關於 halt hold ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

Chingay Parade 2020 was one of our last major events before COVID-19 brought large gatherings to a halt. One year later, we still can’t hold the usual street parade. But obstacles can also be opportunities to try something new!

I was among 150 guests who watched Chingay 2021, our first-ever Digital Chingay, at the Mediacorp theatre last night. Many more tuned in on TV or via the internet. Chingay Parades of years past may have featured fancy floats and large contingents of performers. But this year’s format was refreshing and original, including more performances by members of the community, and friends from ASEAN! I applaud the People’s Association on a captivating reimagining of the show!

If you missed it, you can rewatch the show here (another benefit of the new format!): https://fb.watch/3NsWE5h_vs/ What did you think of the Digital Chingay? – LHL

【每日國際選讀】
#文末挑戰多益選擇題📝
不敵疫情，太陽劇團申請破產保護
Cirque du Soleil Files for Bankruptcy Protection

開啟「接收通知」和「搶先看」每天吸收雙語時事新知
來讀華爾街日報獨家


🎪Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada on Monday, in an effort to salvage a circus business that’s ground to a halt because of the coronavirus pandemic.
太陽劇團娛樂集團於週一（6/29）在加拿大申請破產保護，試圖挽救因新冠疫情而停滯不前的馬戲事業。

-salvage: 打撈、搶救，形容從沉船或即將全毀的事物中進行救援
-halt: 停下、中止


🎭The company said it would lay off almost 3,500 employees who have been furloughed since March, leaving it with a core team of 213 people. The company is seeking to restructure its business and re-emerge with government support and less debt.
太陽劇團表示將解僱近3500名從三月起便被迫休假的員工，留下213人的核心團隊，該公司在尋求靠政府支持與減少債務以重建事業及復出。

-lay off: 解僱、遣散
-furlough: 休假、放假
-re-emerge: 重新出現


🤹‍♀️Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil has been forced to shut 44 shows world-wide this year as the Covid-19 pandemic spread, causing virtually its entire income stream to dry up. It currently has one show back running China, and hopes to have a dinner show resume in Mexico in July.
總部位於蒙特婁的太陽劇團今年因新冠肺炎疫情蔓延而被迫中止全球的44場表演，導致幾乎所有收入來源枯竭。他們目前在中國重開一齣劇目，並希望7月在墨西哥恢復一齣晚宴秀。

-virtually: 幾乎、實際上
-dry up: 乾涸、中斷
-resume: 恢復、重新開始，當名詞的用法可指「履歷」


🎟With shows like The Beatles Love, Michael Jackson One and Blue Man Group on indefinite hold, the company was forced in March to defer interest payments on some of its roughly $1.5 billion of outstanding debt shortly after hiring investment bank Greenhill & Co. Inc. to restructure its balance sheet.
由於《LOVE披頭四音樂秀》、《麥可傑克森ONE》、《藍人樂團》等劇目無限期停演，太陽劇團在三月聘請投資銀行格林希爾公司重組資產負債表不久後，便被迫延後支付其15億美金未償債務的部分利息。

-indefinite: 不確定的、無限期的
-defer: 推遲、延緩
-restructure: 重組、重建，重新架構（structure）


未完待續...
太陽劇團能東山再起嗎？
加入文末每日國際選讀計畫，解鎖完整語音導讀版

——
原文連結請看留言
——

❓❓多益模擬題❓:
Due to COVID-19, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games had been ＿＿ ＿＿.
因新冠疫情的影響，東京2020奧林匹克運動會無限期中止。
🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️
A. halting / indefinite
B. cancelled / indefinitely
C. halted / indefinitely
-
【每日商業英文計畫，熱烈招生中！】
華爾街日報訂閱超值方案 📰
專屬 #臉書社團，浩爾 #每日語音導讀
「留言+1」，就送你 #優惠碼 及 #導讀試聽！

On the 16th of February I received a message from an old Taiwanese student of mine. The message said:
二月十六日，我收到了一位我以前的台灣學生的來信：

“How’s corona virus in the UK? I just saw it on the news…. Taiwan really benefited a lot from not trusting China…”
“英國的新冠狀病毒情況如何？ 我剛看到新聞，不信任中國真的是做對了”

As each day passes this message becomes truer and truer.
隨著一天天的過去，這個對話變得越來越真實

The part my student didn’t know was that the UK would be punished so terribly for being so naive in its dealings with China,
他不知道的是，英國天真地繼續與中國打交道會受到如此嚴厲的懲罰

