英語角-圓桌會議 RoundTable - LGBT

Topic1 Dead end for taxi-app subsidies
A heated battle between two of China's largest Internet services providers - Alibaba and Tencent - over the lucrative mobile payments market has cooled down.

China's two most-used taxi-hailing app companies have canceled payment subsidies for passengers from the past weekend.

The announcement on their Weibo accounts signals a truce in the price war between smartphone apps Didi and KuaiDi, which belong to Chinese Internet giants Tencent and Alibaba respectively.

Did the price war achieve its original goal?

Topic2 Aids teacher publicizes his disease
Recently a Sichuan teacher named Xie Xinggang said on his microblog that he is an HIV carrier and he loves his students very much. He also welcomes people who like or hate him to visit his school.

After Xie's announcement, Xie's parents thought he was crazy and wanted to send him to a mental hospital his employer decided to stop his work and let him go home to rest; Xie will still have his salary during the break.

Is this a brave deed? Do people living with HIV/AIDS have to deal with immense prejudice?

Topic3 LGBT needs support
Beijing LGBT Center published a report last Friday calling for more attention to the emotional well-being of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community in China, as members face a tough battle against emotional issues.

According to the report, out of 1,653 respondents from the LGBT community, 58 percent of teenagers and 49 percent of adults are prone to depression, much higher than the national level in both categories.

What kind of problems are they faced with?

Topic4 Wealth Gap Between Male and Female Reflected in Housing Ownership
Recently, Guardian issued an article, saying China has a growing gender6 gap. Women are not just 'leftover' but left out of the economic boom. The argument is while 13% of married women in China have homes in their own names, 52% of married men have the same.

Is this true?

Topic5 Written-homework ban receives mixed reception
The education authority in northwest China's Shaanxi province has instructed local primary schools not to give written homework to pupils in grades one and two, in order to prevent myopia.

The instruction has been welcomed by most parents but questioned by a few.

Is it necessary to cancel homework for grade one & two pupils in this case?

Topic6 Xiong Hai Zi Is Here Again
Recently, video of a naughty boy hitting and kicking his grandmother on the subway of Nanjing ignites anger among netizens. (clip)The video shows the boy, who looks like a primary school student, continuously hitting his grandmother using a vacuum cup, while saying: "ni you bing".

And this brings back attention on Xiong Hai Zi.

Who should we blame?

1 subsidies

n.補貼，津貼，補助金( subsidy的名詞復數(shù) )

參考例句：

European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 歐洲各國農業(yè)部長在農業(yè)補貼問題上未能打破僵局。

Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 農業(yè)補貼占去了歐盟收入的大約一半。 來自《簡明英漢詞典》

2 lucrative

adj.賺錢的，可獲利的

參考例句：

He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他決定把自己的愛好變成賺錢的副業(yè)。

It was not a lucrative profession.那是一個沒有多少油水的職業(yè)。

3 truce

n.休戰(zhàn)，(爭執(zhí)，煩惱等的)緩和;v.以停戰(zhàn)結束

參考例句：

The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.熱天使這位老人暫時免受風濕病之苦。

She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休戰(zhàn)期間的新鮮空氣。

4 decided

adj.決定了的，堅決的;明顯的，明確的

參考例句：

This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.這使他們比對手具有明顯的優(yōu)勢。

There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英國人和中國人打招呼的方式有很明顯的區(qū)別。

5 well-being

n.安康，安樂，幸福

參考例句：

He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他總是把群眾的疾苦掛在心上。

My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我關心他們的幸福，卻被誤解為多管閑事。

6 gender

n.(生理上的)性，(名詞、代詞等的)性

參考例句：

French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法語不同于英語，所有的名詞都有性。

Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.婦女有時僅僅因為性別而無法獲得種種機會。

7 prone

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的;俯臥的

參考例句：

Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出輕率的結論。

He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意見,他就發(fā)脾氣。

8 guardian

n.監(jiān)護人;守衛(wèi)者，保護者

參考例句：

The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 這張表格須由孩子的家長或監(jiān)護人簽字。

The press is a guardian of the public weal. 報刊是公共福利的衛(wèi)護者。

9 leftover

n.剩貨，殘留物，剩飯;adj.殘余的

參考例句：

These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.這些小道是從馬車時代沿用下來的。

Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕餅店會不會讓我們把賣剩的帶回家。