Thermoelectrics：Every little helps
HERE is a thought: approximately 60% of the energy converted in power generation is wasted. The price of energy is high, both in terms of the actual cost to the consumer and the consequences of the climate change that generating power from fossil fuels causes. If even a small proportion of this wasted heat could be converted to useful power, it would be a good thing.
At this week?s meeting of the American Physical Society, in Baltimore, Mercouri Kanatzidis of Michigan State University proposed such a scheme. He advocates attaching thermoelectric devices that convert heat into electricity to chimney stacks and vehicle exhausts, to squeeze more useful energy from power generation.
The technology to do so has existed for years. If one end of an electrical conductor is heated while the other is kept cool, a small voltage is created between the two. Placing two dissimilar metals, or other electrically conductive materials, in contact with each other and then heating them also generates a voltage. Such devices, called thermocouples, are nowadays usually made using semiconductors. They are widely used as thermometers. But if they could be made cheaper, or more efficient, or both, they could also be employed to generate power.
Dr Kanatzidis is developing new thermoelectric materials designed to be capable of converting up to 20% of the heat that would otherwise be wasted into useful electricity. The challenge lies in finding a substance that conducts electricity well and heat badly. These two properties define what physicists call the “figure of merit” of a thermoelectric substance, which describes the power a device made of that substance could generate. Dr Kanatzidis?s group aims to make materials with higher figures of merit than those attainable with today?s semiconductors.
Since the electrical properties of solids depend on their crystal structures, his group is experimenting with new atomic lattices. In particular, they are working on a group of chemicals called chalcogenides. These are compounds of oxygen, sulphur, selenium and tellurium that are thought to be particularly suitable for thermoelectric applications because their structure allows electric currents to flow while blocking thermal currents. They thus have a high figure of merit. Dr Kanatzidis?s group is developing new ways of making these compounds crystallise correctly.
But even existing devices could become economically useful as fuel prices rise, Dr Kanatzidis argues. In America, transport accounts for a quarter of the energy used. Fitting small thermoelectric devices to the exhaust pipes of vehicles could squeeze another 10% from the fuel—a saving that would be especially relevant in hybrid petrol/electric devices where the battery is recharged in part by recycling energy that would otherwise be dissipated by energy-draining activities such as braking. Similarly, attaching thermoelectric devices to the flues of power plants could generate more useful power.
And thermoelectric devices could be used in other areas. They could work alongside solar cells and solar heating systems. They could also be used in geothermal and nuclear power plants. Dr Kanatzidis argues that wherever heat is generated as part of power generation, thermoelectric devices could help extract more useful energy. Waste not, want not.
考研词汇：
converted [k?n'v?:tid] a.更换信仰的, 修改的
advocate [??dv?kit] n.提倡者，鼓吹者；v.提倡，鼓吹
［真题例句］One of the first advocates (n.) for a national list was a researcher at Laval University. ［20xx年新题型］ ［例句精译］ Laval大学一位研究人员是首先提出创立全国性代理机构的倡导者之一。
［真题例句］The journalist advocating (v.) participatory democracy in all phases of life, whose own children are enrolled in private schools.［20xx年阅读5］
［例句精译］ 倡导终生参与民主制的新闻记者却把自己的子女送进私立学校。
capable [?keip?b?l]a.①有本领的，有能力的；②（of）可以……的，能……的
［真题例句］I believe that the most important forces behind the massive M&A wave are the same that underlie the globalization process: falling transportation and communication costs, lower trade and investment barriers and enlarged markets that require enlarged operations capable (②) of meeting customers demands.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 我认为，推动这股巨大的并购浪潮的最主要的力量，也是推动全球化进程的力量，包括日趋下降的运输与通讯费用，较低的贸易与投资壁垒，以及市场的扩大和为满足市场需求而进行的扩大生产。
compound [k?m?paund]n.混合物，化合物；a.混合的，化合的，复合的；v.合成
［真题例句］Vitamins are organic compounds (n.) necessary in small amounts in the diet for the normal growth and maintenance of life of animals, including man.［19xx年完形］
［例句精译］ 维生素是有机化合物，饮食中必须含有少量维生素以维持动物（包括人）的生存和正常生长。 merit [?merit] n.优点，价值，功绩；v.值得，应得
drain［drein］n.①排水沟，阴沟；②消耗，负担；v.排去，放干
背景常识介绍：
热电转换技术是一种利用半导体材料实现热能和电能直接相互转换的绿色能源技术。使用这项技术，利用农作物、垃圾、汽车余热甚至人体热能，在住宅、农庄、汽车上就可以建立一个小型发电系统，满足人们对小功率电能的需求。采用不同的热电材料可以制成发电器或者制冷器，它们无须使用传动部件，系统体积小，适用温度范围广，工作时无噪音，与太阳能、风能、水能等二次能源一样，具有不排放污染物的优点。
参考译文：
热电学：每一小部分都是有用的
有人认为，在发电过程中，其中大约有60%的能量在其转化成电能时被浪费掉。无论从消费者的实际花费， 还是从用化石燃料发电所引起的气候变化的角度而言，使用能源的代价都是很高的。如果把浪费掉的很小的一部分热能转换为有用的能量，这都是件好事。
美国物理学会本周在巴尔的摩举行的例会上，密歇根州立大学的Mercouri Kanatzidis建议，把热电转化装置安装在烟囱和车辆排气管上，从而获得更多可用能源。
这项技术已经研发出好多年了。如果电导体一段加热，另一端不加热，就会在电导体两端产生少量的电压。把两种不同的金属或其他非金属电导体连在一起，进行加热，也会产生一定的电压。这样的装置被称为热电偶，现在通常由半导体材料制成。这些热电偶被广泛用作温度计。如果它们的造价再低一些，或效用再高一些，或同时降低造价、提高效用，就可以用它们来发电了。
Kanatzidis博士正在研发的一种新型热电材料，可以将原本会浪费掉的热能中的20%转化为电能。他目前面临的困难是，要找到一种物质，同时是很好的电导体又是热的不良导体。这两种属性决定着热电材料的“品质因数”。“品质因数”是用来描述用热电材料所制成的元器件的输出功率的单位。Kanatzidis博士团队的目标就是研制出“品质因数”更高的热电材料。
由于固体的导电性能由其晶体结构所决定，Kanatzidis博士团队于是实验新的原子晶格。具体来说，他们就是在研究一种叫做“硫系化合物”的化学品，其成分包括氧、硫、砷、碲。这些元素被认为很适于热电应用，因为它们的结构能够在阻挡热流的同时允许电子流通过。因此，它们具有很高的“品质因数”。Kanatzidis博士团队正在研究能够使这些化合物适当结晶的方法。
Kanatzidis博士认为，随着化石燃料价格上涨，即便是当前的热电装置，也可以变得更经济实用。在美国，交通运输所需能源占能源消耗总量的四分之一。在机动车排气管上安装小型的热电装置，可以节省另外10%的燃料。这部分燃料所包含的能量，在混合燃料发动机或电动发动机运转的过程中，通过位于发动机上的电池充电，被部分的再次利用，成为循环能量，从而不至于在诸如刹车这样的能量流动过程中白白流失。同理，在发电厂的烟囱上安装热电装置，就可以收集更多的能量，从而发更多的电。
热电装置还可以用于其他领域，比如太阳能电池和太阳能加热系统。除此以外，还可以用在地热发电厂和核电站。Kanatzidis博士认为，热电装置可以收集发电过程中产生的热能，并将其转化为其他可用能量。俭以防匮。
Tracking your every move
Some families in America and elsewhere have started buying childfriendly mobile phones outfitted with GPS (Global Positioning System) technology.
These phones and their related tracking services allow parents to pinpoint the location of their children with ease. Parents agree to pick up the phone bill in return for the reassurance of knowing where their children are; children are prepared to put up with the snooping if they are allowed to have a phone.
Mobile operators in America are now launching tracking services. Under a federal mandate known as E911, they had to upgrade their networks to ensure that anyone dialling the 911 emergency number could be located to within 100 metres. Some operators opted for triangulation technology, which determines the location of the handset by comparing the signals received by different basestations. But Verizon and Sprint chose to adopt the more expensive but more accurate GPS technology instead, and are now looking for ways to make money from it.
Verizon calls its service “Chaperone”. For $10 a month, parents can call up the location of their child?s LG Migo handset from their own mobile phones, or from a PC. The child receives a message saying that the handset?s position has been requested, and the parents receive an address, or a marker on a webbased ap, giving the child?s location. For an extra $10 per month, they can sign up for Child Zone, a service that, among other things, fires off an alert when a youngster (or, at least, the youngster?s handset) trays outside a specified area.
For its part, Sprint has launched a similar service that can also let parents know when a child arrives at a particular location.
Another location service is available from Nextel, a mobile operator that was taken over by Sprint in 2005. Nextel opened up some of its systems to enable other firms to build their own software and services on top of its GPS technology. One example is AccuTracking, a small company which offers a tracking service for $6 a month and boasts that it is “ideal for vehicle tracking” or to keep “virtual eyes on kids”. Some customers are also using the service to track their spouses, by hiding phones in their cars.“Mine is hidden under the hood, hot-wired to the battery—it works very well and it is easy to hook up continuous power,” writes one customer on AccuTracking?s message board, who is tracking her husband.
Start-ups are working on everything from city-wide games of hide-and-seek to monitoring the locations of Alzheimer?s patients. Services that monitor jogging routes, and work out distance travelled and calories consumed, might also prove popular.
As a result, mobile operators, handset-makers and start-ups could transform and expand a small, specialist market hitherto dominated by expensive, dedicated tracking systems.
考研词汇：
outfit［?aut?fit］n.装备，供给
pinpoint ［?pinp?int］ n. 精确a.极微小的v.查明
reassurance［?ri:?'???r?ns］ n. 放心
snoop［snu:p］ vi. 探听, 调查, 偷窃 n.到处窥视, 爱管闲事的人, 私家侦探
federal［?fed?r?l］a.联邦的
［真题例句］A few premiers are suspicious of any federalprovincial dealmaking.［20xx年新题型］
［例句精译］ 有几个省的政府官员对这种全国性代理机构持怀疑态度。
spouse［spauz］n.配偶（指夫或妻），保证人，主办人；vt.发起，主办；v.赞助
背景常识介绍：
GPS全称为“全球定位系统”，它是一种基于卫星的导航系统，其精确度已经达到10米以内。而用户无需为接收的卫星信号本身支付任何费用。而在手机上或者其他掌上移动设备中，当GPS的定位功能与数字地图相结合时，就可以为人们提供更加具体的更加直观的导航帮助，而不是仅仅告诉你目前的“经度、纬度”。特别是GPS系统与手机的结合，更是方便了大家的出行，既可以方便联系，也可以实现车载GPS系统的导航功能。
参考译文：
追踪你的一举一动
美国与其他地方的一些家庭已开始购买适合儿童使用，配有GPS（全球卫星定位系统）的移动电话。
这种电话与相关的追踪服务让父母可以轻而易举地查明孩子在什么地方。父母很情愿支付这笔电话费以知晓孩子身在何处，以换来自己的放心。孩子们想要父母给他们买个电话，则必须愿意忍受被秘密监视。
美国的移动电话运营商们正在推出追踪服务。遵照一条叫做E911的联邦法令，他们要升级服务网络，确保能找到任何拨打911呼救电话的人所处的位置，误差不超过100米。一些运营商采用了三角定位技术，此技术通过比较不同基站接收的手机信号来确定手机所处的位置。Verizon 与 Sprint 两个运营商则选用了更昂贵、但更精确的GPS技术，现在正在此基础上推出新服务，希望能以此赚钱。
Verizon 把它的服务叫做“陪护者”。每月花上10美元，父母用手机或个人电脑发出一个要求，就可以知道他们孩子的LG Migo手机的位置。孩子会收到一条“该手机的位置被要求发送”的信息，父母则收到一个地址，或是网络地图上的一个标记，指示出孩子的位置。如果每月多付10美元，父母就可以成为一个叫“孩子地带”的用户，如果一个年轻人（或至少是这年轻人的手机）在一个特定的区域外游荡时，该服务就会立刻发出警告给父母，类似的服务还有一些。
Sprint在这方面是怎么做的呢？它推出了类似的服务，也能让父母知道孩子什么时候到达某个地点。
20xx年被Sprint兼并的Nextel 则有另一项定位服务。Nextel开放了它的部分系统，可以让其他公司在其GPS技术平台上建立自己的软件与服务。Accu寻踪公司就是一个范例，这家小公司提供的追踪服务每月收费6美元，号称是“理想的车辆追踪工具”，还可以“时刻盯着孩子”。有些客户把电话藏在配偶的车里，用Accu寻踪公司的服务追踪他们。该公司的一个顾客在公司网站的留言版写道：“我把电话藏在引擎盖下边，并插在汽车电池上——真的很管用，而且挂接不间断电源也很容易。”这位女士是在追踪她的丈夫。
新生的公司正推出各种各样的新服务，从全城范围的捉迷藏游戏到追踪老年痴呆患者。一边监控慢跑路线，同时算出跑的路程与消耗的热量，这样的服务可能也会受欢迎。
寻踪服务的市场现在还只是个小规模的专业化市场，由收费昂贵、用途单一的各种寻踪服务把持，但移动运营商、手机制造商与许多新兴公司的介入可能使市场发生改变，并进一步扩大市场。
Treasure on the ocean floor
TODAY, deep-ocean mining is done only by the oil and gas industry. Yet the dream of mining the mineral wealth of the deep has never gone away. Now two firms hope to succeed where others have failed.
Nautilus Minerals, based in Vancouver, is the more advanced of the pair. It has an exploratory licence from Papua New Guinea and has already begun drilling operations 1,600 metres below sea level off the east coast of the country. Another company, Neptune Minerals, based in London and Sydney, has completed test drilling in the deep waters near New Zealand.
Nautilus?s deep-water exploration relies on a modified deep-sea remotely operated vehicle (ROV) of the kind normally used in the oil and telecoms industries. It has a manipulator hand containing drilling and cutting tools that allow the robot to retrieve samples of rock from the ocean bed. So far the drilling has only been exploratory, but the prospects look good.
The presence of these rich deposits has been known about for years, says Steven Scott, a geologist at the University of Toronto. He has been researching underwater geology since the 1980s, and in the 1990s he co-discovered the deposit that Nautilus is exploring. So why has it taken so long to move towards the commercial exploitation of deep sea massive sulphide deposits? Mr Heydon says it is because the ROV technology has only recently become capable enough. He eventually hopes to use rock-cutting ROVs that will drive across the sea floor, grinding ore as they go and sending it to the surface via a tube at a rate of 400 tonnes per hour. It might also be possible to lift large deposits using compressed air.
All of this can be done, Mr Heydon believes, for about half as much as opening a new landbased mine. Nautilus has spent about $12m in the past year on exploration, and Dr Scott says one test drilling found deposits 19 metres deep. Unlike manganese nodules, which are like golf balls scattered across the seabed, these deep-ocean deposits occur in small areas around extinct hydrothermal vents. Such concentrated deposits ought to make underwater mining highly efficient.
Even if the economics stack up, however, Nautilus and Neptune must overcome concerns over environmental damage. Dr Scott argues that underwater mining will be far less disruptive to the environment than terrestrial mining: there will be no piles of waste rock, since the deposits are directly on the sea floor. And whereas the oil industry lays pipelines underwater, mining would not leave any permanent structures behind. But governments will need to be convinced of the merit of these arguments before mining can begin.
考研词汇：
terrestrial［ti?restri?l］a.陆地的；n.陆地生物
remotely［ri'm?utli］ad.遥远地, 偏僻地
retrieve［ri?tri:v］v.重新得到；n.找回
deposit［di?p?zit］v.①存放；②储蓄；③使沉淀；④付（保证金）；n.①存款，保证金；②沉积物
［真题例句］More and more of these credit cards can be read automatically, making it possible to withdraw or deposit
(v.②) money in scattered locations, whether or not the local branch bank is open.［19xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 越来越多的信用卡可以自动读取，于是持卡人就可以在不同地方存取，而不管本地支行是否营业。 grinding a.磨的, 磨擦的, 碾的
scatter［?sk?t?］v.①散开，驱散；②散布，散播
［真题例句］More and more of these credit cards can be read automatically, making it possible to withdraw or deposit money in scattered (①) locations, whether or not the local branch bank is open.［19xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 越来越多的信用卡可以自动读取，于是持卡人就可以在不同地方存取，而不管本地支行是否营业。 背景常识介绍：
深海采矿技术是深海采矿业中的支柱性技术，它对海洋的其他产业技术，如近海矿产业、深海油气业、海洋能源业、船舶制造业等都会有重大的影响。专家们预测，未来的深海采矿业很可能是一组采矿、海洋能源利用和深海农牧渔业等综合发展的高新技术产业群。深海采矿技术是未来海洋产业中的先导性行业技术，它对整个海洋高新技术的潜在影响是深远的。
参考译文：
海底宝藏
今天，深海采矿只是在石油和天然气工业领域得以实现。然而开发深海金属矿藏的念头始终萦绕在人们脑海中。现在两家公司正希望去实现别人未能完成的愿望。
位于温哥华的鹦鹉螺矿业公司是这两家公司里比较超前的一家。它拥有巴布亚新几内亚的开发执照并且已经开始在该国东海岸海面下1600米处进行钻探。另一家公司是海王星矿业公司，分别设在伦敦和悉尼。该公司已经在新西兰附近完成了深水钻探。
鹦鹉螺公司的深水开发依赖于一种由普通用在石油和电信工业上的深水远程操作工具改进而来的机器。这种机器有一个操作臂，其中包括了钻头和开掘工具，使得机器人可以从深海海底回收岩石样品。到目前为止这种钻探仅仅是探索性的，但是其前景很看好。
知道这些富矿的存在已经有多年了，多伦多大学地质学家史蒂芬·斯科特说。史蒂芬·斯科特自20世纪80年代就开始研究水下地质学。在20世纪90年代，他与别人共同发现了鹦鹉螺公司正在开发的这个矿藏。那么为什么深海金属硫化物矿的商业化开发要等这么长时间？海登说，这是因为ROV技术只是在最近才得以真正用于实战。他最终希望能用可以横穿海底的岩石开掘机ROV将矿石碾碎，然后通过一条管道以每小时400吨的速度将其运至海面。利用压缩空气来向海面运送大块矿石或许也是可行的。
海登相信，只要花费相当于一个陆地矿井一半的费用，所有这些就都可以实现。斯科特博士说，鹦鹉螺公司过去的一年中在勘测上花费了1200万美元，有一次钻探发现了19米深的矿物层。与锰结核像高尔夫球洞一样分散在海底不同的是，这些深海矿物层则在熄灭了的海底烟囱附近小范围内存在。这样的集中式分布可以使水下开采效率大大提高。
即使经济上的问题堆积如山，鹦鹉螺公司与海王星公司仍必须克服人们对于环境破坏的忧虑。斯科特辩解说水下开采将比陆地开采带来的环境破坏少得多：由于是直接在海底作业，因此将不会有大量的岩石废料。由石油工业在海底铺设的管线而留下的永久建筑，在采矿业中将不会出现。但是在开采启动之前，政府仍需相信这些辩解中提到的优点。
University bonds: An education in finance
Less well known is the increasing willingness of colleges to borrow in the markets, too. On May 15th, for example, Cornell University sold $250m-worth of bonds.In recent weeks both Harvard and the University of Texas have also raised hundreds of millions of dollars in this way.
Such debt-raising is becoming more common. There are abundant reasons to believe that the market will grow much bigger yet.
Largely this is because colleges are only belatedly becoming aware of how useful the financial markets can be. No doubt some of their hesitation has been cultural: academics may have been reluctant to look at their universities as businesses; or they may have misunderstood what was needed to help those businesses grow.
If they did look at their institutions in economic terms, people in education tended not to think that universities lacked capital. Rather, they thought that they had a structural inability to use capital and labour more efficiently. Unlike the car industry, many schools felt that they must maintain, or even increase, the ratio of employees (teachers) to customers (students). Small class sizes are taken as a signal of high quality, so investing money to save on teachers? salaries is not an attractive strategy.
Schools had other reservations as well. Poor schools were worried about being unable to service debt. Rich schools with huge endowments may have seen no need.
So much for an academic perspective. A growing number of investors saw things differently. Those lovely buildings on rolling campuses, the better universities? reputations, taxpayers? backing of state-owned institutions: all this looked to them like a deep pool of assets against which lots of money could be borrowed. The money raised could be used to attract more customers, who are choosy about the product and whose demand varies little with the price (loudly though they may complain).
Some of the richest universities may be using another tactic too, although they would be loth to admit it. To understand this, it helps to know that America has three types of university-public ones; private, not-for-profit institutions; and private schools run for profit. Both public and not-for-profit universities often issue tax-exempt debt. This tends to be cheap. They can then invest the money they raise in the higheryielding taxable market but, because of their non-profit status, avoid taxes.
This is not quite a licence to print money, but it is not far off. Under a 1986 law, money has to be raised for a purpose, such as a building.However, this is a matter of substance rather than form. Money is fungible. As long as the tax authorities are happy that the promised sum is being spent on the stated projects, a university can borrow cheaply and, in effect, earn a spread. Reflecting just how complex this market has become, most universities borrow at variable rates and then hedge their interest-rate risk through swaps.It is all pretty clever.
Outside America, schools have been hesitant to take this approach largely because their operations and spending are more closely tied to the state, but they too are changing, if slowly.
考研词汇：
willingness ［?wili?nis］n.自愿，乐意
abundant ［??b?nd?nt］a.丰富的, 充裕的, 丰富, 盛产, 富于
financial ［f??n?n??l］a.财政的；金融的
hesitation ［?hezi?tei??n］ n.犹豫, 踌躇
institution ［?insti?tju:??n］ n.公共机构, 协会, 制度
perspective［p??spektiv］n.①视角；②透视法；③(in~)正确地
［真题例句］(63) The emphasis on data gathered firsthand, combined with a crosscultural perspective (①) brought to the analysis of cultures past and present, makes this study a unique and distinctly important social science.［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］（63）强调收集第一手资料，加上在分析过去和现在文化形态时采用跨文化视角，使得这一研究成为一门独特并且非常重要的社会科学。
［真题例句］Not everyone sees that process in (28：perspective) (③).It is important to do so.［20xx年完形］
［例句精译］ 并不是所有人都能正确看待这一进程，虽然了解这一点非常重要。
背景常识介绍：
在美国，19xx年发行债券的高等院校已经达到160所，债券总额达26.7亿美元。19xx年，发行债券的学校又增加到189所，债券总额达到41.4亿美元。债券的形式有两种，一种是普通债券，一种是免税债券。债券偿还期分中长期和长期两种。中长期债券的还贷期在25—30年间，利息在5—6%之间。而长期债券的还贷期要长得多，利率也要稍高一些。发行债券的用途有哪些？概括地说：（1）为了周转资金；（2）为了偿还当前的其他债务；（3）为了用于学校大型项目的建设。
参考译文：
大学债券：教育经费的新窗口
不为人知的是，越来越多的大学开始热衷于向市场贷款。例如，康奈尔大学于5月15日出售了价值2亿5千万美元的债券。最近几周，哈佛大学和德克斯大学也通过这样的途径获取了数以亿计的资金。
像这种贷款集资的方式已经越来越普遍，我们有足够的理由相信市场会得到大幅度的扩张。
这主要是因为，很多大学才刚刚发现金融市场的用处有多大。当然，受传统文化的影响，一部分人还持怀疑态度：学术派不愿看到学校过于商业化；或者他们没有看清帮助这种商业扩张需要的是什么。
如果他们从经济学的观点来看这些学校，教育者们难以接受这些大学会缺乏资金。他们更倾向于认为，学校有足够的组织能力来驾驭资金和劳动力。与汽车行业不同的是，很多学校愿意为了消费者（学生）的需要而保持，甚至增加员工（教师）的比率。小型的课堂教育被认为是高质量的标志，因此投入资金来节省教师薪水并不是有吸引力的方案。
各个学校也有其他方面的限制。普通学校担心自己无法偿还债务。名牌大学由于有巨额的资金捐赠或许没有必要向市场贷款。
学术派的观点暂且讨论到这里。更多的投资者们持不同的看法。校园里面漂亮的教学楼，更佳的学校声望，国有机构的纳税者支持：所有这些对于他们而言，借来的资金就像丢进了一个无底洞。更多的资金可以吸引到更多的消费者（学生），这些消费者对产品之间的微小差别会吹毛求疵，而不会太在意价格的不同。
一些最有钱的大学或许会采用另一种方法，虽然他们不愿承认。要理解这一方法，我们首先要清楚美国的大学分为三类——公立、私立和非盈利型；私立学校为了利润而经营，而公立学校和非盈利学校常常发行一种免税债券，而这种债券并不昂贵。他们可以在高税收的领域投入资金，然而，由于他们的非盈利性质，常常避开纳税。
这虽谈不上像拿到印钞许可证一样，但实质上也差的不远。根据19xx年的法律，筹集资金需要一定的理由，比如修一栋楼之类的。然而，这只是其实质并非表面。货币是可替换物。只要税务机构对这些花费在国有工程的许诺金额满意，大学就能相对便宜地借到资金，有效地赢得其中的差额。这就反应出了市场变得是多么的复杂，很多大学贷款的比例都不一样，然后通过交换来保护利率风险。这些想法都相当聪明。
在美国以外的学校对于全面采用这种方式集资还徘徊不前，因为学校的运作和开销与国家的联系更为紧密，但是他们也在慢慢转变。
University expansion
BRITAIN?S universities are in an awful spin. Top universities were overwhelmed by the 24% of A-level applicants sporting indistinguishable straight As; newer ones are beating the byways for bodies.
Curiously, both images of education—the weeping willows of Cambridge and the futuristic architecture of UEL—are cherished by the government. Ministers want to see half of all young people in universities by 2010 (numbers have stalled at 42%), without relinquishing the worldclass quality of its top institutions.
Many argue that the two goals are incompatible without spending a lot more money. Researchers scrabble for funds, and students complain of large classes and reduced teaching time. To help solve the problem, the government agreed in 2004 to let universities increase tuition fees.
Though low, the fees have introduced a market of sorts into higher education. Universities can offer cut-price tuition, although most have stuck close to the $3,000. Other incentives are more popular. Newcomers to St Mark & St John, a higher-education college linked to Exeter University, will receive free laptops.
As universities enter the third week of “clearing” , the marketing has become weirder. Bradford University is luring students with the chance of winning an MP3 player in a prize draw. Plymouth University students visited Cornish seaside resorts, tempting young holiday-makers with surfboards and cinema vouchers. These offers suggest that supply has outstripped demand.
Not so the top universities that make up the “Russell group”, however. Their ranks include the likes of Imperial College London and Bristol University along with Oxford and Cambridge. Swamped with applicants, only half offer any places through clearing. They have a different problem: they need money to compete for highcalibre students and academics, both British and foreign, who could be tempted overseas by betterheeled American universities or fastimproving institutions in developing countries such as India.
Higher fees and excess supply are causing students to look more critically at just what different universities have to offer. And the crunch could become more acute. The number of 18-year-olds in Britain will drop around 2010 and decline over the following ten years, according to government projections.
Bahram Bekhradnia, the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, a thinktank, says the government hasn?t a hope of getting 50% of young Britons into higher education by 2010. And the decline of home-grown student numbers will have a “differential effect” on universities, he reckons. Those at the bottom end will have to become increasingly “innovative” about whom they admit and some may not survive.
The Cambridge shades evoked by Rupert Brooke were gentle, nostalgic ones. Many vicechancellors today are pursued by far more vengeful spectres of empty campuses, deserted laboratories, failed institutions. Markets, after all, create winners—and losers.
考研词汇：
awful［??:ful］a.①极度的，极坏的，糟糕的；②威严的，可怕的；ad.十分，极度地
overwhelm ［??uv??welm］ vt. 淹没, 覆没, 受打击, 制服, 压倒
curiously［?kju?ri?sli］ ad.好奇地
imperial［im?pi?ri?l］a.皇帝的；帝国的
swamp［sw?mp］ n.沼泽, 湿地, 煤层聚水；v.陷入沼泽, 淹没, 覆没
acute［??kju:t］a.①敏锐的，尖锐的；②（疾病）急性的
［真题例句］Acute (①) foreign observers related American adaptiveness and inventiveness to this educational advantage.［19xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 目光敏锐的外国观察家把美国人的适应能力和创新能力与这种教育优势联系起来。
innovative ［?in?uveitiv］ a.创新的, 革新(主义)的
背景常识介绍：
20世纪80年代英国进行了教育市场化和教育私有化。随后的20多年是英国高等教育实施激烈的市场化改革并取得初步成效的时期；同时19xx年通过的教育改革法和19xx年通过的高等教育改革法，则更是明确要求英国教育转向完全面向市场的体制。政府经过近30年的改革实践，现已逐步改变原来的政府负债局面，走上了良性发展的轨道。
参考译文：
大学扩张
英国大学正处在一种糟糕的迷惑状态。顶尖大学申请者人满为患，其中成绩清一色全A的A级生比例高达24%；新兴大学则为生源争得头破血流。
奇怪的是，教育界两个景象迥异的学校——垂柳依依的剑桥和建筑前卫的UEL——都是政府扶植的对象。部长们希望20xx年半数年轻人能读大学（目前大学生比例在42%左右），同时保证顶尖学府的世界级质量。
许多人指出要同时实现两个目标须花费更多的钱。研究人员需要钱，学生抱怨大班上课和课时缩减。为解决该问题，政府于20xx年同意大学提高学费。
学费虽然不高，却已经引来了高等教育的初级市场。尽管多数大学的学费已经固定在接近3000镑的价位，但仍可以减少学费。其他激励措施则更为流行。St Mark & St John大学（与Exeter大学合作的高等教育学院）的新生可以免费获得笔记本电脑。
当大学进入“调剂”的第三周，市场经营手段也更加新奇。Bradford大学用抽奖赢MP3的活动来吸引学生。Plymouth大学的学生造访Cornish海滨度假村，用冲浪板和影院优惠券来吸引年轻度假人士。种种好处暗示大学市场供大于求。
构成“罗素联盟”的顶尖大学却不是这样。该联盟包括诸如伦敦帝国大学，Bristol大学，牛津大学以及剑桥大学等名校。由于申请者众多，所以只有半数学校在调剂阶段还在招人。这些学校则面对不同的问题：他们需要钱去争夺英国乃至海外的高才生和优秀教师，这些人容易被更富有的美国大学和发展中国家（如印度）高速发展的学校所吸引。
更高的学费和供大于求导致学生在挑选学校的时候更为慎重，所以竞争将更为激烈。而政府预计20xx年起英国18岁年轻人的数量将开始逐年减少，并持续10年之久。
高等教育政策学会（一个智囊机构）主任Bahram Bekhradnia说，政府在20xx年达成让50%的英国年轻人读大学
的目标渺茫。他估计，本土大学生数量的减少将对大学产生“差异化效应”。那些在底层的大学在招生上将不得不变得更富于创新，而其中的一些可能会惨遭淘汰。
Rupert Brooke所唤起的剑桥记忆是温柔而怀旧的。如今许多大学校长则更多地被空荡荡的校园、荒废的实验室、废止的机构里的幽灵所追逐。毕竟，市场成就胜者，也造就败者。
Winning ways
Ever since the stunning victory of Deep Blue, a program running on an IBM supercomputer, over Gary Kasparov, then world chess champion, in 1997, it has been clear that computers would dominate that particular game. Today, though, they are pressing the attack on every front. They are the undisputed champions in draughts and Othello. They are generally stronger in backgammon. They are steadily gaining ground in Scrabble, poker and bridge. And they are even doing pretty well at crossword puzzles. There is one game, however, where humans still reign supreme: Go. Yet here too their grip is beginning to loosen.
Go is a strategic contest. Each player tries to stake out territory and surround his opponent. The rules are simple but the play is extraordinarily complex. During a game, some stones will “die”, and some will appear to be dead but spring back to life at an inopportune moment. It is often difficult to say who is winning right until the end.
Deep Blue and its successors beat Mr Kasparov using the “brute force” technique.
Unfortunately, brute force will not work in Go. First, the game has many more possible positions than chess does. Second, the number of possible moves from a typical position in Go is about 200, compared with about a dozen in chess. Finally, evaluating a Go position is fiendishly difficult. The fastest programs can assess just 50 positions a second, compared with 500,000 in chess. Clearly, some sort of finesse is required.
In the past two decades researchers have explored several alternative strategies. Now, however, programmers are making impressive gains with a technique known as the Monte Carlo method. Given a position, a program using a Monte Carlo algorithm contemplates every move and plays a large number of random games to see what happens. If it wins in 80% of those games, the move is probably good. Otherwise, it keeps looking.
This may sound like a lot of effort but generating random games is the sort of thing computers excel at. In fact, Monte Carlo techniques are much faster than brute force. Moreover, two Hungarian computer scientists have recently added an elegant twist that allows the algorithm to focus on the most promising moves without sacrificing speed.
The result is a new generation of fast programs that play particularly well on small versions of the Go board. In the past few months Monte Carlo-based programs have dominated computer tournaments on nine-and 13line grids. MoGo, a program developed by researchers from the University of Paris, has even beaten a couple of strong human players on the smaller of these boards—unthinkable a year ago. It is ranked 2,323rd in the world and in Europe?s top 300. Although MoGo is still some way from competing on the fullsize Go grid, humanity may ultimately have to accept defeat on yet another front.
