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2017-02-06 Special English
This is Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.
Beijing is planning to equip schools with air filtration devices as the city chokes on heavy smog.
Beijing&`&s education authority has said that air purifiers will be installed in pilot primary and secondary schools and nurseries to protect students and small children from polluted air. The program is to be subsidized by the municipal government.
According to a local newspaper, some schools in the city have installed air filtration systems using donations from businesses.
A staff member in a school equipped with an air purifier system told the Beijing News that the concentration of PM2.5 had been reduced remarkably in the school after the system was set up.
Beijing has suffered heavy air pollution since winter began. To avoid polluted air, outdoor activities have been suspended in schools, nurseries and extra-curricular education institutions.
The municipal government said children&`&s health is a priority concern of education authorities. It urged schools to raise the students&`& awareness of self-protection to prepare for days with heavy pollution.
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Chinese scientists are drawing a 1:2.5 million scale map of the Moon&`&s geology.
Scientists of China&`&s lunar exploration program said five universities and research institutes from across China have set standards for digital mapping. They have begun drawing the map of the Moon&`&s geological structure.
A sketch version of the map measures around 4 by 2 meters. It will be finished by 2018, and will be released by 2020.
The map will provide information on the structure and rock types of the Moon and will reflect the timeline of the Moon&`&s evolution.
Scientists say the map will clearly show the size and appearance of the Moon and the craters on it.
Creating the map depends on data and images sent from circumlunar satellites from China and other countries.
The scientists say that a lunar map is very different from that of the Earth, where scientists can go to the spot in person to learn the details.
Through the satellites, the scientists have obtained overall images of the Moon, which contribute to the precision of the lunar maps.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
A total of one million registered domain names with Chinese characters are in use. The information was released by the China Internet Network Information Center.
The center said that at present, Chinese-character domain names can be used in mainstream browsers, search engines and input methods. This means that, for example, by inputting a Chinese-character domain name in a browser, users are able to reach a corresponding website, like with any regular English domain name.
Since domain names were created in the 1980s, they had long been formed with characters in the Roman alphabet.
The information center has called on Chinese Internet companies, including email service providers, to further promote the use of Chinese-character domain names.
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Shanghai Disney Resort is planning to expand its talent pool by partnering with local educational institutions. Shanghai Disney is Walt Disney Company&`&s latest theme park.
Walt Disney says it will sign agreements this year with 10 universities, colleges and vocational schools to launch its "Talent Class" for professional training.
Philippe Gas, general manager of Shanghai Disney Resort, says the move is part of the Disney Company&`&s goal of finally having at least 98 percent of its staff members being from the local area.
Gas says interaction with visitors is an essential part of the resort, and it relies on the company&`&s 10,000 staff members to achieve visitor satisfaction.
The training will be provided jointly by the company and the schools.
Internship opportunities are also up for grabs. Under the training, students will take on different roles including animation designers, makeup artists, accountants and mechanical technicians. Outstanding participants can apply to intern at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida in the United States, training alongside their American counterparts.
The first several schools to ink the deal include the Shanghai Polytechnic University and the Tourism College of Zhejiang.
Shanghai Disney will employ 2,000 people in full-time and part-time jobs this year, with the vacancies tailored to disabled people in China.
You are listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
Toxic pollutants in the Arctic pose great health threats to polar bears, leading to brain damage in the animal.
Italian scientists analyzed the effects of persistent organic pollutants, or POPs, on species in the Arctic, and found that polar bears are exposed to greater health risks than seals. Polar bear cubs are at the highest risk.
POPs are widely used around the world in industrial production as they have been since World War II. They are toxic chemicals that have a negative impact on human health, animals and the environment. The toxins can be transported by wind and water, accumulate in the environment and pass between different species through the food chain.
In 1996, researchers in Norway observed two cases of "intersex" in polar bears. The bears were normal males by their looks but neither of them showed signs of having a Y chromosome which could determine that they were male.
Scientists believe that the number of such "intersex" polar bears may have risen as a result of hormonal disruptions caused by pollutants.
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Australia experienced its fourth-hottest year on record last year despite also having above average rainfall.
Australia&`&s Annual Climate Statement showed that the national mean temperature was 0.8 degrees Celsius above average, resulting in the nation&`&s fourth-warmest year on record.
