still alice alzheimer's disease

Still Alice review – moving meditation on who we really are  

This inexpressibly painful and sad film from Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer is about a woman who declines steeply into early-onset Alzheimer’s just after her 50th birthday, and somehow becomes a ghost haunting her own life.

It features a queenly, poignant and much-garlanded lead performance from Julianne Moore as linguistics professor Alice Howland. She begins the movie at the triumphant height of her career, enjoying a happy life with her husband John (Alec Baldwin), prosperous empty-nesters in a sumptuous New York home. They have three lovely grownup children: Tom (Hunter Parrish), Anna (Kate Bosworth) and Lydia (Kristen Stewart). The only problem in Alice’s life appears to be her strained relationship with Lydia, who has rejected college to be a struggling actor in Los Angeles

With a terrible, almost Nabokovian irony, Alice’s dementia begins with her inability to remember the word ‘lexicon’ while giving a lecture, although Westmoreland and Glatzer show how the condition has a kind of prehistorical moment at her birthday dinner the night before, when Alice overhears her son-in-law talk about “sisters” arguing and for some reason thinks he must be talking about her relationship with her own sister, who died in a car crash when they were teenagers. As her disease advances, Alice is lost in thought about this dead sister. The terrible diagnosis arrives, and I defy any audience in the world not to strain frantically to complete the memory test that a doctor gives Alice in one heartwrenching scene. There are, moreover, terrible genetic implications to her condition.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/05/still-alice-julianne-moore-oscar-alzheimers

Structure of the Lead：

WHO: Richard GlatzerWash Westmoreland

WHEN:2014.12.05

WHAT: Alzheimer's disease

WHERE:

WHY:

HOW:

Key words:

1.      steeply:急

2.      onset:發病

3.      poignant:淒美的

4.      garlanded:花環

5.      sumptuous:豪華

6.      dementia:癡呆

7.      lexicon:辭彙

8.      prehistorical:史前

9.      defy:違抗

hongkong bookseller missing

Missing Hong Kong booksellers detained in China for 'illegal activities'

By Violet Law and Jonathan Kaiman Contact Reporter

Chinese authorities announced that three Hong Kong booksellers are under investigation for “illegal activities,” ratcheting up suspicion that they’ve fallen victim to a Beijing-backed crackdown on the city’s publishing industry.

Lui Por, Cheung Chi Ping and Lam Wing Kee have been placed in criminal detention in mainland China, Hong Kong police announced Thursday night, citing a letter from the Interpol Guangdong liaison office of the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department. They had been missing for 100 days.

Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese territory of 7.3 million people, is geographically joined to southern China's Guangdong province, but maintains an independent judiciary and law enforcement apparatus.

In recent months, five Hong Kong booksellers have gone missing under mysterious circumstances; all are connected to the Mighty Current publishing house and its bookstore, Causeway Bay Books, which specializes in titles that irritate China’s Communist Party leadership and are banned on the mainland.

The booksellers’ disappearances have raised concern in Hong Kong, which has remained relatively insulated from a wave of political crackdowns on the mainland.

“Every morning, Hong Kong people wake up to another news headline of utter absurdity,” said Jason Ng, a columnist and author of “Umbrellas in Bloom,” a book chronicling the Occupy movement, a massive pro-democracy protest that consumed the city in late 2014. “There is one clumsy lie covering another clumsy lie every day. And the plot gets more and more farfetched.”

http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-hong-kong-booksellers-20160205-story.html

Structure of the Lead：

WHO: three Hong Kong booksellers

WHEN:

WHAT:

WHERE: HongKong

WHY: illegal activities

HOW: detain

Key words:

1.    ratcheting: 棘輪效應

2.    detention:拘留

3.    semiautonomous: 半自動

4.    utter: 說出

5.    absurdity: 荒謬

6.    columnist:專欄作家

7.    chronicling:記載

Oxford Dictionaries Selects an Emoji as Word of the Year

Oxford Dictionaries Selects an Emoji as Word of the Year

By 

MIKE AYERS

Nov 16, 2015 3:45 pm ET

The Oxford Dictionaries has chosen its Word of the Year for 2015: An emoji depicting the “face with tears of joy.”

