TEXT N°1: CHINA’S COVID-19 VACCINE AND CHINA-AFRICA FRIENDSHIP

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Chinese government has been putting the
people first, takes it as its responsibility to ensure not just the life and health of its own
citizens, but also global public health, and has mobilized huge resources for COVID-19 vaccine
development. The hard work of Chinese scientists and experts has been paid off abundantly.
Up to now, five categories of vaccines are being developed in China: inactivated vaccines,
recombinant protein vaccines, live attenuated influenza vaccines, adenovirus vaccines, and
nucleic acid-based vaccines. China leads the world in the development of certain types of
vaccines, with more than half a dozen candidates in clinical development.

According to the news released by World Health Organization on August 6th, among the six
COVID-19 vaccine candidates which have entered phase three trials, three of them are
developed by China. According to the data published by the Lancet, in the phase one and
phase two clinical trials, the vaccine has been found to be safe, well-tolerated, and able to
generate an immune response against SARS-COV-2 in humans. The National Intellectual
Property Administration of China granted the invention on August 11, which demonstrates the
vaccine’s originality and creativity, and further confirms the vaccine’s efficacy and safety.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Africa, China has provided Africa with huge quantity of
medical supplies, actively shared knowledge of epidemic prevention and control with African
countries, and sent medical experts groups to many African countries to provide on-spot
guidance in their anti-epidemic effort. China medical teams stationed in African countries
have given full play to their professional and technical advantages, and actively assisted the
host countries in epidemic prevention and control. The brotherhood between Africa and China
is more abundant in times of adversity. China will continue to do whatever it can to support
Africa’s fight against COVID-19. As being pledged by president XI Jimping at the extraordinary
China Summit on Solidarity Against COVID-19 on the evening of 17 June, once the
development of COVID-19 vaccine is completed, African countries will be the first to benefit.
The move once again demonstrates the fraternal friendship between Africa and China, and will
further enhance Africa’s confidence and ability to overcome the pandemic. China and Africa
must combat COVID-19 with joint efforts, enhance cooperation, and take their time-honoured
traditional friendship forward. Together, China and Africa will build a China-Africa community
of health for all and even stronger China –Africa community with a share.

CG Lin Jing, Cape Times, August 21

TEXT N°5: We are in the fight of our lives

Our fragile planet is hanging by a threat. We are still knocking on the door of climate
catastrophe.

It is time to go into emergency mode. I reaffirm my conviction that we must end fossil fuels
subsides. Phase out coal. Put a price on carbon. Build resilience of vulnerable communities
against the here and now impacts of climate change. And make on the $100 billion climate
finance commitment to support developing countries. Boost climate finance for adaptation.
Recognize the need to strengthen support for vulnerable countries suffering from irreparable
climate damage.

These are welcome steps, but they are not enough. Science tells us that the absolute priority
must be rapid, deep and sustained emissions reductions in this decade.

I welcome the agreement between US and China here in Glasgow pledges to accelerate action
to reduce emission in the 2020s.

To help lower emissions in many other emerging economies, we need to build coalitions of
support including developed countries, financial institutions, those with the technical know-
how. This is crucial to help each of those emerging countries speed the transition from coal
and accelerate the greening of their economies.

The partnership with South Africa announced a few days ago is a model for doing just that.

I want to make a particular appeal for our future work in relation to adaptation and the issue of
loss and damage. Protecting countries from climate disaster is not charity. It is solidarity and
enlightened self-interest.

Finally, I want to close with a message of hope and resolve to young people, indigenous
communities, and women leaders, all those leading the climate action army.

Success or failure is not an act of nature. It’s in our hands. The path of progress is not always
a straight line. Sometimes there are detours. Sometimes there are ditches. We are in the fight
of our lives. Never give up. Never retreat. Keep pushing forward. I will be with you all the way.

Antonio GUTERRES, Secretary General’s statement on the conclusion of the UN climate

change conference COP 26, 13 Nov.2021
TEXT N°6: Social media: God or Satan?

