回顧星期天LBS - 泰國相關時事趣聞 All about Thailand

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Topic: Woman cut rope holding painters 26 floors high

A resident of a high-rise condominium in Thailand cut the support rope for two painters, apparently angry she wasn’t told they would be doing work, and left them hanging above the 26th floor.
泰國一棟高層公寓大廈的一名住戶，剪斷2名外牆油漆工的支撐繩索，讓他們懸吊在26樓高，顯然是對未被告知施工一事動怒。

The woman is facing attempted murder and property destruction charges, and could face a prison term up to 20 years.
該名女性住戶面臨蓄意謀殺和財物毀損罪名，可能被判囚20年。

One of the painters, a Myanmar national named Song, told the Thai media that he and his friends had lowered themselves from the 32nd floor to repair a crack on the building.
其中一名緬甸籍宋姓油漆工向泰國媒體表示，他和朋友從32樓垂降，準備修復大廈的裂痕。

When he reached the 30th floor, he felt that the rope was heavier and when he looked down, he saw someone on the 21st floor open a window and cut his rope. He tried asking for help from other units, but nobody was in. The third colleague continued to support them from the top floor until a couple rescued them.
到達30樓外後，他感到繩索變重，往下竟看到有人從21樓打開窗戶剪斷繩索。他試著向其他住戶求救，但沒人在家，第3名同事則持續從頂樓支撐著他們，直到一對夫婦救了他們。

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Topic: Thai chain’s cannabis pizza: trendy but won’t get you high 泰國連鎖餐廳的大麻披薩：夠時髦卻不會讓人飄飄然

One of Thailand’s major fast food chains The Pizza Company has introduced "Crazy Happy Pizza", an under-the-radar product topped with a cannabis leaf. It’s legal but won’t get you high.
泰國大型連鎖餐廳之一「披薩公司」推出一款擺上一片大麻葉的低調新品「極樂披薩」，這是合法的產品，並不會讓人飄飄欲仙。

"It’s just a marketing campaign. And you can taste the cannabis and then if you have enough, you may get a bit sleepy," said the general manager.
餐廳總經理說：「這只是行銷方式，可以讓人品嚐大麻，只是如果吃太飽，可能會有點想睡覺。」

The Crazy Happy Pizza is a mashup of toppings evoking the flavors of Thailand’s famous Tom Yum Gai soup along with a deep-fried cannabis leaf on top. Cannabis is also infused into the cheese crust and there’s chopped cannabis in the dipping sauce. A 9-inch pie costs only 499 baht.
「極樂披薩」混搭各種食材，使人聯想到泰國著名的酸辣蝦湯，上頭再放上一片酥炸的大麻葉。不僅起司餅皮填入大麻，沾醬也加入碎葉片。一塊9吋披薩僅售499泰銖（約463台幣）。

Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to remove specific parts and extracts of cannabis from its controlled narcotics list in December 2020, and later allowed them to be used in foods and beverages.
泰國在2020年12月成為首個將大麻特定部位和萃取物移出致幻毒品的東南亞國家，之後更允許在菜品或飲料中使用大麻。Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1499658 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1503512

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Topic: Parched fields force Thailand to look beyond rice

Thailand has long served as one of the globe’s main rice bowls, but chronic water shortages are pushing the country to move away from a grain that dominates its fields and has defined a way of life for generations.
泰國向來是全球稻米主要供應國之一，但長期缺水讓這個國家無法再固守單一作物，必須為往後的世代定義新的生存方式。

Laddawan has spent the past forty years coaxing rice from her plot in central Thailand, but she is tired of watching her farmland squeezed dry by increasingly severe droughts.
過去40年來，拉德旺一直在泰國中部的自家土地上細心照料水稻，但嚴重的旱災持續蹂躪這片土地，此情此景已讓她感到厭倦。

"I plan to replace some rice paddies with limes," she told AFP after attending a government-run workshop urging farmers to diversify their crops.
在參加完一場由政府舉辦、鼓勵農夫種植不同作物的農作坊後，她告訴法新社記者：「我打算不種稻米，改種萊姆了。」

At a workshop held in Nonthaburi province near Bangkok, Laddawan was sold the seeds fruit trees.
拉德旺在曼谷附近暖武里省的一場農作坊上買到果樹種籽。

These alternatives will drastically reduce water consumption but also break the monoculture that has deteriorated Thai soil for decades.
這些替代方案將大幅縮減用水量，也將打破數十年來造成泰國土質惡化的單一作物栽培模式。

"We have no choice, we need to adapt," Laddawan said, explaining that she used to plant three rice crops annually, but next year will only have enough water for one.
拉德旺表示，她過去每年種植3次水稻，但水資源只夠在明年種1次，「我們沒有選擇，只能改變。」

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Topic: Thai hotel brews up coffee from elephant dung 泰國酒店從象糞中煮出咖啡

For those who like their coffee with a strong nose Thailand could be the ideal destination, after a blend made from elephant dung was put on sale by an upmarket hotel chain.
泰國一家高檔連鎖酒店販售象糞製作的咖啡後，對喜愛濃咖啡的人來說，泰國可能是個理想去處。

