News Bites ICRT

Hi everyone! It's time for an all-new episode of News Bites.

I'm Jacob Ingram.

And I'm Hope Ngo.

In today's episode, a machine that can get energy from seawater, and tourists destroying property in a Japanese town.

And for today's Tasty Tidbit: the world's best-selling video game.

Stay tuned for those stories.
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把海水變成能源的神奇機器
A Machine That Can Turn Seawater into Energy

Did you know you can make energy from seawater?

A research team at National Sun Yat-sen University says they've made a machine that can break down seawater to get hydrogen (氫).

They say it's the first of its kind in the world.

Why would anyone want hydrogen?

Hydrogen is a clean fuel that only makes water as a byproduct (副產品), making it good for the earth.

Hydrogen is important because it makes green electricity.

Green electricity is made from solar, wind, or hydro power.

It doesn't use fossil fuels.

Many industries (行業) need hydrogen to make important chemicals like rocket fuel (火箭燃料).

It's also important for making metals stronger.

So, how does the machine make hydrogen from seawater?

It does it by using electrolysis (電解), which causes a chemical reaction.

The machine passes an electric current (電流) through seawater, helping water molecules (水分子) split up.

It sounds like something we should be able to do easily.

But it's not easy.

The lack of technology is a problem.

It's difficult to show that making big amounts of hydrogen is possible.

目前最大的困難之一，在於還沒有 那樣的技術，來 證 明大量生產氫氣辦得到。

But the new machine is exciting because its inventors say it can produce plenty of hydrogen.

The machine will help Taiwan accomplish its dream of becoming a zero emissions (零排放) country by 2050.

Then Taiwan won't need to buy energy like oil from other countries anymore.

The researchers have been working with the government to make their special machine.

But it's not enough.

And they are hoping other government and industry partners will work with them develop this promising technology.
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富士山美景被遮擋 觀光客卻找辦法攝影
Holes in Screen Fail to Block Mount Fuji Photos

At the foot of Mount Fuji, there is a town that enjoys amazing views of this special mountain.

This town has a long name - Fujikawaguchiko - and it's got big problems.

Tourists who are trying to take pictures of Mount Fuji have been bothering the locals that live in the area.

They've been blocking pavements, walking into busy roads, and standing on private property to take photos.
因為當地人抱怨遊客堵住了人行道、占用繁忙的道路、並且還站在私人領地上拍照。

So to stop the tourists from taking photos of the mountain, officials there put up a big black screen.

The screen is outside the Lawson convenience store.

If you take a picture from there, it looks like Mount Fuji is sitting on the roof.

But the screen didn't stop some sneaky tourists from trying to take their pictures anyway.

Destroying public property is something we should never do, particularly when we are visitors in a new country.

But some tourists don't seem to remember this, because they have cut holes in the screen and in fences.

Officials found about ten holes at eye level the day after the screen was put up.

They think some tourists made holes in the screen just the right size for a camera lens.

This kind of behavior is one reason why many people around the world don't like tourists, and not just in Japan.

In fact, overtourism (過度旅遊) is a problem in many in many countries around the world.

So governments are coming up with ways to deal with this problem.
For example, Venice in Italy charges a €5 fee for tourists to enter

Hi everyone, welcome to a new episode of News Bites!

I'm Kelly Kimura…

And I'm Jacob Ingram.

Coming up next in today's news: The education minister wants to slow down on the Bilingual 2030 policy, and scientists say climate change is making air turbulence worse and more common!

And in today's Tasty Tidbit… two companies and a university are making a better chocolate!

Stay tuned for more on those stories!
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教育部長暫緩2030年雙語政策
Education Minister Wants to Slow Down on the Bilingual 2030 Policy

Some time ago, Taiwan started the Bilingual 2030 policy.

It wants to raise the competitiveness (競爭力) of Taiwan's young people.

Young people would be able to get better jobs and higher pay.

The policy is mostly about bilingual education (雙語教育) in Taiwanese schools.

