第八週--Pokemon Go

Why everyone is addicted to Pokemon Go

By Claire Williams

Since the release of Pokémon Go in early July 2016, the app has outperformed all expectations. At the time of this writing, over 7.5 million users had downloaded the game in the United States alone, sending Nintendo's stock climbing by 10% in the first week. What makes Pokémon Go so massively appealing? Let's take a look at some of the factors behind the game's success.

Millions of fellow trainers

As previously mentioned, millions of people joined up as Pokémon trainers within the first week—according to some estimates, the game has been installed on 1 in every 20 Android devices in the U.S. That huge and immediate fan base means the app is not just a game, but a social experience. Players have organized huge Pokémon Go outings, including a Poké-walk in Australia that drew over 2,000 people for a day of catching and camaraderie. Trainers marched single-file through the park like leaf-cutter ants, only pausing to hit up Pokéstops or pursue a Pikachu.

An excuse to explore

Pokémon Go is an augmented-reality game utilizing real-world locations and points of interest as a focus within the app. In order to fully experience everything it has to offer, you must venture out into the community to explore Pokéstops and Gyms, usually located at public buildings, historic sites and other landmarks. By playing the game, you also get a chance to learn more about your neighborhood and city—enjoying sights you might not otherwise have seen.

Family friendly

Pokémon Go is one of those games that unites family members of all ages. Schoolkids and millennials alike are familiar with the franchise via Nintendo's games and the television series, which first premiered in 1997. Older generations will appreciate the lack of squeaky character voices in the app. We've seen grandparents walking with their grandkids, enjoying the game together. It's also a great way to get your children off the couch and active—not always an easy task in the digital age. A walk through your local downtown, park, or botanical garden is a great way to have fun and experience nature together.

Collecting is fun

Since time immemorial, humans have enjoyed collecting things. From rocks to coins, the tradition of collecting goes way back. This tendency has not lessened in the digital age, as illustrated by the success of games such as Neko Atsume, Dragonvale, and Pokémon Go. Once you get started, you don't want to stop until you "catch 'em all."

Friendly competition

Pokémon Go has an element of competitive gameplay adding to the fun. Gyms in the game are not held by fictional characters, but by other trainers. Join one of three teams, and use your Pokémon to attack a Gym in a hostile takeover, or defend it on behalf of your team. Gyms in populated areas may change hands multiple times per day, and everyone understands that's the way things are. Battles are conducted between trainers and the game's AI, and there's no in-game communication system—which means there's very little chance to have hard feelings if your Pokémon is defeated.

No entry fee

Pokémon Go, like its augmented-reality predecessor Ingress, is free to play. Where there is an in-game store allowing the purchase of additional items, it's completely optional. If you are consistently visiting Pokéstops to collect items, you should have no problem keeping your bag overflowing with Pokéballs, incense, potions, and other goodies.

Replay value

On average, Pokémon Go trainers have been using the app for 43 minutes a day—longer than the average user's daily Twitter time. Unlike many collecting games which involve only a few minutes a day to check in on your creatures and care for them, Pokémon Go can be played for as long as you have the will or stamina to keep going. There's always the possibility of a new Pokémon just around the corner. You don't ever "win" the game, and even if you manage to collect all of the original 151 Pokémon, it's likely that future updates will expand the Pokédex to include later generations.

Accessible to everyone

Perhaps the most brilliant thing about Pokémon Go is there's very little knowledge barrier for those new to the genre. You don't need to know the name of every Pokémon in the Pokédex, you don't need to know much about battle strategy (although a little primer on which types are weakest against each other would be helpful), and you don't need to  know the lore and history of Ash and the other characters found in the television series or previous games. The story of the game is simple—the world around us is filled with mystical creatures, and it's your mission to catch them, befriend them, and train them to be stronger. That's a mission we can all get behind.

http://www.looper.com/18330/everyone-addicted-pokemon-go/

Structure of the Lead：

WHAT-the release of Pokémon Go  

WHEN-  in early July 2016

WHY- not given
WHERE- not given
WHO- not given
HOW- has outperformed all expectations
Keywords:
1.fan base:粉絲
2. camaraderie:友誼
3.utilizing:利用
4.millennials:千禧世代(出生於1980至2000年的人)
5.franchise:授權
6. hostile:敵對的
7.predecessor Ingress:先前的版本
8.stamina:精力.活力
9.genre:類型
10.lore:知識.學問

第七週:尼斯恐攻

Nice attack: truck driver named as France mourns 84 killed in Bastille Day atrocity – as it happened

By The GUARDIAN

16 Jul 2016

Nearly 24 hours after a Bastille Day celebration was transformed into a nightmare, “locals and visitors returned to the Promenade des Anglais to lay flowers for the dead and to wonder exactly how, and why, the unthinkable had come to pass,” my colleague Sam Jones reports from the city.

