周五 5/3 1.愛心待用餐 2.我是歌手

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2013年5月3日將討論兩主題---

周五 5/3  1.愛心待用餐 2.我是歌手

愛心待用餐

'Suspended coffee' tradition inspires noodle vendor in Taiwan (By Jay Chen)

 
Taipei, April 12 (CNA) For the past two weeks, a noodle shop in New Taipei has served noodles to people in need for free in honor of the Italian tradition of "caffe sospeso," or suspended coffee, and the practice is already resonating in other small businesses nearby.
 
The soup noodles are in fact not free but paid for in advance by other customers so that they are reserved, or "suspended," for people who cannot afford the shop's fare.

 According to the Apple Daily, Yen Lin-ying, who has run the shop in a market in Banqiao District for 32 years, started asking customers in late March whether they would pay for noodles to give away to others after her son told her about the suspended coffee movement he saw on Facebook.

 The response was surprisingly positive, she said.

 In two weeks, customers have paid for more than 40 suspended bowls of noodles at NT$75 each, and half of the bowls have already been served to needy people who are just learning about the help she's offering.

 Yen keeps track of suspended noodles on offer on a whiteboard in her shop.

 
Among those she has given food to are a single mother and her child who shared a bowl of noodles and an unemployed man who ordered the noodles to go so he could give them to his elderly mother at home.

 Since she began the practice, two other food shops and three stalls in the market have also offered to provide their own versions of suspended service.

"I never imagined that a mere bowl of noodles could have such an impact," the 60-year-old was quoted as saying. She hopes the suspended noodles could help promote the power to do good so that more people can benefit, she said.

 As in Italy, where the tradition of caffe sospeso has enjoyed a kind of revival because of hard economic times, poverty and hunger have become more common in Taiwan. Earlier this year, the New Taipei government began a program under which school children of low-income families can get food for free in neighborhood convenience stores.

 Yen's initiative won widespread praise after the Apple Daily first reported her story Friday.

 Questions:

1.  What do you think about the "suspended meal" idea?

What are your opinions on helping the "less fortunate?

2.  Are you willing to help others?

What do you do to help others?

3. Have you ever donated money to a charity?

4.  Should people donate money and volunteer time to help others?

5. How to motivate people to help the people in need?

6.  Are you willing to sacrifice your life for a complete stranger?

 

我是歌手

Culture and influence (China Post)

 The popularity of "I Am a Singer" was demonstrated by the amount of time major Taiwanese TV stations gave to broadcasting the show. In fact, news stations that broadcast the finale of the show have found themselves in deep water for doing so.

 Cable news channels ETTV and CTi Television may each be fined due to their overnight broadcast of the TV show, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said. News channels are not supposed to devote so much of their programming to entertainment shows, and the coverage of the show also prevented the public from getting news reports, the NCC pointed out.

 The two channels broadcast the last episode of "I Am a Singer" for as long as four hours, said the NCC, noting that it received complaints from viewers. Mainland China TV programs have to be sent to the Ministry of Culture for review before being broadcast, which did not happen in this case. This has led to concerns about China's growing cultural influence on Taiwan.

 Of course, Taiwan has its own popular talent shows, but critics say local TV stations cannot afford to create a show like "I Am a Singer," which features stunning sound and lighting effects and movie-quality videos introducing singers' lives.

 Noting that Hunan Satellite TV has invested heavily in making "I Am a Singer" such a huge success, Lung said Taiwan must consider how it can retain its creativity and competitiveness with the country's relatively small economy. Taiwan must work harder to keep its edge in the entertainment industry, she warned. "Will Taiwan retain its abundant talents in pop culture 30 years from now?" she asked. This is now a question that many people are asking.

 

Questions:

1.   What do you think about the talent show?

2.   Why Chinese talent show captivates Taiwanese viewers?

3.    In your opinion, who is the best singer in the talent show?

4.   Which songs or singers do you like the most?

5.   How does the growing Chinese influence on Taiwan's culture?

6.   "Will Taiwan retain its abundant talents in pop culture 30 years from now?"