Five stops in our own town — and the English to show a visitor each one. 家鄉裡的五個站——以及，帶訪客認識每一站所需要的英語。
You are old enough now to do something younger children can't: stand in front of a guest and explain your own hometown in English. Each stop below gives you the background, a short guide's script you can say out loud, and the key words you'll need. Press 🔊 Listen to hear the script, then try it yourself. 你現在夠大了，可以做一件小小孩做不到的事：站在客人面前，用英文介紹自己的家鄉。下面每一站都給你背景、一段可以唸出來的導覽稿，以及你會用到的關鍵字。按 🔊 Listen 聽導覽稿，然後自己試試看。
Most towns are named after a place — a river, a hill, a temple. Taibao is named after a title. Wang De-lu (1770–1842), born in the village then called Gouwei, helped the Qing government put down two great rebellions and rose to naval Supreme Commander — the highest-ranking official Taiwan produced under the Qing. The court granted him the honorary title “Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent” — in Chinese, Taizi Taibao. His home village took the last two words and made them its name.
大多數的小鎮以「地方」命名——一條河、一座山、一間廟。太保，卻是以一個封號命名。王得祿（1770–1842）出生於當時叫「前溝尾」的村庄，協助清廷平定兩場大亂，官至水師提督——清代官位最高的台灣人。朝廷賜他榮銜「太子太保」，故鄉便取最後兩字，作為自己的名字。
“Welcome to Taibao. Our town has an unusual name. It comes from a title given to a famous admiral, Wang De-lu, more than two hundred years ago. He was the highest-ranking official Taiwan produced under the Qing dynasty — and our town is named in his honour.”
Opened in 2015, the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum is one of Taiwan's great museums — and it stands right here in Taibao. It was built in the south under a national idea: that culture should be shared evenly between the north and the south. It is a museum of Asian art, not only Chinese: textiles, tea, Buddhist treasures from across the continent. Our students grow up minutes away — some will one day guide visitors through its halls.
2015 年啟用的故宮南院，是台灣偉大的博物館之一——而它就在太保。它在「平衡南北、文化均富」的國家理念下建於南部。它是一座亞洲藝術博物館，不只中華：織品、茶文化、來自整個亞洲的佛教瑰寶。我們的學生在離它幾分鐘的地方長大——有些人，有一天會帶著訪客走過它的展廳。
“This is the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum. It opened in 2015, so that southern Taiwan would have a great museum of its own. Inside, you can see art from all over Asia — not only from China. It is one of the proudest places in our town.”
Taibao is home to the High-Speed Rail's Chiayi Station — about three minutes from our school gate. The train runs the length of the island; the whole of Taiwan passes through our town on its way north and south. A station is a place of arrivals: when a sister school comes to visit, this is where we meet them — and where we say our first words of English to a guest who has travelled to see us.
太保是高鐵嘉義站的所在地——離我們的校門大約三分鐘。這條鐵路貫穿整座島嶼；整個台灣，南來北往，都會經過我們的小鎮。車站是「抵達」的地方：當姊妹校來訪，我們在這裡迎接他們——也在這裡，對一位遠道而來的客人，說出我們的第一句英文。
“You arrived at the High-Speed Rail Chiayi Station — and it is only three minutes from our school. From here you can reach Taipei in about ninety minutes. Taibao is small, but it is a gateway: all of Taiwan passes through our town.”
Baseball is Taiwan's island game, and our town has a county stadium for it. That matters to us in particular: Taibao Junior High runs its own sports classes, and the diamond is where many of our athletes train. A ballpark is also a great English classroom in disguise — the calls of the game, “safe,” “out,” “home run,” are English the whole island already shares.
棒球是台灣的島嶼運動，我們鎮上就有一座縣立棒球場。這對我們特別有意義：太保國中有自己的體育班，而球場，正是我們許多選手訓練的地方。球場也是一間偽裝過的英語教室——比賽的喊聲，「safe」「out」「home run」，是整座島嶼早已共享的英文。
“This is our county baseball stadium. Baseball is the most loved sport in Taiwan. Our school has its own sports classes, and some of our students train here. On the field, we already use English every day — words like ‘safe,’ ‘out,’ and ‘home run.’”
Taibao is not only a town — it is the seat of the Chiayi County government, the place where decisions for the whole county are made. To grow up at the county seat is to grow up where things are decided. We hope you leave Taibao Junior High able to talk about where you come from in two languages — and, one day, to help decide its future.
太保不只是一個小鎮——它是嘉義縣政府的所在地，整個嘉義縣的決定在這裡做成。在縣治長大，就是在「事情被決定的地方」長大。我們希望你離開太保國中時，能用兩種語言，談論你所來自的地方——並且，有一天，幫忙決定它的未來。
“Taibao is the county seat of Chiayi, so the county government is based here. Decisions for the whole county are made in our town. I am proud to come from a place that matters — and one day, I hope to help my hometown grow.”
A title became a name, a name became a town, a town became a gateway — and you are old enough to stand at that gate and say, in two languages, “Welcome. Let me show you where I'm from.” 封號成了地名，地名成了小鎮，小鎮成了門戶——而你，已經夠大，可以站在那道門前，用兩種語言說：「歡迎，讓我帶你認識我來自的地方。」