Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Thơ Rubai của Omar Khayyam

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Edward FitzGerald's Translation.	Thơ Rubai của Omar Khayyam
1 Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight: And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light.	1 Thức dậy đi và hãy ngắm vừng đông Tuổi trẻ ơi hãy mau rót rượu nồng. Giây phút này tuyệt vời đang đi khỏi Một mai này ngươi tìm lại đừng mong.
2 Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry, "Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup "Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry."	2
3 And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before The Tavern shouted--"Open then the Door! "You know how little while we have to stay, "And, once departed, may return no more."
4 Now the New Year reviving old Desires, The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, Where the WHITE HAND OF MOSES on the Bough Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.
5 Iram indeed is gone with all its Rose, And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows; But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields, And still a Garden by the Water blows.
6 And David's Lips are lock't; but in divine High piping Pehlevi, with "Wine! Wine! Wine! "Red Wine!"---the Nightingale cries to the Rose That yellow Cheek of hers to incarnadine.
7 Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring The Winter Garment of Repentance fling: The Bird of Time has but a little way To fly---and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.
8 And look---a thousand Blossoms with the Day Woke---and a thousand scatter'd into Clay: And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away.
9 But come with old Khayyam, and leave the Lot Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosru forgot! Let Rustum lay about him as he will, Or Hatim Tai cry Supper---heed them not.
10 With me along some Strip of Herbage strown That just divides the desert from the sown, Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known, And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne.
11 Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough, A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse---and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness--- And Wilderness is Paradise enow.
12 "How sweet is mortal Sovranty!"---think some: Others---"How blest the Paradise to come!" Ah, take the Cash in hand and waive the Rest; Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum!
13 Look to the Rose that blows about us---"Lo, "Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow: "At once the silken Tassel of my Purse "Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw."
14 The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon Turns Ashes---or it prospers; and anon, Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face Lighting a little Hour or two---is gone.
15 And those who husbanded the Golden Grain, And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain, Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd As, buried once, Men want dug up again.
16 Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day, How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.
17 They say the Lion and the Lizard keep The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep; And Bahram, that great Hunter---the Wild Ass Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep. 18 I sometimes think that never so red The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled; That every Hyacinth the Garden wears Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head.
19 And this delightful Herb whose tender Green Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean--- Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen!
20 Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears--- To-morrow?---Why, To-morrow I may be Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.
21 Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and best That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest, Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, And one by one crept silently to Rest.
22 And we, that now make merry in the Room They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom, Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth Descend, ourselves to make a Couch---for whom?
23 Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, Before we too into the Dust descend; Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and---sans End!
24 Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare, And those that after a TO-MORROW stare, A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries "Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There!"
25 Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.
26 Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies; One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies; The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.
27 Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument About it and about: but evermore Came out by the same Door as in I went.
28 With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow, And with my own hand labour'd it to grow: And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd--- "I came like Water, and like Wind I go."
29 Into this Universe, and why not knowing, Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing: And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing.
30 What, without asking, hither hurried whence? And, without asking, whither hurried hence! Another and another Cup to drown The Memory of this Impertinence!
31 Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, And many Knots unravel'd by the Road; But not the Knot of Human Death and Fate.
32 There was a Door to which I found no Key: There was a Veil past which I could not see: Some little Talk awhile of ME and THEE There seemed---and then no more of THEE and ME.
33 Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried, Asking, "What Lamp had Destiny to guide "Her little Children stumbling in the Dark?" And---"A blind Understanding!" Heav'n replied.
34 Then to this earthen Bowl did I adjourn My Lip the secret Well of Life to learn: And Lip to Lip it murmur'd---"While you live "Drink!---for once dead you never shall return."
35 I think the Vessel, that with fugitive Articulation answer'd, once did live, And merry-make; and the cold Lip I kiss'd How many Kisses might it take---and give!
36 For in the Market-place, one Dusk of Day, I watch'd the Potter thumping his wet Clay: And with its all obliterated Tongue It murmur'd---"Gently, Brother, gently, pray!"
37 Ah, fill the Cup:---what boots it to repeat How Time is slipping underneath our Feet: Unborn TO-MORROW, and dead YESTERDAY, Why fret about them if TO-DAY be sweet!
38 One Moment in Annihilation's Waste, One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste--- The Stars are setting and the Caravan Starts for the Dawn of Nothing---Oh, make haste!
39 How long, how long, in infinite Pursuit Of This and That endeavour and dispute? Better be merry with the fruitful Grape Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit.
40 You know, my Friends, how long since in my House For a new Marriage I did make Carouse: Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse.
41 For "IS" and "IS-NOT" though with Rule and Line, And "UP-AND-DOWN" without, I could define, I yet in all I only cared to know, Was never deep in anything but---Wine.
42 And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, Came stealing through the Dusk an Angel Shape Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder; and He bid me taste of it; and 'twas---the Grape!
43 The Grape that can with Logic absolute The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute: The subtle Alchemist that in a Trice Life's leaden Metal into Gold transmute.
44 The mighty Mahmud, the victorious Lord, That all the misbelieving and black Horde Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul Scatters and slays with his enchanted Sword.
45 But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me The Quarrel of the Universe let be: And, in some corner of the Hubbub coucht, Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee.
46 For in and out, above, about, below, 'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show, Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun, Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.
47 And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, End in the Nothing all Things end in ---Yes--- Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what Thou shalt be---Nothing---Thou shalt not be less.
48 While the Rose blows along the River Brink, With old Khayyam the Ruby Vintage drink: And when the Angel with his darker Draught Draws up to Thee---take that, and do not shrink.
49 'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays: Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays, And one by one back in the Closet lays.
50 The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes, But Right or Left, as strikes the Player goes; And He that toss'd Thee down into the Field, *He* knows about it all---He knows---HE knows!
51 The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
52 And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die, Lift not thy hands to *It* for help---for It Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.
53 With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man's knead, And then of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed: Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.
54 I tell Thee this---When, starting from the Goal, Over the shoulders of the flaming Foal Of Heav'n Parvin and Mushtara they flung, In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul
55 The Vine had struck a Fibre; which about If clings my Being---let the Sufi flout; Of my Base Metal may be filed a Key, That shall unlock the Door he howls without
56 And this I know: whether the one True Light, Kindle to Love, or Wrathconsume me quite, One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught Better than in the Temple lost outright.
