20180503VoaLeb:

Original littleflute 漂泊者乐园 2021-10-05

(1)South Korea Wants US Troops to Stay

(2)Facebook Adds Dating App, Launches Oculus Go

(3)New Mexico Desert Captures Evidence of Sloth Hunt

(4)Asian Elephants Reported at Risk from Chinese Demand for Skin

(5)The Making of a Nation( no transcript)

(1)

AS IT IS

South Korea Wants US Troops to Stay

May 02, 2018

FILE - U.S. Army self-propelled howitzers are on positions during the annual exercise with their South Korean counterpart in Pocheon, near the border with North Korea, March 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korea said on Wednesday that U.S. troops should stay in the country, even if a peace treaty is signed with North Korea.

Kim Eui-kyeom is a spokesperson for South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in. Kim was responding to reporters’ questions about a recent column written by a presidential adviser. It said that if a peace treaty was signed, justifying the presence of U.S. forces in South Korea would be difficult.

Kim said, "U.S. troops stationed in South Korea are an issue regarding the alliance between South Korea and the United States. It has nothing to do with signing peace treaties."

Another presidential official added that South Korea wants the U.S. to stay because its forces act as a mediator in case of military conflicts between powers such as China and Japan.

The United States currently has about 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea. American soldiers have been stationed there since the Korean War, which ended in 1953. North Korea has long demanded their withdrawal as one of the conditions for giving up its nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (R) talks with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in (L) at a bench on a bridge next to the military demarcation line at the truce village of Panmunjom on April 27, 2018. The leaders of the two Koreas held a landmark summit

However, U.S. troops were not discussed in last week's declaration by Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The two leaders said they would work for the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula.

The North Korean leader is also expected to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in late May or June.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Hai Do adapted this story for Learning English based on Reuters new report. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

column – n. an article in a newspaper or magazine

justify – v. to provide a good reason for

peninsula – n. a piece of land that is almost entirely surrounded by water and is attached to a larger land area

(2)Facebook Adds Dating App, Launches Oculus Go

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes the keynote address at F8, Facebook's developer conference, Tuesday, May 1, 2018, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Facebook has announced it will add a dating service to its growing list of new products.

The announcement came Tuesday at Facebook’s F8 conference in San Jose, California. The yearly event is for app developers and is a place for the company to show off its latest products and services.

Facebook has considered adding a dating app for years. But founder Mark Zuckerberg said he felt now is the right time to begin the service. He said that currently, 1 in 3 marriages in the United States starts with an internet relationship. About 200 million people on Facebook identify themselves as single.

Zuckerberg said the new service would be “coming soon.” He noted that the service will aim to help users build long-term relationships, “not just hookups.”

“And if we’re focused on helping people build meaningful relationships, then this is perhaps the most meaningful of all.”

He added that the dating service will appear within the Facebook app, but users will have complete control over whether they want to use it. People can choose to enter a dating profile. But this will be separate from an individual’s main Facebook profile, and will not be seen by users’ friends.

Internet dating is very popular in the U.S. Facebook says its app will provide strong competition to existing sites such as Match, Tinder, OkCupid, JDate and eHarmony. The value of stock in those companies dropped sharply after the announcement.

Zuckerberg said the dating app was designed with strong tools to protect the safety and privacy of Facebook users. The announcement about the dating app comes as the company tries to ease public anger over its privacy policies.

Issues over privacy still a concern

The Facebook chief recently apologized that the company did not take more steps to protect users’ private information. Zuckerberg has admitted to U.S. lawmakers and to the public that the company made mistakes in dealing with personal information. That includes sharing private information of up to 87 million users with a British political research company.

In another security-related announcement, Zuckerberg said Facebook was building a “clear history” privacy control. It is designed to clear records of where users go on Facebook. The company recently announced additional tools that it says will give users better choices and more ways to protect private data.

During his opening comments at the conference, Zuckerberg repeated many times what he considers to be Facebook’s main goal. He said it is to provide a place for people to build “meaningful relationships.”

During his presentation, he spoke about new products and services created to fulfill this goal.

