Explore every episode of the podcast 8分鐘英文Coffee Shop
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本集學習內容: the weight room free weights dumbbell bicep curl barbell barbell squat kettlebell deadlift plates clamps bench bench press leg press cable machine smith machine rep(s) = repetition(s) set(s) to spot sb / to give sb a spot to train to failure = to do an exercise until failure
本集學習內容: Don't care about who hates you. What's important is who likes you. I always wear something simple since I myself am a luxury brand. "Yes" coming from a person who can't say "No" has no value. When I am depressed or frustrated, it actually makes me feel happy by thinking "I can still go up." Making a mistake means there is more room for me to grow up. It excites me. My future is so bright that I can't see it ahead.
本集學習內容: Londoners are better off returning to the office as bills soar
City of London workers looking to save money may want to embrace the office over winter as the cost of working from home soars alongside energy bills.
Those prepared to go into the office every day could save about €50 (US$60) per week in January 2023 if they can walk, run or cycle into their workplace. That’s thanks to the money they’ve saved by not heating a home for the whole day, according to estimates by price comparison site Uswitch.
Those working from home in January could expect to pay around €175 a week in energy costs and other incidentals included in Bloomberg’s calculations such as buying in your own coffee, a freebie in many offices. The combined cost of energy bills — factoring in the lower consumption expected — and five return trips on the Tube from London’s Zone 4 would be about €160 a week in January 2023, a €15 saving.
For those taking the bus, the total cost is about €140, a €35 weekly saving. In both cases, any rise in the cost of the commute will eat into those savings.
Uswitch estimates that the average monthly energy bill could hit €683 in January for home workers, compared to €492 for those heading to the office. It assumes remote workers use 25 percent more electricity and 75 percent more gas per day including from central heating.
本集學習內容: “While genetics plays a role in the personality of any individual dog, a specific dog breed is not a good predictor of those traits,” said Elinor Karlsson, director of the Vertebrate Genomics Group at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The team sequenced the DNA of 2,155 purebred and mixed-breed dogs to search for common genetic variations that could predict behavior, and combined this information with surveys from 18,385 pet-owner surveys from Darwin’s Ark, an open-source database of owner-reported canine traits and behaviors. Overall, breed explained just 9 percent of variation in behavior, with age a better predictor of some traits.
本集學習內容: Study finds personality for a dog is not a matter of breed
People usually have stereotypes about different breeds of dogs: Rottweilers and pit bulls are aggressive, while Labradors and golden retrievers are extra friendly. However, a genetic study published recently in the journal Science involving more than 2,000 dogs and paired with 200,000 survey answers from owners demonstrates that the widespread assumptions are mostly unfounded. Undeniably, many behavioral traits can be inherited, but the modern concept of breed offers only partial predictive value for most types of behavior, and has nothing to do with how affectionate or quick-tempered a dog can be.
本集學習內容: premiere 首映會 showtime 放映時間 box office 售票處/票房 advance movie ticket 電影預售票 action movie 動作片 science fiction movie 科幻電影 fantasy movie 奇幻電影 horror movie 恐怖片 comedy 喜劇 animated feature 動畫片
Let's go to the earlier showing so that we can have dinner with Mike afterwards.
本集學習內容: High-speed rail, buses to provide backup on May 1
Additional transportation capacity from Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp and bus companies across the nation will cover any shortfall in transportation capacity on May 1, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, as it presented its contingency plan in response to the Taiwan Railway Labor Union’s plan to strike on Workers’ Day.
The work stoppage is estimated to affect transportation services for 358,000 passengers, said the ministry, which oversees the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA).
About 13,000 of the TRA’s 15,000 employees are members of the union, which on Tuesday said that, based on its survey, more than 90 percent of its drivers would not work on Workers’ Day to protest a government plan to corporatize the agency.
本集學習內容: Hollywood strikes back against Russian invasion
Hollywood is taking action against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with actor Ryan Reynolds and wife Blake Lively encouraging people to make donations. “Countless Ukrainians were forced to flee their homes. They need protection,” Ryan Reynolds wrote online. “When you donate, we’ll match it up to US$1 million (about NT$28 million), creating double the support.”
Also, Hollywood continues to pull its films out of Russia. After Walt Disney, Warner Bros and Sony announced they would stop distributing films in Russia, including Warner’s highly-anticipated “The Batman,” Paramount Pictures has also announced its intention to join the boycott. Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn even visited the Ukrainian capital Kyiv to film for a documentary on the Russian invasion.
