Shownotes Transcript
Hey there, and welcome to News Bites!
I'm Trevor Tortomasi.
And Paz Bueno.
In today's news:
Taiwan reopens an old highway, scientists find pieces from an amazing object, and where do hamburgers come from?
Stay tuned for those stories, coming up next.
台灣重新開放舊公路 Taiwan Reopens an Old Highway
Taiwan's Southern Cross Island Highway is famous.
In fact, some people call it "one of Taiwan's most beautiful roads".
The highway is 154 kilometers long, and it's the fastest way to get from Tainan to Taitung.
It passes Yushan National Park (玉山國家公園), and goes through the Central Mountain range.
It passes through alpine lakes (高山湖泊), hot springs, and giant forests.
The road even goes to Yakou (埡口), which is more than 2,720 meters above sea level (海拔2720公尺).
Yakou is where you can see the "sea of clouds" (雲海).
But no matter how beautiful the Southern Cross Island Highway is, it hasn't been fully seen by the public for 13 years.
Many sections of the road were destroyed, after Typhoon Morakot (莫拉克颱風) hit Taiwan in 2009.
The Transport Ministry (交通部) says the typhoon damaged (毀損) 140 kilometers of roads.
It also washed away (沖垮) 22 bridges.
Fixing the highway was difficult.
Not only that, parts of the road were so narrow (狹窄), construction equipment could not be used (無法使用).
So engineers (工程人員) needed to find a special way to fix the road so it could be used again.
Some construction workers say they had to hang from the sides of a cliff, in order to do repairs! 建築工人說他們需要把自己吊在懸崖峭壁上做維修工作！
But the special road through Yakou won't be open all the time.
It will be open from 7 AM to 2 PM almost every day.
But it will be closed all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Also, only certain types of cars and motorcycles will be allowed to go on the road.
Some people might not be happy.
But it is a small price to pay (小小的犧牲), for the chance to drive through Yakou again!
科學家找到神奇物體的碎片 Scientists Find Pieces from an Amazing Object
Many of us are dinosaur (恐龍) fans.
We like drawing pictures of dinosaurs, and watching movies about dinosaurs.
But we don't really know what dinosaurs looked like!
That's because dinosaurs disappeared 66 million years ago.
Even so, dinosaurs left many things for us to find, so we knew they were really alive.
They left their bones, which we call fossils (化石), and their footprints.
Because of these fossils, we know that there were dinosaurs that could fly, and dinosaurs that could swim.
Scientists say they disappeared because a huge object (大型物體) hit earth.
But some think the object was an asteroid (小行星).
And others think it was a comet (彗星).
Whatever it was left a hole in the earth called a crater (隕石坑) that was 161 kilometers wide, and 32 kilometers deep.
But they couldn't find proof of this object… until now. 科學家過去一直找不到關於這個物體的證據，但現在終於有了。
Some scientists say they think they found amber (琥珀) mixed with pieces of rock from that object.
They say that the rock had minerals (礦物質) that looked like they were from an asteroid (小行星).
The scientists also said they found other fossils (化石) in the area, including the leg of a dinosaur.
Scientists may not have all the answers yet.
But the things they found might help them get the answers they need.
漢堡的起源 Where Do Hamburgers Come From?
Most of us love our hamburgers (漢堡).
But we probably don't know where hamburgers really come from.
Some of us think hamburgers originally (最一開始) come from the United States.
Some of us think hamburgers came from the German city of Hamburg, which they are named after.
But hamburgers actually come from Asia. 但是漢堡其實源自於亞洲。
Genghis Khan (成吉思汗) and his soldiers (士兵) needed food that could be cooked fast and was easy to carry.
So they used ground meat which could be formed into patties (肉餅).
The patties were then cooked.
The ground meat patties were introduced to Russia, and then to the city of Hamburg, and then to the rest of the world.
So, in today's News Bites:
Taiwan's Southern Cross Island Highway hasn't been fully seen by the public for 13 years.
Many sections of the road were destroyed, after Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan in 2009.
But engineers have worked hard to fix it, so it can be used again.
And,
Scientists say the dinosaurs disappeared because a huge object hit earth.
Some thought the object was an asteroid, while others thought it was a comet.
Now, scientists say the rock had minerals that show it was an asteroid.
And,
Researchers say hamburgers actually come from Asia.
They say Genghis Khan and his soldiers used ground meat which could be formed into patties.
The ground meat patties were introduced to Russia, and then to Hamburg, and then to the rest of the world.
And that's today's episode of News Bites!