But the education minister wants to go more slowly on the policy.

He is the former president (前校長) of a national university (國立大學).

He helped to make a ten-year plan for English-only education.

The plan is for its graduate school (研究所).

The university hired (聘請) teachers with qualifications (資格).

They made new English classes.

These classes are not required (不是必修課) until 2030.

The education minister said, "These things take time, we need to slow down."

But local governments (地方政府) are trying to follow the policy in a hurry.

So sometimes new teachers don't have the qualifications the school needs.

This could make the policy fall short of expectations (達不到預期).

The Ministry of Education plans to work with local schools.

It wants to make sure new teachers have qualifications.

The education minister also said students can learn English in their daily (經) lives.

When he was the head (局長) of a city education office, it worked with a fast food chain and doctors.

Children who ordered food in English got free fries!

Children who spoke to doctors in English paid $50 Taiwan dollars less.

The minister said that children in rural (鄉村) areas have fewer bilingual resources (資源) than children in cities.

To help, the ministry will send university students to teach rural children.

教育部致力於為農村學生提供所需的英語教育。

It's great that the ministry is trying to raise the bilingual abilities (能力) of our country.
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氣候變遷使空中亂流更常見，並且更嚴重
Climate Change is Making Air Turbulence Worse and More Common

On May 21st, a Singapore Airlines plane began to shake very hard over the Indian Ocean.

This was because of air turbulence (空中亂流).

The plane was flying from London to Singapore.

But it made an emergency landing (緊急降落) in Bangkok.

The plane dropped 1,800 meters in a very short time.

Many people were hurt.

One person died.

A scientist (科學家) who has studied air turbulence said,

"It is not that we'll have to stop flying, or planes will fall out of the sky."

"I'm just saying that air turbulence will be getting more common."

There is a study about severe incidents (嚴重事件) of air turbulence.

It shows these incidents have gone up since 1979.

Wind shear (風切) is a fast change in wind strength or direction (方向).

Wind shear has also gone up since 1979.

Warmer air can make wind shear happen more often.

Other studies have also shown that climate change has led to warmer air.

And this will also cause more turbulence.

There are different kinds of turbulence.

Thunderstorms (暴風雨) cause one kind of turbulence.

Scientists think thunderstorms will get worse with climate change.

Weather centers, satellites, and radar (氣象局, 氣象衛星, 氣象雷達) help to forecast (預報) this kind of

Back to another episode of News Bites!
I’m Paz Bueno.
And I’m Brody Halverson.
In today's news:
The number of pet dogs and cats increases, nurses say ransomware is stressing hospital operations, and seeing double!
Keep on listening to find out more!
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寵物貓狗的數量 逐年增加
Number of Pet Dogs and Cats Increases

Having a pet is a great way to keep you company.

Over the past decades, the number of pets has constantly (持續) increased.

The statistics are shown in a recent survey done by the Ministry of Agriculture (農業部).

Last year, there were almost 1.5 million dogs and more than 1.3 million cats in Taiwan.

Compared to 2021, the number of dogs increased by 19% and cats by 50%.

As for other pets, there was also a 3.3% increase.

This phenomenon (現象) is happening globally.

Statistics show that there are over half a billion dogs and cats in the U.S., E.U., and China alone.

Not to mention the other countries.

The global COVID-19 pandemic (疫情) also contributed to the increase of pets.

As people were under lockdown (封鎖) in their homes, millions of them adopted a pet to keep them company.

In Australia alone, there was an increase of 1.2 million pet dogs after the pandemic.

Another reason is that as raising children is challenging, many have turned to raising pets.

As a result, the pet industry is rapidly growing.

According to the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院), the average amount that pet owners spend on a pet every year is NT$28,000.

It is estimated around NT$50 billion (寵物經濟規模達到五百多 億) are spent on pets every year in Taiwan.

Going to the vet, regular grooming at pet salons, pet food and treats, equipment and toys and so much more.

