a93241g的部落格

 In the 2006 university entrance exams,
 several pieces of Internet slang such as 3Q (san Q, from the English phrase "thank you") and Orz (an emoticon expressing desperation or defeat) began showing up in questions. This apparent formal acceptance of the "moonspeak" used online stirred up no shortage of controversy.
　　 The Chinese for this moonspeak is literally "Martian language," which comes from the Stephen Chow movie Shaolin Soccer. In the movie, Chow, the male lead, remarks on the strange appearance of the female lead, telling her that she should go back to Mars because Earth is too dangerous. With Chow's dialogue popular on BBSs, it became common to see people respond to difficult-to-read or annoying posts with comments telling the poster to "go back to Mars," increasing the popularity of the term.

he Flying Fish Festival is officially celebrated on Santa Catalina Island every year.
每一年聖卡塔利娜島上都會在飛魚季時舉辦正式慶典。
　If you travel to Santa Catalina Island at the right time of year, you are in for a real treat. From May to September, this rocky island off the coast of California is visited by some very special guests—flying fish. To welcome these charming creatures, the Flying Fish Festival is celebrated for four days in a row each year, during which millions of tourists crowd the island just to sneak a peek at them. 　　

Fame and fortune came to Alfred Nobel, 
a 19th-century Swedish chemist, when he invented dynamite, a highly explosive mixture that was safer to handle and use than gunpowder. Nobel acknowledged the destructive potential of dynamite, yet he believed it would pave the way for world peace. However, the invention he had hoped would end all wars came to be used as a lethal weapon by people with different intentions from his own. 
　　 In 1888, French newspapers mistook the death of Nobel's brother for Alfred's. One obituary printed, "The merchant of death is dead." As a pacifist, Alfred Nobel sorely regretted the use and impact of his inventions in war. About a year before his lonely death in Italy on December 10, 1896, Nobel had drawn up a will establishing the now famous Nobel Prize. The will stipulated that the largest part of his estate be used to set up a foundation that would award prizes annually to those who "have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind" in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. This shocked relatives who were expecting a share of his legacy, and many wanted to contest the document. But on December 10, 1901, the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death, the first set of Nobel Prizes was finally awarded. Journalists now introduce the Nobel laureates and their contributions to the world every October, with the awards ceremony being held on December 10.

From shopping to seclusion to amazing festivals, Thailand has it all.
從購物、享受僻靜到熱鬧的節慶，泰國應有盡有。
　　 Of all the countries that make up Southeast Asia, the most famous is Thailand. Once an underdeveloped rural economy, now Thailand is home to one of the world''s biggest tourist industries, with nearly 14 million tourists per year. The best thing about the "land of smiles" is that more than 50 percent of Thailand''s tourists return for more.

The Free Universe Education Foundation has been active in the promotion of universal design. Foundation chairman Dan Tang, sitting in his electric wheelchair, holds in his right hand, which is his only functioning hand, a booklet with the nominations for the last four Universal Design Awards. Next he picks up a product known as Another Hand and demonstrates how it enables him to clean off a plate of food with only one hand.
 
        An ordinary round plate but with an extra section sticking up on one side, Another Hand helps users push their spoons in the right direction and also assists in collecting rice or vegetables and getting them into the spoon. Together with a wide-handled, lightweight, broader-than-average spoon designed in Japan to help children learn to use a spoon, Another Hand is kitchenware that Tang takes with him everywhere. While sitting in his wheelchair and eating with these, he attracts no shortage of strange looks, but being a keen promoter, Tang takes these looks as chances to extol the virtues of universal design.

The life of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author of The Little Prince, was as interesting as any of his books.
《小王子》作者安東尼‧聖艾修伯里的傳奇一生宛如他的作品一樣耐人尋味。
　　 Antoine de Saint-Exupery's name became famous throughout the world because of the love people felt for his best-known book, The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince in French), but the fascinating details of his life helped create his legend. Saint-Exupery was born in Lyon, France in 1900. After studying architecture, he entered the military where he began training as a pilot, a role that became a great inspiration in his life and books—but flying also led to his tragic death.

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the greatest to ever sit in a director's chair.
希區考克是有史以來最偉大的導演之一。
　　　　

Brazil is famous for its natural beauty, culture, and Carnival.
巴西以其自然美景、多元文化和嘉年華聞名於世。
　　 The place now known as Brazil used to be the home of scattered indigenous tribes speaking more than 2,000 different languages. In the early 1500s, the Portuguese invaded the country and controlled it for hundreds of years. After the Portuguese took over, it wasn''t until 1822 that Brazil became an independent country. Brazil is now the fourth largest democracy in the world and the largest Portuguese-speaking country in the world. This big country has a lot to offer.

Earthquakes are unpredictable, powerful, and sometimes devastating.
地震不可預測且力量強大，有時還深具毀滅性。
先來聊聊最近

According to the Research Center for Environmental Changes at the Academia Sinica, Taiwan's average temperature has risen by 1.4°C over the last 100 years, more than twice the rise of 0.6°C in average temperatures worldwide. Clearly, climate change is a particularly pressing issue for Taiwan.
  The Taiwan Green Productivity Foundation (TGPF) is home to an unusual institution—Taiwan's first carbon reduction clinic. The 10 "doctors" working at the clinic specialize in treating one of the ills of civilization: energy waste in commercial and residential high-rise buildings.
　　 Created by TGPF at the request of the Taipei County Environmental Protection Bureau, the clinic exists to provide free energy-conservation consultations for the purpose of building a low-carbon society. Enthusiastically received by the public since it opened in 2008, the clinic's popularity stems partly from the fact that "patients" can consult with experts in six fields with just a single appointment, addressing their building's electrical, ventilation, lighting, water use, recycling, and heat exposure problems all at the same time.
　　 The carbon doctors begin their diagnosis by looking at a patient's "medical record": the power bill. "Many people don't realize that there's an art to reading a power bill," says Lin Kuan-chia, one of TGPF's managers. He explains that TaiPower uses multiple formulas to calculate its customers' electrical bills. A typical household pays a per-unit rate multiplied by the number of units on the meter. Therefore, for the general public, saving power simply means remembering to turn off lights and unplug electronics that aren't in use. But the company's "contract customers," which include the communal facilities in multi-unit residential buildings, commercial high-rise buildings, hospitals, schools, and factories, are subject to three different rates—peak, off-peak, and semi-peak.