Brazil’s national tourism agency typically focuses on the city’s world-class beaches, samba-filled music scene and caipirinha-fueled parties. Violent crime is rarely listed among the attractions.

行銷里約熱內盧時，巴西國家觀光機構通常主打該市的世界級海灘、洋溢森巴音樂的地方，以及有卡琵莉亞酒催情的派對。暴力犯罪鮮少被列入魅力特點。

But in an embarrassing social media snafu this week, the Brazilian Tourist Board (Embratur) accidentally shared a critical Instagram post from a tourist who did not enjoy her stay in the so-called "Cidade Maravilhosa," or Marvelous City.

但本週一起令人尷尬的社群媒體烏龍事件中，巴西旅遊局意外地分享了一名不愛待在這個所謂「奇蹟之城」的旅客於Instagram的批評貼文。

"I just spent 3 days in Rio with my family, and in those 3 days my family and I were robbed and my 9-year-old sister witnessed a violent robbery," Instagram user "withlai" wrote in an Instagram Stories post. "I can’t recommend a visit to a city where I felt afraid of even leaving the apartment."

Instagram用戶「withlai」的一則限時動態貼文寫道，「我和我的家人只花了3天在里約，而那3天當中，家人和我都被搶，我的9歲妹妹還親眼目睹了一件暴力搶案。」「我無法推薦拜訪一個我連離開公寓都會怕的城市。」

Embratur deleted the shared post on Wednesday. It said in a subsequent statement that "sharing (the post) was a mistake," adding that it had worked hard to promote a nationwide fall in crime in 2019.

巴西旅遊局週三刪了這則分享貼文。它在隨後聲明中說道，「分享（那則貼文）是個錯誤」，並補充指出，已努力宣傳全國2019年犯罪減少一事。

Safety concerns along with inconvenient flights, poor infrastructure and high costs have long held back Brazil’s tourism industry, which lags its South American neighbors.

除了航班不便、基礎設施貧乏及費用高昂，安全考量令巴西觀光產業長久以來遲滯不前，落後於南美鄰國。

Fraudsters get hefty prison terms for impersonating French minister 詐欺犯因冒充法國部長詐騙被重判

Two men who impersonated a French minister to trick wealthy people out of more than €55m have been jailed by a court in Paris. Chikli was jailed for 11 years and fined €2m while Lasarevitsch received a seven-year sentence and a fine of €1m.

兩名曾假冒法國部長詐欺有錢人逾5500萬歐元的男子，在巴黎法院被判刑入獄。奇克利被判處11年徒刑、200萬歐元罰款，拉薩雷維奇則被判7年徒刑、100萬歐元罰款。

Chikli and Lasarevitsch tried to pull off what some in France are calling the scam of the century by impersonating Le Drian, Minister for Europe and foreign affairs, and conning wealthy individuals out of 80 million euros purportedly to help pay ransoms to free French hostages being held by Islamist terrorists.

奇克利與拉薩雷維奇犯下被法國稱為世紀騙局的案件，冒充外交部長勒德里昂，要求有錢人幫忙支付贖金，營救被伊斯蘭國恐怖份子挾持的人質，據稱總共騙得8000萬歐元。

Prosecutors said that in meetings arranged on Skype, one of the fraudsters would wear a custom-made Le Drian mask and sit in a facsimile of Mr Le Drian’s ministerial office, complete with flags and a portrait of then-President François Hollande.

檢察官表示，在被安排透過Skype視訊的會議中，其中一名詐欺犯穿著訂製的勒德里昂頭套，坐在一間仿造的勒德里昂部長辦公室內，裡頭放有國旗與時任總統歐蘭德的肖像。

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1358564 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1361033

每日英語跟讀Podcast，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing
每週Vocab精選詞彙Podcast，就在https://www.15mins.today/vocab
每週In-TENSE文法練習Podcast，就在https://www.15mins.today/in-tense

用email訂閱就可以收到通勤學英語節目更新通知。

On a recent Saturday night, German Salazar made chicken tacos for his friends while they chatted with him in his kitchen. Occasionally, he interrupted the conversation to talk to another friend: Google.