57 Oh, Thou, who didst with Pitfall and with Gin Beset the Road I was to wander in, Thou wilt not with Predestination round Enmesh me, and impute my Fall to Sin?
58 Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, And who with Eden didst devise the Snake; For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blacken'd, Man's Forgiveness give---and take!
KUZA-NAMA ("Book of Pots.") 59 Listen again. One Evening at the Close Of Ramazan, ere the better Moon arose, In that old Potter's Shop I stood alone With the clay Population round in Rows.
60 And, strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot Some could articulate, while others not: And suddenly one more impatient cried--- "Who *is* the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?"
61 Then said another---"Surely not in vain "My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en, "That He who subtly wrought me into Shape "Should stamp me back to common Earth again."
62 Another said---"Why, ne'er a peevish Boy, "Would break the Bowl from which he drank in Joy; "Shall He that *made* the Vessel in pure Love "And Fancy, in an after Rage destroy!"
63 None answer'd this; but after Silence spake A Vessel of a more ungainly Make: "They sneer at me for learning all awry; "What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?"
64 Said one---"Folk of a surly Tapster tell "And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell; "They talk of some strict Testing of us---Pish! "He's a Good Fellow, and 't will all be well."
65 Then said another with a long-drawn Sigh, "My Clay with long oblivion is gone dry: "But, fill me with the old familiar Juice, "Methinks I might recover by-and-bye!"
66 So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, One spied the little Crescent all were seeking: And then they jogg'd each other, "Brother! Brother! "Hark to the Porter's Shoulder-knot a-creaking!"
67 Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide, And wash my Body whence the Life has died, And in the Windingsheet of Vine-leaf wrapt, So bury me by some sweet Garden-side.
68 That ev'n my buried Ashes such a Snare Of Perfume shall fling up into the Air, As not a True Believer passing by But shall be overtaken unaware.
69 Indeed the Idols I have loved so long Have done my Credit in Men's Eye much wrong: Have drown'd my Honour in a shallow Cup, And sold my Reputation for a Song.
70 Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before I swore---but was I sober when I swore? And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore.
71 And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour---well, I often wonder what the Vintners buy One half so precious as the Goods they sell.
72 Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose! That Youth's sweet-scented Manuscript should close! The Nightingale that in the Branches sang, Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows!
73 Ah Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, Would not we shatter it to bits---and then Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!
74 Ah, Moon of my Delight who Know'st no wane The Moon of Heav'n is rising once again: How oft hereafter rising shall she look Through this same Garden after me---in vain!
75 And when Thyself with shining Foot shall pass Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, And in thy joyous Errand reach the Spot Where I made one---turn down an empty Glass!
TAMAM SHUD (It is completed.) And now the modified and added version which is the Text of the Fifth Edition (1889). 1 Wake! For the Sun, who scatter'd into flight The Stars before him from the Field of Night, Drives Night along with them from Heav'n, and strikes The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light. Edward FitzGerald's Translation.
2 Before the phantom of False morning died, Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried, "When all the Temple is prepared within, "Why nods the drowsy Worshiper outside?" 3 And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before The Tavern shouted---"Open then the Door! "You know how little while we have to stay, "And, once departed, may return no more."
4 Now the New Year reviving old Desires, The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, Where the WHITE HAND OF MOSES on the Boug Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.
5 Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose, And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows; But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine, And many a Garden by the Water blows.
6 And David's Lips are lockt; but in divine High-piping Pehlevi, with "Wine! Wine! Wine! "Red Wine!"---the Nightingale cries to the Rose That sallow cheek of hers to incarnadine.
7 Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling: The Bird of Time has but a little way To flutter---and the Bird is on the Wing.
8 Whether at Naishapur or Babylon, Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run, The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop, The Leaves of Life keeps falling one by one.
9 Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say: Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday? And this first Summer month that brings the Rose Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away.
And Look - A thousand Blossoms And look - a thousand blossoms with the day Woke - and a thousand scatter'd into clay: And this first summer month that brings the rose Shall take Jamshed and Kaikobad away.
But Come With old Khayyam, And Leave But come with old Khayyam, and leave the lot Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosru forgot! Let Rustam lay about him as he will, Or Hatim Tai cry supper - heed them not.
With Me Along Some Strip With me along some strip of herbage strown That just divides the desert from the sown, Where name of slave and sultan scarce is known, And pity Sultan Mahmud on his throne.
Here With A Loaf Of Bread Here with a loaf of bread beneath the bough, A flask of wine, a book of verse - and thou Beside me singing in the wilderness- And wilderness is paradise enow.
How Sweet Is Moral Sovranty "How sweet is mortal sovranty!" - think some Others - "How blest the paradise to come!" Ah, take the cash in hand and waive the rest; Oh, the brave music of a distant drum.
Look To The Rose That Blows About Us Look to the rose that blows about us - "Lo, "Laughing", she says, "into the world I blow: "At once the silken tassel of my purse "Tear, and its treasure on the garden throw."
The Worldly Hope Men Set Their Hearts Upon The worldly hope men set their hearts upon Turns ashes - or it prospers; and anon, Like snow upon the desert's dusty face Lighting a little hour or two - is gone.
And Those Who Husbanded The Golden Grain And those who husbanded the golden grain, And those who flung it to the winds like rain, Alike to no such aureate earth are turn'd As, buried once, men want dug up again.
Think, In This Batterer'd Caravanserai! Think, in this batter'd caravanserai Whose doorways are alternate night and day, How sultan after sultan with his pomp Abode his hour or two, and went his way.
They Say The Lion.... They say the lion and the lizard keep The courts where Jamshed gloried and drank deep: And Bahram, that great hunter - the wild ass Stamps o'er his head, and he lies fast asleep.
I Sometimes Think.... I sometimes think that never blows so red The rose as where some buried Caeser bled; That every hyacinth the garden wears Dropt in its lap from some once lovely head.
And This Delightful Herb And this delightful herb whose tender green Fledges the river's lip on which we lean- Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows From what once lovely lip it springs unseen!
Ah, My Beloved, Fill The Cup Ah, my beloved, fill the cup that clears Today of past regrets and future fears- Tomorrow?- Why, tomorrow I may be Myself with yesterday's sev'n thousand years.
Lo! Some We Loved.... Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and best That time and fate of all their vintage prest, Have drunk their cup a round or two before, And one by one crept silently to rest.
And We, That Now Make Merry And we, that now make merry in the room They left, and summer dresses in new bloom, Ourselves must we beneath the couch of earth Descend, ourselves to make a couch - for whome?
Ah, Make The Most Of... Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, Before we too into the dust descend; Dust into dust, and under dust, to lie, Sans wine, sans song, sans singer, and - sans end!
Alike For Those Who For Today Prepare Alike for those who for today prepare, And those that after a tomorrow stare, A muezzin from the tower of darkness cries "Fools! your reward is neither here nor there!"
Why, All The Saints And Sages.... Why, all the saints and sages who discuss'd Of the two worlds so learnedly, are thrust Like foolish prophets forth; their words to scorn Are scatter'd, and their mouths are stopt with dust.
Oh, Come With Old Khayyam, and... Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the wise To talk; one thing is certain, that life flies; One thing is certain, and the rest is lies; The flower that once has blown for ever dies.
Up From Earth's Centre Through The Seventh Gate Up from earth's centre through the seventh gate I rose, and on the throne of Saturn sate, And many knots unravel'd by the road; But not the knot of human death and fate.
Myself When Young.... Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and saint, and heard great argument About it and about:but evermore Came out by the same door as in I went.
With Them The Seed Of Wisdom Did I Sow With them the seed of wisdom did I sow, And with my own hand labour'd it to grow: And this was all the harvest that I reap'd- "I came like water, and like wind I go."
Into This Universe, And..... Int this universe, and why not knowing, No whence, like water willy-nilly flowing: And out of it, as wind along the waste, I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing.
What, Without Asking, Hither Hurried Whence? What, without asking, hither hurried whence? And, without asking, whither hurried hence! Another and another cup to drown The memory of this impertinence!

