英语角-圆桌会议 RoundTable0630 - 女士停车位是照顾还是挤兑？

 Topic1 Tencent Wealth ManagementIn China, over 800 million netizens use the instant messaging tool QQ to talk to their families and friends. Now, they can make some money while enjoying the chatting.

Last week, internet company Tencent Holdings Ltd has entered a new realm of Internet finance by co-developing a wealth management platform based on its popular QQ service, targeting securities firms and stock investors¹.

What is it? What's the difference between Caifutong, and Yongjinbao, both of which are Tencent products?

Topic2 Beijing's 7th Ring to unify² mega-regionBeijing seems to be dedicated³ to building ring roads. Now we are talking about the seventh ring road.

Transport authorities say Beijing's seventh ring expressway will sprawl⁴ well beyond the city limits.

Plans have been finalized⁵ for the Seventh Ring Road which is a 940-kilometer highway to connect the capital with neighboring Hebei Province.

Beijing's "7th ring road" not in Beijing? Should Beijing care at all?

Topic3 Online judicial⁶ auctionsA gas station in central China's Henan province sold at an online judicial auction⁷ Tuesday for 6.89 million yuan ($1.1 million).

The auction of the station, located in Gongyi city near the No. 310 State Road, started with a starting price of 1.65 million yuan.

The online auction attracted 22 bidders⁹. After 26 hours, the gas station sold for more than three times its starting bid, the highest rate ever for an online judicial auction in Henan.

Is there a need for online judicial auctions⁸?

Topic4 Ghost writers for civil servants民主生活会, literally¹⁰ translated as democratic life meetings, refer to the regular meetings of CPC leaders and cadres where people exchange opinions and conduct criticism and self-criticism. Recently, some of these democratic life meetings attract common people's attention, as a reporter found that some ghost writers on Taobao are making money from such meetings. They charge the civil servants 100 yuan for one article about things learned from the democratic life meetings.

Is this a problem?

Topic5 Female-only parking spacesA shopping mall in Northeast China's Dalian city has rolled out wider and bigger parking spaces for their female customers.

The spaces, outlined in hot pink with a sign saying, "Women only," are located by the road and close to the mall's entrances.

Is it thoughtful or thoughtless to set up female-only parking?

Is it sexist?

1 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

2 unify   

vt.使联合，统一；使相同，使一致

参考例句：

• How can we unify such scattered islands into a nation?我们怎么才能把如此分散的岛屿统一成一个国家呢？
• It is difficult to imagine how the North and South could ever agree on a formula to unify the divided peninsula.很难想象南北双方在统一半岛的方案上究竟怎样才能达成一致。

3 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

4 sprawl   

vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延

参考例句：

• In our garden,bushes are allowed to sprawl as they will.在我们园子里，灌木丛爱怎么蔓延就怎么蔓延。
• He is lying in a sprawl on the bed.他伸开四肢躺在床上。

5 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》

6 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

7 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。

8 auctions   

n.拍卖，拍卖方式( auction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They picked up most of the furniture at auctions in country towns. 他们大部分的家具都是在乡村镇上的拍卖处买的。 来自辞典例句
• Our dealers didn't want these cars, so we had to dump them at auctions. 我们的承销商都不要这些车子，因此我们只好贱价拍卖。 来自辞典例句

9 bidders   

n.出价者，投标人( bidder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Bidders should proceed only if they intend on using a PayPal account to complete payment. Bidders的唯一形式，应继续只当他们在使用贝宝帐户，以完成付款打算。 来自互联网
• The other bidders for the contract complained that it had not been a fair contest. 其他竞标人抱怨说该合同的竞标不公平。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。