In today's news, with Trevor and Paz:
Taiwan gets a new satellite, scientists get a giant camera, and phones get thrown away.
We've got more on those stories, coming up next!
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台灣明年將發送新的衛星上太空
Taiwan to Launch New Satellite Next Year
Taiwan is getting ready to launch another satellite (衛星) into space!
The satellite's English name is "Triton", named after the god of the seas and storms.
這台衛星的英文名字是Triton，名字就是從海洋之神特里頓來的。
And the satellite's Chinese name is 【獵風者】, which means "Wind Hunter" in English.
Scientists are still in the process (過程中) of making sure it's finished and working properly.
Then, they can launch it into space (發送上太空)!
As it orbits Earth (繞著地球), it will take pictures from space, to help Taiwan's weather forecasts (天氣預報).
Scientists say this will make weather forecasts more accurate (準確).
Meanwhile, Taiwan's "National Space Organization" (國家太空中心), will be changing its English name soon.
Next year, it will be called the "Taiwan Space Agency", or TSA.
It also plans to hire (雇用) many new people to work on important space technology, like satellites and more.
And someday, maybe you could be one of them!
So, with a new satellite, new people, and new names, let's hope next year is a good fresh start for Taiwan's work in space!
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天文學家製作世界上最大的數位相機
Astronomers Build World's Largest Digital Camera
If you have a smartphone (智慧型手機), its camera can probably take some pretty high-quality pictures (高畫質的照片).
But what if your camera had a bigger lens (鏡片)?
Well, then it could take in more light (吸進更多的光)!
That means it could take pictures of things that are farther away (更遠).
So, how big could your camera get?
Some scientists in the U.S. have built the world's largest digital camera (數位相機).
But it's not just large… it's gigantic (巨大的)!
For the most part (大致上), the giant camera works just like smaller ones.
But the camera's lens has a diameter of 1.57 meters (直徑1.57公尺).
That's even taller than a lot of people!
And this giant lens is so strong that it could focus on a golf ball from 24 kilometers away.
這個鏡片強到它可以聚焦在24公里遠的高爾夫球上。
But the camera also has many pieces that are very fragile (脆弱的) and super expensive (超級貴), so scientists had to build it VERY carefully.
The camera's first test (測試) was to take a picture of broccoli.
And scientists say they will continue testing the camera for five months.
Then, in the year 2024, it will be moved to an observatory (天文台), in the country of Chile (智利).
After that, it will be used to look at billions of galaxies (數十億個銀河), for the next ten years.
But of course, we don't have room in our pockets (口袋不夠大) for big machines like this.
So just try to be happy with whatever camera you have in your phone!
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今年手機的報廢量高達數十億
Billions of Phones Thrown Away This Year
After our last story, you might be thinking about how many people have phones in their pockets.
It's definitely a lot!
In fact, researchers estimate that there are about 16 billion mobile phones worldwide.
研究者估計世界上有差不多一百六十億支手機。
But when someone gets a new phone, what happens to the old one?
Many people still keep their old phones, just in case they need them again (萬一之後還需要).
But after a while, most old phones just get thrown away (被丟掉).
Researchers estimate (估計) that about 5.3 billion phones will be thrown away this year.
And many people say this means we are wasting valuable technology and electronic equipment.
很多人說這代表我們在浪費很多有價值的科技和電子零件。
That's because many phone parts can be used for other technology, like electric cars (電動車), solar panels (太陽能板), and even wind turbines (風力發電機).
So what can we do about these wasted phones?
Well, right now, only 17% of phones are recycled (回收).
But environmental organizations (環保組織) want to make sure 30% of phones are recycled next year.
They are asking people to research where their old phones can be recycled.
So if you're not using your old phones… try to think about who could use it better!
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So, in today's News Bites:
Taiwan is getting ready to launch another satellite into space.
The satellite, called "Triton", will take pictures to help Taiwan's weather forecasts.
Scientists say this will make weather forecasts more accurate.
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And,
Scientists in the U.S. have built the world's largest digital camera.
The camera's giant lens is so strong that it could focus on a golf ball from 24 kilometers away.
Scientists plan to use the camera to look at billions of galaxies in the future.
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And,
Researchers estimate that more than five billion phones will be thrown away this year.
They say we are wasting valuable electronics, because phone parts can be used for other technology.
So environmental organizations want to make sure more people can recycle old phones next year.
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And that's today's episode of News Bites!