Week Seven - 白頭盔

The Guardian view on the Nobel peace prize: give it to Syria’s White Helmets

Wednesday 5 October 2016 14.33 EDT

When a bomb comes crashing down on a building, leaving devastation in its wake, they rush towards the site instead of towards shelters. With their bare hands, they search for people in the rubble. They try to pull out survivors who are shocked and wounded, tormented by fear and, not least, the knowledge that civilians long ago stopped being collateral damage, and are precisely the target in this war. These rescuers are Syria’s White Helmets, a group of 3,000 local volunteers. Once tailors or carpenters or students or engineers, they are now dedicated to saving lives when fighter jets and helicopters drop barrel bombs, cluster explosives, phosphorus bombs and chlorine shells on neighbourhoods or hospitals. As the Nobel committee prepares to announce this year’s peace prize, the White Helmets deserve attention.

In Syria’s maelstrom of horrors, it is hard to find anything that points to respect for basic humanitarian principles or even human dignity. The Assad regime has unleashed untold levels of violence on the Syrian population and is being actively assisted by Russia’s military intervention as well as by Iranian-connected ground forces. Jihadi groups have grown, often filling voids left by less well-armed and well-resourced moderates. Civilians are trapped in the middle. In Aleppo, 300,000 people are exposed to a relentless barrage of airstrikes. The Syrian government and Russia now seem intent on crushing Aleppo, the opposition’s last stronghold, before a new American president takes office. Diplomacy has entirely collapsed, with acrimonious exchanges in the UN replacing attempts at a ceasefire.

This is the backdrop against which the White Helmets operate – a western-funded Syrian search-and-rescue organisation whose members put their lives at great risk to save civilians, receiving only a monthly stipend of $150. Danger is made worse by the fact those who bomb routinely resort to double-tap strikes, with fighter jets dropping ordnance and then returning to target rescue teams.

These volunteers know all too well that great power politics, alongside a tyrant’s brutal policies, have brought Syria to the abyss. They entertain no illusions that genuine measures will be taken swiftly to end massacres on a scale unprecedented in decades. The White Helmets do what they can, locally. It’s the very least the west can do to back them. No one should be surprised that Bashar al-Assad has compared these humanitarian activists to terrorists: that’s what he calls anyone who opposes him.

What the White Helmets accomplish may seem like a drop in the ocean, but what they represent is immense: resilience and bravery in the face of barbarism. They are a constant reminder that those targeted by Russia and the Assad regime’s massive bombing campaign in Aleppo are civilians, not terrorists. And they show that individual acts of courage can go a long way to fight indifference. They also embody a spirit of civic resistance – upholding some of the ideals of the peaceful, popular uprising of 2011 and exemplifying courage and solidarity in the face of state-sponsored terror. The international community has utterly failed Syrians, by failing to protect them from mass atrocities. No Nobel peace prize can erase that. But because symbols can be powerful, the White Helmets should be recognised with this award.

https://www.google.com.tw/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/05/the-guardian-view-on-the-nobel-peace-prize-give-it-to-syrias-white-helmets?client=ms-android-samsung

Who:White Helmets

What:They rush towards the site instead of towards shelters. With their bare hands, they search for people in the rubble

How:Nobel committee prepares to announce this year’s peace prize

keywords:

1.shelters 庇護所

2.precisely 明確地

3.devastation 毀壞

4.ordnance 軍械

5.illusions 幻想

6.immense 極廣大

7.resilience 彈性

8.routinely 常規
9.atrocities 暴行

Week Six - 美古關係

President Obama Declares a ‘New Day’ in U.S.-Cuba Relations After Castro Meeting
Updated: March 21, 2016 3:17 PM

President Barack Obama hailed “a new day” in the relations between the U.S. and Cuba on Monday as he spoke alongside Cuban President Raúl Castro following a historic bilateral meeting.

“For more than half a century, the sight of a U.S. President in Havana would have been unimaginable, but this is a new day,” Obama said.

The leaders’ remarks followed a bilateral meeting at the Revolutionary Palace on Monday, the first major event of Obama’s historic trip to the island nation. He is the first U.S. President to visit Cuba in 88 years.

Both leaders made clear that though profound differences between the two countries remain, they hope to find common ground as they improve relations.
Obama noted Monday that he brought 40 members of Congress with him on the trip, which he said was an indication “growing interest in the U.S. Congress in lifting the embargo.”

Since the President announced the beginning of normalized relations between the two countries, the Obama Administration has rolled out changes including direct mail service, commercial flights and the expansion of business opportunities.

But as important as those incremental steps are, the long-standing embargo must end, Castro said on Monday.

“The blockade stands as the most important obstacle to our economic development and the well-being of the Cuban people,” he said. “That’s why its removal will be of the essence.”

Obama said he’s confident the embargo will end, but, “when, I can’t be entirely sure.”

The issue of human rights is the biggest disagreement between the U.S. and Cuba, given Cuba’s detention of political prisoners. During a question-and-answer session, Castro was asked about political prisoners, but he denied that any were being held, and asked the reporter who asked the question to provide him with a list.

