A: You prefer e-books to printed paper books, don’t you?
B: Actually, not necessarily, it depends. For example, I’ll buy the e-book version of comics, novels, books on finance or biographies, but for intensive reading, like with language textbooks, I’ll buy the actual book.
A: Hmm, that makes sense. I’ll put several books in my bag, thinking to read them during the course of the day, and I lug them around every day, breaking my back, and it always turns out that the book I want to read I didn’t bring out with me.
Photo: Wu Pei-hua, Liberty Times 照片:自由時報記者吳佩樺
B: Ha, you like doing things the hard way, don’t you?
A: So, I’m thinking, if I had the e-book, I could bring hundreds of books with me when I go out, just like that.
B: You’re absolutely right.
A: 跟紙本書比起來,你比較偏好電子書,對不對?
B: 其實也不見得啦,看情況。比如說漫畫小說財經傳記,我就買電子書,需要精讀的,比如說語言課本,我就會買實體書。
A: 嗯,還蠻有道理的。我包包裡都會放幾本書,想說出去會看,每天帶來帶去,重得要死,偏偏最後想讀的那本書,是沒帶出來的!
B: 哈哈,你還蠻會折磨自己的嘛!
A: 所以我想說,如果是電子書,我就可以一下子把好幾百本帶出門!
B: 百分之百正確!
(Translated by Paul Cooper, Taipei Times/台北時報林俐凱)
English 英文:
Chinese 中文:
A: The four-day Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend begins Friday and will run until Monday. Are you going to sweep your ancestors’ tombs? B: I did in advance last weekend, so I can go to Kaohsiung to see the musical “The Phantom of the Opera.” A: Wow, is “Phantom” touring Taiwan again? It debuted in 1986, so this year marks the 40th anniversary of the show. B: And it’s not just touring Kaohsiung starting March 31, but also Taipei starting April 21 and Taichung starting May 26. A: “Phantom” is one of the world’s Four Major Musicals. I’ve seen all of them, except “Les
A: Apart from the musical The Phantom of the Opera, off-Broadway classic “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” and musical-themed concert “Broadway Hits Live” are also touring Taiwan. B: Musical-themed concert? That sounds interesting. A: Set for April 18 and 19, the show will feature a group of Broadway vocalists and dancers — with British singer Keala Settle as a special guest. B: So the audience can enjoy all the timeless hits from various shows at one concert. . . I like that. A: And there’s more: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musical Jesus Christ Superstar will finally visit Taiwan for the first time
Despite being a basic tool, pens come in a wide variety of forms. Classic styles include fountain pens, which deliver liquid ink smoothly through metal tips. Another common type is the ballpoint pen, which is easy to use. There are even special felt pens that are especially popular among artists. __1__ They have a small hole at the top. So why is it there in the first place? Could it actually be a design flaw? __2__ Since 1991, companies such as BIC have been producing ballpoint pens with holes in their caps for two main reasons: quality control
Visitors walking down the streets of London and other major English cities might notice a curious sight. Many of the old __1__ have some of their windows boarded up. What’s even stranger is that there doesn’t appear to be any consistent pattern as to which windows get covered. This architectural __2__ dates back over 300 years during a time when “coin clipping” was a common crime in England. Back then, silver coins had simple designs with __3__, unmarked edges. Without any pattern extending to the coins’ rims, it was difficult to tell if the edges had been __4__. This