Episode Details

Hi there, and welcome to a new episode of News Bites! I'm Nancy Sun… And I'm Trevor Tortomasi. In today's news: Good reasons to save your coffee grounds, crossing animals get help, and an actor gets caught pretending to use The Force in real life. All that and more, coming up next. ________________________________ 留下咖啡渣的好理由 Good Reasons to Save Your Coffee Grounds If your parents like to grind (磨) and brew (泡) their own coffee, there is something they can do with their leftover coffee grounds (咖啡渣). Don't throw the coffee grounds away. A recent study by the National Taiwan University shows that coffee grounds can help make vegetables grow faster. And they are extra helpful if they are added to compost (堆肥) or fertilizer (肥料). Experiments show coffee grounds are good for growing up to 30 to 40 different kinds of popular green and leafy vegetables. That's because coffee grounds have different important minerals (礦物) that can help your plants grow. This includes potassium (鉀), iron (鐵), and magnesium (鎂). They can even help absorb (吸收) elements that can contaminate (污染) the soil! And that's not all. Researchers say used coffee grounds can even be used as an insect repellent, which protects citrus fruits (柑橘) like oranges, limes, and lemons. 研究人員說，咖啡渣也能當驅蟲劑， 保護橘子、萊姆、檸檬等水果。 All you need to do is to mix coffee grounds with water, and then leave it alone for three days. You can then use that liquid to spray (噴) citrus trees. Here's one more thing you can do with coffee grounds… you can put a few tablespoons in a bowl, to keep your room smelling fresh. You can keep your refrigerator smelling good by doing this too! ________________________________ 加州建造世界最大的動物陸橋 California Builds World's Largest Animal Crossing Crossing the road can be a dangerous thing to do. And it's especially dangerous if you don't know traffic rules (交通規則). That's the reason why so many animals are killed in car accidents every year. In the United States alone, over one million different animals die every day. They are hit by cars, buses or trucks. These road accidents are particularly bad when the animals that get hurt are endangered (瀕危). This is one of the reasons why the U.S. state of California is building a special road that will help animals cross one of the biggest highways in the country. The road is called a "wildlife crossing" (野生動物專用陸橋), and it will give big cats like cougars (美洲獅) , coyotes (郊狼), deer (鹿), lizards (蜥蜴), and other animals a way to cross a huge freeway (高速公路). There is a similar wildlife crossing in Canada, and it is used by bears (熊), moose (駝鹿), and elk (麋鹿). 在加拿大也有一座類似的專門給動物們使用的陸橋。 While there are animal crossings in different parts of the world, the one in California is different, because it is being built over one of the busiest highways in the world. The new animal crossing will be 61 meters above 10 highway lanes. The company building the animal crossing says most of the work will be done at night, so the highway doesn't have to be closed down. The crossing is expected to be finished by 2025. It will cost 90 million US dollars. 60 percent of that will be paid for by private donations (私人捐款). 40 percent will come from public money for conservation (保育). The crossing is being built at the right time. Scientists say many animals have been trapped in smaller living spaces because of the highway. After it has been built, it is hoped that the crossing will change that. ________________________________ 歐比王上身 演員現實生活也用絕地秘技 An Actor Pretends to Use the Force He played Obi-Wan Kenobi (歐比王．肯諾比) in Star Wars (星際大戰) more than 17 years ago. But actor Ewan McGregor still likes to imagine he can open doors using The Force (原力). McGregor says he uses the same hand movement that he used in the movies to open the automatic doors at supermarkets. He says sometime