最近的一個周六晚上，傑曼．薩拉札在他的廚房裡邊和朋友聊天，邊替他們做雞肉塔可餅吃。偶爾，他也會中斷對話，去和另一個朋友說話：谷歌。

Salazar was speaking to Google Home, the artificially intelligent speaker living on his kitchen counter. “Hey Google, set a timer for 20 minutes,” he said, to activate a countdown for when the chicken would be cooked and ready for shredding.

薩拉札是和他廚房流理台上的Google Home說話，它是個人工智慧喇叭。他說：「嘿，谷歌，設定一個20分鐘計時」，好啟動一個倒數計時，這時間可將雞煮熟，拿來切絲。

At first, Salazar’s friends snickered when he talked to the speaker. But after a few bottles of wine, everyone began grilling Google Home with questions and requests: “How much did Jamie Lee Curtis make in ‘True Lies’?” and “Tell me a joke.”

最初，薩拉札對著喇叭講話時，朋友一旁竊笑。但幾瓶葡萄酒下肚後，每個人都開始拿問題考問Google Home，「潔美李寇帝斯在電影《魔鬼大帝：真實謊言》的片酬多少？」，「說個笑話吧」。

For many people, the kitchen is the center of the home and a locus for interactions that go beyond preparing and eating food. Now tech companies and appliance makers, aiming to deepen their relationships with customers, are increasingly targeting the room that is synonymous with togetherness.

對許多人而言，廚房是家的中心 ，是除了準備食物和吃東西，一個彼此互動的場所。現在，意在加深與客戶關係的高科技公司和家電製造商，正越來越將目標瞄準與親密感畫上等號的這個空間。

Household brands like Whirlpool, Samsung and Bosch are racing against tech behemoths like Google and Amazon to dominate the kitchen with internet-connected appliances and cooking gadgets that include refrigerators embedded with touch screens, smart dishwashers and connected countertop screens with artificially intelligent assistants that react to spoken commands.

諸如惠而浦、三星和博世等家電品牌正與谷歌和亞馬遜這些科技巨頭競爭，冀望以自家連接網路的電器和烹飪設備主宰廚房，這些裝具包括內建觸控螢幕的冰箱，智慧洗碗機，以及內有人工智慧助理，會對口頭命令作反應，與網路連接的流理台螢幕。

Yet the “smart kitchen” remains a tough sell. With the kitchen often a hub for families and friends, habits there can be hard to change. And many people see the kitchen and mealtimes as a haven from their otherwise always-connected lifestyle. Only 5 percent of U.S. households own smart appliances today, up from 3 percent in 2014, according to the research firm Parks Associates.

不過，智慧廚房仍然行銷不易。廚房往往是家人和朋友相處的核心空間，因此廚房習慣很難改變。此外，許多人將廚房和用餐時間視為避風港，希望能暫時逃離永遠和網路連接的生活方式。根據「帕克斯聯合」研究公司的調查，現今只有5％的美國家庭擁有智慧家電，2014年則為3％。

“Will we see a reinvention of the kitchen like we saw in the living room?” said Michael Wolf, a tech analyst who hosts a podcast and a conference about the smart kitchen. “I don’t think it will happen overnight. There’s going to be a lot of skepticism.”

身為科技產品分析師兼播客，並主持一項智慧廚房會議的邁可．沃爾夫說：「我們會見到廚房也像客廳那樣被改造嗎？我不認為這會在一夕之間發生。人們會有許多疑慮。」

Apart from their fears of disrupting the rhythms and patterns in the heart of the home, people may be hesitant to incorporate smart devices into their kitchens because of the costs of maintaining such appliances, which are often difficult to repair and use expensive components like touch screens. They also may worry about longevity: A touch-screen refrigerator may look modern today, but who knows how dated it may appear in five years?

除了擔心可能擾亂這個家庭中心點的節奏和模式，維修這些家電的成本，也可能令人對是否該將智慧裝置整合到廚房中猶豫不決。這些家電通常很難修理，且使用的是昂貴的組件，如觸控螢幕。人們或許還擔心使用壽命：觸控螢幕冰箱今天可能看來很摩登，誰又知道五年後會顯得多麼過時？

And with many smart kitchen appliances incorporating internet connections, cameras or microphones, digital privacy has become a concern.