考研词汇：
stun［st?n］vt.使晕倒，使惊吓，打晕；n.晕眩，打昏，惊倒
dominate［?d?mineit］v.①支配，统治，控制；②占优势
［真题例句］The coming of age of the postwar baby boom and an entry of women into the maledominated (①) job market have limited the opportunities of teenagers who are already questioning the heavy personal sacrifices involved in climbing Japans rigid social ladder to good schools and jobs.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 战后婴儿出生高峰期的到来及妇女进入男性为主的就业市场，限制了青少年的发展机遇，这些青少年已经开始质疑在进好学校、找好工作、攀登日本等级森严的社会阶梯的过程中所做出的巨大的个人牺牲是否值得。
reign［rein］v.①（over）统治，支配；②盛行，占优势；n.①统治，统治时期，支配；②朝代
［真题例句］(72) The existence of the giant clouds was virtually required for the Big Bang, first put forward in the 1920s, to maintain its reign (n.①) as the dominant explanation of the cosmos.［19xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ （72）巨大的宇宙云的存在，实际上是使20年代首创的大爆炸论得以处于宇宙起源论的主导地位所不可缺少的。
supreme［su:?pri:m］a.①极度的，最重要的；②至高的，最高的
［真题例句］The Supreme (②) Courts decisions on physicianassisted suicide carry important implications for how medicine seeks to relieve dying patients of pain and suffering.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 最高法庭关于医生协助病人结束生命问题的裁决，对于如何用药物减轻病危者的痛苦这个问题来说，具有重要的意义。
brute［bru:t］ a.残忍的, 畜生般的 n. 残忍的人, 畜生
sacrifice［?s?krifais］n.①牺牲，献身，牺牲品；②祭品，供物；v.（for，to）牺牲，献出，献祭
［真题例句］The coming of age of the postwar baby boom and an entry of women into the maledominated job market have limited the opportunities of teenagers who are already questioning the heavy personal sacrifices (n.①) involved in climbing Japans rigid social ladder to good schools and jobs.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 战后婴儿出生高峰期的到来及妇女进入男性为主的就业市场，限制了青少年的发展机遇，这些青少年已经开始质疑在进好学校、找好工作、攀登日本等级森严的社会阶梯的过程中所做出的巨大的个人牺牲是否值得。
背景常识介绍：
人工智能（Artificial Intelligence，简称AI）是计算机学科的一个分支，二十世纪七十年代以来被称为世界三大尖端技术之一（空间技术、能源技术和人工智能），也被认为是二十一世纪（基因工程、纳米科学和人工智能）三大尖端
技术之一。这是因为近三十年来它获得了迅速的发展，在很多学科领域都获得了广泛应用，并取得了丰硕的成果。人工智能已逐步成为一个独立的分支，无论在理论和实践上都已自成一个系统。
参考译文：
取胜之路
自从19xx年深蓝——一个运行于IBM超级计算机上的程序战胜当时的世界国际象棋冠军加里·卡斯帕罗夫起，计算机可以统治这一特殊的游戏就变得不言而喻了。计算机还对每个前沿流域发起攻击。它们是国际跳棋及黑白棋游戏无可争辩的冠军。在西洋双陆棋上它们通常表现得更好。它们正在稳步获得拼字游戏、#9@k和桥牌的一席之地，它们在纵横字谜游戏中也有着优异表现。然而，还有一项游戏人类仍然占据统治地位：围棋。即便如此，人类在这一领域的控制力也开始丧失。
围棋是一种战略竞争。每位选手都要设法夺取领域并围住其对手。在一次游戏中，一些棋子将会“死掉”，而另一些看起来死掉但却会在不可思议的时候重获生机。通常不到最后是很难分出胜负来的。
深蓝及其后继者打败卡斯帕罗夫所用的是暴力破解技术。
然而不幸的是，暴力破解在围棋中将失去作用。首先，这一游戏有着远多于象棋的棋位。第二，一个围棋中的标准棋位上的走法大约有200种，而在象棋中大约是12个。最后，评估一个围棋棋位极度困难。最快的程序每秒可以估测出50步棋，而在象棋中，这一数字是500000。显然，还需要一些更好的策略。
过去的二十年间，研究人员探究了若干种可选性策略。然而现在，程序员利用一项被称为蒙特卡罗方法的技术取得了重大进展。给定一个棋位，应用蒙特卡罗算法的程序预测每一步走法并进行大量随机走法将会带来什么结果。如果它在那些游戏中获胜率是80％，那么这一步可能就是好棋。否则，它就会继续寻找。
这听起来需要花费大量努力，但是进行随机游戏正是计算机擅长的地方。事实上，蒙特卡罗技术要比暴力破解技术快得多。此外，两名匈牙利计算机科学家最近又向其中增加了一种一流的手法使得该运算法则能够在不损耗速度的前提下集中关注最可能的棋路。这一切的结果是能够很好地在小棋盘上进行围棋的新一代快速程序的研发。
在过去几个月中基于蒙特卡罗技术的程序已经统治了9格和13格计算机围棋大奖赛。MoGo，一个由巴黎大学研究人员开发的程序已经在过去一年在小棋盘上出乎意外地打败了诸多人类围棋高手。该程序目前的世界排名是2323位，而在欧洲则处于前300位。尽管MoGo在完整棋盘上的竞争还有一段路要走，但是人类最终将不得不接受又一个领域的失败。
Women in the workforce
EVEN today in the modern, developed world, surveys show that parents still prefer to have a boy rather than a girl. One longstanding reason why boys have been seen as a greater blessing has been that they are expected to become better economic providers for their parents? old age. Yet it is time for parents to think again. Girls may now be a better investment.
Girls get better grades at school than boys, and in most developed countries more women than men go to university. Women will thus be better equipped for the new jobs of the 21st century, in which brains count a lot more than brawn.
Furthermore, the increase in female employment in the rich world has been the main driving force of growth in the past couple of decades. Those women have contributed more to global GDP growth than have either new technology or the new giants, China and India. Add the value of housework and child-rearing, and women probably account for just over half of world output. It is true that women still get paid less and few make it to the top of companies, but, as prejudice fades over coming years, women will have great scope to boost their productivity—and incomes.
Governments, too, should embrace the potential of women. Women complain (rightly) of centuries of exploitation. Yet, to an economist, women are not exploited enough: they are the world?s most under-utilised resource; getting more of them into work is part of the solution to many economic woes, including shrinking populations and poverty.
Some people fret that if more women work rather than mind their children, this will boost GDP but create negative social externalities, such as a lower birth rate. Yet developed countries where more women work, such as Sweden and America, actually have higher birth rates than Japan and Italy, where women stay at home. Others fear that women?s move into the paid labour force can come at the expense of children. Yet the evidence for this is mixed. For instance, a study by Suzanne Bianchi at Maryland University finds that mothers spent the same time, on average, on childcare in 2003 as in 1965.The increase in work outside the home was offset by less housework and less spare time and less sleep.
What is clear is that in countries such as Japan, Germany and Italy, which are all troubled by the demographics of shrinking populations, far fewer women work than in America, let alone Sweden. If female labour-force participation in these countries rose to American levels, it would give a helpful boost to these countries? growth rates. Likewise, in developing countries where girls are less likely to go to school than boys, investing in education would deliver huge economic and social returns. Not only will educated women be more productive, but they will also bring up better educated and healthier children. More women in government could also boost economic growth: studies show that women are more likely to spend money on improving health, education, infrastructure and poverty and less likely to waste it on tanks and bombs.
It used to be said that women must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily that is not so difficult. 考研词汇：
longstanding［'l??'st?ndi?］ a.(已持续)长时间的,为时甚久的
rear［ri?］n.后部，尾部；a.①后方的，后部的；②背后的 v.饲养，抚养
prejudice［?pred??dis］n.①偏见，成见；②损害，侵害 v.抱有（存有）偏见
［真题例句］In that mirror we can see the strengths, the weaknesses, the hopes, the prejudices (n.①), and the central
values of the culture itself.［19xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 在这面镜子里，我们可以看到力量、弱点、希望、偏见和文化的核心价值。
embrace［im?breis］v.①拥抱；②包含
［真题例句］In the American economy, the concept of private property embraces (②) not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights, including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual.［19xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 在美国经济中，私有财产的概念不仅包括生产资料的所有权，也包括一定的权利，比如，产品价格的决定权或与其他私有个体的自由签约权。
exploitation［.ekspl?i'tei??n］ n.开发, 开采, 剥削, 自私的利用, 宣传, 广告
negative ［?neg?tiv］ n.否定, 负数, 底片; a.否定的, 消极的, 负的, 阴性的; vt.否定, 拒绝(接受)
背景常识介绍：
随着时代的演进，特别是知识经济时代的来临，“重男轻女”的传统观念已失去左右企业甄选人才的能力。如今企业在选择人才时考虑的则是“他或她将为企业带来何种最大化的价值”。
参考译文：
女性工薪阶层
调查表明，即使在当今的发达国家，父母依然更喜欢男孩而不是女孩。认为男孩更具优势的一个传统原因是，男孩可以在父母年老时提供更好的经济帮助。现在父母该重新考虑了，女孩或许是更好的投资。
女孩在校学习的分数比男孩高，而且在大多数发达国家，上大学的女性比男性多。因此，面对21世纪的新工作，女性具备更好的就业能力，毕竟21世纪是讲究聪明的头脑而非强壮的肌肉的时代。
另外，在过去二十年中，就业女性的增长是发达国家经济增长的主要推动力。女性对全球国民生产总值（GDP）增长的贡献比新技术和新巨头（如中国和印度）的贡献多得多。加上处理家务和养育孩子的价值，女性的贡献或许超过全球产出的一半。虽然女性获得较少的工资，也难以荣升到公司高层，但是，就像这些年来人们对她们的偏见逐渐减少那样，女性在提高她们的生产率和收入方面具有很大的拓展空间。
政府同样要发挥女性的潜能。几百年来女性抱怨她们受到剥削（这是理所当然的），但对于一个经济学家来说，女性的潜能还没有充分开发，她们是世界上最没有得到充分利用的资源，为更多女性提供工作是许多经济难题（包括人口缩减和消除贫穷）的部分解决方案。
有人担心，如果更多的女性参加工作而不是在家照顾孩子，虽然她们可以推动国民生产总值的增长，但也会产生负面的社会现象，如人口出生率的降低。但是，较多女性参加工作的发达国家（如瑞典和美国）的人口出生率比较多女性留在家庭的国家（如日本和意大利）还要高。也有人担心女性加入雇佣劳动大军会影响孩子的成长。但这种现象是复杂的。例如，Maryland大学Suzanne Bianchi的研究发现，20xx年和19xx年母亲花在照顾孩子上的平均时间相同。工作时间的增加被较少的家务、休闲和睡眠时间抵消了。
显而易见，在深受人口缩减困扰的国家，如日本、德国和意大利，参加工作的女性比美国的少得多，更不用说瑞典的了。如果这些国家的女性劳动力能增加到美国的水平，那么这些国家的人口出生率将会大大增加。同样，在那些女孩上学机会比男孩少的发展中国家，增加教育的投资将会使国家获得巨大的经济和社会回报。受过教育的女性不仅能增加生产率，而且可以养育教育程度更高、更健康的孩子。更多女性在政府工作也可以推动经济增长：研究发现，女性更愿意把金钱花在改善健康、教育、基础设施和贫穷上面，而不会把大量金钱浪费在坦克和炸弹上。
过去传闻，女性必须做两倍于男性的工作才能获得一半于男性的良好评价。幸运的是，事实并没有如此困难。
Vaccines：A new health food
GETTING two for the price of one is always a good bargain. And according to a paper in this week?s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that is what Tomonori Nochi of the University of Tokyo and his colleagues have done. Using genetic engineering, they have overcome two of the limitations of vaccines. One is that they are heat-sensitive and thus have to be transported along a “cold chain” of refrigerators to the clinics where they are used. The other is that, although they stimulate immune responses inside the body, they often fail to extend that protection to the outside, where it might prevent bacteria and viruses getting inside in the first place.In this context, the outside is not the skin: that is dry and hostile to germs. It is the damp and welcoming surface of places such as the lung and the gut that are at risk. Although these are casually called internal, technically they are not. Any nasties in the gut or lungs have to cross the walls of those organs before they can multiply inside the body.
Dr Nochi?s genetic engineering involved growing the vaccine in rice. To prove the principle, he chose cholera, but it should work with other vaccines as well. With cholera, the immune response is induced by what is known as the cholera toxin B-subunit. This is a protein, and Dr Nochi took the gene that encodes it and inserted that gene into the genome of rice. Next to the B-subunit gene itself, he inserted a second piece of DNA called a promoter. This, as its name suggests, promotes activity in an adjacent gene. Promoters themselves are activated by other molecules, and whether they are switched on or not depends on whether the cell they are in provides the necessary stimulation. In this case Dr Nochi picked a promoter that is active in the tissue of rice grains.
It was then just a question of growing the rice and feeding the resulting grains to some experimental mice to find out what would happen. The first thing that happened was that the grains protected the B-subunit from being broken down in the stomach, thus overcoming one of the regular bugbears of protein-based drugs: that they cannot be given by mouth, because they will be digested. This is a problem with today?s cholera vaccine which is indeed taken by mouth and therefore affords poor protection.
When the B-subunits got to the intestines they did exactly what Dr Nochi hoped and induced the production of antibodies and the secretion of those antibodies into the mucous coating of the intestinal wall. Dr Nochi?s mice really were protected. When he fed them cholera toxin, they did not get sick.
On top of all this, he got as good a response with rice that had been stored at room temperature for 18 months as he did when he used fresh grains. For a vaccine against a disease that is found predominantly in poor countries—places that tend to lack refrigerators and have only intermittent power to run those that do exist—that is an enormous advance. If Dr Nochi?s finding can be translated into a product that is safe and effective for people, it will be a big boost to the health of the world?s poor.
考研词汇：
overcome［??uv??k?m］v.战胜，克服
［真题例句］If we do not confront and overcome these internal fears and doubts, if we protect ourselves too much, then we cease to grow.［19xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 如果我们不能去正视并克服这些内在的恐惧和疑虑，如果我们过于自我保护，那么我们就会停止成长。
hostile［?h?stail］a.敌对的，敌方的，敌意的
［真题例句］Stratford-on-Avon, as we all know, has only one industry—William Shakespeare—but there are two distinctly separate and increasingly hostile branches.［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 正如我们所知，埃文河上的斯特福特就只有一个行业——威廉·莎士比亚——但是却有两个界限清楚并各怀敌意的分支部门。
induce［in?dju:s］v.①引诱，劝使；②引起，导致；③感应
［真题例句］Indeed, the mere presence of a grape in the other chamber (without an actual monkey to eat it) was enough to induce (②) sullen behaviour in a female capuchin.［20xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 事实上，一个笼舍里葡萄的存在（就算是没有猴子在吃），就足以引起另一只猴子愤愤不平了。 adjacent［??d?eis?nt］a.（to）邻近的，毗连的
mucous［?mju:k?s］a.黏液的, 黏液似的
enormous［i?n?:m?s］a.巨大的，庞大的
［真题例句］Of course, the use of the Internet isnt the only way to defeat poverty.And the Internet is not the only tool we have.But it has enormous potential.［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 当然，使用互联网不是惟一消灭贫困的方法。互联网也不是我们所拥有的惟一工具，但它却有巨大的潜力。
背景常识介绍：
疫苗，是指为了预防、控制传染病的发生、流行，而用于人体预防接种的疫苗类预防性生物制品。
疫苗是将病原微生物（如细菌、立克次氏体、病毒等）及其代谢产物，经过人工减毒、灭活或利用基因工程等方法制成的用于预防传染病的自动免疫制剂。疫苗保留了病原菌刺激动物体免疫系统的特性。当动物体接触到这种不具伤害力的病原菌后，免疫系统便会产生一定的保护物质，如免疫激素、活性生理物质、特殊抗体等；当
动物再次接触到这种病原菌时，动物体的免疫系统便会依循其原有的记忆，制造更多的保护物质来阻止病原菌的伤害。
疫苗的发现可谓是人类发展史上具有里程碑意义的事件。因为从某种意义上来说，人类繁衍生息的历史就是人类不断同疾病和自然灾害作斗争的历史。控制传染性疾病最主要的手段就是预防，而接种疫苗被认为是最行之有效的措施。
参考译文：
疫苗：全新健康食品
“买一送一”一向都是笔好买卖。这个星期的《国家科学院学报》发表的论文中，东京大学的Tomonori Nochi和他的同事就公布了这样一件好的成果。通过基因工程，他们突破了传统疫苗的两大局限。其一是疫苗往往是热敏性的，因此在运往临床使用地的途中，疫苗必须通过“低温运输系统”在冷藏库中低温运输。另一个则是尽管疫苗可以刺激人体内部的免疫反应，但他们往往不能将保护的范围扩大到外部，那里是能够预防细菌和病毒进入内部的第一道防线。在这里，外部不是指皮肤（皮肤过于干燥不适合微生物生存）。而是指潮湿且细菌容易接触的器官表面，例如肺和易感染的内脏就很易受感染。尽管习惯上这些地方被称为体内，但在学术上并不是。任何细菌要进入体内繁殖必须首先通过这些器官的表面粘膜。
Nochi博士进行的基因工程试验包括在大米中培育疫苗。为了证明这一原理可行，他选择霍乱疫苗进行试验，但这也应该同样适用于其他疫苗。应对霍乱，引起免疫系统反应的是被称为霍乱毒素B亚单位的蛋白质。Nochi博士分析出这种蛋白质的基因，并且将其插入大米的染色体组中。他还在邻近B亚单位基因处插入被称为启动子的第二段DNA。就像这段DNA的名字一样，它会激活邻近基因的活性。启动子自身则由其他分子激活，这些启动子能否表达取决于其所在的细胞是否给其必要的刺激。在这个例子中，Nochi博士的启动子就是在大米组织中发挥作用。
现在，要做的就是种植这种大米并且用它们喂养一些试验用老鼠，以研究将会出现什么结果。首先，谷类粮食在胃中保护了B亚单位被直接消化，因此使传统上一直困扰蛋白质药物的一大难题——蛋白质药物会在胃中被消化往往不能直接口服——得到解决。这同样是霍乱疫苗的一大缺点，现今的霍乱疫苗实际上是口服的，因此往往只能起很小
的作用。当B亚单位顺利进入肠内，大米疫苗实际上已经完成Nochi博士所希望的工作，同时疫苗会使人体产生抗体并将这些抗体分泌入肠内表面覆盖的黏液中。Nochi博士的老鼠在实验中得到了保护，当喂食它们霍乱毒素后，它们并没有染病。
但最关键的是，Nochi博士使用在室温下保存了18个月的大米与使用新鲜大米所得到的实验结果是一样良好的。由于需要疫苗来抵抗疾病的地方往往是那些贫穷国家，往往缺乏足够的冷藏系统并且没有足够的稳定电力来供这些系统运行。因此相较传统疫苗，大米疫苗的这一特点可以说是一个巨大的进步。如果Nochi博士的发明可以制成安全且对人有效的产品，对世界上广大贫穷人民的健康安全将会是一个巨大的推动。
Dolly on the dinner table?Don?t worry about it
The Food and Drug Administration has declared that meat and milk from cloned animals is safe to eat, paving the way for cloned products to show up in grocery stores across the land, likely without any special labels or warnings.
This makes sense because there is absolutely no evidence to show that there is anything unsafe about milk or meat from cloned cows, goats or pigs. (Actually, the FDA is holding off on deciding whether cloned sheep are a safe source of chops, saying not enough information is available yet.) But many of us hear the words “meat from cloned animals” and get queasy. Dolly, fairly or not, is to blame.
Dolly, whose remains are on display at the Royal Museum of Scotland, spent her six years on earth as the object of scorn, fear, derision and slander. The media had a field day upon her birth telling us that Dolly was the key to resurrecting the dead, creating vicious clone armies and a world in which everyone would be trailed by a hapless clone whose internal organs would be available on demand to prolong lives threatened by disease or old age.
But worse was to follow. Soon wacky cults like the Raelians and nutty scientists were hollering about cloning rich people, cult leaders, and generally unsavory types to the rapt and stupefied attention of a media unable to discern the fact that dressing in a Star Trek uniform and displaying a very bad hair dye job did not prove your bona fides as the cloner most to be feared.
All of this nonsense took a toll. It made Americans forget that cloning is nothing more than artificially creating twins. It made us forget that every drop of wine we drink comes from cloned grapes.
Dolly got a bad rap. And it has stuck. But the FDA is right to follow the evidence and let products from clones enter the marketplace.
If people want these products labeled so they can choose not to buy them, that?s their right.
But, before you decide, remember the only thing you really have to fear from cloned animals is what human beings have done to ruin their reputations!
考研词汇：
pave［peiv］v.铺砌，铺（路）
［真题例句］53. What can be inferred from the passage?［20xx年阅读1］
［D］ A long history of success may pave the way for further development.
［例句精译］ 53. 从本文我们可推知什么？
［D］ 长期经济成功的历史可能为进一步的发展铺平道路。
scorn［sk?:n］v./n. 轻蔑，藐视
［真题例句］Few would dispute that the term applies to the Unabomber, whose manifesto, published in 1995, scorns（v.） science and longs for return to a pretechnological utopia.［19xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 将该词（反科学）用在仇视现代文明的恐怖主义者身上，也不会引起多大争议，它在19xx年公开发表蔑视科学、渴望回到前技术时代理想社会的声明。
vicious［?vi??s］a.恶毒的，凶残的，邪恶的
［真题例句］47. Misled people tend to think that using an animal in research is.［20xx年阅读2］
［C］ inevitable but vicious
［例句精译］ 47被误导的人们往往认为：在研究中使用动物。
［C］ 不可避免但邪恶
prolong［pr??l??］v.拉长，延长
［真题例句］On another level, many in the medical community acknowledge that the assistedsuicide debate has been fueled in part by the despair of patients for whom modern medicine has prolonged the physical agony of dying.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 另一方面，许多医疗界人士承认，致使医助自杀这场争论升温的部分原因是由于病人们的绝望情绪，对这些病人来说，现代医学延长了临终前肉体的痛苦。
discern［di?s?:n］v.①认出，发现；②辨别，识别
［真题例句］63. Discerned (①) from the perplexing picture of population growth the 1980 census provided, America in 1970s.［19xx年阅读4］
［B］ witnessed a southwestern shift of population
［例句精译］ 63根据19xx年人口统计提供的人口增长的复杂图表可以看出，美国在20世纪70年代。
［B］ 经历了人口向西南地区的迁移
artificial［?ɑ:ti?fi??l］a.①人工的，人造的；②人为的，矫揉造作的
［真题例句］Indeed the quest for true artificial (①) intelligence has produced very mixed results.［20xx年阅读2］ ［例句精译］ 实际上对真正的人工智能的追求已经产生了各种各样的效果。
［真题例句］The casual friendliness of many Americans should be interpreted neither as superficial nor as artificial (②), but as the result of a historically developed cultural tradition.［19xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 很多美国人不经意表现的友好不应被看做是表面或虚假的应酬，而应该看成是文化传统历史发展的结果。
背景常识介绍：
自从科学家研究出第一只克隆羊多利之后，10年以来，不断地有克隆猪、牛、羊、马等牲畜问世，用于科学研究或饲养。
美国食品药物管理局日前表示，该局今年年底将完成相关风险评估，明年有可能出台批准克隆牲畜的肉、奶在美国上市销售的规定。这意味着克隆动物的肉奶制品，最终可能堂而皇之地摆上美国人的餐桌。据估计，美国现有克隆动物的数量在600头至2000头之间，科学家也一直在研究克隆牲畜的食用价值与前景。
多利出现在餐桌上？对此不要担心
食品药品管理局已经宣布从克隆动物身上取得的肉和奶是可以安全食用的，从而为在可能没有任何标签和警告的情况下，使克隆产品进入食品店铺平了道路。
这样做很有意义，因为现在还没有足够的根据来说明从克隆牛、克隆羊、克隆猪身上得到的奶和肉有任何的不安全性。（实际上，食品药品管理局说没有足够可以利用的信息，从而在拖延判断克隆羊是否是安全的食品来源。）但是我们中的很多人一听到“从克隆动物身上得到的肉”这样的字眼就会作呕。多利，不管公平与否，是有责任的。
多利遗留的东西现在都陈列在苏格兰的皇家博物馆，作为被藐视、恐惧、嘲笑和诋毁的对象，她在地球上度过了六年的时间。媒体在一个重要的日子宣布了多利的出生，告诉我们多利是使死亡复活的关键，创造了各种克隆群体和一个世界。在这个世界里，每个人都会被一个不幸的克隆人跟随着，他们的内部器官可以用来延续那些受到疾病或老龄威胁的生命。
但是更糟的事情接着来了。不久像Raelians这样的古怪教派和狂热的科学家都抱怨说，克隆富人、古怪的领导人和那些使媒体专注惊讶的通常令人讨厌的类型并不能辨别这样一个事实，即穿上Star Trek的外衣以及染上非常差的头发并不能证明你认为克隆人令人害怕是一种好意。
这些不合理的话造成了一种混乱。它使得美国人忘记了克隆只不过是人为地创造双胞胎而已。它使我们忘记了我们喝的每一滴酒都来自克隆的葡萄。
多利受到了糟糕的指责。她已经忍受了。但是食品药品管理局公正地依据证据使克隆产品进入了市场。
如果人们想让这些产品贴上标签，那么他们可以选择不去买它们，这是他们的权利。
但是，在你决定之前，只需记住一件事，你对克隆动物真正需要害怕的是人类怎样毁坏了他们的声誉！
College education:The ladder of fame
ON AUGUST 18th US News & World Report released its 2007 rankings of America?s top colleges. The survey began in 1983 as a simple straw poll, when the magazine asked 662 college presidents to identify the country?s best places of learning. It has since mutated into an annual ordeal for reputable universities. A strong showing in the rankings spurs student interest and alumni giving; a slip has grave consequences for public relations.
University administrators deeply dislike the survey. Many reject the idea that schools can be stacked up against one another in any meaningful way. And the survey?s methodology is suspect. The rankings are still based partly on peer evaluations. They compare rates of alumni giving, which has little to do with the transmission of knowledge. Besides, the magazine?s data are supplied by the schools and uncorroborated.
But whether the rankings are fair is beside the point, because they are wildly influential. In the 1983 survey barely half of the presidents approached bothered to respond. Today, only a handful dare abstain.
Most, in fact, do more than simply fill out the survey. Competition between colleges for top students is increasing, partly because of the very popularity of rankings. Colin Diver, the president of Reed College in Oregon, considers that “rankings create powerful incentives to manipulate data and distort institutional behaviour.” A school may game the system by soliciting applications from students who stand no chance of admission, or by leaning on alumni to arrange jobs for graduates. Reed is one of the few prominent colleges that dares to disdain to take part in the US News survey.
In some ways, the scramble to attract applicants has helped students. Universities such as Duke in North Carolina and Rice in Houston are devoting more money to scholarships. That seems a reasonable response to the challenge of the rankings, as the National Centre for Education Statistics reckons that roughly two-thirds of undergraduates rely on financial aid.
Other colleges, though, are trying to drum up excitement by offering perks that would have been unheard of a generation ago. Students at the University of California, Los Angeles now appreciate weekly maid service in the dorms. “The elevators”, enthused a respondent to an online survey, “smell lemon fresh.” Students at Pennsylvania State University enjoy free access to Napster, the music-sharing service. Multi-million dollar gyms have become so common that they are unremarkable.
University officials, defending this strategy, often imply that they are only responding to student demand. Discouraging words for those who believe that a college?s job is to educate, not coddle.
考研词汇：
spur［sp?:］n.①靴刺，马刺；②刺激，刺激物；v.刺激，激励
grave［greiv］n.坟墓；a.严肃的，庄重的
［真题例句］Lots of Americans bought that nonsense, and over three decades, some 10 million smokers went to early graves (n.).［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 竟然有许多美国人买这些谬论的帐，30年来，大约有一千万烟民早早就进了坟墓。
reject［ri?d?ekt］v.①拒绝，抵制，驳回；②丢弃；③排斥，退掉
［真题例句］In fact it is simply shallow: the confused center is right to reject (②) it.［19xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ 事实上，它很肤浅；困惑的中间派正要放弃它。
［真题例句］(65) Until these issues are resolved, a technology of behavior will continue to be rejected (③), and with it possibly the only way to solve our problems.［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ （65）（如果）这些问题得不到解决，研究行为的技术手段就会继续受到排斥，解决问题的惟一方式可能也随之继续受到排斥。
peer［pi?］n.同等的人，贵族；vi.凝视，窥视；vt. 与……同等，封为贵族
［真题例句］38. In the author?s opinion, advertising__________.［20xx年阅读4］
［B］is a cause of disappointment for the general peer (n.)
［例句精译］ 38. 根据作者的观点，广告_________。
［B］是造成大部分人沮丧的原因
distort［di?st?:t］v.歪曲，扭曲
［真题例句］Hallucinogens have their primary effect on perception, distorting and altering it in a variety of ways including producing hallucinations.［19xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 迷幻剂主要影响人的感知，通过多种方式对感知加以扭曲或改变，其中包括产生幻觉。
scramble［?skr?mb?l］n./v.攀爬，争夺
背景常识介绍：
近年来，各个机构、各个组织都打着各种旗号来进行所谓的大学排名，希望从一定方面来把大学的层次、水平进行有序排列，列出个英雄榜来。一列英雄榜，那自然是排名有分先后，水平高低也不一了。面对各种繁多的排名花样，仅从高校方就反映不一，有的宠辱不惊，安之若素，有的怒发冲冠、坚决抵制。对于排名榜本身的科学性和权威性来说，人们也不知该如何参照，却也全当是小儿游戏“排排坐”，合己胃口便充分采纳，反之则以其无科学依据缺乏权威等理由视而不见罢了。
参考译文：
高校教育名誉之阶
《美国新闻与世界报道（US News & World Report）》于8月18日刊登了20xx年度美国名校的排名。这项调查最早在19xx年以一种非正式投票的形式开始。当时，为挑出全国最好的大学，杂志向662所高校的校长发出了调查。从此以后，这项调查就成了那些名校一年一度必经的考核：如果学校名列前茅将吸引学生的兴趣和校友的赞助；排名下滑的话就会严重影响学校的声誉。
大学的主管们对这项调查深恶痛绝。他们认为将学校依次排序没有任何意义，而且调查的方法也令人生疑。排名仍要参考来自同僚的评估，调查还要比较各校的校友捐赠率，而这与传授知识并无干系。此外，杂志所采用的数据均由学校提供，并未经过核实。
然而排名公平与否并不重要，因为这些排名早已深入人心。19xx年的调查中，不到一半的校长愿意给予答复；而今天，敢于不参与此项调查的学校寥寥无几。
实际上，大多数学校所做的不仅是简单地填写调查表。大学之间招收优等生的竞争日益激烈，部分原因是学生很看重大学排名。俄勒冈州里德大学校长科林·戴福尔（Colin Diver）认为，“排名（的重要性）使人们有强烈的欲望去捏造数据，或采用非正当手段（参与竞争）。”学校也许会给原本无望入学的学生发出邀请函，或者依靠校友为毕业生安排工作，以此来赢取好的排名。里德大学是为数不多的敢于拒绝《美国新闻》排名调查的名牌大学之一。
从某种程度上来说，生源的竞争使学生得益。加利福尼亚州北部的杜克（Duke）大学和休斯敦的莱斯（Rice）大学等均增加了奖学金的投入。这显然是为争取排名而采取的合理应对措施。因为据美国教育中心统计数据表明，约有三分之二的本科生依赖助学金就学。
然而，其他一些大学所采取的扩大生源的手段在几十年前闻所未闻。加州大学洛杉矶分校的学生现在非常赞赏寝室里每周一次的女佣服务。一名热心网友在网络问卷中这样说道“电梯闻起来有新鲜的柠檬味。宾夕法尼亚州立大学的学生可以免费使用Napster(一种音乐共享服务)。学校投入数百万美元建设健身房也已司空见惯。
校方人员为此类行为辩解时通常表示，他们只是满足学生的需求。对于那些认为学校的职责是教育而非溺爱的人而言，这样的话实在让人气馁。
Animal behaviour: A stilted story
IF THERE were a Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ants, Matthias Wittlinger of the University of Ulm, in Germany, would probably be top of its hate list. The reason is that Dr Wittlinger and his colleagues have, as they report in this week?s Science, been chopping the feet off ants. And not only that. They have been making other ants walk around on stilts.
Saharan desert ants of the genus Cataglyphis have to travel long distances to discover food in their impoverished, sandy environment. How they find their way home once they have done so is a mystery. Ants in more temperate climates often lay down chemical trails, but Cataglyphis, apparently, does not. Like honeybees and ancient mariners, they can navigate by the sun, so they know the general direction in which to travel. But, also like ancient mariners (who knew their latitude, but not their longitude), such solar reckoning cannot tell them when to stop.
Dr Wittlinger, therefore, decided to investigate a century-old hypothesis that desert ants have internal pedometers—in other words, they count their steps out, and they count them back. When one total matches the other, they are home. To test this idea he trained his ants to walk from their nests to a feeding station through a ten-metre-long channel. When they had picked up the food, he caught them and made them return through a different channel, which also led to the nest. When they made this return journey, they began their characteristic nest-searching behaviour, quartering the ground in detail looking for the entrance, after travelling about ten metres.
Once the ants had mastered this trick, the experiment proper began. Some ants, when they arrived at the feeding station, had the ends of their legs amputated, to shorten their stride length. Others were fitted with stilts in the form of pig-bristles glued to their feet. Both lots were then returned to the feeding station, to make the journey home.
As predicted, the ants on stilts, whose stride-length meant their internal pedometers had not clicked enough times, walked blithely past their nests, and were left stranded almost five metres on the far side before they started looking for the hole. Meanwhile, the poor stumped ants travelled only about six metres before they started their search.
The story, however, has a happy ending. Having proved his point, Dr Wittlinger returned both stumped and stilted ants to the nest and gave them a few days to recover. Then he let them out for another run. Now that they could re-count their outbound journeys, they were able to calculate the journey home correctly. Ants may not be very bright, but it seems they have a head for figures.
考研词汇：
chop［t??p］v.砍，劈，斩；n.排骨，肉块
［真题例句］ His colleague, Michael Beer, says that far too many companies have applied reengineering in a mechanistic fashion, chopping (v.) out costs without giving sufficient thought to longterm profitability.［19xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 他的同事迈克·比尔说，太多的企业用机械的方式进行机构重组，在没有充分考虑到长期效益的情况下就降低了成本。
impoverish［im?p?v?ri?］vt.使贫穷，使枯竭
［真题例句］ To take advantage of this tool, some impoverished countries will have to get over their outdated anticolonial prejudices with respect to foreign investment.［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 要想利用互联网，某些贫困国家必须克服对国外投资所持的过时了的反殖民的种种偏见。
apparent［??p?r?nt］a.①（to）明显的，显而易见的；②表面的，貌似的
［真题例句］ It is generally recognized, (29：however), that the introduction of the computer in the early 20th century, (30：followed) by the invention of the integrated circuit during the 1960s, radically changed the process, (31：although) its impact on the media was not immediately (32：apparent) (①) .［20xx年完形］
［例句精译］ 但人们普遍都承认，20世纪早期电子计算机的出现，以及随后20世纪60年代发明的集成电路，虽然对传媒没有产生立竿见影的影响，但是却完全改变了发展进程。
reckon［?rek?n］v.①认为，估计；②指望，想要；③测算
［真题例句］ In science generally, however, the nineteenth century must be reckoned (①) as the crucial period for this change in the structure of science.［20xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 然而，从科学这个整体来看，19世纪必须被视为科学结构发生变化的关键时期。
hypothesis［hai?p?θisis］n.假说，假设，前提
［真题例句］ Later, this idea became to be known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, but this term is somewhat inappropriate.［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ 后来此观点成为著名的Sapir-Whorf假说，但这一说法并不适当。
stride［straid］v.大步走（过），迈进，跨过；n.迈步，阔步
［真题例句］ Every morning, its people (41：swarm) into the offices and factories of America, seeking a days work for a days pay, one day at a time.［19xx年完形］
(41)［A］ swarm［B］ stride ［C］ separate［D］ slip
［例句精译］ 每天早晨，公司的人们涌入美国的工厂和办公室，求得当日即付工资的工作，一次只干一天。
(41)［A］ 云集，涌往［B］ 大步走 ［C］ 分离的，分开的［D］ 滑倒，滑掉
背景常识介绍：
说来也许令人难以置信，不少动物懂得计数，有些动物还是数学天才。有人对鸽子做了一项实验：给它喂食玉米，一粒一粒喂给它吃，每次都喂６粒。突然喂给它第７粒玉米，它竟不吃。科学家发现了灰松鼠在越冬之前要贮存食品，它将许多松果藏在不同的地方。可是以后它找到其中的六、七堆之后，别的地方就不再找了。可能灰松鼠只能数到７。美国的动物学家试验过黑猩猩的计数本领：把香蕉放在箱子里，每次放10根，让黑猩猩自己打开箱子吃。有一次，箱子里只放８根香蕉，黑猩猩吃完后不肯离去；再给它吃１根，它还不肯走；直到吃满10根，它这才离去。黑猩猩也许能数到１０。还有小小的蚂蚁，其计数本领也毫不逊色。
参考译文：
动物行为：踩高跷的故事
假如有一个皇家防止残害蚂蚁协会的话，德国乌尔姆大学的马提亚·威特林格可能会首当其冲地成为其憎恨对象。这是因为威特林格博士和他的同事们在本周《科学》杂志上报道说他们砍去了一些蚂蚁的脚。这还不算，他们还让别的蚂蚁踩着高跷走路。
撒哈拉沙漠的箭蚁不得不在贫瘠的沙质环境中长途跋涉寻找食物。它们找完食物后如何返回蚁巢却一直是个谜。温和气候环境下的蚂蚁往往会在路途中留下化学记号，可箭蚁显然不会。它们跟蜜蜂和古代海员一样，可以通过日照导航，从而知道出行的大致方向。但是也跟古代海员一样（他们只会辨认纬度不会辨认经度），这种根据太阳测算位置的方法无法告知它们该在何时结束行程。
所以，威特林格博士决定验证一下这个世纪猜想——沙漠蚂蚁体内含有步数计（里程表），换言之，它们在出行时算好步数，然后再一步步数着返回。等到两者总数吻合时，就“到家”了。为此，威特林格博士对其养殖的蚂蚁进行了训练，让它们经过一条十米长的沟从蚁巢走到一个饲喂点。当它们获取食物后，就把它们捉住，让它们通过另一条通往蚁巢的沟返回。返回时，它们特有的觅巢行为就开始了，即在行走了大约10米远后，它们会在地上仔细地刻下指向蚁巢入口的标记。
等到蚂蚁学会了这一窍门，实验才真正开始。有的蚂蚁抵达饲喂点后，它们的腿部末端被切除，以缩短其步长。其他的蚂蚁则在其脚部粘上猪鬃，做成高跷。然后，两群蚂蚁均被放还至饲喂点，让其返回蚁巢。
不出所料，踩高跷的蚂蚁由于其步长造成体内步数计无法运作足够次数，因此竟似闲庭信步一般走过了蚁巢，结果在离蚁巢近5米远的地方愣住了，然后才开始继续寻找洞穴。与此同时，遭“截肢”的那些可怜的蚂蚁只走了大约6米远就开始寻找洞穴。
不过，这个故事的结尾还是令人高兴的。威特林格博士证实其猜想后，又把“截肢”蚂蚁和踩高跷蚂蚁都放回蚁巢，给它们几天时间来康复。然后，他把它们放出去开始又一轮试验。这一次它们可以重新计算出行步数，因此也就可以准确地计算出返程的步履了。蚂蚁也许并不太聪明，但似乎天生就是数字高手。
Why GM is good for us
Farm-raised pigs are dirty, smelly animals that get no respect. They?re also an environmental hazard. Their manure contains phosphorus, which, when it rains, runs off into lakes and estuaries, depleting oxygen, killing fish, stimulating algae overgrowth and emitting greenhouse gases.