Oxford Dictionaries cited an explosion in “emoji culture” over the last year as one of the reasons “face with tears of joy” was selected.

 “You can see how traditional alphabet scripts have been struggling to meet the rapid-fire, visually focused demands of 21st century communication,” said Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Dictionaries in a statement. “It’s not surprising that a pictographic script like emoji has stepped in to fill those gaps—it’s flexible, immediate, and infuses tone beautifully. As a result emoji are becoming an increasingly rich form of communication, one that transcends linguistic borders.”

Other words and expressions that made the 2015 Word of the Year shortlist: Ad blocker, Dark Web, lumbersexual, on fleek, refugee, Brexit, and sharing economy. A curious entry into the shortlist was also “they.”

“Face with tears of joy” emoji continues a recent trend from Oxford Dictionaries in selecting “Words of the Year” that are associated with web culture. 2012’s U.S. Word of the Year was “GIF” and 2013’s Word of the Year was “selfie.” Last year’s Word of the Year was “vape.

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/11/16/oxford-dictionaries-word-of-the-year-emoji/

Structure of the Lead：

WHO: The Oxford Dictionaries

WHEN:

WHAT: Word of the Year for 2015

WHY:

WHERE:

HOW:

 Word:

1.      depict:描繪

2.      pictographic:象形文字的

3.      infuses:灌輸、加入

4.      transcends:超越

beyond beauty, taiwan from above

Beyond Beauty: Taiwan From Above

Taiwan | 2013 | 93 minutes | Chi Po-Lin

A document of Taiwan from an aerial perspective, Beyond Beauty: Taiwan From Above introduces viewers to the island nation's rich landscapes while also revealing the environmental effects of human development. Director and cinematographer Chi Po-lin captured his footage over the course of hundreds of hours spent filming from a helicopter, employing the geographical expertise that he developed as a photographer for the National Highway Engineering Bureau. The documentary describes both the "beauty and sorrow" of Taiwan by juxtaposing awe-inspiring views of its mountains and coastlines with images of industrial devastation that are equally affecting. The heart of the film is a sobering examination of the extensive pollution and destruction caused by factory waste, heavy logging, overharvesting of cash crops, and high levels of electricity use. No single individual or agency is accused of bearing the blame for the state of affairs, but the film presents the undeniable reality of the damage and urges audiences to acknowledge the truth. This environmentalist wake-up call garnered the 2013 Taipei Film Festival's award for Best Documentary, as well as a pledge from President Ma Ying-jeou to begin work on many of the problems highlighted in the film.

http://www.siff.net/festival-2014/beyond-beauty

Structure of the Lead：

WHO: Chi Po-Lin

WHEN: 2013,11,11

WHAT: documentary

WHY: introduces viewers to the island nation's rich landscapes while also revealing the environmental effects of human development

WHERE: Taiwan

HOW:

Keywords：

1.      aerial:天線

2.      cinematographer: 放映技師

3.      juxtaposing: 並列

4.      awe-inspiring: 凜然

5.      garnered: 囊括

6.      pledge: 保證

week-1 Volkswagen, emissions scandal

Volkswagen: The scandal explained

By Russell HottenBusiness reporter, BBC News

10 December 2015  From the sectionBusiness

It's been dubbed the "diesel dupe". In September, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that many VW cars being sold in America had a "defeat device" - or software - in diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested, changing the performance accordingly to improve results. The German car giant has since admitted cheating emissions tests in the US.

VW has had a major push to sell diesel cars in the US, backed by a huge marketing campaign trumpeting its cars' low emissions. The EPA's findings cover 482,000 cars in the US only, including the VW-manufactured Audi A3, and the VW models Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Passat. But VW has admitted that about 11 million cars worldwide, including eight million in Europe, are fitted with the so-called "defeat device".

The company has also been accused by the EPA of modifying software on the 3 liter diesel engines fitted to some Porsche and Audi as well as VW models. VW has denied the claims, which affect at least 10,000 vehicles.

