lingua franca

From NPR 下載聲音檔請點我 Life-Like Mannequins Inspire Real-Life Shoppers by Grace Hood In Colorado, a company says it can help retailers 零售商 boost 刺激 clothing sales 銷售 with more life-like 逼真 mannequins - you know, those custom-made 定製的 mannequins. These new ones are supposed to look like the real people who shop in stores, or at least look the way shoppers imagine themselves. From member station KUNC, Grace Hood has more on this marketing tactic 行銷策略 and whether it's working. GRACE HOOD: In this economy, getting customers to walk to the cash register takes real work, sometimes magic. HOOD: In this Southern California Disney Store, an employee helps a young customer wave a purple wand 棒 at a talking mirror. It's part of the store's redesign, which includes playful, child-size mannequins that encourage shoppers to interact with the merchandise. The mannequins appear to curtsey 屈膝的 , jump after balloons and in some stores, fly. Ms. TERRI COOPER: They definitel...

From NPR 下載聲音檔請點我 打呼伴隨呼吸中止是很嚴重的問題 目前最有效的治療方式 是配戴呼吸器強迫患者在睡眠時規律呼吸 其實照片中這種呼吸器已經是改良版 我看過第一代的照片 非常駭人 感覺上好像不戴還好 戴了才會呼吸中止的感覺 這篇文章考過聽力填空了 有興趣研究的同學可以下載說明版的Transcript 再回頭研讀一番 記住喔 每天一篇NPR 是維持英文實力法寶 Sleep Apnea and breathing treatment From NPR MELISSA BLOCK, host: People with sleep apnea have trouble breathing during the night. The most common treatment is a machine that keeps them breathing regularly . And it turns out they have to use it every night . As NPR's Patti Neighmond reports, researchers from Switzerland find that just one night off the machine brings the symptoms rushing back. PATTI NEIGHMOND: For Bill Peters, being diagnosed with sleep apnea was a good thing. A self-described obnoxious snorer 惡劣的打呼者 , his wife couldn't get a good night's sleep even if she slept on another floor of their home. As a lawyer and lobbyist, Peters had to get all his work done in the morning. By the afternoon , he was too tired. BILL PETERS: I could not sit do...

婚姻原本是件美好的事 但是如果你也年過三十 還是單身 千萬別沮喪 生命的美好在於它本身有許多選項 婚姻不是人生的唯一 這則新聞是去年發生的舊聞 一個台灣女子選擇辦一場單人婚禮 成為標準的自婚族 她並非女性主義者she is neither a feminist 也不討厭男性nor is she a misandrist(討厭男性的女人， 反義字為mysogynist就是討厭女人的男人) 這個三十多歲的單身女人 決定辦一場婚禮 跟自己結婚 這個婚禮跟一般的婚禮沒兩樣 只是現場沒新郎 沒有愛情也要過得好 這是非常正面的態度 這篇文章我整理過了 (意即幫各位處理好單字與難解的句型了) 祝大家閱讀愉快 另外 我靈機一動 寫了一篇自婚的婚禮誓詞 A Self-marriage Wedding Vows 跟大家分享 自婚誓言 I, (你的名字) take myself to be my faithful partner, my constant friend, and my love from this day forward. In the presence of God, our family and friends, I offer myself this solemn vow to be my own faithful companion in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. I promise to love myself unconditionally, to support myself in my own goals, to always honor and respect myself, to laugh and cry happily alone, and to proudly cherish my own existence for as long as I shall live. Woman marries herself in full wedding ce...