Shownotes Transcript
Hello everybody, and welcome to a new episode of News Bites!
I'm Ryan Drillsma…
And I'm Nancy Sun.
In today's news:
Environmentally-friendly farming, the European Tree of the Year, and a soccer star retires.
All that and more, coming up next.
台灣鼓勵農夫採取環保農業行動 Taiwan Encourages Environment-Friendly Farming
Climate change (氣候變遷) is a big issue that has become a problem for countries all around the world.
It's changing weather patterns; a lot of places are getting hotter.
It's changing how people and animals have to live.
Climate change affects (影響) farmers badly.
Sometimes, they lose their crops (農作物) because the weather isn't how it's supposed to be, and their crops can't grow, or they die easily.
This means they lose a lot of money.
The Taiwan government is trying to help farmers.
It is giving farmers better insurance (保險).
Insurance is when you pay a company (公司) a small amount of money, usually each month, then if there is a disaster (天然災害) or accident (意外), the company pays to fix the problem.
The government is helping farmers pay the insurance.
And now, they can ask their insurance company to pay them when their crops are damaged by disease or pests (害蟲).
政府協助農夫每個月付一筆錢給保險公司，如果農作物遭受天災或是害蟲，保險公司會出錢來處理問題。 The government is also helping farmers do their work in a way that is friendlier to the environment.
Farmers use pesticides (農藥) to kill pests, and these contain chemicals (化學品) which can damage the environment.
But they can use more natural ways (更自然的方式)!
Plants like sage (鼠尾草) and mint (薄荷) can help keep pests away.
We should all do our best to work in ways that are friendlier to our environment.
一株蘇格蘭的樹 將參加歐洲最佳樹木比賽 Scottish Tree to Compete in European Tree Contest
Have you ever looked at a tree and thought… that tree is so beautiful and cool, it should win an award (贏得獎項)!
Well, apparently many people in Europe think like this.
Because there is a European Tree of the Year contest (比賽).
Countries in Europe must nominate, or choose, a tree to participate (參與).
The UK has just chosen its tree.
It's a hawthorn tree (山楂) in Scotland.
It lives near a beach on the west coast of Scotland and it doesn't have many neighbors that are people.
它長在蘇格蘭西岸人煙稀少的地方。
Hawthorn trees live in places that are not super hot or super cold.
They are quite small trees and their branches have thorns.
它的樹枝有刺。
Its fruit, the haw, can actually be eaten by people.
In fact, hawthorn candy (山楂片) is quite a popular treat in Taiwan!
The hawthorn tree in Scotland actually just won Tree of the Year in the UK.
It was nominated by a tree surgeon (樹木外科?生).
He said: "It is a superb hawthorn and it's incredible it has survived this well having been climbed on, battered by the winds and even bumped into by cars turning."
他說那株山楂存活這麼久真了不起，不但人們在它的樹幹上爬上爬下，它也遭到狂風吹襲，甚至被車子撞到。
We asked the tree how it felt about possibly becoming the 2022 European Tree of the Year… but it didn't have much to say…
Sergio Aguero Retires from Soccer 阿根廷的足球名將Sergio Aguero退休
A famous soccer player has called it quits.
Sergio Aguero used to play for the British team Manchester City and the Spanish team Barcelona.
But at 33 years old, he is retiring.
He said it is to protect his health.
33歲的Sergio Aguero要退休了，他說是為了保護自己的身體健康。
Aguero was just 18 years old when he was first signed by a major Spanish soccer team.
When he joined Manchester City, he was bought for 38 million pounds.
And he scored two goals in his first ever game for the club!
He was part of Argentina's 2021 team when they won the Copa America, the top men's football tournament played by South America's national teams
Aguero said he is very proud of his career.
英國足球隊Manchester City付了３千８百萬英鎊跟Aguero簽約，他第一次下場就進了兩個球。他是阿根廷 2021 年足球代表隊的一員，那年他們贏得了美洲盃。Aguero對自己的職業生涯非常驕傲。
So, in today's News Bites:
The Taiwan government is trying to help farmers in the face of climate change.
It is giving farmers better insurance.
And it is helping farmers do their work in a way that is friendlier to the environment.
And,
There is a European Tree of the Year contest.
The UK has just chosen its tree.
It's a hawthorn tree in Scotland.
And,
A famous soccer player has called it quits.
Sergio Aguero, at 33 years old, is retiring.
He said it is to protect his health.
And that's today's episode of News Bites!