I now fear the worst is yet to come.
我擔心最糟糕的時刻才要到來了而已

It is now March the 20th.
今天是三月二十日

The death roll rises with the infection rate rising by 33% everyday.
死亡人數快速增加，感染率每天也多33％

The newspapers say we are 13 days behind Italy.
報紙說我們只差意大利13天

The schools have been shut and the streets are empty.
學校已經關閉，街道空無一人

We are preparing for self isolation.
我們正準備做居家自我隔離

Supermarkets are being emptied and there is talk of London being locked down.
超市被清空，有傳言稱倫敦將被封城

I sit at home in self isolation watching the Taiwanese news on youtube and it looks like a glimpse of a parallel universe.
我坐在家裡看著Youtube上的台灣新聞，像是一瞥的平行宇宙

As I write this Taiwan only has 108 confirmed infections with only one death…
目前台灣確診人數是108，只有一個人過世...

Britain’s death toll has now reached 144 and infections are now at 3269…
英國確診人數到了3269 ，死亡人數為144

The infection rate seems amazingly low. It’s as if taiwan has dodged a bullet.
台灣的感染率極低人人彷彿像在閃子彈般對待這病毒。

Taiwan is a small island off the coast of China with a population of 23 million many of whom work and live in China
台灣是中國大陸之外的一個小島，擁有約2300萬人口。其中許多台灣人在中國工作和生活，台灣的人口約佔英國的三分之一

Britain is the other side of the world and has a population of 67 million - very few of which work and live in China.
英國是世界的另一端，人口約為6700萬，其中很少有人在中國工作和生活

This should have been easy for us and hard for Taiwan.
相較之下，防疫對我們來說應該是容易的才對

How could Taiwan have got it so right and the UK have got it so wrong?
台灣的防疫是如何做得這麼好，而英國又怎麼會讓疫情一塌糊塗？

There is a long list of smart decisions Taiwan made to prevent the virus coming in and to stop it spreading.
台灣為防止新型冠狀病毒入侵、擴散，早在開頭時就果斷做出了一系列明智的決策

The closing of its border, the temperature checks.
關閉邊界 ，公開場域實施溫度檢測

The face masks not being allowed to leave the country.
政府禁止台灣的口罩出口一個月

As early as the 15th of February Taiwan was not allowing flights from wuhan.
早在2月15日，台灣就不允許武漢的班機入境

As early as January Taiwan had halted all entry of Chinese citizens and put all visa applications on hold.
而早在一月底，台灣就暫緩受理了中國大陸人士的觀光簽證，並將以發入台許可證的日期延後了

By the end of January all Taiwanese travel to China had been stopped.
在一月底也全面暫停了台灣旅行團前往中國大陸旅遊

In early February Taiwan was putting people in quarantine.
2月初，台灣就已將開始實施入境隔離了

As I write this Taiwan has denied all entry to Taiwan from foreign countries except for it’sown citizens who are coming back.
在我寫到這時，台灣已拒絕所有外國人入境了，只有持有台灣護照的公民允許入境

All of these things the British government hasn’t done but didn’t
英國政府至目前都還沒有做到這些事情

The rest of Europe has been hit hard, but these countries have land borders and so the rules of the game are different for them..
歐洲其他地區疫情擴散也十分嚴重，但這些國家有陸地邊界，因此整個規格是不同的

We don’t.
我們沒有陸地的邊界

In this respect we are like Taiwan.
在這方面，英國就跟台灣一樣

Taiwan and Britain have a special advantage because they are surrounded by water...
台灣和英國有一個特殊的優勢，它們都是被海水包圍著的島嶼

We could and should have taken all the steps Taiwan has taken but we didn’t, why?
我們本可採取台灣已採取的所有防疫行動，但我們卻沒有這樣做，為什麼？

The way the average Brit thinks of china is completely different.
英國人普遍來說對中國的看法與台灣人的完全不同

Most British people don’t share the deeply cynical view of China that Taiwan has.
大多數英國人不同意台灣對中國的悲觀看法

When China says there is nothing to worry about, many people in the Uk actually believe it.
當中國說“沒什麼好擔心的”，英國的許多人就都會相信

News reporters even believe it.
新聞記者們深信不疑地報導

When I tell people we can’t trust China people look at me like I am mad.
當我告訴人們不能相信中國共產黨時，人們會認為我瘋了一般生氣地看著我

Do you think China would hesitate to block British citizens coming into China?
中國難道會猶豫要不要禁止英國公民進入中國？

Of course it wouldn’t.
當然不會

No sooner has the virus landed in other countries are other countries being blamed for it coming back.
這病毒一到了其他國家，中國就開始指責是其他國家帶進中國的...

