查愛滋病在洛杉磯和舊金山的傳播時,以英文字母O來指「加州以外」(outside of California) 的某個案例。其他研究人員誤將這代表外州 (outside) 的字母“O”,解讀為數字“0”,因此「零號病人」的說法就這樣誕生了。 …patient zero is a term used to describe the first human infected by a viral or bacterial disease in an outbreak…. Whilst investigating the spread of the disease…researchers…used the letter “O” to refer a case of someone “outside the state of California.” Other researchers wrongfully interpreted the letter as