英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

2021/03/12 05:30

◎張沛元

High-ranking bureaucrats at the telecommunications ministry were secretly wined and dined by employees of a major visual media production company, including Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s son － a possible ethics code violation.

（日本）總務省高官曾秘密接受一家大型視訊媒體製作公司的工作人員—包括首相菅義偉之子—的餐飲招待，此舉恐有違反風紀規範之虞。

After Bunshun Online broke the scandal on Feb. 3, Suga told reporters, "I am not aware of the matter at all."

在文春（週刊）網路版2月3日踢爆此一醜聞後，菅義偉告訴記者：「我完全不曉得這件事。」

"I think the ministry will properly handle the case," Suga said, adding that he has "no intention" of asking his son about it.

「我認為總務省會適當處理此事。」菅義偉說，並補充道，他「不打算」問兒子這件事。

But Suga’s aloof approach quickly changed at a Lower House Budget Committee meeting on Feb. 4, where opposition lawmakers grilled the prime minister about the scandal.

但當他在2月4日的國會眾議院預算委員會的會議上，被反對黨國會議員盤問這起醜聞時，菅義偉一改原本的冷處理態度。

Suga said he has talked with his son over the phone about the Bunshin report.

2021/03/11 05:30

◎孫宇青

An 81-year-old former Marine from Niles used his grandfather’s antique Irish walking stick to chase off three burglars and deliver one a thump in the head.

來自（美國伊利諾州）尼爾斯鎮的81歲前陸戰隊員，用祖父的骨董愛爾蘭枴杖追打3名盜賊，還擊中其中1人的腦袋。

Dan and Barbara Donovan said that a man in a reflective vest and mask knocked on their door and said he needed to check their fuse box due to a recent fire in the area.

丹和芭芭拉．多諾凡說，1名穿戴反光衣和口罩的男子敲他們家的門，說該地區最近剛發生火災，他必須檢查他們家的保險絲。

While they were in the basement with the man, Barbara heard squeaking upstairs and realized something wasn’t right. "I yelled, ’Danny! Somebody’s in our bedroom!"

當他們和工人待在地下室時，芭芭拉聽到樓上有嘎吱聲，意識到不太對勁，「我大喊：『丹尼！有人在我們房間裡。』」

When the couple reached the main floor, they found two other men inside. Dan grabbed his grandfather’s antique walking stick propped in the corner of the couple’s dining room, and struck one of the men in the back of the head.

2人來到主樓層後，發現有另外2人。丹一把抓起擱在餐廳角落的祖父的骨董枴杖，從後頭打中其中1人的腦袋。

2021/03/10 05:30

◎管淑平

Toxic air in India and other South Asian countries could be causing large numbers of miscarriages and stillbirths, scientists said.

科學家說，印度和其他南亞國家的有毒性空氣，可能正造成大量的流產和死胎案例。

A study in The Lancet medical journal estimated nearly 350,000 pregnancy losses a year in South Asia were linked to high pollution levels.

「刺胳針」醫學期刊一份研究估計，南亞1年有將近35萬起流產案例與高污染值有關聯。

"Our findings ... (provide) further justification for urgent action to tackle dangerous levels of pollution," lead author Tao Xue of Peking University said in a statement.

報告第一作者北京大學的薛濤在聲明中說，「我們的發現…提供進一步理由，要緊急行動解決達危險程度的污染」。

They calculated that 7.1% of annual pregnancy losses were attributable to pollution above India’s air quality standard of 40 microgrammes per cubic metre (μg/m3), and 29·7% to pollution above the World Health Organization guideline of 10 μg/m3. (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

他們計算，每年7.1%的流產案例，歸因於高於印度空氣品質標準每立方公尺40微克（μg/m3）的污染，29.7%的案例歸因於高於世界衛生組織指南訂出10 μg/m3標準的污染。（湯森路透基金會）

2021/03/09 05:30

◎黃靖媗

Clearly enjoying the play of words, Brooklyn company MSCHF, founded in 2016 by Gabriel Whaley, bought four vintage Hermes Birkin handbags, and remade them into shoes it has named Birkinstocks.

由加布里埃爾．沃利於2016年創立的布魯克林公司MSCHF，顯然熱衷於玩文字遊戲，買了4個經典的愛瑪仕柏金手提包，將它們重製為鞋子，並命名為「柏金鞋」。

Due to the very limited number made – there are supposedly just ten pairs – any would-be buyer must submit a letter of intention to the website, with prices ranging from $34,000 to $76,000, depending on size.

因為製作的數量非常有限，大約只有10雙，任何有意購買的人都必須在網站提交意向書，價錢取決於大小，約為3萬4000至7萬6000美元。

MSCHF bought $122,500 worth of original Birkin bags for this project. After first experimenting on fake versions, it approached New York leather work companies to deconstruct and then cut up the Hermes original. Apparently appalled, the first tranche of companies all refused.

MSCHF為了這項產品，買了價值12萬2500美元的原始柏金包。在使用假貨進行第1次實驗後，他們接觸紐約的皮革製品公司，去解構、分割原始的柏金包。第1批（被接觸的）公司顯然感到震驚，全都拒絕了。

While the thought of destroying something so valuable will jar many, it is nothing new for MSCHF. It bought a Damien Hirst dot painting in May 2020, which it promptly cut up into the individual dots, to sell one by one.

儘管銷毀如此有價值物品的想法震驚許多人，但對MSCHF而言不是新鮮事。他們曾在2020年5月買下達米恩．赫斯特的點畫後，立刻將畫裁成許多個點，逐個售出。

2021/03/08 05:30

◎陳成良

Teeth from mammoths buried in the Siberian permafrost for more than a million years have yielded the world’s oldest DNA ever sequenced, according to a study published on Wednesday, shining the genetic searchlight into the deep past.

據週三公布的研究，埋在西伯利亞永凍土層超過100萬年的猛獁象牙齒，提供全球最古老的去氧核醣核酸（DNA）定序，讓基因研究的探照燈指向遙遠的過去。

Researchers said the three specimens, one roughly 800,000 years old and two over a million years old, provide important insights into the giant Ice Age mammals, including the ancient heritage of the woolly mammoth.

研究人員表示，這3個樣本，一個約有80萬年歷史，另2個來自超過100萬年前，為現代人瞭解冰河時代猛獁象，包括「真長毛象」（woolly mammoth）的古老傳承，提供重要觀察角度。

The genomes far exceed the oldest previously sequenced DNA － a horse dating between 780,000 to 560,000 years ago.

此前，最古老的DNA定序來自78萬年前到56萬年前的一匹馬，而這些猛獁象基因組的年代更久遠得多。

The mammoths were originally discovered in the 1970s in Siberia and held at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.

這幾頭猛獁象起初於1970年代在西伯利亞地區被發現，由莫斯科的俄羅斯科學院保管。