In today's news, with Nancy and Clifford:
Taiwan snacks in Paris, taxes on animal burps, and how smart are octopuses?
All that and more, coming up next.
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台灣小吃在法國的美食村大放異彩
Taiwan's Snacks Wow at International Gastronomy Village
Taiwanese snacks are wowing visitors at a food festival in France.
The International Gastronomy Village in Paris opened this month.
And many Taiwanese vendors are selling classic Taiwanese foods there.
台灣廠商參加在巴黎舉辦的法國美食村，讓遊客品嘗美味的台灣小吃。
In fact, there were vendors from over 50 countries who joined this year's event.
The event was held on the grass lawn (草地) in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs helped many of the Taiwan vendors get ready for the festival.
Some of Taiwan's most famous foods were sold at the event, including gua bao, boba tea, as well as popcorn chicken, sweet potato balls, and sausages.
One of the vendors said many visitors liked the sweet potato balls.
She said they liked the unique texture (獨特的口感).
A visitor named "Nicolas" told CNA that sweet potatoes in France do not taste as sweet nor smell so good.
He says "Taiwan's is much tastier."
Another visitor, called "Olivera," liked her vegetarian gua bao (素刈包).
The gua bao was made with tofu and mushrooms.
She said she liked the little bit of spiciness (辣味).
And she also liked the texture (口感) of crushed peanuts (碎花生).
What Taiwan food would you like people from other countries to try?
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紐西蘭政府準備收【打嗝稅】
New Zealand May Tax Farm Animal Burps
How much can a burp (打嗝) cost?
Can we get rich by burping?
New Zealand is thinking about introducing a new tax to help the environment.
It wants farmers to pay tax on the numbers of farm animals they have such as sheep, cows, and other livestock (家畜).
When animals burp or fart, they release methane.
Methane is considered one of the most damaging greenhouse gases (溫室氣體) .
It is a big cause (原因) of climate change (氣候變化).
So this is a problem.
New Zealand has over 20,000 farms.
That works out to about 26 million sheep, and about 4 million cows and other animals!
And all those farm animals make a lot of methane.
New Zealand's government says the country needs to put less methane into the atmosphere (大氣層).
紐西蘭政府認為需要減少國家的排放量。
The government also wants farming to be more environmentally friendly (環保).
So the country might start using a "burp tax" in 2025.
This means farmers will pay tax for how much methane their animals make.
Farmers might also have to change how they run their farms.
The government hopes some might stop feeding their animals grass.
The farmers could switch to feeding their animals seaweed (海藻).
Some research shows that farm animals that eat seaweed make less emissions (排放物).
Farmers also have a chance to pay less tax, if they plant more trees.
Someone has even suggested that cows could wear special masks!
More and more countries are rethinking how they farm animals.
The "burp tax" may be just a start.
Hmm… do you think will there be a human burp tax in the future soon?
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章魚和人類一樣聰明？
Octopuses and Humans Share Intelligence Gene
Many people know that some animals that live underwater are very smart.
Many of these animals, like dolphins, are very intelligent.
許多人知道很多像海豚的海洋生物智商相當高。
Octopuses are also very intelligent.
And scientists have found something special about its genes.
The sea creature (海洋生物) has special bits of DNA called "jumping genes".
They say "jumping genes" help animals learn.
The genes also help make and store memories in the brain.
The "jumping genes" might make octopuses smart in ways that are like humans.
They might sometimes think like humans!
Scientists call it "behavioral plasticity" (行為可塑性).
It means the octopuses can change the way they act, with different things happening in their environment.
All this means octopuses are learning and thinking.
It seems like the living world will never stop amazing us!
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So, in today's News Bites:
Taiwanese snacks are wowing visitors at the International Gastronomy Village in Paris.
The event was held on the grass lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Some of Taiwan's most famous foods were sold at the event, including gua bao, boba tea, as well as popcorn chicken, sweet potato balls, and sausages.
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New Zealand is thinking about introducing a new tax on farmers who keep farm animals.
When animals burp or fart, they release methane, which causes climate change.
New Zealand's government says the country needs to put less methane into the atmosphere.
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And,
Scientists have found something special about octopus genes.
The sea creature has special bits of DNA called "jumping genes" that help it learn and remember things.
The "jumping genes" might make octopuses smart in ways that are like humans.
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And that's today's episode of News Bites!