2015年11月12日 星期四

Week.3-same sex marriage, legal, the US

Love just won 不同又相同的愛

Sat, Jul 04, 2015 - Page 11

Nine US Supreme Court Justices have ruled that the gay marriage ban is unconstitutional and have legalized same-sex marriage across the fifty states of the US. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yu Mei-nu remarked, “I hope that our grand justices can also base their decisions on the Constitution, not just public opinion polls, and reach a milestone for gender equality in Taiwan in the near future.”
Gay actor Ian McKellen, who played Magneto in the X-men films, rejoiced at the news and without hesitation accepted fellow actor Derek Jacobi’s marriage proposal. McKellen has frequently spoken out for the gay community, but, in fact, did not come out of the closet until he was forty-nine, which he regretted bitterly. He believes that if he had come out much earlier, he would have turned into a completely different person.
Exiled Chinese democracy activist Wang Dan published his opinion on Facebook, saying that it is through prolonged and arduous effort that this step has finally been achieved; the legalization of same-sex marriage in the US shows the world that the US’s insistence on basic values and its capacity to tolerate diversity have not abated. Wang said, such a capacity is the foundation on which the US, or any nation in the world, depends to establish itself as a nation. The US not only realizes gay rights, but also reached a social consensus that says “all men are created equal.” This is a principle so holy that no obsolete customs, religions or political doctrines should be allowed to violate. Lastly, Wang gaily called out to the Bread of Life Christian Church and the Alliance of Religious Groups for the Love of Families Taiwan, “Welcome to the civilized world.”
Lawyer Lu Chiu-yuan said the US is the biggest Christian country in the world, hence the US Supreme Court’s ruling is worth celebrating, but it would be foolish to think that this will help Taiwan take a big step forward in gender equality. “The reason is, we have elected a group of irresponsible legislators,” said Lu. “In the future four to eight years, Taiwan’s gender equality movement will be in the hands of the legislators and grand justices. However, none of the four new grand justices recently ‘elected’ by the legislature are liberals; all of them are conservatives.“
Lu urged those who care about gender equality movements not to just rainbow-ify their Facebook profile pictures, but to remember to elect those who can really represent them in next year’s elections; those elected politicians will then select the best grand justices, who will counteract majority public opinion, which is prone to errors, for the sake of disadvantaged minority groups.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/print/2015/07/04/2003622190

Stucture of the Lead:
Who:Nine US Supreme Court Justices
When:June, 2015
What:Legalized same-sex marriage
Why:The gay marriage ban was unconstitutional
Where:the US
How:Gays around the world were very glad about the result.



Keywords:

1.unconstitutional  違憲
2.polls  民意調查
3.rejoiced  歡欣鼓舞
4.prolonged  經久
5.arduous  艱鉅
6.diversity  多樣

7.abated  減輕
8.consensus  共識
9.obsolete 陳舊的
10.conservatives  保守派
11.counteract  抵制
12.prone  易於
13.sake  為了




































2015年11月5日 星期四

Week2 throat cut, elementary school girl

Man allegedly cuts young girl’s throat

Sat, May 30, 2015 | By Jake Chung  /  Staff writer

    WITH A SMILE:The eight-year-old was undergoing emergency medical treatment as of press time. Reports said the suspect was angry at being jobless, or had been scolded for not visiting his cancer-stricken father

    A 29-year-old man surnamed Kung (龔) was arrested yesterday after an attack at an elementary school in Taipei in which an eight-year-old girl’s throat was cut.
    As of press time, the girl was undergoing emergency medical treatment at Taipei Veterans General Hospital.(台北榮民總醫院)
    Police said preliminary investigations suggest Kung entered the grounds of Wenhua Elementary School (文化國小) in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) at about 4pm yesterday, before walking up four flights of stairs to the girls’ restroom, pulling out a knife when he saw the girl about to enter the restroom and allegedly slashing her twice across the throat.
    The girl was found lying in a pool of blood and was rushed to hospital, while Kung remained at the scene and was detained by police.
    An angry crowd gathered outside the police station last night and attempted to beat Kung as he stepped out of the police car. The police managed to hold back the crowd and took him into the station.
    There was conflicting information about Kung’s supposed motive, with some sources saying that he was enraged after being unable to find work for four months, while others said that Kung was upset after being scolded by his mother and brother for not visiting his cancer-stricken father in hospital on Thursday.
    Responding to questions from city councilors about the attack during a question-and-answer session at a city council meeting, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said that the city would assemble a special task force to review schoolground safety and security and establish a system within a year to screen and monitor dangerous people.
    He added that the city presently had no system that would have been capable of keeping tabs on the suspect.
    Department of Education Commissioner(教育部) Tang Chih-min (湯志民) said that because schools are “open” as a matter of policy, it is difficult to keep tabs on everyone entering school grounds.
    However, he said that more could be done to improve schoolground security, including addressing security camera “blind spots.”
    Ko canceled a planned evening fund-raising appearance because of the incident, instead chairing a late-night city government meeting about the matter.


Stucture of the Lead:
What:A cruel random killing
Who:An eight-year-old girl
When:May 30, 2015
Why:The suspect was angry at being jobless, or had been scolded for not visiting his cancer-stricken father
Where:Wenhua Elementary School
How:Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said that the city would assemble a special task force to review schoolground safety and security and establish a system within a year to screen and monitor dangerous people.


Keywords:
1.jobless  失業
2.preliminary   初步的
3.allegedly  據稱
4.slashing  削減
5.enraged  生氣
6.cancer-stricken  被癌症侵害的
7.councilors  議員
8.assemble  組合
9.presently  現在
10.tabs  標籤