Week Five-丹麥女孩

Diversity in limelight at Oscars

AP, LOS ANGELES

In an underdog win for a movie about an underdog profession, the newspaper drama Spotlight took best picture on Sunday at an Academy Awards riven by protest and outrage and electrified by an unflinching Chris Rock.

Tom McCarthy’s film about the Boston Globe’s investigative reporting on sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests won over the favored frontier epic The Revenant. McCarthy’s well-crafted procedural, led by a strong ensemble cast, had lagged in the lead-up to the Oscars, losing ground to the flashier filmmaking of Alejandro Inarritu’s The Revenant.

However, Spotlight took the night’s top honor despite winning only one other Oscar for McCarthy and Josh Singer’s screenplay.

Such a sparsely awarded best picture winner has not happened since 1952’s The Greatest Show On Earth.

“We would not be here today without the heroic efforts of our reporters,” producer Blye Pagon Faust said. “Not only do they effect global change, but they absolutely show us the necessity for investigative journalism.”

However, the night belonged to host Rock, who launched immediately into the uproar over the lack of diversity in this year’s nominees and did not let up.

“The white people’s choice awards,’’ he called the Oscars, which were protested beforehand outside the Dolby Theatre by the Reverend Al Sharpton.

Rock insured that the topic remained at the forefront throughout the evening, usually finding hearty laughs in the process.

In an awards show traditionally known for song-and-dance routines and high doses of glamor, Rock gave the 88th Academy Awards a charged atmosphere, keeping with the outcry that followed a second consecutive year of all-white acting nominees.

“Is Hollywood racist? You’re damn right it’s racist,” Rock said. “Hollywood is sorority racist. It’s like: We like you Rhonda, but you’re not a Kappa.”

After going home empty-handed four times previously, Leonardo DiCaprio won his first Oscar, for best actor in The Revenant in which he gave a gruff, grunting performance that traded little on the actor’s youthful charisma.

DiCaprio, greeted with a standing ovation, took the moment to talk about climate change.

“Let us not take our planet for granted,” DiCaprio said. “I do not take tonight for granted.”

Inarritu won back-to-back directing awards after the triumph last year of Birdman. It is a feat matched by only two other filmmakers: John Ford and Joseph Mankiewicz.

The Revenant also won best cinematography for Emmanuel Lubezki, who became the first cinematographer to win three times in a row — following wins for Gravity and Birdman.

Inarritu, whose win meant three consecutive years of Mexican filmmakers winning best director, was one of the few winners to remark passionately on diversity in his acceptance speech.

“What a great opportunity for our generation to really liberate ourselves from all prejudice and this tribal thinking and to make sure for once and forever that the color of our skin becomes as irrelevant as the length of our hair,” Inarritu said.

The night’s most-awarded film was George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, which sped away with six awards in technical categories for editing, makeup, production design, sound editing, sound mixing and costume design.

Best actress went to Brie Larson, the 26-year-old breakout of the mother-son captive drama Room.

The Sweden-born Alicia Vikander took best supporting actress for the transgender pioneer tale The Danish Girl.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2016/03/01/2003640577

Structure of the Lead:

WHO-McCarthy and Josh Singer’s 

WHEN-Sunday

WHAT-Tom McCarthy’s film about the Boston Globe’s investigative reporting on sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests won over the favored frontier epic The Revenant.

WHY-not given

WHERE-Academy Awards

HOW-not given

Keywords:

1.unflinching 不畏懼的

2.procedural 程序

3.ensemble 總體

4.sparsely 稀少地

5.nominees 被提名者

6.glamor 迷人的美

7.consecutive 連續的

Week Four-台灣寒流

Cold weather brings snow to nation

RECORD LOWS:With thermometers registering just 4ºC in Taipei, it was the lowest temperature recorded in the capital in 44 years and the second-lowest ever

Staff Writer, with CNA

A rare sight of snow wowed people nationwide yesterday, from Taipei to Pingtung County.

Under the influence of a strong cold air mass, many places in Taiwan — even those located at an altitude of only 400m to 500m — received a covering of snow or soft hail overnight, exciting locals, who likely have never seen snow in real life since they were born.

Despite low temperatures, people were seen swarming to elevated areas, including Keelung’s 726m-high Jiangziliaoshan (姜子寮山), Taipei’s Yangmingshan (陽明山) and New Taipei City’s Linkou (林口) and Pinglin (坪林) districts, to appreciate the natural beauty of the snow.

As of yesterday morning, the accumulated snow had reached 20cm in Taoyuan’s Lalashan (拉拉山) Forest Recreation Area.

