________________________________
Eating Noodles with 1,000 People

Every Mid-Autumn Festival, families eat together. Some eat at home. Some go
to a river and eat. Some go to a temple in Nantou and eat. What?
This temple is famous for instant noodles. People ask for good luck there.
When they get lucky, they go back to the temple. They give thanks with lots
of noodles!
吃泡麵竟然也能祈福？南投有一間宮廟舉辦了中秋節泡麵祈福活動。你有沒有聽說呢？

You can eat these noodles... for free! There are many kinds. You can choose
the one you want. Then you make your noodles. You can get hot water at the
temple.
A few minutes later, you have a tasty bowl of noodles! The hot noodles smell
good. Some people say they taste better at the temple.
更棒的是，這些泡麵全部免費！有一些人覺得廟裡的泡麵比家裡的還要好吃！

About 1,000 people went to this year's festival. They came from many places.
They had a good time eating noodles together. People felt like they were part
of a big family!
今年的活動約有一千人參加，他們覺得一起吃泡麵很有團圓的感覺，好像一個大家庭。你會想參加嗎？宮廟每天都有開放，不用等到明年喔！

You do not have to wait for next year's festival. The temple is open every
day. You can ask for good luck. Then you can eat a nice bowl of hot noodles
with others!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vocabulary

大家一起享用熱騰騰的泡麵，不用付錢，真高興！

1. bowl 碗。
Would you like chocolate cake or a nice bowl of noodles for your birthday?
你生日想吃巧克力蛋糕還是吃一碗好吃的麵?
Do I have to choose? 我非選不可嗎?

2. choose 選擇。
Can’t I have both? 不能兩樣都要嗎?
Nope, just one.不行，只能一樣。
Okay, I’ll choose the noodles.好吧，我選吃麵。

3. luck 運氣。
Smart choice! 聰明的選擇! They bring good luck and a long life! 麵會帶給你好運跟長壽!
Actually, it's because your noodles are so tasty! 其實是因為你煮的麵很好吃。

4. every day 每天。
Wow, you can tell me that every day! 哇，你可以每天都跟我說!
Does that mean you'll make noodles for me every day? 那是不是表示你每天都會幫我煮麵?

你也喜歡吃麵嗎? 一起來讀單字。bowl碗 choose選擇 luck運氣 every day每天
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quiz

1. What do people ask for at this temple?
a. Big families
b. A good time
c. Good luck

2. How many people went to the temple during the Mid-Autumn Festival?
a. 100
b. 1,000
c. 10,000

3. What did people eat at the temple during the Mid-Autumn Festival?
a. Fruit
b. Noodles
c. Mooncakes

Answers
1. c
2. b
3. b

 

________________________________

Hi and welcome to a new episode of News Bites!

I’m Allie Highsmith

And I’m Nancy Sun.

In today’s episode, a big event happening soon in Taiwan!

And, views of China around the world are improving.

Plus, in this episode’s News Flash: views.
______________
選舉快來了 大家一起補課！
Local elections coming up soon!

Did you know there’s a very important event coming up soon here in Taiwan?

Very, very soon, we will have some big elections here.

In Taiwan, we have elections every two years.

This year, we will have local elections (地方選舉).

That means, voters will choose new magistrates and mayors (縣市長), county and
city councilors (縣市議員), borough chiefs (里長), and more.

All on one day!

Some mayors and magistrates are hoping to get re-elected (連任), like the mayor
of Taipei, Chiang Wan-An

That means, they were first elected in 2022, and can be in office for another
4 years- if they win again this year.

But, after they work for 8 years, they cannot stay in office, so they have to
leave- like the mayor of Kaohsiung, Chen Chi-Mai.

Like we said, voters will also choose city councilors this month.

But city councilors are not like mayors and magistrates; for mayors and
magistrates, there is only one for each place.

For example, New Taipei has one mayor, Hou You-yih.

But New Taipei has many many city councilors.

Each district (選區) has their own.

Their job is to make sure the city government is doing its job, and they
represent what voters from their district want.

They oversee the mayor, kind of like how lawmakers oversee the president.

縣市議員負責監督縣市政府而代表他們的選民，向縣市政府提選民想要實現的政策。

So people will vote on all these things on November 28th.

But not only that!

There will also be a referendum (公投) for people to vote on that day.

That referendum will ask people about nuclear power (核能).

And we will also have an election in 2028- that’s the national elections,
where we choose a new president and new lawmakers.
______________
中國在全球愈來愈受歡迎
Views of China and Xi Jinping improve around the world

New research says that more and more people around the world think about
China and its leader in a positive (正面的) way now.

The research comes from the Pew Research Center.

Researchers asked 45,000 people in 37 countries about their views (意見、看法) on
China.

6 years ago, around 2020, many people did not see China in a positive way.

That’s partly because of COVID-19 (疫情) and the way that the Chinese
government handled it.

But now, a lot has changed.

More people believe that the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will “do the
right thing.”

But just because it’s more than it used to be doesn’t mean it’s a lot; still,
most people, especially people in richer countries, are doubtful of Xi
(對習近平保持懷疑的態度).

Their views are more negative (負面的) than positive.

The places where people view China more positively are in Latin America,
Africa, and some parts of South and Southeast Asia.

That means people in Europe and East Asia do not see China as positively.

Why have people’s views about China changed?

Well, part of the reason is because people’s views about the US are changing
too.

People view the US more negatively than they used to in many places around
the world.

Maybe some people look to China for a world leader that can do better than
the US can right now.

But the report shows that many people around the world still don’t like some
things China does, like interfering in (干涉到) its neighbors' business.

In just Asia, there are countries that really really like China and countries
that really really don’t.

The research shows that richer countries usually see China in a more negative
way.

Australia, Japan, and South Korea see China more negatively.

Why could this be?

Well, have you heard of the Belt and Road Initiative (一帶一路)?

That’s a plan that has China lend money (借錢) to poorer countries to help them
build new things like roads, bridges, or airports.

So many people living in poorer countries might see the new roads or bridges
and think more positively about China because without China lending money to
them, they may not have been able to build those things.

Some people think that the reason China made the BRI plan was all to create
more positive impressions (印象) of China around the world.

So that may be one reason that people in poorer countries often see China
more positively than those in other countries.

Pew Research says that, in some places, positive views of China are at or are
close to breaking records.

Those are countries like Italy, Spain, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and
Singapore.

At the same time, in a lot of those places, views of the US are also near
record lows.

There are still a few countries where they view China more negatively than
they used to, like in Thailand and South Africa.

As for the leader of China, Xi Jinping, views towards him are also more
positive recently, but still not that high.

And most people still believe that the Chinese government does not respect
freedoms of their own people.

大部分的人還是認爲中國政府不尊重人民的自由與人權。

In North America, most of Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Australia, most
people agree that China does not respect citizens’ freedoms.

Most people seem to think the US is better in this area than China, but fewer
people now think that the US government respects its people’s freedoms than
used to.
_____________
RECAP

So in today’s News Bites…

Local elections are coming up soon.

At the end of the month, Taiwan will vote for mayors, magistrates, city and
county councilors, borough chiefs…
______________
And…

People around the world view China in a more positive way than they used to.

Part of that is because people see the US more negatively.

That’s according to research from the Pew Research Center.
______________
NEWS FLASH

In today’s News Flash, our word of the day is “view.”

“View” is both a noun and a verb.

As a noun, it is like “opinion”; it’s what someone thinks about something.

For example, in the news story, we mentioned that views of China are becoming
more positive.

As a verb, it’s basically the same; we could say that more people view China
positively.

And now you know!
______________

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 episode!