PART 1



PART 1

How to learn to hear and speak English well Học cách nghe và nói tiếng Anh tốt

How to learn to hear and speak English well by Thái Bá Tân	Học cách nghe và nói tiếng Anh tốt Người viết: Thái Bá Tân
Hi all, More than often I hear many of you complaining they can't hear and speak English well. This sounds quite sincerely and ... naively, I may say. It is natural that they can't. Otherwise I'd be very much surprised. Why?	Xin chào mọi người, Quá nhiều lần tôi nghe thấy nhiều bạn phàn nàn họ không thể nghe và nói tiếng Anh tốt. Điều này nghe rất chân thành và ... ngây thơ, tôi có thể nói thế. Thật tự nhiên là họ không nghe được. Nếu họ nghe được, tôi mới ngạc nhiên biết bao. Tại sao?
Well, I'd like to answer by asking such a question: How can you hear and speak well even a sentence of a foreign language if you haven't heard and practiced it a hundred or even a thousand times? How can you understand the spoken words if you do not know the meaning in the written version? Unlike basic natural sciences, when you know something you know it once and for ever. To learn a language is to learn skills which can be obtained only by practicing one and the same thing many, many times. And it takes time, lot of time. It takes patience, also lot of patience. Do remember that. No one can do this in a hurry.	Vâng, tôi muốn trả lời bằng cách hỏi một câu thế này: Làm thế nào bạn có thể nghe và nói tốt ngay cả một câu của một ngôn ngữ nước ngoài nếu bạn không nghe và thực hành nó một trăm hoặc thậm chí một nghìn lần? Làm thế nào bạn có thể hiểu được lời nói, nếu bạn không biết ý nghĩa trong phiên bản bằng văn bản? Không giống như trong khoa học cơ bản tự nhiên, nếu bạn biết điều gì đó bạn biết điều đó một lần và mãi mãi. Học một ngôn ngữ là học các kỹ năng mà chỉ có thể tạo lập bằng cách thực hành cùng một điều nhiều, rất nhiều lần. Và phải mất thời gian, nhiều thời gian. Phải có kiên nhẫn, và nhiều kiên nhẫn nữa. Hãy nhớ điều đó. Không ai có thể làm điều này một cách vội vàng.
So, briefly, in order for you to hear and speak English well, my advice is very simple. It is the only appropriate way, I think, that can help you achieve the desired goal.	Vì vậy, nói ngắn gọn, để bạn nghe và nói tiếng Anh tốt, tôi có lời khuyên rất đơn giản. Nó là cách duy nhất đúng, tôi nghĩ thế, và có thể giúp bạn đạt được mục tiêu mong muốn.
Learn basic English first, starting from the very beginning - Grammar rules. Then, as I repeatedly told you at lessons, take the CD English Study (by the Dong Nai software company, any version will do but preferably the 2.1 one because it contains Headway program in addition to Streamline). You may buy it at No 10, Ngo 30, Ta Quang Buu Street, just outside the University of Technology.	Học tiếng Anh cơ bản trước tiên, bắt đầu từ đầu – các quy tắc Ngữ pháp. Sau đó, như tôi đã nhiều lần nói với bạn ở những bài học, lấy đĩa CD Học tiếng Anh (do công ty phần mềm Đồng Nai, bất kỳ phiên bản nào cũng được, nhưng tốt hơn là 2.1 bởi vì nó có chứa một chương trình Headway và cả Streamline). Bạn có thể mua nó tại số 10, Ngo 30, Tạ Quang Bửu, ngay bên ngoài Đại học Công nghệ.
Regardless of your knowledge, I recommend you to start from the first lesson of the first level. First read the text to be sure there are no unfamiliar words. Then click the right button of your mouse to hear the speaker read the sentence. Repeat after him, aloud, trying to imitate both the pronunciation and intonation. And as many times as possible, until you learn them by heart, until you feel your mouth aching. When you come to the end of the unit, listen once more, or twice, with or without the text. After that, try to talk with the computer, by answering the speaker's questions. The ultimate task here is to develop you reaction, say, if it usually takes you 10 seconds to answer a simple question, now try to do it in just one or two seconds. Be patient to go from unit to unit, level to level. For simple communication in English, I think two level of Streamline will be enough, though further learning is very much recommended.	