Doing away with the pig is not an option. Pigs provide more dietary protein, more cheaply, to more people than any other animal. Northern Europe still maintains the highest pig-to-human ratio in the world (2-1 in Denmark), but East Asia is catching up. During the 1990s, pork production doubled in Vietnam and grew by 70 percent in China—along densely populated coastlines, pig density exceeds 100 animals per square kilometer. The resulting pollution is “threatening fragile coastal marine habitats including mangroves（红树林）, coral reefs and sea grasses,” according to a report released in February by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
As it turns out, there is a solution to the pig problem, but it requires a change of mind-set among environmentalists and the public. Two Canadian scientists have created a pig whose manure doesn?t contain very much phosphorus at all. If this variety of pig were adopted widely, it could greatly reduce a major source of pollution. But the Enviropig, as they call it, is the product of genetic modification—which is anathema（忌讳） to many Westerners.
The Enviropig is one of many new technologies that are putting environmentalists and organic-food proponents in a quandary: should they remain categorically（无条件的） opposed to genetically modified (GM) foods even at the expense of the environment? Elsewhere, trees grown for paper could be made amenable to much more efficient processing, reducing both energy usage and toxic chemical bleach in effluents from paper mills. The most significant GM applications will be ones that help alleviate the problem of agriculture, which accounts for 38 percent of the world?s landmass and is crowding out natural ecosystems and species habitats.
In fact, although all commonly used pesticides dissipate so quickly that they pose a miniscule health risk to consumers, allergic food reactions to natural products kill hundreds of children each year. Genetically modified foods could greatly reduce this risk. U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist Eliot Herman has already created a less-allergenic soybean—an important crop for baby foods. Through genetic surgery, Herman turned off the soy gene responsible for 65 percent of allergic reactions. Not only was the modified soy less allergenic in tests but, as Herman explained, “the yield looks perfectly normal, plants develop and grow at a normal rate and they seem to have the same kinds of protein, oil and other good stuff in them.” Other scientists have reported promising results in shutting off allergycausing genes in peanuts and shrimp. Should these advances be turned into products, organic soy or peanut products will be certifiably more dangerous to human health than comparable nonorganic products.
Unfortunately, this won?t happen any time soon. Because no society has ever banned allergenic foods, conventional farmers have no incentive to plant reduced-allergy seeds. And many members of the public have been led to believe that all genetic modifications create health risks. In this climate, much of the needed research isn?t being pursued. Chances are, farmers will continue to grow their polluting organic pork, their allergenic organic soy and their neurotoxinsprayed organic apples. Worse still, they will make sure that no one else gets a choice in the matter of improving the conditions of life on earth—unless, that is, others rise up and demand an alternative.
考研词汇：
deplete ［di?pli:t］vt.用尽，使减少；耗尽资源
stimulate［?stimjuleit］v.①刺激，使兴奋；②激励，鼓舞
［真题例句］ The rats (49：develop) bacterial infections of the blood, (50：as if) their immune systems—the selfprotecting mechanism against disease—had crashed.［19xx年完形］
(49) ［A］ develop［B］ produce［C］ stimulate［D］ induce
［例句精译］ 老鼠患血液细菌感染，似乎它们的免疫系统——抵御疾病的自我保护机制——已崩溃。
(49) ［A］ 发展，开发［B］ 生产，制造［C］ 刺激，激励［D］ 引诱，导致
emit［i?mit］v.散发，发射
［真题例句］ According the the theory, the universe burst into being as a submicroscopic, unimaginable dense knot of pure energy that flew outward in all directions, emitting radiation as it went, condensing into particles and then into atoms of gas.［19xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ 根据这一理论，宇宙的形成是由一团亚微观的、极其稠密的纯能量团从四面八方向外扩散，首先放出辐射线，浓缩成粒子，然后形成气体原子。
amenable［??mi:n?b?l］a.应服从的, 有服从义务的, 有责任的
dissipate［?disipeit］v.驱散，（使）（云、雾、疑虑等）消散，浪费（金钱或时间）
allergenic［??l?:d?ik］a.［医］引起过敏症的
背景常识介绍：
转基因食品(GM FOOD)，就是指科学家在实验室中，把动植物的基因加以改变，再制造出具备新特征的食品种类。“转基因食品”如今已经在世界上多个国家成了环境和健康的中心议题。并且，它还在迅速分裂大众的思想阵营：赞同它的人认为科技的进步能大大提高我们的生活水平，而畏惧它的人则认为科学的实践已经走得“太快”了。
参考译文：
为什么转基因食品对我们有好处？
农场饲养的猪又脏又臭，得不到人的好感。它们同样对环境也是一种威胁。它们的排泄物含有磷，下雨的时候，将被冲刷进入湖中和江河口，耗尽水中的氧气，杀死鱼类，刺激藻类的生长，并且释放温室气体。
但是不养猪也不是办法。猪比任何其他的动物都能够提供更多的更便宜的食用蛋白质给更多的人。北欧地区依然是世界上人平均拥有猪的比例最大的（丹麦2：1 猪/人），但是东亚这一比例正逐渐赶上来。在20世纪90年代，越南的猪肉生产翻了一倍，中国则增长了70%——在人口稠密的沿海一带，猪的拥有密度超过了每平方公里100头。根据联合国食品和农业组织2月份的一份报告，这种情况所导致的污染“正威胁着脆弱的海岸生态，包括红树林、珊瑚礁和海草”。
事实上，是有办法解决这个由猪导致的污染的问题的，但是它需要环保人士和公众改变一些根深蒂固的观点。两名加拿大的科学家培育了一种粪便当中不含有多少磷的猪种。如果这种猪被广泛采纳，将会极大减少污染的来源。但是这种被我们称为?环保猪?的猪种是一种基因变异产品，这是很多西方人所忌讳的。
环保猪就是那些使得环保人士和有机食品支持者陷入两难境地的新科技之一：他们到底是否应当无条件地继续反对转基因食品，哪怕是要以牺牲环境为代价呢？在其他一些领域，被用来造纸的树木可以被改得更加容易处理，这样一来就会减少能量消耗和造纸厂化学漂白物的排放。更加重要的是，转基因将被用于缓和农业问题，农业如今占据了世界土地的38%，正排挤着生态系统和物种的栖息地。
事实上，尽管所有常用的杀虫剂都会很快挥发，对消费者的健康危害很小，但是对自然界食物过敏反应却每年都导致成百上千的儿童丧生。转基因食物将减少这一风险。美国农业部的科学家Eliot Herman 已经制造出了一种少一些过敏性的大豆——一种重要的婴儿食物。通过基因手术，Herman 将导致65%的过敏反应的大豆基因去除。这种改变不仅仅在试验当中少一些致过敏性，而且正如Herman 所说明的，“该产品看起来完全天然，植株的生长比例完全正常，并且似乎含有相同种类的蛋白质、油和其他的有益物质。”其他科学家也称在减少花生和虾的过敏性基因方面取得了积极的成果。如果这些技术进步被用到生产中，有机的大豆或者花生产品将比非有机的产品对人体的健康危害更大了。
但是，这不是会马上发生的事情。因为没有哪个国家曾经禁用过敏性的食品, 所以传统的农民没有任何动力去种植低过敏的作物。并且公众被引导认为所有的转基因都会产生健康威胁。在这种环境下，大多数需要的研究都没有进行。可能的情况是，农民将继续生产他们的污染环境的猪肉、过敏的有机大豆以及喷有神经毒素的有机苹果。更糟糕的是，他们将确保没有其他人能够有机会改进这地球上的生物状况——除非其他人站出来要求另外的选择。
Organ transplants: Your part or mine?
AS MARKETS in human organs go, the one which flourishes on Tehran?s Vali Asr street, where Iran?s main transplant hospital is located, is not the cruellest—and there is no lack of people willing to discuss their transactions. Gholamreza, a 44-year-old man from northern Iran, explains what he did when his dialysis started to fail. “I put an advertisement in the paper for a kidney, and a donor came straight to me. We reached an agreement on the price quite quickly. In these cases, the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards. So I still visit my donor and help him out.”
Another man wandering round the district, aged around 30 and wearing torn, cheap clothing, is hoping he can find a buyer as decent as Gholamreza claims to be. He expects to get between $3,000 and $4,000 for one of his kidneys. “I need the money because I lost out in a pyramid investment scam. After the operation I won?t be able to lift heavy things, but I can still live with only one kidney.”
Iran?s Association of Kidney Patients, a non-government organisation which obviously enjoys official favour, is responsible for all legal kidney transplants: it insists that commercial deals are the exception, not the rule. For one thing, it says, the religious authorities encourage voluntary gifts: in other words, cases where a patient receives a kidney freely offered by a friend or relative. Pious Muslims may also offer up a kidney to anyone who needs it.
For surgeons, patients and medical economists alike, the shortage of kidneys seems frustrating, because no organ lends itself better to transplant. As long as they receive decent after-care, kidney donors suffer only the tiniest increase in their own risk of dying of kidney disease. And transplants make economic sense: the cost of one kidney operation and a lifetime?s supply
of antirejection drugs equals that of three years? dialysis. Kidneys donated by a living person last for a median 22 years in another body; when they are taken from a fresh corpse, the figure is 14 years.
Whatever solution they propose to the shortage of kidneys, nobody doubts that the black market, as it now works, has grotesque effects, both for donors and recipients. Rich westerners who go to South Asia or Africa in search of kidneys often receive organs that are diseased or unsuitable.
Nancy Scheper-Hughes, an American professor of medical anthropology and campaigner against organ trading, says the way poor Brazilians were induced to travel to South Africa is typical of the abuses a market in body parts, especially an international one, is bound to cause. She says donors in the Brazilian slums were given false promises about the money they would make, the care they would receive and the after-effects of the operation.
Some senior figures in the medical world draw a different conclusion: as long as some people are determined to obtain kidneys and others are desperate enough to sell them, the trade will be impossible to stop—so it makes better sense to regulate the business than drive it underground.
考研词汇：
flourish［?fl?ri?］v.繁荣，茂盛，兴旺
［真题例句］ It?s theory to which many economists subscribe, but in practice it often leaves railroads in the position of determining which companies will flourish and which will fail.［20xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 这种理论得到了多数经济学家的认同，但在实际操作中，它使铁路公司获得了一个决定谁败谁荣的权利。
transaction［tr?n?z?k??n］n.①办理，处理；②交易，事务；③［pl.］会报，学报
［真题例句］ Conrails net railway operating income in 1996 was just $427 million, less than half of the carrying costs of the transaction (②).［20xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 联合铁路公司19xx年铁路运营纯收入为4.27亿美元，这还不足这宗交易运作成本的一半。
recipient［ri?sipi?nt］a.容易接受的，感受性强的；n.①容纳者，容器；②接受者
［真题例句］ This kind of support, like all government support, requires decisions about the appropriate recipients (n.②) of funds.［19xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ 这种资助就像所有的政府资助一样，需要决定资金的合适的接受对象。
voluntary［?v?l?nt?ri］a.自愿的，志愿的
［真题例句］ Downshifting—also known in America as “voluntary simplicity”—has, ironically, even bred a new area of what might be termed anti-consumerism.［20xx年阅读5］
［例句精译］ 具有讽刺意味的是，“放慢生活节奏”——在美国也称“自愿简单化”——甚至孕育了一个崭新的、可称之为反消费主义的生活方式。
bound［baund］v./n. 跳（跃）；a.①被束缚的，理应……的，必定的，一定的；②准备（或正在）到……去的，开往……的；③（be bound up with） 与……有密切关系
［真题例句］ The innovator will search for alternate courses, which may prove easier in the long run and are bound (a.①) to be more interesting and challenging even if they lead to dead ends.［19xx年阅读5］
［例句精译］ 创新者则会探寻另外不同的道路，而这样的道路将会最终被证实更简单、也一定更有趣、更富挑战性，即使它们通向绝境。
［真题例句］ (72) Furthermore, it is obvious that the strength of a country?s economy is directly bound (a.③) up with the efficiency of its agriculture and industry, and that this in turn rests upon the efforts of scientists and technologists of all kinds.［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ （72）再者，显而易见的是一个国家的经济实力与其工农业生产效率直接相关，而效率的提高则又有赖于各类科技人员的努力。
desperate［?desp?rit］a.①绝望的；②不顾一切的，拼死的
［真题例句］ 59. Which of the following best defines the word “aggressive” (Line 1, Paragraph 7)?［20xx年阅读4］ ［D］ Desperate (①)
［例句精译］ 59.下面的哪个词最好地解释了“aggressive”一词（第七段第一行）的意思？
［D］ 不顾一切的
背景常识介绍：
19xx年俄国人Voronov为一急性肾功能衰竭的病人进行了尸体肾脏移植,虽然只存活了48小时,但却揭开了肾脏移植的序幕,肾脏移植是迄今为止世界上根治肾功能衰竭最有效的办法。
参考译文：
器官移植：你的还是我的？
就人体器官市场而言，活跃于德黑兰瓦里阿瑟（Vali Asr）大街的市场还不算是最悲惨的，这里坐落着伊朗主要的移植医院——也从不缺愿意讨论交易的人。来自伊朗北部的44岁男子古拉姆瑞扎（Gholamreza）解释了他在肾脏透析治疗开始不起作用之后所做的事：“我在报纸上刊登了一则寻求肾脏的广告，就有一名捐赠者直接同我联系。我们很快就谈好了价格。在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。因此，我常看望我的捐赠人，并帮助他解决困难。”
另一名年约30岁、身穿破烂而便宜的衣服的人，则正在该区徘徊，希望能找到一个如古拉姆瑞扎所自诩的那种大方的买主。他希望自己的一只肾脏可以换得3000至4000美元。“因为我在传销骗局中失利，我急需钱用。尽管手术之
后我不能干重活，但我还可以凭一只肾活下去。”
显然受到官方支持的非政府组织“伊朗肾脏患者协会（Iran?s Association of Kidney Patients）”负责所有合法的肾脏移植事务：该组织坚持称，商业交易是例外，而不是常态。它表示，首先，宗教权威鼓励自愿捐献；此外，患者通常接受的是由朋友或亲戚免费提供的肾脏。虔诚的穆斯林也会将肾脏捐献给任何需要的人。
对外科医生、患者及医疗经济学家而言，肾脏的匮乏似乎令人沮丧，因为没有比肾脏移植更适合的器官移植了。只要接受适当的病后护理与治疗，肾脏捐献者死于自身肾病的风险只有微小的增加。此外，移植也有经济学意义：一次肾脏手术以及终生抗排斥药物的供应与三年透析治疗费用相当。活人捐献的肾脏在另一人的体内平均可以维持22年；而从新鲜尸体上获得的肾脏则可以维持14年。
无论对肾脏短缺提出怎样的解决方案，没有人怀疑黑市对捐献者和接受者双方带来怪诞的结果，正如目前的情形那样。去南亚或非洲寻找肾脏的西方富人们通常得到的都是带疾病的或不适应的肾脏。
南希·谢柏休斯（Nancy ScheperHughes）是一名美国医学人类学教授，也是一名反对器官买卖的活动人士，她说，劝诱巴西穷人前往南非旅行的方式是人体器官市场，特别是国际性的市场，所必然促生的典型弊端。她表示，巴西贫民窟的捐赠者只得到有关可挣钱款、所获照顾以及手术后果的虚假承诺。
医学界一些资深人物则给出了不同的结论：只要一些人决心获得肾脏，而另一些人铤而走险地贩售，交易就很难被阻止——因此，更理智的处理是规范交易，而不是消除它。
Affluence Happiness (and how to measure it)
HAVING grown at an annual rate of 3.2% per head since 2000, the world economy is over half way towards notching up its best decade ever. If it keeps going at this clip, it will beat both the supposedly idyllic 1950s and the 1960s. Market capitalism, the engine that runs most of the world economy, seems to be doing its job well.
But is it? Once upon a time, that job was generally agreed to be to make people better off. Nowadays that?s not so clear. A number of economists, in search of big problems to solve, and politicians, looking for bold promises to make, think that it ought to be doing something else: making people happy.
The view that economics should be about more than money is widely held in continental Europe. In debates with Anglo-American capitalists, wily bons vivants have tended to cite the idea of “quality of life” to excuse slower economic growth. But now David Cameron, the latest leader of Britain?s once rather materialistic Conservative Party, has espoused the notion of “general well-being” (GWB) as an alternative to the more traditional GDP. In America, meanwhile, inequality, over-work and other hidden costs of prosperity were much discussed in the mid-term elections; and “wellness” (as opposed to health) has become a huge industry, catering especially to the prosperous discontent of the baby-boomers.
Much of this draws on the upstart science of happiness, which mixes psychology with economics. Its adherents start with copious survey data, such as those derived from the simple, folksy question put to thousands of Americans every year or two since 1972:“Taken all together, how would you say things are these days—would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy or not too happy?” Some of the results are unsurprising: the rich report being happier than do the poor. But a paradox emerges that requires explanation: affluent countries have not got much happier as they have grown richer. From America to Japan, figures for well-being have barely budged.
The science of happiness offers two explanations for the paradox. Capitalism, it notes, is adept at turning luxuries into necessities—bringing to the masses what the elites have always enjoyed. But the flip side of this genius is that people come to take for granted things they once coveted from afar. Frills they never thought they could have become essentials that they cannot do without. People are stuck on a treadmill: as they achieve a better standard of living, they become inured to its pleasures.
Capitalism?s ability to take things downmarket also has its limits. Many of the things people most prize—such as the top jobs, the best education, or an exclusive home address—are luxuries by necessity. An elite schooling, for example, ceases to be so if it is provided to everyone. These “positional goods”, as they are called, are in fixed supply: you can enjoy them only if others do not. The amount of money and effort required to grab them depends on how much your rivals are putting in.
考研词汇：
cater［[?keit?］vi.备办食物，满足（需要），投合
［真题例句］ “Instead of intimate shops catering to a knowledgeable elite.” these were stores “anyone could enter, regardless of class or background. This turned shopping into a public and democratic act.”［20xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ “不像那些个人商店那样，只满足有学识的精英人士的需求”，这些商店“不论阶级与背景，任何人都能进入。这推进了购物大众化和民主化的进程。”
prosperous［?pr?sp?r?s］a.繁荣的，兴旺的
［真题例句］ America and Americans were prosperous beyond the dreams of the Europeans and Asians whose economies the war had destroyed.［20xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 美国的国富民强是那些经济遭到战争破坏的欧亚诸国做梦也无法想到的。
derive［di?raiv］v.取得，导出，引申
［真题例句］ “Anthropology” derives from the Greek words anthropos “human” and logos “the study of.”［20xx年翻译］ ［例句精译］ Anthropology（人类学）一词来源于希腊词anthropos（人类）和logos（研究）。
elite［ei?li:t]］n.①［总称］上层人士，掌权人物，实力集团；②出类拔萃的人（集团），精英
［真题例句］ Reporters tend to be part of a broadly defined social and cultural elite (②), so their work tends to reflect the
conventional values of this elite.［20xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 记者们属于广义的社会文化精英的一部分，因此他们的工作往往反映了这些精英传统的价值观。 stick［stik］n.棍，棒，手杖；v.①刺，戳，扎；②粘合，附着；③坚持，固守
［真题例句］ This means that our noses are (3：limited) to perceiving those smells which float through the air, (4：missing) the majority of smells which stick (v.②) to surfaces.［20xx年完形］
［例句精译］ 这就意味着人的鼻子只局限于察觉飘浮于空气中的气味；而错过大部分粘附于物体表面的气味。 ［真题例句］ You will be on safer ground if you stick (v.③) to scapegoats like the Post Office or the telephone system.［20xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 如果你选择去评论邮局或电话局这样的替罪羊，那你就会处于比较安全的境地。
exclusive［ik?sklu:siv］a.①专有的，独占的；②除外的，排他的
［真题例句］ 61. Physical dependence on certain substances results from.［19xx年阅读3］
［B］ exclusive (①) use of them for social purposes
［例句精译］ 61. 对某些物质的生理依赖是由于。
［B］ 出于社交目的而专用这些物质
背景常识介绍：
GDP的数字在增加，可清澈的河流和蔚蓝的天空却越来越少。当听到一个天真无邪的孩子和父母争论为什么天是灰色的时候，我们无言却不惊讶。当打开一幢漂亮别墅的窗子正要欣赏窗外美景的你突然闻到一股臭气扑面而来，你的幸福感觉还剩多少？当问一位病入膏肓的富翁他最想要的是什么时，他会毫不犹豫地回答是健康，即使散尽他的家财。
社会发展的最终目标是使人民获得幸福。然而用这个标准去考量GDP指标时，却发现它似乎并不是一个能够完整体现这一点的指标。是的，我们看到了经济增长，但却没有看到由此带来的人们幸福感同等程度的增加。GDP被萨缪尔森称为“20世纪最大的发明之一”，它虽然是一个重要指标，但却不是万能的。
参考译文：
富裕与幸福（如何衡量）
自20xx年起就以人均3.2%的年速率增长着的世界经济如今已离目标——“创有史以来经济发展最好十年”——更加近了。如果继续这样大跨步前进，将超越人们心中“美好的50年代及60年代”。市场资本主义——世界绝大多数国家经济发展的引擎，似乎递交上了一份令人满意的答卷。
真是这样吗？曾几何时，大家都相信“满意的答卷”就是让人们生活更加富裕。但如今却不那么确定了。许许多多想要解决大问题的经济学家和想要做出大胆承诺的政治家们开始认为，“满意的答卷”应该不止这些，还应能使人们幸福。
欧洲大陆国家普遍接受这样一个观点：经济学绝不只是关于钱。在和盎格鲁血统的美国人争论时，那些老谋深算的奢华贵族们就常常打出“生活质量”的招牌来美化本国缓慢的经济增长速度。而今大卫·卡梅伦，作为一度十分崇尚物质的英国保守党的最新领导人，也提出应更加关注GWB（国内幸福指数）而不仅仅只看ＧＤＰ（国内生产总值）。同时在今年美国的中期选举中，不公平超负荷工作以及其他一些繁荣背后的隐性成本也被大量讨论，幸福——作为健康的对立面，成了一项巨大产业，也深深迎合了婴儿潮一代对繁荣的不满。
这些大都与现今正势如破竹般发展的“快乐学”有关，这也将心理学融入经济学。“快乐学”的追随者们从浩如烟海的数据调查出发，例如自19xx年起每隔一两年便要向数千名美国人进行的问卷调查。问题简单又平常，如“总的来看，你觉得眼下自己过得如何？是非常幸福，基本幸福，还是不太幸福呢？” 得出的结论中有些是不足为奇的，如相比穷人，富人普遍感觉更幸福。但这里有一个矛盾没法解释——富裕国家却并没有随着富裕程度的提高而增加幸福感。从美国到日本，幸福指数一直没有变化。
快乐学为这一矛盾提供了两个解释。首先，它注意到，资本主义善于将奢侈品变成必需品， 给大多数人送去上层精英们惯于享受的一切。但这一美妙功能带来的副作用是：人们把一度觊觎而现在拥有的一切都视作理所当然。以前从未奢望拥有的那些浮华虚饰如今变成了不可或缺的必需品。人们陷入了一个怪圈：当生活水平提高的时候，反倒为其所赋予的愉悦所伤。
资本主义把事物“低端化”的本领也有其不足之处。人们所看重的许多东西——如一流的工作、尖端的教育和自己拥有的住房这些奢侈品其实是和必需品相辅相成的。例如，精英教育如果针对每个人，便不再是精英教育。所谓的“地位性商品”都是限量供应的，在别人得不到的情况下才是一种享受。为此所付出的人力财力就要看你的对手付出多少了。
Brain cancer: Happy families, hidden dangers
IT IS well known that many sorts of cancer run in families; in other words you get them (or, at least, a genetic predisposition towards them) from your parents. The idea that you can get cancer from your brothers and sisters is more surprising. But that is the conclusion of a study conducted by Andrea Altieri and his colleagues at the German Cancer Research Centre, in Heidelberg.
Dr Altieri was looking for evidence to support the idea that at least some brain cancers are triggered by viruses and that children in large families are therefore at greater risk, because they are more likely to be exposed to childhood viral infections. This is not a new suggestion, but brain cancer is rare, and its rarity makes it hard to study systematically. In any field of science, small samples lead to spurious results. To find reliable answers to questions about something as infrequent as brain cancer, a
whole country?s worth of data is needed.
Fortunately, at least one country can provide those data: Sweden. And in the current issue of Neurology, Dr Altieri describes what he discovered when he analysed the records of the Swedish Family Cancer Database. This includes everyone born in Sweden since 1931, together with their parents even if born before that date.
More than 13,600 Swedes have developed brain tumours in the intervening decades. In small families there was no relationship between an individual?s risk of brain cancer and the number of siblings he had. However, children in families with five or more offspring had twice the average chance of developing brain cancer over the course of their lives compared with those who had no brothers and sisters at all. Digging deeper, Dr Altieri found a more startling result. When he looked at those people who had had their cancer as children or young teenagers he found the rate was even higher—and that it was particularly high for those with many younger siblings. Under-15s with three or more younger siblings were 3.7 times more likely than only children to develop a common type of brain cancer called a meningioma, and at significantly higher risk of every other form of the disease that the researchers considered.
This finding, added to evidence linking viruses to a broad mixture of different cancers, has led Dr Altieri and his team to propose that bugs caught during childhood from younger siblings, may, indeed, lead to brain tumours. The initial premise of the argument, that the more children there are to bite, spit, climb and cuddle together, the more infections they pick up, has been demonstrated in studies on nursery schools. But the mechanisms by which younger siblings have more influence than elder ones are speculative. Experience suggests that snotty-nosed toddlers pass their infections on to family members more frequently than older children do. So it could simply be the frequency of infection that is important. An eldest child will be exposed to all of his siblings? infections when they are at the snottynosed toddler stage; a second child will be exposed to one fewer; and so on.
考研词汇：
trigger［?trig?］vt.引发，引起，触发；n.扳机
［真题例句］ The explanation for insensitivity to smell seems to be that the brain finds it (14：inefficient) to keep all smell receptors working all the time but can (15：create) new receptors if necessary.［20xx年完形］
(15) ［A］ introduce［B］ summon［C］ trigger［D］ create
［例句精译］ 对气味不敏感的解释或许是，大脑似乎觉得让所有的嗅觉接收器每时每刻都工作效率太低，只在必要时激活一些新的嗅觉接收器。
(15) ［A］ 介绍，传入［B］ 召唤，召集［C］ 引发，引起［D］ 创造，创作
spurious［?spju?ri?s］a.伪造的, 假造的, 欺骗的
intervene［?int??vi:n］v.①（in）干涉，干预；②插入，介入
initial［i?ni??l］a.①最初的，开头的；②词首的；n.词首大写字母
［真题例句］ Despite a spell of initial (a.①) optimism in the 1960s and 1970s when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might be able to copy the action of the human brain by the year 2010, researchers lately have begun to extend that forecast by decades if not centuries.［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 虽然一开始在20世纪60年代和70年代有过一段乐观的时期——那时候仿佛晶体管电路和微处理器的发展将使他们在20xx年能够模仿人类大脑的活动——但是最近研究人员已经开始将这个预测延后数十年，甚至数百年。
speculative［5spekjulEtiv］a.投机的，猜测的，深思熟虑的
［真题例句］ Two other explanations are more speculative.［19xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 其他两种解释带有很大的猜测性。
sibling［5sibliN］n.兄弟, 姐妹, 同胞, 同属
背景常识介绍：
脑癌又称颅内肿瘤或脑肿瘤，它包括脑实质或其邻近组织（血管、脉络体、垂体、松果体等）原发的肿瘤。
研究发现排行大的人容易患脑癌。《神经学》报道，有3个或3个以上弟妹的人最容易在15岁之前患上脑癌。德国的科学家通过对1300多名脑癌患者的跟踪调查发现，脑癌的患癌率与其拥有弟弟妹妹的数量有关，而与其拥有哥哥姐姐的数量并无联系。这或许和其在成长过程中神经系统受感染和反复感染的机会的多寡有关。
参考译文：
脑癌：幸福家庭，危机暗伏
癌症会在家族中蔓延是大家熟知的；换句话说，你是从父母那里得到癌症的（或至少是易患癌症的倾向）。而你会从兄弟姐妹那里得到癌症的说法却更让人吃惊。但是位于海德堡的德国癌症研究中心的安德里亚·阿尔提耶里与同事们经过研究得出的结论。
阿尔提耶里博士本来是在寻找证据来支持这个观点，即至少部分脑癌是由病毒感染引起的，这让大家庭中的孩子面临更大危险，因为他们更容易暴露在儿童时期的病毒感染中。这个提议并不新鲜，但脑癌是罕见的，这使做系统研究变得很难。在任何科学领域，少量的样本会带来不可靠的结果。要给脑癌这样罕见的疾病找到可靠结论就需要整个国家的统计数据。
幸运的是至少有一个国家可以提供这样的数据：瑞典。在本期的《神经病学》上，阿尔提耶里博士描述了他在分析瑞典家庭癌症数据库中的记录之后的发现。其中包含19xx年以来在瑞典出生的所有人，甚至还有他们在此前出生的父母。
在这之间的几十年中超过13，600瑞典人得了脑癌。在小家庭里一个人得脑癌的风险与他的兄弟姐妹数目没有关
联性。然而在有5个以上的孩子的家庭里，这些孩子在他们生命中得脑癌的平均风险是那些没有兄弟姐妹的人的两倍。随着更深入的研究，阿尔提耶里博士有了更为惊人的发现。当他研究那些在儿童时期或青少年时期得脑癌的人时，他发现得病的几率更高——尤其是那些拥有许多弟弟妹妹的人。在15岁以下的拥有3个或更多弟弟妹妹的人比独生子得脑膜瘤的机会高3.7倍，并且研究人员认为他们得其他癌症的机会也明显更大。
这个发现为病毒和各种各样的癌症之间的联系补充了证据，也使阿尔提耶里博士和他的团队提出在童年时从弟弟妹妹那里传染来的病菌会导致脑癌。最初的假设是越多孩子在一起嬉闹，越多的身体、唾液和口的接触，感染的机会就越多。这已经在托儿所里证实了。但弟弟妹妹们比年长的兄弟姐妹更有影响力现在还只是猜测。根据经验来说挂着鼻涕的学步顽童比大一些的孩子更容易把疾病传染给家里其他人。所以可能重要的只是感染疾病的次数。最大的孩子要经历所有弟弟妹妹们的幼年阶段；第二个孩子将少经历一个；以此类推。
Economics focus:Rate of decline
IN AMERICA retail banking is still a local business. Around 95% of the country?s deposittakers are “community” banks, estimates those institutions? trade body; and more than 90% have assets of less than $1 billion, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), a regulator. Even Bank of America, which comes closest to having a national network, has branches in only 29 of the 50 states. Nevertheless, banking is much less local than it used to be. Advances in technology have made it far easier to offer banking services regionally or nationally. And deregulation has swept away restrictions that once prevented banks from extending their branch networks across state boundaries (even, in some states, within them). Thanks mainly to a wave of mergers, but also to a spate of bank failures in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the number of banks in America has fallen by half in the past 20 years.
Big banks have some obvious advantages over small ones. They can raise money more cheaply than smaller banks, notably in the financial markets, and can therefore offer keener lending rates. Their assets are more diversified and therefore less risky when taken as a group. They may be able to supply a broader range of services for which fees can be charged.
That said, the small fry are not helpless when bigger fish swim into their pool. Precisely because of big banks? easier access to financial markets, they rely less on deposits for their funding. There is evidence that they offer customers meaner deposit rates—and hence make local banks? life easier in this respect. They also tend to offer all savers the same rate, at least within one state, whereas local banks react more nimbly to local economic conditions. Research also suggests that multimarket banks charge higher fees than local banks do. And diseconomies as well as economies of scale can come into play. Frequently, merging banks lose some deposits, as customers disgruntled by a big, impersonal institution take their money elsewhere—sometimes to one of the 100-odd new banks set up in America each year.
In a forthcoming paper，Allen Berger, of the Federal Reserve, Astrid Dick, of the New York Fed, the late Lawrence Goldberg, of the University of Miami, and Lawrence White, of New York University?s Stern School of Business, weigh two hypotheses about banking mergers. On the one hand, consolidation may have been born of efficiency, as technological progress improved the profitability of large institutions serving several markets faster than that of small, local banks. On the other, mergers may have been the children of hubris, as chief executives sought scale for its own sake. Efficiencybased mergers should have made life harder for small, singlemarket banks; hubris should have helped them.
The authors compare the profitability of small banks operating in only one local market in two periods, 1982-1990 and 1991-2000. They find that in the first period, competition from out of town did them more good than harm; their returns on equity were higher if they were up against banks that were big, served many markets or both. In the second period, though, the effect was reversed. In other words, between the 1980s and 1990s bank consolidation became less hubristic and more efficient, to the detriment of small, local banks—thanks, say the authors, largely to developments in technology.
It appears that local banks suffered both lost revenues, as the interlopers stole their fees and interest on loans, and also higher costs, as they offered higher deposit rates or spent more on advertising or service to keep hold of their customers. Looking at an alternative measure of local banks? profitability, the authors suggest that their competitors became sharper at serving several markets, rather than exploiting sheer scale.
