2011考研英语阅读文章预测精选-UNIT ONE

2011考研英语阅读文章预测精选-UNIT ONE UNIT ONE TEXT ONE Tesco is preparing a legal battle to clear its name of involvement in the dairy price-fixing scandal that has cost consumers ?270 million. Failure to prove that it had no part in collusion with other supermarkets and dairy processors may land it with a fine of at least ?80 million. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said yesterday that Asda, Sainsbury‘s and the former Safeway, plus the dairy companies Wiseman, Dairy Crest and Cheese Company, had admitted being in a cartel to fix prices for milk, butter and cheese. They were fined a total of just over ?116 million as part of a leniency deal offered by the watchdog to companies that owned up quickly to anti-competitive behaviour. Officials at the OFT admitted privately that they did not think they would ever discover which company or individual had initiated the pricing formula. But the watchdog recognises that at the time supermarkets were under pressure from politicians and farmers to raise the cost of milk to save dairy farming, though it is not certain that money found its way to farmers. The OFT claimed in September that it had found evidence that the retail chains had passed future milk prices to dairy companies, which then reached a fixed price among themselves. The average cost to each household is thought to be ?11.25 over 2002 and 2003. Prices went up an extra 3p on a pint of milk, 15p on a quarter of a pound of butter and 15p on a half pound of cheese. There is no direct recompense for consumers, however, and the money will go to the Treasury. The National Consumer Council gave warning that the admissions would dent consumer confidence in leading high street names and that people would become sceptical of their claims. Farmers For Action, the group of farmers that has led protests over low milk prices since 2000, is seeking legal advice on whether it can now bring a claim for compensation. The OFT investigation is continuing, however, in relation to Tesco, Morrisons and the dairy group Lactalis McLelland, and any legal action is expected to be delayed until that is completed. Tesco was defiant and said that it was preparing a robust defence of its actions. Lucy Neville-Rolfe, its executive director, said: ―As we have always said, we acted independently and we did not collude with anyone. Our position is different from our competitors and we are defending our own case vigorously. Our philosophy is to give a good deal to customers.‖ Morrisons has supported the OFT in inquiries into the former Safeway business that it took over, but in a statement said that it was still making ―strong representations‖ in its defence. A spokeswoman for Lactalis McLelland said that the company was ―co-operating‖ with the OFT. Industry insiders suggested that the three companies were deliberately stalling the OFT investigation. Sainsbury‘s admitted yesterday that it had agreed to pay ?26 million in fines, but denied that it had sought to profiteer. Justin King, the chief executive, said he was disappointed that the company had been penalised for actions meant to help farmers but recognised the benefit of a speedy settlement. Asda declined to say how much it would pay in fines and also said that its intention had been to help farmers under severe financial pressure. 参考译文: Tesco为了摆脱限定奶制品价格风波，正在准备一场大官司。奶制品事件已经给消费者带来了两亿七千万 的损失。如果不能证明自己并未和其他超市、奶制品加工商串通一气的话，它就得接受至少八千万的罚单。 昨天，OFT声称Asda, Sainsbury‘s 和前 Safeway，还有奶制品公司Wiseman, Dairy Crest and Cheese Company 都已承认它们联合设定了牛奶、黄油及奶酪的价格。他们总共的罚金只有差不多一亿一千六百万，这是监 察部门对积极坦白反竞争行为公司的一种宽大处理。 OFT官员私下声称他们不一定想要找出到底是具体哪家公司或哪个人发起这次价格行动的，但是监察 部门承认这次超市受到政客和农民的双重压力，要求提高牛奶成本以拯救奶制品畜牧业，但是最终钱还不 一定能流到农民手中。OFT九月份称他们已经发现证据证明零售链已经将未来的牛奶价格告知奶制品公 司，然后奶制品公司自己内部设定了固定价格。 2002和2003年间平均每户损失为11.25英镑。每品脱牛奶价格上涨3便士，每0.25磅黄油上涨15 便士，每半磅奶酪涨15便士。但是消费者却没有任何的补偿，利润全部到了国库。全国消费者委员会警 告说长此以往会损害消费者的信心，人们也会逐渐怀疑委员会的声明。Farmers For Action2002年以来一直 领导农民抗议牛奶价格过低，目前在就是否可以申请补偿寻求法律意见。 不过OFT还在继续对Tesco, Morrisons 和奶制品集团 Lactalis McLelland进行调查，任何法律行为都 将推迟到调查结束。 Tesco对此不屑一顾，声称在为自己的行为准备最坚决的辩护。执行理事Lucy Neville-Rolfe说:―正如 我们一贯宣称的，我们行动完全独立，和谁都没有联合。我们的立场和我们的对手不一样，我们在尽力保 护我们的事业。我们的理念就是为消费者更好地服务。‖ Morrisons协助OFT调查它所管理的前Safeway的交易，但是在一次声明中还称自己依然会在辩护中 进行强烈的抗议。Lactalis McLelland的一个代言人说公司在和OFT―合作‖，而企业内部人士暗示这三家公 1 司在蓄意拖延OFT调查。 昨天Sainsbury‘s承认已经同意支付两千六百万的罚金，但是却否认它在牟取暴利。执行董事Justin King 说本来是要帮助农民却因此受到惩罚，感觉很失望，但他也承认尽快解决更为有利。Asda不愿意透露要赔 付多少，并声称其初衷是要帮助那些有沉重经济压力的农民。 TEXT TWO He emerged, all of a sudden, in 1957: the most explosive new poetic talent of the English post-war era. Poetry specialised, at that moment, in the wry chronicling of the everyday. The poetry of Yorkshire-born Ted Hughes, first published in a book called ―The Hawk in the Rain‖ when he was 27, was unlike anything written by his immediate predecessors. Driven by an almost Jacobean rhetoric, it had a visionary fervour. Its most eye-catching characteristic was Hughes's ability to get beneath the skins of animals: foxes, otters, pigs. These animals were the real thing all right, but they were also armorial devices—symbols of the countryside and lifeblood of the earth in which they were rooted. It gave his work a raw, primal stink. It was not only England that thought so either. Hughes's book was also published in America, where it won the Galbraith prize, a major literary award. But then, in 1963, Sylvia Plath, a young American poet whom he had first met at Cambridge University in 1956, and who became his wife in the summer of that year, committed suicide. Hughes was vilified for long after that, especially by feminists in America. In 1998, the year he died, Hughes broke his own self-imposed public silence about their relationship in a book of loose-weave poems called ―Birthday Letters‖. In this new and exhilarating collection of real letters, Hughes returns to the issue of his first wife's death, which he calls his ―big and unmanageable event‖. He felt his talent muffled by the perpetual eavesdropping upon his every move. Not until he decided to publish his own account of their relationship did the burden begin to lighten. The analysis is raw, pained and ruthlessly self-aware. For all the moral torment, the writing itself has the same rush and vigour that possessed Hughes's early poetry. Some books of letters serve as a personalised historical chronicle. Poets' letters are seldom like that, and Hughes's are no exception. His are about a life of literary engagement: almost all of them include some musing on the state or the nature of writing, both Hughes's own or other people's. The trajectory of Hughes's literary career had him moving from obscurity to fame, and then, in the eyes of many, to life-long notoriety. These letters are filled with his wrestling with the consequences of being the part-private, part-public creature that he became, desperate to devote himself to his writing, and yet subject to endless invasions of his privacy. Hughes is an absorbing and intricate commentator upon his own poetry, even when he is standing back from it and good-humouredly condemning himself for ―its fantasticalia, its pretticisms and its infinite verballifications‖. He also believed, from first to last, that poetry had a special place in the education of children. ―What kids need‖, he wrote in a 1988 letter to the secretary of state for education in the Conservative government, ―is a headfull [sic] of songs that are not songs but blocks of refined and achieved and exemplary language.‖ When that happens, children have ―the guardian angel installed behind the tongue‖. Lucky readers, big or small. 参考译文: 1957年，他横空出世，成为英国战后最具爆炸性的诗坛天才。当时，诗歌主要题材是日常生活的扭曲 纪录。但出生在约克郡的特德?休斯的作品却与其前辈大相径庭，他27岁时在名为《雨中的鹰》一书中发 表了第一首诗。受詹姆士一世风格的影响，其诗歌呈现出幻觉式的激情，其最显著的特点是休斯可以描述 动物外表下面的东西，无论是狐狸、水獭还是猪。这些动物的确是真实的，但同时又是标志性的，代表着 乡村，代表着它们植根的地球的生命之源。正是这一点赋予了其作品一种野性、原始的气息。 这一点不仅仅在英国得以认同。休斯的书也在美国出版，并且赢得了一项重要的文学奖——加尔布雷 思奖。但是在1963年，西尔维亚?普拉斯自杀了，这个美国年轻诗人与他第一次见面是在1956年的剑桥大 学，而当年夏天又成为了他妻子。这之后很长时间里休斯都受到人们的谴责，尤其是美国的女权主义者。 1998年，也就是休斯去世的那一年，他在自己一本名为《生日信札》的结构松散的诗集中公开了他俩的关 系，打破了他自己一直以来的缄默。在这本令人兴奋的新书信集中，休斯回忆了他第一个妻子的死，―难 以处理的大事情‖——他这样形容。他感觉自己的一举一动都受到监视，他的天赋因而受到了制约。直到 他出版了自己的这本有关他们关系的书时，他身上的负担才得以减轻。 他的剖析自然、饱含痛苦，具有强烈的自我意识。尽管书中极尽表达了其精神的苦痛，但文字本身却 具有休斯早期诗歌的激情和活力。一些书信集只是个人的经历记录而已，但是诗人的书信集却不同，休斯 的也不例外。他的书信集描写了其文学生涯:几乎所有的书信都有关于写作状态或写作性质的思考，有他 自己，也有别人的。休斯的文学生命轨迹是从无名到闻名，而后，在众人看来又经历了漫长的名誉扫地的 阶段。这些信中处处都显现出休斯和自己成为半私人、半公开人物这样一个结果反复挣扎的心理，他渴望 将自己奉献给文字，但又时时受到私人空间被侵袭的威胁。 2 有意思而且令人费解的是，休斯还对自己的诗歌进行评论，他甚至还以局外人的身份来看待自己的作 品，很幽默地批评自己的诗歌―有空想色彩、唯美化且一直咬文嚼字‖。他还从始至终坚信诗歌在教育孩子 方面有特殊的作用。1988年他在给保守党政府国家教育部长的一封信中这样写道:―孩子们需要的是满脑 子的歌曲，其实不是歌曲，而是精致、优秀、具有代表性的语言。‖如果真能这样，那么孩子们―舌头后面 就会有守卫天使了‖。幸运的读者，不管是大人还是孩子 TEXT THREE Controled bleeding or cauterisation? That was the unappealing choice facing UBS, a Swiss bank which has been badly hurt by the carnage in America‘s mortgage market. The bank opted for the latter. First it opened the wound, by announcing a hefty $10 billion write-down on its exposure to subprime-infected debt. UBS now expects a loss for the fourth quarter, which ends this month. Then came the hot iron: news of a series of measures to shore up the bank‘s capital base, among them investments from sovereign-wealth funds in Singapore and the Middle East. Bad news had been expected. UBS‘s third-quarter write-down of over SFr4 billionin October looked overly optimistic compared with more aggressive markdowns at other banks such as Citigroup and Merrill Lynch. Steep falls in the market value of subprime debt since the end of the third quarter made it certain that UBS would take more pain, given its sizeable exposure to toxic collateralised-debt obligations (CDOs). Analysts at Citigroup were predicting in November that write-downs of up to SFr14 billion were possible. Why then did this new batch of red ink still come as a shock? The answer lies not in the scale of the overall loss, more in UBS‘s decision to take the hit in one go. The bank‘s mark-to-model approach to valuing its subprime-related holdings had been based on payments data from the underlying mortgage loans. Although these data show a worsening in credit quality, the deterioration is slower than mark-to-market valuations, which have the effect of instantly crystallising all expected future losses. Thanks to this gradualist approach, UBS had been expected to take write-downs in managed increments of SFr2 billion-3 billion over a period of several quarters. It now appears that the bank has incorporated market values into its model, sending its fourth-quarter write-downs into orbit. The change of approach may be on the advice of auditors and regulators but it is more likely to reflect a desire by UBS‘s bosses to avoid months of speculation about the bank‘s exposure, something that Marcel Rohner, the chief executive, described as ―distracting‖. In a particular indignity for a bank long associated with conservatism, concerns about the level of UBS‘s capital ratio had even started to surface. Hence the moves to strengthen its tier-one capital, an important measure of bank solidity, by SFr19.4 billion, a great deal more than the write-down. The majority of that money will come from sovereign-wealth funds, the white knights of choice for today‘s bank in distress. Singapore‘s GIC, which manages the city-state‘s foreign reserves, has pledged to buy SFr11 billion-worth of convertible bonds in UBS; an unnamed Middle Eastern investor will put in a further SFr2 billion. UBS will also raise money by selling treasury shares, and save cash by issuing its 2007 dividend in the form of shares. Its capital ratio is expected to end up above 12% in the fourth quarter, a strong position. Hopeful talk of lines being drawn under the subprime crisis has been a feature of banks‘ quarterly reporting since September. Marrying bigger-than-expected write-downs with bigger-than-expected boosts to capital looks like the right treatment in this environment. But UBS still cannot be sure that its problems are over. Further deterioration in its subprime asset values is possible; the broader economic impact of the credit crunch is unclear; and the damage to the bank‘s reputation cannot yet be quantified. The patient still needs watching. 参考译文: 有控制地流血还是灼伤,这是UBS，一家因美国抵押信贷市场受到重挫的瑞士银行所要面对的尴尬选 择。而这家银行选择了后者——先是在公开次级感染债务之际宣布高达100亿资产价值缩水，从而裸露出 伤口。UBS目前预计第四季度也将亏损，本月就能见分晓。紧接着就传来了热点议题:报道有一系列的措 施来支持银行的资本基础，其中就有新加坡和中东的君主财富基金。 也应该会有些坏消息。十月，UBS四分之三的资产价值缩水超过40亿瑞士法郎，这与其他银行(如 Citigroup 和 Merrill Lynch)更为严重的状况相比而言还是较为乐观的。第三季度末次级债市场价值的急 剧下落使得UBS将会面临更多的苦痛，尤其是它相当大的一部分资产都受到抵押的影响。Citigroup分析 师在11月预言可能会有140亿瑞士法郎的损失。 那么为什么这次新的一组赤字还是让人们大吃一惊呢,答案并不是因为总亏损的规模，而是UBS决 定一次性地承担损失。银行估量其与次级债相关的股票所用的按模型定价方法是基于第一担保抵押贷款的 支付数据上的。尽管这些数据显示信用有所降低，但比起用按市值计价的估量方式其恶化速度要慢一些， 具有迅速明确所有未来损失的作用。 正是由于采取了这个缓和的方式，UBS可望在几个季度内将资产账面价值增长控制在20到30亿瑞士 3 法郎。目前显示出该银行已经将市场价值纳入其模式中，从而将第四季度的资产账面价值控制在一定范围 内。方法改变可能是审计员或调节员建议的，但更反映了UBS高层要避免数月来对银行曝光的猜测—— 这被首席执行官Marcel Rohner形容为―转移注意力(的方案)‖。 一个长期以保守见称的银行如今却受到这种侮辱，对于UBS的资金率的担心也就逐渐出现了。因此 就采取措施加强了第一层资金约194亿瑞士法郎，该数额比资产账面损失要多许多，这是增加银行信用的 重要方法。资金大部分来源于君主资产基金，这是当今处于困境的银行的白衣骑士。新加坡GIC掌握着这 个城市国家的外汇储备，它承诺要购买UBS110亿瑞士法郎的可转债。一个匿名的中东投资者又投入了20 亿瑞士法郎。UBS也会售卖债券、以股票的形式发行2007的红利来募集现金。其资本率有望在第四季度 达到12%多，这样处境就很不错了。 从九月份以来，银行季度报告会的一大特色就是讨论将额度控制在次级风险之下。把比预期大的资产 账面降低程度和比预期大的资本增加相结合好像是这种氛围下的一个正确处理方案。但是UBS还是不能 确保问题都已解决。有可能出现次级资产价值的继续恶化，而且信用创伤引起的更广阔范围内的经济冲击 也不很明确，还有对公司名誉的损害程度也还没有确定。