A MEDICAL school professor held by police on suspicion of plotting attacks on two scientific-fraud busters, is being called an embarrassment to his university and the country's intellectualcommunity.

The Huazhong University of Science and Technology, based in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, has declined to shield Xiao Chuanguo, a professor with its school of medicine and head of the urology division of the Union Hospital affiliated to the university.

"It is out of my imagination if a university professor did such a thing," said the university's president, Li Peigen. "We hope he will be punished in accordance with law if he is convicted."

Xiao has confessed to spending 100,000 yuan (US$14,800) to hire two hitmen through a relative of his to commit the attacks, Xinhua news agency reported. Police have also arrested the alleged attackers and middleman.

Li said he would not lobby for leniency for Xiao, though Xiao is considered a prestigious figure of the university and a candidate to membership of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China's highest tenure award for scholars of natural sciences.

Police nabbed Xiao late Tuesday at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport for hiring hitmen to assault "science cop" Fang Zhouzi, known for exposing academic and scientific fraud, and a financialjournal editor, Fang Xuanchang, who has closely collaborated with Fang.

Fang escaped a sneak attack on his way home in Beijing on August 29, suffering only some bruises.

But the journalist, heavily beaten by steel bars on the night of June 24 night, had deep cuts through the skull.

Xiao blamed the duo's exposure of his alleged academic frauds for his failure to gain membership to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2005 and for instigating mass tort litigation among patients over his alleged medical malpractice.

• medical [´medikəl] a.医学的；医疗的 (初中英语单词)
• suspicion [sə´spiʃən] n.怀(猜)疑；嫌疑 (初中英语单词)
• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• shield [ʃi:ld] n.盾牌；防御 v.保护 (初中英语单词)
• imagination [i,mædʒi´neiʃən] n.想象(力) (初中英语单词)
• relative [´relətiv] a.有关系的 n.亲属 (初中英语单词)
• commit [kə´mit] vt.犯(罪)；把...判处 (初中英语单词)
• agency [´eidʒənsi] n.代理商；机构；代理 (初中英语单词)
• candidate [´kændideit] n.候选人；投考者 (初中英语单词)
• academy [ə´kædəmi] n.专科学校；学会；协会 (初中英语单词)
• international [,intə´næʃənəl] a.国际的，世界的 (初中英语单词)
• assault [ə´sɔ:lt] vt.袭击；殴打 n.攻击 (初中英语单词)
• scientific [,saiən´tifik] a.科学(上)的 (初中英语单词)
• financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)
• journal [´dʒə:nəl] n.日记；日报；杂志 (初中英语单词)
• suffering [´sʌfəriŋ] n.痛苦；灾害 (初中英语单词)
• beaten [´bi:tn] beat 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• failure [´feiljə] n.失败；衰竭；破产 (初中英语单词)
• intellectual [,inti´lektʃuəl] n.知识分子 (高中英语单词)
• community [kə´mju:niti] n.团体；社区；公众 (高中英语单词)
• accordance [ə´kɔ:dəns] n.一致；调和 (高中英语单词)
• membership [´membəʃip] n.会员资格；全体会员 (高中英语单词)
• exposure [ik´spəuʒə] n.暴露；曝光(时间) (高中英语单词)
• embarrassment [im´bærəsmənt] n.窘迫；困惑；为难 (英语四级单词)
• academic [,ækə´demik] a.学术的 n.大学学生 (英语四级单词)
• august [ɔ:´gʌst] a.尊严的；威严的 (英语六级单词)