Bất kể kiến ​​thức của bạn thế nào, tôi khuyên bạn nên bắt đầu từ bài học đầu tiên của cấp đầu tiên. Đầu tiên đọc các văn bản để đảm bảo không có từ không quen thuộc. Sau đó nhấn vào nút phải của chuột để nghe các diễn giả đọc câu. Lặp lại theo họ đọc lớn tiếng, cố gắng bắt chước cả cách phát âm và ngữ điệu. Và càng nhiều lần càng tốt, cho đến khi bạn học chúng thuộc lòng, cho đến khi bạn cảm thấy đau miệng. Khi bạn đến cuối đơn vị bài, lắng nghe một lần nữa, hoặc hai lần, có hoặc không có các văn bản. Sau đó, hãy cố gắng nói chuyện với máy tính, bằng cách trả lời câu hỏi của người nói. Nhiệm vụ tối hậu ở đây là phát triển phản ứng của bạn, tức là, nếu bạn thường mất 10 giây để trả lời một câu hỏi đơn giản, bây giờ cố gắng để làm điều đó chỉ trong một hoặc hai giây. Hãy kiên nhẫn để đi từ đơn vị bài này sang bài khác, cấp độ này qua cấp độ khác. Đối với các giao tiếp đơn giản bằng tiếng Anh, tôi nghĩ hai cấp độ của Streamline là đủ, mặc dù việc học thêm là đáng được đề nghị.
The CD also has other useful sections, such as Grammar (both theoretical and practical) with accompanying exercises, Reading, How to Speak It correctly, Writing Patterns and so on.	Đĩa CD này cũng có phần hữu ích khác, chẳng hạn như ngữ pháp (cả lý thuyết và thực hành) với các bài tập đi kèm, Đọc hiểu, Làm thế nào để nói chính xác, Viết mẫu…
I am sure if you strictly adhere to what I say here, in three months or maybe a little more, you can speak non-stop easy English. Try it, and you will thank me later.Be patient and determined in this simple Endeavour. I know you can do it. Come on.	Tôi chắc chắn rằng nếu bạn tuân thủ đúng những gì tôi nói ở đây, trong ba tháng hoặc có thể nhiều hơn một chút, bạn có thể nói chuyện không ngừng với tiếng Anh dễ. Hãy thử nó, và bạn sẽ cảm ơn tôi sau này. Hãy kiên nhẫn và quyết tâm trong nhiệm vụ đơn giản này. Tôi biết bạn có thể làm điều đó. Hãy cố lên.
Translated by nguyenquang

Can Animals Predict Earthquakes?Loài vật có thể dự báo động đất không?

BEIJING (AP) - First, the water level in a pond inexplicably plunged. Then, thousands of toads appeared on streets in a nearby province. Finally, just hours before China's worst earthquake in three decades, animals at a local zoo began acting strangely.

As bodies are pulled from the wreckage of Monday's quake, Chinese online chat rooms and blogs are buzzing with a question: Why didn't these natural signs alert the government that a disaster was coming?

"If the seismological bureau were professional enough they could have predicted the earthquake ten days earlier, when several thousand cubic meters of water disappeared within an hour in Hubei, but the bureau there dismissed it,'' one commentator wrote.

In fact, seismologists say, it is nearly impossible to predict when and where an earthquake will strike.

Several countries, including China, have sought to use changes in nature _ mostly animal behavior _ as an early warning sign. But so far, no reliable way has been found to use animals to predict earthquakes, said Roger Musson, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey.

But that has not stopped a torrent of online discussion. Even the mainstream media has chimed in, with an article in Tuesday's China Daily newspaper questioning why the government did not predict the earthquake.

Online commentators say the first sign came about three weeks ago, when large amounts of water suddenly disappeared from a pond in Enshi city in Hubei province, around 350 miles east of the epicenter, according to media reports.

Then, three days before the earthquake, thousands of toads roamed the streets of Mianzhu, a hard-hit city where at least 2,000 people have been reported killed.

Mianzhu residents feared the toads were a sign of an approaching natural disaster, but a local forestry bureau official said it was normal, the Huaxi Metropolitan newspaper reported May 10, two days before the earthquake.

The day of the earthquake, zebras were banging their heads against a door at the zoo in Wuhan, more than 600 miles east of the epicenter, according to the Wuhan Evening Paper.

Elephants swung their trunks wildly, almost hitting a staff member. The 20 lions and tigers, which normally would be asleep at midday, were walking around. Five minutes before the quake hit, dozens of peacocks started screeching.

There are a few possible reasons for such behavior, said Musson, the seismologist. The most likely is that the movement of underground rocks before an earthquake generates an electrical signal that some animals can perceive. Another theory holds that other animals can sense weak shocks before an earthquake that are imperceptible to humans.

