week 7-himalaya avalanche hikers

Everest snowfall traps dozens of hikers in mountain lodges

Dozens of foreign hikers and Nepali guides returning from a trekking trip to the base camp of Mount Everest have been cut off by heavy snowfall, a police official said on Sunday.

They have been forced to stay in four hotel resorts in the Gokyo area near the world's tallest peak, which has been battered by heavy snowfall following freak rains in the last 24 hours, police officer Chandra Dev Rai said from Salleri, the nearest town.

Gokyo lies in Solukhumbu region where Mount Everest is located and is a popular destination for hikers. Tens of thousands of trekkers and climbers visit the Solukhumbu region in northeast Nepal every year.

"There is chest-deep snow in the area. There is no report of any casualty so far. If the snowfall continues for long the tourists need emergency rescue," Mr Rai told Reuters by phone.

Most mountainous areas in Nepal have experienced snowfall due to rains which are not common during this time of the year.

Weather officials in Kathmandu said the bad weather could continue for a couple of days, worsening the plight of the trapped tourists who could face a food shortage.

D.B. Koirala, chief of the Himalayan Rescue Association Nepal, said he had not received any SOS call from the hikers.

December ends the peak tourist season in South Asia's poorest country, which gets nearly four percent of its gross domestic product from tourism.

Freak snowfall and avalanches triggered by the tail of the Hudhud cyclone in October killed at least 43 foreign and Nepali hikers in the popular Annapurna Circuit, in the west of the country.

An avalanche struck Mount Everest during the peak climbing season in April killing 16 Nepali guides in the deadliest incident on the world's tallest peak, forcing hundreds of foreign climbers to abandon their ascent to the 8,850 metre (29,035 feet) Everest summit.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/mounteverest/11293143/Everest-snowfall-traps-dozens-of-hikers-in-mountain-lodges.html

Structure of the lead:

What: returning from a trekking trip to the base camp of Mount Everest have been cut off by heavy snowfall

Who: Dozens of foreign hikers and Nepali guides

How: a police official said

Why: Mount Everest have been cut off by heavy snowfall

Where: Mount Everest

When: Sunday

Keyword:

1. trekking 艱苦跋涉的

2. snowfall 降雪

3. peak 山頂

4. hiker 登山者

5. plight 困境

6. avalanche 雪崩

7. trigger 引發

8. cyclone 龍捲風

week6-Scotland independence referendum

Sir Tom Hunter: No need for another referendum for 15 years

ONE of Scotland's most successful businessmen, Sir Tom Hunter, has said there should not be another referendum on Scottish independence for ten to 15 years, saying the country is already set to get greater control over its destiny.

The Ayrshire entrepreneur said the Smith Commission on devolution formed after the referendum had suggested a range of additional powers for Scotland. With reforms that were already in train Sir Tom thinks enough changes are in prospect.

Asked if the Smith Commission proposals went far enough, he said: "Yes, I think they're a very good step forward and I think what we need to do is just prove that the Scottish Parliament can take on the next step of devolution. I think we've proven that the Parliament has been a good thing for Scotland, it has taken care of Scotland's interests and I think this is another step forward."

He added: "I think we have got a lot of powers which the parliament's never used, we're going to get more powers under the Scotland Act, I think it's 2016 they come in, so there are more powers to digest and our polling before the referendum actually said that people didn't really know what the powers were, what extra powers we were going to get anyway. So I think we've got to get on with this, what we've got so far.

The Smith Commission has done a good job. There's plenty more to get on with there."

Asked if he was concerned that the prospect of a so-called neverendum could be damaging, he said:

"I think there should be something like when we have a referendum of such importance it shouldn't be able to be brought back say within ten to fifteen years. I think that would be a healthy thing because people would say let's get on with what we've got and if there is an appetite with the Scottish voting public to have another one that's fine but there needs to be a decent period of time before the next one."

Sir Tom has not said how he voted in the referendum.

Resource: http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/scottish-politics/sir-tom-hunter-no-need-for-another-referendum-for-15-years.114739658

Structure of the lead:

Who: ONE of Scotland's most successful businessmen, Sir Tom Hunter

When: not given

What: has said there should not be another referendum on Scottish independence for ten to 15 years

Why: saying the country is already set to get greater control over its destiny.

Where: not given

How: not given

Keywords:

1.      referendum 公投

2.      independence 獨立

3.      destiny 命運

4.      entrepreneur 企業家

5.      parliament 國會

6.      proposals 提議

7.      polling 民調

week5-Ferguson shooting

New Autopsy Report Changes Everything About the Michael Brown Shooting

The county autopsy report on Michael Brown largely corroborates the account of the shooting given by Ferguson, Mo., Police Officer Darren Wilson. Two independent doctors reviewed the report from St. Louis County for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, KTVI reported.

According to the report, the first shot fired from Wilson’s gun was at close range and hit Brown’s right thumb, adding weight to Wilson’s testimony that the two struggled for the gun in Wilson’s police cruiser. Previous reports confirmed that Brown’s blood was found on Wilson’s gun and uniform, as well as inside the car.

