考研时文阅读6
考研备考英语时文阅读Burnished
考研备考英语时文阅读:BurnishedUp goes gold, down goes the dollarMost economists hate gold. Not, you understand, that they would turn up their noses at a bar or two. But they find the reverence in which many hold the metal almost irrational. That it was used as money for millennia is irrelevant: it isn't any more. Modern money takes the form of paper or, more often, electronic data. To economists, gold is now just another commodity.So why is its price soaring? Over the past week, this has topped $450 a troy ounce, up by 9% since the beginning of the year and 77% since April 2001. Ah, comes the reply, gold transactions are denominated in dollars, and the rise in the price simply reflects the dollar's fall in terms of other currencies, especially the euro, against which it hit a new low this week. Expressed in euros, the gold price has moved much less. However, there is no iron link, as it were, between the value of the dollar and the value of gold. A rising price of gold, like that of anything else, can reflect an increase in demand as well as a depreciation of its unit of account.This is where gold bulls come in. The fall in the dollar is important, but mainly because as a store of value the dollar stinks. With a few longish rallies, the greenback has been on a downward trend since it came off the gold standard in 1971. Now it is suffering one of its sharper declines. At the margin, extra demand has come from those who think dollars--indeed any money backed by nothing more than promises to keep inflation low--a decidedly risky investment, mainly because America, with the world's reserve currency, has been able to create and borrow so many of them. The least painful way of repaying those dollars is to make them worth less.The striking exception to this extra demand comes from central banks, which would like to sell some of the gold they already have. As a legacy of the days when their currencies were backed by the metal, central banks still hold one-fifth of the world's gold. Last month the Bank of France said it would sell 500 tonnes in coming years. But big sales by central banks can cause the price to plunge--as when the Bank of England sold 395 tonnes between 1999 and 2002. The result was an agreement between central banks to co-ordinate and limit future sales.If the price of gold marches higher, this agreement will presumably be ripped up, although a dollar crisis might make central banks think twice about switching into paper money. Will the overhang of central-bank gold drag the price down again? Not necessarily. As James Grant, gold bug and publisher of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, a newsletter, points out, in recent years the huge glut of government debt has not stopped a sharp rise in its price.注(1):本文选自Economist;12/4/2004, p76-76, 1/3p;注(2):本文习题命题模仿2000年真题text 4第3题(1),2001年真题text 4第2题(2),text 1第2题(3),2002年真题text 2第2题(4)和text 5第3题(5);economists’eyes, gold is something__________.[A] they look down uponthat can be exchanged in the market[C] worth people’s reverence[D] that should be replaced by other forms of moneyto the author, one of the reasons for the rising of gold price is___________.[A] the increasing demand for goldthe depreciation of the euro[C] the link between the dollar and gold[D] the increment of the value of the dollarcan infer from the third paragraph that_________.[A] the decline of the dollar is inevitableAmerica benefits from the depreciation of the dollar[C] the depreciation of the dollar is good news to other currencies[D] investment in the dollar yields more returns than that in gold4. The phrase “ripped up”(Line 1, Paragraph 5) most probably means__________.[A] strengthenedbroadened[C] renegotiated[D] torn upto the passage, the rise of gold price__________.[A] will not last longwill attract some central banks to sell gold[C] will impel central banks to switch into paper money[D] will lead to a dollar crisis答案:B A B D B篇章剖析本篇文章采用了提出问题-分析问题的模式,分析了金价上涨,美元下跌的经济态势。
英语时文阅读参考答案
英语时文阅读参考答案一、阅读理解题1. 根据文章内容,以下哪项是作者的主要观点?A. 英语学习对个人职业发展至关重要。
B. 英语是全球通用语言,应该被广泛学习。
C. 学习英语可以提高个人的跨文化交流能力。
D. 英语教育应该注重实用性和应用性。
答案:C2. 文章中提到了哪些因素可以促进英语学习?A. 个人兴趣和学习动力。
B. 良好的语言环境和实践机会。
C. 系统的教育体系和教学方法。
D. 所有上述因素。
答案:D3. 作者认为哪种学习方式对提高英语水平最有效?A. 通过阅读英文原著来学习。
B. 通过观看英语电影和电视节目来学习。
C. 通过与母语为英语的人交流来学习。
D. 通过参加英语角或语言交换活动来学习。
答案:C4. 文章中提到的“沉浸式学习法”是指什么?A. 完全用英语进行思考和交流。
B. 在英语环境中学习英语。
C. 通过学习英语文化来提高语言水平。
D. 通过背诵英语单词和短语来学习。
答案:B5. 根据文章,以下哪项不是提高英语听力的方法?A. 经常听英语广播和新闻。
B. 观看英语电影和电视节目。
C. 阅读英语书籍和报纸。
D. 参加英语听力训练课程。
答案:C二、完形填空题6. The best title for the passage could be "The Importance of _______ in Learning English."A. PracticeB. GrammarC. VocabularyD. Pronunciation答案:A7. The author suggests that _______ is the key to mastering English.A. listeningB. speakingC. writingD. reading答案:B8. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT a benefit of learning English?A. Better job opportunities.B. Access to a wider range of information.C. The ability to travel without a guide.D. The ability to understand complex mathematical concepts.答案:D9. The word "immersion" in the context of the passage means_______.A. being surrounded by the English languageB. learning English in a classroom settingC. only learning English grammarD. memorizing English vocabulary lists答案:A10. The author believes that learning English can alsoimprove one's _______.A. cooking skillsB. cultural understandingC. mathematical abilitiesD. physical fitness答案:B三、词汇题11. The word "enhance" in the context of the passage isclosest in meaning to:A. increaseB. reduceC. maintainD. replace答案:A12. The term "fluency" refers to:A. the ability to speak a language easily and smoothlyB. the ability to understand complex sentencesC. the ability to write well in a languageD. the ability to read quickly答案:A13. In the passage, "comprehension" is related to:A. understandingB. speakingC. writingD. listening答案:A14. The word "articulate" is used to describe someone who can:A. speak quicklyB. speak clearly and effectivelyC. speak with a lot of gesturesD. speak with a strong accent答案:B15. The phrase "language barrier" in the passage implies:A. the difficulty of learning a new languageB. the challenge of communicating in a different languageC. the advantage of being bilingualD. the importance of learning multiple languages答案:B请注意,以上内容仅为示例,实际的英语时文阅读参考答案应根据具体文章内容和问题来制定。
考研英语_时文阅读50篇
考研英语_时⽂阅读50篇考拉进阶英语时⽂阅读50篇Passage1Dealing With Spam1:Confidence Game(2010.11.18The Economist)[483words]Bill Gates,then still Microsoft’s boss,was nearly rightin2004when he predicted the end of spam in two years.Thanks to clever filters2unsolicited3e-mail has largelydisappeared as a daily nuisance4for most on the internet.But spam is still a menace5:blocked at the e-mail inbox,spammers post messages as comments on websites and increasingly on social networks like Twitter and Facebook.The criminal businesses behind spam are competitive and creative.They vault over6technical fixes as fast as the hurdles7are erected.The anti-spam industry has done applaudable work in saving e-mail.But it is always one step behind.In the end,the software industry’s interest is in making money from the problem(by selling subscriptions to regular security updates)rather than tackling it at its source.Law-enforcement agencies have had some success shutting down spam-control servers in America and the Netherlands.But as one place becomes unfriendly, spammers move somewhere else.Internet connections in poor and ill-run countries are improving faster than the authorities there can police them.That won’t end soon.In any case,the real problem is not the message,but the link.Sometimes an unwise click leads only to a website that sells counterfeit8pills.But it can also lead to a page that infects your computer with a virus or another piece of malicious software that then steals your passwords or uses your machine for other immoral purposes. Spam was never about e-mail;it was about convincing us to click.To the spammer,it needs to be decided whether the link is e-mailed or liked.The police are doing what they can,and software companies keep on tightening security.But spam is not just a hack9or a crime,it is a social problem,too.If you look beyond the computers that lie between a spammer and his mark,you can see allthe classic techniques of a con-man:buy this stock,before everyone else does.Buy these pills,this watch,cheaper than anyone else can.The spammer plays upon the universal human desire to believe that we are smarter than anyone gives us credit for,and that things can be had for nothing.As in other walks of life,people become wiser and take precautions only when they have learned what happens when they don’t.That is why the spammers’new arena10—social networks—is so effective.A few fiddles might help,such as tougher default privacy settings on social networks.But the real problem is man,not the machine.Public behaviour still treats the internet like a village,in which new faces are welcome and anti-social behaviour a rarity.A better analogy would be a railway station in a big city,where hustlers11gather to prey on the credulity12of new arrivals.Wise behaviour in such places is to walk fast,avoid eye contact and be cautious with strangers.Try that online.1.spam/sp?m/n.垃圾邮件2.filter/?f?lt?/n.过滤器;滤光器;筛选过滤程序3.unsolicited/??ns??l?s?t?d/adj.未经请求的,⾃发的4.nuisance/?nju?s?ns/n.⿇烦事,讨厌的⼈或东西5.menace/?men?s/n.威胁,恐吓;危险⽓氛;烦⼈的⼈或事物6.vault over越过7.hurdle/?h??dl/n.障碍;跨栏,栏8.counterfeit/?ka?nt?f?t/n.伪造,仿造,制假9.hack/h?k/n.砍,劈;供出租的马;出租车司机;⾮法侵⼊(他⼈计算机系统)10.arena/??ri?n?/n.圆形运动场,圆形剧场;竞技舞台,活动场所11.hustler/?h?sl?/n.耍诡计骗钱的⼈12.credulity/kr??du?l?t?/n.轻信Passage2A Gene to Explain Depression(2011.1.3Time)[459words]As powerful as genes are in exposing clues to diseases,not even the most passionate geneticist1believes thatcomplex conditions such as depression can be reduced to atell-tale2string of DNA.But a new study confirms earlier evidence that aparticular gene,involved in ferrying3a brain chemical critical to mood known as serotonin4,may play a role in triggering5the mental disorder in some people.Researchers led by Dr.Srijan Sen,a professor of psychiatry at University of Michigan,report in the Archives6of General Psychiatry that individuals with a particular form of the serotonin transporter gene were more vulnerable to developing depression when faced with stressful life events such as having a serious medical illness or being a victim of childhood abuse.The form of the gene that these individuals inherit prevents the mood-regulating serotonin from being re-absorbed by nerve cells in the brain.Having such a low-functioning version of the transporter starting early in life appears to set these individuals up for developing depression later on,although the exact relationship between this gene,stress,and depression isn’t clear yet.Sen’s results confirm those of a ground-breaking7study in2003,in which scientists for the first time confirmed the link between genes and environment in depression.In that study,which involved more than800subjects,individuals with the gene coding for the less functional serotonin transporter were more likely to develop depression following a stressful life event than those with the more functional form of the gene.But these findings were questioned by a2009analysis in which scientistspooled814studies investigating the relationship between the serotonin transporter gene,depression and stress,and found no heightened risk of depression among those with different versions of the gene.“One of the hopes I have is that we can settle this story,and move on to looking more broadly across the genome9for more factors related to depression,”he says.“Ideally we would like to find a panel of different genetic variations that go together to help us predict who is going to respond poorly to stress,and who might respond well to specific types of treatment as opposed to others.”He believes that the2009findings do not contradict those from2003,or the latest results,but rather reflect a difference in the way the study was conducted.Sen stresses,however,that this gene is only one player in the cast of genetic and environmental factors that contribute to depression.