2 . TOKYO-Japan marked the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing in its western city of Hiroshima (广岛) on August 6th amid growing calls for Tokyo to reflect on crimes the Japanese army committed during World War II. At a memorial ceremony held at the Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui delivered the Peace Declaration,urging world leaders to stop believing in the theory that nuclear weapons can prevent war.

“They must immediately take concrete steps to lead us from the dangerous present toward our ideal world,” said Matsui, who also urged policymakers to “move toward a security system based on trust through dialogue in pursuit of civil society ideals”. “Mistrust and division are on the rise,” warned United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his message readout at the ceremony.

A moment of silence was observed at 8:15 am local time, the exact moment when an atomic bomb dropped from a US bomber and exploded over the city on Aug.6, 1945, killing around 140,000 people by the end of that year.

At the event which about 50,000 people attended, Matsui placed in a monument a list of the names of 339,227 victims, including 5,320 deaths confirmed last year. “Japan must immediately sign the Treaty (条约) on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,” Matsui noted in the Peace Declaration, further urging the government to heed the wishes of survivors from the bombing and the peace-loving Japanese people.

The number of survivors of the two atomic bombings including Nagasaki with an average age of over 85, has dropped by 5,346 from a year earlier to 113,649 as of March, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida spoke at the ceremony, saying an atomic bomb made more than 100,000 lose their lives without mentioning whether Japan would sign the treaty, let alone (更不用说) the historical background of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

The prime minister was criticized for hosting the Group of Seven leaders' summit in Hiroshima in May.

While Japan inwardly looks at the tragedies it experienced at the end of WWII, historians and political minds of the international community have encouraged Japan to come to see itself not only as a victim of the atomic bombings but also as the criminal (罪犯) who was involved in these tragic incidents in the first place.

3 . The big screen is never short of films about World WarⅡ. When Nazi Germany is featured in these films, cruel Nazi officers and brutal concentration camps most often represent it. But the new Hollywood movie Valkyrie tells a different story, “a chapter of German history which is little known abroad”, according to the German Cultural Minister Bernd Neumann.

Valkyrie is based on a true incident that took place in 1944. Colonel(陆军上校) Stauffenberg had been a loyal soldier for his entire military career. However, after losing an eye, a hand, and three fingers in an Allied bombing, he reached breaking point. The destruction that his country had brought to its European neighbors had become too terrible for the colonel to bear in silence. He hoped that someone would find a way to stop Adolf Hitler, one of the most evil tyrants the world has ever known. Realizing that time was running out, he decided that he must take action himself and joined the German resistance. These men drew up Operation Valkyrie, a plot to assassinate Hitler and to overthrow his Nazi government from the inside. This plot is what the film is named after and focuses on.

The Hollywood star Tom Cruise plays the lead role. “This was a very challenging film to make. We carried a huge responsibility to correctly portray history,” Cruise said.

However, the production has drawn criticism for lacking depth and for simplifying the motives behind the plot.

8 . The Chicago Fire of 1871 was the worst disaster of the 19th century.

The fire is said to have started one evening in Mrs. O’Leary’s barn (牲口棚) on the West Side of Chicago. Several hours after she milked her cow, it kicked over an oil lamp, and the cow started the fire. We do not know if the story is true, but we do know that the fire began in a barn on the West Side.

The fire spread quickly because of the wooden buildings, a strong wind, and a dry season. The fire lasted 27 hours and spread to all parts of the city. Other cities sent 25 fire companies to help put out the fire. Federal troops (联邦军队) were also used to help fight the fire and keep order, too. At last rain put out the fire.

There was a lot of damage. 90,000 people were homeless, and 18,000 buildings were destroyed. Property damage (财产损失) was almost 200 million dollars. In addition, about 300 people died.

People from all over the world helped Chicago by sending food and clothing. Within a month, 4,000 cottages (小屋) with two rooms had been built. In a few years, Chicago was completely rebuilt.

It was Sunday December 7, 1941. It looked like it would be a normal day     1     board the ship. Suddenly, with a huge crashing sound from above, hundreds of Japanese planes dropped bombs on Pearl Harbor. In great horror, Russell     2     (suffer) serious burns and watched many of his friends die. After receiving the order to abandon ship, Louis still saved more men from the water,     3     (drag) them into the lifeboat. Because of his     4     (remark) actions, Louis was acknowledged as a hero, but he thought the ones giving their lives that day were real heroes.     5     (fortune), Russel survived after the treatment in hospital, but he was     6     (willing) to talk about the attack, describing it simply as “hell”.

The terrible scene of the attack, which was hatched by Japan and caused great loss, left a deep impression on Louis Russell. In response to the surprise attack and the famous address     7     (deliver) by President Roosevelt, the United States joined the Second World War.

Today, the USS Arizona lies     8     it sank: in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. A memorial shaped like a bridge     9     (cross) the ship’s sunken remains. Each year, more than two million people visit the memorial in memory of those victims and pray for world peace. Although almost eight decades has passed, the attack on Pearl Harbor, one of the     10     (dark) episodes in American history, will never be forgotten.