Week Five:火星探險

Mars Rover Finds Changing Rocks, Surprising Scientists

As NASA’s Curiosity rover treks up a three-mile-high mountain on Mars, the rocks are changing. That says something about how the planet’s climate and environment changed more than three billion years ago — but scientists are not sure what.

Since it landed more than three years ago in a 96-mile-wide depression known as Gale Crater, Curiosity has made a number of discoveries, notably that the crater once held lakes of fresh water. For most of that time, the rocks it encountered were generally basaltic, a volcanic composition typical on Mars.

“Now in the recent few months, that has changed,” Ashwin R. Vasavada, the project scientist for the mission, said at a news conference on Thursday at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, where researchers were presenting some of their newest results.

They have surprising clues but no definitive story, yet.
Each layer of sedimentary rock tells something about the geological conditions at the time the rock formed, meaning that Curiosity, which arrived at the base of the mountain in September 2014, is in a sense moving forward through the geological history of Mars as it climbs.

What has caught the attention of Dr. Vasavada and his colleagues lately is silica, a class of minerals made of silicon and oxygen. The evidence points to the action of liquid water even after the lakes disappeared.

“Groundwater passed through the rock multiple times, leaving different chemical signatures behind,” Dr. Vasavada said.

Basalt is generally half silica. Curiosity has been examining two rock units: one a mudstone of lake bed deposits, among the oldest rocks the rover will examine, and the other a sandstone of coarse grains that were blown in and draped onto the mountain. “It probably is among the youngest rocks we’ll encounter on the mission,” Dr. Vasavada said.

In the mudstone and the sandstone, Curiosity found much higher levels of silica, up to 90 percent more than it had observed previously in basaltic rocks.

“All of this we’re just beginning to piece together and understand,” Dr. Vasavada said.

After arriving at a spot the scientists named Marias Pass, an intersection between the older mudstone and younger sandstone near the base of the mountain, Curiosity spied a patch of light-toned bedrock, part of the mudstone. It fired a laser to vaporize the rock in several places; the instrument identifies the constituent elements from the colors of light given off. Then Curiosity drove off to do more science elsewhere.

Back on Earth, scientists analyzing the data realized this was something different: It turned out to be the first of the high-silica rocks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/science/mars-rover-finds-changing-rocks-surprising-scientists.html?_r=0



Structure of the Lead：
WHO-  NASA’s Curiosity rover
WHERE- MARS
WHAT- Finds Changing Rocks
WHEN- not given
HOW- Surprise

Keywords：
basaltic 玄武
mudstone 泥岩
vaporize 蒸發
drove off  擊退
high-silica 高硅

week four 長江船難

Death toll grows in Yangtze River tragedy

June 3, 2015 12:00AM ET Updated 2:28AM ET

Hopes dimmed Wednesday for rescuing more than 400 people still trapped in a capsized river cruise ship that overturned in stormy weather, as hundreds of rescuers searched the Yangtze River site in what could become the deadliest Chinese maritime accident in decades.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that 18 bodies had been pulled from the boat, which was floating with a sliver of its hull jutting from the gray river water about 36 hours after it capsized. A total of fourteen people have been rescued, but the vast majority of the 456 people on board, many of them elderly tourists, were unaccounted for.

The Yangtze disaster could have a higher death toll than the 304 people killed when a ferry sank in South Korea in April 2014. Most of those killed in that incident were children on a school trip.

State television carried pictures of rescuers, some standing on the upturned hull of the shallow-draft, multi-decked Eastern Star cruise ship, working through the night. So far their efforts have yielded few successes, with only 14 people found alive.

Among the few rescued was an elderly woman who had been trapped in an air pocket in the ship, which capsized on Monday night during a freak tornado on the river, a rare occurrence in a country where twisters are uncommon.

Tour guide Zhang Hui said in an interview with the state-run Xinhua News Agency from his hospital bed that he grabbed a life jacket with seconds to spare as the ship listed in the storm, sending bottles rolling off tables as it suddenly turned all the way over.

Zhang, 43, said he drifted in the Yangtze all night despite not being able to swim, reaching shore as dawn approached.

“The raindrops hitting my face felt like hailstones,” he said. “‘Just hang in there a little longer,’ I told myself.”

Weather continues to hamper rescue efforts, as showers, thunderstorms and strong winds are expected to continue in the area for the next day or so.

The Yangtze search area has been expanded up to 135 miles downstream, state television said, suggesting that many bodies could have been swept far away from where the ship foundered in the rain-swollen river.

Relatives, angry at what they perceive as a lack of information, have scuffled with officials in Shanghai, where many of the tourists started their journey by bus after booking the trip through an agency based in the city.