Zhang Xiaodong, a researcher at the China Seismological Bureau, said his agency has used natural activity to predict earthquakes 20 times in the past 20 years, but that still represents a small proportion of China's earthquakes.

"The problem now is this kind of relationship is still quite vague,'' he said.

In winter 1975, Chinese officials ordered the evacuation of the city of Haicheng in northeastern Liaoning province the day before a 7.3 magnitude earthquake, based on reports of unusual animal behavior and changes in ground water levels. Still, more than 2,000 people died. Strange environmental phenomena including changes in well water levels, were also reported a year later before a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in Tangshan in northeastern China that killed 240,000, Musson said.

A team of Chinese seismologists was sent to the region but didn't find any evidence to suggest an earthquake. As the seismologists were going home, they stopped for the night in Tangshan and were killed in the quake.

Can Animals Sense Earthquakes? Loài vật có cảm thấy động đất không?

Can Animals Sense Earthquakes?	Loài vật có cảm thấy động đất không?
The belief that animals can predict earthquakes has been around for centuries.	Niềm tin rằng động vật có thể dự đoán động đất đã được bàn luận trong nhiều thế kỷ.
In 373 B.C., historians recorded that animals, including rats, snakes and weasels, deserted the Greek city of Helice in droves just days before a quake devastated the place. Accounts of similar animal anticipation of earthquakes have surfaced across the centuries since. Catfish moving violently, chickens that stop laying eggs and bees leaving their hive in a panic have been reported. Countless pet owners claimed to have witnessed their cats and dogs acting strangely before the ground shook—barking or whining for no apparent reason, or showing signs of nervousness and restlessness.	Năm 373 trước Công nguyên, các nhà sử học ghi nhận rằng, các loài động vật bao gồm cả chuột, rắn và chồn đã lũ lượt rời khỏi thành phố Helice ở Hy Lạp chỉ vài ngày trước khi trận động đất tàn phá nơi này. Kể từ đó, sự giải thích cho khả năng dự đoán động đất tương tự của động vật đã nổi lên qua nhiều thế kỷ. Cá da trơn di chuyển dữ dội, gà ngừng đẻ trứng và ong rời khỏi tổ của chúng trong cơn hoảng loạn đã được ghi nhận. Vô số chủ sở hữu vật nuôi xác nhận rằng đã chứng kiến ​​những con mèo và con chó của họ hành động kỳ lạ trước khi mặt đất rung lắc - sủa hay rên rỉ không vì lý do rõ ràng nào, hoặc có dấu hiệu của sự lo lắng và bồn chồn.
But precisely what animals sense, if they feel anything at all, is a mystery. One theory is that wild and domestic creatures feel the Earth vibrate before humans. Other ideas suggest they detect electrical changes in the air or gas released from the Earth.	Nhưng chính xác động vật cảm nhận điều gì, liệu chúng có cảm thấy điều gì hay không là một bí ẩn. Có một giả thuyết cho rằng những sinh vật hoang dã và vật nuôi đều cảm nhận trái đất rung lắc trước con người. Ý kiến ​​khác cho rằng động vật phát hiện các thay đổi về điện trong không khí hay khí bốc lên từ mặt đất.
Earthquakes are a sudden phenomenon. Seismologists have no way of knowing exactly when or where the next one will hit. An estimated 500,000 detectable quakes occur in the world each year. Of those, 100,000 can be felt by humans, and 100 cause damage.	Động đất là một hiện tượng đột ngột. Các nhà địa chấn học đã không có cách nào biết chính xác trận tiếp theo sẽ xảy ra khi nào và ở đâu. Ước tính có khoảng 500.000 trận động đất có thể phát hiện được xảy ra trên thế giới mỗi năm. Trong số đó, 100.000 trận loài người có thể chịu đựng được và 100 trận gây thiệt hại nặng.
One of the world's most earthquake-prone countries is Japan, where devastation has taken countless lives and caused enormous damage to property. Researchers there have long studied animals in hopes of discovering what they hear or feel before the Earth shakes in order to use that sense as a prediction tool.	Một trong những nước dễ bị động đất nhất thế giới là Nhật Bản, nơi sự tàn phá đã cướp đi vô số sinh mạng và gây ra thiệt hại khổng lồ về tài sản. Các nhà nghiên cứu ở đó đã nghiên cứu nhiều về các loài động vật với hy vọng phát hiện những gì chúng nghe thấy hoặc cảm nhận trước khi Trái đất rung chuyển để sử dụng cảm giác đó như một công cụ dự báo.
American seismologists, on the other hand, are skeptical. Even though there have been documented cases of strange animal behavior prior to earthquakes, the United States Geological Survey, a government agency that provides scientific information about the Earth, says a reproducible connection between a specific behavior and the occurrence of a quake has never been made.	Ngược lại, các nhà địa chấn học Mỹ vẫn hoài nghi. Mặc dù đã có những trường hợp được ghi nhận về các hành vi kỳ lạ của động vật trước khi có động đất, Khảo sát Địa chất Hoa Kỳ (ÚSGS), một cơ quan của Chính phủ cung cấp thông tin khoa học về Trái đất, cho rằng không hề có mối liên hệ giữa một hành vi đặc biệt của động vật với sự xuất hiện của một trận động đất.
"What we're faced with is a lot of anecdotes," said Andy Michael, a geophysicist at USGS. "Animals react to so many things—being hungry, defending their territories, mating, predators—so it's hard to have a controlled study to get that advanced warning signal."	Andy Michael, một nhà địa vật lý tại USGS cho biết: "Những gì chúng ta đang chứng kiến có rất nhiều giai thoại". "Động vật phản ứng với rất nhiều thứ, bị đói, bảo vệ lãnh thổ của chúng, giao phối, thú ăn thịt (kẻ thù), cho nên thật khó có một nghiên cứu xác thực để chứng minh tín hiệu cảnh báo sớm đó."
In the 1970s, a few studies on animal prediction were done by the USGS "but nothing concrete came out of it," said Michael. Since that time the agency has made no further investigations into the theory.	Trong những năm 1970, một vài nghiên cứu về sự dự đoán của động vật đã được thực hiện bởi các USGS "nhưng không có gì cụ thể rút ra từ đó," Michael nói. Kể từ đó cơ quan này đã không có nghiên cứu thêm về lý thuyết này.
Erratic Behavior in Dogs	Hành vi bất thường của loài Chó
Researchers around the world continue to pursue the idea, however. In September 2003 a medical doctor in Japan made headlines with a study that indicated erratic behavior in dogs, such as excessive barking or biting, could be used to forecast quakes.	Tuy nhiên, các nhà nghiên cứu trên thế giới tiếp tục theo đuổi ý tưởng này. Trong tháng 9 năm 2003, một bác sĩ y khoa tại Nhật Bản đã đăng báo một nghiên cứu chỉ ra rằng hành vi bất thường ở chó, chẳng hạn như sủa hoặc cắn quá nhiều, có thể được sử dụng để dự báo các trận động đất.
