Monday, April 22, 2013


Surviving China’s Latest Earthquake, but Afraid to Go Home
New York Times
4/22/2013

YUXI, China — Many residents of this tiny village in the mountainous region of southwest China spent Saturday night in tents and makeshift shelters, too scared to sleep in their flimsy homes after an earthquake killed 188 people early that morning.

Roofs buckled, walls tumbled and windows broke after the earthquake shook houses and sent boulders tumbling down mountain sides onto the narrow road that leads into this valley of Lushan County near the epicenter of the earthquake, which Chinese authorities said had a preliminary magnitude of 7.
The aftermath was not nearly as serious as the 7.9-magnitude earthquake in 2008 that left more than 70,000 people dead in the Wenchuan area. But villagers who work in Chengdu, about 100 miles away, streamed back home Sunday morning, many on foot, the lucky ones on motorbikes, to check on their homes.
Song Yuanqing, 43, a construction worker, arrived back after a 22-hour trip to find his roof and the walls unstable. “We would like to do something, but we can’t do anything,” Mr. Song said as he sat with neighbors around an outdoor fire built by the village leader in his backyard. Some people had slept under the machinery at a lumber yard. The village leader, Gao Zaimeng, said his house — a two-story concrete structure that is one of the best in town — shook violently. “More violent than in 2008,” he said. Although his house was intact, he was too nervous to risk sleeping or cooking inside, he said.
About 50 soldiers attached to the People’s Liberation Army’s regional headquarters in Chengdu marched in formation along the main village street, armed with shovels and picks to help shore up buildings. In all, the government deployed about 7,000 soldiers and People’s Armed Police officers to the affected area. By Saturday evening, there were so many rescue workers in the area that the government asked volunteers to stop coming.
China’s prime minister, Li Keqiang, perhaps mindful of the criticism of the rescue efforts in 2008, flew to the area and slept in a tent on Saturday evening in Lushan County.
The earthquake shook Sichuan Province at 8 a.m., when people were rising a little later than usual because schools and universities were closed.
“We were just getting up and getting dressed in our dormitory when the building shook, and I looked outside from our seventh-floor window and saw a row of houses collapsed,” Xu Yan, 22, a student at the Agricultural University in Ya’an, said in a telephone interview. “I have never flown down the stairs so fast.”
The Chinese government said early Sunday that the known death toll was 174, with most of the victims in Ya’an. The ministry also said that about 5,700 people had been injured.
The United States Geological Survey said that the earthquake occurred on the Longmenshan fault line, the same one responsible for the 2008 quake. But more than 12 hours after the initial tremor, the impact seemed to be far less severe.
Chinese radio quoted an unnamed official who said, “We have a basic grasp of the overall disaster situation, and there won’t be thousands or tens of thousands of fatalities.”
Rescue efforts were hampered by landslides, and officials expressed concern about two barrier lakes that had formed after debris blocked two waterways.
The tremors were felt in Chengdu, one of China’s biggest cities and the capital of Sichuan Province. Residents described water spilling out of home aquariums and objects like home water dispensers falling to the floor.
Yang Yubing, an executive at a sculpture factory in Baoxing County, one of the hardest-hit areas, said he was visiting Chengdu when he felt the tremors. He immediately left on a seven-hour drive to his home in Baoxing. But emergency workers stopped him when he got close to his apartment, Mr. Yang said. “They said five or six kilometers of roads were collapsed,” he said in a telephone interview. “We are all living in temporary tents in the school.” Badly injured people were taken to hospitals by helicopter, he said.
In the town of Longmen, another hard-hit area within Ya’an’s jurisdiction, a resident, Zhang Yan, said 90 percent of the buildings had collapsed.
“About 100 people died around here,” Ms. Zhang said in a telephone interview. “Rescue crews have not yet arrived. There is no water or electricity.”
Xinhua quoted a hospital official who said scores of injured people were sprawled in front of the county hospital on Saturday afternoon. Firefighters in Lushan County pulled 27 survivors from collapsed buildings, Xinhua said.
The 2008 quake raised questions about poorly constructed schools that collapsed and killed thousands of students.
That earthquake prompted an extensive official relief effort and a passionate outpouring of volunteer help. But some quake-stricken residents and observers criticized the government for sending rescue efforts to the wrong places, or for failing to muster the equipment needed to lift victims from under slabs of concrete and brick. Instead, many troops and rescuers clambered over the rubble with sticks and spades.
This time, the government appears intent on avoiding any accusations of lagging behind
In 2008, officials restricted independent reporting on the disaster, but Ran Wang, a businessman, said he hoped officials would allow greater transparency. “No censorship, no cover-ups or control so the right of the people and society to be informed during natural disasters is respected,” he wrote on his microblog account.
The Longmenshan fault line, which runs between the Tibetan plateau and Sichuan Basin, is seismically active. Twelve earthquakes with a magnitude of 5 or greater have occurred along the fault line since 1900, said Jiang Haikun, an official with the China Earthquake Administration.
Sichuan Province is also one of China’s best-known habitats for pandas, and at the Bifengxia reserve, about six miles north of Ya’an, workers said that 20 pandas in the park were safe. “We inspected the panda area after the quake, and they were unaffected,” said Chen Yong, the media relations officer of the reserve.





Summary

              In April, 20th 2013 at 8a.m, there was an earthquake of 7.9 magnitudes which happened in Southwest of China. Caused by that, about 188 citizens died. Also by this earthquake, roof came down and walls fell. For proof in Ya’an 90% of homes were gone. But compare to 2008’s earthquake, less people were dead. Even though less people dead, still there are people a lot of who lost their house, so lot of people slept in schools or in tent. Many people helped for volunteers and police helped for rescue. However, many roads were blocked by debris, so it took time to rescue.