隨著許多智慧廚房家電納入了網路連接、相機或麥克風，數位隱私權也成為令人關切的議題。　

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/326292/web/

This article talks about how Chernobyl has become a tourist destination thanks to a HBO tv series. The tourists are mostly interested in taking selfies and not the actual history. The Ukraine government is fully willing to milk the interest. The next article discusses Russia investing in Quantum Computing in an effort to catch up to other countries.

原討論文章: https://www.15mins.today/blog/767-about-russia-they-just-want-to-take-a-selfie-how-tv-show

Eponymous: adj, the name given to a book, play, movie, etc. from a person, town, etc.

1. Who is the eponymous character of the Iron Man movie?
2. Is the eponymous show Chernobyl famous because of a tragedy?

Initiative: a new plan to resolve something

1. Is the new initiative to stop drunk driving effective?
2. Are employees who display initiative valuable?

Decree: an official order by the government that becomes law

1. Did the decree regarding tax payments affect you?
2.  Are too many decrees a good thing or a bad thing?

用email訂閱就可以收到通勤學英語節目更新通知。

South Korea is trying new ploys to battle the novel coronavirus outbreak.

南韓正嘗試新方法來對抗新型冠狀病毒的爆發。

Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, set up a drive-thru testing facility on Wednesday, where symptom checks, sample collection and payment receipt are done in one-stop fashion in under 10 minutes.

京畿道高陽市週三搭建一個得來速檢測設施，即以一站式的方式、不到10分鐘，在該設施完成症狀檢查、採樣和開立付款收據。

Gyeonggi Province communications official Park Hyun-su said that the checkups at the drive-thru are about 20 minutes faster than the typical way done at hospitals or public health centers. Park said the service will soon be introduced in other regions of the province. Other cities outside Gyeonggi Province with drive-thru clinics are Daegu and Sejong.

京畿道政府聯絡官朴炫秀（譯音）說，在得來速門診進行的體檢，比在各醫院或衛生所做的典型檢查約快20分鐘。朴還說，這項服務很快就將被引進該道其他地區。京畿道以外設有得來速門診的其他城市為大邱與世宗。

Vintage fashion： senior models bridge S. Korea’s age divide 陳年時尚：高齡模特兒縮小南韓世代鴻溝

Aged 70 she was working 20 hours a day in a hospital just to make ends meet. Now at 75, Choi Soon-hwa is an unlikely fashion star and model in South Korea.

70歲時，她每天在醫院工作20小時也僅能餬口。現在75歲，崔順花在南韓是打破眾人印象的時尚明星和模特兒。

"I think of having this job at this age as a miracle," Choi says.

「我覺得在這年紀能有這份工作，已經是奇蹟了」，崔順花說。

She is now the oldest professional model in the South, and has walked runway at Seoul Fashion Week. It is a far cry from her life even just a few years ago when she was a care worker.

她是目前南韓年紀最大的職業模特兒，在首爾時尚週走過秀。這與她僅僅數年前還是一名看護員的生活截然不同。

"The stress was excruciating," she confesses.

「那時候壓力大得令人喘不過氣」，她坦言。

When she worked at the hospital, she says she had to dye her hair as patients didn’t want someone who "looked too old" to look after them. Now her pale locks have become an asset to a new generation of designers who value distinctiveness.

她說，她在醫院工作的那段時間，因為病患不希望被「看起來太老」的人照顧，她不得不染髮。現在，她的一頭銀髮反而成為重視獨特性的新世代設計師眼中的資產。

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1355590 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1352896

每日英語跟讀Podcast，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing
每週Vocab精選詞彙Podcast，就在https://www.15mins.today/vocab
每週In-TENSE文法練習Podcast，就在https://www.15mins.today/in-tense

用email訂閱就可以收到通勤學英語節目更新通知。

Half of the one million animal and plant species on Earth facing extinction are insects, and their disappearance could be catastrophic for humankind, scientists have said in a "warning to humanity".