病情还有待观察。 TEXT FOUR Just as Norman Mailer, John Updike and Philip Roth were at various times regarded as the greatest American novelist since the second world war, John Ashbery and Robert Lowell vied for the title of greatest American poet. Yet the two men could not be more different. Lowell was a public figure who engaged with politics—in 1967 he marched shoulder-to-shoulder with Mailer in protest against the Vietnam war, as described in Mailer's novel ―The Armies of the Night‖. Lowell took on substantial themes and envisioned himself as a tragic, heroic figure, fighting against his own demons. Mr Ashbery's verse, by contrast, is more beguilingly casual. In his hands, the making of a poem can feel like the tumbling of dice on a table top. Visible on the page is a delicately playful strewing of words, looking to engage with each other in a shyly puzzled fashion. And there is an element of Dada-like play in his unpredictability of address with its perpetual shifting of tones. Lowell, who died in 1977 at the age of 60, addressed the world head on. By contrast, Mr. Ashbery, who celebrated his 80th birthday earlier this year, glances wryly at the world and its absurdities. In this edition of his later poems, a substantial gathering of verses selected from six volumes published over the past 20 years, his poetry does not so much consist of themes to be explored as comic routines to be improvised. He mocks the very idea of the gravity of poetry itself. His tone can be alarmingly inconsequential, as if the reader is there to be perpetually wrong-footed. He shifts easily from the elevated to the work-a-day. His poems are endlessly digressive and there are often echoes of other poets in his writings, though these always come lightly at the reader, as though they were scents on the breeze. Lowell wrote in strict formal measures; some of his last books consisted of entire sequences of sonnets. Mr. Ashbery can also be partial to particular forms of verse, though these tend to be of a fairly eccentric kind—the cento (a patchwork of other poets' works), for example, and the pantoum (a Malaysian form, said to have been introduced to 19th-century Europe by Victor Hugo). Often he writes in a free-flowing, conversational manner that depends for its success upon the fact that the ending of lines is untrammeled by any concern about whether or not they scan. Within many of his poems, there often seems to be a gently humorous antagonism between one stanza and the next. Mr. Ashbery likes using similes in his poetry. This is often the poet's stock-in-trade, but he seems to single them out in order to send up the very idea of the simile in poetry, as in ―Violets blossomed loudly/ like a swear word in an empty tank‖. Life, for Lowell, was a serious matter, just as he was a serious man. Mr Ashbery's approach, as evinced by his poetry, is more that of a gentle shrug of amused bewilderment. Unlike Lowell's, his poems are neither autobiographical nor confessional. He doesn't take himself that seriously. ―Is all of life a tepid housewarming?‖ For a poet this is a tougher question to answer than you might think. 参考译文: 二战后，Norman Mailer、John Updike、Philip Roth成为美国公认的最伟大的小说家，同样地，John Ashbery和Robert Lowell也争取美国最伟大的诗人这个名号。但是，这两个家伙可是截然不同。Lowell是 个公众人物，参与政治活动。1967年，他和Mailer肩并肩抗议越战，Mailer在其小说《夜行军》曾描述了 这些情景。Lowell选择的主题宏大，把自己想象成富有悲剧色彩的英雄形象，和自己的恶魔战斗。而Ashbery 的诗却颇有闲逸气。于他而言，做诗就好像是在桌上滚动的，纸上呈现的词精妙地散落着，与其他词形成 一种晦涩含蓄的搭配。其不断的语气变化又使得本来变化莫测的措辞平添了一丝―达达派‖的意味。 Lowell于1977年去世，终年60岁，他还号召世界继续前进。而今年年初才庆贺了自己80岁生日的 Ashbery，却冷眼瞧着这个世界，以及这个世界的荒诞。他这本晚些出版的诗集选编了过去20年间出版的 六本诗集中的诗歌，其主题不再是像那种临时准备的老套滑稽节目，他戏谑诗歌本身具有严肃性这个话题。 4 他的语气极其不合逻辑，好像读者永远都站不对阵脚。他的语气一会儿是严肃的，一会儿马上就成了 work-a-day。他的诗歌是那么的不着边际，中间或夹杂有其他诗人的一词半调但轻轻地来到读者面前，就 好像风中的一丝气息而已。 Lowell遵循严格的格式，他最后的一些作品有完整的十四行诗体例。Ashbery先生的诗歌也有一定的 格式，只是有点怪异罢了——比如集锦(其他诗人作品的杂合)，比如潘顿诗体(一种马来西亚诗体，据 说是由维克托?雨果引入19世纪的欧洲的)。他常以一种随意、会话式的方式创作，关键就在于每行结尾不 必非得符合格律。在他的许多诗里面，两节之间常是有点滑稽的对立。Ashbery先生喜欢用明喻。虽然这 是诗人的惯用手法，但他却把这些比喻单独挑出来，好像要戏谑诗里面明喻这个概念。比如―紫罗兰纵情 开放/ 宛如空桶里的一句毒誓‖。 对于Lowell，生活是件严肃的事情，正如他本人一样。而Ashbery的生活方式却不止是因困惑而轻轻 地耸一下肩，这从他的诗中就可以看出来。和Lowell不同，他的诗既不是自传性质的，也不是忏悔的。他 并不那么较真。―生活的全部是不是只是并不热烈乔迁庆宴,‖这个问题让一个诗人来回答，可是比我们想 象的难得多。 TEXT ONE The bride and groom, a guitar-wielding rock vixen and a muscle-rippling dragon-slayer, make an odd couple—so it is hardly surprising that nobody expected their marriage. But on December 2nd the video-game companies behind ―Guitar Hero‖ and ―World of Warcraft‖, Activision and Vivendi Games respectively, announced plans for an elaborate merger. Vivendi, a French media group, will pool its games unit, plus $1.7 billion in cash, with Activision; the combined entity will then offer to buy back shares from Activision shareholders, raising Vivendi's stake in the resulting firm to as much as 68%. Activision's boss, Bobby Kotick, will remain at the helm of the new company, to be known as Activision Blizzard in recognition of Vivendi's main gaming asset: its subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment, the firm behind ―World of Warcraft‖, an online swords-and-sorcery game with 9.3m subscribers. The deal was unexpected, but makes excellent strategic sense, says Piers Harding-Rolls of Screen Digest, a consultancy. Activision has long coveted ―World of Warcraft‖, and Vivendi gets a bigger games division and Activision's talented management team to run it. As well as making sense for both parties, the $18.9 billion deal—the biggest ever in the video-games industry—says a lot about the trends now shaping the business. The first is a push into new markets, especially online multiplayer games, which are particularly popular in Asia, and ―casual‖ games that appeal to people who do not regard themselves as gamers. ―World of Warcraft‖ is the world's most popular online subscription-based game and is hugely lucrative. Blizzard will have revenues of $1.1 billion this year and operating profits of $520m. ―World of Warcraft‖ is really ―a social network with many entertainment components,‖ says Mr Kotick. Similarly, he argues, ―Guitar Hero‖ and other games that use new kinds of controller, rather than the usual buttons and joysticks, are broadening the appeal of gaming by emphasising its social aspects, since they are easy to pick up and can be played with friends. Social gaming, says Mr Kotick, is ―the most powerful trend‖ building new audiences for the industry. He is clearly excited at the prospect of using Blizzard's expertise to launch an online version of ―Guitar Hero‖ for Asian markets. Online music games such as ―Audition Online‖, which started in South Korea, are ―massive in Asia,‖ says Mr Harding-Rolls. A second trend is media groups' increasing interest in gaming. Vivendi owns Universal Music, one of the ―big four‖ record labels. As the record industry's sales decline, it makes sense to move into gaming, a younger, faster-growing medium with plenty of cross-marketing opportunities. (Activision might raid Universal's back catalogue for material for its music games, for example, which might in turn boost music sales.) Other media groups are going the same way. Last year Viacom, an American media giant, acquired Harmonix, the company that originally created ―Guitar Hero‖. It has been promoting its new game, ―Rock Band‖, using its MTV music channel. Viacom has also created online virtual worlds that tie in with several of its television programmes, such as ―Laguna Beach‖ and ―Pimp My Ride‖. Disney bought Club Penguin, a virtual world for children, in August. And Time Warner is involved in gaming via its Warner Bros Home Entertainment division, which publishes its own titles and last month bought TT Games, the British firm behind the ―Lego Star Wars‖ games. 5 参考译文: 新娘是挥舞着吉他的摇滚悍妇，新郎是一身肌肉的杀龙者，这一对实在古怪，也怪不得没有人相信他们 能结合在一起。但是12月2日，―吉他英雄‖和―战舰世界‖ 的两个视频游戏公司——Activision和Vivendi公司 宣布了他们的精心策划的联姻。Vivendi是一家法国媒体公司，它准备将自己的游戏单元以及17亿美元现金注 入到Activision公司。联合体自后再从Activision股东那里买回股份，将Vivendi在联合公司的股份提到到68%。 新公司仍由Activision公司老总Bobby Kotick来执舵，新公司名为―Activision 暴风雪‖，取这个名字是为 了酬谢Vivendi注入的主要的游戏资产——子公司―暴风雪娱乐‖，该公司属于―战舰世界‖，是一个拥有930万 注册者的在线―剑与巫术‖游戏。这笔生意出乎大家意料，但却有非凡的战略意义，Screen Digest的顾问Piers Harding-Rolls这样说。Activision 对―战舰世界‖已经觊觎很久，而Vivendi公司也因此获得了更大的游戏份额， 拥有Activision公司优秀的管理团队来为之运营。同样对双方有利的是，189亿美元的交易是视频游戏产业中 最大的，因此其决策将对未来该产业的发展趋势起着举足轻重的作用。 第一个趋势是推进新的市场，尤其在风靡于亚洲的在线多人游戏领域和―休闲游戏‖，这种游戏对那些不把 自己当玩游戏的人有吸引力。―战舰世界‖是全球最流行的在线注册游戏，盈利巨大。―暴风雪‖今年收入将达 11亿美元，操作利润就有5.2亿美元。Kotick 先生 评价 LEC评价法下载LEC评价法下载评价量规免费下载学院评价表文档下载学院评价表文档下载 说，―战舰世界‖是真正的―拥有众多娱乐成分的交际性 网络‖。 同样的，他说， ―吉他英雄‖和其他游戏也没有用普通的按钮和操作杆，而是使用了新式控制器，通过重 点强调其交际性的特点来增加游戏的吸引力，因为这些游戏很容易就可以上手，而且可以和朋友一起玩。Kotick 先生说，交际游戏是为这个产业创造新玩家的―最强大的趋势‖。很明显，他谈到利用―暴风雪‖的技术来向亚洲 市场推行―吉他英雄‖在线版的前景时十分兴奋。Harding-Rolls说，像最先开始于韩国的―在线试听‖这样的在线 音乐游戏―在亚洲占有相当大的份额‖。 第二种趋势就是媒体集团在游戏方面兴趣不断增加。Vivendi拥有―四大‖唱片之一的―全球音乐‖。由于唱 片行业销售衰退，它就转向游戏，这是更为年轻且成长迅速的一种媒介，拥有很多跨市场型的机遇。(比如 Activision 可能就要从―全球音乐‖曲目中为自己的音乐游戏搜索一些素材，而这样反过来又促进了唱片的销 售。)其他的媒体集团也大体一样。去年，美国媒体巨头Viacom收购了Harmonix公司——―吉他巨人‖最初就 是由该公司创造出来的。目前它利用自己的MTV音乐频道推展新游戏——―摇滚乐队‖。Viacom还创造了在线 虚拟世界，这个游戏和几个电视频道如―Laguna Beach‖、―Pimp My Ride‖取得了联合。迪斯尼也于八月份购买 了―企鹅俱乐部‖，这是专门为孩子创造的虚拟世界。华纳时代通过其华纳兄弟家庭娱乐公司也涉足游戏业，该 公司出版了自己的名称，并于上个月收购了TT 游戏公司(该公司为―Lego 星际争霸‖游戏旗下的英国公司)。 TEXT TWO The haunting paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck, on show in the final leg of a travelling tour that has already attracted thousands of visitors in Hamburg and The Hague, may come as a surprise to many. Few outside the Nordic world would recognise the work of this Finnish artist who died in 1946. More people should. The 120 works have at their core 20 self-portraits, half the number she painted in all. The first, dated 1880, is of a wide-eyed teenager eager to absorb everything. The last is a sighting of the artist's ghost-to-be; Schjerfbeck died the year after it was made. Together this series is among the most moving and accomplished autobiographies-in-paint. Precociously gifted, Schjerfbeck was 11 when she entered the Finnish Art Society's drawing school. ―The Wounded Warrior in the Snow‖, a history painting, was bought by a private collector and won her a state travel grant when she was 17. Schjerfbeck studied in Paris, went on to Pont-Aven, Brittany, where she painted for a year, then to Tuscany, Cornwall and St Petersburg. During her 1887 visit to St Ives, Cornwall, Schjerfbeck painted ―The Convalescent‖. A child wrapped in a blanket sits propped up in a large wicker chair, toying with a sprig. The picture won a bronze medal at the 1889 Paris World Fair and was bought by the Finnish Art Society. To a modern eye it seems almost sentimental and is redeemed only by the somewhat stunned, melancholy expression on the child's face, which may have been inspired by Schjerfbeck's early experiences. At four, she fell down a flight of steps and never fully recovered. In 1890, Schjerfbeck settled in Finland. Teaching exhausted her, she did not like the work of other local painters, 6 and she was further isolated when she took on the care of her mother (who lived until 1923). ―If I allow myself the freedom to live a secluded life‖, she wrote, ―then it is because it has to be that way.‖ In 1902, Schjerfbeck and her mother settled in the small, industrial town of Hyvinkaa, 50 kilometres north of Helsinki. Isolation had one desired effect for it was there that Schjerfbeck became a modern painter. She produced still lives and landscapes but above all moody yet incisive portraits of her mother, local school girls, women workers in town (profiles of a pensive, aristocratic looking seamstress dressed in black stand out). And of course she painted herself. Comparisons have been made with James McNeill Whistler and Edvard Munch. But from 1905, her pictures became pure Schjerfbeck. ―I have always searched for the dense depths of the soul, that have not yet discovered themselves‖, she wrote, ―where everything is still unconscious—there one can make the greatest discoveries.‖ She experimented with different kinds of underpainting, scraped and rubbed, made bright rosy red spots; doing whatever had to be done to capture the subconscious—her own and that of her models. In 1913, Schjerfbeck was rediscovered by an art dealer and journalist, Gosta Stenman. Once again she was a success. Retrospectives, touring exhibitions and a biography followed, yet Schjerfbeck remained little known outside Scandinavia. That may have had something to do with her indifference to her renown. ―I am nothing, absolutely nothing‖, she wrote. ―All I want to do is paint‖. Schjerfbeck was possessed of a unique vision, and it is time the world recognised that. 7 参考译文: Helene Schjerfbeck那些让人不易忘怀的画在这次巡展最后的展出将会给人带来许多惊喜，而其实这次 巡展已经吸引了汉堡和海牙成千上万的游客。日耳曼世界之外很少会有人认出这位于1946年去世的芬兰 艺术家的作品来，但更多的人应该认出她的作品。在这120幅作品中有20幅是她的自画像，这是她所有 创作的自画像的一半。第一副创作于1880年，是渴望吸收一切的一个大眼睛少女，而最后一幅是艺术家 即将成为鬼魂的一幕，而她正是在这幅作品创作完毕后的那年去世的。这个系列是最生动、最完美的自画 像之一。 Schjerfbeck少年就富有天赋，11岁就进入了芬兰艺术协会的绘画学校。―雪中受伤的战士‖是一幅历史 画，由一位私人收藏家买走，这使得她在17岁就赢得了可以环游整个国家的资金。她在巴黎学习，后来 又到不列塔尼的Pont-Aven，在那里她画了一年，随后又去了托斯卡纳区、康沃尔和圣彼得堡。1887年访 问康沃尔的圣艾夫斯期间，她创作了―正在康复的病人‖——裹着一条毯子的一个小孩靠着一把大柳条椅坐 着，手里玩着一个小树枝。这幅作品在1889年巴黎世界展览上赢得了铜牌，并被芬兰艺术协会买走。在 现代人看来这幅画仿佛是感伤的，只有孩子有点发呆、忧郁的表情算是一点缓和。这可能是Schjerfbeck 小时候的经历触发而创作的。她4岁时从楼梯上摔了下来，后来再没有痊愈过。 1890年，Schjerfbeck在芬兰定居。她厌烦了教学生涯，她不喜欢其他当地画家的作品，而后来当她开 始照顾她母亲(活到1923年)时就变得更孤立了。―如果我允许自己选择了一种隐居地生活‖她写道，―那 是因为事情只能这样。‖1902年，Schjerfbeck和她母亲定居在工业小镇Hyvinkaa，在赫尔辛基北面50公里 的地方。 