104-02 WeekSix syrian refugees

Dozens of white balloons drifted over Vancouver’s harbor to honor the young Syrian boys whose deaths at sea sparked worldwide outrage about the refugee crisis.

The boys’ aunt, Tima Kurdi, stood looking at the sky on Saturday after she and other mourners let go of the balloons, which had photographs attached of three-year-old Alan and five-year-old Ghalib.

With tears in her eyes, she tossed a bouquet of yellow flowers into the water.

Kurdi said she hopes to bring the rest of her family to Canada, which she made home more than two decades ago.

Her brother, Abdullah, is not ready to leave his Syrian hometown of Kobane, where his sons and wife, Rehanna, were buried on Friday, Kurdi said.

They drowned after piling into an overloaded boat in Turkey headed for the Greek island of Kos. Her brother was among the survivors.

“One day, I will bring him here. He cannot be by himself there,” Kurdi said.

Family, friends and strangers on Saturday packed a small theater for a memorial service.

Kurdi tearfully recalled the last phone call Ghalib ever made to his grandfather, the night before he boarded the boat.

“He said to him: ‘Can you bring your truck here and take me? I don’t want to go with them to the water,’” she said.

Kurdi said his grandfather reassured Ghalib not to worry and that he would be OK.

Kurdi has said she wanted to bring both her brothers to Canada, but she applied first for her eldest sibling, Mohammed, whose application was rejected because it was incomplete.

Kurdi said she does not blame the Canadian government.

She said the failed application prompted Abdullah to embark on the journey with his family.

She said she sent him C$5,000 to pay smugglers to take them in a boat.

“I blame myself because my brother does not have money,” she said.

She said the trip was the “only option” left for the family to have a better life in a European nation.

They were fleeing horrors in Syria, where militants from the Islamic State group had beheaded one of her sister-in-law’s relatives.

Kurdi spoke to both her brothers by phone on Friday. Her grieving brother is proud of his children for becoming a symbol of the dire situation facing Syrian refugees and hopes to see leaders step in to end human smuggling, she said.

“He said: ‘I don’t need anything from this world anymore. What I have is gone,’” Kurdi said. “But my kids and my wife — it’s a wake-up call for the world. And hopefully they step in and help others.”

when-Mon, Sep 07, 2015

why-Syrian Civil War

what-a three-year-old boy died

where-Vancouver’s harbor

how-people all are sad about the death of the boy

keyword-

tossed -扔

reassured -放心

prompted -驅使

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2015/09/07/2003627169

104-02-Week five 曼谷爆炸案

Explosion kills at least 27 in Bangkok

A bomb on a motorcycle exploded just outside a Hindu shrine in the center of the Thai capital yesterday, killing at least 27 people in an attack the government said was aimed at destroying the economy and the tourism industry.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. Thai forces are fighting a low-level Muslim insurgency in the predominantly Buddhist country’s south, but those rebels have rarely launched attacks outside their ethnic Malay heartland.

The Erawan Shrine, on a busy corner near top hotels, shopping centers, offices and a hospital, is a major attraction for Thais and foreigners, especially for visitors from East Asia.

The government would set up a “war room” to coordinate the response to the blast, the Nation TV quoted Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha as saying.

Police said the bomb had killed 27 people and wounded 78, many of whom were taken to the nearby police hospital. Five Taiwanese were at the site when the bomb went off, leaving two injured.

when-2015/08/18

where-Bangkok 

how- The bomb had killed 27 people and wounded 78, many of whom were taken to the nearby police hospital. Five Taiwanese were at the site when the bomb went off, leaving two injured.

what-A bomb on a motorcycle exploded just outside a Hindu shrine in the center of the Thai capital yesterday, killing at least 27 people in an attack.

why-Not given

keywords

 rebels-叛亂份子
 shrine-寺廟

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2015/08/18/2003625609

104-02-Week four 長江船難

The Yangtze River is the world's third longest river and through much of its history it has been China's physical and spiritual lifeline.

From its source on the high Tibetan plateau it runs through 18 provinces and major cities on its way to the East China Sea and over recent years it has become a major attraction for millions of Chinese tourists.

The country's domestic tourism industry, which has grown alongside its rising middle class wealth, now keeps dozens of boats afloat on the Yangtze's waters.

The Eastern Star was one of them.

An online advert offers a 13-day voyage from the eastern city of Nanjing, west against the current, to the inland megacity of Chongqing.

It is not yet confirmed whether that is the same itinerary that was being followed this time, but if it was, then those on board would have been on their way to the Three Gorges Dam, just a little further upstream from where the boat has now gone down.

Many of the passengers, according to Chinese state media, are over 50 years old and would have paid around $300 (£200) for a shared, economy class, cabin.

That's still a lot of money for many - not far off China's average monthly wage - but nowadays quite within reach of the comparatively wealthy senior citizens with their pension funds and stock-market portfolios in the big eastern-seaboard cities of Shanghai and Nanjing.

No doubt for some of those on the Eastern Star it would have been the trip of a lifetime.

And the Three Gorges Dam, a place of pilgrimage in its own right and a powerful symbol of China's rising economic might attracting around two million visitors a year, now has its part to play in the rescue.

The dam's engineers have been ordered to reduce the water volume flowing through the giant turbines.

The sinking of the Eastern Star will resonate widely.

A boatful of everyday Chinese tourists - from grandmothers and grandfathers down to the youngest listed passenger at just three-years-old - has been lost in the waters of the country's best loved river.

Tens of millions of comments are being posted online, with the emoticon of two hands clasped together in prayer featuring prominently.

Structure of the Lead：

who-people went to a trip to the Yangtze River

when-2 June 2015

what-not given

where- the Yangtze River

how-not given

Keywords:

alongside-靠

dam-水壩

volume-卷

boatful-一船的

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-32970759