通勤學英語 15Mins Today

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K337: Not using a password manager? Here’s why you should be…   In a competitive field, passwords are one of the worst things about the Internet. Long and complex passwords are more secure but difficult to remember, leaving many people using weak and easy-to-guess credentials. One study by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) revealed how millions are using their pet’s n...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K336: About UK - London’s smallest microflat sells for 80% above asking price   A 7-square-metre microflat, cramming in a bed, toilet, shower, sink and a microwave tucked under the pillow, has sold for 80% above its minimum listing price at £90,000. 一間7平方公尺的微型公寓，以比開出的底價高80％的9萬英鎊售出；這間微型公寓塞進一張床、廁所、淋浴間、水槽和一台收在枕頭下方的微波爐。 Th...

Topic: In Britain, Rising Prices and Shortages Evoke 1970s-Style Jitters   Long lines at gas stations, rising fuel prices, empty shelves in supermarkets and worries about runaway inflation. 加油站大排長龍，燃料價格上漲，超市貨架空無一物，大家憂心通貨膨脹失控。 Britons have emerged from 18 months of pandemic-imposed hibernation to find their country has many of the same afflictions it had during th...

Elden Ring 艾爾登法環   Elden Ring  is an action role-playing game played in a third-person perspective with gameplay focusing on combat and exploration. Director Hidetaka Miyazaki explained that players start with a linear opening but eventually progress to freely explore the Lands Between, including its six main areas, as well as castles, fortresses, and catacombs scattered throughout the open w...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K335: Ukraine? Putin’s Bigger Fear May Lie in Poland   Tomasz Czescik, a Polish archaeologist and television journalist, walks his dog each morning through a forest near his home here on NATO’s eastern flank, wandering along the edge of a green chain-link fence topped with razor wire. 波蘭考古學家和電視記者 Tomasz Czescik 每天早上都會​​帶著他的狗穿過他家附近的森林，這裡位於北約東...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K334: Pollution causing more deaths than COVID, action needed, says UN expert   Pollution by states and companies is contributing to more deaths globally than COVID-19, a UN environmental report published on Tuesday last week said, calling for “immediate and ambitious action” to ban some toxic chemicals. 上周二發佈的一份聯合國環境報告稱，國家和公司的污染導致全球死亡人數超過COVID-1...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K333: Enemy at the gates: The background to the Ukraine crisis   At the core of the Ukraine crisis is a puzzle: Why would Russian President Vladimir Putin push Europe to the brink of war to demand the West not do something that it has no plan to do anyway? Russia says NATO, the American-led alliance that has on its hands the biggest European crisis in decades, must never offer mem...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K332: About Thailand - Woman cut rope holding painters 26 floors high   A resident of a high-rise condominium in Thailand cut the support rope for two painters, apparently angry she wasn’t told they would be doing work, and left them hanging above the 26th floor. 泰國一棟高層公寓大廈的一名住戶，剪斷2名外牆油漆工的支撐繩索，讓他們懸吊在26樓高，顯然是對未被告知施工一事動怒。 The wom...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K331: Cherokee on a smartphone: Part of a drive to save a language   By itself, being able to read smartphone home screens in Cherokee won’t be enough to safeguard the Indigenous language, endangered after a long history of erasure. But it might be a step toward immersing younger tribal citizens in the language spoken by a dwindling number of their elders. 能夠閱讀切諾基的智能手機...

Topic: Can Germany’s New Chancellor Revive the Left in Europe?   Last December, as he was plotting what most considered to be a hopeless bid to become Germany’s next chancellor, Olaf Scholz interrupted his campaign preparations for a video call with an American philosopher. 去年12月，蕭茲策畫競選德國下任總理，被多數人認為毫無希望之際，他為了與一名美國哲學教授視訊通話而暫停參選準備工作。 Scholz, a...

