介绍:
This is Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. Here is the news.
China&`&s manned spacecraft Shenzhou XI will stay in space for 33 days, the longest since the country first sent a man into space in 2003. The mission presents more challenges in protecting astronauts&`& physical and mental health.
A zero-gravity environment will affect the astronauts&`& cardiovascular systems, and lead to muscle atrophy, weakened immunity and faster bone loss. These make the spacemen more vulnerable to disease.
To fight the negative impacts, spacemen will use treadmill and chest-expander to practice in the space lab, and wear penguin suits, which produce more tension with its elastic materials, to prevent muscles weakening.
Also, to relieve the stress of being astronauts, psychologists, families and colleagues on the ground will communicate with them through video, audio or e-mail.
Before the mission, the astronauts carried out 33 days of closed training. Except for weightless conditions, every process in the training lab was modeled on that in the space lab.
The eight training subjects were physical fitness, mental fitness, space environment adaption, weightless protection, rescue and survival skill, rendezvous and docking, medical first-aid, and in-orbit experiment.
Multiple experiments will be carried out when the astronauts enter the Tiangong II space lab. They will also carry out space material experiments, space plant cultivation and in-orbit maintenance of the spacecraft.
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The Chinese government has prioritized education in its efforts to eradicate poverty in the past 4 years.
According to a white paper unveiled recently, to ensure poor people&`&s access to education, the government has taken measures to promote balanced compulsory education and bridge the education gap between urban and rural areas.
The document was released by the State Council, China&`&s Cabinet. It said that in the period between 2012 and 2015, the central government injected 83 billion yuan, roughly 12 billion U.S. dollars, in renovating schools for compulsory education. It also earmarked 14 billion yuan to build dormitory buildings for some 300,000 teachers in remote rural areas.
In less-developed central and western parts of the country, the number of children enrolled in kindergartens rose from 21 million in 2011 to 28 million last year, up 30 percent.
China offered cost-of-living subsidies for rural teachers in poverty-stricken areas, benefiting over one million teachers.
The average annual growth rate of rural students from poor areas enrolled in key universities was kept above 10 percent.
The white paper added that the country also reinforced poverty relief efforts through developing industries with local features, improving medical security and supporting employment.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing.
A potentially cancer-causing chemical known as NDMA has been found in the drinking water of 44 Chinese cities. Samples from the eastern and southern parts of the country have been found to have relatively high concentrations.
Measured in nano-grams per liter, NDMA is a byproduct of the disinfection process used for chlorinating drinking water. It is considered an "emerging contaminant", together with other related chemicals known as nitrosamines.
Samples were taken from more than 100 sites in 23 provinces. The average NDMA concentrations for finished water and tap water are almost four times the figures in the United States.
The two figures in the Yangtze River Delta areas are high, posing a digestive cancer risk for residents there.
Lead researcher Chen Chao, an associate professor at Tsinghua University said the NDMA concentration in drinking water is a pressing issue that demands more research and systematic modifications.
According to the World Health Organization, NDMA and other nitrosamines cause cancer in laboratory animals. Currently, the substance is not regulated as a drinking water quality standard in China. No maximum level has been set.
Chen said it may be included soon as a standard for water safety.
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Checkpoints at airports and train stations in Sichuan Province have given up radiation screening after a safety outcry.
The Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, has stopped using X-rays in public security checks.
The airport made the change in response to a statement issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection to the province, urging it to stop using X-ray machines for security screening.
The statement was issued by the ministry after many passengers complained that X-rays posed a health threat.
At train stations and airport checkpoints in Chengdu, passengers were required to stand in front of a machine for around 10 seconds. All passengers, including pregnant women, were subjected to the procedure without being informed about what the facility was or what it was doing.
The maker of the equipment claimed the machine used "weak photon emissions", but medical doctors said it was X-rays and using X-ray for the checks is harmful to human health and is banned in other countries.
The United States adopted X-rays for public security checks to discover weapons after the Sept 11 terrorist attack. But because of the public opposition and the development of more sophisticated technology, the equipment was banned.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing.
The total number of organ transplant surgeries performed in China is expected to reach 15,000 this year. The figure will be a record high and an increase of almost 50 percent over last year.
Senior officials and experts said that after the abolishment of procuring organs for transplant from executed prisoners since the beginning of last year, the number of organs donated after death has increased rapidly.
Last year, around 10,000 organ transplant surgeries were performed nationwide. Chinese officials and experts made the remarks at the International Organ Donation Conference in Beijing.
The surgery totals include transplants using organs from living donors.
The number of people who donated organs after death in China this year reached almost 3,000 by the end of September, which is an increase of 50 percent compared with the same period last year.
This could make China the second in the world, behind the United States, in the number of organ donors by the end of the year.
The total number of donated organs harvested after death last year in China exceeded 7,700, more than the total numbers for 2013 and 2014 combined.
The officials said China stopped using organs from executed prisoners on Jan 1 last year, when voluntary donations became the only legal source for transplants.
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Meteorological disasters have been blamed for the destruction of at least 50 billion kilograms of grain in China annually.
Climate change is having an increasing impact on food and agriculture, with each rising degree of Celsius causing 10 percent of grain loss. That&`&s according to figures released at a promotion activity in Nanjing for the 36th World Food Day.
China is one of the countries most affected by meteorological disasters, with droughts causing around 60 percent of all the losses in the country.
Officials from the China Meteorological Administration said immediate measures need to be taken to address the issue. It urged the country to play down the effect of meteorological disasters in grain production, processing and consumption.
China managed to diminish grain losses with a variety of measures in the past, including building new granaries and repairing old ones, as well as upgrading transportation equipment.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to 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.
An aging World War II-era C-47 aircraft has landed at Kunming in Yunnan province, after a commemorative "Hump flight", widely known as the most dangerous air route in China during World War II.
The plane is heading for Guilin in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. There it will be donated by the Flying Tigers Historical Organization to the Flying Tigers Heritage Park in Guilin for permanent display.
The "Hump" was one of the most important air ways connecting China with allied forces in South Asia. During the war, around 850,000 metric tons of supplies reached China from India via that route. And around 1,500 U.S. planes crashed along the way, falling victim to the formidable mountains of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and their fickle, often nasty, weather conditions. The pilots said the huge ridges looked like humps, thus the nickname.
The American Volunteer Group, also known as the Flying Tigers, took on the dangerous mission, and American C-47 aircrafts delivered the first, small load of supplies in July 1942.
The plane currently has five crew members, including two from the United States and three from Australia. Their average age is above 70 years old.
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A new archaeological find announced recently in Mexico attests to China&`&s age-old vocation as an exporting powerhouse.
Mexican archaeologists have uncovered thousands of fragments of a 400-year-old shipment of Chinese "export-quality porcelain" that was long buried in the Pacific Coast port of Acapulco.
The shipment of rice bowls, cups, plates and platters dates from the reign of the Ming Dynasty&`&s 13th emperor Wan Li who died in 1620. The goods are believed to have arrived in Acapulco aboard the China Galleon, which sailed regularly between Asia and the New World.
The findings include five types of export-quality porcelain which were made in China and exported around the world.
The white-and-blue porcelain was painted with images of birds, beetles, swans, and other depictions of nature. These porcelain goods were mainly made in Jingdezhen which is known as China&`&s "Porcelain Capital".
The discovery coincides with an exhibition at Mexico City&`&s Franz Mayer Museum which highlights China&`&s artistic influence on the New World through trade.
While Mexico and China are separated by a great distance, trade ties have linked the two regions for centuries.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing.
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