Hey, what's up? News Bites is back in town. Time to learn stuff!
I'm still Trevor Tortomasi…
And I'm always Paz Bueno.
In today's news:
People want to make Taiwan safer for pedestrians, a huge bear breaks into too many houses, and English gets so easy that it becomes… difficult?
Okay, let's learn stuff!
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台灣行人的安全
Pedestrian Safety in Taiwan
You have probably heard this before:
"Look both ways before crossing the street".
【過馬路之前先看左右。】
But really… when you cross the street, you should look EVERY way!
That's because when you are a pedestrian (行人), traffic is dangerous!
If a car is going too fast, it might not see you, and you could get hurt.
Every year in Taiwan, around 500,000 people are hurt in traffic accidents.
台灣每年至少五十萬人因交通意外而受傷。
And every year in Taiwan, around 3,000 people die in traffic accidents.
Of course, this is not all the pedestrians' fault.
當然，這並不都是行人的錯。
Many streets don't have sidewalks (很多馬路沒有人行道), or their sidewalks are not very good, so pedestrians have to be extra careful.
And, of course, drivers are not careful enough!
很多駕駛開車也不夠小心！
Many people driving cars, buses, and scooters drive too fast, and don't pay enough attention.
So now, some Taiwanese lawmakers and some students from National Taiwan University are asking the government to pay more attention to pedestrian safety.
These people are working hard to reach their goal of "Vision Zero", or zero pedestrian deaths in the future.
If the government helps to make better sidewalks, and punishes bad drivers (處罰亂開車的駕駛), then the streets of Taiwan could become much safer.
But there is one more important thing we have to remember.
No matter who is driving a car, a bus, or a scooter… once we start walking, we are ALL pedestrians.
So we're not just making Taiwan safe for some people… we want to make it safe for everyone.
In the meantime, whether you're walking or driving… BE CAREFUL!
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大熊【坦克漢克】搬家
"Hank the Tank" Moves Away
Bears are cute, right?
熊都很可愛，對吧？
…right?
I mean… YEAH, bears really are cute, and we should make sure they are protected in nature.
But also, bears eat a lot of food… and they might think you are food, too!
So, of course, many people are scared of them.
And in the US state of California, one bear has been especially hungry recently.
In the past two years, people say this bear has broken into more than 20 homes, to eat people's food and then run away.
兩年來這頭熊已經闖進20幾棟房屋，大吃大喝人類的食物，然後逃走。
They call him… "Hank the Tank" 【坦克漢克】.
Wait, what? Her? Hank is a female?
欸？原來漢克是母的！
That's right, this mama bear has been getting into a lot of trouble.
But people don't want to hurt her, or her kids! Good!
So, luckily, forest rangers are moving The Tank about 1,500 kilometers east, to the state of Colorado.
幸好有森林管理員把坦克搬去科羅拉多州。
That way, she'll have a bigger area to live in, and hopefully she won't need to break into any more houses.
You could say the forest rangers are protecting people from bears…
But really, we're trying to protect people and bears from each other.
If you ever see a bear in Taiwan, remember to stay away!
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So, in today's News Bites:
Every year in Taiwan, around 500,000 people are hurt in traffic accidents.
Many streets don't have sidewalks, so pedestrians have to be extra careful.
And, of course, drivers are not careful enough!
So, Taiwanese lawmakers and students from National Taiwan University are asking the government to pay more attention to pedestrian safety.
These people are working hard to reach their goal of "Vision Zero", or zero pedestrian deaths in the future.
If the government helps to make better sidewalks, and punishes bad drivers, then the streets of Taiwan could become much safer.
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And,
A huge bear in the US state of California has broken into more than 20 homes in the past two years, to eat people's food and then run away.
That's right, this mama bear has been getting into a lot of trouble.
But people don't want to hurt her, or her kids.
Luckily, forest rangers are moving The Tank about 1,500 kilometers east, to the state of Colorado.
That way, she'll have a bigger area to live in, and hopefully she won't need to break into any more houses.
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趣味小點
Tasty Tidbit
The more you speak English, the more you will use "contractions".
A contraction is when two words are put together, with an "apostrophe" in the middle.
So "I am" becomes "I'm", and "you all" becomes "y'all", and "will not" becomes "won't", and in Chinese, 【這樣子】 becomes 【降子】…
Wait, so how far does this go?
Well, in English, one of the longest contractions we can find is… are you ready for this?
"You all will not have had"… can become "Y'all'll'nt've'd. Wow. That's hard to say.
And recently, one person says they made an even longer contraction… *deep breath*…
"Y'all'd'nt've'd'd'I'd'nt've'd'y'all't've'd".
Okay, but wait… we make contractions to help us talk with each other more easily.
But do you think a crazy long contraction helps us talk more easily?!
I would not! I wouldn't… I'd'nt?
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If you have a fun fact or a joke you'd like to share with us, record your message and send us your Tasty Tidbit to newsbites@icrt.com.tw, and you might hear it at the end of an episode!
We'll see you next time for an exciting new episode of News Bites!