兩個暑假之前，當我計畫到台灣待一段時間時，壓根兒沒想到表圾問題。在出發前幾個禮拜，我滿腦子想的都是移居國外更顯而易見的問題，包括找間公寓、買隻手機和摸熟巴士路線等。我尤其擔心要全時學中文，光是要精通中文發聲的四聲及構成中文書寫錯綜複雜的弧形、鉤鉤和方格已經夠難了。From Taiwan, the Gift of Green 來自台灣的綠化禮物 When I planned for my year in Taiwan two summers ago, trash was the last thing on my mind. The more obvious challenges of moving abroad -- finding an apartment, buying a cellphone and navigating the bus system -- preoccupied me in the weeks before my departure. I worried most about studying Mandarin full-time, the difficulty of mastering the language's four tones and the intricate arcs, fishhooks and grids that make up written Chinese. 兩個暑假之前，當我計畫到台灣待一段時間時，壓根兒沒想到表圾問題。在出發前幾個禮拜，我滿腦子想的都是移居國外更顯而易見的問題，包括找間公寓、買隻手機和摸熟巴士路線等。我尤其擔心要全時學中文，光是要精通中文發聲的四聲及構成中文書寫錯綜複雜的弧形、鉤鉤和方格已經夠難了。 But strange things happen when you cross cultures. Unexpected frustrations vex you, and habits ingrained over years suddenly come up for negotiation. So it was for me and waste disposal. 但跨越不同的文化總會發生新奇的事。意想不到的挫折使你苦惱困惑，多年來根深柢固的習慣突然得三思而後行，至少對我，處理垃圾就是如此。 On this leaf-shaped island of 23 million people 100 miles off China's coast, trash matters. My Taipei landlady was the first to make that point, when she gave me a crash course on how to dispose of household waste like a local. First, buy city-approved trash bags at the corner 7-Eleven. Then, meet the garbage truck five nights a week at the mouth of a nearby alley. Finally, heave the bags onto the truck yourself. 在這個狀如樹葉的島嶼，人口2300萬，距中國大陸沿海100哩，垃圾攸關重大。我在台北的房東太太給我上速成班，教我如何像在地人一樣處理家庭廢棄物時，一開始就表明這點。首先到街角超商7-Eleven買市府核可通過的垃圾袋。然後，每星期有五個晚上要到附近巷口去等垃圾車。最後，自己動手把垃圾袋丟到車裡。 You'll recognize the truck, she said, because it plays music -- a tinny version of the Beethoven classic "For Elise," as I soon discovered. 她還說，你很容易辨認垃圾車，因為它會放音樂，我很快就發現，原來是音色較尖細的貝多芬古典樂曲「給愛麗絲」。 In Taiwan, recycling trucks tag along behind trash collectors, but they accept only certain items on certain nights. According to the strictly enforced schedule, plastic bottles must be separated from plastic wrapping and bags, and flat recyclables, such as Styrofoam trays and cardboard dumpling boxes, are collected only on Mondays and Fridays. Show up with bundled newspapers on the wrong night, and you'll get an earful from the sanitation worker. Feigning ignorance of Mandarin won't absolve you, either. 在台灣，資源回收車尾隨垃圾車，但限定某幾個夜晚只回收某些物品。根據嚴格執行的班表，塑膠瓶必須和垃圾袋及其他包裝塑料分開，至於扁平的可回收物，如含聚苯乙烯泡沫塑膠餐盤和紙板做的便當盒則只限周一和周五回收。如果你在不對的夜晚拿出好幾捆報紙，就得聽衛生人員訓斥一番，假裝聽不懂中文也饒不了你。 Waiting for the garbage truck is one of Taiwan's liveliest communal rites. Many evenings I watched food vendors from the night markets, buckets of eggshells in hand, chat up convenience store clerks alongside Filipina nannies who traded kitchen appliances as if they were at a Sunday morning swap meet. Freelance recyclers keen to make a few dollars showed up to collect cardboard and newspapers, which they would sell back to the city. An alderman with a whistle kept traffic at bay. 