Topic Reading-Vol.582-11/14/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Nation's largest landfill closing in California.

Have you seen any landfills before? It’s a site where trash and garbage are thrown out. It is also a place where numerous birds are flying over looking for food. It also produces methane gas that could be converted into energy for the neighboring communities. It grows especially after disastrous events occur such as an earthquake, hurricane or tear-down of a building or house.

The one which has just been closed near Los Angeles after over half a century of service reached as high as 40-story building. It’s going to be converted to a park where people will be able to enjoy green and clean environment.

Enjoy reading and learning about America’s largest dump site.

http://news.yahoo.com/nations-largest-landfill-closing-california-180519738.html

Topic Reading-Vol.581-11/13/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

How do illegal immigrants get into the European Union?

People who suffer from disasters, either naturally or man-made such as wars and violence, are forced to move to safer places. Also, those who are looking for a job move to a new land of opportunities. These sound quite reasonable, don’t they? Well, it depends whether they legally enter and stay in other countries or not.

According to Frontex, the European Union border agency, the majority of the illegal immigrants in the EU arrived by plane with a valid visa and didn’t leave after their visa expired. The agency also estimates that no fewer than 72,000 people illegally entered the EU countries via land and sea routes in 2012. Why such many people are moving leaving their homeland and risking their lives?

You’ll learn the reasons where those people come from.

Enjoy reading and learning about immigration problems in the EU.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/30/world/eu-immigration-infographic/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Topic Reading-Vol.580-11/12/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Beijing, Shanghai divorces soar over property tax.

They seem to be very sensitive to saving money, aren’t they?

The richer people become, the more sensitive they are when it comes to saving taxes. The new riches in China love to invest their fortune on residential properties, pushing the prices in the market too high for ordinary workers especially in major cities. Yet it is highly speculative, they still keep buying and owning apartments that they have no plan to live in. And the both national and local governments are trying to slow down such trend by imposing higher tax rate on married couples who own three or more such properties.

How they reacted? Divorce tentatively to avoid such property tax and remarry.

Enjoy reading and learning about how responsive the rich could be to make and save money in China.

http://news.yahoo.com/beijing-divorces-soar-over-property-tax-044052042.html

Topic Reading-Vol.579-11/11/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Golden chains: 20 best franchises for travelers.

How many of these chains do you know? The answers probably vary depending on where you live or how often you travel abroad.

When you’re traveling in an unfamiliar place by yourself, not knowing what to eat or buy, any place that offers something you are accustomed to or familiar with would make you feel assured and relieved. Chains and franchises offer such relief more than ever wherever you go, such as dumpling restaurants, coffee shops and convenience stores, not to mention popular chains for burgers and fried chickens, even though they aren't always your choice to stop or never in your home town.

Enjoy reading and learning what chains might save your life while traveling in the future.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/26/travel/best-franchises-for-travelers/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

Topic Reading-Vol.578-11/10/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Hacking our senses to boost learning power.

Does the smell of herb boost your creativity or memory? Is there any particular sound or music that helps you improve test score?

Some smells or kinds of sound affect brain performance either positively or negatively though the extent of such effects vary. For example, moderate level of pleasant sound such as Mozart’s music or even chatters at a coffee shop seems to bring about positive effect on exam scores or creativity. Another research shows that while the scent of rosemary helped students perform better in memory tasks, lavender gave negative effects.

Enjoy reading and learning what scent, music or sound might boost your brain performance.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131022-hacking-senses-to-boost-learning

Topic Reading-Vol. 577-11/9/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Texas hunters to auction permit to kill black rhino

To hunt one to save more. Sounds like a very ruthless act, doesn’t it?

This isn’t like abandoning treating a dying soldier to take care of the others in an overcrowded battle field hospital. This is to auction to permit a wealthy American hunter to kill a black rhino in the African wildlife in an effort to raise money to save the endangered species.

Is it any different from permits issued for wildlife hunting, like deer or geese?

Is this the best or at least a better option to conserve the endangered wildlife animal?

Enjoy reading and learning about this highly controversial move by the government of Namibia and hunting enthusiasts in America.

http://news.yahoo.com/texas-hunters-sell-permit-kill-rare-black-rhino-182544084.html

Topic Reading-Vol.576-11/8/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Greenhouse gas volumes reached new high in 2012: WMO

See these photos? Clear signs and evidences of global warming.

Although the causes and effects of the climate change have been deeply studied and widely known, actions to stop or slow this disastrous trend haven’t been taken enough.

The later and less actions are taken, the more the impact will be to the environment, and therefore the more difficult it will be to cope with.

Knowing enough but acting not enough. How and when the human being starts taking deliberate actions to control and manage their own problems?

Enjoy reading another warning of global warming and also seeing the photos of the evidence.

http://news.yahoo.com/greenhouse-gas-volumes-reached-high-2012-wmo-100418687.html