Are you ready for this semester's first News Bites?
I hope you didn't forget me…I'm Paz Bueno.
And I'm Nancy Sun!
In today's news:
Taiwan's Pokemon Master, what's new with Voyager 2? And things you can find on the moon.
Stay tuned for more on those stories, coming up next.
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台灣寶可夢冠軍登上世界舞台
Taiwan Pokemon Champion Takes World Stage
An eleven-year-old prodigy (神童) battled his way to become the first-ever Pokemon Trading Card Game champion for Taiwan!
Yen Shao-tong (顏紹同) recently won the Pokemon World Championships (寶可夢世界錦標賽).
The event took place in Yokohama, Japan (日本橫濱).
The stage was set for an intense showdown (激烈對決) between Yen and his Brazilian opponent (巴西對手), Gabriel Borges Torres.
Both players were accompanied by translators (翻譯) to help check the effects and abilities of the Pokemon cards.
Each player uses cards in their native languages (母語).
Now, let's dive into the excitement of the match:
Yen's chosen deck was known as the Lost Zone deck (放逐區牌組).
It was a daring bid against Torres' more stable deck, which centered on powerful Pokemon such as Arceus, Duraludon, and Umbreon.
這是對Torres穩定牌組的大膽嘗試，後者以阿爾宙斯、鋁鋼龍和月亮伊布等強力寶可夢為中心。
In the second round, Yen stacked enough energy cards to discard and unleash his legendary Pokemon Kyogre's Aqua Storm.
在第二輪中，顏紹同堆疊了足夠的能量卡，來丟棄並且釋放他的寶可夢蓋歐卡的水風暴。
The result? 結果呢？
A resounding 2-0 victory, making Yen the champ of the Pokemon TCG Juniors division!
顏紹同被封為寶可夢卡牌遊戲少年組冠軍!
It's Taiwan's first championship in this category.
The last time Taiwan tasted victory was in 2019 when 10-year-old Wu Pi (吳比) won the Video Game Championship (電玩遊戲).
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太空總署跟失聯的太空船重新連線
NASA Reconnects with Lost Space Explorer
And now, for an out-of-this-world story about the Voyager 2 space probe (航行者2號太空探測器).
It's like a robot explorer that's been traveling in space for 46 years!
So, what's new with Voyager 2?
有什麼新情況呢？
Last month, NASA lost contact (失去聯絡) with this amazing spacecraft.
Something went a bit wrong when they sent a command to Voyager 2, making it turn its antenna away from Earth by just 2 degrees.
當他們發送指令時，出了一點小差錯，使它的天線偏離地球2度。
Without its antenna (天線) pointing at Earth, Voyager 2 couldn't hear commands from NASA or send messages back.
But the scientists didn't give up!
They used a huge antenna at the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex in Australia to send a "shout" to Voyager 2.
他們在澳洲的坎培拉深空通信中心，使用巨大的天線向航行者2號發出強烈訊號。
Like shouting to a friend who's really, really far away!
就好像對著距離很遠的朋友大喊大叫。
It took 18.5 hours for the command to reach Voyager, and another 18.5 hours to know if it worked.
Finally, at 12:29 a.m. on August 4th, Voyager 2 started sending information back to Earth.
The spacecraft is now operating as it should (正常運作) and is continuing its incredible journey in deep space.
It's more than 20 billion kilometers from Earth (距地球200億公里)!
If this long-shot attempt hadn't worked, (如果這次大膽的嘗試沒有成功) Voyager 2 had a plan to fix itself in October, but luckily, NASA's big shout got through.
Voyager 2 was launched in 1977, and it's still going strong (依然良好).
It's like an old explorer that keeps on discovering new things about space.
它就像一個不斷發現太空新事物的老探險家。
This Voyager is part of NASA's longest-running space program, and it's helping us learn more about what's out there beyond our planet.
這是太空總署還在執行的探測計畫裡面最長壽的，幫助我們了解更多地球之外的事物。
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So, in today's News Bites:
An eleven-year-old prodigy became the first-ever Pokemon Trading Card Game champion for Taiwan!
Yen Shao-tong recently won the Pokemon World Championships TCG Juniors division in Yokohama, Japan.
It's Taiwan's first championship in this category.
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And,
Last month, NASA lost contact with the Voyager 2 space probe.
Without its antenna pointing at Earth, Voyager 2 couldn't hear commands from NASA or send messages back.
But the scientists didn't give up!
They used a huge antenna in Australia to send a "shout" to Voyager 2.
And it worked!
The spacecraft is now operating as it should and is continuing its incredible journey in deep space.
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趣味小點
Tasty Tidbit
Speaking of space…
As of this year, 2023, only 12 people have ever been to the moon… but a lot of THINGS have been to the moon.
And since it's hard to take them back to Earth… a lot of them are still out there on the moon right now!
Most of these things are old science machines and tools…
But there are also flags from different countries, bags with personal items and memories, and footprints on the ground…
And, well, even astronauts have to use the toilet, so they left some toilet stuff there, too!
Altogether, scientists say there were around 800 things left on the moon, as of the year 2019. I wonder how many of them will ever come back to Earth?
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!