等垃圾車是台灣最充滿活力的社區例行活動。有無數的夜晚，我看到夜市的小吃攤販，手拿幾籃子蛋殼，和便利商店的店員聊天，一旁菲傭正在交換廚房用具，有如置身周日晨以物易物的市集。回收個體戶想賺點外快也趕來收集一些硬紙板和報紙，他們可以再回賣給市政府。一位市府人員不斷吹哨子官制交通。 These curbside jaunts were my initiation into Taiwan's broader waste-disposal network, made up of municipal employees and regular citizens all doing their part to keep the system humming. Watching the city's disparate trash tribes at work shamed me into compliance after years as a half-hearted recycler back home. I even came to feel a peculiar solidarity with the "ladies with tongs," the city transit and university sanitation workers who spend their days sifting through garbage bins in subway stations and on university campuses in search of aluminum cans. And I admired the swift vigilance of food court employees as they swept fast-food wrappers and Styrofoam cups off my table into shallow baskets before I had time to look for a trash can. (There aren't any.) 路邊人行道這些活動帶我走入台灣更龐大的廢棄物處理網，由市府員工和一般小市民組成，各盡其責，使這套系統能在嘈雜中順利運作。眼看台北市各個不同的垃圾部落都在努力以赴，使我這個多年來在老家對資源回收不熱心的人也羞愧地乖乖照辦。我甚至和那些「手拿鉗子撿垃圾的太太們」產生某種認同感。台北市公共交通運輸系統和大學公衛義工投入無數個日子在捷運站和大學校園翻尋篩撿垃圾筒尋找鋁罐。我尤其佩服購物中心自助餐廳服務人員動作快速，隨時提高警覺，把速食包裝材料和塑膠杯從我桌上清到淺筒子裡，我甚至還來不及找垃圾筒（事實上也沒有垃圾筒）。 Taiwanese friends tell me that 10 years ago, their capital's sidewalks were drowning in rotting garbage. You'd never know it today, thanks to the introduction of a per-bag trash-collection fee to discourage consumption, a charge for plastic bags at supermarkets and the rigorous recycling policy now in effect. These changes created an infinitely cleaner city. Even more impressive, they fueled a sense of civic responsibility in a place where democracy is still taking root. Just as the Taiwanese invest in their young representative government, they invest in a clean environment. 台灣友人告訴我，十年前他們首都人行道上都被腐臭的垃圾淹沒。今天根本無法想像，主要拜隨袋徵收垃圾費之賜，使人不願亂消費。超市賣的垃圾袋要收費，現在並嚴格執行資源回收政策。這些費用又創建一個乾淨到不行的城市。尤其令人動容的是，在這個民主仍在生根的地方，他們帶動市民的責任感。當台灣人投資年輕的代議政府之際，他們投資於乾淨的環境。 I've been home for three months now, and U.S. consumption patterns look as robust as ever, with the same limited patchwork of recycling opportunities available. Reducing your "carbon footprint" is a hip way to fight global warming, but what about the trash generated by last night's takeout? Before my year in Taiwan, I was a lazy environmentalist, dutifully recycling wine bottles and newspapers, but never willing to go the extra mile if it wasn't convenient. It's no longer so easy to make excuses. Living in a place where I was expected to use what I bought and recycle every last yogurt cup and juice box left me with a new appreciation for what clean streets mean in a civil society, and the realization that I'm responsible for everything I consume. That's as good a Chinese lesson as any. 如今我已經回美國三個月了，美國消費形態看來仍很強勁，現有的資源回收機會仍很有限而且東拼西湊。減少「碳足跡」是對抗全球暖化時髦的好方法，但昨晚叫外賣所產生的垃圾呢？在我到台灣前，是個懶惰的環保人士，克盡本分地回收酒瓶和報紙，但如果不方便就不願多走幾步，現在已經不容易再找藉口了。