In today's news, with Paz and Nancy:
Taiwanese language inputs, a Halloween tragedy in South Korea, and playful bees.
Stay tuned and don't go anywhere, these stories are coming up next!
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電腦輸入本土語言即將推出
Taiwanese Language Input Methods Coming Soon
Taiwan has so many different national languages, and one official script (字體).
This makes it hard for people to use their native dialects (本地方言), like Hakka and Hokkien (客家話和閩南話), when they use their phone or computer.
That's because some rare characters (稀有的字) are not available on electronic devices.
Taiwan has been working hard to promote (推動) its national languages.
The Hakka Affairs Council says people will be able to type (打字) using Taiwanese dialects on their phones next year!
The council has been working (一直在努力) to add special characters for Hakka and Hokkien dialects on computers and mobile phones for the last three years.
They say phonetic and vocabulary databases have already been organized.
他們說語音和詞彙數據庫已經組織好了。
The Hakka and Hokkien language input methods (語言輸入法) will be completed before July 2023.
Around 200 rare characters used in Hakka will be added for the Windows operating system (操作系統).
And, speech-to-text functions (語音轉文本功能) for the dialects will be developed in the second half of 2023.
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韓國萬聖節踩踏事件
South Korea Halloween Stampede
Participating in a large crowd may seem like a fun event, but tight crowds (擁擠的人群) can be dangerous.
On October 29th, around 100,000 young people were celebrating Halloween in South Korea.
It was the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that people were allowed to gather in groups (成群聚集).
City officials did not prepare for so many people to gather in Itaewon District.
Itaewon is known to have small, narrow streets with many turns.
梨泰院區的街道很小而狹窄，有許多轉彎。
Police are still investigating (調查) why so many people started gathering in a narrow alley (巷子).
The crowd was so tight, people in the front could not move, and the people in the back kept pushing forward.
人群擠得很滿，前面的人動彈不得，後面的人不停地往前推。
This caused many people to die.
Because there were so many people, emergency personnel (急救人員) could not help everyone right away.
The South Korean president declared a week of mourning after the tragedy.
悲劇發生後，韓國總統宣布哀悼一周。
Some people blamed (責備) the police for not preparing any crowd control measures (人群控制措施).
Police apologized to the public for not having a plan for the large gathering.
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科學家說蜜蜂會玩耍
Scientists Say Bees Can Play
Did you know bees like playing as much as you do?
Scientists from Queen Mary University in London, England, conducted experiments (進行了實驗) on some bumblebees using wooden balls.
The 45 bumblebees were given a choice between eating and playing.
他們讓 45 隻大黃蜂在吃和玩之間做出選擇。
The scientists found out that younger bees liked playing with the wooden balls more than the older bees did.
They also found out that male bees liked playing for longer periods (更長的時間) than the female bees.
Scientists also say that bees actually played with the wooden balls between 1 and 117 times!
To make sure the experiment actually proved (證明) that the bees enjoyed playing, scientists made it a bit more difficult for the bees to play.
42 more bees were allowed (被允許) to go into two small areas -- one with balls, and the other without.
The balls were then taken out, and the bees were allowed back in.
When the bees were given a choice between both areas, the bees went to the chamber (房間) that used to have the toys.
Scientists say the experiment changed the way they looked at bees.
科學家們說，這個實驗改變了他們觀察蜜蜂的方式。
They say this goes to show (這表明) that the bees are more than small robots and in fact, they are more advanced (先進的) than we think they are.
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Now, let's quickly review these stories:
Taiwan has been working hard to promote its national languages.
The Hakka Affairs Council says people will be able to type using Taiwanese dialects on their phones.
They will add special characters for Hakka and Hokkien on electronic devices before July 2023.
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And,
On October 29th, around 100,000 young people were celebrating Halloween in South Korea.
City officials did not prepare for so many people to gather in Itaewon District.
The crowd became dangerously tight and caused many people to die.
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And,
Scientists from London found out bees like to play.
They conducted experiments with wooden balls.
They say the experiment changed the way they looked at bees.
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And that's all for today's episode of News Bites!