Let's Get 7 in IELTS

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How accurate are tennis calls?  Just how often were McEnroe's tirades justified? A detailed analysis of two years of challenged calls in tennis using the Hawk-Eye replay system shows players got it right about 40 percent of the time. Published this summer in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study suggests both players and linemen have an impressive accuracy of just over 1.5 inches. In 94 percent of the challenges, the ball was within three inches of the line. Surprisingly, players challenged calls from the other side of the court an equal amount, and both players and linesman were less accurate calling balls on the baseline and service line than on the sidelines or center line. Players who challenged less weren't found to be more or less accurate than their counterparts, so don't go home with a challenge in your pocket. Hawk-Eye is a camera-based system that got its start in cricket. For the past two years it's received rave reviews from even the harshest pundits (cf. McEnroe). Using triangulation methods, Hawk-Eye claims an accuracy of 3.6 millimeters when taking into account a variety of potential adverse conditions. The company was in the midst of developing a system for soccer when FIFA suddenly pulled the plug. tirade
n.
1. 長篇的攻擊性演說;激烈的發言 Proceedings
n.
1. 訴訟
2. (會議)議項;會議記錄
3. 行動,行為 court
n.
1. 法庭,法院;(開)庭[C][U]
2. (一次開庭的)全體法官[the S][J]
3. (網球等的)場地[C][U]
4. 庭院,院子[C]
5. 短巷,死巷[C]
6. 朝廷;廷臣[the S][G];宮廷;王宮;(君主的)召見[C][U]
7. (向女性的)求愛;殷勤[U]
vt.
1. 向...獻殷勤;向...求愛(求婚)
2. 企圖獲得;追求
3. 招致;引誘
vi.
1. 求愛,求婚;戀愛 counterpart
n.[C]
1. 極相像的人(或物)
2. 互為補充的人(或物);對應的人(或物),配對物
3. (契約等的)副本,複本 cricket
n.[C]
1. 蟋蟀
2. 一按即發出唧唧聲的金屬小玩具(或信號器)
3. 擱腳木矮凳 harsh
vt.
1. 切細(肉、蔬菜等)[(+up)]
2. 【口】把...弄亂,把...搞糟
3. 反覆推敲[(+over)]
n.
1. 剁碎的食物;肉末洋芋泥[U][C]
2. 混雜,拼湊[U][S1]
3. 改頭換面,重新表述[C]
4. 【美】【俚】傳聞;閒話[U] pundits
n.
1. 【謔】博學(或自稱博學)的人;真實(或自命為)權威者
2. 梵學家 

 
This must be the week for the BBC to paint its logo on very large objects and send them off on ambitious journeys. You've already heard from Jeremy Hillman about 'The BBC Box,' a shipping container that will be used as a very creative way of illustrating global commerce over the next twelve months. The box was loaded onto a container ship in Southampton on Monday. It has now left the port of Greenock near Glasgow and is heading for China with Scotch whisky as its first payload.

 On the anniversary of the September 11th attacks, The World Tonight, had a special edition from Pakistan. Owen Bennett Jones presented the programme from Islamabad while Lyce Doucet reported from Afghanistan.
Seven years on from the attacks in New York and Washington, the key stronghold of groups linked to the Taleban and al-Qaeda is now the wild and remote mountain region straddling the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Many call this the new frontline in the battle between western forces, their Afghan and Pakistani allies, and armed Islamic militants.
But there is another way of looking at this region - it is the heartland of the Pashtuns - the tribal people who make up a large element of the population of both Afghanistan and Pakistan, but are resistant to the central authority of both states. The majority of the Taleban are Pashtuns and they have allied themselves to al-Qaeda.

 

A total of 1,253 Chinese children have fallen ill after drinking contaminated milk powder, and two babies have died, China's health ministry says.

It confirmed the big jump in the numbers affected at a news conference.

"As many as 10,000 infants may have drunk the contaminated Sanlu milk powder," vice health minister Ma Shaowei warned.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand government has accused the company concerned - and local officials - of failing to act.