“All things considered,this gene is a relatively small factor,and for this finding to be clinically10useful,we really need to find many,many more factors.Ultimately we may identify new pathways that are involved in depression to come up with new and better treatments.”1.geneticist/dnet?s?st/n.遗传学家2.tell-tale/?tel?te?l/adj.暴露实情的,能说明问题的3.ferry/?fer?/vt.渡运,摆渡4.serotonin/?s??rt??n?n/n.[⽣化]⾎清素,5-羟⾊胺(神经递质,易影响情绪等)5.trigger/?tr?ɡ?/vt.触发,引发;开动,启动6.archive/?ɑ?ka?v/n.档案馆;档案⽂件7.ground-breaking/?gra?nd?bre?k??/adj.开创性的;创新的8.pool/pu?l/vt.合伙经营;集中(智慧等);共享,分享9.genome/??i?n??m/n.[⽣]基因组;[⽣]染⾊体组10.clinically/?kl?n?kl?/adv.临床地;冷淡地;通过临床诊断Passage3Second Thoughts on Online Education(2010.9New York Times)[415words]Let the computer do the teaching.Some studies,expertopinion and cost pressures all point toward a continuing shiftof education online.A major study last year,funded by the EducationDepartment,which covered comparative research over12years,concluded that online learning on average beat face-to-face teaching by a modest1but statistically meaningful margin2.Bill Gates,whose foundation funds a lot of education programs,predicted last month that in five years much of college education will have gone online.“The self-motivated learner will be on the Web,”Mr.Gates said,speaking at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe.“College needs to be less place-based.”But recent research,published as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper,comes to a different conclusion.“A rush to online education may come at more of a cost than educators may suspect,”the authors write.The research was a head-to-head experiment,comparing the grades achieved in the same introductory economics class by students—one group online,and one in classroom lectures.Certain groups did notably worse online.Hispanic3students online fell nearly a full grade lower than Hispanic students that took the course in class.Male students did about a half-grade worse online,as did low-achievers,which had college grade-point averages below the mean for the university.The difference certainly was not attributable4to machines replacing a tutorial-style human teaching environment.Instead,the classroom was a large lecture hall seating hundreds of students.Initially,David Figlio,an economist at Northwestern University and co-author of the paper,said he had thought that the flexibility5of the Internet—the ability to“go back and roll the tape”—would probably give the online coursework6an edge over traditional“chalk and talk teaching.”The online lectures were well done,using a professional producer and cameraman7.“It had very much the feel of being in the room,”Mr.Figlio said.So what accounts for the difference in outcomes8?Mr.Figlio has a few theories. For the poorer performance of males and lower-achievers,he says the time-shifting convenience of the Web made it easier for students to put off viewing the lectures and cram9just before the test,a tactic10unlikely to produce the best possible results.It’s partly a stereotype11but also partly true,Mr.Figlio says,that female students tend to be better at timemanagement,spreading their study time over a semester,than males.“And the Internet makes it easier to put off12the unpleasant thing,attending the lecture,”he said.1.modest/?m?d?st/adj.谦虚的,谦恭的;适中的,适度的;些许的2.margin/?mɑ:d??n/n.页边空⽩;边,边缘;差数,差额3.Hispanic/h?s?p?n?k/adj.西班⽛和葡萄⽛的4.attributable/??tr?bj?t?bl/adj.可归因于,可能由于5.flexibility/?fleks??b?l?t?/n.灵活性;柔韧性6.coursework/?k?:sw?:k/n.课程作业7.cameraman/?k?m?r?m?n/n.摄影师8.outcome/?a?tk?m/n.结果9.cram/kr?m/v.挤满,塞满;临时死记硬背10.tactic/?t?kt?k/n.兵法;⽅法,策略;⼿段;招数11.stereotype/?ster??ta?p/n.模式化观念,⽼⼀套,刻板形象12.put off撤销,取消Passage4The Kids Can’t Help It(2010.12.16Newsweek)[372words]What new research reveals about the adolescentbrain—from why kids bully1to how the teen yearsshape the rest of your life.They say you never escape high school.And forbetter or worse,science is lending some credibility tothat old saw.Thanks to sophisticated imaging technology and a raft2of longitudinal3studies,we’re learning that the teen years are a period of crucial brain development subject to a host of environmental and genetic factors.This emerging research sheds4light not only on why teenagers act they way they do,but how the experiences of adolescence—from rejection to binge5 drinking—can affect who we become as adults,how we handle stress,and the way we bond with others.One of the most important discoveries in this area of study,says Dr.Frances Jensen,a neuroscientist at Harvard,is that our brains are not finished maturing by adolescence,as was previously thought.Adolescent brains“are only about80percentof the way to maturity,”she said at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in November.It takes until the mid-20s,and possibly later,for a brain to become fully developed.An excess of gray matter6(the stuff that does the processing)at the beginning of adolescence makes us particularly brilliant at learning—the reason we’re so good at picking up new languages starting in early childhood—but also particularly sensitive to the influences of our environment,both emotional and physical.Our brains’processing centers haven’t been fully linked yet,particularly the parts responsible for helping to check7our impulses8and considering the long-term repercussions9of our actions.“It’s like a brain that’s all revved10up not knowing where it needs to go,”says Jensen.It’s partially because of this developmental timeline that a teen can be so quick to conjure11a stinging remark,or a biting insult,and so uninhibited12in firing it off at the nearest unfortunate target—a former friend,perhaps,or a bewildered parent.The impulse to hurl13an insult14is there,just as it may be for an adult in a stressful situation,but the brain regions that an adult might rely on to stop himself from saying something cruel just haven’t caught up.1.bully/?b?l?/v.恐吓;充当恶霸,恃强凌弱2.raft/rɑ?ft/n.筏;橡⽪艇,充⽓船;⼤量3.longitudinal/?l?ntju?d?nl/adj.纵向的;纵观的;经度的4.shed/?ed/vt.散发出光;去除,摆脱;蜕,落5.binge/b?nd?/n.饮酒作乐;狂饮;狂闹6.gray matter灰质(脑、脊髓内神经元集中的地⽅)7.check/t?ek/v.检查,核验,核对;制⽌,控制8.impulse/??mp?ls/n.冲动;脉冲;刺激,推动⼒9.repercussion/?ri?p??kn/n.(间接的)反响,影响,恶果10.rev/rev/v.(发动机等)加快转速11.conjure/?k?n??/v.变魔术;使变戏法般地出现(或消失)12.uninhibited/??n?n?h?b?t?d/adj.⽆限制的;⽆拘束的,放任的13.hurl/h??l/vt.猛掷,猛扔;⼤声说出14.insult/?n?s?lt/n.侮辱;凌辱;⽆礼Passage5The Power of Posture(2011.1.13The Economist)[486words]“Stand up straight!”“Chest out!”“Shoulders back!”Theseare the perennial1cries of sergeant2majors and fussy3parentsthroughout the ages.Posture certainly matters.Big is dominantand in species after species,humans included,postures thatenhance the posturer’s apparent size cause others to treat him asif he were more powerful.The stand-up-straight brigade4,however,often make a further claim:that posture affects the way the posturer treats himself,as well as how others treat him.To test the truth of this,Li Huang and Adam Galinsky,at Northwestern University in Illinois,have compared posture’s effects onself-esteem with those of a more conventional ego-booster,management responsibility. In a paper just published in Psychological Science they conclude,surprisingly,that posture may matter more.The two researchers’experimental animals—77undergraduate students—first filled out questionnaires5,ostensibly6to assess their leadership capacity.Half were then given feedback forms which indicated that,on the basis of the questionnaires, theywere to be assigned to be managers in a forthcoming7experiment.The other half were told they would besubordinates8.While the participants waited for this feedback, they were asked to help with a marketing test on ergonomic9chairs.In fact,neither of these tests was what it seemed.The questionnaires were irrelevant.V olunteers were assigned to be managers or subordinates at random.The test of posture had nothing to do with ergonomics.And,crucially,each version of the posture test included equal numbers of those who would become“managers”and “subordinates”.Once the posture test was over the participants received their new statuses and the researchers measured theirimplicit10sense of power by asking them to engage in a word-completion task.Participants were instructed to complete a number of fragments11with the first word that came to mind.Seven of the fragments could be interpreted as words related to power(“power”,“direct”,“lead”,“authority”,“control”,“command”and“rich”).Although previous studies suggested a mere title is enough to produce a detectable increase in an individual’s sense of power,Dr Huang and Dr Galinsky found no difference in the word-completion scores of those told they would be managers and those told they would be subordinates.Having established the principle,Dr Huang and Dr Galinsky went on to test the effect of posture on other power-related decisions:whether to speak first in a debate, whether to leave the site of a plane crash to find help and whether to join a movement to free a prisoner who was wrongfully locked up.In all three cases those who had sat in expansive12postures chose the active option(to speak first,to search for help,to fight for justice)more often than those who had sat crouched13. The upshot14,then,is that father(or the sergeant major)was right.Those who walk around with their heads held high not only get the respect of others,they seem also to respect themselves.1.perennial/p??ren??l/adj.[植]多年⽣的;长久的,持续的2.sergeant/?sɑnt/n.[军](英)陆军、空军、海军陆战队中⼠;(美)陆军或空军中⼠3.fussy/?f?s?/adj.挑剔的,⼤惊⼩怪的;紧张不安的4.brigade/?br?ɡe?d/n.旅;伙,帮,派5.questionnaire/?kwestn e?/n.问卷;调查表6.ostensibly/?s?tens?bl?/adv.表⾯上;明显地7.forthcoming/?f??θ?k?m??/adj.即将发⽣的;现成的;乐于提供信息的8.subordinate/s??b??d?n?t/n.下级,部属9.ergonomic/ɡn?m?k/adj.⼈类⼯程学的10.implicit/?m?pl?s?t/adj.不⾔明的,含蓄的11.fragment/?fr?ɡm?nt/n.碎⽚,⽚段12.expansive/?ks?p?ns?v/adj.⼴阔的,辽阔的;⼴泛的,全⾯的;友善健谈的,开朗的13.crouch/kraut?/vt.屈膝,蹲伏,蹲,蹲下14.upshot/??p??t/n.最后结果,结局Passage6How Rest Helps Memory:Sleepy Heads(2010.2.25The Economist)[402words]Mad dogs and Englishmen,so the song has it,go out in themidday sun.And the business practices of England’s linealdescendant1,America,will have you in the office from nine in themorning to five in the evening,if not longer.Much of the world,though,prefers to take a siesta2.And research presented to theAAAS meeting in San Diego suggests it may be right to do so.Ithas already been established that those who siesta are less likely todie of heart disease.Now,Matthew Walker and his colleagues at the University of California,Berkeley,have found that they probably have better memory, too.A post-prandial3snooze4,Dr Walker has discovered,sets the brain up for learning.The role of sleep in consolidating5memories that have already been created has been understood for some time.Dr Walker has been trying to extend this understanding by looking at sleep’s role in preparing the brain for the formation of memories in the first place.He was particularly interested in a type of memory called episodic6memory,which relates to specific events,places and times.This contrasts with procedural memory,of the skills required to perform some sort of mechanical task,such as driving.The theory he and his team wanted to test was that the ability to form new episodic memories deteriorates7with increased wakefulness,and that sleep thus restores the brain’s capacity for efficient learning.They asked a group of39people to take part in two learning sessions,one at noon and one at6pm.On each occasion the participants tried to memorise and recall 100combinations of pictures and names.After the first session they were assigned randomly to either a control group,which remained awake,or a nap group,which had 100minutes of monitored sleep. Those who remained awake throughout the day became worse at learning.Those who napped8,by contrast,actually improved their capacity to learn,doing better in the evening than they had at noon.These findings suggest that sleep is clearing the brain’s short-term memory and making way for new information.The benefits to memory of a nap,says Dr Walker,are so great that they can equal an entire night’s sleep.Hewarns,however,that napping must not be done too late in the day or it will interfere with night-time sleep.Moreover,not everyone awakens refreshed from a siesta.1.lineal descendant直系后裔2.siesta/s??est?