December 11, 2007 -- Updated 1920 GMT (0320 HKT)
'Smarter' robots work together to perform tasks

Story Highlights:
*Honda programs Asimo robots to perform tasks in coordination with one another
*Asimo stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility
*The robots serve drinks to people and push around a refreshment cart
*They navigate around people by predicting their movements

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- As if the idea of having one robot to serve you wasn't unusual enough, Honda says its humanoids are now ready to work in pairs -- and they can even serve drinks.

Asimo robot serves coffee and performs other tasks in coordination with other robots.

At a demonstration Tuesday at its Tokyo headquarters, automaker Honda Motor Co. showed off two of the child-sized Asimo robots serving tea and performing other tasks in coordination with one another.

The bubble-headed robots seemed to pick their steps carefully as they made their way around the room, picking up and putting down drink trays and pushing around a refreshments cart.

Honda said it has developed a system to link its robots together so they can share information about where each one is and what each is doing.

The 51-inch tall Asimo is "smarter" now, thanks to upgrades that allow it to do more tasks without human help, the company said. The robot can, for example, recognize drink choices and carry a tray with the requested drink to the person who placed the order.

The Asimo, which looks like a child in a white spacesuit, also does a better job of moving around people because of technology that allows it to better predict people's movements so it doesn't get in the way.
The robot can even automatically head off to the nearest charging station when its batteries fall below a certain level.

Honda has been working on robots since 1986. Rival Toyota Motor Corp. has been aggressively beefing up its own robotics team, showing off last week a robot that could play the violin.

The Japanese government has been pushing companies and researchers to make robotics a pillar of this nation's business. Other companies, including Hitachi Ltd., Fujitsu Ltd. and NEC Corp., are also developing robots.

Asimo -- which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility and is play on the Japanese word for "legs" -- first became available for rental in 2000. It's considered one of the world's most advanced humanoids. It can walk, even jog, wave, avoid obstacles and carry on simple conversations.

"By the end of 2010s, we'd like to see these robots working at every street corner of the city," said Tomohiko Kawanabe of Honda's Fundamental Technology Research Center.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/12/11/honda.robot.ap/index.html

What makes the news?

1. Impact: The Japanese government has been pushing companies and researchers to make robotics a pilla of this nation's business.

2. Prominence: Asimo, which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility and is play on the Japanese word for "legs".

3. Novelty: The robots can service people and even do more tasks without human help.

English News 9

Last Updated: Wednesday, 5 December 2007, 13:46 GMT

Just like another
By Caroline Briggs

BBC News

Since the introduction of IVF in 1978, the number of multiple births has almost doubled. Does this mean that twins and other multiples have lost their "specialness"?

Twins have been revered and feared throughout history.
Every culture has its twin myths. Voodoo practitioners in Haiti believe twins have magical ability and share a single soul. Some Native American tribes considered them unlucky.
And in the West twins, triplets and other multiples are a staple of daytime television on shows that are the modern-day take on the freak show.

This fascination with people who come in multiples - particularly identical twins - is because they make us question our sense of uniqueness, says Dr Nancy Segal, a psychology lecturer and twin expert at California State University, who herself is a non-identical twin.

"We tend to expect individual difference in appearance and in behaviour, so when we see two people who look so much alike - and are so much alike - this really draws our interest."

Because what does being a twin do to someone? For storytellers, twins represent duality, with one good and one bitter and twisted at having to share. The evil twin is a literary staple, from Romulus, the demi-god who slew his twin brother Remus to secure power in ancient Rome, through to outrageous storylines in soap operas.

"You can take good or evil, or bad and good, you can talk about twins as complementary," says Dr Segal, whose book Indivisible By Two examines the twin relationship.

"But a lot of people have extended that to say there is a good twin and a bad twin in every twin relationship, and that is just pure myth."

Gap in the market

In recent years the number of multiple births has increased, due to the use of fertility treatments and mothers delaying childbirth until they are older.

Today, about one in every 67 pregnancies results in a multiple birth.

And the High St has responded accordingly. Greeting card makers offer congratulations on the arrival of multiples. Prospective parents can take out insurance to help cover the cost of more than one baby arriving at once. And supermarket trolleys no longer have just a single child seat.

This is down to efforts to make life easier for multiple birth families, says Keith Reed, chief executive of the Twins and Multiple Births Association (Tamba). It was 1993 before supermarkets began producing trolleys with seating for at least two children.