Castro also went on the attack against the U.S., criticizing Americans for “political manipulation and double standards” on human rights and calling the lack of access to health care, education and equal pay in the U.S. “inexcusable.”

Obama implied that both countries have work to do to further normalize relations.

“The U.S. will continue to speak up on behalf of democracy,” he said, “including the right of the Cuban people to decide their own future.”

http://time.com/4266394/obama-cuba-castro-meeting/

Who:Obama

What:hailed “a new day” in the relations between the U.S. and Cuba

When:on Monday
How:a historic bilateral meeting

keywords:
1.bilateral 雙邊
2.unimaginable 不可思議
3.profound 深刻
4.session 會議
5.inexcusable 不可原諒 無法辯解

Week Five - 無人機

Military extends UAV deployment area

US WORRY?A military official said that the US was concerned over the development of the drone program and asked that the defense ministry brief it on the project

By Lo Tien-pin  /  Staff reporter

An unmanned aerial vehicle built by the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology is displayed at last year’s Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition at the Taipei World Trade Center.

The military said it is able to effectively detect military deployments in China through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), after it expanded detection zones from airspace over eastern and southern Taiwan to airspace over the Taiwan Strait.

According to a military official, who wished to remain anonymous, the US has expressed concern over how the UAV project has developed and military missions the drones are commissioned to perform.

The US has demanded that the Ministry of National Defense send specialists to brief the US Department of Defense on the project before a delegation was to head to the US for a meeting about bilateral cooperation on military issues involving high-level officials from both countries, the military official said.

A UAV launched from a base in western Taiwan would be able to detect military movement in China’s southeast coastal area, he said.

Given Taiwan’s proximity to China, the capability of the UAVs to detect military deployments on the other side of the Taiwan Strait is highly valued by the US, he said.

Despite the US having sophisticated UAVs that can fly long distances to access the area, there are concerns within the US military that such missions would be costly, as well as there being political and military issues preventing its use of UAVs in the area, he added.

The UAV development program was undertaken by the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology. It has delivered 32 UAVs to the army.
In addition to Taimali (太麻里) in Taitung County, where the UAVs are based and training exercises are carried out, the ministry has been in talks with the Civil Aeronautics Administration over the possibility that part of the Hengchun airport in Pingtung could be used as another training base for the drones.

According to sources from the military, the air force’s airspace training area is within the range of missiles deployed in southeast China, making it impossible for the air force to carry out missions in the areas that the UAVs can access.

The military said it was still deliberating whether it would deploy the UAVs in western Taiwan.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/07/13/2003594974

When: last year(2013)
Where: Taipei
What: an unmanned aerial vehicle built by the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology

Key Words:
1.deployments 部署
2.anonymous 匿名
3.commissioned 委託
4.delegation 代表團
5.bilateral cooperation 雙方合作
6.proximity 接近
7.sophisticated 複雜
8.missiles 導彈
9.deliberating 審議

Week Four - 巴黎氣候高峰會

China ratifies Paris climate deal

China yesterday announced that it has ratified the emissions-cutting agreement reached in Paris last year.

The US was also expected to announce that it was formally joining the Paris Agreement in advance of the G20 summit that starts today in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.

US President Barack Obama landed in Hangzhou yesterday and the US also ratified the deal shortly afterward.

While tensions have risen between Beijing and Washington during Obama’s term over issues including cyberhacking, the South China Sea and the planned deployment of a US anti-missile system in South Korea, combating climate change is one area where both countries have said they can work together.

China is the top emitter of carbon dioxide and the US is second. Together, they produce 38 percent of the world’s human-caused carbon dioxide emissions.

Both were key to getting an agreement in Paris last year. To build momentum for a deal, they set a 2030 deadline for emissions to stop rising and announced their “shared conviction that climate change is one of the greatest threats facing humanity.”

China in April said that it would ratify the Paris Agreement, negotiated by representatives of 195 nations in Paris last year, before its hosting of the G20 summit. The agreement goes into force when joined by at least 55 nations that produce a total of 55 percent of global emissions.

Before China’s announcement, 23 countries had ratified or otherwise joined the agreement, representing just 1 percent of global emissions, according to the World Resources Institute.

The proposal adopted by the Chinese National People’s Congress Standing Committee says the agreement will help China “play a bigger role in global climate governance,” the Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.

Li Shuo (李碩), senior climate policy adviser for the environmental group Greenpeace, said that the two countries acting on the agreement was “a very important next step.”

If the agreement is eventually adopted, “we’ll have a truly global climate agreement that will bind the two biggest emitters in the world,” Li said.

The agreement’s long-term goal is to keep warming below 2°C compared with pre-industrial times. It has an aspirational goal of limiting the temperature rise to 1.5°C. Temperatures are said to have already risen by almost 1°C since the industrial revolution.

