Week 4- TransAsia Airways plane crash

Taiwan TransAsia Airways plane crash kills at least 40

The domestic flight crashed near Magong airport on the outlying Penghu island, reports said.

There were a total of 54 passengers and four crew on board, Taiwan's CNA news agency reported.

Aviation officials said flight GE222 aborted its initial landing and then crashed, local media reported.

Transport minister Yeh Kuang-Shih said that 47 people were killed and 11 were injured, CNA reported.

The agency previously said that 51 were feared killed, citing fire department officials.

"It's chaotic [at] the scene," Jean Shen, director of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, told Reuters news agency.

"It was thunderstorm conditions during the crash," said Hsi Wen-guang, Penghu County Government Fire Bureau spokesman.

"From the crash site we sent 11 people to hospital with injuries. A few empty apartment buildings adjacent to the runway caught fire, but no-one was inside at the time and the fire was extinguished."

The ATR 72 turboprop aircraft departed from the southern municipality of Kaohsiung at 17:43 local time (09:43 GMT), but lost contact with controllers at 19:06, CNA said, citing the Civil Aeronautics Administration.

The plane was found at Penghu island's Xixi village in flames, local media reported.

TransAsia Airways' General Manager Hsu Yi-Tsung has tearfully apologized for the accident, the Central News Agency reported, pledging to spare no effort in the rescue operation and to transport relatives of passengers on the flight to Magong on Thursday morning.

Earlier on Wednesday, Taiwan was battered by strong winds and rain from a tropical storm, Typhoon Matmo.

However, an official at the Civil Aeronautics Administration told Reuters that bad weather at the time of the crash did not exceed international regulations for landing.

Typhoon Matmo had caused many flights to be cancelled but the land warning was lifted around 17:30 local time, around the time the plane took off, the BBC's Cindy Sui in Taipei reports.

網址: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28448763

Key words

domestic :國內的

aviation :航空

abort :中止

adjacent :鄰接的, 靠近的

extinguish :熄滅

municipality : 市當局

batter : 打擊, 撞擊

exceed : 超越

What: flight GE222 aborted its initial landing and then crashed.

Where: on the outlying Penghu island 

When: not given

Why: Taiwan was battered by strong winds and rain from a tropical storm, Typhoon Matmo.

How: not given

week 3 : Actor Robin Williams dead at 63

Robin Williams, the versatile actor whose madcap comic style made him one of television and film’s biggest stars, was found dead on Monday after an apparent suicide at his home in Northern California. He was 63.

The comedian’s appeal stretched across generations and genres, from family fare as the voice of Disney’s blue Genie in Aladdin to his portrayal of a fatherly therapist in the 1997 drama Good Will Hunting, for which he earned his sole Oscar.

However, many remembered the master of impressions on Monday for his tender portrayal in Mrs Doubtfire, when he played the part of a British nanny whose identity he assumed as a divorced father to be with his children.

Williams had been recently suffering from severe depression, his publicist Mara Buxbaum said in a statement and the actor had repeatedly talked about his past struggles with alcohol.

“This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken,” Williams’ wife, Susan Schneider, said in a statement.

The Marin County Sheriff’s coroner’s division said it suspected Williams committed suicide by asphyxia, but the cause of death is still under investigation and an autopsy was to be conducted yesterday.

The sheriff’s office said it received an emergency call about noon on Monday, saying Williams was unconscious and not breathing at his home near Tiburon, north of San Francisco.

Outside the family home in a neighborhood of low-slung houses with water views, people left flowers and talked about the man who rode his bike around and had a smile and a wave for kids on the street.

“It wasn’t like having a celebrity,” Sonja Conti said. “He was just a normal, nice guy. People left him alone.”

Social media was alight with appreciation for Williams, who introduced his boyish exuberance and outlandish style to audiences as a quirky extraterrestrial in the late 1970s TV comedy Mork & Mindy.

US President Barack Obama called Williams a “one of a kind” actor who could make people laugh and cry in his array of characters.

Williams, most recently in the CBS television comedy The Crazy Ones until it was canceled in May, entered a rehabilitation center this summer.

His representatives at the time said Williams was not using drugs or alcohol, but was there to “fine-tune” his sobriety after a demanding work schedule.

Williams’ death shook Hollywood and colleagues mourned who many called a big-hearted man and one of the most inventive comedians of his time.

“Robin was a lightning storm of comic genius and our laughter was the thunder that sustained him,” said Steven Spielberg, who directed Williams as Peter Pan in the 1991 film, Hook.

Williams, who was born in Chicago in 1951 and grew up in suburban Detroit, earned four Academy Award nominations, the first for Good Morning, Vietnam.

He earned nominations for the 1990 coming-of-age prep school drama Dead Poets Society and 1991’s The Fisher King.

Williams married three times, most recently in 2011 to Schneider. He has three children.

In a 2009, the actor told Reuters that his children often referenced his struggles with alcohol when he would confront them about their own misbehavior.

“They went, ‘And you had a three-year drunken relapse.’ Ah, thank you for bringing that back, my little happy creatures,” Williams said.

網址: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2014/08/13/2003597333

Key words

versatile : 多才多藝的

assume : 假設

utterly : 完全地

boyish : 孩子氣的

exuberance : 充沛

extraterrestrial : 宇宙的

What: Robin Williams committed suicide at his home.

Where: in Northern California

When: on Monday

Why: Williams had been recently suffering from severe depression

How: not given

week 2 World Cup 2014

week 2 World Cup 2014

Fifa president Sepp Blatter says he was "a little bit surprised" Lionel Messi was named the World Cup's best player.

Messi was awarded the Golden Ball after Argentina's 1-0 loss to Germany in Sunday's final in Rio de Janeiro.

Blatter believes Messi was given the award on the strength of his four goals during the group stage.

Argentina legend Diego Maradona also felt Messi was a surprise choice, claiming Colombia's James Rodriguez performed better in Brazil.

Maradona, who was named the best player when Argentina won the World Cup in 1986, said "marketing people" had chosen the wrong man and called the decision "unfair".

The Golden Ball and other individual prizes, such as the Golden Glove award for the best goalkeeper, are decided by Fifa's Technical Study Group, a panel including former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier.

Messi set up his side's winner against Switzerland in the last 16 but was only a sporadic threat in the semi-final against Netherlands, which Argentina won on penalties after a 0-0 draw.

The Barcelona star then missed a clear chance in the final, when put through on goal by Lucas Biglia.

Messi told Spanish newspaper AS: "Right now I don't care about the prize. I wanted to take Argentina to the World Cup for all the people."

Rodriguez finished as the competition's top scorer, with six goals from five games as Colombia reached the quarter-finals, where they lost to hosts Brazil.

Fifa's Technical Study Group awarded the Silver Ball - for the tournament's second-best player - to Germany forward Thomas Muller, with Netherlands attacker Arjen Robben winning the Bronze Ball.

Germany's Manuel Neuer collected the Golden Glove, while France midfielder Paul Pogba was named the tournament's best young player.

Key words

unfair: 不公平

individual: 個人的

goalkeeper: 守門員

semi-final：半決賽

penalty:點球賽

tournament: 錦標賽

midfielder:中場球員(足球)

5w1h

Who: Lionel Messi

What: Fifa president Sepp Blatter was "a little bit surprised" that Lionel Messi was named the World Cup's best player.

Where: in Rio de Janeiro.

When:  in Sunday

Why: Argentina legend Diego Maradona claimed Colombia's James Rodriguez performed better in Brazil.

How: not given