In November, VW said it had found "irregularities" in tests to measure carbon dioxide emissions levels that could affect about 800,000 cars in Europe - including petrol vehicles. However, in December it said that following investigations, it had established that this only affected about 36,000 of the cars it produces each year.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34324772

Structure of the Lead：

WHO: Volkswagen’s company

WHEN: 2015年9月3日

WHAT: diesel dupe

WHY:

WHERE: In the US

HOW: cheating emissions tests in the US

Keywords：

1.      dub：配音

2.      diesel：柴油機

3.      dupe：欺騙

4.      emissions：排放

week-6

Blindfolded Muslim man asks "do you trust me?”; Hugs hundreds in Paris

TNN | Nov 19, 2015, 11.54 AM IST

A muslim man stood holding two signs near a mourning site at Place de la Republique in Paris, days after Islamic State terrorists attacked the city.
"I'm a Muslim, but I'm told that I'm a terrorist" and "I trust you, do you trust me? If yes, hug me," said the signs held up by the blindfolded man.

Parisians didn't let the man down. As a tearful crowd of mourners looked on, they approached the man, one by one, and embraced him, as a heartwarming YouTube video shows.

The beleaguered European city is fraught with tension following terror attacks last Friday by the Islamic State that killed 130 people. After taking off his blindfold, the unnamed man thanked every one who gave him a hug. "I did this to send a message to everyone. I am a Muslim, but that doesn't make me a terrorist. I never killed anybody. I can even tell you that last Friday was my birthday, but I didn't go out," he said. He further said that he feels deeply feel for all the victims' families.

"I want to tell you that "Muslim" doesn't necessarily mean "terrorist". A terrorist is a terrorist, someone willing to kill another human being over nothing. A Muslim would never do that. Our religion forbids it.'

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/Blindfolded-Muslim-man-asks-do-you-trust-me-Hugs-hundreds-in-Paris/articleshow/49841861.cms

Watching video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRbbEQkraYg

Structure of the Lead：

WHO: citizen

WHEN:2015.11.13

WHAT: terrorist attack

WHERE: Paris

WHY: not mention

HOW: kill at random

Key Words:

1.      mourning: 悲痛

2.      blindfolded: 擋住某人的視線

3.      embraced: 擁抱

4.      beleaguered: 受到圍困的

5.      fraught: 充滿的、滿載於

Week-5

Tianjin explosion: China sets final death toll at 173, ending search for survivors

A series of massive explosions late at night shattered windows and tore facades off buildings for miles around, while launching debris including heavy steel storage canisters into nearby communities with the force of an artillery shell. Homeowners have held protests demanding the government buy back their apartments, saying they are unlivable.

The disaster has raised questions about corruption and government efficiency, potentially tarnishing the government led by Xi Jinping, who has made those two issues a hallmark of his administration.

Authorities are investigating malfeasance in the issuing of permits and regulation of the company, and have detained 12 of its employees and executives. They include the primary owner, who was on the board of a state-owned company and kept his ownership of Ruihai hidden as a silent partner.

Also detained as part of the investigation are 11 government officials, while the head of the government body in charge of industrial safety, Yang Dongliang, has been placed under investigation for corruption.

Yang had previously worked for 18 years in Tianjin in state industry and local government, rising to executive vice mayor.

Authorities say they have sealed all waterways leading out of the blast zone to curb cyanide contamination as teams in hazmat suits clean up hazardous debris.

According to the Tianjin Environmental Protection Bureau, water samples inside the disaster zone have shown levels of cyanide as high as 20 times above that considered safe. No cyanide has been detected in nearby seawater or areas outside the 1.8-mile (three-kilometre) radius quarantine zone.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/12/tianjin-explosion-china-sets-final-death-toll-at-173-ending-search-for-survivors

Structure of the Lead：

WHO: not mention

WHEN:2015,8,12

WHAT: explosion

WHERE: Tianjin

WHY: company’s mistake

HOW: explore

Key words:

1.      shatter: 破碎

2.      façade: 建築物的正面

3.      debris: 碎片

4.      canisters: 金屬的罐子

5.      artillery: 大砲

6.      corruption: 腐敗

7.      tarnishing: 敗壞

8.      tarnishing: 標誌、證明

9.      malfeasance: 不法行為

10.  detain: 留住

11.  curb: 抑制

12.  cyanide: 氰化物

13.  contamination: 汙染

14.  hazmat: 危險品

15.  radius: 半徑

16.  quarantine: 隔離所