China ratifies Paris climate deal
China yesterday announced that it has ratified the emissions-cutting agreement reached in Paris last year.
The US was also expected to announce that it was formally joining the Paris Agreement in advance of the G20 summit that starts today in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.
US President Barack Obama landed in Hangzhou yesterday and the US also ratified the deal shortly afterward.
While tensions have risen between Beijing and Washington during Obama’s term over issues including cyberhacking, the South China Sea and the planned deployment of a US anti-missile system in South Korea, combating climate change is one area where both countries have said they can work together.
China is the top emitter of carbon dioxide and the US is second. Together, they produce 38 percent of the world’s human-caused carbon dioxide emissions.
Both were key to getting an agreement in Paris last year. To build momentum for a deal, they set a 2030 deadline for emissions to stop rising and announced their “shared conviction that climate change is one of the greatest threats facing humanity.”
China in April said that it would ratify the Paris Agreement, negotiated by representatives of 195 nations in Paris last year, before its hosting of the G20 summit. The agreement goes into force when joined by at least 55 nations that produce a total of 55 percent of global emissions.
Before China’s announcement, 23 countries had ratified or otherwise joined the agreement, representing just 1 percent of global emissions, according to the World Resources Institute.
The proposal adopted by the Chinese National People’s Congress Standing Committee says the agreement will help China “play a bigger role in global climate governance,” the Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
Li Shuo (李碩), senior climate policy adviser for the environmental group Greenpeace, said that the two countries acting on the agreement was “a very important next step.”
If the agreement is eventually adopted, “we’ll have a truly global climate agreement that will bind the two biggest emitters in the world,” Li said.
The agreement’s long-term goal is to keep warming below 2°C compared with pre-industrial times. It has an aspirational goal of limiting the temperature rise to 1.5°C. Temperatures are said to have already risen by almost 1°C since the industrial revolution.
According to the Paris Agreement, countries are required to set national targets for reducing or reining in their greenhouse gas emissions. Those targets are not legally binding, but countries must report on their progress and update their targets every five years. The first cycle begins in 2020. Only developed countries are expected to slash their emissions in absolute terms. Developing nations are “encouraged” to do so as their capabilities evolve over time.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2016/09/04/2003654485
When: yesterday(2016.9.3)
Where: China
What: tatified last year's emissions-cutting agreement reached in Paris
Key Words:
ratified 批准
Committee 委員會
temperature 溫度
national targets 國家目標
slash 削減
emissions 排放量
2016年12月4日 星期日
Week five:火箭回收Elon Musk, SpaceX, rocket, landing
Here's Why the SpaceX Rocket Landing Is Such a Big Deal
In science fiction, landing a rocket seems like no big deal. It's much more difficult in real life — which is why SpaceX founder Elon Musk was so excited when the Falcon 9 landed intact near its launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Monday night after launching satellites to space.
In November, Blue Origin, which was founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, also landed a rocket.
This is a big deal because rockets are expensive. The Falcon 9 that SpaceX uses costs around $60 million to build, the company told NBC News. Fuel costs per launch are about $200,000.
Most rockets are designed to burn up during re-entry. That means rebuilding a $60 million rocket for every single space mission— not exactly the most cost-effective system.
Reusable rockets, however, would mean cargo could be sent into space with only the fuel and maintenance costs to consider.
"If one can figure out how to effectively reuse rockets just like airplanes, the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred," Musk said on SpaceX's website.
"A fully reusable vehicle has never been done before. That really is the fundamental breakthrough needed to revolutionize access to space."
If it's 100 times cheaper to send something into space, imagine how many more companies would be able to launch space ventures, ranging from satellites to commercial space flights.
"With lower costs and competition, prices could fall, stimulating demand for more access to space," Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, told NBC News.
While the Falcon 9 landing was "an important" step toward reusable rockets, Pace said, SpaceX engineers still have a lot of work to do. So far, they have managed to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket.
"The next step is to see how much it costs and how long it takes to refurbish the recovered stage and fly it again," Pace said.
And if companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance (a consortium of Boeing and Lockheed Martin) can reuse rockets again and again? That might not only make for cheaper satellites, but could also open up the next frontier: Mars.
Musk has repeatedly talked about the importance of reaching the Red Planet, not only for NASA pioneers, but for ordinary people. Considering it cost around $2.5 billion to send the Curiosity rover to Mars, prices will have to drop a lot to make sending large groups of human colonists feasible.
"This is a critical step along the way toward being able to establish a city on Mars," Musk told reporters on Monday. "That's what all this is about.
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/here-s-why-spacex-rocket-landing-such-big-deal-n484481
What: SpaceX rocket landing
Where: space
Who: Elon Musk
Why: To reduce the cost of maintenance; to make a reusable rocket
Key Words
The Falcon 9 獵鷹9
satellite 人造衛星
maintenance 保養;維修
cargo 貨物
revolutionize 革命化
intact 完整的;完好的
breakthrough 突破
feasible 可行的
In science fiction, landing a rocket seems like no big deal. It's much more difficult in real life — which is why SpaceX founder Elon Musk was so excited when the Falcon 9 landed intact near its launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Monday night after launching satellites to space.
