taiwan, low, temperature, snow

Taipei, Jan. 24 (CNA) Snow, which is rarely seen in Taiwan, an Asia-Pacific island crossed by the Tropic of Cancer, wowed people around the island Sunday with the appearance of the white stuff, from the capital Taipei in the north to Pingtung County in the south.

Under the influence of a strong cold air mass, many places around Taiwan -- even those located at an altitude of only 400 to 500 meters -- received a covering of snow or soft hail overnight, exciting the locals, who likely have never seen a silver world in real life since they were born.

Despite low temperatures, people were seen swarming to elevated areas, including Jiangziliaoshan (726 meters) in Keelung, Taipei's Yangmingshan, and Linkuo and Pinglin in New Taipei, to appreciate the natural beauty painted by snow.

According to the Central Weather Bureau, 27 weather stations in different parts of Taiwan registered their lowest temperatures Sunday.

The temperature in Taipei, northern Taiwan fell to 4 degrees Celsius, the lowest level ever detected in the capital in 43 years and the second-lowest since 3.2 degrees was recorded in 1972.

It was -3.1 degrees in Anbu in the Yangmingshan area, 5.8 degrees in Sua'o in northeastern Yilan County, and 4.2 degrees in Taoyuan's Xinwu -- all new lows for these places. In New Taipei's Banqiao, it was 3.8 degrees on Sunday morning -- the second-lowest level in the city's history.

The temperature in Taipei was forecast to dip further to 3 degrees Celsius late Sunday and early Monday, and to 4 degrees in central Taiwan and 6 degrees in the south, the bureau forecast.

People wanting to appreciate the snow were advised to do so on Sunday because with the decrease of moisture in the air, the chances for further snowfall will be lower Monday, the bureau said. 

http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201601240008.aspx

word :  
altitude  海拔
appreciate 激動
 moisture 水分 /水氣/濕氣
advised    細想過的
decrease   減少
rarely       很少/難得



What: the snow, from the capital Taipei in the north to Pingtung County in the south.
Where :Taiwan
When : Jan. 24 
Who :not mention
Why : because with the decrease of moisture in the air
How :not mention

Twelve Night

A new documentary about the plight of animals in Taiwan’s shelters has sparked a public discussion about the treatment of stray dogs and cats on the island, prompting the government to amend its policies.
“Twelve Nights,” shot almost entirely inside a government-run animal shelter in southern Taiwan, follows the fate of several stray dogs, starting from their initial capture on the streets. After 12 days in the shelter, the animals are destroyed, have died of disease, or, if they are lucky, end up in the arms of a new owner.

Although the problem of street dogs isn’t a fresh one in Taiwan, the movie has attracted a throng of animal lovers. As of the beginning of this week, “Twelve Nights” had pulled in more 30 million New Taiwan dollars (US$1 million) since its release on Nov. 29, according to the film’s distributor, a considerable amount for a documentary in Taiwan.

The film opens with a black-and-white puppy named Jumpy prancing happily in a well-manicured neighborhood and other harmless-looking dogs wandering the streets.

The scene quickly changes. Animals — including a kitten and a basket full of puppies — are jerked and tossed around by workers as they are taken to the shelter.

http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2013/12/13/film-triggers-debate-on-plight-of-taiwans-homeless-dogs/

What : about the plight of animals

Where : in Taiwan

Who : Cinema Giddens Ko

When :on Nov. 29

Why : not mention

How : should have used his influence to highlight social problems affecting humans before helping stray animals.

Taiwan from Above

Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above (Chinese: 看見台灣) is a 2013documentary film which documents Taiwan completely in aerial photography. It is directed by aerial photographer Chi Po-lin and produced by Hou Hsiao-hsien, with narration by Wu Nien-jen. The music is composed by Ricky Ho, with three songs written and performed by Nolay Piho (Lin Ching-tai). The film opened on November 1, 2013 at 44 theaters in Taiwan, with Chinese and English subtitles. The film broke the Taiwan box office records for the largest opening weekend and the highest total gross of a locally produced documentary. The film was nominated for Best Documentary and Best Original Film Score at the 50th Golden Horse Awards, winning the best documentary category.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Beauty:_Taiwan_from_Above

word : no

What :Taiwan from Above (Chinese: 看見台灣)
Who: aerial photographer Chi Po-lin and produced by Hou Hsiao-hsien, with narration by Wu Nien-jen.
Where: Taiwan 
When: on November 1, 2013 at 44 theaters in Taiwan
Why: documents Taiwan completely in aerial photography
How: nomation

Russian plane crash

At 06:14 Egyptian time (04:14 GMT), the plane failed to make scheduled contact with air traffic control based in Larnaca, Cyprus.The plane disappeared from radar screens six minutes later while flying over central Sinai. Egyptian authorities said no SOS calls were received by air traffic controllers.

