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Taiwanese Pilot Flies Around the World

A pilot from Taiwan had a big dream. He wanted to be the first pilot from
Taiwan to fly around the world in a small plane. Why? He wanted the world to
know that people from Taiwan are brave.
有一位台灣飛行員，夢想駕駛小飛機環遊世界，讓世界知道台灣人很勇敢。

The pilot's dream needed a lot of planning and help. He planned for five
years! He needed money. He needed gas. He needed countries and airports to
let him go there. He got help from many people.
為了實現夢想，他需要錢、汽油，還需要各國的機場許可。很多人願意幫他忙。

His small plane is not very comfortable. Small planes shake more than big
planes. In bad weather, small planes shake a lot! And the pilot cannot leave
his seat. So he carefully planned what to eat. He ate nuts and dried fish. He
drank very, very little. He did not want to need a toilet. The plane has no
toilet!
小飛機顛簸得很厲害，並且沒有馬桶，所以他只吃堅果和魚乾，喝一點點水！

Every thirty minutes, the pilot checked the engine. Yes, the plane has one
engine! He checked the weather. He checked the gas. His plane could fly for
ten hours. Then it needed more gas. So the pilot stopped in many countries.
他每30分鐘需要檢查引擎和天氣，每十個小時就要加一次油，因此沿途停靠很多國家。最終他做到了，成為第一位駕駛小飛機環遊世界的台灣人！

The pilot flew and flew for his big dream. He became the first person from
Taiwan to fly a small plane around the world. Now the world knows people from
Taiwan are brave!
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Vocabulary
駕駛小飛機環遊世界其實很辛苦，而這名台灣人辦到了。

1. check 查看。
Did you check the weather? 你查了天氣嗎?
We’re flying tomorrow. 我們明天就要飛了。
You mean the weather in Dubai? 你是說杜拜的天氣?
Yeah.對。

2. airport 機場。
Why? It’ll probably change by the time we arrive at Dubai Airport. 為什麼?
我們明天到杜拜機場時天氣可能又變了。
I’d like to know if the flight will be bumpy.我想知道飛機會不會很顛。

3. comfortable 舒服的。
Relax. Just sit back and get comfortable in your seat. 放輕鬆，你只要舒舒服服坐在那裏就好了。
That’s easy for you to say. 你講得容易。
You love flying. 你喜歡飛行。

4. toilet 廁所。
That’s because I always sit near the toilet.那是因為我總是坐得離廁所很近。
It makes me feel safer. 讓我覺得很安全。

來一起讀今天的單字。
check查看 airport機場 comfortable舒服的 toilet廁所
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Quiz

1. What did the pilot fly around the world?
a. A plane with two engines
b. A plane with one engine
c. A plane with no engines

2. What do small planes do a lot in bad weather?
a. They shake.
b. They stop.
c. They fly higher.

3. What did the pilot check every thirty minutes?
a. His friend
b. His phone
c. The engine

Answers
1. b
2. a
3. c

________________________________

Hi and welcome to a new episode of News Bites!

I’m Allie Highsmith

And I’m Nancy Sun.

In today’s episode, Taiwan becomes more free and prosperous!

And, superaged Singapore finds new uses for robots.

Plus, in this episode’s News Flash, prosperity.

All that and more, coming up next!
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繼續往上走！台灣愈來愈昌盛
Taiwan’s freedom and prosperity rankings get better

Taiwan became a more free, more prosperous (昌盛的) place last year.

That’s according to a new ranking (排名) from the Atlantic Council.

Every year, they rank countries’ levels of freedom (自由) and prosperity (繁榮).

They rank 171 countries around the world.

Taiwan’s prosperity ranking got a lot better, moving up 9 spots from a year
earlier.

Taiwan ranks 19th out of those 171 countries for prosperity.

In East Asia, Singapore was the only country that had a better prosperity
ranking than Taiwan.

It ranked 18th in prosperity.

Prosperity is when you have money and are successful.

社會繁榮的意思是人們過得富有而興旺。

Scholars (學者) consider a few different things when they think about
prosperity.

Those are: salary (薪水), health, income equality (收入平不平等), the environment,
opportunities for minority groups, and education.