Throughout Friday, impromptu shrines had sprung up along the metal barriers that closed off the promenade. From one hung a tricolor with a black ribbon sewn on to the white central stripe. At another, a picture of Buddha watched over a dozen small candles. Someone had left a cigarette lighter and more nightlights on the ground so others could light candles and offer prayers.
Madame Bourmault, who lives two minutes from the promenade, came to one of the shrines with a bunch of flowers in her hand and tears in her eyes.
“I can’t sleep and I can’t breathe. It’s just horrible,” she said.
“What else can you say?” She had been down by the firework display on Thursday night, and seen a sudden tide of people screaming and running away. “In a fraction of a second, the music stopped and there was a lot of screaming. Everyone was running and no one was helping.”
On Bormault’s mind was a question that many around the world are asking: how had the truck managed to get on to the promenade? “It’s normally closed to traffic,” she said. However, she did not blame the police. “I don’t know what else the police could have done, but I don’t understand how the truck got in.”
She added: “You can’t put a policeman behind everyone - and there area lot of crazy people in this world.”
Leila Pasini, an Italian tourist from Milan on holiday in Nice, had been on the promenade before the attack but had returned to the flat where she was staying to make sure her dog was OK.
“We left just before the truck came and then I looked out of the window and saw a river of people running and crying. It looked like the apocalypse but I didn’t know what was going on.”
Pasini said she had heard that the truck had been close to the promenade for a long time and that the driver had explained that he was delivering ice.
“I don’t know whether that’s true or not,” she said. “But if it is true, then that’s very serious. Why would a truck be there for so long?”
By nine o’clock last night, life on the Rue de France, which runs close to the promenade, was slowly returning to normal. A few hundred yards from the scene of the atrocity, people walked their dogs and sat eating on restaurant terraces. Past them walked couples carrying flowers and clutching each other’s hands tightly.
Ita Murray and her friend Jackie Ellis, had arrived in Nice from London a few hours before the attack. They had intended to go and watch the fireworks but the day’s traveling had got the better of them and they chose to stay on their balcony.
“About 11, we saw all these youngsters running and screaming,” said Murray. “They were tearing around and we thought it was a prank.”
It wasn’t until nine on Friday morning, when they were awoken by phone calls from their anxious families, that they understood what all the shouting and running had been about. And that their fatigue had been a blessing.
“We were just too tired,” said Ellis. “Otherwise we would have been up
there because there’s always something going on.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/jul/14/nice-bastille-day-france-attack-promenade-des-anglais-vehicle?page=with:block-5789464de4b033b610b6e3e7#block-5789464de4b033b610b6e3e7

Structure of the Lead：

WHAT- celebration was transformed into a nightmare

WHEN- Nearly 24 hours after a Bastille Day celebration

WHY- not given

WHERE- Promenade des Anglais

WHO- not given

HOW- not given

Keywords:

1.impromptu:事先無準備的

2. sprung up:突然出現.湧現

3.promenade :海濱人行道

4.tricolor:法國國旗(大寫)

5.fraction:片段

6.apocalypse:世界末日.大災難

7.atrocity:暴行

8.clutch:握住.抓取

9.fatigue:疲勞

第六週--熊本地震

Japan earthquake: Powerful new tremor in Kumamoto

16 April 2016

By BBC News

A more powerful earthquake has rocked the southern Japanese city of Kumamoto in the middle of the night, a day after an earlier tremor killed nine people.

The magnitude-7.3 quake hit at a depth of 10km (six miles) at 01:25 on Saturday (15:25 GMT on Friday) in Kyushu region. At least three people died and hundreds were injured.

A village has been evacuated after a dam collapsed, media reports say.

A tsunami warning was issued, and lifted some 50 minutes later.

Japan is regularly hit by earthquakes but stringent building codes mean that they rarely cause significant damage.

This new earthquake in Kyushu was much bigger and hit a wider area than the one that struck Kumamoto on Thursday night, says the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo.

In one town near the coast, the city hall has been so badly damaged there are fears it could collapse. A hospital has been evacuated because it is no longer safe.

Thousands of people have fled on to the streets and into parks - where they are huddled under blankets looking dazed and afraid, our correspondent says.

But there are numerous reports of people trapped inside buildings, including at least 60 inside an old people's home.

Public broadcaster NHK says the dam collapsed in the Nishihara village.

elevision pictures showed thousands of people filling streets and parks, looking dazed across the region.

NHK had warned of sea waves of up to 1m (3ft).

Japan's nuclear authority said the Sendai nuclear plant was not damaged.

The quake was originally assessed as magnitude 7.1 but revised upwards to 7.3 later.

Gavin Hayes, a research geophysicist with the US Geological Survey (USGS) in Colorado, told the BBC that the latest earthquake would hamper the earlier rescue operation that was already under way.

He said more damage could be expected as the earthquake had been shallower and the fault-line had been much longer.

"The ground surface would have moved in the region of 4-5m. So, you are talking very intense shaking over quite a large area. And that's why we'll probably see a significant impact from this event."

The Associated Press news agency said guests at the Ark Hotel near the Kumamoto Castle, which was damaged, woke up and gathered in the lobby for safety.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36059487

Structure of the Lead：

WHAT- A more powerful earthquake has rocked

WHEN- in the middle of the night, a day after an earlier tremor killed nine people

WHY- not given
WHERE- the southern Japanese city of Kumamoto
WHO- not given
HOW- not given

Keywords:
1.magnitude:震度
2. evacuated:疏散.撤離
3.fled on:逃跑
4.huddled:混亂.擁擠
5.correspondent:記者.特派員