Hello and welcome back to a new episode of News Bites!

I’m Allie Highsmith.

And I’m Hope Ngo.

In this episode of News Bites: Drivers move over to let ambulance through
with baby on board...

And, Japan struggles to keep up with Matcha boom
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汽車駕駛們在高速公路上 禮讓早產的寶寶
Premature baby takes ride on ambulance as mother asks for drivers to move over

Uh oh, the ambulance is coming! Better move over. 救護車要過了！該讓路吧。

Oh I heard about this! A mom posted on social media on August 28th about her
daughter, who was born too early.

She needed to go to the hospital.

The baby was born in Tainan, and she and her mom needed to go to a hospital
in New Taipei.
這個寶寶在臺南出生，但他和媽媽需要轉院，去新北市的醫院。
That’s a long drive!

Yeah, so the mom posted online to ask people on the highway to move over so
that the ambulance could get through quickly.

She wanted to make sure that her daughter could get to the hospital as
quickly as possible.
媽媽想要確保女兒可以儘快抵達醫院。

The baby’s nickname 綽號 is Xiao Pingan 小平安.

She had breathing 呼吸 problems because she was born too early.

Xiao Pingan and her mother left around 9am from National Cheng Kung
University Hospital in Tainan.

They arrived at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital around 12:20pm.

The mom wrote about the drive on Threads the night before, after doctors in
Tainan said that Xiao Pingan needed special care at the hospital in Linkou.
醫生推薦小平安轉院去林口，媽媽就po在社群媒體上，呼籲大家禮讓救護車。

She asked drivers who would be on the National Freeway No. 1 the next day to
move over to let the ambulance get by.

Her post on Threads had over 900,000 views in just one day.

When officials learned about Xiao Pingan’s story, the National Highway
Police decided to help the ambulance through areas near Taichung and Hsinchu,
where there is more traffic.
國道公路警察局還提供服務，讓救護車儘快通過容易塞車的地方。

Police helped the ambulance pass through the area smoothly.

The mom said that Xiao Pingan was born in March, and had a big surgery to
help her live at the Dalin Tzu Chi 大林慈濟 Hospital.

But Xiao Pingan still had breathing problems, so she went to National Cheng
Kung University in Tainan in July.

Xiao Pingan’s story shows us that even something as small as moving to the
side of the road can have a big impact on someone else’s life.
小平安這個故事提醒我們，簡簡單單的事，也會深深地影響到別人的生活。
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抹茶在全球掀起熱潮
Matcha Boom Sweeps the World

Hey, what’s that you’re drinking?

Oh this? It’s my matcha latte 抹茶拿鐵!

Well I love a matcha latte too, but it may not be so good for Japan.
Oh, what? Why?

Well, matcha has become very popular around the world very quickly.
抹茶很快就風行全球，大受歡迎。

But farmers in Japan are struggling 爭取 to make enough matcha for all the
people that want it.

Wait.. what is matcha?

Well, it’s a type of Japanese green tea, that is ground up very small
磨成粉末and mixed into other things.

Maybe you’ve tried a matcha latte, or matcha ice cream, or matcha cake, or
matcha chocolate, or matcha smoothies 冰沙, or ...

Right right right, but in Japan, it’s not used like that so much.

In Japan, it’s part of a more traditional tea ceremony 儀式, called “sado”
茶道, which means “the way of tea” in english.

In the ceremony, an expert uses a bamboo whisk to froth the matcha.
用竹製茶筅把綠茶打到發泡。

The ceremony emphasizes patience, respect, and enjoying the present moment.
這項儀式強調要有耐心和尊重，並且能享受當下。

But outside of Japan, matcha is used very differently.

In cities like Los Angeles 洛杉磯 and Melbourne 墨爾本, cafes serve matcha
lattes and matcha frappuccinos 星冰樂.

People drink it like coffee or juice, not in the very traditional way like in
Japan.

The global craze 狂熱 means that there’s a shortage of matcha 到處都缺抹茶.

Japan's agriculture ministry 農業部 is encouraging 鼓勵 farmers to grow more
matcha instead of regular green tea.

Production of tea leaves for matcha has nearly tripled 成長三倍 in the last
15 years, and exports have doubled 出口增加兩倍 — especially in the US,
which now buys one-third 三分之一 of Japan's matcha.

But not all farmers want to start growing matcha.

Switching from regular green tea to matcha takes years of investment, and
some farmers worry that matcha will not be popular anymore if they start
growing matcha.
農夫轉型種抹茶需要好幾年的投資。很多農夫擔心投資這?多時間和金錢之後，抹茶會不會又退流行了？

Tea masters 茶師傅 aren’t angry about matcha’s popularity, but they are
confused 困惑.

They hope that people will try matcha desserts and want to learn more about
traditional tea culture.

They remind us that the best matcha should be enjoyed with just water;
there’s no need to add more ingredients.
茶師傅提醒大家，品質最佳的抹茶可以不用加很多料；泡水就好。

One day, when you sip 小口喝 a matcha latte, remember that behind its flavor
lies a centuries-old tradition 百年傳統 — a way people found peace and
equality in a single bowl of tea.
有一天，當你喝抹茶拿鐵時，要想想它背後蘊藏的百年傳統，以及人們在茶碗中尋找平靜的心願。
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So, in today's News Bites:

A baby needed to be taken in an ambulance from Tainan all the way to New
Taipei.

The baby’s mom asked drivers to move over to let the ambulance through.
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And,

Matcha is becoming more and more popular, but farmers in Japan can’t keep up.

The government wants some farmers to grow matcha instead of other green tea,
but it’s a big risk.
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News Flash

In today’s News Flash, our vocab word is “summit!”

That’s spelled S-U-M-M-I-T.

It’s a noun, at least when we’re talking about news.

Summit actually has two meanings.

The first one is a type of important meeting.

For example, when two presidents meet each other, it might be called a summit.

This word is called 峰會 in Mandarin.

But it also has another meaning- the top of a mountain is also called a
summit.

That meaning of “summit” is called 尖峰 in Mandarin.
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If you have a fun fact or a joke you’d like to share with us, record your
message and send us your Bite-Sized Break to newsbites@icrt.com.tw, and you
might hear it in an episode!

We’ll see you next time for an exciting new episode of News Bites!