Hourly News 每日新闻 2013-12-29

 President Xi extends New Year greetings to front-line staff, seniors

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday visited a heat supply company and a nursing home in Beijing, extending New Year greetings to front-line staff and seniors all over the country.

Xi Jinping made the remarks during his tour of the Beijing Jingqiao Thermal¹ Power Co., Ltd. and the "Sijiqing homes for the elderly" in Beijing. 

The president expressed his greetings to the front-line staff of the company and asked them to work meticulously² to ensure all households can enjoy a warm winter and a happy holiday.

 

China says Abe must repent³ shrine⁴ visit

Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi says Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the Yasukuni shrine is a mistake that must be corrected.

He says in a statement the Chinese people cannot be insulted, nor can people of Asia and the world be humiliated⁵. Abe must own up to the wrongdoing, correct the mistake and take concrete measures to remove its egregious⁶ effects.

China urges Abe to give up illusion and mend his ways, otherwise he will further discredit⁷ himself before Japan's neighbors and the international community.

Yang Jiechi points out that the issue of Yasukuni shrine boils down to whether or not the Japanese government is able to repent its militarist aggression⁸ and colonial rule.

 

China formally allows more couples to have second child

China's top legislature Saturday made a resolution to allow couples to have two children if either parent is an only child.

The Standing⁹ Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) passed a resolution on adjusting and improving the family planning policy, through a vote at its bi-monthly session which closed in Beijing Saturday.

China abolishes reeducation through labor¹⁰

China's top legislative¹¹ body has adopted a resolution to abolish legal documents on reeducation through labor, commonly known as "laojiao" .

The resolution stresses that all legally-made "laojiao" penalties before the abolition¹² of the system were valid¹³. 

After the abolition of the "laojiao" , those who are serving the "laojiao" penalties will be set free. Their remaining terms will not be enforced any more.

 

The resolution goes into effect Saturday

Over 500 Chinese lawmakers resign over fraud.

The local legislature in central China's Hunan Province has dismissed 56 provincial¹⁴ lawmakers for electoral fraud.

The legislative bodies at county-level in the province's Hengyang City on Saturday accepted resignations of 512 municipal lawmakers who took bribes¹⁵ from the 56.

Preliminary investigation¹⁶ shows the 56 elected deputies to the provincial people's congress offered bribes to 518 lawmakers in Hengyang municipal people's congress and another 68 staff, with the total amount of money involved exceeding 110 million yuan (over 18 million U.S. dollars), according to a statement issued by the Hunan provincial legislature on Saturday.

 

Chinese icebreaker awaits better weather to rescue Russian ship in Antarctic

Chinese icebreaker Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, on way to rescue a Russian science ship trapped off Antarctica, has stalled itself since midnight Friday after getting stuck in thick ice only 6.1 nautical¹⁷ miles away from the Russian ship.

The captain of Xuelong told Xinhua that they will stay still and secure ship safety before continuing rescue efforts in favorable weather conditions. 

He said Xuelong will do its utmost to approach the trapped Russian ship in the first place after communication.

French icebreaker Astrolabe is also on the way to rescue, but a main engine has broken down due to the extreme weather, making it unable to offer help very soon.

 

Removal of Syrian chemical weapons unlikely before deadline

The joint¹⁸ OPCW-UN mission in Syria says the transportation of the most critical chemical material out of Syria before the deadline of December 31, 2013 is unlikely due to the volatility¹⁹ in overall security conditions in Syria. 

In a statement issued Saturday, the joint mission of the Organization for the Prohibition²⁰ of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations (UN) says a number of external factors have impacted upon timelines.

 

Syria's crisis to be solved by Syrians only through dialogue: Assad

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad stresses that the Syrian crisis would only be solved through national dialogue among Syrians and under a Syrian leadership.

The president's remarks were made during a written letter he sent to Pope Francis of the Vatican via Joseph Sweid, a Syrian minister of state, who held talks in the Vatican on Saturday.

 

Thai constituency candidate registration²¹ proceeds amid protests

Constituency-based candidate registration for Thailand's upcoming Feb. 2 general election kicked off Saturday amid blockage²² from anti-government protesters. 

The constituency registration is expected to last through Jan. 1 while the party-list candidate registration concluded on Friday with 45 political parties having their lists submitted. 

Registration in 32 constituencies in six southern provinces was suspended due to attempts by protesters to block candidates from submitting their applications.

1 thermal   

adj.热的，由热造成的；保暖的

参考例句：

• They will build another thermal power station.他们要另外建一座热能发电站。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

2 meticulously   

adv.过细地，异常细致地；无微不至；精心

参考例句：

• The hammer's silvery head was etched with holy runs and its haft was meticulously wrapped in blue leather. 锤子头是纯银制成的，雕刻着神圣符文，而握柄则被精心地包裹在蓝色的皮革中。 来自辞典例句
• She is always meticulously accurate in punctuation and spelling. 她的标点和拼写总是非常精确。 来自辞典例句

3 repent   

v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔

参考例句：

• He has nothing to repent of.他没有什么要懊悔的。
• Remission of sins is promised to those who repent.悔罪者可得到赦免。

4 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。

5 humiliated   

感到羞愧的

参考例句：

• Parents are humiliated if their children behave badly when guests are present. 子女在客人面前举止失当，父母也失体面。
• He was ashamed and bitterly humiliated. 他感到羞耻，丢尽了面子。

6 egregious   

adj.非常的，过分的

参考例句：

• When it comes to blatant lies,there are none more egregious than budget figures.谈到公众谎言，没有比预算数字更令人震惊的。
• What an egregious example was here!现摆着一个多么触目惊心的例子啊。

7 discredit   

vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑

参考例句：

• Their behaviour has bought discredit on English football.他们的行为败坏了英国足球运动的声誉。
• They no longer try to discredit the technology itself.他们不再试图怀疑这种技术本身。

8 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 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。

11 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

12 abolition   

n.废除，取消

参考例句：

• They declared for the abolition of slavery.他们声明赞成废除奴隶制度。
• The abolition of the monarchy was part of their price.废除君主制是他们的其中一部分条件。

13 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？

14 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。

15 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

16 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

17 nautical   

adj.海上的，航海的，船员的

参考例句：

• A nautical mile is 1,852 meters.一海里等于1852米。
• It is 206 nautical miles from our present location.距离我们现在的位置有206海里。

18 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

19 volatility   

n.挥发性，挥发度，轻快，（性格）反复无常

参考例句：

• That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
• Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而，由于相当长的时间里波动性小，灾难短视就获胜了。

20 prohibition   

n.禁止；禁令，禁律

参考例句：

• The prohibition against drunken driving will save many lives.禁止酒后开车将会减少许多死亡事故。
• They voted in favour of the prohibition of smoking in public areas.他们投票赞成禁止在公共场所吸烟。

21 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？

22 blockage   

n.障碍物；封锁

参考例句：

• The logical treatment is to remove this blockage.合理的治疗方法就是清除堵塞物。
• If the blockage worked,they could retreat with dignity.如果封锁发生作用，他们可以体面地撤退。