2016年12月16日 星期五

week7尼斯恐攻

Nice attack: truck driver named as France mourns 84 killed in Bastille Day atrocity – as it happened

Nearly 24 hours after a Bastille Day celebration was transformed into a nightmare, “locals and visitors returned to the Promenade des Anglais to lay   flowers for the dead and to wonder exactly how, and why, the unthinkable had   come to pass,” my colleague Sam Jones reports from the city.

Throughout Friday, impromptu shrines had sprung up along the metal barriers that closed off the promenade. From one hung a tricolor with a black ribbon sewn on to the white central stripe. At another, a picture of Buddha watched over a dozen small candles. Someone had left a cigarette lighter and more nightlights on the ground so others could light candles and offer prayers.

Madame Bourmault, who lives two minutes from the promenade, came to one of the shrines with a bunch of flowers in her hand and tears in her eyes.

“I can’t sleep and I can’t breathe. It’s just horrible,” she said.

“What else can you say?” She had been down by the firework display on Thursday night, and seen a sudden tide of people screaming and running away. “In a fraction of a second, the music stopped and there was a lot of screaming. Everyone was running and no one was helping.”

On Bormault’s mind was a question that many around the world are asking: how had the truck managed to get on to the promenade? “It’s normally closed to traffic,” she said. However, she did not blame the police. “I don’t know what else the police could have done, but I don’t understand how the truck got in.”

She added: “You can’t put a policeman behind everyone - and there area lot of crazy people in this world.”

網址:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/jul/14/nice-bastille-day-france-attack-promenade-des-anglais-vehicle

when:24 hours after a Bastille Day celebration
what: celebration was transformed into a nightmare

key words:
atrocity殘暴;殘酷
transform改變
unthinkable難以想像的
impromptu事先無準備的
shrine神殿;聖壇
spring up突然出現;迅速成長
barriers 障礙
promenade散步場所;海濱人行道
tricolor三色旗
a fraction of 一小部分

2016年12月10日 星期六

week6美古關係

Barack Obama: 'Change is going to happen in Cuba'

President Barack Obama is in Cuba for a historic three-day visit to the island and talks with its communist leader.
He is the first sitting US president to visit since the 1959 revolution, which heralded decades of hostility between the two countries.
Mr Obama said change would happen in Cuba and that Cuban President Raul Castro understood that.
The two leaders met to talk about trade and held a joint news conference.
Mr Castro denied that there are political prisoners in Cuba, telling journalists to "give him a list" and then they would be released "tonight".
He also defended Cuba's record on human rights and pointed to problems in the US.
"We defend human rights, in our view civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights are indivisible, inter-dependent and universal," Mr Castro said.
"Actually we find it inconceivable that a government does not defend and ensure the right to healthcare, education, social security, food provision and development."
Mr Obama said the trade embargo would be fully lifted in Cuba, but he could not say exactly when.
"The reason is what we did for 50 years did not serve our interests or the interests of the Cuban people," he said.
網址:http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35856126
who:President Barack Obama
when: since the 1959 revolution
what:The two leaders met to talk about trade and held a joint news conference.
key words:
historic歷史上著名的
revolution革命
herald宣布
hostility敵意
joint聯合的
defend防禦
inconceivable不能想像的
embargo禁運

2016年12月2日 星期五

week5 VR虛擬實境


How construction companies are using virtual reality to plan, build and manage complicated projects


Virtual reality could make it easier to build complex utility projects, like a wastewater treatment plant, and it could also help workers train on heavy equipment when the facility is complete. Originally, Bouianov’s plan was to use virtual reality for training purposes at hospitals and nuclear facilities before eventually deciding to focus on construction documentation. Mortenson is looking at developing VR training programs for projects it is working on, like the West Campus Utility Plant for the University of Washington, where employees will operate chillers, cooling towers, generators and other heavy machinery.
Overall, virtual reality has great potential for the construction industry, both for third party companies building virtual environments, and contractors making programs in house. Bouianov has always been interested in construction, and he saw documenting projects as a costly and time-consuming part of the process that could be simplified by technology. But he isn’t the only one, and now many contractors are facing the dilemma of which apps, headsets and ideas fit best for their projects.
“There are many potential solutions to chose from,” Bouianov said. “So going from almost no technology to a lot of technology, the challenge construction companies are facing is choice, making an informed choice.”
網址:http://www.geekwire.com/2016/construction-companies-turn-to-virtual-reality-to-plan-build-and-manage-complicated-projects/
who:virtual reality
what:make it easier to build complex utility projects
how:virtual reality has great potential for the construction industry
key words:
utility 效用
equipment設備
nuclear核能的
documentation文件
chiller冷水機組
cooling towers冷卻塔
generator發電機
potential潛力
contractor承包商
costly昂貴的
simplified簡化的
dilemma困境

week4 Leonardo Dicaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio Finally Wins An Oscar For Best Actor

