Stamp Collecting, AI Therapy

Hi everyone, welcome to a new episode of News Bites. I'm Nancy Sun. And I'm Paz Bueno. In today's news: A new age for stamps, a new way to talk it out, and a tiny sea creature packs a BIG punch. Stay tuned for more on those stories, coming up next. ________________________________ 中華郵政和集郵的樂趣 Chunghwa Post Hopes to Revive Stamp Collecting When was the last time you wrote something BY HAND, and sent it through mail? If you wanted to send a letter halfway around the world, it used to take months! Now, you can send a message instantly to someone far away with the click of a button. In the past, many people liked to collect (收集) stamps. These were small stickers that you stuck onto mail. It shows how much money you paid to send something. But now, most people are sending messages online. And less people collect stamps. But one company is trying to bring back stamp collecting as a fun hobby! The Chunghwa Post has a stamp-collecting program. It sends newly-issued (發行) stamps to subscribers (訂閱者). Twenty years ago, there were 31,000 long-term subscribers. But today there are only 15,000 left. Chunghwa Post says stamps are like a country's "business card" (名片). It says through stamps, you can learn about a country's history, culture and more. And sending letters with these stamps to other countries allows others to know more about Taiwan. The stamps of Taiwan are divided into three categories… Stamps that are used as postage (郵資), commemorative (紀念性) stamps for special events and special themed stamps. Chunghwa Post has some ideas to help everyone enjoy stamp collecting. The company thinks elementary students would have fun collecting stamps. The company says it has lots of things that students can use. And they think stamp experts could be invited to schools to tell students about what they know. Chunghwa Post is also introducing stamps with special themes. The stamps show famous cartoon characters that many young people like. 雖然集郵的人數減少了許多，但許多收藏家還是非常熱衷於這個活動。 For them, every stamp is a piece of art and history. ________________________________ 人工智慧治療師能超越真人嗎？ Can AI Therapists Help Us? Artificial intelligence has brought a lot of changes for the world. And more changes may be coming. Some people believe AI can help mental health. A woman is going through a hard time. She just lost her job, and moved back in with her family. She and her boyfriend have been arguing (吵架) a lot. The woman wanted some help. So she tried seeing a therapist (心理治療師) once a week. She hoped this would help her get through her struggles (困境). But it wasn't working very well. She didn't feel she could be totally honest with the therapist. And she didn't want to burden (負擔) her friends with her problems. One night, she logged on to a website called "character.ai". It's a chatbot (聊天機器人) that can talk like a real person. The woman used the website to build herself a personal psychologist (心裡醫師). She made the chatbot "caring, supportive and intelligent". And she talked with the chatbot a few times a week. When she was worried about finding a job, the chatbot gave her positive reassurance (安慰). When she couldn't muster (鼓起) the energy to exercise, the chatbot encouraged her. The woman says she felt like the chatbot was just a normal person talking to her. And the chatbot "lived" in her cell phone. It was always patient and always ready to talk. The woman says she doesn't have to worry about what she says. Since AI took a huge step through ChatGPT, people have grown used to talking to AI. Now, millions are using chatbots for emotional needs. This raises the question, can talking to an AI therapist help us? There are definitely some advantages (好處). But experts say there are some downsides (壞處) too. We might rely (依賴) too much on chatbots. In the end, it's not a real person. It might not give appropriate (適當的) advice like a real therapist. So AI can help us with some emotions. But we should still get professional help if we need it. ________________________________ So, in today's News Bites: Chunghwa Post is trying to bring back stamp collecting as a fun hobby! It has a stamp-collecting program. And it believes through stamps, you can learn about a country's history, culture and more. And, Can talking to an AI therapist help us? There are definitely some advantages, but experts say there are some downsides too. We should still get professional help if we need it. ________________________________ 趣味小點 Tasty Tidbit And now for today's Tasty Tidbit… Animals make lots of noises. There are some really loud ones. But what's the loudest living animal? Hmm… Nope. Uh uh. Nope, not that one either. It's a shrimp! The Tiger Pistol Shrimp lives in the ocean. It has a special large claw. When it snaps this claw, it makes an air bubble that bursts with a loud CRACK! This crack can be over 200 decibels. That's louder than a gunshot! And that's today's episode of News Bites! If you have a fun fact, a joke, or interesting news you'd like to share with us, record your message and send us your Tasty Tidbit to [email protected]. You might hear it at the end of an episode! We'll see you next time for an exciting new episode of News Bites!