In November, Blue Origin, which was founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, also landed a rocket.
This is a big deal because rockets are expensive. The Falcon 9 that SpaceX uses costs around $60 million to build, the company told NBC News. Fuel costs per launch are about $200,000.
Most rockets are designed to burn up during re-entry. That means rebuilding a $60 million rocket for every single space mission— not exactly the most cost-effective system.
Reusable rockets, however, would mean cargo could be sent into space with only the fuel and maintenance costs to consider.
"If one can figure out how to effectively reuse rockets just like airplanes, the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred," Musk said on SpaceX's website.
"A fully reusable vehicle has never been done before. That really is the fundamental breakthrough needed to revolutionize access to space."
If it's 100 times cheaper to send something into space, imagine how many more companies would be able to launch space ventures, ranging from satellites to commercial space flights.
"With lower costs and competition, prices could fall, stimulating demand for more access to space," Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, told NBC News.
While the Falcon 9 landing was "an important" step toward reusable rockets, Pace said, SpaceX engineers still have a lot of work to do. So far, they have managed to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket.
"The next step is to see how much it costs and how long it takes to refurbish the recovered stage and fly it again," Pace said.
And if companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance (a consortium of Boeing and Lockheed Martin) can reuse rockets again and again? That might not only make for cheaper satellites, but could also open up the next frontier: Mars.
Musk has repeatedly talked about the importance of reaching the Red Planet, not only for NASA pioneers, but for ordinary people. Considering it cost around $2.5 billion to send the Curiosity rover to Mars, prices will have to drop a lot to make sending large groups of human colonists feasible.
"This is a critical step along the way toward being able to establish a city on Mars," Musk told reporters on Monday. "That's what all this is about.
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/here-s-why-spacex-rocket-landing-such-big-deal-n484481
What: SpaceX rocket landing
Where: space
Who: Elon Musk
Why: To reduce the cost of maintenance; to make a reusable rocket
Key Words
The Falcon 9 獵鷹9
satellite 人造衛星
maintenance 保養;維修
cargo 貨物
revolutionize 革命化
intact 完整的;完好的
breakthrough 突破
feasible 可行的
2016年11月13日 星期日
Syrian Civil War
Syrian Civil War: No let-up to bombing of Aleppo
MEDICS’ PLEA: Medecins Sans Frontieres said just 35 doctors are left in Aleppo’s eastern areas, which have been the target of Syrian forces and Russian bombs
Syrian government forces kept up their blistering assault on rebel-held eastern Aleppo after a divided UN Security Council failed to agree on a truce to save the war-battered city, while Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) yesterday pleaded for access to treat the wounded in the eastern sector.
Regime forces and their allies were advancing street by street in the eastern sector, which has been out of government hands since 2012.
Clashes on the ground, as well as fierce airstrikes, went on all night and continued Sunday, especially in the Sheikh Said district, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The army launched its assault on the besieged sector of Aleppo more than two weeks ago with the backing of Russian airstrikes, aiming to reunite the city, which was Syria’s economic hub before its conflict erupted in 2011.
Airstrikes and artillery fire by the regime and its Russian ally killed 290 people, mostly civilians and including 57 children, since the Sept. 22 launch of operations in Aleppo, the observatory said.
The Britain-based monitor, which compiles its information from sources on the ground, said 50 civilians, including nine children, have also died in rebel bombardment of regime-controlled western districts.
Syria’s official Syrian Arab News Agency on Sunday said that rebel shelling killed a baby and wounded two people in the Hamdaniyeh neighborhood.
MSF, which supports eight hospitals in the eastern quarters, said only 35 doctors are left serving in eastern Aleppo, amid an estimated population of 275,000.
The organization said that the medical workers in Aleppo are exhausted and facilities overstretched and facing an impending fuel shortage.
On Saturday at the UN, Russia vetoed a French-drafted resolution demanding an end to the bombing of Aleppo, but its own rival measure on a truce was rejected.
The failure of the two resolutions deepened divisions at the Security Council between Moscow and the Western powers backing rebel forces in Syria’s five-year war, which has killed more than 300,000 people.
It was the fifth time that Russia used its veto to block UN action on the war in Syria.
Shortly after Russia’s veto, the Security Council rejected a rival draft presented by Moscow that called for a ceasefire, but did not mention a halt to airstrikes.
British Ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft described Saturday’s failure in New York as “a bad day for Russia, but an even worse day for the people of Aleppo.”
French President Francois Hollande said in a TV interview to be broadcast yesterday that he would hesitate to receive Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visits Paris on Oct. 19 because of “war crimes” in Aleppo.
An analysis published on Sunday by the US-based IHS Conflict Monitor said that in the first quarter of this year, just 26 percent of Russian strikes in Syria targeted the Islamic State group.