And Taiwan ranked 21st for freedom.

Experts say that they look at these things when they consider how “free” a
country is: elections, civil rights (人權), investment and trade freedom,
judicial independence (司法獨立), and corruption (貪污).

The only country in East Asia that beat Taiwan for freedom was Japan.

That’s good news for Taiwan!

But it’s not such a good situation in other parts of the world.

Maybe some listeners remember that we’ve talked about “democratic backsliding
(民主退步)” before .

That’s when a country that had a healthy democracy before becomes less and
less democratic.

Democratic backsliding is a trend (趨勢) that’s happening around the world
right now.

This newest data shows that democratic backsliding continues.

It shows that political freedom around the world and the rule of law (法制) got
worse.

And, prosperity growth also got slower.

In other words, maybe some places are still becoming more prosperous than
they were before, but they’re doing that very slowly.

But, one good thing is that economic recovery after COVID is continuing.

但還有一個好消息：疫情過後的經濟復甦一直在繼續。

The global average (平均) score for the freedom index is 62.2.

For prosperity, it’s 66.5.

Taiwan scored 84.8 on the freedom index, and 86.1 on the prosperity index.

That means Taiwan is doing much better than the global average.

But of course, there’s always room for improvement!

台灣加油！
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高齡社會缺乏照顧人力 新加坡製造機器人！
Singapore uses robots to help with superaged problems

Have you ever heard of a super aged society (超高齡社會)?

It sounds complicated (複雜的), but it's actually very simple.

It means a country where more than 20% of people are over 65 years old.

Basically a lot of grandmas and grandpas.

This year, Singapore officially (正式地) became a superaged society.

When many people in one country are old, it can create problems because older
people often need more help.

They need help with exercise, with medicine, and sometimes with just getting
out of bed safely.

But if there aren't many young people, how does all that work?

Who can do these jobs?

Singapore doesn't have enough nurses and caregivers and this isn't a problem
that goes away.

It gets bigger every year.

超高齡社會有一個很嚴重的問題，就是老人越來越多，但是照顧他們的人力不足。

So Singapore is trying something new.

They're using robots (機器人).

At one hospital, there's a robot named Dexie.

Dexie is a humanoid (人形的) robot which means it’s built to look and act like
a person.

Every day, Dexie teaches exercise classes for elderly patients.

It counts out the movements.

It sings along with them.

It even plays bingo (賓果).

One 80 year old woman took Dexie's class for the first time recently.

Afterward, she said the robot felt very human-like.

The robot’s voice was calm and had instructions that were easy to follow.

Dexie, however, isn't the only robot in the care industry (產業).

Some care homes also use robot pets, like cats and dogs that move and make
sounds when you touch them.

They're obviously not real animals.

But staff have noticed that petting them seems to help older people feel less
lonely.

It can also calm down patients who have dementia (失智症), a condition that
affects memory and thinking.

But some people are worried.

What if robots replace (取代) human nurses?

Doctors say that won’t be happening anytime soon.

They say, robots do repetitive tasks (重複性質的工作) so that the human staff have
more time for real conversation.

Taiwan is a superaged society too.

Maybe the next time you visit your grandparents, they’ll be playing bingo
with a robot!
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RECAP

So in today’s News Bites…

Taiwan is rated as a more prosperous and more free country than it was
before.

That’s according to a new ranking from the Atlantic Council.

Taiwan’s rankings both improved, but most countries actually got less
democratic.

That’s part of a trend called democratic backsliding, which is when countries
that had a healthy democracy get less and less democratic.
______________

And…

Singapore is a superaged society.

That means, there aren’t enough young people to take care of all the old
people.

So they’re using robots to help care for elderly people.

Nurses say that the robots can help some people feel calmer.
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NEWS FLASH

In today’s News Flash, our word of the day is “prosperous,” which is an
adjective, or “prosperity,” which is a noun.

Being prosperous is about more than just having money.

It’s more about the bigger idea of being successful.

It also usually includes growth over time.

For example, in the news story, we talked about how Taiwan is ranked the 19th
most prosperous country in the world.

That ranking looks at things like how much money people have and how healthy
they are.

And now you know!
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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 episode!