介绍:
2017-02-07 Special English
This is Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. Here is the news.
The health authority in Beijing is studying the long-term impact of smog on people&`&s health, including the widespread concern that smog could be a cause of lung cancer.
The Beijing News reports that the Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning in Beijing has begun to study the issue.
The report said that current studies have confirmed that inhaling smog may lead to some acute diseases in people&`&s respiratory system. Long-term exposure to pollutants could cause chronic inflammation, hypo immunity and allergies. But the exact relationship of smog and lung cancer is not clear at the moment.
The commission said it will take a decade or longer to collect data before the researchers can make clear the relationship between smog and people having a certain kind of disease.
Based on previous studies on smog, the commission and the Beijing Center for Diseases Control and Prevention have issued a list of protective measures against smog. The measures urge people to stay indoors and wear masks outdoors on smoggy days.
Smog has been a frequent issue in many Chinese cities in recent years.
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China has issued a plan on medical reform targets of the next five years.
The plan covers diagnosis and treatment systems, hospital administration, medical security, medical supplies and regulatory system of the sector.
A multi-tiered diagnosis and treatment system matching China&`&s conditions should be in place by 2020. The system aims to encourage patients to go to community clinics for initial diagnosis and treatment, instead of directly going to specialized hospitals.
The plan also stressed a "streamlined and orderly" medical supply system.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing.
China&`&s central authority has issued a guideline on mobile Internet service management, calling for more efforts to develop the sector in a healthy manner.
The guideline calls for increasing the use of mobile Internet service in sectors including transport, tourism, education and medical service, to better serve the public.
It says mobile Internet service could play a big role in poverty relief, as it provides an efficient means to connect these regions with the outside world.
The guideline also urges cultivating an orderly environment for the development of mobile Internet service.
China will resolutely crack down on criminal activities including instigating overthrowing state power and inciting religious extremism through mobile Internet services. Promoting ethnic separatist ideology and instigating violence and terror will also be targeted.
In addition, more efforts will be made to punish those involved in defamation, telecom fraud, infringement and illegal sale of others&`& personal information.
It urges preventing and eliminating risks caused by the development of mobile Internet service to ensure security of network data, technology and apps.
The guideline also called for more efforts to be made on strengthening intellectual property protection and boosting international exchange and cooperation in the sector.
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China has established cooperation ties in science and technology with 158 countries and regions in the world.
According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, a total of 111 intergovernmental agreements on science and technology cooperation had been signed, and China had taken part in more than 200 intergovernmental organizations devoted to boosting such cooperation.
A stable intergovernmental cooperation mechanism, which covers major countries, regions and international organizations, has taken shape, contributing to the improvement of the nation&`&s capability in science and technology.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing.
Land-space Technology Corporation, a private aerospace company based in Beijing, said it has secured a contract with Gomspace, a Danish company, to launch a series of satellites.
The company says this is the first time for a private Chinese company to provide satellite launching services to the international market.
According to the contract, Land-space will use its rocket to put Gomspace&`&s satellites into orbit next year.
Land-space said his company could not have won recognition from the overseas client without decades of efforts by Chinese workers in the aerospace industry, which has been developing for 60 years.
The total value of the global aerospace market could hit 485 billion U.S. dollars by 2020, with the market value in China alone reaching 800 billion yuan, roughly 116 billion U.S. dollars, during the 2016-2020 period.
A scientist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences said the aerospace industry matters not only for space exploration, but also for economic and social development; and the civil aerospace industry has great potential and will grow very quickly.
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Chinese scientists say they have built a facility that can generate the world&`&s brightest extreme ultraviolet free electron laser.
The facility in Dalian, a coastal city in northeast China, can generate 140 trillion photons per laser pulse in one picosecond.
The Dalian Coherent Light Source facility was jointly built by scientists from Dalian and Shanghai, with a total investment of 140 million yuan, roughly 20 million U.S. dollars.
The scientists say the flashes of light will illuminate new aspects of the microscopic world. The light sources are especially useful for sensitive detection of atoms, molecules and clusters.
