Hey there, and welcome to News Bites!
I'm Trevor Tortomasi…
And I'm Paz Bueno.
In today's news:
A musical trio wins big in Poland, what is monkeypox? and Scotland releases some special kittens.
More on those stories, coming up next.
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小提琴三重奏在波蘭獲得大獎
A Musical Trio Wins Big in Poland
If you don't listen to classical music (古典音樂), you might not know what chamber music is.
Chamber music (室內樂) was written hundreds of years ago, for small groups of people to play on musical instruments (樂器) like the violin (小提琴), viola (中提琴), or cello (大提琴).
Chamber music is still very popular today, and competitions (比賽) to find the best chamber music musicians happen all over the world.
And one of the most recent chamber music competitions was held in the Polish city of Gdansk (格但斯克).
The competition is called the 9th International Johannes Brahms Chamber Music Competition, and it is named after a German composer named Johannes Brahms (布拉姆斯).
It's one of the biggest and most important chamber music competitions in Poland.
So Taiwan should be very proud, because one of its musicians, Ashley Tong, along with two of her fellow musicians, won awards at this important music event.
Tong and her fellow musicians are part of the Heathcliff Trio, who now live in Copenhagen, Denmark (丹麥哥本哈根).
Tong says she and her friends formed the Heathcliff Trio when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
The group won two special prizes for their performances.
Tong says winning is a great encouragement (鼓勵) for her group, especially because it is only two years old.
The group qualified (獲得資格) for the final by playing a piece which they have been playing since they got together.
Ashley Tong is a very talented musician.
She was born in Taiwan in 1993, and started playing the violin when she was just seven years old.
And she moved to Britain to study the violin when she was 16.
Music must be in Ashley's blood (與生俱來的) because her brother Henry is also a violinist (小提琴家)!
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猴痘是什麼？
What is Monkeypox?
Everyone is talking about monkeypox (猴痘)… but what exactly is it?
Monkeypox is a disease, that scientists think is caused by wild animals who live in Western and Central Africa (西非和中非).
But monkeypox is not a new sickness.
It was discovered in the African continent (非洲大陸) more than fifty years ago.
Monkeypox can jump from an infected animal (受感染的動物) to a person.
Even if the disease is called "monkeypox", it isn't caused by monkeys.
It is usually (通常) caused by rodents (齧齒類) like rats.
This means that someone can get monkeypox by getting close (接近) to an infected animal, and the virus can jump (跨物種感染).
Some people who get monkeypox will have rashes (疹子), which can turn into blisters (水泡).
Doctors and government officials are a little worried now, because they are seeing monkeypox travel to different parts of the world.
醫生及政府官員有些擔心，因為他們觀察到猴痘在世界各地傳播。
Now, it's in countries where cases have not been seen before.
Doctors say they haven't seen monkeypox infections like this before.
People who have monkeypox can have a fever (發燒), headaches (頭痛), muscle pain (肌肉痠痛), and can feel very tired.
Scientists say that right now, monkeypox won't be as serious as COVID-19.
They say it is not "COVID-TWO" (不是新冠肺炎2.0).
It spreads more slowly than COVID, and monkeypox causes a rash that makes it harder to miss (更不容易被忽視).
There is no vaccine for monkeypox, but doctors can use vaccines for smallpox (天花), which they say is good because the two diseases are very similar (相似).
But even if monkeypox can be found in many countries outside of Africa, there are only a handful (僅有一些些) of new cases at the moment.
That means monkeypox is not something we should be worrying about in Taiwan, at least right now.
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這八隻小貓對蘇格蘭意義重大
Why Eight Kittens are Important to Scotland
The Scottish wildcat is an animal that used to be found everywhere around Britain.
But by the end of the 18th century (18世紀末期), its numbers had dropped (數量銳減), because people were building farms in areas where they lived.
They were also being hunted (獵捕) or killed accidentally.
But scientists in Scotland want to change this.
They have found a way to breed (飼養) wildcats in zoos, so they can be released into the wild (釋放到野外).
And today, there are eight special wildcat kittens.
他們發現在動物園中飼養山貓，並釋放到野外的方法，現在已經有8隻小山貓了。
The kittens might be very cute, but humans cannot go near them to pet them (不許接近觸摸牠們).
This is to help them survive (生存), after they are released.
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So in today's news bites:
A Taiwanese musician was part of a group that won prizes, in a music competition in Poland.
Ashley Tong formed the group with her friends when the pandemic started.
She is proud that they were able to do so well, even though they have only been performing together for two years.
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And,
Doctors say they are seeing a disease called monkeypox in different parts of the world.
They are worried, because monkeypox is usually only seen in Africa.
But they say it is not something you and I should be worried about right now.
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And,
Scottish scientists have been able to breed eight Scottish wildcat kittens.
They say these kittens are important, because they will help Scotland save its endangered wildcat population.
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And that's today's episode of News Bites!