英語學習筆記

from : Landmark English Dec. 12, 2009
Avatar
  On December 18, one of the most
anticipated movies of the year will finally
hit theaters. Packed with aliens, action, and 
romance, Avatar is sure to make waves
around the world. It will also mark the return of
one of Hollywood's most respected directors,
James Cameron.
  In Avatar, Sam Worthington stars as Jake 
Sully, a former marine who was paralyed
in battle. But as part of a new experiment,
the millitary is giving him a second chance at
having a fully functional body. He is flown to the
faraway planet of Pandora, where technology
allows him to control an alien body. However,
he soon discovers that the government wants
him to assist it in exploiting the planet's
resources. Sully must choose whether to help
the government or his new alien friends.
  But Avatar is not your ordinary sci-if
film. Its $200 million budget makes it one of
the most expensive films ever made. It will
also introduce a new 3-D technology that
may revolutionize filmmaking. This summer,
moviegoers were griven a brief
preview, and many walked 
away speechless. Others
reported the blue aliens were so real it seemed
like they were standing right in front of the
audience. Iron Man director John Favreau has
called the new 3-D effects "a game changer."
  Although Avatar director James Cameron is now
on stranger to blockbusters, his road to the top wasn't
easy. After dropping out of college, Cameron drove a
truck. In his spare time, he made films with friends
and taught himself the art of making movies. Over
the next seven years, he would work his way up to
become a Hollywood director.
  Cameron's first hit was the 1984 action film The
Terminator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. This began
a series of successful movies. In the following ten
years, Cameron would direct Aliens, The Abyss, and True
Lies. But in 1997 he had his biggest hit ever, Titanic. This
timeless love story, starring Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate
Winslet, become the highest-grossing film of all time.
  Perhaps the most amazing thing about Cameron
is his ability to change his style and still make
incredible films. In Avatar, Cameron is gambling on
the 3-D Fusion Camera system. He believes it is the
future and has promised to do all of his films in 3-D
from now on. Although the jury is still out on whether
or not Avatar will be a hit, it seems like nothing will sink
or terminate the career of this talented director anytime
soon.

資料來源：http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=173066

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資料來源：BBC

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Taiwan court orders Chen arrest
A court in Taiwan has ordered former President Chen Shui-bian, who faces corruption charges, to be taken into detention.
Court proceedings had been suspended on Tuesday, when Mr Chen said he needed hospital treatment after being pushed outside the court building.
He was returned to court for an overnight sitting after doctors found he had only a minor muscle tear.
The former president, who stepped down in May, denies all the charges.

He is accused of money laundering and illegally using a special presidential fund.

But Mr Chen, a staunch nationalist, accuses the new administration of persecuting him to bow to the wishes of Beijing.

Mr Chen is an ardent supporter of Taiwanese independence, and a trenchant critic of President Ma Ying-jeou's Kuomintang (KMT) administration, which he accuses of pandering to Beijing.

Mr Chen and his family have been mired in corruption allegations since 2006, when his son-in-law was charged with insider trading on the stock market and then jailed for seven years.

The charges have damaged the reputation of the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), observers say, which now faces a rough ride in local elections next year.

Taiwan has been ruled separately since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949; the defeated Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan to create a self-governing entity.

But Beijing sees the island as a breakaway province which should be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

 

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7723686.stm
Published: 2008/11/12 00:07:18 GMT
© BBC MMVIII

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The 12th Annual CEO Forum
3-4 December 2008
China World Hotel, Beijing
 

In my life, no success has come without a good fight, and this nomination wasn't any different.
我的一生中, 沒有勝利不經奮鬥而來, 這次提名也不例外
A word to Senator Obama and his supporters. We'll go it over the next two months. That's the nature of these contests, and there are big differences between us. But you have my respect and admiration.
對歐巴馬及他的支持者, 我有一言. 在接下來的兩個月, 我們之間自然會有許多競爭. 這個競賽的本質就是如此, 我們彼此之間有極大的差異. 但我尊敬並欽佩你們.
And let me offer an advance warning to the old, big spending, do nothing, me first, country second Washington crowd: change is coming.
華府那些老朽的、 花大錢、一事無成、自我優先、國家第二的儲君, 我先警告你們 :  「改變來了!」
And when we tell you we're going to change Washington, and stop leaving our contry's problems for some unluckier generation to fix, you can count on it.
當我們說我們會改變華府, 不再把我們國家問題留給不幸的下一代去解決, 你們可以相信我們會說到做到.
We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us. We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the tempations of corruption.
我們是被選來改變華府的, 我們卻任由被華府改變. 當一些共和國員無法抗拒貪腐誘惑時, 我們也隨之失去了美國人民的信任.

