Father's Talk With Son About Paris Terror Attack Goes Viral

Tue, Nov 17, 2015

By ALASTAIR JAMIESON

A heart-wrenching video of a French father reassuring his young son about the Paris terror massacre has been shared more than 11 million times on Facebook.

In the clip, which aired on Canal+ television show "Le Petit Journal," a reporter asks the boy if he understands why extremists killed people in Paris on Friday.

The father, later identified as Angel Le, tries to explain the floral tributes outside the Bataclan theatre, where the majority of the victims of Friday's attacks were killed.

"What about the baddies, Dad?" asks his son, Brandon. "They've got guns."

"They've got guns but we have flowers," Le replies.

In a comment posted on the Facebook clip, Le wrote: "I'm the dad with the little boy, thank you all for the great comments that you have posting for us. When when I see all this support it tells me one thing: I'm proud to be French and proud of my fellow countrymen!"

Here is the interview in full:

Journalist: Do you understand what's happened? Do you understand why these people have done this?

Boy: Yes, because they are very, very, very bad. Bad people aren't very nice. And you have to be very careful because you need to move house.

Father: No, don't worry, we don't have to move. France is our home.

Boy: But what about the baddies, Dad?

Father: There are baddies everywhere. There are bad guys everywhere.

Boy: They've got guns. They can shoot us because they're very, very bad, Daddy.

Father: They've got guns but we have flowers.

Boy: But flowers don't do anything. They're for... they're for... they're for...

Father: Look, everyone is laying flowers here.

Boy: Yes.

Father: It's to fight against the guns.

Boy: Is it for protection?

Father: That's right.

Boy: And the candles too?

Father: They're so we don't forget the people who have gone.

Boy: Oh. The flowers and candles are there to protect us?

Father: Yes.

Journalist: Do you feel better now?

Boy: Yes, I feel better.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/paris-terror-attacks/fathers-talk-son-about-paris-terror-attack-goes-viral-n464981

Structure of the Lead:

Who-a French father and his young son

When-Nov 17, 2015

What-Father's talk with son about Paris terror attack

Why-try to explain the floral tributes outside the Bataclan theatre, where the majority of the victims of Friday's attacks were killed

Where-In Paris

How-being shared more than 11 million times on Facebook

Keywords:

1.          heart-wrenching:揪心的

2.          reassure:說

3.          aired on:播出

4.          massacre:屠殺

5.          extremist:極端分子

6.          floral tribute:獻花

7.          countrymen:同胞

Today Is ‘Single’s Day,’ China’s Massive Shopping Holiday

Wed, Nov. 11, 2015

By Victor Luckerson

While U.S. shoppers are gearing up for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Chinese consumers are opening up their wallets in a big way on Wednesday.

Nov. 11 will mark the 7th annual Singles Day, a shopping celebration organized by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. The e-tailer began celebrating the day, a “folk holiday” on which China’s many single peoplebuy gifts for themselves, in 2009 with just 27 merchants. Since then, the event has grown into a multibillion-dollar enterprise. This year, it will include 40,000 merchants offering discounts on millions of products.

Singles Day sales have grown from around $100 million in 2009 to $9.3 billion in 2014, according to research firm IDC. For comparison, Cyber Monday in the U.S. generated $2 billion in sales last year.

Analysts are predicting that Alibaba will again smash records come Wednesday. IDC projects $13.7 billion worth of sales for Singles’ Day. The company processed a record $9 billion in sales by midday Wednesday local time, Bloomberg reports.

In order to increase the spectacle of the day this year, Alibaba is moving its results ceremony, where it calculates how many sales were generated, from its headquarters in Hangzhou to Beijing, the nation’s capital. Boosting its Beijing presence could help Alibaba compete with JD.com, a rival online retailer based in the city.

This year’s Singles Day comes at a critical juncture for the company. After launching the biggest-ever public offering ever last fall, Alibaba’s stock has struggled this year amidst slowing revenue growth and increased competition from its domestic rivals. Shares dipped below $60 in September, below the company’s $68 IPO price and far off from a peak above $115 last November. The company’s stock was trading around $80 just before Singles Day.

http://time.com/4106634/singles-day-china-alibaba-baba/

Structure of the Lead:

Who-not given

When-Nov. 11, 2015

What-Singles Day, a shopping celebration organized by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba

Why- a “folk holiday” on which China’s many single people buy gifts for themselves, in 2009 with just 27 merchants.

Where-around the world

How- the event has grown into a multibillion-dollar enterprise.

Keywords:

1.      gear up:做好準備

2.      merchant:商人

3.      multibillion:數十億

4.      generate:產生

5.      analyst:分析家

6.      smash:打破

7.      spectacle:奇觀

8.      headquarter:總部

9.      retailer:零售商

10.  critical:關鍵的

11.  juncture:時刻；契機

12.  amidst:在…其中

13.  revenue:收入

14.  domestic:國內的

15.  peak:高峰

16.  trade:交易

NASA finds 'Earth's bigger, older cousin'

Fri, July 24, 2015 

By Michael Pearson, CNN

NASA said Thursday that its Kepler spacecraft has spotted "Earth's bigger, older cousin": the first nearly Earth-size planet to be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our own.

Though NASA can't say for sure whether the planet is rocky like ours or has water and air, it's the closest match yet found.

"Today, Earth is a little less lonely," Kepler researcher Jon Jenkins said.

The planet, Kepler-452b, is about 1,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. It's about 60% bigger than Earth, NASA says, and is located in its star's habitable zone -- the region where life-sustaining liquid water is possible on the surface of a planet.

A visitor there would experience gravity about twice that of Earth's, and planetary scientists say the odds of it having a rocky surface are "better than even."

While it's a bit farther from its star than Earth is from the sun, its star is brighter, so the planet gets about the same amount of energy from its star as Earth does from the sun. And that sunlight would be very similar to Earth's, Jenkins said.

The planet "almost certainly has an atmosphere," Jenkins said, although scientists can't say what it's made of. But if the assumptions of planetary geologists are correct, he said, Kepler-452b's atmosphere would probably be thicker than Earth's, and it would have active volcanoes.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/23/us/feat-nasa-kepler-planet-discovery/

Structure of the Lead:

Who-not given

When-July 23, 2015

What-The planet, Kepler-452b

Why-the first nearly Earth-size planet was be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our own.

Where-about 1,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus

How-not given

Keywords:

1.      spot:發現

2.      habitable:可居住的

3.      zone:地區

4.      constellation:星座

5.      gravity:重力

6.      planetary:行星的

7.      assumption:假設

8.      geologist:地質學家