【892-895】威尼斯计划收费&泰国将举行政变后大选&当野火摧毁城镇时，健康威胁就会出现&狮子航空记录增加了坠毁调查压力
AS IT IS
Venice Plans to Charge Visitors
March 20, 2019
FILE - Tourists are seen at St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy, April 15, 2018. (REUTERS/Manuel Silvestri/File Photo)
For years the Italian city of Venice has been struggling with a few concerns.
Piazza San Marco, also known as Saint Mark’s Square, is often flooded. Venice’s waterways require repairs. But, by far, the biggest problem is the growing number of visitors to the city.
So city officials have decided to require all visitors to pay a fee to enter Venice. The money will help to pay for cleaning and other services that help to keep the city beautiful.
Overnight tourists already pay a tax that is added to the cost of their hotel stay. The new fee will be required of tourists who come to the city for a few hours or for one day.
Venice’s Mayor Luigi Brugnaro explained the decision to international media during a visit to Rome last week.
The mayor said that officials want to defend the city for those who live there. “Venice is a marvel of the world and only in this way” can it be saved, he added.
Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro speaks to foreign media about the pressures the city is facing from tourism and rising seas, in Rome, March 14, 2019.
Brugnaro added that the fee process will be experimental at first. A one-day visit will cost about $7. City officials have yet to decide when the fee collection will begin. The money will be collected by transport companies that bring the tourists to Venice. The city will set up cameras for individuals arriving in private cars. And there will be fines for those who do not pay the fee.
Students, some workers and children under the age of six will not have to pay. Naturally, anyone born or living in Venice is exempt.
In January 2020, the cost of the visitation fee will not be fixed. It will instead be based on how many tourists are visiting Venice on a given day. City fathers hope this will prevent the overcrowding that often comes with large numbers of tourists.
Some people living in Venice say they do not believe the fee plan will work. Lawyer Roberta Pierabon said it will be impossible to collect the money from everyone who visits the city.
Visitors arrive from all sides, she said. She noted that Venice is an island and you reach it on water. She does not believe tourists can be controlled and added that she disapproved of the plan.
Other Venetians like the idea. They say it will make tourism “less aggressive.” Michele Tessari often works with tourists on transport.
He said Venetians would like a more sophisticated form of tourism. They want fewer people who come into the city for "eat-and-run" tourism and the entrance fee will help. Tessari says locals no longer want to see tourists eating on the bridges of Venice.
Venetians love their city and know it will never stop appealing to visitors. Venice is so special, they say, that it belongs to the whole of humanity.
I’m Jill Robbins.
VOA’s Sabina Castelfranco reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for Learning English. The editor was George Grow.
Have you visited Venice? Would you pay a fee to visit there? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
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Words in This Story
marvel – adj. wonder
fee – n. a cost to do something
exempt – adj. not required to do something that others must do
sophisticated – adj. having or showing a lot of experience and knowledge about the world and about culture,
AS IT IS
Thailand To Hold First General Election Since 2014 Coup
March 20, 2019
Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha arrives to deliver a speech March 18, 2019, ahead of the general election. (REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun)
On Sunday, voters in Thailand will choose members of the lower house of parliament.
The general election comes after several delays. It will be the first since the country’s military seized power in 2014.
Thousands of candidates are competing for 350 directly elected seats in the lower house. Another 150 are decided through a complex system of proportionalrepresentation.
Observers say one of the major issues voters are considering is whether to support the continuation of military rule. But no matter what candidates are elected, the military is likely to keep much of its political power.
That is partly because Thailand’s military strongly influenced the writing of the constitution that was accepted in 2017. The constitution gives the military power to appoint all 250 members in parliament’s upper house. The constitution also limits the number of lower house members of parliament voters can elect directly.
The process is expected to lessen the influence of large parties. Instead, many smaller parties are expected to gain power and form a coalition government.
Thai voters
Observers say Thais’ interest in the election is unusually high. About 75 percent of those registered to vote are expected to do so, says Aim Sinpeng. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney.
Thailand’s Election Commission reports that over 86 percent of registered early voters have already made their choices.
In addition to the military question, voters are expected to consider economic conditions and growing inequality between rich and poor.
