Cristina Dinu

News articles translation samples Translated title of the article: ‘Singapore sets up 60 special recycling bins for textiles to allow the public to recycle clothes, shoes, toys’ Original article in Chinese: https://www.8world.com/singapore/60-textile-recycling-bins-across-singapore- Curated translation/summary of the article: “Ch8 Online (6 Dec) reported that Bukit Merah and Queenstown residents can now conveniently recycle old clothes with new textile recycling bins in their neighbourhood. In an update posted to Facebook by Tanjong Pagar GRC Member of Parliament Eric Chua, the textile recycling bins have been deployed at the following six locations: 40 Cambridge Road, 85 Dawson Road, 1, Jalan Bukit Merah, 127 Kim Tian Road, 35A Margaret Drive and 75B Redhill Road. Residents can drop off not just clothes into the recycling bins, but also bags, shoes, accessories, belts, hats and caps, plush toys and even pillow linens. The 60 textile recycling bins are set up by Cloop, a local clothes swap organisation, in partnership with Life Line Clothing, a Malaysian-based textile recycler.” Translated title: ‘Stallholders interviewed are worried that the management company’s lack of experience will make the Jurong West Hawker Centre empty again’ Original article in Chinese: https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/singapore/story- Curated translation/summary of the article: “LHZB (27 Jan, p7) and LHZB Online (27 Jan) reported that the redesigned Jurong West Hawker Centre will be the first hawker centre managed by Chang Cheng Mee Wah Food. Some hawkers interviewed worry that the group will repeat the same mistakes that the previous operator made due to lack of experience, resulting in poor management of the hawker centre again. One wanton noodle stallholder has been operating in Jurong West Hawker Centre for more than three years. After the hawker centre closed in August 2020, she continued to do business in another hawker centre with the assistance of NEA. Since it is only a five-minute walk from her home to the Jurong West Hawker Centre, she has been looking forward to returning to this hawker centre. She said that when her husband and she started at Jurong West Hawker Centre, they decided to run the business until retirement. Unexpectedly, the hawker centre closed down after a few years. However, she changed her mind after learning that the hawker centre would be managed by JW 50 Hawker Heritage, part of the Chang Cheng Mee Wah Food. She worried that if the centre was managed by a company that has no experience in managing hawker centres, the previous problems will happen again, resulting in sparse crowds. She believed that Hawker Management, a subsidiary of Koufu Group that managed the hawker centre before, had implemented some plans that affected the flow of people, leading to the eventual closure of the hawker centre. For example, diners were required to pay an extra 20 cents when purchasing food, and could only get the money back when their trays were returned after eating in the centre. Mr Ricky Kok Kuan Hwa, Managing Director of Chang Cheng Group Pte Ltd, told LHZB that the company has organised a team dedicated to managing hawker centres and will refer to the operating models of some new hawker centres to learn from past experiences. Zhuo Yanling, 28, used to sell French fries in the Jurong West Hawker Centre. She revealed that on Thursday (26 January) afternoon, NEA called to ask if she would like to return to the hawker centre. However, she and her partner have been mainly engaged in online business since October 2022, thus they have decided to wait for the authorities to confirm the rent and other details before making a decision. As far as she knows, the rent of Jurong West Hawker Centre will be the same as that of new hawker centres such as Senja Hawker Center and Canberra Hawker Center, at about two to three thousand dollars. She added that if the rent is about $3,000, it will be too expensive, and they would need more time to consider whether to come back to do business in the centre. There are only two dining options near the hawker centre that offer more affordable food. Diner Li Junjie, 26, is looking forward to more food choices brought by the hawker centre, and he hopes the prices will not be too high. Huang Shufen, 57, said that the hawker centre used to be deserted, probably because the food stalls were located on the second floor, which was inconvenient. The redesigned hawker centre has food stalls on both floors, which will be more convenient. But the most important aspect is that the prices should not be too high, and preferably cheaper than the surrounding coffee shops and food courts. Mr Kok Kuan Hwa said that the group will go all out, in addition to ensuring affordable food prices, it will also be committed to providing a comfortable and hygienic dining environment.” Translated title: ‘Stallholders urged the Town Council to replace all light bulbs in the ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre as soon as possible’ Original article in Chinese: https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/singapore/story- Curated translation/summary of the article: “LHZB (3 Feb, p4) and LHZB Online (3 Feb) reported that after people complained that the ABC Brickworks Food Centre was too dark, the Tanjong Pagar Town Council partially switched to higher power bulbs. Stallholders reported that after the lighting improvement, the business has improved, but the overall light is still insufficient, so they urged the authorities to replace the remaining bulbs as soon as possible. Lin Jinfu, president of the ABC Brickworks Food Centre Merchants' Association, said that the town council has replaced some light bulbs in the past month. In addition to replacing some 27-watt light bulbs with 40-watt and 50-watt light bulbs, they also tried to use different designs of light bulbs. Currently, most hawkers believe that 50-watt bulbs are the best. It is expected that the town council will replace the rest of the bulbs with 50-watt bulbs. The Brickworks Food Centre managed by the Tanjong Pagar Town Council has a total of 96 stalls. After refurbishing in June 2020, this cooked food centre uses more environmentally friendly LED bulbs. LHZB reported not long ago that some diners reported that the new bulbs were not enough for lighting, and the dim environment was uncomfortable. Stallholders complained that the lighting problem caused a 30 per cent reduction in business. Mini Wok Kitchen owner Liu Ping, 42, said that since the light bulbs in front of the stall were replaced with higher wattages, the stall has become more eye-catching. Diners sitting under the new light bulbs also said that the dining experience has improved. Rojak hawker Huang Jinfeng, 75, said that because only some of the light bulbs have been replaced, the lighting in the food centre is still insufficient, and he hopes that the authorities will replace the