考研词汇：
extend［ik?stend］v.延长，延伸
［真题例句］ In Australia—where an aging population, life-extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part—other states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia.［19xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 在澳大利亚，人口老龄化、延长寿命技术和公众态度的变化都发挥着各自的作用，其他州也将考虑制定类似的法律来处理安乐死问题。
keen［ki:n］a.①锋利的；②敏锐的；③敏捷的；④（on）热心的，渴望的
［真题例句］ Being too keen (④) to win can have dangerous consequences: remember that Pheidippides, the first marathon runner, dropped dead seconds after saying: “Rejoice, we conquer!”［19xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 过分地热衷于获胜会产生危险的后果：记住，第一位跑马拉松的费迪皮迪兹在说完“欢呼吧，我们赢了”之后几秒就倒地而死。
accessible［?k?ses?b?l］a.易接近的，可到达的
［真题例句］ As the interaction between organism and environment has come to be understood, however, effects once assigned to states of mind, feelings, and traits are beginning to be traced to accessible conditions, and a technology of behavior may therefore become available.［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ 然而，随着人们开始逐渐了解有机体和环境之间的相互作用，以前曾被认为是影响因素的心态、情
感及其特征开始从可利用的条件去追求其来源，因此，它有可能成为一种研究行为的技术手段。
executive［ig?zekjutiv］n.总经理，董事，行政负责人；a.执行的，实施的
［真题例句］ “Is this what you intended to accomplish with your careers?” Senator Robert Dole asked Time Warner executives (n.) last week.［19xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 参议员罗伯特·多尔上星期质问时代华纳公司高级人员时说：“难道这就是你们要成就的事业吗？” ［真题例句］ Almost immediately word flashed on the Internet and was picked up, half a world away, by John Hofsess, executive (a.) director of the Right to Die Society of Canada.［19xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 几乎同时，该消息就出现在互联网上，身处地球另一端的加拿大死亡权利执行主席约翰·霍夫塞斯收到了该消息。
reverse［ ri?v?:s］n.①相反，反转，颠倒；②背面，后面；a.相反的，倒转的；v.颠倒，倒转，（使）倒退
［真题例句］ Anyone can see this trend is unsustainable.Yet few seem willing to try to reverse (v.) it.［20xx年阅读4］ ［例句精译］ 任何人都明白这个趋势不能维持下去，但是很少有人愿意扭转它。
scale［skeil］n.①刻度，标度；②天平，磅秤；③比例尺；④规模；⑤音阶；⑥鱼鳞
［真题例句］ (50) In dealing with a challenge on such a scale (④), it is no exaggeration to say, “United we stand, divided we fall”—and if I had to choose a slogan it would be “Unity in our diversity.” ［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ （50）在应对如此规模的挑战时，可以毫不夸张地说，“联合，我们就生存；分裂，我们就死亡。”若是让我选择一个口号，这就是：求同存异。
背景常识介绍：
美国社区银行的起源可以追溯到殖民时代，是由移民社区中的商人或农民建立起来的。在南北战争后到 20 世纪 20 年代的中西部开发热中，社区银行得到迅速发展，总数由 3000 家急剧增加到了3万家左右。在其后的工业化和城市化进程中，虽然随着大银行的发展和扩张，社区银行的数量逐渐减少，但它始终是美国银行业的重要组成部分。
参考译文：
经济观察：快速衰退的地方银行
在美国，零售银行业仍局限于本地化经营。根据银行业组织的估计，美国95%左右的储蓄被“社区”银行所吸收；监管机构联邦存托担保集团(FDIC)的数据显示，超过90%的银行注册资本低于10亿美元。美国银行（Bank of America）的经营网络在同业中最接近全国化，也只在全国的50个州中的29个有分支机构。但与过去相比，银行业的本地化程度已经大为降低。技术进步使银行提供地区性或全国性的服务比以前简单得多。另外，国家对金融业的放松管制扫除了曾经阻碍银行进行跨州扩张的限制（甚至某些州内的扩张）。在过去20年内，美国银行数目已剧减一半，其中合并的浪潮起主要作用，80年代末到90年代初一大批银行的接连破产也是另一个重要原因。
大银行相对小银行有若干明显优势。他们能更低成本的筹集款项，尤其是在金融市场，因而能提供更低的贷款利率。他们的资产更多元化，因此作为一个整体能显著降低风险。此外，他们能提供范围更广泛的收费性服务。
话虽如此，大鱼来了，小鱼未必就只能坐以待毙。正因为大银行能更容易地进入金融市场，有更广泛的资金来源，他们对储蓄存款的依赖性较低。迹象显示大银行提供给客户的储蓄利率比较低——这样一来，给了本地银行一定的生存空间。同时，他们倾向于向所有储蓄者提供相同的利率，至少在同一个州内；而地方银行对本地的经济环境反应更灵敏。研究也指出市场多样化的银行比本地银行收取较高的费用，而且规模不经济和规模经济都会反映在收费水平上。合并后的银行经常失去部分存款，因为客户不满于他们的存款被庞大的非个人的机构拿到别的地方——通常是每年100多家新设立的银行。
一篇即将发表的论文（作者是联邦储备局的Allen Berger，纽约联邦储备银行的Astrid Dick，迈阿密大学已故的Lawrence Glodberg和纽约大学斯特恩商学院的Lawrence White）权衡了两个关于银行合并的假说。一方面，合并因效率而生，因为技术进步对盈利能力的提升作用，在服务多个市场的大机构比小的地方银行来得更快。另一方面，合并会滋生傲慢情绪，因为公司高层会为了自身的利益而盲目追求规模。高效率的合并会使市场单一的小银行更难生存；大银行的傲慢反而有利于他们。
这四位作者对1982-1990 和1991-2000两个时期内只在单一市场经营的小银行的盈利能力进行了对比。他们发现在前一时期，外来的竞争利大于弊；如果对手是服务多个市场的大银行，小银行的股票收益就会增加。在第二个时期，竞争却起相反的作用。换言之，从80年代到90年代，技术的进步使银行的合并变得越来越理性和高效，从而对小的地方银行产生损害。
可见地方银行不但由于外来银行抢占贷款利息和服务费用而导致总收入减少，而且由于提供较高的储蓄利率以及在广告和服务上的花费而承担更高的成本。作者从另外一个角度来看待本地银行的盈利能力，并指出大银行在提供多个市场服务方面越发得心应手，但在服务的深度上却有待加强。
SWIFTER, HIGHER, STRONGER
Although Citius, altius, fortius (“Swifter, higher, stronger”) is the Latin motto of today?s Olympic Games, athletes have been striving to improve their athletic skills since ancient times. All over ancient Greece, athletic contests, dance contests, and horse, boat, and torch races were held. Greek literature describes the many sports that were popular in ancient times; murals and statues show discus throwers, wrestlers, and charioteers.
Organized games in Greece began 3,500 years ago. By the sixth century B.C., there were several Greek sporting festivals, but the most important one took place in Olympia every fourth summer. The Olympic Games were held in honor of Zeus, the
father of the gods. Only citizens of Greek city-states could participate, and the only race, a sprint, was run over a distance called a stade (200 yards). Coroebus, a cook who won the race in 776 B.C., was the first recorded champion.
Gradually, other running events were added, as well as horse racing, wrestling, a pentathlon, chariot racing, and boxing. Athletes competed in the nude; women could neither participate nor watch. At a banquet, champions were presented with olive wreaths.
When Rome conquered Greece in the second century B.C., the games continued. In 394 A.D., the Roman emperor Theodosius, a Christian, banned all festivals that honored Olympic gods. The Olympic Games ended. Fifteen hundred years later, in 1894, Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin (coo-bare-TENH) revived interest in the games.
The modern Olympic Games were organized as a way of promoting peace, friendship, and healthy sporting competition among the youth of the world. Athens, Greece, was chosen as the site of the first modern Olympics. Held in April 1896, the games involved 13 nations, 311 male athletes, 42 events, and nine sports. Women were not allowed to compete until four years later. The United States won nine of the track and field events, but Greece won the most medals with 47.
The Olympic Games are held in a different country every four years. At the opening ceremonies, the Greek team always leads the parade of athletes. The Olympic flame is still lit in Olympia and carried to the site of the games by a series of torchbearers. This tradition began in Germany in 1936 when 3,000 runners crossed seven countries on their journey from Greece. The passage of the Olympic torch captures the imagination of the world, reminding people of the original focus of the games－world peace and sportsmanship.
In ancient Greece, all wars ceased for as long as the games lasted. Unfortunately, that has not been the case in modern times. The 1916 games were canceled because of World War I, and World War II caused the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 games.
The games have gone through many changes since the first Olympics in ancient Greece. The September 2000 games in Sydney, Australia, the 27th modern Olympics, are scheduled to last 16 days, and involve 10,000 athletes, 198 countries, and 28 sports.
考研词汇：
strive［straiv］v.奋斗，努力
［真题例句］ Private businessmen, striving to make profits, produce these goods and services in competition with other businessmen; and the profit motive, operating under competitive pressures, largely determines how these goods and services are produced.［19xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 为了获取利润，私有企业主在与他人竞争中生产这些产品，提供这些服务。在竞争的压力下追求利润的动机以及如何运作在很大程度上决定生产商品和提供服务的方式。
participate［pɑ:?tisipeit］v.①（in）参与，参加；②分享，分担
［真题例句］ Without the ability to think critically, to defend their ideas and understand the ideas of others, they cannot fully participate (①) in our democracy.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 如果不能批判地思考、不能维护自己的主张、不能理解他人的思想，他们就不能充分地参与民主社会。
revive［ri?vaiv］v.①使苏醒；②复苏，复兴
［真题例句］ 41. The emergence of the Net has.［20xx年阅读1］［D］ revived (②) spying as a profession
［例句精译］ 41. 网络的出现已经。［D］ 使间谍职业复兴
promote［pr??m?ut］v.①促进，发扬；②提升，提拔；③增进，助长；④宣传，推销
［真题例句］ The standardized educational or psychological test that are widely used to aid in selecting, classifying, assigning, or promoting (②) students, employees, and military personnel have been the target of recent attacks in books, magazines, the daily press, and even in congress.［19xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ 标准化教育测试或心理测试目前广泛应用于协助选拔、分类、委派或提升学生、雇员和军事人员：这些测试一直是某些人近些年来在书籍、杂志、日报乃至国会中抨击的目标。
［真题例句］ Apart from the fact that twentyseven acts of Parliament govern the terms of advertising, no regular advertiser dare promote (④) a product that fails to live up to the promise of his advertisements.［19xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 除了国会制定的二十七项法案对广告词加以约束之外，没有任何正规广告商胆敢推销与广告承诺不符的产品。
parade［p??reid］n.游行，检阅；v.（使）列队行进，游行
cease［si:s］v./n. 停止，中止
［真题例句］ If we do not confront and overcome these internal fears and doubts, if we protect ourselves too much, then we cease to grow.［19xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 如果我们不能去正视并克服这些内在的恐惧和疑虑，如果我们过于自我保护，那么我们就会停止成长。
背景常识介绍：
在人类历史发展的长河中，除了宗教这一古老的社会文化现象外，奥林匹克运动可以称得上是一个历史最为悠久的社会文化现象。奥林匹克运动的起源从有文字记载的历史可以追溯到公元前776年。但在此以前，古代奥林匹克运动可能已经存在了几个世纪。奥林匹克运动会简称“奥运会”，是由国际奥林匹克委员会主办的世界性综合运动会。
参考译文：
尽管拉丁语Citius, altius, fortius (更快，更高，更强)是现代奥林匹克运动的座右铭，但早在远古时期运动员就已经开始积极地提高他们的运动技巧了。在古希腊各地都进行着田径赛、舞蹈比赛、赛马、赛船，以及火炬赛跑。希腊文学作品描述了许多在古代就很流行的体育项目，各种壁画和雕塑也展示了古希腊投掷铁饼、摔跤和马车比赛的场景。
举行体育运动会始于3500年前的希腊。到了公元前6世纪，希腊有几种体育节日，但其中最重要的是每隔4年在夏季举行的奥林匹克运动会。当时举办奥林匹克运动会是为了纪念众神之父——宙斯。只有希腊城邦的公民可以参加，且只有一个竞赛项目——短跑，即200码(1码约合0.9144米）短跑。公元前776年,一个名叫Coroebus的厨师是第一个记录在册的冠军。
后来，运动项目不断增加，包括赛马、摔跤、五项全能、马车比赛和拳击等。参加比赛的运动员全是裸体男性，妇女既不让参加也不让观看。在庆祝宴会上，冠军被戴上橄榄枝花环。
即使在公元前二世纪古罗马占领希腊时，运动会还继续举行。公元394年，罗马皇帝基督教徒狄奥多西一世禁止纪念奥林匹克众神的所有节日。奥林匹克运动会停止举行。1500年以后，1894年，法国男爵顾拜旦对运动会重新产生了兴趣。
现代奥林匹克运动会提倡在世界青年中发展和平、友谊和健康的体育竞技精神。希腊雅典被选为第一届现代奥林匹克运动会的主办城市。于1896年4月举办的这届运动会有13个参赛国，311名男运动员，42个项目和9项运动（4年以后妇女才被允许参加运动会）。美国在9 项田径项目中获得冠军，而希腊获得的奖牌最多，达47枚。
奥林匹克运动会每隔4年在不同的国家举办。历届奥运会开幕式上，希腊队总是走在运动员队伍的最前列。奥林匹克火焰仍燃烧在希腊的奥林匹亚，然后由多名火炬手传递到运动会举办城市。这一传统始于19xx年的德国，3000名运动员从希腊出发，沿途穿越了7个国家。奥林匹克火炬之路激发了全世界的想象，唤起了人们对奥林匹克运动会宗旨的再认识，那就是世界和平和体育精神。
古代希腊，只要有奥运会，战争就会为此而停止。不幸的是，在现代情况并非如此。19xx年的运动会因第一次世界大战而取消；1940和19xx年的两次奥运会，由于第二次世界大战而停止。
自从古希腊的第一次奥林匹克运动会以来，运动会已经有了很大变化。20xx年9月在澳大利亚悉尼举办的第27届奥运会，历时16天，1万多名运动员和198个国家参加，有28种运动。
A Passover sermon, a play, anda century of the Melting pot
The melting pot metaphor, touchstone of America?s debate over immigration, was claimed by the rabbi of a New York City synagogue, who said he coined it in a Passover sermon he gave exactly 100 years ago.
The image has been traced to a naturalized New Yorker in 1782, and also to DeWitt Clinton and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Later in 1907, a book by the English writer Ford Madox Ford included a chapter titled “The Melting Pot,” which said Britain had been revitalized by the influx of foreigners.
And finally, the following year, the phrase was popularized for eternity in “The Melting Pot,” a stage play by Israel Zangwill that preached the gospel of assimilation.
“I coined the term,” Rabbi Samuel Schulman said years after his 1907 sermon. “But I used it in a much different sense than Zangwill subsequently did. American democracy, in my mind, is a vast ?single melting pot?, in that it absorbs all races, brings out the common humanity in each, separates the gold from the dross and preserves only the gold.”
The play by Zangwill, a London-born son of Russian Jewish immigrants who was a Zionist, made its debut in Washington in 1908 and played in New York for four months the next year. The protagonist is David Quixano, a Jewish immigrant, orphaned by a pogrom, who lives with his uncle on Staten Island and becomes smitten with the daughter of a Russian nobleman.
Zangwill originally titled the play “The Mills of God,” then “The Crucible,” before settling on “The Melting Pot.” The phrase has many fathers, including J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, a French writer who lived for many years in New York. He wrote 225 years ago that in America, “individuals of all nations are melted into a new race.”
By that time, the phrase had appeared in various writings about assimilation, including at least two articles in the New York Times in the fall of 1889 that referred to the “American melting pot” as a “mysterious force which blends all foreign elements in one homogeneous mass.”
Zangwill died in Britain in 1926 at age 62.
Since then, the metaphor of the melting pot has evolved. “If it means that cultures have mixed and impacted each other, he?d have no problem with it,” said Professor Nahshon, whose book “From the Ghetto to the Melting Pot” was published last year. “If it meant uniformity, he?d totally reject the meaning.”
考研词汇：
melt［melt］v.（使）融化，（使）熔化
coin［k?in］n.硬币，货币；v.铸造（硬币），创造（新词）
absorb［?b?s?:b］v.①吸收；②吸收，使专心
homogeneous［?h?m??d?i:ni?s］a.同种类的，同性质的，有相同特征的
evolve［i5vClv］v.（使）发展，（使）进化
［真题例句］ We did not evolve, because machines and society did it for us.［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 我们没有进化。因为机器和社会替我们做到了这一切。
uniformity［?ju:ni?f?:miti］n.统一，一致
［真题例句］ There is “the democratizing uniformity of dress and discourse, and the casualness and absence of
consumption” launched by the 19th century department stores that offered “vast arrays of goods in an elegant atmosphere”.［20xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 19世纪由百货公司发起的民主化统一的着装、言论和随意的消费提供了“在优雅购物环境中的大批商品”。
背景常识介绍：
人们常说美国是个大熔炉，能熔化移民到美国的各个种族和民族。美国的历史和文化决定了其移民社会的独特性。美国之所以成为“大熔炉”的基础——美国之梦，除了本民族价值观，还有美国公民都认同的另一个共同的价值观：自我奋斗，实现成功。这个“美国之梦”，将不同种族、不同文化背景的人融合到一起。
参考译文：
逾越节的布道，一部戏剧，一个世纪大熔炉
美国关于移民问题争论的试金石，大熔炉这个比喻，是由一个纽约市犹太教堂的法师提出来的，法师说他是从一百多年前的一次逾越节的布道中提炼出这个观念的。
这个形象化的比喻可以追溯到1782年，一个获得了美国国籍的纽约人，DeWitt Clinton以及Ralph Waldo Emerson。在随后的19xx年英国作家Ford Madox Ford的一本书里有一章的标题就叫“大熔炉”，其中描述了移居英国的外国人给英国带来了活力。
而在第二年（19xx年），“大熔炉”这个词因为鼓吹“同化论”的Israel Zangwill的舞台剧“大熔炉”而广为流传。
Samuel Schulman法师在他19xx年布道之后说“我创造了这个词。但是，我用它表达的意思和后来Zangwill表达的完全不一样。在我看来，美国的民主主义就是一个巨大的单一的大熔炉，这个熔炉吸纳所有的种族，熔炼出共同的博爱仁慈，去其糟粕，取其精华。”
Zangwill出生在伦敦，是一位俄罗斯犹太人移民的儿子，其父亲是一个拥护犹太复国运动者。这部由Zangwill编导的戏剧19xx年在华盛顿首次登台亮相，并且19xx年在纽约演出了四个月。戏剧的主角是David Quixano，一位犹太移民，由于大屠杀成了孤儿，和他的叔叔居住在一个叫Staten的小岛上，David深深地爱上了一位俄国贵族家庭小姐。
Zangwill在把这部戏剧确定命名为《大熔炉》之前，先后考虑过命名为《上帝的磨房》，《严酷的考验》。大熔炉这个词有很多的创造者，包括J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur，一位久居纽约的法国作家。他描写了225年前的美国“各种各样不同的种族融合成为一个新的种族。”
从那个时候起，“大熔炉”出现在各种各样的关于民族同化的作品中，其中，至少有1889年纽约时报的两篇文章把“大熔炉”誉为“可以把各种外国的因素融合成一种和谐社会的神奇力量”。
Zangwill于19xx年在英国去世，享年62岁。
从那个时候起，大熔炉这个比喻逐渐形成。去年刚刚出版了新书《从犹太人区到大熔炉》的Nahshon博士说：“如果这个比喻的喻义是说文化交融并且互相影响，Zangwill先生肯定会赞成，但是，如果是指?同一或统一?，我想他会完全反对的。”
Athens: Then & Now
Imagine you are a citizen of Athens, enjoying a warm Mediterranean night in the Theater of Herodes Atticus. You are wearing jeans and a T-shirt, listening to a great concert.
Now rewind this picture 1,839 years. You are in the same seat, only you are watching classical Greek entertainment and wearing a simple chiton, or tunic.
The city of Athens is a fun mix of the old and the new, the classic and the modern. Often a little shop is located next to the ruins of a temple, which is only a block from a large, airconditioned hotel. The great city of 2,500 years ago is still visible today.
Ruins are the most obvious sign of ancient Athens, and the most famous of these is the Acropolis. The Acropolis is a large hill that was the center of life in Athens. On its Mopes were temples, monuments, and theaters. From the top, Athens? urban sprawl stretches out in every direction.
On the top of the Acropolis is the Parthenon. This was once a huge temple to Athena, the city?s patron. It was first completed in 432 B.C., but has been damaged and destroyed several times. However, visitors can still admire the “tricks” used in building the Parthenon. The columns along the outside lean inward, and are slightly fatter in the middle. The temple is also higher in the middle than on the sides. All these effects make the Parthenon look perfectly straight from a distance.
Only a block away from the Acropolis is the neighborhood of Plaka. The area, with its little shops and restaurants, is very popular with both tourists and locals, and is an important part of modern Athenian culture.
Many great thinkers, writers, and political leaders lived in ancient Athens. The ruins of their homes and favorite spots are scattered throughout the busy port city. The hill where St. Paul addressed early Christian Athenians is located near the Acropolis. Great thinkers such as Perikles and Demosthenes spoke to the civil assemblies held at the Pnyx Hill. Today the Pnyx is an openair theater for light and sound shows.
Greeks still use some ancient sites, such as the Pnyx and the Theater of Herodes Atticus. During Roman times, in 76A.D., gladiators used the Panathenaic Stadium for contests.The Olympics were held there in 1896, and today people still jog and exercise in the stadium.
Tourism is very important to people who live in modern-day Athens. Thousands of people come every year to see these ruins and to tour the many museums that house artifacts from ancient times. This provides many jobs and brings money into Athens, which helps the city pay for improvements. Athenians take pride in the accomplishments of their ancestors, and people from all around the world come to admire them. By looking around the city today, we can imagine what life was like in ancient
Athens.
考研词汇：
rewind［ri:'waind］vt.重绕 n. 重绕
obvious［??bvi?s］a.明显的，显著的
［真题例句］ That experiences influence (v.) subsequent behaviour is evidence of an obvious but nevertheless remarkable activity called remembering.［19xx年阅读5］
［例句精译］ 过去的经历会影响日后的行为，这就表明存在着一种明显但却非凡的脑力活动——记忆。
sprawl［spr?:l］n.四肢伸开的躺卧姿势, 蔓生v.四肢伸开地坐(或卧), 爬行, 蔓生, 蔓延
lean［li:n］v.①倾斜，屈身；②倚，靠，依赖；a.精干的；瘦削的
［真题例句］ Friedman relies on a lean (a.) staff of 20 in Austin.［20xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 弗莱德曼在奥斯汀市只有20人的精干职员队伍。
assembly [??sembli]n.①集合，集会，会议；②装配
［真题例句］ Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly (②) arms.［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 我们的工厂里轰鸣着机械化生产线的节奏。
contest［k?n?test, ?k?ntest］n.竞争，竞赛，比赛；v.竞争，比赛，争论
［真题例句］ In 1995 the CIA held a contest (n.) to see who could compile the most data about Burundi.［20xx年阅读1］ ［例句精译］ 19xx年中央情报局举办了一个竞赛，看谁能够收集到关于“布隆迪”的最多信息。
［真题例句］ Clearly, only the biggest and most flexible television companies are going to be able to compete in such a rich and hotly-contested (v.) market.［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ 显然，只有大型化的，应变能力强的电视传媒集团才能够在这个精彩纷呈而又竞争激烈的市场中生存。
背景常识介绍：
雅典卫城位于耸立在雅典城市之上的一座岩丘上。公元前480年雅典遭波斯人攻击，当时雅典的许多建筑被毁坏。在这之后，雅典人在卫城上建造了一批宏伟的新神庙。巴台农神庙可能是古希腊神庙中最为精美、最为著名的一座。它于公元前447年-公元前432年间建造，全部采用白色大理石，外围都是色彩鲜明的浮雕，装饰着神庙的三角墙。
参考译文：
雅典：过去与现在
想象一下，你是一个雅典公民，上穿T恤衫，下穿牛仔裤，在温暖的地中海夜幕下，坐在希罗德·阿提库剧院欣赏着美妙的音乐会。
现在回溯到1839年。你坐在同一座位上，你所看的是经典的希腊娱乐节目，穿着简单的宽大长袍或是过膝短袖束腰外衣。
雅典城是新与旧、古典与现代的有趣组合。那里你在神庙的废墟旁可以发现小商店，而与神庙一个街区之隔就是有空调设施的大酒店。今天，你仍然可以看到2500年前的伟大古城。
古迹是古代雅典城最明显的标志，其中最著名的是雅典卫城。卫城坐落在山上，而这座山曾经是雅典的生活中心。山坡上有一些神庙、纪念碑和剧院。雅典城区从山顶向四面八方延伸。
坐落在山上最高点的帕提侬神庙，曾经是供奉城市的保护神——雅典娜的巨大神庙。它建于公元前432年，后来多次遭到毁坏。今天参观者仍然能够欣赏到她精湛的建筑技巧。神庙外围的石柱并非直立而是向里倾斜的，石柱中间略粗。神庙中心建筑比四周的高。这些建筑效果使帕提侬神庙从远处看起来十分高耸笔直。
距离雅典卫城仅一个街区就是普拉卡区，该区遍布小商店和餐馆，很受游客和当地人的欢迎，也是现代雅典文化的重要组成部分。
许多伟大的思想家、文学家和政治领导人曾在古代希腊生活。这些名人的住所遗址和活动场所遍布整个繁忙的港口城市。圣保罗曾在雅典卫城附近的山上为早期希腊基督教徒布道。伟大的思想家帕里克里斯和狄摩西尼曾在普尼克斯山向集会市民演讲。今天普尼克斯是娱乐秀和音乐会的露天剧场。
希腊人仍在使用一些古代的场所，如普尼克斯和希罗德·阿提库剧场。公元76年古罗马时期，角斗士曾在“泛雅典”露天运动场进行竞技比赛；1896年的奥林匹克运动会也在那儿举行；今天，人们仍在这个运动场跑步和锻炼。
旅游业对于居住在雅典的人来说是非常重要的。每年成千上万的各地游人来到希腊参观这些古迹和藏有古代工艺品的博物馆。旅游业提供了许多工作机会，为希腊带来了经济收入，促进了城市的发展。希腊人民为他们祖先的辉煌成绩感到自豪，世界各地的人民也来到希腊表达崇拜之心。今天，环游雅典全城，我们可以想象到古雅典人们生活的情景。
A robot in the kitchen
Matt Mason has seen the future—and it?s fun. As director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Mason likes thinking about how machines can make our lives easier by taking over the tasks we hate, like mopping, scrubbing and cleaning. When it comes to the kitchen, he?s confident that within just a few decades, robots will ruledoing most of the burdensome work and freeing us to sit back and relax. “Right now we think of the kitchen as a place for chores,” says Mason.“But maybe we?re in the process of discovering it as a place we can enjoy.”
So unless you really, really love to clean, you won?t have to. The revolution has already begun. Recently, iRobot, the
company that gave us the Roomba vacuum, unveiled Scooba—a robot that vacuums, wetscrubs and dries floors all at once. The robotic floor cleaners of the future could take many different forms, explains Dan Kara, president of Robotics Trends, which tracks developments in automation. He envisions a floor-cleaning system that?s built into the wall and blows debris to a part of the room where it?s sucked up by a vacuum. Then the system sprays the floor with a soapy solution, and it?s mopped up by an arm with a sponge attached. “This is sheer speculation, of course,” Kara admits, “but you could program it to come on at 3 a.m., and it would just wetmop the floor for you.”
More than just fun, future kitchens will be environmentally friendly. Bruce Beihoff, director of Corporate Innovation and Technology at Whirl—pool, foresees appliance systems that recycle the energy lost from your oven to heat the kitchen, your water, even the entire home.“We have things like this running in our labs today,” he says. Even your sink water could be reused, sanitized and recycled through a filter. And a green kitchen means more green in your pocket.
New culinary technologies will help you go from Chef Boring to Chef Brilliant. The best cooks know that an evenly heated skillet is crucial to the perfect sauté. Enter the “pow dered bed,” an experimental stovetop that?s been designed by Whirlpool. Using microwave-heated ceramic chips instead of standard gas flame or electric coil, the system heats pans with near-perfect balance and lets you control the heat level with incredible precision. “It gives you extremely even heating,” says Whirlpool?s Beihoff,“maybe 10 or 20 times better than the best pan you can buy today.” Researchers at Whirlpool are also experimenting with an oven that will let you roast a skinless chicken to crispy perfection. “You?d still get the beautiful aesthetics in taste and appearance,” says Beihoff, “but you?d be able to cut way back on fats.”
Paul Leuthe, corporate marketing manager for Wolf Appliance Company, says induction burners will be de rigueur. They use a magnetic field to heat up pans, bring water to a boil in half the time it takes now, and allow for slow cooking.
考研词汇：
burdensome［'b?:dns?m］a.繁重的，难以承担的
［真题例句］ Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty.［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 从人类最初有了智慧至今，人们一直在设计日益巧妙的工具来处理那些危险的、枯燥的、繁重的或者简单而肮脏的工作。
automation［.?:t?'mei??n］n.自动（化）
［真题例句］ 58. What is this passage mainly about?［19xx年阅读2］
［C］ Significance of automation in commercial enterprises.
［例句精译］ 58. 本文主要内容是什么？［C］ 商业企业自动化的重要性。
spray［sprei］n.喷雾，飞沫，浪花，水花；v.喷，喷射
attach［??t?t?］v.①（to）缚上，系上，贴上；②使依附，使隶属，使依恋；③把……放在
［真题例句］ A survey of news stories in 1996 reveals that the antiscience tag has been attached (①) to many other groups as well, from authorities who advocated the elimination of the last remaining stocks of smallpox virus to Republicans who advocated decreased funding for basic research.［19xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 19xx年对新闻报道的调查表明，反科学的标签也贴在了许多其他群体上，这些人包括从提倡消灭所有现存的天花病毒的官方人士到倡议削减基础研究基金的共和党人。
［真题例句］ They (particularly Quebec and Alberta) just want Ottawa to fork over additional billions with few, if any, strings attached (①).［20xx年新题型］
［例句精译］ 这些官员（尤其是魁北克省和阿伯塔省官员）只希望政府当局额外出钱， 如有可能，还会附带条件。
［真题例句］ The modern school that hails technology argues that such masters as Galileo, Newton, Maxwell, Einstein, and inventors such as Edison attached (①) great importance to, and derived great benefit from, craft information and technological devices of different kinds that were usable in scientific experiments.［19xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ 推崇技术的现代学派认为，像伽利略、牛顿、麦克斯韦、爱因斯坦这样的大师以及像爱迪生这样的发明家都非常重视科学实验中使用的不同技术信息和技术设施，并从中受益颇深。
foresee［f?:?si:］v.预见，预知
［真题例句］ (72) This trend began during the Second World War, when several governments came to the conclusion that the specific demands that a government wants to make of its scientific establishment cannot generally be foreseen in detail.［19xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ (72)这种趋势始于第二次世界大战期间，当时一些国家的政府得出结论：政府要向科研机构提出的具体要求通常是无法详尽预见的。
crispy［'krispi］易碎的, 爽快的
背景常识介绍：
斯坦福大学科学家计划制造一种能够做日常服务的机器人，比如它可以从洗碗机中卸下碗碟。科学家计划为这种机器人安装“智能”软件，通过这套软件，机器人能够拾起它们以前从来没有看到过的东西。罗西是卡通电影《杰森一族》中的机器人女仆，而在科学家距离创造出现实生活中的罗西又更近了一步。
参考译文：
厨房里的机器人
艾特·梅森已经看到了令人向往的未来， 作为卡耐基·梅隆大学的机器人学会的主任，梅森喜欢思考如何用机器来
替我们做那些我们所憎恨的家务，比如拖地、洗刷、清洁等。一谈到厨房，他确信在几十年内，机器人将替我们做大多数繁重的工作而我们将得到解放。梅森说：“现在我们认为厨房是一个充满家务杂事的地方，但是我们或许正在逐渐发现那里其实是一个可以得到快乐的地方。”
所以，除非你真的喜欢做清洁，那么你将可以不做。革命已经开始，曾经给我们提供了Roomba吸尘器的公司，iRobot近来推出了一款新的机器人，它可以几乎同时吸尘、湿洗并擦干地板。将来地板清洗机器人将沿着自动化方向以多种形式出现，机器人发展协会主席丹·喀拉这样解释。他设想一个建在墙里面的地板清洁系统先将碎片吹到房间里的一个设置了吸尘器的角落里随后用吸尘器吸走，然后这个系统在地板上喷上一层肥皂溶液并用一个装了海绵的臂拖洗地板。“当然，这纯粹是一个设想，”喀拉承认，“但是你可以设定让它在下午三点开始，它就会为你湿洗地板。”
除了有趣以外，将来的厨房将更环保。Whirl—pool的技术创新公司主管，布鲁斯·贝豪夫预见将来的器具系统将循环利用烤箱里损失的热能来为你的厨房用水甚至整个家供暖。“现在我们已经在实验室尝试着这样做”，他说到。甚至你下水道的水也可以通过过滤器净化回收再利用。绿色环保的厨房意味着你的开销更少。
新的厨具技术将帮助你从一位烦恼的厨师变成一位才华横溢的厨师。最好的厨师知道要做一道精美的小炒，均匀地加热是很关键的。来看一下“powdered bed”，它是由Whirlpool设计正在试验的一款炉子。取代通常用的天然气火苗或者电炉丝而用微波来加热陶瓷片，这个系统近乎完美地均衡加热平底锅并且使我们能以难以置信的精确度来控制加热水平。“它提供了非常均衡的加热”， Whirlpool的贝豪夫说，“或许它比你现在所能买到的平底锅要好上10倍或者20倍”。同时 Whirlpool的研究者们也正在试验一种能使你将去皮的鸡烤到完美的焦酥状。“你还能做到色香味俱全”，贝豪夫说，“但是你可能要考虑减肥了”。
保罗·Leuthe，Wolf器具公司市场部经理，称感应炉是非常需要的。他们用磁场加热锅，使得水沸腾的时间比现在要少一半，当然也可以慢火做饭。
Pass the bacteria, please!
Bacteria are terribly good for you. So say the promoters of a rapidly growing industry in “probiotic” products. The title “probiotic” (for life) is technically reserved for those food products containing living cultures of “good” microorganisms. Just how good are they? It depends on to whom you are listening.
“Microbic marketing” is highly competitive; many brands of yogurts, many yogurt drinks, and many capsules of live bacteria are on display—all promising to be good for you! Promotions are intense, and the questions are many. Do healthy people need cultures of bacteria when they already have a crowd of fine bacteria at work? How valid are the claims that probiotic products increase the health of intestinal cells, degrade toxins, or prevent cancer? There is yet no scientific consensus, and for now, consumers must decide for themselves.
The recent interest in probiotic products has grown out of a concern for the side effects of antibiotics in the 1950s. Since antibiotics are not very selective as to which bacteria they attack, those prescribed for a toothache can quickly wipe out a whole population of intestinal microbes. Bacteria contained in fermented-milk products appeared to be effective in restoring populations of the beneficial bacteria after such a catastrophe. In the development of probiotic products, different species of Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria are selected according to their abilities to produce yogurt, to survive passage through the digestive tract, and to establish themselves in their new environment by outcompeting potentially unfriendly microbes for space and nutrients. This last criterion is not always easy to measure.
Cultures of yogurt, according to the National Yogurt Association, must contain at least 100 million live bacteria per gram. (Check to see how many bacteria are in one serving of your favorite yogurt.) Its a big number, but it is impossible to know how many will loiter in your digestive system. Research now is underway to determine whether probiotic products might take the place of controversial antibiotics in livestock feed, or if bacterial/antibacterial compounds might be useful as food preservatives. Probiotics is about using bacteria to control other bacteria!
