VIP Class Notes (Vicki)

Vocabulary

eye drops – medicine for your eyes

childhood – tong nian

comfort zone – shu shi qu

spy movie – die zhan pian

comedy – funny movie

persuaded / influenced – changed minds
i.e. I was influenced by the TikTok influencer to see the movie Duo Guan.

affected – leads to actual results
i.e. My financial situation was affected by the poor economy.

consequence – result

spin – turn

decompress – to release pressure

pandemic – a disease that spreads fast and widely

take a hit – badly affected by sth.

campaign – project

advertising – the industry 广告业
advertise (v.) – the act of advertising
advertisement (n.) – the actual image or video

sequence – in a chain

index – list
i.e. Let me show you my client index.

branch out – going to a different direction
i.e. He is branching out to study marketing instead of just focusing on engineering.

emerge – appear
i.e. I have just emerged myself from my house.

pharmaceutical – medicine related
i.e. I work in a pharmaceutical company.

nasal-spray – sth that sprays in your nose

Grammar

watch vs. see vs. look vs. read

watch – sth that moves
i.e. I am watching the movie
i.e. I am watching the football game

see – the act of actually getting sth in your vision
i.e. I see you
i.e. I saw a movie yesterday

look – the general action of using your eyes
i.e. I look at you
i.e. I look in that direction but I didn’t see you

read – sth with words
i.e. I read a book yesterday

A businessman who sells bottled water is now the richest man in China. The business magazine Bloomberg named Mr Zhong Shanshan as China’s richest man in its latest Billionaires Index. The magazine said Mr Zhong is worth over $58 billion. This makes him $2 billion richer than the previous number one, Jack Ma. Mr Ma founded the retail Internet giant Alibaba. Mr Zhong made his wealth from his Nongfu Spring bottled water company. He then branched out into making vaccines. He is the chairman of a vaccine manufacturer called the Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy. Mr Zhong is now 17th on the global rich list. It seems that he will move up that list in the future.

Zhong Shanshan, 66, was a construction worker before he got into business. He started his Nongfu Spring company in 1996. This was just as China’s market for bottled water was emerging. Bottled water is now a huge industry in China. Most people who live in China prefer drinking bottled water to tap water for health reasons. They prefer not to trust tap water. Zhong’s pharmaceutical company is also helping in the fight against COVID-19. It is developing a nasal-spray vaccine with the help of researchers from a top university. Chinese media call Mr Zhong a “lone wolf” because he is rarely seen in public. He rarely gives interviews and he likes to keep himself to himself.

Write about an interesting news story you’ve read recently