台中洋碩美語 makes our lives valuable

在臉書上按讚看似一件輕而易舉的事，不過如果把按讚變成一種工作，恐怕不是件有趣的事了!


How low-paid workers at 'click farms' create appearance of online popularity (血汗工廠專門在臉書上按讚衝人氣)

How much do you like courgettes? According to one Facebook page devoted to them, hundreds of people find them delightful enough to click the "like" button.

你有多喜歡南瓜呢? 根據一個南瓜產品的臉書專頁，有數百人在此按讚。

There's just one problem: the liking was fake, done by a team of low-paid workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, whose boss demanded just $15 per thousand "likes" at his "click farm". Workers punching the keys might be on a three-shift system, and be paid as little as $120 a year.
不過這當中有個問題: 這些按讚的帳號都是假的，全是出自孟加拉一群廉價勞工之手。他們的老闆要求他們在臉書上按1千個讚才能賺取15美金。這些員工的工作可能採三班制，一年年薪只有120美金(約台幣$3600)

Click farms have become a growing challenge for companies which rely on social media measurements – meant to indicate approval by real users – to estimate the popularity of their products.

現在有越來越多公司倚賴社群網站來增加曝光率，許多公司會透過其臉書上的讚來評估自家產品的受歡迎程度。

For the workers, though, it is miserable work, sitting at screens in dingy rooms facing a blank wall, and sometimes working through the night. For that, they could have to generate 1,000 likes or follow 1,000 people on Twitter to earn a single US dollar.

然而對這家公司的員工來說，這卻是項非常痛苦的工作。他們必須坐在昏暗的房間裡面對著螢幕不停按讚，有時還必須熬夜工作。而如果他們能在推特(twitter)上累積1千個讚或追蹤1千個人，才只能賺到1美金。

Dhaka-registered Shareyt.com, meanwhile, claims to act as a middleman to connect companies seeking to boost their profile on Facebook, Twitter, Google +1, LinkedIn and YouTube.

這間位於孟加拉的Shareyt.com公司的主要業務是幫各公司在其臉書、推特、Google+、LinkedIn 及Youtube專頁上衝人氣。
"We made it as simple as mouse-clicking," the front page of the site says, claiming that it is "a crowd-sourcing platform to help you improve social media presence and search engine ranking FREE".

該公司的首頁上寫著"提高您的產品知名度就像按滑鼠一樣輕鬆"，"這個群眾外包(crowd-sourcing)的平台能幫您提升在社群網站上的能見度及搜尋引擎的排名，且是免費的喔!"

 Shareyt.com has now seen Facebook and Twitter prevent links to the site being posted on their networks. Twitter bans "fake followers" or the buying of followers. 

不過目前臉書及推特已開始封鎖來自Shareyt.com的連結。推特也禁止"假粉絲"或購買粉絲帳號的行為。

如果蓋好摩天大樓，才發現不能使用電梯，會不會是很瞎的事? 這事情真的在西班牙發生了!!
 
Benidorm's white elephant woe: Spanish skyscraper going up — but without an elevator?

If you are thinking of investing in an apartment at the Intempo skyscraper in Benidorm, Spain, be prepared to bring some good walking shoes: Its builders forgot a working elevator.
如果你想在西班牙的貝尼多爾姆市InTempo住宅大樓買房子，你最好準備幾雙耐用的鞋子。因為這棟大樓的建商忘了設計可用的電梯! 

According to a story surfaced on Gizmodo, the luxury high-rise tower, which started construction in 2007, was originally designed for 20 floors. But the the developers decided to push the design to include 47 floors with 269 homes. When completed, it will be Benidorm’s highest building at 650 feet.
根據美國科技媒體Gizmodo報導，這棟自2007年動工的的豪華大樓，原本只有設計蓋20層樓。但開發商卻更改設計圖，把建築物提高47層樓，可容納267個家庭。這棟大樓完工後，將會是當地最高的建築物，高達650英呎 (約200公尺)，不過現在卻成為一個笑柄。

There seemed to be just one important oversight: In going up to 47 floors, designers forgot to take into account room for an elevator shaft. El Pais reports that the architects on the project resigned in May 2012.
這一切就在於一個重大疏失: 設計師竟忘記幫加高的47樓層預留電梯空間。該項設計師也已在2012年五月辭職。

