China hopes "appropriate" handling of Singapore bus drivers case

 BEIJING, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Ministry¹ spokesman Hong Lei on Monday expressed hope that Singapore will appropriately handle the case involving Chinese bus drivers.

Hong said at a regular press conference that the ministry and Chinese embassy in Singapore will continue to follow the situation and maintain communications.

Hong said Chinese consolate officials, based in Singapore, visited the arrested Chinese bus drivers on Friday and Saturday.

On Sunday, 29 Chinese people deported² from Singapore returned to China safely.

The Chinese drivers are involved in a labor³ dispute with local public transport operator SMRT.

Due to grievances⁴ over pay and living conditions, 171 Chinese drivers simultaneously⁵ took medical leave early last week.

Under the efforts of the Singaporean Ministry of Manpower and the Chinese embassy, all the drivers returned to work last Wednesday.

Late last week, one of the Chinese drivers received a six-week jail term in Singapore, four were arrested by police and 29 were deported for not showing up for work.

"The Chinese Foreign Ministry places great importance on the case and will continue to closely watch the evolution of this incident and maintain communication with the Singaporean side," Hong said.

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 grievances   

n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚

参考例句：

• The trade union leader spoke about the grievances of the workers. 工会领袖述说工人们的苦情。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He gave air to his grievances. 他申诉了他的冤情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。