不过与世隔绝倒是有一种理想的效果，因为就是在那里Schjerfbeck转变为一名现代画家。依旧，她画 了许多静止的生命和景物，但最重要的是画了她那忧悒、尖刻的母亲，还有当地上学的女孩、小镇上的女 工人(其中一位穿黑衣的、沉思的、具有贵族气质的女裁缝师的侧面像最为突出)。当然她还画了自己。 人们将她的画和James McNeill Whistler、Edward Munch的做对比，但从1905年开始，她的作品变成纯粹 的Schjerfbeck风格: ―我一直在寻找灵魂的最深处，但是它们还是没有找到自己，‖她这样写道，―哪里有无意识的东西，哪 里们就有最伟大的发现。‖她尝试着使用了不同的画底色，刮了，擦了，画出了明亮的玫瑰红点;她做了 一切自己能做的去捕捉潜意识——她自己的，还有她的那些模特的。1913年，Schjerfbeck被一位艺术商人 兼记者Gosta Stenman重新发现。这一次她又成功了。作品回顾展、巡回展出，接着是一部传记，但是在 斯堪的纳维亚半岛之外很少有人知道她。这也许和她对声望不予理会有关。―我不是什么名人，绝对不是，‖ 她这样写道，―我需要的只是绘画。‖ Schjerfbeck有独特的眼光，现在是全世界该认识她的时候了。 TEXT THREE When Catholic clergy or ―pro-life‖ politicians argue that abortion laws should be tightened, they do so in the belief that this will reduce the number of terminations. Yet the largest global study of abortion ever undertaken casts doubt on that simple proposition. Restricting abortions, the study says, has little effect on the number of pregnancies terminated. Rather, it drives women to seek illegal, often unsafe backstreet abortions leading to an estimated 67,000 deaths a year. A further 5m women require hospital treatment as a result of botched procedures. In Africa and Asia, where abortion is generally either illegal or restricted, the abortion rate in 2003 (the latest year for which figures are available) was 29 per 1,000 women aged 15-44. This is almost identical to the rate in Europe—28—where legal abortions are widely available. Latin America, which has some of the world's most restrictive abortion laws, is the region with the highest abortion rate (31), while western Europe, which has some of the most liberal laws, has the lowest (12). The study, carried out by the Guttmacher Institute in New York in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and published in a British medical journal, the Lancet, found that most abortions occur in developing countries—35m a year, compared with just 7m in rich countries. But this was largely a reflection of population size. A woman's likelihood of having an abortion is similar whether she lives in a rich country (26 per 1,000) or a poor or middle-income one (29). Lest it be thought that these sweeping continental numbers hide as much as they reveal, the same point can be made by looking at those countries which have changed their laws. Between 1995 and 2005, 17 nations liberalised abortion legislation, while three tightened restrictions. The number of induced abortions nevertheless declined from nearly 46m in 1995 to 42m in 2003, resulting in a fall in the worldwide abortion rate from 35 to 29. The most 8 dramatic drop—from 90 to 44—was in former communist Eastern Europe, where abortion is generally legal, safe and cheap. This coincided with a big increase in contraceptive use in the region which still has the world's highest abortion rate, with more terminations than live births. The risk of dying in a botched abortion is only part of a broader problem of maternal health in poor countries. Of all the inequalities of development, this is arguably the worst. According to a report published this week by Population Action International, a Washington-based lobby group, women in poor countries are 250 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than women in rich ones. (2)Of the 535,000 women who died in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications in 2005, 99% were in developing countries, according to another report by a group of UN agencies, including WHO, also out this week. Africa accounted for more than half such deaths.As the UN report noted, countries with the highest levels of maternal mortality have made the least progress towards reducing it. A woman in Africa has a one in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth, compared with one in 3,800 for a woman in the rich world. 参考译文 天主教牧师或反对堕胎合法化的政治家们要求加紧堕胎方面的法律，他们这样做是因为相信这样就可 以降低堕胎数量。然而迄今为止最大的全球堕胎调查却让大家对这个简单的主张产生了怀疑。该研究表明， 限制堕胎对降低终止怀孕数量影响颇微，这样反而使得妇女寻求一些非法、不安全的秘密堕胎，而每年因 此死亡的妇女达67000人，还有另外500万妇女因为手术拙劣需要住院治疗。 一般来说，堕胎在非洲和亚洲或是非法的，或是受到限制，2003年(可提供数据的最近年份)其堕胎 率为每1000名15至44岁的妇女中有29名。这个数字和欧洲堕胎率几乎相同(欧洲为28名)，而在欧洲 堕胎广为可行。而拥有世界上最严格的堕胎法的拉丁美洲有最高的堕胎率(31名)，在世界上拥有最宽松 的堕胎法律的西欧堕胎率最低(12名)。 这项研究由纽约的Guttmacher研究所和世界卫生组织合作进行，发表于英国医疗期刊Lancet上，该研 究发现大多数堕胎都发生在发展中国家，一年大约有3500万例，而在富裕国家中一年只有700万例。不过 这在很大程度上也反映了人口规模。一个妇女不论在哪里，堕胎的可能性大致相同，在富裕国家是千分 之二十六，在贫穷或中等收入国家是千分之二十九。 为了避免人们认为这些规模庞大的大陆性数字揭示了一些现象，但也同样掩盖了一些，那么只要看 看那些改革法律的国家的情况，这一点也同样可以证实。1995年至2005年期间，有17个国家放宽了堕胎 法律，有3个国家加强了堕胎的限制，然而堕胎数量却从1995年的近4600万例下降为2003年的4200万 例，使得全世界堕胎率由千分之三十五下降到千分之二十九。而最大的降幅——从千分之九十降到千分之 四十四——发生在前共产主义的东欧，在该国堕胎一般是合法的、安全的，而且是廉价的。而在同一时期， 世界上堕胎率最高的地区(堕胎数比出生人数多)，其避孕措施使用则增幅较大。 在贫穷国家，因拙劣的堕胎技术而死亡的风险只不过是妇女健康这个广泛的问题的一部分而已。但 在所有的发展不平衡中，这可以说是最糟糕的。基地在华盛顿的一个游说团组织―国际人口行动‖本周发表 的一篇报道声称，贫困国家妇女在怀孕或生产中死亡率是发达国家妇女的250倍。而根据本周联合国机构 (包括世界卫生组织)的一个组织的另外一个报道，2005年死于生产或怀孕相关并发症的53万5千名妇 女中，99%是在发展中国家。半数以上的死亡妇女在非洲。正如联合国报道所指出的，孕产妇死亡率最高 的国家为降低该死亡率进行努力的进展也最慢。一个非洲妇女因怀孕或生产的死亡几率是16次中有一次， 而在富裕国家这个数字为3800次中有一次。 TEXT FOUR After receiving a six-year prison sentence on July 31st, Sanjay Dutt, an Indian film star, begged for bail while he appealed against it. ―Sir, I made a mistake,‖ he said. But the judge said no. Mr. Dutt's crime—to have procured two guns from Muslim mobsters who were responsible for bomb attacks in Mumbai in 1993—was serious. Yet he urged Mr. Dutt, 48, to return to the silver screen after serving his sentence. ―Don't get perturbed,‖ he said. ―You have many years to go and work, like the 'Mackenna's Gold' actor Gregory Peck.‖ Thus ended one of the longest song-and-dances in India's criminal legal history. Mr. Dutt was convicted last year, having already spent 16 months in jail. He was acquitted of direct involvement in the bombings, which killed 257 people. They were carried out in 1993 in revenge for the demolition of an ancient mosque in the Hindu holy city of Ayodhya by Hindu fanatics, and subsequent Hindu-Muslim rioting. Some 100 people have been found guilty of the bombing. They have all been sentenced in the past three months, including a dozen to death and 20 to life- 9 imprisonment. But the alleged masterminds of the attacks are still at large. One of them, a Mumbai gangster called Dawood Ibrahim, is alleged by Indian officials to be linked to al-Qaeda and to be hiding in Pakistan. Despite the bleak immediate outlook, Mr. Dutt, who made his name playing tough-guy anti-heroes, is unlikely to find his career much damaged. The son of two of Bollywood's biggest stars, a Hindu-Muslim couple, he has garnered enormous sympathy for his suffering. Many Indians believe his claim that he wanted the guns to protect his family during the riots. Other Bollywood stars express support for Mr. Dutt as passionately as their Hollywood peers worry about global warming. Then again, Bollywood is rather shady. Gangsters and crooked politicians have long laundered ill-gotten money through film productions. Indeed Mr. Dutt was investigated over money-laundering allegations in 2001. Other recent Bollywood stars to grace the courts include Monica Bedi, an actress convicted of dealing in fake passports. Her accomplice was another Mumbai gangster, Abu Salem, who delivered the guns to Mr. Dutt, and is currently awaiting trial for his alleged part in the 1993 bombings. An even bigger Bollywood star, Salman Khan, is appealing against two prison sentences of five years and one year for poaching respectively an endangered antelope and two gazelles. A Bollywood film about the case has been scheduled. Mr. Khan has also had to battle a four-year-old charge that he recklessly drove his car over five people sleeping on a pavement in Mumbai, killing one of them. Bollywood's biggest star, Amitabh Bachchan, also known as ―the Big B‖, is, in contrast, venerated. Where Mr. Khan is vain and brash, he has a reputation for humility and Hindu piety. But even this has been imperilled of late by revelations that Mr. Bachchan and his film-star son, Abhishek, bought valuable plots of land reserved for farmers. They registered themselves thus after being allotted farmland by a former government of the state of Uttar Pradesh, led by the Samajwadi party. Mr. Bachchan is close to one of the party's leading lights, Amar Singh, a famed socialite. Mr. Bachchan's wife, Jaya, an actress, is now also a Samajwadi politician. 参考译文: 7月31日，印度影星Sanjay Dutt被判处六年监禁，他提起上诉同时要求保释。―先生，我犯了个错，‖ 他这样说。但法官说不行。Dutt先生的罪行比较严重，他从穆斯林匪徒那里拿到两支枪，而这些匪徒是1993 年Mumbai爆炸袭击的主犯。不过，法官规劝48岁的Dutt先生服完行后重返银屏。―别烦恼，‖他说，―你 前面的路还长着呢，就像 ?Mackenna‘s Gold‘的演员Gregory Peck一样。‖ 这样就结束了印度刑事法律历史上最长的歌舞剧。去年Dutt被宣告有罪，已经在监狱服刑16个月。 他被赦免直接参与爆炸事件的罪名，这些爆炸事件炸死了257人。爆炸事件发生于1993年，是为了报复 印度教狂热教徒毁坏了印度圣城Ayodhya一座古老的清真寺以及随后的印度—穆斯林暴乱。到目前已有 100人因该爆炸事件被判有罪，并且已在过去三个月里进行了量刑，其中十几个人被判处死刑，20个人终 身监禁。但是这些袭击的所谓的策划者仍然逍遥法外，印度官员断言其中一个名叫Dawood Ibrahim的 Mumbai歹徒与基地组织有关系，目前藏匿在巴基斯坦。 尽管Dutt先生短期的前景看起来比较黯淡，但他已经因扮演硬汉式的平凡主角而出名，不会觉得自己 的事业会因此被毁坏。作为两个Bollywood最大的影星、印度—穆斯林夫妻的儿子，他已经为自己的遭遇 攒够了同情。许多印度人都相信他所说的是为了在暴乱中保护自己的家庭才要枪支 的。其他Bollywood明星也对Dutt先生表示支持，程度不亚于他们好莱坞同行对全球变暖问题的担心。 不过，Bollywood却是阴暗的。长时间以来许多匪徒和无耻的政客一直 在通过电影业洗黑钱。实际上，2001年Dutt先生就因为洗钱受到过调查，其他在法庭出现的Bollywood明 星还有Monica Bedi，她被控从事假护照交易。其同伙是另外一个Mumbai 匪徒叫Abu Salem, 就是此人将枪支交给Dutt先生，目前他因被指控参加了1993年的爆炸事件而在等待审判。 一位更有名的Bollywood明星SalmanKhan目前正在提起上诉，他因偷猎濒临绝灭的羚羊和瞪羚分别被 判一个 五年监禁，一个一年监禁。目前关于这起案子的一个Bollywood电影已经在策划中。Khan先生还得为自己 之前的一个已经进行了四年的指控反抗，当时他鲁莽地驾车压过了五个躺在人行道上睡觉的人，其中一 人死亡。 相反，Bollywood 最著名的明星Amitabh Bachchan，一般人都称―大B‖,却受到崇敬。Khan自负而又无 礼，而他但却因谦虚和印度教的虔诚而出名。但是目前有人揭发Bachchan先生和他的影星儿子Abhishek 购买了本来预留给农民的宝贵土地，因此他们也处于危险境地。Samajwadi领导的前Uttar Pradesh州政府 分配给他们这些土地后，他们就进行了注册。Bachchan和该党一位著名的领袖Amar Singh，一位前社交名 流交往颇密。而Bachchan先生的演员妻子Jaya现在也是Samajwadi政治家。 10 UNIT THREE TEXT ONE Scores of workers from MTV Networks walked off the job yesterday afternoon, filling the sidewalk outside the headquarters of its corporate parent, Viacom, to protest recent changes in benefits. The walkout highlighted the concerns of a category of workers who are sometimes called permalancers: permanent freelancers who work like full-time employees but do not receive the same benefits. Waving signs that read ''Shame on Viacom,'' the workers, most of them in their 20s, demanded that MTV Networks reverse a plan to reduce health and dental benefits for freelancers beginning Jan. 1. In a statement, MTV Networks noted that its benefits program for full-time employees had also undergone changes, and it emphasized that the plan for freelancers was still highly competitive within the industry. Many freelancers receive no corporate benefits. But some of the protesters asserted that corporations were competing to see which could provide the most mediocre health care coverage. Matthew Yonda, who works at Nickelodeon, held a sign that labeled the network ''Sick-elodeon.'' ''I've worked here every day for three years -- I'm not a freelancer,'' Mr. Yonda said. ''They just call us freelancers in order to bar us from getting the same benefits as employees.'' The changes to the benefits package were announced last Tuesday. Freelancers were told that they would become eligible for benefits after 160 days of work, beginning in January. While that eased previous eligibility rules, which required freelancers to work for 52 weeks before becoming eligible, it would have required all freelancers not yet eligible for benefits to start the waiting period over again on Jan. 1. The 401(k) plan was also removed. On Thursday, acknowledging the complaints, MTV Networks reinstated the 401(k) plan and said freelancers who had worked consistently since March would be eligible. Fueled by a series of blog posts on the media Web site Gawker -- the first post was headlined ''The Viacom Permalance Slave System'' -- a loose cohort of freelancers created protest stickers and distributed walkout fliers last week. Caroline O'Hare, a unit manager who has worked for MTV for more than two years, said the new health care plan -- with higher deductibles and a $2,000 cap on hospital expenses each year -- had provoked outrage. ''They think they can treat us like children that don't have families, mortgages or dreams of retirement,'' she said. Outside Viacom's headquarters, several workers held posters with the words, ''There's too many of us to ignore.'' It was unclear how many freelancers are on the company's payroll; an MTV Networks spokeswoman said the figure was not known because it rises and falls throughout the year. The company has 5,500 full-time employees, excluding freelancers, around the world. Two freelancers and one full-time employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, estimated that the percentage of freelancers in some departments exceeded 75 percent. Another labor action is expected to take place outside Viacom later this week. Members of the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike for five weeks, are expected to picket there on Thursday. 参考译文: 昨天下午，MTV Networks的许多工人进行了一场罢工，站满了其上级公司Viacom总部外的人行道， 抗议最近福利方面的变化。这次罢工突出反映了那些有时被称作永久自由职业者的工人们的忧虑:他们和 全职员工一样工作，但是却得不到同样的福利。 这些工人大多数都是二十多岁，他们手中挥舞着写有―Viacom 无耻‖的标语，要求MTV Networks收回 于1月1日开始实施的旨在减少自由职业者健康和牙齿医疗方面福利的 计划 项目进度计划表范例计划下载计划下载计划下载课程教学计划下载 。MTV Networks在一份声明 中提到其全职员工的福利计划也发生了一些变化，并且强调他们对自由职业者的福利计划在行业中是有一 定优势的。许多自由职业者没有任何的公司福利。但是一些抗议者声称公司在比看谁提供的医疗保健计划 最普通。在Nickelodeon工作的Matthew Yonda手中的标语写着―恶心的elodeon‖。―我三年来每天都在这里 工作——我不是自由职业者，‖Yonda这样说，―他们叫我们自由职业者，目的就是不让我们享受和正式员 工一样的福利。