뉴스&스피킹(영자신문)
하루 10분이면 영어에 대한 두려움을 극복하고 누구나 유창하게 영어를 구사하실 수 있습니다.
- Monday
03.18 - Tuesday
03.19 - Wednesday
03.20 - Thursday
03.21 - Friday
03.22 
-
US Insurance Group Rates Most Driver Assistance Systems ‘Poor’ An American insurance industry group has given most driver assistance systems “poor” ratings after a series of safety tests.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) carried out the tests. The group released a report this week describing its findings.
The tests involved 14 different driver assistance tools. Such tools offer partial driving automation as a way to improve safety and reduce accidents. The systems are equipped to assist drivers with things like staying inside road lines and automatically slowing or stopping the car when possible dangers are identified.
The IIHS is a nonprofit organization financed by America’s insurance industry. The group carries out numerous crash tests each year as it seeks to persuade automakers to design safer vehicles. Automakers follow safety ratings issued by the group and often make changes to products based on them.
The IIHS noted there is a lack of effective tools to monitor drivers and provide warnings when they need to pay better attention or take immediate corrective action.
David Harkey is president of the IIHS. He told the Associated Press his group aims to set guidelines for manufacturers to make up for a lack of regulation over the systems by the U.S. National Highway Safety Administration.
Harkey noted that most current driver assist systems do not have effective measures “to prevent misuse and keep drivers from losing focus on what’s happening on the road.”
All automakers advise drivers using assistance tools not to fully depend on vehicle technologies to keep them safe. The companies say the tools are meant to improve, or enhance, overall safety, rather than take over certain driving duties.
The IIHS said it tested 14 different driver assist systems. Of those, 11 received an overall rating of “poor.” Two other systems were rated “marginal,” while one was considered “acceptable.” Harkey said the 14 systems are among the highest quality technologies currently on the market.
The driver assist system used in the Lexus LS model earned the acceptable rating. The marginal declarations were given to systems in General Motors’ GMC Sierra and Nissan's Ariya electric vehicle. Other systems from Nissan, Tesla, BMW, Ford, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo received ratings of “poor.”
Harkey said the high-level of technology sophistication in today’s driver assist systems provides a lot more automation possibilities. But these tools can cause drivers not to pay attention for longer periods, presenting new, dangerous risks. “That's why the focus is on how do we make sure that the driver remains focused on the driving…,” he added.
The IIHS has warned that manufacturers advertise their vehicles in a way that gives drivers the false idea that they are fully automated, or autonomous. “The one thing we do not want is for drivers to misinterpret what these things can or cannot do,” Harkey said.
The IIHS is calling for automakers to build additional tools into their systems. These would be designed to observe whether or not a driver’s eyes are directed at the road and whether their hands are on the wheel or ready to immediately take control.
The institute suggested the systems should have built-in tools that send warnings to drivers within 10 seconds if their eyes and hands are not in the right positions. At 20 seconds, the IIHS said the system should add another warning or start an automatic emergency process to slow down the vehicle.
Toyota, which makes Lexus vehicles, said it considers IIHS reports when it creates safety guidelines, while General Motors called the ratings important. Nissan said it will work with the institute on proposed changes.
Mercedes said it takes the findings seriously, while Hyundai Genesis said it was quickly improving its system, including plans to put a camera inside vehicles.
BMW said while it respects IIHS's efforts, it differs on the use of technology to monitor drivers inside the vehicle. Ford said its driver assist system monitors drivers and sends repeated warnings. While Ford said it disagrees with the institute’s findings, it will consider the suggestions in future development.
I’m Bryan Lynn.View -
What Is Pi Day? Math lovers celebrate Pi Day on March 14, or 3/14. Around the world, many people even mark the day by eating a tasty piece of pie.
For those who do not know, pi is a mathematical constant, a value that never changes. It expresses the ratio of a circle’s circumference (the distance around the circle) to its diameter (the distance across the circle, passing through its center.)
The approximate value of this mathematical constant is 3.1415926535. But those are just the first 10 digits of pi. The numbers go on infinitely, or forever.
Pi can calculate the circumference of a circle by measuring the diameter and multiplying that by the 3.14-plus number. The formula has been used in physics, astronomy, engineering and other fields, dating back thousands of years.
Long before computers, scientists such as Isaac Newton spent many hours calculating decimal places by hand. But today, researchers use computers to come up with trillions of digits for pi. But there is no end.
What are some practical uses for Pi?
There are many uses for pi.
The number helps calculate the size of paper rolls used in printers. And it helps decide the necessary size of a container that serves heating and air conditioning systems in buildings of different sizes.
Scientists use the number to point an antenna toward a satellite and calculate the orbits and positions of planets and other space bodies.
