Shownotes Transcript
Hello everybody, and welcome to a new episode of News Bites!
I'm Trevor Tortomasi…
And I'm Clifford Chu.
In today's news:
A Formosan bear comes back for more, people make space junk, and toys help rescue a dog.
All that and more, coming up next.
貪心的台灣黑熊 The Greedy Formosan Black Bear
If you live in a big city, it is difficult to imagine having real bears in Taiwan.
But it is a different story (是另一回事) if you live in the countryside (鄉間).
Even if there are only 200 to 600 Formosan black bears left, and they are considered to be endangered (瀕臨絕種), you can probably still see them in the wild (野外).
Formosan black bears are supposed to have round bodies, round heads, short necks, small eyes, and a short tail.
They usually weigh between 60 and 150 kilograms, and they are between 130 and 180 centimeters long.
Formosan black bears also have a white V-shaped mark on their chest, which is why they are also called “moon bears”.
The bears like eating different things, like plants, insects, and other animals, making them omnivores (雜食性動物).
These bears don’t hibernate (冬眠) and they move around a lot.
They can travel as much as 202 square kilometers in one year, which means they can bump into humans sometimes. 牠們每年的活動範圍可以高達202平方公里，代表牠們有時候會撞見人類。
One Formosan black bear had to be released into the wild twice (兩度) after rescuers found him in 2020.
The bear is named “711” and he was found injured (受傷).
He was then freed (野放) after he got better.
But he decided to go to Dongshi District instead, to eat the food which farmers prepared for their animals.
711 also liked invading (入侵) chicken coops (雞舍).
He was released in a remote area (遙遠地區) in Taichung’s Dongmao Mountain (東卯山).
And he now has a device (裝置) that can warn people if he travels back to the same village where he first found food.
Everyone hopes he is happy, because once a bear likes eating one kind of food, it is difficult for him to go back to his original diet (原本的飲食習慣).
太空垃圾是什麼？ What is Space Junk?
When we look up into the sky, and if the night is clear, we see stars.
But when astronauts (太空人) travel into space (太空), they see more than stars.
They see plenty of junk (垃圾).
Space junk is caused by many things.
Some are satellites (人造衛星) which have stopped working.
Some are rockets (火箭) which were sent into space and never came down.
Space junk can even be small parts that have fallen off a rocket.
There is even space junk on the moon!
Instead of being careful, scientists say humans are creating even more space junk.
For example, people on earth use 2,000 satellites today.
But there are also 3,000 other satellites which cannot be used anymore.
Those satellites can circle the earth for thousands of years.
And those dead satellites have become space junk. 失去作用的人造衛星就變成了太空垃圾。
Countries like the United States, China, India, and Russia make more junk when they test their missiles (飛彈) by shooting at satellites.
During one missile test, Russia blew up (引爆) a satellite and created more than one thousand pieces of space junk.
So far, more than thirty thousand (三萬) pieces of space junk have been recorded (列入紀錄)!
Scientists say countries should be more responsible about what they do with their old machines, especially those which are being sent into space.
Scientists also say countries that have space should be protected (保護) by special rules (太空規範).
Those rules would be like the ones we use on earth to protect our environment (環境).
充氣玩具新用途 A New Way to Use Inflatable Toys
Inflatable (充氣的) toys are fun to play with when you are in the pool.
But three friends found a new way to use these toys, when they saw a dog go into a lake.
The lake was full of weeds (水草), and it was very difficult to swim in the water.
The dog became very tired.
So the friends took a big toy crocodile and a big toy slipper, and used those toys to go into the water to save the dog. 這群朋友用大型的鱷魚跟拖鞋玩具進入河中救援那隻狗。
Even the humans needed the floating (漂浮的) toys, because the weeds were very thick and very deep.
After the dog was rescued (解救) he was reunited (團圓) with his owners.
So, in today's News Bites:
One Formosan black bear had to be released into the wild twice, after rescuers found him in 2020.
The bear is named “711”, and he was first found injured, and then freed after he got better.
He now has a device that can warn people if he travels back to the same village where he first found food.
And,
Scientists say humans are creating more and more space junk.
Space junk can be broken satellites, pieces of rockets, or other things left in outer space.
Scientists say countries should be more responsible about what they do with their old machines.
And,
Three friends saw a dog in trouble, in a lake.
The lake was full of weeds, and it was very difficult for the tired dog to swim.
So they used inflatable toys to rescue the dog, and bring him to safety.
And that's today's episode of News Bites!