通勤學英語 15Mins Today

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K317: A Global Effort to Bring Rare Books In Rome to an Online Audience Modern-day church scholars may find the going easier. Some of the texts at the library of the Pontifical Oriental Institute, a graduate school in Rome dedicated to the study of the Eastern branch of Christianity, have just been digitized and will soon be at the fingertips of a global audience. 現代教會學者可能會發現這件事變得更容易。羅馬宗座東方學院（一所致力於研究基督教東方分支的研究生院）圖書館的一些文本剛剛被數位化，很快就會被全球觀眾所接受。 The first digitized versions will be available to the public in mid-2022, the product of a charitable initiative that connected the institute with technology companies in the United States and Germany. 第一批數位化版本將於2022年年中向公眾開放，這是一項慈善活動的產物，該計劃將該研究所與美國和德國的科技公司結合起來。 The companies, said the Rev. David Nazar, the institute’s rector, understood the project's value. Many of the books come from countries such as Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, where turmoil put entire collections at risk. Others come from countries where authoritarian censorship was equally threatening. 該研究所的校長大衛·納扎爾（David Nazar）牧師說，這些公司瞭解該項目的價值。許多書來自敘利亞、黎巴嫩和伊拉克等國，那裡的動盪使整個藏品處於危險之中。其他人則來自威權審查制度同樣具有威脅性的國家。 “We’re not a hospital, we’re not in the fields of Syria,” he said, “but we have students that come from there, who study here because our resources haven’t been destroyed by war.” "我們不是醫院，我們不是在敘利亞的田野裡，"他說，"但我們有來自那裡的學生，他們在這裡學習，因為我們的資源沒有被戰爭摧毀。 Although most of the institute’s titles are not recognizable to the general public, they are precious to scholars. They include volumes such as a Greek first edition of liturgies of John Chrysostom, an early church father, printed in Rome in 1526. 雖然該研究所的大多數頭銜不為公眾所認可，但它們對學者來說卻是珍貴的。它們包括一些卷，例如早期教會父親約翰·克裡斯托姆（John Chrysostom）的希臘語第一版禮儀，於1526年在羅馬印刷。 “The library is unique in the world,” said Gabriel Radle, a professor at the University of Notre Dame who studied at the institute. 曾在該學院研究的聖母大學教授拉德爾說：「這個圖書館在世上獨一無二。」 Its volumes cover the broad gamut that is Eastern Christianity, a term for the traditions and denominations developed in the first centuries of the church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, spreading through Greece, Turkey and Eastern Europe, north to Russia, south to Egypt and Ethiopia, and as far east as India. 它的經典涵蓋了東方基督教的廣泛範圍，東方基督教是耶路撒冷和中東教會最初幾個世紀發展起來的傳統和教派的術語，傳播到希臘，土耳其和東歐，北到俄羅斯，南到埃及和衣索比亞，東到印度。 The first set of books to be digitized were scanned by an eight-member team from a Long Island, New York, company, Seery Systems Group, using scanning technology from SMA of Germany. 第一套數位化的圖書是由紐約長島公司Seery Systems集團一個八人團隊，使用德國SMA公司掃描技術進行掃描。 The digitized books will be managed via ShelterZoom, a New York company. Chao Cheng-Shorland, CEO of ShelterZoom, said she visited the library this past year and got very excited about the project. 數位化書籍將通過紐約公司ShelterZoom進行管理。ShelterZoom首席執行官Chao Cheng-Shorland表示，她去年參觀了圖書館，並對該專案感到非常興奮。 “It’s unique, not just in the technology sense but also in the sense of contributing to such a wonderful piece of history,” she said. "這是獨一無二的，不僅在技術意義上，而且在為這樣一段美好的歷史做出貢獻的意義上，"她說。 Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/6076914

Jeff Bezos offered Tom Hanks a ride to space on his Blue Origin rocket, but it came at a price. （亞馬遜創辦人）傑夫‧貝佐斯曾邀請（好萊塢男星）湯姆‧漢克搭乘他的「藍源」火箭上太空，但要付出代價。 The actor confirmed that Bezos had asked him during an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on Tuesday, saying if he accepted the offer he was expected to pay. 這名男星週二現身（電視節目）「吉米金默現場秀」時證實，貝佐斯曾邀約他（上太空），並說若他接受（邀約），應該要付錢。 "Well yeah, provided I pay," Hanks said. "It costs like $28 million or something like that. And I’m doing good, Jimmy — I’m doing good — but I ain’t paying $28 million. You know what, we could simulate the experience of going to space right now." 「是啊，若我付錢（就能上太空），」漢克說。「大概要2800萬美元左右。我算是事業有成，吉米—我混得還不錯—但我才不要付2800萬。你知道嗎，我們現在就可以模擬上太空的經驗。」 Hanks, who appeared to promote his new movie "Finch," mimicked shaking in a rocket while in his chair, saying, "I don’t need to spend 28 million bucks to do that." 上節目宣傳新片「芬奇的旅程」的漢克（語畢）便在椅子上模仿搭火箭（上太空時）身體抖動的模樣，並說「我才不要花2800萬來做這種事。」 Next Article William Shatner says Prince William is ’missing the point’ of space tourism 威廉沙特納說 威廉王子沒搞懂太空旅行的真諦 William Shatner is firing a rhetorical rocket back at Prince William after the future king criticized space tourism. 在（英國）威廉王子出言批評太空觀光後，（男星）威廉‧沙特納反唇相譏，還擊這位未來國王。 Shatner, who blasted into space on one of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ rockets, said the British royal has "got the wrong idea" by saying that solving problems on Earth should be prioritized over tourist trips to space. 搭乘亞馬遜創辦人傑夫‧貝佐斯的一艘火箭上太空的沙特納說，宣稱解決地球上的問題應優先於太空旅行的這位英國王室成員，「搞錯了」。 The 90-year-old "Star Trek" actor said that a power generating base could be constructed 250 miles above the Earth and used to supply homes and businesses below. "The prince is missing the point," he added. 這位90歲「星際爭霸戰」男演員說，距離地表250英里的上空可以蓋一座發電基地，用來供應地面住家與建築（所需）。「王子沒搞懂（太空旅行的真諦），」他補充道。 Without mentioning names, William criticized billionaires focused on space tourism in an interview Thursday with the BBC, saying they should invest more time and money in saving Earth. 威廉週四接受英國廣播公司訪問時，在未指名道姓的情況下批評億萬富豪聚焦太空觀光的現象，指稱富豪們應將更多時間與金錢投資於拯救地球。Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1498987 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1499857

