周五 3/22 1.囤積癖 2. 人”麗”銀行

周五聚會

感謝大家對說吧!英文俱樂部
的支持
希望您多支持參與周五聚會

周五聚會地點: 麥當勞

新北市板橋區文化路二段173號

(江子翠捷運2號出口往前走100公尺左右)

時間: 每周一晚上 7:00~9:30

0976-217-450

02-22540821

02-25556076

請注意!這是 周五的文章

周五主題 3/22 1.囤積癖 2.人”麗”銀行

囤積癖

Buried Alive: Saving, Collecting and Hoarding

(Allan Schwartz, LCSW, Ph.D Dr. Schwartz's Weblog)

What is meant by hoarding? The clinical definition of a hoarder is someone who has collected so much stuff that they can’t properly use rooms in their home, such as cooking on their stoves in the kitchen or sleeping in their beds because of piles of junk that have been accumulated. The hoarder is someone who is unable to throw anything out and who must shop for more stuff. There are often health risks to the hoarder, his family and to neighbors. The clutter and garbage attracts such things as insects, rodents and diseases. There is also the danger of fire and even cave-ins caused by the weight of carelessly piled possessions.

But, what is hoarding vs. what is collecting?

There are two very interesting programs on television connected to the problem of hoarding. One of them is on TLC and is called "Hoarding: Buried Alive" and the other is on the History channel called "Pickers." What is so interesting is that, while "Hoarding" deals with people who fit the clinical definition described above, "Pickers" deals with people who collect old things as a hobby. In both case, the hoarders or collectors, there are people who are unable to part with their possessions even when offered lots of money. On Hoarders, collecting junk is maladaptive behavior that is a form of mental illness related to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). On Pickers similar people appear to be smart businessmen who enjoy buying and collecting old junk as a kind of hobby and as a way of earning money by selling what they accumulate. The fact is that in both cases people are hoarding.

Where do the "pickers" fit in? As depicted in the program, pickers are people who rummage through the junk collected by other people for the purpose of buying items that they can sell at a profit. On the program, the two pickers own a store where their purchased items are sold to people who are either decorating anything from their own businesses to their apartments, houses or condominiums. Even though the pickers make their purchases in order to sell at a profit, is it possible that they, too, are hoarders? After all, if you have seen the program you know that much of what they buy is filled with dust, rot and rust. Is this purely picking or is it possible that this is hoarding.

Added to the mystery is where to place those who collect things for investment? There are people who collect postage stamps, gold and silver coins, and original works of art, among other similar hobbies? Is it possible that they are hoarders?

The question posed here is similar to the puzzle of what types of behavior are normal or abnormal? Like so many things in life, hoarding exists on a continuum that ranges from normal to abnormal. Collecting postage stamps in an album filled with new or mint stamps from around tbe world is a normal or healthy kind of collecting. It's a financial investment that does not interfere with living on a daily basis. On the other hand, accumlating piles of junk in one's home so that there is no place to sleep, cook, eat and even go to the toiletter, does interfere with daily life. In the wors of cases this type of accumlation can and does become a fire and health hazard.

Questions:

1. Why is hoarding a problem?

2. Is hoarding a psychological problem?

3. Can hoarding be treated?

4. Do you have hoarding tendencies?

5. Would you marry a hoarder if you knew they were one?

6. How do you keep your room tidy?

人”麗”銀行

In China, job seekers are resorting to plastic surgery

The cosmetic surgery business is booming in China as a hyper-competitive labor market has job hunters altering their looks to get an edge with potential employers. (Don Lee)

SHANGHAI — In this crummy job market, Stephanie Yang figures any little advantage will help. Even double eyelids.

So on a cold January morning, the 21-year-old college senior walked into one of dozens of plastic surgery clinics here and plopped down $730, the equivalent of one year's tuition. An hour later she came out with two big bandages over her eyes.

When she removed the dressing the next day, Yang was aghast at her red, puffy eyelids. But now she looks out with her round eyes, a sharp crease across the upper lids, ready for the next interview.

"They may not say it openly, but during the process they will pick the prettier one," she says.

Judging by the boom in plastic surgeries lately, a lot of young Chinese would agree.