"It was one of our first and most successful campaigns because it made such a difference. You could go out and take your children shopping and just lead a normal life."

Attract attention

But twins and other multiples are still unusual enough to give complete strangers licence to ask the most personal of questions, he says.

"Twins are not uncommon, and yet people still react somewhat strangely towards them. The reserved British population seems to think they have the right to ask people how they conceived if they have got twins, which is something you would never dream of asking anyone else who is pregnant."

Claire and Michael Hall, of Newcastle, are all too familiar with this since becoming parents to Robbie and Isla in May 2006.

"I felt really special when I told people I was having two, but you can tell people are trying to find out whether they were conceived through IVF or not, when it really should not matter.

"People are fascinated by them. Everywhere I go people look at them and says how gorgeous they are. Lots of people come up to me and say: 'I always wanted to have twins'."

Because however familiar we become with those who come in sibling sets, what's special is their strong bond.
When researching her latest book about the nature of twinship, Dr Segal met identical twins Gerry and Mark, who were brought up separately and reunited aged 31. The men - both firefighters - felt they were so alike there was no need to get acquainted.

"Identical twins seem to have that right from the moment they are born," she says. "People are always searching for closeness and camaraderie and complete understanding. Tests show identical twins probably do have the closest social relationships of anyone."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7125650.stm

My opinion:

I don't have any relative of twins or other multiples, but I have had classmates who are twins (identical twin) since I was in junior high. Both of them are lively boys and everybody gets along with them happily. By the way, it is an extremely special thing that they quite often seem to be thinking the same thing, or will say a really strange thing absolutely simultaneously.

As far as I am concerned multiple births of two or more children as a result of IVF, which cannot in any way be compared with identical twins, triplets etc. These children are still special as they are a result of one egg splitting and grow up looking identical. Multiple birth children merely look like brothers and sisters. So I think that people ought to respect for all of them in normal mind and avoid holding curiosity to research them thoroughly.

Assignment---MEDIA AWARENESS

If I was a newspaper editor who supports the opposition to Conservative M.P. Humphrey Humphrey, I choose the article and the vocabulary as following:

Vocabulary Choices:

HUMPHREY DISCOUNTS ALLEGATIONS or "DRUG TALK ALL LIES," SNARLS HUMPHREY

OTTAWA (UBI) Conservative M.P./warhorse and liquor baron/distillery executive Humphrey Humphrey denounced/denied today that reports/allegations implicating/involving him in undercover/subversive drug/dope retailing/peddling were true/had any basis in fact. Addressing a dinner/blowout for colleagues/hangers-on at a swank/exclusive Ottawa restaurant, Humphrey angrily denied/calmly refuted swarms of rumours/numerous reports that he and a gang/group of cronies/acquaintances had sneaked/smuggled into the national's capital/Ottawa lethal doses/dangerous amounts of diluted/adulterated ambrosia under cover of dark/at night. "Such talk is all lies," snarled/said Humphrey, hunched over/seated with a tumbler of booze/an after-dinner cocktail. Rumour-mongers/sources around Parliament Hill suggest/hint tonight Humphrey's alleged crime/scrape is the subject of Cabinet investigation/talk. Meantime, Bay Street analysts/mandarins note/point to the fact that Humphrey stock has plummeted/fallen in the last two days/suddenly in the face of/as a result of a wave of panic/selling.

Source: Jim Henderson, Mediascan (Toronto:pub, 1976), pp.40-41

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/handouts/broadcast_news/humphrey_discounts.cfm


The reason for the choices of all of the above is that I want to depreciate Humphrey by using a great deal of disapproving words or phrases, and in a negativistic attitude.

However, now, if I was supportive of Mr. Humphrey, I change my position certainly. I will use the favorable vocabulary to conduce to Mr. Humphrey. And in my viewpoint of supporter write the report.

What does this exercise tell us about media values?

First, the information from newspaper and TV, except the fact of the news, another kind of information is called “opinion", such as the editorials and the public opinions, which about inviting the special to comment on or the readers express the personal ideas, this information must be dealt with separately from the fact of the news.

So-called fact is a true statement, and is correct through investigating and verifying. And the reporter’s responsibility is to report the fact. Opinion is a kind of judgment; express the view of a theme. Generally speaking, the reporter should report the fact which is unsuitable to join the personal opinion, but if the reporter fails to deal with the balance of both, may join the personal suggestion. So the best way of distinguishing the standard of both: one can be investigated, verified and obtain the evidence is the fact. Contrarily, one can’t do so is called the opinion.

