Elderly Man Begs for Money and Donates to Churches

【Unlocking Word Meanings】

　今日の単語・フレーズ

Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article. 

1. veteran [VET-er-uh n, VE-truh n] (n.) – a person who fought in a war

Example: War veterans receive a monthly pension from the government.

2. restoration [res-tuh-REY-shuh n] (n.) – the act of bringing something into its original condition, especially a building

Example: The government spends a lot of money for the restoration of very old buildings.

3. meager [MEE-ger] (adj.) – inadequate or very small in amount or quantity

Example: I left the company because it gives meager salary.

4. pension [PEN-shuh n] (n.) – a fixed amount of money given to a person for his/her past services

Example:  The retired man received a higher pension than he expected.

5. testament [TES-tuh-muh nt] (n.) – a proof that something exists or is real

Example: His hard work and determination is a testament of what a man can do for his dreams.

【Article】

　ニュース記事

Read the text below.

A 99-year-old World War II veteran begs for money so he could donate to some churches in Bulgaria [buhl-GAIR-ee-uh, boo l-]. Dobri Dobrev [DOH-bref] is known in Bulgaria as “Dyado Dobri” or “Grandpa Dobri.” Every day, he walks 25 kilometers from his home in Baylovo village to Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital city, to beg for the whole day. He is known to be expressive of his great gratitude to those who drop coins. He often kisses a child’s hand with a smile and talks to strangers about God. After begging for so many years, Dobrev has collected around 78,000 lev or more than $55,000. Although he was able to collect this much, he never spent the money for his own needs. Instead, he donated the money for the restoration of the churches and monasteries all over Bulgaria. Dobrev gave 10,000 lev ($7,082) to the Church of St. Cyril [SIR-uh l] and Methodius. He also donated 25,000 lev ($17,706) to the Eleshnishkiya monastery and the church in Gorno Kamartsi. His biggest donation so far is 35,000 lev ($24,789), which he gave to the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. For his own needs, Dobrev makes use of the meager 80-Euro ($110) pension he receives every month. Instead of buying new ones, he stitches his own clothes, makes his own shoes, and lives by eating only a slice of bread and tomato every day. Some church leaders have tried offering him help, but he refused all of them. Because of his good deeds, some people named Dobrev the Saint of Baylovo. Dobrev also serves as a living testament that a person with true kindness and selflessness still exists today.

【Viewpoint Discussion】

　ディスカッションテーマ

Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.  

Discussion A

         What is your opinion about Dobrev donating all his money from begging to the churches? Please explain.

         If you were Dobrev, would you have done the same thing? Why or why not?

Discussion B

         Are there people like Dobrev in your country?

         How do you generally see humanity, good or bad?

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"Up Periscope" soon a thing of the past

Crew members of the Starship Enterprise watching an object
on the ship's tele-visor screen.  Is this a reality in our near future?

It's always a tense moment when the captain of a submarine comes shallow  and raises the ship's periscope.  What's he going to see?  An anti-submarine destroyer bearing down on his ship?  A freighter or other target of opportunity?

Suggested reading
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It appears that the periscope is soon to be replaced by a screen, perhaps similar to the large visor screen on the Starship Enterprise or from the movie and television show, "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea."

A team of Technion-Israel Institute of Technology researchers has developed an underwater imaging system that allows submariners to view objects above the water's surface - without a periscope. The unique technology gets around the inevitable distortion caused by the water-surface waves when using a submerged camera because of the sharp refractive differences between water and air, random waves at the interface present distortions that are worse than the distortion atmospheric turbulence creates for astronomers peering into space.

The technology behind a submerged, "virtual periscope" is called "Stella Maris" (Stellar Marine Refractive Imaging Sensor). The heart of the underwater imaging system is a camera, a pinhole array to admit light (a thin metal sheet with precise, laser-cut holes), a glass diffuser, and mirrors. Sunrays are projected through the pinholes to the diffuser, which is imaged by the camera, beside the distorted object of interest. The latter is then corrected for distortion.

Researchers explain that raw images taken by a submerged camera are degraded by water-surface waves similarly to degradation of astronomical images by our atmosphere. Researchers borrowed the concept from astronomers who use the Shack-Hartmann astronomical sensor on telescopes to counter blurring and distortion caused by layers of atmosphere, Stella Maris is a novel approach to a virtual periscope as it passively measures water and waves by imaging the refracted sun.