In the U.S., the recession has led to a steep drop in cosmetic surgeries, which generally aren't paid for by health insurers. Nose jobs aren't covered in China either, but that's not stopping consumers here. Job hunters know that a pleasing face helps to get a foot in the door.

"I've been surprised how busy it is," says Dr. Liao Yuhua, president of Shanghai Time Plastic Surgery Hospital, one of the largest in the city. Business began to increase last November, she says, and in recent weeks has been running 40% higher than a year ago. At its busiest in January, Liao says, her team of 10 surgeons was doing as many as 100 procedures a day, raising noses, cutting eyelids and chiseling angular faces into the shape of smooth goose eggs.

Just about the only thing Shanghai Time doesn't do are leg-lengthening surgeries, an expensive and painful procedure that illustrates just how far some Chinese are willing to go to boost their employment prospects.

When the hospital surveyed patients, it learned that about 50% of the cases were job-related. Of them, one group is college students about ready to graduate, Liao says. The other: "White-collar employees after being laid off are having surgery so they are more attractive for the job search," says the retired pediatrician. Most patients are women.

Overall statistics on cosmetic surgeries aren't available, but nearly a dozen leading Chinese hospitals reported similarly strong business since late last fall, about the period when the global financial crisis began to take its toll on China's economy and the labor market.

That's also around the time that many college seniors in China start sending out resumes and hunting for jobs for the day they graduate.

But this year is turning out to be particularly tough. Government officials estimate that 6.1 million students will graduate from vocational schools, colleges and universities, up 9% from 2008. Researchers predict one-fourth of them will still be looking for work by year's end, adding to the unemployment rolls that have swelled with millions of migrant workers cut from factories.

Questions:

1. What do you think of plastic surgery?

2. Will cosmetic surgery help job seekers land jobs?

3. How plastic surgery can boost one’s career?

4. Would you ever get plastic surgery?

5. Do you think Taiwan is safe for cosmetic surgery?

6. How one’s appearance impacts one’s success?

囤積癖

雜物淹床小強亂爬 空姐妻怒離婚 　斯文男囤積成性 醫:恐罹患強迫症 　囤積癖應速就醫 避惡化心理障礙 (2013/3/4 林注強 報導)

不愛乾淨，小心會把另一半嚇跑，桃園一名男子，因為生活太邋遢又節省，很多東西捨不得丟，一堆雜物堆滿臥室，連床上都被蓋滿，還導致蟑螂四處爬，擔任空姐的妻子看不下去，憤而與丈夫離婚，如果您也有這樣的懷習慣，小心有可以已經罹患了囤積物品的強迫症。

髒亂不堪的房間，令人難以想像，這裡居然是男女主人的主臥室，仔細一看有紙箱、堆積如山的袋子，甚至還有鞋子，這些雜物都是男主人堆放的，幾乎都看不到床在哪，做妻子的忍無可忍，提出離婚結束髒亂夢魘。

髒亂到連床都看不到在哪，民眾也看不下去。

這名被老婆休掉的丈夫長相斯文，是一名玩具商，因為生性節儉，捨不得丟包裝袋和紙箱，臥室堆滿了，男子就跑到爸爸的房間睡，妻子認為丈夫不單單是不愛乾淨，還有嚴重的心理障礙。

醫師指出，這種屯積癖，當事人往往不自覺，如果您週遭有人有這種症狀，最好建議當事人找心理輔導師諮商一番，免得情況越來越嚴重，影響到其他家人的生活品質！

人”麗”銀行

大陸新聞中心 綜合報導

記者在採訪中了解到，每年的暑假期間，都會迎來學生整形的高峰期。『為應對就業，不少學生在大三和大四之間的暑假，就開始整形了，這種現象從前幾年開始就有，只是這兩年數量更多了。』姚飛主任對記者稱，這些學生大部分都沒有明顯缺陷，就是為了讓自己更完美。而大學生們選擇的整形專案，主要是一些『面部整形』專案，例如鐳射祛痘、鐳射去痣、光子嫩膚、韓式微創雙眼皮、無痕開眼角、韓式隆鼻、注射瘦咬肌等，花費上少則數千元，多則上萬元，總體而言還是比較便宜的。據了解，來做整形手術的大學生中除了女生外，也不乏一些男生的身影，其男女比例大概是2：8。

