If someone's intestines are protruding from an open abdominal wound, should you: A. Put them back in place; B. Do nothing; or, C. Cover them with some kind of container and fasten it around the body?
The above is not from a first-year medical school exam, but is one of the 100 questions that locals and foreigners alike could find on China's written driver's licence exam. (The answer, by the way, is C.)
Test candidates are given a booklet of 800 test questions, 100 of which appear on the actual exam. While the questions dealing with traffic signs are universally understood, others have singularly Chinese characteristics.
Sometimes two of the three answers could be equally right, or the answer that is considered right is obviously false.
Take the following example.
"What should a driver do when he needs to spit while driving? A. Spit through the window. B. Spit into a piece of waste paper, then put it into a garbage can. C. Spit on the floor of the vehicle."
Answer? B.
On one recent morning, a group of Americans, Russians, South Koreans and French nationals waited for the test at the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, in a room reserved for foreigners behind the toilets.
A series of gory images flashed across a flat-screen television: a badly injured person lying in a car's back seat, covered in blood; a dazed driver sitting on the ground after an accident; mourning relatives in tears.
Nikita, a Russian who works for an aviation company in the Chinese capital, was the most confident person in the group, after spending four days revising the multiple-choice questionnaire. Nothing could go wrong -- so he thought.
The 20 or so examinees took their seats, each facing a computer screen. The test began.
They had to write their ID numbers, pick a language, and click their way through the computerised test: A, B, or C. True or False. Yes or No.
All 100 questions had be completed in 45 minutes, with a candidate needing 90 or more correct to pass. Results were given immediately.
A group of US embassy staffers left the room, mostly in a jubilant mood -- all had passed except for one man, who only got 82 percent correct.
"We spent the entire weekend cramming," one of them said.
A woman tried to console the candidate who had failed. "It would've been an even bigger pity if you had scored 89," she said.
Nikita, for his part, was utterly devastated. Despite all of his hard work, he only answered 45 questions correctly.
"I couldn't understand a word of the Russian used on the test," he said.
Once the written test is over, foreigners who have a driver's license in their home country are not required to take a practical test, unlike the Chinese.
But they do have to have their eyesight checked, and this seemingly simple exercise also holds its fair share of surprises.
At a nearby hospital, a nurse asked the latest candidates to read letters from a lighted panel, covering the left and the right eye in turn.
But they have to read the panel in a mirror. And the letters listed do not exist in any known alphabet.
A backwards E? One that is upside down? How do you pronounce that?
Somehow, the candidates passed the sight test, and most left the traffic management office a short time later with licences in hand.
But reality will soon set in.
At the entrance to the parking lot were two cars crumpled like accordions, and on the streets of Beijing, no one seems to pay attention to the rules of the road.
Drivers routinely overtake on the right, taxis breeze through red lights, cyclists ride against the traffic and pedestrians jaywalk.
Last year alone, 73,500 people were killed and 304,000 injured in traffic accidents in China.
Welcome to China's roads, among the most dangerous in the world.
Showing posts with label real estate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label real estate. Show all posts
Monday, February 9, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Iraqi elections complaints loom
Passing through razor-wire cordons and police checkpoints, Iraqi voters Saturday took another step in the nation's quest for stability in provincial elections that were carried off without major violence but tarnished by claims of flaws and threats of challenges.
There were reports of isolated violence and unrest.
The voting began under a security net that appeared even more extensive than Iraq's last elections in 2005. Voters passed through several choke points and then individually searched — men in the open by police and women in tents by teams that included female teachers and civil workers.
The purple fingers a sign of their participating in the election.
Each region carried its own distinctive mood.
Even before a single ballot was counted, Iraqi officials were basking in the successes — watching millions of voters wave the purple-tinted fingers that have become symbols of the country's hopes for a workable democracy.
President Barack Obama hailed the elections as significant, peaceful and important steps toward Iraqis taking responsibility for their future.
