2012/2/1 You and Yours Listening notes

(1) gym membership: 健身房會員 The launch of the Office of Fair Trading's investigation into gym memberships.
a valid reason for the cancel (n.) of the contract 取消合約的充分理由
to terminate the contract 終止合約
be made redundant 被解雇
sticking point 分歧點 問題癥結
be hounded by debt management company
be in breach of ... 違反...

(2) No win no fee: Should "success fees" for lawyers be scrapped?律師收取的費用應該被取消嗎 ?

take the legitimate claim to the court

double or quits : (American English: double or nothing) : 賭博時要不輸個精光 要不贏雙倍...

(3) Accessible Museum: Bristol's new museum M Shed has won a Jodi award - it’s pioneering the use of the Penfriend labelling device to give visually-impaired people access to information about the various exhibits.

(4) Rate my care home? The care minister has said that there should be TripAdvisor style online ratings for care homes. But how would this work in practice? 線上評鑑看護之家可行嗎  ?

(5)  Trust deeds: 信託契約 If you are buying a house with friends should you get one? And what happens when things go wrong?
legal binding agreement: 有法律約束力的合約

(6)  Nail bars 美甲店 : Manicures 美甲護理- a new economic indicator? Why Nail bars are bucking the recession.

franchise (v.) 加盟

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01bb7jk

各種保存期限 英文怎麼說 sell by date; expiration date; best before date

1. Best if used by/use-by date.best before date: 最佳使用或食用期限:強調產品在此日期前保有最完整新鮮度等 過了此期限 雖可食用(edible)但品質或許變差(deteriorate)
2. Expiration date: 保存期限:超過期限請丟棄(toss it off)
3. Sell-by or pull-by date: 此期限是製造商用來告知商店何時將產品下架(remove.. from the shelves)
4. Guaranteed fresh: 用在易變質的烘焙食品(perishable baked food) 若超過此期限 仍可食用但不保證新鮮
5. Pack date:包裝日期 多用在罐頭或盒裝產品

http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/aa102102b.htm

過期產品 英文怎麼說

過期食品: expired food products ; outdated food products
過期: be past the expiration date
(食物)有效期限: expiration date
shelf life 保存期

Inspection on one of Taiwan's biggest middlemen traders (中盤商) led to scandals involving the sales of expired food products by two famous snack food companies less than one month before the traditional snack high season of Chinese New Year.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2011/12/28/327249/p1/Snack-makers.htm

牛津字典年度字: 窘迫的中產階級 Oxford English Dictionary Picks ‘Squeezed Middle’ as Word of the Year | NewsFeed | TIME.com

   It’s that time of year again: lexicographers (詞典編纂者) from the Oxford English Dictionary have come together to pick the one word or phrase that defines the past 12 months.
2011 is the year of the “squeezed middle,” as suggested by British Labour Party politician Ed Miliband. OED compilers from both the U.S. and the U.K. came together to review the buzzwords (流行熱門字)that “captured the flavor of the year”—including occupy(指類似佔領華爾街運動) , podcasting, hactivisim (非法入侵電腦或網路來達成政治目的: wiki:the use of computers and computer networks as a means of protest to promote political ends.), Arab Spring (阿拉伯之春), and an OED judge’s favorite, “bunga bunga”(義大利前總理的雜交性派對)—used in reference to Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s scandalous parties.

  Miliband discussed the word on BBC’s Radio 4 earlier this year, where he failed to clearly define who the “squeezed middle” exactly included, saying it referred to people “around the average income, but below and above the average income.” This obviously includes just about everyone, and after being called out by host John Humphrys, Miliband clarified: “I’m not talking about people on benefits, I’m not talking about people on six-figure salaries either; I’m talking about the broad middle class in this county who find themselves financially hard-pressed.”

   The OED in turn defines “squeezed middle” as “the section of society regarded as particularly affected by inflation, wage freezes, and cuts in public spending during a time of economic difficulty, consisting principally of those people on low or middle incomes.”
(牛津大辭典進一步將 squeezed middle 定義為: 在經濟不景氣中受通貨膨脹 停滯薪水及公部門支出縮減影響的社會中階或中低階層)
  Though critics of the choice say that it’s too vague and all-encompassing to have much meaning, the phrase seems fitting following last year’s winner: “big society.” Susie Dent, an Oxford dictionary spokesperson and judge, said that the list of words up for consideration this year was a “sober list for sober times.” Of “squeezed middle,” Dent defended the choice, saying in a statement that the “likelihood of its endurance as anxieties deepen made it a good global candidate for Word of the Year.”
And while it may feel like a loose definition, Dent says “it’s something that, in a way, we all feel we belong to.”

