week4-imitation game

The Unlikely Sherlockian Connection Between Benedict Cumberbatch and ‘The Imitation Game’

NOVEMBER 12, 2014 | 08:36AM

Spreading the word about Alan Turing has become something of a mission for those involved in the film, especially Cumberbatch, who noted that audiences seem to be responding to the mathematician’s remarkable tale. “The majority of the reactions that I’ve heard of afterwards, people are going ‘why the hell haven’t I heard of this man? Why didn’t I know this story?’ And I feel the same; he should be in history books as well as on the front covers of science books. He should be on bank notes with Darwin and Newton, he’s up there,” Cumberbatch insisted.

“He’s a war hero, a gay icon, and the founder of the computer age. He really is that important — he invented the idea of the universal machine, which still exists. Computers anywhere in the world, no matter what language you speak, operating the same system, that was his concept. The internet would’ve been a disaster for manufacturing and consumerism and computers if the universal machine wasn’t already in place as something that he’d implemented, because everything would’ve had to change… Now, when you put his name in Google, it links him with me, which I’m very flattered about, but which I had to apologize to his family about at the London premiere — it’s sort of the wonderful irony in a way, that’s the same algorithm that he used to crack the code,” he added.

But Turing didn’t crack the Enigma code alone; though he wasn’t much of a team player, the government assembled a number of code breakers to work the problem alongside him, including Hugh Alexander (Matthew Goode), John Cairncross (Allen Leech) and Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), the only female member of the team.

“What’s interesting about Joan is that her story, her real story, follows exactly the same argument as feminism today,” Knightley noted on the red carpet. “What she was up against was a place at the table and equal pay, and it’s amazing how, of course women’s rights have come on a huge way since the 1940s but, the argument at the center of feminism today is still a place at the table and equal pay. So I thought that was very interesting.”

Goode — currently appearing in CBS’ “The Good Wife” — and Leech, who stars on “Downton Abbey,” hope that the film can affect positive social change, given the way Turing was victimized for his genius and his sexuality.

“A tagline of the film is that it can take someone different to achieve the kind of greatness Alan Turing did, and I think it’s too easy these days when someone is different, especially in a school environment, to shun them and make fun of them, and there are repercussions to that,” Goode noted. “Luckily, this man still fought his way through and was able to change the course of the world in many ways.”

Leech agreed, “I hope people recognize… what this man could’ve achieved. Rather than celebrating the fact that he was different, we persecuted him for it, and look what we lost.”

“The Imitation Game” hits theaters on Nov. 28.

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/benedict-cumberbatch-alan-turing-imitation-game-sherlock-1201353771/

Structure of the Lead： 

WHO- Cumberbatch

WHEN- not given

WHAT- Cumberbatch commented on Alan Turing

WHY- Cumberbatch played Alan Turing’s part

WHERER-not given

HOW-not given

Keywords：                                          

1. icon崇拜對象

2. manufacturing從事製造業的

3. consumerism消費主義

4. implement執行

5. irony諷刺

6. algorithm演算法

7. enigma不可解的事物

8. feminism爭取女權運動

9. victimize使犧牲；受迫害

10. tagline高潮下的結尾

11. shun避開

12. persecute迫害

week3-Charlie Hebdo shooting

Charlie Hebdo: Satirical magazine is no stranger to controversy

January 7, 2015

By Nick Thompson, CNN

(CNN)Charlie Hebdo, the French magazine targeted by gunmen who killed journalists and police in a brazen lunchtime attack Wednesday, is no stranger to controversy.

The Paris-based weekly satirical publication, which was founded in 1970, became famous for its risqué cartoons and daring takedowns of politicians, public figures and religious symbols of all faiths.

And although the motive behind Wednesday's massacre is not yet clear, Charlie Hebdo's notorious cartoons satirizing the Prophet Mohammed in recent years have angered some Muslims and made it a target for attacks.

"Everybody knows them when you work in journalism," said Marie Turcan, a journalist who was just 200 meters from Charlie Hebdo's central Paris office when the shooting began. "They have marked French journalism forever with their drawings and their cover stories."

A reputation for controversy

In November 2011 Charlie Hebdo's office was burned down on the same day the magazine was due to release an issue with a cover that appeared to poke fun at Islamic law. The cover cartoon depicted a bearded and turbaned cartoon figure of the Prophet Mohammed with a bubble saying, "100 lashes if you're not dying of laughter."

