(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