If we had had the same mindset as the Taiwanese, all of these deaths could have been prevented.
假設我們對此與台灣人有相同的心態，那麼所有這些死亡都是可以避免的

Taiwan understands china better than any other country in the world.
台灣對中國的了解無疑比世界上任何其他國家都要更深

The Taiwanese are highly skeptical of everything that comes out of the Chinese communist party’s propaganda machine.
台灣人高度懷疑中共的一切大外宣

Many times in recent history the Taiwanese have been threatened by China with invasion and many attempts by the Chinese communist party
在近代歷史上，台灣多次遭到中國共產黨入侵的威脅

China has been making attempts to weaken and manipulate the Taiwanese media and use politicians to hold sway over Taiwans internal affairs.
中國共產黨從各方滲透，削弱、操縱台灣媒體，並利用政治人物干涉台灣內政

Taiwan knows that globalization, interconnectivity and heavy reliance on other countries can be very dangerous.
台灣人民知道，全球化和互聯網系統嚴重依賴其他國家是可能導致嚴重後果的事

Taiwanese people understand the dangers of being reliant on China very well.
台灣人清楚地知道依賴中國的危險

But do we?
但我們呢？

How many of our medicines are made in China?
我們有多少種藥品是在中國製造的？

Face masks? Ventilation machines?
口罩？ 呼吸器？

How much Chinese investment has gone into vital infrastructure in the UK, such as the two nuclear power plants?
中國在英國的重要基礎設施（例如兩個核電廠）中投入了多少資金？

Would Taiwan allow China to build nuclear power plants?
台灣可能會允許中國出資建造核電廠嗎？

Of course it wouldn’t! Why?
當然不會！為什麼？

Taiwan understands that it must protect its sovereignty at all costs and not take the easy route for short term economic gain and in doing so and endanger its people.
台灣明白必須不惜一切代價保護自己的主權，而非為了短期的經濟利益而走捷徑，這樣做會危害到國民

This is a lesson the west is yet to learn.
這是西方尚未學到的一課

When trump introduced the tariffs on China he took a lot of criticism, people called him isolationist.
當川普對中國徵收關稅時，他受到了很多批評，人們稱他為孤立主義者

I’d rather be call isolationist that stuck at home isolated and not able to go out
我寧願被稱孤立主義者，也不原意走到這一步被隔離在家都不能出們

On March the 10th Xinhua news (a propaganda arm of the Chinese communist party announced that China might halt all medical exports.
新華社3月10日的消息指出（中國共產黨的宣傳部門宣布）中國近期可能停止出口所有醫療用品

The west relies on China for its antibiotics, and other vital products.
西方國家依賴中國生產抗生素和其他重要的醫療產品

Earlier this year Boris Johnson gave Huawei the go ahead to lay down Britain‘s 5G.
鮑里斯·約翰遜（Boris Johnson）今年年初達成協議，讓華為得以繼續為英國部署Britain’s 5G

Did Taiwan allow Huawei in to lay down 5G?
台灣會允許華為設置5G嗎？

Of course they didn’t….
台灣當然不可能這麼做

If we learn anything from this tragedy it should be that we should not rely on a country that sees the west as its rival, one that makes casual threats to block exports of vital medical supplies.
如果我們能從這場悲劇中學到任何東西，應該是：我們不應該依賴對一個將西方視為敵人的國家，這個隨便就可以用重要醫療用品的出口來威脅人的國家

We should only trade with countries that see us as their allies - the democratic free world.
我們應該只和同樣於民主自由世界且視自己為盟友的國家進行貿易

We must realize that globalizations isn’t always a good thing and that our national borders are there for a reason and we should feel no shame in closing the borders to protect our people.
我們必須認識到全球化並不總是好事，而且國界的存在是有原因的，不應該因“關閉邊界以保護一個國家的人民”而感到羞恥

After this we must decouple all reliance on Chinese money and Chinese products and halt all Chinese investment in the UK.
疫情平息過後，我們真的必須停止對中國資金和中國產品的依賴

▶ LINE貼圖連結（第一次做，謝謝支持）：
https://store.line.me/stickershop/product/11377412/en…

(也可以直接到LINE貼圖商城裡的創作者搜尋：清醒夢 或 dr34mlucid )

▶ Patreon：https://www.patreon.com/dr34mlucid
▶ Paypal是一次性的，連結在此：https://www.paypal.me/dr34mlucid
▶ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVnGdyLMChFJJbAtZ9jNz-g
▶ IG: dr34mlucid