Week Six 巴黎恐攻

Paris terror attacks: 5 arrested, then released in Belgium

(CNN)Police in Belgium have released five people arrested in their investigation into last month's Paris terror attacks, the Belgian federal prosecutor[1]'s office announced Monday.

Police arrested two brothers and a third person Sunday in Brussels based on phone records, the prosecutor's office said.

Two more people were arrested Monday morning in Laeken. Police said no guns or explosives were found in either case. All five were released Monday, the prosecutor's office said. It's unclear why they were arrested or released.

The November 13 terror attacks in Paris killed 130 people and wounded hundreds. The attackers, armed with assault rifles[2] and explosives, attacked six locations across the city, targeting[3] a stadium, a concert hall and restaurants and bars.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks, and in response, French President Francois Hollande declared that the country was at war with the terror group, which command[4]s large stretches of territory in Syria and Iraq.

Worldwide manhunt[5]

A worldwide search is underway[6] for key suspect Salah Abdeslam, 26, who is thought to have been the driver of a black Renault Clio that dropped off three suicide bombers near the Stade de France the night of November 13.

Last week, Belgium Justice Minister Koen Geens revealed that Belgian police had waited hours to search a house for Abdeslam because of a law that prevented such searches between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.

By the time Belgian authorities searched a house in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek days after the attacks, the Belgium-born French national was not present, he said.

Belgium changed the law December 11 to allow house searches 24 hours a day in terrorism investigations.

Authorities had already missed one chance to capture Abdeslam, who was driving toward the Belgian border when police stopped and questioned him a few hours after the attacks. He was not detained[7], and the car was found in Molenbeek, where his family lives.

Intelligence officials have said they suspect he may be trying to escape to Syria.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/21/europe/paris-attacks-belgium-arrests/

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- Police in Belgium

WHAT- have released five people arrested in their investigation into last month's Paris terror attacks

WHEN- not given

WHERE- not given

WHY- not given

HOW- not given

Vocabulary：

---

[1] prosecutor：檢察官

[2] assault rifles：突擊步槍

[3] target：把…作為目標(對象)

[4] command：擁有，統率，控制

[5] manhunt：緝捕，搜索

[6] underway：正在進行中的

[7] detained：扣留

Week Five 火星探險

Evidence points to liquid water on Mars

Sat, Aug 06, 2011Reuters, LOS ANGELES 

NASA scientists have discovered new evidence that briny[1] water flows on Mars during its warmest months, raising chances that life could exist on the Red Planet, the space agency said on Thursday.

NASA first found signs of water on Mars more than a decade ago, but earlier indications[2] were that any existing water would be frozen and concentrated at the poles.

Recently analyzed images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance[3] Orbiter[4] satellite show dark, finger-like features that extend down some slopes and crater[5] walls on the planet during its late spring through summer, fading in the Martian winter.

“This is the best evidence we have to date of a liquid water occurring today on Mars,” said Philip Christensen, a geophysicist[6] at Arizona State University, in a NASA panel[7] -announcing the -findings.

NASA scientists believe that if there is liquid water on Mars, it would be highly salty and lie beneath the surface. That would explain why it would not freeze in the planet’s frigid[8] surface temperatures, which can fall to around minus[9]-128?C, or evaporate[10] in its low air pressure.

“It is more like a syrup, maybe, in how it flows,” said Alfred Mc-Ewen of the University of Arizona, Tucson, principal investigator in charge of[11] a special camera on the Mars orbiter called a High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment.

He is also wrote a report on evidence of water flows published on Thursday in the journal Science.

NASA scientists stressed that liquid water is more likely to sustain[12] life than ice, underscoring[13] the importance of the latest discovery.

Past NASA discoveries revealed evidence of ancient shorelines and riverbanks on Mars. And analysis of gullies[14] on the Red Planet five years ago turned up fresh mineral deposits[15] that suggested recent water flows, but provided no categorical[16] proof of that, scientists said.