The factors including culture, political, economy, considerations of the commercial interest, reporter’s own value or affections of the positions of the news’ source, all of which make the news reach difficultly to objective definitely.

In sum, people possess the quality of “Media Literacy”, which is the most important task to be dealt with in the present day.

English News 8

Last Updated: Sunday, 18 November 2007, 00:14 GMT
Natural protein 'heals the heart'

Heart attack can cause significant tissue damageScientists have found a naturally occurring protein can protect against heart cell damage after a heart attack.

Nerve growth factor (NGF) was thought to act only on nerve cells in the body, but mounting evidence suggests it acts on heart muscle cells too.

A Bristol Heart Institute team tested NGF in rats and this had promising results, Cell Death and Differentiation journal reports.

They are hopeful that the treatment would also benefit humans.
Heart disease is the most common cause of death in the UK. In 2004, there were about 231,000 new heart attacks. Heart attacks happen when one of the coronary arteries carrying oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle is blocked.

If the blood supply is cut off, a part of the heart muscle dies. And this can lead to complications such as heart failure.

Drugs are already available to help prevent and minimise the damage caused by a heart attack. These include aspirin, which works by thinning the blood to improve blood flow, and clot-busting drugs called hrombolytics to dissolve clots in the artery.

Proof of concept

Dr Costanza Emanueli and her colleagues found that injecting the gene for NGF into the hearts of rats having a heart attack stopped heart cells dying off.

Dr Emanueli said: "This is the first time that a pro-survival effect of NGF in the heart has been found.
"Some other growth factors are already used clinically to treat different diseases, and our study shows that NGF may be a novel way of protecting the heart from further damage following a heart attack."

Professor Jeremy Pearson of the British Heart Foundation, which provided funding for the work, said: "Dr Emanueli's research opens up the exciting and unexpected possibility of helping to repair damaged hearts by using a natural factor previously only thought to help nerves grow."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7097104.stm

My opinion:

Natural protein can protect against heart cell damage after a heart attack which is a marvelous discovery in medical science. I was very glad when I heard that good news. Nowadays, a large number death toll of heart disease caused from “coronary heart disease”, so if the effect of NGF is of great use to human, which must be of the magnificent benefit to the world.

English News 7

Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 11:27 GMT
Tokyo 'top city for good eating'

Michelin's Jean-Luc Naret and friend hail Tokyo as top city for fine diningThe home of haute cuisine just got taken down a peg with an authoritative judgement that Paris is not the world's top city for good eating.

That distinction now goes to Tokyo, according to the bible for foodies everywhere, the Michelin guide. In its first ever edition devoted to an Asian city, it awarded restaurants in Tokyo a total of 191 stars. That was nearly twice as many as Paris can boast, and more than three times New York's total. Eight of Tokyo's restaurants won the maximum three stars - only two fewer than Paris itself. Another 25 got two stars and 117 one star.

To add to Paris's embarrassment, three of the top eight restaurants in Tokyo serve French food. Three more offer traditional Japanese fine dining, and the other two are sushi houses.

"Tokyo is becoming the global city with the finest cuisine, the city in the world with the most stars," said Michelin guide director Jean-Luc Naret.

Michelin's plans to assess Tokyo restaurants had caused controversy in Japan, where some commentators had doubted whether it would be up to the job.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7103255.stm

My opinion:

Today, more and more people are fastidious about their food, especially, natural food which contains valuable nutrients. I have never been to Japan, but I know that there are many kinds of delicious food, and most of Japanese pay a lot attention to the effect of food. So Tokyo is worthy of the name of top city for good eating. Japanese pork chop rice is one kind of their famous foods. In Taiwan, there are also many well-known Japanesque restaurants which are very popular for Taiwanese, even the foreigners. By the way, shochu, colorless but some scent, is another specialty. Have you ever tasted it? Maybe you can try to try!

English News 6

November 2, 2007 -- Updated 2133 GMT (0533 HKT)
Hollywood horror show: Writers to strike
Story Highlights :
NEW: Writers Guild of America board votes to strike as of 12:01 a.m. PT Monday
Shows like Letterman, Leno, Kimmel, "Daily Show" could be hurt first by walkout
Impasse concerns royalties from DVD sales and new media
Film-TV industry responsible for estimated 1.3 million U.S. jobs

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Show-business writers will go on strike early Monday after their negotiating team recommended a walkout over royalties that could immediately pinch late-night TV shows.
The Writers Guild of America board voted unanimously to strike as of 12:01 a.m. Monday (3:01 a.m. ET), officials said.

