Taiwan Reading Festival, Second Spring in UK, Rats Bop

News Bites

Hello everyone! Welcome to another episode of News Bites.

I'm Paz Bueno…

And I'm Trevor Tortomasi.

In today's news:

The Taiwan Reading Festival, plants in the UK are behaving strangely, and rats can bop to a beat.

Stay tuned and we'll tell you more about these stories, coming up next!

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台灣閱讀節首次展出外交盟友的英文書

Taiwan Reading Festival Features Books from Diplomatic Allies for the First Time

The National Central Library (國家圖書館) is hosting a special event in Taipei this weekend.

The Taiwan Reading Festival!

It's an annual event spreading (傳播) the joy of reading to every corner of Taiwan.

The festival will include music performances, arts and crafts, and storytelling.

And this year the library has also invited international guests!

For the first time, there will be English books from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Christopher and Nevis, and Belize.

閱讀節首次推出來自聖文森及格瑞那丁、聖克里斯多福及尼維斯以及貝里斯的英文書。

The three countries are Taiwan's diplomatic allies (外交盟友).

Each country will have a booth (攤位) to introduce the culture of the Caribbean and Central American nations (加勒比海和中美洲國家).

The Saint Vincent and the Grenadines booth will feature three Vincentian English teachers reading aloud (朗讀) books by Vincentian authors.

The Saint Kitts and Nevis booth will have English books written by leading authors (主要作者) in the country to give Taiwanese a clearer understanding of the country, and its culture and heritage (讓台灣人更了解這個國家及其文化和遺產).

And when Taiwanese children visit Belize's booth, they will be taken on a journey to the country through literature (文學).

The Taiwan Reading Festival is taking place at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Park on December 3rd, and at the National Central Library on December 4th.

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英國迎來第二個"春天"

UK Has 'Second Spring'

Plants in the United Kingdom are behaving a little differently this year (有點不一樣).

Flowers and plants are flowering (開花) and show no signs of stopping.

That's because the weather is unusually (異常地) warm for November!

A botanist says the way the greenery is responding to the weather this year is completely crazy and mixed.

一位植物學家說，今年綠色植物對天氣的反應很瘋狂。

For example, during the summer, the UK experienced a drought (乾旱).

Lots of plants became dormant (休眠) like they would in winter, because it was too hot.

Some trees dropped their leaves, and others started growing right after it rained.

And now, there are plants that are blooming (開花) for the first time this year.

Horticulturists say the change could have a detrimental effect for next spring.

園藝家說，這種變化可能會對明年春天產生不利影響。

If plants use a lot of resources to grow now, they might not grow well next year.

That means the insects that eat plants will be thrown out of kilter (失衡)…

Which means the birds that eat insects will be thrown out of kilter…

Which means…well, so many life cycles (生命週期) will be affected!

Extreme weather events are becoming more and more common because of global warming.

There is still a lot we don't know about how it will affect us.

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就像我們一樣，老鼠會隨著音樂作動

Rats Bop to Music Just as We Do

When you listen to your favorite song, do you nod your head or tap your feet to the beat?

當你聽你最喜歡的歌曲時，你會點頭還是用腳敲打拍子？

People have always thought that rhythm was a skill unique to us humans (節奏感是我們人類獨有的).

There are animals that can react (反應) to noise and be trained (受訓) to dance along to music.

But it's not the same as humans' complex neural and motor processes that let you hear the beat in a song.

但這與人類複雜的神經傳導不同，人類聽得到歌曲中的節拍。

That innate ability is called "beat synchronicity."

這種與生俱來的能力被稱為"節拍同步性"。

Well, new research shows that rats can also bop to a beat (隨著節拍跳動)!

A team from the University of Tokyo discovered that rats share our urge to move to the groove (老鼠和我們一樣會受到音樂的鼓舞而動作).

They used miniature accelerometers on the rats and played music with different BPMs, or beats per minute.

他們在老鼠身上使用微型加速器，播放不同節拍的音樂。

The devices allowed them to measure (測量) the slightest head movements.

The researchers found the rats jerked their heads (搖頭) to the beat of the music!

This is the first report on innate beat synchronization (先天節拍同步) in animals that was not the result of training.

Isn't it incredible?

Some animals are not so different from us, after all!

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So, in today's News Bites:

The National Central Library is hosting the Taiwan Reading Festival this weekend.

And for the first time, there will be English books from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Christopher and Nevis, and Belize.

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Plants in the United Kingdom are behaving a little differently this year.

That's because the weather is unusually warm for November!

Horticulturists say the change could have a detrimental effect for next spring.

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And,

People have always thought that rhythm was a skill unique to us humans.

But new research shows that rats can also bop to a beat!

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And that's all for today's episode of News Bites!