People questioned whether the captain did enough to ensure the passengers' safety and demanded answers from local officials in unruly scenes that drew a heavy police response. The ship's captain and chief engineer, were in police custody, CCTV said. 

Early on Wednesday, about two dozen affected family members, some crying and others shouting "help us," marched down streets in entral Shanghai towards the main government office watched by police.

A passenger manifest carried by state media showed those on board the Eastern Star ranged in age from three to more than 80. There were 456 people on board when the ship capsized. Official state media originally reported there were 548 people aboard.

Premier Li Keqiang, who rushed to the scene to oversee rescue efforts, called for “regular and transparent updates” on the rescue and investigation. However, state broadcaster CCTV announced Wednesday morning that it was suspending live broadcasts from the disaster site for technical reasons.

It did not elaborate. International media workers have also been kept away from the immediate area surrounding where workers are searching for bodies.

The Chinese military has taken the lead in rescue operations with teams working in round-the-clock shifts. They were exploring the possibility of drilling holes through the ship to reach possible survivors, or to refloat the vessel — a challenging endeavor.

An initial investigation found the ship was not overloaded and had enough life vests for its passengers.

The Eastern Star, which had the capacity to carry more than 500 people, was heading to the southwestern city of Chongqing from Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province. When the ship capsized, it was about halfway through an 11-day cruise, winding upstream with stops at scenic and historic sites.

The popular route often includes a stop at the Three Gorges Dam, which the Eastern Star had yet to reach, and the Fengdu Ghost Town, which got its reputation from a local folklore. Tourists can also walk within an ancient city called Jingzhou with city walls and battlefields that are described in the Chinese literary classic “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.”

Maritime accidents of this magnitude are uncommon in China, where major rivers are popular routes for tours and cruises.

The incident comes after China has beefed up maritime safety regulations in recent years, with authorities becoming even more stringent after last year's South Korean ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people, industry insiders said.

The Eastern Star, owned by the Chongqing Eastern Shipping Corp., passed inspections by the authorities in the central province of Chongqing last month, unnamed officials at the Nanjing Maritime Bureau told the official People’s Daily. It was not checked at the Nanjing port as ships like it are usually inspected every three months.  

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/3/death-toll-grows-in-in-yangtze-river-tragedy.html

Structure of the Lead：

WHO-Tour guide Zhang Hui, rescuers, victims

WHEN-not given

WHAT-more people died in Yangtze River tragedy

WHY-stormy weather

WHERE-Yangtze River

HOW-not given

Keywords：

1. dim 黯淡

2.  maritime 海上

3.  yield 產生

4. unruly 不羈

5. beefed up 加強

Week three: 賈伯斯史丹佛大學演說

The famous Steve Jobs commencement speech: ‘Stay hungry. Stay foolish.’

 By Valerie Strauss May 18, 2014

Extract from Steve Jobs's Stanford University Commencement Speech

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/05/18/the-famous-steve-jobs-commencement-speech-stay-hungry-stay-foolish/

1. What disease did Steve get?

2. Which quote did Steve Job read?

3. Why did Steve Job still staunch when he got pancreatic cancer?

4. Where  did this speech take place?

5. How can we get benefit from Steve Jobs's speech?

Keywords:

1. pancreatic cancer 胰腺癌
2. naked 裸
3. diagnosed 確診
4. intestine 腸子
5. intellectual 知識份子
6. trap 陷阱

Week two:翁山蘇姬

Aung San Suu Kyi, a tenacious fighter for democracy

She is small but only in physical stature. Aung San Suu Kyi is the very embodiment of Myanmar's long struggle for democracy.

The 66-year-old human rights icon defied Myanmar's authoritarian military junta with her quiet demeanor and grace when she spent 15 of 21 years under house arrest for her unending opposition to authoritarian rule in Myanmar.

By the time she was freed in November 2010, she had become, perhaps, the world's most recognizable political prisoner. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.

Over the past year, Suu Kyi has met repeatedly with Myanmar's President Thein Sein and the country's minister for labor and for social welfare, relief and resettlement, Aung Kyi.

Now, she will participate in Myanmar's next elections, Nyan Win, the spokesman for her National League for Democracy, said Friday. Her National League for Democracy announced earlier Friday that it planned to re-register as a political party and participate in all future parliamentary elections.

During her captivity, she lived quietly by herself at her disintegrating Inya Lake villa in Yangon (the former capital, also known as Rangoon), accompanied solely by two maids.

She had little outside human contact except for visits from her doctor.