The company’s new offerings suggest that Facebook wants to keep expanding into as many different areas of its users’ lives as possible. Zuckerberg repeatedly promised, “We will keep building.”

Extending other services

The new services extend to Facebook’s other brands, including Instagram and WhatsApp. Some are related to business.

One example of an existing business product is Facebook’s Marketplace. Users can buy or sell goods on the app. Zuckerberg said Marketplace is one of Facebook’s fastest growing services. The company says more than 800 million people in 70 countries now use the service monthly.

Facebook’s Marketplace app allows users to buy or sell goods with other Facebook members. (Facebook)

One of the company’s latest offerings is WhatsApp Business, designed to help people connect with local businesses. Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014. The app was created as a way to let people share texts, photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours.

Zuckerberg said Facebook plans to expand WhatsApp Business to large companies as well as small businesses. The idea is for users to use WhatsApp’s messaging technology to get services without having to place phone calls or visit a store.

Zuckerberg also wants Facebook’s Messenger service to be expanded to include more business applications.

He also announced plans to redesign Instagram to make it easier for users to find content that most interests them. Other changes announced for Instagram include a new group video chat feature and the addition of Facebook’s AR Camera Effects. This feature lets users add effects and designs to photos and videos.

And Zuckerberg pleased the crowd when he announced the launch of Facebook’s new Oculus Go virtual reality (VR) glasses. He said the devices would be available immediately. Prices for the device start at $199.

The glasses are designed to make people feel as though they are in a particular place, without physically being there. The crowd cheered loudly when Zuckerberg announced that everybody at F8 would receive an Oculus Go for free.

Zuckerberg ended by admitting the company had had, what he called, an “intense” year. But he said he wanted to place attention on trying to help people start meaningful relationships and “build things that bring people together.”

“So yes, this is an important moment. We need to do more to keep people safe, and we will. But we also need to keep building and bringing the world closer together.”

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on information from Facebook and reports from the Associated Press and Reuters. Mario Ritter was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

app – n. a type of application software designed to run on a computer or mobile device

hookup – n. (slang) when people get together for a sexual encounter

profile – n. brief written description that provides information about someone or something

data – n. information or facts about something

brand – n. group of goods identified by name as the product

application – n. the way something is used for a particular purpose

feature – n. an interesting or important part, quality, ability, etc.

virtual reality – n. computer images and sounds that make you feel an imagined situation is real

(3)

AS IT IS

New Mexico Desert Captures Evidence of Sloth Hunt

May 02, 2018

Reconstruction based on fossil footprint evidence shows how human hunters stalked giant ground sloth to distract them before trying to land a killing blow. (Photo credit: Alex McClelland, Bournemouth University)

A desert in the American Southwest provides evidence of a hunt from long ago.

Scientists found footprints from a hunt involving ancient human beings and a large prehistoric sloth. They discovered the footprints in what is now the White Sands National Monument in the state of New Mexico.

The discovery is extremely rare. The researchers say it could change scientists’ understanding of how ancient humans interacted with large animals. It also may show whether our ancestors were responsible for the disappearance of the giant ground sloth.

Footprints in footprints

The researchers found more than 100 footprints dating back between 10,000 and 15,000 years. They were found among particles of gypsum, a soft mineral, in the desert.

The prints seem to show humans following giant ground sloths. The animals could reach the size of an elephant. Science magazine says they disappeared about 11,000 years ago, around the end of Earth’s last Ice Age. That would be about the same time the first human civilizations appeared on our planet.

The footprints show that, sometimes, the human hunters walked directly in markings left by the giant sloth. The distance between steps for a giant sloth is greater than that of a human step. Researchers say the markings show one human appeared to get very close to a sloth on tip-toe.

In places where the human footprints appear close to the sloth’s markings, the animal suddenly changes direction. The researchers found what they call "flailingcircles," where it looks like the animal stood up on its back legs to defend itself with its front legs.

Risky hunting

Hunting such a large animal "would have come with huge amounts of risk," said Matthew Bennett of Bournemouth University in England. He is a geology professor and the lead writer of a recent report on the discovery. The findings appear in the scientific publication Science Advances.

