Week 5 - Mars Rover

Mars 'mystery solved': has Nasa found water flowing on the Red Planet?

The water appears to exist in the form of “thin layers of wet soil", rather than pools of standing water, Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, one of the scientists who made the finding using new imaging techniques said.

The discovery of liquid water means Mars is “not the dry, arid planet that we thought of in the past”, Jim Green, Nasa’s director of planetary science said.

Crucially, it “suggests that it would be possible for there to be life today on Mars”, John Grunsfeld, Nasa's science mission chief, said.

Water is essential to life as we know it on Earth – and on Earth, wherever there is water there is also life, the scientists said.

However, it is not yet known whether the briny water discovered on Mars may be too salty to support terrestrial life forms.

Although microbes do exist in salty habitats on the Atacama Desert in South America, the most likely location for microbes on Mars would be in fresh water that scientists believe might exist deeper beneath the surface of the planet, scientists suggested.

Dr McEwen said he believed that “the possibility of life in the interior of Mars has always been very high” and it was “very likely” that there was life in the form of microbes “somewhere in the crust of Mars”.

Dr Grunsfeld said the briny water discovered on Mars could also be “useful to future travellers”, not only for hydration but potentially even for growing crops in “inflatable greenhouses”.

Nasa has already said it wants to put men on Mars and Dr Grunsfeld said he hoped Nasa would be able to do so “in the near future”. Any Mars mission by Nasa would cost tens of billions of dollars.

Michael Meyer, lead scientist for Nasa’s Mars Exploration Program said: “Now we know there is liquid water on the surface of this cold, desert planet. It seems that the more we study Mars, the more we learn how life could be supported and where there are resources to support life in the future.”

Structure of the Lead

      WHO-  Michael Meyer, scientists,John Grunsfeld,Dr Grunsfeld

      WHEN- not given 

      WHAT- found water flowing on the red planet

      WHY- water is essential to our life 

      WHERE- on the Mars

      HOW - the more we learn how life could be on the Mars, the more resources to support life in the future

keywords

1.planetary 行星的;漂泊的

2.briny 鹽水的;海水的

3.terrestrial 地球上的人;地球上;陸地上

4.microbe 微生物:細菌來源

5.crust 外殼

5.hydration 水合

6.inflatable 膨脹的

Week 4 - New Horizons

Kepler 452b: Hot and heavy - but could humans live on distant planet dubbed 'Earth 2'?

DESPITE taking millions of years to reach exoplanet Kepler 452-b, do scientists believe humans could survive of Earth's distant "bigger, older cousin"?.

By JON AUSTIN

PUBLISHED: 14:16, Wed, Jul 29, 2015 | UPDATED: 15:23, Wed, Jul 29, 2015

Kepler project scientists, who use the telescope of the same name to track down Earth-like planets - estimate 452-b is 60 per cent bigger and probably weighs five times as much as our own planet.

The five times bigger mass would make Kepler 452-b's gravitational pull at least twice as strong as on Earth - something humans would find very difficult to deal with, as possible space explorers would feel twice as heavy.

According to NASA scientists who unveiled the discovery of the planet last week, if humans ever reached Kepler 452-b we would eventually evolve into much stockier beings because of this force.

Jon Jenkins, of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, said: "It might be quite challenging at first.”

But the NASA experts also pointed out there were people on Earth who still functioned, albeit sluggishly, despite being twice or more their required body mass.

John Grunsfield, a former astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said humans could cope as firefighters, soldiers and backpackers often carry heavy loads, which mimick the effect of stronger gravity.

He said: "If we were there, we’d get stronger. 

“Our bones would actually get stronger. It would be like a workout every day.

“I suspect that, over time, we would adapt to the conditions, and perhaps become stockier over a long period of many generations.”

However, different gravity aside, Kepler-452b should look quite familiar as it orbits a star at about the same distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun.

Mr Jenkins added: "It would feel a lot like home, from the standpoint of the sunshine that you would experience. 

Structure of the Lead

      WHO-  Kepler project scientists, Jon Jenkins, NASA scientists ,Mr Jenkins

      WHEN-  Not given

      WHAT-  452-b is 60 per cent bigger and probably weighs five times as much as our own planet.

      WHY-  Because the force human beings will become stockier

      WHERE-  Kepler 452-b

      HOW - Not given 

keywords

1.  unveil  公開

2. stockier 結實的

3. albeit    雖然;僅管

4.sluggishly 緩慢地

5.administrator 管理者

6.mimick 模仿

7.functioned 起作用的 

8.orbit 軌道

9.standpoint 立場;觀點

week 3 - Same-sex marriage legal anywhere in the United States

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court declared Friday that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States.

Gay and lesbian couples already could marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia. The court’s 5-4 ruling means the remaining 14 states, in the South and Midwest, will have to stop enforcing their bans on same-sex marriage.

Gay rights supporters cheered, danced and wept outside the court when the decision was announced.

The outcome is the  culmination of two decades of Supreme Court litigation over marriage, and gay rights generally.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, just as he did in the court’s previous three major gay rights cases dating back to 1996. It came on the anniversary of two of those earlier decisions.