/n.午睡,午休3.prandial/?pr?nd??l/adj.膳⾷的,正餐的4.snooze/snu:z/n.⼩睡5.consolidate/k?n?s?l?de?t/vt.使巩固,使加强;合并6.episodic/?ep??s?d?k/adj.偶尔发⽣的,不定期的;有许多⽚段的7.deteriorate/d??t??r??re?t/vi.恶化,退化;变坏8.nap/n?p/vi.⼩睡Passage7Learning Gap Between Rich and Poor Starts Early(2011.2Newsweek)[354words]It’s generally accepted that there is a correlationbetween a child’s educational attainment1and a family’spoverty level,but new research shows that the problemmay take root2earlier than previously thought.A new study in Psychological Science found that at10months old,children from poor families performed just as well as children from wealthier families,but by the time they turned2,children from wealthier families were scoring consistently higher than those from poorer ones.“Poor kids aren’t even doing as well in terms of school readiness,sounding out letters and doing other things that you would expect to be relevant to early learning,”Elliot M.Tucker-Drob of the University of Texas at Austin,lead author of the study, said in a press release.To conduct the study,researchers assessed the mental abilities of about750pairs of fraternal3and identical4twins from all over the U.S.The participants’socioeconomic status was determined based on parents’educational attainment, occupations and family income.Each child was asked to perform tasks that included pulling a string to ring a bell, placing three cubes in a cup,matching pictures and sorting pegs by color first at10 months and again when they were2years old.At this time,researchers discovered that during the14-month window between the aptitude5tests,gaps in cognitive6 development had started to occur.Children from wealthier families had started to consistently outperform those from poorer ones.Researchers attempted to disprove7a genetic explanation by comparing the aptitude tests of each set of twins.Among the2-year-olds from wealthier families, identical twins had much more similar test scores than fraternal twins,who share only half of their genes.However,among2-year-olds from poorer families,identical twins scored no more similar to one another than did fraternal twins.The implication is that children’s genetic potential is subdued8by poverty, though the study stopped short of drawing a scientific conclusion as to what specifically was causing the achievement gaps.Researchers did postulate9that, generally speaking,poorer parents may not have the time or resources to spend playing with their children in stimulating ways.1.attainment/??te?nm?nt/n.达到;成就,造诣2.take root⽣根;开始;建⽴3.fraternal/fr??t??nl/adj.兄弟般的,亲如⼿⾜的4.identical/a??dent?kl/adj.同⼀的,完全相同的5.aptitude/??pt?tju?d/n.天资,天赋6.cognitive/?k?ɡn?t?v/adj.认知的,认识的7.disprove/d?s?pru?v/vt.证明……是错的8.subdue/s?b?dju?/vt.征服;抑制,克制9.postulate/?p?stj?le?t/v.假定,假设Passage8More Than Meets the Mirror:Illusion1Test Links Difficulty Sensing InternalCues2with Distorted3Body-Image(2011.1.4Scientific America)[457words]With all of the New Year’s diet ads claiming you canlose dozens of pounds in seemingly as many days,youprobably are not alone if you looked in the mirror thismorning and saw a less than ideal body.Or maybe you justpicked up a new magazine in which already thin modelshave their remaining flesh scavenged4by Photoshop to make them appear even slimmer.With all of these unrealistic promises and images,it can be hard to gain an accurate sense of one’s own body.But the disjunction5for some people might go deeper than manipulated5photos.A new study shows that the way people perceive their external7appearance is likely linked to how they experience their bodies internally.Researchers found that people who had greater difficulties sensing their own internal bodily states were also more likely to be fooled into believing a rubber hand was part of their own bodies. These results,published online in the issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,may one day help scientists understand how body image can become so distorted in disorders like body dysmorphia8and anorexia nervosa9,says lead author Manos Tsakiris of Royal Holloway,University of London.“The sense of self is built up from a representation of internal states,”says Hugo Critchley,a professor of psychiatry at the University of Sussex in England who was not involved with the study.“This paper is showing that sensitivity of individuals to their internal state predicts the strength of their self-representation.”Most of the time,the image someone has of their body is pretty close to its external appearance.You may see your thighs10as slightly bigger than they actually are,or your arm muscles as slightly smaller,but the discrepancy11is usually minimal12.In some mental disorders,however,body image can become dramatically distorted.Those who suffer from body dysmorphic disorder think that parts of their bodies are malformed13or grotesque14,even when these supposed flaws are not noticeable to others.In eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa patients continue to think they need to lose weight even as their bodies waste away.Crucial to the formation of body image—pathological15and otherwise—is the integration of external and internal cues.What we see in the mirror and what we feel against our skin melds with16our own internal awareness of our bodies to create an overarching17body image.Scientists have historically focused on how external factors like magazines and fashion models affect the creation of an accurate body image.Tsakiris and his colleagues,however,hypothesized that a person’s internal awareness of his or her body,known as interoceptive18awareness,was also related to the creation of an accurate body image.1.illusion/??ljun/n.错觉,幻觉;假象2.cue/kju?/n.提⽰;暗⽰,暗号3.distorted/d?s?t??t?d/adj.变形的,扭曲的;歪曲的,曲解的4.scavenge/?sk?v?n?/v.(从废弃物中)觅⾷,捡破烂;吃(动物⼫体)5.disjunction/d?sk??n/n.分离,分裂6.manipulate/m??n?pj?le?t/vt.控制,操纵;操作,使⽤;正⾻7.external/?k?st??nl/adj.外部的,外⾯的;外界的,外来的;对外的8.dysmorphia/d?s?m??f??/n.[医]畸形,变形9.anorexia nervosa神经性厌⾷症10.thigh /θa?/n.股,⼤腿11.discrepancy/d?s?krep?ns?/n.差异,不符合,不⼀致12.minimal/?m?n?m?l/adj.极⼩的,极少的,最⼩的13.malformed/?m?l?f??md/adj.畸形的14.grotesque/ɡrtesk/adj.怪诞的,荒唐的;奇形怪状的15.pathological/?p?θ??lkl/adj.不理智的,⽆道理的;病态的;病理学的16.meld with与……融合;与……合并17.overarching/v?r?ɑ?t/adj.⾮常重要的,⾸要的18.interoceptive /??nt?r?u?sept?v/adj.内感受(器)的Passage9The Tussle1for Talent(2011.1.6The Economist)[432words]Plato believed that men are divided into three classes:gold,silver and bronze.Vilfredo Pareto,an Italianeconomist,argued that“the vital2few”account for mostprogress.Such sentiments are taboo today in public life.Politicians talk of a“leadership class”or“the vital few”attheir peril3.Schools abhor4picking winners.Universities welcome the masses:more people now teach at British ones than attended them in the 1950s.In the private sector5things could hardly be more different.The world’s best companies struggle relentlessly6to find and keep the vital few.They offer them fat pay packets,extra training,powerful mentors7and more challenging assignments.If anything,businesses are becoming more obsessed with ability.This is partly cyclical8.Deloitte and other consultancies have noticed that as the economy begins to recover,companies are trying harder to nurture raw talent,or to poach9it from their rivals.When new opportunities arise,they hope to have the brainpower to seize them.The acceleration of the tussle for talent is also structural, however.Private-equity firms rely heavilyon a few stars.High-tech firms,for all their sartorial10egalitarianism11,are ruthless12about recruiting the brightest.Firms in emerging markets are desperate to find high-flyer13s—the younger the better—who can cope with rapid growth and fast-changing environments.Successful companies make sure that senior managers are involved with“talentdevelopment”.Jack Welch and /doc/2e5e0328482fb4daa58d4b15.html fley,former bosses of GE and P&G,claimed that they spent40%of their time on personnel.Andy Grove,who ran Intel,a chipmaker14,obliged all the senior people,including himself,to spend at least a week a year teaching high-flyers.Nitin Paranjpe,the boss of Hindustan Unilever,recruits people from campuses and regularly visits high-flyers in their offices.Involving the company’s top brass15in the process prevents lower-level managers from monopolising16high-flyers(and taking credit for their triumphs).It also creates a dialogue between established and future leaders.Successful companies also integrate talent development with their broader strategy.This ensures that companies are more than the sum of their parts.Adrian Dillon,a former chief financial officer of Agilent,a firm that makes high-tech measuring devices,says he would rather build a“repertory17company”than a “collection of world experts”.P&G likes its managers to be both innovative and worldly:they cannot rise to the top without running operations in a country and managing a product globally.Agilent and Novartis like to turn specialists into general managers.Goodyear replaced23of its24senior managers in two years as it shifted from selling tyres to carmakers to selling them to motorists.1.tussle/t?sl/n.扭打;争论;争⽃;奋⽃2.vita l/?va?tl/adj.⽣命的;充满活⼒的;⽣死攸关的;极其重要的3.peril/?per?l/n.严重危险;祸害,险情4.abhor/?b?h??/vt.痛恨,憎恶5.sector/?sekt?/n.[数]扇形;两脚规;部分;部门6.relentlessly/r??lentl?sl?/adv.残酷地,⽆情地;不停地,不减弱地7.mentor /?men?t??/n.私⼈教师,辅导教师;良师益友8.cyclical/?sa?kl?kl/adj.周期的,循环的9.poach/p??t?/vt.⽔煮;偷猎;盗⽤,挖⾛(⼈员)10.sartorial/sɑ??t??r??l/adj.服装的,男装的,⾐着的11.egalitarianism/??ɡ?l??te?r??n?z?m/n.平等主义,平均主义12.ruthless/?ru?θl?s/adj.⽆情的,冷酷的;残忍的13.high-flyer/?ha?fla??/n.抱负极⾼的⼈;有野⼼的⼈14.chipmaker/?t??p?me?k?/n.集成块制造者;半导体(元件)制造商15.top brass要员16.monopolise/m??n?p?la?z/vt.垄断,独占;占去(⼤部分时间、精⼒),霸占17.repertory/?rep?tr?/n.保留剧⽬轮演Passage10What Is a Medically Induced Coma1and Why Is It Used?(2011.1.10Scientific America)[497words]Basically what happens with a medically induced。
时文阅读与练习(含答案)--2023届高考英语复习备考
时文阅读:太阳能树太阳能树是一种将太阳能技术与树状相结合的功能性发电机。
它是一种可扩展的产品,应用范围广泛,不仅可以产生足够的能量为单个家庭或整个社区供电,还可以用于商业停车场为电动汽车充电。
太阳能树是太阳能发电系统或其他清洁能源的补充,让我们一起来了解一下吧。
