Man sets himself on fire after girlfriend' s threat

A young man set himself on fire after an emotional breakup with his girlfriend. He is now in critical condition with serious burn injuries.

The 23-year-old man and his girl-friend, 18, have a 10-month-old baby, who is cared for by a relative. The couple's frequent quarrels intensified in recent weeks and on Sunday, the girl declared that she would leave him.

She said that on hearing this, the man doused himself with turpentine and lit a match. Unable to bear the pain, he charged into the shower but still suffered 60 percent burns.

Dad's snake scare in school backfires

A father who blamed his son's absence from school on the teachers and took a snake to the school to scare them, was unfortunately himself bitten by the snake.

When his son refused to go to school for about a week, the father Xi in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, went to see the school principal last week. After a brief talk, Xi took the 1-m-long snake out of his pocket and began playing with it. The terrified principal begged him to put it away. Xi then circled the snake around his waist and continued the conversation. A minute later, Xi suddenly cried out, "How dare you bite me?" He was immediately sent to a hospital and saved after emergency treatment.

(China Daily 06/27/2007)

（英语点津 Linda 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Matt Doran is an award-winning American newspaper journalist and an undergraduate student at Albion College. He is currently a polisher for China Daily Website and is on summer break from Beijing Foreign Studies University, where he will resume his study of Chinese in the fall.