week 3

Taxi Drivers Protest Uber and Lyft, Stop DC Traffic

Taxi drivers are protesting rules that would allow Uber and Lyft to permanently operate in the nation's capital

A taxi driver protest against app-based car share companies UberX, Lyft, and Sidecar tied up downtown traffic in the nation’s capital Wednesday.

Local news reports showed lines of drivers, sitting parked in their cabs along Pennsylvania Avenue in northwest Washington on Wednesday between Freedom Plaza and the district’s City Hall. For about two hours on Wednesday, traffic along the route snarled as police officers issued tickets to some drivers for blocking flow of traffic, according to WJLA.

The protest was held in response to new regulations for the app-based companiesintroduced in the DC Council that would allow companies like Uber and Lyft to permanently operate in the city as long as they conduct background checks for all drivers, provide minimum $1 million insurance coverage, and never accept street hails, among other rules. The legislation moved out of committee on Tuesday and will face a final vote later this month.

Uber has praised the legislation, but theWashington D.C. Taxi Operators Association, which is affiliated with Teamsters and organized the protest, says the rules give companies like Uber and Lyft a “competitive advantage.” Thousands of cab drivers showed up to protest Wednesday, according to a release from organizers.

This was the second time taxi drivers have protested in Washington this year, with a June protest snarling traffic for hours in downtown DC. Similar protests have been staged inBoston and San Francisco in the taxi industry’s ongoing battle with app-based services who they say are impeding their business while facing much less scrutiny and regulation.

http://time.com/3482420/taxis-uber-lyft-washington-dc/

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO- UberX, Lyft

   WHEN- Oct.2014 10

   WHAT- Taxi drivers are protesting rules that would allow Uber and Lyft to permanently operate

   WHY- Not given

   WHERE-

Keywords：

   1.regulation標準

   2. legislation立法

   3.ongoing進行的

   4.scrutiny監視

   5. snarl吠

weak 2 -Top architect named: Tour Toyo Ito's unusual buildings

Top architect named: Tour Toyo Ito's unusual buildings

Seoul-born, 71-year-old Japanese architect Toyo Ito is this year's recipient of the industry's most coveted prize.

On Monday, the architect was announced the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner, joining past Pritzker Laureates that include Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas.

"As I did not expect it, I felt really grateful and honored to be awarded the prize," Ito told CNN.

In addition to his abstract, beautiful buildings, the Tokyo-based architect is also known for his extensive work on communal centers as part of the reconstruction in Japan following the 2011 tsunami.

Ito, whose family ran a miso (bean paste) factory following his father's early death when Ito was 12, has said he wasn't interested in architecture as a youth. He began taking an interest while attending the University of Tokyo.

Throughout his career, Ito's designs have been unusual, vivid and minimalistic -- from the aluminum house he designed for his sister to the Sendai Mediatheque in Miyagi, Japan, which he describes as his professional highlight.

20 of the world's most iconic skyscrapers

The Pritzker committee jury raved about his lifework of defying standard distinctions. It will officially bestow its award at a ceremony in Boston on May 29.

Together with the 40 employees of his namesake firm, Toyo Ito & Associates, the architect is currently working on projects in Taiwan, Singapore and Japan.

"I travel 50 to 60 times per year for work," says Ito. "I love any place where I work."

At Princeton in 2009, he lectured on the development of the grid system in architecture, pointing out that while the system allows for rapid construction, "it also made the world's cities homogenous" and that "it made the people living and working there homogenous, too."

His design aesthetic is "modifying the grid slightly" so buildings can have closer relationships to their environment.

"Not fixing my style, I keep extending the possibilities of architecture," he told CNN. "In other words, I would like to unbridle architecture from various restrictions and give it more freedom."

The photo gallery above illustrates how Ito is changing and influencing landscapes of cities around the world.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/19/travel/toyo-ito-architecture-prize/index.html

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO- Tour Toyo Ito

   WHEN- March 20, 2013

   WHAT- Seoul-born Japanese architect Toyo Ito wins highest prize for architecture

   WHY- Not given

   WHERE-

Keywords：

   1.vivid 生動的

   2. minimalism 簡易主義 

   3.aluminum 鋁

   4.illustrates 圖解

   5. distinctions 著名