- How to Exercise From the Comfort of Your Couch
- Nearly 1 in 10 Teens Worldwide Have Used Ineffective and Potentially Harmful Weight-loss Products, Study Estimates
- A Visual Guide to Taiwan’s High-stakes Presidential Election
- Taiwan is about to Choose Its New President. What’s at Stake and How Might China Respond?
- Oceans Break Heat Records Five Years in a Row
- Why Did the World’s Biggest Ape Go Extinct?
How to Exercise From the Comfort of Your Couch
如何在舒適的沙發上鍛鍊身體
Health
Our bodies are designed for movement in three planes of motion: sagittal (front to back), frontal (side to side) and transverse (rotating). For a more effective couch workout, I recommend doing exercises that take you through all planes.
Couch-elevated push-up
Push-ups are a great sagittal plane exercise for strengthening your core, chest, shoulders and arms.
Single-leg couch squat
This squatting exercise is also in the sagittal plane. The movement works your glute muscles, legs and core while also improving your balance.
Seated pillow twist
Twisting exercises like this one take place in the transverse plane and promote mid-back mobility while also activating your core muscles, especially the ones on either side of your torso, known as obliques.
Couch-lying leg lift
This side-lying exercise covers the frontal plane and is great for strengthening your outer hip.
--from CNN
我們的身體是為在三個運動平面上運動而設計的：矢狀面（從前到後）、額狀面（從一側到另一側）和橫向（旋轉）。為了使沙發鍛煉更能達到效果，我建議您進行全平面的鍛煉。
沙發抬高伏地挺身
俯臥撐是一種很好的矢狀面運動，可以增強你的核心、胸部、肩膀和手臂。
單腳沙發深蹲
這個深蹲練習也是在矢狀面進行的。這項運動可以鍛鍊您的臀部肌肉、腿部和核心肌群，同時也能提升您的平衡力。
坐姿枕頭扭轉
像這樣的扭轉練習是在橫向平面上進行的，可以促進中背部的靈活性，同時也激活你的核心肌肉，尤其是軀幹兩側的肌肉，即斜背肌。
躺在沙發上抬腿
這項側臥運動涵蓋額狀面，非常適合增強髖部外側的力量。
-- 摘錄翻譯自 CNN
Nearly 1 in 10 Teens Worldwide Have Used Ineffective and Potentially Harmful Weight-loss Products, Study Estimates
研究估計，全球近十分之一的青少年使用過無效且可能有害的減肥產品
Health
Adolescents worldwide, especially girls, have used non-prescribed drugs, dietary supplements and other weight-loss products at a “high level,” according to a new analysis. Based on a review of dozens of studies over the past four decades, researchers estimate that about 9% of adolescents in the general population have used over-the-counter weight-loss products in their lifetime, about half of whom had used them in the past month. Diet pills were the most common products, used by about 6% of adolescents in their lifetime, followed by about 4% who used laxatives and 2% who used diuretics. These products are risky to both the physical and mental health of children, and they’re not medically recommended for healthy weight maintenance. Previous research has linked the use of non-prescribed weight-loss products to eating disorders, low self-esteem, depression and substance abuse in teens. They have also been associated with poor nutritional intake in adolescence and unhealthy weight gain in adulthood.
--from CNN
一項新的分析顯示，世界各地的青少年，尤其是女孩，「大量」使用非處方藥、膳食補充劑和其他減肥產品。 根據對過去40年數十項研究的回顧，研究人員估計，一般人群中約9%的青少年在其一生中使用過非處方減肥產品，其中約一半的人在過去一個月中使用。減肥藥是最常見的產品，約6%的青少年一生中使用過，其次是約4%的人使用瀉藥，2%的人使用利尿劑。 這些產品對兒童的身心健康都有風險，而且醫學上不建議將它們用於維持體重。先前的研究已將使用非處方減肥產品與青少年進食障礙、自卑、憂鬱和藥物濫用聯結。它們也與青春期營養攝取不足和成年期不健康的體重增加有關。
--摘錄翻譯自CNN
A Visual Guide to Taiwan’s High-stakes Presidential Election
台灣高風險總統大選的視覺指南
Culture
Voters will head to the polls in Taiwan on January 13 to elect a new president and parliament amid increasing tensions between the self-governing island and China, which has ramped up its military presence in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea in recent years. Taiwanese voters will choose a new leader to succeed Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female president who is finishing her second term after winning elections in 2016 and 2020. Tsai is a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is loathed by China’s Communist leaders because it views Taiwan as a sovereign nation – instead of being part of China as claimed by Beijing. She cannot run again due to term limits. Past elections After shaking off decades of KMT-imposed martial law, Taiwan held its first direct presidential election in 1996. Since then, only candidates from the two major parties – the KMT and the DPP – have captured the presidency. Taiwan’s presidential elections are won by simple majority of votes and take place every four years. The presidency has a two-term limit.
-- from CNN
台灣選民將於1月13日進行投票，選舉新總統和立法委員，而台灣與中國之間的緊張關係日益加劇，中國近年來加強了在台灣海峽和南中國海的軍事存在。 台灣選民將選出一位新領導人來接替蔡英文，她是台灣第一位女總統，在2016年和2020年贏得選舉後，即將結束第二任期。蔡英文是民進黨(DPP)的成員，而民進黨受到中國大陸共產黨領導人的厭惡，因為民進黨認為台灣是一個主權國家，而不是像北京聲稱是中國的一部分。由於任期限制，她無法再次參選。 過去的選舉 在擺脫了國民黨實施數十年的戒嚴之後，台灣於1996年舉行了第一次總統直選。此後，只有來自國民黨和民進黨這兩個主要政黨的候選人贏得了總統寶座。 台灣總統選舉以簡單多數票獲勝，每四年舉行一次，總統有兩屆的任期限制。
--摘錄翻譯自CNN
Taiwan is about to Choose Its New President. What’s at Stake and How Might China Respond?
