Hello and welcome back to another episode of News Bites!

I'm Allie Highsmith.

And I'm Nancy Sun.

In this episode of News Bites: Japanese cyclists take a trip around Taiwan to
say thanks!

And, a US athlete comes back to compete after a long break.

And in this episode's News Flash: victory!

All that and more, coming up next!
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日本單車團來臺表達感謝
Japanese cyclists tour Taiwan in thanks for aid

A Japanese cycling team just finished a bike ride all around Taiwan!

Wow, that's quite a long ways… what was it for?

It was to mark the 15th anniversary of a really big earthquake in Japan…

And to thank Taiwan for its support during that time.

這個日本團體想要來台灣的原因之一是?了紀念災難的15周年，還有?了表達對台灣的感謝，因?那時候台灣人和政府有幫助日本。

In 2011, there was the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11th.

It caused a big tsunami (海嘯) and a disaster at a nuclear power plant-
that's called the Fukushima nuclear disaster (福島第一核電站事故).

Because of the earthquake, and the tsunami, and the nuclear disaster, at
least 15,000 people died.

So, about 30 cyclists wanted to ride around Taiwan to show their appreciation
for donations and help from Taiwan.

The group was led by Japanese writer Tae Hitoto (一青妙).

Their trip lasted from March 7th to 15th.

They started their journey from the Presidential Office (總統府) in Taipei.

Then they headed along the east coast from Yilan to Hualien all the way to
Taitung…

To Pingtung, Kaohsiung, Chiayi, Taichung, and Hsinchu.

Along the way, they got to hang out with local people.

They even prepared thank-you stickers to share with people on their trip.

Organizers say that the tour is a chance to turn Japan's gratitude into
action.

團體說，這次的旅程把日本對台灣的感謝轉換成具體的行動。

The Taiwanese Tourism Administration (觀光署) says that the event is a good
opportunity to show off Taiwan's scenery (風景) and hospitality to Japanese
people.

Taiwan gets a lot of visitors from Japan.

Last year, there were about 1.48 million people that visited Taiwan from
Japan.

The Tourism Administration also said that a "thank you" event was held in
Kaohsiung during the tour.
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劉美賢的復出故事
Alysia Liu makes history as the comeback queen

Have you ever heard the phrase "fall down 7 times, get up 8?"

It means that it's okay to fail as long as you keep trying to get better.

No matter how many times you lose, it's okay, you just have to keep trying.

I think it's a really fitting (適合的) phrase to talk about the story of
Alysa Liu (劉美賢).

Where do I know that name from…

She's an Olympic figure skater!

She won a gold medal at this year's Winter Olympics in Italy.

劉美賢就是一名在今年奧運比賽得獎的花式滑冰運動員。

She was the first woman from the US to win an individual Olympic gold medal
in the sport in 24 years.

And she's only 20 years old!

But her journey to the Olympics is very special.

She actually retired (退休) from figure skating back in 2022.

What?! She must have been only… 16 then?

That's right.

During COVID (疫情時期), a lot of people didn't get to play their favorite
sports.

The place that Liu went to ice skate at closed too.

It forced her to take a break.

And during that break, she started to think about what it would be like if
she didn't ice skate anymore.

She had been figure skating since she was only 5 years old- she had never had
a break before!

Even as a very young kid, Liu was already a very impressive athlete.

When she was 13, she was the youngest US women's national champion ever.

But she was satisfied with everything she had done at that time, so she
thought it was time to try something new.

Liu said that, when she was 16, she had other things she wanted to do, like
hike or take road trips with friends.

So she took some time to rest.

But after she spent 2 years not competing, she started to miss ice skating,
so she went back to work.

In 2024 she competed again.

Everyone was so impressed, because she was still such an amazing athlete- it
didn't seem like she had taken time off!

2024年劉美賢重新開始參加比賽，而且還跟以前一樣厲害，讓大家都很震驚。

But she said that if she was going to come back to ice skating, some things
would need to be different.

For example, she wanted to pick her own music to skate to.

And she wanted to be able to decide how much she wanted to skate.

Also, ice skating and other sports can affect the way that people see their
bodies.

Alysa said that she wanted to feel more free to eat whatever she wanted and
practice how she wanted.

Her coach says that, when she came back to the sport, she was an even better
athlete than before.

It sounds weird to say, but he says that Alysa is more of a part of her own
skating now.

In the past, she would just do what she was told.

Now, the coach says, it's more of a collaboration between athlete and coach.

教練說，目前的訓練制度比較像選手教練之間的合作，而不是只聽教練的指令。

Alysa's gold medal meant a lot to her and was a new career record (職涯紀錄)
for her.

She said she was so lucky and grateful.

Alysa's story shows how important it is to not be discouraged and to always
keep trying.
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So, in today's News Bites:

Japanese cyclists took a trip around Taiwan to thank Taiwanese people for
their support during a disaster in 2011.

They went all around the east and west coast and met local people along the
way.
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And,

Alysia Liu's gold medal win at the olympics was a really big deal.

She took a long break from ice skating before she came back to win.

Her story shows us that it's important to keep trying.
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In today's News Flash, our word of the day is "victory."

That's a noun, and it's spelled V-I-C-T-O-R-Y.

"Victory" is another word for "win."

You could say that Alysa Liu had a big "victory" at the Olympics.

And the person who has a victory is called a "victor."

And now you know!
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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!