‖ 福利变化是于上周二公布的，自由职业者被告知他们只能在从,月,日起的160天后才有资格享受福 利。虽然这样一来放宽了以前的资格规定(该规定要求自由职业者必须工作52周后才能成为合格员工)， 但却要求所有尚无资格享受福利的自由职业者从1月1日重新开始计算等待期。401(k)计划也被取消了。 11 星期四，MTV Networks在收到申诉后又恢复了401(k)计划，宣布从三月以来一直工作的自由职业者可 以不用等候就可以有资格享受福利。其他的一些改变也引起了公愤。 媒体网Gawker张贴的一系列的博客公告更是火上浇油(第一篇公告的标题为―Viacom 的永久自由职 业者奴隶体系‖)，一群组织松散的自由职业者上周做了抗议张贴物并散发罢工传单。Caroline O'Hare是曾 在MTV工作过两年多的部门经理，她说这个新的健康保障计划含有更高的扣除条款，并设定了每年医疗 花费2000美元的最高限额，已经引起了公愤。―他们觉得可以对待我们可以像对待没有家庭、抵押贷款和 退休梦想的孩子一样。‖她这样说。 在Viacom总部外，几个工人手中的条幅这样写着:―我们人数众多，不容忽视。‖目前尚不清楚到底 有多少自由职业者被划入该公司的薪水册中，MTV Networks一位女发言人声称由于一年中这个数字起起 伏伏，所以现在这个数字还不能确定。该公司除自由职业者外，在全世界有5500个全职员工。 据两个自由职业者和一个全职员工估计在某些部门自由职业者的比例高达75%，这三个人因害怕被公 司报复要求而不要公开他们身份。另外一项劳动诉讼可能将于本周晚些时候在Viacom外进行。美国作家 协会的成员已经罢工五周，可望于周四在此派出纠察员。 TEXT TWO A boy or a girl? That is usually the first question asked when a woman gives birth. Remarkably, the answer varies with where the mother lives. In rich countries the chances of its being a boy are about 5% higher than in poor ones. Equally remarkably, that figure has been falling recently. Several theories have been put forward to explain these observations. Some argue that smoking plays a role, others that diet may be important. Neither of these ideas has been supported by evidence from large studies. But new research points to a different factor: stress. Strange as it might seem, the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 shed light on the enigma. Studies noting the sex of babies conceived in New York during the week of the attacks found a drop in the ratio of males to females. That is consistent with earlier studies, which revealed a similar shift in women who became pregnant during floods and earthquakes and in time of war. Moreover, a study carried out eight years ago by researchers at the University of Aarhus, in Denmark, revealed that women who suffered the death of a child or spouse from some catastrophic illness around the time they conceived were much more likely to give birth to girls than to boys. Taken together, these results suggest that acute stress to a woman at the time of conception shifts the sex ratio towards girls. However, Carsten Obel, a researcher at Aarhus who was not involved in the earlier study, wondered if the same might be true of chronic stress too. In a paper just published in Human Development, he shows that it is. Dr Obel used a set of data collected between 1989 and 1992. During that period 8,719 expectant mothers were asked to fill in questionnaires that inquired, among other things, about their level of stress. Dr Obel found that the more stressed a mother had been, the less chance she had of having given birth to a boy. Only 47% of children born to women in the top quartile of stress were males. That compared with 52% for women in the bottom quartile. Dr Obel suspects the immediate cause is that male pregnancies are more likely to miscarry in response to stress than female pregnancies are, especially during the first three months. However, that is difficult to prove. More intriguing, though, is the ultimate cause, for he thinks it might be adaptive, rather than pathological. That is because the chances are that a daughter who reaches adulthood will find a mate and thus produce grandchildren. A son is a different matter. Healthy, strapping sons are likely to produce lots of grandchildren, by several women—or would have done in the hunter-gatherer societies in which most human evolution took place. Weak ones would be marginalised and maybe even killed in the cut and thrust of male competition. If a mother's stress adversely affects the development of her fetus then selectively aborting boys, rather than wasting time and resources on bringing them to term, would make evolutionary sense. That, in turn, would explain why women in rich countries, who are less likely to suffer from hunger and disease, are more likely to give birth to sons. That this likelihood is, nevertheless, falling suggests that rich women's lives may be more stressful than they used to be. 参考译文: 男孩还是女孩,这通常是一个女人生完孩子后问的第一个问题。很显然的，因为这位母亲所在的地方 不同答案也就不同。在富裕国家中生男孩的比率要比贫穷国家高5%。同样引人注目的是，最近这个数字 12 有所降低。人们提出了几个理论来解释这些现象。有人认为吸烟可能是原因所在，也有人认为节食的影响 较大。但大规模研究的证据却都不支持这两个观点，而新的研究指出了另外一个因素:压力。 虽然看起来很奇怪，但2001年―9?11‖恐怖袭击揭示了这个问题的谜底。对恐怖袭击的那一周在纽约出 生婴儿的性别研究发现男女性别比例下降了，这与早期的研究一致。早期研究表明洪水、地震和战争期间 怀孕妇女生育男女的比例也有相似的变化。而且，八年前奥尔胡斯大学研究者们做的一项研究也表明，经 过头胎死亡经历或配偶在其怀孕期间患上一些灾难性疾病的妇女更有可能生女孩。 综合这些研究结果表明女性在受精时如果受到突然的压力，那么生女孩的比例就会增大。但是，奥尔 胡斯的一位研究者CarstenObel并没有参与早期的研究，他怀疑持续的压力是否也会有同样的影响。他刚 刚在《人类发展》上发表的一篇 论文 政研论文下载论文大学下载论文大学下载关于长拳的论文浙大论文封面下载 表明事实确实如此。 Obel博士使用了1989年至1992年间的一组数字。在这个时期，8791名妇女受邀填写问卷调查，调 查其中一项就是她们压力程度。Obel博士发现一个妇女承受的压力越重，她生男孩的概率就越小。压力最 大的四成妇女只有47%生育男孩，而最小的四成妇女比例为52%。Obel博士怀疑这种现象的直接原因是在 压力的情况下，怀男婴的妇女比怀女婴的妇女更容易流产，尤其是在前三个月。这一点很难证实。更让人 迷惑的是他认为根本原因是适应性的而不是生理性的。 这是因为可能的情况是女孩成年后就要找一位男性，然后生育后代。而男孩则不一样。健康、魁梧的 男性更有可能与几位女性生育很多后代，至少在原始狩猎族社会是这样的，大多数人类进化就是这样进行 的。弱小的将会被边缘化，甚至有可能在男性的竞争性打斗中被杀死。如果母亲受到的压力对胎儿发展起 到相反作用，选择性地将男孩流产，而不是浪费时间和资源将他们养大，这从进化意义上说得通的。 这反过来也可以解释为什么在富裕国家中女性很少受到饥饿和疾病的威胁，更容易生育男孩。尽管 存在这种可能，但是数据的下降说明富裕女性目前所受的压力要比以前大得多。 TEXT THREE Despite bulging order books, the mood at Airbus and Boeing is far from celebratory. Both aviation giants are moaning loudly that their production systems and supply chains are flawed, albeit for ostensibly different reasons. This week Louis Gallois, the boss of EADS, the Franco-German aerospace consortium that owns Airbus, added substance to warnings a week earlier by the planemaker's chief executive, Tom Enders, that the dollar's decline was ―life-threatening‖ for the firm. Mr Gallois said it was no longer just a possibility that Airbus would have to move a large part of its production to ―the dollar zone‖ or low-cost countries, but a certainty. Airbus is already in the middle of Power8, a big restructuring plan that involves the loss of 10,000 jobs and the sale of several plants, which is meant to offset the losses caused by the delays in delivering the A380 superjumbo. But Power8 assumed that a euro was worth $1.35, not today's $1.47. Mr Gallois estimates that each 10-cent rise in the euro costs Airbus ?1 billion. At present, Airbus makes 76% of its purchases within Europe, but generates over 60% of its sales elsewhere. It must now shift some production abroad. Airbus is now likely to forge ahead much further. Mr Gallois suggests that when the A350 enters service in 2013, 70% of it will have been ―purchased‖ in dollars, against 50% for the A380 and an average 24% of Airbus production today. Because Airbus insists that some of its European suppliers price in dollars that means about 50% of the A350's production will be outsourced. New aircraft, such as the A320's successor, may be made almost entirely outside the euro-zone. Airbus maintains that exchange rates are not the only reason for outsourcing: it is keen to tap into composite-manufacturing expertise wherever it exists. It also insists that it will not repeat the mistakes Boeing has made with its new 787 Dreamliner, about 80% of which has been outsourced. A few weeks ago Mike Bair, the executive responsible for the 787 programme, who was recently moved sideways after mounting production delays, launched a withering attack on some of the companies recruited to build the plane. He said that in future Boeing would not entrust design work to partners who ―proved incapable of doing it‖, and would make suppliers build factories close to Boeing's main assembly operation, rather than flying semi-finished sections of the aircraft round the world on huge Dreamlifter transporters. It is too early to conclude that the two rivals are heading in opposite directions—Boeing renouncing the global supply chain just as Airbus adopts it. Each company has its own axe to grind. Airbus needs greater flexibility, and the weak dollar provides helpful cover as it takes on its grumbling unions. Boeing, for its part, wants to shift the 13 blame for delays to the 787 on to its partners. The logic of global outsourcing in the aerospace industry remains powerful. Whatever they may be saying now, Airbus and Boeing are more likely to converge than to diverge. 参考译文: 尽管收到大量的订单，空中客车和波音公司中却丝毫没有庆祝的气氛。两个航空巨头都在大声抱怨其 生产系统和供应链有缺陷，虽然表面上看起来其原因不同。法德航天财团EADS(空中客车属于该财团) 老总Louis Galloi本周强调了一周前飞机制造首席执行官Tom Enders的警告，指出美元的贬值对于公司造 成了生命威胁。Gallois先生表示，空中客车将其很大一部分生产转移到―美元区‖或低成本国家不再是一种 可能，而成为了一种必然。 空中客车正在进行能量8计划，这项大型重组计划将导致一万名员工丧失工作，以及出售数家工厂，目 的是弥补在因延迟交付A380巨型喷气式飞机造成的损失。但开始时能量8假定1欧元对1.35美元，而不 是现在的1.47美元。Gallois先生估计欧元每升值10分，空中客车就要损失10亿欧元。目前，空中客车 75%的采购都在欧洲，但60%的销售却在别的地方。现在它必须将一些生产转移到海外去。 现在空中客车可能要往前更进一步。Gallois先生建议2013年A350进入市场后，其70%的采购将以 美元进行，而目前A38050%的美元采购和空中客车平均24%的生产为美元采购。因为空中客车强调其欧洲 供应商必须以美元定价，也就是A350 50%的生产将在海外采购。新的飞机如下一代A32可能全部都要在 欧元区之外的地方生产。 空中客车认为汇率并不是海外采购的唯一原因，它还希望接纳复合的制造技术，无论哪里有这种技术。 公司还强调不会重复波音在新的787―梦之机‖上已经犯过的错误，该机型80%的采购都外包出去了。负责 787项目的主管Mike Bair因为延误了生产近期换到别处，几周前他对一些已参与制造该飞机的公司进行了 毁灭性的攻击。他说未来波音公司不会将任何设计工作委托给―被证明不能胜任‖的合作者，也将会让供应 商在波音主要的组装车间旁建立工厂，而不再用大型的Dreamlifter运输机将飞机的半成品部分进行环绕世 界的运输。 正当空中客车刚刚采用了全球供应链时波音公司却放弃了这种模式，但是现在就下结论说这两个对手 正朝两个不同的方向发展还为时太早。每个公司都有自己的斧头需要研磨，空中客车需要更大的灵活性， 而疲软的美元为这家受工会抱怨地公司提供了很好的掩盖。而波音却想将787项目延迟的责任推到其合作 者身上。航空业全球外包逻辑还是非常强大的，不管空中客车和波音公司现在说的是什么，它们其实是在 走得更近而不是兵分两路。 TEXT FOUR Imagine how much sleep future musicologists will lose over Philip Glass. Throughout his career he has changed his scores to suit the circumstances, trimming them for recordings, for example, because he believes that nonvisual performances benefit from (relative) concision. The notion of an immutable, sacrosanct urtext -- the very thing musicologists sift historical evidence hoping to establish -- is entirely alien to him. Still, you would think that if Mr. Glass held anything sacred, it would be the structure and format of ''Einstein on the Beach.'' At that opera's premiere in 1976, and in its 1984 and 1992 revivals, ''Einstein'' played for five hours with no intermission. Free of narrative but rich in associations and imagery -- Einstein as a madly ecstatic violinist but also as the father of nuclear power -- the work unfolded inexorably, its repeated musical phrases creating rhythmic wheels within wheels. The libretto, mostly numbers, solfege syllables and quirky, stream-of-consciousness spoken texts, works its own hypnotic spell. Listeners were free to come and go as they pleased, but some of the work's power came from its relentlessness, to say nothing of the quirkiness of Robert Wilson's staging. The version that Mr. Glass and his ensemble presented at Carnegie Hall on Thursday evening swept away the elements that made the work a happening and transformed it into a concert piece: three hours long, with an intermission and with formal seating rules in force. The breadth of the work was presented, if not its full sweep. The two-hour trim was accomplished by deleting sections from all but a few scenes. Some trims were noticeable: Lucinda Childs's tale of the multicolored bathing cap was intact, as were the quotations from Carole King's ''I Feel the Earth Move,'' but Mr. Bojangles was evicted from this version. Musically, the score survived the trims and might even have benefited from them: The brisker movement from one section to the next highlighted the degree of inventiveness that drives this piece and pointed up passages 14 of real beauty. In ''Knee Play 3,'' for example, the unaccompanied chorus sings streams of numbers, yet the music has the grandeur of a sacred setting much of the time and, at others, the energy of a symphonic presto. And Tim Fain, the violinist, gave the solo passages in the second, fourth and fifth ''Knee Plays'' and in the climactic, swirling ''Spaceship Interior'' scene an electrifying, virtuosic workout. Some of the work's magic is in the way its elements pull in opposite directions. The repetition of short phrases, on one hand, can be soporific; yet the wheezing keyboard and woodwind textures and the bursts of choral counting, with sibilants creating their own rhythmic patterns, are invigorating. And because the performance is heavily amplified, timbres seem to melt together: Is that repeating fragment a voice, a violin or the top notes of the organ figure? The ensemble, which included musicians who have been with Mr. Glass from the early days as well as newcomers, gave the score a tight, high-energy readi1( 15 参考译文: 设想一下未来音乐学者得在Philip Glass身上要花掉多少不眠之夜啊。在他的职业生涯中，Philip为适 应环境而改变乐谱，比如为了录音而修改乐谱，因为(相对的)简洁能使非视觉表演获益。音乐学者希望 通过搜索历史证据可以建立那种永恒的、神圣的原始乐谱概念，但他在这一点上有完全不同的想法。 但是，如果你认为Glass先生还是觉得有神圣的东西的话，那就是―海滩上的爱因斯坦‖的结构和格式。 1976年这部歌剧的首次公演，以及1984年和1992年的重演中，―爱因斯坦‖没有停歇地表演了五个小时。 爱因斯坦不仅是一个疯狂着迷的小提琴家，也是核能之父，而这部作品没有多少叙述，却充满了联想和想 象，它冷酷地展现在大家面前，不停重复的音乐措辞在圆圈里又创造出有节奏感的圆圈。歌词大多都是数 字、视唱练习的音节和怪异的意识流口语文本，创造出一种催眠的咒语。听众可以自由来去，但是这部作 品的力量就来源于它的冷酷，更不用说Robert Wilson离奇的舞台布置了。 周四晚上Glass先生和他的演出团队在卡内基大厅进行了演出，这次演出删除了这部剧作事件剧的一 些因素，将其转变为一部协奏曲。这次演出历时三个小时，有幕间休息，也有正式的座位规则。如果说这 次演出并没有将这部剧作的全部内容展示出来的话，至少其雄浑的效果得以展现出来。缩短的两个小时是 通过删去几幕的部分达到的，有些删节非常明显，比如Lucinda Childs彩色游泳帽的故事是完整的，还有 引用Carole King的话―我感到了地动‖也没有删掉, 但是Bojangles先生却被逐出了这次剧演。 从音乐上来讲，尽管作了删节但乐谱还是获得了成功，而且应该说是得益于删节。从一节到下一节轻 快的移动突出了其独创性，突出了具有真正美的篇章。比如在―膝盖戏,‖中，没有伴奏的合唱队唱着流畅 的数字，但是这时的音乐却有一种庄严的色彩，而其他章节中又体现了和声急板乐曲的力量。小提琴手Tim Fain在第二、第四和第五―膝盖剧‖中进行了独奏，而在高潮的漩涡式的―太空船内部‖一幕中，进行了电子 化、艺术性的加工。 这部作品的魅力部分在于里面的元素朝向不同的方向。短语的反复出现一方面有催眠的效果，但是发 出喘息声的键盘乐器、木管乐器以及突然爆发的读数合唱，还有那些独创的咝音节奏，听起来都那么令人 振奋。而因为演出大大增强，音质仿佛也融合在了一起。那重复的片断是人的声音，是小提琴还是管风琴 的高音,而不管是跟随Glass先生一直演出的团队还是新来的人员，都把乐谱唱的紧实而高昂。 