介绍:
This is Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.
Xinhua News Agency and The Associate Press have pledged to further enhance their innovative cooperation in the digitalization of traditional media.
Xinhua President Cai Mingzhao and AP CEO Cary Pruitt made the pledge on the sidelines of the third World Media Summit held in the Qatari capital Doha.
Cai said Xinhua and The AP have already made numerous explorations in digital migration for media groups, adding that Xinhua values its cooperation and exchanges with The AP in the face of their common challenges from the Internet.
Since 2015, Xinhua has made a number of experimental attempts, including introducing robot systems to draft news stories and launching on-scene news via Xinhua's application on mobile phones. The efforts have enabled reporters to do live reporting with hand-held devices.
He also said what Xinhua is trying to do is to bring readers to the scene where news is happening, yet there are always limits to today's news coverage, whether it is in the form of text, pictures or videos. Xinhua expects to enhance their cooperation with The AP in media innovation.
For his part, Pruitt said The AP has observed and admired the innovation at Xinhua and how much Xinhua has done to integrate and bring digital platforms to it. He said The AP recognizes the need for innovation, and is looking forward to deepening its partnership with Xinhua.
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China is preparing to launch a Mars probe in 2020, and it is expected to arrive at the red planet the following year.
An aerospace expert said that although China is not the first Asian nation to send a probe to Mars, it wants to start at a higher level.
Ye Peijian is an academic of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and leader of the team with the China Academy of Space Technology. Ye said the probe will include an orbiter, a lander and a rover. The orbiter will conduct global surveys of Mars; and the entry device will land a rover on the surface. Parachute and reverse thrust engine technology will probably be used in the landing.
He said although there is less than five years to go till the launch, they are confident. The probe is being developed by the team that completed the Chang'e-3 lunar probe.
A 3D demonstration video from the academy shows how the Mars probe will fly around 10 months before closing on the red planet. Controllers on Earth will guide it into a large elliptical orbit and the orbiter and lander will separate. The orbiter will stay in orbit for at least a year to photograph key areas and monitor the planet's environment.
You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
Three Chinese nationals have received top honors from the British Council when it handed out the 2016 Education UK Alumni Awards in Beijing.
Nine alumni of British universities were among the finalists for the awards, having stood out from more than 800 applicants from across China.
Ling Yifan is a cartoonist who graduated from Birmingham City University. She received a Professional Achievement Award. Ling has published more than 20 comic books in China and abroad, and three of the books have won international awards. Her online comic story, Guarding, has been read by more than 100 million people and was adapted into a film.
Ling said she benefited a great deal from her studies in the United Kingdom, which helped improve her artistic skills and added to her confidence.
Xiao Dun, who obtained a master's degree at the University of Cambridge, received the Entrepreneurial Award for his success in co-founding a company that develops educational mobile apps, and for an online homework platform he established for more than 15 million students.
Xiao said his experience at Cambridge enhanced his leadership and sense of business, which played a key role in his career to become a successful entrepreneur.
Zheng Jianwei, a visually impaired English teacher, won the Social Impact Award. Zheng was the first among his visually impaired peers in southwestern China to have taken an English language proficiency test, the International English Language Testing System, and then studied in the UK.
Carma Elliot, director of the British Council China, said the excellent alumni shared one similarity: their education experience in the UK laid a solid basis for their success in different fields and enabled them to inspire younger generations.
China now has around 600,000 students who returned from the UK after graduation.
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More than 300 students from various Mexican universities as well as entrepreneurs, diplomats, lawmakers and journalists have been invited to the Chinese Embassy to celebrate the annual Chinese Culture Day.
The Chinese ambassador to Mexico Qiu Xiaoqi hailed the curiosity of Mexicans about Chinese culture and said many young people in China are also interested in getting to know about Mexico.
The ambassador explained that it is important to hold the Chinese Culture Day in Mexico as it helps to bring new generations of people from both countries closer together.
This was the fourth Chinese Culture Day in Mexico. The event opened the door to sharing different forms of Chinese artistic expression with the public.
The four-hour-event included dances, Chinese and local cuisine, a fashion show, and a concert by Chinese singer Pu Jie, who combined Chinese songs with interpretations of Mexican classics.
Former Mexican ambassador to China Sergio Ley Lopez said at the party that such events are needed as Mexicans know little about modern China; and such events are a treasure, which can lead to a greater understanding in every way between the two countries.
You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
People living in small cities generally enjoy better sleep than those in larger ones in China, and negative emotions are the biggest contributor to sleep disorders.
According to a report released ahead of World Sleep Day, which fell on Monday, negative emotions are a major obstacle to quality sleep for people in China.
The China Sleep Quality Index 2016 was released by consultant firm Dataway, together with a leading mattress producer.
The research was based on feedback between January and March to online questionnaires sent to Internet users in 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.
Those surveyed had an average sleep index of 69 out of a possible 100, indicating an overall gap in the quality of sleep for Chinese people.
The sleep index was based on seven sub-indices, including the ability to fall asleep quickly, the ability to have regular sleeping hours and the ability to control emotions.
Respondents scored 50 in their ability to control emotions, ranking the lowest of all seven sub-indices. That means negative emotions were the biggest contributor to bad sleep.
The report also showed that residents of bigger cities in general had slightly worse sleep. People living in first-tier cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou averaged 67 in the index, while those in middle-sized and small cities averaged 70.
You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. You can access the program by logging onto NewsPlusRadio.cn. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. That's mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. Now the news continues.
China has entered its flood season, 11 days earlier than previous years.
The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said heavy rains have hit parts of south China, pushing water levels in some rivers well above warning lines.
The National Meteorological Center forecast that strong rain will continue to pelt south China. It urged relevant departments to strengthen disaster prevention.
The center said some provinces will be hit by rain or storms, with maximum rainfall reaching up to 50 millimeters per hour.
The center issued a blue alert for rainstorms in southern regions on Monday night, warning that people should be alert for possible risks including mud-rock flows and landslides.
China has a four-tier warning system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed in turn by orange, yellow and blue.
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The first stage of fieldwork has been completed for a project to help preserve China's ethnic minority languages and dialects, including some on the verge of being wiped out.
Specialists from the Ministry of Education worked in 80 fieldwork sites in ethnic minority regions and 50 sites with different Chinese dialects to help preserve the languages by collecting and documenting their use.
The ministry and the State Language Commission launched the project in May with the goal of collecting and preserving the languages.
The five-year-project is also designed to augment and streamline the current multi-media database of Chinese languages compiled in 2008.
In 2015, the preservation project began from places where dialects and ethnic minority languages are in dire need of conservation, including the provinces of Shanxi, Zhejiang and Fujian, as well as Chongqing municipality. The project will expand to cover more localities.
The Ministry of Education has urged local governments to build up their regional museums of language culture.
You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
The number of websites in China rose to almost 4.3 million at the end of last year.
A total of 620,000 Chinese websites were launched last year, exceeding the number of sites launched during the 2010 to 2014 period.
According to a report released by the Internet Society of China, of the 4.3 million websites, 3 million were operated by companies, up 500,000 from a year earlier. Around one million websites were run by individuals, representing an increase of 110,000 from 2014.
Average mobile internet traffic by Chinese Internet users exceeded almost 370 megabytes per month last year, up 85 percent year on year.
China is home to the world's largest 4G network and has more 4G users than any other country.
China built more than 920,000 4G base stations last year, bringing the total number to almost 1.8 million.
Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed that the number of 4G users jumped to almost 400 million at the end of last year, compared with 300 million at the end of 2014.
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