外表也是擇才的直接標準

面對大學生需要靠整形來謀得職位的現象，絕大多數用人單位都矢口否認會『以貌取人』，但也有不少企業負責招聘的人士坦言，除學歷和經驗，外表也是擇才的直接標準。『初次見面，用人單位不可能對應聘者很了解，學歷、經驗和外表自然就成為擇才最直接的標準。如果應聘者在硬體上不分伯仲，外表強的人勝算肯定更大。』某外資企業人力資源部負責招聘的趙女士說，雖然以貌取人不可取，但長相好的人在找工作時肯定會有一些優勢，尤其是女性，這種情況應聘秘書、前台等崗位時更加明顯。

為求職整容是一種無奈的“取悅” (千龍網)

單眼皮“變”成雙眼皮、鼻子也“長”高了……為找到一份好工作，武漢大學碩士研究生三年級男生曾凡(化名)花費上萬元整容，他認為“變臉”後可掃除一切求職障礙。 為找到一份好工作，不少大學生不惜在自己臉上“動刀”。 來自協和醫院的統計顯示，目前整容大軍中，大學生佔了三成。《武漢晨報》)

人長得漂亮，是一種優勢，這是任誰都無法否認的，但為了求職而去整容，則顯得有些無奈，本來，企業招聘員工，看的顯然不會是人長得怎麼樣，而該是其能力、特長以及文明素質等方面，但現在我們也不無悲哀地發現，外貌也成為了求職的一個重要籌碼。

長得不好看就找不到好工作？ 有多少用人單位是“外貌協會”？ 對於這樣的質問，實在沒有必要駁斥。 長得不好看，當然會找到工作，用人單位當然不會承認自己是“外貌協會”，但事實上，人長得漂亮些，人長得俊一些，必定會有一定的優勢。

男大學生加入整容隊伍，只為取悅企業，這是被迫的無奈，如果企業還是以貌取人，那就別指責大學生為求職整容了。 （王軍榮）

SOAPBOX ENGLISH CLUB 說吧英文讀書會

每周一句2013/3/13

to run in the family 世代相傳----

If a characteristic runs in the family, it can clearly be seen members of different generations.

examples:

1. My brothers and I have grey hair. It runs in the family.

我跟我弟弟有白頭髮 這是世代相傳

2. Plumpness seems to run in the family.

肥胖似乎是這家庭中的特色。

Read More 看完整內容

周二3 /26 1. 繽紛櫻花 2. 糖飲料殺手

周二聚會 3/26

時間: 每周二晚上7:00~9:30

地點: 怡客咖啡 Ikari Coffee

新北市板橋區文化路2段311號

板南線江子翠捷運站2號出口旁

各位會員朋友們:

2013年3月26日將討論兩主題---

點擊立即前往ANNIE 文法教室看更多單字及文法

Topic1.  繽紛櫻花 Topic2. 糖飲料殺手

 

繽紛櫻花
Cherry blossom season to kick off (By Lee Hsin-Yin)
  

Wuling Farm in Taichung said some of its trees are already in bloom

Taipei, Jan. 16 (CNA) Many resort areas in Taiwan have reported that their cherry trees are in bud and are anticipating hordes of visitors during the Lunar New Year holiday, resort operators said Wednesday.

Wuling Farm in Taichung, central Taiwan, said some of its trees are already in bloom, adding that the popular scenic area expects to see hectic travel inquiries from the following day, when the farm will start offering tickets for the Feb. 10-March 5 period.

As many as 100,000 tourists packed the area each day during the last Lunar New Year holiday, creating massive traffic jams that took eight hours to clear in a single 8-km stretch.

To prevent similar chaos this year, the farm said a daily tourist capacity of 5,000 people will be set during the cherry blossom season, with traffic controls imposed on part of Provincial Highway No. 9, the main gateway to the park.

In the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village in central Taiwan, a cherry blossom festival will kick off Feb. 1, banking on its recent recognition as a "famous cherry blossom site" by the Japan Cherry Blossom Association.