The Motian (摩天嶺-) mountain area along the Southern Cross-Island Highway also reported showers of snow started at 4am yesterday, as well as on Yunlin County’s Jiananyun Peak (嘉南雲峰), where snow began falling at about 11am yesterday at an altitude of about 1,500m.

Under the influence of a cold air mass, the outlying island group of Penghu experienced soft hail yesterday morning.

Pingtung County’s Dawushan (大武山) also reported soft hail from halfway up the mountain to the summit at midnight on Saturday.

The Central Weather Bureau said 27 weather stations in different parts of Taiwan registered their lowest temperatures yesterday.

The temperature in Taipei fell to 4ºC, the lowest level detected in the capital in 44 years and the second-lowest since 3.2 degrees was recorded in 1972.

It was minus-3.1ºC in the Yangmingshan area, 5.8ºC in Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳), and 4.2ºC in Taoyuan’s Sinwu District (新屋) — all new lows for these places. In New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋), it was 3.8ºC yesterday morning — the second-lowest level in history.

The temperature in Taipei is forecast to dip to 3ºC early today, while central and southern regions are expected to experience temperatures of 4ºC and 6ºC respectively, the bureau said.

Chances of precipitation are expected to be low across the nation today, apart from in mountainous regions higher than 600m.

The bureau urged people to be aware of icy road conditions.

The bureau has issued special warnings for low temperatures and heavy rain across Taiwan, urging the public to take precautions and keep warm before the cold wave leaves Taiwan tomorrow, when temperatures across the nation are expected to rebound noticeably.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2016/01/25/2003637998

Structure of the Lead:

WHO- people nationwide

WHEN-yesterday

WHAT-A rare sight of snow wowed people nationwide,people were seen swarming to elevated areas

WHY-Under the influence of a strong cold air mass

WHERE-Taiwan

HOW- received a covering of snow or soft hail overnight

Keywords:

1.precipitation 凝結

2. precautions 預防措施

3. rebound 復原

Week Three-北韓氫爆

N Korea claim of hydrogen bomb test condemned

SKEPTICISM:Pyongyang’s announcement came soon after a magnitude 5.1 quake was detected, and it triggered protests from allies and around the world

Reuters, SEOUL

North Korea yesterday said it successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen nuclear device, claiming a significant advance in its strike capability and setting off alarm bells in Japan and South Korea.

The test, the fourth time the state has exploded a nuclear device, was ordered by young leader Kim Jong-un and successfully conducted at 10am, the official Korean Central News Agency said.

“Let the world look up to the strong, self-reliant nuclear-armed state,” Kim wrote in what North Korean state TV displayed as a handwritten note.

The reported nuclear test drew condemnation abroad.

While a fourth nuclear test had been long expected, the claim that it was a hydrogen device, much more powerful than an atomic bomb, came as a surprise, as did the timing.

However, South Korean intelligence officials and several analysts questioned whether yesterday’s explosion was indeed a full-fledged test of a hydrogen device.

The device had a yield of about 6 kilotonnes, according to a South Korean lawmaker on the parliamentary intelligence committee — about the same size as the North’s last test, which was equivalent to 6 to 7 kilotonnes of TNT.

“Given the scale, it is hard to believe this is a real hydrogen bomb,” said Yang Uk, a senior research fellow at the Korea Defense and Security Forum and a policy adviser to the South Korean navy.

“They could have tested some middle stage kind [of device] between an A-bomb and H-bomb, but unless they come up with any clear evidence, it is difficult to trust their claim,” he said.

Joe Cirincione, a nuclear expert who is president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security organization, said North Korea might have mixed a hydrogen isotope in a normal atomic fission bomb.

“Because it is, in fact, hydrogen, they could claim it is a hydrogen bomb,” he said. “But it is not a true fusion bomb capable of the massive multi-megaton yields these bombs produce.”

The US Geological Survey reported a magnitude 5.1 earthquake that South Korea said was 49km from the Punggye-ri site where the North has conducted nuclear tests in the past.

The claim of miniaturizing, which would allow the device to be adapted as a weapon and placed on a missile, would also pose a new threat to the US, Japan and South Korea.

However, the North’s previous miniaturization claims have not been independently verified.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tokyo would make a firm response to North Korea’s challenge against nuclear non-proliferation.

South Korea said it would take all possible measures, including possible UN sanctions, to ensure Pyongyang paid the price after its fourth nuclear test.

“The government must now work closely with the international community to ensure that North Korea pays the commensurate price for the latest nuclear test,” South Korean President Park Geun-hye said in a statement.

“We must respond decisively through measures such as strong international sanctions,” she said.