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/11/28/oxford-english-dictionary-picks-squeezed-middle-as-word-of-the-year/#ixzz1f4F9pGsd

詐保 詐領保險金 英文怎麼說

詐保 : insurance scam (n.)  scam:(n.)欺詐
向保險公司詐領 to fraud the insurer
fleece insurers of their money
fleece (v.) 敲詐

Taiwan investigators yesterday interviewed a Taiwan businessman accused by mainland police of chopping off his own hand in an attempt to defraud his insurer, saying they would not prosecute the man on the strength of evidence furnished by mainland authorities alone.


Source: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/intl-community/2011/11/29/324375/China-accuses.htm

2011/5/26 You and Yours Listening Notes BBC 英文聽力筆記

BBC 英文聽力筆記:

C1: Health Reforms: 健保改革:
The Department of Health has ordered a pause to make space to listen to the people worried about changes to the NHS. The BMA and the Royal College of GPs are two organisations who have concerns.
(1) The bills should be withdrawn and re-drawn.
(2) advisory group 諮詢團體 / listening exercise
(3) sweep away the tears of the NHS managers overnight
(4) operate the pilot schemes
(5) shadow consortium 影子財團
(6) deliver the value for money 划算

C2: Blocked Drains: 下水道阻塞

Baby wipes are causing havoc in our sewers. Reporter Melanie Abbott visits a sewage works to find out more.
Down the drains with a flusher - we count the cost of clearing up the baby wipes and face cleaners we insist on flushing down the loo.
(1) provide the perfect combination of sth
(2) blockage 阻塞
(3) machinery 大型機器
(4) shred 切碎
(5) conveyor belt 輸送帶
(6) parking enforcement notice
(7) really unappetizing looking pile of rags, mops and rubbish
(8) what is flushable and disposable
(9) break down in the sewage 在下水道分解
(10) moisture tissue 濕紙巾
(11) biodegradable (a.) 能進行生物分解的

C3: 50p rail fares 50 便士的火車票
Southern rail are offering 50p rail fares, but if they can do it today, why not all the time?

C4: Children's Nursery:

The death of a child in a nursery playground has highlighted how the regulator, OFSTED, does not always publish information which parents might view as vital.
(1) make an informed decision
(2) a distressing story 令人悲傷的故事
(3) constantly chatter away
(4) resurrect (v.) bring a dead person back to life
(5) inspection reports

C5: Peat 泥炭
Peat is at the centre of a gardening row. Even the government want to see it removed from our grow bags, so why do we find it so hard to wean ourselves off it?
使逐漸戒除惡習

C6:

A new report criticises conditions in ASDA's clothing factories, ASDA say the charity have got their facts wrong.

(1) with a clear conscience 問心無愧
(2) make a living wage
(3) be physically and verbally abused
(4)  sweatshop 血汗工廠


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011cffn#p00h63p5

follow-up stories of DEHP and the cloud agents 起雲劑

http://englishnews.ftv.com.tw/read.aspx?sno=E2516270238AA3E9A00F4B63168F5693
Health Department orders safety certification for major food categories (2011/05/29)

The Health Ministry has ordered that five major types of food and beverages must prove that they are free from commonly used plasticizers before they can be sold The new measure will take effect from May 31. Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta announced the policy as the government attempts to calm public panic over the practice of adding the toxic plasticizers to foodstuffs.
再追塑化劑

塑化劑事件，現在也掃到了藥廠。知名的宏星製藥所生產的一款乳酸菌也被驗出含有塑化劑，緊急下架回收。而衛生署宣示，5月31號前，5大類食品沒有檢驗報告，必須下架停售。今天賣場貨架上，紛紛貼出檢驗報告，但有部分廠商只貼出切結書，仍然引起民眾疑慮。


Hong Shing Pharmaceutical made its name in traditional Chinese medicine herbal remedies. But now its good name has been negatively affected because plasticizer has been found in its top-selling “9 Hundred Million Lactic Acid” capsules.

Tsai Shu-chen
FDA Food Division Director
Its supply chain is from Yun Sheng Chemical through two other companies in a line that we are already familiar with and in control of.

As of Sunday, the FDA has listed 159 companies and 506 products known to be tainted by the carcinogenic plasticizers DEHP and DINP. In order to calm the public, Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta announced that May 31 has been set as a D-Day to end the practice of adding toxic plasticizers to foodstuffs.

Chiu Wen-ta
Health Minister
The quantities of DEHP and DINP discovered have been within safe limits. Currently, there is still more than one day left. There is still some time for us to review (progress) but the cooperation of the manufacturers has been very good. The companies are outstanding.

Because so many products need to provide inspection reports before they can be sold, currently the work schedules of inspection labs are full. On Sunday, some products such as Jin Jin Asparagus Juice only have an affidavit attached that says its test report will come out on June 1. Many consumers were avoiding such products to wait for the test report. The five major categories of food and beverages that must offer an inspection report before they can be sold includes sports drinks, fruit juices, premixed tea, jams, tablets and capsules. Starting from June 1, any products that cannot provide a report must be taken off the shelves until a report is provided.