As we bid farewell to 2021, news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) pointed out that even though 2021 was marred by the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters, it has brought with it some strange and fantastic news. The AFP has chosen a few highlights for us to recap.
Here are two whacky stories in 2021 that AFP came up with:
‧ “Salmon chaos”
Photo: Liberty Times 照片：自由時報
Japanese sushi chain Sushiro offered free sushi for people whose name contained the Chinese characters for salmon, causing a wave of name changing to break out across Taiwan.
‧ “Four weddings”
A bank employee and his wife married four times and divorced three times over a period of 37 days. The man applied for marriage leave four times to get a total of 32 paid holidays, but the bank only granted him eight days for the first period of marriage leave. Believing that the bank owed him 24 days of leave, he filed a complaint to Taipei City’s Department of Labor. The bank was found to have violated labor laws.
(TRANSLATED BY RITA WANG, TAIPEI TIMES)
二○二一年結束之際，《法新社》指出，雖然今年受到疫情和許多天災侵擾，但仍有一些美妙有趣的新聞，他們也選出幾則新聞帶大家回顧。
以下列出兩則《法新社》選出的二○二一年新奇報導：
‧ 「鮭魚之亂」
連鎖壽司「壽司郎」台灣店為名字中有「鮭魚」中文字的人提供優惠，造成台灣人瘋狂改名。
‧ 「四場婚禮」
台灣一名銀行員在三十七天內連續跟同一個人結婚四次、離婚三次，並向公司申請四次婚假共三十二天，但銀行只准第一次結婚的八天假，行員認為公司欠他二十四天假，因此向北市勞動局提出檢舉，銀行被認為違法。
(自由時報)
A: Finally! Cantopop superstar Andy Lau is touring Taipei starting tonight. B: Yeah, he is set to perform at the Taipei Arena for four nights. A: It seems like he is still energetic on stage even at the age of 63. B: Lau, Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai and Arron Kwok are dubbed Hong Kong’s “Four Heavenly Kings.” A: Hopefully, the four “kings” can visit Taiwan more often. A: 終於啊！香港天王劉德華今晚起將在台北開唱。 B: 他預計在台北小巨蛋，一連熱唱4天！ A: 看來劉天王雖然63歲了，在舞台上還是一尾活龍。 B: 他和張學友、黎明、郭富城還被稱為香港「四大天王」。 A: 希望天王們以後能更常來台灣。 （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
Imagine the thrill of diving into the ocean, holding your breath, and exploring underwater worlds without any modern gear. This is the life of the haenyeo, South Korea’s sea women. Armed with only diving goggles and handmade tools, these skilled divers venture into the ocean’s depths to manually harvest marine products like abalone and seaweed. The haenyeo tradition, dating back to the 17th century, was originally dominated by men. However, a combination of wars and deep-sea fishing accidents created a shortage of male labor. Women’s greater resistance to cold proved a blessing to the struggling communities. As a result, they began
A: Originally, supergroup Mayday was also going to launch four charity concerts starting today. B: I know, they were trying to boost Hualien’s tourism industry. A: And all 14 artists from B’in Music were going to join the free concerts. B: But they just announced all shows will be postponed due to Typhoon Kong-Rey. A: Well, safety first. A: 原本今天起，天團五月天的公益演唱會也將開跑。 B: 我知道，主要是為了振興花蓮的觀光業。 A: 「相信音樂」旗下14組歌手，聽說這次都會共襄盛舉。 B: 結果主辦單位宣布所有演出因颱風康芮延期。 A: 嗯安全至上吧。 （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
For people with hearing loss, clear communication can seem like a distant dream. However, advancements in technology are __1__ this barrier. TranscribeGlass, a wearable device, can translate spoken words into text displayed on a transparent screen directly in the user’s field of vision. This innovation enables people with hearing disabilities to fully engage in conversations. Assistive technology like captioning is an important means of communication for people with hearing loss. Captioning software on cellphones can be a helpful option, but it has limitations. Many users often find themselves __2__ to constantly glance down at the phone screen, which disrupts eye contact
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