Suck (verb)   字典內容： https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suck#suck-it-up   Definition定義: a: to draw (something, such as liquid) into the mouth through a suction force produced by movements of the lips and tongue - sucked milk from his mother's breast b: to draw something from or consume by such movements - suck an orange suck a lollipop c: to apply the mouth to in order to or as if to...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K330: About food - Food is more expensive than it has been in decades     Bad news for American consumers: It’s getting more expensive to dine out, and it’s getting more expensive to eat at home. 美國消費者有一個壞消息：在外用餐愈來愈貴，在家吃也愈來愈貴。 Restaurant prices spiked 5.8% over the 12 months ending in November without seasonal adjustments, the Bureau of Labor Statisti...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K329: About animals - Treating wounds with insects: the strange habits of Gabon chimps   How to treat a wound? For humans, the first instinct would be to disinfect it and then cover it with a bandage. But chimpanzees have invented a more creative method: catching insects and applying them directly to the open wound. 應該如何處理傷口呢？對於人類來說，第一個反應是對其進行消毒，然後...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K328: Online scammer sold electronic gadgets, sent rotten bananas   A man surnamed Fang has been charged with concocting several nicknames to sell consumer electronics goods on social networking platforms concerned with second-hand items such as cellphones and game consoles. After one of his victims remitted payment for a graphics card, the buyer actually received a bunch of banan...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K327: How European Royals Once Shared Their Most Important Secrets   To safeguard the most important royal correspondence against snoops and spies in the 16th century, writers employed a complicated means of security. They’d fold the letter, then cut a dangling strip, using that as an improvised thread to sew stitches that locked the letter and turned the flat writing paper into i...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K326: About NFT - Bored Ape NFT worth $284,495 accidentally sells for just $2,844   A distracted trader accidentally sold a non-fungible token (NFT) for a hundredth of its market price. 一位分心的虛擬幣交易員意外地以市價百分之一的價格賣出一枚非同質化代幣（ NFT ）。 NFTs are the latest cryptocurrency phenomenon to go mainstream. In the simplest terms, NFTs transform digital works o...

Topic: Water-Stressed India Seeks a Tap for Every Home   The pipes are laid, the taps installed and the village tank is under construction — all promising signs that, come spring, Girja Ahriwar will get water at her doorstep and finally shed a lifelong burden. 管子鋪好，水龍頭裝好，村子的水槽正在建造。這些充滿希望的跡象顯示，春季來臨時，吉爾嘉．艾里瓦可以在家門口取到水，而且終於解除長期以來的負擔...

Reference article from Business Insider : Questions to kickstart meaningful conversations with new people If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? 如果你可以改變世界上的一件事，那會是什麼？ This question can reveal where someone stands with their passions or social causes they care about.   Alternative / 也可以說: If you could only keep one thing in the world, what would it be...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K325: Leftists Replacing Right-Wing Leaders Across Latin America   In the final weeks of 2021, Chile and Honduras voted decisively for leftist presidents to replace leaders on the right, extending a significant, multiyear shift across Latin America. 在2021年的最後幾周，智利和宏都拉斯果斷地投票支援 左翼總統取代右翼領導人，延續 了整個拉丁美洲長達數年的重大轉變。 This year, leftist p...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K324: Billionaires and Big Checks Shape Battle for Congress   Billionaires cut giant checks to super PACs. Small donors gave online in mass quantities. And both political parties announced record-setting hauls in 2021. 億萬富翁向超級政治行動委員會削減巨額支票。小捐助者在網上大量捐贈數量。兩個政黨都宣布了 2021 年創紀錄的成果。 The 2022 midterm elections were awash in political mone...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K323: ‘Baby Shark’ becomes first video with 10 bn views   Hit children’s song “Baby Shark Dance” has set a new record by becoming the first YouTube video with 10 billion views. The catchy singalong by Pinkfong, a South Korean educational brand, was uploaded in June 2016. The song is so popular that it has inspired celebrity singalongs around the world and been adapted into an anim...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K322: Ex-official: Space station ‘largely isolated’ from tensions   Tensions in eastern Ukraine and heightened Western fears of a Russian invasion should not have a significant impact on the International Space Station or US-Russia cooperation in space, the former head of the National Space Council told The Associated Press. 烏克蘭東部的緊張局勢以及西方對俄羅斯入侵的擔憂加劇，不應...

每日英語跟讀 Ep. K321: With new home for strays, Keelung pushes pet-friendly plans   Keelung City Government has in recent years been promoting animal-friendly city policies. To reduce the number of stray dogs, it has been promoting measures such as pet registration, birth control and vaccinations. Statistics from the end of last year show that the number of registered pets in the city had reached...

Topic: Restaurants Have Lavish Setups for Outdoor Winter Dining   A Latin fusion restaurant in Queens will serve crispy arepa cups and ropa vieja at an outdoor dining chalet with rustic wood beams and sparkling chandeliers. 紐約皇后區一間拉丁無國界料理餐廳，將在有鄉村風木梁和閃亮枝形吊燈的戶外用餐木屋裡，提供杯裝的酥脆玉米餅和燉手撕牛肉。 In the Bronx, an Italian place has winter-proofed its back...

主題: 食物相關慣用語 Food related idioms   COOL AS A CUCUMBER 冷靜 Meaning: This is another way to say that someone is calm and composed. Example: "The exam is next week and I'm as cool as a cucumber."   BIG CHEESE 大人物 Meaning: An influential person. Example: "Tony is the boss of the whole sales and marketing department. He is a big cheese."   BRING HOME THE BACON 賺錢回家 Meaning: The person w...