Adventure in Taiwan and a New Way to Fight Drunk Driving

B*News Bites 文字檔 (國中) ________________________________ Hi there! It's time for another episode of News Bites! I'm Nancy Sun. And I'm Paz Bueno. In today's news: Adventure in Taiwan, and a new way to fight drunk driving. And… In some ways, you could say our Earth has a "heart of gold". We’ll explain more, coming up in a bit! ________________________________ 旅遊網站票選"最佳冒險旅遊目的地" 台灣奪冠 Taiwan is a Top Adventure Destination Do you like traveling in Taiwan? Most of us live in Taiwan, and we get to enjoy the island all the time. And for travelers from other countries, Taiwan offers lots of adventures too! That’s why an American travel website named Taiwan as 2023’s “Favorite Adventure Destination”. Trazee Travel is a website that has news for travelers who are 25 to 40 years old. The company recently asked readers to vote on favorite places in the world. They voted from December last year to May this year. 美國旅遊主流媒體Trazee Travel讀者票選台灣為今年"最喜愛的冒險旅遊目的地"。 Seoul was voted "Favorite Worldwide City" for the second year in a row (連續). The title of "Favorite Country" went to Greece, for the fourth year in a row. Taiwan's Tourism Bureau says more people from North America are visiting Taiwan. The bureau says in the first six months of this year, 270,000 tourists from the US and Canada have visited Taiwan. Officials say they want to attract more young travelers from North America. They say they are putting together many types of programs (計劃, 方案) about culture, ecology, food and shopping. The Tourism Bureau says many visitors from North America like outdoor activities. Taiwan has beautiful mountains and coastlines. This makes it a great place for extreme sports, like rock climbing, mountain biking, white water rafting (泛舟), and more. The Tourism Bureau hopes travelers can find unique experiences when in Taiwan. ________________________________ 日本防酒駕的新招數 A New Way to Fight Drunk Driving Drunk driving has caused many fatal (致命的) traffic accidents around the world. And this happens in Taiwan too. Many countries have done things to try to stop drunk driving. But a driving school in Japan is taking an unusual approach (不尋常的方法). They are encouraging drivers to drink alcohol (喝酒) before driving. How does this help stop drunk driving? This was actually a special class at the driving school. They want people to see how different it is to drive after drinking alcohol. They hope this will help people understand how dangerous it is to drink and drive (酒後開車). The school invited 10 people to the class. These people had to drive a car through a U-turn, an S-bend, and some tight curves (彎道). First they did this sober (清醒的). A driving teacher sat in the car, and assessed (評估) how well they drove. The teacher also assessed the driver's reflexes (反射動作, 本能反應) Then, the school asked the drivers to drink some alcohol. They drank enough alcohol to go over the legal limit (酒駕標準值). And they went through the same U-turn, S-bend, and tight curves. And the teacher assessed their driving again. Many of the drivers were very confident (有信心) about their skills. They were sure they could still drive well, even after drinking alcohol. But they soon found out that after drinking, they made many mistakes (錯誤) when driving. Police in Japan say some drivers who drink and drive have not had an accident yet. This makes them feel like they are invincible (無敵). And this makes the drivers keep drinking and driving. 日本的警察說有些酒駕慣犯過去喝酒開車時，運氣好而未發生事故，這種狀況讓他們反覆同樣的危險行為。 Some research shows that drunk drivers cause 7 times more fatal accidents (死亡事故) than sober drivers. Maybe you're not old enough to drive yet. But when you are, would a class like this make you think twice (三思而後行) about driving after drinking? ________________________________ So, in today's News Bites: American travel website Trazee Travel named Taiwan as 2023’s “Favorite Adventure Destination”. Taiwan's Tourism Bureau says Taiwan's mountains and coastlines make it a great place for extreme sports. The bureau hopes travelers can find unique experiences when in Taiwan. ________________________________ A driving school in Japan is taking an unusual approach to fight drunk driving. They are encouraging drivers to drink alcohol before driving for a special class. They want people to see how different it is to drive after drinking alcohol, and help them understand how dangerous it is to drink and drive. ________________________________ 趣味小點 Tasty Tidbit And before we go, here's a Tasty Tidbit you can take away from today's News Lunchbox: Gold is a precious metal, and saying something is precious can mean it is rare. But did you know that there is enough gold inside Earth to cover the entire planet? And that layer of gold covering the Earth would be knee-high! So how do we get all that gold? Well right now, that’s pretty much impossible, since the core is almost 3,000 kilometers below our feet. And the temperature in the core can get up to over 5,000 degrees Celsius! If you have a fun fact or a joke you’d like to share with us, record your message and send us your Tasty Tidbit to [email protected], and you might hear it at the end of an episode! Tune in again next time for an all new episode of News Bites!