阅读短文并回答问题A solar tree is a structure resembling a tree that generates solar energy using photovoltaic panels(太阳能光伏板). It helps solve an urgent global challenge: Replacing greenhouse gas-emitting energy sources like oil and gas with renewable energy. But the power generation potential of solar trees is relatively limited, and their primary purpose is to raise public awareness about renewable energy by getting people to notice and interact(互动)with solar energy in new ways.Solar trees generally have a firm metal, plastic, or stone base that extends up and out into “branches” on which solar panels are mounted. Beyond this basic structure, there is great diversity in the design of solar tree units. The solar tree’s photovoltaic “leaves”absorb sunlight, converting it into electricity that is conducted down through the trunk-like central pillar of the structure to an inside battery. Many designs feature rotating(旋转的)panels that can move throughout the day in order to obtain the greatest amount of sunlight.Solar trees help power homes, businesses, and public services. They can create shade to help reduce the urban heat island effect and provide shelter in severe weather such as rainstorms and heatwaves, creating greater urban resilience in the face of climate change. They also enhance public spaces, providing charging stations, and powering streetlights.In comparison to other kinds of ground-mounted solar panel devices, solar trees don’t require much land. They make solar energy generation possible in land-scarce areasthat can’t support vast solar arrays, as well as places that lack sufficient rooftop space for panels. However, solar panels are much cheaper than solar trees at present and have far greater energy generation capacity. Therefore, present solar tree designs often serve as a supplemental source rather than as a primary energy source.At present, solar trees aren’t designed as large-scale solar projects, which limits their ability to contribute to the low-carbon energy transition. Still, their varied designs are appealing. This makes solar trees effective at displaying and thereby educating people about solar energy, and promoting a business or organization’s commitment to renewable energy.1. What is the main purpose of building solar trees?A. To beautify the urban environment.B. To draw public attention to solar energy.C. To replace non-renewable energy resources.D. To provide charging services in emergencies.2. What do we know about a solar tree?A. It stores energy in its own battery.B. It can adjust its height automatically.C. It is made of environmentally friendly materials.D. It transforms sunlight into electricity by its metal base.3. What does the third paragraph mainly talk about?A. The design features of solar trees.B. The ways of saving energy in cities.C. The benefits of solar trees to humans.D. The difficulties of promoting solar trees.4. What advantage do solar trees have over other ground-mounted solar panel devices?A. They occupy much less land.B. They are cheaper to manufacture.C. They are more effective in generating energy.D. They can work in various weather conditions.答案:BACA生词1. gas-emitting adj. 排放气体的2. pillar n. 柱子,桥墩(尤指兼作装饰的)3. resilience n. 恢复力;适应力4. array n. 阵列语块1. solar energy 太阳能2. renewable energy 再生能源3. solar panels 太阳能板4. throughout the day 整天5. public services 公共服务6. urban heat island effect 城市热岛效应7. severe weather 恶劣天气8. charging stations 充电站9. in comparison to 与……相比10. contribute to 有助于;对……做贡献知识拓展urban heat island effect城市热岛效应是指城市因大量的人工发热、建筑物和道路等高蓄热体及绿地减少等因素,造成城市“高温化”,城市中的气温明显高于外围郊区的现象。
时文阅读中考版
时文阅读中考版全世界的科学家都在加速进行针对新冠病毒疫苗的研发工作,虽然已经取得一些进展,但离疫苗的正常使用还有很长一段时间。
文章介绍了开发一种安全疫苗所需要的时间,测试过程的重要性以及生产疫苗所需的费用等。
Scientists around the world are racing to create and test vaccines(疫苗) to helpprotect people against the novel coronavirus(新冠病毒). They are making progress,but it will be quite a while before anyvaccines are ready.There are many different ways to make vaccines. At least 115 different vaccinesfor the novel coronavirus are being developed around the world right now. Many ofthem may not work or may have side effects that can be dangerous.That is whytesting is very important.Before a vaccine is ever tested on humans,it's first tested on animals to makesure it seems safe.Testing the vaccine on humans is done in several different phases.In Phase 1, a small group of people are given small amounts of the vaccine to see if ithas any bad effects. Phase 2 still tests the vaccine's safety, but it's mainly a test to seeif the vaccine seems to work.If Phase 2 goes well, the vaccine can begin Phase 3.During Phase 3, the vaccine is tried on a much larger group of people to see how wellit works.Because of the serious and worldwide influence of the novelcoronavirus, there ishuge pressure to develop a working vaccine quickly. It normally takes seven or moreyears to develop a safe vaccine that works well. Now drug companies are hoping tocreate working vaccines in 12 or 18 months.But health experts also warn that rushing too much could be dangerous. A vaccinewith harmful effects could cause more problems than it solves.1.According to the passage,the scientists who are making vaccines are- hard-working and carefulB.patient and easy-goingC.kind and curiousD.caring and brave2.How long does it take to create working vaccines in the usualway?A.Less than six years.B.More than ten years.C.Twelve to eighteen months.D.About seven years.3.What's the meaning of the underlined word?A.阶段B.方面C.实验D.治疗4.Which of the following is TRUE?A.There are only three phases in testing vaccines.B.Working vaccinesmust be created in a short time.C.Vaccines have already been developed.D.Rushing too quickly in creating vaccines may bring more problems.5.What's the best title of the passage?A.Rush for a vaccineB.Fight against the diseaseC.Protect people against the virusD.Create working vaccines答案:ADADA。
英语时文阅读(考研或六级备战)
Ailing Father Finds 'New Dads' for His Young DaughtersUntil that day in 2008 when he was diagnosed with a potentially fatal bone cancer, Bruce Feiler had been living a seemingly charmed life. He was a bestselling author of numerous books. He had a loving marriage and twin three-year-old girls. His doctor's sudden bad news left him stunned."You imagine all the ballet recitals you're not going to see, the walks you're not going to take, [and] the boyfriends you are not going to scowl at, and the things they would wonder about me," Feiler recalls. "Would [my girls] wonder who I was [if I died]? Would they wonder what I thought? Would they yearn for my approval, my discipline, my voice?" Three days later, Feiler awoke before dawn with a big idea: he would assemble a group of trusted men to serve as surrogate fathers after his death. His new book, The Council of Dads: My Daughters, My Illness and the Men Who Could Be Me, recalls that moment:“I started making a list of six men from all parts of my life, beginning when I was a child and stretching through today. These are the men who know me best, the men who share my values, men who traveled with me, studied with me, have been though pain and happiness with me, men who know my voice…" Feiler's wife Linda embraced the idea, and together, they devised some guidelines for whom to ask. For example, they agreed that Council members should be friends, not family, and that they should be men. And each man should embody some key aspect of Feiler himself.Feiler made his first request to Jeff Shumlin, a Vermont farmer. The two became friends just after high school while on a student exchange program in Europe. Feiler wanted Shumlin on his Council of Dads because then as now, he was an adventurer who always said "yes" to life.When Shumlin agreed to his friend's request, Feiler asked him what piece of advice he would give to his girls as they got older. "And he [Shumlin] said 'Be a traveler, not a tourist and approach your trip as a young child might approach a mud puddle. You can bend over and look at your reflection, or you can jump in thrash around, see it what it feels like, what it smells like. I want to see you back at the end of this trip covered in mud!'" Other dads in Feiler's Council of Dads include Ben, an intellectual skeptic who would invite the girls to be relentless in their pursuit of truth and "live the questions," and another buddy, also named Ben, who believes in the power of friendship.David Black, the literary agent and close personal friend who helped Feiler get published back when he was an unknown writer, also made the cut.Black says the role Feiler asked him to assume was a natural fit. "I work to help people's dreams come true," he recalls in his busy Manhattan office. "That's in part what Bruce asked of me, to be a member of the Council."Black, who is a father himself, adds that the Council of Dads has turned out to be about more than just a community of support for Feiler's daughters. It has also been about creating a community of men who can support each other. "Men are not given in our society enough opportunity to be drawn together in something where their love and support is the foundation. That's not what men [are supposed to] do,” he says.Black adds that typically, American men play or watch sports together, drink together and compete. "[But] this [council] is not about competition. This allows the nurturing element of these men, of the six of us, to be at the forefront of the relationship. And that's different."Bruce Feiler points out that when dads support other dads, they can share their experience, their strengths and their wisdom, and that when they do, it's the children who benefit most. "Being a dad is often very lonely," he says, "And one of the things I feel is I am no longer alone, that the Council of Dads is in every room with me and making every decision with me." The medical crisis that led Feiler to reach out to the other fathers has passed. Today, Feiler is cancer-free. But he says his idea has caught on, and he believes that his book, The Council of Dads, and the website is inspiring similar groups to form wherever dads seek strength in the fellowship of fathers.Leaders of the Group of 20 meeting in Toronto, Canada have agreed that the world's most advanced industrialized countries should reduce their budget deficits by half within three years, with further steps to cut debt relative to economic output by 2016.The G20, which includes major industrialized powers in the Group of Eight plus deve loping nations with significant economies such as China and India, agreed to a specific time line for deficit reduction, while giving governments flexibility to adjust the pace of changes based on their own situations.A plan promoted by host Canada will have the most advanced countries cut their budget deficits in half by 2013. By 2016, governments would be required to stabilize or begin reducing the percentage of their debt as measured against total gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in a given country.Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who in opening the summit said nations are walking an economic "tightrope," noted that the G20 declaration leaves room for continuing stimulus measures and steps to bring down debt."All leaders recognize that fiscal consolidation is not an end in itself," he said. "There will be a continued role for ongoing stimulus in the short-term as we develop the framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth."The declaration calls recovery so far from the global economic crisis uneven and fragile, with unemployment at unacceptable levels in many countries. It says unprecedented and globally coordinated fiscal and monetary stimulus is play ing a major role in helping to restore private demand and lending.Saying serious challenges remain, G20 leaders recognize the risks to recovery from fiscal adjustment across several major economies. But they add that failure to implement fiscal consolidation where it is needed could undermine confidence and hamper growth. President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials argued strongly at the summit against any early slowing of stimulus spending by governments, saying that it might bring about a second global recession.In his concluding news conference, the president was asked about divisions on this issue. He said the declaration reflects policies that the United States has promoted and addresses a range of needs."In each country, what we have to recognize is that the recovery is still fragile, that we still have more work to do to make this recovery durable," he said. "But we also have to recognize that if markets are skittish and don't have confidence that we can tackle the tough problems of our medium- and long-term debt and deficits, then that also is going to undermine our recovery."The president said the declaration shows that G20 nations can bridge their differences and coordinate approaches while continuing to focus on durable growth that puts people to work and broadens prosperity.The G20 declaration recognizes U.S. concerns, say ing that sustaining economic recovery requires nations to follow through on delivering existing stimulus plans, while working to create the conditions for robust private demand.On other key issues, European nations such as Britain, France and Germany