每年舉辦寵物展的場次幾乎快超越婦幼展了。

In a few years, the number of pets in Taiwan will surpass (超越) the number of children.

This also poses a problem for pet control.

Currently, the law requires pet dogs to be microchipped and registered.

Whereas, only Taipei requires owners to register cats.

The MOA is assessing the possibility of a mandatory (強制) cat registration throughout the country.

So, don’t be surprised if you see more dogs than children in the park in the near future.
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勒索軟體癱瘓醫院作業
Nurses Say Ransomware Is Stressing Hospital Operations
When a computer is attacked by ransomware, all the files are locked.
You can still turn your computer on and off, but that’s basically everything you can do.
In other words, your computer is kidnapped (綁架) by hackers (駭客).
You have to pay a ransom (贖金) of crypto currency (加密貨幣).
After that, you might receive a password to regain control of your computer.
If you don’t want to pay, you can always format (格式化) and reinstall the operating system on your computer.
But you will lose all your files.
Imagine the amount of damage ransomware can do to a company, or even a hospital.
A recent attack on a major US hospital network is endangering patient’s health.
All the nurses, doctor and staff have to shift to paper records.
With the computers down, doctors have to write paper prescriptions (處方簽).
The nurses then have to take it to a machine to enter manually (手動輸入) to obtain the medication.
With the system offline, it’s almost impossible to cross-check it with the pharmacy.
This might lead to an overdose (過量) of medication.
Due to the hack, lab results that usually take 30 minutes to 1 hour to process are now taking hours.
This will cause a delay in patient care and immediate (即時) treatment.
All these are matters of life and death.

The reason that cybercriminals (網路犯罪份子) target healthcare organizations is because they possess an enormous volume of sensitive data that can be sold for

Hi everyone, welcome to a new episode of News Bites!

I'm Kelly Kimura…

And I'm Jacob Ingram.

Coming up next in today's news: Taiwan wins awards at the Robofest World Championship and an eight-year-old is a fashion trendsetter at school!

And in today's Tasty Tidbit, a man mails a postcard from one cool post office to another!

Stay tuned for more on those stories!
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台灣奪得世界機器人大賽冠軍
Taiwan Wins at the Robofest World Championship

Taiwan is a leader in robotics (機器人技術).

And smart students here are already becoming leaders in robotics!

Last month, the Robofest World Championship (錦標賽) was held for three days at a university in Michigan, in the U.S.

Students from 16 countries, from Grades 4 to 12, competed (競爭).

Over 500 students competed in 100 teams.

Taiwan had 50 students in 12 teams.

They won eight awards (大獎)!

In the two exhibition competitions (展覽競賽), Taiwan won first place awards.

In the senior exhibition competition, a team named "SmartHome Hub" from National Pingtung Senior High School competed against 11 teams.

The SmartHome Hub team won scholarships (獎學金) to the university for $80,000 US dollars, or over two and a half million Taiwan dollars.

In the junior exhibition competition, a team named "Dreamer" competed against 13 teams.

For this exhibition competition, teams thought of a problem that a robot could fix or something it could do.

Then they designed, made, and programmed (寫程式) their robot.

They made a video and wrote reports for the judges (裁判).

Then they showed their robot, gave a 4-minute report in English, and answered the judges' questions.

Taiwan also won in the game competitions.

In the senior game competition, a team named "Just Right," from Cheng Yi Senior High School in Kaohsiung, won first place.

It competed against 21 teams.

This team also won $80,000 US dollar scholarships.

In the junior game competition, a team named "Justice," also from Cheng Yi Senior High School, won sixth place.

It competed against 29 teams! Whoa!

The teams played a two-minute game called "Autonomous (自駕) Taxi."

Their robots picked up small balls and delivered them to different boxes.

In the game, the robots were taxis picking up and dropping off people and food orders!

In the senior medical (醫療的) robot competition, a team named "FAME" won third place.

