全通翻譯/翻譯社

Sao Paulo: A Latin American Giant

It may lack the beautiful natural backdrop of Rio, but Sao Paulo is undoubtedly the cultural and economic heart of Brazil. Although it was founded by proselytizing Jesuits in 1554, Sampa — as it's affectionately known — remained an isolated backwater until the 19th century. Now the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere, Sao Paulo is a powerhouse in Latin America, with an economy roughly the size of New Zealand.

The state of Sao Paulo accounts for about a third of Brazil's GDP, much of this coming in the form of a formidable2 service sector. Major corporations have set up shop here, and the city's stock exchange is one of the world's largest. The International Congress and Convention Association rates the city as the most important event host in the Americas, with more than 200 events held daily. Sao Paulo's industrial output is similarly huge. Around 10 percent of the population works in one of the city's thousands of factories, producing everything from textiles and electronics to pharmaceutical products and furniture. 

Taiwanese Cuisine:Simple, Yet Lip-smackinglyh Delicious

BACK in 2011, CNN drew the scorn of Taiwanese netizens with a series of articles that appeared to rag on Taiwanese culinaryculture. First there was a piece ranking Taipei as the most gluttonous city in Asia. Then came a list of the world’s most revolting foods, which featured a local specialty — century eggs. Finally, the icing on the cake was a rating of the world’s top tastes that had the temerity not to include even one Taiwanese dish. Well, it did. But insult was added to injury when stinky tofu was listed as a Southeast Asian snack.

Although night markets are a great place to start for a slice of authentic local cuisine, there's a lot more to Taiwan than roadside stalls. Beef noodles, for example, are treated as a fine art, with top-end, gourmetbowls costing up to NT$10,000 a pop. If you're looking for killer Xiaolongbao, Din Tai Fung is the place. The restaurant chain has earned Michelin stars and now runs branches in 10 countries. Perhaps the best thing about many Taiwanese staples,though, is their simplicity. It often seems like there is nothing to dishes such as sesame noodles, fatty braised-pork rice and egg-drop soup, but therein lies their charm. Find yourself away from Taiwan for any period of time, and you’ll soon be pining for these tasty, addictive comfort foods. 

And Then There Was One: Is Microsoft Being Left in the Dust?

Microsoft Windows was not the first operating system to provide a graphical user interface. Although Bill Gates demonstrated a betaversion of Windows version 1.0 to IBM execs in 1983, it was two years before the OS hit shelves. Their lukewarm response was in stark contrast to the way they had embraced MS-DOS two years earlier. Part of IBM’s reluctancecame from the fact that they were working on their own OS.

By the time version 1.0 was released, two competing GUI systems were already on the market. They failed to attract interest, primarily because of a lack of support from third-party developers. For a while, it looked like Windows would go the same way. Despite major improvements in version 2.0, it wasn’t until the release of 3.0 in 1990 that the OS got the en masse developer support required for critical and commercial acceptance. With the release of Windows 95 — the company’s first OS not to require the installation of MS-DOS — Microsoft cornered the market. Since that time, there has been only one superpower in the desktop OS market. As of June 2013, Windows 7 accounted for 44.37 percent of the market, with the ever-popular Windows XP occupying a further 37.17 percent.

Land of Opportunity . . .　and Risk

Empire in Burma conjures up images of the Raj in the twilight of its glory years. But for centuries, the country now known officially as Myanmar was the one wielding the imperial yoke, as it presided over a series of powerful empires that intermittently dominated Southeast Asia. At the height of its glory, under the 16th century monarch Bayinnaung, the Taungoo Dynasty ruled a tranche of land that ran from Tibet to southern Thailand — the largest empire the region has ever seen.

Although the city of Yangon sprung up in tandem with Burmese expansionism, it wasn't until British rule that it came into its own. Indeed, the city retains more colonial architecture than any other location in Southeast Asia, though what hasn't fallen into disrepair has often been tarnished by insensitive face-lifts. Myanmar's authoritarian military junta has been accused of attempting to expunge all traces of the colonial era, but, paradoxically, the fact these crumbling edifices still exist may well be down to years of economic misrule. Simply put, there was no money to build anything else. Perhaps the most visible sign of decay is the abandonment of the gigantic Secretariat Building with the relocation of the capital to Naypyidaw in 2005. 

When East Meets West: Blending Leadership Styles

What makes a good leader? This is the conundrum that international companies have been struggling with ever since globalization became an economic reality in the late 20th century. Asian managers and their Western counterparts often have differing managerial styles, and the debate has raged for decades about which approach is best.

Ray Kroc, the legendary first chairman of the McDonald's Corporation, exemplifies the Western style of leadership. He bought a small restaurant business in 1954 and then created the “McDonald's Bible,” a book containing rules that all McDonald's restaurants must follow. It details how wide pickles and French fries should be, and how you will be greeted whenever you walk into a McDonald's establishment.

Rides, Roads and Rails

If there's one adjective that sums up tranportation in Taiwan, it's convenient. There are just so many ways to get around, the majority of which are extremely reasonably priced.

Taipei has a world-class metro, which is continually expanding, and Kaoshiung's MRT has been ranked among the world's top 50 most beautiful subway systems. These two cities, Taiwan's largest, form the northern and southern ends of the Taiwan High Speed Rail line, a 345-kilometer-stretch of track that can be traversed in a mere 96 minutes. A trip down the island's west coast on this bullet train was chosen as one of the best winter trips for 2013 by National Geographic.

Marvelous Marvel

Think superheroes, and you're almost certainly thinking of Marvel. While other comic book publishers might have given Marvel a run for its money over the years, few have created as many characters with such mass appeal.

The company dates back to 1939 when it was founded under the name of Timely Publications. It wasn't until 1961 that the name Marvel first began to be used, and that same year, the publisher introduced its first superhero team, the Fantastic Four. The following year saw the first comic to feature perhaps the most iconic of Marvel’s crime-fighters, Spider-Man. This character immediately resonated with young people as it was the first teenager in a leading role. Previous to this, youngsters had always been relegated to sidekick status.