There have also been examples where authorities have forecast successfully a major earthquake, based in part on the observation of the strange antics of animals. For example, in 1975 Chinese officials ordered the evacuation of Haicheng, a city with one million people, just days before a 7.3-magnitude quake. Only a small portion of the population was hurt or killed. If the city had not been evacuated, it is estimated that the number of fatalities and injuries could have exceeded 150,000.	Cũng đã có vài ví dụ, nơi các chuyển gia đã dự báo thành công một trận động đất lớn, dựa một phần vào sự quan sát những biểu hiện kỳ lạ của động vật. Ví dụ, vào năm 1975, các quan chức Trung Quốc đã ra lệnh sơ tán khỏi Hải Thành, một thành phố một triệu dân, chỉ vài ngày trước khi một trận động đất 7,3 độ richter. Chỉ một phần nhỏ dân cư bị thương hoặc tử vong. Nếu thành phố này không được sơ tán, người ta ước tính rằng con số tử vong và thương tích có thể đã vượt quá 150.000.
The Haicheng incident is what gave people hope that earthquakes might be predictable, says Michael, and what prompted the animal behavior studies by the USGS.	Michael cho rằng việc xảy ra đối với Hải Thành khiến người ta hy vọng có thể dự đoán được động đất, và sẽ thúc đẩy USGS nghiên cứu về hành vi động vật.
It was later discovered, though, that a rare series of small tremors, called foreshocks, occurred before the large quake hit the city.	Tuy nhiên sau này mới phát hiện rằng một chuỗi hiếm thấy các chấn động nhỏ, gọi là “foreshocks” (tiền chấn), xảy ra trước khi trận động đất lớn tấn công thành phố.
"It was the foreshock sequence that gave (Chinese officials) the solid prediction," Michael said.	"Chính là chuỗi tiền chấn (theo các quan chức Trung Quốc) mới mang lại dự đoán chắc chắn", Michael nói.
Still, the Chinese have continued to look at animal behavior as an aid to earthquake prediction. They have had several notable successes and also a few false alarms, said Rupert Sheldrake, a biologist and author of the books, Dogs that Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home and The Sense of Being Stared At.	Tuy nhiên, Trung Quốc vẫn tiếp tục quan sát hành vi của động vật như là một hỗ trợ trong dự đoán động đất. Họ đã đạt một số thành công đáng chú ý và cũng đã có một vài báo động sai, theo Rupert Sheldrake, một nhà sinh vật học và là tác giả của những cuốn sách liên quan: Loài chó biết được khi nào chủ sẽ về nhà và Cảm giác khi bị nhìn chằm chằm.
A reproducible connection between animal behavior and earthquakes could be made, he said, but "as the Chinese have discovered, not all earthquakes cause unusual animal behavior while others do. Only through research could we find out why there might be such differences."	Có thể có mối liên hệ giữa hành vi động vật và động đất, ông nói, nhưng "như người Trung Quốc đã phát hiện ra, không phải tất cả các trận động đất đều gây ra hành vi bất thường ở động vật trong khi một số trận khác lại có thể. Chỉ có thông qua nghiên cứu chúng ta mới có thể tìm ra lý do tại sao có thể có sự khác biệt như vậy."
Sheldrake did his own study looking at animal reactions before major tremors, including the Northridge, California, quake in 1994, and the Greek and Turkish quakes in 1999.	Sheldrake đã thực hiện nghiên cứu riêng của mình bằng cách quan sát phản ứng của các loài vật trước những chấn động lớn, bao gồm cả trận động đất ở Northridge, California năm 1994 và các trận động đất ở Hy Lạp và Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ năm 1999.
In all cases, he said, there were reports of peculiar behavior beforehand, including dogs howling in the night mysteriously, caged birds becoming restless, and nervous cats hiding.	Trong mọi trường hợp, ông nói, đều đã có những báo cáo về hành vi đặc biệt có tính dự báo, bao gồm cả việc loài chó hú trong đêm một cách huyền bí, chim trong lồng trở nên bồn chồn, và mèo hoảng sợ đi ẩn nấp.
Geologists, however, dismiss these kinds of reports, saying it's "the psychological focusing effect," where people remember strange behaviors only after an earthquake or other catastrophe has taken place. If nothing had happened, they contend, people would not have remembered the strange behavior.	Tuy nhiên, những nhà địa chất bác bỏ tất cả các loại báo cáo trên, cho rằng đó chỉ là “hiệu ứng tập trung tâm lý”, nơi người ta nhớ lại những hành vi kỳ lạ chỉ sau khi đã diễn ra một trận động đất hoặc các thảm họa khác. Họ khăng khăng rằng nếu không có gì xảy ra, người ta sẽ không hề nhớ đến những hành vi kỳ lạ kia.
Reporting Strange Behavior	Báo cáo hành vi kỳ lạ
Sheldrake disagrees. Comparable patterns of animal behavior prior to earthquakes have been reported independently by people all over the world, he said. "I cannot believe that they could all have made up such similar stories or that they all suffered from tricks of memory."	Sheldrake không đồng tình, ông nói: các mẫu chuyện tương tự về hành vi động vật trước các trận động đất đã được thuật lại một cách độc lập bởi cư dân trên khắp thế giới. "Tôi không thể tin rằng họ đều có thể nghĩ ra những câu chuyện giống nhau hay họ đều bị trí nhớ đánh lừa."
More research is needed and is long overdue, said Sheldrake, who proposes a special hotline or Web site where people could call or write in if they saw strange behavior in their animals. A computer would then analyze the incoming messages to determine where they originated. A sudden surge of calls or e-mails from a particular region might indicate that a quake was imminent.	Các nghiên cứu cần được tăng về số lượng và kéo dài thời lượng, theo Sheldrake, người đề xuất một đường dây nóng đặc biệt hay trang web nơi mà người dân có thể gọi điện thoại hoặc viết bài khi họ nhìn thấy hành vi kỳ lạ ở vật nuôi của mình. Một máy tính sau đó sẽ phân tích các tin nhắn đến để định vị nơi gửi tin. Một chấn động đột ngột của sóng điện thoại hoặc e-mail từ một khu vực cụ thể có thể chỉ ra rằng một trận động đất sắp xảy ra.
The information would be checked to make sure the observations were not caused by other circumstances known to affect the behavior of animals, such as fireworks, or changes in weather. And to avoid issuing false warnings, Sheldrake said, the data would be used in conjunction with other monitoring devices such as seismological measurements.	Thông tin sẽ được kiểm tra để chắc chắn rằng các quan sát không bị gây ra bởi các hiện tượng khác được biết là cũng ảnh hưởng đến hành vi của động vật như pháo hoa hay những thay đổi về thời tiết. Và để tránh đưa ra những cảnh báo sai, Sheldrake cho biết, thông tin trên sẽ được sử dụng kết hợp với các thiết bị giám sát khác như phép đo địa chấn.
"Such a project would capture the imagination of millions of people, encourage large-scale public participation and research—and would be fun," he said. "What is holding this research back is not money but dogmatism and narrow-mindedness."	"Một dự án như thế sẽ thu hút trí tưởng tượng của hàng triệu người, khuyến khích số lượng lớn những nghiên cứu và công chúng tham gia và như thế sẽ rất phấn khởi", ông nói. "Cái kìm hãm những nghiên cứu trên suy cho cùng không phải là vấn đề tiền bạc mà là chủ nghĩa giáo điều và sự hẹp hòi."
	Translated by Thyngoc