Major streaming companies are facing another conflict with Russia: the Russian government has reportedly demanded that Netflix and other streaming services integrate state TV channels on their platforms starting March 1. Netflix said last week that it has no plan to follow the policy amid the invasion.
本集學習內容: front desk clerk 櫃台服務人員 housekeeper 打掃人員 single room 單人房 double room 雙人房 honeymoon suite 蜜月套房 family suite 家庭套房 penthouse suite 頂樓套房 banquet room 宴會廳 key card 房卡
I booked a room with a city view in a 4-star hotel. We ordered room service for dinner.
本集學習內容: Musical ‘Cats’ is touring Taiwan again in six cities
Long-lived musical “Cats” has now returned to Taiwan for the sixth time. And this time, the tour will be staging as many as 36 shows in six cities, more than on previous occasions. After opening at the Taipei Arena, the tour then moved to Taichung last week and Hualien County this week, before heading to Kaohsiung, Tainan and Hsinchu County later on.
First opening in London nearly 41 years ago in 1981, the musical tells the story of a tribe of cats called the “Jellicles.” The show, by Andrew Lloyd Webber, is known for its catchy songs, including “Memory.” It was originally scheduled to open in Taiwan in June last year as part of its 40th Anniversary Tour, but this was postponed due to the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Cats,” along with “Les Miserables” (1985), “The Phantom of the Opera” (1986) and “Miss Saigon” (1989), are regarded as the four biggest musicals of all time.
本集學習內容: ‘Baby Shark’ becomes first video with 10 bn views
Hit children’s song “Baby Shark Dance” has set a new record by becoming the first YouTube video with 10 billion views. The catchy singalong by Pinkfong, a South Korean educational brand, was uploaded in June 2016. The song is so popular that it has inspired celebrity singalongs around the world and been adapted into an animated preschool series.
According to the Guinness World Records, the hit most likely originated as a campfire song dating back to the previous century. During the chant, campers use their arms to imitate the jaw shapes of the Baby, Mommy and Daddy Sharks. While Pinkfong’s version has the sharks go hunting and run away, some versions may involve eating sailors and other humans.
Other most-viewed YouTube videos include: “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi (7.71 billion views), “Johny Johny Yes Papa” by LooLoo Kids (6.12 billion views), “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran (5.59 billion views) and “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa (5.39 billion views).
本集學習內容: Cast celebrates 20th anniversary of ‘Harry Potter’ film series
The “Harry Potter” film series that consists of eight blockbusters has swept the world since the release of its first movie in 2001. To celebrate the series’ 20th anniversary, HBO launched a show titled “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts” on New Year’s Day, as the lead actors and filmmakers were reunited.
The series featuring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and a dozen big stars is undoubtedly one of the most successful movie franchise of all time, grossing as much as over US$7.7 billion (NT$213.3 billion). The show featured the cast reminiscing about the movies as well as festivities in the Great Hall of “Hogwarts” — a fictional wizarding school where all the magic happens.
As the magic fever continues globally, fans are excited about the opening of the world’s fourth “Wizarding World of Harry Potter” at Universal Studios Beijing in September last year. The other three theme parks are located in Orlando, Osaka and Hollywood, respectively.
本集學習內容: Taiwan Railways Administration announces booking info for LNY TRA will operate 309 additional train services during LNY period
The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) has announced when it will be possible to book tickets for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.
Bookings for the east lines (including the Yilan Line and the South Link Line) and for the west lines covering the period from Jan. 27 to Feb. 7 will open at midnight on Dec. 29 and Dec. 30 for the two respective lines, according to a TRA press release.
The TRA will operate a total of 309 additional train services to cope with an expected increase of passengers during the holiday period.
The additional train services include 36 Fu-Hsing Semi Express trains between Shulin and Hualien stations from Jan. 29 to Feb. 6 that offer discounted NT$100 (US$3.60) Taipei-Yilan tickets and NT$200 Taipei-Hualien tickets, and eight Tze-Chiang Limited Express services from Jan. 28-30 and from Feb. 4-6 for people with households registered in Hualien or Taitung counties.
People eligible for the eight train services may book the tickets from midnight on Dec. 31 until three days before their departure date, the TRA added.
