Week5丹麥女孩

Few movies capture the popular zeitgeist quite like King's Speech director Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl. It tells the story of the 1930s Danish artist Einar Wegener, played by Eddie Redmayne, who became one of the first people to undergo sex reassignment surgery, having decided to live life as a woman called Lili Elbe. The film also features Wegener's wife Gerda, played by Alicia Vikander.

The Danish Girl comes in a year that has put transgender issues firmly into the spotlight. From the transition of Bruce to Caitlyn Jenner, to the Emmy-winning success of Amazon's series Transparent, even the White House chose to screen The Danish Girl as part of a celebration of LGBT artists.

Ironic, then, that Hooper has said the script was passed around for about 12 years struggling to secure backing because of what was seen as the story's limited appeal.

"I hope it provides a message of hope," says the Oscar-winning Hooper, who has previously worked with Redmayne on Elizabeth I and Les Miserables.

"It's a message that transgender history matters. These were two extraordinary pioneers of the transgender movement who I think history had marginalised."

Facing criticism

Before locking the final cut of the film, he decided to screen the movie to one of Les Miserables' musical directors, who was in the process of transitioning while making the film.

"The lights came up and she had tears on her face, and she said the amazing words, 'How did you know?' She said it was in many respects very true to her own experience and that was for me the most exciting."

Despite this sensitivity to the subject matter, Hooper has faced criticism for not choosing to cast a transgender woman in the title role. He defended the decision,telling Variety that access to trans actors is limited, and that he had always had Redmayne in mind.

"There was something in Eddie that was drawn to the feminine," he says. "He played the girls' parts in school plays. I was a bit like Gerda in the film because Gerda becomes fascinated by the femininity in her husband and starts to paint it. I was fascinated by the femininity in Eddie and wanted to explore it."

The film is as much about Gerda, and her demonstration of unconditional love and acceptance through an experience which is as much a transition for her as for her husband.

"I looked up to her," says Vikander.

"I questioned, would I be able to do what she did. It was an extraordinary experience trying to find that strength because she's never passive. Lili needs to be who she is but Gerda makes the decision to stand by her side. I'm a romantic at heart."

In fact, it is Gerda who suggests her husband dresses as a woman. She asks Wegener to first pose for a painting, but more significantly then suggests he attends a ball dressed as Lili, and she goes on to paint portraits of her husband as a woman.

"You helped bring Lili to life but she was always there," Lili later tells Gerda.

So did Gerda always know that her husband wanted to be a woman?

"She was able to see the inner self of the person she loved… When you know somebody really well, it's not a big surprise when something comes up to the surface," says Vikander.

Award nominations

Vikander's scene-stealing performance, which has been nominated for a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award, gives the film "tremendous heart", says Hooper.

"It's phenomenal. In her hands Gerda never feels like a victim, which I think is really interesting."

It has been an extraordinary year for the Swede who came to the public's attention with roles in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Testament of Youth, Burnt and Ex Machina, for which she has been nominated for another Golden Globe.

Her star is set to rise further when she acts alongside Matt Damon in the fifth Jason Bourne movie.

Redmayne is attracting an equal amount of attention, following his Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe best actor nominations for his role.

The 33-year-old won the best actor award at this year's Oscars for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, another transformative role.

With the screenplay originating from 2004, The Danish Girl has been 11 years in the making, its subject matter proving it a difficult film for Hollywood's financiers to get behind.

But the critical recognition being given to Hooper, Vikander and Redmayne shows they are together a winning combination - and suggesting The Danish Girl was worth the wait.

The Danish Girl is due for release in UK cinemas on 1 January.

when-29 December 2015

why-"I hope it provides a message of hope," says the Oscar-winning Hooper, who has previously worked with Redmayne on Elizabeth I and Les Miserables.

"It's a message that transgender history matters. These were two extraordinary pioneers of the transgender movement who I think history had marginalised."

how-not given

what-Few movies capture the popular zeitgeist quite like King's Speech director Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl. It tells the story of the 1930s Danish artist Einar Wegener, played by Eddie Redmayne, who became one of the first people to undergo sex reassignment surgery, having decided to live life as a woman called Lili Elbe.

where-UK

Keyword

sex reassignment surgery-變性手術

Ironic-具有諷刺意味的

marginalised-邊緣化

femininity-女人味

portraits-畫像

 phenomenal-非凡的

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35075110

week4 香港書商失蹤 Hong Kong bookseller missing

A second of five Hong Kong booksellers detained on the Chinese mainland has returned home, according to police.

