The new pope Benedict XVI (教宗班尼迪克十六世), the 78-year-old Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, (德國籍紅衣主教) who is the first Germanic pope in nearly 1,000 years. The pope was elected on 4/19/05 despite a widespread assumption he was too old and divisive to win election (新任教宗的當選儘管很多人認為他的年紀太大引起不少負面話題).
The Mandate of Heaven or The Mandate of Politician? 天命人選? 政治人選?
The pope's participation in the Nazi Party (納粹黨組織) as a youth rang alarms in Israel (以色列). "White smoke, black past." said the headline in the mass circulation Yediot Ahronot. "From the Nazi youth movement to the Vatican." The young Ratzinger, like all other teens, was enrolled in Hitler Youth (希特勒初期), and was later drafted into the army (徵兵入伍). "He was 18 years old when the war ended so everything that he had to do with the Nazi regime (納粹黨政權制度) was as a very young man." said Moshe Zimmerman, a professor of German history at the Hebrew University (希伯來大學) in Jerusalem (耶路撒冷). Although the new pope may not work to unite Christians, unless his record changes, let's still hope that he will continue the same way and he will continue to build the same bridge as the last pope built in the past between the two nations, between the Christians and the Jewish nation (基督教與猶太教之間).
These Are Prejudices That People Have Against The New Pope 人們對新任教宗的成見與偏見
"It's going to be interesting to see what he does," said a 20-year-old who was the new pope's ex-student expressing skepticism (表示懷疑的態度). "He is very conservative (保守) and like the Catholic Church, he goes against what the Birble says." Even the pontiff's former assistant (教宗前任助手) responded cautiously to his former teacher's elevation, he said the world's Catholics and other Christians are on edge, waiting to see if the papacy will change him. "Joseph Ratzinger is a multidimensional person (多面人). He's not one-sided, but he has potential (潛能), it depends on his circle of advisers," he said. While critics contend that the choice of the 78-year-old Ratzinger may signal a caretaker papacy (臨時代理的教皇), it is possible the German pontiff may surprise them as he tackles the tough issues of abortion (墮胎問題), the church's ban on contraception (教會的避孕禁令), the sex abuse scandals (性虐待醜聞) and the ordination of women (女性聖職任命). That has inspired hope that the new pope Benedict may be different from Cardinal Ratzinger. But we must wait and see, for experience shows that the papacy in the Catholic Church today is such a challenge that it can change anyone. Let's therefore give him a changce.
All the Dope on the Pope
教宗的內幕消息
"Pope is wearing a cope and mopes in *the Room of Tears* all day."
"教宗穿著長袍整天悶悶不樂地待在淚水室"
"Because pope needs to cope with all the difficulties today."
"那是因為教宗必須應付現今這一切困難"
"Can the new pope bring us a new hope?"
"新教宗能帶給我們新希望嗎?"
"I am afraid that answer might be a nope."
"我擔心這答案會是否定"
※以上的對話是應目前當選為新上任教宗班尼迪克十六世而得來的靈感。
The Room of Tears 淚水室
It is a room where they have a number of different-size cassocks (神父或詩歌班員等所穿的黑色長衣) for the newly elected pope to put on before he meets the people of Rome and the world.
They call it the “Room of Tears” because several times newly elected popes have entered there and broken down in tears (哭倒), realizing the responsibility (職責任務) that they have and the enormous burden (任重道遠) they have just taken on to represent God on earth (扮演神的角色).
Farewell! Pope!
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (教宗約翰保羅二世), the Polish pontiff (波蘭籍主教) who led the Roman Catholic Church for more than a quarter century and became history's most-travelled Pope, died Saturday, 4/2/2005 in his Vatican (梵蒂岡) apartment. He was 84. He was a simple man who came from the Communist world (共產世界), got to the Vatican and gave it his style of leadership, of showing the Church that it should not just talk to its Catholic faithful, but to all its brothers in the world in the language of peace and respect (和平與尊敬).
An Emotional Farewell & Historic Funeral 感性的告別與歷史性的葬禮
Thousands continue in line up paid their respects to the late Pope John Paul II at the Vatican 4/8/2005. John Paul's funeral on Friday drew the biggest gathering of the powerful and the humble in modern times. Four kings, five queens, at least 70 presidents and prime ministers and more than 14 leaders of other religions attended alongside with two million faithful; the largest number of pilgrims (朝聖者) to converge on St. Peter's Square (聚集在聖彼得廣場) in its history.
The Day After Tomorrow
When the city was overwhelmed by heavy snowstorm
The day After Tomorrow indeed brings attention to a real problem: climate change. The effects of global warming have been continuing at such levels that they resulted in worldwide catastrophe and disaster, including multiple hurricanes (颶風), tornadoes (龍捲風), earthquakes (地震), tidal waves (海嘯), floods (水災) and the beginning of the next Ice Age (冰河時代的來臨). As our planet heats up, we’re already seeing negative consequences in the form of polar ice melt, sea level rise, and more frequent weather-related disasters like intense heat waves (熱浪) and snowstorms (暴風雪). The time is now for us to do our part in conserving energy and polluting less (節約能源及減少污染).
Blizzard 巨大的暴風雪
On 1/22/05, the blizzard hit the Great Lakes region and Atlantic coastal areas of the North American continent. The space-based perspective splendidly reveals the extent of fractal white seasonal solid phase H20 recently sprinkled over the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic US.
Do you believe movies can predict events? "Oceans rise, cities fall, hope survives" is a line from the movie called Deep Impact 慧星撞地球 , which was posted in summer, 1998. Consider after 6 years 12/26/2004, what is going on in Indonesia right now because of the deterioration of their currency, which is a far cry from the devastating effect like the end of the world (世界末日) as we know it. Just like the scene of the movie -- the spectacle of giant tidal waves wiping out entire cities (一場巨大浪潮摧毀各大城市的景象).
What is Tsunami? [源自日語] 海嘯 (係海底地震或火山爆發所致)
Tsunami is a Japanese word that translates as "harbor wave."
Oceanographers call tsunamis "seismic seawaves" because they are usually caused by a sudden rise or fall of part of Earth's crust under or near the ocean. A tsunami is not a
single wave but a series of waves that can travel at speeds
of more than 500 m.p.h. As a tsunami enters coastal shallows,
its velocity slows but its height increases. A tsunami just a
few feet high from trough to crest can rear up more than 100
feet as it hits the shore, striking with devastating force.
There is little warning of a tsunami's approach. The first indication is often a sharp swell, not unlike an ordinary storm swell.
Hurricane Isabel hit the Mid-Atlanti On 9/18/03
Hurricane Isabel vs Galaxy 伊莎貝爾颶風 vs 銀河
Hurricane Isabel (left) and 30 million light-year distant galaxy M51 (right) actually don't have much in common. For starters, Isabel was hundreds of miles across, while M51 (the Whirlpool Galaxy) spans about 50,000 light-years making them vastly dissimilar in scale (比例大不相同), not to mention the extremely different physical interactions which control their formation and evolution (形成與發展). But they do look amazingly alike, both exhibiting the shape of a simple and beautiful mathematical curve (數理的曲線) known as a logarithmic spiral (對數的旋渦), a spiral whose separation grows in a geometric (幾何學) way with increasing distance from the center. Logarithmic spiral also describe, for example, the arrangement of sunflower seeds (向日葵種子的編排長法).
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