failed to win G20 agreement for new taxes on banks as part of efforts to discourage excessiverisk-taking that could lead to another financial crisis. The declaration leaves such a tax up to individual members.G20 nations pledge a medium-term phase out of what they call inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, although this would take into account what they call vulnerable groups and their development needs.Where the world's poorest countries are concerned, the G20 says that narrowing the development gap and reducing poverty are integral to a broader objective of achieving strong, sustainable and balanced growth.At the last of bilateral meetings at the G20, Mr. Obama met on Sunday with Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan.President Obama discussed the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership, and joint efforts on climate change. Mr. Obama said he looks forward to his trip to India in November. Prime Minister Singh called President Obama a "role model for billions and billions of people" around the world.After the G20, President Obama returns to Washington, where he will be waiting for Congress to give final approval to legislation that will impose sweeping new regulations on the U.S. financial system.G20 leaders say they look forward to their next meetings - in Seoul, South Korea in November, and next year in France. Mexico assumes the G20 chairmanship in 2012.Maternal Mortality Rates in New York Rival Developing CountriesA report released by New York City's health department says the percentage of women who die in pregnancy and childbirth in the New York metro area is double that of the national average. Health officials in New York say the maternal mortality rate in the United States itself rivals that of poorer developed countries like Singapore and Ireland. Dr. Jo Boufford, president of the New York Academy of Medicine, which sponsored the maternal mortality conference where the report was released, says the developed and the developing worlds tend to promote different strategies to fight maternal death. And she says while both approaches have merits, each alone is only partiallyeffective. 、"The difference is the developing countries have focused on public health, prevention and primary and prenatal care in the area of maternal mortality," says Boufford. "And their struggle and barrier is having an adequate health workforce and facilities for the kind of high-tech things that happen to mothers that are at risk …"In contrast, Boufford says developed nations have excellent medical technology."But we have a rather poorly developed system of good primary care and prenatal care," she continues. "And our problem is connecting the prenatal care with the delivery site, making sure the information about a patient travels with that patient when they go into labor and go to the hospital. So we can deal with the high-tech and the crisis. Our problem is we're not focusing upstream on the prevention and the primary care, and the developing countries are just the opposite." Maternal mortality in America is particularly high in New York City, where extremes of wealth and poverty abound, says Deborah Kaplan, who oversees the Bureau of Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health for New York City's health department. The department analyzed the causes of 161 maternal deaths in New York between 2001 and 2005. The study found that half the women who died were obese and that 56 percent had a chronic illness, such as high blood pressure, heart disease or asthma. Black women were seven times more likely to suffer a pregnancy-related death compared to white women. "And we think the issue for black women is they are more likely to be obese and have chronic illnesses, like high bloodpressure, which put you at higher risk for complications during pregnancy," says Kaplan. "Black women, who are more likely to be uninsured, are living in communities where there is limited access to the healthy foods and exercise and activity that is necessary from childhood on to reduce the likelihood of obesity and chronic illnesses." Kaplan's agency is redoubling its efforts to identify obese women early in their pregnancies and to make sure their health care providers treat them as high-risk patients. It also is issuing health alerts to hospital delivery wards to diminish the risk of death in childbirth due to hemorrhage, which is more likely among obese moms. "We recommended hemorrhage drills just like fire drills. For an event that doesn't happen very often, people need to practice. That's on the clinical end. On the bigger environmental end, our agency is involved in many areas related to obesity prevention that look at increasing access to healthy foods in the community. It's about raising awareness and engaging people in the community so that they are part of this work, so they can prevent obesity and chronic illness that can lead to maternal death," says Kaplan. To promote change at the grassroots level, the city is building coalitions that bring together community and government agencies. It also is encouraging leaders at faith-based communities to educate their congregations about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. "We work to promote breast feeding to prevent childhood obesity, which is where it all begins in terms of child health," says Kaplan. "We work with schools to get unhealthy foods out of the schools and … promote health foods within the school environment. And we work with parents and community residents to really understand why this is so important, and for them to hopefully demand these healthy foods and places to exercise in their own communities." Dr. Boufford says that the medical community also must examine its practices. For example, there may be a correlation between maternal mortality and Caesarean births, or so-called "C-Sections," which are performed in nearly half of all deliveries in some New York hospitals. The report, released Friday, found that 79 percent of New York women who died in childbirth had undergone the procedure. "Now, that may be because they are sicker and they needed it, and C-Sections certainly save lives," says Boufford. "There is no question about that. But we need to understand much more about that. And I think the comfort with technology may have gotten ahead of what may be the best in terms of the management of the patient."Government health departments nationwide are studying new strategies to protect maternal and child health, such as those outlined by the United Nations Millennium Goals,which calls for education, economic development and community empowerment to save lives and eliminate preventable suffering.In the United States, Britain and Japan, Apple's iPhone has reached celerity status. Customers lined up for hours for Apple's newest phone, the iPhone 4. Alex Lee lives in Dubai, but traveled to London for his phone. "The reason why we want to come to this one is because we really want this phone," he said.The iPhone 4 is faster, thinner, has a longer battery life, and it features video calling. Apple is not the only company that makes so-called smartphones that allow users to access the Internet. But loyal customers say its simplicity makes the iPhone stand out."The user friendliness on the IPhone is unbelievable. It's like even a layman can use it," said one man.By the end of July, Apple says the iPhone 4 will be available in 18 additional countries. By the end of September, in 88 countries worldwide.But technology expert Rob Atkinson says smartphones will most like ly not be widely used in many developing nations because of their cost, and the cost of connected on-line data plans. "So I don't think we're going to see a lot of deployment in a region or continent like Africa. You might see some among the smaller groups of higher income users there but what I do think you will see is growth in countries in places like Latin America," he said. Atkinson says countries with a growing middle class will embrace smartphones much faster. "In developing countries, that's going to be a longer process where you'll have perhaps business people, farmers, small business people, professionals who will be the first adopters - the doctors, government officials - and then it will slowly as you get more apps (applications) slowly permeate out probably," he said.Atkinson says Apple's iPhone faces growing competition from other companies, such as Google, that make their own smartphones. With competition, experts expect prices to drop, making smartphones much more accessible to consumers around the world.Romanian Girl Gets Life-Altering SurgeryThis may look like a normal fitting for eyeglasses. But for this 12-year old Romanian girl, it's monumental. "She was different than other children and people behaved differently as well," said her father, Peter Nemethi.At first, Andrea Nemethi's face wasn't flat enough for glasses. A rare tumor behind her right eyeball swelled so much, the tumor and eyeball protruded from the socket."To give you an idea, I think the tumor was, maybe, probably bigger than most orangesthat you see, maybe like two oranges," said Doctor Aaron Fay, a surgeon at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. "You know, it was a pretty big thing and certainly much too big to fit inside an eye socket." The tumor was discovered in 2002, when Andrea was 4 years old. Although it was benign, doctors in Romania delivered grim news.The family was told it was inoperable.At school, the bulging tumor made Andrea self-conscious and shy. One of her teachers reached out to foreign doctors for help. Camille Condon, Director of International Programs at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, received the request just one week after this man died. Ray Tye was a Boston philanthropist who was dedicated to helping children get the surgeries they needed, by paying for them."His passion came from his son who died, I believe of cancer," said Condon. "And he was devastated that all the money in the world couldn't save his son, and therefore, for his son, he was going to save other lives." The hospital decided to memorialize Tye by performing a surgery he would have supported. They chose Andrea.Dr. Fay, operating for seven hours, was able to save Andrea's eyelid, eye muscles and socket. He removed the tumor and Andrea's eye. Camelia Rosca, Andrea's host in Boston, says coming to America has transformed the young girl and her family. "When you see people care about your child's life, it's been tremendous for the family and for Andrea," said Rosca. "She now behaves just like any pre-teenage girl."The pre-teen now feels better about herself. Andrea needs two more procedures before she heads home. When she goes back to Romania, she says she'll never forget the kindness of strangers. They too are transformed. "You know it's quite an emotional experience for me," added Dr. Fay. Those former strangers say Andrea won a place in their hearts.Strikes Highlight China's Growing Industrial UnrestOngoing industrial unrest by factory workers in China about low pay and poor working conditions point to the emergence of an influential labor movement in the world'smost-populous country.This week, it was the Toyota workers who laid down tools and demanded higher pay. They follow workers at Honda who went out on strike and eventually received double-digit pay increases.And, the spate of suicides at the Foxconn plant in southern China also helped focus attention on wages and conditions in Chinese factories. The scenes of striking workers at factory gates have become a regular sight in the past month.The industrial unrest for higher pay in China poses two major questions: Does it signal the start of new era of industrial unrest and the rise of militant unionism? And, does it spell the end of cheap labor in China?Independent labor unions