The latest discovery is more difficult to explain away as evidence of anything but contemporary[17] water flows, said Michael Meyer, Mars exploration program lead scientist at NASA.

Another possibility to account for the periodic[18] darkening in the areas under examination is dust moving along the surface of the planet, McEwen said. However, dust avalanches[19] would occur at more random intervals[20], rather than on a seasonal basis, he said.

Scientists on the panel said the latest imaging evidence of flowing water also suggests the existence of liquid water closer to the planet’s equator[21] than previously found.


http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2011/08/06/2003510095

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- NASA scientists

WHAT- have discovered new evidence that briny water flows on Mars

WHEN- Thursday

WHERE- not given

WHY- not given

HOW- not given

Vocabulary：

---

[1] briny：鹽水的，海水的

[2] indication：跡象

[3] reconnaissance：偵查

[4] orbiter：軌道飛行器

[5] crater：隕石坑

[6] geophysicist：地球物理學家

[7] panel：專門小組

[8] frigid：寒冷的，嚴寒的

[9] minus：負的

[10] evaporate：蒸發

[11] in charge of：負責

[12] sustain：維持

[13] underscore：強調

[14] gully：小峽谷，溝渠

[15] deposit：堆積，沉澱

[16] categorical：絕對的

[17] contemporary：當代的

[18] periodic：週期的

[19] avalanche：雪崩

[20] at intervals：每隔…時間

[21] equator：赤道

Week Four 長江船難

Cruise ship[1] sinks in China's Yangtze River with 458 aboard

By Jethro Mullen and Steven Jiang, CNN

Updated 0538 GMT (1238 HKT) June 2, 2015

Hong Kong (CNN)Rescuers are scrambling to[2] find survivors from a cruise ship that sank with 458 people aboard during a storm on China's Yangtze River, authorities said.

The rescue workers have heard sounds from within the capsized ship and are trying to reach the people they believe are inside the cabin[3], state media reported Tuesday.

Twelve survivors have been rescued so far and five bodies have been recovered from[4] the ship, which sank late Monday, according to the Hubei Daily, a state-run[5] newspaper.

The survivors include the captain and chief[6] engineer, who have been taken into custody[7] by police, China's state-run broadcaster [8]CCTV reported.

But the fates of the hundreds of other people on the ship was unclear.

Images from the scene showed the ship upside down[9] in the river, a section of its hull[10] protruding[11] above the surface of the water.

China's state-run broadcaster CCTV carried video of rescue workers walking on the exposed part of the upturned[12] ship. One of them was lying flat on the hull, tapping against the metal with a small hammer.

Divers who knocked on the ship under the water heard responses from inside, the Chutian Metro Daily, a state-run newspaper, reported. It said welders[13] were trying to cut open the cabin.

The ship, the Eastern Star, went down[14] around 9:30 p.m. Monday during a storm over the section of the river that flows through the central province[15] of Hubei, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported, citing the Yangtze River navigation[16] administration.

Most of the 406 passengers reported to have been on the ship are believed to be over the age of 50. There were also 47 crew members and five travel agency workers on board, according to state media.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and other senior officials are on their way to the site of the disaster in Hubei's Jianli county to oversee[17] the emergency response, Xinhua said.

The rescue efforts were initially complicated by bad weather, according to the news agency.

The Eastern Star was reported to have been traveling from Nanjing in eastern China to Chongqing, a city more than 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) inland.

The Yangtze is the third-longest river in the world, stretching 6,300 kilometers (3,915 miles) from its source in the mountains of Tibet all the way to the East China Sea.

The images of the upended[18] ship evoked memories of the sinking of the Sewol, the South Korean passenger ferry that sank last year, taking the lives of more than 300 people, most of them high school students.