考研单词：
reserve［ri?z?:v］n.①储备（物），储藏量，储备金；②缄默，谨慎；v.①保留，储备；②预定，预约
［真题例句］ 58. The authors attitude toward Richard Lamm?s remark is one of_________.［20xx年阅读4］
［B］ reserved (v.①) consent
［例句精译］ 58作者对理查德·拉姆所作评论的态度是________。［B］ 有保留的赞同
display［dis?plei］v./n.陈列，展览，显示
［真题例句］ While talking to you, your could-be employer is deciding whether your education, your experience, and other qualifications will pay him to employ you and your “wares” and abilities must be displayed（v.） in an orderly and reasonably connected manner.［19xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 在与你谈话时，你未来的雇主将根据你的教育、你的经验和你其他的资历来确定雇用你是否值得，因此你必须把你的“品质”和能力以有序、合理且连贯的方式展示出来。
prescribe［pri?skraib］v.①指示，规定；②处（方），开（药）
［真题例句］ George Annas, chair of the health law department at Boston University, maintains that, as long as a doctor prescribes (②) a drug for a legitimate medical purpose, the doctor has done nothing illegal even if the patient uses the drug to hasten death.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 波士顿大学健康法律系主任乔治·安纳斯坚持认为，只要医生是出于合理的医疗目的开药，那么即使服用此药会加速病人的死亡，医生的行为也没有违法。
ferment［f??ment］n.酵素, 发酵, 动乱v.(使)发酵, (使)激动, (使)动乱
criterion［krai?ti?ri?n］n.（［pl.］criteria）标准，准则
［真题例句］ Narrowing your criteria, for example, may work against you: “Every time you answer a question you eliminate a possibility.” says one expert..［20xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 比如，缩小你的要求条件就有可能对你不利。一位专家说：“你每回答一次问题你就丧失一次机会。” bacterial［b?k?ti?ri?］a.细菌的
［真题例句］ The rats (49：develop) bacterial infections of the blood, (50：as if) their immune systems—the self-protecting mechanism against disease—had crashed.［19xx年完形］
［例句精译］ 老鼠患血液细菌感染，似乎它们的免疫系统——抵御疾病的自我保护机制——已崩溃。
背景常识介绍：
细菌的好处：在合适的条件下，细菌可以生长得很快。据估算，如果有足够的食物，大肠杆菌的一个细胞理论上可以在三天内产生出一大群细菌，比地球的体积还要大。所以，我们的粪便中的1/3到1/2是细菌。这一点也不奇怪。
参考译文：
请把细菌递给我
“益生菌”产品的产业在迅速发展，它的倡导者说细菌对你是大有好处的。“益生菌”这一名称是指包含“有益的”微生物培养菌的食品。它们的益处到底有多大呢？这取决于你在听谁说。
“微生物产品”的市场竞争非常激烈。许多种品牌的酸奶、酸奶饮料和多种真菌胶囊都在展示之中——它们都被说成会对你的身体有好处。促销活动密集，而留给人们的疑问也是很多的。健康人的体内有众多有益的微生物在活动。那么他们是否还需要培养菌呢？有人声称“益生菌”产品会促进大肠内细胞的健康生长，使毒素降解并防止癌症的发生。这种说法的可靠性有多大呢？对于这些问题，科学界还没有统一的认识。消费者必须自己做出决定。
人们最近对“益生菌”产品的兴趣来源于50年代开始的对抗生素副作用的担心。因为抗生素对它要对抗的细菌没有很大的选择性，为治牙疼而开出抗生素可能会很快杀死一大批大肠中的细菌。在这场劫难过后，发酵奶产品中的细菌似乎能有效地恢复那些有益的细菌的数量。在开发“益生菌”产品的过程中，根据它们能制造酸奶的能力，人们选择不同种的乳酸杆菌素和双线菌素，想使它们通过消化道后仍然能够存活下来，并且在新的环境里，通过与可能有害的细菌争夺营养和空间得以立足。但有害和有益的最终标准并不是那么好确定的。
根据美国国家酸奶协会的说法，每一克酸奶中的培养菌至少含有一亿个真菌。（查看一下，在你最喜欢吃的酸奶中，每一份中含多少真菌）。这个数字是很大的，但你不可能知道有多少真菌只是在你的消化系统中闲逛。人们现在正在进行研究，目的是要确定“益生菌”产品是否能够取代有争议的牲畜饲料中的抗生素，或者细菌或抗菌化合物是否可以用在食物防腐剂当中。益生菌学说是研究用细菌来控制细菌的科学。
Online booksellers face higher costs for shipping abroad
THE Postal Service is taking the “ship” out of shipping, and thousands of small online booksellers are bracing for trouble. The post office said last month that as of mid-May, it would no longer transport goods internationally via cargo ships for individual customers. These so-called surface deliveries have been the crucial method by which booksellers have sold books to foreign markets because the cost is about one-third that of air mail.
Analysts said Amazon.com would not be affected by the change; international book shipments represent a small fraction of its business, and because, like other high-volume businesses, it can qualify for discounts on foreign shipments.
But many thousands of smaller used-and rare-book merchants say they will suffer, since they rely on foreign demand.
“If postage costs as much, if not more, than the book, it?ll be hard to sell books,” said Rob Stuart, owner of FrenchboroBooks.com, a seller of rare and antique books in Frenchboro, Maine.“And maybe 25 percent or more of my books sell internationally.”
In announcing the changes last month, the post office said demand for international air-mail delivery was increasing at the expense of sea-borne services, which account for just 2.7 percent of foreign deliveries.“As a result, efficient international surface delivery networks have diminished and costs have dramatically increased,” the Postal Service said.
Mr. Stuart called the changes “a brutal reality” that put him in a difficult position, since his entire town may feel the effects. His company has shipped enough rare and antique books to sustain mail deliveries for the 75 residents of Frenchboro, an island about eight miles off Maine?s northeast coast. Now Mr. Stuart, who is also a town selectman, said the island?s mail deliveries could be threatened, and he may also be forced to lay off a part-time worker.
Yvonne Yoerger, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service, said customers aren?t yet aware of other options. She said “customized agreements” for surface mail are being developed for higher-volume shippers that will be enhanced over the next several months to address the needs of small businesses. “The Postal Service has a longstanding commitment to small businesses and is working to accommodate customers needs as the international mail changes take effect,” Ms. Yoerger said.
Philip Bevis, chief executive of Arundel Books, which sells online and in its Seattle store, said he did not believe such customized agreements would extend to small booksellers like him.
“I think the Postal Service dangled that to defuse any pushback,” Mr. Bevis said. “If they were really serious about this, they would?ve pushed back the cancellation of surface mail until they could incorporate these other standards.” Because small booksellers typically list their inventories with multiple Web sites, like Amazon, AbeBooks.com and Alibris.com, the new shipping costs will be felt, to varying degrees, up the industry?s food chain until those customized agreements are final.
考研单词：
brace［breis］v.①使防备，使受锻炼；②支撑；③使（手，足，肩等）绷紧；n.托架，支架
transport［?tr?nsp?:t］v.运输，运送，搬运；n.①运输，运送；②运输系统，运载工具
［真题例句］ It was during the same time that the communications revolution (25：speeded) up, beginning with transport (n.②), the railway, and leading (26：on) through the telegraph, the telephone, radio, and motion pictures (27：into) the 20th century world of the motor car and the air plane.［20xx年完形］
［例句精译］ 与此同时，通讯革命加速发展，从铁路运输开始，发展到电报、电话、无线电和电影，直到20世纪的汽车和飞机。
via［?vai?］prep.经，通过
［真题例句］ He sent it on via the groups online service, Death NET.［19xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 他通过协会的在线服务“死亡之网”将其转发了出去。
crucial［?kru:?i?l］a.至关重要的，决定性的
［真题例句］ The panel has not yet reached agreement on a crucial question, however, whether to recommend legislation that would make it a crime for private funding to be used for human cloning.［19xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 然而，该小组尚未在一个关键问题上达成一致，即是否建议立法机关将私人资金用于克隆人的行为视为犯罪。
qualify［?kw?li?fai］v.①（使）具有资格，证明合格；②限制，限定；③修饰
［真题例句］ We must pour out a large stream of essential words, unhampered by stops, or qualifying (③) adjectives, or finite verbs.［20xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 我们必须大量使用基本词汇，摆脱句号、修饰性形容词及限定动词的限制。
rely［ri?lai］v.①（on）依赖，依靠；②信赖，信任
［真题例句］ “I would not rely (①) on agents for finding everything that is added to a database that might interest me,” says the author of a jobsearching guide.［20xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 一位职业搜索指南的作者说：“我不会依赖代理在数据库增加的每一项内容里去逐一寻找可能令我感兴趣的东西。”
diminish［di?mini?］v.缩小，减少，递减
［真题例句］ Again, differences between people and the opportunity for natural selection to take advantage of it have diminished.［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 人与人之间的差异和利用差异进行自然选择的机会再一次减少。
sustain［s??stein］v.①支撑，撑住；②维持，持续，经受，忍耐
［真题例句］ Some scholars conclude that a government with finite resources should simply stop paying for medical care that sustains (②) life beyond a certain age—say 83 or so.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 有些学者总结说，如果政府资金有限，它应该停止支付延缓某一个年龄以上人群寿命的医疗费用——比如83岁左右。
背景常识介绍：
全球最大的电子零售商，亚马逊，在其网站上销售着数百万件的商品，然而其每个季度的业绩让投资者伤心失望的地方也像其销售的商品这么多。4月26日发布的第一季度财务报告再度让投资者感到了失望，尽管该季度收入增长了24％，达到了19亿美元，但是其赢利比一年前下滑了30％，只有7800万美元。
参考译文：
网上书商面临挑战
邮政业将不再用货船运送货物，数以万计的网上小书商正准备迎接由此带来的麻烦。
上月邮电业宣称，从五月中旬开始，将不再为个人客户办理货船国际商品运送业务。这些所谓的水面运送方式，一直是书商们将书卖往海外市场的主要方法，因为它的花费只有航空邮件的三分之一。
分析家说这种变化不会对亚马逊电子商务公司（Amazon.com）造成影响。书籍的全球运送只代表了它的一小部分业务，而且像其他拥有大量业务的公司一样，它有能力承受海外运输市场业务的减少。
但是数以万计的专卖旧书和珍本书的小书商说他们将要遭殃了，因为他们依靠的就是国外的市场需求。
罗勃·斯特，是FrenchboroBooks.com 公司的老板，在缅甸的Frenchboro, Maine 卖珍本和古籍，他说：“如果书的邮费比书本身的价格高，或者即使两者一样多，就很难把书卖出去了，而且我有25%或更多的书是卖往全球的。”
在上个月宣布这些变化时，邮局说在损失了占海外业务2.7%的货船业务的情况下，国际航空运输业务增加了。“因此，有效的全球水运网络衰落了，而运输费用也大幅度增加”，邮电业如是说。
斯特先生称这些变化为“残酷的现实”，将他置于一个非常困难的境地，因为他所在的整个小镇都可能感受到这些变化带来的影响。他的公司已经用货船运送了足够多的珍本书和古籍，以此来支付给75位Frenchboro居民邮书的费用，Frenchboro是一个离缅因州北部海岸约八英里的一个小岛。现在斯特先生是小镇的行政委员，他说，这个小岛的邮政运送业务正面临威胁，而且他也可能不得不辞掉一个兼职工人。
邮电业发言人，Yvonne Yoerger说，顾客们还没有意识到其他的选择。她说，对于水运“约定俗成的共识”正在制定中，它们将更有利于那些拥有大笔业务的发货人，从而满足小公司的要求。她还说：“邮政业将长期致力于为小公司服务，并且当全球邮政业务发生变化时将努力满足顾客们的要求。”
非利普·布瑞斯是Arundel Books的行政长官，这家电子商务公司在网上和西雅图的书店里出售图书。他说他不相
信这些“约定俗成的共识”会扩展到像他一样的小书商那里。
布瑞斯先生说：“我认为邮电业只是以此作为幌子来缓和任何反对意见。如果他们真的关心此事，那么直到他们能够将其他标准包含进来，他们也许就不会接受取消水运邮政业务。”因为小书商们都将他们的图书清单放在多个网页上，如Amazon，AbeBooks.com，Alibris.com，那么直到这些“约定俗成的共识”已成定局，新的运送费用才将在不同程度上满足邮电业的食物链要求。
Up close and edible:Green tea
Green tea is one of the most popular beverages to hit the U.S. market in the last decade. Unlike black tea or oolong, green tea is made from unfermented tea leaves. Because it does not go through a fermentation process, research suggests that it contains the highest concentration of polyphenols, antioxidants that rid of the body of free radicals. Some preliminary research shows that green tea?s polyphenols, particularly ECGC, stop the free-radical damage that may lead to cancer and heart disease.
But even though green tea gets a lot of props for its reputation as a healing brew, most of the studies on its effects have been done in the laboratory or in animals. The bulk of human studies have been population-based, those that follow large groups of people over a specified period of time. The results of those studies have been inconsistent. Because of that data, the Food and Drug Administration says there is no scientific evidence that drinking green tea reduces heart disease, and the agency rejected a petition last year that sought to allow the claim on tea labels. The FDA previously said that green tea probably does not reduce the risk of breast, prostate or any other type of cancer. “Green tea has a lot of wonderful active compounds that may play a role in fighting cancer and heart disease and even protecting the lining of the arteries,” says Dave Grotto, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. “But there needs to be a lot more research.”
Despite many claims to the contrary, it probably doesn?t help with weight loss, either. Some studies suggest that green tea?s polyphenols may boost metabolism and help burn fat. Unfortunately, “there?s nothing magic about green tea,” says Dr. Frank Greenway, head of the outpatient clinic at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., who studies herbal supplements and obesity. “I?ll be surprised if it is shown to have any profound effect on weight loss.”
Don?t throw out your green tea just because the studies have been less than impressive. “Herbs always play catch-up when it comes to research,” says Greenway. “Green tea won?t hurt you.” And maybe it will do some good. Some studies show that some green-tea drinkers may actually get more health benefits than others. Try it freshly brewed, which provides more antioxidants than bottled green-tea drinks.
考研词汇：
radical［?r?dik?l］a.①基本的，根本的；②激进的，极端的
［真题例句］ 58. Which of the following statements is NOT mentioned in the passage?［19xx年阅读2］
［A］ Radical (①) reforms are essential for the increase of productivity.
［例句精译］ 58下面哪项说法本文没有提到？
［A］彻底的改革对生产率的增长十分重要。
［真题例句］ The publisher of radical (②) books who takes his meals in threestar restaurants.［20xx年阅读5］ ［例句精译］ 激进的出版商到三星级宾馆就餐。
preliminary［pri?limin?ri］a.预备的，初步的
［真题例句］ In a significant (32：tightening) of legal controls over the press, Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, will introduce a (33：draft) bill that will propose making payments to witnesses (34：illegal) and will strictly control the amount of (35：publicity) that can be given to a case (36：before) a trial begins.［20xx年完形］
(33) ［A］ sketch［B］ rough［C］ preliminary［D］ draft
［例句精译］ 为了更有效地对新闻界实施合法监控，大法官Irvine勋爵将引入一项草拟的法案。该法案将提出，付款给证人是非法的；在审判开始前，对案件的曝光度要严格控制。
(33)［A］ 略图，草图 ［B］ 粗略的，大致的［C］ 预备的，初步的［D］ 草稿，草案，草图
bulk［b?lk］n.①体积，容积；②主体，大批，大量
［真题例句］ But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk (①) commodities traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat.［20xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 但许多客户却抱怨说，对于依赖长途运输的大宗商品来说，如煤炭、化学制品和粮食，由于公路运输花费太大，这样铁路公司就会主宰他们。
［真题例句］ But they insisted that its (43：immediate) results during the period from 1750 to 1850 were widespread poverty and misery for the (44：bulk) (②) of the English population.［19xx年完形］
［例句精译］ 但他们却坚持认为它所造成的直接后果是给大多数英国民众带来了普遍的贫困和不幸。
petition［pi?ti??n］n.请愿书，申请书，诉状；v.（向……）请愿，正式请求
obesity［?u'bisiti］n.肥胖, 肥大
brew［bru:］v.酿造, 酝酿
背景常识介绍：
近几年,越来越多的科学研究资料表明了茶叶的营养价值及保健作用、如抗癌作用、降血脂、减肥、预防心血管疾病、抵抗辐射、抗氧化、延缓衰老、增进精神健康、助消化、护齿、护肤等等。
参考译文：
绿茶面面观
绿茶是近十年来冲击美国市场的最流行的饮料之一。和红茶与乌龙茶不一样的是，绿茶是由没有发酵过的茶叶制成的。因为它没有经过发酵处理，研究表明它富含茶多酚以及去除人体自由肌的抗氧化剂。某些初步研究表明，绿茶的茶多酚，尤其是ECGC可以防治可能导致癌症和心脏病的自由肌对于人体的损坏。
虽然绿茶有很多好处使它享有保健品的美誉，但是，对于它的影响的实验仍然在实验室或者动物身上大量进行着。以人为实验对象这一块，是以特定时期的特定人群为基础的，但是，实验的结果却是不一致的。因此，根据这一数据，食品和药品管理局表示称喝绿茶可以减少心脏病是没有科学根据的，并且拒绝了去年要求把这一说法写在茶叶包装上的申请。FDA在这之前就提出过，绿茶很有可能不会降低乳腺、前列腺或者任何其他癌症的风险。美国食品卫生联合会的发言人Dave Grotto表示：“绿茶里含有很多大量的非常棒的人体所需的化合物，这些化合物可能对预防癌症及心脏病起到一定的作用甚至会保护我们的动脉内壁。当然，这些结论都还需要更多的研究来给予证明。”
绿茶似乎也并不能帮助减肥，虽然，也有很多说法与之相反。有一些研究表示，绿茶的茶多酚可能会加快新陈代谢以帮助燃烧脂肪。但是，非常不幸的是，美国路易斯安那州巴吞鲁日Pennington生物医学研究中心，研究草药补给与肥胖的临床门诊部主任Frank Greenway博士说：“绿茶没有任何神奇之处。如果它对减肥有任何实质性的影响的话，我将会感到惊讶不已。”
不要因为研究所表明的证据不足就把绿茶给扔了。Greenway说：“对草药的研究结果总是表现的姗姗来迟，绿茶是不会有坏处的”。也许它还有某些好处。某些研究结果表明一部分喝绿茶的人的确要比不喝绿茶的人身体健康。新鲜的绿茶要比瓶装的绿茶含有更多的抗氧化剂。
English as language of global education
In the shifting universe of global academia, English is becoming as commonplace as creeping ivy and mortarboards. In the last five years, the world?s top business schools and universities have been pushing to make English the teaching tongue in a calculated strategy to raise revenues by attracting more international students and as a way to respond to globalization.
Business universities are driving the trend, partly because changes in international accreditation standards in the late 1990s required them to include English-language components. But English is also spreading to the undergraduate level, with some South Korean universities offering up to 30 percent of their courses in the language. The former president of Korea University in Seoul sought to raise that share to 60 percent, but ultimately was notre-elected to his post in December.
Over the last three years, the number of master?s programs offered in English at universities with another host language has more than doubled, to 3,300 programs at 1,700 universities, according to David A. Wilson, chief executive of the Graduate Management Admission Council, an international organization of leading business schools that is based in McLean, Va.
“We are shifting to English. Why?” said Laurent Bibard, the dean of M.B.A. programs at Essec, a top French business school in a suburb of Paris that is a fertile breeding ground for chief executives.
“It?s the language for international teaching,” he said. “English allows students to be able to come from anyplace in the world and for our students—the French ones—to go everywhere.”
This year the university is celebrating its 100th anniversary in its adopted tongue. Its new publicity film debuted in English and French. Along one of the main roads leading into Paris loomed a giant blue billboard boasting of the anniversary in French and, in smaller letters, in English.
With the jump in foreign students, Essec now offers 25 percent of its 200 courses in English. Its ambition is to accelerate the English offerings to 50 percent in the next three years.
But getting students to feel comfortable speaking English in the classroom is easier said than done. When younger French students at Essec start a required course in organizational analysis, the atmosphere is marked by long, uncomfortable silences, said Alan Jenkins, a management professor and academic director of the executive M.B.A. program.
At the beginning, “teaching courses in English may have less efficiency or effectiveness in terms of knowledge transfer than those courses taught in Korean,” said Anna Suh, program manager for the university?s office of global affairs, who said that students eventually see the benefits. “Our aim for this kind of program is to prepare and equip our students to be global leaders in this new era of internationalization.”
考研词汇：
creep［kri:p］v.①爬，爬行；②（植物）蔓延
spread［spred］v./n.伸开，伸展；散布，传播
shift［?ift］v.①替换，转移；②移动；n.①转换，转变；②（轮）班，（换）班
［真题例句］ A scientific analysis shifts (v.①) both the responsibility and the achievement to the environment.［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ 科学分析把责任和成就归因于环境。
［真题例句］ They believe the data support an idea current among marine biologists, that of the “shifting (v.②) baseline”.［20xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 他们相信数据支持了目前海洋生物学家的一个观点，就是“移动的基准线”。
［真题例句］ Another major shift (n.①) in the model for Internet commerce concerns the technology available for marketing.［19xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 网络商业模式的另一个重大变化体现在营销策略上。
fertile［?f?:tail］a.①肥沃的，富饶的；②能生育的
［真题例句］ The Aswan Dam, for example, stopped the Nile flooding but deprived Egypt of the fertile (①) silt that floods left—all in return for a giant reservoir of disease which is now so full of silt that it barely generates electricity.［19xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 以阿斯旺大坝为例，它阻止了尼罗河洪水泛滥，但也使埃及失去了洪水冲击过后留下的肥沃土壤，换回来的是一个巨大但有弊病的水库。现在这个水库积满了淤泥，几乎不能发电了。
［真题例句］ Few people are as fertile (②) as in the past.［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 现在没有几个人像过去那样生育后代了。
accelerate［?k?sel?reit］v.加快，促进
［真题例句］ (71) Some of these causes are completely reasonable results of social needs.Others are reasonable consequences of particular advances in science being to some extent selfaccelerating.［19xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ （71）在这些原因中，有些完全是自然而然地来自社会需求。另一些则是由于科学在一定程度上自我加速而产生某些特定发展的必然结果。
transfer［tr?ns?f?:］v.①转移，调动；②转车；③转业，转学；④转让，过户；n.转移，转变
［真题例句］ NBAC members also indicated that they would appeal to privately funded researchers and clinics not to try to clone humans by body cell nuclear transfer (n.).［19xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ NBAC的成员明确表示，他们呼吁由私人提供资金的研究人员和机构不要试图通过人体细胞核转移去克隆人。
［真题例句］ (73) During this transfer (n.), traditional historical methods were augmented by additional methodologies designed to interpret the new forms of evidence in the historical study.［19xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ （73）在这种转变中，历史学家研究历史时，那些解释新史料的新方法充实了传统的历史研究方法。 背景常识介绍：
英语成为国际共同语有5个有利条件：人口众、流通广、文化高、出版多、使用便。
人口众：以英语为生活和工作语言的，有受过良好教育的3.5亿人。以英语为主要母语和全国共同语的国家有：英国、爱尔兰、美国、加拿大、澳大利亚、新西兰。原英国殖民地独立后大都用英语作为官方语言。
流通广：联合国原始文件80%用英语，国际互联网络90%用英语。全世界的学校大都有必修的英语课程。 文化高：英语是现代科技的主要语言。
出版多：英语出版物比任何语言的出版物都要多。
使用便：英语用26个字母，不加符号。
参考译文：
“英语”——全球教育语言
在不断变化的全球学术界，英语正变得像不断爬升的常春藤和不断升级的学位帽一样普通。在过去的五年中，世界一流的商学院和大学始终千方百计致力于使英语成为教学语言，从而通过吸引更多的各国学生来增加收入和应对全球化。
商业性大学正追赶这种潮流，部分上是因为20世纪90年代后期全球鉴定标准的变化使得他们必须包含英语语言元素。但是英语也正扩展到本科层次的教育，南韩大学在语言课程中包含30%的英语。首尔韩国大学前校长曾想将这一比例扩大到60%，但是在十二月份的选举中，他最终没能连任校长一职。
大卫·A·威尔森，是毕业生管理录取委员会的行政长官，这是一个顶尖商学院的国际组织，位于McLean, Va。据他问题，在过去的三年中，大学中同时用英语和另一种本国语言授课的硕士生课程翻了一番，在1700所大学中达到了3300门课程。
Laurent Bibard是Essec大学M.B.A.课程的主任。Essec大学是位于巴黎郊区的一所顶尖法国商学院，盛产首席执行官。他问道：“为什么我们要使用英语教学呢？”
“英语是国际教学授课语言，”他说，“英语使得学生们来自世界每一个地方，也使得我们的法国学生走向世界的每个角落。”
这所大学正准备用英语纪念她的100岁生日。她的宣传影片首次同时用英语和法语播放。在通往巴黎的其中一条主干道上矗立着一幅巨大的蓝色广告牌，上面用法语同时用小字体的英语宣传着她的100岁生日。
随着外国学生的增加，Essec大学200门课程中有25%用英语授课。她还将努力使这一比例在接下来的三年中增加到50%。
但是要使学生在课堂上舒舒服服地说英语却是说起来容易做起来难。阿兰·金克斯是一位管理学教授，同时还是主管M.B.A项目的学术带头人。他说，当年轻的法国学生们开始学习一门关于组织分析的必修课时，课堂经历了一段长时间的尴尬的沉默。
安娜·苏是大学国际事务办公室的项目经理。她说：“刚开始的时候，用英语授课可能比用韩语授课在知识的传授方面效率低一些，但学生们最终会看到其中的好处。我们这种项目的目标是使我们的学生在全新的全球化时代为成为全球领导者作准备。”
Global warming
On Feb. 2, 2007, the United Nations scientific panel studying climate change declared that the evidence of a warming trend is “unequivocal,” and that human activity has “very likely” been the driving force in that change over the last 50 years.
The last report by the group, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in 2001, had found that humanity had “likely” played a role.
The addition of that single word “very” did more than reflect mounting scientific evidence that the release of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases from smokestacks, tailpipes and burning forests has played a central role in raising the average surface temperature of the earth by more than 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1900. It also added new momentum to a debate that now seems centered less over whether humans are warming the planet, but instead over what to do about it. In recent months, business groups have banded together to make unprecedented calls for federal regulation of greenhouse gases. The subject had a redcarpet moment when former Vice President Al Gore?s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” was awarded an Oscar; and the Supreme Court made its first global warming-related decision, ruling 5 to 4 that the Environmental Protection Agency had not justified its position that it was not authorized to regulate carbon dioxide.
The greenhouse effect has been part of the earths workings since its earliest days. Gases like carbon dioxide and methane allow sunlight to reach the earth, but prevent some of the resulting heat from radiating back out into space. Without the greenhouse effect, the planet would never have warmed enough to allow life to form. But as ever larger amounts of carbon dioxide have been released along with the development of industrial economies, the atmosphere has grown warmer at an accelerating rate: Since 1970, temperatures have gone up at nearly three times the average for the 20th century.
The latest report from the climate panel predicted that the global climate is likely to rise between 3.5 and 8 degrees Fahrenheit if the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere reaches twice the level of 1750. By 2100, sea levels are likely to rise between 7 to 23 inches, it said, and the changes now underway will continue for centuries to come.
考研词汇：
panel［?p?nl］n.①面，板；②控制板，仪表盘；③专门小组
［真题例句］ They have built robots that can recognize the error of a machine panel (②) by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled factory environment.［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 他们建造的机器人在严格控制的工厂环境里，能够在仪表盘上识别毫米以下的误差。
［真题例句］ The panel (③) then informally accepted several general conclusions, although some details have not been settled.［19xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 随后，该小组非正式地接受了几条笼统的结论，尽管有些细节尚无定论。
unequivocal［?n?i:kw?l］a.不含糊的
momentum［m?u?ment?m］n.动力，要素
unprecedented［?n?presidentid］a.空前的
［真题例句］ Writing for the National Immigration Forum, Gregory Rodriguez reports that today?s immigration is neither at unprecedented level nor resistant to assimilation.［20xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 格雷戈里·罗德里格兹在《国家移民论坛》中写到，今天的移民既没有达到空前绝后的水平也没有能抵挡住同化作用。
justify［?d??stifai］v.证明…是正当的，认为有理
［真题例句］ An education that aims at getting a student a certain kind of job is a technical education, justified for reasons radically different from why education is universally required by law.［19xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］旨在使学生胜任某种工作的教育是职业教育，它存在的理由与法律所规定的普及教育之间有很大差别。
radiate［?reidieit］v.①放射，辐射；②散布，传播
背景常识介绍：
全球变暖是指全球气温升高。近一百多年来，全球平均气温经历了冷－暖－冷－暖两次波动，总体为上升趋势。全球变暖的主要原因是人类在近一个世纪以来大量使用矿物燃料而导致排放大量的温室气体。全球变暖会使全球降水量重新分配、冰川和冻土消融、海平面上升等，既危害自然生态系统的平衡，更威胁人类的食物供应和居住环境。
参考译文：
全球变暖
20xx年2月2日，联合国研究气候变化的科学小组称，全球变暖的趋势已是毋庸置疑，并且，在这过去的50年中，人类的活动“极有可能”是这一变化的始作俑者。美国政府气象变化研究小组20xx年的最后一篇报告就已经表明了，人类的活动“可能”扮演这一破坏性角色。
单单增加的“极其”这个词，不仅仅反映了科学证据的逐步增加——诸如，从烟囱和管道排放出来的二氧化碳和其他可导致温室效应的气体，以及烧毁森林，都是致使地球表面平均温度从19xx年以来上升1华氏摄氏度以上的重要原因——而且，还为现如今人类的主要工作从以讨论“全球变暖是不是人类所导致”为中心，转向探讨“如何对付全球变暖”提供了新的推动力。在最近几个月，大的商业集团首次联合起来呼吁制定控制温室气体的联邦政府规则，这个呼吁在美国前副总统戈尔的记录片《难以忽视的真相》获得奥斯卡奖后得到了非常热烈的响应。最高法院以5比4作出了他们第一个关于全球变暖的裁决，但环境保护署没有证明它未授权规范二氧化碳的立场。
从最早期开始，温室效应一直是地球运转方式的一部分。二氧化碳和甲烷之类的气体致使太阳光可以到达地球，也将一部分产生的热量反射回太空。没有温室效应，地球就不可能变得足够的温暖以使生命形成。但是，随着工业经济的发展，越来越多的二氧化碳被释放，大气正在变得越来越热，从19xx年以来气温的上升幅度是20世纪平均增幅的三倍。
气象小组最近的预计报告表示，如果二氧化碳浓度达到工业化之前水平的两倍，气候将很可能上升3.5到8华氏摄
氏度。到2100年，海平面很有可能上升7到23英寸，并且据称，这种正在发生着的变化还将持续几个世纪。
Guilty plea in deadly Tennessee school shooting
A 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty Tuesday in the killing of a high school official and the wounding of two others under a plea deal announced after jury selection for his trial had started.
The judge sentenced Kenneth Bartley Jr. to 45 years in prison for the single count of seconddegree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder in the 2005 shootings at Campbell County Comprehensive High School.
The teenager could have faced a life sentence if convicted on the original charges. His plea deal was announced after special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood consulted with defense and prosecution attorneys, the two surviving administrators and the widow of the man who died.
The three school officials had confronted Bartley on Nov. 8, 2005, after hearing that he had a gun in the school. Bartley was in the principal?s office when he fatally shot Assistant Principal Ken Bruce, 48, and wounded Principal Gary Seale and Assistant Principal Jim Pierce.
The defense conceded during the questioning of potential jurors that Bartley, then 14, shot all three men.
The boy had been in and out of trouble while in middle school and had spent about a year and a half in a residential juvenile treatment program.
Deputy Sheriff Darrell Mongar testified during a February hearing that Bartley told him the pistol was his father?s and he planned to trade it for OxyContin, a powerful painkiller.
Pierce testified at that hearing that he told Bartley he wanted the gun the boy had in his pocket.
“Kenny stood up with the gun waving it at all of us,” Pierce said. “Mr. Seale asked him if it was real. He said?Yes, it?s real. I?ll show you. I never liked you anyway.”
Pierce said Bartley pulled out an ammunition clip, loaded the gun and fired. Seale was shot first, in the lower abdomen. Bruce was shot in the chest. Pierce was hit in the chest as he struggled to disarm the youth, he testified.
Bartley had been indicted on charges of first-degree murder and felony murder, both of which could have carried a life sentence—meaning a minimum of 51 years in prison. He also was charged with attempted murder, taking a gun to school grounds and possession of controlled substances, which could have added to his sentence if he were convicted. Jury selection was wrapping up when the agreement was reached.
考研词汇：
jury［?d?u?ri］n.①陪审团；②全体评审员
［真题例句］ The jury (①) agreed that the nature of the game, not the helmet, was the reason for the athletes injury.［19xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 陪审团也认为造成该运动员受伤的是这项运动本身的危险性，而不是头盔。
comprehensive［?k?mpri?hensiv］a.广泛的，全面的，综合的
［真题例句］ Boston Globe reporter Chris Reidy notes that the situation will improve only when there are (17：comprehensive) programs that address the many needs of the homeless.［20xx年完形］
［例句精译］ 《波士顿环球日报》记者克里斯·雷迪认为，只有通过全面规划来解决这些无家可归者的各种需求，这种局面才有可能得到改善。
plea［pli:］n.恳求，请求，辩解，藉口
confront［k?n?fr?nt］v.①使面临，使遭遇；②面对（危险等）
［真题例句］ In order to grow, to travel new roads, people need to have a willingness to take risks, to confront (②) the unknown, and to accept the possibility that they may “fail” at first.［19xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 要想成长，要想探索新的道路，人们就得乐于冒险，乐于面对未知世界，并敢于接受初次尝试便失败的可能性。
concede［k?n?si:d］vt.勉强，承认，退让；vi.让步
juvenile［?d?u:v?nail］a.年轻人的，孩子气的； n.青少年，孩子，少儿读物
［真题例句］ Most theories of juvenile（n.） delinquency have focused on children from disadvantaged families, (26：ignoring) the fact that children from wealthy homes also commit crimes.［20xx年完形］
［例句精译］将少年犯罪主要归咎于贫困家庭的大部分理论忽略了一个事实，即那些来自富裕家庭的孩子也会犯罪。
testify［?testifai］v.（to）说明，证实
背景常识介绍：
美国是世界上暴力犯罪最严重的国家，而近年来美国青少年暴力犯罪问题尤为突出。从19xx年起美国又不断发生骇人听闻的中学校园枪击事件，在全国引起了极大的震动，这种校园暴力的恶性案件方兴未艾，已成为美国青少年犯罪一种极可怕的新动向。
参考译文：
田纳西校园致命枪击案罪名成立
一名15岁男孩于本周二承认犯有谋杀罪，案发中一名高中官员被打死，另外两名受伤。审判开始之后挑选陪审团成员，随即宣布了一项认罪协议（plea deal，和政府方达成的为了避免较重的处罚而承认轻罪的协议）。
法官宣布在20xx年campbell镇综合高中校园枪击案中一项二级谋杀罪名及两项二级谋杀未遂罪名成立，判处Kenneth Bartley Jr. 45年监禁。
根据最初的指控，这名青少年原本可能被判终身监禁。但在特别法官Jon Kerry Blackwood 咨询了辩方律师，主控律师，两位生存下来的行政管理大员，及死者遗孀之后，宣布了一项认罪求情协议。
20xx年11月8日，三名学校教职员获悉Bartley携带枪支进入学校，与其进行正面交涉。在校长办公室里，Bartley当场击毙48岁的助理校长Ken Bruce，打伤校长Gary Seale和助理校长Jim Pierce。
在对陪审团的问讯会上，辩方承认当时年仅14岁的Bartley 向三名被害人开枪。
该问题少年自中学开始便麻烦不断，并在社区青少年处理项目中待了一年半的时间。
副警长Darrell Mongar证实在二月份的听证会上，Bartley向他承认手枪为他父亲所有，他原本打算用它来换取一种名叫Oxycontin的强效止痛药。
受害人Pierce在听证会上出庭作证，当时他让Bartley交出口袋中的手枪：“Kenny站在那拿着手枪向我们摇晃，Seale先生问他是不是真枪，他说是的，手枪是真的，我会证明给你看，反正我一直都不喜欢你。”
根据Pierce的证词，Bartley随后拉开弹夹，装上子弹向众人扫射。Seale最早中弹，被击中腹部下方。Bruce胸部中弹。Pierce本人被击中胸部，但他挣扎着去夺下少年手中的武器。
Bartley曾被指控犯为一级谋杀罪名和谋杀重罪，任何一项都可能判他终身监禁，这意味着最少51年的监禁。同时他还被控谋杀未遂，携带枪支进入学校和非法持有违禁物品，如果罪名成立还有可能加重刑罚。达成协议时，挑选陪审团成员的工作也已结束。
Higher rates! Bigger fees!
In recent weeks, you?ve heard plenty about the sleazy side of the subprime mortgage business. Rising numbers of borrowers are losing their homes after being lured into high-cost mortgages they couldn?t afford. But there?s another piece of the painful subprime story that hasn?t hit the headlines yet: costly—sometimes abusive—subprime credit cards. They?re bleeding millions of borrowers who didn?t know what they were getting into.
Subprimes come in two types: Cards that are crazily costly to begin with and cards that look good but hide big traps. You know about traps if you?ve paid some bills late and are now being charged with interest at 30 percent. In general, here?s how the business works:
The bottom-feeding cards—for people with damaged credit—offer you a decent interest rate on credit lines “up to” $3,000. When the card arrives, however, your line might be only $250. And then come the fees! “Program” fees. Account set-up fees. Participation fees. Annual fees. They?re charged to your tiny credit line, leaving you almost nothing to spend.