The wound on Brown’s thumb contained “microscopic matter from the barrel” of the officer’s pistol, according to the report.

Wilson’s other five shots hit Brown from the front, contradicting some witness reports that Brown had been running away from the officer when he was shot. The angle of the wound to Brown’s forehead indicated that he was either falling or lunging forward when the bullet hit him.

Perhaps most importantly, the autopsy report indicated that Brown did not have his hands in the air when Officer Wilson shot him.

In addition, the county toxicology report on Brown was positive for marijuana.

Results on an autopsy performed by federal officials have not been released.

As the information coming out of the grand jury investigation seems increasingly to support Officer Wilson’s version of the events of that day, it remains to be seen how the protesters in Ferguson and St. Louis, many of whom are from elsewhere, will respond to the news.

We predict that they’ll either ignore it or claim that the report is another lie from the “white power establishment,” or words to that effect. Like good liberals, they are not interested in truth, science, evidence, or history — unless it supports their agenda.

Source: http://conservativetribune.com/new-autopsy-michael-brown/

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- The county autopsy report on Michael Brown

WHEN-not given

WHAT- largely corroborates the account of the shooting given by Ferguson, Mo., Police Officer Darren Wilson.

WHY- the shooting given by Ferguson, Mo., Police Officer Darren Wilson WHERE-not given

HOW- Two independent doctors reviewed the report from St. Louis County for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, KTVI reported.

Keywords：

   1. autopsy: 驗屍

   2. corroborates:證實

   3. account:描述

   4. thumb:拇指

   5. contradicting:爭議

   6. lunge:衝,撲

   7. toxicology:毒藥學

   8. protester:抗議者

week4-Ice Bucket Challenge, ALS

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

New research projects across the country dedicated to solving ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, have begun to receive millions of dollars in additional funding thanks to this year’s Ice Bucket Challenge. The funding marks the ALS Association’s first move toward distributing the $115 million it raised to fight the disease.

“We are tripling the amount annually that we spend on research,” said ALS Association President Barbara Newhouse. “We have a sense of urgency, but we also recognize that we have to be good stewards of the donor dollars as we move this forward as quickly as researchers can research.”

Some of the first projects to receive funding include one trying to sequence the genes of 15,000 people with ALS, one partnering with pharmaceutical companies to advance drug treatment, and one developing gene therapy that might reduce the spread of the disease through the body. Hospitals and labs around the world that have received funding are Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, the University of California San Francisco, the New York Genome Center and others. The ALS Association has distributed more than $20 million so far and has committed to seeing any project it’s funded through to completion.

In addition to funding research, the Ice Bucket Challenge money will be used to improve treatment for people living with disease, Newhouse said.

Despite the organization’s now-deeper pockets, Newhouse insists that it will take time before the group will determine fully how to best leverage its influx in cash. Newhouse said she’s been “inundated with proposals” for research projects, and they continue to arrive in her inbox.

“It’s been amazing how many people have come out of the woodwork to say ‘I have the answer,’” she said. “We’re trying to sort through what’s fact and what’s fiction.”

And, while $100 million represents a marked increase in funding for the fight against ALS, Newhouse said it’s more of a starting point than the key to a solution.

Newhouse thinks the funding could lead to a breakthrough—”I’m always a glass half-full kind of person,” she said. “But we would be kidding ourselves if anybody believed that $100 million is going to be all that’s needed to find an effective treatment.”

Resource:http://time.com/topic/als-ice-bucket-challenge-2/

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- New research projects across the country

WHEN-yesterday

WHAT- have begun to receive millions of dollars in additional funding

WHY- dedicated to solving ALS

WHERE-not given

HOW- thanks to this year’s Ice Bucket Challenge.

Keywords：

1.      ALS肌萎缩性脊髓侧索硬化症

2.      donor 捐贈者

3.      pharmaceutical大型製藥公司

4.      fund 基金 籌募資金

5.      leverage 影響

6.      sort 分類

7.      treatment 療法

week3-University of California, Santa Barbara, Elliot Rodger

Elliot Rodger: UCSB Shooter Planned To Burn Down Sorority House

When Elliot Rodger knocked on the door of the UCSB Alpha Phi sorority house on May 23 and then proceeded to open fire on passersby, his disturbing manifesto revealed that his original plan was to set the house on fire.

Elliot Rodger, 22, murdered six people and injured 13 others on May 23 when he opened fire on the University of California, Santa Barbara campus. Before the murder, Elliot wrote a disturbing 140-page manifesto which detailed his supposed reasons for the killings, as well as his various alternate plans. Read on, but beware that the content below is very disturbing.

“I will punish all females for the crime of depriving me of sex. They have starved me of sex for my entire youth, and gave that pleasure to other men. In doing so, they took many years of my life away,” he wrote. “I cannot kill every single female on earth, but I can deliver a devastating blow that will shake all of them to the core of their wicked hearts.