科學家在一項「對人類的警告」中說，地球100萬種動植物面臨滅絕，其中一半是昆蟲，而牠們的消失可能帶給人類災難。

"The current insect extinction crisis is deeply worrying," said Pedro Cardoso, a biologist at the Finnish Museum of Natural History and lead author of a review study published Monday.

「現今昆蟲的滅絕危機讓人極度憂心」，芬蘭自然史博物館生物學家、也是研究主要執筆人佩卓．卡多索在週一刊出的研究中說。

"Yet, what we know is only the tip of the iceberg," he told AFP.

他告訴法新社說：「然而，我們所知的僅是冰山一角。」

The disappearance of bugs that fly, crawl, burrow, jump and walk on water is part of a gathering mass extinction event, only the sixth in the last half-billion years.

可以飛行、爬行、挖洞、跳躍和在水上行走的昆蟲消失，是集體滅絕事件的一環，這是在過去5億年間僅僅第6次的滅絕事件。

The last one was 66 million years ago, when an errant space rock wiped out land-based dinosaurs and most other life forms.

上一次已是距今6600萬年前，當時一顆遊蕩的太空岩石消滅陸地的恐龍及大多數其他生命形式。

This time we are to blame.

而這次要怪罪的是人類。

"Human activity is responsible for almost all insect population declines and extinctions," Cardoso told AFP.

卡多索告訴法新社：「幾乎所有昆蟲數量減少與滅絕，都要歸因於人類活動。」

The main drivers are dwindling and degraded habitat, followed by pollutants － especially insecticides － and invasive species.

造成昆蟲滅絕的主要因素，是棲地的減少與退化，接著是污染，特別是殺蟲劑的污染及侵入的物種。

Waiter, there’s a fly in my waffle： Belgian researchers try out insect butter 服務生，有隻蒼蠅在我的格子鬆餅裡：比利時研究人員提煉昆蟲奶油

Belgian waffles may be about to become more environmentally friendly.

比利時格子鬆餅可能要變得更友善環境了。

Scientists at Ghent University in Belgium are experimenting with larva fat to replace butter in waffles, cakes and cookies, saying using grease from insects is more sustainable than dairy produce.

比利時根特大學科學家正實驗以幼蟲脂肪取代格子鬆餅、蛋糕和餅乾裡的奶油，並說取自昆蟲的油脂比乳製品更具永續性。

Clad in white aprons, the researchers soak black soldier fly larvae in a bowl of water, put it in a blender to create a smooth greyish dollop and then use a kitchen centrifuge to separate out insect butter.

穿著白色圍裙，研究人員們將黑水虻的幼蟲浸入一碗水，將之放入攪拌機，製造出一團滑順的灰白物，然後使用一台廚房的離心機，分離出昆蟲奶油。

“There are several positive things about using insect ingredients,” said Daylan Tzompa-Sosa, who oversees the research.

監督這項研究的戴蘭．卓帕-索薩說，「使用昆蟲原料有幾項正面作用。」

“They are more sustainable because （insects） use less land （than cattle）, they are more efficient at converting feed ... and they also use less water to produce butter,” Tzompa-Sosa said as she held out a freshly baked insect butter cake.

端出一個剛出爐的昆蟲奶油蛋糕時，卓帕-索薩說，「牠們更永續，因為（昆蟲）用的土地（與牛相比）較少，牠們的飼料轉化率更高……，以及牠們產出奶油用的水較少。」

According to the researchers, consumers notice no difference when a quarter of the milk butter in a cake is replaced with larva fat. However, they report an unusual taste when it gets to fifty-fifty and say they would not want to buy the cake.

根據這些研究人員的說法，以幼蟲脂肪取代一個蛋糕內4分之1牛乳奶油時，消費者沒察覺到不同。不過，來到五五比時，他們回報有不尋常味道，並說他們不會想買那個蛋糕。

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1357506 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1356918

It’s the sort a sneaky trick only a gull would learn: by watching how people handle their food, the birds can work out when there are snacks to be had. Researchers found that herring gulls were more likely to peck at items left on the ground if humans had pretended to eat them first.

