Russia and Greenpeace
The organisation Greenpeace recently released a video. It shows that the Russian forces attacked a Greenpeace ship.
Thirty people were arrested during the attack which took place in September. At first, they were charged with piracy, but that has been changed to hooliganism.
Greenpeace has protested against oil drilling in the Arctic. Some of the activists even tried to climb on a Russian oil rig. Russia says that the protests put their workers in danger. The video was released to put more pressure on Russia as Greenpeace hopes that Russia will let the arrested protesters go.
Difficult words: take place (happen), hooliganism (acting violently and causing trouble), oil rig (large structure which gets oil from under the ground).
Basketball player on a floor
A basketball player had an accident. While he played, he dunked the ball through the basket and kept holding the hoop afterwards.
He was too heavy for the structure. It started to move and quickly crashed to the ground while he was still holding the hoop. It was a shocking moment. Nobody expected it. Luckily, he wasn’t injured seriously.
Medics treated him and he returned to the basketball court. Fans greeted him with a standing ovation.
Difficult words: dunk (throw the ball down through the basket), hoop (metal circle which is a part of the basket), basketball court (arena where basketball’s played).
People do not see a fish
Chinese scientists have invented a little thing which lets living creatures disappear.
The gadget is small. It is only five centimetres tall so it can make invisible only small animals, like small fish. The maximum body length is 10 centimetres. The scientists have still a lot to do before they’re able to make a human disappear, as well.
The gadget is basically an optical illusion. It uses special glass which is placed to trick our eyes.
Difficult words: disappear (become invisible), gadget (small thing), invisible (you cannot see it).
Baby is born after a typhoon
The recent super typhoon devastated the Philippines. It is said that 2,300 people have died and many lost their homes.
Six days after the storm, help is getting to those who need it. However, there is still much to do in areas where people have been looting. Soldiers try to maintain security in these areas.
It is nice to see that even amongst the death and destruction, life is not giving up. A woman gave birth to her 8th child in a church which now serves as an evacuation centre. She was with her family and when the baby came into this world, everybody started to clap.
Difficult words: devastating (really bad), loot (steal from shops or homes that have been damaged), give up (when you give up, you stop trying).
Men run like monkeys
If you’re a fan of traditional sports, you might not like this one. People, who do this sport, run on all four. That means on their legs as well as the hands.
A Japanese man was studying the running style of one monkey kind more than 10 years ago. He got inspired a came up with this unusual sport.
There’s been a race and the inventor won it. Organisers of the Guinness World Records are interested in this sport, so there might be more races soon.
Difficult words: get inspired (have an idea thanks to something), come up with something (invent).
121 snakes in a suitcase
Chinese customs officials were scanning a suitcase when they saw something unusual.
The officials opened the suitcase and found 121 snakes in 21 small plastic boxes. The snakes were being smuggled from the USA to China. The smuggler told the officials that they were just toy snakes, but that was of course a lie. The snakes were real and this kind of a snake is also endangered. It is illegal to move them from one country to another.
The smuggler was arrested. He may spend the rest of his life in prison.
Difficult words: customs official (person who checks thing which come to the country), smuggle (transport something illegally from one country to another), endangered (there is not many of them).
Olympic torch in space
The Olympic torch has been taken to space. Two Russian cosmonauts held the silver and red torch in front of the camera 261 miles above the Earth.
The torch was secured by special ropes so it could not drift away in the space. The video was shot by cameras which were on the cosmonauts’ helmets. The video was then broadcast live on NASA’s internet channel and Russian TV.
The video from outer space promotes the Sochi Winter Games in February, 2014.
Difficult words: drift (move slowly), broadcast (send), promote (make popular).
Machine hits a bridge
A typhoon devastated Southeast Asia. Thousands of people already died. Millions are homeless without food or clean drinking water.
The typhoon brought strong winds and heavy rains which caused flooding. There is a video which was taken in China. It shows a big dredger. It is carried away by water when it hits a bridge and stops.
This typhoon is the strongest typhoon to hit China this year.
Difficult words: typhoon (tropical storm), devastating (destroying), dredger (machine for getting sand from the ground).
Many books fall down
A Belgian book association has broken the world record for the longest book domino chain ever. It was 614 metres long.
Forty volunteers set up the lines of 4,845 books. It took them two hours. The books were placed to spell the Dutch words for “book,” “fair” and “read”.
At the end of the six-minute-long journey, the books set off fireworks.
Difficult words: association (organisation), volunteer (person who does a job for free), fair (event at which businesses show and sell their products), set off (start).
Many turtles on a beach
During November and December, millions of baby turtles are born on one Pacific beach in Mexico.
It is estimated that 3-5 million young turtles were born in only three to four days. That is approximately 30-50% little turtles who had to walk to the ocean for the first time. There are 120 beaches in Mexico that female turtles lay their eggs at. Each female can lay around 100 eggs.
The Mexican government implemented ecological plans to protect the sea turtles 20 years ago. The number of turtles has increased, but they are still endangered.
Difficult words: be estimated (be guessed), approximately (around), implement (put into effect).