Scientists with the American space agency NASA use pi to calculate when parachutes should open as a vehicle splashes down on Earth or lands on Mars.
Pi Day
In 1706, British mathematician William Jones began using the Greek letter pi for the number 3.14… It is the first Greek letter in the words “periphery” and “perimeter.” Both words have similar meanings as circumference.
Pi Day itself dates back to the year 1988. That was when physicist Larry Shaw began celebrations at the Exploratorium, a science museum in San Francisco, California.
The so-called holiday did not gain national recognition until more than 20 years later. In 2009, the U.S. Congress declared every March 14 to be Pi Day as a way to bring more interest in math and science.
The San Francisco museum that started the holiday organizes events, including a walk around a circular sign, called the Pi Shrine, 3.14 times. Of course, there is also plenty of pie to eat.
Many Pi Day events take place at colleges in the United States. For example, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Florida holds the “Mental Math Bingo” game with free pizza pies.
Jason Gershman oversees NSU’s math department. He said, “Every year, Pi Day provides us with a way to celebrate math, have some fun and recognize how important math is in all our lives.”
NASA has its yearly “Pi Day Challenge” online. The space agency offers games and puzzles, such as calculating the orbit of an asteroid or the distance a moon rover would need to travel each day to study a certain lunar area.
If you still wonder why Pi Day is such an important day for math lovers, here are two more reasons: Albert Einstein, possibly the world’s best-known scientist, was born on March 14, 1879. And famed physicist Stephen Hawking died on March 14, 2018, at age 76.
Although pi is not a perfect number. Hawking once had this to say: “One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn’t exist. Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.”
And Happy Pi Day!
I'm Jill RobbinsView -
War and Peace at the Oscars American film Oppenheimer was the big winner at the Academy Awards Sunday in Los Angeles, California. The Academy honored the film about a creator of the atomic bomb with seven Oscars.
The televised event presented a usual mix of moods and messages. There was a reminder of the recent death in a Russian prison of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Demonstrators called for a cease-fire in Gaza at a protest outside the Dolby Theatre where the event took place. And there was a bit of election-year politics from ceremony host Jimmy Kimmel.
But there was also joyful fun, as when actor Ryan Gosling performed I'm Just Ken, a nominated song from the film Barbie.
The night, though, belonged not to Barbie but to its partner in the cultural event known as “Barbenheimer.”
Oppenheimer’s seven wins include the top prize of best picture. Director Christopher Nolan also took home the Oscar for directing while the film’s star Cillian Murphy received the best actor award. And Oppenheimer’s Robert Downey Jr won the Oscar for best supporting actor. It is his first Academy Award.
Many of those wins were expected, but the Oscars did hold some surprises. The race for the best actress was considered very close this year. And, Emma Stone looked shocked when her name was called for her performance in the movie, Poor Things.
Stone won her first Oscar, also for best actress, in 2017 for La La Land.
Here are some more of the night’s notable moments:
Jimmy Kimmel was hosting the Academy Awards for a fourth time. Late in the show he presented a social media post about the ceremony from former president Donald Trump.
“Thank you for watching,” Kimmel said, adding, “isn’t it past your jail time?”
A call for peace In Ukraine…
Associated Press reporter Mstyslav Chernov, was one of the filmmakers accepting the best documentary Oscar for 20 Days in Mariupol. He noted that it was the first Oscar in the history of his country, Ukraine. He said he was honored – but then added: “Probably I will be the first director on this stage to say I wish I’d never made this film.” The film is an account of the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Chernov called on Russia to end the war in Ukraine. “We can make sure that the history record is set straight … and those who have given their lives, will never be forgotten," he said.
And in Gaza
Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest takes place during World War II. It is about the family of a Nazi commandant living next to the Auschwitz death camp. But it was a current war that the writer-director spoke about when accepting his Oscar for best international film.
“Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst," Glazer said, before speaking about the conflict in Gaza. “Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people,” he said. “Whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?”
A sad reminder
“If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong.” Those words from Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, began the memorial to industry members who died over the year. He was the subject of last year’s winning documentary, Navalny. His wife stood on the Oscar stage that night and spoke directly to him: “Alexei, I am dreaming of the day when you will be free and our country will be free,” Yulia Navalnaya said.
Nolan’s ‘incredible journey’
Winning his first directing Oscar, the 53-year-old Nolan noted that cinema is just over 100 years old. “Imagine being there 100 years into painting or theater. We don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here. But to know that you think that I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me.”
I’m Caty Weaver.View -
France's 'Invader' Could Surprise Olympic Games Visitors When visitors come to Paris for the Olympic Games starting in July, they will be entering the territory of France’s most famous street artist: “Invader.” It will be one invasion coming face-to-face with another.