“I will attack the very girls who represent everything I hate in the female gender: The hottest sorority of UCSB.” He was referring to Alpha Phi, the door of which he would knock on for a few minutes on May 23 before murdering passersby after there was no answer.

His manifesto revealed that he had been planning the massacre for a long time — he had “stalk[ed] them many times,” he wrote, and his plan was to “sneak into their house at around 9:00 p.m. on the Day of Retribution, just before all of the partying starts, and slaughter every single one of them with my guns and knives. If I have time, I will set their whole house on fire. Then we shall see who the superior one really is!”

Obviously, Elliot was deeply ill. His perverse sense of entitlement regarding what he thought women owed him was not only undeserved, but truly insane.

Our thoughts are with the families of the victims affected by this horrible tragedy, and for the Isla Vista community and students of UCSB who are shaken by Elliot Rodger’s horrific actions.

resource:http://hollywoodlife.com/2014/05/27/elliot-rodger-manifesto-alpha-phi-burn-house-down-ucsb-shooter/

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO- Elliot Rodger

   WHEN- May 23

   WHAT- proceeded to open fire on passersby

   WHY-not given

   WHERE- UCSB Alpha Phi sorority house

   HOW- his disturbing manifesto revealed that his original plan was to set the house on fire.

Keywords：

1.      sorority 姊妹聯誼會

2.      disturbing 令人震驚的

3.      manifesto 宣言

4.      females 女性

5.      passersby 路人

6.      slaughter 屠宰

7.      perverse 邪惡的

8.      insane 瘋狂的

week2-Korea ferry disater

South Korea Ferry Disaster Captain Apologizes for 'Grave Crime'

SEOUL, South Korea - The captain of a South Korean ferry that capsized in April killing about 300 people apologized in court on Wednesday for his failure to rescue passengers in the country's worst maritime disaster for decades. "I have committed a grave crime. I am sorry," Lee Joon-seok, the 68-year-old captain, was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.

The overloaded ferry Sewol capsized while making a turn on a routine voyage to the holiday island of Jeju. Lee was among 15 crew members accused of abandoning the sharply listing ferry after telling the passengers to stay put in their cabins. Four, including the captain, face homicide charges. The rest face lesser charges, including negligence. "I know I can't get out of the prison no matter how much my lawyer and God help me," Lee said. "But I can't have my children and grandchildren called a murderer's family. I have never had any intent to kill." Video footage of the crew abandoning the vessel after instructing the passengers, mostly teenagers, to remain in their cabins caused outrage across South Korea. The court is expected to rule in November.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/south-korea-ferry-disaster/south-korea-ferry-disaster-captain-apologizes-grave-crime-n220821

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- The captain of a South Korean ferry that capsized in April killing about 300 people

WHEN-Wednesday

WHAT-apologized

WHY- for his failure to rescue passengers in the country's worst maritime disaster for decades

WHERE-Seoul, South Korea

HOW- was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.

Keywords：

1. capsize:翻覆

2.apologize:道歉

3.accuse:指控

4.abandon:丟棄

5. homicide:殺人犯

6. teenagers:青少年

7. cabin:客艙

8. maritime:海事的

week1-Malala

Noble prize winner Malala Yousafzai renews call for education for all

(Reuters) - Malala Yousafzai, the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, renewed her call for world peace and universal education on Tuesday at a ceremony in which she was awarded the Liberty Medal.

“No girl, no child, anywhere, anywhere in this world should be deprived of education,” said Yousafzai, who is 17.

The Liberty Medal honours people who “strive to secure the blessings of liberty," according to the website of the National Constitution Centre, which presents the award each year in Philadelphia.

The medal comes with a $100,000 cash prize, which Yousafzai said she would donate to education and humanitarian relief efforts in her native Pakistan.

The award comes two weeks after Yousafzai became the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She rose to prominence as an 11-year-old girl who advocated for girls' rights to education as a blogger on the BBC's Urdu service. Shot in the head in October 2012 by Taliban gunmen intent on silencing her, she settled in Britain amid ongoing threats by extremists in Pakistan.

She now runs the Malala Fund, which is dedicated to empowering girls through education.

The teen spent Tuesday night being honoured by dignitaries who saw her through the lens of their professions and passions. University of Pennsylvania president Amy Gutman said Yousafzai underscored the importance of education.

Legal scholar Jeffrey Rosen said she mirrored the values found in the U.S. Constitution, and ABC News Correspondent Martha Raddatz said she was a living example of the power of words and the power of a free press.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg, Bernard Orr)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/10/22/uk-nobelprize-peace-malala-idUKKCN0IB04V20141022

 Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-Malala Yousafzai

   WHEN-Tuesday

   WHAT-renewed her call for world peace and universal education

   WHY-not given

   WHERE-a ceremony in which she was awarded the Liberty Medal.

   HOW-by the ceremony

Keywords：

1.renew:重申

2.award:授予
3.deprive :剝奪
4.advocate:提倡
5.silence:壓制
6.empower:准許
7.mirror:反映