The walkout will be the first in 20 years.

Steve Skrovan, a screenwriter for the Fox show "'Til Death," said a strike is all but inevitable.
"We've never been more united and we are willing to deal -- and our decision-makers are at the table," said Skrovan.

"Their decision-makers are not at the table and that tells you pretty much all you need to know about how the companies are pushing this."

The news of a possible strike is not unexpected, said Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers President Nick Counter.

"By the WGA leadership's actions at the bargaining table, we are not surprised by tonight's recommendation," Counter said in a statement on the AMPTP Web site. "We are ready to meet and are prepared to close this contract this weekend."

The labor impasse is over royalties from DVD sales -- last negotiated in 1988.

Don't Miss
CNN/Money: Hollywood scripts own Halloween horror

Writers also want royalties from "new media" -- all the various places their works are now distributed, including Internet downloads.

"The future of TV is not going to look like what it's been for the last 30 years," said TV writer Dave Schiff, who has penned scripts for "King of the Hill" and "That '70s show."

"So, you know it's not just for us who are currently working, but writers down the line, that we make sure that we get a... piece of the pie."

Producers say the royalty issues are non-starters, but writers accuse producers of being nonresponsive.
"After 3½ months of bargaining, the AMPTP still has not responded to a single one of our important proposals," a statement from the WGA said.

"Every issue that matters to writers, including Internet reuse, original writing for new media, DVDs, and jurisdiction, has been ignored. This is completely unacceptable."

TV writer Bryce Zabel agrees.

"It sounds like the producing companies that have decided to force the writers into a situation of a strike," Zabel said late Thursday. "So really, our choice right now is to accept a completely unacceptable deal or to go on strike.

"Strike is the only option."

If Hollywood writers do go on strike, late-night television hosts like David Letterman, Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel, as well as programs like "The Daily Show" would feel the pinch first.

Because of their topical nature, networks do not typically shoot these shows in advance.

Daytime soaps normally stockpile about 30 days in advance and most prime-time shows would likely make it through the end of the year without any major impact on programming.

But networks would have to resort to reruns, news programs and reality shows to fill the schedule in 2008 if a strike were to drag on.

The film and television industry is responsible for an estimated 1.3 million jobs in the United States.

The union's most recent strike, in 1988, lasted 5½ months. Industry estimates say a half-billion dollars was lost because of that walkout.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/02/hollywood.talks/index.html


My opinion:
Am I the only one who realizes that you can always include future discussions and negotiations in contracts? Why aren't the TV or entertainment producers saying "Hey, we're not really sure how this 'new media' thing is going to be profitable. For now, why don't we give you 25% and we can sit down and talk about it again when we know a little more in 2-5 years?" It doesn't seem practical to have a strike from either side. I don't see how this can't be resolved as long as both sides regard each other as partners and not more people to screw over. Writers need works; producers need shows. Compromise!

English News 5 (What makes the news ?)

'Harry Potter' offshoot unveiled

Story Highlights
J.K. Rowling completes first book not to feature teen wizard Harry Potter
Book is an illustrated collection of magical fairy stories
Only seven copies of "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" printed

LONDON, England (AP) -- J.K. Rowling has completed her first book not to feature teen wizard Harry Potter -- an illustrated collection of magical fairy stories titled "The Tales of Beedle the Bard."

J.K. Rowling said her new book helped her say goodbye to Harry Potter.

Only seven copies of the book are being printed, Rowling said Thursday. One will be auctioned next month to raise money for a children's charity, while the others have been given away as gifts.
Rowling drew the illustrations herself and provided the handwriting for the five stories that make up the collection of fairytales.
"The Tales of Beedle the Bard" is mentioned in the final Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," as a gift left by headmaster Albus Dumbledore to Harry's friend Hermione, and provides clues that help destroy evil Lord Voldemort.
"'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' is really a distillation of the themes found in the Harry Potter books, and writing it has been the most wonderful way to say goodbye to a world I have loved and lived in for 17 years," Rowling said in a statement.
The volume, bound in brown morocco leather and mounted with silver and semiprecious stones, will be auctioned at Sotheby's on December 13 with a starting price of $62,000. Proceeds will go to The Children's Voice, a charity that helps vulnerable children across Europe.
Don't Miss

"Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final installment in Harry's adventures, was published in July. The seven books have sold nearly 400 million copies and have been translated into 64 languages.
Rowling told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the book of fairytales had helped her say goodbye to Harry's world.