The Black Ivory blend, made from coffee beans digested and excreted by Thai elephants, is billed as producing a particularly smooth cup.
這種「黑色象牙」咖啡，是由泰國大象消化並排泄出來的咖啡豆製成，號稱味道特別溫和。

But it is not cheap, with Anantara Hotels saying the "naturally refined" coffee costs a staggering $1,100 per kilogram -- making it one of the most expensive blends in the world.
但象糞咖啡所費不貲，安娜塔拉酒店表示，這種「天然精釀」的咖啡豆每公斤要價讓人咋舌的1100美元，是世界最貴的咖啡之一。

"Research indicates that during digestion, the enzymes of the elephant break down coffee protein," the Thai-based hotel group said in a statement.
這家泰國酒店集團在聲明中說：「研究指出，在消化過程中，大象體內的酵素會分解咖啡豆裡的蛋白質。」
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Topic: The Price of Recycling Old Laptops: Toxic Fumes in Thailand’s Lungs

婦女們蹲伏在一間燈光昏暗的工廠的地上，整理被現代世界棄置的一些內容物：電池、電路板和成綑的電線。
Crouched on the ground in a dimly lit factory, women picked through the discarded innards of the modern world: batteries, circuit boards and bundles of wires.

她們或者用鐵鎚，或者徒手，拆解這些被稱作有害電子廢棄物或電子垃圾的廢品，再由男性工人鏟進一台鏗鏘作響的機器，以回收有用的金屬。有些男工用碎布包住臉來隔擋煙塵。
They broke down the scrap — known as hazardous electronic-waste, or e-waste — with hammers and raw hands. Men, some with faces wrapped in rags to repel the fumes, shoveled the refuse into a clanking machine that salvages usable metal.

當他們賣力工作之時，煙霧飄散至鄰近的村莊和工廠，居民對煙霧中有什麼物質一無所知—塑膠？金屬？誰知道！他們只知道聞起來很臭，讓人惡心。
As they toiled, smoke spewed over nearby villages and farms. Residents have no idea what is in the smoke — plastic, metal, who knows? All they know is that it stinks and they feel sick.

這間名為「新天空金屬」的工廠，是東南亞正蓬勃發展的電子垃圾業的一部分，是在中國大陸決定停止接收毒害其土地人民的全球電子垃圾後，應運而生。泰國特別成為這項產業的中心，過程中社運人士大力阻擋，政府則在公共安全與可觀的收益之間謀取平衡。
The factory, New Sky Metal, is part of a thriving e-waste industry across Southeast Asia, born of China’s decision to stop accepting the world’s electronic refuse, which was poisoning its land and people. Thailand in particular has become a center of the industry even as activists push back and its government wrestles to balance competing interests of public safety with the profits to be made from the lucrative trade.

去年泰國禁止外國電子垃圾進口，然而環境監控人員和產業專家說，新工廠仍然在國內各地開設，處理成噸的電子垃圾。
Last year, Thailand banned the import of foreign e-waste. Yet new factories are opening across the country, and tons of e-waste are being processed, environmental monitors and industry experts said.

「電子垃圾必須有去處。」以反對將垃圾傾倒至窮國為訴求的「巴塞爾行動網路」執行長吉姆．帕其特說，「中國就是把整個作業搬到東南亞。」
“E-waste has to go somewhere,” said Jim Puckett, executive director of the Basel Action Network, which campaigns against trash dumping in poor countries, “and the Chinese are simply moving their entire operations to Southeast Asia.”

他說：「賺錢的唯一方法，是用便宜、非法的勞力處理極為龐大的數量，而且大肆汙染環境。」
“The only way to make money is to get huge volume with cheap, illegal labor and pollute the hell out of the environment,” he added.

根據聯合國的統計，全球每年製造出5000萬噸電子垃圾，消費者習慣了丟掉前一年的機型，入手新款式。回收這些小電器的觀念聽起來道德高尚：科技便利的無限循環。
Each year, 50 million tons of e-waste are produced globally, according to the United Nations, as consumers grow accustomed to throwing away last year’s model and acquiring the next new thing.The notion of recycling these gadgets sounds virtuous: an infinite loop of technological utility.

但是，從廢棄的手機、電腦和電視中採集微量的金銀銅之類貴金屬，其實是骯髒且危險的工作。
But it is dirty and dangerous work to extract the tiny quantities of precious metals — like gold, silver and copper — from castoff phones, computers and televisions.

曾經有許多年，中國大陸大量接收世界各地的電子廢棄物。然後在2018年，北京對外來電子垃圾關閉了大門。泰國和其他東南亞國家看到了機會，因為它們環境法律執行寬鬆，勞動力剝削容易，而且商界和政府間關係緊密。
For years, China took in much of the world’s electronic refuse. Then in 2018, Beijing closed its borders to foreign e-waste. Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia — with their lax enforcement of environmental laws, easily exploited labor force and cozy nexus between business and government — saw an opportunity.

「每一片電路板和每一條電線都能讓你賺不少錢，特別是毋須考慮環境或勞工時。」環境監督組織「泰國生態警示復甦」領導人潘重．沙也譚說。
“Every circuit and every cable is very lucrative, especially if there is no concern for the environment or for workers,” said Penchom Saetang, head of Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand, an environmental watchdog. Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/349813/web/