The Associated Press has identified some of the important voting groups. They include struggling farmers and workers, who usually vote for candidates who promise financial help. Young people are also, in general, seeking better jobs and financial gains.
On the other hand, powerful business interests and wealthy families usually want political stability. People connected to the military are also likely to want to keep things the same.
And middle class voters in Bangkok have divided interests. They would like to see reforms in education, government and other areas. But they also want peace and order, says historian Chris Baker, who wrote a book on Thailand.
Official election results are expected by May 9.
I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.
Kelly Jean Kelly adapted this story for Learning English. It is based on reports from Voice of America and the Associated Press. George Grow was the editor.
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Words in This Story
proportional representation - adj. a system in which the number of seats held by members of a political party in a legislature (such as a parliament) is determined by the number of votes its candidates receive in an election
stability - n. the quality or state of something that is not easily changed or likely to change
AS IT IS
As Wildfires Destroy Towns, Health Threats Arise
March 20, 2019
Vanthy Bizzle hands some small religious figurines to her husband Brett Bizzle in the remains of their home after returning for the first time since the start of the Camp Fire last November.
The Camp Fire was the most destructive wildfire in California history. The fire began in early November 2018 and lasted three weeks. It spread uncontrollably from the forest into the town of Paradise and burned down the whole town.
Soon after, researcher Keith Bein made attempts to study the fire’s toxic effects. Little is known about toxic chemicals released when a whole town burns.
Last fall, Bein drove around 160 kilometers from his laboratory at the University of California, Davis, to the town of Paradise. It was his second attempt to enter the area in hopes of studying the fire’s effects. But police refused to let him to enter. Only emergency responders and news reporters were permitted.
Public safety agencies have not yet established rules that say whether scientists are permitted into the restricted areas.
Fires like the Camp Fire burn thousands of kilograms of wires, plastic pipes and building materials. They leave behind dangerous chemicals in the air, soil and water. Things like lead paint and burned asbestos add to the danger, public health experts say.
Bein’s experience of being turned away points to the problems of studying the health effects of massive disasters like wildfires and hurricanes. Scientists agree that both are becoming more common because of climate change.
Irva Hertz-Picciotto is director of the Environmental Health Sciences Center at the University of California, Davis, or UC Davis.
She told the Reuters news agency, “Everything that we’re doing, it feels like this is a question nobody has asked before. And we have no answers.”
The UC Davis researchers are examining soil from neighborhoods that burned during the Tubbs Fire of 2017.
The Tubbs Fire did its greatest damage to the city of Santa Rosa in northern California. Hertz-Picciotto said the researchers will compare soil from that area to soil from nearby land where only trees burned.
In the study, researchers have already found nearly 2,000 more chemical compounds in the soil from more affected areas than in soil from a nearby park. They are now working to identify the compounds.
For many years, scientists have studied the effects of wildfires on air, soil and nearby environments. But fires that go from the forest into large city areas used to be very rare.
Collective research
As natural disasters increase in size and frequency, American public health researchers are quickly developing new study areas.
For example, researchers are studying the health of pregnant women who were exposed to polluted air and water after Hurricane Harvey hit Houston in 2017. They are also studying the health of Puerto Ricans who stayed in their damaged homes after Hurricane Maria struck the island in 2017. Many of the homes developed fungi and mold.
Some of the studies are being financed by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, or NIEHS.
Aubrey Miller is the top medical adviser at NIEHS. She said it is important to quickly learn about health risks to populations after disasters happen. So NIEHS has tried to reduce its approval time for financing research.
Searching Paradise
On a recent morning, teams from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, searched through Paradise. They put burned paint cans, partly melted pesticide containers and other objects onto trucks for removal.
Rusty Harris Bishop is a toxics expert with the EPA. He worked on the Paradise cleanup. Bishop said removal teams take away whatever contaminants they find. But such cleanup measures are changing along with the public health science, he said.
Bein now plans to train as a firefighter in order to gain entrance into burned areas following the next big wildfire. He said that, as these types of fires become more common, “we really need to know how this is going to affect health.”
I’m Jonathan Evans. And I’m Alice Bryant.
Sharon Bernstein wrote this story for Reuters news agency. Alice Bryant adapted it for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.