The company at the centre of the growing scandal, Sanlu Group, is part-owned by New Zealand's Fonterra Cooperative, the country's biggest dairy producer.

The New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said her government contacted Beijing directly, after alerting the company and officials but to no avail.

Estimates rising

Mr Ma said in Beijing that 340 children remained in hospital, and that out of these 53 were in a serious condition.

He confirmed earlier reports in the state media that two babies had died from drinking milk powder produced by Sanlu Group, both of them in north-west China's Gansu province.

Cases of contamination have also been reported in the provinces of Hebei and Jiangsu.

The government is investigating how the contamination occurred. Official media is reporting that melamine, an industrial chemical rich in nitrogen, was added to the milk powder to help the food appear rich in protein, but it also prompted babies to develop kidney stones.

Reports are now emerging of some mothers expressing doubts about the milk as early as March this year, on seeing that their babies' urine was discoloured after drinking the milk.

Government told

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said her government learned of the contamination problem on September 5, then three days later decided to inform Beijing after local Chinese officials refused to act.

New Zealand ambassador to China Tony Brown was deputised to tell the Chinese government.

"We were the whistle-blowers and they [the Chinese government] leapt in and ensured there was action on the ground," Ms Clark said.

Fonterra had "been trying for weeks to get official recall and the local authorities in China would not do it", Ms Clark told TVNZ.

"I think the first inclination was to try and put a towel over it and deal with it without an official recall," she said.

Meanwhile, Sanlu's minority partner, Fonterra, has accused Sanlu of sabotage.

"In this case we frankly have sabotage of a product," Fonterra's chief executive Andrew Ferrier told reporters.

"Our hearts go out to the parents and the infants who were affected," he added.

Under pressure in New Zealand to explain why Fonterra had not gone public with its concerns about the product sooner, Mr Ferrier said his conscience was clear.

He said Fonterra had known of the contamination in early August and wanted an immediate recall but that Sanlu had had to abide by Chinese rules.

"We together with Sanlu have done everything that we possibly could to get the product off the shelf," Ferrier said, speaking to New Zealand reporters by video from Singapore.

 

Dear all
小弟我得到了一個資訊
有個教會在每個禮拜三晚上七點有免費的英文課程
共分三級還是四級,比較屬於生活會話,由來台灣的傳教士上課
還有一對一會話時間 
要去上的話只要繳交100元的講義費即可
有夥伴想去看看嗎???
我這裡拜想去!!!
要結夥去的請回覆喔!!!       