Cheung Chi-ping, who went missing in October after a trip to visit relatives in Shenzhen, was released just two days after his boss Lui Por, a general manager at the Mighty Current publishing house, was also allowed to return to Hong Kong.


In both cases the Hong Kong police released a statement confirming the men were home. According to the police both men said they did not need further assistance from the government or the police force.

Mighty Currents prints titles highly critical of the Communist party and the Chinese government, and, in the weekend before the men started to disappear, had been printing volumes that attacked Chinese president Xi Jinping’s private life.

Gui Minhai and Lee Bo, the owners and managers of the publishing house and its attached bookshop, Causeway Bay Bookstore, and another employee Lam Wing-kee, remain missing.

Gui, a Swedish national, disappeared in October after a holiday in Thailand. He reappeared in January in a tearful televised “confession” in which he said he had voluntarily returned to China out of remorse over a hit-and-run in 2004.

Lee Bo, a British national feared to have been kidnapped on Hong Kong soil, has also appeared in a televised interview where he said he had returned to China “of his own accord” in order to help with “an investigation”, and that he was renouncing his British citizenship. He reportedly met with Hong Kong police last week in an undisclosed location and told them he did not need any help.

The three clerks of the Mighty Current publishing house and Causeway Bay Bookstore had also appeared on a televised interview, where they said they had been detained for “illegal book trading” in the mainland, supposedly admitting to having delivered about 4000 books to China since 2014 without a licence.

Bao Pu, an independent publisher in Hong Kong, said he believed with this gesture “the Chinese authorities want to minimise the impact of the bookstore event, and sweep everything under the carpet as quickly as they possibly can”.



Where -Hong Kong

When -Sunday 6 March 2016

What - A "missing"bookseller

Why -Mighty Currents prints titles highly critical of the Communist party and the Chinese government, and, in the weekend before the men started to disappear, had been printing volumes that attacked Chinese president Xi Jinping’s private life.

How -Not given

Who -Cheung Chi-ping,Gui Minhai and Lee Bo

Keywords

confirming 確認

tearful 淚眼漣漣

televised 電視轉播

confession 告白

kidnapped 綁架

sweep sth under the carpet 隱瞞 掩飾

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/06/second-missing-hong-kong-bookseller-returns-from-china

week3 Twelve Night

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.



At the shelter, the camera pans across rows of rusty metal cages crowded with dogs, some of which try to gnaw their way out of confinement. Feeble dogs curl up in the corners, watching their peers being dragged around the shelter by their metal collars.


The film shows many dogs entering the shelter looking healthy but later falling ill or dying due to the rampant transmission of canine distemper and other diseases inside the facility.



“I will be the first to admit to my own imperfections,” Mr. Ko, the owner of a rescued labrador, said in an interview. “However, I had no idea that I had to be a flawless saint and make sure all the children in the world have enough to eat before I can speak up for animals.” He said that he had also been called a hypocrite because he’s a meat-eater, and intends to remain so.Some critics of the film say producer Giddens Ko, a popular author and filmmaker, should have used his influence to highlight social problems affecting humans before helping stray animals. It’s the first documentary produced by Mr. Ko, whose 2011 coming-of-age comedy “You Are the Apple of My Eye”, which he directed, found commercial success and critical acclaim.


“I have no good rebuttal about my meat-eating habit, except to say, ‘Who set the rule that one has be a perfect vegetarian saint before he can save animals?’ ”


The film has done what Mr. Ko and the movie’s director, who goes by just the name of Raye, say it set out to do — stir up discussion about Taiwan’s stray animals and influence the government to address the problem.


Many Facebook users have joined Mr. Ko’s cause by adding the movie’s logo to their profile pictures. Several veterinarians have also publicly expressed their indignation over how the shelters are managed.


Raye said that her goal isn’t to condemn the shelter workers, because they, too, are victims of the system. The purpose of the film, she said, is to influence policy makers with more effective solutions on reducing the stray-animal population, including adoption, laws requiring pet owners to implant microchips in their pets for ID purposes, and neutering or spaying animals.


Taiwan’s public animal shelters took in more than 11,400 animals last year, during which time 50% were destroyed and 29% were placed in new homes, according to the Council of Agriculture. (Most of the remaining 21% died while in the shelter.)Since the film’s release, Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture has announced plans to implement new programs starting next year to promote responsible pet ownership, such as additional subsidies for neutering, free vaccinations, and gifts for animals that are adopted from a public shelter.