"It's not about Harry, Ron and Hermione, but it comes from that world," she told BBC radio in an interview broadcast Thursday. "So it's been therapeutic in a way."
Rowling said she was working on a new book, "a half-finished book for children that I think will probably be the next thing I publish."

On Wednesday, Rowling and the makers of the Harry Potter movies filed a lawsuit against RDR Books, a small U.S. publisher that plans to bring out a companion volume based on the Harry Potter Lexicon fan Web site.
Rowling has said she plans to produce her own encyclopedia of the wizarding world and says the book would infringe on her intellectual property rights.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/11/01/rowling.book.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview


My opinion:

Impact:
The new book of the offshoot of Harry Potter unveiled must cause a great sensation worldwide, just like a series of Harry Potter.

Conflict:
RDR Books, a small U.S. publisher, would infringe on J.K. Rowling’s intellectual property rights by bring out a companion volume based on the Harry Potter Lexicon fan Web site. That gave me disgusting. The final purpose is to holding an activity for public welfare to help the need not to make a great deal of money. Besides, the company can’t proceed to do it without the permission of Rowling beforehand.

Prominence:
J.K. Rowling said her new book helped her say goodbye to Harry Potter and it didn’t feature teen wizard Harry Potter that make me curious about the entire story so much.

Proximity: Since the novels of Harry Potter were selling well all over the world, they have been well-known in recent years. People will pay much attention to the news about J.K. Rowling or her books all the time.

Novelty:
One of the copies of the book will be auctioned to raise money for a children's charity, while the others have been given away as gifts. I think that J.K. Rowling is very generous in giving help to those vulnerable children in need. Her proceeding was very honorable indeed.

English News 4

Last Updated: Tuesday, 23 October 2007, 12:43 GMT 13:43 UK

Obesity 'epidemic' turns global

Obesity increases heart disease riskPeople are getting fatter in all parts of the world, with the possible exception of south and east Asia, a one-day global snapshot shows.

Between half and two-thirds of men and women in 63 countries across five continents - not including the US - were overweight or obese in 2006.

The Circulation journal study included over 168,000 people evaluated by a primary care doctor.
Experts said the findings were deeply worrying.

People who are overweight have a higher risk of heart disease, Type II diabetes and other diseases including some cancers.

The International Day for the Evaluation of Obesity (IDEA) study looked at two measures of fatness - waist circumference and a calculation called body mass index or BMI.

A BMI (weight in kg divided by square of height in meters) of 18.5 to 25 is considered healthy.
A BMI over 25 is deemed overweight and greater than 30 is obese.

Pandemic

Just 7% of people in eastern Asia were obese, compared to 36% of people seeing their doctors in Canada, 38% of women in Middle Eastern countries and 40% in South Africa.

Canada and South Africa led in the percentage of overweight people, with an average BMI of 29 among both men and women in Canada and 29 among South African women.

In Northern Europe men had an average BMI of 27 and women 26 - just into the overweight category. In southern Europe, the average BMI was 28. In Australia BMI was 28 for men and 27.5 for women while in Latin America the average BMI was just under 28.

Waist circumference was also high - 56% of men and 71% of women carried too much weight around their middle.

"The study results show that excess body weight is pandemic, with one-half to two-thirds of the overall study population being overweight or obese," said Beverley Balkau, director of research at the French National health research institute INSERM in Villejuif, who led the study.

That puts the rest of the world close to par with the US, long considered the country with the worst weight problem.

An estimated two-thirds of Americans are overweight and a third of these are obese. In the US, the lifetime risk of developing diabetes, is also high - 33% for men and 38% for women.

In the study, the overall frequency of heart disease was 16% in men and 13% in women. There was a high frequency of heart disease in Eastern European men, 27%, and women, 24%, in contrast to Canada where the frequency in women was 8%, and in men 16%.

The frequency of diabetes varied across regions. Overall, 13% of men and 11% of women were diagnosed with diabetes.

