Hello and welcome to another episode of News Bites!

I’m Nancy Sun.

And I’m Hope Ngo.

In today's news:

A Taiwanese writer gets international recognition, and astronomers may have
found a strange new kind of object in space.

And in today's News Flash, our word is: recognize.

Keep on listening to find out more!
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台灣作家平路登上美國國家圖書獎初選名單
Taiwanese Writer Ping Lu Makes U.S. National Book Award Longlist

What happens when a book written in one language finds new readers in another?

For Taiwanese writer Ping Lu (平路), it could lead to one of the biggest book
awards in the United States.

Her novel "To the East of the East" (東方之東) has made the longlist (初選名單) for
the 2026 National Book Award for Translated Literature.

她的小說《東方之東》入選了2026年美國國家圖書獎翻譯文學類初選名單。

The National Book Awards recognize some of the best books published in the
United States each year.

The translated literature category is for books that were first written in
another language and then translated into English.

"To the East of the East" was originally published in Chinese in 2011.

Its English version was translated by Singaporean writer and translator
Jeremy Tiang (程異).

The story follows a Taiwanese woman whose husband disappears while doing
business in China.

She travels to Beijing to search for him and goes through a series of strange
experiences.

這本小說描寫一名台灣女子前往北京，尋找失蹤的丈夫。

"To the East of the East" is now one of ten books on this year's translated
literature longlist.

Ping Lu is the second Taiwanese writer to reach this stage of the award.

Yáng Shuang-zǐ (楊双子) made the list in 2024 with "Taiwan Travelogue" and later
won the award.

The five finalists for this year's prize will be announced in October.
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宇宙新發現？科學家找到神祕「黑洞星」
Scientists May Have Found a New Kind of Object: A "Black Hole Star"

A star and a black hole are two very different things.

Stars shine brightly.

Black holes are famous for trapping light.

But astronomers may have discovered a strange cosmic object (宇宙天體) that seems
to have features of both.

They are calling it a "black hole star."

Scientists found the object using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

In telescope images, it appeared as an extremely bright red dot.

科學家利用詹姆斯韋伯太空望遠鏡，發現了一個非常明亮的紅色天體。

Its scientific name is MoM-BH*-1.

We are seeing it as it appeared about 660 million years after the Big Bang,
very early in the history of the universe.

At first, it looked a little like a gigantic star.

It may be about as wide as our entire solar system.

But scientists recognized something strange.

It gives off much more energy than a normal star could produce.

So where is all that energy coming from?

The researchers think there is a supermassive black hole (超大質量黑洞) at the
center.

But the black hole is surrounded by extremely dense gas (高密度氣體).

研究人員認為，中心其實是一個被高密度氣體包圍的超大質量黑洞。

Light from the black hole passes through this gas.

That changes the light we see and makes the whole object look red and almost
star-like.

So despite its nickname, a "black hole star" is not really a normal star with
a black hole inside it.

It may be a black hole hidden inside a huge ball of gas.
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RECAP

So, in today's News Bites:

Taiwanese writer Ping Lu's novel "To the East of the East" has made the
longlist for the 2026 National Book Award for Translated Literature.

The book was translated into English by Jeremy Tiang.

Ping Lu is the second Taiwanese writer to reach this stage of the award.

________________________________
And,

Astronomers may have discovered a strange new kind of cosmic object called a
"black hole star."

It appears to be a supermassive black hole surrounded by extremely dense gas.

Scientists think objects like this could explain how some of today's enormous
black holes first formed.
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NEWS FLASH

In today's News Flash, our word is "recognize"! (認出、認可)

"Recognize" is a verb.

It can mean to know someone or something because you have seen it before.

For example: "I recognized my old teacher at the train station."

But "recognize" can also mean to officially show that something is important
or deserves praise.

For example: "The school recognized her hard work with an award."

We can also use the noun "recognition." (肯定、認可)

In our first story, the National Book Awards recognize outstanding books, and
Ping Lu's novel is receiving international recognition.

And in our second story, astronomers recognized unusual patterns in the light
from a mysterious red object.

Sometimes recognition means giving someone credit.

Other times, it means looking at something strange and realizing what it
might be.
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