“We understand that most people who watch this movie already like dogs, and those who should watch it may opt not to,” Raye said. “But that’s fine, because we believe the movie will start a domino effect [of awareness] that begins with the animal lovers.”


Raye, who ended up adopting Jumpy just before he was slated for lethal injection, said that the film’s box office is important because “each ticket represents one person who wants to see the system changed.”


Mr. Ko and Raye said that all proceeds from the movie will be donated to promote animal-protection awareness in Taiwan.
5W1H


when-Dec 13,2013


where-Taiwan


what-A movie about stray animals


why-Start a domino effect [of awareness] that begins with the animal lovers.


how-Not given
Keywords


distributor-電影發行人


tossed around-圍繞折騰


imperfections-缺點





flawless saint-完美無瑕的聖人


rebuttal-反駁


condemn-譴責
























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

week2 Shenzhen landslide disaster

At least 85 people remain missing in southern China a day after a mountain of construction waste and soil swept over dozens of buildings, in the latest disaster to hit a nation increasingly facing the consequences of its rapid industrialisation.


Officials said debris from the 100-metre hill in Shenzhen, the city adjoining Hong Kong, buried or damaged 33 buildings on an industrial park, including factories, offices, workshops and dormitories.


The debris, excavated soil, cement and other construction waste had been piled on the hillside for two years amid the city’s ongoing construction boom, and was seemingly loosened by heavy rain.


China’s premier, Li Keqiang, ordered an investigation into Sunday’s landslide, which came four months after a series of huge explosions at a warehouse filled with chemicalsin the northern city of Tianjin killed at least 50 people.


China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said 85 people remained unaccounted for following the landslide, down from an earlier figure of 91 following new checks on missing people.


Most are expected to have died. A website update by the firefighting bureau of the public security ministry showed photos of a huge area covered in thick red mud. Posts on the website said the mud had swept through many of the buildings, with the chances of survival seen as extremely small.

Map of region




According to the state-run CCTV, just seven people were rescued overnight, and 13 were in hospital, three with life-threatening injuries.


Liu Qingsheng, the vice mayor of Shenzhen, which was little more than a village before it was picked by China’s leaders in the late 1970s as a new industrial zone, said the landslide covered 380,000 square metres, about the area of 60 football fields.


Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted another official as saying the mud was up to 10 metres thick in many places, and inundated with water, making rescue attempts especially difficult as rescuers could not walk on it.


One witness told AFP he was heading home when he saw the landslide. “I saw the houses collapse, all the factories got buried,” said Liu Youqiang, 45. A migrant worker told the agency that 16 friends or family members were missing after his home was buried.


The ministry of land and resources said said heavy rain had loosened the huge pile of building debris. “The pile was too big, the pile was too steep, leading to instability and collapse,” it said in a statement.


Some locals said officials had been negligent in allowing the waste to build up. “If the government had taken proper measures in the first place, we would not have had this problem,” one resident, Chen Chengli, told AP. “We’ve been down this road before, it’s too crazy.”


His neighbour, Yi Jimin, dismissed the idea it was a natural disaster. “Heavy rains and a collapse of a mountain are natural disasters, but this wasn’t a natural disaster, this was man-made,” Yi said.


The landslide sparked an explosion in a section of a natural gas pipeline owned by PetroChina, the country’s leading oil and gas producer. By Monday morning, the fire was extinguished and a temporary section of pipe was being laid.




keyword

industrialization - 工業化

adjoining - 隔壁的 

debris - 廢墟 

cement - 水泥 

bureau - 局 

quoted - 引

when-Monday 21 December 2015

why-The debris, excavated soil, cement and other construction waste had been piled on the hillside for two years amid the city’s ongoing construction boom, and was seemingly loosened by heavy rain.

what-At least 85 people remain missing in southern China a day after a mountain of construction waste and soil swept over dozens of buildings, in the latest disaster to hit a nation increasingly facing the consequences of its rapid industrialization.

where-Southern China

how-Not given











http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/21/china-landslide-dozens-missing-shenzhen-construction-waste-collapses

week1 Volkswagen emissions scandal

What is Volkswagen accused of?

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 litre 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.
This 'defeat device' sounds like a sophisticated piece of kit.

Full details of how it worked are sketchy, although the EPA has said that the engines had computer software that could sense test scenarios by monitoring speed, engine operation, air pressure and even the position of the steering wheel.

When the cars were operating under controlled laboratory conditions - which typically involve putting them on a stationary test rig - the device appears to have put the vehicle into a sort of safety mode in which the engine ran below normal power and performance. Once on the road, the engines switched out of this test mode.