2016 was one of the most eventful years in terms of weather in Australia.
Bushfires earlier in the year came about after a prolonged hot spell, while the end of the El Nino weather event later last year brought flooding rains for some states.
Despite being one of the warmest years in Australia&`&s history, annual rainfall last year was 17 percent above average.
Widespread, drought-breaking rains led to flooding in many states. Even northern Australia saw widespread rainfall, during what is usually the dry season, and in green regions that had been in drought for several years.
The World Meteorological Organization has announced that 2016 would likely be the warmest year on record for global mean temperatures.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths 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.
U.S. scientists have discovered that microscopic structures within a brain region change from childhood into adulthood over a timescale that mirrors improvements in people&`&s ability to recognize faces.
The study has overturned a central thought in neuroscience. People used to believe that as humans are born with brains riddled with excess neural connections, the amount of brain tissue goes in one direction throughout their lives, from too much to just enough.
By looking at the brains of children, the team examined a region of the brain that distinguishes faces from other objects. It&`&s only in the last 10 years that psychologists started looking at children&`&s brains.
The study shows that children are not miniature adults, and that there is still a lot of very basic knowledge to be learned about the developing brain in that age range.
The study found that there are actual changes to brain tissues and the process takes place for the whole lifetime.
The study is the first to use quantitative MRI to directly assess changes in brain regions.
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Plans are being made to turn China&`&s most complete 2,000-year-old cemetery into a national park.
The tomb of the "Marquis of Haihun" near Nanchang, the capital of east China&`&s Jiangxi Province, is one of the few imperial tombs that have not been looted.
The remains of the marquis were found in a coffin in an interior chamber and hoisted out in January, last year, for lab research. More than 10,000 artifacts have so far been unearthed.
Local authorities said the design of the national park by the China Architecture Design Group has been completed.
The site, which covers over 20 square kilometers, will preserve the tomb in its original form by the side of Poyang Lake, China&`&s largest freshwater lake.
The construction, landscaping and preservation are expected to cost 1.2 billion yuan, roughly 170 million U.S. dollars. A tourist center in the park is set to open in 2019.
The marquis, Liu He, was grandson of Emperor Wudi of the Western Han Dynasty, whose reign began one of the most prosperous periods in China&`&s history.
The excavation of the tomb began in 2011. It has been recognized as a model archeological research and relic protection project. Preservation was carried out alongside the archeological excavation and an application for it to be inscribed on the UNESCO world heritage list is in the pipeline.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
The Belgian Cancer Foundation has presented a campaign to encourage Belgians not to drink alcohol during the month of February this year.
A total of 82 percent of Belgians consume alcohol, and as much as 51 percent consume more than 11 glasses per week.
According to the foundation&`&s website, the "Mineral Tour" campaign has been organized for the first time this year and it aims to raise awareness.
Candidates register to participate on Mineral Tour campaign website where they can find health information, testimonies, and advice on participating.
So far, public figures and celebrities including renowned tennis players, federal ministers, actors and actresses have confirmed their participation.
The campaign will also include charitable motifs including donation of money to the Cancer Foundation for research.
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Britain&`&s interior department says more than 200 people died in the past year after taking psychoactive drugs known as "legal highs".
The Home Office said that almost 500 people have been arrested by law enforcers since a landmark psychoactive substances law came into force six months ago which made so-called designer drugs illegal.
New powers were introduced under the new law to tackle what officials described as the menace of so-called legal highs.
Home Office figures showed that new psychoactive substances were involved in 204 deaths in Britain in the last year, an increase of 25 percent compared to the previous 12 months.
The government minister for Vulnerability, Safeguarding and Countering Extremism Sarah Newton said that new psychoactive substances are banned because they are not safe, and can devastate lives and are not tolerated in the country.
Police forces have stopped 330 shops across Britain from selling the substances since the new law came into force.
Police Commander Simon Bray, from the National Police Chief&`&s Council, said the Psychoactive Substances Act has fundamentally changed the way police tackle the supply and distribution of dangerous drugs.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
American students have a math problem. The latest global snapshot of student performance shows declining math scores in the United States and stagnant performance in science and reading.
Education Secretary John B. King Jr. said the U.S. is losing ground, a troubling prospect when, in today&`&s knowledge-based economy, the best jobs can go anywhere in the world. (全文见周六微信。)
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