Driving change in the West Bank

Checking a bus engine is an unusual start to the day for a woman in the West Bank.

But there's nothing Najlaa Asia would rather do. She's the first woman licensed to drive public buses in the Palestinian city of Tulkarm.

Being a pioneer isn't easy. She had to pass 12 driving tests. But Najlaa encourages other Palestinian women to break with taboo禁忌, and compete on an equal footing平等 with men in all professions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2014/05/140528_vwitn_bus_driver.shtml

Hands-free on the road?

Google's driverless car project was officially launched推出 in 2010. Since then it says its test vehicles have completed more than a million kilometres on public roads. They've progressed from relatively simple driving on the Californian freeway to more complicated manoeuvring機動 in urban areas.

So far, Google has used a fleet of ordinary cars, which have been converted to carry self-driving technology. But now it wants to take the process a stage further by producing a purpose-built特製的 machine. It’s planning to create a fleet of about a hundred fully autonomous electric vehicles capable of carrying two people at up to 40 km per hour without any input from a human driver.

The ultimate aim最終目標 is to get rid of the controls altogether, although early versions will still need to have a steering wheel方向盤 and pedals.

Google believes it will be able to launch a pilot scheme using the new cars within the next two years. But the internet giant is far from being the only company working on self-driving technology. A number of major manufacturers have their own test programmes, among them Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen and BMW.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2014/05/140530_witn_driverless_car.shtml

Children aid幫助/援助 malaria vaccine疫苗 hunt

In an area of Tanzania where malaria is rife非常多的, scientists have found a small group of children who are naturally resistant 抵抗的 to the disease. Tests revealed透露 that their immune system produces an antibody that attacks the malaria-causing parasite寄生蟲.

It traps捕捉 the tiny organism in red blood cells, preventing it from bursting out爆發 and spreading蔓延 throughout the body. The team found that injecting a form of this antibody into mice小老鼠 protected the animals from malaria.

The scientists say the results are encouraging but further進一步的 trials in primates靈長類 and humans are needed to fully assess the vaccine's promise.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2014/05/140523_witn_malaria.shtml