"When the water surface is wavy, sun-rays refract according to the waves and project onto the solar image plane," explains one researcher. "With the pinhole array, we obtain an array of tiny solar images on the diffuser." When all of the components work together, the Stella Maris system acts as both a wave sensor to estimate the water surface, and a viewing system to see the above surface image of interest through a computerized, "reconstructed" surface.

The Stella Maris virtual periscope is just the latest technology developed by the researchers, who have also found ways to exploit "underwater flicker," i.e., random change of underwater lighting, caused by the water surface wave motion. Members in the Schechner Hybrid Imaging Lab turned the tables on underwater flicker and used the natural rapid and random motion of the light beams to obtain three-dimensional mapping of the sea floor.

According to the developers, the virtual periscope may have potential uses in addition to submarines, where they could reduce the use of traditional periscopes that have been in use for more than a century. Submerged on the sea floor, Stella Maris could be useful for marine biology research where and when viewing and imaging both beneath and above the waves simultaneously is important. Stella Maris could, for example, monitor the habits of seabirds as they fly, then plunge into water and capture prey.

*  *  *  *  *

Story Source:  Materials provided by American Technion Society, written by Kevin Hattori. "Submarine: 'Virtual periscope' sees above-surface/airborne objects from underwater view." ScienceDaily

UEFA Proposes a More Competitive Football Tournament

【Unlocking Word Meanings】

　今日の単語・フレーズ

Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article. 

1. continental [kon-tn-EN-tl] (adj.) – referring to a continent as a whole

Example: The team wants to win the continental championship.

2. alternative [awl-TUR-nuh-tiv] (n.) –  anything that serves as another choice or option

Example: Green tea is a good alternative to energy drinks.

3. prequalifying [pri-KWOL-uh-fahy-ing] (adj.) – referring to a process that one needs to accomplish before being able to participate in the main event

Example: Being able to run fast is a prequalifying skill for a football player.

4. semifinal [sem-ee-FAHYN-l] (n.) – a match that happens before the final event or championship

Example: The team was not able to reach the final competition because it lost in the semifinals.

5. garner [GAHR-ner] (v) – to successfully gain or earn something

Example: She garnered the respect of her opponents after winning the competition. 

【Article】

　ニュース記事

Read the text below.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has recently introduced a new game format that allows a more challenging continental football competition. It took the UEFA three years to review proposals for this competition. Called the UEFA Nations League, the new competition will serve as a better alternative for international friendly matches, which are games that do not affect a team’s standing. The UEFA Nations League will also serve as a prequalifying tournament for the 2020 UEFA European Championship (Euro 2020). Its first tournament will take place in September 2018. The UEFA Nations League will split 54 European teams into four divisions, which are determined by the team’s ranking. Each division will have four sub-divisions or ‘pools’ composed of three to four teams that would compete against each other. The four winning teams from each pool will then compete in the semifinals until one team becomes the overall winner of each division. The last part of the tournament is the finals, in which the four overall winners of each division will contend with each other. Regardless who wins the finals, all four overall winners are already automatically qualified for the Euro 2020. This new game format has generally garnered positive feedback from different football organizations. The general secretary of the English Football Association said that the new concept will make the games more interesting. The European Club Association (ECA) also approves of the Nations League, as teams will no longer need to travel far for friendly matches. However, FIFPro is hesitant about the new game format as it would add pressure to top players.

【Viewpoint Discussion】

　ディスカッションテーマ

Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.  

Discussion A

         Do you think this new game format makes the football tournament more interesting? Why or why not?

         What do you think are the advantages of doing international friendly matches? 

Discussion B

         Why do you think professional football games are important to European countries?

         What are the benefits of sports competition among different countries?

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Social Media Crimes are on the Rise

【Unlocking Word Meanings】

　今日の単語・フレーズ

Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article. 

1. two-fold [TOO-fohld] (adv.) – in double, twice as many

Example: People’s average hours spent on the Internet increased two-fold, from three hours to six hours per day.

2. alarming [uh-LAHR-ming] (adj.) – causing fear, often involves danger

Example: The increasing number of robbery in the city is so alarming.

3. address [uh-dres] (v.) – to deal with a particular issue or problem

Example: The government wants to immediately address the problem on increasing crime rate.

