________________________________

Woman Finds Surprise in Egg Tart

Egg tarts are delicious. Millions and millions are eaten every year! But a
woman in Kaohsiung did not eat hers.
蛋塔味道香甜，每年大家會吃掉好幾百萬個蛋塔！但是高雄一位女士卻沒有吃到。

The woman bought some egg tarts from a restaurant. She took them home. They
were cold.

Her family told her to microwave them. They taste better when they are hot,
right?
女士在一家店買了蛋塔，帶回家後發現已經冷掉了。家人說她可以用微波爐加熱，熱熱的蛋塔比較好吃！

But the woman was hungry. She wanted to eat an egg tart now! 

Then, she saw something black on it. She broke it into two pieces. And she
pulled out a battery!
但她實在太餓了，想馬上把蛋塔吃掉，竟然拉出整顆電池！

Batteries can hurt our stomachs. And they can start fires in microwave ovens.
Batteries can explode in them too!
電池如果吃下去會傷害身體，放進微波爐還可能起火爆炸！

How did the battery get into the egg tart?

A restaurant cook was making some egg tarts. The cook used a timer. It fell
on the tarts. The battery from the timer went into one!
電池怎麼會跑進蛋塔裡？原來是廚師在做蛋塔時，用了計時器。它不小心掉到蛋塔上，裡面的電池就掉進其中一個蛋塔裡了！

The restaurant's rules say to throw away food when something falls in it. But
the cook did not throw away the egg tarts.
店裡規定，有東西掉進食物裡就要丟掉。但那位廚師沒有把蛋塔丟掉！

The woman was lucky! She did not eat the egg tart. And she did not microwave
it!

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Vocabulary

這位女士經歷了蛋塔驚魂記，不過她至少毫髮無傷。
1. hot 熱的。
Careful, that food is really hot! 小心，那盤食物很燙!
I know, but I'm too hungry to wait. 我知道，但是我太餓了，等不及了。

2. hurt 傷害。
You're going to hurt your tongue again. 你又會燙到舌頭。
It's fine… 還好吧... Oh! Okay, maybe not fine. 也許不大好。

3. microwave oven 微波爐。
That's the thing with microwave ovens. 這是微波爐的缺點。It's hot on the
outside but still cold on the inside. 外面很燙，但是裡面還是冷的。

4. start 開始。
I should learn to cook, that's for sure. 我肯定應該學做菜。You can start with
popcorn.你可以從爆米花開始。Popcorn? Please - I'm way better than that!
爆米花? 拜託! 我比那厲害多了!

你有用過微波爐嗎? hot熱的 hurt傷害 microwave oven微波爐 start開始

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Quiz

1. Why didn't the woman microwave the egg tart?
a. She was hungry.
b. She was scared.
c. She was tired.

2. What was in the egg tart?
a. A stomach
b. A timer
c. A battery

3. How did the woman find it?
a. She ate the egg tart.
b. The cook told her about it.
c. She broke the tart into two pieces.







Answers
1. a
2. c
3. c
 

________________________________

Hello and welcome back to another episode of News Bites!

I'm Allie Highsmith.

And I'm Nancy Sun.

In this episode of News Bites: Taiwan is the second freest country in East
Asia, according to a new report

And, Korean young people are finding salty new ways to socialize

And in this episode's News Flash: experts

All that and more, coming up next!
____________________________
亞洲最自由的國家 台灣排名第二
Taiwan second freest in Asia

Taiwan has been ranked as the second freest country in Asia.

That's according to an organization (組織) called Freedom House.

Every year, Freedom House ranks countries all around the world to look at how
free they are.

There are 25 countries ahead of Taiwan.

This year's report says Taiwan got 93 out of 100 points.

That's one point less from last year.

That's a great score, but it looks like there's still some room for
improvement （有些地方還是可以更進步）.

Right. The report looks at political rights (參政權) and civil liberties
(民權) in places all over the world.

Freedom House says, Taiwan is a democratic country with peaceful transfers of
power (權力轉移).

Plus, they say, protections for civil liberties (人民自由) are mostly strong.

There are a few places where Freedom House says Taiwan can improve.