The EU said that the test, if confirmed, would be a grave violation of international obligations.

NATO condemned the test, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was “extremely worried” and China urged the North to honor its commitment to denuclearization.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2016/01/07/2003636607

Structure of the Lead:

WHO-Kim Jong-un

WHAT-said it successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen nuclear device

WHERE-North Korea 

WHEN-yesterday

WHY-Let the world look up to the strong, self-reliant nuclear-armed state

HOW-The test, the fourth time the state has exploded a nuclear device, was ordered by young leader Kim Jong-un and successfully conducted at 10am

Keywords:

1.condemnation 譴責

2.parliamentary 議會的，國會的

3. fission （裂變式）原子彈

4.sanction 認可；批准

Week Two-深圳廢土場崩塌

Man found alive in Shenzhen landslide

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE:The survivor of Sunday’s disaster said that there was another person trapped in the rubble near him, but a doctor said that the other person died

AP, Beijing

A migrant worker was pulled out alive yesterday after he was buried for more than 60 hours in a massive landslide that swept through part of a major manufacturing city in southern China.

Shenzhen Emergency Response Office official Rao Liangzhong said that the man, Tian Zeming (田澤明), was rescued at about dawn yesterday. He said Tian was from Chongqing in southwestern China.

“The survivor had a very feeble voice and pulse when he was found alive buried under debris, and now he is undergoing further checks,” Wang Yiguo (王以國) told a news conference in Shenzhen, according to a transcript posted by the district government that covers the area.

State broadcaster CCTV reported that Tian later underwent surgery for a broken hand and on his foot, which had been wedged against a door panel. It said he had been trying to get out of his room when the building collapsed, and the door panel created a space for him to survive.

When they found him, Tian told rescuers his name and that there was another person buried near him, according to the transcript. Another neurosurgeon, Dai Limeng (戴黎萌), told the news conference that he had gone into the rubble and confirmed that the second person had not survived.

More than 70 people are still missing from the landslide that happened on Sunday when a mountain of construction waste material and mud collapsed and flowed into an industrial park in Shenzhen.

The Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources has said a steep mountain of dirt, cement chunks and other construction waste had been piled up against a 100m-high hill over the past two years.

Heavy rain saturated the soil, making it unstable, and ultimately causing it to collapse with massive force in and around an industrial park.

State media reported that the New Guangming District Government identified problems with the mountain of soil months earlier.

The Legal Evening News said a district government report in January found that the dump had received 1 million cubic meters of waste and warned of a “catastrophe.”

Under pressure from the media, officials allowed about 30 journalists, mostly from foreign outlets, to approach an edge of the disaster area. Flanked by police officers, reporters could observe military posts with computers and disease control stations set up for the rescue workers.

Shenzhen is a major manufacturing center, making everything from cellphones to cars, and it attracts workers from all parts of China.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2015/12/24/2003635558

Structure of the Lead:

WHO-A migrant worker, Tian Zeming

WHEN- yesterday

WHAT-was pulled out alive after he was buried for more than 60 hours in a massive landslide 

WHY-Heavy rain saturated the soil, making it unstable, and ultimately causing it to collapse with massive force in and around an industrial park

WHERE-southern China

HOW-Tian told rescuers his name and that there was another person buried near him

Keywords:

1.feeble 虛弱的,衰弱的,無力的

2. transcript 副本

Week One-美加州恐攻

IS cashes in on California attack

ISLAMIC STATE:The FBI said it was investigating the San Bernardino attack as an ‘act of terrorism,’ despite no evidence indicating a terror network was involved

Reuters, SAN BERNARDINO, California

The Islamic State (IS) yesterday said that a married couple who killed 14 people in California in an attack the US FBI is investigating as an “act of terrorism” were followers of the militant group based in Syria and Iraq.

The group’s declaration in an online radio broadcast comes three days after US-born Syed Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 27, a native of Pakistan, carried out the attack on a holiday party for civil servants in San Bernardino, about 100km east of Los Angeles.

The two died hours later in a shootout with police.

US government sources have said Malik and her husband might have been inspired by the Islamic State, but there was no evidence the attack was directed by the militant group or that the organization even knew who they were. The party the couple attacked was for workers in the same local government agency that employed Farook.

If Wednesday’s mass shooting proves to have been the work of people inspired by Muslim militants, as investigators now suspect, it would mark the deadliest such attack in the US since Sept. 11, 2001.

“Two followers of Islamic State attacked several days ago a center in San Bernardino in California,” the group’s daily online radio broadcast al-Bayan said yesterday.

