(WEEK 6)Japan earthquake: Powerful new tremor in Kumamoto

The magnitude-7.3 quake hit at a depth of 10km (six miles) at 01:25 on Saturday (15:25 GMT on Friday) in Kyushu region. At least three people died and hundreds were injured.

A village has been evacuated after a dam collapsed, media reports say.

A tsunami warning was issued, and lifted some 50 minutes later.

Japan is regularly hit by earthquakes but stringent building codes mean that they rarely cause significant damage.

In one town near the coast, the city hall has been so badly damaged there are fears it could collapse. A hospital has been evacuated because it is no longer safe.Thousands of people have fled on to the streets and into parks - where they are huddled under blankets looking dazed and afraid.

But there are numerous reports of people trapped inside buildings, including at least 60 inside an old people's home.Television pictures showed thousands of people filling streets and parks, looking dazed across the region.NHK had warned of sea waves of up to 1m (3ft).

Japan's nuclear authority said the Sendai nuclear plant was not damaged.

The quake was originally assessed as magnitude 7.1 but revised upwards to 7.3 later.

Gavin Hayes, a research geophysicist with the US Geological Survey (USGS) in Colorado, told the BBC that the latest earthquake would hamper the earlier rescue operation that was already under way.

He said more damage could be expected as the earthquake had been shallower and the fault-line had been much longer.

"The ground surface would have moved in the region of 4-5m. So, you are talking very intense shaking over quite a large area. And that's why we'll probably see a significant impact from this event."

The Associated Press news agency said guests at the Ark Hotel near the Kumamoto Castle, which was damaged, woke up and gathered in the lobby for safety.

Thursday's magnitude-6.2 quake caused shaking at some places as intense as the huge earthquake that hit the country in 2011.That quake sparked a huge tsunami and nuclear meltdown at a power plant in Fukushima.

Most of those who died in Thursday's quake were in the town of Mashiki where an apartment building collapsed and many houses were damaged.

More than 1,000 people were injured.

Some 40,000 people had initially fled their homes, with many of those closest to the epicentre spending the night outside, as more than 130 aftershocks had hit the area.

when:April 16,2016

where: Kumamoto,Japan

what:The magnitude-7.3 quake hit Kyushu region.

keyword:
magnitude n.量級
evacuate    v.疏散
tsunami     n.海嘯
nuclear      n.核能
rescue       v.解救
revise        v.校訂:修正

(WEEK 3)Paris attacks
Paris attacks: Blindfolded Muslim man asks people to 'show him trust with a hug' after shootings

A Muslim man stood blindfolded in the centre of Paris asking mourners to embrace him as they gathered to commemorate the 129 victims killed in a series of terror attacks across the capital.

Footage posted online shows the man standing next to a homemade sign reading: “I’m Muslim, but I’m told that I’m a terrorist. I trust you, do you trust me? If yes, hug me.”

The video shows dozens of onlookers approaching the man and embracing him at the Place de la République, which has become a hub for homages and tributes.

One woman is moved to tears by the man's gesture and joins another onlooker to hug him.

After taking off his blindfold the man, who remains unnamed, said: “I would like to thank every one of you for giving me a hug. I did this to send a message to everyone.

“I am Muslim, but that doesn’t make me a terrorist. I never killed anybody. I can even tell you that last Friday was my birthday, but I didn’t go out.

“I deeply feel for all the victims’ families. I want to tell you that ‘Muslim’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘terrorist’.

“A terrorist is a terrorist, someone willing to kill another human being over nothing. A Muslim would never do that. Our religion forbids it.”

The video has been watched more than 10 million times on Facebook and received 150,000 likes in two days.  

