Brakes Bilingual 2030, Climate Change Turbulence

News Bites

Hi everyone, welcome to a new episode of News Bites!
I'm Kelly Kimura…
And I'm Jacob Ingram.
Coming up next in today's news: The education minister wants to slow down on the Bilingual 2030 policy, and scientists say climate change is making air turbulence worse and more common!
And in today's Tasty Tidbit… two companies and a university are making a better chocolate!
Stay tuned for more on those stories!
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教育部長暫緩2030年雙語政策
Education Minister Wants to Slow Down on the Bilingual 2030 Policy
Some time ago, Taiwan started the Bilingual 2030 policy.
It wants to raise the competitiveness (競爭力) of Taiwan's young people.
Young people would be able to get better jobs and higher pay.
The policy is mostly about bilingual education (雙語教育) in Taiwanese schools.
But the education minister wants to go more slowly on the policy.
He is the former president (前校長) of a national university (國立大學).
He helped to make a ten-year plan for English-only education.
The plan is for its graduate school (研究所).
The university hired (聘請) teachers with qualifications (資格).
They made new English classes.
These classes are not required (不是必修課) until 2030.
The education minister said, "These things take time, we need to slow down."
But local governments (地方政府) are trying to follow the policy in a hurry.
So sometimes new teachers don't have the qualifications the school needs.
This could make the policy fall short of expectations (達不到預期).
The Ministry of Education plans to work with local schools.
It wants to make sure new teachers have qualifications.
The education minister also said students can learn English in their daily (經) lives.
When he was the head (局長) of a city education office, it worked with a fast food chain and doctors.
Children who ordered food in English got free fries!
Children who spoke to doctors in English paid $50 Taiwan dollars less.
The minister said that children in rural (鄉村) areas have fewer bilingual resources (資源) than children in cities.
To help, the ministry will send university students to teach rural children.
教育部致力於為農村學生提供所需的英語教育。
It's great that the ministry is trying to raise the bilingual abilities (能力) of our country.
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氣候變遷使空中亂流更常見，並且更嚴重
Climate Change is Making Air Turbulence Worse and More Common
On May 21st, a Singapore Airlines plane began to shake very hard over the Indian Ocean.
This was because of air turbulence (空中亂流).
The plane was flying from London to Singapore.
But it made an emergency landing (緊急降落) in Bangkok.
The plane dropped 1,800 meters in a very short time.
Many people were hurt.
One person died.
A scientist (科學家) who has studied air turbulence said,
"It is not that we'll have to stop flying, or planes will fall out of the sky."
"I'm just saying that air turbulence will be getting more common."
There is a study about severe incidents (嚴重事件) of air turbulence.
It shows these incidents have gone up since 1979.
Wind shear (風切) is a fast change in wind strength or direction (方向).
Wind shear has also gone up since 1979.
Warmer air can make wind shear happen more often.
Other studies have also shown that climate change has led to warmer air.
And this will also cause more turbulence.
There are different kinds of turbulence.
Thunderstorms (暴風雨) cause one kind of turbulence.
Scientists think thunderstorms will get worse with climate change.
Weather centers, satellites, and radar (氣象局, 氣象衛星, 氣象雷達) help to forecast (預報) this kind of turbulence.
Then plane pilots can avoid (避免) it.
However, clear-air or invisible (晴空或看不見的) turbulence is very hard to forecast.
Scientists think clear-air turbulence will also go up.
But there is a technology (科技) that might help one day.
Using Lidar (光學雷達), test flights (試飛) can see clear-air turbulence 32 kilometers ahead of the plane.
But the technology costs too much and the equipment is too big to be used now.
隨著科技的進步，亂流的預測將會越來越準確。
For now, fasten your seatbelt (繫好安全帶) when you're on a plane, just to be safe.
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So in today's News Bites:
The education minister wants to slow down on the Bilingual 2030 policy.
He said bilingual education takes time and students can learn English in their daily lives.
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And…
Climate change is making air turbulence more common and severe.
Warmer air causes more turbulence.
Scientists are using technology to help forecast turbulence.
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趣味小點
Tasty Tidbit
Two chocolate companies and a university are trying to make a better chocolate.
This chocolate is healthier.
It has less fat (脂肪) and more fiber (纖維).
It's better for the Earth because all of the cocoa fruit (可可果) is used.
And it makes more money for cocoa farmers!
Chocolate makers usually only use cocoa beans and some cocoa pulp (漿).
Then they put sugar in.
Cocoa-fruit chocolate also uses cocoa beans and cocoa pulp.
But it also uses the inside of the cocoa fruit shell (殼).
The inside of the shell and cocoa pulp make cocoa gel (凝膠).
Cocoa gel is very sweet.
No sugar is needed!
Only the shell is left at the end.
But it can be used for other things.
Doesn't this chocolate sound good?
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And that's it for 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 your Tasty Tidbit to us at [e-mail].
You might hear it at the end of an episode!
We'll see you next time for an exciting new episode of News Bites!