Teen Baseball Player, Youth Climate Lawsuit

News Bites

Hi everyone, it’s time for a new episode of News Bites… I’m Brody Halverson. And I’m Paz Bueno. Today’s stories… A Taiwanese teenager goes to play baseball in America, and thirteen young Hawaiians demand action on climate change. And in today’s Tasty Tidbit…ball lightning! Let’s get into it. ________________________________ 洛杉磯道奇隊簽約台灣青少年 Los Angeles Dodgers Sign Taiwan Teen How would you like to play for the MLB (美國職棒大聯盟)? Wow, the major leagues! That would be incredible. It would be a dream come true. Which Major League Baseball team do you want to play for? There are so many legendary teams in America… I’d want to join the New York Yankees… or the Boston Red Sox! But that’s just a dream (夢想). Sometimes dreams really do come true. 有時夢想真的會成真。 Look at the teenager from Taiwan who has joined the Los Angeles Dodgers. At only seventeen years old (十七歲), he’s going off to play for one of the greatest baseball teams in the world. Oh, I’ve heard about him! His name is Ko Ching-hsien (柯敬賢). He’s just graduated from Pingjen (平鎮) Senior High School in Taoyuan. Ko played a lot of baseball growing up. He became an outfielder (外野手). That means when his team is in the field, he goes to the outfield (外野), to catch any balls that are hit so far. Ko is talented in the field, but he’s is also very good at batting (打擊). When he played for Taiwan in the Under-18 World Baseball Cup, he batted five-fifty. That means he hit the ball 55% of the time. In baseball that is a highly successful number. Ko’s performance was so good that he got noticed by the Los Angeles Dodgers. 柯在U-18世界盃棒球賽的打擊率為 0.550，非常成功，讓他受到關注。 So, the Dodgers have signed Ko onto their team. What’s more, they’ll give him a signing bonus (簽約獎金) worth more than 20 million NT. Now Ko will get the chance to play for the Dodgers. He will be teammates with some of the greatest players alive, including the world-famous Shohei Ohtani (大谷翔平). Ko’s story is amazing, but there will be more to follow his path. The Dodgers recruiter (棒球招募人員) who brought Ko onto the team says Taiwan’s new generation of players is the best he has ever seen. He says Taiwan’s youth talent (青年才俊) is outstanding, and he expects many others to join the MLB in the future. ________________________________ 夏威夷青年逼迫政府採取行動 Hawaii’s Youth Force Government to Climate Action How can we act on climate change (對氣候變遷採取行動)? Yes, we really need to do something. It is getting serious, with the sea level (海平面) rising higher and higher. Maybe we could ask everyone to use less energy, and we could ask the government to act too. If we ask nicely, maybe they will decide to help out. No! There is no more time to ask nicely. We need to demand climate action. 已經沒有時間再客氣地請求了，必須堅持行動。 That’s what happened in Hawaii, and it was a success. What happened in Hawaii? It started with a group of thirteen young Hawaiians (夏威夷人). Most of them are teenagers (青少年), but they were worried about their future. After all, Hawaii is made of small islands. If the sea level rises, it will be a big problem for the people there. Hawaiians have been asking their government to stop using fossil fuels (化石燃料) for transportation. That’s because fossil fuels cause climate change. But, for many years there had been little action. Their government was not listening. That’s why these thirteen young people decided to join a lawsuit (官司). They were done waiting, and they wanted to use the law to force the government to act. They said the government was violating their rights (侵犯他們的權利), and they got help from a law firm (律師事務所) called “Our Children’s Trust.” The lawyers took their lawsuit to court, and in June they finally won. According to the result of the lawsuit, transportation in Hawaii must reach net-zero (淨零排放) by the year 2045. That means they will need to make a big change in land, sea, and air transportation. Hawaii will need to use more climate-friendly forms of transportation, like electric vehicles, trains, biking and walking. And they’ll need to move away from harmful transportation, like traditional cars. The young Hawaiians are happy about their win. But they know it is just the beginning. They think that young people in other parts of the world will also start using their laws to fight climate change. ________________________________ So, in today’s News Bites… A teenager from Taiwan is going to play baseball for the MLB. Ko Ching-hsien has been signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers. It must be a dream come true. ________________________________ And, Young people have forced their government to act on climate change. The thirteen young Hawaiians joined a lawsuit and won in court. Now, Hawaii will need to make all transportation in the state net-zero by 2045. ________________________________ 趣味小點 Tasty Tidbit Ball lightning is a strange and fiery ball of light that moves through the air for a few seconds. No one knows what causes it, and some scientists even doubt it is real. But many people have seen it! In 1994, ball lightning made a hole in a closed window that was 5 centimeters wide! 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 [e-mail], and you might hear it at the end of an episode! We'll see you next time for an exciting new episode of News Bites!