Hello everyone! It's time for another episode of News Bites!

I'm Paz Bueno…

And I'm Brody Halverson.

In today's news:

Equal rights for parenting, a pasta mystery, and baaa-rave firefighters.

Stay tuned for more on these stories, coming up next.

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台灣同志伴侶可以共同領養子女

Same-Sex Couples Can Jointly Adopt

Taiwan is Asia's leading country for LGBT rights (權益).

LGBT stands for people who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender.

LGBT代表女同志、男同志、雙性戀者，以及跨性別者。

These are people who may love someone of the same gender (性別) or feel they are a different gender from the one they were born as.

In 2019, Taiwan became the first place in Asia to allow same-sex (同性) couples to get married.

There are laws to protect people from being treated badly because of who they love or how they feel about their gender.

There's even a special day when people march in the streets to celebrate love and diversity (多元文化), called the Pride Parade (同志遊行).

On May 16th, the Legislative Yuan (立法院) changed a rule to help same-sex couples.

Before, these couples could only adopt their spouse's child if it was their biological child.

過去，這些伴侶只能領養配偶的親生子女。

But now, these couples can also adopt a child together.

Everyone is saying it's a fair thing to do because it's important that all kinds of families can take care of children.

People who care about the rights of children and LGBT people are really happy about this change.

Love is love, no matter who you are.

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森林中的義大利麵

Mysterious Pasta in the Woods

Picture this (想像一下): You're walking in the woods, and guess what you find?

Piles and piles of pasta!

一堆又一堆的義大利麵！

This happened near a river in the US city of Old Bridge last month.

No one knew how the pasta got there.

And when the city cleaned it up, they found there were 500 pounds of noodles (500磅的麵條)!

Pictures of the pasta were posted on Facebook, and many people found it funny.

A netizen (網友) joked that cleaning it up was "Mission Im-pasta-ble" (不可能的任務).

這個字把 "impossible"（不可能）與 "pasta"（義大利麵）結合在一起。

And another joked, "Lead suspect (主要嫌疑人) is a guy named Al Dente."

"Al Dente"是一個義大利詞語，用來形容煮得恰到好處、口感稍硬的義大利麵。

It turns out the suspect was not a guy named Al Dente, but a man who wanted to clean out his pantry (食物儲藏室).

Neighbors say the city doesn't have bulk garbage pickup (大型垃圾收集服務), which is a big problem.

The man didn't know how else to throw away all the pasta he had.

The incident brought a lot of attention (吸引很多注意) to the town's garbage problem.

The residents hope city authorities can provide better trash pickup services after this.

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智利的山羊如何保護森林

How Goats are Saving Forests in Chile

Forest fires are becoming more and more common as we deal with the climate crisis.

隨著氣候變遷危機，森林火災變得越來越常見。

They hurt the trees and plants, animals that live in the woods lose their homes, and the smoke harms our earth.

It's important to know how we can prevent (防止) forest fires.

In a city in Chile named Santa Juana, there's a team of helpers that help protect the forest from dangerous fires.

And they're goats (山羊)!

These goats have already helped to save a forest park called Bosques de Chacay from a big fire that happened in February.

But thanks to the goats, the park was safe!

The goats eat the dry plants that can catch fire easily during the hot summer.

山羊會吃掉在炎熱的夏天容易著火的乾燥植物。

They also help the soil stay healthy with their poop.

他們的糞便也有助於土壤保持健康。

A forestry engineer (林業工程師) says, "These animals can help us a lot."

He thinks more people should use goats to eat the dry plants that can catch fire.

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So, in today's News Bites:

On May 16th, the Legislative Yuan changed a rule to help same-sex couples.

Before, these couples could only adopt their spouse's child if it was their biological child.

But now, these couples can also adopt a child together.

________________________________

And,

A man discovered mysterious piles of pasta near a river in the US city of Old Bridge last month.

It turns out the suspect was a man who wanted to clean out his pantry.

Neighbors say the city doesn't have bulk garbage pickup, which is a big problem.

________________________________

And,

In a city in Chile named Santa Juana, there's a team of goats that help protect the forest from dangerous fires.

The goats eat the dry plants that can catch fire easily during the hot summer.

These goats have already helped to save a forest park from a big fire that happened in February.

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