In September 2012, despite the ongoing global furor over the anti-Islam film "Innocence of Muslims," the magazine published an issue featuring a cartoon that appeared to depict a naked Mohammed, along with a cover that appeared to depict Mohammed being pushed in a wheelchair by an Orthodox Jew. French and American officials expressed dismay with the decision, and France closed embassies and schools in about 20 countries temporarily as a precaution.

Charlie Hebdo journalist Laurent Leger defended the magazine at the time, saying the cartoons were not intended to provoke anger or violence.

"The aim is to laugh," Leger told BFM-TV in 2012. "We want to laugh at the extremists -- every extremist. They can be Muslim, Jewish, Catholic. Everyone can be religious, but extremist thoughts and acts we cannot accept."

"In France, we always have the right to write and draw. And if some people are not happy with this, they can sue us and we can defend ourselves. That's democracy," Leger said. "You don't throw bombs, you discuss, you debate. But you don't act violently. We have to stand and resist pressure from extremism."

Some considered cartoons blasphemous

Any depiction of Islam's prophet is considered blasphemy by many Muslims. France has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe, with an estimated 4.7 million followers of the faith.

France, which is known for its stark separation of church and state, angered some Muslims in 2011 when it banned full-face Islamic veils like the burqa, claiming they were degrading and a security risk.

Charlie Hebdo is far from the only publication whose depiction of Mohammed sparked controversy. Newspapers in Norway and Denmark prompted furious demonstrations around the world in 2005 when they ran Mohammed cartoons.

Several cartoonists were attacked in the fallout of that controversy. Sweden's Lars Vilks got death threats after drawing Mohammed with the body of a dog. And a man tried to break into Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard's house after he portrayed Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb.

Hollande reacts

On Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande reacted to the news: "France is today facing a shock, the shock a of a terror attack, because this is a terrorist attack without a doubt, against a publication that was threatened several times and that was protected."

"In these moments we have to form a block to show we are a united country. We know how to react appropriately, with firmness, but always with the concern for national unity."

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/07/europe/charlie-hebdo-controversy/index.html

Structure of the Lead： 

WHO-Charlie Hebdo, the French magazine

WHEN- January 7, 2015 ,Wednesday

WHAT- gunmen killed journalists in Charlie Hebdo and police

WHY- Charlie Hebdo's notorious cartoons satirizing the Prophet Mohammed

WHERER- Paris

HOW-not given

Keywords：                                          

1. target目標

2. brazen肆無忌憚地

3. satirical諷刺的

4. risqué〔法語〕有傷風化的

5. daring膽大的

6. takedown 欺人的人[事]

7. massacre大屠殺

8. notorious臭名昭彰的

9. satirize諷刺

10. Prophet Mohammed回教祖 穆罕默德                                                                                      
11. turbaned (回教的)纏頭巾                                                                                                          
12. embassy大使館

13.dismay灰心

14 blasphemous不敬的

15. stark刻板的

16. degrading可恥的

17. burqa 佈卡(伊斯蘭女性的全身罩杉)

18. portrayed描寫

19. firmness堅定

week2-nypd rafael ramos

NYC police were disrespectful to turn backs: mayor

Wed, Jan 07, 2015 

AP, NEW YORK

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said it was “disrespectful” for some New York Police Department (NYPD) officers to turn their backs to him during a pair of funerals for slain police officers.

The acts of protest were hurtful to the families of the two officers killed in an ambush last month, De Blasio said in his first public remarks on the officers’ protests.

The chasm between police unions and De Blasio has created the biggest crisis of his year-old tenure. Police union leaders have said that he contributed to an environment that allowed the officers’ slayings by supporting protests following the police killings of unarmed black men in New York City and Ferguson, Missouri.

De Blasio said that the public rebuke was an offense to the city at large.

“Those individuals who took certain actions [in] the last two weeks, they were disrespectful to the families involved. That’s the bottom line,” De Blasio said at a news conference at police headquarters. “They were disrespectful to the families who lost their loved ones. I can’t understand why anyone would do such a thing in the context like that.”

Patrick Lynch, head of the city’s rank-and-file police union, said after the deaths of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu (劉文健) that De Blasio had “blood on his hands.”

Thousands of officers turned their backs on De Blasio when he delivered eulogies at Ramos’ funeral last month and again on Sunday at Liu’s funeral.

New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, who has steadfastly supported the mayor during the widening rift with the rank-and-file, also condemned the action, saying the officers involved “embarrassed themselves.”

He also called the protests a selfish act that dominated news coverage and diverted attention from the two slain officers.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2015/01/07/2003608693

Structure of the Lead： 

WHO- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio

WHEN- during a pair of funerals for slain police officers.