The building “represents a long story of incompetence,” according to El Pais. The coastal town had a building
boom that led to the nickname “Beniyork” for its skyline of high-rises.
根據西班牙"國家報"報導，這棟大樓有"多處不合格"。由於大樓激增，也讓這個小鎮標榜自己是"地中海的紐約"。

But then the recession hit. Intempo’s developer, which had once advertised the building as the “banner of the future,” and the bank that provided the loan for construction both went bankrupt in 2009. The building has cost €100 million so far.
不過隨之而來的經濟衰退延緩了進度項目。InTempo的建商原本想讓這棟大樓成為"引領未來的象徵"，不過當初提供借貸的銀行卻相繼在2009破產。到目前為止，這棟大樓目前約耗資1億歐元。

Already 35 percent of the apartments have been sold to international buyers. The building is 95 percent complete, and it is expected to be done by spring 2014.
大樓中35%已出售給國際買家。該樓近95%完工，預計在2014年春天落成。

•   新聞字彙  
white elephant  大而無用的東西  
high-rise 大廈  
take into account 把...列入考量
skyline (建築物在天空映襯下的)輪廓線
recession (經濟)衰退     
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Southern Taiwan students take to feet to oppose 4th nuke plant
Six students, from National Sun Yat-sen University and National University of Kaohsiung  initiated the campaign to walk from the southern tip of Taiwan to Kaohsiung,  in time to take part in an anti-nuclear rally in the city on March 9.
日前來自中山大學及高雄大學的六位學生發起了一個廢核行腳團，從台灣最南端走到高雄，並希望能來得及參加在3月9日舉辦的反核大遊行。

這幾個禮拜以來，最為大家討論的話題莫過於世界棒球經典賽了!

雖然中華隊最後無緣晉級，但這次賽中的傑出表現再次帶動台灣的棒球熱!

最近這股熱潮也引起媒體討論。

★Wed.新聞時事英文★
最近印度發生一名女大學生遭受性暴力不治身亡的事件，導致印度舉國激憤。「華盛頓郵報」最近以專文分析印度性暴力問題其來有自，看完真不禁慶幸我們是生在安全幸福的台灣!!

10 reasons why India has a sexual violence problem
The case of a 23-year-old medical student who died after a brutal gang rape on a bus in   has seemed to snap India to attention about its endemic sexual violence problem. Hundreds of Indians poured into the streets of New Delhi to mourn the young woman, and police announced that the six men arrested in connection with the attack had been charged with murder.
一名23歲的醫學院學生在新德里遭受輪暴及殘酷虐待後身亡。這起悲劇讓印度人關注起該國存在已久的性暴力問題。數以百計的印度民眾湧上新德里街頭為這名年輕女孩哀悼。警方宣佈已逮捕參與這起謀殺案的六名兇嫌。

In recent years, New Delhi has earned the title of “rape capital” of India, with more than 560 cases of rape reported in the city, but violence against Indian women is widespread and has deep roots. Here’s a look at some of the reasons behind the issue that’s bringing Indians into the streets:
近幾年，新德里被冠上"強暴首都"的惡名。在城內所通報的強暴案件數量就超過560筆，但長期以來，印度婦女所遭受暴力對待事件早就屢見不鮮。以下是幾個原因:

1. Few female police (女警稀少)
2. Not enough police in general (警員整體人力不足)
3. Blaming provocative clothing (怪罪女性衣著挑逗)
4. Acceptance of domestic violence (接受家暴)
5. A lack of public safety (缺乏公共安全)
6. Stigmatizing the victim (污名化受害者)
7. Encouraging rape victims to compromise (鼓勵強暴受害者妥協)
8. A sluggish court system (法庭系統不彰)
9. Few convictions (定罪率低)
10. Low status of women (女性地位低)

新聞字彙:
sexual violence 性暴力
rape 強暴
endemic 常見的
provocative 煽動的
domestic violence 家庭暴力
stigmatize 污辱
compromise 妥協讓步
sluggish 虛弱的

★Wed.新聞時事英文★
自今年元旦起，國內民生政策有了多項重大變革，除了勞健保費率調漲外，交通部也將對低頭族開罰嘍!
Motorists' grace period for anti-mobile device law nearly up.

隨著「哈佛小子」林書豪迅速竄紅，因他而誕生的單字「Linsanity」(林來瘋) 也激發了球迷與媒體們以Lin-為首的創意造字運動，如Linpossible (林可能), Linderella(林灰姑娘), Lincredible(林神奇)等。球迷們的想像力真是令人嘆為觀止。