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　　Chiufen, an old gold-mining town northeast of Taipei, is crammed with tourists on weekends. But Chinkuashi, an older mining town just two kilometers away, remains still and silent. It has no charming art galleries or giftshops. There are no warm teashops to welcome couples looking for a romantic place to chat. Perched on a cliff above the blue-green sea and surrounded by mountains, it looks and feels like a remote outpost. In Chinkuashi, more ghosts than people walk the streets.

　　It wasn't always this way. In 1889, Patu Station, a small village near Chinkuashi, was a lively place. Hundreds of workers came that humid summer to build a railway bridge across the Keelung River; among them a Cantonese man who had panned for gold in California. While working in the shadow of the iron bridge, he tried his luck by dipping a pan into the river sand. When he saw bits of gold in his pan, he laughed out loud and danced around in the shallow water.

　　More Information/仅供参考，不须强记

　　1.mine v.采矿

　　2.perch v.位于(高处或危险处)

　　3.outpost n.前哨站

　　4.station n.驻地；管理站(此处并非火车站之意)

　　5.pan v.淘金(当时是用饭盒盖来当淘金盘)