英语角-圆桌会议 RoundTable0604 - 初恋决定你对生活的满意度

 Topic1 Chinese colleges face recruitment crisisWhile millions of students are preparing for Gaokao, the national college entrance exam, a recent report released by a leading Chinese education portal says that most colleges have failed to hit their recruitment goals for years, despite a slight increase in the number of college applicants¹ last year after a five-consecutive year decline. Why are Chinese colleges facing recruitment crisis?

What's going on?

Topic2 Half of the Chinese parents want their children to have ordinary lifeA recent survey from Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences says that about 49.5 % of parents want their children to have an ordinary life, instead of the traditional hope of training kids to be successful.

The Chinese idiom "望子成龙,望女成凤"- meaning hoping for sons to grow into dragons and daughters into phoenix², describes the traditional mindset of parents, who want their children to be outstanding. But are parents' attitude changing?

Are you surprised? What's new?

Topic3 China opens door for Visa and MasterCard to challenge UnionPayGlobal bank card operators including Visa and MasterCard can seek licences to clear domestic Chinese payments starting on Monday, following a long-running effort to penetrate³ a market dominated by a state-backed incumbent⁴.

How big is the change?

Topic4 Young readers do things by the bookAs more adults are turning to cellphones and tablets, Chinese children are reading more paper books.

Sales of children's books have boomed in China during the past several years, but the fast growth of the industry is coupled with many problems still.

Has there been a fast growth of children's books market? Why should we care? Did you love reading books while you were small? What are your favorites?

Topic5 First stable relationship makes one happy, but hardly changes personalityThe first relationship that a young person enters into increases his satisfaction with life, but changes his personality only slightly, according to a recent study.

People talk about first love all the time. But the discussions are usually about sentimental⁵ personal stories rather than serious research. So let's talk about this research. Do you agree with the results?

1 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

2 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

3 penetrate   

v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解

参考例句：

• Western ideas penetrate slowly through the East.西方观念逐渐传入东方。
• The sunshine could not penetrate where the trees were thickest.阳光不能透入树木最浓密的地方。

4 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

5 sentimental   

adj.多愁善感的，感伤的

参考例句：

• She's a sentimental woman who believes marriage comes by destiny.她是多愁善感的人，她相信姻缘命中注定。
• We were deeply touched by the sentimental movie.我们深深被那感伤的电影所感动。