【专题】慢速英语（英音）2016-05-09

英语环球 NEWSPlus Radio

This is Special English. I am Sam Duckett in Beijing. Here is the news.
China is open to space cooperation with all nations including the United States.
The heavyweight of China's space program, China's first astronaut Yang Liwei, made the remark recently on the occasion of the anniversary of China's first satellite launch 46 years ago.
Yang said China does not rule out cooperating with any country, including the United States.
The senior astronaut said payload has been reserved in the Chinese space station for international projects and foreign astronauts. The space station is due to enter service around 2022.
China marked its first Space Day, which was newly designated by the government to commemorate China's first satellite launch on April 24, 1970.
Upon request, China will also train astronauts for other countries, and jointly train astronauts with the European space station.
Yang said the future of space exploration lies in international cooperation, and it's true for China as well as for the United States.
Citing security reasons, the United States Congress passed a law in 2011 to prohibit NASA from hosting Chinese visitors at its facilities or working with researchers affiliated to any Chinese government entity or enterprise. The ban remains in effect.
The US-dominated International Space Station, which unsurprisingly blocks China, is scheduled to end its service in 2024. China's space station will be the only operational one in outer space, at least for a while.
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Five domestic airlines have agreed to tackle air rage by blacklisting passengers who misbehave.
The five airlines, including Air China and China Southern, are the country&`&s major carriers. They will collectively keep records of those who are not behaved.
Improper behaviors include attacking on check-in counters, forcibly occupying airplanes and fighting on board an airplane.
Passenger records will be shared throughout the country's civil aviation and tourism industries. Those who are blacklisted will face penalties including being denied special seats, ticket discounts, or even service.
However, an official from the Civil Aviation University of China said airlines do not have the right to limit passengers&`& travel rights.
The official said that although air passenger blacklists have been adopted overseas, there is no legal provision for them in China, adding that this may lead to disputes.
Others say that the provisions for the blacklist should be decided by a third party rather than just the airlines.
It is the first time that a blacklist has covered most of the domestic civil aviation industry. The five airlines and their subsidiaries handle more than 80 percent of China&`&s air traffic.
The decision comes after the China Air Transport Association adopted a new management policy to record uncivilized behavior by air passengers.
You are listening to Special English. I am Sam Duckett in Beijing.
The authorities are trying to restore public confidence in vaccines after a nationwide scandal struck fear into the hearts of parents.
China banned drug wholesalers from selling vaccines, according to a decision publicized on the nation&`&s Vaccination Day, which fell on April 25th.
The decision requires B-class, or non-compulsory, vaccines to be distributed in the same way as A-class, which are covered by the national compulsory immunization program.
It also requires disease control departments, hospitals and clinics to keep records of purchases and received inventory.
According to the decision, China will establish a system to track vaccines. Enterprises and user agencies must record circulation and use, so all vaccines can be tracked across their life cycle.
The public were shocked and appalled in March when the news that improperly stored vaccines worth millions of dollars were sold nationwide. More than 300 officials implicated in cases concerning the event will be penalized.
In the eastern city of Ningbo, the number of vaccinated children decreased by around one fourth from March 18 to 31. Local authorities are trying to quell public unease.
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Individuals and organizations that conduct medically inessential prenatal sex discernment or sex-selective abortions will be fined up to 30,000 yuan, roughly 4,600 U.S. dollars.
Under a revised regulation taking effect recently, besides a fine, the government will confiscate the income from such screenings and abortions, which are illegal in China.
Those who introduce expectant parents to take up illegal prenatal sex discernment and selective abortion will also face the same punishment.
The regulation has been jointly issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the China Food and Drug Administration.
The revision to the law aims to tackle China&`&s high gender imbalance, a direct result of pre-birth sex discernment and sex-selective abortions driven by cultural preference for boys.
The birth sex ratio stood at almost 114 in 2015, much higher than a normal ratio between 103 and 107, though it has decreased from 121 in 2004.
In China, legitimate reasons for a hospital conducting a sex-selective abortion include serious genetic disease or deadly threat to the mother's health.
It requires at least three senior doctors with a genetics background and clinical experience to decide whether prenatal sex discernment is necessary. If an abortion is necessary, the hospital must report the case to the local health department.
You are listening to Special English. I&`&m Sam Duckett in Beijing.