Brightness and pulse duration of the light source are key to such detection. The brighter the light source, the more clearly people can see the small number of atoms or molecules.
The scientists say that since many physical, chemical and biological reactions happen on a time scale with a picosecond, people need high-speed "flashlights" to capture these moments to study the process.
The technology will play a unique and important role in exploring the unknown material world and promoting technological progress.
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.
Renowned linguist Zhou Youguang has been remembered by Chinese Internet users since he passed away recently at age 111. Zhou is known for creating the pinyin, a system of Latin letters for reading standard Chinese.
In 1955, Zhou was an economics professor at Fudan University in Shanghai. He was asked by the central government to join a national committee to develop an accessible alphabetic writing system.
It took him and his colleagues three years to work out the system, which was adopted in 1958. Since then, the pinyin system has been used to greatly increase literacy levels across the country. It has also made it easier for foreigners to learn Chinese.
Pinyin has also facilitated the use of Chinese characters on computer keyboards and cellphones. When users entered pinyin with a keyboard, they are given choices of relevant Chinese characters.
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Traveling abroad is becoming more and more popular among the Chinese people, who are also found to have spent more on travel then just shopping. Meanwhile, female tourists outnumbered male.
According to one of the leading travel websites in China, bookings increased 34 percent last year compared to the previous year.
Chinese tourists are traveling greater distances. The top 10 choices last year included Switzerland, the United States, Germany and Australia. For 2015, the top tourist destinations are Phuket in Thailand, Cheju in South Korea, Bali in Indonesia, and Hawaii in the United States.
Last year, 62 percent of overseas travels were made by females, and the number of children doubled.
The website says the number of tourists from China&`&s first-tier cities including Beijing and Shanghai are growing at a steady pace, while those from second and third-tier cities are booming.
As more tourist destinations had become visa-free for China as of last year, the country has again ranked first-overall globally, in terms of the number of people traveling abroad, and for tourism spending.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing.
A new gibbon species has been discovered in southwest China&`&s Yunnan Province.
The new species is characterized by white eyebrows and is found mainly only in Yunnan Province.
Their beards are completely black or brown instead of white as seen in other gibbon species.
Chinese scientists began their research on the newly found gibbons in 2007, and a joint study by scientists from five other countries confirmed the discovery of the new species.
The gibbons inhabit at altitudes of 500 to 2,000 meters. Their total number is no more than 200.
Scientists suggest the new species should be categorized as endangered and need special conservation efforts.
Gibbons and siamangs are small apes inhabiting southern, eastern and southeastern Asia. The new species increases the number of recognized living species of the animals to 20.
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China has 50,000 medical and health institutions that offer Traditional Chinese Medicine therapies.
The State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine revealed that 40 percent of the population have access to Traditional Chinese Medicine at a local level.
The administration said that in the first nine months of last year, the average fee for traditional Chinese medicine and the per capita in-patient cost at public traditional medicine hospitals were 11 percent and 24 percent lower than treatments offered by western medicine public hospitals.
China&`&s top legislature last month adopted a law on Chinese medicine, with stricter control on the source of the medicine and qualification of doctors.
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Hong Kong actor and singer Andy Lau has been injured while filming a commercial in Thailand.
Lau was riding a horse during the shoot, and fell off the horse when the animal lost control of itself. The horse stepped on Lau&`&s back, causing spinal fractures.
The shoot was halted, and Lau was transported to a local hospital for treatment. He was then sent home on a medical plane to Hong Kong for further treatment.
Lau&`&s public relations spokesperson said they will update everyone with any new developments on the matter.
Lau was working at a scene in Khao Lak, a city three hours from the capital city of Bangkok. According to sources, there were several horses on set that day.
The 56-year-old actor has enjoyed tremendous stardom in the Chinese speaking world since the 1990s. He has been hailed as one of the "Four Kings" of showbiz in Hong Kong. Lau has been working tirelessly in multiple genres, including acting and singing.
This is the end of this edition of Special English. To freshen up your memory, I&`&m going to read one of the news items again at normal speed. Please listen carefully.
This is the end of today&`&s program. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing, and I hope you can join us every day, to learn English and learn about the world.