Like Banksy, the British street artist he is sometimes compared to, Invader does not want his identity to be publicly known.
Sometimes working close to the edge of illegality, Invader comes, does his art, and disappears into the night. He leaves behind mosaics made mostly with small ceramic and glass tiles.
Many of the mosaics look like the aliens from the Space Invaders video game. Others are very complex portrayals of fruit or, in New York, of Lou Reed and Andy Warhol.
Some of his artworks come from popular culture, including Spiderman, Star Wars, Bugs Bunny, Ninja Turtles, pizza and others. Some artworks suggest deep research, including a portrait of guitarist Django Reinhardt facing the house where he lived, south of Paris in Samois-sur-Seine.
Since the first recorded mosaic of a blue Space Invader went up on a Paris street in 1998, numbered PA_01, Invader has taken over the world. There are now more than 4,000 of his mosaics in cities and towns on all continents except Antarctica.
London, Tokyo, Los Angeles and other cities were invaded in 1999; New York and Geneva and more in 2000; Hong Kong in 2001; Berlin, Bangkok, Melbourne. On and on.
The 4,000th mosaic was glued to a brick wall in Potosi, 4,000 meters up in the Bolivian Andes, in 2021. The European Space Agency installed Invader’s Space2 mosaic aboard the International Space Station in 2015.
“‘Anytime, Anywhere’ is the philosophy,” Invader says on his website.
In Paris — by far his most invaded area — the artist’s footprint is larger than ever as the Olympics draw closer.
A new public showing in a multi-story building has one of his works on its roof, visible via satellite on Google Maps. With a telescope, the show’s visitors can also look across Paris to Invader’s 1,500th mosaic in the city and surrounding areas.
Announced in February, PA_1500 is glued outside a chimney of the Pompidou Center. Unlike many of his other artworks, Invader got the center’s permission to put the red-and-white Space Invader alien into place.
“It’s a symbol. It’s number 1,500. It’s Paris,” said Alexandre Aumis, the building’s security director. He added, “It’s got to be here.”
Some of those who know Invader say they are expecting him to spring more surprises for the Olympics, perhaps installing new mosaics related to the Games.
Fabrice Bousteau is the editor of Beaux Arts Magazine. He said, “The invasion is the 15 million people who are going to arrive in Paris for the Olympic Games. It’s a lot. Obviously, there will be Invader fans among them.”
Bousteau, who also directed Invader’s latest public showing, added, “So there will be this meeting between two cultures...He will doubtless invade the Games in a different way. I am almost certain.”
I’m John Russell.View -
Wildlife Workers Dress Up to Care for Orphaned Fox In the eastern state of Virginia, employees of the Richmond Wildlife Center are doing their best to act like mother foxes. They started feeding and caring for a baby fox, called a kit, when the young animal became separated from its mother.
The Associated Press reported that a video recently appeared on the center’s page on the social media service Facebook. In the video, Executive Director Melissa Stanley is shown wearing a red fox mask and equipment like rubber gloves. She feeds the young fox in the video. The kit sits on top of a stuffed animal that looks like a fox. It is supposed to look like her mother, Stanley said.
The Facebook post explained why employees were wearing the fox mask to feed the baby animal. It also said workers are avoiding making human sounds and are preventing the kit from seeing its human caregivers. The post said the orphan should not become too close to humans while it is being raised by them. The measures make it more likely that the kit could be returned to the wild.
Stanley said a man brought the kit to the center on February 29. She said he found the animal on the street while walking his dog in Richmond.
Thinking she was a baby cat, the man turned her over to the Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Richmond SPCA). The Richmond SPCA is a nonprofit organization that takes in cats and dogs without owners and finds them homes.
Wildlife center employees tried to find the kit’s mother and their home, or den. They found the den, but they were told by officials that the foxes had been trapped and removed. Stanley said she thinks the fox kit either fell out of a trap or fell off the back of the trapper’s truck.
Employees at the wildlife center have been taking turns feeding the kit every two to four hours. They all wear the fox mask while feeding her.
In addition to the large stuffed animal meant to look like the kit’s mother, employees also put a smaller stuffed red fox in her space. She cuddles up to the smaller stuffed animal at the end of the video.
Stanley said, “The goal is to release the animals back into the wild.” She added that the goal is not to just increase their chances of survival, but to raise them to recognize other animals of their kind. Another goal she said was that the animals should reproduce.
The center looked for other red fox kits of the same age and weight at other centers. Employees found three other kits in a center in northern Virginia.
The fox kit will be sent to the Animal Education and Rescue Organization in Virginia. That group plans to release the kits back into the wild together.
I’m Gregory Stachel.View