Europe's first mission to the Moon looks set for a July blast-off.
Scientists and engineers working on the Smart 1 spacecraft are hoping to fly around the 15th of that month - but it all depends on the status of the launcher.
Currently, Europe's rockets are grounded following the high-profile failure of a vehicle in December last year.
But it seems the rocket's operators, Arianespace, are confident enough about the outcome of a post-accident review of systems to give Smart 1 a provisional launch date.
"We've just been told we can go for July," Dr Sarah Dunkin, one of the lead project scientists on the mission told BBC News Online. "But Arianespace did say this date assumed the review would turn out alright."
X-ray map
The news is a big fillip for everyone working on Smart 1. Originally pencilled in for a March launch, there were fears the lunar mission would be put back many months following the loss of the Ariane 5-ECA (ESC-A) rocket over the western Atlantic on 11 December.
Hopefully, the spacecraft - which is undergoing final testing - will soon be transported to Europe's spaceport at Kourou in French Guiana and mounted on its launcher.
Smart 1's primary objective is to test new technologies that can advance future planetary exploration. The craft is using an innovative form of propulsion - an ion thruster - that will take it on a 15-month spiral to the Moon.
Once in orbit around the Earth's satellite, the craft will send back data about the lunar surface and environment - again trialling novel technologies.
Dr Dunkin is the principal investigator on D-Cixs, an instrument that will produce an X-ray map of the Moon. The spectrometer, which is "the size of a toaster", will determine the absolute abundances of key elements (aluminium, magnesium and silicon) in the rocks that make up the lunar surface.
Mercury mission
"This information is vital if we are to confirm theories about the formation of the Moon," Dr Dunkin, from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, UK, said.
"The favoured theory at the moment is one that saw the Moon result from a collision between the early Earth and an object the size of Mars. The D-Cixs data could help us say for sure if this is right."
Although two Apollo missions did gather X-ray data, Dr Dunkin said Smart was needed to give global coverage.
Swiss researchers will have a high-resolution camera on Smart; the Germans will have an infrared spectrometer on the spacecraft.
Much of the technology trialled on Smart will find its way on to Europe's Bepi-Colombo mission to Mercury which should launch at the end of this decade.
abundance n. 豐富;充足[U]
blastoff n. 發射,升空
collision n. 碰撞;相撞
confident a. 確信的;有信心的,自信的[(+of)][+(that)
environment n. 環境;四周狀況[C][S1]
exploration n. 勘查;探測;探索
fillip vt. 彈(指);輕擊
formation n. 形成,構成,組成[U]
groundedly ad. 有理由地
high-profile a. 高姿態的; 立場明確的; 倍受矚目的
hopefully ad. 懷希望地;抱希望地
ion n. 離子
launcher n. 發射者
lunar a. 月的;月球上的
Mercury n. 水星
novel a. 新的,新穎的,新奇的
operator n. 操作者,技工
orbit n. (天體等的)運行軌道[C][U]
outcome n. 結果;結局;後果[S1][(+of)]
planetary a. 行星的[B]
propulsion n. 推進(力)
provisional a. 臨時的,暫時性的,暫定的
spectrometer n. 分光計,光譜儀
surface n. 面,表面[C]
thruster n. 火箭推進器;矯正(控制)艙身用火箭
toaster n. 烤麵包器;烤爐,烤箱
undergo vt. 經歷;經受;忍受
 

September 9, 2008 -- Updated 1351 GMT (2151 HKT) Share this on: Mixx Digg Facebook del.icio.us reddit StumbleUpon MySpace

 

Greenland seeks whaling breakaway

By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News website

Greenland is attempting to remove its whale hunt from the jurisdiction of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), BBC News has learned.

Its whalers are angry that the IWC has twice declined to permit the addition of humpback whales to its annual quota.

The move could eventually make Greenland the only state outside the commission to hunt the "great whales".

The news comes on the eve of a Florida meeting aimed at finding compromise within the fractured IWC.

The meeting is the latest stage in a "peace process" which began more than a year ago.

But documents sent in by governments' delegations - seen by BBC News - suggest fundamental divisions remain.

Divided rule

Greenland's Inuit communities catch minke, fin and bowhead whales under regulations permitting hunting where there is a "nutritional and cultural need".

At the 2007 and 2008 IWC meetings, Greenland - represented by Denmark, its former colonial ruler - requested adding an annual quota of 10 humpback whales.

The requests were turned down owing to concerns that Greenland had not demonstrated a real need for the meat, and that its existing hunting was too commercial in character.

Now, a letter has gone from the fisheries ministry of the territory's home-rule administration, based in Nuuk, to Denmark's foreign ministry, asking that Greenland withdraw from the IWC.

It is not clear whether Greenland is asking for Denmark to leave the organization, or to stop representing it, or to re-draw the areas of responsibility of the Copenhagen and Nuuk administrations to make whaling a completely home-rule issue.

Danish officials declined to elaborate and Greenlandic fisheries officials did not respond to requests for clarification.

The issue is expected to take several months to resolve.

Separate lives

A withdrawal by Greenland would have serious implications, because outside the IWC, its hunts would be able to expand without international oversight.

But there is resentment in several Arctic countries over what is seen as the imposition of "western cultural values" on communities that take most of their food from the sea.