They got scholarships for $56,000 US dollars, or $1,800,000 Taiwan dollars.

This new wave of young leaders in robotics will help Taiwan make smarter and faster robots!

這些學生的創新想法，可以幫助台灣在機器人領域更成功.
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八歲男孩成為時尚潮流領袖
An Eight-Year-Old Boy Is a Fashion Trendsetter

It's Wednesday, a school day, and the kids are looking good.

It's because of one classmate in a rural (鄉村的) school in a small rural town.

One day he decided he wanted to wear a suit to school.

That was okay. Kids in most public schools in the U.S. don't wear uniforms.

They can choose the clothes they want to wear.

So this 8-year-old boy chose a green three-piece suit: pants, vest, and jacket.

He put on a nice white shirt and a necktie too.

His classmates were surprised at first.

They didn't know why he was dressed up (穿得那麼正式)

They didn't know what to think!

Was this strange or was this cool?

Hmmmmm…

The boy kept wearing suits to school.

He knew he was dressed differently from everyone else.

But he didn't care.

He liked dressing up.

He said, "I can be who I want to be."

Kids got used to (習慣) seeing him dressed up.

One by one, they started dressing up too.

And… they thought they looked good!

It made them feel good!

B*News Bites 文字檔 (國中)
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Hi there.

It's time for an all-new episode of News Bites.

I'm Jacob Ingram.

And I'm Nancy Sun.

In today's episode, we'll be talking about Malayan Tigers, and football-playing AI robots!

And for today's Tasty Tidbit: The king of the jungle!

Stay tuned for those stories.
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臺北動物園新生報到兩瀕危馬來虎
Malayan Tigers Debut at Taipei Zoo

Exciting news from Taipei Zoo: Two Malayan tigers have just made their first public appearance.

Their names are Shima and Serikin.

These tigers came all the way from France, arriving on March 1st from a special zoo dedicated to big cats (來自法國一家專門保育大型貓科動物的動物園).

Shima and Serikin spent over two months in quarantine (檢疫) and spent some time getting used to their new home.

After that, they were ready to meet visitors!

Zookeepers say Shima and Serikin have very different personalities (個性大不同).

Shima loves to play and explore her new surroundings, while Serikin is more shy and careful.

This is a big deal for Taipei Zoo, because it's the zoo's first time participating in a global program to help save Malayan tigers.

Malayan tigers live in the forests of southern Thailand and Malaysia.

They are an endangered subspecies (亞種) of tiger.

They're named after Peter Jackson!

No, not that Peter Jackson - the director the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

不是魔戒電影的導演。

They're named after another Peter Jackson, who's a notable tiger conservationist (老虎保育人士).

Jackson "earned his stripes" way back in 2005, when the Malayan tiger subspecies was discovered, and named after him.
Sadly, Malayan tiger numbers are dropping because of habitat loss and poaching.

Taipei Zoo Director Chen I-tsung (諶亦聰) says these tigers are critically endangered, which means they are at very high risk of extinction.

Deforestation for palm oil plantations (棕櫚樹園區) and urban development (城市發展) has significantly reduced their natural habitat.
This makes it harder for them to find sufficient prey and leads to increased encounters with poachers (盜獵者).

Poaching remains a major threat, driven by the illegal wildlife trade, where tiger parts like their coats (皮毛) are highly valued.
盜獵依然是重大威脅，由於老虎的皮毛非常值錢，帶來許多非法的野生動物交易。

Thankfully, conservation efforts are underway to protect the remaining Malayan tigers.

These efforts include anti-poaching measures, habitat preservation and community engagement programs.
保育措施包括反盜獵、棲息地保護和社區參與計畫。

Shima and Serikin are both very elegant and quiet, so the zookeepers ask visitors to be considerate when visiting them.

They can be found in the Tropical Rainforest Area at Taipei Zoo.

Let's help raise awareness about these beautiful animals and support efforts to protect them.
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日內瓦人工智慧展 機器人踢足球
Robots Play Soccer at AI Showcase in Geneva

Time to head over to Switzerland for this next story - the land of chocolate, mountain landscapes and luxury watches.

