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Man's Tooth Helps Him See

Narrator: A 13-year-old boy took some medicine. Every day, millions of people
take this medicine safely. But it hurt the boy's eyes.

Boy: Oh! My eye!

Narrator: He was in the hospital for a long time.
每天有數以百萬計的人安全服用一種很普通的藥。但一個十三歲的小男孩卻在服藥之後眼睛受傷。他住院很長一段時間接受治療。

Doctors could not save one eye. His other eye could not see. Doctors tried to
fix this eye for 21 years! The man had fifty operations. He got a new eye
part many times. But his body did not want to keep them.
醫生們沒能保住他的一隻眼睛，另一隻眼睛也失明了。醫生為了恢復他的視力，努力了整整
21 年！他做了五十次手術，他的身體卻不斷排斥移植的眼角膜。

There was one more operation to try. Almost no one has this operation. It's
very hard. But the man wanted to see again.
只剩下最後一個方法。為了能讓自己看見，他決定嘗試一種很困難的手術。

Doctors took one of the man's teeth. They made a hole in the tooth. They put
a lens in the hole. Then the doctors put the tooth in the man's eye!
醫生取出一顆他的牙齒，在上面鑽一個洞。然後，醫生把一個鏡片鑲進牙齒的洞裡，再把這顆牙放進他的眼睛裡！

Why did the doctors use the man's tooth? Teeth are very strong. A tooth holds
a lens well. And the man's body knows his tooth. His body will keep it.
為什麼要用牙齒？因為牙齒很堅固，可以把鏡片牢牢地固定住。而且他自己的牙齒也不會被他的身體排斥！

Now the man can see his family and friends. He can see his city! His tooth
lets him see everything again!
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Vocabulary
把牙齒裝進眼睛裡面，這可是聞所未聞的手術!

1. hospital 醫院。
I need to go to the hospital tomorrow. 我明天要去一趟醫院。
I want to have my eyes checked. 去檢查眼睛。

2. eye 眼睛。
What's wrong with your eyes? 你的眼睛怎麼了?
I can't see clearly.我看不清楚。

3. many times 很多次。
I've told you many times you work too hard! 我跟你講過很多次，你工作太辛苦了!
Okay okay, now I need to save my eyes. 好啦，現在我要搶救眼睛。

4. body 身體。
Good! Take care of yourself. 很好，要照顧自己。
Your body only comes with one set of parts. 你的身體只有提供一套零件呢。

來一起讀單字。
hospital醫院 eye眼睛 many times很多次 body身體
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Quiz

1. How old was the man when he took the medicine?
a. 13 years old
b. 21 years old
c. 34 years old

2. How many operations did the man have?
a. 5
b. 15
c. 50

3. Why did the doctors use the man's tooth?
a. It had a hole.
b. It can hold a lens well.
c. It is not strong.

Answers
1. a
2. c
3. b
 

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Hi! Welcome back to another episode of News Bites!

I'm Allie Highsmith.

And I'm Nancy Sun.

Coming up today:

First time moms are getting older in Taiwan, and scientists spot a rare
animal!

And in today's News Flash: subsidy!

Stay tuned for more on those stories, coming up next.
________________________________
台灣新手媽媽 年齡越來越高
Taiwan's First-Time Moms Are Getting Older

Taiwan has one of the lowest birth rates (生育率) in the world.

Many couples do not want to have children, or they only want one child.

Some people worry about the future.

If there are fewer babies, there will be fewer workers and more old people to
care for.

One big reason for the low birth rate is that many people wait a long time to
have children.

In 2024, data showed that women in Taiwan are having their first baby later.

The average age (平均年齡) for a first-time mom was about 31 and a half.

Twenty years ago, it was about 27.

More babies are also born to "older moms."

Over 30 percent of babies were born to mothers aged 35 or older.

Many second babies are also born to moms over 35.

This is linked to people getting married later and waiting longer to have
kids.

這和晚婚、晚生小孩的社會趨勢有關。

The Health Promotion Administration (國健署) says that having children late
can bring problems.

Some couples think egg freezing (凍卵) or IVF (試管嬰兒) can fix this.

IVF is a medical way to help a woman get pregnant (懷孕).

But the numbers show age still matters.

For women in their mid-30s (三十五歲左右), about 1 in 4 IVF tries leads to a
baby.

For women in their mid-40s, it is only around 1 in 20.

Older pregnancies can have more health risks (健康風險) for both mothers and
babies.

So age is an important part of planning a family.

The government says the best time to have children is age 25 to 35 for women,
and under 40 for men.

To help couples who need IVF, there are government subsidies (補助) for the
first try, with more money for younger women and less for women aged 39 to
44.
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神祕鯨魚終於被拍到了
Mystery Whale Gets Caught on Camera

There are many animals in the world that people know about, but almost no one
has seen them alive.

Some are very rare (非常稀有).

Some live deep in the ocean or high in the mountains, far away from people.

Scientists may only know these animals from bones, photos, or dead bodies on
a beach.

科學家有時候只能從骨頭、照片，或被沖上岸的屍體來認識這些動物。

So they know the animal is real, but it still feels like a mystery.

In June 2024, a team on a research (研究) ship near Baja California was
looking for a very rare whale.

Scientists had listened for this whale for five years.

They heard a special whale sound in the ocean, but they never saw the animal.

They called the mystery whale "BW43".

That morning, two small whales came up and went down many times.

A scientist shot a tiny arrow (小小的箭) from a crossbow (弩) to take a small
piece of skin.

A big seabird, an albatross (信天翁), suddenly tried to steal the skin from
the water.

People on the boat shouted and even threw their bread to scare it away.

It was funny later, but very scary for the team.

The skin revealed that these whales were a kind of beaked whale (喙鯨) called
the ginkgo-toothed beaked whale (銀杏齒喙鯨).

Before this, people only knew this whale from dead bodies on beaches, mostly
in Japan.

Beaked whales are shy (害羞) and live very deep in the sea.

They come up for air (上來換氣) for only a short time, far from land.

That is why they are very hard to study.

Their ears are very sensitive (敏感) to loud sounds, like some military sonar
(軍用聲納).

Loud noise can hurt them.

Now that scientists know the whale's call and where it lives, they can better
protect its home in the ocean.
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So, in today's News Bites:

In Taiwan, many people get married late and wait a long time to have children.

In 2024, the average age for a first-time mom was about 31 and a half.

The government says the best age to have children is 25 to 35 for women and
under 40 for men, and it gives IVF subsidies to help some couples.

________________________________

And,

Scientists knew about a rare whale only from dead bodies on beaches and
strange whale sounds in the ocean.

In June 2024, a team near Baja California finally saw the whale alive and
took a tiny skin sample.

Tests showed it was the ginkgo-toothed beaked whale, a very shy whale that
lives deep in the ocean.
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NEWS FLASH

In today's News Flash, our word of the day is "subsidy" (補貼)!

The word "subsidy" is a noun.

A subsidy is money that the government gives to people or companies to help
them pay for something.

It is not a loan (貸款), so they usually do not have to pay it back.

For example, if having a baby or doing IVF is very expensive, the government
might give couples a subsidy to help with the cost.

Governments also give subsidies for things like education, farming, or clean
energy.

The goal of a subsidy is to make something cheaper or easier, so more people
can afford it or are willing to do it.
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If you have a fun fact or a joke you'd like to share with us, record your
message and send us your Bite-Sized Break to newsbites@icrt.com.tw, and you
might hear it in an upcoming episode!

We'll see you next time for an exciting new episode of News Bites!