Web Adress:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-attacks-blindfolded-muslim-man-asks-people-to-show-him-trust-with-a-hug-after-shootings-a6740101.html

why: asking people to show him trust with a hug after shootings

where:the centre of Paris

when:Thursday 19 November 2015

who:A Muslim man

Key Word:

blindfolded(adj.)遮眼的

mourner(n.)哀悼者

homage(n.)敬意

(WEEK 5) SpaceX Rocket Landing
Here's Why the SpaceX Rocket Landing Is Such a Big Deal

In science fiction, landing a rocket seems like no big deal. It's much more difficult in real life — which is why SpaceX founder Elon Musk was so excited when the Falcon 9 landed intact near its launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Monday night after launching satellites to space.

In November, Blue Origin, which was founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, also landed a rocket.

This is a big deal because rockets are expensive. The Falcon 9 that SpaceX uses costs around $60 million to build, the company told NBC News. Fuel costs per launch are about $200,000.

Most rockets are designed to burn up during re-entry. That means rebuilding a $60 million rocket for every single space mission— not exactly the most cost-effective system.

Reusable rockets, however, would mean cargo could be sent into space with only the fuel and maintenance costs to consider.

"If one can figure out how to effectively reuse rockets just like airplanes, the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred," Musk said on SpaceX's website.

"A fully reusable vehicle has never been done before. That really is the fundamental breakthrough needed to revolutionize access to space."

If it's 100 times cheaper to send something into space, imagine how many more companies would be able to launch space ventures, ranging from satellites to commercial space flights.

"With lower costs and competition, prices could fall, stimulating demand for more access to space," Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, told NBC News.

While the Falcon 9 landing was "an important" step toward reusable rockets, Pace said, SpaceX engineers still have a lot of work to do. So far, they have managed to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket.

"The next step is to see how much it costs and how long it takes to refurbish the recovered stage and fly it again," Pace said.

And if companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance (a consortium of Boeing and Lockheed Martin) can reuse rockets again and again? That might not only make for cheaper satellites, but could also open up the next frontier: Mars.

Musk has repeatedly talked about the importance of reaching the Red Planet, not only for NASA pioneers, but for ordinary people. Considering it cost around $2.5 billion to send the Curiosity rover to Mars, prices will have to drop a lot to make sending large groups of human colonists feasible.

"This is a critical step along the way toward being able to establish a city on Mars," Musk told reporters on Monday. "That's what all this is about.

Web Adress:http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/here-s-why-spacex-rocket-landing-such-big-deal-n484481

What: Space X rocket landing
Where:Space X
Who: Elon Musk
Why:To reduce the cost of maintenance,to make a reusable rocket

Key Word;
intact(adj.)           完整無缺的
satellite(n.)          人造衛星
cargo(n.)              貨物
revolutionize(v.) 徹底改革
breakthrough(n.) 突破
feasible(adj)        可行的

(WEEK 1) MALALA

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai

OSLO, Norway -- Malala Yousafzai, the global icon of children's rights who survived a near fatal Taliban gun attack, became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate yesterday, adding yet another distinction to a long list.

The 17-year-old Pakistani was set to receive the peace prize in Oslo with the Indian campaigner Kailash Satyarthi, 60, who has fought for 35 years to free thousands of children from virtual slave labor.

Malala has already received a host of awards, standing ovations and plaudits from the United Nations to Buckingham Palace.

But on the eve of the ceremony she said she was far from ready to rest on her laurels.

"We are not here just to accept our award, get this medal and go back home. We are here to tell children especially that you need to stand up, you need to speak up for your rights ... It is you who can change the world," Malala told a press conference at the Nobel Institute in Oslo.

Pen and a Book

"In this world if we are thinking we are modern and have achieved so much development, then why is it that there are so many countries where children are not asking for any iPad or computer or anything. What they are asking for is just a book, just a pen, so why can't we do that?"

Malala was 15 when a Taliban gunman shot her in the head as she traveled on a school bus in response to her campaign for girls' education.

Although her injuries almost killed her, she recovered after being flown for extensive surgery in Birmingham, central England.

She has been based in England with her family ever since, continuing both her education and activism.

For the first time ever the blood-soaked school uniform she wore when she was shot near her home in the Swat Valley in October 2012 will go on display in an exhibition at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo this week.