Recently, an A-I for Good Global Summit took place in Geneva.

最近日內瓦舉行了一場人工智慧全球高峰會，探討怎樣讓AI做好事。

You remember what A-I is, right? It stands for Artificial Intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence can do many things.

It can look at a lot of data very fast and find important information.

AI can do boring and repetitive tasks, so people can do more interesting work.

It helps with decision-making by showing patterns and predictions.

But it can do much more than that!

At the Summit, AI-controlled robots played soccer, answered trivia questions, and even poked

Hey there! Thanks for tuning in to today's New Bites!

I'm Paz Bueno.

And I'm Brody Halverson.

Today's stories…
Taiwan's millet seeds are stored in the Artic, a gardener makes music, and stories of mermaids in the Caribbean!

Let's begin!
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臺灣珍貴種子 走進北極
Taiwan's Tiny Treasures Go to the Arctic

Seeds (種子) are tiny but mighty treasures essential for our food and agriculture.

They carry the genetic blueprint of plants (植物的基因藍圖).

Protecting seeds means preserving the diversity of our crops (保護農作物的多樣性)…

…which helps us adapt (適應) to changes like climate shifts and disease.

Speaking of protecting seeds, did you know that a team from Taiwan traveled to the Arctic (北極) at the end of May?

They took 170 seeds of a grain called millet (小米) to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway (挪威的斯瓦爾巴全球種子庫).

Oh, the "Doomsday Seed Vault! (世界末日種子庫)!

It's like a safe place for seeds from all over the world, right?

Exactly! It helps keep seeds safe in case of big problems like climate change, wars, or other disasters.

At the end of May, there was a ceremony in Svalbard to celebrate Taiwan's participation in this important project.

Many important people from Taiwan were there, including scientists and representatives of Taiwan's indigenous Peoples (臺灣原住民).

Millet is very important to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan.

It's a staple food and has special cultural rituals.
小米是一種主要的食物，並且有特殊的文化儀式。

These seeds will help ensure that future generations can continue to grow millet.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is located in the northernmost town in the Arctic Circle (北極圈內最北邊的小鎮).

It's a very secure place, protected by natural freezing conditions and strong underground tunnels.

It can even withstand earthquakes and nuclear attacks!
它甚至能夠承受地震和核武攻擊！

By sending millet seeds to the Global Seed Vault, Taiwan is helping to protect global agriculture and preserve (保存) important parts of its culture.

It's amazing how something so small can have such a big impact on our world.

Every seed counts when it comes to protecting our planet's biodiversity (生物多樣性) and ensuring a healthy future.
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園丁的新旋律
A Gardener's New Tune

Humans have always been creative (有創意) with music, inventing countless instruments over the centuries.

From simple drums and flutes to complex (複雜的) pianos and electric guitars…

…each new instrument has brought unique sounds and styles.

People have even used everyday objects (日常物品) to make music!

Anything can become an instrument with a bit of imagination.

And now, a gardener (園丁) in England has found a way to make music with…plants!

He has introduced a whole new way to create and enjoy music.

A gardener named Martin Noble-James discovered a unique way to make music using plants.

Martin built a special machine called a synthesizer (合成器) to turn plants' electrical impulses into sounds (將植物的電脈衝轉化為聲音).

This new music style is called bio-sonification (生物聲音化).

Bio-sonification works by connecting electrodes (電極) to plants.

These electrodes pick up the plants' natural electrical signals (自然的電訊).

The signals are then transformed into music (轉化為音樂) through the synthesizer.

Martin got interested in this during the COVID-19 lockdown (新冠疫情封鎖期) and has been experimenting ever since.

He says he enjoys making music without controlling it.

Instead, he collaborates (合作) with the plants.

He finds it exciting to perform live, just plugging in a plant and seeing what happens.
他覺得現場