Ellen Mason of the British Heart Foundation said: "It is tragic irony that whilst much of the world is starving, many developed countries across the world are in the grips of an obesity crisis.

"Whilst it is vital not to stigmatise people in our society for being overweight, it is important we all know the health risks from being obese. The worrying increase of diabetes in the UK is clearly linked to rising obesity levels and plummeting physical activity levels. Being obese or diabetic, or worse, both, increases your chance of getting heart disease.

"Whilst the UK may not be the worst offender in this global study, we are aware that it's a major health issue in our country. After seeing the heart attack death rate reduce in the UK in the last few years, there is a real risk that this figure could go back up if diabetes and obesity continue to rise as they currently are."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7057951.stm



Last Updated: Monday, 22 October 2007, 10:36 GMT 11:36 UK

'You tube!' warning to drinkers

People are getting fatter in all parts of the world, with the possible exception of south and east Asia, a one-day global snapshot shows.

Posters will appear on buses across the Forth Valley with the message "You Tube! Don't be Next".
The adverts are based on the website, which has been criticised for showing footage of youths drinking to excess.

Research among youngsters in Falkirk and Stirling show high levels of drinking among 13-15 year olds.
The posters will also feature local telephone numbers for advice about alcohol-related problems.

Alcohol Awareness

The campaign will also target parents in an bid to raise awareness about how to spot alcohol abuse.

NHS Forth Valley chief executive, Fiona Mackenzie, who chairs the substance action team said: "It may appear glamorous for youngsters to drink heavily, especially when amongst friends, but to be under the influence is far from glamorous.

"The long-term effects of excessive alcohol can be dangerous to health. We need to encourage people to drink sensibly and be aware of what damage too much alcohol can cause.

"Parents have a vital role to play in this education."

The bus advertising campaign - timed to coincide with start of Scotland's first Alcohol Awareness Week (21 October to 27 October) will run until the New Year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/7056077.stm


My opinion:

Emotive language stimulates certain feeling in people, but problems occur when it is used to disguise a personal opinion or prejudice as a fact. Euphemisms often mask a an ugly or painful reality with an innocuous or pleasant appearance; however, it can also be used to deliberately mislead people and distort reality. Besides misdirecting our attention, it may disguise or justify wrongful acts. And it also warns us to think critically and not to take statements at face value.The language of advertising is very effective because it appeals to our desires, biases, fears, insecurities, and so on. And you may well think the associations between products and words, and even recall the associations afterward.

English News 3 - biased article

US Dalai Lama award angers China
Last Updated: Thursday, 18 October 2007, 08:58 GMT 09:58 UK

China has stepped up a row with the US over its decision to award the Dalai Lama one of its highest honours, by summoning the US ambassador to protest.

The US has "gravely undermined" ties with Beijing by giving him the Congressional Gold Medal, China said.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader has lived in India since a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
Beijing has long argued that he is seeking to destroy China's sovereignty by pushing for independence for Tibet.

'Blatant interference'

On Wednesday the Dalai Lama met US President George Bush in Washington to receive his award - the highest civilian honour Congress can give.

President Bush called on China to open talks with the Buddhist figurehead, calling him a "universal symbol of peace and tolerance".


The timing was particularly sensitive as China is currently holding its five-yearly Communist Party Congress, where it announces its agenda for the future and chooses new senior leaders.

"The move of the United States is a blatant interference in China's internal affairs," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.

Mr Liu said the ministry had summoned ambassador Clark T Randt to express "strong protest to the US government" over the issue.He urged the US to take concrete steps to protect Sino-US relations.

US politicians regularly accuse Beijing of turning a blind eye to rights abuses in Burma and Sudan in its pursuit of energy and business deals.

Recently, world leaders have grown more vocal in their concern for human rights in Tibet.

In September, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met the Dalai Lama, incurring Beijing's wrath.
The Tibetan leader has also met Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and Australian Prime Minister John Howard this year, and is due to meet Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper later this month.

China was outraged when Canada granted the Dalai Lama honorary citizenship last year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7050258.stm

My opinion:

It was the latest news of political affairs about that Bush gave Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal. According to this news reporter, it was revealed clearly that each stuck to his own view between China and U.S. It was really a controversial problem, and there was no absolute standard for which one was well arranged or improperly managed. However, I found the context of this article biased against all of the responds of China obviously, because it was not only described positively how U.S. concerned for human rights in Tibet and .Dalai Lama’s achievement of his ambition, but also recorded the dialogues of the politicians of China about attacking the action of awarding to the Dalai Lama. It seemed to me that there had a bias in the article. At any rate, both sides should look at this from standpoint of each other before reporting any critical thinking.