UNIT THREE TEXT ONE Scores of workers from MTV Networks walked off the job yesterday afternoon, filling the sidewalk outside the headquarters of its corporate parent, Viacom, to protest recent changes in benefits. The walkout highlighted the concerns of a category of workers who are sometimes called permalancers: permanent freelancers who work like full-time employees but do not receive the same benefits. Waving signs that read ''Shame on Viacom,'' the workers, most of them in their 20s, demanded that MTV Networks reverse a plan to reduce health and dental benefits for freelancers beginning Jan. 1. In a statement, MTV Networks noted that its benefits program for full-time employees had also undergone changes, and it emphasized that the plan for freelancers was still highly competitive within the industry. Many freelancers receive no corporate benefits. But some of the protesters asserted that corporations were competing to see which could provide the most mediocre health care coverage. Matthew Yonda, who works at Nickelodeon, held a sign that labeled the network ''Sick-elodeon.'' ''I've worked here every day for three years -- I'm not a freelancer,'' Mr. Yonda said. ''They just call us freelancers in order to bar us from getting the same benefits as employees.'' The changes to the benefits package were announced last Tuesday. Freelancers were told that they would become eligible for benefits after 160 days of work, beginning in January. While that eased previous eligibility rules, which required freelancers to work for 52 weeks before becoming eligible, it would have required all freelancers not yet eligible for benefits to start the waiting period over again on Jan. 1. The 401(k) plan was also removed. On Thursday, acknowledging the complaints, MTV Networks reinstated the 401(k) plan and said freelancers who had worked consistently since March would be eligible. Fueled by a series of blog posts on the media Web site Gawker -- the first post was headlined ''The Viacom 16 Permalance Slave System'' -- a loose cohort of freelancers created protest stickers and distributed walkout fliers last week. Caroline O'Hare, a unit manager who has worked for MTV for more than two years, said the new health care plan -- with higher deductibles and a $2,000 cap on hospital expenses each year -- had provoked outrage. ''They think they can treat us like children that don't have families, mortgages or dreams of retirement,'' she said. Outside Viacom's headquarters, several workers held posters with the words, ''There's too many of us to ignore.'' It was unclear how many freelancers are on the company's payroll; an MTV Networks spokeswoman said the figure was not known because it rises and falls throughout the year. The company has 5,500 full-time employees, excluding freelancers, around the world. Two freelancers and one full-time employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, estimated that the percentage of freelancers in some departments exceeded 75 percent. Another labor action is expected to take place outside Viacom later this week. Members of the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike for five weeks, are expected to picket there on Thursday. 参考译文: 昨天下午，MTV Networks的许多工人进行了一场罢工，站满了其上级公司Viacom总部外的人行道， 抗议最近福利方面的变化。这次罢工突出反映了那些有时被称作永久自由职业者的工人们的忧虑:他们和 全职员工一样工作，但是却得不到同样的福利。 这些工人大多数都是二十多岁，他们手中挥舞着写有―Viacom 无耻‖的标语，要求MTV Networks收回 于1月1日开始实施的旨在减少自由职业者健康和牙齿医疗方面福利的计划。MTV Networks在一份声明 中提到其全职员工的福利计划也发生了一些变化，并且强调他们对自由职业者的福利计划在行业中是有一 定优势的。许多自由职业者没有任何的公司福利。但是一些抗议者声称公司在比看谁提供的医疗保健计划 最普通。在Nickelodeon工作的Matthew Yonda手中的标语写着―恶心的elodeon‖。―我三年来每天都在这里 工作——我不是自由职业者，‖Yonda这样说，―他们叫我们自由职业者，目的就是不让我们享受和正式员 工一样的福利。‖ 福利变化是于上周二公布的，自由职业者被告知他们只能在从,月,日起的160天后才有资格享受福 利。虽然这样一来放宽了以前的资格规定(该规定要求自由职业者必须工作52周后才能成为合格员工)， 但却要求所有尚无资格享受福利的自由职业者从1月1日重新开始计算等待期。401(k)计划也被取消了。 星期四，MTV Networks在收到申诉后又恢复了401(k)计划，宣布从三月以来一直工作的自由职业者可 以不用等候就可以有资格享受福利。其他的一些改变也引起了公愤。 媒体网Gawker张贴的一系列的博客公告更是火上浇油(第一篇公告的标题为―Viacom 的永久自由职 业者奴隶体系‖)，一群组织松散的自由职业者上周做了抗议张贴物并散发罢工传单。Caroline O'Hare是曾 在MTV工作过两年多的部门经理，她说这个新的健康保障计划含有更高的扣除条款，并设定了每年医疗 花费2000美元的最高限额，已经引起了公愤。―他们觉得可以对待我们可以像对待没有家庭、抵押贷款和 退休梦想的孩子一样。‖她这样说。 在Viacom总部外，几个工人手中的条幅这样写着:―我们人数众多，不容忽视。‖目前尚不清楚到底 有多少自由职业者被划入该公司的薪水册中，MTV Networks一位女发言人声称由于一年中这个数字起起 伏伏，所以现在这个数字还不能确定。该公司除自由职业者外，在全世界有5500个全职员工。 据两个自由职业者和一个全职员工估计在某些部门自由职业者的比例高达75%，这三个人因害怕被公 司报复要求而不要公开他们身份。另外一项劳动诉讼可能将于本周晚些时候在Viacom外进行。美国作家 协会的成员已经罢工五周，可望于周四在此派出纠察员。 TEXT TWO A boy or a girl? That is usually the first question asked when a woman gives birth. Remarkably, the answer varies with where the mother lives. In rich countries the chances of its being a boy are about 5% higher than in poor ones. Equally remarkably, that figure has been falling recently. Several theories have been put forward to explain these observations. Some argue that smoking plays a role, others that diet may be important. Neither of these ideas has been supported by evidence from large studies. But new research points to a different factor: stress. Strange as it might seem, the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 shed light on the enigma. Studies noting the sex of babies conceived in New York during the week of the attacks found a drop in the ratio of males to females. 17 That is consistent with earlier studies, which revealed a similar shift in women who became pregnant during floods and earthquakes and in time of war. Moreover, a study carried out eight years ago by researchers at the University of Aarhus, in Denmark, revealed that women who suffered the death of a child or spouse from some catastrophic illness around the time they conceived were much more likely to give birth to girls than to boys. Taken together, these results suggest that acute stress to a woman at the time of conception shifts the sex ratio towards girls. However, Carsten Obel, a researcher at Aarhus who was not involved in the earlier study, wondered if the same might be true of chronic stress too. In a paper just published in Human Development, he shows that it is. Dr Obel used a set of data collected between 1989 and 1992. During that period 8,719 expectant mothers were asked to fill in questionnaires that inquired, among other things, about their level of stress. Dr Obel found that the more stressed a mother had been, the less chance she had of having given birth to a boy. Only 47% of children born to women in the top quartile of stress were males. That compared with 52% for women in the bottom quartile. Dr Obel suspects the immediate cause is that male pregnancies are more likely to miscarry in response to stress than female pregnancies are, especially during the first three months. However, that is difficult to prove. More intriguing, though, is the ultimate cause, for he thinks it might be adaptive, rather than pathological. That is because the chances are that a daughter who reaches adulthood will find a mate and thus produce grandchildren. A son is a different matter. Healthy, strapping sons are likely to produce lots of grandchildren, by several women—or would have done in the hunter-gatherer societies in which most human evolution took place. Weak ones would be marginalised and maybe even killed in the cut and thrust of male competition. If a mother's stress adversely affects the development of her fetus then selectively aborting boys, rather than wasting time and resources on bringing them to term, would make evolutionary sense. That, in turn, would explain why women in rich countries, who are less likely to suffer from hunger and disease, are more likely to give birth to sons. That this likelihood is, nevertheless, falling suggests that rich women's lives may be more stressful than they used to be. 参考译文: 男孩还是女孩,这通常是一个女人生完孩子后问的第一个问题。很显然的，因为这位母亲所在的地方 不同答案也就不同。在富裕国家中生男孩的比率要比贫穷国家高5%。同样引人注目的是，最近这个数字 有所降低。人们提出了几个理论来解释这些现象。有人认为吸烟可能是原因所在，也有人认为节食的影响 较大。但大规模研究的证据却都不支持这两个观点，而新的研究指出了另外一个因素:压力。 虽然看起来很奇怪，但2001年―9?11‖恐怖袭击揭示了这个问题的谜底。对恐怖袭击的那一周在纽约出 生婴儿的性别研究发现男女性别比例下降了，这与早期的研究一致。早期研究表明洪水、地震和战争期间 怀孕妇女生育男女的比例也有相似的变化。而且，八年前奥尔胡斯大学研究者们做的一项研究也表明，经 过头胎死亡经历或配偶在其怀孕期间患上一些灾难性疾病的妇女更有可能生女孩。 综合这些研究结果表明女性在受精时如果受到突然的压力，那么生女孩的比例就会增大。但是，奥尔 胡斯的一位研究者CarstenObel并没有参与早期的研究，他怀疑持续的压力是否也会有同样的影响。他刚 刚在《人类发展》上发表的一篇论文表明事实确实如此。 Obel博士使用了1989年至1992年间的一组数字。在这个时期，8791名妇女受邀填写问卷调查，调 查其中一项就是她们压力程度。Obel博士发现一个妇女承受的压力越重，她生男孩的概率就越小。压力最 大的四成妇女只有47%生育男孩，而最小的四成妇女比例为52%。Obel博士怀疑这种现象的直接原因是在 压力的情况下，怀男婴的妇女比怀女婴的妇女更容易流产，尤其是在前三个月。这一点很难证实。更让人 迷惑的是他认为根本原因是适应性的而不是生理性的。 这是因为可能的情况是女孩成年后就要找一位男性，然后生育后代。而男孩则不一样。健康、魁梧的 男性更有可能与几位女性生育很多后代，至少在原始狩猎族社会是这样的，大多数人类进化就是这样进行 的。弱小的将会被边缘化，甚至有可能在男性的竞争性打斗中被杀死。如果母亲受到的压力对胎儿发展起 到相反作用，选择性地将男孩流产，而不是浪费时间和资源将他们养大，这从进化意义上说得通的。 这反过来也可以解释为什么在富裕国家中女性很少受到饥饿和疾病的威胁，更容易生育男孩。尽管 存在这种可能，但是数据的下降说明富裕女性目前所受的压力要比以前大得多。 18 TEXT THREE Despite bulging order books, the mood at Airbus and Boeing is far from celebratory. Both aviation giants are moaning loudly that their production systems and supply chains are flawed, albeit for ostensibly different reasons. This week Louis Gallois, the boss of EADS, the Franco-German aerospace consortium that owns Airbus, added substance to warnings a week earlier by the planemaker's chief executive, Tom Enders, that the dollar's decline was ―life-threatening‖ for the firm. Mr Gallois said it was no longer just a possibility that Airbus would have to move a large part of its production to ―the dollar zone‖ or low-cost countries, but a certainty. Airbus is already in the middle of Power8, a big restructuring plan that involves the loss of 10,000 jobs and the sale of several plants, which is meant to offset the losses caused by the delays in delivering the A380 superjumbo. But Power8 assumed that a euro was worth $1.35, not today's $1.47. Mr Gallois estimates that each 10-cent rise in the euro costs Airbus ?1 billion. At present, Airbus makes 76% of its purchases within Europe, but generates over 60% of its sales elsewhere. It must now shift some production abroad. Airbus is now likely to forge ahead much further. Mr Gallois suggests that when the A350 enters service in 2013, 70% of it will have been ―purchased‖ in dollars, against 50% for the A380 and an average 24% of Airbus production today. Because Airbus insists that some of its European suppliers price in dollars that means about 50% of the A350's production will be outsourced. New aircraft, such as the A320's successor, may be made almost entirely outside the euro-zone. Airbus maintains that exchange rates are not the only reason for outsourcing: it is keen to tap into composite-manufacturing expertise wherever it exists. It also insists that it will not repeat the mistakes Boeing has made with its new 787 Dreamliner, about 80% of which has been outsourced. A few weeks ago Mike Bair, the executive responsible for the 787 programme, who was recently moved sideways after mounting production delays, launched a withering attack on some of the companies recruited to build the plane. He said that in future Boeing would not entrust design work to partners who ―proved incapable of doing it‖, and would make suppliers build factories close to Boeing's main assembly operation, rather than flying semi-finished sections of the aircraft round the world on huge Dreamlifter transporters. It is too early to conclude that the two rivals are heading in opposite directions—Boeing renouncing the global supply chain just as Airbus adopts it. Each company has its own axe to grind. Airbus needs greater flexibility, and the weak dollar provides helpful cover as it takes on its grumbling unions. Boeing, for its part, wants to shift the blame for delays to the 787 on to its partners. The logic of global outsourcing in the aerospace industry remains powerful. Whatever they may be saying now, Airbus and Boeing are more likely to converge than to diverge. 参考译文: 尽管收到大量的订单，空中客车和波音公司中却丝毫没有庆祝的气氛。两个航空巨头都在大声抱怨其 生产系统和供应链有缺陷，虽然表面上看起来其原因不同。法德航天财团EADS(空中客车属于该财团) 老总Louis Galloi本周强调了一周前飞机制造首席执行官Tom Enders的警告，指出美元的贬值对于公司造 成了生命威胁。Gallois先生表示，空中客车将其很大一部分生产转移到―美元区‖或低成本国家不再是一种 可能，而成为了一种必然。 空中客车正在进行能量8计划，这项大型重组计划将导致一万名员工丧失工作，以及出售数家工厂，目 的是弥补在因延迟交付A380巨型喷气式飞机造成的损失。但开始时能量8假定1欧元对1.35美元，而不 是现在的1.47美元。Gallois先生估计欧元每升值10分，空中客车就要损失10亿欧元。目前，空中客车 75%的采购都在欧洲，但60%的销售却在别的地方。现在它必须将一些生产转移到海外去。 现在空中客车可能要往前更进一步。Gallois先生建议2013年A350进入市场后，其70%的采购将以 美元进行，而目前A38050%的美元采购和空中客车平均24%的生产为美元采购。因为空中客车强调其欧洲 供应商必须以美元定价，也就是A350 50%的生产将在海外采购。新的飞机如下一代A32可能全部都要在 欧元区之外的地方生产。 空中客车认为汇率并不是海外采购的唯一原因，它还希望接纳复合的制造技术，无论哪里有这种技术。 公司还强调不会重复波音在新的787―梦之机‖上已经犯过的错误，该机型80%的采购都外包出去了。负责 787项目的主管Mike Bair因为延误了生产近期换到别处，几周前他对一些已参与制造该飞机的公司进行了 毁灭性的攻击。他说未来波音公司不会将任何设计工作委托给―被证明不能胜任‖的合作者，也将会让供应 19 商在波音主要的组装车间旁建立工厂，而不再用大型的Dreamlifter运输机将飞机的半成品部分进行环绕世 界的运输。 正当空中客车刚刚采用了全球供应链时波音公司却放弃了这种模式，但是现在就下结论说这两个对手 正朝两个不同的方向发展还为时太早。每个公司都有自己的斧头需要研磨，空中客车需要更大的灵活性， 而疲软的美元为这家受工会抱怨地公司提供了很好的掩盖。而波音却想将787项目延迟的责任推到其合作 者身上。航空业全球外包逻辑还是非常强大的，不管空中客车和波音公司现在说的是什么，它们其实是在 走得更近而不是兵分两路。 