Some ask the question, too, of why whaling is regulated globally when fisheries are managed through regional bodies.

The establishment of the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (Nammco) in 1992 by Norway, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands is an indication that some northern countries are looking for a different way to manage what they regard as their marine resources.

In its annual meeting earlier this month, Nammco concluded that Greenlanders should have an annual quota of no more than 10 humpbacks.

For the moment, Greenland is adhering to the IWC ruling rather than Nammco's recommendation; but given its latest move, that cannot be guaranteed to endure.

The establishment of a similar body to Nammco for the North Pacific is one of the options mooted by Japanese officials if the IWC becomes, in their view, beyond redemption.

Bridging the gap

With a view to healing the fissures within the IWC, chairman William Hogarth embarked more than a year ago on talks to explore whether some meeting of minds was possible.

Some anti-whaling activists decry the process because it could open the door to a limited lifting of the 1986 moratorium on commercial hunting.

But others believe it is the only viable way to reduce the annual global kill, which - if quotas are fulfilled - stands at more than 2,000.

A working group of 28 countries - not including the UK - will now meet in Florida, Dr Hogarth's home patch, to debate the issues that divide the organization.

Thirteen countries have sent in statements of position, or comments, on the 33 issues that were agreed at the IWC plenary as needing attention.

Japan, as it has done regularly, says its traditional whaling communities should be permitted annual quotas.

It envisages that such whaling would have a large element of international oversight, and that the number of whales caught would be deducted from the annual scientific hunt in coastal waters.

But it makes no mention of its annual Antarctic catch, the major bone of contention for anti-whaling nations.

Some anti-whaling countries indicate willingness to compromise on fundamental issues.

Argentina, for example, says that "issues such as scientific whaling and (Japanese) small-scale coastal whaling should be re-examined in the light of a spirit of commitment and within the framework of a dialogue which will allow us to leave aside the winner/loser rationale which has lately prevailed at IWC".

But other anti-whaling countries, such as the Netherlands, are adamant that the commercial whaling moratorium should stay; that scientific hunting, which is presently in the gift of individual governments. must be brought under IWC control; and that no countries beyond Iceland, Japan and Norway should be permitted to start whaling.

South Korea, meanwhile, appears to suggest that it might ask for a quota if the moratorium were to be lifted, saying that some of its communities have a whaling culture dating back thousands of years, and that "the ever-lasting whaling moratorium is destined to give rise to continuing socio-economic hardships to the communities concerned."

And Norway has weighed in to the Greenlandic humpback issue, saying that the IWC's refusal of a quota showed "an appallingly patronizing attitude vis-a-vis the needs of indigenous communities".

Dr Hogarth's aim is to have a package of measures agreed before the next IWC plenary in mid-2009. The indications are that much hard bargaining lies ahead if his wish is to be fulfilled.

 

breakaway n. 分離,脫逃

 

By Karishma Vaswani BBC News, Mumbai

A court in India has postponed the release of a film entitled Hari Puttar, after complaints from the makers of the blockbuster Harry Potter films.

Hollywood company Warner Bros has filed a lawsuit against all parties involved in the production and distribution of the Hari Puttar film.

It has been quoted as saying the title of the Indian movie is confusing.

Mirchi Movies, the makers of the Bollywood children's film, have denied the accusations.

It told the BBC that India's Hari Puttar had nothing to do with the Harry Potter wizard movies, to which Warner Bros owns the rights.

Mirchi says that Hari is a popular Indian name, and Puttar means 'son' in Hindi and Punjabi.

The Indian film tells the story of a 10-year-old boy who moves to England with his family and becomes involved in a plan to save the world.

The Indian production house says the name of their film was registered in 2005.

But the legal proceedings mean that scheduled release of Hari Puttar has been postponed.

It was meant to hit cinema halls on Friday, but has now been pushed back to the end of this month.

 

Postpone vt. 使延期,延遲,延緩 lawsuit n. 訴訟(尤指非刑事案件)[C]