The first is China's influence in Taiwan on policy, media, and democracy.

The second is that Taiwan needs more protections for migrant workers.

這個報告建議台灣改善兩方面。一個是要防止中國影響的措施，另一個是要?化對移工的保護。

Although Taiwan is still in the "free" category, many countries around the
world got less free last year.

That's the 20th year in a row (連續二十年) that global freedom went down.

Freedom House says that many countries' scores got worse because of military
coups, violence against peaceful protests, and attempts to erode separation
of powers.

該組織說，很多國家的民權與自由狀況惡化，是因?軍事政變、對和平抗議人群的鎮壓，以及權力制衡的流失。

So, which Asian country beat Taiwan?

That would be Japan!
Japan scored three points higher than Taiwan, with 96.

And what was number one in the world?

Finland!

In other places in Asia, China had a score of just 9 out of 100, while Hong
Kong had 41.
____________________________
韓國年輕人嘗試 又鹹又新鮮的社交方式
Korean young people find new ways to socialize

Maybe you've heard about a problem that many young people around the world
are having.

People are spending more time on their phones and less time with friends and
family.

While some alone time is a good thing, too much time alone might not be so
great for mental health.

Now, young people in Korea are trying something different to meet new people
and socialize (社交).

Strangers (陌生人) are meeting together at fast-food restaurants to eat a lot
of French fries together.

They also talk together and get to know each other.

And after they're done eating, they go their separate ways.

吃完一大堆薯條之後，來參加這項活動的人就一刀兩斷，不會再聯絡。

The trend actually started in 2013 when a bunch of people at a convention met
at a McDonald's to eat lots of fries together.

The trend then came back this year and got popular again.

Experts say that part of the reason this trend is popular might be because
young people don't like the idea of needing to sign up (報名) to participate
in an activity.

They like that this kind of activity does not require (需求) people to go
many times or pay money to be part of a group.

Some people that go to these events say there are other similar events where
coffee shops have study times just for math or for English.

You don't have to sign up or be part of a group- all you have to do is be
there.

One girl who participated said that it can be hard to make new friends after
college.

She says that people don't know where to go to meet new people.

She also thinks that the event is fun just for fries, but if you meet someone
that you want to be friends with outside of the event, 那就算是加分喔！

But some people say that there are some "unspoken rules" (默契) for the
event; usually there will be at least 3 people at each event, and people
aren't supposed to ask each other for contact information (聯絡方式).

People say that the rules make these events more about being present instead
of trying to make friends or find a partner.

Some people online say that these kinds of events remind people of when they
were kids.

Sociologists (社會學家) think that the trend is part of a bigger pattern.

One professor says that young people see relationships as having a burden
(負擔)- even good ones!

They want there to be less burden but still want social connection.

In other words, he says, the experience is fun in the moment, but it does not
need to be a long-term thing!

專家認?，現在很多年輕人覺得人際關係是個負擔。他們比較喜歡這種樂在當下、不用長期維持的社交活動。

Plus, social media makes it easier to find these activities.

You can look for strangers nearby that have the same interest as you.

Maybe it's fries, or running, or reading!

Sociologists think that social media makes it easier to find people who share
your interests.

So these events can get bigger, faster!
____________________________
RECAP

So, in today's News Bites:

Taiwan is ranked as Asia's number 2 freest country.

Japan took the number 1 spot.

Even though Taiwan's score is still very good, it went down from last year.

Experts say, that's because of two things.

The first is because of pressure from China.

They think there needs to be more protections against China having influence
on Taiwanese society.

The second is because there needs to be more laws to support migrant workers
in Taiwan.
____________________________

And,

Korean young people are finding new ways to socialize.

Maybe you've seen Korean young people online meeting up to eat lots of fries
together!

It's part of a trend of low-commitment hang outs!

Sociologists say young people don't want the burden of commitment, but do
want to socialize.

________________________
NEWS FLASH

In today's News Flash, our word of the day is "expert."

An expert is someone who knows a lot about one thing.

For example, in the news story, we mentioned that experts think that young
people like these french fry meet ups because it's low commitment.

You could say that you're an expert in something, like in Taiwan's history.

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!

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