  National Geographic News -- People have been enjoying chocolate for more than 3,000 years -- about 500 years earlier than previously believed, according to a new study. Researchers also think that chocolate was discovered by accident -- when Central American Indians making beer from the pulp of cacao seedpods found a new use for a byproduct of that process.
  The new findings about chocolate's origins were gleaned from traces of cacao found on pottery fragments dating from about 1100 B.C. to 800 B.C. Then fragments were uncovered between 1995 and 2000 at archaeological excavations near Puerto Escondido in Honduras.
  Today's chocolate is made from the fermented seeds of the cacao tree, which only grows near the equator. Around 1100 B.C., ancient beer makers used the cacao's seedpods to make their drinks. The pods -- which were a little smaller than a modern American football -- were fermented, and then the pod pulp was used to make the beer. The seeds were discarded.
  "It was beer with a high kick," says study author Rosemary Joyce, an anthropologist at the University of California, Berkeley. "But is would not have tasted anything like the chocolate we have today."
  About 300 years later, however, people began using the discarded fermented seeds to make a non-alcoholic beverage that was highly prized despite its bitter taste, said study author John Henderson, an anthropologist at Cornell University.

U.S. shoppers defy economic blues on 'Black Friday'
by Luis Torres De La Liosa
New York, AFP
  Shoppers in the United States brushed off some gloomy economic forecasts and rushed into stores during the Thanksgiving Day weekend kicking off one of the busiest U.S. shopping periods of the year.
  While economists have suggested this year's holiday season will likely see only a small increase in takings over last year due to weak consumer confidence, there was little sign of depressed sales on New York's streets.

以下內容來自一封網路 e-mail

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There was a one-hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second richest man who has donated $31 billion to charity. Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:
1. He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he  started too late! 2. He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering  newspapers. 3. He still lives in the same small 3-bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence. 4. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him. 5. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company. 6. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis. He has given his CEO's only two rules.
Rule number 1: do not lose any of your share holder's money.
Rule number 2: Do not forget rule  number 1.7. He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch Television. 8. Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the
meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.9. Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone,nor has a computer on his desk.
His advice to young people:"Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself and Remember:

• A. Money doesn't create man but it is the man who created money.
• B. Live your life as simple as you are.
• C. Don't do what others say, just listen them, but do what you feel good
• D. Don't go on brand name; just wear those things in which u feel comfortable.
• E. Don't waste your money on unnecessary things; just spend on them who really in need rather.
• F. After all it's your life then why give chance to others to rule our life.

    dpa -- It's every notebook computer user's worst nightmare. You go to retrieve your notebook from the last place you left it, only to discover that someone else -- a thief -- has retrieved it for you.
    Financial records, bank and credit card information, personal data, sensitive files, expensive software -- not to mention the notebook computer itself -- can be gone in an instant.
    That means that if you own a notebook computer, theft prevention is your best defense. But just because your notebook computer is personal doesn't mean it will stay that way. So your first step should be to take a hard look at just what information you have stored on your notebook computer and decide whether it belongs there, remembering that at any time it could be exposed to prying eyes.
    Also, be aware of the sensitive information you might have stored inside of document files. Don't leave documents filled with user names and passwords on your notebook's hard driver, for example. And turn off automatic form filling in Web browsers that offer that option. Making it easy for thieves to see which Internet banking sites you use and then to gain access to accounts simply by logging on to them makes no sense.
    If you must carry around personal information on your notebook it's wise to exercise at least a basic level of security in the form of passwords and data encryption.

Cartoon Characters Get Big Makeover for Overseas Fans
by Geoffery A. Fowler & Amy Chozick
  Big round heads and tiny bodies make the Powerpuff Girls instantly identifiable to their fans in America. The preteen karate superheroes star in one of the top-rated shows on cables' Cartoon Network.
  Last year, though, the "Powerpuff Girls" showed up in Japan with whole new look. On "Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z," the heroines have grown up, sprouted long legs and wear skirts well above their knees. In the original American storyline, the girls were created of sugar, spice and everything nice; their Japanese counterparts are normal girls who acquire superpowers from a chemical reaction initiated by a rice cake.
  Once, American entertainment companies exporting characters just dubbed them into other languages. But in recent years, Asia has become the testing ground for character reinvention, a process called "transcreation."