Topic: Russia's Villages, and Their Culture, Are 'Melting Away' With its winding dirt lanes framed by lilacs, quaint wooden houses and graceful onion-domed church, the tiny farming hamlet of Baruta was once a postcard of Russian bucolic bliss. 俄國西北部普斯科夫區域的巴魯塔小農村曾是俄國田園的幸福象徵，蜿蜒的土路旁盡是丁香、古雅的木屋和優美的洋蔥圓頂教堂。 No longer. More people lie in the tightly packed church cemetery than inhabit the village. Agriculture is slowly withering, too. 此景不再。在擁擠不堪的教堂墓地安息的人，比住在村裡的多。農業也逐步衰退。 With Russia's natural population growth entering an extended period of decline, villages like Baruta are disappearing from across the country’s continental expanse. 由於俄國人口的自然增長進入長期衰退期，像巴魯塔這樣的村落正從廣袤的俄國大陸各地消失。 "We have not had a wedding or a baptism for quite some time — we mostly have funerals," said a resident, Alexander Fyodorov, 59, one of just 17 men left in what was a thriving collective of some 500 farmers. 59歲居民費奧多羅夫說：「我們好一段時間沒有婚禮或洗禮了——多半是喪禮。」他曾是一個約有500農民、蓬勃發展的集體農場的一分子，如今農場只剩下17個男人，他是其中之一。 President Vladimir Putin frequently cites hardy population growth as a pillar of restoring Russia's place atop the global order. There is a pronounced gap, however, between the positive terms in which Putin and his advisers habitually discuss demographic trends and the reality of the numbers. 俄國總統普亭常說，強勁的人口成長是讓俄國重居新全球之首的基礎。不過，普亭與顧問們討論人口趨勢時慣常使用的正面詞語，和真實人口數目差距甚大。 Russians are dying faster than they are being born, demographers said. Given the general hostility toward immigration, the question is to what degree the population of 146 million, including annexed Crimea, might shrink. 人口學者說，俄國人死亡的速度比出生快。在俄國人普遍對移民懷有敵意的情況下，俄國總數1億4600萬（包括兼併來的克里米亞）的人口勢將減少，問題只在減幅的大小。 The number of deaths exceeded the number of births in 2016 by a few thousand, and the prognosis for the years ahead is poor. From 2013-2015, extremely modest natural growth peaked in 2015 with just 32,038 more births than deaths. 去年俄國死亡人數超越出生人數幾千人，未來幾年前景也不樂觀。2013到2015年極微小的人口自然增長在2015年達到高峰，出生數只比死亡數多3萬2038人。 "The statistics and the propaganda are very different things," said Natalya V. Zubarevich, an expert in social and political geography at Moscow State University. 莫斯科國立大學社會與政治地理學專家祖巴列維奇說：「統計數字和宣傳大不相同。」 In terms of population loss, Pskov, which borders Latvia and parts of Estonia, is among the worst hit regions in Russia. The population peaked at around 1.8 million in the 1920s, said Andrei Manakov, a demographer at Pskov State University. It is down to 642,000, and projected to drop to about 513,000 by 2033. 普斯科夫與拉脫維亞和愛沙尼亞部分地區接壤，是俄國人口減少最嚴重的區域之一。普斯科夫國立大學人口學者馬納科夫說，1920年代這裡的人口達到高峰，約180萬。現在降到64萬2千人，料將在2033年前降到大約51萬3千人。 Researchers estimate that out of 8,300 area villages in 1910, 2,000 no longer have permanent residents. 研究人員估計，1910年這裡的8300個地區村落中，2000個不再有常住居民。 Under the most optimistic projections by demographers, Russia’s population by 2050 will stay the same, about 146 million, if immigration from Central Asia — which has also been dropping — balances out low birthrates. Less optimistic figures put the population around 130 million by 2050, and the most pessimistic say fewer than 100 million. 人口學者最樂觀的預測是，如果來自中亞的移民（也正在逐漸減少）能彌補俄國的低出生率，2050年俄國人口會跟現在一樣，大約1億4600萬。較不樂觀的數據是2050年人口約為1億3000萬，最悲觀的是不到1億。 Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/318780/web/ Next Article Topic: Russia reaches out to OPEC as Riyadh opens oil taps 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 s