F2F Class Notes (Nemo) [W/R]

Journey to the west
Journey to the West is the most famous and popular legend novel in China, it is one of the four great classic novels of Chinese Literature.
It is about Tang Monk, Xuanzang, according to the Tang Dynasty Emperor’s order to go to the “Western Regions”, India, for Buddhist scriptures. Xuanzang taked the Monkey King, Pigsy and Monk Sha as his disciples on his way to the west. All of his disciples had incredible abilities, especially the Monkey King (Sun Wukong). Actually, protecting Tang Monk was their task as an atonement for their sins. They overcame many sufferings and beat many monsters and finally got the true scriptures and returned to the Great Tang.
The novel was published in Ming Dynasty. It was a banned book in fact in Ming Dynasty due to the fighting spirit described in the book, especially the Monkey King. He was born from a stone, no parents. He learned a lot of supernatural powers and skills from a Taoist Master and scared nothing. He fought against the Heavenly and set himself up as a king equaling the Heavenly. Sun Wukong also kindly treated his people who were monkeys and made friends with other monsters like Bull Demon King.

Journey to the West
Journey to the West is the most famous and popular legendary novel in China, and one of the four great classic novels of Chinese Literature.
The story is about a Tang monk named Xuanzang, who’s been given an order by the Tang Dynasty Emperor to go to the “Western Regions”, India, in order to bring Buddhist scriptures back to China. Xuanzang took the Monkey King, Pigsy, and another monk named Sha as his disciples on his way to the West. All of his disciples had incredible/supernatural abilities, especially the Monkey King (Sun Wukong). Actually, protecting the Tang monk was their task as an atonement for their sins. They overcame many obstacles/difficulties and beat many monsters on their way but finally got the true scriptures and returned to the Great Tang.
The novel was published in The Ming Dynasty, but it was a banned book during that time due to the aggressive spirit described in the book, especially that of the Monkey King. He was born from a stone, not parents, acquired a lot of supernatural powers and skills from a Taoist Master, and was scared of nothing. He fought against the Lord of Heaven and set himself up as a king equaling the Heavenly. Sun Wukong also treated his subjects, who were monkeys, with kindness  and made friends with other monsters like the Bull Demon King.

A UN tribunal has convicted former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity for orchestrating massacres and ethnic cleansing during Bosnia’s war and sentenced him to life in prison.

Mladic, 74, was hustled out of the court minutes before yesterday’s verdict for screaming: “This is all lies, you are all liars.”

The UN Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia found him guilty of 10 of 11 charges, including the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica and the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in which more than 10,000 civilians were killed by shelling and sniper fire over 43 months.

The killings in Srebrenica of men and boys after they were separated from women and taken away in buses or marched off to be shot amounted to Europe’s worst atrocity since World War II.

Vocabulary

reincarnate (v): 1- If a dead person or animal is reincarnated as someone or something else, their spirit returns to life in that person or animal.
2-If something is reincarnated, it appears in a different form, especially after it has disappeared for a period of time:
E.g.: Compared to the old model, the reincarnated Mini Cooper has a more powerful engine and looks more streamlined.

genocide (n): 1-the murder of a whole group of people, especially a whole nation, race, or religious group:
E.g.: victims of genocide

sniper (n): 1-someone who shoots at people from a place where they cannot be seen:
E.g.: He was shot and fatally injured by a sniper.

atrocity (n): 1- an extremely cruel, violent, or shocking act:
E.g.: They are on trial for committing atrocities against the civilian population.

humanity (n): 1- people in general:
E.g.: The massacre was a crime against humanity.

massacre (n): 1- an act of killing a lot of people:
E.g.: He ordered the massacre of 2,000 women and children.