Two better-known card issuers with a big subprime business are Capital One and HSBC?s Orchard Bank. They charge lower upfront fees than other cards do. But if you fall behind, it?s tough. Cap One?s penalty rate is currently 28.15 percent. Orchard Bank doesn`t disclose its penalty rate online and wouldn?t tell me what it is (that didn?t engender confidence!). Cap One has a reputation for issuing multiple cards to people who bump up against their credit limits. That gives them two cards, with two low limits, to overspend.
Lenders have figured out many ways of extracting fees. There?s “universal default”, where a late payment on one card can trigger high penalty rates on every card you own. There?s the “endless late fee”, where your payments never catch up with the new penalties you?re charged. There?s “two-cycle billing”—too complicated to explain here, but which amounts to charging interest on balances that you?ve already paid. And “retroactive price hikes,” where banks impose higher rates on old balances as well as new ones. “What other business can get away with raising the price of something you already purchased?” says Travis Plunkett of the Consumer Federation of America.
These practices startle consumers who think such high fees and interest rates must be against the law. But the Supreme Court effectively deregulated credit card rates 30 years ago, and 10 years ago it deregulated the size of the fees a bank could charge. Prior to fee deregulation, late fees hovered between $13 and $15, says Robert McKinley of CardWeb.com, which tracks the business. Now they run from $30 to $40. “Its out of control,” he says. “Banks know theyve pushed this too far.”
This year, however, the new Congress started holding hearings. Suddenly Citi dropped universal default and JPMorgan Chase ended two-cycle billing. But those are just gestures. Without fee caps or usury laws, we?re in the bankers?hands.
考研词汇：
sleazy［'sli:zi］a.质地薄的, 质量差的, 廉价的；乌烟瘴气的
charge［t?ɑ:d?］v.①索（价），要（人）支付，收费；②控告，指控；③充电；④承担；n.①［pl.］费用，代价；②电荷，负荷
［真题例句］ Railroads typically charge (v.①) such “captive” shippers 20 to 30 percent more than they do when another railroad is competing for the business.［20xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 通常，铁路公司对这些“被控”客户的收费要比有另一铁路公司竞争业务时多20%～30%。
［真题例句］ Now he is suing the casino,charging (v.②) that it should have refused his patronage because it knew he was addicted.［20xx年新题型］
［例句精译］ 现在他正在起诉这个娱乐场，起诉它应该拒绝自己进入并参与赌博，因为它知道他已经上瘾了。 ［真题例句］ (48) I have excluded him because, while his accomplishments may contribute to the solution of moral problems, he has not been charged (v.④) with the task of approaching any but the factual aspects of those problems. ［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ (48) 我之所以把普通科学家排除在外，是因为尽管他的成就可能有助于解决道德问题，但他还没承担起研究道德问题事实方面以外的任何责任。
credit［?kredit］v./n.信用，信任；n.信用贷款，赊欠；名誉，名望；光荣，功劳；学分
penalty［?penlti］n.处罚，惩罚
［真题例句］ In a significant (32：tightening) of legal controls over the press, Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, will introduce a (33：draft) bill that will propose making payments to witnesses (34：illegal) and will strictly control the amount of (35：publicity) that can be given to a case (36：before) a trial begins.［20xx年完形］
(35) ［A］ publicity［B］ penalty ［C］ popularity［D］ peculiarity
［例句精译］ 为了更有效地对新闻界实施合法监控，大法官Irvine勋爵将引入一项草拟的法案，该法案将提出，付款给证人是非法的；在审判开始前，对案件的曝光度要严格控制。
(35) ［A］（公众的）注意，公开，宣传［B］ 处罚，惩罚［C］ 普及，流行［D］ 特性，特色
bump［b?mp］v.①（against，into）碰，撞；②颠簸着前进；n.①碰撞；②隆起物
retroactive［retr??'?ktiv］a.反动的；追溯的, 有追溯力的, 从以往某天开始生效的
背景常识介绍：
按揭贷款市场大致可以分为三个层次，优质贷款市场(Prime Market)，“ALT-A”贷款市场，和次级贷款市场(Subprime Market)。优质贷款市场面向信用等级高(信用分数在660分以上)，收入稳定可靠，债务负担合理的优良客户，这些人原来主要是选用最为传统的30年或15年固定利率按揭贷款。次级市场是指信用分数低于620分，收入证明缺失，负债较重的人。而“ALT-A”贷款市场则是介于二者之间的庞大灰色地带，它既包括信用分数在620到660之间的主流阶层，又包括分数高于660的高信用度客户中的相当一部分人。
参考译文：
高利率，高收费！
近几周，很多媒体报道了次级按揭贷款业务的负面新闻。越来越多的借贷者卷入他们无法偿还的高价按揭贷款中，失去自己的房子。 但是还有关于次级消费的事情并未成为报纸头条：昂贵并且有时泛滥成灾的次级信用卡。他们正在从数百万不知道自己已经掉入陷阱的借贷者身上榨取钱财。
次级信用卡分为两类：一种卡一开始收费就极其昂贵，另一种卡看上去不错但隐藏着巨大陷阱。大家都了解有些陷阱，比如如果你推迟偿还帐单就会要付30% 的利息。一般来说，这项业务如下开展：
对于信誉不良的人来说，信用卡提供的利息率可以接受，其底线额度达到3000美元。 然而当卡拿到手中时，额度可能只有250美元，还要收费。“项目”费， 帐户开设费，参与费以及年费。收费几乎达到你小小的信贷额度，几乎没有留钱给你花。
两家比较著名的发卡银行第一资金和汇丰Orchard银行都拥有庞大的次级信用卡业务。他们比其他卡收取的预支费要低，但是如果你拖欠还款，那就日子艰难了。第一资金现在的罚款利率是28.15%。Orchard银行没有在网上公布其罚款利率，也不会告诉我是多少（这毫不让人产生信心！）。第一资金会发多张卡给借贷者，而这些人常常消费达到其信用限贷。借贷者拥有两张第一资金的卡，两张卡限贷都很低，使得他们很容易超支。
放贷人想了很多方法来提取费用。当你拖欠一卡的付费时引发对你每张卡的高额罚款利率，称之为“普及违约”。“永无休止的拖欠费”，因为你还的款总也赶不上对你追加的新罚款。虽然“双计费周期”难于解释清楚，但其所收取的银行结余利息你早就已经支付了。还有“追溯涨价”，银行对你的新旧帐户结余征收更高利率。美国消费者协会的特拉维斯·普朗凯特评论说：“有什么业务能不提高你已经购买东西的价格就赚钱的呢？”
这些做法令消费者震惊，他们认为这样高的收费和利息肯定违反了法律。但是最高法院在三十年前就撤销了对信用卡利率的有效管制，而十年前又撤销了对银行收费规模的管制。一直跟踪这项业务的来自CardWeb.com的罗伯特·麦肯利说在费用撤销前，拖欠还款收费在13到15美元间徘徊，而今收费已达30至40美元。麦肯利说：“这已经失控了，银行知道他们已经做得过分了。”
今年,新一届国会开始举行听证。花旗突然放弃普及违约收费，JP摩根大通银行结束双计费周期。但这些只是摆摆姿态。没有收费最高限额或针对放高利贷的相关法律保护，我们就只能任由银行家宰割了。
What do babies know?
As Daniel Haworth is settled into a high chair and wheeled behind a black screen, a sudden look of worry furrows his 9-month-old brow. His dark blue eyes dart left and right in search of the familiar reassurance of his mother?s face. She calls his name and makes soothing noises, but Daniel senses something unusual is happening. He sucks his fingers for comfort, but, finding no solace, his mouth crumples, his body stiffens, and he lets rip an almighty shriek of distress. Mom picks him up, reassures him, and two minutes later, a chortling and alert Daniel returns to the darkened booth behind the screen and submits himself to Babylab, a unit set up in 2005 at the University of Manchester in northwest England to investigate how babies think.
Watching infants piece life together, seeing their senses, emotions and motor skills take shape, is a source of mystery and endless fascination—at least to parents and developmental psychologists. We can decode their signals of distress or read a million messages into their first smile. But how much do we really know about what?s going on behind those wide, innocent eyes? How much of their understanding of and response to the world comes preloaded at birth? How much is built from scratch by experience? Such are the questions being explored at Babylab. Though the facility is just 18 months old and has tested only 100 infants, it?s already challenging current thinking on what babies know and how they come to know it.
Daniel is now engrossed in watching video clips of a red toy train on a circular track. The train disappears into a tunnel and emerges on the other side. A hidden device above the screen is tracking Daniel?s eyes as they follow the train and measuring the diameter of his pupils 50 times a second. As the child gets bored—or “habituated”, as psychologists call the
process—his attention level steadily drops. But it picks up a little whenever some novelty is introduced. The train might be green, or it might be blue. And sometimes an impossible thing happens—the train goes into the tunnel one color and comes out another.
Variations of experiments like this one, examining infant attention, have been a standard tool of developmental psychology ever since the Swiss pioneer of the field, Jean Piaget, started experimenting on his children in the 1920s. Piaget?s work led him to conclude that infants younger than 9 months have no innate knowledge of how the world works or any sense of “object permanence” (that people and things still exist even when they?re not seen). Instead, babies must gradually construct this knowledge from experience. Piaget?s “constructivist” theories were massively influential on postwar educators and psychologists, but over the past 20 years or so they have been largely set aside by a new generation of “nativist” psychologists and cognitive scientists whose more sophisticated experiments led them to theorize that infants arrive already equipped with some knowledge of the physical world and even rudimentary programming for math and language. Babylab director Sylvain Sirois has been putting these smart-baby theories through a rigorous set of tests. His conclusions so far tend to be more Piagetian: “Babies,” he says, “know squat.”
考研词汇：
reassure［?ri:???u?］vt.使……安心，再保证，使……恢复信心，打消……的疑虑
source［s?:s］n.①源，源泉；②来源，出处
［真题例句］ (73) Over the years, tools and technology themselves as a source (①) of fundamental innovation have largely been ignored by historians and philosophers of science.［19xx年翻译］
［例句精译］（73）工具和技术本身作为根本性创新的源泉，多年来在很大程度上被历史学家和科学思想家们忽视了。
［真题例句］ Strangers and travelers were welcome sources (②) of diversion, and brought news of the outside world.［19xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 陌生人和旅行者带来了娱乐消遣，还带来了外面世界的消息，因而他们很受欢迎。
scratch［skr?t?］v.抓，搔，扒；n.①抓，搔，抓痕；②起跑线
［真题例句］ Sad to say, this project has turned out to be mostly lowlevel findings about factual errors and spelling and grammar mistakes, combined with lots of headscratching (v.) puzzlement about what in the world those readers really want.［20xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 遗憾的是，这次新闻机构可信度调查结果只获得了一些肤浅的发现，诸如新闻报道中的事实错误，拼写或语法错误，和这些低层次发现交织在一起的还有许多令人挠头的困惑，譬如读者到底想读些什么。
facility［f??siliti］n.①灵巧，熟练；②［pl.］设备，设施，便利条件
variation［?ve?ri?ei??n］n.①变化，变动；②变种，变异
［真题例句］ Today it makes almost no difference.Since much of the variation (①) is due to genes, one more agent of evolution has gone.［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 今日体重几乎不起什么作用，因为大部分差异是由基因引起的，又一个进化的因素消失了。
innate［?i?neit］a.先天的，天生的
［真题例句］ Its hero avoids being civilizedgoing to school and learning to read—so he can preserve his innate goodness.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 该书（马克·吐温的小说《哈克贝利·芬》）的主人公逃避教化——不上学和不学习读书写字——因此他才得以保住善良的天性。
rigorous［?rig?r?s］a.严格的，严厉的，严酷的，严峻的
［真题例句］ Ralph Waldo Emerson and other transcendentalist philosophers thought schooling and rigorous book learning put unnatural restraints on children:“We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for 10 or 15 years and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing.”［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 拉尔夫·瓦尔多·爱默生和其他一些先验主义哲学家认为学校教育和严格的书本学习限制了孩子们的天性,“我们被关在中小学和大学的朗诵室里十年或十五年，最后出来满肚子墨水，却啥都不懂。”
背景常识介绍：
儿童生长是受先天的因素驱动，还是环境造就的？儿童是主动地塑造自我，还是被动地？这些关于儿童发育变化的问题，一直争论不休。回答儿童变化的问题就是在研究发育的过程和特点。现代西方哲学在批判逻辑经验主义的基础主义认识论的过程中，出现了一股自然主义认识论潮流。皮亚杰强调心理学研究的认识论意义，从一个侧面体现了这一思潮的致思趋向。他认为，心理学作为认识发展的胚胎学，不仅为揭示认识发展的机制，而且为阐明科学范畴的起源和发展，提供了一把钥匙。皮亚杰的这些思想，对于深化认识论的研究，有着积极的意义。
参考译文：
婴儿知道什么？
当九个月大小的Daniel Haworth被放置在一个黑色的屏幕后的一个有轮的高高的椅子里的时候，他的小眉头微微皱起，表情忧虑。他深蓝色的眼睛迅速的左顾右盼，想寻找他所熟悉的妈妈的面孔。小丹尼尔的妈妈呼唤他的名字，并且，发出一些哄他平静下来的声音，但是，小丹尼尔感觉有什么不寻常的事情正在发生。他吸吮他的手指寻求安慰，但是这毫无用处，他开始瘪嘴，身体变得僵硬，然后，他发出一阵拼尽全力的表达难过的尖叫。丹尼尔的妈妈抱起他，安抚他，两分钟后，他开始咯咯地笑，并且对屏幕后面那个黑色平台保有戒备，但是还是顺从了婴儿实验室，这个实验机构20xx年在英国西北部的曼彻斯特大学成立，负责调查研究婴儿是如何思考的。
把对婴儿的零散的生活的观察合在一起，你会发现，他们的思维、情绪和动机正在形成，这是一件提示神秘的根源和发现无数的令人着迷东西的事情——至少对于他们的父母，还有发展心理学家们是如此。我们能够明白他们表现出的什么样的信号表示不高兴，能够从他们的第一次微笑读出无数信息。但是，在他们大大的、天真的眼睛后面隐藏着些什么样的思维过程，我们对此又真正了解多少呢？他们对这个在他们出生前就存在的世界，有着什么样的理解又会作出什么样的反映呢？在完全空白的基础上，有多少理解是通过经验建立起来的？这些都是婴儿研究室正在研究的问题。虽然研究的对象只有18个月大，并且，他们仅仅只以100个婴儿为对象做了试验，但是，所得出的结论已经对现存的对于婴儿的思维以及他们是怎么样思维的观点提出了怀疑。
小丹尼尔现在正在全神贯注的看一个红色的玩具火车在轨道上行使的录像剪辑。火车在隧道里消失，又从另一端出现。在屏幕上方有一个隐藏的装置，在小丹尼尔的眼睛跟随火车的运动时，跟踪他的眼睛，并且在一秒钟内，测量了他的瞳孔的直径50次。 当这个孩子感到厌烦，或者说，习惯时——这也就是心理学家称作的推移——他们的注意力水平会稳步下降。但是，有一点点新奇出现的时候，他们的注意力又会上升一点，比如，火车也许会变成绿色或者蓝色，有时候火车进入隧道的时候是一种颜色，从另一端出来的时候，却是另一种颜色。
自从二十世纪二十年代，婴儿的意识研究这个领域的先驱瑞士的皮亚杰开始在他自己的孩子们中进行实验以来，像这种类似的各种各样旨在检测婴儿的注意力的试验已经成为发展心理学研究的标准手段。皮亚杰的实验使他得出了这样的结论：小于9个月大的婴儿对于这个世界是什么样子以及“永久事物”意识还没有本能的认识。而婴儿应当是在经验中逐渐建立起这种认识。皮亚杰的“建构主义”理论对战后的教育家和心理学家影响非常深远，但是，在过去的20多年中，他们大部分被新产生的一代“先天论”心理学家和认识科学家推翻。这新生的一代“先天论”者通过更加成熟的实验得出的结论是：婴儿天生就对自然界有一定的认识，甚至，对数学和语言有一定的基本的解读。婴儿实验研究室的主任Sylvain Sirois已经在使这些“聪明宝宝理论”通过一系列严格的测试。他的结论越来越倾向皮亚杰理论。“婴儿知道占有。”Sylvain Sirois表示。
Limited resources
It?s been nearly a week since Canadian pet-food manufacturer Menu Foods Inc. recalled some 60 million cans and pouches of wet food linked to the deaths of at least 15 cats and one dog, yet authorities still can?t explain exactly what went wrong. Some critics and animal lovers are honing in on what they see as lax regulation of the $15 billion pet-food industry in the United States.
“There?s almost a void there,” says Bob Vetere, president of the American Pet Product Manufacturers Association. “There is no real pet-food department of any federal agency.”
Technically, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is responsible for ensuring that pet foods, like human foods, are safe to eat, truthfully labeled and produced under sanitary conditions. But on Tuesday, FDA officials admitted that the regulation of pet food takes a back seat to its regulatory obligations of other food and drug sectors, and that inspections of pet-food processing plants are done only on a for-cause basis.
“There are limited resources,” said David Elder, director of the Office of Surveillance and Compliance in the FDA?s Center for Veterinary Medicine in Rockville, Md. Elder added that inspections of companion animals-food products are “based on risk” , which means that the processing plant in Emporia, Kans., where the tainted food was manufactured, had never been inspected by government officials until after consumers started complaining about pets dying of kidney failure. The Emporia plant remains open and continues to produce new food, according to a Menu Foods spokesperson, who adds that safety tests are being done around the clock.
The chief executive of Menu Foods told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the company is looking at one unnamed ingredient as the possible cause of the renal failure. The FDA has previously said the investigation is focusing on possibly contaminated wheat gluten, a common ingredient in pet foods. FDA inspectors have been sent to Menu Foods plants in Kansas and New Jersey.
The industry insists their products are absolutely safe.“Pet foods are the highest regulated product you?ll find in the grocery store,” says Duane Ekedahl, president of the Pet Food Institute (PFI), an industry trade association representing the interests of 20 member companies whose products make up about 97 percent of the dog and cat food produced in the United States. While serious, the Menu Foods recall shouldn?t be blown out of proportion, says Ekedahl, who points out that the recalled food accounts for less then 2 percent of the overall market. He adds that every pet-food company conducts extensive tests, both of incoming raw materials and of finished products. On Tuesday, PFI issued a statement claiming that “All cat and dog food products on store shelves are safe. The recall is now complete and all suspected products have been removed from the stream of commerce.”
考研词汇：
pouch［paut?］n.小袋, 烟草袋, 钱袋, 育儿袋vt.把……装入袋中, 使成袋状vi.成袋状
hone［h?un］n.（细）磨（刀）石, 油石； v.抱怨, 想念；用磨刀石磨
manufacturer［?m?nju?f?kt??r?］n.制造业者，厂商
［真题例句］ Computers are relied on by manufacturers for similar reasons.［19xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 基于同样的原因，生产商们也依赖计算机。
ensure［in??u?］v.确保，保证
［真题例句］ By helping to increase demand, it ensures an increased need for labour, and is therefore an effective way to fight unemployment.［19xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 广告有助于增加市场需求，从而确保对劳动力需求的增加，因此是遏制失业的一个有效方法。
sanitary［?s?nit?ri, -teri］a.(有关)卫生的, (保持)清洁的, 卫生的n.公共厕所
ingredient［in?gri:di?nt］n.组成部分，成分；因素
［真题例句］ Many consumers seem to have been influenced by stockmarket swings, which investors now view as a necessary ingredient to a sustained boom.［20xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 许多消费者似乎一直受股票市场波动的影响,投资者把这种波动视为持续繁荣的必要因素。
背景常识介绍：
宠物主人们对宠物食品怀有不同的期待，如宠物食品应安全、有充足的营养和能使宠物更健康等，这些是至关重要的。“健康”是很多消费者认为最重要的问题，对那些不在乎花费购买优质产品的消费者来说尤其如此。
参考译文：
有限的资源
加拿大宠物食品生产商Menu Foods公司，因为至少有15只猫和1只狗死亡，而召回与此有关系的0.6亿罐和袋装湿粮已经近一个周，但是当局仍旧不能准确说明哪里出了问题。一些批评家和喜爱动物的人愤愤不平，他们认为在于美国对150亿美元的宠物食品行业疏于管理。
Bob Vetere是美国宠物商品生产者协会的主席，他说：“几乎有一个空白，没有一个真正的联邦机构的宠物食品监管部门。”
从技术上而言，美国食品与药品管理局（FDA）对宠物食品负责，确保它们要像人类食品一样，要能安全食用，如实地贴上标签，并且要在卫生的条件下被生产出来。但是在星期二，FDA官员承认，相对于其他食品和药品的管理，对宠物食品的管理处于一个次要的地位，而且对宠物食品加工厂的检查只是停留在表面上。
大卫·爱尔德是位于罗克维尔的FDA动物医药中心。他说，资源是有限的，并且对人类的伙伴即动物的食品检查是不安全的。这就意味着，大量生产腐坏食品的位于堪萨斯恩波里亚的加工厂从来就没有接受过政府官员的检查，直到消费者开始抱怨他们的宠物是死于肾衰竭时，才接受检查。据Menu 食品公司发言人介绍，这家位于恩波里亚的工厂仍在营业并且继续生产新的食品，同时安全检查也正夜以继日地进行着。
在星期三，Menu 食品公司首席执行官告知美联社，他们公司正将一种不知名的食品配料当做动物肾衰竭的可能原因。FDA先前也说过，这项调查正集中在可能被污染的麦麸上，麦麸是宠物食品中一种普通的配料。FDA检察官已经被派往位于堪萨斯州和新泽西州的Menu 食品公司工厂。
宠物食品行业坚持认为他们的产品是绝对安全的。“宠物食品是你能在杂货店里找到的管理最严格的产品”，宠物食品协会（PTF）主席Duane Ekedahl说。PTF是一个行业贸易协会，代表了20个成员公司的利益，这些公司的产品占美国生产的宠物食品的97%。尽管Ekedahl严肃地说，Menu Foods Inc公司召回的产品不应该被夸大，因为它占到了整个市场不到2%的份额。他补充说，“每一个宠物食品公司都经过了广泛的测试，不仅包括对原材料的测试也包括对成品的测试。在星期二，PFI发表了一份声明，宣称商店货架上所有的猫狗食品都是安全的。召回行动已经完成而且所有疑有问题的产品都已经从商品市场上撤掉了。”
Microsoft brings instant chat to TV screen, through games
Microsoft planned to announce today that it will make its Windows Live Messenger service available on its Xbox 360 game consoles, bringing instant messaging from the computer to the television.
The move was meant to help Microsoft stay ahead of Sony, its chief rival in the electronic games business, in delivering the richest online experience for game players. It is also an element of Microsoft?s overall strategy to connect people across PCs, televisions and mobile devices like cellphones.
More than 200 million people use Windows Live Messenger to chat with friends, family members and colleagues. Separately, more than six million Xbox 360 owners are connected to the company?s Xbox Live online community, an enhancement that lets people with broadband Internet connections communicate with one another.
In the second week of May, those two worlds will begin to converge. Xbox Live members will be able to link their “gamertag” ,the online identity they use within the Xbox community, to an existing Windows Live Messenger account. Players will then be able to chat with their instant-messaging contacts using a virtual on-screen keyboard or a USB keyboard plugged into the game machine.
Microsoft executives said they hoped to offer voice chat between Xbox and Live Messenger users later this year.
“We feel this is a huge step in driving social networking further into the family room by allowing Xbox 360 users to IM directly from their couch,” said John Rodman, Microsoft?s group manager for the Xbox 360, in a telephone interview last week. “Now you don?t have to manage two separate groups of friends online.”
Microsoft and Sony are battling to dominate the high end of the console gaming market. (Nintendo, by contrast, is appealing largely to families and more budget-conscious players.) In years past, game consoles stood out from one another mostly by their game offerings. But now it appears that top game publishers like Electronic Arts will release most of their biggest games for both the Xbox 360 and Sony?s PlayStation 3.
As a result, Microsoft and Sony are attempting to differentiate their game machines with other features, like film playback capabilities and online services.
Microsoft has been ahead of Sony in online console game-playing, but last month Sony announced that it was developing a new Internet service called PlayStation Home that could surpass some elements of Xbox Live. The instantmessaging feature appears to be one part of Microsoft?s response.
考研词汇：
delivery［di?liv?ri］n.传递，传送，交付
［真题例句］Coupled with the growing quantity of information is the development of technologies which enable the storage and delivery of more information with greater speed to more locations than has ever been possible before.［19xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 伴随着信息量的不断增长是技术的发展，这些技术使得人们能够比过去以更快的速度向更多的地方储存和发送更多的信息，这在以前是不可能的。
enhancement［in'hɑ:nsm?nt］n.增进, 增加
converge［k?n?v?:d?］v.聚合, 集中于一点vt.会聚
account［??kaunt］n.①账（目，户）；②叙述，说明；③价值，地位；v.（for）①说明，解释；②占；③（take into~）考虑；顾及
［真题例句］ (71) Actually, it isnt, because it assumes that there is an agreed account (n.②) of human rights, which is something the world does not have.［19xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ （71）事实并非如此，因为这种问法是以人们对人的权利有共识为基础的，而这种共同认识并不存在。
［真题例句］ Is it true that the American intellectual is rejected and considered of no account (n.③) in his society? ［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ 是否美国的知识分子在社会中真的被排斥并被认为毫不重要？
［真题例句］ Kitcher is a philosopher, and this may account (v.①), in part, for the clarity and effectiveness of his arguments.［19xx年阅读5］
［例句精译］ 肯切尔是位哲学家，这也许能部分说明他的理论为何明确而有说服力。
［真题例句］ Multinational corporations accounted (v.②) for less than 20% of international trade in 1982.Today the figure is more than 25% and growing rapidly.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 跨国公司在19xx年只占国际贸易不到20%的份额。而现在，这个数字上升到25%，并且还在迅速上升。
［真题例句］ Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future management efforts must take into account (v.③).［20xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ Myers博士和 Worm博士认为他们的研究给出了正确的基准线，今后的管理工作必须要把这一基准线考虑在内。
budget［?b?d?it］n.预算；v.做预算
［真题例句］ “We know that,” the men from the budget (n.) office have said, “but what do you think? Is it worthwhile going on? What do you think we might expect?”［19xx年阅读5］
［例句精译］ 预算部门的人说：“这点我们知道，但你的意见如何？你觉得值得做下去吗？你觉得我们可以期待什么呢？”
surpass［s??pɑ:s］v.超过，胜过
［真题例句］ (24：Because) they are adjusting to their new bodies and a whole host of new intellectual and emotional challenges, teenagers are especially selfconscious and need the (25：confidence) that comes from achieving success and knowing that their accomplishments are (26：admired) by others.［20xx年完形］
(26) ［A］ claimed［B］ admired ［C］ ignored ［D］ surpassed
［例句精译］ 因为青少年需要调整和适应身体上、智能上和情感上所面临的许多挑战，所以，他们的自我意识很强，他们需要培养能获取成功的，以及能让他人羡慕成就的自信心。
(26) ［A］ 声称［B］ 敬佩［C］ 忽视［D］ 超过
背景常识介绍：
统计数字显示17岁以下的青少年中一半以上的人每周至少上网发送一封电子邮件或是一条即时信息。微软和索尼两家视频游戏机巨头最近双双推出了升级版的互联网游戏服务来争夺价值300亿美元的市场。
参考译文：
微软，将即时信息服务通过游戏带入电视荧屏
今天，微软公司按计划将宣布为他的Xbox360游戏机的控制器提供窗口即时通服务，将即时信息服务从电脑带入电视。
此举措寓意在于帮助微软领先索尼——这个在电子游戏商业领域主要的竞争对手——带给游戏玩家最丰富的在线体验。这也是微软公司将通过个人电脑、电视、移动设备如手机把人们联系起来的整体战略的一个方面。
全球有两亿多人使用windows的即时通和朋友、家人、还有同事聊天。另外，还有6百多万Xbox游戏机的拥有者和公司的Xbox Live在线社区连接起来，这又促使拥有宽带连接的用户通过网络彼此交流。
从5月的第二个星期开始，Windows 即时通和Xbox Live在线社区将合并在一起，Xbox Live的用户可以把他们的玩家代号和他们现有的Windows 即时通帐号连接起来。这样，游戏玩家就可以通过虚拟的屏幕键盘或者是插入游戏机的USB键盘随意的聊天了。
微软的主管人员表示他们希望能在今年的下半年为Xbox玩家和即时通的使用者们提供语音聊天服务。
微软的Xbox360小组经理John Rodman在上一周的电话采访中表示：“我们认为通过使Xbox360的玩家们躺在自
家的沙发上就能获得I.M.（即时通信）服务，我们把社会网络更进一步的带入家庭，现在，你完全不必在线管理两组分开的朋友，而可以把他们合并到一起。”
微软和索尼为占领游戏市场的最高控制终端展开了激战。在过去的几年中，游戏的控制台程序大部分都是由生产商提供的。但是，现在，似乎像Electronic Arts这样的顶级游戏发行商把大部分的大游戏的控制台程序让渡给了Xbox360和索尼PlayStation3自己做。
因此，微软和索尼都在尝试着赋予他们的游戏机与众不同的特色，诸如，电影回放功能以及种种在线服务。
微软已经在在线玩游戏的控制台程序上先索尼一步，但是，上个月，索尼宣布他们已经发布一种叫做PlayStation Home的新的Internet服务，此项服务能在某些功能上超过Xbox Live。即时通服务似乎是微软对此举动作出回应的一部分。
Moment of truth
No sooner did James McCarthy?s name turn up in an Associated Press story on the outlook for global warming than he started getting outraged e-mails from colleagues. All that McCarthy, a Harvard oceanographer who studies how climate change affects marine life, told the AP last week was that “the worst stuff is not going to happen ... not that I think the projections aren?t that accurate, but because we can?t be that stupid.” The overwhelming response, he said, was, What do you mean, we can?t be that stupid? Just look around!
On that very question could hinge the fate of much of life on Earth. Last week was bracketed by two events that could make 2007 a turning point in the effort to control global warming. On Monday, by a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government had the power under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles. This victory for environmentalists was quickly snatched away by President Bush, who announced the next day that his administration had no intention of doing anything of the sort. But the ruling set an important precedent for treating carbon dioxide as a threat to human welfare, and opens the way to regulating it by tightening fuel-economy standards. On Friday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, marshaling the research of nearly 1,000 scientists from 74 countries, issued a long-awaited report on climate-change“impacts, adaptation and vulnerability”.The study found that global warming was already affecting the Earth?s ecosystems; it predicted that continued climate change, in combination with other environmental stressors such as population increases and greater urbanization, would lead to more-severe and widespread drought, greater coastal and riverine flooding, and“increased risk of extinction”for 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species. Depending on how much temperature rises, food production in the temperate regions (including parts of the United States and Canada) could actually increase, but would probably decline in much of the tropics.
Yet at least since last year?s congressional elections it?s been clear that 2007 would be a critical year for what former vice president Al Gore has called the“planetary emergency”. A half-dozen bills to control greenhouse gases have already been introduced or are being prepared for introduction to the Senate, according to the National Environmental Trust. Some version of the“cap and trade”market-based system that has already shown its value in reducing acid-rain pollution is virtually certain to pass this Congress.“The key question now”,says NET president Phil Clapp,“is, will President Bush sign a meaningful bill? But I don?t think there?s any question that if this Congress doesn?t produce one, the next one will and the next president will sign it. We?re in the endgame now, after 10 years on this issue.”
考研词汇：
associate［??s?u?ieit］v.①（with）使联系，使联合；②交往，结合；n.合作人，伙伴，同事，同行；a.副的；合伙的
［真题例句］“Some of us have known for many, many years that the freedoms under the First Amendment are not totally unlimited,”says Luce,“I think it is perhaps the case that some people associated (v.①) with the company have only recently come to realize this.”［19xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ “我们中的一些人多年来就知道宪法第一修正案所说的自由并非毫无限制，”鲁斯说，“我想与公司有关系的一些人可能是最近才意识到这一点。”
outrage［?aut?reid?］n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.触犯，激怒
［真题例句］ Indeed, if he has a reputation for slacking, you might even be outraged (vt.).［20xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 事实上，如果他还有偷懒怠工的名声，你可能会暴怒的。
overwhelming［??uv??welmi?］a.势不可挡的，压倒的
［真题例句］ The individual now has more information available than any generation, and the task of finding that one piece of information relevant to his or her specific problem is complicated, time-consuming, and sometimes even overwhelming.［19xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 现在，个人可获得的信息比任何时代的人都多，而要找到一条与自己问题相关的信息既复杂又耗时，有时甚至相当困难。
snatch［sn?t?］n./v.攫取，抢夺
marshal［?mɑ:??l］n.元帅, 典礼官, 执行官, 司仪官vt.整顿, 配置, 汇集vi.排列, 集合
emergency［i?m?:d??nsi］n.紧急情况，突然事件，非常时刻
［真题例句］ The brain finds it best to keep smell receptors (19：available) for unfamiliar and emergency signals (20：such as) the smell of smoke, which might indicate the danger of fire.［20xx年完形］
［例句精译］ 我们发现，大脑能在有不熟悉或紧急信号时，使嗅觉接收器工作，例如，烟味就是着火和危险的信号。
背景常识介绍：
人类不断向大气中排放二氧化碳等废气，把大气弄脏了，使地球像在大热天穿了一件脏棉袄，体温不断地升高；人类生活在地球上，地球环境为我们创造了丰富的物质财富。但是，随着社会、经济的发展，人类的有些活动对环境产生了不良的影响，甚至是破坏，如环境的污染、自然资源的枯竭、水土流失等等。这些环境的破坏又反作用于人类，产生危害人体健康、影响人类生产、生活、生存的种种问题，就是环境问题。
参考译文：
关键时刻
James McCarthy的名字和他的一篇关于全球变暖的文章在美联社的新闻报道一出现，他就开始收到来自同行们的侮辱性的邮件。McCarthy是一名哈佛大学的海洋学研究学者，主要研究气候的变化对海洋生物的影响，上周，他在美联网表示说：“并不是预测不精确，而是情况不会那么糟。因为我们不会那么愚蠢的。”他说，铺天盖地的质问都是关于“你是什么意思？我们不可能那么愚蠢吧！你看看周围是什么样子啊。”
对这个问题的回答将关系到地球上大多数生物的命运。上周，两个事件的发生，使得2007 成为人类对于全球变暖的控制作出努力的转折点。在星期一，以5比4的投票最高法院裁决联邦政府有权通过净化空气法案来控制车辆的二氧化碳排放。环境保护主义者们的这一胜利迅速被布什总统抹杀。布什在第二天的讲话中表示，他的政府对此项规定毫无兴趣。但是这项裁决第一次明确的把二氧化碳作为对人类的幸福的威胁，并且为通过严格节能的标准来控制二氧化碳的排放开辟了道路。星期五，气候变化跨政府小组汇集了来自74个国家的约1000名科学家的调查研究，发表了一篇等待已久的关于气候变化的影响、适应性与弱点的报告。研究表明，全球变暖已经影响到了地球的生态系统；并且预测，持续的气候变化加之污染和都市化的加剧带给环境的压力，将会导致更加严重的，更加广范围的干旱，和更多的沿海和沿江城市被水淹没；百分之二十到三十的植物和动物面临更加严重的灭绝的危险。根据温度的上升值，在温度适合的地区粮食的产量可能会有所增加，但是，在绝大多数热带地区产量会下降。
至少从去年开始，国会的选举就已经明确2007将会是对于前副总统戈尔所呼吁的“地球危机”的至关重要的一年。全国环保信托组织表示有六个关于控制温室效应的法案已经或者正准备向参议院提出。一些已经在降低酸雨的污染方面表现的卓有成效的以市场为基础的排放权交易系统是一定可以通过这次的国会审议的。NET 主席Phil Clapp说：“现在关键是，布什总统是否同意这个意义深远的法案。但是，若这一届的国会不通过，下一届的国会，下一届的总统肯定会签署的。关于这个议题，我们已经努力了十年了，现在已经进入最后阶段了。”
The world since September 11th
IT STANDS to reason that 19 men cannot change history. But they did. Five years and two American-led wars later, the world created by the September 11th hijackers is a darker place than almost anyone predicted at the start of the new century. Al-Qaeda itself may have been battered and dispersed, but the idea it stands for has spread its poison far and wide.
