英语角-圆桌会议 RoundTable0903 - 中国第一座屋顶跑道

 Topic1 Opinions split on relevance¹ of cord bloodThere are always two opinions on storing cord blood. Some experts believe that the chance of a person to use his or her cord blood for blood diseases is too few while the cost is high. Others argue that saving one's own cord blood has its benefits as it helps in the development of regeneration medicine while also benefitting siblings² and other family members.

Why is there the controversy³?

Topic2 School puts running track on its roofFor the typical, horizontally designed school campus looking to reduce its carbon footprint, finding room somewhere on the vast rooftop or on the playgrounds for an educational garden is usually not too difficult.

But what about those already established schools in densely⁴ populated areas where there's no room for a playground and nowhere else to build but vertically⁵?

In Tiantai county, Zhejiang province, to make optimum use of space, architects put a running track on the ChiCheng Second Primary school's roof - the first of its kind in China.

How does it work?

Topic3 Flight ticket name changing feeA budge⁶ airline recently decides to impose a fee on the name change of tickets, sparking debate online. Western Airlines (Xibu Hangkong) said on their official weibo account that from Sep 1, passengers could change the name on their ticket for 20 RMB. However, there is a catch. Customers can only change one Chinese character and three English letters at a time.

Is the fee reasonable?

1 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。

2 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

3 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

4 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

5 vertically   

adv.垂直地

参考例句：

• Line the pages for the graph both horizontally and vertically.在这几页上同时画上横线和竖线，以便制作图表。
• The human brain is divided vertically down the middle into two hemispheres.人脑从中央垂直地分为两半球。

6 budge   

v.移动一点儿；改变立场

参考例句：

• We tried to lift the rock but it wouldn't budge.我们试图把大石头抬起来，但它连动都没动一下。
• She wouldn't budge on the issue.她在这个问题上不肯让步。