Balloon Twisting, and Space Out Contest

News Bites

Hi there. It's time for an all-new episode of News Bites. I'm Nancy Sun. And I'm Brody Halverson. In today's news… Taking the top prize by twisting balloons, or doing absolutely nothing. And in today's Tasty Tidbit The biggest animal in the world is all heart! Stay tuned for all that and more, coming up next! ________________________________ 台灣學生勇奪折氣球大賽冠軍 Taiwan Student Wins Qualatex Balloon Twisting Contest Taiwan is a country with a lot of skillful people. Many talented (有才華的) people have gone to international competitions. And many have done very well. Some Taiwan competitors (參賽者) have won awards for making chocolate, playing badminton, baking, and more. And now, a student from Taichung won first place at another international competition! 11th-grader Yen Jui-chun (顏睿軍) won a balloon twisting (折氣球) contest held by Qualatex. Qualatex is a company that makes balloons. They have been making balloons for over a hundred years. Every year, the company holds a balloon twisting competition. It encourages participants to show their creativity. This year, Yen won the competition with his masterpiece (傑作) "Alligator". The balloon alligator stands with a toothbrush in its hand. It has white teeth on each side of its mouth. The toothbrush even has pink toothpaste on it. Qualatex posted a picture of the Alligator on social media. It praised Yen's balloon twisting techniques (技巧). Yen says he got the idea after reading a Japanese children's book "Crocodile and Dentist." When Yen was 4 years old, he went to a speech therapist (語言治療師). The therapist used balloons as a tool. Balloons really helped him speak and say words. That sparked (激發) his interest in balloon twisting. Since then, he has been teaching himself how to twist balloons. Around 4 years ago, he got his first cellphone. He then started learning from balloon twisting masters through social media. Yen also thinks that balloon twisting brings happiness to people. During the summer and winter vacations, he visits orphanages (孤兒院) and schools for children with special needs. 他很喜歡看見孩子學習折氣球時臉上的笑容。 Yen wants to keep going to international competitions. He wants to let the world see Taiwan through balloon twisting. ________________________________ 南韓舉辦發呆大賽 Who's Best at Doing Absolutely Nothing? When was the last time you did NOTHING? Just sitting there… Spacing-out (發呆)… Staring at blank space. A while ago, a "space-out competition" was held in Seoul. People tried to space-out for 90 mins without falling asleep, checking their phone or talking. During the competition, participants' heart rates are monitored (被監測). Whoever had the most stable (穩定) heart rate wins. Over 4000 people applied to participate (參加). But only 117 participants were chosen. The youngest was a student in grade 2. And the oldest participants were in their sixties. The Space-out Competition was started by a visual artist Woopsyang 10 years ago. At that time, she was burnt out (過勞) by all the stress in her life. She felt really anxious (焦慮). She felt that way after comparing herself with people who led busy lives. And Woopsyang wondered why she felt so bad about doing nothing. She thought maybe those busy people would want to space out and do nothing too. So she created a competition where everyone could space out. They could pause (暫停) everything, together at the same time. Since then, the contest has expanded to cities around the world, including Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo and others. Woopsyang said that the contest can help people realize that spacing-out is not a waste of time. This year's winner was Kwon So-a. She works at several jobs. Kwon said that doing nothing is good for both mental and physical health. But our body can only relax when our brain relaxes. 他們覺得每天花一點時間發呆有益身心健康。 ________________________________ So in today's News Bites, 11th-grader Yen Jui-chun won an international balloon twisting contest. He won the competition with his masterpiece "Alligator". Yen wants to keep going to international competitions. He wants to let the world see Taiwan through balloon twisting. ________________________________ And A "space-out competition" was held in Seoul, and people tried to space-out for 90 mins without falling asleep, checking their phone or talking. Whoever had the most stable heart rate wins. This year's winner was Kwon So-a. She says our body can only relax when our brain relaxes. ________________________________ 趣味小點 Tasty Tidbit In today's Tasty Tidbit, They're the largest animal in the world…the blue whale. These marine giants can be as long as 3 buses. Then there's the heart of the blue whale. These are also the biggest hearts in the animal kingdom. Blue whale hearts are about the size of a car. And they weigh as much as a cow. And, if you put an enormous stethoscope up to a blue whale's chest underwater, you would only hear a heartbeat 2 times each minute! And that's it for today's episode of News Bites! If you have a fun fact, a joke or an interesting news story you'd like to share with us, record your message and send us your Tasty Tidbit to [e-mail], 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!