At her invitation, five other teenage activists joined her in Oslo from Pakistan, Syria and Nigeria, including Shazia Ramzan, 16, and Kainat Riaz, 17, who were also shot during the Taliban attack on Malala, and 17-year-old Amina Yusuf, a girls' education activist from northern Nigeria where the terror group Boko Haram abducted more than 200 schoolgirls during a raid in April 2014.

Asked why she thinks some Islamic extremist groups are opposed to education for girls, Malala, dressed in a multi-colored headscarf, replied: "Unfortunately, those people who stand against education, they sometimes themselves are uneducated or they've been indoctrinated."

'Sold like animals'

The pairing of Malala and Satyarthi had the extra symbolism of linking neighboring countries that have been in conflict for decades. After being named as a laureate, Malala said she wanted both states' prime ministers to attend the prize-giving ceremony in Oslo.

Web Address:http://www.chinapost.com.tw/art/celebrity-news/2014/12/11/423761/Nobel-Peace.htm

5W1H:

who: Malala Yousafzai

where:Pakistani

what;Nobel Peace Prize

when:2014
why:fight for human rights advocacy for education and for women in her native Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school.

Keyword: Malala,ISIS,Nobel Peace Price,

(WEEK 4)Leonardo Decaprio

DiCaprio issues climate action call in new film

LONDON -- Leonardo DiCaprio has issued an impassioned call for immediate action on climate change in "Before the Flood," a documentary film making its European premiere in London on Saturday.

The Hollywood megastar, who won this year's best actor Oscar for his role in "The Revenant", takes viewers around the world to meet experts and politicians in order to reveal the scale of the problem, its effects and the paths towards solutions.

As the inter-governmental Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rises comes into force on Nov. 4, the US actor calls on individuals to examine their own habits and use their vote wisely to tackle the issue.

"I didn't want the film to scare people, or present them with statistics and facts that they already know, but to focus on what can and must be done immediately so that we can leave our planet a livable home for future generations," the 41-year-old said.

"We are quickly running out of time," said DiCaprio, who also co-produced the film.

From the remote Canadian landscapes where he shot "The Revenant," to the suburbs of Beijing, Greenland, Indonesia's Sumatra and the Pacific atolls of Kiribati, DiCaprio whizzes round the planet to see the extent of the damage.

DiCaprio shows viewers the effects of pollution in China and examines the sea levels which threaten tiny island communities and the longer-term effects of deforestation.

'Take action now'

DiCaprio, who has been named a United Nations "messenger of peace" on climate change, attacks giant corporations and politicians — especially Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump — for their stance on climate change.

He targets those he says orchestrate campaigns of media disinformation and lobby hard to block reforms that would better look after the environment.

From former U.S. President Bill Clinton and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to Pope Francis, DiCaprio interviews powerful leaders on the chances of avoiding climate disaster.

U.S. President Barack Obama voices cautious optimism, calling action against climate change "a national security issue."

Web Adress:

what: Leonardo DiCaprio has issued an impassioned call for immediate action on climate change in a documentary

who:Leonardo DiCaprio

when:2016

why: sivere climate change

Key Word: 
livable 適合居住的 
sea level  海平面
deforestation 森林開伐

(WEEK 2) Syrian Refugee
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.
And that is where Alan’s story would have ended, were it not for the work of a photographer.

When Nilüfer Demir came upon the beach, the Turkish photographer for the Dogan New Agency said in a recent interview it was like a “children’s graveyard.” She took photos of Alan’s lifeless body. Alan’s body had washed up along the shore, half in the sand and half in the water. His sneakers were still on his feet.

Demer’s photographs, shared by Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch on social media, went viral almost instantly. In death, Alan became a symbol of all the children who lost their lives trying to reach safety in Europe and the West, the face of the biggest story of 2015.

What: A Syrian boy,Alan Kurdi, was drowned in the eastern Mediterranean which attracted the attention of the world about Syrian Refugees.

Who:Alan Kurdi

Where:Syria

When:2015

Why:Syrian refugees want to escape the civil war