台灣即將選出新總統。 有什麼利害關係以及中國將如何應對？
Culture
All eyes will be on Taiwan this Saturday as voters choose a new leader under the shadow of an increasingly assertive China that has spent the past eight years ramping up its threats toward the self-ruled island. The world will be watching to see not only who wins the election, but how democratic Taiwan’s authoritarian neighbor will respond. There, Xi Jinping – China’s most powerful leader in a generation – has called Taiwan’s unification with the mainland “a historical inevitability,” to be achieved by force if necessary. The last time Taiwan had a change of government – when the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came to power in 2016 – Beijing cut off most communications with Taipei and significantly increased economic, diplomatic and military pressure on the island in the ensuing years, turning the Taiwan Strait into one of the world’s major geopolitical flash points.
--from CNN
本週六，所有目光都將集中在台灣，因為選民將在中國的陰影下選出新領導人，過去八年來，中國不斷加大對這個自治島嶼的威脅。 全世界不僅關注誰贏得選舉，也關注民主台灣的鄰國將如何因應。在那裡，中國最有權勢的領導人習近平聲稱，台灣與大陸的統一是｢歷史的必然」，必要時可以通過武力實現。 台灣上一次政府更迭是在2016年執政的民進黨(DPP)上台時，北京切斷了與台北的大部分通訊，並在隨後的幾年裡大幅增加了對台灣的經濟、外交和軍事壓力，使台灣局勢發生變化。台灣海峽成為世界主要地緣政治熱點之一。
--摘錄翻譯自CNN
Oceans Break Heat Records Five Years in a Row
海洋連續五年打破高溫紀錄
Sciences
The world’s oceans absorbed more heat in 2023 than in any other year since records began, according to a paper released today (see ‘Hotter and hotter’). The findings are the latest update of an annual study led by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. The researchers say that the oceans have been warming at record-breaking rates every year since 2019. A total of 34 scientists from 19 research organizations in 5 countries participated in the research. Cheng Lijing, an oceanographer at the IAP and the lead author of the paper, says that the findings reflect the growing amount of human-generated greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. “The oceans store 90% of the excess heat in the Earth’s system. As long as the level of greenhouse gases remains relatively high in the atmosphere, the oceans will keep absorbing energy, leading to the increase of the heat in the oceans.”
--from Nature
根據今天發布的一篇論文，2023年世界海洋吸收的熱量比有史以來的任何年度都多（參見「越來越熱」）。 這是中國科學院大氣物理研究所（IAP）所帶領的年度最新研究發現。研究人員表示，自2019年以來，海洋每年都在以破紀錄的速度變暖。共有來自5個國家19個研究機構的34名科學家參與了這項研究。 論文的主要作者、也是IAP 海洋學家Cheng Lijing,表示，這些發現反映出人類在大氣中產生的溫室氣體數量不斷增加。「海洋儲存了地球系統 90% 的多餘熱量。 只要大氣中溫室氣體的含量保持在較高程度，海洋就會不斷吸收能量，導致海洋熱量增加。”
--摘錄翻譯自Nature
Why Did the World’s Biggest Ape Go Extinct?
世界上最大的類人猿為何滅絕？
Sciences
The world’s biggest primate might have gone extinct because it couldn’t reach the most nutritious fruits, according to a study published today in Nature. The paper also offers clues on why the giant ape’s contemporary, an ancient orangutan, continued to thrive almost 300,000 years ago as the environment changed. With an estimated height of 3 metres and weighing a hefty 200–300 kilograms, Gigantopithecus blacki was the largest primate to ever roam Earth. Anthropologist Ralph von Koenigswald discovered one of the ape’s massive teeth in a Hong Kong apothecary nearly 90 years ago. Since then, researchers have unearthed four jawbones and roughly 2,000 more teeth in caves scattered across China — but no other parts of a skeleton have been found. The scant fossil evidence has made it notoriously difficult to build an accurate picture of G. blacki, let alone the circumstances that led to its disappearance, says study co-author Kira Westaway, a geochronologist at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. “We just don’t know much about it,” she says.
--from Nature
根據今天發表在《自然》期刊上的一項研究，世界上最大的靈長類動物可能已經絕種，因為它無法獲得最營養的水果。 這篇論文也提供了一些線索，解釋為什麼巨猿的當代同類——一種古老的紅毛猩猩——在近30 萬年前隨著環境的變化而繼續繁衍生息。 Gigantopithecus blacki被估計身高3米，體重 200-300公斤，是地球上有史以來最大的靈長類動物。近90年前，人類學家Ralph von Koenigswald 在香港一家藥材店發現了一顆猿猴的巨大牙齒。此後，研究人員在中國各地的洞穴中挖掘了4塊下顎骨和大約2000顆牙齒，但尚未發現骨骼的其他部分。該研究的共同作者、澳洲雪梨麥考瑞大學的地質年代學家Kira Westaway 表示，化石證據的匱乏使得準確描繪G. blacki 的圖像變得非常困難，更不用說導致其消失的情況了。｢我們對此了解不多」她說。
--摘錄翻譯自Nature