首页  | 视频精选

THE WEEK July 12: Second chances

2013-07-12 16:07

分享到微信

 

Weiner, Spitzer to rise, come again?

Two former New York politicians whose careers went soft after being rocked by sex scandals are seeking to come again into public office. This week, former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer announced he'd be seeking votes to try out a new position as the city's comptroller - a job that determines the efficiency with which the city spends its money. Spitzer gave up his seat as governor after his involvement with a high-end prostitution ring was exposed. At the same time, former New York congressman Anthony Weiner announced he'd be running to be New York City's next mayor. Weiner was forced to resign in 2011 after he accidentally posted a lewd - meaning explicit or inappropriate photo on his Twitter account that was meant to be sent directly to a young woman. It should be interesting to see how New York voters swallow Spitzer and Weiner's decisions to once again erect political careers.

Snowden offered asylum, marriage

As wanted NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden allegedly sits idly in Moscow's airport, three countries have offered him asylum. The problem still remains, though, that Snowden no longer has official travel documents and the routes to the three welcoming countries all cross through non-welcoming countries' air space. It's still tough going for the man who leaked classified intelligence. But Snowden really has not done much right since the beginning. He didn't plan anything beyond leaking a secret and running to Hong Kong, and now he's stuck sitting in airport. But one thing Snowden has been extremely successful at: picking up the ladies.

Music in the air

A video of two Chinese middle school students playing air guitar went viral this week. I'm not sure what makes an air guitarist feel that they should take their "skill" public, but these two kids can take comfort in one fact: Many air guitarists have come before them; and nearly all of them could be considered failures.

This wacky world!

Citizens of the United States can celebrate as its neighbor to the south, Mexico, has taken over the title of the fattest American country.

Spain's annual Running of the Bulls took place this week, and as always a bunch of crazy people got trampled and speared. Activity on the sidelines of the event was arguably more inappropriate.

A Chicago Sun-Times' headline caused outrage in the media world, as many deemed the decision to use wordplay to describe a tragic story inappropriate. It also raised questions of racial stereotypes, meaning generalities that people make about a certain group of people. Most importantly, our thoughts and best wishes go out to the families and friends of the two deceased young women and the more than 100 other victims of this tragedy in San Francisco.

(Side note: The stereotype the Times was accused of portraying was that Asian people have a hard time pronouncing the difference between the "L" and "R" sounds in the English language. Stereotypes, as previously mentioned, describe certain individuals or things a certain way because they are part of a larger group believed to have this characteristic. This is not a stereotype The Week supports, promotes or believes to be true, but we recognize that it does exist. While we think the papers' use of wordplay may have been untimely, we don't believe the Times editors intentionally took the chance to promote this stereotype and were solely trying to grasp two ideas - flight and fright - from the same tragic story. The company has released an official apology. Again, our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected.)

(中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑)

 

 

中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883561联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。
本文相关阅读
5af95d2da3103f6866ee8458

THE WEEK June 14: Creatures vs Humans

5af95d2da3103f6866ee8458

THE WEEK June 28: Got a problem?

5af95d2da3103f6866ee8458

THE WEEK July 5: Heading for change

人气排行
中国日报网 英语点津微信
中国日报网 双语小程序