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Words in This Story
toxic - adj. containing poisonous substances; poisonous
lead - n. a heavy and soft metal that has a gray color
asbestos - n. a soft gray mineral that does not burn, that was used especially as a building material in the past, and that can cause serious diseases of the lungs when people breathe its dust
compound - n. a substance created when the atoms of two or more chemical elements join together
backyard - n. the general area near and around someone's home
pesticide - n. a chemical that is used to kill animals or insects that damage plants or crops
contaminant - n. something that makes a place or a substance such as water, air, or food no longer suitable for use
AS IT IS
Lion Air Recording Increases Pressure on Ethiopia Crash Investigation
March 20, 2019
Ethiopian Red Cross workers carry a body bag with the remains of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash victims at the scene of a plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner.
American company Boeing, the world’s biggest manufacturer of airplanes, hopes its best-selling Boeing 737 MAX will soon return to the skies.
That hope seems unlikely.
Airline companies and flight safety officials around the world ordered the 737 MAX grounded after two of the planes crashed.
On Wednesday, new information was released about the minutes leading up to the crash of a Lion Air passenger jet last October. The jet came down in the Java Sea shortly after leaving Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital.
The Reuters news agency says the new information appears to show the plane had a serious flaw. Experts believe the plane’s automated system may have forced the nose of the aircraft downward. They said this appears to have caused both the Lion Air crash and the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet on March 10.
The two crashes killed 346 people.
The automated system attempts to prevent the plane from stalling on takeoff.
Flight safety experts say neither crash investigation is complete. They add that actions of crew members and their training will also be looked at closely.
At Boeing’s headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, officials have promised to quickly release a new version of computer software for the 737 MAX. However, officials in Europe and Canada will want to test it themselves, instead of depending only on U.S. approval.
Investigators continue to examine the black box data recorder from the most recent crash.
Reuters has learned that the black box on the Lion Air flight showed the captain tried to get information from a 737 MAX handbook as he lost control of the plane.
For nine minutes, the jet warned pilots it was in a stall and pushed the nose down, the report showed. The captain fought to climb, but the automated system continued to push the nose down.
Investigators examining the Indonesian crash want to know how and why a computer ordered the plane to dive. They believe it was because of a sensor that did not work correctly. They also want to know if pilots had enough training to control the jet.
“It is like a test where there are 100 questions and when the time is up you have only answered 75,” said someone with knowledge of the cockpit recording. “So you panic.”
U.S. credibility damaged
Boeing has said there is a documented way for dealing with the problem. It also said the pilot and co-pilot are supposed to understand the process.
A different crew on the same plane the night before had the same problem, but solved it after running through three checklists. Bloomberg reported that the crew members got help from an off-duty pilot, who was on the same flight. The crew members apparently did not explain the problem or its solution to the next crew, investigators found. Those findings were released in November.
Boeing must wait for several investigations before the 737 MAX can return to the sky. In the past, Europe and Canada would have accepted the findings of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Now they will seek their own answers.
“Our credibility as leaders in aviation is being damaged,” wrote Chesley Sullenberger. He is the American pilot who became famous 10 years ago after landing a jet on the Hudson River, saving all 155 people on the plane.
Aviation officials want to be sure of Boeing’s new automated control system. They also need to know that pilots are fully trained and prepared to deal with problems.
The FAA said its “robust processes” and its cooperation “with the aviation community” were important to safety worldwide.
Voice recordings
In Ethiopia, experts were examining the in-flight recording of the captain and first officer of the Ethiopian Airlines flight . As with the Indonesia flight, they radioed control problems shortly after takeoff and asked to turn back. They struggled to get their plane up before it hit the ground.
However, experts say every accident is a mix of human and technical events. For now, more than 350 MAX aircraft are grounded worldwide. Boeing’s plans to sell nearly 5,000 others are on hold.
The 737 MAX entered service in 2017.
I'm Jonathan Evans.
And I'm Ashley Thompson.
The Reuters News Agency reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
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Words in this Story
flaw – n. a small weakness or problem
stall – v. to stop suddenly because of a problem
panic – n. a state or feeling of extreme fear that makes someone unable to act or think normally
checklist – n. a list of things to be done
credibility – n. the quality of being believed or accepted as true, real, or honest
aviation – n. the business of flying airplanes or helicopters
robust – adj. strong and healthy