But election observers and others were examining a growing list of complaints, including claims that hundreds of people — perhaps more — were wrongly omitted from voting lists in areas across Iraq.
But there was huge amount of confusion,said a Belgium-based election monitor who visited polling sites in the Mosul area in northern Iraq.
It was unclear whether the alleged problems were isolated or could cast doubts on the entire election. Results are not expected before Tuesday. But possible challenges were already leaking out.
But any political bitterness could further complicate another difficult task ahead for Iraq's leaders: getting hundreds of factions to accept the results as credible and then start hammering out alliances from among 14,000 candidates for the influential regional posts. Some are expecting there is a fraud and said some will try to fill those blank ballots, and will complain about the violation.
Zakiya Tahir, a 71-year-old woman who cannot read, pointed to a poster of a local candidate supported by al-Maliki. She have nothing to do with the politics, She just want to feel safe again.
The overall picture, however, was close to the goals set by Iraqi officials desperate to portray a sense of order and confidence nearly six years after the U.S.-led invasion.
A senior Sunni leader in the western Anbar province — where former anti-insurgent militias were seeking political gains — alleged that voters couldn't reach polling stations because of the traffic ban and others in Fallujah found the door shut.
In the southern Shiite city of Basra, voter Hadi Thegil stared angrily at election workers when he was told he wasn't on the registration list, which is compiled using information form Iraq's ration card system. He left muttering: "I feel robbed."
The U.N election observers described the elections in mostly positive, the rules were followed. They weren't aware of confusion in the station they visited.
A Shiite lawmaker also found the election process generally good, but noted the real test is yet to come: how the major political bloc perceive the outcome.
It will be a huge job sorting it all out. A total of 440 seats are at stake on the various provincial councils in the election — covering the whole country expect four northern areas.
The winners then will have to forge working coalitions from a potential patchwork: veteran political groups amid the many newcomer candidates. There also are still questions about how to ensure sufficient representation from the approximately 3,900 women candidates.
In some parts of Baghdad, checkpoints were spaced 30 yards apart and Iraqi security forces, including special forces in combat gear, conducted foot patrols.
U.S. soldiers were also out in force, but remained well away from polling centers. The U.S. military assisted in security preparations for the elections, but said troops had a back seat role in the election day operations.
In Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown about 80 miles north of Baghdad, three mortar shells exploded near a polling station, but caused no casualties.
Hundreds of Iraqi Kurds stormed an election office in the disputed northern city of Khanaqin after claiming many of them were not on voting lists. There were no reports of serious injuries. The incident was part of lingering disputes between Kurds and the Arab-run central government over control of the city near the Iranian border.
In Kurdish autonomous region — which is scheduled to hold elections later — special polling sites were created for Iraqis who have sought refuge from violence in other parts of Iraq. A refugee here said who fled Baghdad two years ago.
In the western Anbar province, the Sunni tribes which rose up against al-Qaida and other insurgents — and led to a turning point of the war — are now seeking to transform their fame into council seats and significantly increase their role in wider Iraqi affairs. Turnout in Anbar was about 2 percent in provincial elections four years ago.
And in Iraq's Shiite south, loyalists to prime minister al-Maliki appeared to receive a boost from the offensives last year that broke the hold of Shiite militias in the key city of Basra and other places.
In nearby Mosul, considered one of the last urban strongholds of al-Qaida in Iraq and other insurgent groups, Sunni Arab parties urged for a high turnout to counter Kurdish ambitions to extend their influence over the city.
The Sunni decision to boycott the last provincial ballot in January 2005 handed control of Mosul and the surrounding province to the Kurds — even though they make up less than a third of the population.
There were reports of isolated violence and unrest.
The voting began under a security net that appeared even more extensive than Iraq's last elections in 2005. Voters passed through several choke points and then individually searched — men in the open by police and women in tents by teams that included female teachers and civil workers.
The purple fingers a sign of their participating in the election.
Each region carried its own distinctive mood.