Vocabulary
Buckled– almost same as collapse.
Collapse- to fall down
Tremor- to shake
Fatalities- a death that is caused by an accident or in a war.
Debris- pieces of wood, metal, brick, etc. that are left after something has been destroyed.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013


The Crucible
Arthur Miler
By Muneyoshi Yoshihiro
9-1
              The story of “The Crucible” is a non- fiction story that happened in real life in 1692, but some characters were arranged and some remained same. It is a tragic story because this was the real story that happened in real life which lots of people were accused. The story starts with girls who are living in the town called Salem. Salem is a place where witchcraft exists even though there are no real witches. People in that town are very paranoid about witchcraft and people kills innocent one without any proof. Girls are dancing in the middle of the forest so that no one can see them and this was to call devil. However, they were caught by Reverend Parris when they started screaming and running around because Tituba (only the black women in the Salem) put rabbit in the pot to call devil. So Reverend Parris told people in the Salem and all girls got sent to the court. Abigail William is one of the women, who was dancing at the forest and gave rabbit to Tituba. She blamed that Tituba called the devil and then Tituba blamed that Sarah Good and Goody Osburn called the devil. Abigail loves John Proctor who is a farmer, but she can’t love him because John was married with Elizabeth Proctor, so Abigail told to Judge Danforth that Elizabeth called the devil too. John Proctor cannot forgive this happening, so he sacrificed for Elizabeth and stopped the witchcraft in the Salem.

Pg 124 (summarized) No, I don’t! It is my name, and I cannot have another in my life! How may I live without my name? I have given my soul…., just leave me my name!

I recommend this book because this is a historic story that you should know. People should know about witchcraft because it brought to many innocent dead in the past and people are getting blamed of witchcraft today in countries like Africa. In the future, you might read play book like Shakespeare, so it will good practice.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Today I got my new phone for my birthday!! Color is purple! Actually, my birthday is April 10th, but there were no color to buy that day,so my father got it for me!!

U.S., South Korea stand firm against Pyongyang's threats
Muneyoshi Yoshihiro
9-1
2013/04/16
The Japan news by Yomiuri Shinbun
SEOUL (AP)--U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his South Korean counterpart said Friday that North Korea will gain nothing by threatening tests of its missile or nuclear program.
Kerry said the United States and its Asian ally will not accept the North as a nuclear power. And he says its rhetoric is "unacceptable."
Kerry made his first-ever visit to Seoul amid strong suspicion that North Korea may soon test a mid-range missile.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung Se called Pyongyang's threats a "grave provocation" to the entire international community.
Kerry was kicking off four days of talks in East Asia amid speculation that the North's unpredictable regime would launch a mid-range missile designed to reach as far as the U.S. territory of Guam. Kerry also planned to visit China and Japan.
North Korea often times its provocations to generate maximum attention, and Kerry's presence in Seoul will provide plenty of that, even if the United States is engaged in intense diplomacy with China, the North's benefactor, in an effort to lower tensions. Another dangerous date on the calendar is April 15, the 101st birthday of North Korea's deceased founder, Kim Il Sung.
Kerry's trip coincides with the disclosure of a new U.S. intelligence report that concludes North Korea has advanced its nuclear knowhow to the point that it could arm a ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead. The analysis, disclosed Thursday at a congressional hearing in Washington, said the Pentagon's intelligence wing has "moderate confidence" that North Korea has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles but that the weapon would be unreliable.
Pentagon spokesman George Little said afterward that "it would be inaccurate to suggest that the North Korean regime has fully tested, developed or demonstrated the kinds of nuclear capabilities referenced" at the congressional hearing.
James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said he concurred with Little and noted that the report alluded to at the hearing was compiled by the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency and was not an assessment by the entire U.S. intelligence community. "Moreover, North Korea has not yet demonstrated the full range of capabilities necessary for a nuclear armed missile," he said.
Kerry's trip marks his first foray to the Asia-Pacific as America's top diplomat, spearheading the effort to "pivot" U.S. power away from Europe and the Middle East and toward the world's most populous region and fulcrum of economic growth.
And it comes on the heels of months of provocative action and warlike rhetoric from Pyongyang, including talk of nuclear strikes against the United States--however outlandish analysts consider such threats. No one is discounting the danger entirely after tests of a nuclear device and ballistic missile technology in recent months.
Kerry's trip was planned well in advance of the latest danger to destabilize the Korean Peninsula: North Korea's apparent preparations for another missile test in defiance of United Nations resolutions. The crisis clearly has overtaken the rest of his Asian agenda.
The Obama administration believes North Korea is preparing for another missile test, said a senior State Department official traveling with Kerry on the plane to Seoul. "We will show to our allies that we are prepared and we will defend them," the official said.



Summary

              One threat was that international was talking about missiles that they will shoot or not. Describe why they are doing like act. Because it they want to get attention from everyone. They could shoot by ballistic missiles with nuclear warhead. However, it is not perfect. Even N. Korea said that said that they have power to destroy Washington; we don’t know that it is strong enough. For now N. Korea is threatening S. Korea, but people think that it is likely to happen, but some does believe because they showed the part when missile was lunched. If N. Korea shoots, U.S. will defend Asia.



Vocabulary

Rhetoric (修辞学)- using skill of language in speech and writing which influence people.
Provocation (怒らせること) – to do or say something that makes he/ she mad.
Regime (政治制度) – system of government especially with one unfairly chosen.
Diplomacy (外交) – managing relationship between different countries
Congressional (会議の)  – belonging to congress.
Destabilize (不安定にする) – to make system country and government less successful

Vocabulary

  • debris
  • fatalities
  • tremor
  • collapse
  • buckled
  • destabilize
  • congressional
  • diplomacy
  • regime
  • provacation
  • rhetoric