There is absolutely no problem and nothing is wrong with using social media. Some people
use it to check updates from their friends and to stay connected. Some people use for
entertainment and spend time. The problem comes when someone become addicted to social
media and overspends their time on those platforms, as a result, their bad habits seriously
affect their lives in negative way. And this is obviously something that you want to avoid. Let’s
take Facebook like an example. Facebook is the biggest social media used by most people in
the world. It has 1.13 billion daily active users and if it was a country, it would be the most
populated country in the world. Social media addiction is a term that is often used to refer to
someone who spends too much time on social media like Facebook and WhatsApp.

Although there is no official media recognition on social media addiction as a disease, the
negative habits of excessive use of social media has become a subject of much discussion
and research. Addiction simply means a compulsive behaviour that leads to negative effects.
And in this case, social media addiction is referring to someone who has a compulsive use of
social media. For example, people who constantly check updates on Facebook or “stalking” to
other people for hours. However, it is difficult to say if someone is a social media addicted.
Just like gambling, alcohol, and drugs, social media addiction seems harmless, but it is a
growing problem that needs to be solved because the effects it brings can lead to depression,
anxiety, cyberbullying, distraction and drop in productivity, fatigue and stress, health problem
such as blurry vision due to strain eyes as the result of long hours watching the screen. If you
spend a few hours into social media checking updates and reading random tweets on Twitter,
it does not make you an addict. If someone is a social media addicted from the official
medical standpoint, there are plenty of signs and symptoms that clearly identify if you waste
your time looking at nonsense and procrastinate, you check in everywhere you go, you check
notifications all the time, you only want to talk to your friends via social media, you constantly
monitor the “likes” and “shares”. You receive, craving for internet connection, you take photos
of almost everything, social media becomes part of your life and checking social media is the
first thing you do whenever you are free.

If you think that spend too much time of your precious time on social media or perhaps you
are addicted to it, do not worry because there are ways to get rid of the bad behavioural issue.
You must get rid of notifications, limit your time spent on social media, delete the Apps, make
yourself busy, restrict your time spent on social media through Apps, create your own reward
system, disconnect and unplug yourself, never bring your Smartphone into your bedroom, get
an accountability partner and you must do self-reflection every week.

By Wisdom Post &Sophia in Social Media Addiction

TEXT N°3 : Social problems among teenagers

A social problem is a condition that at least some people in a community view as being
undesirable. Everyone would agree about some social problems, such as murders and DWI
traffic deaths. Other social problems may be viewed as such by certain groups of people.
Teenagers who play loud music in public park obviously do not view it as a problem, but some
other people may consider it an undesirable social condition. Some nonsmokers view
smoking as an undesirable social condition that should be banned or restricted in public
buildings.

Every newspaper is filled with stories about undesirable social conditions. Examples include
crime, violence, drug abuse, and environmental problem. Such social problems can be found
at the local, state, national and international levels.

There are many social problems that teenagers go through. Drugs and teenagers drug use is
the increasing problem among teenagers in today's high schools. Most drug use begins in the
preteen and teenage years, these years most crucial in the maturation process. During those
years’ adolescents are faced with difficult tasks of discovering their self-identity, clarifying
their sexual roles, assenting independence. Learning to cope with authority and searching for
goals that would give their lives meaning. Drugs are readily adolescents are curious and
venerable, and there is peer pressure to experiment, and there is a temptation to escape from
conflicts. The use of drugs by teenagers is the result of a combination of factors such as peer
pressure, curiosity, and availability. Drugs addiction among adolescents in turn leads to
depression and suicide.

One of the most important reasons of teenage drug usage is peer pressure. Peer pressure
represents social influences that effect adolescents, it can have a positive or a negative effect.
Depending on person's social group and one can follow one path of the other. We are greatly
influenced by the people around us.