The essence of that idea, so far as a coherent one can be distilled from the ferment of broadcasts and fat was issued by Osama bin Laden and his disciples, is that Islam is everywhere under attack by the infidel and that every Muslim has a duty to wage holy war, jihad, in its defence. America is deemed a special target for having trespassed on the Arab heartland. Intoxicated by their defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the jihadists are hungry to topple another superpower.
This cause had deadly adherents before the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre in 2001. Mr bin Laden issued his “Declaration of the World Islamic Front for Jihad against the Jews and Crusaders” in 1998, the year al-Qaeda bombed two American embassies in East Africa. But an honest tally of the record since September 11th has to conclude that the number of jihadists and their sympathisers has probably multiplied many times since then. It has multiplied, moreover, partly as a result of the way America responded.
The first of the two wars George Bush launched after September 11th looked initially like a success, and compared with the second it still is. Al-Qaeda operated openly in Afghanistan and enjoyed the protection of its noxious Taliban regime, which refused America?s request to hand Mr bin Laden over. America?s invasion, one month after America itself had been attacked, therefore enjoyed broad international support.
The fighting ended swiftly and the political aftermath went as well as could be expected in a polity as tangled as Afghanistan?s. By 2004 a firstever free election had legitimated the presidency of Hamid Karzai. A ramshackle but representative parliament took office in 2005. The country is plagued by warlordism and the opium trade, and Taliban fighters are mounting a challenge in the south. But they do not yet look capable of dislodging the new government in Kabul.
Even though Mr bin Laden himself eluded America?s forces in Afghanistan, the invasion deprived al-Qaeda of a haven for planning and training. This achievement, however, was cancelled out by the consequences of Mr Bush?s second war: the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. There, three and a half years on, fighting and terrorism kill hundreds every month, providing the jihadists with both a banner around which to recruit and a live arena in which to sharpen their military skills.
Why has Iraq turned out so much worse than Afghanistan? Not only because of the familiar catalogue of Rumsfeldian incompetence—disbanding Iraq?s army, committing too few American troops—but also because of al-Qaeda itself. Like most Sunni extremists, some in al-Qaeda regard Shia Muslims as virtual apostates. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the movement?s leader in Iraq, managed before being killed last June to organise so many attacks on Shias and their holy places that after a long forbearance the Shias at last struck back, turning what had been an insurgency against the Americans and the new government into a bitter sectarian war.
考研词汇：
essence［?es?ns］n.本质，实质
［真题例句］ The resulting discontent may in (32：turn) lead more youths into criminal behavior.［20xx年完形］
(32) ［A］ case［B］ short［C］ turn［D］ essence
［例句精译］ 这种招人不满的结果反过来会使更多的年轻人卷入犯罪行为。
(32)［A］ （in ～）如果［B］ （in ～）总之［C］ （in ～）轮流；反过来［D］ （in ～）本质上
coherent［k?u?hi?r?nt］a.粘着的，粘附的
invasion［in?vei??n］n.侵入，侵略
［真题例句］ Countries that still think foreign investment is an invasion of their sovereignty might well study the history of infrastructure (the basic structural foundations of a society) in the United States.［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 那些认为外国投资是对本国主权的侵犯的国家最好还是研究一下美国的基础设施（社会的基本结构基础）建设历史。
swift［swift］a.快速的，敏捷的
legitimate［li?d?itimit］a.合法的，合理的，正统的；v.合法
［真题例句］ George Annas, chair of the health law department at Boston University, maintains that, as long as a doctor prescribes a drug for a legitimate (a.) medical purpose, the doctor has done nothing illegal even if the patient uses the drug to hasten death.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 波士顿大学健康法律系主任乔治·安纳斯坚持认为，只要医生是出于合理的医疗目的开药，那么即使服用此药会加速病人的死亡，医生的行为也没有违法。
plague［pleig］n.瘟疫，灾害
［真题例句］ Often they choose—and still are choosing—somewhat colder climates such as Oregon, Idaho and Alaska in order to escape smog, crime and other plagues of urbanization in the Golden State.［19xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 他们常常选择——现在依然这样选择——一些气候较冷的地区，如俄勒冈、爱达荷和阿拉斯加，为的是躲开这个黄金州（加利福尼亚）的烟雾、犯罪和其他城市化进程中的问题。
背景常识介绍：20xx年9月11日美国四架民航客机遭恐怖分子劫持，其中两架撞向纽约世贸大楼，一架撞击在华盛顿五角大楼，另一架坠毁。这是人类有史以来首次利用民航客机制造恐怖事件，也是有史以来最严重的一次恐怖袭击事件。那么究竟是谁制造了这次恐怖袭击事件呢？
参考译文：
9·11之后的世界
人们有理由相信19个人无法改变历史，但这些人确实做到了。5年来,在美国挑起的两次战争之后,世界形势在经历了9·11撞击后比本世纪初几乎任何人预料到的都要糟。基地组织本身也许已经被摧毁,但它所代表的思想意识毒害散播的范围要广的多。
这种思想意识可以从目前躁动的广播和本·拉登及其信徒们的指示中清楚地提炼出来其思想本质,那就是伊斯兰正经受着来自各处的异教徒的进攻,因此每一个穆斯林都有义务开展圣战进行自卫。美国被认为是一个擅自闯入阿拉伯中心区域的特殊目标。由于依然陶醉于80年代在阿富汗击败前苏联的胜利之中,圣战徒们急于推翻另一超级大国。
此想法在20xx年撞击五角大楼和世贸中心前有亡命之徒般的追随者。19xx年基地组织在东非炸毁两座美国大使馆,同年,本·拉登发表了“呼吁全世界伊斯兰站在抗争犹太人和欧美人圣战前线的宣言”。但真实的情况是,自9·11以来,圣战徒及其支持者的人数恐怕已经翻了几番,而且此人数的增长与美国的回应有关。
在9·11后布什发动的两次战争中,前者初期看起来较为成功,相比于后者仍不算失败。恶名昭著的塔利班政权拒绝向美国交出本·拉登。基地组织在其保护下公开地在阿富汗运作。因此美国遭受袭击一个月后入侵阿富汗,也赢得了广泛的国际支持。
战争迅速结束,战后政治进程也与人们料想到的能在政体紊乱的阿富汗所进行的一样顺利。到20xx年已由首次自由选举选出了卡尔扎依总统。一届摇摇欲坠却有代表性的议会20xx年正式成立。虽然阿富汗现今充斥着军阀势力和鸦片贸易,塔利班还在南方展开了抵抗,但他们看起来还不具备将新政府赶出首都喀布尔的能力。
尽管本·拉登本人逃离了驻阿富汗美军的打击,但阿富汗战争的确使基地组织失去了组织计划与训练的场所。可是,这一成果被布什发动的第二场战争——20xx年3月入侵伊拉克——所产生的后果给抵消了。伊拉克三年半以来,战斗和恐怖主义每月导致数百人丧生。这既给圣战徒们提供了招募新兵的幌子,又提供了能够提高武装力量的鲜活的训练基地。
为什么伊拉克的结局比阿富汗糟糕呢?不仅仅有像国防部长拉姆斯菲尔德的无能所导致的一连串失误——解散伊拉克军队，派遣过少的美军士兵——还由于基地组织本身。像大部分逊尼派极端分子一样，一些基地组织成员视什叶派穆斯林为宗教叛徒。该运动领导人Abu Musab alZarqawi在去年6月被杀前,多次成功地击败针对什叶派和圣城的袭击。在长时间忍让之后,什叶派也最终开始反击,将本已严峻的伊拉克形势从经常性地向美军与新政府进行攻击拖入了更深的宗教派别战争的泥潭。
Federal reserve:Difference of opinion
THE outcome was never in doubt. On December 12th America?s central bank kept shortterm interest rates unchanged at
5.25%. What mattered was the statement accompanying the Federal Reserve?s decision. Although Ben Bernanke and his colleagues gave a nod to the slowing economy (noting that the cooling of the housing market had been “substantial” and that recent economic indicators had been “mixed”), they repeated that they still considered inflation a bigger worry than weak growth.
That is not what Wall Street has been thinking. According to the latest Blue Chip monthly survey, four out of five financial
forecasters reckon the central bank?s next move will be to cut the federal funds rate. Some onceoptimistic seers have been busy cutting their growth forecasts. The price of fed-funds futures suggests that financial markets see a 20% chance of lower interest rates by April. This had been close to 70%, but unexpectedly strong growth in jobs and then retail sales in November has caused some in the markets to think a rate cut less likely. The central bankers are simultaneously more cautious and more optimistic than many on Wall Street. With core inflation still well above the 1-2% rate they unofficially deem appropriate, Mr. Bernanke and his colleagues are genuinely worried about price pressure. Although fuel costs have fallen sharply, core consumer prices, which exclude the volatile categories of food and energy, still rose by 2.8% in the year to October. (November?s figures will be released on December 15th.) The Fed?s preferred price gauge, the core personal-consumption deflator, went up by 2.4% in the year to October, only a little short of the fastest pace for a decade. With inflation still too high, cautious central bankers see scant reason for abandoning their hawkish rhetoric.
By the same token, the officials are less concerned by the risk of a slowdown than their counterparts on Wall Street are. Not only do the central bankers expect the economy to grow below its trend rate in the short term; they want it to. That is because a period of belowtrend growth will help dampen inflationary pressure by increasing the amount of slack in the economy. Fed officials worry that labour markets, in particular, are too tight. In their July forecast the central bankers expected an average unemployment rate of between 4.75% and 5% for the fourth quarter of 2006 and 2007, well above today?s 4.5%. Modestly higher joblessness would be welcome. That unemployment has not risen suggests the economy has not slowed much below its trend rate of growth.
If prudence is telling the central bankers to stand pat, so is their optimism. The Fed is not among those who believe that America?s unexpectedly deep housing bust will drag the rest of the economy down. In a recent speech Mr Bernanke made it clear that he saw little sign of the housing recession spreading elsewhere. A stream of weak statistics in subsequent days, particularly a report hinting that manufacturing was in recession, suggested that his optimism might be misplaced.
考研词汇：
accompany［??k?mp?ni］v.①陪同，伴随；②为……伴奏
substantial［s?b?st?n??l］a.①实质的，真实的；②坚固的，结实的；③富裕的；④大的，相当可观的
［真题例句］ Supporters of the new super systems argue that these mergers will allow for substantial (④) cost reductions and better coordinated service.［20xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 支持组建超大型铁路集团的人认为，兼并将带来成本的大幅降低和服务项目的更好协调。
inflation［in?flei??n］n.通货膨胀
［真题例句］ The link between interest rates and inflation is uncertain.［19xx年阅读5］
［例句精译］ 利率和通货膨胀之间的关系不确定。
simultaneous［?sim?l?teini?s, ?sai-］a.同时的，同时存在的
exclude［ik?sklu:d］v.拒绝，把……排除在外，排斥
［真题例句］ This definition excludes many individuals usually referred to as intellectuals—the average scientist for one. ［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ 这些定义排除了许多通常被称作知识分子的人——比如普通科学家。
slack［sl?k］a.①懈怠的，懒散的，松弛的，不紧的；②萧条的；n.①淡季，萧条；②［pl.］便裤，运动裤；v.松弛，放松
［真题例句］ Economists have been particularly surprised by favourable inflation figures in Britain and the United States, since conventional measures suggest that both economies, and especially America?s, have little productive slack (n.①).［19xx年阅读5］
［例句精译］ 经济学家对英美两国有利的通胀率感到特别诧异，因为传统的计量方法表明两国经济，特别是美国经济，几乎没有生产萧条的时候。
［真题例句］ Indeed, if he has a reputation for slacking (v.), you might even be outraged.［20xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 事实上，如果他还有偷懒怠工的名声，你可能会暴怒的。
背景常识介绍：很多迹象表明，一旦美联储声明显示出其紧缩周期已经正式结束，而且可能开始降息，美元有可能大幅下挫；即使声明内容保持不变，美元仍有可能走软，这主要是因为美联储的立场将与其他经济体，如央行特别是欧洲央行，持有的强硬立场有所不同。
参考译文：
美联储：各抒己见
12月12日美国央行决定保持短期利率（5.25%）不变，这个结果早在意料之中。与此同时美联储发表的声明显得更为重要。虽然本·伯南克及其同仁（注意到房地产市场“显著”降温，近期的经济指标“喜忧参半”）已承认经济滑坡，他们重申，通货膨胀比疲软的经济更令人担忧。
华尔街所见不同。根据最新的每月蓝筹股调查表明，五位金融预报员中就有四位认为央行的下一步举措将降低联邦基金利率。一些一度十分乐观的观察者们现在忙于降低他们对经济增长的预期。联邦基金期货的价格显示，金融市场认为四月前降息的可能性为20%。这一可能性曾经一度接近70%，但就业率以及之后11月的零售额出人意料地上升，引起了一些市场分析人士认为降低利率已不太可能。
与许多华尔街人士相比，美联储更加谨小慎微，同时也更加乐观。核心通胀率仍比他们的非官方默认值（1—2%）高出好些，伯南克及其同仁着实为价格压力捏了一把汗。虽然燃料价格大幅下降，核心消费品价格（不包括波动较大的食品和能源类）到今年10月份仍上升了2.8%。（十一月的数据将于12月15日发布。） 美联储偏爱的价格量尺，核
心个人消费支出平减指数，到今年10月份上升了2.4%，与十年来的峰值只差一步之遥。通胀率持续过高，谨慎的美联储更没有什么理由放弃他们的鹰派作风。
同样，政府官员对可能出现的经济滑坡，没有华尔街人士那么忧心忡忡。美联储不仅预测到经济增长会在短期内低于趋势水平，他们的希望也正是如此。这是因为一段时期的低于趋势水平的增长将使经济更加松弛，从而有助于缓解通货膨胀的压力。美联储官员尤其担心劳动力市场过于紧张。央行7月预计20xx年最后一个季度及20xx年的平均失业率在4.75%到5%之间，明显高于现在的4.5%。适当高的失业率是有好处的。失业率没有上升显示，经济增长速度比趋势水平低，但差距不是太大。
如果出于对通货膨胀的警惕,联储蓄要做出强硬的态度,那么他们的乐观大概也是这个原因。有人认为美国房地产行业的意外破产会拖累整个经济体，美联储并非其中之一。伯南克在最近的一次讲话中明确指出，他未见房地产市场萧条有任何扩散到其他行业的迹象。之后数日，一连串不尽如人意的数据，尤其一份暗示制造业陷入低迷的报告，都说明他的乐观情绪放错了地方。
When the cure is not worth the cost
Thanks to research by the National Institutes of Health and academic scientists during the last three decades, we now have proven treatments for depression, addiction and other mental disorders. But all too often clinicians do not use them.
Without financial incentives to provide treatments that are known to work, many mental health professionals stick with what they know, or pick up on the latest fad, or even introduce their own untested innovations—which in turn are spread by testimonials and credulous news media coverage.
Take the well-known approach featured on the cable TV reality show “Intervention” aimed at getting addicts and alcoholics into treatment. Here, the family and sometimes the employer gather with a counselor, confront the addict and threaten to shun him or fire him if he doesn?t enter a rehabilitation center. A 1999 study compared this style of intervention —which can backfire and lead to broken families—to a less confrontational approach known as “community reinforcement and family training,” which is aimed at helping the family nurture the addict?s own motivation.
More than twice as many families succeeded in getting their loved ones into treatment (64 percent) with the gentler approach than with standard intervention (30 percent). But no reality shows push the less dramatic method, and it is difficult to find clinicians who use it.
Similarly, one of the most common approaches to alcoholism treatment involves having counselors and fellow alcoholics confront patients and force them to identify themselves as alcoholics. But research finds that the more a counselor confronts, the more a patient drinks and the more likely he is to drop out of treatment. And no association between accepting the label “alcoholic” and quitting drinking has been found. Counselor empathy—not confrontation—is connected with recovery.
According to a review by the Institute of Medicine in 2006, only 10.5 percent of alcoholics received “care consistent with scientific knowledge” of the disorder; similarly, 43 percent of children in psychiatric hospitals are given antipsychotic medication despite not suffering from psychosis. Tough boot camps for troubled teenagers—which have been proven to be ineffective and potentially harmful—thrive, while “multisystemic family therapy,” which effectively treats teenagers at home, is available only through the juvenile justice system.
If we want to provide genuine help for the 33 million Americans with mental health and drug problems, giving more no-strings-attached money to providers via insurance mandates is not the answer. It is dangerous to blindly bolster useless and even harmful treatments while failing to support proven therapies. Coverage must be tied to outcomes and evidence. And payment should be dependent, at least in part, on health improvements, not just services received. We need parity in evidence-based treatment, not just in coverage.
考研词汇：
depression［di?pre??n］n.①沮丧，消沉；②（经济）萧条，不景气
［真题例句］ Failing hips can be replaced, clinical depression (①) controlled, cataracts removed in a 30-minute surgical procedure.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 髋骨不行了可以更换，临床忧郁症得到了控制，白内障仅用30分钟手术便可以切除。
［真题例句］ Even so, that gain adds up to only 11.4 percent, lowest in American annual records except for the Depression (②) years.［19xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 即使如此，人口总数也只增加了11.4%，除了大萧条时期，这是美国年度记录最低的增长率。 credulous［?kredjul?s］adj.轻信的，易受骗的
shun［ ??n］vt.避开, 避免
intervention［?int??ven??n］n.干涉
［真题例句］ In any case, all such interventions are heavily dependent on scientific advice and also scientific and technological manpower of all kinds.［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ 无论如何，所有这些干预都非常依赖于科学的建议，也依赖于各类科技人才的力量。
therapy［?θer?pi］n.治疗，理疗
［真题例句］ The profession is taking steps to require young doctors to train in hospices, to test knowledge of aggressive pain management therapies, to develop a Medicare billing code for hospital-based care, and to develop new standards for assessing and treating pain at the end of life.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 医疗行业采取步骤，让年轻医生去晚期病人休养所培训，对各种大胆的镇痛疗法方面的知识进行评估，为医院护理制定一份符合美国医疗保障方案的付款条例，以及为评估和治疗临终痛苦制定新的标准。
bolster［[?b?ulst?］n.垫子v.支持
背景常识介绍：家庭和社区介入治疗可以帮助每个家庭成员认识和解决家庭中的问题，促进相互理解、相互帮助，避免患者在治疗后又回到一个病态家庭中去；也可以帮助患者摆脱依赖，同时也消除患者给家庭成员造成的心理创伤。
参考译文：
治疗与花费之间的不等
多亏了国家健康研究所和学院科学家们在过去三十年中的研究，现在我们拥有可以治疗抑郁症、上瘾症以及一些其他精神失常症状的方法。但很多时候临床医师却不使用这些方法。
没有金钱动力让他们提供有明确疗效的治疗方法，很多精神健康从业人员坚持使用他们所知道的方法，或采用最新潮流中提供的方法，甚至使用未经检验过的自创发明，而这些发明却通过证明信和媒体夸张的报道流传开来。
以有线电视真实现场秀“intervention（干预）”中提供的著名方法来说，这个方法是为了让瘾君子和酗酒者接受治疗。节目中，家人有时是公司雇主和咨询师一起面对上瘾者，威胁说如果他不参加康复治疗中心就赶走或开除他。一项19xx年的调查把这种干预方法和比较温和的名为“社区强化和家庭训练”的方法进行比较，后者是为了帮助家庭来培养上瘾者自己戒掉不良嗜好的动力， 而前者可能会后院起火从而导致家庭破裂。
64%的家庭采用温和方法成功使得他们所爱的家人接受治疗，这是采用常规干预方法成功的家庭（30%）的两倍多。但没有任何真实秀节目推广这种温和的方法，也很难找到临床医师使用这种方法。
同样的，治疗酗酒最为普遍的一种方法就是让咨询师和其他酗酒者与病人面对面，强迫这些病人承认自己是酗酒者。但研究表明越是和咨询师接触，病人反而饮酒量越多，而且退出治疗的可能性越大。而且并未发现接受酗酒者的标签与戒酒有任何联系。咨询师的同情，而非与其接触，和恢复正常有关联。
根据一份20xx年医药研究会的评论，只有10.5%的酗酒者得到结合精神失调相关的科学知识的照顾和治疗。同样，精神病院中43%的儿童获得不受精神病困扰的治疗方法。严厉的青少年劳教营，已证明其对帮助问题青少年没有疗效甚至有潜在危险，却时兴起来；相反，有效的在家中治疗青少年的“多系统家庭治疗法” 却只能在青少年犯罪体系中使用。
如果我们想为三千三百万有精神困扰和毒品困扰的美国人提供真正帮助的话，通过保险授权给予更多的金钱并非是答案。盲目的改善无用甚至有害的治疗方法却无法推广有效的治疗方法是很危险的。报道应与结果和证据紧密联系。报酬至少有一部分应当依据治疗效果而不仅是接受的服务来付出。我们需要与所付报酬等价的治疗，这种治疗是建立在医学证据之上而非媒体的报道。
Poor nations to bear brunt as world warms
The world?s richest countries, which have contributed by far the most to the atmospheric changes linked to global warming, are already spending billions of dollars to limit their own risks from its worst consequences, like drought and rising seas.
But despite longstanding treaty commitments to help poor countries deal with warming, these industrial powers are spending just tens of millions of dollars on ways to limit climate and coastal hazards in the world?s most vulnerable regions—most of them close to the equator and overwhelmingly poor.
Next Friday, a new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations body that since 1990 has been assessing global warming, will underline this growing climate divide, according to scientists involved in writing it—with wealthy nations far from the equator not only experiencing fewer effects but also better able to withstand them.
Two-thirds of the atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping greenhouse gas that can persist in the air for centuries, has come in nearly equal proportions from the United States and Western European countries. Those and other wealthy nations are investing in windmill-powered plants that turn seawater to drinking water, in flood barriers and floatable homes, and in grains and soybeans genetically altered to flourish even in a drought.
In contrast, Africa accounts for less than 3 percent of the global emissions of carbon dioxide from fuel burning since 1900, yet its 840 million people face some of the biggest risks from drought and disrupted water supplies, according to new scientific assessments. As the oceans swell with water from melting ice sheets, it is the crowded river deltas in southern Asia and Egypt, along with small island nations, that are most at risk.
“Like the sinking of the Titanic, catastrophes are not democratic,” said Henry I. Miller, a fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. “A much higher fraction of passengers from the cheaper decks were lost. We?ll see the same phenomenon with global warming.”
“The inequity of this whole situation is really enormous if you look at who?s responsible and who?s suffering as a result,” said Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the United Nations climate panel. In its most recent report, in February, the panel said that decades of warming and rising seas were inevitable with the existing greenhouse-gas buildup, no matter what was done about cutting future greenhouse gas emissions.
Many other experts insist this is not an either-or situation. They say that cutting the vulnerability of poor regions needs much more attention, but add that unless emissions are curbed, there will be centuries of warming and rising seas that will threaten ecosystems, water supplies, and resources from the poles to the equator, harming rich and poor.
考研词汇：
hazard［?h?z?d］n.危险，冒险，危害；v.冒险，拼命
vulnerable［?v?ln?r?b?l］a.易受攻击的，易受……的攻击
［真题例句］ Encouraging kids to reject the life of the mind leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and control.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 鼓励孩子们放弃精神上的追求，会使他们极易被利用和控制。
alter［??:lt?］v.改变，变更
［真题例句］ Some, however, are less reasonable processes of different growth in which preconception of the form scientific theory ought to take, by persons in authority, act to alter the growth pattern of different areas.［19xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ 然而，不同的发展过程中，有些不怎么合理——在这些发展过程中，一些权威人士对科学研究应该采取的方式有偏见，从而改变了不同科学领域的发展模式。
disrupt［dis?r?pt］v.使中断，使分裂，使瓦解，使陷于混乱，破坏
democratic［?dem??kr?tik］a.民主的
［真题例句］ “All men are created equal.” Weve heard it many times, but it still has important meaning for education in a democratic society.［19xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ “人人生来平等”这句话我们已听过无数次，但它对民主社会的教育仍然有着极其重要的寓意。 inevitable［i?nevit?b?l］a.不可避免的，必然发生的
［真题例句］ A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］真羞愧啊，但很可能已无法挽回。
背景常识介绍：联合国秘书长潘基文５日在全球部长级环境论坛年会上说，所有国家都将感受到气候变化带来的危害，“但非洲、一些发展中的小岛国和其他地区的穷人，却将承受最多危害，尽管他们对全球变暖应负的责任最少”。
参考译文：
全球变暖，穷国遭殃
世界上一些最富裕的国家，显然应该对全球变暖所带来的气候变化承担大部分责任，而他们现在正花费数十亿美元来使自己免受气候变化带来的最严重后果的影响，如干旱和海平面升高。
尽管这些工业大国签订了长期的协约表示会全力帮助贫穷国家应对全球变暖，他们却仅仅花了数千万美元以减少发生在世界上最无防御能力地区的气候和海洋灾难，这些地区大部分靠近赤道并且极端贫困。
下个星期五，气候变化政府间委员会将会发表一份新的报告。这个委员会从19xx年开始一直从事全球变暖现象的评估工作。据参与写作这份报告的科学家说，报告将强调日益成型的气候格局，即那些远离赤道的富裕国家不仅很少遭受气候变化带来的灾难，而且能更好地防御这些灾难。
二氧化碳是一种防热扩散的温室气体，能在空气中停留几百年。而大气中三分之二的二氧化碳气层，几乎以相同的比例来自于美国和西欧国家。这些国家与其他的富国正投资兴建能将海水转化为饮用水的风能工厂、防洪堤、可漂流房屋和经过基因改良的谷物和大豆，它们即使在干旱中也能蓬勃生长。
与之对照的是，据新的科学评估，从19xx年以来，非洲国家排放的二氧化碳不到全球燃料燃烧排放的二氧化碳气体总量的3%，但是8.4亿非洲人民却要面对由干旱和供水混乱带来的威胁。由于冰片融化，海洋水位增加，位于南亚和埃及的人口密集的河流三角洲以及一些小岛国，面临的危险最大。
亨利·米勒是斯坦福大学胡佛研究所的成员，他说：“就像泰坦尼克号的沉没一样，灾难没有民主可言，低价舱有更多的旅客都被淹没了。在全球变暖这一问题上我们能看到同样的现象。”
联合国气候小组的主席Rajendra K. Pachauri说：“如果你看一下谁该为气候变化负责任，谁在为之受苦，这种格局的不平等真的是很巨大的。”在二月份的最新报告中，联合国气候小组宣告，不管采取什么措施来减少未来温室气体的排放量，数十年的海洋升高变暖将不可避免，因为已经有现今温室气体层的存在。
许多其他专家坚持说这不是一个二选一的情况。他们认为减少贫穷地区的易受灾程度需要予以更多关注，并说如果温室气体的排放得不到控制，那么海洋将升高和变暖数百年，由此将会对生态系统、水供应和从两极到赤道的所有资源构成威胁，从而危害所有国家。
The falling dollar
THE dollar?s tumble this week was attended by predictable shrieks from the markets; but as it fell to a 20-month low of $1.32 against the euro, the only real surprise was that it had not slipped sooner. Indeed, there are good reasons to expect its slide to continue, dragging it below the record low of $1.36 against the euro that it hit in December 2004.
The recent decline was triggered by nasty news about the American economy. New figures this week suggested that the housing market?s troubles are having a wider impact on the economy. Consumer confidence and durable-goods orders both fell more sharply than expected. In contrast, German business confidence has risen to a 15-year high. There are also mounting concerns that central banks in China and elsewhere, which have been piling up dollars assiduously for years, may start selling.
Yet cyclical factors only partly explain why the dollar has been strong. At bottom, its attractiveness is based more on structural factors—or, more accurately, on an illusion about structural differences between the American and European economies.
The main reason for the dollar?s strength has been the widespread belief that the American economy vastly outperformed the world?s other richcountry economies in recent years. But the figures do not support the hype. Sure, America?s GDP growth has been faster than Europe?s, but that is mostly because its population has grown more quickly too. Dig deeper and the difference shrinks. Official figures of productivity growth, which should in theory be an important factor driving currency movements, exaggerate America?s lead. If the two are measured on a comparable basis, productivity growth over the past decade has been almost the same in the euro area as it has in America. Even more important, the latest figures suggest that, whereas productivity growth is now slowing in America, it is accelerating in the euro zone.
So, contrary to popular perceptions, America?s economy has not significantly outperformed Europe?s in recent years. And to achieve this not-much-better-than parity, America has had to pump itself full of steroids. Since 2000 its structural budget deficit (after adjusting for the impact of the economic cycle) has widened sharply, while American households? saving rate has plunged, causing the current-account deficit to swell. Over the same period, the euro-area economies saw no fiscal stimulus and household saving barely budged.
America?s growth, thus, has been driven by consumer spending. That spending, supported by dwindling saving and increased borrowing, is clearly unsustainable; and the consequent economic and financial imbalances must inevitably unwind. As that happens, the country could face a prolonged period of slower growth.
As for Europe, the old continent is hobbled by inflexible product and labour markets. But that, paradoxically, is an advantage: it means the place has a lot of scope for improvement. Some European countries are beginning to contemplate (and, to a limited extent, undertake) economic reforms. If they push ahead, their growth could actually speed up over the coming years. Once investors spot this, they are likely to conclude that the euro is a better bet than the dollar.
考研词汇：
tumble［?t?mb?l］v.①（使）摔倒；②打滚，翻腾；n.摔跤，跌倒
slip［slip］v.①滑，滑倒；②滑落，滑掉；③溜走；n.疏忽，小错，口误，笔误
［真题例句］ Step outside and you could break a leg slipping (v.①) on your doormat.［19xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 如果你走出去，可能会滑倒在门垫上，摔伤一条腿。
assiduously ［??sidju?sli］ad.勤勉地, 恳切地
exaggerate［ig?z?d??reit］v.夸大，夸张
［真题例句］ Concerns were raised (49：that) witnesses might be encouraged to exaggerate their stories in court to (50：ensure) guilty verdicts.［20xx年完形］
［例句精译］人们开始担心：(接受报酬)可能会鼓励证人在法庭上夸大他们经历的事情，以保证(陪审团对被告)作出有罪的判决。
outperform ［autp?'f?:m］vt.做得比……好,胜过
dwindle ［?dwindl］ v.缩小
背景常识介绍：美元持续走低，意味着美国经济存在缺陷，但是否就意味着地球上其他国家也将遭受劫难？答案是否定的。世界经济将从美元的逐步下滑中受益。这将有助于缓解全球流动资金失衡状况，并且通过将生产转移到美国可贸易领域，缓冲房地产泡沫破灭给美国经济带来的震荡。诚然，美元的下滑将影响欧洲及亚洲的出口，但如果这些地区的央行现有的利率走低，进而促进内需—这也正是全球经济达到重新平衡所需要的局面—那么这种影响将会被抵消。现今欧洲及亚洲的强势增长也将有助于防止美国经济的低迷蔓延至整个世界。
参考译文：
下跌的美元
这周，因为可预见的市场缩小，美元保持了下降的趋势。随着美元汇率下降到二十个月来的最低点（$1.32比1欧元），唯一可以算得上令人惊讶的恐怕是对于美元未来前景的悲观预测。有充分的理由令人相信美元的下降趋势将继续下去，甚至打破20xx年十二月创造的$1.36比1欧元的历史最低点。
近期关于美国经济的大量负面新闻可以说是美元持续贬值的主要诱因。这一周来的新数据显示，美国房市的问题对经济带来了全局性的影响。消费者信心指数和耐用品订单量都显示了比预期中更严重的下滑。另一方面，德国商业信心指数创下了历史新高，而中国中央银行的近期言论更令人猜测其政策开始从囤积美元向出售美元倾斜。
但是，运用周期性因素去解释美元在历史上的上佳表现已经被证明是片面的了。美元对投资者的吸引力很大程度上基于经济结构要素——或者更准确地说，投资者对于美国和欧洲的经济结构差别的错觉。
美元过去强势的主因是大多数投资者认为：在近几年内，相对与其他富裕国家，美国经济的整体表现十分出众。但数据显示这种观念是错误的。的确，美国的国民生产总值增长速度要高于欧洲国家，但是这主要归功于美国快速增长的人口总量。对经济数据的更深层思考显示欧美经济差异并没有表面数据显示的那样大。生产力增长的官方数据虽然在理论上是影响货币汇率走向的重要指标，但实际上却夸大了美国的领先地位。如果将欧美放在同一指标上进行忽略其地缘及人口增长的公平比较，过去十年里欧美的经济表现基本上是同样的。更重要的是，最新的数据显示，当前美国的生产力增长正在放缓，而欧元区的生产力增长则在加速。
因此，和流行的观念恰恰相反，美国经济今年的整体表现并不明显强于欧洲的同期经济整体表现。同时，美国经济数据含水量丰富。自20xx年以来，美国的结构性财政赤字显著提高（对经济周期对财政状况的影响进行修正后）。同时，随着美国家庭储蓄率持续下降，美国的流动资金赤字迅速增长。而在同一时期，欧元区的各经济体的财政状况良好，而家庭储蓄也基本保持不变。
美国的经济增长，在过去的一段时间里被消费增长所拉动。而消费增长则是建立在储蓄下降和负债增多的基础上的。很明显，这种形式的经济增长是无法持久的，而因之造成的经济以及财政的不平衡的后果也将不可避免的出现。随着这种消费主因的经济增长的消退，国家将可能面对长时间的经济增长放缓。
就欧洲而言，这块年迈的大陆被缺乏弹性的产品和劳工市场拖得步履阑珊。但是，虽然听起来有些荒谬，这种状况相对来说可能是一种优势：它意味着欧洲人有很大的空间去改善他们的经济状况。一些欧洲国家开始慎重考虑（并在小范围内试行）他们的下一轮经济改革。如果这些改革成功，他们的经济增长将在未来显著加快。一旦投资者发现这点，他们很可能认为欧元相比美元将是更加有利的选择。
Democrats and global warming
A RECENT sketch on “Saturday Night Live” suggested how the world would be if Al Gore had won the presidency in 2000. “In the last six years we have been able to stop global warming,” intoned Mr Gore. “No one could have predicted the negative results of this. Glaciers that once were melting are now on the attack.”
Nerdy environmentalism is Mr Gore?s forte. He would have ridden that hobby-horse in the 2000 campaign, according to Joe Klein in “Politics Lost”, if his political consultants had not muzzled him. Now, almost alone, he has brought his favourite issue back into the political spotlight. His film about the horrors of global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth”, opened this week in Los Angeles and New York.
With it comes inevitable talk of another try at the presidency. Mr Gore consistently waves that away. But other prominent Democrats are raising their voices for the cause. This week Senator Hillary Clinton urged action on global warming in a big speech on energy policy in Washington, DC. Notably, she praised Mr Gore (now a potential rival for 2008, whatever he says) as a “committed visionary on global warming for more than two decades”. Last week, her husband Bill told graduates at the University of Texas?s publicaffairs school in Austin—as temperatures outside soared to 34°C—that “Climate change is more remote than terror, but a more profound threat.”
Do voters care? Although a Gallup poll this spring found that 67% of respondents thought the quality of the environment was “getting worse” (a fairly steady rise from 54% in 2002), climate change is hardly in the class of Iraq or health care. And it is still rare for politicians to mention it on the stump. Bill Ritter, the Democratic nominee for governor in Colorado, notes that global warming is a worry for the ski industry in his state—but says his audiences care more about the quality of their water or their air. Most midwestern politicians nowadays cannot talk enough about alternative fuels, but they link them to the economy (and national security) rather than climate change, hoping for a boost for local corn or soyabean farmers.
A few bad hurricanes may change that indifference. The 2006 season begins next week, and federal meteorologists predict it will be particularly nasty. Although conservatives have vigorously disputed the link between global warming and last year?s dreadful storms, another Katrina could push people over the edge. Gregg Easterbrook of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank, says that politicians also need a new tack. Instead of dwelling on gloom and doom, they should appeal to American optimism, emphasising that the problem can probably be solved after all, and cheaper and faster than anyone thinks.
