According to legends, Cheng Cheng-kung (also known as Koxinga) is said to be associated with another Taiwanese food — milkfish. When Cheng was fighting the Dutch who were stationed at their fort named Fort Zeelandia, they lacked supplies and food, and couldn’t catch any fish to eat. As he worried about running out of food, one night, the sea goddess Matsu appeared in his dream and said, “Don’t say no fish. (Mo-shuo-mo-yu) There are fish in the sea near where your navy is at anchor.”
據說鄭成功還與另一道台灣美食有關—虱目魚。當鄭成功與堅守在熱蘭遮堡的荷蘭人交戰時，軍隊缺乏補給，無糧可食，也捕不到魚可吃。正當為食物發愁時，一天夜裡媽祖在他夢中指點：「莫說無魚。你的水師駐紮的海邊就有魚。」
station (v.) 駐紮
Photo: Bookman l 圖片:書林
Fort Zeelandia (n.) 熱蘭遮堡，遺址位於現今的安平古堡內。
goddess (n.) 女神
The next day, Cheng sent his soldiers to fish at the location indicated by Matsu, and as predicted, they caught a lot of fish. Not knowing the name of the fish, he called them shuo-mo-yu (which means “say no fish”), just as Matsu had instructed him in his dream. Another version of the story suggests that, when Cheng landed in Taiwan, nearby fishermen offered some fish to him. When Cheng asked, “Shi-me-yu?” (meaning “What fish?”), the fishermen mistakenly understood what he said to be the name of the fish.
隔天鄭成功派兵去媽祖指點的地方捕魚，果真如祂所說捕到很多魚，但是因為不知道怎麼稱呼，於是以媽祖夢中所說的「說無魚」命名為「虱目魚」。另有一說是鄭成功登陸時，附近的漁民獻魚，他問是「什麼魚」，漁民誤以為鄭成功稱此魚為「虱目魚」，因而得名。
indicate (v.) 指示；暗示
mistakenly (adv.) 錯誤地
The appearance of the goddess in the dream adds a touch of mystery, making the story a legend. Whether you believe the story or not, one certain thing is that Cheng successfully expelled the Dutch, ending the Dutch company’s colonial rule in Taiwan. To support the anti-Qing military movement to restore the Ming, Cheng actively farmed the land and developed Taiwan. In appreciation of his contribution to Taiwan, many temples have been built to honor Cheng, and he was deified the title Kaitai Shengwang (meaning “The Divine Who Developed Taiwan”). The Koxinga Museum in Tainan is also named after him and houses collections from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
神明託夢讓虱目魚的故事增添傳奇色彩。無論你是否相信，可以確定的是鄭成功戰勝荷蘭人，結束荷蘭東印度公司在台灣的殖民統治。鄭成功積極開墾台灣，作為日後反清復明的基地，為感念鄭成功的貢獻，各地有供奉鄭成功的廟宇，尊稱開台聖王。台南市鄭成功文物館便是以他命名，典藏許多明清時期的文物。
expel (v.) 強迫（某人）離開；驅逐
restore (v.) 恢復
deify (v.) 把...當作神；神化
Milkfish is one of the most popular and affordable fish frequently appearing on Taiwanese households’ dining tables. This versatile fish has a tender yet firm texture, and can be prepared in several ways, from frying to making congee. With the many advantages that milkfish offers, people don’t mind the minor inconvenience of pulling out the tiny fish bones before eating it. In Tainan, milkfish is even used to make fishballs that have a bouncy, chewy texture. This specialty has become very popular and now it is common to find these fishballs in supermarkets all over Taiwan.
虱目魚是台灣人頗愛的魚類，價格實惠，肉質軟而紮實，時常出現在台灣家庭餐桌上，其料理方式多元，可用來煎魚或是煮粥。這麼多優點，在吃之前要挑魚刺的不便，也就無傷大雅了。在台南還將虱目魚做成魚丸，口感彈牙，廣受大眾喜愛，因而在各大超市都買的到。
affordable (adj.) 價格實惠的，擔得起的
versatile (adj.) 用途廣泛的，多功能的
tender (adj.) （食物）細嫩的，軟的
congee (n.) 粥
fishball (n.phr.) 魚丸
文章由書林出版公司提供：
www.bookman.com.tw
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）
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
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
RSS