World News for Students of English

14-08-2015 15:00

This morning, the silence in Nagasaki was broken only by a tolling bell. The Japanese city has marked 70 years since the dropping of the last atomic bomb on a civilian target in the closing days of World War II.

The memorial ceremony held at the Nagasaki Peace Park took place right under where the bomb exploded at 11:02 on August 9th of 1945. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he was renewing his vows to push more nuclear disarmament.

“As the world’s only country to have experienced an atomic bomb during a war and in adherence to our three non-nuclear principals, I have renewed our vows to lead the world in the effort towards nuclear disarmament in order to achieve a world without nuclear weapons.”

The US dropped the atomic bomb nicknamed “Fat Man” on Nagasaki three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. More than 150,000 died in the attack and from the subsequent radiation sickness. Japan surrendered six days later, ending World War II.

Difficult words: toll (ring), vow (a promise), adherence (act of adhering to something – believe in and follow the practices of something), subsequent (coming after something in time).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com