Sometimes, though, she was able to speak over the wall of her compound to her supporters, never once tiring of her crusade to break down the tyranny of dictatorship in her beloved homeland of Burma, the alternate name for Myanmar.

Known as the "lady" in Myanmar, Suu Kyi has been compared to former South African President Nelson Mandela, who spent a chunk of his life in jail for fighting apartheid.

In an interview with CNN several years ago, Suu Kyi, in fact, likened Myanmar's plight to South Africa's former brutal race-based system.

"It's a form of apartheid," she said. "In Africa, it was apartheid based on color. Here, it is apartheid based on ideas. It is as though those who want democracy are somehow of an alien inferior breed and this is not so."

The daughter of Gen. Aung San, a hero of Burmese independence, Suu Kyi spent much of her early life abroad, going to school in India and at Oxford University in England.

She never sought political office. Rather, leadership was bestowed upon her when she returned home in 1988 after her mother suffered a stroke.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/18/world/asia/myanmar-suu-kyi-profile/index.html

1. Why did Aung San Suu Kyi be under house arrest?

2. How many years did Aung San Suu Kyi be under house arrest?

3. When did Aung San Suu Kyi be freed?

4. What prize did Aung San Suu Kyi win?

5. Where did Aung San Suu Kyi spend much of her early life abroad?

Keywords:

1. embodiment 實施方案

2. resettlement 安置

3. captivity 囚禁

4. crusade 聖戰

5. apartheid 種族隔離

6. plight 困境

7. inferior 劣勢

8. bestow 賜予

Week one:阿帕契醜聞

Taiwan defence minister apologises over helicopter scandal

• By Joyce Huang
• POSTED: 07 Apr 2015 21:05
 
• UPDATED: 07 Apr 2015 21:50

Taiwan's Defence Minister Kao Kuang-chi has apologised over a scandal involving a top Apache helicopter pilot who gave 26 friends and family an illegal tour of an army base.

TAIPEI: Taiwan's Defence Minister Kao Kuang-chi on Tuesday (Apr 7) apologised over a scandal involving a top Apache helicopter pilot who gave 26 friends and family an illegal tour of an army base.

The scandal was exposed after Taiwanese TV presenter Janet Lee posted photos on Facebook that showed her posing in the cockpit of an Apache helicopter. Unwittingly, Ms Lee revealed a serious breach of security at the Cavalry Brigade in the northern city of Taoyuan, where the island’s elite fleet of US-made Apache helicopters are stationed.

The expose has triggered a public outcry and forced the island’s top brass to launch a thorough investigation. They have since discovered that one of the Apache unit’s top army pilots Lao Nai-cheng invited dozens of relatives and friends including Ms Lee for a tour of the hangar on the restricted military base.

Lieutenant Colonel Lao was also seen in photos online wearing his pilot helmet at a party, which he smuggled off-base illegally.

“Colonel Lao has accumulated two major demerits and, for both of his misconducts, will face legal action by the Prosecutors’ Office in Taoyuan,” said David Lo, a military spokesman.

But Mr Lao is not the only one who has breached security regulations. The Defence Ministry also found that his superior organised a similar tour of the base.

The Ministry is not taking the officers’ negligence and abuse of power lightly and has imposed penalties on 17 senior officers - of these four, including Lieutenant Colonel Lao, were removed from their posts.

Minister of National Defence Kao Kuang-chi apologised for the scandal. “The security lapse and disciplinary breach, which occurred in some of our military units, has triggered a deep public outrage and tainted the military's reputation,” he said. “As the Defence Minister, I’m disheartened and would like to express my deepest apologies to the public.”

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has ordered the island’s armed forces to conduct a disciplinary review, tighten the discipline of the military and restore the public's faith in it.

Meanwhile, prosecutors have also examined evidence to see if the accused parties have leaked classified information to the public and violated security laws, such as the National Security Information Protection Act.

If found guilty, Mr Lao could receive a sentence of up to 15 years. Civilians found guilty of leaking classified information could face a minimum prison term of five years.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/taiwan-defence-minister/1770878.html

1. Who was the leading role of this scandal?

2. Where did this event take place?

3. Why did Taiwanese TV presenter Janet Lee be punished?

4. What  punishments did they get?

5. When did Taiwan's Defence Minister Kao Kuang-chi apologize?

6. How did Minister of National Defence Kao Kuang-chi feel?

Keywords:

1. scandal (n) 醜聞

2. expose (v)  揭露

3. cockpit (n) 座艙

4. elite (n) 菁英

5. hangar (n) 機庫

6. discipline (n) 紀律

7. prosecutor (n) 起訴人