Hello everybody, and welcome to a new episode of News Bites!

I'm Nancy Sun…

And I'm Ryan Drillsma.

In today's news:

Keeping a beach clean, tasting TV, and a singer, not a variant.

All that and more, coming up next.

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墾丁美麗沙灘炸滿垃圾

Kenting Beach Covered with Fireworks and Garbage

A beach party on New Year's Eve…

That sounds like so much fun!

But some people did not take good care of the beach they enjoyed.

A person posted pictures online of Nanwan beach in Kenting National Park the day after New Year's Eve.

In the pictures, the beautiful beach in southern Taiwan is covered with garbage and used fireworks (煙火).

There were rows and rows of (一排排的) empty fireworks boxes.

There was a dirty red patch on the sand, where people lit the fireworks.

And some of the garbage may have already been swept into the ocean by waves.

That could hurt the ocean environment.

跨年的民眾到墾丁南灣狂歡，竟留下滿地垃圾，而且部分垃圾可能已經被海浪捲進大海，造成汙染。

It took workers a long time to clean up all the garbage, and make the beach beautiful again.

Police say it is illegal to set off firecrackers and fireworks on Nanwan beach.

Anyone that does may be fined $1,500 NT the first time, and $3,000 NT if they do it again.

The police say they will patrol the beach more often to make sure it doesn't happen again.

警察未來在連續假期會加強巡邏，希望美麗的沙灘不要再被汙染。

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日本教授發明可嚐味道的電視

Japanese Scientist Invents Tasty TV

Have you ever seen something delicious on TV…

And thought, "I wish I could taste it!"

Well, now you can!

A scientist in Japan has invented a television that you can "taste" (品嚐、嚐味道).

Professor Homei Miyashita calls it "Taste the TV" or TTTV.

It's bigger than a normal TV.

And at the top, there are 10 cans of spray.

The sprays all have different tastes (味道).

When the person watching the TV wants to taste something,

The sprays are mixed together to get the taste of that food.

And the spray is put on a film, and rolled out for the person to taste.

TTTV內部有10種口味的罐子，可以調出特定食物的味道，高壓噴嘴會把特調液體噴在衛生薄膜上，再送到平板電視螢幕上讓用者品嚐。

Professor Miyashita says the TV would cost about $24,000 NT to make.

What would we use TTTV for?

The professor says it could be fun and helpful in a lot of ways, especially with everyone staying home because of COVID-19.

He says it could help people taste food from a restaurant on the other side of the world.

Or, someone who wants to be a chef could take classes and learn from another country.

Professor Miyashita says Taste the TV could even be used for tasting games and quizzes.

Miyashita教授說TTTV也許可以用在廚師的遠距教學，還可以讓用者玩品嚐食物的猜謎遊戲。

He says he also wants to set up a place online, where people can download tastes from around the world.

It would be a lot like how people download music now.

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美國歌手跟Omicron撞名

Singer Omarion Says He Is Not a Variant

A singer in the U.S. wants everyone to know he is not a COVID-19 variant.

Omarion has been making music for more than 20 years.

He is also a songwriter and is known for being a good dancer.

But now, he is getting more famous for something else.

He says lots of people are telling jokes about him being the Omicron variant (Omicron變種病毒).

Omarion thinks it's funny too.

He posted a TikTok video, reminding everyone that he is not a variant.

Omarion上傳了TikTok影片，開玩笑的聲明自己不是變種病毒。

The singer says if you see him on the street, you do not have to go into isolation (隔離).

And he says you don't have to have a negative test result to dance to his music.

He also wished everyone a happy new year.

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So, in today's News Bites:

Nanwan beach in Kenting National Park was covered with garbage and used fireworks the day after New Year's Eve.

It took workers a long time to clean up all the garbage, and make the beach beautiful again.

Police say it is illegal to set off firecrackers and fireworks on Nanwan beach.

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A scientist in Japan has invented a television that you can "taste".

"Taste the TV" has cans of spray that mix together to get the taste of different foods.

The spray is put on a film, and rolled out for the person to taste.

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And,

American singer Omarion wants everyone to know he is not the Omicron variant.

He posted a TikTok video, reminding everyone that he is not a variant.

Omarion also jokes that you don't have to have a negative test result to dance to his music.

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