And what about conservatives? George Bush has recently conceded that America is “addicted to oil”, but he still argues about the causes of global warming. (“He may be the last person in America who refuses to accept the science on this,” sighs Jay Inslee, a congressman from Washington state.) John McCain, another possible presidential contender in 2008, has been out in front. He has sponsored legislation (with Joe Lieberman, a Democrat) for cap-and-trade emissions of greenhouse gases, and declared in a recent speech in Phoenix that “Climate change is real and is having a major impact on our way of life.”
考研词汇：
consultant［k?n?s?lt?nt］n.①会诊医师，顾问医生；②顾问
［真题例句］ He dismisses a lot of the work of re-engineering consultants (②) as mere rubbish—“the worst sort of ambulance-chasing.”［19xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 他把许多重组咨询专家所做的工作视为垃圾—“典型的劳而无获”。
urge［?:d?］v.①催促，力劝；②强烈希望；③鼓励，促进；n.强烈欲望，迫切要求
［真题例句］ For the women of my generation who were urged (v.①) to keep juggling through the ?80s, downshifting in the mid90s is not so much a search for the mythical good life—growing your own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one—as a personal recognition of your limitations.［20xx年阅读5］
［例句精译］ 对我们这一代女性来说，整个80年代我们曾被迫忙碌地生活，90年代中期的简化生活与其说是寻求神话般的好生活—自己种有机蔬菜并试图与之合一—倒不如说我们都认识到了自身的局限。
［真题例句］ From the beginning of our history, says Hofstadter, our democratic and populist urges (n.) have driven us to reject anything that smells of elitism.［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］ 霍夫斯塔特说：自历史之初，我们的民主和平民主义倾向就使我们摒弃一切和精英主义沾边的东西。 stump［st?mp］n.树桩, 残余, 烟头v.掘去树桩, 砍成树桩, 绊倒, 难住, 截去
nasty［?nɑ:sti］a.①肮脏的，卑劣的，下流的；②令人厌恶的
［真题例句］ Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty (①).［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 从人类最初有了智慧至今，人们一直在设计日益巧妙的工具来处理那些危险的、枯燥的、繁重的或者只是简单肮脏的工作。
conservative［k?n?s?:v?tiv］a.保守的，守旧的；n.保守主义者
［真题例句］ Dr. Worm acknowledges that these figures are conservative (a.), one reason for this is that fishing technology has improved.［20xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ Worm博士承认这些数据还是保守的，一个原因就是捕鱼技术已经改进了很多。
［真题例句］ 66. The word “demographers” (Line 1, Paragraph 7) most probably means.［19xx年阅读4］
［D］ conservatives (n.) clinging to old patterns of life
［例句精译］ 66、单词“demographer”（第七段第一行）最可能的意思是_________。
［D］ 坚持旧生活模式的保守主义者
impact［?imp?kt］n./v.①冲击，碰撞；②效果，影响
［真题例句］ Proper, scientific study of the impacts (n.②) of dams and of the cost and benefits of controlling water can
help to resolve these conflicts.［19xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 对于水坝的影响、水坝控制水流的成本和收益进行恰当而科学的研究能够有助于解决这些冲突。 背景常识介绍：10月12日对美国前副总统阿尔·戈尔来说无疑是一个光辉的日子。当天，诺贝尔奖颁奖委员会在奥斯陆宣布，戈尔和联合国政府间气候变化问题专门委员会共同赢得20xx年度诺贝尔和平奖。挪威诺贝尔委员会说，戈尔可能是“让全球懂得必须为应对气候变化采取行动的贡献最大的一个人”。戈尔将与联合国政府间气候变化问题专门委员会共享150万美元的奖金。
参考译文：
民主党与全球变暖
“周六晚间直播”节目最近的一部时事讽刺剧影射了阿尔·戈尔赢得20xx年总统大选后世界的情况。戈尔先生抑扬顿挫地说道：“在过去的六年里，我们是可以阻止全球变暖的。当时没人会预见到今天这样糟糕的结果。一度处于消融状态的冰河现在开始攻击了。”
书虫式的环境保护主义正是戈尔先生的拿手好戏。乔克·莱恩在其《迷失的政治》中提到，当时如果戈尔的政治参谋们没有捂紧他的嘴巴，那他就会在20xx年的选举战中大侃环保。如今的他，已是孤军奋战。即便如此，他还是把最喜爱的问题带入了政治聚焦之内。他的记录片《难以忽视的真相》讲述了全球变暖的种种骇人之处。这部电影已于本周在洛杉矶和纽约上映。
二次参选的话题总是无法避开。对此，戈尔先生以一贯的挥手来给出否定的回答。但民主党的其他要员开始为竞选摆开了阵势。本周，在华盛顿特区的一次关于能源政策的大型讲演中，希拉里·克林顿敦促政府采取措施抵御全球变暖。她还特别称赞了戈尔先生（他现在怎么说都是2008竞选的一大潜在对手）是一位远见卓识的人，在全球变暖问题上忠于职守了二十年。上周，在位于奥斯汀的德州大学公共事务学院，她的丈夫比尔·克林顿告诉该校的毕业生，当室外气温超过34°C时，“气候变暖便不再是一个遥远的可怖之事，而是一个巨大的威胁。”
投票者会关注这些吗？尽管今年春天的一项盖洛普调查显示，67%接受调查的人认为环境质量“正变得更差”（这是在20xx年的54%基础上的稳步增长），但是气候变化问题根本不能与伊拉克或医疗问题比肩。而且，政客们登台演说时很少提及这个问题。民主党科罗拉多州长竞选提名者比尔·瑞特发现，全球变暖困扰的是该州的滑雪产业。但他又表示其听众更关注该地水和空气的质量。多数中西部的政客们如今大谈特谈代用燃料。然而，他们将落脚点放在了经济（还有国家安全）而非气候变迁，希望以此为当地种植玉米和大豆的农民带来福音。
也许几场严重的飓风会一改那种漠视的态度。20xx年季风将于下周拉开帷幕。联邦气象学家预测它将带来异常大的威胁。虽然保守者们对全球变暖与去年那可怕的风暴之间的因果联系表现出极力的怀疑，但倘若克里娜式的台风再度光顾，人们的心理防线会被完全击垮。作为布鲁金斯研究院之一的格雷格智囊团易斯特布鲁克表示，政治家们还需要一个新的方针。他们应当迎合美国的乐观主义传统而不是固守阴郁、厄运的基调，即强调气候问题终将以大大超出人们想象的更廉价、迅捷的方式得到解决。
保守者们会如何应对呢？乔治·布什最近承认美国“染上了石油瘾”，但他依然对全球变暖的原因持怀疑态度。（华盛顿州议员杰伊·恩斯利感叹道，“即便所有的美国人都接受全球变暖的科学道理，布什也不会接受”。） 20xx年总统选举可能的角逐者约翰·麦肯克已冲在了最前沿。他（与一位民主党人乔·列伯曼）发起了旨在控制温室气体排放的“限量管制与交易”提案，并在最近于凤凰城发表的一次演讲中宣称“气候变迁是真实的，它正对我们的生活方式产生强大冲击。”
Senate inquiry in loan case is studying stock transfer
An Education Department official and financial aid directors at three universities received stock in a student loan company from the company?s current president in what may have been a violation of securities law, Senate aides looking into the transactions say.
In various documents that have been turned over to staff members working for Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the president of the company described the transfers as gifts. But at least one recipient of the shares has said he paid for the stock.
Because the executive, Fabrizio Balestri of Student Loan Xpress, had acquired the shares in a private placement of stock that restricts how it can be transferred, the gifts—or sale—may have run afoul of federal securities laws, said Mr. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the Senate education committee. Yesterday he called on federal regulators to investigate the transactions.
The senator?s staff has been investigating relations between loan companies and universities. The disclosures last week that the financial aid administrators owned the stock have prompted concerns that they had an incentive to steer students to the loan company. The government official helped oversee lenders in the federal student loan program.
The documents describing the transfers of stock as gifts were signed by Mr. Balestri and his wife. They contradict what one financial aid director said in an interview last week. That official, Lawrence Burt of the University of Texas at Austin, said he had paid $1,000 for 1,500 shares. Mr. Burt could not be reached for comment last night.
Mr. Balestri transferred stock not only to Mr. Burt but also to David Charlow, financial aid director for Columbia?s undergraduate college and its engineering school; Catherine Thomas, director of financial aid at the University of Southern California; and Matteo Fontana, general manager in a unit of the Office of Federal Student Aid at the Department of Education. In recent days, all four have been put on leave by their employers.
Senate aides said that for each $10,000 in the private placement, investors had received 10,000 shares and 5,000 warrants, or options to purchase additional stock before a certain date, in Education Lending Group, which was then the parent of Student Loan Xpress. Mr. Balestri obtained $80,000 worth of stock and kept none of it, according to the documents. In a personal list called “memorandums of gift”, he wrote that he gave away 80,000 shares to 16 people on Dec. 31, 2001. That was one day
before he began work at the company as its president.
The 2001 private placement raised $3.7 million for Education Lending and was authorized by that company?s chief executive, Robert deRose. At the time, the stock was trading between $1 and $2 a share. It is not clear who purchased the rest of the shares or whether anyone else at the company had knowledge of Mr. Balestri?s transfers.
考研词汇：
violation［?vai??lei??n］n.违反, 违背, 妨碍, 侵害, ［体］违例
afoul［?'faul］a.冲撞的，纠缠的ad.冲突着, 碰撞着
securities law证券法
steer［?sti?］v.驾驶，掌舵
［真题例句］ Much of the language used to describe monetary policy, such as “steering the economy to a soft landing” or “a touch on the brakes”, makes it sound like a precise science.［19xx年阅读5］
［例句精译］ 很多用来描述货币政策的词，如“引导经济软着陆”、“经济刹车”，使货币政策听起来像是一门精确的科学。
warrant［?w?r?nt］n.①正当理由；②许可证，委任状；v.保证，担保
private placement指直接向特定投资者如基金、保险公司及银行等机构投资者出售证券。因不涉及向公众发行，一般毋须向证券监管当局注册登记。
参考译文：
参议院深入贷款案件，调查股票转让
一名教育部官员和三所大学的财务援助部门的主管从一个学生贷款公司现任总裁手中接受该公司股票，这种行为可能触犯了证券法，调查其中交易的参议员幕僚如此说。
在各种提交给为参议员爱德华·M·肯尼迪工作的成员的报告中，该公司总裁都把这些股票转让称之为礼物，但至少有一位接受者声称他为这些股票付了钱。
马塞诸塞州民主党员，领导参议院教育委员会的肯尼迪先生说由于学生助学贷款快车公司的总裁法布雷西奥·巴勒斯特里所得股票属于私募股票，无论作为礼物还是出售都与联邦证券法律相违背。昨天他号召联邦管理员来调查这些交易。
参议员的助手们正在调查贷款公司和大学之间的关系。上周披露的财务援助部门管理者持有股票一事引起了关注， 因为他们有动机引导学生去这家贷款公司。而政府官员则帮助监管在联邦学生贷款项目中的借款人。
把股票转让描述为礼物的文件是由巴勒斯特里先生和其夫人签署的。这些文件与一位财务援助部门主管上周在一次访谈中的话相矛盾。 那名官员即位于奥斯丁的德克萨斯大学的劳伦斯·波特说他为1500 张股票支付了一千美元。但昨晚却无法联系上波特先生并得到他对此作出的评论。
巴勒斯特里先生不仅把股票给了波特， 也给了大卫·查洛，哥伦比亚研究生院及其工程学院的财务援助部门主管；凯瑟琳·托马斯，南加州大学财务援助部门主管；以及马特奥·方塔纳， 教育部联邦学生援助办公室的总经理。最近，以上四位都被其雇主要求离职。
参议员的幕僚说私募中每一万美元投资人可以获得一万张股票和五千张认股权证，或选择从教育借款公司，学生货款快车公司当时的上级部门，在特定日期前购买额外的证券。根据文件巴勒斯特里先生获得的价值为八万美元的股票却没保留一张 。他在其称为“礼物备忘录”的私人清单中写道，他于20xx年12月31日送给十六个人八万张股票，而那天是他成为公司总经理的前一天。
20xx年的私募教育借款公司筹集了三百七十万美元，而且得到该公司总裁罗伯特·德罗斯的授权。那时该股票每一股的交易价在一到两美元之间。无法得知是谁购买了剩下的股票，或者该公司是否有其他人知道巴勒斯特里先生所做的股票转让。
Can milk make you happy?Can fish make you smart?
Imagine yourself lying in bed, your mind in turmoil. You toss and turn, but sleep won?t come. Maybe a bedtime snack would help. What should you choose? If you think first of toaster waffles or popcorn, some experts would say you?re on the right track. Foods high in complex carbohydrates—such as cereals, potatoes, pasta, crackers, or rice cakes—make many people relaxed and drowsy.
Missed that one? Try again. Suppose the weather?s rotten, you forgot your homework, and your best friend?s mad at you. What?s good medicine when you?re feeling low? A sugary cola or candy may give you a quick lift, but you?ll crash just as quickly. Better choices may be Brazil nuts (for selenium), skim milk (for calcium), or a spinach salad (for folic acid). In research studies, all three of those nutrients have been shown to lift spirits and battle the blues.
Try one more. You have a math test coming up in the afternoon. You want to be sharp, but you usually feel sleepy after lunch. Is your best choice an energy fix of fries and a shake or a broiled chicken breast and low-fat yogurt? If you pick the high-fat fries and shake, you may feel sluggish and blow that test. The protein-rich chicken and yogurt are better choices. Protein foods energize, some experts say.
How does food affect mood and mind? The answer may lie in the chemistry of the brain and nervous system. Molecules called neurotransmitters are chemical messengers. They carry a nerve impulse across the gap between nerve cells. The release of neurotransmitter molecules from one neuron and their attachment to receptor sites on another keep a nerve impulse moving.
Nerve impulses carry messages from the environment to the brain, for example, the pain you feel when you stub your toe. They also carry messages in the other direction, from the brain to the muscles. That?s why you back away from the obstacle that
initiated the pain signal and exclaim, “Ouch!”
“Many neurotransmitters are built from the foods we eat,” says neuroscientist Eric Chudler of the University of Washington. Too little or too much of a particular nutrient in the diet can affect their production, Chudler says. For example, tryptophan from foods such as yogurt, milk, bananas, and eggs is required for the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Phenylalanine from beets, almonds, eggs, meat, and grains goes into making the neurotransmitter dopamine.
Dozens of neurotransmitters are known; hundreds may exist. Their effects depend on their amounts and where they work in the brain. The neurotransmitter serotonin, for example, is thought to produce feelings of calmness, relaxation, and contentment. Drugs that prevent its reuptake (into the neuron that released it) are prescribed to treat depression. In at least some healthy, nondepressed people, carbohydrate foods seem to enhance serotonin production and produce similar effects. “It is the balance between different neurotransmitters that helps regulate mood,” Chudler says.
Proper nutrition may also enhance brainpower. Choline is a substance similar to the B vitamins. It?s found in egg yolks, whole wheat, peanuts, milk, green peas, liver, beans, seafood, and soybeans. The brain uses it to make the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. To test the effects of choline on memory and learning, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology gave memory tests to college students before increasing the amount of choline in their subjects diets. Later, they retested. On the average, memories were better, and the students learned a list of unrelated words more easily.
考研词汇：
drowsy［?drauzi］a.昏昏欲睡的, 催眠的, (街、市等)沉寂的
skim［skim］n.脱脂 v.撇去，去除；浏览，略读
impulse［ ?imp?ls］v.推动；n.①推动；②冲动，刺激
［真题例句］ As a result, the support for ambition as a healthy impulse (n.②), a quality to be admired and fixed in the mind of the young, is probably lower than it has ever been in the United States.［20xx年阅读5］
［例句精译］ 因此，在美国，作为一种健康的冲动，一种应该令人称羡并扎根于青年人心灵的品质的雄心，它所得到的支持也许比以往任何时期都低。
obstacle［??bst?kl］n.障碍，妨碍，干扰
［真题例句］ The process is not the road itself, but rather the attitudes and feelings people have, their caution or courage, as they encounter new experiences and unexpected obstacles.［19xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］ 成长过程不是道路本身，而是当遇到新情况或意外困难时所持的态度和情感，是慎重行事还是勇往直前。
relaxation［ri:l?k?sei??n］n.放松，松弛，娱乐
［真题例句］ (72) Children will play with dolls equipped with personality chips, computers with in-built personalities will be regarded as workmates rather than tools, relaxation will be in front of smell television, and digital age will have arrived.［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ （72）儿童将与装有个性化芯片的玩具娃娃玩耍，具有个性内置的计算机将被视为工作伙伴而不是工具，人们将在气味电视机前休闲，届时数字化时代就来到了。
enhance［in?hɑ:ns］v.提高，增强
［真题例句］52.In the passage, which of the following is NOT included in the advantages of advertising?［19xx年阅读1］
［C］ Enhancing living standards.
［例句精译］ 52本文中，广告的优点不包括下列哪项？［C］ 提高生活水平。
背景常识介绍：“医学之父”希波克拉底说过：“让食物变成你的药，让药变成你的食物。”作为一个生于公元前五世纪的希腊人，他的智慧远远超越了他所处的时代。如今，我们知道低脂肪而富含全麦、水果和蔬菜的饮食结构能增强我们的免疫力，并能减少癌症、心脏病和中风的发病率。但是，这些还不完全。新的证据显示食品可能会影响健康人的思考和感觉方式。如果希波克拉底今天还在世的话，他也许会回顾他吃过的最后一顿饭，解释他兴奋（或忧伤）的心情。他可能还会改变自己的饮食习惯，使自己变得更幸福或更聪明。
参考译文：
喝牛奶能让你快乐吗？吃鱼能使你变聪明吗？
设想一下你躺在床上，脑子里一片混乱。你辗转反侧，但总也睡不着。也许睡觉时吃点零食会有帮助。你应当吃什么呢？如果你的首选是威化饼或爆米花，那么一些专家就会说你选对了。麦片、土豆、面食、饼干或米糕这些富含复合碳水化合物的食品会使人感到放松和困倦。
你选错了吗？再试一次。假如天气很糟，你忘了做家庭作业，而你的好朋友又对你大发雷霆。在你情绪低落之时，对你来说什么是一剂良药呢？一杯甜可乐或一块糖可能会使你情绪很快高涨，但你的情绪又会很快地进入低潮。更好的选择是吃一些巴西胡桃（获得更多的硒），脱脂牛奶（获得更多的钙），或菠菜沙拉（获得更多的叶酸）。研究表明，上述三种营养素都会使人们情绪高涨，摆脱忧虑。
再试一次吧。下午你有数学测验。你想要精力充沛，可你总是在午饭后感到昏昏欲睡。能使你精神饱满地面对考试的最佳食品是炸薯条和奶昔，还是鸡胸肉和低脂酸奶？如果你选中了高脂肪的炸薯条和奶昔，你就会感到非常懒散，很可能考砸了。高蛋白的鸡肉和酸奶是较好的选择。有些专家说蛋白质食品给人们提供能量。
食物如何影响情绪和思维？答案可能要到大脑和神经系统的化学结构中去找。被称为神经递质的分子是化学信使。它们把神经冲动带到神经细胞之间的空隙中。神经递质分子从一个神经原释放后，附着到另一个接受点，令神经冲动保持运动的状态。
神经冲动能够把周边环境的信息带到大脑中——例如，当你脚趾被绊了一下时，你会感到疼。它们也能从反方向传递信息，比如说从大脑到肌肉。这就是为什么当障碍物产生疼痛的信号时，你就会躲开障碍物，并且喊：“哎哟！”
华盛顿大学的神经科学家埃里克·查德勒说：“许多神经递质是靠我们所吃的食物形成的。” 查德勒指出过多或过少地通过饮食摄入一种营养素可以影响这些神经递质的形成。例如，来自诸如酸奶、牛奶、香蕉和鸡蛋的色氨酸会产生神经递质的血清素。来自甜菜、杏仁、鸡蛋、肉和谷物中的苯基丙胺酸会形成神经递质的多巴胺。
我们已知的神经递质有几十种，实际存在的可能有几百种。它们产生的效果取决于本身的数量和它们在大脑中工作的位置。例如，神经递质血清素被认为会产生平静、放松和满足的感觉。治疗情绪低落时，大夫就开出一些能够防止它返回（即进入到释放出它的神经元中）的药。至少在一些健康和情绪不低落的人当中，碳水化合物食物似乎能够促进血清素的生成并能产生类似效应。查德勒说：“不同神经递质之间的平衡帮助调节人的情绪。”
恰当的营养能提高人的大脑思考能力。胆碱是一种类似于维生素B的物质。它存在于蛋黄、全麦、花生、牛奶、菜豆、肝、蚕豆、海鲜和黄豆中。大脑利用这种物质生成神经递质的乙酰胆碱。为了检测胆碱对记忆和学习的影响，麻省理工学院的研究者们对大学生进行了记忆测验。随后，他们在被试验者的饮食中增加胆碱的量，重新做了实验。从总体上来看，学生的记忆力有所提高，能够更加容易地学会一系列不相关的单词。
From Genes to GMOs
Today, genes can be isolated, identified, and cloned, then inserted into other organisms to alter their traits. The process is called genetic engineering. For this technology to develop, a few tools were necessary. In the 1970s, scientists isolated bacterial plasmids. These are hula-hoop-shaped double-stranded units of DNA that can be moved easily from one cell to another. They also discovered “scissors,” called restriction enzymes for cutting the DNA into predictable, reproducible patterns. These enzymes are used to“snip apart” plasmids at very specific DNA sequences, leaving free ends that can be rejoined as the scientist chooses. Restriction enzymes occur in bacteria as part of a natural defense mechanism to guard against invading viruses. Many different types are now available, each cutting DNA at a different sequence of base pairs.
Once a plasmid is snipped open, a foreign piece of DNA, cut by the same enzyme scissors, can be taped, end to end, into the plasmid using another enzyme, DNA ligase. This is the glue that sticks all the pieces together. The new plasmid is inserted back into a cell, where numerous copies can be made. Introduction of specific genetic material into rapidly reproducing target bacteria can turn the cells into miniature factories for production of useful substances. For example, when the Exxon Valdez oil freighter ran aground in 1989 and spilled thirty-eight million liters of oil, oil-eating bacteria, created in just this manner, were used in the cleanup operation. The oil was broken down five times faster with help from the genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Plasmid technology has also been developed for moving targeted genetic material into plants. In this technique, scientists use the plasmid from a bacterium that causes tumors on plants. In nature, this bacterium transfers genetic material into plant tissues by releasing plasmids onto damaged plant cells. The plasmids enter the plant tissue and produce a swelling, or tumor. Because of this special ability to invade plant tissue, these tumor-inducing (TI) plasmids are now used routinely as “taxi cabs” to carry target genes into a wide variety of plant cells, including, for example, corn. The European corn borer is a common pest in this economically valuable crop. When pesticides are used against them, timing is critical. If sprayed too late, the corn borer will already have made a home inside the corn stem and will not be killed. CIBA Research was the first company to develop what has become commonly known as Bt corn. It contains genes that allow it to resist infestation by the corn borer. The Bt genes came from a bacterium called Bacillus thuring ensis. It produces a protein called Bt protoxin. When an insect larva eats these bacteria, the toxin contained in the bacterium attaches to the insect?s gut and makes holes in it, and the larva starves to death. Bt corn can be grown using less pesticide, and sometimes even no pesticide.
考研词汇：
isolate［?ais?leit］v.隔离，孤立
［真题例句］ Scattered around the globe are more than 100 small regions of isolated volcanic activity known to geologists as hot spots.［19xx年阅读5］
［例句精译］ 地球上散落分布着100多个相互独立的小火山活动区，地质学家称之为热点。
trait［treit］n.特征，特点，特性
［真题例句］ (61) One difficulty is that almost all of what is called behavioral science continues to trace behavior to states of mind, feelings, traits of character, human nature, and so on.［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ (61)难题之一在于所谓的行为科学几乎全都依然从心态、情感、性格特征、人性等方面去寻找行为的根源。
spill［spil］v.溢出，溅出；n.摔下，跌下
［真题例句］ 54. What the author tries to suggest may best be interpreted as_______.［19xx年阅读1］
［A］ It?s no use crying over spilt (v.) milk
［例句精译］ 54. 作者试图提醒的意思可以最恰当地解释为：____。［A］ “覆水难收”
modify［?m?difai］v.更改，修改，修饰
［真题例句］ In response, schools are modifying their programs, adapting instruction to children who are exceptional, to those who cannot profit substantially from regular programs.［19xx年阅读3］
［例句精译］ 作为回应，学校也在调整课程安排，使授课能够适应特殊儿童，适应那些不能从常规课程中真正获益的儿童的需要。
routine［ru:?ti:n］n.例行公事，常规；a.常规的，例行的
［真题例句］ You can make a mental blueprint of a desire as you would make a blueprint of a house, and each of us is continually making these blueprints in the general routine (n.) of everyday living.［19xx年阅读1］
［例句精译］ 你可以在头脑里勾画出一幅欲望的蓝图，就像你可以设计房屋的蓝图一样，而我们每个人在日常生活中都在不停地画着这样的蓝图。
［真题例句］ Like other human beings, he encounters moral issues even in everyday performance of his routine (a.) duties—he is not supposed to cook his experiments, manufacture evidence, or doctor his reports. ［20xx年翻译］
［例句精译］ 像其他人类一样，普通科学家甚至在每天日常的工作中都遭遇到了道义上的问题——他不应该伪造实验、制造证据或改动他的报告。
infestation［infes'tei??n］n.(害虫, 盗贼等)群袭, 出没, 横行
背景常识介绍：基因工程是生物工程的一个重要分支，它与细胞工程、酶工程、蛋白质工程和微生物工程共同组成了生物工程。所谓基因工程（genetic engineering)是在分子水平上对基因进行操作的复杂技术，是将外源基因通过体外重组后导入受体细胞内，使这个基因能在受体细胞内复制、转录、翻译表达的操作。它是用人为的方法将所需要的某一供体生物的遗传物质——DNA大分子提取出来，在离体条件下用适当的工具酶进行切割后，把它与作为载体的DNA分子连接起来，然后与载体一起导入某一更易生长、繁殖的受体细胞中，以让外源物质在其中“安家落户”，进行正常的复制和表达，从而获得新物种的一种崭新技术。
参考译文：
从基因到转基因生命体
如今，基因可以被分离、识别和克隆，并且，将基因插入其他生命体中还能改变它们的特征，这一过程叫基因工程。要发展这种技术，我们需要一些工具。20世纪70年代，科学家分离出了细菌的原生质。它们是形似呼拉圈的双股DNA单位，可以被轻易地从一个细胞转移到另一个细胞。科学家们还发现了被称为限制酶的“剪刀”，可以把DNA分裂成可以预测和可以复制的形式。这些酶被用来把特定的DNA序列中的原生质切断，切断后的原生质可以被科学家们自由地重新连接。作为抵抗病毒的自然防御机制的一部分，限制酶存在于细菌中。现在科学家们已经发现了许多种限制酶，它们可以将不同序列的DNA切断。
一旦原生质被分开后，用同样限制酶剪开的外来DNA片段和它的被切断的端口被粘到一起，形成了新的原生质。连接时使用的是另一种酶——DNA连接酶。这种连接酶可以把所有的碎片粘到一起。新的原生质被插回细胞中，在那里可以进行多次复制。如果把特定的基因材料引入高速复制的目标细菌中，细胞就会变成生产有用物质的微型工厂。例如，当埃克森公司的瓦尔迪兹号油轮在19xx年搁浅后，它泄露了3800万公升的油。用上述方法创造出的吃油的细菌曾被用于清理油污的行动。有了转基因生命体（GMOs）的帮助，油分解的速度提高了五倍。
细胞质技术还被应用于把目标基因材料转移到植物的过程中。在应用这种技术时，科学家们使用导致植物肿瘤的细菌中的原生质。通过把原生质释放到损坏的植物细胞上，这种细菌把基因材料转移到植物的组织当中。原生质进入植物组织后产生了浮肿，或者说是肿瘤。因为具有这种特殊的侵袭植物组织的能力，这些导致肿瘤的（TI）原生质被人们习惯地当成“出租车”来使用，目的是把目标基因带到多种植物细胞当中，比如说，玉米细胞。欧洲玉米螟普遍存在于玉米这种经济价值很高的农作物当中。使用杀虫剂消灭这种害虫时，时机的掌握很关键。如果杀虫剂喷洒得太晚，玉米螟早已经在玉米茎的内部安家了。这样，它们就不能被杀死。CIBA研究所是第一家研制出我们通常所称的Bt玉米的公司。这种玉米中含有能够抵御玉米螟的基因。这种Bt基因来自于一种名为图根菌的细菌。它会产生Bt原霉素的蛋白质。当昆虫的幼虫吃了这些细菌后，细菌中的霉素就会附着在昆虫的内脏，并在上面打出许多洞。这样，幼虫就会被饿死。Bt玉米在生长过程中需要很少，甚至不需要杀虫剂。
Seychelles: A president in paradise
BEST known as a destination for honeymooners in search of perfect white beaches and swaying palms, the Seychelles islands rarely make any sort of headlines. Few tourists would even have noticed the presidential election on July 30th, in which James Michel, leader of the Seychelles People?s Progressive Front, was returned with 54% of the ballot. For Mr. Michel, it was the first time he had faced the islands-62,000-odd voters, having been promoted from vice-president two years ago by his predecessor, Albert René, who had ruled the islands for 27 years since taking power in a coup in 1977.
To the casual eye, Seychelles seems both fortunate and wellgoverned. The 115 islands, most of them uninhabited, cover a mere 445 square kilometers (175 square miles) of the Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar, and enjoy several advantages over most of the rest of Africa. The weather is never extreme. There is no malaria. The islanders have free education and health care. Their multiracial society is pretty harmonious. With GDP at around $8,000 a head, there is almost no discernible poverty.
But this standard of living has come at a cost: the IMF says its public debt is too high and may be unsustainable. Mr. Michel?s main opposition, the Seychelles National Party, which scored 46% in the elections, claims that Seychelles, per person, is the world?s most indebted country; with some $590m of external debt for just 82,000 people, it is certainly one of them. A black market in foreign currency already exists as speculation persists that the government, unable to meet its obligations, may be forced to devalue. Basic consumer goods sometimes run out. If, as the IMF predicts, GDP falls by over 1% this year, Mr. Michel may find his next five years in power more testing than he had hoped.
The country needs more ways of making money. In the cold war, it was easy. The Seychelles played each side off against the other, remaining a member of the Commonwealth as well as the Non-Aligned Movement and taking military aid from the Soviet Union while leasing a satellite tracking station to the Americans. Since those streams of revenue dried up, the main Seychellois streams of revenue have been from tourism—leasing land to foreign hoteliers—and from tuna: the government
earns about $200m a year from selling tuna-fishing licenses to Spain, France and South Korea.
But conflict in the Middle East has brought Seychelles an unexpected bonus: Western warships stop off in the islands, which offer rest and recreation. The soldiers and sailors scubadive, sail and drink Seybrew, the local beer—and pay for it all in hard currency.
考研词汇：
sway［swei］v.摇摆，摇动
ballot［?b?l?t］n.选举票，投票，票数；vi.投票
［真题例句］Shortlists for job interviews, election ballot (n.) papers, lists of conference speakers and attendees: all tend to be drawn up alphabetically, and their recipients lose interests as they plough through them.［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］求职面试、选举投票、会议发言或参加会议等诸多名单，也是按字母表顺序排序，当人们费劲地往下查看时，兴趣也随之索然。
predecessor［?pri:dises?］n.前辈，前任，（被取代的）原有事物
［真题例句］Thus the American president and vicepresident have surnames starting with B and C respectively; and 26 of George Bushs predecessors (including his father) had surnames in the first half of the alphabet against just 16 in the second half. ［20xx年阅读2］
［例句精译］如此这般，美国总统和副总统的姓氏分别是以B和C开头，而且乔治·布什的前任有26位（包括他父亲在内）的姓氏均在字母表的前半部，而姓氏在字母表后半部的却仅有16位。
sustain［s??stein］v.①支撑，撑住；②维持，持续；③遭受
［真题例句］Mozart, he theorized, may have sustained（③）it in a fall, and that would help explain the severe headaches the composer was said to have suffered more than a year before his death. ［20xx年阅读4］
［例句精译］他推断，这可能是由莫扎特摔跤所致；同时，这也为莫扎特去世前困扰他一年多的严重头痛病提供了解释。
lease［li:s］n.租借，租约，租赁物，租期，延续的一段时间；vt.出租，租出，租得
stream［stri:m］n.①小河，溪流；②川流不息的事物；v.流出，涌
背景常识介绍：旅游业和渔业为塞舌尔两大经济支柱，工农业基础薄弱，粮食和日用品主要依赖进口。20世纪70年代中期勒内执政后，实行部分国有化。80年代中期，政府调整经济发展政策，提出诸业并举的多元化经济战略，重点发展旅游、渔业、保税区加工业和农业等，推进私有化进程，改善投资环境，吸引外资，经济明显好转。至90年代初期，经济年均增长率为4％，被世界银行列为中等收入的发展中国家。19xx年以来，西方国家对塞减援、停援，塞财政拮据，外汇短缺，国际收支出现危机。近年政府先后推出经济改革计划和10年经济发展目标，重点振兴旅游业，紧缩财政、货币，推进国企私有化和贸易自由化，放宽“环保”标准，增售捕鱼许可证，财政亏空状况略有缓解，但经济形势依然严峻。
参考译文：
恍如置身天堂的总统——非洲岛国塞舌尔一瞥
说起塞舌尔群岛，许多人只知道它是度蜜月者找寻美丽的白色沙滩和摇曳的棕榈树的目的地之一。除此之外，几乎很少有媒体对其进行报道，就连游客们也很少有人注意到7月30日该国举行的总统选举。这次选举中，塞舌尔人民进步阵线领导人詹姆斯·米歇尔获得了54％的选票。对于米歇尔而言，这是在他两年前被前任总统阿尔伯特·雷纳从副总统提拔为总统后，首次面对该岛6.2万余名选民。雷纳自19xx年在一场政变中上台以后已经统治该岛国27年。
乍一看，塞舌尔似乎很幸运，治理得也比较好。它位于印度洋上、马达加斯加以北，全国共有岛屿115个（其中大多数无人定居），总面积仅为445平方公里（175平方英里）。相比非洲其他国家，它拥有不少优势。不冷不热的天气，没有疟疾，岛民们享受免费教育和医疗，他们的多种族社会十分和谐。由于人均GDP大约有8000美元，因此几乎没有明显的贫困现象。
不过，达到这种生活水准是要付出代价的——国际货币基金组织说，该国国债过高，可能难以为继。米歇尔的主要反对党、在本次选举中获得46%选票的塞舌尔民族党断言，塞舌尔是世界上人均负债最多的国家。由于投机买卖屡禁不止，外币交易黑市已然形成，因此无法尽职尽责的政府或许将被迫对货币进行贬值。基础性消费商品有时候也消耗一空。根据国际货币基金组织预测，如果今年GDP下降超过1%，米歇尔就会感到在随后的五年执政岁月中，他要接受比他所期望的更多的考验。
这个国家需要更多赚钱途径。这在冷战时期是很容易的。塞舌尔当时仍然是英联邦以及不结盟运动的一员，它一边接受苏联提供的军事援助，一边又把一个卫星跟踪站租给了美国人，可谓两头得利。自从那些收入来源枯竭之后，塞舌尔人收入主要源自旅游业——出租土地给外国宾馆经营者——和金枪鱼（政府依靠向西班牙、法国和韩国出售金枪鱼捕鱼许可证，每年可挣得2亿美元）。
不过，中东冲突已经给塞舌尔带来了一份意外收获——该岛为经停的西方战船提供休闲和娱乐场所。士兵和水手们在那里潜水，玩帆船，喝当地人酿造的啤酒——全都用硬通货（美金）买单。