英语角-圆桌会议 RoundTable0627 - 济南大学新生实行弹性学制

 Topic 1: Screenwriter arrested for drug useScreenwriter and novelist Chen Wanning¹, who writes under the pen name Ning Caishen, was arrested for drug use yesterday, the International Day Against Drug Abuse.

What happened? Who is this person?

Topic 2: School switch of top Gaokao performer in LiaoningA 19-year old girl from Liaoning province has found herself back in the spotlight² after proving herself to be the most diligent³ student for the second year in a row.

Not only that, she gave up a full ride to Hong Kong University to do so.

And, of course, this being China, everyone has an opinion. But before we get onto our soapbox, who exactly is this girl and why is she getting so much attention?

Topic 3: Flexible school lengthStarting from this year, the University of Jinan will allow its students to choose the length of time they spend until they get their undergraduate degree. This means they can receive their diploma in 3 years to 8 years from now on. Is this flexible educational system a good idea?

Topic 4: Urine TherapyA 21-year-old man in Wuhan claims that chugging down his own pee is what cured his hyperthyroidism. There are now more than 100,000 people resorting to urine therapy in the nation.

What is urine therapy?

Topic 5: Straight Guy CancerA new meme has entered netizens' lexicon⁴. Straight guy cancer, or zhinanai in Chinese, is used to describe men who make self-centered comments about women without considering their feelingsWhere does this word come from?

Topic 6: Babies' namesChinese parents care a lot about their babies' names. So much so that some of them would go as far as giving their babies a four or five or even six character names just to make sure their names are unique and stand out.

And lately a young Chinese couple tried to add the symbol "@" in their baby's name, "@" is pronounced as love him/her in Mandarin⁵ Chinese.

Why would Chinese care so much about names?

1 wanning   

v.（使）变苍白，（使）呈病态( wan的现在分词 )

参考例句：

2 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

3 diligent   

adj.勤勉的，勤奋的

参考例句：

• He is the more diligent of the two boys.他是这两个男孩中较用功的一个。
• She is diligent and keeps herself busy all the time.她真勤快，一会儿也不闲着。

4 lexicon   

n.字典，专门词汇

参考例句：

• Chocolate equals sin in most people's lexicon.巧克力在大多数人的字典里等同于罪恶。
• Silent earthquakes are only just beginning to enter the public lexicon.无声地震才刚开始要成为众所周知的语汇。

5 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。