Week 7: Cold War

Video link: 
NOVA- Astrospies

Summary:
Following World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union entered into the Cold War game of spy-versus-spy. The ultimately competition led to the space race, including spy astronauts and Manned Orbiting Laboratory, which parallel covert programs are developed in the United States and the Soviet Union in order to get more detail each military photos from space. In 1964, the U.S. launched a secret Air Force program called MOL, Manned Orbiting Laboratory. It is a military space station designated for scientific research; however, it was enabled astronaut spies to take better and more detailed photographs of the Soviet Union, but the early satellite couldn’t zoom in on specified target. As computerized technology improved from IBM, the need for an expensive MOL mission receded. The United States finally abandoned the MOL program in June, 1969, one month before NASA's Apollo 11 landed the first men on the moon. When the U.S. abandoned MOL, but Russia continued a similar program called Almaz, which secretly carried space weapons on.

I listen to this video for two hours.

Personal commend:
From this video, I learned that the space race in Cold war not only shows the humankind’s ambitious into space, but also drives the great improvement of orbiter technology from competitions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This unfolding video told us that the MOL of the U.S. was enabled astronaut spies to take better and more detailed photographs of the Soviet Union, even if it was finally abandoned, it still drove the great milestone. Without the space race, human landing on the moon may not be achieved on July 10^th, 1969. Thanks for the space race in Cold War, nowadays, we can just easily surf on Google map and get live photographs and videos from satellites.

Vocabulary and idioms:
1.   Astronaut (noun): a person who travels in a spacecraft into outer space.
      Ex: Neil Armstrong is the first astronaut to walk on the moon. 

2.   Manned orbiter (noun): a vehicle or device that travels around a planet or moon in space.

      Ex: The U.S. embarked secretly on manned orbiters in 1964.

 

 

 

 

Week 3: NPR story- The Teacher Learns A Lesson: Coming Out In Class

 

Video link: The Teacher Learns A Lesson: Coming Out In Class

Video summary:  

John Byrne, an English teacher in high school, had frustrated and was strict before he came out. He was afraid that his students knew him a gay; however, in 1991, he decided to march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. He thought that he should stand tall, “I just wanted to be myself,” he said. The day after parade, his 10^th-grade students asked him where he went. He told them that he marched in a parade with the Irish Gay and Lesbian Organization since he is a gay. All of the 10^th-grade students were kind and showed their tolerances to him. He came out that day. The day changed Byrne's life, and his career. He says, “ when I came out, it freed me to teach. It made me better at helping kids who had their own particular secrets.” Two years later, he had a speech on the graduation ceremony of these students who helped him came out. Byrne says, "And I talked to the parents about how proud they should be of their children, for having taught me and helped me through a really difficult time in my life. It was a wonderful turning point."

I listen it about 15 minutes.

The reason I chose this video is that:

I admire John Byrne for his bravery of coming out in front of his 10th-grade students. I also admire his 10th-grade students for their tolerance, open minded, and kindness. They were just teenagers but they gave Byrne the turn-key to open his heart. As the Declaration of Independence mentioned, “they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” I think everyone has the right to pursuit their love, even if they are the same sex.

Vocabulary and idioms:

1.      Desperately (adv.): very sad and upset because of having little or no hope : feeling or showing despair. EX: We could hear their desperate cries for help.

2.      Accuse (verb): to blame (someone) for something wrong or illegal : to say that someone is guilty of a fault or crime. EX: He was accused of stealing the money.

3.      March (verb): to walk with regular steps as a group : to walk in the regular and organized way of soldiers. Ex: The soldiers were lined up and ordered to begin marching.

Week 2: Histroy of July 4th

Video link: Declaration of Independence on the History Channel


Video introduction: 

    In the video, these speakers told us the most important part in the Declaration of Independence is the sentence of "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights". It declares the United States is a free country, people who live in the United States have the right to vote who they want to be charged, and American can make their decision for themselves. Since July 4th, 1776, the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence that Thomas Jefferson mainly wrote down, American seriously fought for the right with British Empire. All of them were going to fight for independence, and they were no going back anymore.  

I listen it about 30 minutes.

The reason I chose this video is that

    I got the main idea of Declaration of Independence from these speaker's descriptions. It's really unbelievable that Thomas Jefferson wrote down the most significant piece of writings in the world at his thirty three years old. Although the quote is short, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights", it obviously has changed America history, and it also affects other democracies in the world.
 

Vocabulary and phrase:

1.Revolutionary (adjective): causing or relating to a great or complete change. Quote from Richard Slotkin, "It's a revolutionary document for a revolutionary statement." 

2.Endow (verb): to freely or naturally provide (someone or something) with something — usually used as (be) endowed. Quote from Declaration of Independence, "they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights " 

3.Unalienable (adjective):  impossible to take away or give up. Quote from Declaration of Independence, "they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights "

Introduction

Hello~ My name is Amber.

Nice to meet everyone in this class.

I was born in Taichung, Taiwan, and lived in Taipei before I came to Seattle.

I speak Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, and English.

My family members are my mother, two younger brothers, and my two doggy daughters, Yuki and Ann Jiang. Both of them were named from Japanese Language and both are female. The type of Yuki is Maltese, her color is white like snow, and "yuki" is the word of "snow" in Japanese. Ann Jiang's type is Poodle, her color is brown like amber. Japanese usually use Jiang after given name as nickname to call their young kids, that's the reason why I named her Ann Jiang. Attached photo shows the last day Yuki and Ann Jiang accompanied me at Taiwan airport before I left for Seattle. I miss them very.

I have been in Seattle for three months. This is my second quarter here, and it's also my last quarter in Seattle. After completing ESL program, I will come back my hometown Taiwan. I am going to be a product marketing or project manager in the computer company.   

My favorite hobbies are hiking, reading, watching movie, and traveling.

In Taiwan, we have Top100 mountains over three thousand meters, I've hiked over twenty mountains.

I also like reading fictions, and it's more interesting to learn English.

I like all kinds of movies, especially movies from different countries. Movie is the easy way to know the real life of the country, and we can experience the deeper and truly emotions via movies.  

I've traveled Japan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Germany, France, Netherland, Vancouver, LA, and New York.

Seattle is one of my most favorite cities for many reasons. First of all, although Seattle is famous for its rain, I still enjoy the lovely sunshine after cloudy or rainy day. Frankly, the rain in Seattle is much smaller than Taiwan's. I usually don't use umbrella except for heavy rain. Then, I also like the friendly people in Seattle, beautiful parks, numerous museums, and clean sidewalks for rambling in this city. I hope you also enjoy in this wonderful city, Seattle.

Wish you all the best during summer time!!

Amber

July 1st, 2011