Shownotes Transcript
Hello everybody, and welcome to a new episode of News Bites!
I'm Nancy Sun…
And I'm Trevor Tortomasi.
In today's news:
A butterfly goes the distance, a shark comes home, and an old-school rock band calls it quits.
All that and more, coming up next.
日本青斑蝶飛來澎湖 High-flying Butterfly Lands in Penghu
What do you picture when you think of butterflies?
Many of us might think of them flying around in the garden.
They seem beautiful and delicate (柔弱).
But did you know, some butterflies will fly thousands of kilometers to other parts of world?
A Blue Tiger Butterfly found in Taiwan made just such a long trip.
This big butterfly with black and blue wings came from Toyama Prefecture (富山縣) in Japan.
A scientist there caught it, and marked (標記) its wings, to find out where it would go.
Next, people found the butterfly in Penghu.
This means this blue tiger butterfly flew for 46 days, 2,277 kilometers across land and ocean!
That's like going back and forth between Taipei and Tainan more than 8 times!
These butterflies migrate (遷移) as the weather changes.
專家說 青斑蝶有隨著氣溫變化長途飛行的習性。
And the butterflies have been landing in Taiwan for almost 10 years now.
But this is the first time a blue tiger butterfly from Toyama Prefecture was found in another country.
And there are actually many butterfly species (種類) that migrate.
Some monarch butterflies (帝王斑蝶) fly from North America and Mexico every year.
The black and orange butterflies fly over 4,000 kilometers.
But even that is not the longest trip made by butterflies.
The Painted Lady, which is orange and black with white spots, can be found all over the world.
And they migrate every year, flying up to 14,000 kilometers!
These butterflies will fly across oceans, and even cross the Sahara Desert (撒哈拉沙漠).
Scientists believe these strong butterflies can fly for up to 40 hours non-stop!
It seems we will never stop being amazed by the wonders of nature.
有毒鯊魚出現在英國泰晤士河 Venomous Shark in the Thames
The Thames is a famous river in the U.K.
It runs through parts of London, and is the second-longest river in the U.K.
Hundreds of years ago, many things the city needed came by boats on the river.
And around that time, people used to throw their garbage and bathroom waste into the river.
The Thames got very polluted (嚴重汙染).
In the summer of 1858, the river was so smelly, that people named that time the "Great Stink of 1858".
Scientists believe the dirty water made many people sick.
And in 1957, experts said the river was "biologically dead".
科學家在1957年宣布泰晤士河已「生物性死亡」。
This meant it was so dirty that animals could not live in it.
But now, scientists say hundreds of animals have returned to the River Thames.
The UK has been working hard to clean up the Thames.
And scientists say the river waters are now home to birds, fish, and even sharks!
And they say one of those sharks is venomous (有毒).
The spurdog (角鯊) grows to about 60 centimeters long.
They live deep in the water.
And they have pointy spines (尖刺) on some of their fins.
The spines make venom (毒液) that can cause a lot of pain for a human.
Scientists say finding so many wild animals in the River Thames is very good news.
But they still warn that pollution and climate change are big threats (危險、構成威脅的事物).
They say more must be done to protect the Thames and the animals living in it.
最新的泰晤士河狀況報告指出，河裡的生物數量增加，河流中有上百種魚類鳥類、包括角鯊。
KISS樂團告別之旅即將結束 KISS Farewell Tour Ending Soon
A famous rock band is getting ready to call it quits.
KISS had launched their "End of the Road" tour in January of 2019.
However, they had to stop partway through because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The band had to pause (暫停) again when two of them contracted COVID-19.
KISS樂團主唱說告別之旅結束之後，樂團大概會解散。
Now, singer Paul Stanley says the tour will not be extended, and the band will wrap things up.
He says it's because they are getting older, and can't perform the way they used to.
The current final show is set for late 2022 in New York.
Paul says they will likely officially (正式) be done by the beginning of 2023.
主唱說團員都老了，沒辦法繼續表演，很可能2023年初就分手。
So, in today's News Bites:
A Blue Tiger Butterfly flew from Japan's Toyama Prefecture to Taiwan's Penghu.
This means it flew for 46 days, and 2,277 kilometers across land and ocean!
That's like going back and forth between Taipei and Tainan more than 8 times!
Scientists say hundreds of animals have returned to the River Thames in the U.K.
One of those animals is the spurdog, a venomous shark.
Scientists say this is good news, but more needs to be done to protect the river and animals living there.
And,
Famous rock band KISS is ready for their final show, set for late 2022 in New York.
Singer Paul Stanley says they are getting older, and can't perform the way they used to.
Paul says they will likely officially be done by the beginning of 2023.
And that's today's episode of News Bites!