The US Post Office has made a drastic mistake on a stamp honoring an icon of America, the Statue of Liberty.
It turns out that a first-class mail stamp featuring Miss Liberty is based on a photo of a replica of the statue at a casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Postal Service spokesman Roy Betts said three billion stamps have been printed, and they will not be pulled from the market. The 44-cent (about NT$13) forever stamp has been on sale in coils since December last year and is to be released in booklet form.
Photo: Reuters
照片：路透
The actual Statue of Liberty has appeared on more than 20 stamps previously, Betts said.The mistake was first reported by Linn’s Stamp News.
In the Post Office’s news release in December last year announcing the stamp, the service said the Statue of Liberty was shown in a close-up photograph of her head and crown.
Linn’s, a weekly magazine for stamp collectors, noted that the stamp shows a rectangular patch on the crown of the statue. Such a patch does not appear on the statue in New York Harbor that has welcomed millions of immigrants to their new home.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
In addition, the magazine said, the eyes, eyelids and eyebrows on the replica appeared more sharply defined than on the original statue, and the hair was different.
(AP)
美國郵政總局發行印有美國重要象徵自由女神像的郵票上，犯下了天大的錯誤。
原來應該是自由女神圖案的第一類郵票，被發現郵票上的圖案，竟是內華達州拉斯維加斯一間賭場外，自由女神複製像的照片。
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
郵政總局發言人洛伊‧貝茲說，這枚郵票已印製多達三十億枚，印錯的郵票不會下市。面值美金四十四分（約新台幣十三元）製成盤卷式的郵票已於去年十二月開始銷售，而且其小本票（或稱郵票小冊）也將發行。
貝茲說，自由女神像的郵票，過去已發行了超過二十種。《林氏郵票新聞》率先報導這個錯誤。
郵政總局在去年十二月的新聞稿宣布，這枚（新的）自由女神像郵票僅呈現女神頭部與頭冠特寫。
集郵者週刊《林氏》發現，郵票上自由女神像的頭冠有塊矩形補丁，而矗立在紐約港歡迎上百萬移民人士的正牌女神像則沒有。
另外，這份週刊說，贗品的眼睛、眼瞼與眉毛輪廓，比正版女神像深，而且頭髮也不太一樣。
（美聯社／翻譯：林亞蒂）
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
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