TEXT FOUR Imagine how much sleep future musicologists will lose over Philip Glass. Throughout his career he has changed his scores to suit the circumstances, trimming them for recordings, for example, because he believes that nonvisual performances benefit from (relative) concision. The notion of an immutable, sacrosanct urtext -- the very thing musicologists sift historical evidence hoping to establish -- is entirely alien to him. Still, you would think that if Mr. Glass held anything sacred, it would be the structure and format of ''Einstein on the Beach.'' At that opera's premiere in 1976, and in its 1984 and 1992 revivals, ''Einstein'' played for five hours with no intermission. Free of narrative but rich in associations and imagery -- Einstein as a madly ecstatic violinist but also as the father of nuclear power -- the work unfolded inexorably, its repeated musical phrases creating rhythmic wheels within wheels. The libretto, mostly numbers, solfege syllables and quirky, stream-of-consciousness spoken texts, works its own hypnotic spell. Listeners were free to come and go as they pleased, but some of the work's power came from its relentlessness, to say nothing of the quirkiness of Robert Wilson's staging. The version that Mr. Glass and his ensemble presented at Carnegie Hall on Thursday evening swept away the elements that made the work a happening and transformed it into a concert piece: three hours long, with an intermission and with formal seating rules in force. The breadth of the work was presented, if not its full sweep. The two-hour trim was accomplished by deleting sections from all but a few scenes. Some trims were noticeable: Lucinda Childs's tale of the multicolored bathing cap was intact, as were the quotations from Carole King's ''I Feel the Earth Move,'' but Mr. Bojangles was evicted from this version. Musically, the score survived the trims and might even have benefited from them: The brisker movement from one section to the next highlighted the degree of inventiveness that drives this piece and pointed up passages of real beauty. In ''Knee Play 3,'' for example, the unaccompanied chorus sings streams of numbers, yet the music has the grandeur of a sacred setting much of the time and, at others, the energy of a symphonic presto. And Tim Fain, the violinist, gave the solo passages in the second, fourth and fifth ''Knee Plays'' and in the climactic, swirling ''Spaceship Interior'' scene an electrifying, virtuosic workout. Some of the work's magic is in the way its elements pull in opposite directions. The repetition of short phrases, on one hand, can be soporific; yet the wheezing keyboard and woodwind textures and the bursts of choral counting, with sibilants creating their own rhythmic patterns, are invigorating. And because the performance is heavily amplified, timbres seem to melt together: Is that repeating fragment a voice, a violin or the top notes of the organ figure? The ensemble, which included musicians who have been with Mr. Glass from the early days as well as newcomers, gave the score a tight, high-energy readi1( 20 参考译文: 设想一下未来音乐学者得在Philip Glass身上要花掉多少不眠之夜啊。在他的职业生涯中，Philip为适 应环境而改变乐谱，比如为了录音而修改乐谱，因为(相对的)简洁能使非视觉表演获益。音乐学者希望 通过搜索历史证据可以建立那种永恒的、神圣的原始乐谱概念，但他在这一点上有完全不同的想法。 但是，如果你认为Glass先生还是觉得有神圣的东西的话，那就是―海滩上的爱因斯坦‖的结构和格式。 1976年这部歌剧的首次公演，以及1984年和1992年的重演中，―爱因斯坦‖没有停歇地表演了五个小时。 爱因斯坦不仅是一个疯狂着迷的小提琴家，也是核能之父，而这部作品没有多少叙述，却充满了联想和想 象，它冷酷地展现在大家面前，不停重复的音乐措辞在圆圈里又创造出有节奏感的圆圈。歌词大多都是数 字、视唱练习的音节和怪异的意识流口语文本，创造出一种催眠的咒语。听众可以自由来去，但是这部作 品的力量就来源于它的冷酷，更不用说Robert Wilson离奇的舞台布置了。 周四晚上Glass先生和他的演出团队在卡内基大厅进行了演出，这次演出删除了这部剧作事件剧的一 些因素，将其转变为一部协奏曲。这次演出历时三个小时，有幕间休息，也有正式的座位规则。如果说这 次演出并没有将这部剧作的全部内容展示出来的话，至少其雄浑的效果得以展现出来。缩短的两个小时是 通过删去几幕的部分达到的，有些删节非常明显，比如Lucinda Childs彩色游泳帽的故事是完整的，还有 引用Carole King的话―我感到了地动‖也没有删掉, 但是Bojangles先生却被逐出了这次剧演。 从音乐上来讲，尽管作了删节但乐谱还是获得了成功，而且应该说是得益于删节。从一节到下一节轻 快的移动突出了其独创性，突出了具有真正美的篇章。比如在―膝盖戏,‖中，没有伴奏的合唱队唱着流畅 的数字，但是这时的音乐却有一种庄严的色彩，而其他章节中又体现了和声急板乐曲的力量。小提琴手Tim Fain在第二、第四和第五―膝盖剧‖中进行了独奏，而在高潮的漩涡式的―太空船内部‖一幕中，进行了电子 化、艺术性的加工。 这部作品的魅力部分在于里面的元素朝向不同的方向。短语的反复出现一方面有催眠的效果，但是发 出喘息声的键盘乐器、木管乐器以及突然爆发的读数合唱，还有那些独创的咝音节奏，听起来都那么令人 振奋。而因为演出大大增强，音质仿佛也融合在了一起。那重复的片断是人的声音，是小提琴还是管风琴 的高音,而不管是跟随Glass先生一直演出的团队还是新来的人员，都把乐谱唱的紧实而高昂。 UNIT FOUR TEXT ONE As Americas digest the news of another gun atrocity, a mall shooting in Nebraska on December 5th, they cannot be blamed for thinking that guns are in too ready supply. But an article in the latest Economic Journa suggests that the demand for illegal guns, at least, is not met as easily as people might fear. Sudhir Venkatesh, now of Columbia University, has talked to 132 gang-members, 77 prostitutes, 116 gun-owning youths, 23 gun-dealers and numerous other denizens of Chicago's Grand Boulevard and Washington Park neighbourhoods. He did not find many satisfied customers. Chicago has unusually tough restrictions on legal handguns. Even so the black market is surprisingly ―thin‖, attracting relatively few buyers and sellers. The authors reckon that the 48,000 residents of the two neighbourhoods buy perhaps 1,400 guns a year, compared with at least 200,000 cocaine purchases. Underground brokers sell guns for $150-350, a mark-up of perhaps 200% over the legal price. They also demand a fee of $30-50 for orchestrating the deal. Even then, 30-40% of the transactions fall through because the seller cannot secure a gun, gets cold feet or cannot agree on a location for the deal. Buyers also find it hard to verify the quality of the merchandise. They often know little about the weapons they covet. ―Tony‖, who owns a .38 calibre handgun, learnt how to use his weapon by fiddling with it. He even put a stone in it. ―Did it fire?‖ Mr Venkatesh asked. ―I'm not sure. I think it did,‖ Tony said. 21 Fortunately for Tony and his peers, their rivals and the victims of crime cannot tell if their guns work any better than they can. Often, showing the ―bulge‖ is enough to gain the respect of rival gangs. In robberies brandishing the weapon will usually do. Storekeepers do not wait for proof that it works. Markets can overcome thinness, the paper says; they can also overcome illegality. But they cannot overcome both. A thin market must rely on advertising or a centralised exchange: eBay, for example, has dedicated pages matching sellers of imitation pearl pins or Annette Funicello bears to the few, scattered buyers that can be found. But such solutions are too cumbersome and conspicuous for an underground market. The drugs market, by contrast, slips through the law's fingers because of the natural density of drug transactions. Dealers can always find customers on their doorstep, and buyers can reassure themselves about suppliers through repeated custom. There are no fixed and formal institutions that the police could easily throttle. Indeed, the authors argue that the gun market may be threadbare partly because the drug market is so plump. Gang-leaders are wary of gun-dealing because the extra police scrutiny that guns attract would jeopardise their earnings from coke and dope. Even Chicago's gang-leaders have to worry about the effect of crime on commerce. 22 参考译文: 美国尚在因为一则新的枪杀案——12月5日内部达斯加州一家商场的枪击案——而余悸未消，因此不 能责怪他们将此归咎于枪支太容易得到。但是在最新的《经济期刊》上发表的一篇文章认为至少非法枪支 需求并不像人们想象得那么容易得到满足。Sudhir Venkatesh目前在哥伦比亚大学供职，他和132名歹徒、 77名妓女、116名拥有枪支的年轻人、23名枪支经销商以及许多在芝加哥大林荫大道及华盛顿公园附近的 居民交谈过，但他并未发现有多少满意的顾客。 芝加哥在合法手枪方面有着严格的规定，即便如此，黑市还是异常惨淡,只有很少数的买卖双方在交 易。研究者认为这两个区的48000个居民中间只购买1400支枪，而可卡因的交易却至少有20万宗。地下 代理人销售枪支的价格为150美元到350美元，这要比合法价格高出200%。而且，他们还要多要30到50 美元的协调费用。即便如此，30%到40%的交易还是流产了，因为销售者或是没能拿到枪，或是临阵畏 缩，或是不能就交易地点达成一致。 买枪的人发现要证实商品的质量也比较困难。他们对自己想要的枪支的情况知之甚少。―Tony‖有一 把口径为38的枪，他只能是自己把玩才能弄清楚怎么使用。他甚至还把一颗石头放在里面。―它能开火 吗,‖ Venkatesh问他。―我不知道。我想应该是的。‖Tony回答说。 幸运的是，对于Tony这样的人，他们的敌人以及那些受害人也比他们强不了多少，并不能辨别出一 支抢是否好用。一般地，只要露出―凸起‖的部分就可以赢得敌人的尊重，在抢劫中只要挥舞一下武器就够 了。店主不会等着去证明抢知否有效。 文章提到，市场可以克服惨淡经营, 也可以克服非法问题。但是不能同时克服两个问题。一个狭窄 的市场要依赖于广告或是集中的交易。比如易趣专门设出几页让那些卖假珍珠针饰的商家或Annette Funicello熊的商家与所能找到的极少的、分布在各地的买家进行配对。但是，对于一个地下市场来说， 这样的解决办法又麻烦又显眼。而毒品市场可以钻法律的空子，因为毒品交易是非常频繁的。卖主在他 们门口就能找到顾客，而买家作为老主顾也能相信供应商。而且因为没有固定、正式的地方，警察要对 此进行打击也比较困难。 实际上，研究者认为枪支市场如此惨淡的部分原因就在于毒品市场过于兴旺。匪徒头子对枪支交易十 分警惕，因为枪支会引起警察额外的审查，从而危及他们从毒品上获得的收入，甚至连芝加哥的匪徒头子 也得担忧经济犯罪的影响。 TEXT TWO A line of water bottles that had become a symbol of environmental responsibility has been removed from the shelves of Canada's leading outdoor gear retailer over concerns about a chemical used in its manufacture. The Mountain Equipment Co-op, which is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, removed the bottles, sold under the brand name Nalgene, and other polycarbonate containers from its 11 large-scale stores on Wednesday. The retailer said that it would not restock the bottles, which are made by Nalge Nunc International in Rochester, a unit of Thermo Fisher Scientific, until Health Canada completed a review of bisphenol-a, or B.P.A., a chemical used to make hard, transparent plastics as well as liners for food cans. ''We've been following the B.P.A. issue for at least three years,'' said Tim Southam, a spokesman for Mountain Equipment. ''The decision we've taken this week does not mean that polycarbonate products will never return to our stores. We're just seeking some certainty about this chemical.'' Church and environmental groups in Canada have mounted campaigns against bottled water because of concerns about the huge amount of plastic used in containers. As a result, the reusable Nalgene bottles have become ubiquitous on college campuses and elsewhere. Polycarbonate plastic, which can only be produced by using B.P.A., creates bottles that are transparent and 23 almost as hard as glass, but particularly shatter-resistant. Recently, however, the use of B.P.A.-based plastics in food containers has been questioned in Canada by Environmental Defence , a Toronto-based group. Environmentalists in the United States are also raising concerns about the chemical. Last year, San Francisco's board of governors passed a local law banning the use of the chemical in children's products. B.P.A. was removed from the ordinance before it went into effect, however, after an industry lawsuit. Critics point to studies dating back to 1936 showing that the chemical can disrupt the hormonal system. While there is little dispute about that, the plastics industry, supported by several studies from government agencies in Japan, North America and Europe, contends that polycarbonate bottles contain very little of the chemical and release only insignificant amounts of B.P.A. into the bodies of users. ''Rarely has a chemical been the subject of such intense scientific testing and scrutiny, and still, important agencies across the globe agree that there is no danger posed to humans from polycarbonate bottles,'' Tom Cummins, the director of research and development at Nalge Nunc, said in a statement. Rick Smith, the executive director of Environmental Defence, said that a paper published by 38 scientists after a government-sponsored conference in the United States found that the lack of research on the effects of B.P.A. on humans was a concern that required further investigation. Steven G. Hentges, the executive director of the American Chemistry Council's polycarbonate group, takes issue with that report's worries and points to a separate expert panel report published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services last month. In its 396-page report, which looked only at the impact of B.P.A. on reproduction, the panel said it had ''negligible concern'' about the chemical's effect on adult reproductive systems but raised some concerns about its impact on children and pregnant women. 24 参考译文: 由于担心在制造过程中使用了一种化学物质，一款本来已经成为环保标志的水瓶被加拿大最有名的户 外用品零售商移出了其橱窗。 周三，位于不列颠哥伦比亚省的温哥华的―高山设备Co-op‖ 将其11个大型商场中Nalgene牌子的瓶 子和其他聚碳酸酯容器撤柜。该零售商称不会再重新进这些瓶子，直到―健康加拿大‖完成了双酚a(即 B.P.A.)的调查后再予以考虑。这些瓶子的制造商下属于Thermo Fisher Scientific位于罗彻斯特的Nalge Nunc 国际制造。双酚a 是一种用于制造透明高硬度塑料及食物罐镶条的化学物质。―高山设备‖的发言人Tim Southam说:―我们跟踪B.P.A.事件已经有三年了，我们这周所作的决定并不代表今后聚碳酸酯制品永远都 不会上柜了。我们目前试图得到关于这种化学物质的肯定结果。‖ 加拿大教会和环境组织曾经因为担心容器需要使用大量的塑料，而发动了反对瓶装水的运动。最后， 这种可重复使用的Nalgene瓶子就在大学校园和其他地方普及开来。 聚碳酸酯塑料只能用B.P.A.才能制造，用这种塑料制造的瓶子透明，硬度与玻璃一样，但却非常防摔。 但是，最近在加拿大多伦多的―环境防卫‖组织对使用B.P.A.塑料制造食品容器提出了质疑。美国的环境保 护主义者也对该化学物质表示担忧。去年，旧金山的州长会议通过了一项地方法律，禁止将该化学物质用 于儿童用品。但是，在该法令还没有实施之前，B.P.A.就在一起行业起诉后从该法律中被移除了。批评者 指出早在1936年人们研究就表明这种化学物质可以破坏荷尔蒙系统。 虽然在这点上没有争议，但是塑料行业引用了日本、北美和欧洲政府机构的研究，认为聚碳酸酯中该 化学物质含量极少，且只会将微量的B.P.A.释放到使用者体内。―对一种化学物质进行如此周密的科学测验 和审查是很罕见的，再说全世界重要的机构都认为聚碳酸酯瓶对人体没有危害。‖ Nalge Nunc研发部主任 Tom Cumins在一次声明中这样说。 ―环境防卫‖执行理事Rich Smith称美国38名科学家在一次政府资助的会议结束后发表了一篇论 文，该论文指出B.S.A.对人类的影响方面的研究不足，需要进一步的调查。美国化学委员会聚碳酸酯组织 执行理事Steven G?Hentges反对该报告提出的担忧，指出上个月美国健康与人类服务部United States Department of Health and Human Services发表了一篇独立的专家小组报告。这个长达396页的报告中仅仅 着眼于B.S.A.对于生殖的影响，该专家小组在报告中表示该化学物质对成人生殖系统―影响甚微‖，但是却 表示对孩子和怀孕妇女有一定影响。 TEXT THREE In a world where sight and sound seem to reign supreme, all it takes is a cursory glance at the size of the perfume industry to realise that smell matters quite a lot, too. Odours are known to regulate moods, thoughts and even dating decisions, which is why any serious romantic will throw on the eau de toilette before going out for a night on the town. Yet in all these cases, those affected are aware of what they are smelling. Unlike the media of sight and sound, in which subliminal messages have been studied carefully, the potential power of subliminal smells has been neglected. Wen Li and her colleagues at Northwestern University in Chicago are now changing that. In particular, they are investigating smells so faint that people say they cannot detect them. The idea is to see whether such smells can nevertheless change the way that people behave towards others. Dr Li's experiment, the results of which have just been published in Psychological Science, employed 31 volunteers. These people were exposed to three different odours at low concentration. One was the fresh lemon scent of citral. The second was the neutral ethereal perfume of anisole. The third was the foul sweaty smell of valeric acid. And the concentrations really were low. In the case of valeric acid, for example, that concentration was seven parts per trillion—a level only just detectable by bloodhounds. As a control, Dr Li used a mineral oil that has no detectable smell at any concentration. 