翰唐博客

每日新鲜英语——9月29日

                                      

The 1976 Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping Chowchilla is a small California town that made national headlines when kidnappers took control of a school bus full of children. The 26 children and their bus driver, Ed Ray, were driven around in 2 vans for 11 hours before being forced into a moving van that had been buried in a quarry. After 16 hours underground, Ray and some of the children managed to dig their way out. All emerged and were soon safely returned home. What technique enabled Ray to recall the kidnappers' license plate number?

Japan Resumes Diplomatic Relations with China (1972) Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei's 1972 visit to China culminated in the signing of the Joint Communique, a historic document that ended nearly 80 years of enmity and friction between the two states. In the statement, Tokyo recognized the government of the People's Republic as the sole representative and legal government of China, while China waived its demand for war indemnities from Japan at the intergovernmental level. What was the total dollar amount of these reparations claims?

Miguel de Cervantes (1547) Cervantes was a Spanish author best known for Don Quixote de la Mancha, his novel about an aging 鈥渒night.鈥?A superb burlesque of the popular romances of chivalry, the work was an enormous success and has had an indelible effect on the development of the European novel. Cervantes himself led an eventful life; he was imprisoned several times, captured by pirates, and sold as a slave. What statesman is said to have learned Spanish so that he could read Don Quixote in the original?

US Supreme Court to Review Use of Lethal Injection 90% of prison executions in the US are performed using lethal injection. The typical cocktail consists of 3 chemicals that render the prisoner unconscious (sodium pentothal), paralyze all muscles except the heart (pancuronium bromide), and then ultimately stop the heart (potassium chloride). Now, the US Supreme court has agreed to hear the appeal of two Kentucky prisoners who argue that lethal injection constitutes a form of the "cruel and unusual punishment" banned in the Constitution. The last time the US Supreme Court ruled on such a case, in 1878, it upheld the legality of firing squad executions.

【作者: 翰唐】【访问统计:】【2007年09月29日 星期六 20:06】【注册】【打印】