With his fifth nominationLeonardo DiCaprio has finally earned an Oscar for his role in The Revenant.
The actor beat out competition from Bryan Cranston (Trumbo), Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl), Matt Damon (The Martian) and Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs).
The Revenant was the product of the tireless efforts of an unbelievable cast and crew,” said DiCaprio, in perhaps the most controlled speech of the night. DiCaprio addressed co-star Tom Hardy, who was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category, while also thanking the film’s New Regency financier Arnon Milchan.
In 2015, DiCaprio banked $29 million to land on FORBES’ Celebrity 100 list of the World’s Highest-Paid Entertainers. Per last year’s rankings, he is the 13th Highest-Paid Actor in the world and has earned an estimated $440 million-plus in his career so far.
A committed environmentalist who has pledged $30 million in the last year to conservation efforts, DiCaprio devoted a chunk of his speech to discussing climate change.
The Revenant was about man’s relationship with the natural world,” said DiCaprio, who stated that 2015 was the hottest year in reported history.  ”Climate change is real, it’s happening right now. It’s the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating,” DiCaprio concluded.
Finished DiCaprio: “Let’s not take this planet for granted–I do not take tonight for granted.”

網址:http://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2016/02/28/leonardo-dicaprio-finally-wins-an-oscar-for-best-actor/#6454e5306901

who:Leonardo DiCaprio
what:He wins an Oscar for best actor

key words:
nomination提名
beat 打敗
tireless孜孜不倦的
cast演員陣容
co-star合演
financier投資者
pledge保證
collectively 集體地
procrastinating拖延

2016年11月18日 星期五

敘利亞難民

Alan Kurdi’s Story: Behind The Most Heartbreaking Photo of 2015

Alan Kurdi was one of a million. In the summer of 2015, the three-year-old Syrian boy of Kurdish origins and his family fled the war engulfing their country, hoping to join relatives in the safety of Canada. They were part of a historic flow of refugees from the Middle East to Europe this year, and they followed the dangerous route taken by so many others.
In the early hours of Sept. 2, the family crowded onto a small inflatable boat on the beach of Bodrum, Turkey. A few minutes into the journey to Greece, the dinghy capsized. Alan, his older brother Ghalib and his mother Rihanna all drowned, joining the more than 3,600 other refugees who died in the eastern Mediterranean this year.
網址:http://time.com/4162306/alan-kurdi-syria-drowned-boy-refugee-crisis/
who:Alan Kurdi 
when:In the summer of 2015
what:Alan, his older brother Ghalib and his mother Rihanna all drowned, joining the more than 3,600 other refugees who died in the eastern Mediterranean
why: the dinghy capsized
key words:
engulf 包圍;吞沒
refugee難民
inflatable可充氣的
dinghy小帆船
capsize翻覆
drowned溺死的

2016年11月7日 星期一

美白人警殺黑人

What Happened in Ferguson?

Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed on Aug. 9, 2014, by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. The shooting prompted protests that roiled the area for weeks. On Nov. 24, the St. Louis County prosecutor announced that a grand jury decided not to indict Mr. Wilson. The announcement set off another wave of protests. In March, the Justice Department called on Ferguson to overhaul its criminal justice system, declaring that the city had engaged in constitutional violations.

網址:http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html
who:Mihael Brown

when:Aug.9,2014
what:Mihael Brown was shot and killed by Darren Wilson

Key words:
unarmed 未武裝的
prompt 導致
roil 動盪
prosecutor 解剖員
indict 控告
set off 出發
overhaul 翻修
constitutional 憲法上的
violation 違反


2016年10月24日 星期一

翁山蘇姬

CHAMPIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI (b. 1945)



Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been a major voice for human rights and freedom in Burma (Myanmar), a country dominated by a military government since 1962. Born in Rangoon and later educated at Oxford University, she became politically active in 1988 when the Burmese junta violently suppressed a mass uprising, killing thousands of civilians. Suu Kyi wrote an open letter to the government asking for the formation of an independent committee to hold democratic elections. Defying a government ban on political gatherings of more than four persons, Suu Kyi spoke to large audiences throughout Burma as secretary-general of the newly formed National League for Democracy (NLD). In 1989 she was placed under house arrest. Despite her detention, the NLD won the election with 82 percent of the parliamentary seats, but the military dictatorship refused to recognize the results. Suu Kyi has remained in prison almost continuously since that time, rejecting the government’s offer of freedom as it would require her to leave Burma. In 2003, she was moved from prison and again placed under house arrest, which has been repeatedly and illegally extended by the junta. She remains a living expression of her people’s determination to gain political and economic freedoms. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, Suu Kyi has called on citizens around the world to “use your liberty to promote ours.”

網址:http://www.humanrights.com/voices-for-human-rights/daw-aung.html

文章導言:
who:Daw Aung San Suu Kyi 
what:Suu Kyi wrote an open letter to the government asking for the formation of an independent committee to hold democratic elections.In 1989, she was placed under house arrest and she has remained in prison almost continuously since that time.
where:Burma
how:She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 

key words:
independent 獨立的
democratic 民主的
arrest 逮捕
detention 拘留
parliamentary 議會的
freedom 自由
liberty 自由