英语角-圆桌会议 RoundTable0101 - 白领不“性”福

 Topic1 New Year Stampede in ShanghaiNew Year's revelers jammed along Shanghai's historic riverfront stampeded about a half hour before midnight Wednesday, killing¹ 35 people and injuring at least 48 others. It is the worst disaster in Shanghai in recent years.

What happened? How did it happen?

Topic2 Charity, hotels team up to help homeless youngsters in ShanghaiA charity program in Shanghai will offer safe haven² to homeless teens and young adults. Run by the nongovernmental Shanghai Sunshine Community Youth Affairs Center, in association with a hotel chain, the charity program is designed to not only give the homeless youth a place to live, but to help them go back home eventually.

Will this help those homeless adolescents?

Topic3 China's Car Dealerships Face Hard TimeA report says that 60% of China's car dealerships are having trouble to make their ends meet as the auto³ sales in China falls. Statistics show that over 12 million cars were sold in Chinese market in 2013, while the figure fell to 10 million in 2014.

The current situation of China's auto 4S store. Can they survive?

Topic4 White-collar workers have no time for sexMore than half of white-collar employees describe their life as unsatisfying, according to zhaopin.com, a Chinese job seeking and hiring website.

The majority of the participants who took part in the study with 9,272 valid⁴ samples said they don't work out, don't have time to read books and barely take vacations.

Sex is another activity that doesn't see much action.

White collars workers are not as desirable as they seem, are they? Do you find the report hard to believe?

Topic5 The 10 year itch⁵?

Couples who make it beyond seven years of marriage may think they can look forward to a future of marital⁶ bliss⁷.

But new research has found that married couples experience an 'itch; after 10 years together, rather than seven.

So things won't get better in the eighth and ninth year?

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

3 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

4 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

5 itch   

n.痒，渴望，疥癣；vi.发痒，渴望

参考例句：

• Shylock has an itch for money.夏洛克渴望发财。
• He had an itch on his back.他背部发痒。

6 marital   

adj.婚姻的，夫妻的

参考例句：

• Her son had no marital problems.她的儿子没有婚姻问题。
• I regret getting involved with my daughter's marital problems;all its done is to bring trouble about my ears.我后悔干涉我女儿的婚姻问题, 现在我所做的一切将给我带来无穷的烦恼。

7 bliss   

n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福

参考例句：

• It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
• He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。