英语角-圆桌会议 RoundTable0505 - 免费公厕手纸一次该拿多少呢？

 Topic1 Chinese officials told to stop holding junkets at tourist sitesChina's top graft¹ buster has taken the unusual step of plastering its website with pictures of 21 top Chinese tourist sites where officials are banned from holding meetings, a reminder² of its crackdown on extravagance and corruption³.

What's the ban about?

Topic2 Top5 most popular online-to-offline appsWith a sharp increase in smartphone proliferation throughout the world, the time that people spend on their smartphones is rising sharply. O2O, Online to Offline commerce, has touched many aspects of our daily lives in ways unthinkable a few years earlier.

South China Morning Post names the top5 most popular online-to-offline apps of 2014.

Are these the hottest apps in the hottest areas?

Topic3 Survey sheds new light on attitudes leading to happinessAlthough the generation born in the 1990s has been widely labeled as selfish, lazy and money-worshipping, recent research has found otherwise, portraying⁴ the generation as calm, rational, trustworthy and full of positive energy.

How is the survey done? And does it give us an accurate picture?

Topic4 No Cellphone Use for Nurses During WorkHow would you feel if you have to put away your cell phone before entering the office? It happens to be the case for an Anhui hospital. All paramedics, except for the head nurse, are not allowed to take their personal cell phones to work areas, otherwise they would face a fine of 50 yuan. This is a new rule released by a hospital in Chizhou city Anhui province.

Does the rule make sense?

Topic5 Shanghai Toilet observationToilet paper or toilet tissue is something we don't really appreciate it until we don't have it. Did you know an average person uses 1.6 meters of toilet paper per visit to a public convenience? A recent study focuses on toilet usage patterns for the city of Shanghai.

Really? Do people need to use so much toilet paper?

1 graft   

n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接

参考例句：

• I am having a skin graft on my arm soon.我马上就要接受手臂的皮肤移植手术。
• The minister became rich through graft.这位部长透过贪污受贿致富。

2 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

3 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

4 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说