"We are very proud of the flamboyant, extravagant cherry flowers that can only be found in the park," said Village Manager Richard Huang.

Huang explained that its 5,000 cherry trees, a hybrid strain of the endemic Taiwanese cherry and the Japanese Yae-sakura, will be decorated with lights for the first time to emulate the Japanese tradition of "yosakura," or cherry blossom-watching at night.

In northern Taiwan, cherry blossoms can be found at Wulai and in Sanzhi Township in New Taipei from late January, according to the city government.

 

Questions:

1. Why do people like cherry blossoms so much?

2. Do you enjoy lovely cherry blossoms?

3. Do you like flowers? What is your favorite?

4. Where are good places to appreciate beautiful cherry blossoms ?

5. What outdoor activities do you like to do during the spring season?

6. Do you enjoy outdoor activities like camping, hiking or fishing?

  

糖飲料殺手
consuming sugar-sweetened beverages causes chronic diseases

a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and lead author of the study presented today at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting in New Orleans.

Singh and colleagues spent five years putting the pieces together. Using data from national health surveys around the world, the team tied sugar-sweetened beverages to 133,000 deaths from diabetes, 44,000 deaths from cardiovascular diseases and 6,000 deaths from cancer in 2010.

The study adds to mounting evidence that sugar-sweetened beverages, loaded with calories that carry little nutritional value, are a public health hazard.

“I think our findings should really impel policymakers to make effective policies to reduce sugary beverage consumption since it causes a significant number of deaths,” said Singh, adding that she thinks “cause” is an appropriate word despite the limitations of the association study.

The American Beverage Association criticized the study, which has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, calling it “more about sensationalism than science.”

“It does not show that consuming sugar-sweetened beverages causes chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer – the real causes of death among the studied subjects,” the industry group said in a statement. “The researchers make a huge leap when they take beverage intake calculations from around the globe and allege that those beverages are the cause of deaths which the authors themselves acknowledge are due to chronic disease.”

The study comes one week after a judge blocked New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed ban on supersized sodas, and one day after Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill preventing municipalities from setting limits on soda and salt content.

Questions:

1. What are the health effects of drinking soda and sugary drinks?

2. Why sugary drinks are really bad for us?
3. Do you know how much sugar you're eating?
4. Do you have a sugar addiction?
5. Ways to reduce obesity?
6. Do you know any other harmful foods to health?

新北櫻花季　
新北櫻花季 , 櫻花 , 賞櫻 , 天元宮 , 新北群櫻會
淡淡三月天，除了可欣賞杜鵑花，還能賞櫻，新北市汐止、烏來、三芝、石碇、淡水等地方都成了賞櫻的好景點。新北市府還在臉書設置了「賞花快報」紡絲專業，隨時提供及時的賞花快報訊息，雖然已經到了3月下旬，天氣也漸漸暖起來，新北櫻花季仍然熱鬧的進行中。
新北市政府去年的「新北櫻花季」活動，整合新北市各賞櫻景點，吸引百萬的賞花人次，今年的「新北群櫻會」更在臉書設立「賞花快報」，提供即時的櫻花開花資訊，免得遊客撲空，敗興而歸。而且去賞花民眾還能當起「櫻花記者」，隨時將櫻花美照上傳到活動官網，就能參加比賽抽獎，。
而由於賞花人潮眾多，有些熱門景點實施交通管制，像是淡水天元宮所在的淡水分局，到3/31花期以前彈性實施車輛總量管制，北新路兩側劃設紅線禁止停車。建議民眾賞花多搭乘大眾運輸工具；開車遊客則多利用賞櫻替代道路，免得大塞車壞了賞花興致。
除了新北市櫻花季，阿里山櫻花季也已經在3/15展開，花季期間也時實施交管。
 

驚！含糖飲料每年致18萬人死亡
(華人健康網)

市面上含糖飲料多得數不清，早餐配奶茶、午餐後買杯飲料，幾乎已成為許多人飲食必備的部分，縱然有許多研究都指出含糖飲料容易對健康造成負面影響，大多數人還是難以抵抗。不過，近日美國哈佛大學的調查更有驚人發現，小小一杯汽水或飲料，竟可能是造成全球每年18萬人死於糖尿病、心臟病等疾病的因素。