曾經生活在一個預期我充分使用我所買的一切，並回收每一個優格空瓶子和果汁盒的地方，讓我重新體認一個文明社會的乾淨街道代表什麼；同時也了解，我要對自己消費的一切負責。這堂中文課和其他語言課程一樣珍貴。（取材自華盛頓郵報。作者Julia Ross） 詞解 trash 垃圾 intricate arcs 複雜的弧形 fishhooks and grids 鉤鉤和方格 ingrained 根深柢固 crash course 速成班 recycling trucks 資源回收車 Styrofoam trays 聚苯乙烯泡沫塑膠 cardboard dumpling boxes 紙板做的便當盒 earful 訓斥、責罵 absolve寬恕 feigning 假裝 garbage truck 垃圾車 communal rites 社區例行活動 food vendors 小吃攤販 night markets 夜市 convenience stores 便利商店 chat up 閒聊 Filipina nannies 菲勞、菲傭 freelance recyclers 回收個體戶 cardboard 硬紙板 alderman 市府人員 kept traffic at bay 管制交通 curbside 路邊人行道 compliance 乖乖照辦 half-hearted 不熱心 tongs 鉗子收集 transit 公共運輸系統 food court 購物中心自助餐廳 trash can垃圾筒 carbon footprint 碳足跡 圖與文（一） Feeding Robotic Babies 餵機器人貝比喝奶 An employee of Yamazaki Educational Systems Co. holds two “My Baby 2” robotic babies at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo November 28, 2007. The robotic babies are designed to teach parenting skills and require feeding, diaper changes, burping and sleeping and also record data on how their human parents treat them. 山崎教育系統公司一名員工11月28日在東京舉行的國際機器人展中，抱著「也是我的兩個貝比」機器人寶寶。這些機器人貝比主要用來教導為人父母的技巧，他們還可藉這些貝比學習餵奶，換尿布，打嗝，睡覺，他們的人類父母對他們如何也將全都錄。 Showcasing around 1,000 industrial and service robots, this exhibition confirmed that Japan is hooked on androids, which manufacturers are seeking to adapt to the needs of an ageing society and a sliding population. The $620 robots employees of Yamazaki Co were busy nursing, imported from the United States, help teach students and soon-to-be parents how to care for infants. "The way students would touch a baby would be completely different once they have looked, touched, and experienced this 'baby'," said Kaoru Nukui of Yamazaki Co. He then demonstrated how men can feel what breast feeding is like by putting a nipple-like sensor on his chest. 這次展覽共展示約一千個工業用和服務性機器人，這也證明，日本人十分迷戀機器人。製造廠商也正針對日本不斷老化的社會和下滑的人口而調整設計。山崎公司員工正忙著餵奶的貝比機器人，每個620美元，從美國進口，有助於教導學生和即將為人父母者如何照顧嬰兒。「在學生仔細觀察、觸摸和體驗這個貝比之後，他們觸摸嬰兒的方式完全不同，」山崎公司的貫井說。他並示範，男人只要把像奶頭的感應器放在胸部，也可以感受哺育寶寶的感覺。 圖：路透 圖與文 （二） Crazy Coffins 棺木也瘋狂 Some say death is no laughing matter, but British casket maker Vic Fearn & Company Limited is ready and willing to send you off to your eternal rest in a "crazy coffin." The coffins, ranging from a giant electric guitar to a sports bag, pink ballet shoe, a bottle opener, a skateboard and a bell. have proved so popular that they even go out on tour with exhibitions around European art galleries. 有人說，死有重於泰山輕如鴻毛，但英國棺木業者維克馮恩有限公司正準備同時也很願意以「瘋狂的棺木」送你得到永遠的安息。這些棺木從大型電吉地到運動背包、粉紅色芭蕾舞鞋，開瓶器、滑板到巨鐘不等，由於太受歡迎，他們甚至到歐洲各大藝廊巡迴展出。 The coffin-makers first took the zany path to death when a woman fan of the Royal Air Force's aerial acrobatics team, the Red Arrows, asked to be buried in a model fighter. Next came a man who couldn't afford to buy a canal long boat so wanted to be buried in a model one. The business has snowballed from there — and the coffin-makers are thrilled with the trend after grinding out 20,000 conventional caskets a year. "Making an unusual crazy coffin is great for the staff. It gives them a chance to test their skills. It can create some fun in the shop,"said David Crampton, director of the 160-year-old company based in the central England town of Nottingham. 