other light bulbs as soon as possible. Dessert hawker Deng Yiwan, 44, also said that replacing light bulbs is an urgent task for stallholders. The lighting problem is related to the livelihood of hawkers. A month's delay in replacing the light bulbs will affect a month's income for hawkers. Diner Zeng Xiangling, 59, said that the lighting in the food centre has improved a lot, and now it looks more vibrant, and the appearance of the food has also been improved, making it more appetising. Li Zhicheng, 64, a regular customer in the centre, said that there is still room for improvement in the lighting. A bright environment is especially important for the elderly with poor eyesight. He hopes that the authorities will replace the remaining light bulbs as soon as possible. Chen Weijie, 30, another diner said that the current lights in the food centre are more bright and that in addition to using higher-wattage bulbs, the town council can also consider using other lamp models. The Tanjong Pagar Town Council responded to the inquiries of LHZB and said that it is working closely with the Merchants' Association, and the work of replacing the light bulbs will be completed in early March. According to NEA's website, there are 118 markets and food centres in the local area, and the operators include NEA and various town councils. In response to the lighting problems of these centres, NEA said that the food centres managed by NEA will conduct lighting simulations and verifications to ensure that the food centres are bright enough. As for whether other food centres have also faced the problem of insufficient lighting, and whether there is a procedure to ensure sufficient lighting before the official opening, LHZB asked the five town councils that manage the most food centres, Jalan Besar Town Council, West Coast Town Council, Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council, Ang Mo Kio Town Council, and Marine Parade Town Council. Among them, the town councils of Jalan Besar and West Coast did not respond to the inquiry emails, while the other three town councils refused to reply. Dr Zhang Zhihui, senior lecturer in Engineering Product Development (EPD), at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, said that the choice of lamp colour, the distance between lamps and the height of installation will all affect the overall lighting effect. Insufficient lighting will not only affect the aesthetics and experience, but may also cause safety hazards, so it is very important to ensure that the environment of the food centre is bright enough.” *Curated news articles summary with multiple English and Chinese sources Original articles in English: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/hawker-centre-and-coffee-shop-toilets-cleaner-since-2020-nea-survey?login=true&close=true https://tnp.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/hawker-centre-and-coffee-shop-toilets-cleaner-now-nea-survey Original articles in Chinese: https://www.8world.com/singapore/nea-public-toilets-survey- https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/singapore/story- “ST (1 Dec, pA17), LHZB (1 Dec, p9), LHZB Online (1 Dec), Ch8 (30 Nov, 2200hrs), ChU (30 Nov, 2300hrs), ST Online (30 Nov), TNP Online (30 Nov), Ch8 Online (30 Nov) reported that toilets located in public places were found to be cleaner in a recent survey, despite the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions which saw more people out and about. NEA said their survey showed that hawker centres, coffee shops and bus interchanges saw improvements in overall toilet cleanliness levels compared to a similar survey in 2020. Lavatories in nine types of premises accessible by the public were checked this time, compared to checks at only toilets in MRT stations, bus interchanges, hawker centres and coffee shops in 2020. The findings were released on Wednesday (30 November) at the launch of this year’s clean public toilets campaign by NEA and the Public Hygiene Council. ST, LHZB, LHZB Online, ST Online, TNP Online and Ch8 Online added that speaking at the event at Our Tampines Hub, Senior Parliamentary Secretary (SE) Baey Yam Keng noted that public toilets were cleaner despite the increase in use with the relaxation of COVID-19 measures. Mr Baey said that he is quite significant because today, versus two years ago, there are a lot more users with the relaxation of the pandemic measures, so it means that even though more people are using our public facilities, the level of cleanliness has increased. But Mr Baey added that even as more facilities and businesses open up, hiring more cleaners would be challenging. ST, LHZB, LHZB Online, ST Online and TNP Online added that Madam Kam Feng Lian, 65, who has worked as a cleaner at Our Tampines Hub hawker centre for four years, offered a clue as to why toilets were cleaner. Madam Kam said that people have become more conscious of personal hygiene during the pandemic because they are scared of the virus and the spread of disease. The Clean Public Toilets Campaign in 2022 aims to continue urging users to adopt the behaviours of “Flush, Clean, Bin, Dry”. Oil company Esso Singapore and e-commerce firm Lazada are joining in the efforts for the first time. Esso will put up posters in gas station toilets to remind people to keep them clean, while Lazada will reward app users, who access campaign messages, with coins which can be used to offset their next purchase or redeem discount vouchers. This is in addition to organisers running the campaign on free-to-air television, and out-of-home, digital and social media platforms. Posters and wall stickers will also be installed in public toilets at hawker centres, selected coffee shops, parks, beaches and community clubs. The Public Hygiene Council is also working with over 100 coffee shop operators to nudge cleaners and users to keep toilets clean. Edward D’Silva, who chairs the Public Hygiene Council, said they initially had difficulty convincing coffee shops to participate, as operators said they had no manpower and could not control the behaviour of toilet users. But the council managed to convince three operators after telling them about the benefits of clean public toilets. NEA’s survey used an index to measure the cleanliness level in different parts of a toilet, such as whether toilet bowls were flushed and whether the floor was dry. The highest score was five points. Coffee shop toilets saw the biggest improvement, jumping from 2.77 points in 2020 to 3.6 in 2022. The score for hawker centre toilets improved from 3.02 to 3.65, while that for bus interchange toilets was up from 3.52 to 3.88. Operators can face penalties if toilets are not clean. Those who fail to provide basic amenities such as soap or toilet paper, or to keep toilets clean, can be fined up to $400. Lapses such as insufficient basic amenities and unclean toilets in food and non-food establishments can incur a fine of between $2,000 and $5,000.”