含糖飲料不僅喝多易胖，甚至調查也發現是全球近20萬人的死亡關聯因素。根據美國《時代》（TIME）網站報導指出，哈佛大學公共衛生學院（Harvard School of Public Health）在美國心臟學會（American Heart Association）的會議上發表了這項調查結果，研究人員調查數據後發現，在全球每年13萬3千起糖尿病、4萬4千起心臟疾病、6千起癌症病例中，其中有高達78%的死亡病例都有過量攝取含糖飲料，等同於全球每年約有18多萬人的死因恐與含糖飲料有關。此外調查也發現，全球9大區域中，以拉丁美洲和加勒比海地區與含糖飲料有關的糖尿病死亡人數最多；心臟疾病死亡數最多的是在俄羅斯東部與中部。而墨西哥則是含糖飲料消耗量最大的國家，在每1百萬人中有約318人的死因與糖飲有關，而反觀糖飲攝取量最低的日本，相關死亡率每1百萬人中僅有10人，也是全球最低。
數月前，美國神經學學會曾在針對20多萬人所做的研究分析中發現，一天喝到4杯飲料的人，憂鬱症的程度會比一般人高出30%；另外，紐約市原本為了抵抗肥胖，也定在今年3月起實施餐廳禁售大杯含糖飲料，雖然這項政策目前暫時停擺，不過也顯示了含糖飲料對於慢性病、肥胖人口確實有嚴重影響。

Read More 看完整內容

周二主題 3/19 --1. 最會哭的女人 2. 錄影中請微笑

周二聚會 3/19

時間: 每周二晚上7:00~9:30

地點: 怡客咖啡 Ikari Coffee

新北市板橋區文化路2段311號

板南線江子翠捷運站2號出口旁

各位會員朋友們:

2013年3月19日將討論兩主題---

Topic1. 最會哭的女人 Topic2. 錄影中請微笑

 

 

 

最會哭的女人

professional mourner (Allie Jaynes' report was featured on the BBC)

Crying on command isn't easy, but Liu Jun-Lin is hired to do it every day, at funerals for people she never knew. She's Taiwan's best-known professional mourner - a time-honoured tradition in her country that may be dying out.

Crying for a living is controversial, seen by some as the commercialisation of grief, but mourners like Liu say their profession has a long history in Taiwan, where according to tradition the deceased needs a big, loud send-off to cross smoothly into the afterlife.

"When a loved one dies, you grieve so much that when it finally comes time for the funeral, you don't have any tears left," says Liu.

"How are you going to suddenly switch your mood to show all that sorrow?"

Liu is there to help strike the right tone.

In earlier times, daughters often left home to work in other cities, and transport was limited, she explains. If someone in the family died, they often couldn't make it home in time for the funeral, so the family would hire what's known as a "filial daughter" to lead the family in mourning.

Traditional Taiwanese funerals are elaborate, combining sombre mourning with louder, up-tempo entertainment to fire up grieving spirits.

For the entertainment portion, 30-year-old Liu and her Filial Daughters Band wear bright costumes, and perform almost-acrobatic dance numbers. They do the splits, back-bends, and somersaults. Her brother, A Ji, plays along on traditional stringed instruments.

Later, Liu will change into a white hood and robe, and crawl to the coffin on her hands and knees. There, in time to her brother's organ playing, she performs her signature wail.

Liu's brother, A Ji, accompanies her at funerals

Her sounds are long and drawn out, somewhere between crying and singing. At home, she demonstrates a typical wail for me. "My dear father, your daughter misses you so much!" she cries. "Please, please come back!"

I ask Liu how she manages to manufacture tears at will. But she insists all her crying is real. "Every funeral you go to, you have to feel this family is your own family, so you have to put your own feelings in it," she says. "When I see so many people grieving, I get even sadder."

With her long eyelashes, dimples, and sing-song voice, Liu seems much younger than her 30 years. At home, she wears an orange jogging suit and sparkly nail polish. I'd sooner believe she was a nursery school teacher than a professional in the grief business.

Funeral director Lin Zhenzhang, who has worked alongside Liu for years, says that's a big part of her appeal.

