Lizzi Jordan, a psychology student at the University of London, experienced a complete life turn in 2017 due to severe food poisoning. On that day, Jordan and her sister got some takeout. Little did they know that the food contained a rare type of bacteria, and unfortunately, Jordan fell into a coma. Facing multiple organ failure, she might not have survived. Thanks to relentless efforts from doctors, Jordan finally woke up, but she had lost her eyesight. Her entire world was suddenly plunged into darkness. The shock and despair were beyond words. Jordan hit rock bottom for a while, but instead of feeling sorry for herself, she chose to face her situation with positivity.
When Jordan had accepted that she was blind, her next challenge was relearning how to walk. Each step in darkness felt like an overwhelming task, but Jordan resolutely began the long path to recovery. Just a few months later, Jordan set an ambitious goal for herself: participating in the 2019 London Marathon. She accomplished this goal and raised money for charity. Consequently, she started to explore cycling as a new endeavor. She found immediate success; Jordan’s cycling coach, Helen Scott, was highly impressed with her enormous potential and determination. With this encouragement ringing in her ears, Jordan aimed herself at a new goal—to represent Britain at the upcoming Paris Paralympics.
Now, Jordan navigates her new life and trials on and off the bike. She inspires everyone who finds themselves at a low point in life. Jordan shared, “It took a bit of my pride away having to rely on someone or asking for help. I have learned over the six years to accept it, and actually it really helped me to be exposed to the para-sport community because everybody has their struggles. So, you learn to be proud of your disability and what you can do with it rather than focus on what you can’t do.”
Photo from Lizzi Jordan’s Instagram 照片擷取自莉茲．喬丹Ig
莉茲．喬丹是一位倫敦大學的心理系學生，在2017年因嚴重的食物中毒，生活就此完全轉變。那天，喬丹和她姊妹外帶了一些食物。他們不知道那些食物含有一種罕見的細菌，不幸的是，喬丹陷入了昏迷。面臨多重器官衰竭，她可能無法倖存。多虧了醫生的不懈努力，喬丹終於醒來，但她失去了視力。她整個世界突然陷入黑暗。震驚和絕望無法言喻。喬丹一度陷入人生低谷，但比起自憐自艾，她選擇積極面對自己的處境。
當喬丹接受了自己失明的事實後，她下一個挑戰是重新學習如何行走。在黑暗中的每一步都感覺像是一個龐大的任務，但喬丹堅決地開始了漫長的康復之路。僅僅幾個月後，喬丹為自己設定了一個雄心勃勃的目標：參加2019年倫敦馬拉松。她實現了這個目標，並為慈善事業募集了資金。因此，她開始探索自行車運動作為一個新的嘗試。她立即取得了成功；喬丹的自行車教練海倫．史考特對她的巨大潛力和決心印象深刻。在受到這鼓勵下，喬丹瞄準了一個新的目標──代表英國參加即將到來的巴黎帕奧會。
現在，喬丹在自行車上和自行車之外的新生活和挑戰中航行。她激勵著那些在生活低谷的人們。喬丹分享道：「這使我帶走一些自尊，因為不得不依賴他人或尋求幫助。在這六年中，我學會了接受它，實際上，接觸帕奧會團體確實對我有幫助，因為每個人都有他們的困難。因此，你應該學習為你的缺陷感到驕傲，以及你可以做什麼，而不是專注於你不能做什麼。」
MORE INFORMATION
resilience n. 韌性
takeout n. 外帶
coma n. 昏迷
multiple organ failure 多重器官衰竭
relentless adj. 持續強烈的
eyesight n. 視力
resolutely adv. 堅決地
endeavor n. 嘗試；努力
upcoming adj. 即將來臨的
Paralympics n. 帕拉林匹克運動會
navigate v. 度過；克服
KEY VOCABULARY
1. psychology n. 心理學
This psychology textbook is really heavy. It must contain lots of information about people’s brains.
這本心理學教科書真的很厚重！它一定包含了許多關於人類大腦的資訊。
2. overwhelming adj. 極大的；壓倒性的
The workload was so overwhelming that Ralph had to seek assistance from his colleagues.
工作量如此巨大，以至於雷夫不得不向同事尋求幫助。
3. marathon n. 馬拉松
Running a marathon requires months of training and mental preparation.
參加馬拉松比賽需要數個月的訓練和心理準備。
4. charity n. 慈善團體；慈善機構
The charity raised thousands of dollars for children in need.
這個慈善機構為有需要的兒童募集了數千美元。
5. consequently adv. 因此；結果
Vanessa forgot to set the alarm clock, and consequently she overslept and missed her morning appointment.
凡妮莎忘記設定鬧鐘，結果睡過頭並錯過了早上的約會。
6. potential n. 潛力；可能性
Zora showed great potential as a young artist, and her talent was evident in her early works.
卓拉作為一位年輕藝術家展現出了巨大的潛力，她的天賦在她早期的作品中顯而易見。
7. determination n. 決心；毅力
Rick’s determination to succeed became stronger after each failure.
每次失敗之後，瑞克成功的決心變得更堅定。
8. inspire vt. 激勵；鼓舞
When we saw the teenage runner competing at the Olympics, we were all inspired to work harder in PE.
當我們看到這位十幾歲的選手參加奧運會比賽時，我們都受到啟發並在體育課上更加努力。
9. expose vt. 使接觸；使暴露於
As a teacher, I try to expose my students to various cultures through engaging
classroom activities.
身為一名老師，我嘗試透過有吸引力的課堂活動讓學生接觸不同的文化。
學習音檔: https://magazine.english4u.net/Magdata/menu/vtnnc
《空中美語》雜誌APP免費下載: https://www.english4u.net/apps/index.aspx
免費收聽當月《空中美語》雜誌課文朗讀及解析 !
文章由AMC空中美語授權使用: https://www.english4u.net
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
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
Recent events in Taiwan have highlighted the contentious nature of “priority seating” on public transportation. Incidents, such as passengers experiencing emotional distress after being compelled to give up their seats and elderly individuals attacking others after being refused a seat, have prompted a national reassessment of this policy. Some voices in Taiwan now advocate for abolishing priority seats to prevent such conflicts. This issue is not unique to Taiwan. In South Korea, where respect for the elderly is deeply ingrained, priority seating has led to similar confrontations. Younger passengers often face accusations of disrespect if they do not yield seats. In
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