英语角-圆桌会议 RoundTable0731 - 你父母多久没看电影了？

 Topic1 Hukou Reform Takes ShapeNew central government guidelines on reform of China's household registration¹ system have been unveiled yesterday. It aims to establish a new hukou system by 2020.

Now let's take a closer look at the guideline. What's new?

Topic2 Personnel System at Tsinghua UniversityRecently, the dismissal and transferal of some teachers at Tsinghua University have attracted wide public attention. Specifically, Fang² Yanhua, a well-liked lecturer from the Foreign Language School teaching English Writing was transferred to a non-teaching position because she didn't get published in any journals during the past 9 years, and thus didn't participate in the zhicheng(职称,professional titiles)evaluations.

What happened? Should it have happened?

Topic3 Which city has the happiest consumers?

Dazhongdianping (dianping.com) has published a report on the "food, drink and entertainment" index (2013.05-2014.05) of 31 provincial³ capital cities in China. In this report, Chengdu has the most tea houses; Shanghai has the most florists⁴; and Beijing has the most sports venues⁵.

Which lifestyle do you prefer? Are you a happy consumer in China?

Topic4 No Movie for Old MenRecently, two movies hit the big screen, one is Tiny Times III and the other is Continent (后会无期). Many young audience members go to the cinemas to watch both movies since they're both youth-themed. However, while enjoying the films, does it bother you that your parents never or rarely go to the cinema?

Beijing Morning Post published an article, saying elders in the city don't go to movies often for 3 reasons.

Do the reasons make sense? Why don't elders go to movies more often?

Topic5 Is classical Chinese translation tool good for learning or just something for fun?

Recently, Baidu has added classical Chinese to its online translation service, which arouses many netizens' interest. From popular phrases like "土豪我们做朋友吧" (Tuhao, let's be friends) to lyrics⁶ in Adele's songs, netizens try as many source texts as they can and get funny translations.

Do you think this translation tool can offer some help for people to learn and understand classical Chinese?

1 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

2 fang   

n.尖牙，犬牙

参考例句：

• Look how the bone sticks out of the flesh like a dog's fang.瞧瞧,这根骨头从肉里露出来，象一只犬牙似的。
• The green fairy's fang thrusting between his lips.绿妖精的尖牙从他的嘴唇里龇出来。

3 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。

4 florists   

n.花商，花农，花卉研究者( florist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The little dressmaker bought an envelope of nasturtium seeds at the florists. 那个个子矮小的女裁缝在花铺里买了一包金莲花种子。 来自辞典例句
• I have more important things to do than petulant florists. 我有比教训坏脾气的花匠更重要的事情要做。 来自互联网

5 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

6 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。