2016年1月6日 星期三

Father of Drowned Syrian Boy Begs World to Accept Refugees

"My message is I'd like the whole world to open its doors to Syrians."

The father of the drowned three-year-old Syrian refugee whose death was captured in highly publicized photos has a holiday message for the world—open your hearts, and doors, to Syrians seeking asylum.



Abdullah Kurdi filmed the video with AFP media for broadcast in the U.K. on Christmas Day, reports CBS News.
“My message is I’d like the whole world to open its doors to Syrians. If a person shuts a door in someone’s face, this is very difficult. When a door is opened they no longer feel humiliated[1].” said Kurdi in the broadcast. “At this time of year I would like to ask you all to think about the pain of fathers, mothers and children who are seeking peace and security. We ask just for a little bit of sympathy from you. I wish you a very Happy New Year. Hopefully next year the war will end in Syria and peace will reign all over the world.”

Aylan Kurdi, his three-year-old son, was the boy famously captured by the images which helped alert the world to the growing crisis over what to do with the more than 1 million refugees who had fled their countries to the European union this year.
Along with Aylan, Kurdi lost his wife and his five-year-old son Galip when their overloaded boat flipped[2] over at sea.

資料來源:http://time.com/4160649/abdullah-kurdi-holiday-plea-for-syrian-immigrants/

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 Structure of the Lead
     WHO- Aylan Kurdi's father-Abdullah Kurdi
     WHEN-Dec. 23, 2015
     WHAT-the message from  Abdullah Kurdi
     WHY- his child was drowned because of the Syrian refugees
     WHERE-not given
     HOW-not given
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[1] humiliated (a.) 受辱的
[2] flip (v.) 快速翻動;失去自我控制

For Online Retailers Like Alibaba, Singles’ Day in China Is a Bonanza

 

China’s slowing economy got a little retail therapy on Tuesday, as Chinese Internet users showed just how ingrained[1] online shopping has become in the country.
The Alibaba Group, China’s e-commerce giant, said that by the end of Tuesday, the value of transactions[2] on its online payment system during China’s unofficial Singles’ Day holiday had hit 57.1 billion renminbi(人民幣), or $9.3 billion. On the same day last year, the total for all payments processed by Alibaba, including its Tmall e-commerce site, was $5.75 billion. A smaller rival, JD.com said sales in the first 10 hours of Tuesday were 2.4 times last year’s.
Although it began as a day on which China’s unmarried people shopped away their loneliness, Singles’ Day has become a full-blown Hallmark[3] holiday because of big promotions and spending on marketing by companies like Alibaba. As China’s online shoppers showed Tuesday, the origin of the holiday matters less than the size of the discounts.
The day is crucial for many small- and medium-size retailers in China. Even if the so-called holiday is to some degree inauthentic[4], the revenues[5] generated[6] are very real.
For Sino Supreme, a seller of branded women’s handbags, the holiday could make or break the business. Ahead of Singles’ Day, Brian Lee, Sino Supreme’s chief executive, said the company’s 10 shops across China had stocked about 80 types of bags, while its online store had 400.
“We’ve seen the past few years, 15 percent to 20 percent of our annual revenue comes from Singles’ Day promotions,” said Mr. Lee. “So it’s very important to our company.”

Last year, that meant 14 million renminbi in sales for the company.
Mr. Lee said that even though e-commerce was critical to his business, he still planned to continue building brick-and-mortar[7] stores in more far-flung[8] cities. Though it is cheaper to sell the bags online, 40 percent to 60 percent of the company’s revenue is spent on traditional distribution channels, in part to build up the company’s brand, according to Mr. Lee.
But Alibaba is the giant looming[9] over businesses like Mr. Lee’s, and over Singles’ Day.
For Alibaba, which helped coordinate deals from more than 25,000 merchants Tuesday, it’s perhaps less the eye-popping sales numbers that matter than the growing percentage of users who are making purchases or just browsing products on smartphones.
Although it is common to see people in China on trains or buses watching movies or playing video games on their mobile devices, it has remained an open question whether they would take to shopping on their phones with the same vigor[10].
That is why Daniel Zhang, Alibaba’s chief operating officer, told this anecdote[11] on Monday with such excitement: “We noticed that the traffic from mobile equipment rose rapidly from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. today. I’m guessing that’s because consumers were using their mobile phones to surf Tmall.com on their way from the office to home.”
Also on Tuesday, Jack Ma, Alibaba’s executive chairman, said at a news briefing[12] that the Ant Financial Services Group — the Alibaba affiliate[13] that controls the company’s popular payment platform, Alipay — would eventually list in China. Mr. Ma provided no timeline and spoke only vaguely[14] about the listing, but he emphasized that listing in China would make the company more transparent and open.
Speaking earlier in an interview with state-run television, Mr. Ma said that he regretted that Alibaba Group had not been able to list in China. On Monday, the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges will begin a securities trading program called Stock Connect that will make it easier for mainland Chinese to invest in Hong Kong, and for those outside the mainland to invest in the Shanghai exchange.

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 Structure of the Lead
     WHO- Alibaba
     WHEN-NOVEMBER 11, 2014
     WHAT-
     WHY- 
     WHERE-China
     HOW-not given
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[1] ingrain (a.) 根深蒂固的
[2] transaction (n.) 交易;買賣
[3] hallmark (n.) 特徵;標誌
[4] inauthentic (a.) 不真實的
[5] revenue (n.) 稅務局
[6] generate (v.) 產生;引起
[7] brick-and-mortar (a.) 實體的
[8] fling (v.) 直奔
[9] looming (n.) 蜃景(光通過低層大氣發生異常折射形成的一種海市蜃樓)
[10] vigor (n.) 效力
[11] anecdote (n.) 趣聞軼事
[12] brief (v.) 作...的提要
[13] affiliate (v.) 使緊密聯繫
[14] vaguely (adv.) 含糊不清的