中英對照讀新聞》Decades-Old Computer Science Conjecture Solved in Two Pages 以兩頁證出數十年懸而未解的計算機科學猜想

A paper posted online this month has settled a nearly 30-year-old conjecture about the structure of the fundamental building blocks of computer circuits. This "sensitivity" conjecture has stumped many of the most prominent computer scientists over the years, yet the new proof is so simple that one researcher summed it up in a single tweet.

一篇本月線上公開的論文已證出近30年懸而未解、有關計算機電路組件架構的數學猜想。這項「敏感度猜想」多年來難倒許多傑出的計算機科學家,但甫出爐的證明相當簡潔,研究員甚至可以僅用一條「推特」概述。

The conjecture concerns Boolean functions, rules for transforming a string of input bits(0s and 1s)into a single output bit. One such rule is to output a 1 provided any of the input bits is 1, and a 0 otherwise; another rule is to output a 0 if the string has an even number of 1s, and a 1 otherwise.

這項猜想關乎「布林函數」將輸入位元串(0或1)轉換成單一輸出位元的規則。其中包括,若輸出為1,則至少任一輸入位元是1,否則輸出為0;若輸出為0,則輸入位元串有偶數個位元1,否則輸出為1。

Hao Huang, a mathematician at Emory University, has proved the sensitivity conjecture with an ingenious but elementary two-page argument about the combinatorics of points on cubes.

美國艾莫瑞大學的數學家黃皓,透過兩頁巧妙但基本的論證式,解答出有關立方體頂點的組合數學問題,進而證出「敏感度猜想」。

In 2018, Huang used a 200-year-old piece of mathematics called the Cauchy interlace theorem, which relates a matrix’s eigenvalues to those of a submatrix, making it potentially the perfect tool to study the relationship between a cube and a subset of its corners.

黃皓在2018年使用已有200年歷史的「柯西交錯定理」,勾串矩陣的特徵值及其子矩陣,讓該定理成為研究立方體及其頂點子集合的絕佳工具。

英倫翻譯社轉自https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1313192

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《中英對照讀新聞》Foreign ministers of Korea, Japan fail to mend fences-韓、日外長未能冰釋前嫌

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart, Taro Kono, met for 35 minutes on the sidelines of a trilateral meeting with their Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Gubei Water Town near Beijing.

南韓外長康京和與日本外務大臣河野太郎,在北京附近的古北水鎮舉行的一場三方會議場邊,會晤35分鐘。

Kang strongly urged Kono to retract the country’s decision to remove South Korea from its "whitelist" of countries with fast-track trade status. Kono said he hoped the Korean government would pay attention to the safety of Japanese people in Korea.

康京和強烈呼籲河野撤回日本將南韓移出擁有快速出口貿易地位國家組成的「白名單」的決定。河野則表示,他希望南韓政府要注意南韓境內日本僑民的安全。

In a trilateral meeting where the three ministers gathered, Kang stressed that cooperation among the three nations should not be shaken by bilateral relations. "East Asia has a responsibility for global stability and prosperity," Kono said, noting that the economies of the three countries combined account for over 25 percent of the world’s gross domestic product.

康京和在三國外長參加的一場三方會議中強調,中、日、韓三國的合作,不應被雙邊關係削弱。河野亦指出,「東亞對全球的穩定和繁榮負有責任」。他還提到,在全球的國內生產毛額中,三國的經濟總共就佔了超過25%。

英倫翻譯社轉自https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1313139


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《中英對照讀新聞》 Indonesian walks 700-km backwards to highlight deforestation 印尼人倒退走700公里 凸顯森林砍伐問題

An Indonesia man is walking backwards from his home in eastern Java to the capital Jakarta to raise awareness of deforestation.

一位印尼男子正從他位於東爪哇的住家倒退走往首都雅加達市,以提高對森林砍伐問題的意識。

The more than 700 km would be arduous enough under any circumstances, but Medi Bastoni is drawing attention to his campaign by doing it walking backwards.

