~English~Carol's Abstract of news－Be a finder.

9/19
A news from BBC.
"Almost half of England's schools are not teaching mathematics well enough, putting too much emphasis on "teaching to the test", inspectors have said."

It's really something very different with what happened in Taiwan, or the countries in East Asia.

In our socety, the statement should be correct into "All of Taiwan's schools are not teaching mathematics well enough".

It's hard to say that our society ignore the wrong policy on education, but what we always discuss is the pressure on students than a beter teaching approach.

Be honest, I don't think the mainstream in our society is reaaly care about the pressure of students. More people describe young people as who can not bear pressure (descrbed as the "strawberry"), and how can make students more competitive is the issue most of the parents concern with.

This is the bias focus on the education issue. What we should argue for our children is not "less pressure" but "better teaching".

"Teaching on the test" may hurt the learning of children.
It's understandable that parents expect their children successful in tests, however, what should a nation expect it's future? More people can get good grades on tests? Or more people can make break through in what we have known?

We need more people have longer view on education.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7623436.stm

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9/18
An very interesting news regarding the research of what happend when we die showed on the BBC website.

I feel surprised because I never thought this kind of issue will be focused so seriously in the west country. However, it just surprised me at the first glance. It's reasonable that every human being eager to know what happen about dead.

Something interesting of the research is the view that death is a process, but not a moment.

"death is a process that begins when the heart stops beating, the lungs stop, and as a consequence within a few seconds the brain ceases functioning and enters into a 'flatline' state"

I had ever seen a BBC series about human body talking about the same topic. In that program, there is more detailed experiment and interview with someone who has this kind of experience.

And the results of them are similar. A lot of people who ever closed to the death say that they seen the light in the end of a tunnel. The scientists explained this phenomeno is the result of the "painful brain cell" just before shutting down.

It sounds peaceful that our cells show some light before death. Maybe there will be something more surpring to be discovered by such research.

However, I hold an optimistic view that more finding about the death mysteries, less fear we will have.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7621608.stm

10 minutes audio
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7622000/7622430.stm

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8/31
A. Tesco is going to change its wording. For example, changing "10 items or less" into "up to 10 items", and "less" into "fewer".
comments: 1.We should emphasize our corretion of wording, especially in the airport.
2. It's not only something about wording, but the "right information" for consumers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7590440.stm

B.Russia had promised to withdraw its troops from Georgia weeks ago, however, it's a lie.
comments: the term of "sanctions" sounds like a name of ridiculous movie.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7590642.stm

I want to have a more active way of reading news, and, there it is!
Making some abstracts of the news which I'm interested in.
By the way, most of the news will come from BBC.

ps. If there is any incorrect in the abstracts, please don't hesitate to tell me..@.@

8/21

8/16
A. Recent study tell that asthma prevalence is higher among boys than girls.
But when boys grown up as adolescents, they were more likely to shed these symptoms.
And, it will be a exiting insight of the connection between asthma and hormones.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7563753.stm

B.
main idea: UK growth will be slightly negative or zero in the next two or three quarters, but the bigger danger of major recession could be avoided by reducing interest rate.

the effects:
1.    The BCC predicts UK unemployment will rise by between 250,000 and 300,000 in the next 18 months to two years.
2.    A marked slowdown in UK activity is highly likely over the next 18 months

the cause of falling:
A very sharp deceleration in consumer spending growth, in reaction to falling house prices and the acute squeeze on household disposable incomes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7566792.stm

More about “recession”:
a）    technically speaking, the UK economy would slide into recession when it experiences two successive quarters of what is known as "negative growth".

b） a less formal indication of recession: In the US, experts such as Alan Greenspan say families now feel as if they are living in a recession - even though it is not technically the case - because living costs have risen so fast in such a short time and incomes are being steadily squeezed. This is likely to make people more cautious, causing them to spend less and, in turn, harming the economy further.

c）Currently, the UK is not in a recession or even on the verge of it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7495340.stm

C. An invitation to “beauty-disadvatage girl” form a Australian town

Because the men outnumber women in this town, someone (councilor?) suggests that the “ugly ducklings” can turn into the “beautiful swans” in there.
However, this speaking had caused consternation among both sexes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7567239.stm