4. barrage [buh-RAHZH] (v.) – to attack (as with criticisms, questions, or punches) excessively or overwhelmingly

Example: She was barraged with a lot of negative criticisms because of her controversial post on Facebook.

5. offender [uh-FEND er]  (n.) – a person who committed a crime

Example: Drug offenders are sentenced to 5-10 years in prison.

【Article】

　ニュース記事

Read the text below.

A recent research found that crimes related to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have significantly increased since 2011. According to the research by the Parliament [PAHR-luh-muh nt] Street, crimes increased two-fold on Twitter alone, from 677 in 2011 to 1,291 in 2013. On Facebook, reported crimes increased from 9,917 to 13,019. The Parliament Street got the data from Freedom of Information reports, which were from 25 police forces in England and Wales. One crime incident on Twitter was that of a British activist Caroline Criado-Perez [kri-YUH-do pe-rez]. After her high-profile campaign for women in England, she was barraged with a lot of insults, criticisms, and even death threats. Fortunately, she was able to have her offenders jailed. More social media crimes related to football games have also been reported. Fans were warned not to express their anger on social networking sites should their favorite team lose the game. With this alarming situation, researchers said the government should find ways to address cybercrimes effectively. They said the police should equip themselves with the latest cyber skills to be able to punish the offenders on social networking sites. However, the police should not concentrate on cybercrimes alone, said Nick Pickles, director of an advocacy group in the UK. Pickles added that the police should not ignore crimes committed on streets just because they are busy monitoring posts on Twitter or Facebook.  In addition, Pickles stressed that social media play an important role in people’s communication. Thus, monitoring posts on social networking sites may threaten people’s freedom of speech.

【Viewpoint Discussion】

　ディスカッションテーマ

Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.  

Discussion A

         Do you agree with the police monitoring posts on social media? Why or why not?

         How else can cybercrimes be prevented? Please explain your answer.

Discussion B

         Why do you think some people express their feelings more on social media than in person?

         In your opinion, is it appropriate to share too much information on the Internet? Why or why not?

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Pandas Love Sweets Too

【Unlocking Word Meanings】

　今日の単語・フレーズ

Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article. 

1. carnivore [KAHR-nuh-vawr, -vohr] (n.) – an organism that eats meat or flesh

Example: Tigers, dogs, and cats are examples of carnivores.

2. feed on [feed on] (phrasal v.) – to rely on something as food; to be sustained by something

Example: Aside from fish, bears also feed on plants.

3. notion [NOH-shuh n] (n) – an opinion or general belief about something

Example: Galileo Galilei rejected the notion that all heavenly bodies revolved around the Earth.

4. solely [SOHL-lee]  (adv.) – not involving anything else

Example: Elephants solely eat fruits, vegetables, and other kinds of plants.

5. sweet tooth [sweet tooth]  (n.) – strong liking for sweet food

Example: Children usually have a sweet tooth.

【Article】

　ニュース記事

Read the text below.

A recent study has confirmed that pandas also love to eat sweet foods. Gary Beauchamp [bee-ch uh m], director of the Monell Center, and his team tested eight pandas to find out whether the animals would respond to sweet taste. Researchers gave their subjects two bowls of liquid, one sweetened while the other was just plain water. All pandas chose the sweetened water over the plain one. Although pandas are carnivores in nature, they strictly feed on bamboos. Because bamboos have very low sugar content, scientists wonder if pandas have lost their ability to recognize sweet taste. However, findings of Beauchamp and his team’s study prove this notion wrong. According to the researchers, pandas can still detect sweet tastes.  In fact, when the researchers tested all other forms of sugar, all pandas preferred sucrose and fructose, which humans consider the sweetest.  Even so, experts are still not sure why pandas solely eat bamboos if they have a sweet tooth. One theory is that fruits might have been their original food diet before human activities such as agriculture and forest destruction forced them to live on the mountains. This may have led pandas to rely so much on plants such as bamboos. Some experts say that bamboo contains nutrients that enable these animals to survive. Additionally, Beauchamp said that scientists also examine the possibility that bamboos may taste like candies for pandas.

【Viewpoint Discussion】

　ディスカッションテーマ

Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.  

Discussion A 

         What do you think would be the impact of this study on the preservation of pandas?

         If you were an environmentalist, how would you promote the preservation of pandas?

Discussion B

         Why do you think it is necessary for humans to preserve animal species?

         What can we do to help preserve endangered animals?

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