25 The participants were asked to sniff a jar containing either one of the three odours or the scentless oil, and then press a button to indicate whether they thought the jar smelled of anything. Immediately after that, a picture of a face would appear on a screen in front of them for just over a second. Each participant was asked to rate the face's ―likeability‖. Dr Li found that the odours helped shape people's judgments about the faces when their responses indicated that they had not smelled anything. When someone had been exposed to valeric acid, for example, he tended to react negatively to a face. Exposure to citral, by contrast, made that face seem, on average, more friendly. (Obviously, the same face was not shown to any given participant more than once.) Even more intriguing, however, was that when participants did consciously perceive a smell, its effect on face-perception disappeared. What is going on is unclear. If smells can carry useful information about personality (which is possible), then the effect would be expected to be the same whether or not the chemical in question is detected subliminally. If they do not carry such information, then it is hard to see what use the subliminal reaction is. Nevertheless, it is there. The findings do, however, demonstrate what might be a powerful method of manipulation. Indeed, Dr Li considers the potential uses to be vast. Business meetings might be made more pleasant by releasing appropriate fragrances into the air in unsmellable amounts. Conversely, fights might be started by putting people in the presence of a faint foul odour. Advertising hoardings might benefit from a little olfactory tweaking and cinema audiences could be reduced to floods of tears at the appropriate moment. The sweet smell of success might, in other words, actually be undetectable. 参考译文: 在一个视觉和声音占绝对上风的世界里，我们只需随便看一下香水行业的规模就能明白气味也占有很 重要的地位。大家知道，气味可以调节人的情绪、想法，甚至是约会决定，这也就是为什么人们晚上在城 里赴约时总要喷上点香水。但是在所有的这些事例中，那些受影响的人都意识到自己闻到的是什么的。视 觉和声音媒介中那些微小的讯息已经被仔细研究过了，而微弱气味潜在的力量却被人们忽略了。 李文和她在芝加哥西北大学的同事们现在就在改变这种状况。特别需要指出的是，他们现在研究的气 味都极其微弱，以至于人们都说他们感觉不到这些气味。他们想看看这些气味是不是也可以影响人们对他 人的行为。 李博士的实验结果刚刚发表在《心理科学》上，该实验有31名志愿者。这些志愿者身处三种低浓度 的气味中，一种是新鲜柠檬的柠檬醛气味，第二种是茴香醚的中性轻香味，第三种是缬草酸的汗臭味。这 三种气味的浓度都很低。比如，缬草酸的汗臭味浓度为万亿分之七，这种浓度只有警犬才能发觉。李博士 在每种浓度中都用了一种矿物油作为对照，这种矿物油的气味是察觉不到的。 这些志愿者都被要求嗅装有某一种气味或无味的油罐子，然后再按下按钮表示自己是否闻到什么了。 闻完后马上会在他们面前的屏幕上出现一张脸的图像，只显示一秒钟。然后每个人都会被要求断定这张脸 的―可爱程度‖。 李博士发现当人们认为自己没有闻到任何气味时，气味其实会影响人们对脸的评价。比如某人闻到缬 草酸时，他对看到的脸就会有不好的反应。相反，闻到柠檬酸的味道一般会让脸看起来更友好些。(当然， 每张脸只给同一个人看一次。)但是，更奇怪的是当参与者意识到自己闻到了某种味道时，上述影响就消 失了。 这到底是怎么回事还不清楚。如果气味带有个性信息(这是有可能的)，那么不管这种化学是否可以 被潜意识感觉到，其反应应当是一样的。如果不带有这种信息，就很难看出这种潜意识的反应有什么用了。 但不管怎样，事实摆在我们面前。 但是这些发现展现出一些可能的强有力的控制方法。实际上，李博士认为这种潜力是巨大的。如果在 喷洒些适当的人们闻不到的香味，商业会议会让人感觉更加舒适。相反，让人们在很微弱的臭味中，就可 能发生争斗。广告牌可以受益于一点气味调节，而在适当时候为电影观众加些气味可能会使他们泪如泉涌。 换句话说，胜利的甜蜜气味是无法觉察的。 26 TEXT FOUR The animal dissection requirement of biology classes has been getting under the skin of students for generations, and there have always been some who asked to be excused from the requirement. Now, a growing number of technological alternatives are making it possible for students to swap that scalpel for a computer mouse. There are laws in nearly a dozen states—including California, Florida, New Jersey, and New York—protecting a student's choice to learn about animal anatomy sans scalpel. Some students choosing to opt out feel we should be kinder to our web-footed friends. Others are just queasy at the thought of rubbery frog bodies and the smell of formaldehyde. "Dissection is icky. There's a yuck factor," admits Brian Shmaefsky, a board member with the National Association of Biology Teachers. "And a teacher has to weigh the benefits with the cost of students being offended to the point that it interferes with learning." Virtual blades. So for cases in which a real dissection would be too slimy, it's time to try some toad tech. While the first computer-based alternatives to dissection emerged in the 1980s, modern frog dissection software can be found at different websites. These software programs use creative clicking, high-powered zoom functions, and video clips to teach anatomy. Froguts software, for example, lets students trace incision lines with a computer mouse and snip through skin with a virtual blade. There are even sound effects like a "slish" for slicing frog flesh, or a "shwoosh" for pinning down skin flaps. (Schools currently pay about $300 for a one-year software license, though some organizations will lend programs out free of charge.) Earlier this year, a graduate student from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver designed the first-ever haptic (the Greek word for "touch") frog dissection program, which uses a penlike tool to create a sensation similar to cutting into real flesh. The hand-held device connects to a computer, and students move the device through the air while watching the results of their actions on a computer screen. With Digital Frog—a popular program that's had approximately 1,500 frog demo downloads since January and is currently in use in 2,000 schools—students can add or subtract those amphibious organs with a mere mouse click. They can then assess their learning with sporadic frog anatomy quizzes. "Repetition is helpful. The fact that a student can review sections of a program over and over again is important," says Martin Stephens, vice president for animal research issues at the Humane Society of the United States. "In dissections, the animal's organs are all shriveled and discolored. You look for things and can't find them because body parts have changed drastically since the animal was killed. But on a computer screen, layers can be digitally peeled away." Other experts think the dissection technology has its limits. Gerry Wheeler, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association, says that artificial simulations don't give as enriching an experience as the real thing. Still others worry the programs are depriving kids of experiential learning. 27 参考译文: 所有生物专业的学生都被要求必须修动物解剖课，而经常有人希望可以免于这种要求。目前，日益 增多的科技替代品使得学生们可以用一个电脑鼠标来替代解剖刀。有十多个个州(包括加利福尼亚州、佛 罗里达州、新泽西州和纽约州)都有相关法律，保证学生可以不拿解剖刀就可以学习动物解剖。一些选择 不用解剖刀的学生认为我们对这些翼手的朋友也应该友善一些。而还有一些人一想到青蛙有弹性的身体和 甲醛气味就感到恶心。 ―解剖粘糊糊的，挺讨厌的。‖国家生物教师联合会管理委员会委员布Brian Shmaefsky承认。老师必 须得衡量一下学生感到被冒犯甚至影响到学习这个问题。 虚拟刀片。因此如果实体解剖太粘糊糊的话，那么是时候来尝试一些蛤蟆科技了。第一种基于电脑的 解剖替代品出现在20世纪80年代，而现代的青蛙解剖软件可以在许多不同的网站找到。这些软件程序用 富有创意的点击、高性能的缩放功能以及视频片断来教授解剖。比如说 ―青蛙内脏‖软件可以让学生使用鼠 标就可以顺着切口线用一把虚拟解剖刀切开青蛙皮肤。这些软件甚至还有声音效果，比如在划开青蛙身体 时有―嘶‖的一声，或是钉下皮肤组织时―嗤‖的一声。(现在学校为软件支付的年度许可证达300美元，但有 的组织会免费借出程序。) 今年年初，温哥华西蒙?弗雷泽大学一位研究生设计出了第一个haptic(希腊词为―触觉‖)青蛙解剖程 序。这个程序用一种类似于笔的工具创造出一种相当于切割真正皮肉的感觉。这种手持工具与电脑相连， 学生可以在空中移动该工具，同时可以通过电脑屏幕可以观看他们动作的结果。 ―电子青蛙‖是一种很受欢迎的程序，自一月份以来大约有1500个青蛙示范下载，现在用于2000所学 校。学生们只需用鼠标点击就可以加上或切除两栖器官，然后还可以不时用分散的青蛙解剖测试来检查自 己学习的效果。 ―重复是有帮助的，事实上学生可以一遍又一遍地回顾整个程序的各个部分，这是非常重要的。‖美国保护 动物协会动物研究事务副主任Martin Stephens这样说，―在解剖中，动物的器官都是枯萎的、没有颜色的。 你想要找到什么，可是最终没能找到，因为动物被杀死后身体部分改变很大。但是在电脑屏幕上，身体每 一层都可以电子式地剥下来。‖ 其他专家认为解剖技术有其局限性。国家科学教师协会执行理事Gerry Wheeler称虚拟演示并不能像真正解剖那样提供一种丰富的经验。也有其他人担心这些程序会剥夺孩子们 的实践学习。 UNIT FIVE TEXT ONE Boosted by booming international financial markets, the City of London has not had it so good since the end of the dotcom bonanza in the late 1990s. Basking in double-digit growth rates, London's law firms have both contributed to that success and benefited from it. The earnings of top City lawyers can now exceed ?2m a year. Having opted to expand and go global ahead of most others, Britain's leading law firms tend to be bigger than their American rivals. Indeed, according to a survey of the world's top 50 law firms, compiled by Legal Business, a British trade paper, five of the world's top six law firms—in terms of turnover—are now British (if DLA Piper, the result of an Anglo-American merger, is included). But they have tended to lag behind in terms of their profitability. That is now changing. The profit margins of the City's five ―magic circle‖ firms—Clifford Chance, Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy, Linklaters and Freshfields—have soared in recent years and are now comparable with, if not higher than, 28 those of New York's ―white shoe‖ elite. Slaughter and May, the only one of the five not to have gone global, has the joint second-highest profit margin among the top 50. Not so long ago, a London surgeon could expect to earn as much as a City lawyer. But even the recent big rises in hospital consultants' earnings pall in comparison with those enjoyed by London lawyers. At Slaughter and May, for example, average profits per equity partner (PEP) jumped by almost a third (in dollar terms) last year to $2.75m—more than at any other of the top 50 law firms bar two in New York where PEP averaged $2.8m and $3.0m respectively. Some senior partners get a lot more of course. Competition for the best lawyers is fierce and poaching frequent. Hence the need to keep headline PEP figures up—even at the cost of getting rid of equity partners, leaving a bigger share of the bounty for the remaining ones. Freshfields is in the process of shedding around 100 of its equity partners. Other leading firms are also undertaking painful restructuring. Newly qualified lawyers' salaries have also been shooting up in the search for the best talent. Both Freshfields and Allen & Overy now pay their first-year associates ?65,000, rising to around ?90,000 after three years. (First-year associates at America's top law firms get the equivalent of ?80,000.) But, as many other top-rank City employers have discovered, big earnings do not necessarily guarantee big satisfaction. According to a YouGov poll, published by the Lawyer earlier this month, a quarter of Britain's lawyers (including a fifth of law-firm partners) would like to leave the profession. The disgruntled complained about cripplingly long hours, intense competition and the impersonality of the biggest firms (some with more than 3,000 lawyers). So why don't they quit? Because, say three-quarters, of the pay. 参考译文: 虽然受到快速发展的国际金融市场的推动，伦敦自20世纪90年代末网络富源之后再也没有享受过原 来的好日子。伦敦的律师行业一直享受着双位数的业绩增长速度，既对经济的成功贡献了自己的力量， 又受益于经济成长。目前伦敦市一流律师的年薪超过了200万英镑。 英国的顶尖律师事务所选择了不断扩张，走在世界前列，目前规模大于美国同类的事务所。实际上 ，根据英国商业报纸《法律商业》一项世界50家领先律师事务所的调查，世界排名前六家律师事务所( 按营业额计算)有五家是英国事务所(算上英美合资的DLA Piper事务所)。但是就盈利能力来讲，他们却落后了。不过目前这种情况正在改变。 伦敦五家―魔力圈‖事务所(Clifford Chance, Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy, Linklaters and Freshfields)的利润近年来飞速上升，现在虽然不能说超过，但也可以说已经与纽约―白鞋子‖精英相抗衡 了。Slaughter and May是五家中唯一没有走向世界的事务所，目前已经成为全球50家第二高利润事务所。 不久前，伦敦的外科医生还有望与市律师收入相当。但是尽管最近医院会诊医生的收入有了大幅增 长，但与伦敦律师的工资涨幅比起来还是相形见拙。比如在Slaughter and May,去年PEP平均收入以275万美元为基数涨了1/3(以美元计算)，这要比任何全球前50名律师事务所或 美国的律师界工资都高，其PEP平均为280万美元和300万美元。当然一些资深律师的收入更高。 争取最好律师的竞争是激烈的，挖墙角时有发生。因此，有必要保持名人的PEP数字上升，有时甚 至以牺牲股东为代价，从而将奖金的更大一部分留给剩下的人。Freshfields目前就正在裁减大约100名股 东。其他领先的事务所也同样经历重组的痛苦。 因为业界在不断寻找最好的人才，因此刚获得资格的新律师起薪也大幅增长。Freshfields 和 Allen & Overy支付给律师的第一年工资为6万5千英镑，三年后升至9万英镑。(在美国顶尖律师事务所律师的第 一年工资为8万英镑。) 但是，正如伦敦其他许多顶尖的雇主所发现的，高工资并不意味着高满意度。根据本月初刊登在《律 师》上的一项YouGov民意调查，英国律师有1/4(包括1/5的律师搭档)都想要离开这个行业。那些不满 意的人抱怨几近极限的工作时间、激烈的竞争和最大事务所(拥有3000名以上雇工)的非人性化。那么 29 他们为什么不放弃这个工作呢, 因为收入，3/4的人这样回答。 TEXT TWO Richard Burton probably knew nothing of the small South African town of Cullinan when he bought yet another chunky diamond for Elizabeth Taylor in 1969. Now the Cullinan mine itself, like so many of the diamonds unearthed there, is about to change hands. On November 22nd De Beers, the diamond giant that has owned the mine since 1930, said it was selling it to a consortium led by Petra Diamonds, one of South Africa's emerging diamond producers, for 1 billion rand in cash. Provided regulators approve the deal, the transfer should take place by the middle of next year. De Beers is selling because the mine is no longer profitable, despite attempts to turn it around. But Petra reckons the mine still has another 20 years of production in it and plans to extract at least 1m carats a year. The unexploited ―Centenary Cut‖ deposit, which lies under the existing mine, could yield a lot more. This is good news for the mine's 1,000 or so employees and for the town, which has depended on the diamond business since Sir Thomas Cullinan discovered a prospect there in 1898 that contained kimberlite, a rock that can be rich in diamonds. The mine, established in 1903, is one of 30 or so kimberlite diamond mines in the world, and is believed to be still the world's second-most-valuable diamond resource Petra is a relatively small outfit, listed on London's Alternative Investment Market, that specialises in buying mines that bigger companies see as marginal. Its trick is to extract better returns by rationalising production and processing, and keeping operating costs and overheads down. Petra has already bought two of De Beers's loss-making South African mines—both of which are now profitable—and is finalising the 78.5m rand acquisition of the group's underground operation in Kimberley, which stopped working in 2005. It already operates four mines in South Africa and has promising exploration in Angola (a joint-venture with BHP Billiton), Sierra Leone and Botswana. Petra expects to produce over 1m carats by 2010—quite a jump from 180,474 carats in the year to June. The company has yet to make a profit, but expects to be making money by the middle of next year. In the 1990s De Beers decided that it was no longer a good idea to try to monopolise the diamond market. It started focusing on higher returns rather than market share, and has been revamping its mine portfolio, selling off mines that are no longer profitable and investing in more enticing operations, such as its mine off the west coast of South Africa, its Voorspoed operation in the Free State province, and two new mines in Canada. This has opened the way for a new class of diamond firm that operates in the vast middle ground between the world's handful of large producers and a multitude of much smaller exploration firms. The Cullinan deal should entrench Petra in this middle tier, alongside firms such as Kimberley Diamond and Trans Hex. But even if it does reach its target of 1m carats a year, Petra will still not be able to match the sparkle of the giants. Last year De Beers produced 51m carats from its mines in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania, which amounted to 40% of the world's diamonds by value. 