That dipped to 22 percent in the second quarter, and 17 percent in the third quarter, the report said.http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2016/10/11/2003656943
5W1H
Who: Syrian government
Where: Syrian
What: Syrian Civil War
When: 2012
Why: Failed to agree on a truce to save the war-battered city
Keyword
Syrian Civil War : 敘利亞內戰
airstrike：空襲
artillery fire：砲火
economic hub : 經濟中心
truce : 休戰
hesitate : 猶豫
Paris terror attacks
How do you explain the Paris terror attacks to a child? This father found the most beautiful way
The dad has been praised for how he responded to his young son's comments - and it's even allowing some French people to 'let go of their tears'.
Since Friday, France and the rest of the world have been trying to make sense of devastating terror attacks that rocked Paris , leaving 129 people dead.
We have seen footage of people laying flowers at the site of the massacres, or silently weeping during yesterday's two-minute silence.
But one heartwarming video circulating on social media shows the 'humanity in the face of inhumanity' we have come to recognise in response to the devastation - and is even helping French people come to terms with their grief.
In an interview with Le Petit Journal in front of floral tributes left for the dead, a young boy is asked if he understands what has happened.
He responds: "Yes, because they are very, very, very bad. Baddies are not very nice. We need to be really careful because we will have to move home."
Patting his head and telling him not to worry, his father replies: "We don't have to move home. France is our home."
Still concerned, the boy says: "But they are baddies, daddy," to which his dad responds: "Yes, but there are bad people everywhere."
When the boy expresses a worry that the bad people can 'shoot at us' with their guns, the conversation takes a beautiful turn.
"But flowers do nothing," comes the response, to which Dad replies that the flowers are there to fight against the guns.
"It will protect us?" he innocently asks. "And the candles too?"
Suddenly, the boy looks visibly comforted. His worry slowly melting away, he asks again: "The flowers and candles will protect us?" - a heartwarming smile creeping across his face as his father says yes.
The interviewer asks the youngster if he feels better now, to which he replies: "Yes, I feel better."
The man has won praise for the way he dealt with his son's questions and comments - and the beautiful exchange has even enabled some French viewers to come to terms with their own grief.
Structure of the Lead：
Who-the dad, his son and French people
What-the dad responded to his young son's comments - and it's even allowing some French people to 'let go of their tears'
How-the dad responded to his young son's comments - and it's even allowing some French people to 'let go of their tears'
Why-not given
When-not given
Where-not given
Keywords:
1.devastating:毀滅性的
2.footage:以尺計算長度
3.inhumanity:不人道
4.grief:悲痛
5.pat:輕拍
6.innocently:天真地
2016年10月24日 星期一
2015年代表字：Emoji, world of the year, 2015, Oxford Dictionary
Mon, Nov 16, 2015
By Oxford
That’s right – for the first time ever, the
Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is a pictograph: this emoticons officially
called the ‘Face with Tears of Joy’ emoji, though you may know it by other
names. There were other strong contenders from a range of fields, outlined
below, but this emoticon was chosen as the ‘word’ that best reflected the
ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015.
Why was this chosen?
Emojis (the plural can be either emoji or
emojis) have been around since the late 1990s, but 2015 saw their use, and use of
the word emoji, increase hugely.
This year Oxford University Press have
partnered with leading mobile technology business Swift-Key to explore
frequency and usage statistics for some of the most popular emoji across the
world, and this emoticons was chosen because it was the most used emoji
globally in 2015. Swift-Key identified that this emoticon made up 20% of all
the emojis used in the UK in
2015, and 17% of those in the US
A brief history of emoji
An emoji
is ‘a small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion in
electronic communication’; the term emoji is a loanword from Japanese, and
comes from e ‘picture’ + moji ‘letter, character’. The similarity to the
English word emoticon has helped its memorability and rise in use, though the
resemblance is actually entirely coincidental: emoticon (a facial expression
composed of keyboard characters, such as ;), rather than a stylized image)
comes from the English words emotion and icon.
Emojis
are no longer the preserve of texting teens – instead, they have been embraced
as a nuanced form of expression, and one which can cross language barriers.
Even Hillary Clinton solicited feedback in the form of emojis, and this emoticons has had notable use from celebrities and brands alongside everyone
else – and even appeared as the caption to the Vine which apparently kicked off
the popularity of the term on fleek, which appears on our WOTY shortlist.
Now that
we’re all used to emojis being a shorthand method of communicating our
thoughts, emotions, and responses, it made us wonder: what would it look like
if you used emojis in real life? Our video imagines what exactly would happen.
http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/11/word-of-the-year-2015-emoji/
Structure of the Lead：
WHO: The emoticon which
was officially called the ‘Face with Tears of Joy’ emoji
WHAT: be chosen as the Oxford Dictionaries Word
of the year
WHEN: 2015
WHY: It was the most
used emoji globally and most people think it is the best way to reflect the
ethos, mood, and preoccupations.
WHERE: not given
HOW: not given
Keywords：
1. The Oxford Dictionary - 牛津字典
2. emoticon - 表情符號
3. contender - (冠軍)爭奪者
4. memorability - 易記得
5. frequency - 頻率
6. usage statistic - 使用統計
7. shortlist - 名單
8. shorthand method - 速記法
9. notable - 顯著
10. language barriers - 語言隔閡
訂閱：
意見 (Atom)