Asking About the Japanese Occupation of Taiwan
詢問有關日本占領台灣的事

S: Is it true that the Japanese built the Alishan railway line?
阿里山的鐵路真的是日本人所建的嗎?

T: Yes, that’s correct. The Japanese built lots of railway lines around the island while they were in charge here.
沒錯。日本人統治台灣時，在各地建造了許多的鐵路。

S: What else did they do here?
那他們在這裡還做了什麼?

T: They did quite a lot for business, and the economy grew during their rule. They were even responsible for establishing the Bank of Taiwan.
他們對商業貢獻良多，在他們的統治期間經濟也確實成長了。甚至連台灣銀行都是他們成立的。

S: I didn’t know that.
這個我倒不知道。

T: Yeah, they also made elementary school compulsory.
也是他們讓小學成為義務教育。

S: Oh, that’s a good thing.
喔，那是件好事！

T: And then they built hospitals and brought doctors over from Japan because lots of people were dying from diseases like malaria.
而後因為許多人死於像是瘧疾這類的疾病，他們還建醫院，並且讓日本的醫生來台。

S: It seems like they were really good rulers.
看來他們好像統治得還不錯。

T: Um, I don’t think I would ever say that. Although they did a lot of good things here, they severely punished anyone who opposed them.
嗯，我應該不會這麼說。雖然他們對這塊土地貢獻良多，但是他們同樣嚴懲反抗他們的人。

S: Oh, right. So they were both good and bad leaders, right?
是喔。所以他們是好的統治者，也是壞的統治者，是嗎？

T: Yes, that would be fair to say.
是啊，這樣說比較公平。

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※本文節錄自《Fun說英語介紹台灣：即學即用觀光導遊英語（16K+寂天雲隨身聽APP）》

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