WHAT-Police officers turn their backs to Bill de Blasio

WHY- He was “disrespectful” for some New York Police Department (NYPD) officers

WHERER- New York City

HOW-not given

Keywords：                                          

1. disrespectful失禮

2. ambush伏擊

3. tenure佔有，保有

4. individual 單一的

5. conference談判

6. context前後關係

7. eulogy稱讚

8. steadfastly不動搖的

9. condemn定罪

10. divert使轉向

week1-eric garner

Protests erupt after police in chokehold case is cleared

Fri, Dec 05, 2014 

AP, NEW YORK

Protests erupted across New York and in cities from Georgia to California after a white police officer was cleared in the chokehold death of an unarmed black man — a case that drew comparisons to the deadly police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri.

New York City police said early yesterday that more than 60 people were arrested, most for disorderly conduct.

The decision on Wednesday by the Staten Island grand jury not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo heightened tensions that have simmered in the city since the July 17 death of Eric Garner.

In the neighborhood where Garner died, people reacted with angry disbelief and chanted: “I can’t breathe,” and “Hands up — don’t choke.”

In Manhattan, demonstrators lay down in Grand Central Terminal, walked through traffic on the West Side Highway and blocked the Brooklyn Bridge.

A New York City Council member cried. Hundreds converged on the heavily secured area around the annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting with a combination of professional-looking signs and hand-scrawled placards reading: “Black lives matter” and “Fellow white people, wake up.”

“This fight ain’t over, it just begun,” said Garner’s widow, Esaw.

However, the protests were largely peaceful, in contrast to the widespread arson and looting that accompanied the decision nine days earlier not to indict the white officer who shot dead Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen.

US Attorney Eric Holder said federal prosecutors would conduct their own investigation of Garner’s death as officers were attempting to arrest him for selling untaxed cigarettes on the street. The New York Police Department also is doing an internal probe that could lead to administrative charges against Pantaleo, who remains on desk duty.

US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday night that the grand jury decision underscores the need to strengthen the trust and accountability between communities and law enforcement.

In his first public comments on the death, Pantaleo said he prays for Garner’s family and hopes they accept his condolences.

Police union officials and Pantaleo’s lawyer said the officer used a takedown move taught by the police department, not a banned maneuver, because Garner was resisting arrest. They said his poor health was the main reason he died.

Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan said the grand jury found “no reasonable cause” to bring charges. The grand jury could have considered a range of charges, from murder to a lesser offense such as reckless endangerment.

“I am actually astonished based on the evidence of the videotape, and the medical examiner, that this grand jury at this time wouldn’t indict for anything,” said Jonathan Moore a lawyer for Garner’s family.

Garner’s family planned a news conference later in the day with civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio canceled his planned appearance at the annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting to hold a news conference at a Staten Island church.

“Today’s outcome is one that many in our city did not want,” he said in a statement. “Yet New York City owns a proud and powerful tradition of expressing ourselves through nonviolent protest.”

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/12/05/2003606011

Structure of the Lead：                                                

WHO- a white police officer                                                           
WHEN-not given                                                      
WHAT- Protests erupted across New York                                                         
WHY- a white police officer cleared in the chokehold death of an unarmed black man
WHERER- in cities from Georgia to California
HOW-not given

Keywords：                                          

1. chokehold:鎖喉
2. unarmed:沒有武裝的
3.disorderly:騷亂的，妨害治安的    4. grand:盛大的，宏大的                                                                    

5. heighten:使高尚；使顯著6. chant:歌頌7. converge:集中8. scrawl:潦草書寫9. arson:放火，縱火10. indict:控告，告發11. prosecutor:起訴人
12. untaxed:免稅的
13. probe:調查
14. condolences:吊唁
15. maneuver:詭計，手法
16. reckless:不注意的17. nonviolent:零暴力的     

                                                           

week7-Canadian Parliament. ttawa shooting gunman

Canadian PM: Ottawa war memorial, Parliament shootings were terrorism

Last Updated Oct 22, 2014 11:20 PM EDT 

OTTAWA, Ontario - Tragedy and terror struck Canada's capital city Wednesday as a gunman shot a soldier standing guard at the country's National War Memorial before storming the Parliament building, putting Ottawa's downtown on lockdown and sending terrified government members and employees scrambling for safety.

Canada's prime minister called the incident the country's second terrorist attack in three days.

"This week's events are a grim reminder that Canada is not immune to the types of terrorist attacks we have seen elsewhere," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a national address Wednesday evening.