According to the Paris Agreement, countries are required to set national targets for reducing or reining in their greenhouse gas emissions. Those targets are not legally binding, but countries must report on their progress and update their targets every five years. The first cycle begins in 2020. Only developed countries are expected to slash their emissions in absolute terms. Developing nations are “encouraged” to do so as their capabilities evolve over time.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2016/09/04/2003654485

When: yesterday(2016.9.3)
Where: China
What: tatified last year's emissions-cutting agreement reached in Paris

Key Words:
1.announced 宣布
2.ratified 批准
3.combating 打擊
4.aspirational 期望
5.revolution 革命
6.emissions 排放
7.targets 目標
8.slash 消減

Paris terror attacks

France remembers Paris terror attacks one year on

Less insouciant, more policed — France is a changed place since Islamic State militants killed 130 people in the country’s deadliest attacks a year ago. Fearing it is becoming more divided, survivors and victims’ families marked Sunday’s anniversary of the violence by pleading for national unity instead.

Tourism is hurting, armed forces roam streets and France is still under a state of emergency that rights groups call abusive and ineffective — and that the French prime minister now says might be extended yet again.

“We always have this fear that weighs heavily in our hearts. We always try to be careful. And every time we pass by here, we think of them,” said Sabrina Nedjadi, paying respects on Sunday at two cafes in her eastern Paris neighborhood targeted in the attacks.

At midday, hundreds of balloons were released to honor the memories of the victims; at dusk, paper lanterns were released into the Canal Saint-Martin, bearing red, white and blue lights representing the French tricolor. Onlookers lined the canal and surrounding bridges.

Some fear that France itself is adrift, its government unable to defeat the amorphous extremist enemy even as authorities encroach on liberties the French hold dear.

While French warplanes are targeting Islamic State strongholds in Iraq and Syria, the state of emergency in France allows broadened police powers to search homes and monitor communications.

However, it could not prevent further attacks in France over the past year, including a truck rampage in Nice by a man claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group.

“Yes, terrorism will strike us again,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said over the weekend.

“France is now in a situation where an ‘exceptional’ regime is becoming permanent, in the name of combating terrorism, but there is little evidence that this approach is working and it comes at a cost to fundamental rights,” the International Federation for Human Rights said in a recent report.

As silence descended on Sunday in Paris for a series of commemorations, the son of the first victims of the attacks spoke out for tolerance in the face of hate.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2016/11/15/2003659325

Where:France

When:one year ago

What:attacks

1.insouciant無憂無慮

2.anniversary週年

3.ballons氣球

4.commemorations紀念活動

5.regime政權

6.allegiance忠誠

zika virus

Zika is a virus that is spread mostly by mosquitoes. A pregnant mother can pass it to her baby during pregnancy or around the time of birth. It can spread through sexual contact. There have also been reports that the virus has spread through blood transfusions. There have been outbreaks of Zika virus in the United States, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, parts of the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

Most people who get the virus do not get sick. One in five people do get symptoms, which can include a fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (pinkeye). Symptoms are usually mild, and start 2 to 7 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito.

A blood test can tell whether you have the infection. There are no vaccines or medicines to treat it. Drinking lots of fluids, resting, and taking acetaminophen might help.

Zika can cause microcephaly (a serious birth defect of the brain) and other problems in babies whose mothers were infected while pregnant. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that pregnant women do not travel to areas where there is a Zika virus outbreak. If you do decide to travel, first talk to your doctor. You should also be careful to prevent mosquito bites:

Use insect repellent
*Wear clothes that cover your arms, legs, and feet
*Stay in places that have air *conditioning or that use window and door screens

https://medlineplus.gov/zikavirus.html

Where:United States, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, parts of the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
Why:A pregnant mother can pass it to her baby during pregnancy or around the time of birth. It can spread through sexual contact.

What:Zika virus

1.mosquitoes蚊子

2.pregnant懷孕的

3.symptoms症狀

4.conjunctivitis結膜炎

5.acetaminophen對乙氨酰基酚(可解熱 鎮痛)

Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is the tears of joy emoji

For the first time ever, Oxford Dictionaries have chosen a "pictograph" as its word of the year.They say the "face with tears of joy emoji" best represents "the ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015".

"Emoji culture has become so popular that individual characters have developed their own trends and stories," says Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Dictionaries.The image shows the "playfulness and intimacy" of emoji culture, he says.

Here are some of the other shortlisted words...

"Brexit", which refers to the possibility of the UK leaving the European Union.Another selection is the pronoun "they", but used singularly (in the manner of "she" or "he") to refer to a person of unspecified sex or gender."Lumbersexual" was also in contention. It means a "young urban man who cultivates an appearance and style of dress, typified by a beard and checked shirt," according to Oxford Dictionaries.

The organisation is currently asking website users to vote for which of the shortlisted words they would have chosen.As things stand, "they" currently has more than a quarter of votes.

In second place is "refugee", with one in five votes. The emoji is in third place."Ad blocker", "dark web", "on fleek" and "sharing economy" complete the 2015 shortlist.Last year "vape" was named the word of 2014, while other previous words of the year have included "selfie", "omnishambles" and "simples".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/34840926/oxford-dictionaries-word-of-the-year-is-the-tears-of-joy-emoji

when:2015
what:chosen a pictograph as its word of the year

keywords:
1.Oxford Dictionaries牛津字典
2.emoji表情符號

3.pictograph形象圖

4.playfulness嬉鬧

5.intimacy親密關係

6.refugee難民