According to the lecturer from faculty of leadership and management (FKP), Islamic Science
University of Malaysia (USIM). Madam Marina Muneera Abdul Muattalib said that, in today’s
school drugs are very common, peer pressure usually is the reason for their usage. If the
people in the social group use drugs, there will be pressure a direct or indirect pressure from
them. A person may be offered to try drugs, which is direct pressure.
 Social problems among teenagers, 19th February 2020

TEXT N°2:Violence in schools

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence as ‘’the intentional use of physical
force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or
community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death,
psychological harm, or deprivation’’. From this definition, school violence could be described
to be physical attacks between students or by students on school staff, which could occur on
the way to or from school/school-sponsored events, on the school premises or at a school-
sponsored event. School violence is a public health problem and may take the form of bullying,
shooting, brawls and a host of other physical abuses.

The consequences of school violence are grave, as extreme cases have led to the loss of
human lives. Other effects of school violence include vandalism and loss of property.

School violence is a multi-faceted social ill and may occur for diverse reasons, one of which is
the intake of hard substances such as drugs and alcohol abuse. Students, school staff or
members of society who are intoxicated tend to lose control of their inhibitions and often act
in an irrational manner. Hence, the effect of drugs on the human body can serve as a catalyst
for school violence. Another cause of school violence may be personality problems. Shyness,
for instance, may cause a student to feel out of place amongst his peers, thereby influencing
him to be rebellious or try to get noticed by any means. Furthermore, school violence may
arise due to the psychological deficiencies created by dysfunctional homes. Worry, hatred,
inferiority complex, anger and other negative emotions which fuel violent behaviour, could
develop in people when they are exposed to poor parenting or disaccord amongst family
members. Also, in homes where parents/guardians display violent behaviour, children/wards
usually adopt violence as a way of asserting authority. Violent media is another cause of
school violence. The impact of violent television programs and video games is largely
underestimated in society. It is imperative to proffer solutions to this social ill.

Schools should set into action strong disciplinary measures which perpetrators of the act will
face, if they fail to abide by the institution’s rules and regulations. Students should be
counselled and enlightened on anger-management, conflict resolution, and character
development. Parents/Guardians have a key role to play as they should ensure that the
atmosphere at home, where the child/ward is nurtured is violent-free. Effective
communication between parents and their children will help reduce some of the perceived
pressures which cause students to act violently.

b y EZINNE ENYINNAYA voicesofyouth. org December 12, 2015

TEXT N°4:UNEMPLOYMENT

In the 1960s and 1970s undergraduates did not apply for employment. Employers usually
wooed them by depositing of jobs in their halls of residence for those interested to pick and
choose from as soon as they finished writing their degree examinations. How things have
changed we have since ‘’progressed’’ from this age of abundance in which unemployment 5
was hardly heard of to one economic recession and widespread unemployment. The problem
is so acute nowadays that we find unemployment even with engineers and doctors. What are
the causes of this phenomenon? For one thing, our educational system does not train its
products for self-employment. Everybody expects the government or the private sector to
provide them with job at the end of their studies. As we can now realize the government and
10 the private sector combined cannot create enough jobs to go around the army or graduates
turn out annually by our universities. Another reason is that many parents encourage their
children to enroll in courses leading to prestigious and lucrative professions for which they
may be intellectually unsuited. They end up obtaining poor degrees or not all. Such graduates
cannot compete on the job market, so they swell the rank of the unemployed. Perhaps the 15
most important single cause of unemployment is economic recession. During the period of
boom, economic activities where generated in abundance and this made plenty of jobs
available. There is no simple solution to the problem. Everyone in this society has a role to
play here. The government has duty to ensure that economy is buoyant, thus providing the
right 20 environment for the creation of jobs. The authorities of education have to orient the
process of education towards the production of jobs creators rather than job seekers.
Guidance and counseling services should be made suitable in all secondary institutions.
Parents too, should stop misdirecting their children into careers for which there are ill-suited.

James Dobson