Hi there.

It’s time for an all-new episode of News Bites.

I’m Jacob Ingram.

And I’m Nancy Sun.

In today’s episode we’ll be talking about peanuts and dumbphones.

And for today’s Tasty Tidbit: Huskies and school rules.

Stay tuned for those stories.

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農試所智能乾燥機誕生

Smart Peanut Dryer

Do you like peanuts (花生)?

Have you ever wondered how they’re processed (處理)?

After they are grown (種植) and harvested (收成), they have to be dried (曬乾).

Traditional methods of drying peanuts (and other grains) requires good weather.

It also needs lots of people to turn them often, otherwise they would be unevenly (不平均地) dried.

So this hinders (阻礙) producers making lots of them.

Some producers (生產者) use big box dryers (箱型烘乾機).

But even these require a lot of physical labor.

This is hard in places where there aren’t enough workers.

So what can be done about it?

Well, researchers invented a new special machine that can dry grains.

It’s solar-powered, meaning it uses energy from the sun.

ATRI, or the Agricultural Technology Research Institute, recently demonstrated (展示) the new machine in Yunlin County.

The researchers say the machine helps dry peanuts and mixed grains more easily than traditional methods, like drying them in the sun or using big box dryers.

It has a sensor (感測器) that checks how heavy the grains are in real time.

This sensor makes sure the grains dry for just the right amount of time.

It can reduce the work farmers need to do, making their lives easier.

It also solves the problem of not having enough workers.

It's also easy to move around with a big truck (大卡車就可以運送), which makes it good for groups of farmers to share.

People in the farming industry will decide the price before it goes on sale.

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換用傻瓜手機 獲得更平靜的生活

Switching to Dumbphones for a Calmer Life

Smartphones are very convenient, aren’t they?

They allow us to stay connected with friends, loved ones and access information instantly.

They also allow us navigate new places so we don’t get lost.

We can take pictures with them too.

… And they keep us entertained!

But there are downsides (壞處) to using them.

It’s easy to get distracted (分心) by smartphones too.

They can make people ignore real-life interactions and responsibilities.

Some even say smartphones are addictive (讓人上癮).

Smartphones also collect a lot of personal data, so some people are concerned about privacy (隱私權).

Looking at screens for a long time can also cause physical problems, and make our eyesight (視力) worse.

Some people are turning to dumbphones (傻瓜手機).

Dumbphones, or feature phones, are basic phones for making calls and sending texts.

They might even take pictures, but that's not always the case.

Unlike smartphones, they don't have all the internet features and apps.

Dumbphones are becoming very popular.

Many say using a dumbphone makes them feel calmer and more present.

許多人表示使用傻瓜手機讓他們感到更平靜、更能專注於當下。

Caroline from California (加州) is one of them.

She realized she spent an entire summer glued to her smartphone (一直盯著智慧型手機), and didn’t remember anything she did.

She also couldn't even remember where she walked her dog, because she was always on her phone. So, she changed to a dumbphone.

She found using a dumbphone inconvenient (不方便) at first, but later thought it was freeing (感覺很自由).

Studies show that smartphones might be linked to rising rates of depression and anxiety.

研究顯示，智慧型手機可能與憂鬱和焦慮的增加有關。

So some groups are trying to promote reducing the use of smartphones, especially among children.

Analysists (分析者) say around 2.8 million dumbphones were sold in the United States last year.

Hopefully in the future smartphones can be used to enhance lives without the drawbacks (缺點).

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So in today’s News Bites,

Peanuts need drying after harvest, but traditional methods rely on good weather and a lot of labor.

Big box dryers exist, but they're still labor-intensive.

To address these issues, researchers created a new solar-powered drying machine that's efficient, requires less work, and is easy to share among farmers.

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And,

Smartphones are convenient, but they can be distracting and addictive.

This can lead to neglecting real-life interactions and even health problems.

A growing trend is people switching to dumbphones to regain control of their time and focus on what matters most.

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趣味小點

Tasty Tidbit

Recently lots of huskies escaped from a pet cafe in Guangdong, China!

Liang from Pan Tau Elementary School in Miaoli tells us more.

…

And Belle, who’s also from Pan Tau Elementary, has some suggestions for new school rules.

…

No homework for Grades 3 to 6?

Good luck getting your teachers to agree!

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That’s it for today's episode of News Bites!

*If you have a fun fact, a joke or interesting news story you'd like to share with us, record your message and send us your Tasty Tidbit to *[email protected], 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!