Friday, October 30, 2020

Exploring Ecuador (1)

Enjoy a historic city and some unusual islands
深入探索──厄瓜多 流連拉丁美洲歷史文化與自然生態交錯之美

In 1978 the city of Quito and the Galapagos Islands became two of the twelve original UNESCO World Heritage sites. UNESCO chose Quito "as the best-preserved and least-altered historic city center in Latin America." They chose the Galapagos as a "unique living museum" that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

Quito, the capital of Ecuador, was founded by the Spanish in 1534 on the ruins of an Inca city. It sits at an altitude of 2850 meters and is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes.

The best place to begin a visit may be in the historic city center, Quito's Old Town. Despite many earthquakes over the years, this area has changed very little since the 16th century. Its buildings combine Spanish, Italian, Moorish and Flemish styles with native influences. At the heart of Old Town lies Plaza Grande, a busy, beautiful square surrounded by buildings from colonial times. Try walking down La Ronda, a famous nearby street, and enjoy the shops and cafes.

While in Quito, don't miss the cable car to the top of Pichincha volcano and the city-wide view.


Info Cloud

Hi, friends. Welcome to Info Cloud. I've been thinking about earthquakes as there was a sizable one last night. Did you feel last night's earthquake? Yes. It was a big one. It happened around 3 a.m. and woke me up. I was shaken to the core and could not sleep the rest of the night. I'm sorry to hear that. It was a stronger quake than usual. But we do have many earthquakes in Asia. Are there any earthquakes where you come from? I come from Ohio and had never experienced earthquakes until I moved to Asia. Oh, that makes sense, then. I can understand why you feel shaken to the core. Students, people say this phrase when they feel extremely shocked or surprised by something. Yes, it definitely gave me a big scare. I wasn't expecting it at all. You raised a good point. It is the things that we don't expect that shake us to the core the most. I guess earthquakes are something I need to get used to if I'm going to live here a long time. It won't do to constantly feel shaken to the core. 

當你碰到一件令你震驚或震撼的事情,你可以用 shaken to the core 來形容你的狀態。I was shaken to the core by that earthquake. 那場地震讓我感到很震驚。shaken 有撼動的涵義,to the core 是直達核心,shaken to the core 就是深深地被震驚。基本上,shaken to the core 是在形容一種相當恐懼的狀態,這個用語並不是在形容興奮或是亢奮的狀態,而是比較極度害怕的那一種負面情緒。


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