WEEK FOUR: Mars rover

NASA's Opportunity Mars rover will drive down a gully carved long ago by a fluid that might have been water, according to the latest plans for the 12-year-old mission. No Mars rover has done that before.

The longest-active rover on Mars also will, for the first time, visit the interior of the crater it has worked beside for the last five years. These activities are part of a two-year extended mission that began Oct. 1, the newest in a series of extensions going back to the end of Opportunity's prime mission in April 2004.

Opportunity launched on July 7, 2003 and landed on Mars on Jan. 24, 2004 (PST), on a planned mission of 90 Martian days, which is equivalent to 92.4 Earth days.

"We have now exceeded the prime-mission duration by a factor of 50," noted Opportunity Project Manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. "Milestones like this are reminders of the historic achievements made possible by the dedicated people entrusted to build and operate this national asset for exploring Mars."

Opportunity begins its latest extended mission in the "Bitterroot Valley" portion of the western rim of Endeavour Crater, a basin 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter that was excavated by a meteor impact billions of years ago. Opportunity reached the edge of this crater in 2011 after more than seven years of investigating a series of smaller craters. In those craters, the rover found evidence of acidic ancient water that soaked underground layers and sometimes covered the surface.

Sourse: Part of http://marsmobile.jpl.nasa.gov/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1940

What: Evidence of acidic ancient water

Who: NASA's Opportunity Mars rover

When: 2016

Where: Mars

Why: Because no Mars rover has done that before

Key words:
1.gully (N.) 小峽谷，水溝
2.Martian (A.) 戰神的，火星的
3.crater (N.) 火山口，隕石坑 (V.) 使...形成坑
4.diameter (N.) 直徑，倍率
5.excavate (V.) 挖掘(古物等)，開鑿
6.fluid (V.) 流動的 (N.) 流體
7.rover (N.) 流浪者，漫遊者

WEEK THREE: Syrian Refugee Crisis

The war in Syria has gone on for over five years and has claimed the lives of more than a quarter of a million people.

It is being fought between soldiers who support the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, and a group of fighters known as rebels, who don't want him to be in power anymore.

Because it is being fought between two sides within the same country, it is known as a civil war.

But why did it start and what do both sides want?

How did it all start?

The trouble began in 2011 in the Syrian city of Deraa.

It began because local people decided to protest after 15 schoolchildren were arrested - and reportedly tortured - for writing anti-government graffiti on a wall.

The protests were peaceful to begin with, calling for the release of the children, democracy and greater freedom for people in the country.

The government responded angrily and, on 18 March 2011, the army opened fire on protesters, killing four people.

The following day, they shot at mourners at the victims' funerals, killing another person.

People were shocked and angry at what had happened and soon the unrest spread to other parts of the country.

Source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16979186

What:

Who:

When:

Where:

Why:

Key words:
1.rebel (n.)反叛者
2.protest (v.)抗議
3.anti-government （a.）反政府的
4.mourner （n.）送葬者

WEEK TWO: Paris terrior attack

More than 120 people have been killed in a series of coordinated terrorist attacks across Paris, including a massacre at a rock concert.

The Bataclan concert hall in eastern Paris was playing host to sold out crowds who had turned out to see US rock band Eagles of Death Metal on Friday night (local time).

Gunmen and bombers also attacked busy restaurants and bars, and explosions were heard near a stadium in what a shaken French president Francois Hollande described as an unprecedented terrorist attack.

More than 350 people were injured in the attacks, about 100 of those seriously.

One Australian, Emma Grace Parkinson, 19, from Hobart, was believed to have been shot and was taken to hospital for treatment.

A witness inside the concert hall said black-clothed gunmen stormed the building and calmly fired AK-47s into the crowd.

Another witness said they heard one of the attackers shout in Arabic "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest), while another person said they heard a gunman blame France's intervention in the Syrian civil war as the reason for the attack.

Several explosions were heard after a police assault of the venue got underway, with reports later emerging that four gunmen, each wearing explosive belts, died.

Source:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-14/paris-attacks-120-dead-in-shootings-explosions/6940722

What:unpredictable attack
Who:Gunmen and bombers
When:Friday night, 13, November
Where:The Bataclan concert hall in eastern Paris
Why:Maybe is France's intervention in the Syrian civil war made them to do this.

Key words:
1.coordinated (a.)同等的
2.massacre (v.n.)屠殺
3.unprecedented （a.）前所未有的
4.intervention （n.）介入
5.assault （v.n.）攻擊

WEEK ONE: Malala

2012 Attacked for Going to School

On 9 October 2012, as Malala and her friends were travelling home from school, a masked gunman entered their school bus and asked for Malala by name. She was shot with a single bullet which went through her head, neck and shoulder. Two of her friends were also injured in the attack.

Malala survived the initial attack, but was in a critical condition. She was moved to Birmingham in the United Kingdom for treatment at a hospital that specialises in military injuries. She was not discharged until January, 2013 by which time she had been joined by her family in the UK.

The Taliban's attempt to kill Malala received worldwide condemnation and led to protests across Pakistan. In the weeks after the attack, over 2 million people signed a right to education petition, and the National Assembly swiftly ratified Pakistan's first Right To Free and Compulsory Education Bill.

https://www.malala.org/malalas-story

WHO:Malala

WHAT:She was hit by gun shot

WHEN:On 9 October 2012

WHERE:School bus

WHY:Because she wants to go to school and study

Key words

(1)specialise (V.)專精於

(2)discharge (V.)排出，允許出院

(3)condemnation （N.）譴責

(4)petition (N.) 請願書

(5)Compulsory (Adj.) 義務，必須做的