Data released by the flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed that just before the radar signal was lost, the aircraft reached an altitude of more than 33,000ft (10,060m), then started to descend with a vertical speed of about 6,000ft a minute. The plane's forward speed meanwhile dropped to around 170km/h (105mph), slower than the speed necessary to continue safe flight.

Egyptian military aircraft subsequently located the wreckage of the plane in the Hasana area, 95km (59 miles) south of the Mediterranean coastal town of el-Arish.

Russian officials said the wreckage was scattered across a 20 sq km (7.7-sq mile) area, meaning that the plane broke up in mid-air before falling to earth.

Russia said on 17 November that a "terror act" was responsible for the crash and that "traces of foreign explosives" were found on debris of the Airbus.

UK security service investigators say they suspect someone with access to the aircraft's baggage compartment inserted an explosive device inside or on top of the luggage just before the plane took off.

Militants from that affiliate, known as Sinai Province, said they brought down the plane shortly after it crashed, with a spokesman claiming this was "in response to Russian air strikes that killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land". But he did not provide evidence, asserting: "We are not obliged to disclose the mechanism of its demise."

Egyptian officials have said it is too early to draw conclusions on the cause. Both of the plane's "black boxes" have been recovered as part of the investigation.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34687990

authorities 官方

track行蹤

aircraft  航空器

wreckage 失事

traces  痕跡

mechanism  機械

What : Russian plane crash
When :17 November 2015
Where : in Larnaca, Cyprus.
Who : not mention
Why : aircraft's baggage compartment inserted an explosive device inside or on top of the luggage just before the plane took off.
How :Both of the plane's "black boxes" have been recovered as part of the investigation.

pairs terror attack '' french father and son''

A French father explained the horror of the Paris terror attacks to his young son .

In the video, which was taken by a Le Petit Journalreporter, a little boy and his father talk to the French news outlet about the attacks that claimed the lives of at least 129 people in Paris on Friday. The news outlet posted the video on Facebook on Nov. 16.

Brandon Le, who is preschooler, tells the reporter that "bad guys" committed the terror attacks and notes that "they have guns" and can "shoot" people.

In the clip, Angel Le tells his son the meaning of the flowers and candles that people brought to a square to honor the victims of the attack.

Angel Le reassures Brandon that their family does not need to move in the wake of attacks.

Father: "Don't worry … We don't need to move out. France is our home," Angel tells Brandon in the video.

Brandon: "But there's bad guys, dad."

Father: "Yes, but there's bad guys everywhere."

Brandon: "They have guns, they can shoot us because they are really mean, daddy."

Father: "It's ok, they might have guns but we have flowers," Angel tells Brandon.

Brandon: "But flowers don't do anything ... "

Father: "Of course they do. Look, everyone is putting flowers."

Brandon: "Yes?"

Father: "It's to fight against guns."

Brandon: "It's to protect ... And the candles too?"

Father: "It's to remember the people who are gone yesterday."

Angel Le identified himself on the Le Petit Journal's Facebook page and thanked people for the "great comments."

"When I see all this support that tells me one thing: I'm proud to be French and proud of my fellow countrymen," he wrote.

victims 犧牲者

outlet  出口

 countrymen   國民

preschooler    學齡前兒童

What :pairs terror attack

Why : about the this terror attack 

When : November 2015/18

Where : french

Who : father and son

How :a little boy and his father talk to the French news outlet about the attacks

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/11/18/french-dad-explains-paris-terror-attacks-son-touching-video/75990360/

China's Alibaba Singles Day

What is Singles Day?

Singles Day is a consumer holiday in China and the world's biggest online shopping day of the year. Last year, Chinese consumers spent almost £6bn online through Alibaba stores alone in just 24 hours. Singles Day takes place every year on November 11.

What does that have to do with single people?

Astute readers will have noticed that the November 11 is written 11.11, or one-one-one-one.