超過700公里的路程,在任何情況下都是夠艱鉅的,但梅迪.巴斯托尼藉由倒退走,正為他的運動引來關注。

Bastoni, 43, started on July 18 from his village on Mount Wilis, a 2,500-meter volcano in East Java province that has been affected by deforestation. He hopes to meet President Joko Widodo when he arrives in Jakarta later this month.

43歲的巴斯托尼,7月18日由他位在維利斯火山上的村落起腳,這座位於東爪哇省的2500公尺高火山長久以來受伐林影響。他希望本月稍後抵達雅加達時,見到總統佐科威。

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, with more than 74 million hectares of rainforest - an area nearly twice the size of Japan - logged, burned or degraded in the last half century, according to Greenpeace.

根據「綠色和平」,印尼的森林砍伐率在全球名列前茅,超過7400萬公頃雨林——面積近乎是日本的兩倍——在過去半世紀被砍伐、焚燒或退化。

Bastoni walks at least 20-30 km a day, carrying only snacks and water. A rear-view mirror attached to his backpack helps him to avoid obstacles.(Reuters)

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Tiny, blunt-headed sharks called pocket sharks are so rare that until just a few years ago, only one individual had ever been collected from the southeastern Pacific Ocean.

超小隻、頭型圓鈍、被稱為「口袋鯊」的鯊魚相當罕見,近幾年也只有在東南太平洋發現一隻。

The only other pocket shark specimen in the world - a female - was caught in 1979 and is part of the collection at the Zoological Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

世上僅存的其他口袋鯊標本—一隻在1979年被捉到的母鯊,是俄羅斯聖彼得堡動物博物館的收藏品。

Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA)caught a second pocket shark in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists declared it to be a pocket shark in 2015, and after further analysis it was recently described as a new species.

美國國家海洋暨大氣總署(NOAA)的研究人員,2010年在墨西哥灣捕捉到第二隻口袋鯊。科學家2015年公開這項新發現,在經過進一步分析後,最近宣布此為新種的口袋鯊。

You might think that adorable pocket sharks are so named because they’re small enough to fit comfortably in a pocket. However, the name comes not from their petite size but from a physical feature:a pocket-like orifice found near their pectoral fins.

你可能會以為可愛的「口袋鯊」係因恰巧能放進口袋而得名。然而,這個名號並非源自其嬌小的體型,而是另一項身體特徵:在牠們胸鰭附近發現的口袋形狀孔口。

英倫翻譯社轉自https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1308251

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中英對照讀新聞》 Egypt teaches students about love and marriage in attempt to curb divorce 為控制離婚率,埃及教導學生愛與婚姻

During a class at Cairo University, students laughed as they watched a skit acted out by their peers about a married couple. This is part of a new government project called Mawadda-meaning affection, which offers lessons to university students about how to pick the right partner and how to handle conflicts in marriage.

在開羅大學的一堂課上,一對學生在短劇中扮演夫妻,讓其他人看得開懷大笑。這是政府一個名為「情愛」計畫的一環,為大學生規劃有關挑選合適伴侶、如何處理婚姻衝突的課程。

It is still in a trial phase, but has targeted 800,000 young people yearly starting 2020 and to eventually make it mandatory for university students.

該計畫仍在實驗階段,但已設下2020年起每年為80萬年輕人上課的目標,最終希望成為大學生的必修課。

Julia Gosef, a 23-year-old student who attended the class with her fiance, said she worries that Egypt’s economic hardships could harm her marriage. Both of them would have to work, which could lead to arguments.

與未婚夫一起上課的23歲學生茱莉亞.高瑟夫說,她很擔心國家的經濟困境會衝擊她的婚姻。這對小兩口都必須工作,而這可能導致爭吵。

"If we want to solve the problem from the root we need to target people before they get married," said an official in charge of the project. He added that there’s a correlation in Egypt between divorce and problems such as child homelessness and drug addiction.(AFP)

該計畫的負責官員說:「如果我們想徹底解決問題,就得在人們結婚前為他們上課。」他也說,在埃及,離婚和兒童無家可歸、藥物上癮等問題有關聯。(法新社)

英倫翻譯社轉自https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1312447

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