"We will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated," Harper added.

CBC correspondent on Ottawa shootings

Law enforcement and U.S. government sources told CBS News the suspect's birth name was Michael Joseph Hall, born in Quebec in 1982. He recently converted to Islam and called himself Michael Abdul Zehaf-Bibeau. Sources said he had a history of drug addiction prior to his conversion.

Zehaf-Bibeau was reportedly shot to death by the ceremonial sergeant-at-arms of the House of Commons, a former police officer. The gunman's motives have not been determined.

"In the days to come we will learn about the terrorist and any accomplices he may have had," Harper said.

Canada was already on alert because of a deadly hit-and-run assault Monday against two Canadian soldiers by a man Harper described as an "ISIL-inspired terrorist," referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS.

The series of incidents in Ottawa began shortly before 10 a.m., when the soldier was shot. The victim, identified to CBS News by a cousin as 24-year-old Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, was later pronounced dead from his wounds.

Witnesses said Cirillo was gunned down by a man dressed all in black with a scarf over his face.

"I looked out the window and saw a shooter, a man dressed all in black with a kerchief over his nose and mouth and something over his head as well, holding a rifle and shooting an honor guard in front of the cenotaph point-blank, twice," Tony Zobl, 35, told the Canadian Press news agency.

Zobl said he witnessed the incident from his fourth-floor window directly above the National War Memorial, a 70-foot, arched granite cenotaph, or tomb, with bronze sculptures commemorating World War I.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/canadian-soldier-shot-at-ottawa-war-memorial/

Structure of the Lead：

WHO-a gunman

WHEN- On Wednesday

WHAT- shot a soldier standing guard

WHERER- Canada's capital city Ottawa

HOW-not given

Keywords：

1. terrorism恐怖主義

2. storm風暴

3. lockdown單獨關押

4. intimidated威胁

5. enforcement強迫

6. conversion變換

7. sergeant軍士

8. accomplices共同犯罪人

9. assault猛襲

10. pronounced決然的，斷然的

11. cenotaph衣冠塚

12. arched拱形的

13. granite花崗石

week6-Scottish independence referendum

The Liberty Times Editorial: Scots’ vote ‘real’ while HK struggles

Mon, Sep 22, 2014 - Page 8

On Thursday, Scotland held a referendum on the question “Should Scotland be an independent country?” The outcome of the referendum would be critical not only to the future of the UK, but also to that of the EU and NATO. Had the referendum been passed, it would have been the historical event with the most overarching significance for international politics since the collapse of the Berlin Wall.


Disregarding the final outcome of the referendum, the vote was conducted peacefully and in a civilized manner, and it leaves people in awe before the superiority of a mature democracy.


Both Scotland and the UK approached the referendum in a mature manner. Whether they supported Scottish independence or not, the two sides tried to convince voters by appealing to reason rather than by force.


Furthermore, it was decided that the referendum should be decided by a simple majority, avoiding complex voting thresholds. In other words, the simplest of methods was applied to the handling of the most complex and multifaceted issue of independence, in the belief that the public should be allowed to make the decision and so that both parties would be able to fully embrace and accept the outcome.


In one of the ironies of history, as Scotland was preparing for the independence referendum, China was facing the “Occupy Central” movement in Hong Kong, which is calling for the election of its chief executive by universal suffrage. These calls have been suppressed by China, and the huge difference between this suppression and the democratic atmosphere enveloping the Scottish referendum is lamentable.


The most significant characteristic of modern civilization is the view that sovereignty belongs to the people, and that the public should be allowed to decide their own future. Regardless of how glorious it is to be part of the UK, the people of Scotland still had the right to choose whether they should remain as part of the kingdom or seek independence.


While UK leaders made every effort to keep Scotland, instead of relying on threats, they pledged to grant Scotland greater autonomy and substantive benefits in an attempt to move Scots with its sincerity. Such political interactions make it clear that the UK truly sees Scotland as a member of the family and hoped that it would remain under the same roof with dignity.


With this attitude, even if the referendum had been passed, the UK and Scotland would have been likely to continue to live together in peace as good neighbors. While the outcome was to reject independence, the two parties will continue to be attached to each other like two brothers.


By contrast, in Hong Kong, China promised in 1990 with the Basic Law that Hong Kongers would be allowed to administer the territory, that they would be allowed a high degree of autonomy and that the territory would remain unchanged for 50 years. However, everything has changed in just 17 years after the handover.


