英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

我們似乎正一步步地邁向機器人無所不能 —— 或者說是幾乎無所不能的世界。來看看Atlas 這個身高一點八公尺的機器人，它可以用跑酷的方式跳躍及後空翻。Atlas 是由美國一家設計機器人的波士頓動力公司研發來協助搜救任務的。這個機器人被設定來執行多種任務，像是開門、使用工具、上下車 —— 甚至是開車。然而，要讓它做這些簡單的工作並不是件容易的事。

英倫翻譯社轉自https://tw.news.appledaily.com/international/daily/20190426/38319660/

A jungle is being cleared by the government to make way for a bird park, a rainforest park and a 400-room resort, creating a green tourism hub aiming to attract millions of visitors a year.

政府正在清理一座叢林，以闢設一座鳥園、一座熱帶雨林公園，以及一座有400個房間的度假村，打造成一處生態旅遊中心，希望一年能夠招徠數百萬名觀光客。

But the project has ruffled the feathers of environmentalists. Rather than promoting biodiversity, they believe it is too imposing for the area, will destroy forest habitats. They also point out that insufficient safeguards were put in place before work began － leading to animals being killed on roads.

但這個計畫令環保人士暴跳如雷。他們相信，這對該區域太過沉重，不但無法促進生物多樣性，還會摧毀森林棲息地。他們也指出，由於工程開始前並未實施足夠的保護措施，已導致動物在馬路上慘遭不測。

"You are getting your priorities wrong if you are replacing natural heritage with captive breeding," said Subaraj Rajathurai, a veteran wildlife consultant. （AFP）

野生動物顧問蘇峇拉吉．拉扎蘇來說：「如果以動物圈養來取代自然遺產，你們就是搞錯優先順序了。」（法新社）

英倫翻譯社轉自https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1284042

The Rimping Supermarket chain in Chiang Mai has gotten rid of plastic packaging for vegetables and is now instead using banana leaves to wrap them. Their initiative has gained global recognition, thanks to a Facebook post that went viral recently.

清邁Rimping連鎖超市已放棄以塑膠包裝蔬菜的做法，取而代之的是以香蕉葉加以包裹。由於一則近期爆紅的「臉書」貼文，他們的新做法獲得全球認同。

The Facebook post by Perfect Homes Chiangmai praised the supermarket for going green and contained a few pictures of produce wrapped in banana leaves.

「清邁完美家庭」（Perfect Homes Chiangmai）的臉書貼文讚揚該超市勵行環保原則，並附上一些以香蕉葉包裝的農產品照片。

"When Perfect Homes spotted a rather nifty alternative to Earth-unfriendly packaging the other day at a branch of Rimping Supermarket, we couldn’t help but get fired up! As well as offering shoppers the option to buy or borrow a cloth bag in store, the popular grocery outfit now bundles its Veggie First fresh greens in banana leaves finished with a fibre tie," the real estate company explained in a blog post.

「當完美家庭幾天前在一家Rimping超市分店看見一個相當棒的替代不友善地球的包裝方式時，我們不禁振奮起來！這家廣受歡迎的賣場不但提供購物者購買或借用店內的布袋，現在還將其Veggie First鮮蔬以纖維繩綑紮在香蕉葉裡，」該房地產公司在部落格貼文中解釋說。

Five trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide every year, and more than 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced since the early 1950s.

Absorbing complex information or picking up a new skill from scratch by, say, listening to an audio recording during sleep is almost certainly impossible. But research shows that the sleeping brain is far from idle and that some forms of learning can happen.

睡覺時透過聽錄音來吸收複雜的資訊或從頭開展一項新技能，幾乎確定不可能成功。但研究顯示，睡眠期間的大腦並未空轉，可以產生某些形式的學習。

The first study to demonstrate a memory and learning benefit from sleep was published in 1914 by German psychologist Rosa Heine. She found that learning new material in the evening before sleep results in better recall compared to learning during the day.

德國心理學家羅莎．海涅在1914年發表第一項證明睡眠有益記憶和學習的研究。她發現，相較於在白天學習，在晚上睡前學新東西能記得更好。

In recent years, multiple studies have found that a basic form of learning, called conditioning, can happen during sleep. In a 2012 study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, Israeli researchers found that people can learn to associate sounds with odors during sleep.

近幾年，已有多項研究發現，睡眠期間能發生被稱為「制約作用」的基本學習形式。以色列研究團隊2012年發表在《自然神經科學雜誌》期刊的研究發現，人們可以在睡覺時學會將聲音與氣味相連結。

Although the memory was implicit, it could affect the people’s behavior, researchers found in a 2014 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

"Overall, the ratio of （survey respondents） in favor of a wedding stands at about half the people surveyed. But the portion of those who replied that a wedding is a must drops to the 10 percentage range. This is attributable to the growing importance of one’s decision and judgment and less importance placed on formality in marriage," said the institute.

該研究院表示，「整體而言，約一半比率的受訪者支持舉行婚禮。但答覆必須舉行婚禮的百分比就降到10%的範圍。這歸因於個人的決定與判斷愈來愈重要，婚禮的儀式禮節則較不重要。」

"Such responses were not confined to a certain group, which shows increasing emphasis on personal choice over social norms," said the institute. In Korea, a couple can formalize their marriage by registering a declaration of marriage with the local authorities, with no need for a ceremony.

該研究院提到，「這樣的回答不限於特定團體，顯示愈來愈強調個人選擇大於社會規範的趨勢」。在南韓，情侶可藉由向地方當局登記結婚宣言，正式確立婚姻關係，不需舉行婚禮。

英倫翻譯社轉自https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1283004