英语角-圆桌会议 RoundTable0717 - 北京该整治早餐车吗？

 Topic1 Official cars reform implementedChina has launched a nationwide reform campaign on the use of cars by government and officials, in a bid to cut unnecessary expenditures¹ and reduce pollution.

The guidelines promise to cancel use of official vehicles other than for emergencies and law enforcement within the central government by the end of the year.

So there will be no personal cars for bureau chiefs and below. In addition, local governments will also be affected² as well.

Does this mean a big step toward reducing government waste?

Topic2 EMBA Program for Officials Sparks CriticismAlthough the anti-graft campaign has been going on for a while, it seems that the EMBA program of Peking University manages to stay out of trouble.

According to media report, the program this year has recruited about 80 officials, and the tuition fee is as high as 668 thousand yuan.

Are there problems with PKU's practice with its EMBA recruitment?

Topic3 Gender³ Imbalance in ChinaAccording to the most recent news conference held by the "National Health and Family Planning Commission",(卫计委) China has been having too many boys than girls for the past thirty years. There have already been 30 million more boys than girls born during this period of time. What can we do about it?

Topic4 Beijing to Regulate Breakfast StandsEvery morning, buying a bottle of soybean milk and some steamed buns at the breakfast stall is a common way for many office workers to start their day.

Recently, Beijing municipality says they are going to regulate the mobile food stalls.

Is there a problem?

Topic5 Elderly parents sue child for not getting enough financial supportA local court in Beijing has ruled the oldest son of an elderly couple should provide 300 yuan a month as financial support to his parents, instead of 20 yuan agreed 21 years ago.

The elderly couple, both in their 70s, sued their oldest son and asked him for 500 yuan as financial support per month as a result of inflation. The son was also required to cover part of the couple's medical expenses.

Does the ruling make sense?

1 expenditures   

n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 )；使用；（尤指金钱的）支出额；（精力、时间、材料等的）耗费

参考例句：

• We have overspent.We'll have to let up our expenditures next month. 我们已经超支了，下个月一定得节约开支。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pension includes an allowance of fifty pounds for traffic expenditures. 年金中包括50镑交通费补贴。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 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。