對話 Dialogue
清清:華華,你聽說過「亞太經濟合作會議」嗎?
Qīngqing: Huáhua, nǐ tīngshuōguò ‘Yàtài Jīngjì Hézuò Huìyì’ ma?
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia commons 提供
華華:當然聽說過!這可是亞太地區在經濟方面的年度盛事呢!
Huáhua: Dāngrán tīngshuōguò! Zhè kěshì Yàtài dìqū zài jīngjì fāngmiàn de niándù shèngshì ne!
清清:你知不知道現在有多少成員呢?
Qīngqing: Nǐ zhī bù zhīdào xiànzài yǒu duōshǎo chéngyuán ne?
華華:現在的成員有21個全球重要經濟體,包括了東北亞、東亞、東南亞、大洋洲、北美跟中南美地區,整體經濟力量非常龐大。
Huáhua: Xiànzài de chéngyuán yǒu 21 ge quánqiú zhòngyào jīngjìtǐ, bāokuò le Dōngběiyà, Dōngyà, Dōngnányà, Dàyángzhōu, Běiměi gēn Zhōngnánměi dìqū, zhěngtǐ jīngjì lìliàng fēicháng pángdà.
清清:記得去年是在泰國舉行的,今年呢?
Qīngqing: Jìdé qùnián shì zài Tàiguó jǔxíng de, jīnnián ne?
華華:經濟領袖會議在美國舊金山召開啊!這麼大的新聞還要問我。
Huáhua: Jīngjì Lǐngxiù Huìyì zài Měiguó Jiùjīnshān zhàokāi a! Zhème dà de xīnwén hái yào wèn wǒ.
清清:就想考考你嘛!你果然很關心時事,沒被我考倒,讚喔!
Qīngqing: Jiù xiǎng kǎokǎo nǐ ma! Nǐ guǒrán hěn guānxīn shíshì, méi bèi wǒ kǎodào, zàn ō!
翻譯 Translation
Q?ngqing: Huahua, have you heard of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference?
Huahua: Of course I’ve heard of it! It’s a significant annual event for the Asia-Pacific region in terms of economic cooperation.
Q?ngqing: Do you know how many members there are now? Huahua: Currently, there are 21 member economies, including Northeast Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, North America, and Central and South America. It represents a formidable collective economic power.
Q?ngqing: I remember it was held in Thailand last year. How about this year?
Huahua: The Economic Leaders’ Meeting is taking place in San Francisco in the United States. It is such big news, and you still ask me.
Q?ngqing: Just wanted to test your knowledge. You are indeed well-informed about current affairs. I didn’t stump you. Well done!
生詞 Vocabulary
1. 亞太經濟合作會議 ( Yàtài Jīngjì Hézuò Huìyì) APEC
2. 領袖 (lǐngxiù) leader
3. 召開 (zhàokāi) to convene, to hold
4. 年度 (niándù) annual
5. 盛事 (shèngshì) grand event, major event
6. 成員 (chéngyuán) member
7. 龐大 (pángdà) huge, enormous
教材音檔 Audio Files
國立清華大學華語中心提供
By National Tsing Hua University Chinese Language Center:
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)
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
Undersea cables are conductors wrapped in insulating materials and laid on the seabed. Their main functions are telecommunications or power transmission. The core of the undersea cables used for Internet signals is optical fiber, using light to transmit Internet signals. Taiwan’s communications are currently handled by 10 domestic undersea cables and 14 international undersea cables. About 99 percent of Taiwan’s Internet bandwidth relies on undersea cables, making them Taiwan’s “digital lifeline.” The demands on the cables’ bandwidth are only set to increase with the development of artificial intelligence (AI), which relies on the data fed into it. Today, data is