這種偷偷摸摸的技倆只有海鷗才學得起來：藉由觀察人類如何處理食物，海鷗能夠算出什麼時候會有點心可以吃。研究人員近日發現，黑脊鷗比較有可能會去啄食人類假裝先吃過、再留在地上的東西。

The study suggests that gulls take cues from human behavior to help them home in on tasty scraps in the rubbish people leave behind. “People don’t tend to think of wild animals as using cues from humans like this,” said Madeleine Goumas, a researcher at the University of Exeter. “It’s the kind of behavior that’s more often associated with domesticated animals or those kept in captivity.”

該研究指出，海鷗會從人類行為得到提示，幫助它們在人類留下的垃圾裡面精準定位出美味的食物碎屑。英國艾希特大學的研究人員瑪德蓮‧郭瑪斯指出：「人們通常不太會想到野生動物能像這樣運用來自人類的提示。」她表示：「這類行為比較常讓人聯想到被馴化、或是那些被關起來豢養的動物。」

Goumas, who has become one of the more prominent gull researchers in Britain, reported last year that maintaining eye contact can deter seagulls from snatching food. In tests with bags of chips in seaside towns, she found that staring the birds out put them off their daring raids.

郭瑪斯近來成為英國頗富盛名的海鷗研究學者，她在去年的研究報告中指出，跟海鷗保持眼神接觸可以威懾它們不敢從人類手中搶走食物。她當時在靠海的城鎮用炸薯條進行實驗，發現瞪視海鷗可以有效遏止它們放肆的掠奪行徑。

To follow up that work, Goumas wanted to see whether gulls pick up on subtle human cues to help them find their next meal. And so she set off to the Cornish towns of Falmouth, St Ives, Newquay and Penzance, and Plymouth in Devon, armed with shop-bought flapjacks in shiny blue wrappers, a supply of blue sponges, and a pair of dark glasses.

為了進行進一步研究，郭瑪斯想知道海鷗是否能接收細微的人類行為暗示，來幫助它們找到下一餐。於是，她動身前往康瓦爾郡的幾個城鎮，包括法爾茅斯、聖艾夫斯、紐基和彭贊斯，以及德文郡的普利茅斯。她身上配備了從商店買來、裝在閃亮藍色包裝裡的烤燕麥棒、一批藍色海綿，還有一副墨鏡。

For the first experiment, Goumas donned the sunglasses and walked toward her chosen bird, carrying a bucket with a flapjack in each hand. When she was about 8m from the gull, she sat down, flipped the buckets over so they concealed the snacks, and pushed them out to her sides. She then lifted off the buckets, picked up one of the flapjacks, stood up and pretended to eat it. After 20 seconds, she put the flapjack back and retreated a safe distance.

在第一項實驗中，郭瑪斯戴上墨鏡，走向她選定的海鷗，兩手各拎著一個水桶和一包烤燕麥棒。當她接近到距離海鷗約八公尺時，便坐了下來，把水桶翻過去藏起點心，然後將它們推向身旁兩側。接下來，她把水桶翻開，選了一包燕麥棒，站起來假裝在吃。這項行為進行二十秒後，她再把燕麥棒放回水桶底下，撤退到安全的距離外。

Goumas, who wore the sunglasses to avoid deterring the birds with her gaze, recorded what the gulls did next. Out of 38 birds singled out for tests, 24 approached and pecked at the flapjacks. Of these, 19 — or 74 percent — pecked at the flapjack she had recently handled. The results suggest that the birds paid attention when she pretended to eat the snack.

