英语角-圆桌会议 RoundTable0226 - 水污染比雾霾还严重吗？

 Topic1 China Tackles Water PollutionChina plans to spend 2 trillion yuan, or 330 billion US dollars, on an action plan to tackle pollution of its scarce water resources.

The plan is still being finalized¹ but the budget has been set, exceeding the 1.7 trillion yuan 277 billion US dollars China plans to spend battling its more-publicized air pollution crisis.

Are we having a bigger problem with water pollution than air pollution?

Is there a crisis? And is the crisis more severe than air pollution, as many are saying right now?

Topic2 Man Sues Government Over SmogFor the past 4 days, weather departments have issued orange alert for the thick and choking smog in Hebei. Many people in the provincial² capital Shijiazhuang are getting used to it, while one man decides to stand out. The man, Li Guixin is trying to sue the local government over high levels of air pollution.

Why is he suing?

Topic3 Public Service Vehicles ReformRecently China's liquor producing giant Wuliangye Corporation put its 343 business cars on a four-day auction³ worth a total of 30.03 million yuan.

In fact many local governments and state-owned enterprises have begun to auction off their cars since the central authorities announced rules on official car reform last November. But recently a Xinhua report suggests there're various problems and loopholes during the reform.

Are there problems with the auction of public service cars?

Topic4 Expats' Life Inconvenient⁴ in ChinaHow inconvenient is it for foreigners who don't speak Chinese to live in China? This is a topic suggested by our WeChat listener Jigar.

He is from India and has lived in China for 10 years. Jigar has a suggestion for China's telecom companies. He said: they don't have English accessible option for simple service such as missed call, data packages and etc. If they can provide these services, the foreigners can benefit and these companies' revenues would also increase.

Do you think he has a point?

Topic5 Diploma MillThe Center for China & Globalization, aka CCG, recently warns that 95% of fake diplomas issued by unaccredited institutions and bogus colleges in the United States were issued to Chinese.

Are people being tricked, or is there an actual need for fake diplomas?

Topic6 Wuhan school's new anti-myopia desksZhanglin Elementary School in Wuhan recently adopts new anti-myopia desks for 42 students.

The new desks are mostly the same as normal ones except there is an orange iron bar fixed⁵ on each desktop⁶. When students are reading books, they push the bar to the furthest end and make sure books could touch the bar in order to keep enough distance from eyes. When students are writing, they pull the bar towards them and put it under their necks/chins, so they can't lower their heads and get too close to books.

Some applaud for the school's effort on myopia prevention and some doubt its effect. Is it effective?

1 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

3 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

4 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

5 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

6 desktop   

n.桌面管理系统程序；台式

参考例句：

• My computer is a desktop computer of excellent quality.我的计算机是品质卓越的台式计算机。
• Do you know which one is better,a laptop or a desktop?你知道哪一种更好，笔记本还是台式机？