Task 1 Retell the main idea following article
Death penalty does not hold answer to corruption
"If corruption of over 500,000 ($79,048) yuan is punishable by death, no official will dare to do that anymore," said Zhao Runtian, secretary of the Heze city committee of the CPC, Shandong Province, and a deputy to the National People's Congress, on Monday.
His comment was enthusiastically retweeted. Many netizens have voiced their support for the idea. Public opinion favors heavier punishment against corruption, but it is rare for an official to openly suggest a radically heavy approach.
Some netizens even suggested an even lower threshold which would see corrupt officials face capital punishment.
Corruption has been a major source of public anger in China and is one of the factors that could threaten the country's stability as discontent over social injustice and the wealth gap grows. Despite various efforts to contain the problem, the situation remains distressing. This is probably why Zhao's suggestion was the most discussed topic of the day. The public, increasingly impatient over the country's slow anti-corruption progress, wants to see a quick solution even at the cost of a dramatic approach.
The seriousness of corruption cannot be emphasized enough. But can a cruel punishment be an effective way to deter potential offenders? History doesn't seem to prove this. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of China's Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), earned a controversial reputation for torturing and slaughtering officials found to have taken even small bribes. But he was still puzzled at his failure to root out official graft.
Extreme punishments may suppress serious crimes like corruption temporarily but not solve them. The violent nature of the punishment will cast a negative effect on a civilized society.
As we have witnessed in the past, public opinion has demonstrated a worrying sign of suggesting harsh punishments when a high-profile case emerges. This emotion often quickly overwhelms the rational thought process necessary to analyze these cases in detail. Worse, this kind of collective emotion is often reflected in the final court ruling.
China's corruption issue, albeit complicated, stems from a lack of a working supervision mechanism and a functional enforcement procedure. Officials at grassroots level are not fully committed to reforms that can help contain the problem. The emotion spurred by the dissatisfaction over the issue only trap public in this debate.
Task2 Fill in the blanks
THE WEEK March 30: Freak out
JetBlue employees are crazy
Are you afraid of flying? Do other passengers make you nervous? A JetBlue flight was forced to change routes and make an early landing after the pilot freaked out in the cockpit and went on a rampage through the passenger cabin. Passengers reported the captain was acting ______[violence] and yelling things like, "Say your prayers!" This comes just weeks after a flight attendant from the same company freaked out at passengers, swore______ them over the intercom, stole beers from the plane's drink cart, opened the emergency exit and ran from police.
Forget online dating
Are you single? A study released this week says you have a better chance of finding a lover by playing the computer game World of Warcraft ______ by using online dating websites. The report said men can expect to hear back from one out of every 100 women they contact on dating websites, while 40 percent of World of Warcraft women report ______[attract] to another player.
Walking and texting
In this day and age, it's easy to get ______[catch] up in technology. Just this week, a woman was text messaging ______ her cell phone when she walked directly into a river. After the rescue, she came forward to the press to warn other people about the dangers of texting, saying she hopes her experience can teach other people ______ lesson.
Rock out with Rakhee
Many of you may watch TV, ______ how do you know what you're watching is worth the time? With reality shows about the Kardashians and Ted's reluctance to reveal the mother of his children on How I Met Your Mother, there's no guarantee that you've found the best TV shows. But take it from Rakhee: Find a way to watch the AMC program Mad Men. It's amazing.
This wacky world!
After finding out that his unemployment benefits would run out if he did not take a job, a man in Austria made sure officials would find he was not suitable to work. He chopped ______his own foot. That's a "step" ______ the wrong direction.
Clay Aiken decided to call out Rihanna this week, saying the extremely successful pop star could never have won American Idol. Clay, Rihanna will always be ______ successful than you. And just as a reminder, Clay, you didn't win Idol, either.
Three of the porn stars who were allegedly sleeping with Tiger Woods announced they will release an X-rated film about their sexual encounters with the golfer. Tigher just won his first tournament since the scandal broke, and the film is set to be released ______the start of the Master's tournament. Perfect ______[time], if you ask me.
violently
at
than
being attracted
caught
on
a
but
off
in
more
at
timing
Task3
Watch the following video
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/video/2012-03/30/content_14955409.htm
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