第九週-阿里辭世

Muhammad Ali's unique ring genius and legendary performances electrified the boxing world.

His outsized personality and refusal to conform to expectations of how a public figure should act, particularly one of colour, transcended sports and made him a global icon.

Ali died Friday at the age of 74. According to reports, he was battling respiratory issues complicated by the Parkinson's disease he was diagnosed with in the 1980s.

Ali's heavyweight boxing legend was forged over 56 wins in a 61-fight career. The fights that hold the greatest sway: Stunning upsets over the intimidating Sonny Liston (twice) and George Foreman, and breathtaking battles in a trilogy with perfect foil Joe Frazier, which set the standard for all sports rivalries.

Written off as a loquacious clown early in his career, and prematurely as washed up a decade later, the Louisville, Ky., native defied the odds time and again, becoming the first man to win the heavyweight title on three separate occasions.

Ali loomed large for people — even for those who didn't care about boxing or found it abhorrent. He forced society to confront feelings about civil rights, race, religion and war through his defiance of convention and his own government. He changed his name in 1964 in service of Muslim beliefs alien to most, and three years later refused to step forward for an induction order during the height of the Vietnam War.

"I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong," he said. "They never called me nigger."

Ali was 29-0 when he was stripped of his heavyweight title and forcibly sidelined for three-and-a-half years beginning in early 1967 for refusing to serve in the U.S. Armed Services.

He faced a five-year prison term and his passport was revoked, taking away his livelihood. The Supreme Court eventually reversed the conviction 8-0, but he endured scorn and lost millions at the peak of his abilities.

After retirement came the 1984 diagnosis of Parkinson's syndrome, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. In a cruel irony, the silver-tongued shouter's voice was reduced to a barely audible whisper. The fleet-footed Ali Shuffle gave way to a mummified gait.

Ali became a martyr to some and to others an advertisement for the abolition of the sport. To others still, he was an exemplar of bravery and persistence in the face of disease, as he continued to champion peace and children's causes, travelling extensively when called upon to promote understanding  between East and West, Muslims and Christians.

http://www.cbc.ca/sportslongform/entry/muhammad-ali-dominated-boxing-ring-and-led-fight-against-racism

Why:His outsized personality and refusal to conform to expectations of how a public figure should act, particularly one of colour, transcended sports and made him a global icon.

Who:Muhammad Ali's

Where:not even

What:not even

When: 1980s.

How:not even

1. expectations 期望
2. transcended 超越
3. respiratory 呼吸
4. diagnosed 診斷
5. heavyweight 重量級
6. intimidating 恐嚇
7. breathtaking 驚險
8. loquacious 貧嘴
9. separate 分離
10. abhorrent 可惡

第八週-三星note 7手機自燃

The Galaxy Note 7 will be banned from all US airline flights

Samsung’s recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphone will be banned from US airline flights. The order comes from the FAA and the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and follows an announcement from earlier this week that Samsung is ending production of the phone entirely. The ban takes effect Saturday at noon eastern time.

The devices will not be allowed on planes even if they are turned off, a dramatic escalation of the current restrictions which only require that the phones be turned off and not charged or stored in checked luggage.

“We recognize that banning these phones from airlines will inconvenience some passengers, but the safety of all those aboard an aircraft must take priority,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in a statement. “We are taking this additional step because even one fire incident inflight poses a high risk of severe personal injury and puts many lives at risk.”

It’s not surprising that the FAA would make this move. Dozens of the recalled phones have been catching fire, including one on a Southwest Airlines jet that was parked at the gate. Samsung has yet to explain exactly what happened to cause its phones to spontaneously burst into flames, but reports suggest that Samsung itself may not even know the cause yet.

Banning a single consumer device, especially one as widely owned as the Note 7, is perhaps unprecedented. The banning of hoverboards from many planes would be the closest comparison, but that was for an entire class of devices that were admittedly fire-prone because of cheap materials — and it was an airline-by-airline ban rather than something coming down from regulators.

It’s not clear which entity would be responsible for stopping passengers from bringing the Note 7 on board a plane. A TSA spokesperson we spoke to said that TSA agents would not be searching for their phones specifically, but if “they encounter one at a checkpoint, they would inform the owner that the phone is not allowed on the aircraft and direct the passenger to leave the checkpoint and come back without the phone.” If a Note 7 phone is discovered in checked baggage, TSA will turn it over to the airline.

“Samsung, together with carriers, is working to communicate the U.S. Department of Transportation’s new order to ban all Galaxy Note7 devices in carry-on and checked baggage on flights,” said a Samsung representative in an emailed statement to The Verge. “We have encouraged airlines to issue similar communications directly to their passengers. Any Galaxy Note7 owner should visit their carrier and retail store to participate in the U.S. Note7 Refund and Exchange Program now. We realize this is an inconvenience but your safety has to remain our top priority.”

Samsung is expected to lose billions on the unexpected shutdown of the phone, and likely billions more in goodwill and brand equity as consumers choose to avoid Samsung products.

We have reached out to the FAA and PHMSA for comment.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/14/13288978/samsung-galaxy-note-7-flight-ban-faa-us

who:Galaxy Note 7 smartphone

when:The ban takes effect Saturday at noon eastern time.

why:banned from US airline flights

where:from the FAA

what:not even

how:not even

Keywords

1. recalled 回憶
2. entirely 完全
3. dramatic 戲劇性
4. escalation 升級
5. luggage 行李
6. aircraft 飛機
7. spontaneously 自發地
8. unprecedented 前所未有
9. hoverboards 氣墊板
10. spokesperson 發言人