Longer Weekend, Weeknd Pop Star, Star Pop Science

News Bites

Welcome, you, you, and you, yes, you, to a new episode of News Bites!

I am probably Trevor Tortomasi…

And I'm definitely Paz Bueno.

In today's news:

People want longer weekends, a pop star is no longer The Weeknd, and a star pops in space.

Let's have a listen!

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台灣人請求政府給予更長的周末

Taiwanese People Ask for a Longer Weekend

Usually, we go to school or work for five days every week.

These five days, from Monday to Friday, are called "weekdays".

And the other two days, Saturday and Sunday, are called "the weekend" (周末).

So… why is our weekend only two days?

Well, more and more people are saying our weekends should be THREE days.

Wouldn't that be awesome?!

那不是超棒嗎？！

Here in Taiwan, the law (法律) says people have to work eight hours per day (每天八個小時), and five days per week (每週五天).

But many people want to work less hours each day…

現在，很多人想要減少每天工作的時間…

And other people want to work less days each week!

還有很多人要減少每週工作的天數！

Now, thousands of people (好幾千個人) are asking Taiwan's government to change its laws on working time.

That's because many companies in other countries (很多在外國的公司) already did!

Last year, 60 companies in the UK (英國 60 個公司) gave people four days of work, and three days of rest (三天的休息)… every week!

And the results (結果) were GREAT!

Most companies said they still finished all their work, and most people said they felt happier.

Of course, this may not be good for every school, or every company… but most people love the idea.

Do you think our future could have more three-day weekends?

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世界著名的明星改了名字

World-Famous Pop Star Changes His Name

Okay, speaking of weekends (說到週末)…

You may have heard a very famous singer (很有名的歌手) called "The Weeknd".

Of course, his name is spelled differently (名字的拼法不一樣)…

And he's not two or three days… he's a real celebrity (明星).

This year, The Weeknd was one of the most famous pop stars in the world.

But "The Weeknd" isn't his real name (不是他真的名字)… it's a nickname (綽號)!

Lots of people have nicknames.

Sometimes it's because a nickname sounds cool (聽起來很酷).

And sometimes they can make our names easier for people to remember.

有時候有綽號可以讓你的名字比較好記。

For example (比如說), if your name is very hard to remember, like "Johnson von Pipinpobolopsicopolis", then people might just call you "Johnny".

But other times, we might still want to use our original name (原本的名字).

For many people, their original name is more meaningful (有更多的意義).

So now, 13 years later, The Weeknd says he is changing his name… back to his original name!

He says after he finishes his current album (專輯), he will be called "Abel Tesfaye".

But if you like The Weeknd, then you'll like Abel.

After all, even if you change your name… you're still you!

畢竟就算你改了名字… 你還是你！

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科學家找到歷史上最大的爆炸

Scientists Find the Biggest Explosion Ever

Okay, we talked about weekends, and pop stars…

Now, we can talk about a star's… pop (小爆炸).

That's right, a bright star out in space… "popped"?

Actually, it was way bigger than that!

Scientists think it might be the biggest explosion (爆炸) that they have ever seen.

It happened when a huge cloud of gas fell into a black hole.

這個爆炸是在巨大的氣體雲被吸進一個黑洞的時候發生的。

The black hole's force (力量) made the gas very hot, and sent it flying all over the place.

Scientists estimate (估計) the explosion is around 100 times bigger than our solar system (比我們的太陽系大一百倍).

They say it's about two trillion times brighter than our sun (比我們的太陽亮兩兆倍).

And the explosion is still happening… two years later!

Scientists found it a few years ago, but it took them a long time to understand what they saw.

Scientists think these kinds of huge explosions could be very important for making new galaxies (星系).

Fortunately, this explosion happened around eight billion lightyears away from us (距離我們八十億光年).

We already have our own galaxy… we don't need another one right now!

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So, in today's News Bites:

Thousands of people are asking Taiwan's government to make weekends three days, instead of two.

That's because many companies in other countries have already tried it, and the results were great.

Most companies said they still finished all their work, and most people said they felt happier.

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And,

The world-famous pop star "The Weeknd" is changing back to his original name.

He says that after his next album is finished, he'll go back to his original name, Abel Tesfaye.

Nicknames can help people remember us more easily, but for many people, original names can be more meaningful.

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And,

Scientists think they have found the biggest explosion they have ever seen.

It happened when a huge cloud of gas fell into a black hole, and was sent flying all over the place.

Scientists estimate the explosion is around 100 times bigger than our solar system, and it's still happening… two years later!

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