Shownotes Transcript
Hello everybody, and welcome to a new episode of News Bites!
I'm Nancy Sun…
And I'm Ryan Drillsma.
In today's news:
Floating volcano rocks, fast-flying comets, and a short film from Taylor Swift.
All that and more, coming up next.
日本「火山浮石」漂流台灣東海岸 Volcanic Rocks from Japan Float to Taiwan
Boats in the ocean off eastern Taiwan need to watch out!
The Coast Guard has sent a warning to ships that sail in waters off eastern Taiwan.
They say many people have seen pumices (火山浮石) floating in the water.
The rocks have been spotted in the ocean between Shi-ti-ping and Qi-xing-tan Beach.
Officials say the largest are the size of a tennis ball.
Pumice is made when a rock inside a volcano gets very hot and is under a lot of pressure.
The rock then gets shot out of an erupting volcano.
When the rock is heated and cooled so quickly, it becomes pumice.
Pumice is mostly light colored (淺色).
And it is also very light (輕).
But why are these rocks a danger for ships?
Pumices have lots of holes on them, and they are very light.
They float (漂浮) on the water.
And they easily get sucked into (被吸入) the engines of ships.
This could break the engine and other parts of the ship.
Officials believe the pumices seen off Hualien came from an undersea volcano near Japanese islands.
They say the volcano near the Ogasawaras Islands erupted in August this year.
The islands are about 2,000 kilometers east-northeast of Taipei.
And officials in Taiwan started to see the volcanic rocks around the end of November.
日本小笠原群島一座海底火山8月噴發，火山浮石11月底開始出現在台灣東部和南部。
The pumices showed up at 16 places near the ocean in Pingtung, Taitung, Green Island, and Orchid Island, and even Kenting.
They say so far, it looks like the rocks are not bad for the environment.
But boats and ships should take extra care when in the water there.
雖然沒有影響生態的紀錄出現，但火山浮石輕，如果吸入船的引擎，可能導致機械故障。
今年最亮彗星現身 Brightest Comet of 2021 to Disappear Forever
The brightest comet (彗星) of the year is here.
And this is your only chance to see it…before it disappears forever!
Comet Leonard was discovered by astronomer Greg Leonard on January 3rd this year.
Scientists believe it's been flying towards the sun for the last 35,000 years.
The comet is passing our planet Earth now.
Experts say Comet Leonard was closest to Earth on December 12th.
On that day, it was 34 million kilometers from Earth.
And this Saturday, it will pass by Venus.
But we should be able to spot the comet all the way until January 3rd next year.
Scientists say they're not sure how easy it will be to see the comet just looking with our eyes.
They say it might be easier to spot if you use binoculars (望遠鏡).
The Taipei Astronomical Museum says at 6pm each night, you can try looking westward, low in the sky.
台北天文館建議，在傍晚6時左右，在光害較少的地方往西方低空，用望遠鏡搜尋觀賞。
And some suggest (建議) looking for something that looks like a fuzzy (毛毛的、模糊的) star.
Comet Leonard is also easier to see now, because it gets brighter as it gets closer to the sun.
And scientists say it is an ultra (極端的) fast comet.
It flies through space at 71 kilometers per second!
But because it is far from Earth, it still looks like it's moving slowly to us.
Leonard彗星有驚人的速度，約一秒移動70公里！ 所以它在天空中的位置每天都會改變。
泰勒絲發行新短片 Taylor Swift Releases Short Film
A big-name singer has a surprise for her fans.
Taylor Swift recently released her own version of her album, Red.
Alongside the album, she also released a short film.
Called "All Too Well", the film is ten minutes long.
除了新版本的專輯，泰勒絲也發行了一個短片。
The film is based off a track from her album of the same name.
The video was released on YouTube so everyone could watch it.
The video for the short film had over 135 thousand likes before it officially came out.
All Too Well was the first song Taylor wrote for her Red album.
短片十分鐘長，在YouTube上可以看，還沒上映前就已經有十三多萬人按讚。
So, in today's News Bites:
The Coast Guard has sent a warning to ships that sail in waters off eastern Taiwan.
Pumices floating in the water could easily get sucked into ship engines and break something.
The pumices may have come from an undersea volcano eruption near Japan.
Comet Leonard, the brightest comet of the year is passing Earth now.
The Taipei Astronomical Museum says at 6pm each night, you can try looking westward, low in the sky.
Scientists say it might be easier to spot if you use binoculars.
And…
Taylor Swift recently released her own version of her album, Red.
Alongside the album, she also released a short film.
Called "All Too Well", the film is ten minutes long.
And that's today's episode of News Bites!