The broadcast came a day after Facebook Inc confirmed that comments praising the Islamic State were posted at about the time of the mass shooting to an account on the social media Web site established by Malik under an alias.

However, it was uncertain whether the comments were posted by Malik or someone with access to her account.

“I know it was in a general timeline where that post was made, and yes, there was a pledge of allegiance,” FBI Los Angeles office assistant director David Bowdich told a news conference about a reported loyalty pledge posted on Facebook by Malik on the day of the attack.

A Facebook spokesman said the profile in question was removed by the company on Thursday for violating its community standards barring promotion or praise for “acts of terror.” He declined to elaborate on the material.

CNN and other media outlets reported that the Facebook posts on Malik’s page included a pledge of allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

FBI officials said mounting signs of advanced preparations, the large cache of armaments amassed by the couple and evidence that they “attempted to destroy their digital fingerprints” helped tip the balance of the investigation.

“Based on the information and the facts as we know them, we are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism,” Bowdich told reporters.

He said the FBI hoped examination of data retrieved from two smashed cellphones and other electronic devices seized in the investigation would lead to a motive for the attack.

The couple had two assault-style rifles, two semi-automatic handguns, 6,100 rounds of ammunition and 12 pipe bombs in their home or with them when they were killed, officials said.

They might have been planning an additional attack, Bowdich said.

Speaking to reporters separately in Washington on Friday, FBI Director James Comey said the investigation pointed to “radicalization of the killers and of potential inspiration by foreign terrorist organizations.”

However, no evidence has been uncovered yet suggesting the killers were “part of an organized larger group, or form part of a cell,” Comey said. “There is no indication that they are part of a network.”

Bowdich said neither Farook nor Malik had been under investigation by the FBI or any other law enforcement agency prior to Wednesday.

And none of the contacts federal agents have since discovered between the couple and the subjects of other FBI inquiries “were of such a significance that it raised these killers up onto our radar screen,” Comey said.

Citing an unnamed federal law enforcement official, the Los Angeles Times reported late on Friday that Farook had “some kind” of contact with people from the Nusra Front and the radical al-Shabaab group in Somalia. However, the nature of that contact and with whom was unclear, the Times said.

US President Barack Obama yesterday vowed in his weekly radio address that federal investigators would find out what motivated the married couple to attack.

“We are strong, and we are resilient, and we will not be terrorized,” Obama said.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2015/12/06/2003634126/1



Structure of the Lead:

WHO-The Islamic State
WHEN-yesterday
WHAT-a married couple who killed 14 people in California in an attack the US FBI is investigating as an “act of              terrorism” were followers of the militant group based in Syria and Iraq
WHY-not given
WHERE-California
HOW-not given


Keywords:

1.pledge  保證，誓言
2.allegiance  忠誠
3.elaborate  精密的
4. horrific  令人恐懼的; 駭人的
5.ammunition  彈藥，軍火
6.enforcement  實施，執行
7.resilient  彈回的；有彈力的

Week Six-巴黎恐怖攻擊

PARIS ATTACKS: Government condemns ‘terrorism’

Sun, Nov 15, 2015

 By Alison Hsiao and Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporters, with CNA

The government yesterday condemned the series of attacks in Paris on Friday and expressed condolences, with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) saying that Taiwan stands side-by-side with the people of France.

Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) has instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to locate Taiwanese living, studying or traveling in France, as well as to provide assistance to Taiwanese tour groups if needed.

According to the Tourism Bureau, 145 tourists from five Taiwanese tour groups in France were all safe, adding that no Taiwanese travel agencies had reported being affected by the attacks.

The foreign ministry said it would not raise the travel alert level for France, but called for people to be alert to security problems and refrain from unnecessary travel to Paris.

The foreign ministry and its representative office in France are to continue observing developments after the attacks, which have claimed at least 128 lives.

Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) also expressed her sympathy for the French.

“The terrorist attacks in Paris are not only attacks on France, but also on the values of freedom and democracy shared by the international community,” Tsai said in a press release. “At a troubling time like this, we would like to extend our support to France and the French people to overcome the difficulties.”

She condemned the attacks, while extending sympathy to the people affected, adding that she gives her best wishes to the people of France that they might return to a normal, peaceful life as soon as possible.

“Acts of terror and violence that destroy people’s lives and threatens freedom are to be condemned by all,” Tsai said. “It’s something intolerable in a civilized society.”

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), who is in the US, expressed his “gravest protest” against the attacks.

The whole world is now on high alert over national security and public safety, which are every nation’s greatest concern, Chu said.

Chu said he hopes policies drawn up would aim for “better harmony” and “not allow terror attacks to happen in Taiwan.”

