愛心待用餐

愛心待用餐

'Suspended coffee' tradition inspires noodle vendor in Taiwan (By Jay Chen)

Taipei, April 12 (CNA) For the past two weeks, a noodle shop in New Taipei has served noodles to people in need for free in honor of the Italian tradition of "caffe sospeso," or suspended coffee, and the practice is already resonating in other small businesses nearby.

The soup noodles are in fact not free but paid for in advance by other customers so that they are reserved, or "suspended," for people who cannot afford the shop's fare.

According to the Apple Daily, Yen Lin-ying, who has run the shop in a market in Banqiao District for 32 years, started asking customers in late March whether they would pay for noodles to give away to others after her son told her about the suspended coffee movement he saw on Facebook.

The response was surprisingly positive, she said.

In two weeks, customers have paid for more than 40 suspended bowls of noodles at NT$75 each, and half of the bowls have already been served to needy people who are just learning about the help she's offering.

Yen keeps track of suspended noodles on offer on a whiteboard in her shop.

Among those she has given food to are a single mother and her child who shared a bowl of noodles and an unemployed man who ordered the noodles to go so he could give them to his elderly mother at home.

Since she began the practice, two other food shops and three stalls in the market have also offered to provide their own versions of suspended service.

"I never imagined that a mere bowl of noodles could have such an impact," the 60-year-old was quoted as saying. She hopes the suspended noodles could help promote the power to do good so that more people can benefit, she said.

As in Italy, where the tradition of caffe sospeso has enjoyed a kind of revival because of hard economic times, poverty and hunger have become more common in Taiwan. Earlier this year, the New Taipei government began a program under which school children of low-income families can get food for free in neighborhood convenience stores.

Yen's initiative won widespread praise after the Apple Daily first reported her story Friday.


** Words
1. in honor of 向~致意；紀念 2. suspended coffee (義大利文= caffe sospeso)
3. resonate 共鳴 4. in advance 事先 5. reserve 儲存 6. afford 付得起
7. district 區 8. give away 贈送 9. response 回應 10. positive 正面的
11. unemployed 失業的 12. stall 攤位 13. version 版本 14. impact 影響
15. quote 引用 16. benefit 好處
17. caffe sospeso 只要多付一杯咖啡的前，就可以將溫暖傳遞給另一位負擔不起咖啡的人
18. revival 再流行 19. economic 經濟的 20. poverty 貧困 21. common 一般；普通
22. low-income 低收入 23. initiative 進取心 24. widespread 分佈 25. praise 讚美

** Grammars
1. For the past two weeks, a noodle shop in New Taipei has served noodles to people in need for free in honor of the Italian tradition of "caffe sospeso," or suspended coffee, and the practice is already resonating in other small businesses nearby.
() for the past/last + 一段時間: 過去(某一段時間)以來，用在現在完成式(have/has+pp)的時態裡
2. The soup noodles are in fact not free but paid for in advance by other customers so that they are reserved, or "suspended," for people who cannot afford the shop's fare.
() 為了~；如此一來~ : so that + 子句
() 關係代名詞(who)引導形容此子句，修飾前面的名詞people
3. In two weeks, customers have paid for more than 40 suspended bowls of noodles at NT$75 each, and half of the bowls have already been served to needy people who are just learning about the help she's offering.
() 現在完成被動: have/has been + pp
() 關係代名詞(who)引導形容此子句，修飾前面的名詞people
4. "I never imagined that a mere bowl of noodles could have such an impact," the 60-year-old was quoted as saying.
() 名詞子句: that + 完整子句
() 如此~: such + a/an + adj+ N / such + adj + 不可數名詞/複數名詞


我是歌手

Culture and influence (China Post)

The popularity of "I Am a Singer" was demonstrated by the amount of time major Taiwanese TV stations gave to broadcasting the show. In fact, news stations that broadcast the finale of the show have found themselves in deep water for doing so.

Cable news channels ETTV and CTi Television may each be fined due to their overnight broadcast of the TV show, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said. News channels are not supposed to devote so much of their programming to entertainment shows, and the coverage of the show also prevented the public from getting news reports, the NCC pointed out.

The two channels broadcast the last episode of "I Am a Singer" for as long as four hours, said the NCC, noting that it received complaints from viewers. Mainland China TV programs have to be sent to the Ministry of Culture for review before being broadcast, which did not happen in this case. This has led to concerns about China's growing cultural influence on Taiwan.

Of course, Taiwan has its own popular talent shows, but critics say local TV stations cannot afford to create a show like "I Am a Singer," which features stunning sound and lighting effects and movie-quality videos introducing singers' lives.

Noting that Hunan Satellite TV has invested heavily in making "I Am a Singer" such a huge success, Lung said Taiwan must consider how it can retain its creativity and competitiveness with the country's relatively small economy. Taiwan must work harder to keep its edge in the entertainment industry, she warned. "Will Taiwan retain its abundant talents in pop culture 30 years from now?" she asked. This is now a question that many people are asking


**Words
1. popularity 流行 2. demonstrate 展示 3. broadcasting 播放 4. finale 終場
5. fine 罰款 6. due to 由於 7. devote 致力於~ 8. entertainment 娛樂
9. coverage 覆蓋；新聞報導 10. prevent 預防 11. episode 集 12. ministry 全體閣員
13. concern 關心；關於 14. influence 影響 15. critics 批評 16. feature 以~為特色
17. stunning 令人震驚的 18. effect 效果 19. consider 認為；考慮 20. retain 保留
21. creativity 創造力 22. competitiveness 競爭力 23. relatively 相當 24. edge 邊緣
25. industry 工業 26. abundant 豐富的
** Grammar
1. In fact, news stations that broadcast the finale of the show have found themselves in deep water for doing so.
() in deep water 遭遇困難
() 關係代名詞that引導形容詞子句that broadcast the finale of the show，修飾之前的名詞news stations
2. News channels are not supposed to devote so much of their programming to entertainment shows, and the coverage of the show also prevented the public from getting news reports, the NCC pointed out.
() 應該: be suppose to + V
() 致力於~ ；奉獻~ : devote to + V-ing/N
() 避免~: prevent/keep ~ from ~
3. Of course, Taiwan has its own popular talent shows, but critics say local TV stations cannot afford to create a show like "I Am a Singer," which features stunning sound and lighting effects and movie-quality videos introducing singers' lives.
() 關係代名詞which引導形容詞子句which features stunning sound and lighting effects and movie-quality videos introducing singers' lives
() 現在分詞( V-ing)可當形容詞用，放在名詞後面做後位修飾，有主動或正在做~的意思