“No union is more profound than marriage,” Kennedy wrote, joined by the court’s four more liberal justices.

The stories of the people asking for the right to marry “reveal that they seek not to denigrate marriage but rather to live their lives, or honor their spouses’ memory, joined by its bond,” Kennedy said.

The four dissenting justices each filed a separate opinion explaining their views, but they agreed that states and their voters should have been left with the power to decide who can marry.

“This court is not a legislature. Whether same-sex marriage is a good idea should be of no concern to us,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in dissent. Roberts read a summary of his dissent from the bench, the first time he has done so in nearly 10 years as chief justice.

“If you are among the many Americans – of whatever sexual orientation – who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today’s decision,” Roberts said. “But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it.”

Justice Antonin Scalia said he is not concerned so much about same-sex marriage, but about “this court’s threat to American democracy.” Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas also dissented.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/same-sex-marriage-legal-anywhere-in-the-united-states-supreme-court-rules

Structure of the Lead

      WHO-  same-sex couples 

      WHEN- not given 

      WHAT- same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States.

      WHY-  people asked for the right to marry 

      WHERE- Washington

      HOW - the Supreme Court declared the right to  the same-sex couples 

keywords

1. enforce                  強調
2. Supreme Court    最高法院
3. culmination         極點;最高點
4. litigation                訴訟;起訴
5. profound              深切的;深奧的
6. denigrate               汙衊;毀謗;詆毀
7. spouse                   配偶
8. dissent                  不同意的;有不同意見的
9.chief                      主要的

Week 2 - throat cut

Taiwan rocked by 'cold-blooded murder' of eight-year-old girl in primary school bathroom

• Monday 1 June 2015

Schools in the Taiwanese capital Taipei are to review their security measures after the brutal murder of an eight-year-old girl sent shockwaves across the state.

The island’s Central News Agency reported that the second-grade student, identified only by her surname Liu, has died in hospital of her wounds a day after she was attacked by an intruder at Wenhua Elementary School.

Police said an attacker broke into the school and found the girl on her own in a bathroom, where he cut her throat twice with a knife.

Liu was found unconscious on the floor and taken to hospital,CNA reported. She underwent surgery and briefly regained a heartbeat, but died on Saturday morning.

The attack made front pages across Taiwan on Saturday, and according to the South China Morning Post prompted a press conference from Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je.(柯文哲)

Mr Ko said a task force was going to be set up to review school security, the SCMP reported, as well as establishing a system to monitor “potentially dangerous people”.

Police told CNA that a suspect, identified as 29-year-old Kung Chung-an(龔重安), was apprehended a short time after the attack.

Kung received a bail hearing on Saturday morning, CNA reported, at which prosecutors requested he be detained until he can be brought to trial.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/taiwan-rocked-by-cold-blooded-murder-of-eight-year-old-girl-in-primary-school-bathroom-10287495.html

      WHAT    - the eight-year-old girl who had throat cut dies in hospital

      WHY      -  not given

      WHERE - not given

      HOW      -  an attacker broke into the school and found the girl on her own in a bathroom, where he cut her throat twice with a knife.

1. shockwaves   在...中引起巨大衝擊
2.  undergo        接受
3. apprehend      逮捕
4. prosecutor     追訴者
5. detain            扣留
6. bail hearing   保釋聆訊
7. be brought to trial  出庭受審

week 1 - Malala Yousafzais , Nobel Peace Prize

English

Norwegian

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2014

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 is to be awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzay for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education. Children must go to school and not be financially exploited. In the poor countries of the world, 60% of the present population is under 25 years of age. It is a prerequisite for peaceful global development that the rights of children and young people be respected. In conflict-ridden areas in particular, the violation of children leads to the continuation of violence from generation to generation.

Showing great personal courage, Kailash Satyarthi, maintaining Gandhi's tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain. He has also contributed to the development of important international conventions on children's rights.

Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzay has already fought for several years for the right of girls to education, and has shown by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations. This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances. Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls' rights to education.

The Nobel Committee regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism. Many other individuals and institutions in the international community have also contributed. It has been calculated that there are 168 million child labourers around the world today. In 2000 the figure was 78 million higher. The world has come closer to the goal of eliminating child labour.

The struggle against suppression and for the rights of children and adolescents contributes to the realization of the “fraternity between nations” that Alfred Nobel mentions in his will as one of the criteria for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Oslo, 10 October 2014

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2014/press.html

 Structure of the Lead：

      WHO- Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzay

      WHEN- 2014

      WHAT- the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 is to be awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzay

      WHY- for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.

      WHERE- not given

      HOW - not given

keywords:

1.suppresion 鎮壓 (n.)

2.exploit 剝削 (v.)

3.prerequisite 首要事物 (n.)

4.conflict-ridden 充斥著衝突的 (a.)

5.criteria （判斷、批評的）標準 (n)

6.circumstance 情況 (n)

7.extremism  極端的傾向 (n)

8.insituation 機構 (n)

9.labourer 勞動者 (n)

10.fraternity 互助會 (n)