The State Council has published its major health care reform tasks for the year, with a general practitioner pilot program, and reduced reliance on drug revenue for health centers.
This year, 200 cities will trial GP practices, making the service available to 15 percent of urban citizens and 30 percent of key groups.
According to the statement from the State Council, China's Cabinet, GPs will open their practices to residents, providing them with basic, consistent medical services.
The plan is part of a tiered health system being rolled out across the country.
To improve local-level medical institutions, the government will allow physicians in public hospitals to practice or establish their own practices.
Another health reform task this year will be the establishment of a pricing mechanism for medicine to reduce the cost born by patients.
Patients will be given the choice of buying drugs from hospitals or retail pharmacies.
The public hospital reform will be further advanced, as 100 more cities will carry out pilot public hospital reform this year.
According to the pilot reform, revenues of public hospitals will not rely on drugs but medical service charges.
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Chinese scientists are working on new projects inspired by the documented case of a man who was cured of AIDS. They hope eventually find a way to ensure that humans are born with immunity to the condition.
Nine years ago, a 41-year-old man, who has since been dubbed the "Berlin patient", was close to death and in the advanced stages of both AIDS and leukemia. Doctors gave him a stem cell transplant from an HIV-resistant donor, and miraculously cured both conditions. The event made him arguably the first person ever to be cured of AIDS.
The remarkable case shed light on CCR5, a receptor in humans that helps HIV enter cells. The bone-marrow transplant had changed the Berlin patient&`&s gene to a mutation called CCR5-delta32, which blocks HIV.
With new gene technology now available, Chinese scientists have recently moved forward with attempts to modify the CCR5 gene in embryos, advancing their drive to ensure humans are born already immune to HIV.
In the latest case, researchers from the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University used a gene editing technique to attempt to replace the CCR5 gene in 26 human embryos. The researchers tried to give the embryos the HIV-resistant mutation. Four embryos were successfully edited, while the other 22 cases failed to produce the desired results.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Sam Duckett 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 [e-mail]. That&`&s [e-mail]. Now the news continues.
Chinese science fiction writer Hao Jingfang was shortlisted for the Hugo Award for her book "Folding Beijing".
According to Tsinghua University, where she is pursuing her doctorate, the news was posted on the official website of the World Science Fiction Convention. "Folding Beijing", one of five candidates, is listed under the "Best Novelette" category.
Hao said on her Sina Weibo microblog that she is so excited to be shortlisted. The story was first published in a new electronic magazine. She didn&`&t expect to have this result.
Hao graduated from the department of physics at Tsinghua University in 2006.
The story follows the protagonist, Lao Dao, as he tries to navigate the complicated class barriers of a futuristic Beijing in order to send his daughter to school.
She said she used to live in suburban Beijing. Near her apartment building there were noisy alleys, small restaurants and an open-air market. The experience inspired her to write the story.
Hao said she regretted that the second volume of "The Three-Body Problem" by Liu Cixin, who won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel, was not shortlisted.
Established in 1953, the Hugo Awards are given annually to the best works of science fiction or fantasy and are seen as the "highest honor bestowed in science fiction and fantasy writing. Fifth-three-year old Liu was the first writer in Asia to win the honor.
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A university in northwest China's Qinghai Province plans to offer international students Master&`&s degrees in traditional Tibetan medicine.
Tibetan Medical College of Qinghai University has said that it planned to recruit five foreign postgraduates this autumn. The Master&`&s program will last three years, with students taught in both English and Tibetan.
Established in 1987, the college is one of the two higher educational institutes in China which train traditional Tibetan medicine practitioners. The other is in Tibet.
The college's honorary president said the school had exchange programs with universities in the United States, Russia, South Korea and Japan since 2007. So far, almost 100 overseas students have come for short-term training in Tibetan medicine.
Traditional Tibetan medicine was also listed as optional course at University of Virginia medical school last July.
The president said the core of development of Tibetan medicine lies in training. Helping it go global will be beneficial to more people.
Tibetan medicine is at least 2,300 years old. It has absorbed the influences of traditional Chinese, Indian and Arab medicines and is mainly practiced in Tibet and the Himalayan region.
Tibetan medicine uses herbs, minerals and sometimes insects and animal parts. It was put on the list of China's national intangible cultural heritage in 2006.
You're listening to Special English. I&`&m Sam Duckett in Beijing.
Disney's "The Jungle Book" continued to lead the box office in its second week after release.
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