Pandas Sensed China Quake Coming? Gấu trúc Panda có nhận thấy động đất sắp xảy ra không?

In the minutes before a massive earthquake shook central China on Monday, captive pandas near the epicenter began acting strangely, according to an eyewitness account released today. (Watch video.) The observation, made by a British tourist who had been watching the pandas at the famous Wolong National Nature Reserve near Chengdu, mirrors previous accounts of animals "sensing" disasters before they occur.

Diane Etkins told the Associated Press that the pandas "had been really lazy and just eaten a little bit of bamboo, and all of a sudden they were parading around their pen.

"Looking back they must have sensed something was wrong."

(Read: "Can Animals Sense Earthquakes?" [November 11, 2003].)

Etkins and 30 other Britons were evacuated to the provincial capital of Chengdu after the magnitude 7.9 earthquake devastated the remote mountainous region, toppling towns and killing more than 19,000 people.

Twelve Americans, part of a tour of China sponsored by the conservation group WWF, were also visiting the breeding center when the earthquake hit. All of the tourists survived the quake, WWF confirmed to National Geographic News on Wednesday.

"It certainly was a surreal experience going through a 7.9 … earthquake surrounded by 25 pandas all sort of reacting to that as well," one of the Americans, Robert Liptak, told the Associated Press.

The 86 captive adult pandas were unharmed by the disaster, and an unknown number of cubs were moved to a safer location in Shawan, a main town in Wolong.

Odd Behavior

Accounts abound of both domesticated and wild animals behaving oddly before major natural disasters.

In 2005, elephants screamed and ran for cover and zoo animals rushed into their shelters before a tsunami struck Sri Lanka and India.

The giant waves killed more 150,000 people in a dozen countries, yet few animals were reported dead—suggesting that the animals reacted early to the impending disaster, experts said. Animals have extraordinary sensory perceptions that exceed those of humans, said Diana Reiss, a professor at Hunter College in New York who studies animal cognition.

For instance, many animals can see and hear beyond human capabilities. Snakes can feel seismic waves from their burrowing prey. And some scientists have found that elephants may even be able to "hear" through their feet, Reiss said.

Many of these highly developed senses developed as survival tools in the wild, Reiss said.

"It would be important for animals to use as many cues in the environment as possible to predict an impending disaster," she told National Geographic News.

However, Reiss warned about reading too much into the apparent strange behavior of the Wolong pandas.

"These are interesting observations, but to really determine whether they are responding to something seismic … we would have to know more about what their normal behavior is," she added.

Marc Brody, president of the U.S.-China Environmental Fund (USCEF), works on panda conservation.

"I would think that animals certainly have a stronger sense of perception than humans in terms of their natural environment," he said. "When I think of a panda and their four broad feet on the ground, one would think they feel tremors before we do."

Brody, who has received funding from the National Geographic Society, added that animals' general ability to hear at different sonic wavelengths may attribute to their early warning systems. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)

Sybille Klenzendorf, director of species conservation for WWF, said "it's not an uncommon phenomenon for animals to get nervous when big storms or tsunamis come."

