week2-Taipei MRT murder

Man has no regrets over stabbing passengers to death on the Taipei MRT: Has wanted to do something big since childhood

by Aaron Wytze on Tuesday, May 27, 2014

A horrifying assault incident occurred On Wednesday May 21st on Taipei’s MRT. At 4:26pm, a young man began wildly stabbing passengers on an MRT train car, which currently has left 4 people dead, and 25 sent to the hospital with injuries. New Taipei City police chief Cheng Guo-en indicated that the male suspect had planned since childhood to do something “big”, and originally planned to commit his crime after graduating from university, but last week suddenly thought about doing something today.

According to current knowledge, the 21-year-old male involved in the case is a university student studying at Tunghai University’s department of science and engineering, named Cheng Chieh [Zheng Jie]. Before boarding the MRT, Zheng purchased two knives used in the incident, with one knife measuring as long as 30 centimetres. At Longshan Temple station, Zheng began wielding a knife inside the train car, stabbing passengers at random. Consequently, as the MRT arrived at JiangZiCui Station, the doors opened and passengers immediately began fleeing for their lives. A passenger who witnessed the event expressed: “We ran back and forth panic-stricken, trying to find a safe place to hide. In all my 30 years of life, this is the first time I’ve felt I just lived through something like the plot of an American TV series!”

New Taipei City Police Chief Chen Guo-en indicated that the man did not have a mental ailment nor did he have any medical treatment history. His blood alcohol level was recorded at 0.04 and the suspect professed to only have drank sparkling water. From a young age, the suspect had seen cases of a similar nature, and since primary school started to think about doing a “something big”, originally planning to commit a crime after graduating university, but suddenly deciding last week that he would do it today instead.

Chen Guo-en said the suspect planned the attack well in advance, and while in high school and university, Zheng would tell friends about his plan to commit a crime. Moreover, as the suspect is from New Taipei City’s Haishan District, the area where he committed the crime would be part of his daily commute. During the investigation and interrogation, the man expressed a complete lack of regret for his crime.

What more, passengers who witnessed the event also expressed unhappily that, while the crime occurred, MRT workers did not immediately participate in helping people flee or hide, and said passengers would have to wait until the MRT police arrived to handle the problem. Currently, the suspect involved in the case has already been placed under arrest by the police and is currently being interrogated, with the details of his motive still being investigated by the police. In regards to the whole incident, Taipei MRT officials have yet to make any response or statement.

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- Cheng Guo-en

WHEN- Wednesday May 21st 4:26pm

WHAT- Cheng Guo-en wildly stabbing passengers on an MRT train car.

WHY- Cheng Guo-en indicated that the male suspect had planned since childhood to do something “big”

WHERE-Taipei MRT

HOW- Wildly stabbing passengers.

KEYWORD：

Stab (V.) 刺，戳，刺入，刺傷。

Purchased (V.) 買，購買

Random (N.) 胡亂行為，偶然的[隨便的]行動[過程]。

Panic (N.) 恐慌，驚慌

Stricken (A.) 被打傷的，受了傷的

Suspect (V.) 懷疑，覺得…可疑

Interrogation (N.) 訊問，質問，審問

week1-sunflower movemet

Taiwan President Calls on Students to End Occupation of Legislature

By AUSTIN RAMZY  MARCH 23, 2014 4:36 AM

President Ma Ying-jeou called on students to end their occupation of Taiwan’s legislature and refused to compromise on the trade pact with China they are protesting, calling it critical to keeping Taiwan’s economy competitive.

Mr. Ma said the students “took it upon themselves to illegally occupy the Legislative Yuan building, paralyzing our legislature for five days.” Their action “seriously affected” the ability of the government to function, he said.

“Let us reflect upon this calmly: Is this the sort of democracy we want? Must the rule of law be sacrificed in such a manner?” Mr. Ma said.

The demonstrators, who are mostly college students but include civil society activists, teachers and others, say their protest was in response to moves by Mr. Ma’s ruling party to force the bill onto the legislative floor, skipping a promised line-by-line review. They rejected his call Sunday to leave the legislative chamber as soon as possible, said Meredith Huang, a spokeswoman for the demonstrators.

“It is regrettable that President Ma has taken until now to respond to these concerns,” the students said in a written statement. “But instead of constructive dialogue, the president was only willing to repeat the old and tired points in support” of the trade accord, they said.

Sunday evening the demonstrators expanded their protest, breaching the Executive Yuan, which houses the offices of Taiwan’s prime minister, and breaking windows to enter parts of the building.

“I’m very angry at President Ma,” said Shiu Rung-kai, 21, a student at National Hsinchu University of Education. “His speech was disturbing and full of loopholes meant to fool us.”

By early Monday morning the police had cleared demonstrators from the Executive Yuan building, detaining dozens according to local media reports, although hundreds of protesters remained in the courtyard outside.

The police swung wooden clubs to clear protesters from Beiping Road, behind the Executive Yuan. Three dozen people were sent to local hospitals with injuries, CNA reported.

Mr. Ma said that legislative approval of the services trade pact was important for Taiwan’s economic competitiveness, and that a rejection of the deal would threaten Taiwan’s ability to sign trade accords with other countries. Taiwan faces higher average duties on its exports than regional competitors like South Korea, Japan and Singapore, he said.

Regional economic integration is “an unstoppable global trend,” he said. “If we do not face this and join in the process, it will only be a matter of time before we are eliminated from the competition.”

Kao Sun, a 31-year-old technician for a manufacturing company in the central Taiwan city of Taichung who joined the student protests Saturday, said he questioned Mr. Ma’s assertions of economic peril if the services trade bill did not pass.

“He said that if we don’t pass this, our small and medium-size businesses will lose their competitiveness,” Mr. Kao said. “The truth is we are very competitive, and it doesn’t come from a trade pact. It comes from ourselves.”

Mr. Ma, who has made pushing closer ties with China one of the key points of his presidency, has seen his popularity suffer over the past year, with his approval rate dropping to 9 percent at one point last fall. While Taipei is used to seeing large protests, an extended occupation of the legislative chambers is unprecedented, and threatens to drive Mr. Ma’s popularity even lower.

“He hasn’t really responded to our questions,” Hao Chang-cheng, a 21-year-old junior at the National Taipei University of Technology, said after Mr. Ma’s press conference. “He just used all kinds of words to threaten the people of Taiwan saying if this isn’t approved, Taiwan doesn’t have any means to internationalize and we’ll be uncompetitive.”

The students, who have called their protests the Sunflower Movement in a reference to sunlight and transparency, seem likely to continue their occupation of the legislature into a second week.

“I feel like we must keep continuing on,” Mr. Hao said.

Structure of the Lead：

  WHO-President Ma Ying-jeou

  WHEN-2014/05/19
  WHAT- President called on students to end their occupation of Taiwan’s legislature
  WHY-students occupated  Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan building
  WHERE-Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan building
  HOW-Students occupied the Legislative Yuan building

Keywords：

1. legislature (n.) 立法機關
2. paralyze (v.) 使麻痺 使癱瘓
3. democracy (n.) 民主
4. civil society (n.) 社會公民運動
5. legislative chamber (n.) 議場
6. radical (a.) 激進的
7. integration (n.) 綜合
8. disturbing (v.) 攪亂，擾亂
9. loopholes (n.) 藉口 漏洞 欺騙性圈套
10. club (n.) 棍棒
11. presidency (n.) 職位[任期] 統轄
12. approval rate (n.) 支持率
13. transparency (n.) 透明（性）