郭瑪斯戴著墨鏡是為了避免海鷗被她的目光嚇到不敢來吃，隨後她記錄了海鷗們接下來的行動。在選出來作為測驗對象的三十八隻海鷗中，有二十四隻接近並啄食燕麥棒。而在這些吃到點心的海鷗裡面，有十九隻──也就是百分之七十四──啄的是郭瑪斯剛剛碰過的包裝。結果顯示，當她假裝在吃點心時，這些鳥確實有在注意。

To see whether the effect held true for other items, Goumas set off to different parts of the towns in search of more gulls. Once in place, she performed the same experiment but substituted the flapjacks for little blue sponges. This time, the gulls pecked both the handled and unhandled items roughly equally. “Seagulls have made an association between humans and food and the reason for that is probably that we’re not disposing of our food properly when we’ve finished it,” Goumas said. Details of the work are published in Royal Society Open Science.

為了確定這項結果是否在其他物品上也能成立，郭瑪斯遂前往城鎮的不同地點尋找更多海鷗。只要抵達一個地點，她就會進行一樣的實驗，但是把燕麥棒掉包，換成小的藍色海綿。這次，她碰過和沒碰過的物品，海鷗兩者都啄，且比例大約相同。郭瑪斯表示：「海鷗已經產生人類和食物之間的聯想，其原因大概是因為我們吃完東西以後都沒有好好處理垃圾。」關於該研究的細節日前發表於《皇家學會開放科學》期刊。

Clashes between humans and herring gulls are believed to be on the rise as urban expansion encroaches on and overwhelms the birds’ traditional nesting grounds. While the birds seem abundant in seaside towns, the population in Britain fell 60 percent between 1969 and 2015, putting the birds on the UK’s red list of Birds of Conservation Concern.

科學家相信，隨著都市擴張侵占並吞沒這種鳥類的傳統築巢地點，人類和黑脊鷗之間的衝突正在逐漸升溫。儘管這種鳥類在靠海城鎮看起來數量很多，英國的黑脊鷗族群卻在一九六九年到二○一五年間減少了百分之六十，使得它們被列入英國「須關注保育鳥類」的紅色清單中。

“Whereas a lot of animals may not be able to live alongside humans and make use of urban environments, herring gulls seem to have been able to adapt and this is possibly one way they have become successful,” Goumas said. “Most seagulls don’t snatch food from people, they wait. If we don’t want to have gulls coming up to us and trying to get our food, we need to dispose of our food properly, and have bins that actually keep food inside them,” she added.

郭瑪斯表示：「相對於許多動物可能無法在人類週遭生活，也無法利用都市環境，黑脊鷗看起來已經能夠適應與人類生活，而這也可能是它們成功繁衍的方式之一。」她補充說：「大部份的海鷗不會從人類手上搶走食物，它們只是在旁邊等。如果我們以後不想看到海鷗朝我們正面飛來，企圖得到食物，那人類就必須正確地丟棄食物，並且設置真正能夠存放廢棄食物（而不會被海鷗打開）的垃圾桶。」

Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/03/08/2003732262

每日英語跟讀Podcast，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing
每週Vocab精選詞彙Podcast，就在https://www.15mins.today/vocab
每週In-TENSE文法練習Podcast，就在https://www.15mins.today/in-tense

用email訂閱就可以收到通勤學英語節目更新通知。

Greece distanced itself on Wednesday from suggestions that it planned to drag a centuries-old dispute over the return of the Parthenon marbles into Brexit negotiations.

希臘原本計畫在歐盟與英國脫歐協議談判的內容中，要求英國歸還帕德嫩神廟雕像──兩國為此已爭執了數百年──但二月十九日希臘卻打了退堂鼓。

Government spokesman Stelios Petsas said Athens would keep up its campaign for the return of the 2,500-year-old treasures and will consider which tools could support its cause.

希臘政府發言人史代流斯·佩查斯表示，雅典將繼續努力，促使這些有兩千五百年歷史的珍寶得以回歸，有助於達到此目標的手段都可能採用。

“Greece’s request for the return of the Parthenon marbles remains strong and it is not linked to a Brexit deal,” Petsas said, asked if the issue could be a stumbling point in talks with Britain on its future relationship with the European Union.

佩查斯被問及，此問題是否可能會成為英國與歐盟談判未來關係的絆腳石，他表示：「希臘仍強烈要求歸還帕德嫩神廟石雕，這和英國脫歐協議無關」。

“We’ll continue to call for their return and if this is a tool we can use, we’ll consider it in due course,” he said.