The result? The engines emitted nitrogen oxide pollutants up to 40 times above what is allowed in the US.
What has been VW's response?

"We've totally screwed up," said VW America boss Michael Horn, while the group's chief executive at the time, Martin Winterkorn, said his company had "broken the trust of our customers and the public". Mr Winterkorn resigned as a direct result of the scandal and was replaced by Matthias Mueller, the former boss of Porsche.

"My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group - by leaving no stone unturned," Mr Mueller said on taking up his new post.

VW has also launched an internal inquiry.

With VW recalling millions of cars worldwide from early next year, it has set aside €6.7bn (£4.8bn) to cover costs. That resulted in the company posting its first quarterly loss for 15 years of €2.5bn in late October.

But that's unlikely to be the end of the financial impact. The EPA has the power to fine a company up to $37,500 for each vehicle that breaches standards - a maximum fine of about $18bn.

The costs of possible legal action by car owners and shareholders "cannot be estimated at the current time", VW added.

How widespread are VW's problems?

What started in the US has spread to a growing number of countries. The UK, Italy, France, South Korea, Canada and, of course, Germany, have opened investigations. Throughout the world, politicians, regulators and environmental groups are questioning the legitimacy of VW's emissions testing.

VW will recall 8.5 million cars in Europe, including 2.4 million in Germany and 1.2 million in the UK, and 500,000 in the US as a result of the emissions scandal.

No wonder the carmaker's shares have fallen by about a third since the scandal broke.
Will more heads roll?

It's still unclear who knew what and when, although VW must have had a chain of management command that approved fitting cheating devices to its engines, so further departures are likely.

Christian Klingler, a management board member and head of sales and marketing is leaving the company, although VW said this was part of long-term planned structural changes and was not related to recent events.

In 2014, in the US, regulators raised concerns about VW emissions levels, but these were dismissed by the company as "technical issues" and "unexpected" real-world conditions. If executives and managers wilfully misled officials (or their own VW superiors) it's difficult to see them surviving.
Are other carmakers implicated?

That's for the various regulatory and government inquiries to determine. California's Air Resources Board is now looking into other manufacturers' testing results. Ford, BMW and Renault-Nissan have said they did not use "defeat devices", while other firms have either not commented or simply stated that they comply with the law.

The UK trade body for the car industry, the SMMT, said: "The EU operates a fundamentally different system to the US - with all European tests performed in strict conditions as required by EU law and witnessed by a government-appointed independent approval agency."

But it added: "The industry acknowledges that the current test method is outdated and is seeking agreement from the European Commission for a new emissions test that embraces new testing technologies and is more representative of on-road conditions."

That sounds like EU testing rules need tightening, too.

Environmental campaigners have long argued that emissions rules are being flouted. "Diesel cars in Europe operate with worse technology on average than the US," said Jos Dings, from the pressure group Transport & Environment. "Our latest report demonstrated that almost 90% of diesel vehicles didn't meet emission limits when they drive on the road. We are talking millions of vehicles."

Car analysts at the financial research firm Bernstein agree that European standards are not as strict as those in the US. However, the analysts said in a report that there was, therefore, "less need to cheat". So, if other European carmakers' results are suspect, Bernstein says the "consequences are likely to be a change in the test cycle rather than legal action and fines".
It's all another blow for the diesel market.

Certainly is. Over the past decade and more, carmakers have poured a fortune into the production of diesel vehicles - with the support of many governments - believing that they are better for the environment. Latest scientific evidence suggests that's not the case, and there are even moves to limit diesel cars in some cities.

Diesel sales were already slowing, so the VW scandal came at a bad time. "The revelations are likely to lead to a sharp fall in demand for diesel engine cars," said Richard Gane, automotive expert at consultants Vendigital.

"In the US, the diesel car market currently represents around 1% of all new car sales and this is unlikely to increase in the short to medium term.

"However, in Europe the impact could be much more significant, leading to a large tranche of the market switching to petrol engine cars virtually overnight."






when-10 December 2015


why-not given


where-US


what-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.


how-VW will recall 8.5 million cars in Europe, including 2.4 million in Germany and 1.2 million in the UK, and 500,000 in the US as a result of the emissions scandal.

keyword

dubbed - 配音
irregularities - 違規行為
stationary - 靜止的
screwed up - 搞砸了
leaving no stone unturned - 抽絲剝繭
flouted - 蔑視

































































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