英语角-圆桌会议 RoundTable - 北京学区房每平米30万

Topic1 Engineering is losing studentsHu Ruiwen, member of the State Education Consulting Committee, expressed worry over the lack of students choosing engineering majors. He says: 1.17 million students enrolled in major of engineering in college in 2010; the figure is 4.4 times of that in 1998, however, during the same period, the total number of college recruitment has increased 6 times.

Why did students choose other subjects over engineering?

Topic2 Part of the school district housings are sold at 300 thousand yuan per square meterIn Beijing,compulsory education enrollment is launched according to school districts. Students just go to the schools closest to their homes. Recently, one of the school district housings nearby Beijing NO.2 Experimental Primary School is sold at 280 thousand Yuan per square meter, which attracts a lot of attention.

How expensive? Is it ridiculous?

Topic3 Guangzhou plans to invest 7.7 million yuan on subway decorationMedia reports that Guangzhou is going to invest 7.7 million yuan to build "Cultural Walls" in six subway stations in the city.

According to the project bidding, decoration theme of each station should be based on local culture, history or natural scenery.

Although it is called Culture Wall, the decoration actually covers both walls and pillar in subway stations.

The estimated decoration investment on each station is about 1.3 million yuan.

Is subway art a good idea?

Topic4 Chinese families storing expired pillsA recent survey shows that most Chinese families do not regularly sort out their medical kits, with out-of-date pills in many homes.

A survey released by Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical says each family on average has 215 expired pills and 30 to 40 percent of these tablets have been out-of-date for over three years.

How big is the problem?

Topic5 Vvip Service of Chinese AirlinesLast week, an anonymous web user said he or she missed the final call by two minutes and could not get on an Air China flight from Nanchang to Beijing.

However, Zhao Baige, vice-president of the state-backed Red Cross Society of China, was allowed to board the plane after being late for five minutes.

When the rebuffed passenger confronted ground staff, they explained Zhao was an elite member of the Phoenix Miles club.

So what happened? Is having a whole plane of people waiting for you one of the privileges of being an elite member?

Topic6 Getting beaten up for MoneyNever underestimate what some people would do to make a living…Or how much others want to beat someone up and for what reason.

Yunnan Information Daily reports that a 48-year-old man in China has been making a living by offering himself as a "punching bag" to people in bars and night clubs for 10 years.

How does it work?