"Traditionally, we think of this as a job for women a generation older," he says. "But Jun-Lin is so young and beautiful. That contrast makes people very curious."

Liu's grandmother and mother were both professional mourners.

As a young child, she would play outside the funeral homes while her mother worked. At home, she mimicked her mother and older sister as they rehearsed.

"I'd grab any object and pretend it was a microphone," she says. "Then I'd pretend there was a coffin and crawl to it."

Both of Liu's parents died when she was young, leaving her grandmother with three children to bring up, and a heavy burden of debt. So the grandmother pulled Liu and her older brother into the family trade. Liu was just 11 years old.

She had to get up before dawn each morning to rehearse, and often had to miss school for work. When she did go to class, other children would make fun of her job and the strange costumes she wore.

"They'd say, that's so weird, so ugly, you look so stupid!" she says. "I felt really inferior and thought other kids didn't like me."

Performing wasn't much easier. Stigmas around death make many people look down on mourners.

"Sometimes before we'd start the performance, the grieving family would be very sour when they talked to us," says Liu. "But after we performed, they'd cry and say thank you, thank you, thank you!"

That's when Liu realised the real purpose of her job. "This work can really help people release their anger, or help them say the things they're afraid to say out loud," she says. "For people who are afraid to cry, it helps too, because everyone cries together."

Mentored by her grandmother, a tiny woman in wire-framed glasses and a tight perm, Liu trained rigorously as a performer, and developed the shrewd business skills that have lifted her family from poverty to prosperity. Liu and her siblings each have their own house, and their company charges up to $600 (£380) for a performance.

But it's a business in decline, says Lin Zhenzhang, as the economic downturn and simpler modern tastes turn people away from lavish traditional funerals,

"The tradition of professional mourners is going to slowly be eliminated," he says. "So people like Jun-Lin are going to have to find a way to reinvent their profession, or find new sources of revenue."

This hasn't escaped Liu. That's why she has recruited some 20 female assistants. They're young, good-looking women in black and white uniforms, who help funeral directors with embalming and memorial services, and they've brought Liu a lot of attention.

Questions:
 

What you think about professional mourners?
 

What you think about undertaking business? Is funeral business in the hot trend?
 

What do you think about funeral homes in Taiwan?
 

How much does a funeral cost in Taiwan usually?
 

Do you know any funeral etiquette and taboos in Taiwan?

台灣最著名的職業哭喪人

奉命而哭不是一件容易的事情，但是每天都有人僱劉君琳（音譯）在她素不相識的人的葬禮上哭喪。 她是台灣最著名的職業哭喪人，在台灣這是由來已久的傳統，而這樣的傳統有可能面臨消失。

用哭喪來謀生是一件容易引起爭議的事情，在有些人看來這是商業化的哀傷。 但是據劉君琳這樣的哭喪人說，她們的職業在台灣由來已久，根據台灣傳統亡故之人需要用大聲的哭喪來把他們平安地送入到後世。

“當親人亡故之後你會非常悲傷，最終到了葬禮上你已經沒有眼淚了，”劉君琳說，“你怎樣才能做到把你的情緒一下子調到極度悲傷？”於是劉君琳會到場相助，以使葬禮有合適的氣氛。

她解釋說，從前女兒們常常會離家到其它城市裡去工作。 當時交通條件有限，如果家裡有人亡故，她們常常不能及時趕到家裡參加葬禮，於是家人會僱傭一些被稱為“孝女”的人在葬禮上引導家人。

傳統上台灣的葬禮是精心安排過的，陰沉的哀悼與喧嘩的快節奏娛樂結合在一起以送走悲傷的亡靈。

在娛樂部分，30歲的劉君琳和她的孝女樂隊穿著鮮亮的服裝，表演幾乎像雜技一般的舞蹈。 她們做著分叉、後彎和筋斗等動作，她的兄弟阿吉用傳統的弦樂器來伴奏。

稍後劉君琳會換上白色的喪袍，戴上頭罩爬到棺材邊上，這時在他兄弟樂器的伴奏下她開始她的招牌哭喪。

她的聲音綿長而竭力，有時遊走在哭泣和歌唱之間。 她在家里為我表演了一種典型的哭泣：“我親愛的爹爹啊，你女兒多麼想念你，”她哭喊道，“請你，請你回來吧！”

