每日英語跟讀 Ep.930: About SKorea- Hopes dashed for ’normal’ school life 對「正常」學校生活的希望破滅與執政黨支持率下跌

Seeing a stabilizing trend of new novel coronavirus cases in the past few months, many students, teachers and parents had hoped the coming second semester of the school year would be different. The first semester had been punctuated with weeks of closures followed by weeks of online-only classes and a mix of online and offline formats.

看到（南韓）過去幾個月新型冠狀病毒新增病例呈穩定趨勢，許多學生、教師和家長原本希望，學校即將到來的第2學期將有所不同。第1學期不時遭為期數週的閉校打斷，緊接著就是數週僅採線上授課，以及虛實融合授課模式。

But with COVID-19 cases suddenly surging in the capital region, it looks like online classes will be the norm again in the coming new semester. The start of the fall semester differs across cities and provinces, ranging from mid-August to early September.

但隨著新型冠狀病毒病的病例在首都地區突然激增，看來線上課程在即將到來的新學期又會是常態。秋季學期的開學時間，在各市與道有所不同，從8月中到9月初間不等。

According to government data, a total of 150 students and 30 school employees have been infected with the coronavirus since May 20.

根據政府資料，自5月20日以來，共150名學生及30名學校員工已染上該冠狀病毒。

Ruling party struggles with sinking approval rating 支持率下跌 執政黨舉步維艱

The approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea（DPK）has continued on a downward spiral as a result of botched real estate policies and the autocratic passage of controversial bills, a survey showed, Thursday.

週四一份調查顯示，（南韓）執政的共同民主黨支持率，已持續呈螺旋式下降。原因是糟糕的房地產政策及專橫地通過有爭議的法案。

In the poll of 1,510 adults conducted by Realmeter from Monday to Wednesday, 35.6 percent said they support the DPK, while 34.8 percent expressed support for the United Future Party（UFP）.

在南韓民調機構Realmeter自週一至週三、針對1510名成人所做的民調中，35.6%表示，他們支持共同民主黨，而有34.8%表達對（最大在野黨）未來統合黨的支持。

The gap between approval ratings of the parties was the smallest since the UFP was launched in February.

兩黨這次的支持率差距，創下未來統合黨自2月成立以來的最小紀錄。

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1391936 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1394947