Hosted by the duo Ken and Kylie, Bailingguo News is a bilingual international news podcast that ranked as the second most popular podcast in Taiwan last year. To achieve the long-term goal of letting Taiwan be heard by the international community, Bailingguo News has created the English-language show “Tough Bobas: Taiwan Uncensored.” Combining talk show with hilarious parodies that satirize world political events, the sketch-comedy show has four episodes in store. The cast includes singer Kimberley Chen, Youtuber David Huang, comedian Kurt Hsiao, DJ Marc Orange and Internet celebrity Holger Chen.
Finding the cast was no easy business: not only do the actors have to speak in English, the show also deals with sensitive political issues, such as the Taiwan-US-China relationship and China’s crackdown on “sissy” men, said Ken. In the end, only one-fifth of the invited actors agreed to come on board.
“Tough Bobas: Taiwan Uncensored” is scheduled to launch at 9pm on Feb. 19, Feb. 28, March 7 and March 14 on Bailingguo News’s YouTube channel. As for whether there will be new episodes in the future, Kylie, who admitted the NT$ 2.5 million (US$89,000) production cost is quite a sum, said wryly that the show will go on if they receive more funds.
Photo courtesy of Bailingguo News 照片︰《百靈果NEWS》提供
(Translated by Rita Wang, Taipei Times)
由Ken與王晴蒂雙人搭檔主持的雙語國際新聞《百靈果News》，是去年台灣收聽率第二名的Podcast節目。為達成將台灣聲音推廣至國際的長程目標，百靈果打造純英語節目《反共波霸：無碼台灣》，透過英文脫口秀搭配搞笑短劇的詼諧方式詮釋國際議題。節目更邀到歌手陳芳語、YouTuber黃大謙、喜劇演員蕭東意、電台DJ歐馬克、網紅陳之漢助陣，目前已完成四集。
Ken坦言尋找演員過程相當困難，除了得全程使用英文，也因涉及敏感政治題材，如台美中關係、中國禁娘令等，人選邀約成功答應機率只有五分之一。
《反共波霸：無碼台灣》將於二月十九日、二月二十八日、三月七日、三月十四日晚上九時，在百靈果的YouTube頻道分集播出。至於未來還會不會再拍新集數，王晴蒂苦笑表示，希望有拿到錢再拍，坦言兩百五十萬台幣（約八萬九千美元）製作費真的不是小數目。
(中央社)
A: After attending Taiwanese baseball superstar Chen Wei-yin’s retirement ceremony in Japan, why didn’t you stay longer for some fun? B: Don’t you remember? We’re going to Blackpink member Jisoo’s fan meeting at Messe Taoyuan this Sunday. A: Oh, that’s right. She’s the second Blackpink member visiting Taiwan as a solo artist after Lisa. B: Jisoo just released her EP “Amortage” on Valentine’s Day. A: Blackpink will also release new songs and launch a world tour this summer. A: 你去日本參加台灣強投陳偉殷的引退儀式後，怎麼沒留下來玩幾天？ B: 你忘啦？我們週日還要去「桃園會展中心」參加Blackpink成員Jisoo的見面會。 A: 啊對耶，她是繼Lisa後第二位單飛訪台的Blackpink成員。 B: Jisoo不久前才在情人節，推出個人迷你專輯《Amortage》。 A: Blackpink今年夏天也會推出新歌，還會啟動世界巡演呢！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張迪）
A: Taiwan’s baseball superstar Chen Wei-yin announced his retirement, and I’m still in shock. B: Didn’t you fly to Japan last Sunday just to attend his retirement ceremony? A: Yeah, it was held by Chen’s former Japanese team, the Chunichi Dragons. I even cried at the event. B: His glorious record of 96 wins in Japanese and US professional baseball altogether is unprecedented. A: His total income of NT$3.3 billion, including a huge 2016 contract of US$80 million with the US Miami Marlins, is also unprecedented. A: 台灣棒球巨星陳偉殷宣布引退，真是令人震驚。 B: 你週日不是特別飛去日本，參加他的引退儀式嗎？ A: 對啊老東家「中日龍」為他舉行了儀式，我還感動到大哭。 B: 他創下日／美職棒總計96勝紀錄，真是史無前例。 A: 而他生涯總收入高達33億台幣，包括在2016年時，和「馬林魚」簽下8千萬美元巨約，更是無人能及！ （By Eddy
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Dos & Don’ts — 想想看，這句話英語該怎麼說？ 1. 王老師很負責，每天都準時到學校。 √ Miss Wang is conscientious. She comes to school on time every day. χ Miss Wang is very responsible. Every day she goes to school on time. 註︰一個人很認真、負責、敬業，英文通常用 conscientious 來表達，它的名詞是conscience（良心）。responsible 接在 be 動詞之後是指對某事負責，也可指做錯事時該負的責任，因此“她該負責”英文是 She is responsible for it.。如果某人很負責、值得信賴，可以託付重任，可說 She / He is a responsible person.。 2. 他個子不高。 √ He is not tall. χ His body is not tall. χ He is not high. 註︰high 通常指「物」的高大，tall 則指「人或細長物」的「高」。但講人的高度，有數字時可以說： He is six feet high. He is six feet tall. 3. 我能占用你幾分鐘嗎？ √ Can you spare me a few minutes? χ May I occupy you a few minutes? 註︰spare：騰出，省下。不顧句型及前後文，只把學過的英文詞彙的中文解釋任意還原為英文時很容易造出這種中式的英文句子。 4. 讓我想想看。 √ Let me think it over. √ Let
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