As Hong Kong residents call for the autonomy stated in the Basic Law, China has taken a tough stance and responded that Beijing has overall jurisdiction over the territory, and labels anyone who calls for universal suffrage “anti-Chinese forces,” and it even criticizes them for promoting Hong Kong independence, saying that it might enforce martial law if necessary, showing off People’s Liberation Army (PLA) tanks in the streets.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2014/09/22/2003600278

Structure of the Lead：

WHO-not given
WHEN- On Thursday
WHAT- Scotland held a referendum on the question “Should Scotland be an independent country?”
WHY-not given
WHERER- Scotland
HOW-not given

Keywords：

1. liberty .自由權
2. referendum公投
3. outcome結果
4. overarching在…上架成圓拱形
5. disregarding不理
6. appeal呼籲
7. multifaceted多方面的
8. suppressed忍住的
9. suppression抑制
10. lamentable可悲的
11. sovereignty主權
12. pledge公約
13. sincerity真摯
14. attach使附屬
15. autonomy自治
16. stance姿態
17. jurisdiction管轄權

week5-Nigerian girls. Chibok.kidnapped

Abducted girls married off: Boko Haram    Sun,Nov02,2014                                                      AFP, KANO, Nigeria

Boko Haram has claimed that the 219 schoolgirls it kidnapped in Nigeria earlier this year have converted to Islam and been married off, according to a new video obtained by Agence France-Presse on Friday.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau also denied claims by Nigeria’s government that it had agreed to a ceasefire and apparently ruled out future talks.

In addition, Shekau said the militants were holding a German national, who was kidnapped in Adamawa state in northeastern Nigeria in July.

The schoolgirls were kidnapped from the remote northeast town of Chibok in Borno state in April, raising global awareness about the group whose five-year insurgency in northern Nigeria has claimed an estimated 13,000 lives.

The new video comes after a surprise announcement by the Nigerian military and presidency on Oct. 17 that a deal had been reached with the militants to end hostilities and return the children.

There was immediate skepticism about both claims. Previous ceasefires have proved fruitless and there is little trust in the influence of the purported Boko Haram envoy, Danladi Ahmadu.

Violence — and fresh kidnappings — have continued unabated since the announcement, including a triple bombing of a bus station in the northern city of Gombe on Friday that killed at least eight people.

Nigeria’s government maintains that talks are ongoing in the capital of Chad, Ndjamena.

However, Shekau, speaking in Hausa, dressed in military fatigues and boots with a black turban, and flanked by 15 armed fighters, said: “We have not made a ceasefire with anyone.”

“We did not negotiate with anyone... It’s a lie. It’s a lie. We will not negotiate. What is our business with negotiation? Allah said we should not,” he added.

He also said he did not know Danladi.

There was no indication of when or where the video was shot, but it was obtained through the same channels as previous communications from the group.

In it, Shekau mentions the Chibok girls for the first time since a video obtained on May 5, when more than 100 were shown in a rural location dressed in hijabs and reciting verses from the Koran.

Then, the militant leader said many of the girls had converted to Islam, but in the latest, he indicated that all of those held had become Muslims.

“Don’t you know the over 200 Chibok schoolgirls have converted to Islam? They have now memorized two chapters of the Koran,” he said.

Shekau previously threatened to sell the girls as slave brides and also suggested he would be prepared to release them in exchange for Boko Haram prisoners.

In the latest message, he said while laughing: “We have married them off. They are in their marital homes.”

Human Rights Watch said in a report published this week that Boko Haram was holding upwards of 500 women and young girls, and that forced marriage was commonplace in the militant camps.

One former hostage said she saw some of the Chibok girls forced to cook and clean for other women and girls who had been chosen for “special treatment because of their beauty.”

Shekau’s claim in the video that they were “holding your German hostage” is the first claim of responsibility for the abduction, which happened on July 16.

The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in Berlin it did not want to comment.

Gunmen kidnapped the foreigner, who was said to be a teacher at a government technical training center in Gombi, about 100km from the Adamawa state capital, Yola.             http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2014/11/02/2003603510

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- the 219 schoolgirl

WHEN- Sun, Nov 02, 2014

WHAT- kidnapped in Nigeria and been married off

WHY-not given

WHERER- Nigeria

HOW-not given

Keywords：

1. abducte:誘拐

2. militant:戰鬥中的

3. insurgency:起義，暴動

4. hostility:敵意，敵視

5. skepticism:懷疑論

6. unabate:不減少的

7. ongoing:前進，發展

8. flanke:協腹，腰窩

9. commonplace:平凡的；陳腐的