have long been banned in China. The official Communist Party-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions has sent in officials to mediate in many of the strikes. But many workers dismiss the federation as useless. Others claim union officials have used violence and other intimidation tactics to force them back to work.Although there is mounting evidence to suggest workers are becoming more organized and sophisticated at collective bargaining for improved welfare, it is unlikely the government would ever allow the situation to get out of hand.Geoffrey Crothall of the Hong-Kong based China Labor Bulletin says the strikes are tolerated because they are private disputes between factory workers and factory bosses. "The government is reasonably tolerant of labor disputes because they are disputes between management and workers. They are not a political threat and should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis," said Crothall.The strikes have mainly hit foreign companies. This is causing problems for those manufacturers that shifted production to China to take advantage of lower labor costs and to cash in on the potential consumer market.But, as factory bosses are forced to offer higher pay to prevent strikes, what does this mean for the faltering global economy?The West has relied on cheap goods from China to help fuel the boom times of the past two decades. Now, it is rely ing on China's cheap labor and the emergence of a consumer culture to help claw the world out of the financial crisis. But some economists say the higher wages will not affect China's competitiveness, in the long term, as companies are likely to move inland to tap cheaper labor markets.Economist Vincent Chan from Credit Suisse in Hong Kong believes the main problem for the government is to manage expectations of the second generation of migrant workers who form the back bone of China's success. And, he says this means the government will have to consider greater social services so as to keep these increasingly demanding workers content."It's about growing expectations. People's expectations have changed," explained Chan. "The first generation of migrant workers didn't mind living in cities. They did not mind doing overtime to earn more money to build a home back in their home village. But for this new generation of migrant workers - no way. So there are different expectations which potentially mean the government, particularly at local level, will need to providemore services to them to incorporate them into becoming urban citizens.And, that will hurt the budget."And with increased salaries, Chinese should purchase more, helping restore parity in trade surpluses on global markets.World Bank economist Louis Kuijs says he is not too concerned by strikes and says he does not see any signs that the industrial unrest will become a major problem for either social stability or for the Chinese and global economies."Wage increases in one particular factory, no matter how large, are unlikely to be representative of what's going on in the rest of the country," said Kuijs. "What we are seeing China is that wages are gradually converging to those levels in the U.S. and Europe, but this convergence is going to take a very long time."The China Labor Bulletin's Geoffrey Crothall says the main legacy of the strikes is the media attention outside of China."Labor conditions in China are getting prominent coverage in the mainstream international media," noted Crothall. "So, clearly, more and more people in the West are becoming aware of conditions in Chinese factories. And, this could help put pressure on international brands to ensure those workers are treated properly and paid a decent wage."With millions of Chinese willing to work, the country's remarkable growth looks set to continue to see more and more Chinese leav ing their fields for a better paid job in the factories and a modern life in the cities. What is becoming clear however, is that Chinese workers are expecting more for their hard work. And, government officials and factory bosses, especially those who run international companies, have to address these rising expectations.UN Eight Percent of Afghan Population Add icted to DrugsA United Nations study released Wednesday says drug use is increasing in the developing word, and a report released earlier this week showed particular problems in Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producer. The U.N. says nearly 8 percent of Afghanistan's population suffers some form of addiction, and many of those using drugs are children.The U.N. study finds nearly one million Afghans between 15 and 64 years old are suffering from some form of drug addiction. That's roughly 8 percent of the war-torn country'spopulation. Over a four year period, the number of regular opium users jumped 53 percent. And the number of regular heroin users jumped a staggering 140 percent."What we are seeing here is another demonstration -- the availability of drugs generates its own addiction," said Antonio Maria Costa, who is with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.Another disturbing statistic, nearly 50 percent of adult drug users in Afghanistan's north and south gave opium to their children, an indication, Costa says, that a generation of Afghan children are at risk.Jason Campbell, with the Rand Corporation, a think tank in suburban Washington, says Afghan and international officials must tackle both the source and the consequences of the nation's drug problem. "First, is to continue to stress the importance of trying to grow alternative crops. As far as addiction goes, start looking more, again, at some of the treatment opportunities, options, because they seem to be largely non-existent right now," he said.Campbell says Afghan and world leaders must look at the socio-economic factors fueling drug use. "The study alludes to things such as hopelessness, the lack of medical care. These are all things that you know if your people have something to live for, the economy starts getting stronger, they start having access to basic medical care, they are going to be overall less likely to turn to drugs," he said.One major problem: some 700,000 Afghans have no access to drug treatment. Only 10 percent have received treatment. Ninety percent of those surveyed felt they needed help. Campbell says an aggressive approach used to combat drug use among Afghan security and police forces might work elsewhere. "Over the last few months, there have been a number of training centers open that are exclusively for members of both the Afghan National Army and the Afghan national police force, and I would say that drug usage and illiteracy are two of the big problems within the security forces that NATO has really made a big priority now. What remains to be seen is whether this will have a long-term effect, positive effect on the security forces, and maybe are there ways we can replicate some of these treatment programs to be more inclusive of the general public," he said. Campbell says Afghanistan's drug problem will take decades to tackle. And it won't go away until the Afghan people understand how it directly affects them."You look at a lot of interviews with farmers and they basically say 'Look, I grow the o pium. Someone collects it. I get paid and I get to feed my family.' To them, for the most part, that drug goes out internationally, to the West and it really doesn't have a personalconnection to them. But as you said, if you start seeing people in your v illage, and even relatives, succumb to addiction, that might again help to make them more receptive to trying to grow these other crops that are a better part of forming a stronger society," he said.In the meantime, the social costs to Afghanistan's population are rising. The U.N. says they include loss of productivity and family income, as well as violence, security problems and traffic and workplace accidents.Vampire Fights for Girlfriend in 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse'any film can rival(与…竞争)the World Cup in terms of anticipation by a global legion of fans, it is the new, third installment in the romance of teenager Bella and her beloved, ageless vampire, Edward. Here's a look at The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. (日、月)食"It's starting."It actually started a couple of years ago with the first film adapted from the wildly popular Twilight romance novels written by Stephanie Meyer. The saga continued last year with New Moon, and now in Eclipse, headstrong high school student Bella Swan affirms her love for classmate Edward Cullen, a soulful(深情的)and very pale teenager. Of course, Edward is really more than a century old, but, as a vampire, he remains eternally(永恒的)young. As if that were not enough of an obstacle to their relationship, there is also her lifelong best friend, Jacob Black. Not only is he jealous, he is also a werewolf, sworn enemy to all vampires.The rising tensions between Edward and Jacob must wait, however, because a bigger threat is descending on their mountainside town of Forks, Washington."Someone is creating an army.""An army of vampires?""They are coming here."The approaching danger forces an uneasy alliance between the wolves and the undead. "They're after Bella? What the hell does this mean?""It means an ugly fight with lives lost.""All right, we're in."Taylor Lautner co-stars again as werewolf Jacob and the now 18-year-old says he has grown along with the character."Jacob definitely matures quite a bit because he has been dealing with his new self now, he has come to know his new self and the situation he has been put in - romantic-wise and a lot of stuff," Lautner explains. "He deals with a lot. He becomes frustrated in this one a little bit because he gets this close all the time and then gets told 'no' over and over again. So it's quite a bummer碰撞, but he's persistent."Robert Pattinson is Edward and the English-born actor likes the freedom this latest film gives him to go deeper into the character and his predicament.困境"His flaws, I think, in the first two movies …earlier on the story …were caused by his dislocation from reality," Pattinson says. "So when he finds one thing to hold onto, that's。
英语时文阅读
英语时文阅读第一篇 A ban on setting off firecrackers?XINHUA话题:“过年要不要燃放烟花爆竹”这个讨论从年前争论到年后,从减少环卫工人负担到降低空气污染,反对者的声音高涨。
但也有人认为,作为传统节日活动,应该燃放烟花爆竹。
