英语角-圆桌会议 RoundTable - 适宜步行的城市

Topic1 School Bus UnusedToday the new semester begins. In rural areas, many kids need to take a bus to school. We all know the shortage of qualified school buses in rural schools. However, in Zhejiang, 52 brand-new school buses have been unused for more than a year.

Do we know what happened?

Topic2 Shanghai encourages uni professors to teach undergraduates Many Chinese university undergraduates consider it a luxury to have senior professors as their teachers, for it has always been the younger lecturers who give them lessons.

Now that's about to change in Shanghai as the local education authority tries to encourage more professors to teach undergraduates.

A pilot program is launched among eight local universities starting from September.

Is there a problem with professors not teaching undergrads?

Topic3 Opinions split on relevance of cord blood There are always two opinions on storing cord blood. Some experts believe that the chance of a person to use his or her cord blood for blood diseases is too few while the cost is high. Others argue that saving one's own cord blood has its benefits as it helps in the development of regeneration medicine while also benefitting sibling sand other family members.

Why is there the controversy?

Topic4 Walkable cities in ChinaTo walk around a city is to experience its true essence—its soul, if you will. But walking to work or to have some important things done by foot in some Chinese cities is not as achievable as in others.

A survey of 35 Chinese cities has shown that the Chinese capital city Beijing isn't one of the walk-friendly cities in the country, while topping the list is the Hong Kong SAR.

The survey is conducted by New York City-based environmental group Natural ResourcesDefense Council.

What's a walkable city?

Topic5 Driving school fees Huanggang city in central China's Hubei Province has set a price ceiling for all the procedures needed to get a driver's license.

The new rule says it shouldn't cost more than 3,830 yuan per person to get a driver's license, which involves driving school trainings and relevant tests.

The move is aimed at regulating the fraudulent charging practices by driving schools.

Is there a problem?

Topic6 People who throw rubbish on the road while driving will be finedShenzhen traffic police regulated that people who throw garbage while driving on the road will be fined 500 yuan. And as a reward, citizens who report this will also be given 500 yuan.

Do you think this will be effective in combating uncivilized behavior on the road?

What's the new regulation?