CNN's Shen Lu, Tim Schwarz and Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/01/asia/china-yangtze-river-ship-sinks/

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- Rescuers

WHAT- are scrambling to find survivors from a cruise ship

WHERE- on China's Yangtze River

WHEN- not given

WHY- not given

HOW- not given

Vocabulary：

---

[1] Cruise ship：(設有餐館、酒吧的)大型遊輪

[2] scramble to：急於…

[3] cabin：船艙

[4] recover from：尋回

[5] state-run：國營的

[6] chief：主要的,首要的

[7] custody：羈押

[8] broadcaster：電視臺

[9] upside down：倒過來

[10] hull：船身

[11] protrude：凸出

[12] upturned：翻轉過來的

[13] welders：焊工

[14] go down：下沉

[15] province：省

[16] navigation：航運

[17] oversee：監督,監管

[18] upended：顛倒的

Week 3 八仙塵爆

Taiwan Formosa Water Park explosion injures hundreds

28 June 2015

 From the section Asia

More than 500 people were injured when fire ripped through[1] crowds at a party at an amusement park outside Taiwan's capital Taipei.

Saturday's incident[2] at the Formosa Water Park is believed to have happened when a coloured[3] powder ignited[4] after being discharged onto the crowd.

Footage showed people panicking[5] and screaming. Inflatable[6] water toys were shown being used as stretchers[7].

Some 190 people are seriously hurt - 182 are in intensive care[8].

Some of them breathed in the powder, causing respiratory[9] problems.

Local media said organisers[10] of the Color Play Asia event had been taken in for questioning[11] by prosecutors[12].

Skin 'gone'

Footage of the incident shows a party in full swing[13] when suddenly fire erupts.

It was "hell", a male student who sustained[14] minor injuries said, according to AFP news agency.

"There was blood everywhere, including in the pool where lots of the injured were soaking themselves for relief from the pain."

His girlfriend added: "I saw lots of people whose skin was gone[15]."

The fire was quickly brought under control, but the cause of the incident is still under investigation.

The authorities believe something that caught fire caused the coloured powder spray or dust - used to create a party atmosphere - to explode.

The substance[16] is also used in other countries. It is made of dried corn and can be highly flammable[17], our correspondent[18] says.

The 519 victims were sent to 41 hospitals, and 413 are still in hospital, say municipal[19] authorities.

The incident occurred about 20:30 (12:30 GMT). More than 1,000 people were near the stage at the time.

The fire department[20] said: "Our initial understanding is this explosion and fire... was caused by the powder spray. It could have been due to the heat of the lights on the stage".

Soaring[21] temperatures

Many people flocked to[22] water parks on Saturday as temperatures reached 36.6C (98F) in Taipei and as high as 38C in other parts of Taiwan, says the BBC's Cindy Sui in Taipei.

New Taipei City's mayor, Eric Chu, ordered an immediate shutdown[23] of the water park pending[24] an investigation.

Taiwan has suffered a series of deadly fires in the past couple of years due partly to poor enforcement[25] of building and fire safety codes[26] and illegal construction, our correspondent adds.

A fire earlier this year killed six firefighters, prompting[27] orders to rectify[28] illegally constructed buildings and upgrade firefighters' equipment and training.


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33300970



Structure of the Lead：

• WHO- More than 500 people
• WHAT- were injured
• HOW- fire ripped through crowds
• WHEN- at a party
• WHERE- at an amusement park outside Taiwan's capital Taipei
• WHY-not given

Keywords：

---

[1] rip through：襲擊

[2] incident：事件

[3] coloured：有色的

[4] ignite：燃燒

[5] panic：驚慌

[6] inflatable：充氣艇

[7] stretcher：擔架

[8] intensive care：加護病房

[9] respiratory：呼吸的

[10] organiser：發起人

[11] be taken in for questioning：被帶回審問

[12] prosecutor：檢察官

[13] in full swing：熱烈進行中

[14] sustain：遭受

[15] gone：不見了

[16] substance：物質

[17] flammable：易燃的

[18] correspondent：記者

[19] municipal：市政府的

[20] fire department：消防隊

[21] soaring：驟升

[22] flock to：蜂擁而至

[23] shutdown：歇業

[24] pending：在等待…之際

[25] enforcement：執行

[26] code：法規

[27] prompt：促使

[28] rectify：整頓