For more information, please check out TRA’s official website.
The metaverse is a virtual universe that blends aspects of digital technologies including video-conferencing, games like Minecraft or Roblox, cryptocurrencies, email, virtual reality, social media and live-streaming. Quite how these pieces will fit together is a work in progress, but some tech giants already see it as the future of human communication and interaction. It’s “the next frontier,” Mark Zuckerberg said when he changed his company’s name from Facebook Inc. to Meta Platforms Inc.
What will it look like? It may be easier to grasp the concept by first saying what it isn’t: It’s not a single product, it’s not a game, and it’s not being created by one company. Rather, it’s akin to a 3D World Wide Web, where businesses, information and communication tools are immersive and interoperable.
In a way it’s a digital facsimile of how we live in the physical world. Just as you might create a document in Microsoft Word and send it via Gmail to a colleague to read on an iPad, items in the metaverse should be able to move across an ecosystem of competing products, holding their value and function. An original piece of digital art bought as a non-fungible token, or NFT, from Company A, say, should be displayable on the virtual wall of a house in a game made by Company B.
The metaverse won’t reach its full potential — millions of people accessing and living in the virtual world anywhere, at any time — without ultrafast Internet. That’s why mobile carriers around the world are spending billions of dollars to build 5G networks.
The rise of the metaverse also presents a tangle of legal and regulatory issues to be resolved. Some of the thorniest issues around the metaverse revolve around users’ personal data and privacy rights.
[桃園大眾捷運 Taoyuan Metro 臉書貼文] 桃園捷運、臺北捷運及日本京成電鐵三家公司聯手推出最低折扣可達93折優惠的「台日旅行套票」，即日起至114年8月31日止，更多「台日旅行套票」的資訊，可於KKday、Klook旅遊平台查詢；日本來臺旅客請透過Rakuten、Veltra旅遊平台購買。
[TaiwanNews]台日旅遊泡泡有譜？Taiwan discusses travel bubble with Japan
28 Nov 2021
00:14:06
本集學習內容: Taiwan discusses travel bubble with Japan CECC head says 'active bilateral discussions' underway
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head said Taiwan and Japan are discussing relaxing border restrictions between the two countries as COVID cases subside.
Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, recently suggested the decrease could be due to better vaccine coverage and greater compliance with epidemic prevention measures. Infectious disease physician Lin Shi-pi (林氏璧) posted on Facebook on Nov. 1 that if the outbreak in Japan is brought under control, a "Taiwan-Japan tourism bubble" is conceivable.
Lin wrote that the last time Tokyo reported single-digit cases was May 31, 2020. The daily average went up, but over the past seven days it has started to trend lower, with an average of 23.4 cases per day.
On Nov. 1 Osaka only reported seven cases, the first time the city had reported single-digit infections since July 2020. As a whole, Japan reported 86 cases on Nov. 1, the first time the country had reported under triple-digit cases since June 27, 2020.
Lin wrote that if numbers continue to drop at this rate, a "Palau-style" tourism bubble between Japan and Taiwan is possible.
Lin suggested that such a bubble should begin with Okinawa or more rural areas such as Shikoku, the Hokuriku region, or the Tohoku region. He then conceded, "I know I'm dreaming; people can always have dreams, right?"
At a press conference on Friday (Nov. 5), a reporter asked whether, given the slowing outbreak in Japan, a travel bubble could be created between Japan and Taiwan. Health Minister and CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) responded by saying the outbreak in Japan seems to be "slowly disappearing, which is a good phenomenon."
Chen added that "both parties are also actively discussing bilateral matters through the representative offices."
The Singles' Day, or Bachelors' Day, originated at Nanjing University in 1993. 11/11, consisting of four 1's, was chosen as it represents four singles. There are several ideas explaining the creation of the Singles' Day festival. The most widely accepted idea is that the holiday grew out of Nanjing University's dorm culture. One origin story is that in 1993, four male students of Nanjing University discussed how they could break away from the monotony of being single and agreed that November 11th would be a day of events and celebrations in honor of being single. These activities spread through the university and eventually made their way into wider society. The spread increased with social media use, and the event has become increasingly popular within contemporary Chinese culture and society.