Security is the most vital aspect of a nation, he said, adding that every crisis would be costly for society.

The Taipei 101 skyscraper joined New York in putting on red, white and blue lighting displays to show solidarity with people affected by the attacks.

The lighting — turned on at 5:30pm — symbolized the French national flag, while elsewhere six games of baseball’s Premier 12 competition across the nation observed minutes of silence to honor those who lost their lives.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2015/11/16/2003632560

Structure of the Lead:

WHO-The government

WHEN-yesterday

WHAT-condemned the series of attacks in Paris on Friday and expressed condolences

WHY- the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to locate Taiwanese living, studying or traveling in France, as well as to provide assistance to Taiwanese tour groups if needed

WHERE-not given

HOW-The Taipei 101 skyscraper joined New York in putting on red, white and blue lighting displays to show solidarity with people affected by the attacks

Keywords:

1.condolence  慰問

2.refrain  抑制

3.condemn  譴責

4.aspect  觀點

Week Five-曼谷爆炸

Suspects indicted for Bangkok bombing

Wed, Nov 25, 2015 

A military court in Thailand yesterday indicted two men accused of carrying out a deadly bombing at a central Bangkok shrine that left 20 people dead and more than 120 injured.

The Aug. 17 blast at the popular Erawan Shrine was one of the most deadly acts of violence in Bangkok in decades. Authorities have declined to call it an act of terrorism out of apparent fear that it would hurt the nation’s huge tourism industry.

The two suspects, identified as Bilal Mohammad and Mieraili Yusufu, were indicted on 10 counts — none of them terrorism charges — connected to the blast. The charges included conspiracy to explode bombs and commit premeditated murder, defense lawyer Chuchart Kanpai said.

Both men have been described by officials as ethnic Uighurs from western China’s Xinjiang region. Officials said the blast was carried out by a people-smuggling gang seeking revenge on Thai authorities for cracking down on their operation.

Thai officials said there was no political or religious motive behind the attack, but skepticism about the police explanation on the shrine attack has abounded because of leaks, contradictions, misstatements and secrecy surrounding the investigation.

Bilal and Yusufu have been held at an army base since their arrests in late August and early September respectively.

Media was not allowed to enter the military court yesterday and the indictments took place before the suspects arrived, their lawyer said.

They are being tried at a military court inside an army base in Bangkok because cases of “national security” have been handled by the military since May last year, when the army seized power in a coup from an elected government.

Former National Police Chief Somyot Poomphanmuang before his retirement in September said that the case against the two suspects was supported by closed-circuit television footage, witnesses, DNA matching and physical evidence, in addition to their confessions.

Security camera footage from the Erawan Shrine showed a man wearing a yellow T-shirt sit down on a bench at the outdoor shrine, take off a black backpack and then leave it behind as he stood up and walked away. Time stamps showed he left the shrine just minutes before the blast occurred, during evening rush hour as the area in central Bangkok was filled with people.

Police believe that Bilal is the yellow-shirted man who planted the bomb and Yusufu is believed to have detonated the bomb.

Bilal was initially identified as Adem Karadag, which was the name on a fake Turkish passport in his possession when he was arrested Aug. 29. He was arrested at one of two apartments police raided on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Yusufu was arrested Sept. 1 near the Thai-Cambodia border, carrying a Chinese passport indicating he was from Xinjiang. Police said his DNA and fingerprints were found in both raided apartments, including on a container of gunpowder.

Police said they have confessions from the two, and Bilal’s lawyer said his client admitted planting the deadly bomb at the behest of another suspect, who remains a fugitive. He said Bilal was induced to carry out the action by a promise that his emigration to Turkey would be expedited.

Early speculation about the bombing suggested it might be the work of Uighur separatists who were angry that Thailand in July forcibly repatriated more than 100 Uighurs to China, where it is feared they face persecution. The theory was bolstered by the fact that the Erawan Shrine is popular among Chinese tourists, who figured prominently among the victims of the bombing.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2015/11/25/2003633306

Structure of the Lead:

WHO-Bilal Mohammad and Mieraili Yusufu

WHEN-yesterday

WHAT-A military court in Thailand yesterday indicted two men accused of carrying out a deadly bombing at a central Bangkok shrine that left 20 people dead and more than 120 injured.

WHY-not given

WHERE-Thailand

HOW-not given

Keywords:

1.indict  控告

2.conspiracy  陰謀

3.premeditated  有計畫的

4.smuggling 走私

5.leak  漏洞

6.contradiction  矛盾

7.detonate  使爆炸

8.