你怎么看?Wang Xingyue, 14, from Shanghai:I don’t think we should set off firecrackers (爆竹) during holidays. It is really noisy. Some people fire them during midnight. People around cannot sleep well. Besides, it brings air pollution (污染) and lots of rubbish. Most people do not clean the rubbish after they set off firecrackers. So I think there is no need to set them off anymore during holidays.Liu Ran, 14, from Shandong:Setting off firecrackers is a tradition during Chinese festivals. They set them off to celebrate or wish a happy new year. The ceremony (仪式) is very important in Chinese people’s lives. And it also reminds (提醒) us of one of the four great inventions (发明) of China, gunpowder (火药). We cannot give it up. It is good to have this ceremony during holidays. Do you agree with me?Lin Yisong, 15, from Zhejiang:I think we should control (控制) the setting off of firecrackers. During holidays, the government could get people together in a place. They can set off some firecrackers or fireworks and people can watch. It is safer to do this and people can also enjoy their holiday tradition.Zhang Qi, 14, from Guangxi:Firecrackers are dangerous and bad for the air. But it is really an important tradition in Chinese festivals. So I think we can use something else to replace (代替) them. For example, we can use LED fireworks instead. It is also beautiful and attractive. And it is much safer. Even kids can play with them.Li Qing, 14, from Jiangsu:I think we can improve the technology of firecrackers. The firecrackers we use now are dangerous. That’s why we cannot fire them anytime or anywhere we want. But if we can make them much safer and good for the air, we don’t have to give up the interesting tradition during Chinese festivals.第二篇Birthday girl’s t rip of mystery神秘的银冠带来的奇幻之旅THE Silver Crown (《银色皇冠》)is an exciting read. It is abouta girl who wakes up on herbirthday to find a silver crownunder her pillow (枕头), butthe day doesn’t turn out asshe would have thought.Eventually she ends up in amysterious school and then ishunted for her crown. To findher family, the girl has totravel through forests,mountains and the countryside while meeting many interesting characters with completely different natures.There are many different characters and it is very hard to choose a favorite, as they are all individuals (与众不同的人) with their own personalities. The story kept me guessing as it takes many twists and turns (波折). My favorite part in the story was when the main character and her friend camp in a cave with gems (珍宝) in all of the walls. The description that the author gives here makes youthink and keep the pages turning. There was nothing I really disliked about this book. Perhaps apart from the fact it ended on a cliffhanger (悬念), which I personally do not like in books generally.Overall I think this is a great book. I recommend it to teenagers and people aged 11 onwards. It can keep you guessing and wondering, which is a great characteristic of a book for me!By Grace BaytonGrace Bayton, 13, is an eighth-grader at Newbridge School, Wales, UK. She loves reading and reads two books a week.。
考研英语阅读同源外刊时文精析
考研英语阅读同源外刊时文精析Sorry, I cannot provide real-time analysis of current articles from foreign newspapers. However, I can provide general tips for analyzing English reading materials for the GRE:1. Understand the main idea: Determine the main point of the article and identify supporting details. Pay attention to the opening and concluding paragraphs, as they often outline the main points.2. Identify the author's purpose and tone: Analyze the author's purpose for writing the article. Are they trying to inform, persuade, or entertain? Also, consider the author's tone, which can be objective, neutral, or biased.3. Identify the structure: Examine the organization of the article, such as whether it follows a chronological order, cause-effect pattern, or compare-contrast structure. Understanding the structure can help in comprehension.4. Analyze vocabulary and language use: Pay attention to unfamiliar words or phrases and try to infer their meanings from the context. Also, analyze the use of language, such as the use of figurative language or rhetorical devices.5. Consider the source and credibility: Assess the credibility and bias of the source. Is it a reputable publication? Does it rely on reliable sources? Be critical when evaluating the information provided in the article.6. Make connections: Relate the information in the article to yourprior knowledge and experiences. Try to make connections between the article and other sources or concepts you have learned.7. Take notes: Summarize key points, arguments, and examples while reading. This will help you review and remember the information later.Remember, regular practice is essential to improve your reading skills. Make use of additional resources such as textbooks, online articles, and practice tests to hone your reading comprehension skills.。
考研英语时文阅读:TROUSERSUIT
The European Court sides with Levi Strauss in its battle with Tesco IT WAS a ruling that had consumers seething with anger and many a free trader crying foul. On November 20th the European Court of Justice decided that Tesco, a British supermarket chain, should not be allowed to import jeans made by America's Levi Strauss from outside the European Union and sell them at cut-rate prices without getting permission first from the jeans maker. Ironically, the ruling is based on an EU trademark directive that was designed to protect local, not American, manufacturers from price dumping. The idea is that any brand-owning firm should be allowed to position its goods and segment its markets as it sees fit: Levi's jeans, just like Gucci handbags, must be allowed to be expensive. Levi Strauss persuaded the court that, by selling its jeans cheaply alongside soap powder and bananas, Tesco was destroying the image and so the value of its brands——which could only lead to less innovation and, in the long run,would reduce consumer choice. Consumer groups and Tesco say that Levi's case is specious. The supermarket argues that it was just arbitraging the price differential between Levi's jeans sold in America and Europe——a service performed a million times a day in financial markets, and one that has led to real benefits for consumers. Tesco has been selling some 15,000 pairs of Levi's jeans a week, for about half the price they command in specialist stores approved by Levi Strauss. Christine Cross, Tesco's head of global non-food sourcing, says the ruling risks "creating a Fortress Europe with a vengeance". The debate will rage on, and has implications well beyond casual clothes (Levi Strauss was joined in its lawsuit by Zino Davidoff, a perfume maker)。
时文阅读6
时文阅读61老板,您的店到底几点开门?MR Baker was a shop owner (店主). One evening, he closed his shop and went home. He was very tired after a day’s work. While he was going to bed, the telephone rang. A young man asked: “What time do you open your shop?”Mr Baker wasn’t happy about this telephone call. So he put down his phone without answering and went to bed. A few minutes later, the telephone rang again and the young man asked the same question. Mr Baker was very angry this time and shouted (大叫): “You needn’t ask me w hen I will open the shop, for I won’t let you in.”“Oh, I don’t want to get in,” the young man said. “I want to get out.”1. How was Mr Baker when he heard the telephone rang again?A. unhappyB. angryC. tiredD. ill2. Where was the young man?A. In Mr Baker’s shop.B. Out of Mr Baker’s shop.C. In Mr Baker’s home.D. In his own home.2. Why did the young man make a call to Mr Baker?A. To ask a question.B. To buy something.C. To get in the shop.D. To get out of the shop.2Most wonderful toys of the year《时代周刊》揭晓2014年新奇又有趣的玩具。
考研英语时文30篇及复习技巧
:完型填空的基本思路完型填空的全名叫做英语知识与运用,它的主要考点是词汇和逻辑思维,对于考生来说,这个题型不得不做的准备就是要背一些同义词,关于同义词,我会在下面的讲解里和大家说明辨析的四个模式。
可是,要获取比较好的分数,还是要努力背些词,不过这并不是说,考研完型填空就完全靠词汇解决,下面的思路,也是考生解决问题的关键。
1. 明确完型填空阅读方式: 段落对照法读文章的时候必须先细读首句,第一句话必须注意以下部分:主题,表示逻辑关系的词,作者态度。
比如many表示作者对于这句话内容持负评价,这是因为,研究生考试为了表示自己的独特和性格,对于大多数人的说法一般持负评价,因此,此文的态度结构就是先负,后面很可能会提出作者自己的说法,因此谈到其他人的理论的选项,都优先选负面的选项。
其次,要从第一句话读出主题词,这包含重要的信息,决定了整篇文章方向。
第三,逻辑连词必须重视,这个在下文很可能重复出现,具有明显的预测和指导作用。
比如首段的明显的连词是either 和or。
因此我们可以预见,下文的主要关系,就是并列关系。
第四,阅读模式的问题,填空的阅读模式切忌先通读全文,也不能看一个选一个。
理由如下:通读全文,会非常的浪费时间,而考场上对于时间的把握是最重要的,更重要的是,读完全文再回去从头做起,开头获得的信息已经模糊,最清晰的是最后的信息。
而且,从填空的对应选项来说,需要读完全文才可以做对的选项并不多,大多数是一个长句的内容就可以相互印证而得到解决,还有很多的就是开头句的重现。
因此读完全文再做题是不对地。
同上,看一个选一个也是不理性的,因为单个的选项不一定可以准确的定位。
因此,我们提倡:精读首句,以长句或组句为单位,文章和选项对照分段阅读。
2. 明确三个主要概念:逻辑关系,态度,主题逻辑关系是研究生考试的特点,对于完型填空,最为常见的就是并列,因果,转折。
尤其是并列关系,我们在下面的讲解里要重点提及。
每年的填空考试里面都有大量的虚词题,比如连词和介词,都要占到6题以上,解决这个问题,我们可以很容易的获取3分。
2022考研英语的阅读习题及答案6
2022考研英语的阅读习题及答案6Passage3We can make mistakes at any age. Some mistakes we make are about money. But most mistakes are about people. Did Jerry really care when I broke up with Helen? When I got that great job, did Jim really feel good about it, as a friend? Or did he envy my luck? And Paul-why didn t pick up that he was friendly just because I had a car? When we look back, doubts like these can make us feel bad. But when we look back, it s too late.Why do we go wrong about our friends-or our enemies? Sometimes what people say hides their real meaning. And if we don t really listen we miss the feeling behind the words. Suppose someone tells you, You re a lucky dog. That s being friendly. But lucky dog? There s a bit of envy in those words. Maybe he doesn t see it himself. But bringing in the dog bit puts you down a little. What he may be saying is that the doesn t think you deserve your luck.Just think of all the things you have to be thankful foris another noise that says one thing and means another. It could mean that the speaker is trying to get you to see your problem as part of your life as a whole. But is he? Wrapped up in this phrase is the thought that your problem isn t important. It stelling you to think of all the starving people in the world when you haven t got a date for Saturday night.How can you tell the real meaning behind someone s words? One way is to take a good look at the person talking. Do his words fit the way he looks? Does what he says agree with the tone of voice? His posture? The look in his eyes? Stop and think. The minute you spend thinking about the real meaning of what people to you may save another mistake.1. This passage is mainly about.A)how to interpret what people sayB)what to do when you listen to others talkingC)how to avoid mistakes when you communicate with peopleD)Why we go wrong with people sometimes2. According to the author, the reason why we go wrong about our friends is that.A)We fail to listen carefully when they talkB) People tend to be annoyed when we check what they sayC)People usually state one thing but means anotherD)We tend to doubt what our friends say3. In the sentence Maybe he doesn t see it himself. in the second paragraph, the pronoun it refers to.A) being friendlyC) lucky dogB) a bit of envyD) your luck4. When we listen to a person talking, the most important thing for us to do is.A)notice the way the person is talkingB)take a good look at the person talkingC)mind his tone, his posture and the look in his eyesD)examine the real meaning of what he says based on his manner, his tone and his posture5. The author most probably is a.Passage3We can make mistakes at any age. Some mistakes we make are about money. But most mistakes are about people. Did Jerry really care when I broke up with Helen? When I got that great job, did Jim really feel good about it, as a friend? Or did he envy my luck? And Paul-why didn t pick up that he was friendly just because I had a car? When we look back, doubts like these canmake us feel bad. But when we look back, it s too late.Why do we go wrong about our friends-or our enemies? Sometimes what people say hides their real meaning. And if we don t really listen we miss the feeling behind the words. Suppose someone tells you, You re a lucky dog. That s being friendly. But lucky dog? There s a bit of envy in those words. Maybe he doesn t see it himself. But bringing in the dog bit puts you down a little. What he may be saying is that the doesn t think you deserve your luck.Just think of all the things you have to be thankful foris another noise that says one thing and means another. It could mean that the speaker is trying to get you to see your problem as part of your life as a whole. But is he? Wrapped up in this phrase is the thought that your problem isn t important. It s telling you to think of all the starving people in the world when you haven t got a date for Saturday night.How can you tell the real meaning behind someone s words? One way is to take a good look at the person talking. Do his words fit the way he looks? Does what he says agree with the tone of voice? His posture? The look in his eyes? Stop and think. The minute you spend thinking about the real meaning of what people to you may save another mistake.A) teacherC) philosopher B) psychologist D) doctor Answer1.C2.C3.B4.D5.B。
考研英语06阅读
考研英语06阅读在考研英语的阅读部分,06年的考题以其难度和深度而著称。
那一年的阅读材料涵盖了从社会现象到科技发展的广泛话题,要求考生不仅要有扎实的语言基础,还要具备一定的逻辑推理能力和批判性思维。
以下是对06年考研英语阅读部分的详细解析。
首先,阅读材料中的第一篇讲述了全球化背景下的文化交流问题。
文章通过对比不同国家的文化特点,探讨了全球化对本土文化的影响。
考生需要理解文章中的关键词汇,如“同质化”、“文化认同”等,并能够从文章中提取出作者的主要观点和论据。
接着,第二篇阅读材料聚焦于科技发展对人类社会的影响。
文章讨论了新技术如何改变人们的工作方式和生活习惯,同时也提出了技术进步可能带来的负面影响。
考生在阅读时需要关注文章中的专业术语,如“自动化”、“信息过载”等,并能够分析作者对科技发展的态度和看法。
第三篇阅读材料则关注了教育问题,特别是高等教育的普及化趋势。
