英语角-圆桌会议 RoundTable0521 - 近半女性买婚房不留名？

 Topic1 Dead end for taxi-app subsidiesA heated battle between two of China's largest Internet services providers - Alibaba and Tencent - over the lucrative² mobile payments market has cooled down.

China's two most-used taxi-hailing app companies have canceled payment subsidies¹ for passengers from the past weekend.

The announcement on their Weibo accounts signals a truce³ in the price war between smartphone apps Didi and KuaiDi, which belong to Chinese Internet giants Tencent and Alibaba respectively.

Did the price war achieve its original goal?

Topic2 Aids teacher publicizes his diseaseRecently a Sichuan teacher named Xie Xinggang said on his microblog that he is an HIV carrier and he loves his students very much. He also welcomes people who like or hate him to visit his school.

After Xie's announcement, Xie's parents thought he was crazy and wanted to send him to a mental hospital his employer decided⁴ to stop his work and let him go home to rest; Xie will still have his salary during the break.

Is this a brave deed? Do people living with HIV/AIDS have to deal with immense prejudice?

Topic3 LGBT needs supportBeijing LGBT Center published a report last Friday calling for more attention to the emotional well-being⁵ of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community in China, as members face a tough battle against emotional issues.

According to the report, out of 1,653 respondents from the LGBT community, 58 percent of teenagers and 49 percent of adults are prone⁷ to depression, much higher than the national level in both categories.

What kind of problems are they faced with?

Topic4 Wealth Gap Between Male and Female Reflected in Housing OwnershipRecently, Guardian⁸ issued an article, saying China has a growing gender⁶ gap. Women are not just 'leftover⁹' but left out of the economic boom. The argument is while 13% of married women in China have homes in their own names, 52% of married men have the same.

Is this true?

Topic5 Written-homework ban receives mixed receptionThe education authority in northwest China's Shaanxi province has instructed local primary schools not to give written homework to pupils in grades one and two, in order to prevent myopia.

The instruction has been welcomed by most parents but questioned by a few.

Is it necessary to cancel homework for grade one & two pupils in this case?

Topic6 Xiong Hai Zi Is Here AgainRecently, video of a naughty boy hitting and kicking his grandmother on the subway of Nanjing ignites anger among netizens. (clip)The video shows the boy, who looks like a primary school student, continuously hitting his grandmother using a vacuum cup, while saying: "ni you bing".

And this brings back attention on Xiong Hai Zi.

Who should we blame?

1 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

3 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

6 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

7 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

8 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

9 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。