我問劉君琳她是怎樣做到製造眼淚的，她堅持說她所有的哭泣都是真實的。 “你去到每一個葬禮上，你會感到這家人家就是你自己的家人，所以你就會把自己的感情放進去，”她說，“當我看見有這樣多的人都很傷心，我就更傷心了。”

錄影中請微笑
 

 

Smile, You're on Camera!——The Dilemma of Surveillance《台灣光華雜誌》

　　"Smile, you're on camera!" This warning sign can be seen everywhere: supermarkets, hypermarkets, banks, and apartment buildings. Even in parks and alleys with no such signs, electronic eyes may be watching everything you do.

　　 At present, Taiwanese police departments monitor more than 105,000 surveillance cameras in Taiwan. This includes more than 7,000 cameras installed by the public sector at over 3,000 locations, as well as cameras in banks and convenience stores like 7-Eleven. If the cameras in commercial buildings and neighborhoods were counted, the number would exceed one million, which averages nearly one for every 20 people.

　　 Could it be that the heavily monitored world of George Orwell's 1984, written in the 1940s, with a plot about privacy being sacrificed in the name of national security, is playing out in our lives today? "It may be late by more than 20 years, but we are now entering the world of 1984," laments doctor, author, and Society of Wilderness chairman Lee Wei-wen.

　　 By the end of this year, the National Police Agency (NPA) will have spent NT$1.15 billion installing some 2,000 cameras in crime hotspots around Taiwan. These hotspots include places where vehicle accidents frequently occur and in the recesses of underground walkways.

　　 The eagerness of police departments to install cameras is due to their repeated success in cracking cases. For instance, in major crime cases, such as the rice bomber, the contaminated Wild Bull tonic incident, and the Nanhua Township double murder, cameras were instrumental in solving them.

　　According to the NPA, in 2008, cameras helped solve 6,361 criminal cases, an increase of 71 percent compared to 3,715 in 2007. Surveillance cameras have become an essential tool for the police in solving cases, and police reliance on cameras is growing steadily.
 

Questions:
 

Do you think being watched under surveillance cameras a good idea?
 

Are video surveillance cameras in public places a good idea ?
 

Why city governments love surveillance cameras?
 

Can surveillance cameras be successful in preventing crime?
 

Security cameras: an invasion of privacy or crime deterrent?

錄影中請微笑——無所不在的監視器

　　『錄影中請微笑』，在超市、賣場、銀行或大樓公寓，到處都看得到這樣的告示牌，甚至在沒有告示牌的公園或街頭巷尾，都可能有一雙電眼監視著你。

　　 目前全台警察列管的監視器有 10 萬 5 千多台，其中包括公家單位在 3 千多處裝設的 7 千多支監視器，以及各銀行、7-11 等便利商店對外的監視器。若再加上企業大樓、鄰里自行裝設的監視器，台灣監視器數量應已破百萬台大關，平均約 20 人就可以『分』到一台。

　　 難道 1940 年代末英國作家喬治‧歐威爾名著《1984》中，以國家安全之名剝奪個人隱私的監控世界，已在現實生活中上演？『雖然晚了 20 多年，我們還是進入了《1984》的世界！』荒野保護協會秘書長、醫師作家李偉文如此感嘆。
　　 到今年底，內政部警政署要執行完 11.5 億元的經費，在全台的『犯罪熱區』裝設約 2,000 支監視器。所謂『犯罪熱區』，指的是經常發生車禍的地點，或地下道等偏僻的角落。

　　 警政單位熱中於裝設監視器，實在是因為近年監視器屢成破案的『關鍵』。如白米炸彈客、毒蠻牛事件、台南南化鄉魚池雙屍案等多起重大刑案的破案，監視器都居功厥偉。

　　 根據警政署統計，2008 年台灣地區利用監視器而偵破的刑案有 6,361 件，較諸前一年 3,715 件，增幅達 71％。監視器已經是警察辦案不可或缺的利器，警察對於監視器的依賴度也與日俱增。

Read More 看完整內容