Known in China as "bare sticks holiday", because of how it looks numerically, Singles Day began as an anti-Valentine's Day in the 1990swhen students started celebrating their singledom.

The day is also known as Bachelors' Day because of China's gender imbalance. The country's one-child policy, which it recently said it will bring to an end next year, along with the cultural and economic pressures for that child to be a son, has led to a male surplus.In 2011, official Chinese data showed that there were 20m more men than women under the age of 30. By 2020, sociologists expect that discrepancy to have widened to 35m. By 2030, it is estimated that one-in-four Chinese men in their late 30s will never have married.

How did Singles Day become a shopping holiday?

In 2009, Alibaba – the Chinese online shopping platform that is now one of the world's biggest retailers – spotted a commercial opportunity in this celebration of singlehood. It was also a chance to boost sales in the lull between China’s Golden Week national holiday in October and the Christmas season.

In that first year, consumers spent 50m yuan (around £5m) and 27 merchants offered discounts. By 2011 – which was dubbed the Singles Day of the Century because it was 11.11.11 – more than £500m was spent across Alibaba's platform during the day.

When sales almost quadrupled the following year, Alibaba trademarked Singles Day.Some of the featured sales centre around singledom, such as boyfriend pillows and single travel tickets, but the day has now widened to an all-inclusive shopping holiday.

 numerically  數字
singledom     單身
gender          性別
economic        經濟
estimated       預計
 platform       平台
 lull               麻痺
widened        擴大


What ; Singles Day is held every year on 11 November.
When ;11 November 2015
Where :China
Who ;Alibaba
Why : November 11 is written 11.11, or one-one-one-one.
How ;the Chinese online shopping platform that is now one of the world's biggest retailers.







http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11974535/What-is-Singles-Day-and-is-it-bigger-than-Black-Friday.html

New Horizons, Pluto, Earth 2.0, Kepler 452b

NASA said Thursday that its Kepler spacecraft has spotted "Earth's bigger, older cousin": the first nearly Earth-size planet to be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our own.

Though NASA can't say for sure whether the planet is rocky like ours or has water and air, it's the closest match yet found.

"Today, Earth is a little less lonely," Kepler researcher Jon Jenkins said.

The planet, Kepler-452b, is about 1,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. It's about 60% bigger than Earth, and is located in its star's habitable zone -- the region where life-sustaining liquid water is possible on the surface of a planet.

 While it's a bit farther from its star than Earth is from the sun, its star is brighter, so the planet gets about the same amount of energy from its star as Earth does from the sun. And that sunlight would be very similar to Earth's, Jenkins said.Kepler-452b's atmosphere would probably be thicker than Earth's, and it would have active volcanoes.

It takes 385 days for the planet to orbit its star, very similar to Earth's 365-day year, NASA said. And because it's spent so long orbiting in this zone -- 6 billion years -- it's had plenty of time to brew life.

Before the discovery of this planet, one called Kepler-186f was considered the most Earthlike,according to NASA. That planet, no more than a 10th bigger than Earth, is about 500 light-years away from us. But it gets only about a third of the energy from its star as Earth does from the sun, and noon there would look similar to the evening sky here, NASA says.

The $600 million Kepler mission launched in 2009 with a goal to survey a portion of the Milky Way for habitable planets.

From a vantage point 64 million miles from Earth, it scans the light from distant stars, looking for almost imperceptible drops in a star's brightness, suggesting a planet has passed in front of it.

It has discovered more than 1,000 planets. Twelve of those, including Kepler-425b, have been less than twice the size of Earth and in the habitable zones of the stars they orbit.

Missions are being readied to move scientists closer to the goal of finding yet more planets and cataloging their atmospheres and other characteristics.

In 2017, NASA plans to launch a planet-hunting satellite called TESS that will be able to provide scientists with more detail on the size, mass and atmospheres of planets circling distant stars.

spacecraft   太空船
habitable     適合居住的
rocky          岩石構成的
constellation 星群
life-sustaining 維持生命
atmosphere  大氣
brightness   亮度；明亮
cataloging  目錄
circling   還騎

What :  in the habitable zone of a star similar to our Earth
Who : NASA researcher
When : Thursday
Where ; NASA
Why : it's the closest match yet found
How ; It takes 385 days for the planet to orbit its star, very similar to Earth's 365-day year


http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/23/us/feat-nasa-kepler-planet-discovery/