Even before a single ballot was counted, Iraqi officials were basking in the successes — watching millions of voters wave the purple-tinted fingers that have become symbols of the country's hopes for a workable democracy.
President Barack Obama hailed the elections as significant, peaceful and important steps toward Iraqis taking responsibility for their future.
But election observers and others were examining a growing list of complaints, including claims that hundreds of people — perhaps more — were wrongly omitted from voting lists in areas across Iraq.
But there was huge amount of confusion,said a Belgium-based election monitor who visited polling sites in the Mosul area in northern Iraq.
It was unclear whether the alleged problems were isolated or could cast doubts on the entire election. Results are not expected before Tuesday. But possible challenges were already leaking out.
But any political bitterness could further complicate another difficult task ahead for Iraq's leaders: getting hundreds of factions to accept the results as credible and then start hammering out alliances from among 14,000 candidates for the influential regional posts. Some are expecting there is a fraud and said some will try to fill those blank ballots, and will complain about the violation.
Zakiya Tahir, a 71-year-old woman who cannot read, pointed to a poster of a local candidate supported by al-Maliki. She have nothing to do with the politics, She just want to feel safe again.
The overall picture, however, was close to the goals set by Iraqi officials desperate to portray a sense of order and confidence nearly six years after the U.S.-led invasion.
A senior Sunni leader in the western Anbar province — where former anti-insurgent militias were seeking political gains — alleged that voters couldn't reach polling stations because of the traffic ban and others in Fallujah found the door shut.
In the southern Shiite city of Basra, voter Hadi Thegil stared angrily at election workers when he was told he wasn't on the registration list, which is compiled using information form Iraq's ration card system. He left muttering: "I feel robbed."
The U.N election observers described the elections in mostly positive, the rules were followed. They weren't aware of confusion in the station they visited.
A Shiite lawmaker also found the election process generally good, but noted the real test is yet to come: how the major political bloc perceive the outcome.
It will be a huge job sorting it all out. A total of 440 seats are at stake on the various provincial councils in the election — covering the whole country expect four northern areas.
The winners then will have to forge working coalitions from a potential patchwork: veteran political groups amid the many newcomer candidates. There also are still questions about how to ensure sufficient representation from the approximately 3,900 women candidates.
In some parts of Baghdad, checkpoints were spaced 30 yards apart and Iraqi security forces, including special forces in combat gear, conducted foot patrols.
U.S. soldiers were also out in force, but remained well away from polling centers. The U.S. military assisted in security preparations for the elections, but said troops had a back seat role in the election day operations.
In Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown about 80 miles north of Baghdad, three mortar shells exploded near a polling station, but caused no casualties.
Hundreds of Iraqi Kurds stormed an election office in the disputed northern city of Khanaqin after claiming many of them were not on voting lists. There were no reports of serious injuries. The incident was part of lingering disputes between Kurds and the Arab-run central government over control of the city near the Iranian border.
In Kurdish autonomous region — which is scheduled to hold elections later — special polling sites were created for Iraqis who have sought refuge from violence in other parts of Iraq. A refugee here said who fled Baghdad two years ago.
In the western Anbar province, the Sunni tribes which rose up against al-Qaida and other insurgents — and led to a turning point of the war — are now seeking to transform their fame into council seats and significantly increase their role in wider Iraqi affairs. Turnout in Anbar was about 2 percent in provincial elections four years ago.
And in Iraq's Shiite south, loyalists to prime minister al-Maliki appeared to receive a boost from the offensives last year that broke the hold of Shiite militias in the key city of Basra and other places.
In nearby Mosul, considered one of the last urban strongholds of al-Qaida in Iraq and other insurgent groups, Sunni Arab parties urged for a high turnout to counter Kurdish ambitions to extend their influence over the city.
The Sunni decision to boycott the last provincial ballot in January 2005 handed control of Mosul and the surrounding province to the Kurds — even though they make up less than a third of the population.
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