Hello and welcome to today’s News Bites!
I’m Paz Bueno…
And I’m Nancy Sun.
In today's news:
Taiwanese movies in an international film festival, and human footprints from the past.
And in today’s Tasty Tidbit…let’s talk about owl eyes!
Keep on listening to find out more!
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台灣電影在夏威夷表現亮眼
Taiwanese Movies Shine Bright in Hawaii
Two movies from Taiwan have been picked for special awards (獲得特別獎項提名) at a big movie festival in Hawaii.
The festival is called the 43rd Hawaii International Film Festival (第43屆夏威夷國際電影節).
The movies are "Be With Me" (車頂上的玄天上帝) and "A Girl Out of the Country" (鳳姐).
"Be With Me" is up for the Kau Ka Hoku Award.
‘Kau ka hoku’ means shooting star (流星).
This award is for new movie makers who made their first or second movie.
This movie has Ariel Lin (林依晨) as its main star.
The story is about a woman who goes back to Chiayi County.
She goes to take care of her sick dad.
And a special god helps her make choices.
"A Girl Out of the Country" is nominated (被提名) for another award.
This award is called the NETPAC Award (新銳導演獎).
It is given out at many international film festivals for movies from Asia and the Pacific area.
這個專門給亞太地區電影的獎項，在許多國際電影節中頒發。
Hawaii is the only place in the U.S. that gives this award.
"A Girl Out of the Country" is about a woman who wants to be famous.
But something very sad happens to her.
The Hawaii festival started on October 11th and will end on November 5th.
They will say who wins the awards on Sunday, October 22nd.
There are more movies from Taiwan that will be shown at the festival.
These include "Day Off" (本日公休) and "My Heavenly City" (我的天堂城市).
These movies are part of a special "Spotlight on Taiwan" section.
This section is put together by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture (文化部) and the Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles (洛杉磯台灣學校).
So, Taiwanese movies are getting a lot of attention in Hawaii.
It’s exciting to see how our movies are liked in other parts of the world!
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足跡顯示 人類比想像中更早住在美洲
Footprints Show People Lived in America Way Earlier
Footprints (足跡) can tell us a lot of information.
They can show us how tall or heavy a person might be, or how long ago they were made.
它們可以告訴我們，這個人大概有多高或體重多少，還有足跡是多久以前留下的。
And new footprint findings (新的足跡發現) have made scientists think again about when people first lived in America (美洲).
In 2021, researchers found very old human footprints in a place called White Sands National Park in the US State of New Mexico (美國新墨西哥州的白沙國家公園).
Before this, people thought humans migrated to America about 15,000 years ago.
在這之前，人們認為人類大約在15,000年前遷移到美洲。
They said people might’ve traveled through a land bridge between Russia and Alaska.
可能是經過俄羅斯和阿拉斯加之間的陸橋來的。
But new tests showed the White Sands footprints are probably 21,000 to 23,000 years old!
That means humans were living in America 6,000 years earlier than they thought!
人類比原先想的早了6,000年就住在美洲了！
How did scientists find out how old these footprints are?
At first, they looked at seeds (種子) from water plants that were stuck to the footprints.
They used something called "radiocarbon dating" (放射性碳定年法) to find out the age.
Some scientists didn't believe this method.
They said the seeds might have absorbed (吸收) old stuff from the lake, making them look older than they are.
So, researchers did another study.
This time, they checked the age of pollen from pine trees (松樹花粉) and tiny pieces of quartz (石英) that were found near the footprints.
And these new tests showed the footprints are probably 21,000 to 23,000 years old!
These footprints are like a quick look into the past.
They can tell us how people or animals walked and if their paths crossed (路徑是否交叉).
Other old sites in America have also been found, but it was hard to prove people lived there.
The footprints at White Sands show people definitely lived there a very long time ago!
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So, in today's News Bites:
Two movies from Taiwan have been picked for special awards at the 43rd Hawaii International Film Festival.
"Be With Me" is up for the Kau Ka Hoku Award.
And "A Girl Out of the Country” is nominated for the NETPAC Award.
They will say who wins the awards on Sunday, October 22nd.
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And,
New findings have made scientists think again about when people first lived in America.
They say old footprints at the White Sands National Park in New Mexico are around 21,000 to 23,000 years old!
Before this, they thought humans migrated to America about 15,000 years ago.
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趣味小點
Tasty Tidbit
Have you ever seen an owl? HOO HOO
Owls can see very well, even in the dark. But… owls don't have eyeballs!
Their eyes are shaped like cylinders, or rods… so they're more like "eye tubes"!
So, because they can't move their eyes to look around, like other animals do… they have to turn their whole head!
And that's not the only bird with weird eyes… an ostrich's eye is bigger than its whole brain!
Or wait… maybe ostriches just have really tiny brains…
If you have a fun fact, a joke, or interesting news 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!