【专题】慢速英语（英音）

全部文稿请关注我们的公众号，周六第三条~ This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news. Many people in Britain say the nation's own education system needs to improve after a BBC documentary about Chinese teaching methods sparked fierce debate. The documentary, entitled "Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School", was broadcast recently in Britain and focused on Bohunt School in Hampshire, to the southwest of London. Five Chinese teachers were recruited to the school to teach 50 students for a month using teaching methods used in China. The documentary attracted an audience of 1.8 million and an 8.6 percent audience rating on the first day it was broadcast, more popular than the "No 2" show the previous week. The documentary also sparked heated debate online and became a hot topic on Twitter, with many education specialists participating in the discussion. Many British Twitter users complained not about the Chinese teachers, but about their own country's education system. One Twitter user named user@dkenstone said that British education has gone soft, the teachers are abused and students have no discipline. On the BBC website, a debate entitled "What can British schools learn from the Chinese education system?" became especially popular. Kathryn James, deputy general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers in Britain, defended the British school system and said it had advantages over China's. She said students' autonomy, questioning and the development of skills to allow them to think for themselves are key elements in the British approach, and do not appear to be part of the Chinese method; and as teachers involved in the program take lessons from the experiment, no doubt the Chinese teachers featured will also learn from the UK's approach to teaching. You are listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. International agribusiness companies have intensified their efforts to ease public fears over genetically modified products in China, taking to social media platforms to popularize GM science and interact with the public. "Croplife International", the trade association representing a number of international biotechnology companies, has launched its own Sina Weibo and Tencent WeChat public messaging accounts to engage the public about genetically modified food products amid intense debate about their safety. "Croplife China", a division of the organization in China, represents 13 international agricultural businesses in China, a majority of which are involved with genetically engineered seeds and the associated insecticides and herbicides. The Chinese government adopted the policy earlier this year, vowing to increase research and safety management of genetically modified food and promote GM science. Many GM products are not being marketed in China because of public disapproval. Some international agribusiness companies have not been allowed to conduct their business in China, since the country has so far only allowed the marketing of domestic GM papaya and cotton. This is NEWS Plus Special English.