"You know, if you were chasing a small rabbit or something, little risk associated. But going head to head with a sloth, the chances are that you might come off badly."

With the newly discovered footprints, Bennett said "we can begin to understand how they did it." "That gives us a better understanding whether we are guilty or not" of hunting the animals to extinction.

Martin Lockley is a paleontologist. Paleontology is the area of science concerned with fossilized remains of plants and animals. Lockley taught at the University of Colorado, in Denver, before his retirement. He was not involved in the new research.

Lockley said “It is very rare if not unique to see unequivocal evidence of human interactions with large vertebrates based on tracks.

He added, “There are only a handful of ancient human footprint sites in North America, making this one of the best.”

The researchers say there are likely other footprints to be found at the White Sands National Monument.

I'm Ashley Thompson.

Steve Baragona reported this story for VOANews.com. George Grow adapted his report for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

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Words in This Story

tip-toe – n. the action of touching the ground only with one’s toes

associated – adj. closely connect with another person or thing

extinction – n. the act of making something die out

unique – adj. special; unusual

unequivocal – adj. very strong or clear

vertebrate – n. any of the bony pieces making up the backbone

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(4)

AS IT IS

Asian Elephants Reported at Risk from Chinese Demand for Skin

May 02, 2018

FILE - In this Monday, June 27, 2016 photo, a mahout touches a tame elephant at Myanmar government owned elephant hut in Kabyin Lwin, northern Sagaing division, Myanmar. (AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe)

A British-based wildlife group says rising Chinese demand for products made from elephant skin is leading to unlawful killing of the animals. It says the rising demand is creating an even greater threat to Asia’s wild elephants than the illegal trade for their ivory.

In a report this week, the group Elephant Family said the threat to Asian elephants is greatest in Myanmar, also known as Burma. But it warned that the animals could completely disappear in half of the areas where they now live if conditions worsen.

The report said the threat is greater than that from the ivory trade because hunters are targeting any elephant, and threatening those living in poorly protected areas.

Elephant Family said its studies showed that the animal’s skin is ground down into fine particles and sold in China as a cure for stomach pain. It said the skin can also be shaped into beads for use in jewelry.

Elephant-based products are sold in stores, markets and increasingly over the internet. The group reports that some sellers produce videos of workers in Myanmar and Laos cutting up elephant remains to prove the authenticity of their products.

Belinda Stewart-Cox of Elephant Family spoke with reporters in Bangkok. She noted that her group started watching Asian elephants in 2014. Since then, she said, there has been “a major increase of the advertising, advertising campaigns and apparent sales” of the animals.

FILE -- In this Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015 file photo an elephant crosses a road in the Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s wildlife agency said Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017 it has sold 35 elephants to China to ease overpopulation and raise funds

Researchers identified 50 individual Chinese traders selling through social media. They said product information is written in Chinese, prices are given in Chinese currency and sales completed in Mandarin.

The report also said that China’s State Forestry Administration has apparently approved permits for some products that contain elephant skin.

It said “at a time when China has shown commitment to ending its domestic trade in elephant ivory, it would be troubling and perverse to find that, at the same time, it is creating a new, legal demand for elephant skin products.”

Stewart-Cox said her organization has reached out to Chinese officials and worked closely with Myanmar officials to raise the issue.

She said, “I think we should pull together on this.There is no time. Myanmar is losing too many elephants, too fast.”

Elephant Family puts the current size of Myanmar’s wild elephant population at about 2,000. Myanmar’s Forest Department is said to have found that wild elephant deaths there have risen in recent years, from 26 in 2013 to at least 61 in 2016. Elephant Family says most of those deaths resulted from illegal hunting.

Stewart-Cox said, “You can get quite a lot of skin off a single elephant. And if you get a single killing of 25 elephants, which is what happened one time in Myanmar, that’s a lot of skin.”

She said the ivory trade is less of a threat to Asian elephants because only males have tusks.

She said dealers in elephant skin are more of a problem because “this trade is targeting males, females, juveniles and that means that no elephant is safe.”

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Kaweewit Kaewjinda wrote this story for the Associated Press. George Grow adapted the report for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.

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