他說：「我們會繼續呼籲他們歸還，若〔將其列入英國脫歐協議〕是我們可以用的手段，我們就會在適當時機考慮採用」。

Since independence in 1832, Greece has repeatedly called for the return of the sculptures — known in Britain as the Elgin Marbles — that British diplomat Lord Elgin removed from the Parthenon temple in Athens in the early 19th century, when Greece was under Ottoman rule.

希臘自一八三二年獨立以來，一再要求英國歸還這些雕像──在英國被稱為「埃爾金大理石雕像」──英國外交官埃爾金勛爵十九世紀初由雅典的帕德嫩神廟中搬走了這些雕塑，當時希臘是被鄂圖曼土耳其帝國統治。

The British Museum in London has refused to return the sculptures — roughly half of a 160m frieze which adorned the 5th century BC monument — saying they were acquired by Elgin under a legal contract with the Ottoman Empire. It says they “are part of everyone’s shared heritage.”

倫敦的大英博物館拒絕歸還這些雕塑──裝飾這建於西元前五世紀的宏偉建築、約一百六十公尺長之橫飾帶的一半──說這是埃爾金依據與鄂圖曼土耳其帝國的合約合法購得的。大英博物館表示，這些雕塑「是屬於每個人的共同遺產」。

A draft of the 27 EU nations’ position on negotiations with Britain on their future relationship, which was seen by Reuters on Feb. 18, seeks the “return or restitution of unlawfully removed cultural objects to their countries of origin.”

路透社二月十八日曾一窺歐盟二十七國與英國就其未來關係進行談判的立場草案，其內容包括要英國「將非法移走的文物歸還其原籍國，或加以賠償」。

The document did not specify any cultural objects, but an EU diplomat said the term was added at the request of Greece, with support from Italy.

這份文件並未具體說明所指的是哪些文物，但一位歐盟外交官說，草案的這部份是應希臘要求，並在義大利的支持下加入的。

Last month, Greece’s Culture Minister Lina Mendoni called Elgin a “serial thief” who employed illegal tactics to take the marbles. She said she believes the circumstances are ripe for the marbles’ return.

上個月，希臘文化部長莉娜‧門多尼稱埃爾金為「連環竊賊」，利用非法手段奪取了這些大理石雕。門多尼表示，她相信雕像物歸原主的時機已經成熟。

Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/02/25/2003731542

The COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in China and its rapid spread has taken its toll on the global economy, driving down demand for oil in the first weeks of 2020.

在中國爆發的武漢肺炎冠狀病毒迅速蔓延，讓全球經濟遭受巨大損失，對石油的需求在二〇二〇年開年數週便降低了。

In response, in the scheduled meeting on March 5-6 in Vienna, Saudi Arabia and other OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) states called for OPEC+ to a make drastic cut of 1.5 million barrels per day to reduce supply by a total of 3.6 million barells per day — insisting on a non-OPEC agreement. However, Russia rejected the plan. When the OPEC+ talks collapsed, the OPEC oil cartel scrapped all output limits. A dispute then broke out.

因應此情況，沙烏地阿拉伯與其他石油輸出國組織（OPEC）國家三月五日至六日在維也納所舉行的例行會議中，便要求OPEC+國家每日大幅減產一百五十萬桶，讓石油每日供應總量減少三百六十萬桶，並堅持非屬OPEC之產油國也須共同遵守此協議。但俄羅斯拒絕了此計畫，談判破裂，OPEC這石油壟斷利益集團便取消了所有產量限制，爭端於焉爆發。

Russian oil companies had opposed such cuts, fearing loss of market share and of competitiveness against US shale production. They had previously in December agreed on a milder production cut of 500,000 barrels in 2020, and Russia wanted this to continue.

俄羅斯的石油公司曾對這種減產措施加以反對，擔心會失去市佔率，也會失去對美國頁岩油的競爭力。他們去年十二月曾同意一項較溫和的減產計畫，將在二〇二〇年減產五十萬桶，俄羅斯希望維持此計畫。

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, responded on March 8 by announcing unilateral price cuts with its biggest price cut in 20 years in a bid to win market share. This prompted the oil price to plummet and fueled huge drops on stock markets the following day.