The Chinese earthquake is the "same sort of thing. [Animals feel] changes in the environment—vibrations that we don't feel."

Animals such as pandas are "more in tune with their sixth sense"—an ability humans probably had in the past, Klenzendorf said. "But we've lost that kind of sensitivity," she added.

Wild Pandas

The famed Wolong National Nature Reserve, which stretches for 772 square miles (2,000 square kilometers) across rugged mountain terrain of central China, includes the largest population of captive giant pandas in the world. (See photos of the Wolong pandas.)

More than 1,590 wild pandas also inhabit the reserve, and their fate is still unknown, China's state-run media agency, Xinhua, reported Thursday.

But USCEF's Brody said that those animals are likely unhurt in their native habitat.

Suzanne Braden, director of U.S.-based Pandas International, told the Associated Press on Monday that the wild pandas were probably fine.

"The wild pandas, they can sense things," she said.

"I'm sure they moved to higher terrain. But captive pandas do not have that luxury."

Can Humans Cause Earthquakes? Con người có gây ra động đất không?

This past weekend in Seattle, rumblings that registered as magnitude 1 or 2 marked the first time on record that football fans have triggered seismic activity.

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Tremors also can be spurred by drilling for oil, United States Geological Survey seismologists told Life's Little Mysteries last year, by causing rocks to shift into voids left behind by the extracted fluid.

Minor vibrations aside, the question remains: Can humans cause full-blown earthquakes? And, if so, how?

According to John Vidale, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, there are actually many ways that human activity can trigger earthquakes. "The main one is by filling large dams," he told Life's Little Mysteries. "The weight of the water that builds up behind a dam exerts a huge amount of stress on the land below."

Occasionally the land shifts under all that new weight. In the 1930s, for example, the construction of Hoover Dam in Arizona unleashed a burst of seismic activity in the vicinity that reached magnitude 5 on the Richter scale. And in 1963, a severe earthquake — magnitude 7 — shook the reservoir behind Koyna Dam in India shortly after its construction, killing 200 people in a nearby town.

Forcefully injecting fluid into the planet's crust also can induce earthquakes. For a three-year period in the 1960s, the government injected wastewater byproducts 12,000 feet deep into rock fractures in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, Vidale said. "Then suddenly you got a whole slew of earthquakes near Denver, so they had to stop," he said.

Similarly, enhanced geothermal-energy projects have been known to make the ground shake. This process involves pumping pressurized water a mile into the Earth, then sucking up the heated liquid to make steam and drive turbines to generate electricity. But as folks in Basel, Switzerland, found out in 2006, sometimes the injection phase can trigger larger earthquakes, especially if the pumping is centered over an already geologically active area.

Extracting substances from the ground can upset the Earth's crust just as much as piping them into it, according to a 2000 report by a group of Russian seismologists. In the late 1970s and 1980s, natural-gas extraction near Gazli, Uzbekistan, caused a trio of severe earthquakes up to 7.3 in magnitude — the biggest seismic events ever recorded in Central Asia.

Skyscrapers also can act as quake-makers. Five years ago, two earthquakes occurred in Taipei, Taiwan, shortly after the construction of what was then the tallest building in the world, Taipei 101. Taiwanese geologists suspected the 700,000-ton skyscraper reopened an ancient fault, triggering the tremors.

Radiation leak found outside Japan nuclear reactor -Rò rỉ phóng xà được tìm thấy bên ngoài lò phản ứng hạt nhân Nhật bản

The BBC's Mark Worthington says many people in Japan are becoming increasingly concerned about what is going to happen in the future

Highly radioactive water has been found for the first time outside one of the reactor buildings at Japan's quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, officials say.

The leak in a tunnel linked to the No 2 reactor has raised fears of radioactive liquid seeping into the environment.

Earlier, Japan's government strongly criticised the plant's operator, Tepco, over mistaken radiation readings.

Officials said the radiation scare inside the No 2 reactor was caused by a partial meltdown of fuel rods.

This discovery of highly radioactive water outside a reactor building is a worrying development, says the BBC's Mark Worthington in Tokyo.

Up until now, pools of water with extremely high levels of radiation have only been detected within the reactor buildings themselves.

The water was found in an underground maintenance tunnel, with one end located about 55m (180ft) from the shore.

However, Tepco said there was no evidence that the contaminated water had reached the sea.

The discovery comes as Japan's chief cabinet secretary said that the priority at the plant was to ensure that contaminated water did not leak into the soil or the sea.

Yukio Edano was speaking at a news conference a day after Tepco said radiation levels at reactor No 2 were 10 million times higher than normal before correcting that figure to 100,000.

"Considering the fact that the monitoring of radioactivity is a major condition to ensure safety, this kind of mistake is absolutely unacceptable," Mr Edano said.

That water is the most contaminated to be found at the plant so far. Radiation levels were measured at 1,000 millisieverts an hour, a dose that can cause temporary radiation sickness.

Tepco has apologised but the mistaken reading at the Fukushima Daiichi plant has called into question the operating company's handling of the current crisis, our correspondent says.

Tepco has been criticised for a lack of transparency and failing to provide information more promptly and for making a number of mistakes, including worker clothing.

Two workers were taken to hospital last week after wading though contaminated water with inadequate protection. They were expected to be released on Monday.

FUKUSHIMA UPDATE: TIN TỨC FUKUSHIMA CẬP NHẬT

• Reactor 1: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas explosion. Highly radioactive water detected in reactor
• Reactor 2: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas blast; containment damage suspected. Highly radioactive water detected in reactor and adjoining tunnel
• Reactor 3: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas blast; containment damage possible. Spent fuel pond partly refilled with water after running low. Highly radioactive water detected in reactor
• Reactor 4: Reactor shut down prior to quake. Fires and explosion in spent fuel pond; water level partly restored
• Reactors 5 & 6: Reactors shut down. Temperature of spent fuel pools now lowered after rising high