一名说普通话的圣战战士

choi

安伟, 一名说普通话的圣战战士. 纽约时报中文网, Apr 1, 2013
http://cn.nytimes.com/article/china/2013/04/01/c01jihadi/

, which is translated on

Edward Wong, An Unlikely Jihadist, Denouncing Assad in Mandarin; A new video seems to show a Han Chinese rebel in the fight for Syria. New York Times, Mar 30, 2013.


-----------------Also in NYT (English) of the same day
(1) 黄安伟, 中国工业化的环境账.
http://cn.nytimes.com/article/china/2013/04/01/c01environment/

, which is translated on

Edward Wong, Cost of Environmental Damage in China Growing Rapidly Amid industrialization; Price tag for pollution and effect on ecosystem tripple in 6 years. New York Times, Mar 30, 2013.

Quote:

(a) "The cost of environmental degradation in China was about $230 billion in 2010, or 3.5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product — three times that in 2004, in local currency terms, an official Chinese news report said this week.

"The statistic came from a study by the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, which is part of the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

(b) "[S]aid Alistair Thornton, a China economist at the research firm IHS Global Insight[,] 'Digging a hole and filling it back in again gives you G.D.P. growth. It doesn’t give you economic value. A lot of the activity in China over the last few years has been digging holes to fill them back in again — anything from bailing out failing solar companies to ignoring the ‘externalities’ of economic growth.'

My comment:
(a) Officially China surpassed Japan as the second largest economy in 2Q10--when both government revealed its GDP figures.
(b) Official GDP of China in 2010 was 10.3%. Quotation (a) means that effectively GDP growth that year was 6.8% (10.3 minus 3.5), which does not even include some other parts of "digging holes to fill them back in again" such as bailouts.


(2) Matt Flegenheimer, To Replace Cobblestones, Old-Looking Cobblestones. New York Times, Mar 30, 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/3 ... d-cobblestones.html

Note:
(a) Duane Reade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duane_Reade
(Duane Reade Inc, a subsidiary of the Walgreen Company, is a chain of pharmacy and convenience stores, primarily located in New York City; section 1 History)
(b) The report mentions "Dumbo Neighborhood Alliance, a residents’ group."
(i) Dumbo, Brooklyn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbo,_Brooklyn

See tha map in
Kathy, How to Spend an Afternoon in DUMBO, Brooklyn, With Your Baby or Kid. New York City Family, Dec 9, 2011.
http://www.newyorkcityfamily.com ... rnoon-in-dumbo.html
(ii) Dumbo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbo
(a 1941 American film; The main character is Jumbo Jr[, a flying elephant])
(c) For Belgian block, see sett (paving)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sett_(paving)

* History: Belgian-Blocks. Horatio Street Blogger, Nov 13, 2005
http://horatiostreetblog.com/2005/11/13/history-belgian-blocks/
("Belgian block–so called because originally quarried in the Low Countries–are squared-off granite blocks")