Shownotes Transcript
Hello everybody, and welcome to a new episode of News Bites!
I'm Trevor Tortomasi…
And I'm Nancy Sun.
In today's news:
A Taiwanese satellite, mysterious bee thieves, and another fat bear.
All that and more, coming up next.
台灣合作製造的衛星 開始環繞地球 INSPIRESat-1 Microsatellite Enters Orbit
Taiwan has helped put another satellite into space!
It's called the INSPIRESat-1.
To "inspire" means to 【啟發】, and the people working on this project hope to inspire young scientists.
The satellite was launched (發射) from a station in India.
And it is now flying in circles around the Earth, more than 500 kilometers above the ground.
Its mission is to collect data from our planet's upper atmosphere. 它的任務是，在大氣層上層收集資訊。
It will use X-rays (X光) to watch Earth's skies and weather.
The satellite will work for about a year, before we have all the information we need.
Of course, learning more about science, outer space, and electrical engineering (電機工程) is really important.
But this satellite was developed by scientists from the U.S., India, and Taiwan, all working together! 這顆衛星是美國，印度，和台灣三方科學家一起合作製造的！
That means it's also very important for closer international cooperation (更緊密的國際合作).
The more Taiwan works with other countries on big projects like this, the more we can accomplish (完成)!
加州養蜂人 追蹤蜜蜂小偷 California Beekeepers Chase Bee Thieves
For a lot of people, bees (蜜蜂) can be pretty scary.
But for some people, the more we learn about them, the more we appreciate them (欣賞牠們).
They make honey (蜂蜜), they help pollinate flowers (授粉), and they have helped us learn a lot about how bugs work together.
For many years, there have even been people who raise their own beehives (蜂窩).
These people are called "beekeepers" (養蜂人), and some can have many beehives at once!
Their honey can be very valuable (珍貴), and bees can help farmers to pollinate their crops (農作物).
In this way, many people use bees to make their living (維生).
And that's why we're seeing a very strange problem happening in the U.S….
In the state of California, more than a thousand beehives have been stolen! 在美國加州，最近有一千多個蜂窩被偷走！
People say it's because California has so many almond farms (杏仁農場), and bees help to pollinate almond trees (杏仁樹).
And farmers all over the state say that in the month of February, many people have seen their bees stolen from them in the middle of the night.
Many of the farmers have started to put special tracking devices in their beehives, so they can find the thieves more quickly. 很多農夫開始在蜂窩裡面放追蹤器，好更快找到蜂窩小偷。
And other farmers have started to use stronger locks (更堅固的鎖) to keep their bees safe.
It's very sad that there are so many thieves (小偷) out there…
But at least we can be less afraid of the bees themselves!
肥胖黑熊 造成小鎮困擾 Fat Bear Trouble in Small Towns
In the U.S., there is a 225-kilogram black bear now wandering (流浪) around the states of California (加州) and Nevada (內華達州).
People have named him Hank the Tank, and he's not afraid of people anymore.
And because he's so brave, he's been breaking into houses to look for food. 漢克很勇敢，牠會闖進人類的屋子找東西吃。
Except now, there's one more surprise…
People have realized that Hank is actually three different bears!
It's just very hard to tell them apart (很難分清楚).
And on top of that, their love of food has made each bear double the size of an average black bear. 更麻煩的是，這些黑熊因為很貪吃，現在各隻的身材是一般黑熊的兩倍。
The police have stressed (強調) that no one wants to hurt the bears.
Most residents think they are friendly, even if they have broken into more than 30 homes.
Maybe they need the exercise!
So, in today's News Bites:
Taiwan has helped put a satellite called the INSPIRESat-1 into space.
It is now flying in circles around the Earth, collecting data from our planet's upper atmosphere.
This satellite was developed by scientists from the U.S., India, and Taiwan, all working together.
And,
In the state of California, more than a thousand beehives have been stolen!
People say it's because California has so many almond farms, and bees help to pollinate almond trees.
Many of the farmers have started to put special tracking devices in their beehives, so they can find the thieves more quickly.
And,
There is a 225-kilogram black bear now wandering around in the U.S., breaking into houses for food.
Except now, people have realized it is actually three different bears!
Most residents think they are friendly, even if they have broken into more than 30 homes.
And that's today's episode of News Bites!