[TaiwanNews]仲夏寶島號由「蒸機國王」開行啦!Taiwan's Summer Formosa steam train trips arrive in autumn
20 Oct 2021
00:12:51
本集學習內容: Taiwan's Summer Formosa steam train trips arrive in autumn Three COVID delayed tours to be powered by ‘king of steam locomotives’
Tickets are now available for Summer Formosa express trips along the eastern coast of Taiwan in autumn, previously put off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) announced Friday (Oct. 15) the well-received Summer Formosa steam train rides will take place on Oct. 30, Nov. 13, and Nov. 27, all on Saturdays. The excursions will feature an express powered by locomotive DT668, dubbed the “king of steam locomotives.”
Train buffs are invited to explore the beauty of east Taiwan taking the rail service, running from Yuli in Hualien all the way to Taitung. It will stop at Fuli, a Hualien township known for its premium rice, and scenic spots tucked away in the country’s fields and mountains, according to the TRA.
The NT$1,500 (US$54) ticket per trip comes with a limited-edition set of DT668 locomotive towels, launched to coincide with the quintuple stimulus voucher scheme. Tickets for the shuttle trains at the departure and terminal stations can also be booked.
Tickets for the cruise-style rail travel excursions will be available from 10 a.m. on Wednesday (Oct. 20). Visit the ticketing website to learn more.
[TaiwanNews]十月份的週末去淡水看煙火吧! New Taipei to host fireworks at Tamsui every weekend in October
06 Oct 2021
00:07:53
本集學習內容: New Taipei to host fireworks at Tamsui every weekend in October Shows will start at 8 p.m. every Friday and Saturday until end of month
As COVID-19 has slowed considerably in Taiwan, New Taipei will stage fireworks displays at Fisherman’s Wharf in Tamsui District every Saturday and Sunday for the next four weeks, beginning this Saturday (Oct. 9).
Despite the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) being set to loosen mask requirements in some outdoor settings as of Tuesday, New Taipei Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) suggested people still wear them to the fireworks as there will be crowds, CNA reported.
The city government said the pyrotechnics will begin at 8 p.m. each weekend night and last three minutes, though the opening and closing shows will last five minutes and 20 seconds. The fireworks will be different every week.
本集學習內容: hairstylist 髮型設計師 catalog 型錄 trim 修剪頭髮 perm 燙髮 perm rod 髮捲 dye 染髮 straight hair 直髮 curly hair 捲髮 hair spray 定型液 She does her son's hair. get a haircut get one's hair done
[TaiwanNews]貘花豆來啦! Baby tapir greets Taipei Zoo visitors for first time
22 Sep 2021
00:14:07
本集學習內容: Baby tapir greets Taipei Zoo visitors for first time Now 40 days old, Mo Huadou is the fifth tapir born at Taipei Zoo
The newborn tapir Mo Huadou (貘花豆) will be roaming her outdoor enclosure with her mother Molly (貘莉) on sunny days starting on Monday (Sept. 20), Taipei Zoo announced in a press release.
Mo Huadou is 40 days old and sports a black coat decorated with white dots and lines, which will turn into the signature black-and-white tapir look when she reaches 6 months old. She has grown from 5.6 kilograms at birth to her current weight of 21 kg.
To prepare Mo Huadou for her future outdoor adventures and meet-and-greets, zookeepers arranged for her first outing early on the morning of Sept. 10, before the zoo opened. While Molly enjoyed being out again and immediately began marking her territory with urine, Mo Huadou was hesitant at first, staying close to the gate until mustering enough courage to take her first step out, reported Taipei Zoo.
Once she had gotten out, however, curiosity overcame apprehension, and she began exploring her surroundings on her own. According to the zoo, she would “lay down for a moment, sit up, zoom forward, then brake sharply all of a sudden,” smelling around and playing before catching up with her mother again.
Taipei Zoo said though this was Molly’s first time giving birth, she has done very well and raised a healthy baby. Currently, Mo Huadou is learning to eat solid foods in addition to getting milk from Molly, and the mother and daughter have been very vocal and communicative with each other.
Beneath a post on the zoo's Facebook page, people who visited and saw the tapirs Sunday (Sept. 19) shared photos and videos of the pair. They also continued discussing the naming of Mo Huadou, which became a popular online voting event earlier this month.
He's a little jumpy. I thought wewere pastall that. I'm all about taking it to the next level. I thought you were all about keeping it real. And you still walk on eggshells around him. Jay and I are total buds. You have no idea what my thing is. That'll do it. Alex, why are you fighting me on this?