棺木業者首先走上瘋狂的死亡之路，是因一名英國皇家空軍「紅箭」特技隊的女粉絲希望能葬在戰鬥機模型裡。後來又有一名男子上門，他因買不起狹長的運河船，希望百年之後能至少葬在運河船的模型裡。從此生意如雪球般越滾越大，棺木行在每年辛苦打造兩萬具傳統的棺木後，尤其樂見此一趨勢。「製造凡比尋常的瘋狂棺木對員工尤其有好處，這給他們一個測試他們手藝的機會，同也為店裡製造一點歡樂的氣氛，」這家位於英國諾丁罕有160年歷史的棺木行老閭克蘭普頓說。 Currently being crafted is a scaled-down model of a 1913 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost as shown in this photo. It even has wheels so they pall-bearers can push it along. The custom caskets can be costly. The Rolls-Royce model costs the buyer $6,800, ten times the cost of a traditional coffin. Well, it's only money, and you still can't take it with you. 目前正在打造的是如圖所示一個具體而微的1913年分勞斯萊斯「銀色魔鬼」的模型。這部車還有輪子，檯棺者可以推著走。但這種量身訂製的棺木價格不斐，勞斯萊斯棺木要價6,800美元，是傳統棺木的十倍。話說回來，不過是錢，生不帶來，死不帶走。 圖：路透 時人牙慧 I work the phones, I listen, I encourage, I have meetings. I do a lot of things. （我得忙著打電話，聽他們的意見，鼓勵他們，還要主持會議，我得做很多事。） · ──美國總統布希（George Bush）說，他親自參與這次在馬里蘭州阿納波利斯舉行的中東和平會議 For me, this isn't crimes against 200,000 women. It's crimes against humanity. （對我來說，這不只是對20萬婦女的犯罪，而是對人性的罪行。） ──加拿大國會一致通過，要求日本為二戰時強徵慰安婦道歉，聯邦國會議員鄒至蕙（Olivia Chow）的說法 I don’t lead a Hollywood lifestyle. In Taiwan, I’d be like Michael Jordan walking down the street. Here I can live a normal life, and still make movies in the city. （我不過好萊塢式的生活。在台灣，我可能像麥可傑克森上街那樣引人注目，在這裡我可以過正常的生活，還可以在洛城拍片。） ──53歲的導演李安（Ann Lee）接受紐約時報專訪，被問到在台灣和旅居洛杉磯的不同時所說 I think it should be Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. （我想應該選小甜甜布蘭妮和琳賽蘿涵。） ──驚悚作家史蒂芬．金（Stephen King）接受「時代雜誌」專訪，被問及他心目中的風雲人物人選時，開玩笑列舉好萊塢四大惡女之二，因為這兩人幾乎每天搶占媒體重要版面 [It] has been a choreographed farce from beginning to end. （這從頭到尾都是編造出來的鬧劇。） ──俄羅斯前棋王卡斯帕洛夫（Garry Kasparov）因未經核准意圖率眾舉行反普亭遊行被判坐牢五天，他對法庭的審理頗有微詞 I tell a lot of my soldiers: a good way to prepare for operations in Iraq is to watch the sixth season of “The Sopranos”. （我告訴很多士兵：為伊拉克備戰，最好的方法之一是收看第六季的「黑道家族」）。 ──美軍在伊拉克中部的指揮官林奇少將（Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch）說，伊拉克的動亂愈來愈像受到電視節目「黑道家族」式的黑手黨操控 The dollar's rapid decline is life-threatening for Airbus. （美元急貶威脅空中巴士存亡。） ──空巴總裁兼執行長恩德斯（Tom Enders）說，美元疲弱，有利其競爭對手波音的出口，空巴則面臨空前危機 TV made him a hero, and we'll use TV to take him down. （電視把他塑造成英雄，我們會用電視扳倒他。） ──紐約市副消防隊長里奇斯（Jim Riches）說，一群紐約義消將登廣告批判目前正在角逐總統的前紐約市長朱良尼在 9/11 時領導無方 'If he sees a very attractive woman, his eye will wander ... He doesn't look like your classic religious sort of guy.' ALASTAIR CAMPBELL, former spokesman for Tony Blair, on why Blair avoided talking about religion while in office. Blair now says his faith was "hugely important" to his performance while he was British Prime Minister I suggested Jenna be waterboarded. · Author STEPHEN KING · referring to President George W. Bush's daughter while criticizing the Administration's stance on the controversial interrogation technique America has allowed itself to become enslaved to Saudi oil. It's absurd. · MIKE HUCKABEE · Republican presidential contender, attacking the Bush Administration's support of the Saudi government following a controversial gang-rape ruling I come with greetings from China. · China's CHANG'E-I lunar satellite · saluting the moon in a recorded broadcast upon its arrival in orbit. China unveiled the first images from its lunar probe Monday There were men with big beards asking where she was and saying they wanted to kill her. · ROBERT BOULOS · director of a school in Sudan, where teacher Gillian Gibbons faces jail for letting her class name a teddy bear Muhammad We will not allow anyone to poke their snotty nose into our affairs. · VLADIMIR PUTIN · Russian president, accusing the US of meddling in Russian election procedures "We have never been experiencing such big pressure." â?”Chinese Prime MinisterWen Jiabao,on how the declining U.S. dollar is making it difficult to manage China's $1.43 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves "The idea that we are complacent about this is quite ridiculous." â?”British Prime MinisterGordon Brown,apologizing for his government's loss of 25 millionchild-benefitrecords on two missing discs "We will not surrender, and we will not retreat." â?”French PresidentNicolas Sarkozy,vowing not to back down from his confrontation with labor unions, as civil-service employees staged a walkout over job cuts and transit workers continued their strike"Last time around we removed three zeroes and they quickly returned." —Zimbabwe's central-bank governorGideon Gono,introducing new dollar notes with little hint of despair, and remarking how quickly hyperinflation devalued the last currency We thought at first it was an allergic reaction, or maybe nerves. （一開始，我們還以為是過敏反應或神經質。） ──在波多黎各舉行的環球小姐選拔賽中奪下后冠的美格麗．瑪莉．李維拉，在晚禮服比賽項目中突覺身體不適，選美會發言人羅沙里歐（Harold Rosario）說，她的化妝品和晚禮服都虔噴灑辣椒劑，使她全身紅腫 Broadway's lights will once again shine brightly. · CHARLOTTE ST. MARTIN · a rep for Broadway producers, on a deal struck Wednesday to end New York City's stagehand strike I think there is a whole corporate culture there that essentially rewards the use of excessive force -- shooting first, asking questions later. · SUSAN BURKE · lead attorney in a lawsuit filed against the Blackwater security firm, alleging that the company ignored widespread steroid abuse among employees God made him to play football. · Washington Redskins coach JOE GIBBS · on player Sean Taylor, who died Tuesday after he was shot in his home by an apparent intruder So who do you trust at any level? · MATT DRUDGE · of www.DrudgeReport.com, when asked during his first interview in four years why the public should trust his one-man website