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:
An earthquake rocks Taiwan, elephants get ID cards, and scientists find a real millipede.
All that and more, coming up next.
台灣東北發生6.0地震 Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake Shakes Northeastern Taiwan
Whoah! Did you feel that?
Why is everything shaking (震動)?
Oh no… it's an earthquake! 有地震！
Well, that's what many people in Taiwan said on January 3rd, at 5:46 PM.
It's when an earthquake began to shake Taiwan, for almost a full minute!
The earthquake's epicenter (震央) was about 57 kilometers east of the island.
But even in northern Taiwan, scientists say the earthquake was a level 6.0.
Luckily (幸好), officials say no one was hurt.
However, it caused a lot of inconvenience (造成了麻煩) for many people.
As the earth shook, some parts of Taiwan had a power outage (停電).
As a result, some people got stuck in elevators, and some trains had to stop, to make sure everyone was safe. 結果，有些人卡在電梯裡面，另外有幾班火車要停下，先確認所有的乘客都安全。
Earthquakes happen when parts of Earth shift (轉移), or move around.
These shifting parts are called "tectonic plates" (構造板塊), and they are very, VERY big.
In fact, most of Asia (亞洲) is all on one tectonic plate!
And because the edge of that plate is very close to Taiwan's east coast, earthquakes are very common in Taiwan. 因為亞洲主要構造板塊的邊緣剛好很靠近台灣的東岸，地震在台灣算是很常見的事。
Of course, we can't know when an earthquake is going to happen…
So we just have to make sure we are prepared (做好準備) for when it does!
斯里蘭卡大象將要拿到自己的身份證 Sri Lankan Elephants Will Get Their Own Identity Cards
Each person has something called an "identity" (身份).
And in most countries, people need to get an identity card (身份證卡), also called an "ID card".
An identity card can prove (證明) that you are who you are, when other people need to know.
But can only humans (人類) use them?
Well, in the country of Sri Lanka (斯里蘭卡), elephants are getting their own identity cards, too!
In Sri Lanka, elephants are very sacred (神聖的).
And they are also very popular with tourists (觀光客)!
But even though it looks fun to ride an elephant, not all of their owners are taking good care of them… 雖然騎著大象看起來很好玩，很多大象的主人並沒有很照顧牠們…
So animal rights activists (動物權益保護者) are giving each of these pet elephants an ID card.
Each card will have a photo of the elephant on it, with a DNA stamp (DNA 印章).
This will also help doctors tell the elephants apart, and give each one a medical checkup once every six months. 這樣也會幫醫生把大象分清楚，並且每六個月提共一次身體檢查。
And the elephants will also be signed up for a two-and-a-half hour bath each day.
There are around 7,500 elephants still living in the wild (野生的) in Sri Lanka today…
Let's hope giving them an identity can help them get some respect!
【真正的】千足蟲被發現在地下深處 'True' Millipede Discovered Deep Underground
Have you ever seen a centipede (蜈蚣)?
"Centi" comes from an old word for "one hundred", and "pede" comes from an old word for "foot".
So a centipede got its name because a long time ago, people thought it had one hundred feet!
Now, what about millipedes (馬陸，千足蟲)?
If you know that the word root "mil" is an old word for "one thousand", then you would know that a millipede has one thousand feet… right? 如果你知道【mil】就是【一千】的意思，那你也就會知道【millipede】是有一千隻腳的… 對吧？
Well… wrong!
Most millipedes can have as few as 24 legs, or as many as 750.
But that still wasn't enough… until recently.
Scientists have found a new species of millipede, that lives very deep underground in Australia. 科學家最近找到了新種類的馬陸，在澳洲地下深處。
And it has 1,306 legs!
Scientists are calling it the "Eumillipes persephone", in which the first word means "true thousand foot".
It's about 10 centimeters long… that's a very tiny body for all those legs.
But we've finally found a millipede that lives up to its name!
So, in today's News Bites:
An earthquake shook Taiwan on January 3rd, at 5:46 PM, for almost a full minute.
The earthquake's epicenter was about 57 kilometers east of the island.
Officials say no one was hurt, but it caused a lot of inconvenience for many people.
And,
Some elephants in Sri Lanka are getting their own identity cards!
Each card will have a photo of the elephant on it, and a DNA stamp.
This will help doctors tell the elephants apart, and give each one a medical checkup once every six months.
And,
Scientists have found a new species of millipede, that lives very deep underground in Australia.
Most millipedes can have as few as 24 legs, or as many as 750.
But this one has 1,306 legs!
And that's today's episode of News Bites!