English News 2

Taxi hike

Taipei city, Taipei County, and Jeelung residents are one step closer to seeing taxi fares climb next month.

A working group has approved a hike in cab fares, and the proposal now needs Taipei City government approval. The proposal will leave the flag rate the same at 70 NT, but the meter will jump at current night time rates, with an additional 20 NT tacked on to night-time rides. That means while just getting on a taxi will cost you the same, that 70 NT only buys 1,250 meters of travel, down from 1,500 meters. The 5-NT ticks will also come faster, after every 250 meters or 1 minute 24 seconds of wait time, down from every 300 meters or 2 minutes of idling.
Overall, this translates into a price hike of about ten percent.

My opinion:

In recent years, prices keep going up; therefore, most of people become poverty-stricken in their own life. Nowadays, with raising the price of oil, the taxi fare is also hiking up. I think that the policy makes some people who take taxi frequently upset very much. Perhaps, due to the policy, people want more to take the public transport including MRT, train and bus, out of which the air pollution could be decreased. However, it is two-sided in effects: Taxi drivers have a great difficulty in their finance. Fluctuations in oil price will have led more and more various problems around us in the future.

English News 1

Girl swims with bound hands, feet

Story Highlights
1.Father ties 10-year-old daughter's hands, feet and watches her swim in river
2.Chinese man says will help girl achieve dream of swimming English Channel
3.Huang Li swam more than a mile in Xiang River, father says, carried by current
4.A newspaper report says the girl was so cold her face had turned blue

BEIJING, China (AP) -- A father tied his 10-year-old daughter's hands and feet and watched her swim in a chilly southern China river for three hours in a task he said Thursday would help the girl achieve her dream of swimming across the English Channel.
Huang Li swam more than a mile in the Xiang River on Tuesday, traveling with the current, her father said. The girl swam by moving like a dolphin and would sometimes paddle with her bound hands.
"Her swimming skills are perfect and she insisted on doing this," Huang Daosheng said in a telephone interview. The girl, who lives in the city of Zhangjiajie in Hunan province, got the idea after seeing something similar on a local television program, he said.
With the Beijing Olympics less than a year away, sports is grabbing greater attention in an already sports-crazed country. Huang Li's swim is at least the second time in recent months that a child athlete has drawn media attention.
This past summer, 8-year-old Zhuang Huimin ran 2,212 miles from her home on the southern island province of Hainan to Beijing in 55 days, her father trailing behind her on a motor scooter. The run drew criticism from some media commentators as excessive for a young child.
News photos showed Huang Li, wearing a skirted swimsuit, being picked up out of the water by her father. Her ankles were tied together with string and her hands were bound by a strip of cloth. A newspaper report said the girl was so cold her face had turned blue.
"It's not dangerous because, first, her swimming skills are really good and second, I was swimming with her, staying close to her," the father said. "I had her when I was 35, so she is my heart. I would never play around with her life."
The father, a teacher who enjoys swimming, coaches his daughter and said the family does not have enough money for her to have a better coach. The girl started the sport when she was six and her father said her goal is to one day swim across the English Channel.
"She asks me every day, 'Can I achieve this? Is the English Channel wide? Are the waves really big?"' Huang Daosheng said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/04/china.swimmmer.ap/index.html

My opinion:

When I read this news on CNN, it really made me shock! How could the father do this unusual venture? Didn’t he feel so bad for his daughter?
As far as I’m concerned the parents are really cruel to their daughter and have an irrational idea. They shouldn’t get ideas into their heads. Besides, the girl is too little to endure such a crazy train. Even though she is looking forward to her achievement what one day she can swim across the English Channel, she must stop taking a risk of swimming with bound hands and feet. I consider that there are other ways to do this exercise which are not dangerous and even more effective than before. Everyone ought to value one’s own life; life is beyond all things.

Oh~It's my blog

---> r u S H O C K ed? Oh! I'm so so so so so so shocked!!!!! <---

This is my first time to use the blog.
Because i'm so lazy to manage it, I have never wanted to try setting one.

It's crazy thing for me. hahahaha~~~~~~~~~

This time is my English teacher of converstion's demand for building a blog of one's own.