三月八日星期日，世界最大的原油出口國沙烏地阿拉伯對此做出回應，單方面宣佈降低油品價格，以贏得市佔率，此為二十年來最大降幅。這使得油價暴跌，並引發了三月九日星期一的股市大跌。

By March 9, oil had fallen to as low as US$31 from about US$66 at the end of 2019 as Riyadh said it would lift production to record highs, their biggest one-day move since the 1991 Gulf War. On March 10, Saudi oil giant Aramco announced a plan to massively increase oil output despite falling demand during the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.

利雅德表示將把產量提升至歷史新高，到了三月九日，油價便從二〇一九年底的六十六美元左右，應聲跌至三十一美元，這是自一九九一年波斯灣戰爭以來的最大單日跌幅。儘管武漢肺炎冠狀病毒爆發造成石油需求下降，沙烏地石油巨頭阿美公司仍在三月十日宣布，要大幅提高石油產量。

“At first glance, this looks like a battle between Russia and Saudi Arabia over oil policy,” said Chris Weafer of Macro Advisory consultancy. “But the context of the relentless rise in US oil production over the past 10 years is also an important factor.”

「乍看之下，這像是俄羅斯與沙烏地阿拉伯在石油政策上的鬥爭」，宏觀諮詢公司的克里斯‧威佛表示。「但是，過去十年來美國石油產量的持續增加，也是重要的背景因素」。

Both Russia and major OPEC producers have been “openly annoyed” with US producers’ refusal to participate in past production cuts, he added.

他補充說，美國生產商一直都拒絕參與減產，俄羅斯和OPEC主要產油國都對此感到「公開地惱火」。

On Monday and Thursday last week, the crash in oil prices and fears over the global economic impact of the virus outbreak prompted a meltdown on stock markets.

油價暴跌，以及擔憂疫情對全球經濟造成影響，導致上週一及週四的股市崩盤，觸動了熔斷機制。

Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/03/17/2003732810

每日英語跟讀Podcast，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing
每週Vocab精選詞彙Podcast，就在https://www.15mins.today/vocab
每週In-TENSE文法練習Podcast，就在https://www.15mins.today/in-tense

用email訂閱就可以收到通勤學英語節目更新通知。

到Himalaya app 收聽Follow更多通勤學英語單元! ->www.himalaya.com/15mins

Welcome to 15mins.today the home of English Shadowing. I'm your host Gavin and this is InTense Episode 40. Well guys we are continuing on this journey with the definite article “the.” So, today is going to be slightly different, I'm going to be talking about something where we do require “the.” Okay, and what we're gonna be talking about is “Department,” the word “Department.”

Does Jane work in the Accounting Department? Yes, she works in the Accounting Department.

Does Jane work in the Accounting Department? No, she does not work in the Accounting Department.

Do you work for the HR Department? Yes, I work for the HR Department.

Do you work for the HR Department? No, I do not work for the HR Department.

Do you work for HR? Yes, I work for HR.

Do you work for HR? No, I do not work for HR.

Does Peter work in the IT Department? Yes, he works in the IT Department.

Does Peter work in the IT Department? No, he does not work in the IT Department.

Does Peter work in IT? Yes, he works in IT.

Does Peter work in IT? No, he does not work in IT.

Did John and Jane join the Sales Department in December? Yes, they joined the Sales Department in December.

Did John and Jane join the Sales Department in December? No, they did not join the Sales Department in December.

Is the Marketing Department crucial to success? Yes, the Marketing Department is crucial to success.

Is the Marketing Department crucial to success? No, the Marketing Department is not crucial to success.

In what Department do you work? I work in the Services Department.

Is David the head of the Marketing Department? Yes, he is the head of the Marketing Department.

Is David the head of the Marketing Department? No, he is not the head of the Marketing Department.

Well there you go guys, keep practicing the questions and the answers and remember I'll catch you in the next one, take care, bye!

用email訂閱就可以收到通勤學英語節目更新通知。