文章分析了高等教育普及化的原因和后果,包括对个人和社会的积极影响以及可能引发的挑战。
考生需要理解文章中的教育专业术语,如“知识经济”、“终身学习”等,并能够从文章中总结出作者对教育普及化的看法。
最后,第四篇阅读材料探讨了环境保护的重要性。
文章通过描述环境问题的严重性,呼吁人们采取行动保护环境。
考生在阅读时需要关注文章中的环境科学术语,如“生物多样性”、“可持续发展”等,并能够理解作者对环境保护的紧迫性和重要性的看法。
总的来说,06年的考研英语阅读部分不仅考验了考生的语言能力,还考察了他们的综合分析能力和对当代社会问题的理解。
考生在准备这类考试时,应该广泛阅读各种题材的文章,提高自己的词汇量和阅读理解能力,同时也要培养自己的批判性思维,以便能够深入分析和理解文章的内容。
通过这样的准备,考生将能够在考研英语的阅读部分取得优异的成绩。
考研时文阅读
考研时文阅读(1)FEW ideas in education are more controversial than vouchers---letting parents choose to educate their children wherever they wish at the taxpayer’s expense. First suggested by Milton Friedman, an economist, in 1955, the principle is compelling simple. The state pays; parents choose; schools compete; standards rise; everybody gains.Simple, perhaps, but it has aroused predictable----and oftenfatal---opposition from the educational establishment. Letting parents choose where to educate their children is a silly idea; professionals know best. Cooperation, not competition, is the way to improve education for all. Vouchers would increase inequality because children who are hardest to teach would be left behind.But these arguments are now succumbing to sheer weight of evidence. Voucher schemes are running in several different countries withoutill-effects for social cohesion; those that use a lottery to hand out vouchers offer proof that recipients get a better education than those that do not.Harry Patrinos, an education economist at the World Bank, cites a Colombian program to broaden access to secondary schooling, known as PACES, a 1990s initiative that provided over 125,000 poor children with vouchers worth around half the cost of private secondary school. Crucially, there were more applicants than vouchers. The programme, which selected children by lottery, provided researchers with an almost perfect experiment, akin to the “pill-placebo” studies used to judge the efficacy of new medicines. The subsequent results show that the children who received vouchers were 15—20% more likely to finish secondary education, five percentage points less likely to repeat a grade, scorced a bit better on scholastic tests and were much more likely to take college entrance exams.Vouchers programmes in several American states have been run along similar lines. Greg Forster, a statistician at the Friedman Foundation, a charity advocating universal vouchers, says there have been eight similar studies in America: seven showed statistically significant positive results but was not designed well enough to count.The voucher pupils did better even though the sate spent less than it would have done had the children been educated in normal state schools. American voucher schemes typically offer private schools around half of what the sate would spend if the pupils stayed in public schools. The Colombianprogramme did not even set out to offer better schooling than was available in the state sector; the aim was simply to raise enrollment rates as quickly and cheaply as possible.These results are important because they strip out other influences. Home, neighborhood and natural ability all affect results more than which school a child attends. If the pupils who received vouchers differ from those who don’t----perhaps simply by coming from the sort of go-getting family that elbows its way to the front of every queue---any effect might simply be the result of any number of other factors. But assigning the vouchers randomly guarded against this risk.Opponents still argue that those who exercise choice will be the most able and committed, and by clustering themselves together in better schools they will abandon the weak and voiceless to languish in rotten ones. Some cite the example of Chile, where a universal voucher scheme that allows schools to charge top-up fees seems to have improved the education of the best-off most.The strongest evidence against this criticism comes from Sweden, where parents are freer than those in almost any other country to spend as they wish the money the government allocates to educating their children. Sweeping education reforms in 1992 not only relaxed enrolment rules in state sector, allowing students to attend schools outside their own municipality, but also let them take their state funding to private schools, including religious ones and those operating for profit. The only real restrictions imposed on private schools were that they must run their admissions on a first-come-first-served basis and promise not to charge top-up fees(most American voucher schemes impose similar conditions).The result has been burgeoning variety and a breakneck expansion of the private sector. At the time of the reforms only around 1% of Swedish students were educated privately; now 10% are, and growth in private schooling continues unabated.Anders Hultin of Kunskapsskolan, a chain of 26 Swedish schools founded by a venture capitalist in 1999 and now running at a profit, says its schools only rarely have to invoke the first-come-first-servedrule----the chain has responded to demand by expanding so fast that parents keen to send their children to its schools usually get a place. So the private sector, by increasing the total number of places available, can ease the mad scramble for the best schools in the statesector(bureaucrats, by contrast, dislike paying for extra places in popular schools if there are vacancies in bad ones).More evidence that choice can raise standards for all comes from Caroline Hoxby, an economist at Harvard University, who has shown that when American public schools must compete for their students with schools that accept vouchers, their performance improves. Swedish researchers say the same. It seems that those who work in state schools are just like everybody else: they do better when confronted by a bit of competition.没有什么教育观念比学券更容易引发争议。
考研英语时文赏读(6):全职奶爸正在涌现
考研英语时文赏读(126):全职奶爸正在涌现More married men approve of stay-at-home fathers更多的已婚男性开始做全职爸爸了Married men outnumber women when it comes to having a supportive attitude toward stay-at-home fathers, showed a recent survey by the China Youth Daily.《中国青年报》最近的一项调查显示,就如何看待全职爸爸方面,持支持态度的已婚男性人数超过了女性。
Of the 1,987 married people surveyed, 52.4 percent of male respondents are supportive of men being a full-time caregiver of children, whereas the figure among women was slightly lower, standing at 45.8 percent.在对1987名已婚人士的调查中,52.4%的男性受访者支持男性全职照顾孩子,而女性的比例略低,仅为45.8%。
The fact that dads are willing to be more involved in their childrens lives shows that the traditional mentality of career husband and domestic wife is changing, Zhang Baoyi, a professor on sociology at the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, told the newspaper, adding that society is accepting diverse values and ways of parenting.天津社会科学院社会学的张宝义教授告诉记者,爸爸们愿意更多地参与孩子生活的事实表明男主外、女主内的传统观念在发生改变,社会正在接受不同的价值观和育儿方式。
时文阅读:Meng Wanzhou Finally Comes Home
时文阅读Meng Wanzhou Finally Comes HomeMeng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei who was illegally taken into custody by the Canadian Police, 1 (take) the path of coming back to China by taking a chartered airplane 2 (offer) by the Chinese government on Friday local time and can reunite with her family on National Day in China. This is truly exciting and 3 (joy) news for all Chinese people.It is difficult to imagine 4 helpless and terrified Meng Wanzhou was at that time, treated with illegal surveillance in the foreign country. More 5 (outrageous让人无法容忍的), an electronic bracelet was put on her ankle.As Meng Wanzhou said in her speech, "I want to thank for the 6 (approve) and help of my motherland and my compatriots(同胞), 7are the biggest support for encouraging me to persist to this day". This is 8 (impress)and moving because only the Chinese people know that it is tiring, tough and difficult to walk all the way here.Today, we are 9 (delight) that Meng Wanzhou can come back to the bosom of China. Being taken into custody for three years witnesses her steadiness, the Chinese people's expectation and the 10 (state) power. We believe that everything in the world is conservative and as the minister of Chinese Foreign Ministry Wang Yi said, history will prove who is a mere visitor and who is the real host.(adapted from China Daily)参考答案:1.took2. offered3. joyful4.how5. outrageously6. approval7.which8. impressive9. delighted 10. state’s。
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考研时文阅读(6)
注:这是一篇音乐与孩子智力关系研究方面的文章,希望大家认真阅读. 选自<时代>杂志.
The phrase “Mozart Effect” conjures an image of a pregnant woman who, putting headphones conspicuously over her belly, is convinced that playing classical music to her unborn child will improve the k ids’ intelligence. But is there science to back up this idea, which has brought about a cottage industry of books, CDs and videos?
A short paper published in Nature in 1993 unwittingly introduced the supposed Mozart effect to the masses. Psychologist Fra nces Rauscher’s study involved 36 college kids who listened to either 10 minutes of a Mozart sonata, a relaxation track or silence before performing several spatial reasoning tasks. In one test----determining what a paper folded several times over and then cut might look like when unfolded---students who listened to Mozart seemed to show significant improvement in their performance (by about eight to nine spatial IQ points).
In addition to a flood of commercial products in the wake of the finding, in 1998 then---Georgia governor Zell Miller mandated that mothers of newborns in the state be given classical music CDs. And in Florida, day care centers were required to broadcast symphonies through their sound systems.
Earlier this year, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Germany published a second review study from a cross-disciplinary team of musically inclined scientists who declared the phenomenon nonexistent. “I would simply say that there is no compelling evidence that children who listen to classical music are going to have any improvement in cognitive abilities,” adds Rauscher, now an associate professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. “It’s really a myth, in my humble opinion.”
Rather than passively listening to music, Rauscher advocates putting an instrument into the hands of a youngster to raise intelligence. She cites a 1997 University of California, Los Angels, study that found that, among 25,000 students, those who had spent time involved in a musical
pursuit tested higher on SATs and reading proficiency exams than those with no instruction in music.
Despite its rejection by the scientific community, companies like Baby Genius continue to peddle classical music to parents of children who can supposedly listen their way to greater smarts.
Chabris says the real danger isn’t in this questionable marketing, but in parents shirking roles they are evolutionarily meant to serve. “It takes away from other kinds of interaction that might be beneficial for children,” such as playing with them and keeping them engaged via social activity. That is the key to a truly intelligent child, not the symphonies of a long-dead Austrian composer.
“莫扎特效应”这个词让人想到这样的画面:一位孕妇把耳机显眼地放在肚子上,深信给未出世的孩子播放古典音乐会提高宝宝的智力。
这个观点催生了一大批粗制滥造的书籍、CD 和视频节目,但它是否有科学依据呢?
1993年发表于《自然》杂志的一篇简短的论文无意中把所谓的莫扎特效应介绍给了大众。
心理学家费朗西丝劳舍尔的这项研究是让36名大学生在10分钟内,或听一段令人放松的莫扎特奏鸣曲,或呆在静默环境里,之后再去完成几道空间推理作业题。
在一项测试中----判断一张折叠多次再剪过的纸张在展开时会变成什么样子------听过莫扎特音乐学生的成绩似乎有显著提高(空间IQ得分提高了8到9分)。
这一研究成果不仅带来了大量的相关产品,1998年,当时的佐治亚州州长Zell Miller还下令给本州的新生儿妈妈派发古音乐CD,而佛里里达州则要求托儿所利用它们的音响系统播放交响乐。
今年早些时候,德国联邦教育与研究部发表了一份由懂音乐的科学家组成的跨学科小组完成的复审报告,声明这样的观点并不存在。
“我只想说,没有令人信服的证据证明听古典音乐的孩子在认知能力方面会有什么提高,”现任威斯康星大学奥什科什分校心理学副教授的劳舍尔补充说,“依拙见,这纯属虚构。
”
劳舍尔主张让孩子亲手演奏乐器来提高智力,而不是被动地听音乐。
她引用了1997年在洛杉矶的加州大学进行的一项研究来作为例证。
该研究发现,在2万5千名学生中,与没有学习过演奏乐器的学生相比,那些付出时间学习演奏一种乐器的人在学业能力倾向测试和阅读能力测试中取得了更好的成绩。
尽管受到科学界的否定,像“神童”这样的公司仍继续向家长们兜售古典乐,宣称孩子听了古典音乐就能增长聪明才智。
查伯里斯说,真正的危险不在于这种令人置疑的营销活动,而在于父母亲逃避天职。
“这贬低了对孩子可能有利的其它互动形式,”如陪孩子一起玩耍和让他们参与社交活动。
对一个真正聪明的孩子来说,这才是关键,而不是一位早已作古的奥地利作曲家的交响乐。