参考译文: Richard Burton 在1969年为Elisabeth Taylor 新购一块又小又厚的钻石时，他可能对南非小镇Cullinan 一无所知。现在Cullinan连同埋在地下的钻石一起都将易主了。11月22日， De Beers，这个从1930年起 就一直是矿主的钻石巨头说要以10亿兰特现金的价格卖给Petra Diamonds为首的财团，Petra Diamonds是 南非新兴的钻石制造商。现在管理者已经同意了这笔交易，该矿将于明年年中易手。 De Beers要做这笔买卖是因为尽管采取了很多措施，该矿不再是利润丰厚了。但是Petra 估计该矿还 可以生产20年，计划每年最少挖掘100万克拉。而位于该矿下方尚未被开采的―百年切割‖层，生产力更高。 这对于该矿1000名左右的雇工以及小镇来说是一个好消息，这个小镇从1898年Thomas Cullinan爵士发 现该矿含有金伯利岩(可能富含钻石的一种岩石)后，就一直依赖钻石生意存活。该矿建立于1903年， 是世界上约30个金伯利岩钻石矿之一，现在仍被认为是世界上第二最有价值的钻石储藏矿。 Petra是比较小的一个商业组织，在伦敦的 Alternative Investment Market上市。该组织专门收购大公司 30 认为不重要的矿产，其秘诀在于通过合理化生产和加工、以及降低运作和管理费用来获得更好的收益。Petra 已经在南非收购了De Beers两家亏损的矿(这两个矿目前都在盈利)，目前也即将完成以7850万兰特收购 该组织在金伯利地下矿的项目，该矿于2005年停产。 目前该公司在南非经营四座矿藏，在安哥拉、塞拉利昂和博茨瓦纳也有非常好的勘探项目(与BHP Billiton的合资公司)。Petra希望到2010年产量可以超过100万克拉，相比六月前180474克拉的年产量来 说是一个飞跃。公司现在还未赢利，但可望从明年年中开始赚钱。 20世纪90年代开始，De Beers认为垄断钻石市场不再是个好主意了，它开始关心更高的回报率而不 是市场份额了，也一直在修改它的矿产组合，卖掉不再盈利的矿产，投资更让人动心的项目，如南非西海 岸的矿产、自由州省的Voorspoed项目、加拿大的两处新矿。 这就为钻石行业的一个新阶层开辟了道路，这个阶层处于世界上少数的大生产商和众多小勘探公 司之间那片广阔的区域。Cullinan这笔交易确立了Petra作为这个中间阶层的地位，类似的公司还有金伯利 钻石和Trans Hex。不过即使达到年产量100万克拉，Petra还是远不及那些钻石巨头。去年，De Beers在 其博茨瓦纳、纳米比亚、南非和坦桑尼亚矿的产量为5100万克拉，估计价值占到世界钻石的40% 。 TEXT THREE When there is blood in the water, it is only natural that dorsal fins swirl around excitedly. Now that America's housing market is ailing, predators have their sights on the country's credit-card market. Analysts at Goldman Sachs reckon that credit-card losses could reach $99 billion if contagion spreads from subprime mortgages to other forms of consumer credit. Signs of strain are clearly visible. There are rises in both the charge-off and delinquency rates, which measure the share of balances that are uncollectable or more than 30 days late respectively. HSBC announced last month that it had taken a $1.4 billion charge in its American consumer-finance business, partly because of weakness among card borrowers. It is too early to panic, though. Charge-offs and delinquencies are still low. According to Moody's, a rating agency, the third-quarter delinquency rate of 3.89% was almost a full percentage point below the historical average. The deterioration in rates can be partly explained by technical factors. A change in America's personal-bankruptcy laws in 2005 led to an abrupt fall in bankruptcy filings, which in turn account for a big chunk of credit-card losses; the number of filings (and thus charge-off rates) would be rising again, whether or not overall conditions for borrowers were getting worse. The industry also reports solid payment rates, which show how much of their debt consumers pay off each month. And confidence in credit-card asset-backed securities is pretty firm despite paralysis in other corners of structured finance. Dennis Moroney of TowerGroup, a research firm, predicts that issuance volumes for 2007 will end up being 25% higher than last year. Direct channels of infection between the subprime-mortgage crisis and the credit-card market certainly exist: consumers are likelier to load up on credit-card debt now that home-equity loans are drying up. But card issuers look at cash flow rather than asset values, so falling house prices do not necessarily trigger a change in borrowers' creditworthiness. They may even work to issuers' advantage. The incentives for consumers to keep paying the mortgage decrease if properties are worth less than the value of the loan; card debt rises higher up the list of repayment priorities as a result. Card issuers are also able to respond much more swiftly and flexibly to stormier conditions than mortgage lenders are, by changing interest rates or altering credit limits. That should in theory reduce the risk of a rapid repricing of assets. ―We are not going to wake up one day and totally revalue the loans,‖ says Gary Perlin, Capital One's chief financial officer. If a sudden subprime-style meltdown in the credit-card market is improbable, the risks of a sustained downturn are much more real. If lower house prices and a contraction in credit push America into recession, the industry will undoubtedly face a grimmer future. Keep watching for those dorsal fins. 31 参考译文: 如果水中有血的话，那么很自然的背鳍就会兴奋地游来游去。现在美国的房产市场景况不佳，掠夺者就把目 光转向了这个国家的信用卡体系。高盛公司的分析师们认为如果这种趋势从次级抵押扩散到消费者信用的其 他形式的话，那么信用卡损失可能要达到990亿美元。目前这种趋紧的迹象已经显现。损耗率和逾期债款率 都有所上升，这两个数据分别代表无法回收以及逾期30天的收支差额份额。汇丰银行上个月宣布其在美国消 费者金融行业的抵押款为14亿美元，部分原因就在于信用卡贷款人的弱势。 但现在恐慌还为时尚早。冲销和逾期债款率还不是很高。据一家评估机构Moody's估算，第三季度3.89%的逾 期债款率比历史平均值还低整整一个百分点。比率变差部分是由于技术原因。2005年美国个人破产法的一个 改动使得破产登记急速下降，而后引起了信用卡的大规模亏损。不管贷款人的整体状况是否变得更糟糕了， 破产登记数量(紧跟的冲销率)可以重新上升。 该行业还报告了真正的支付率，即表示有多少贷款消费者每个月还清贷款。尽管在其他结构性金融部分出现 了瘫痪，但是对信用卡负债支持的有价证券还是充满信心。一家研究机构TowerGroup的工作人员Dennis Moroney 预计2007年发行数量最终将比去年高出25%。 次级抵押危机和信用卡市场之间存在直接的传染渠道，既然家庭资产贷款就衰竭了，消费者更倾向于将信用 卡的贷款用满。但是信用卡发行人看到的是现金流动而不是资产价值，因此房产价格的下降并不一定会带来 贷款人信用额度的改变，甚至会有利于发行人。如果消费者的财产不及贷款金额，那么消费者一直支付抵押 贷款的动机就会削弱，其结果就是信用卡贷款就会成为最先需要偿还的款项。 信用卡发行人也可以在遇到更为严峻的情况时，通过改变利率或信用额度，比房屋抵押借款人作出更快、更 灵活的反应。这在理论上可以降低资产快速重新定价的风险。―我们不希望有天一睁开眼就得重新估算全部贷 款，‖Capital One的首席金融官员Gary Perlin这样说。 如果在信用卡市场中那种次级抵押式的突如其来的彻底崩溃是不可能的话，那么持续低迷的风险是更为真实 的。如果房产低价格和信贷紧缩将美国引致衰退，那么该行业将会面临更惨淡的未来。时刻留心那些背鳍 吧。 TEXT FOUR European Union environmental officials have determined that two kinds of genetically modified corn could harm butterflies, affect food chains and disturb life in rivers and streams, and they have proposed a ban on the sale of the seeds, which are made by DuPont Pioneer, Dow Agrosciences and Syngenta. The preliminary decisions are circulating within the European Commission, which has the final say. Some officials there are skeptical of a ban that would upset the powerful biotechnology industry and could exacerbate tensions with important trading partners like the United States. The seeds are not available on the European market for cultivation. In the decisions, the environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas, contends that the genetically modified corn, or maize could affect certain butterfly species, specifically the monarch, and other beneficial insects. For instance, research this year indicates that larvae of the monarch butterfly exposed to the genetically modified corn ''behave differently than other larvae.'' In the decision concerning the corn seeds produced by Dow and Pioneer, Mr. Dimas calls ''potential damage on the environment irreversible.'' In the decision on Syngenta's corn, he says that ''the level of risk generated by the cultivation of this product for the environment is unacceptable.'' 32 A decision by the European Union to bar cultivation of the genetically modified crops would be the first of its kind in the trade bloc, and would intensify the continuing battle over genetically modified corn. Banning the applications for corn crops also would mark a bold new step for European environmental authorities, who are already aggressively pursuing regulations on emissions from cars and aircraft, setting it at odds with the United States and angering industries. ''These products have been grown in the U.S. and other countries for years,'' said Stephen Norton, a spokesman for the United States trade representative. ''We are not aware of any other case when a product has been rejected after having been reviewed and determined safe'' by European food safety authorities, he said. Barbara Helfferich, a spokeswoman for Mr. Dimas, declined to comment on the specifics of the procedure because commissioners had not yet made a final decision. But she said that the European Union was within its rights to make decisions based on the ''precautionary principle'' even when scientists had found no definitive evidence proving products can cause harm. She said that the decisions by Mr. Dimas could go before the commission within a few weeks, but she said that no date had been set. In the decisions, Mr. Dimas cited recent research showing that consumption of genetically modified ''corn byproducts reduced growth and increased mortality of nontarget stream insects'' and that these insects ''are important prey for aquatic and riparian predators'' and that this could have ''unexpected ecosystem-scale consequences.'' Although still preliminary, his decisions could drastically tilt the policy against future approvals of genetically modified crops, said Nathalie Moll, a spokeswoman for Europabio, an industry group with 80 members including Syngenta, Pioneer and Dow. Europabio says that the crops grown using the genetically modified corn are already imported into several European countries, including France and Germany, where they are used to feed animals like cows and chickens. Rob Gianfranceschi, spokesman at the United States mission to the European Union in Brussels, said it was too early to comment on a decision that had not yet been formalized. But he made clear that the United States remained frustrated with European policies on genetically modified crops. 33 参考译文: 欧盟环境官员已经确定有两种转基因作物会伤害蝴蝶、影响食物链、妨害水游生物。他们还建议禁止 出售该类种子，这些种子由DuPont Pioneer, Dow Agrosciences 和Syngenta研制。初步决议在欧盟委员会中 通报，由该委员会做出最后决定。该禁令对蓬勃发展的生物技术业是一个打击，也可能会恶化与重要贸易 伙伴(如美国)的紧张关系，因此一些官员对禁令持怀疑态度。目前在欧洲培育市场还没有销售这些种子。 在决议中，环境专员Stavros Dimas称转基因谷物或玉米可能对一些蝴蝶品种有害，尤其是黑脉金斑 蝶，对其他一些益虫也有害处。比如，今年的一项研究表明在转基因谷类中生长的黑脉金斑蝶的幼虫―和 其他幼虫表现不一样。‖在关于Dow 和 Pioneer公司生产种子的决议中，Dimas先生认为―对环境潜在的危 害是不可逆转的。‖而就Syngenta生产的谷物，他说―培育这种产品带来的风险级别对环境来说是不能接受 的。‖ 欧盟决定禁止转基因作物的种植，这是在易集团中的首例，也将激化就转基因作物一直以来的斗争。 禁止将该技术用于谷物作物也标志着欧洲环境机构大胆迈出新的一步，这些机构已大手笔地就汽车和飞机 排放制定规则，而这次的禁令使得他们将自己置于与美国及愤怒行业的纷争中。 ―这些产品已经在美国和其他国家生长数年了，‖美国贸易代表发言人Stephen Norton这样说，―我们 还不知道有这样的先例，那就是一种产品已经通过欧洲卫生安全机构审查并被认定安全，现在却又被否 定。‖ Dimas 先生的女发言人Barbara Helfferich不愿意就程序的细节作评论，因为委员们还未做出最后决 定。但是她说欧盟有权利基于―预防原则‖做出决定，即使科学家并未发现确定证据来证明该产品有害。她 说Dimas先生的决定在未来几周内就可在委员会前出台，但具体日期还未确定。在这些决定中，Dimas引 用了最近的一些研究，这些研究表明对转基因―谷物副产品‖的消费会―抑制生长，增加nontarget昆虫死亡 率‖，而且这些昆虫―是水生动物重要的食物‖，因此这可能有―无法预料的影响整体生态系统规模的后果‖。 尽管他的决定还是初步的，但是却会使未来批准转基因谷物的政策向一边倾斜，这是Europabio女发 言人Nathalie Moll的观点，Europabio是拥有80名成员的一个工业组织，Syngenta, Pioneer and Dow都是 其成员。Europabio称运用转基因谷物生长的作物已经进口到几个欧洲国家，包括法国和德国，用于饲养 牛、鸡这样的动物。 赴欧盟的美国发言人Rob Gianfranceschi称目前就对尚未正式出台的决定作出评论还为时过早，但是他明 确表示美国对于欧洲对转基因谷物的政策表示失望。 UNIT SIX TEXT ONE Maintaining internal E-mail systems has long been the bane of the university information-technology director. Servers are unwieldy and unreliable, and in the past several years, the number of student complaints has grown exponentially as forward-moving providers like YahooMail, Hotmail, and Gmail have increased expectations of what E-mail should offer. The solution for a number of colleges has been to wave the white flag and outsource E-mail hosting to the experts. Microsoft, which owns Hotmail, and Google (Gmail) are the biggest players in the educational E-mail hosting market. Along with the neat-o peripheral gizmos like messaging, calendars, and collaboration tools, the outsourced systems are more stable, have better spam filters, and provide much more storage space than the typical university's in-house system. At the University of Pennsylvania, its old E-mail service gave students 60 megabytes of storage, just 3 percent of the 2 gigabytes Windows Live now provides. In return, Google and 34 Microsoft get almost nothing, at least monetarily and in the short term. Microsoft's Windows Live @ edu and the Google Apps Education Edition are free of charge for schools. Eliminating another source of revenue, the two tech giants stripped their respective services of advertising in an effort to accommodate educators' concerns. Microsoft breaks even on the venture (it does run ads on non-E-mail services like instant messaging), while Google, which makes almost all its money through advertising, runs at a loss. But what money they don't make at the moment will—the companies hope—pay great dividends in the form of lifelong users in the future, says Google's Jeff Kelter. As quickly as they shuffle out of commencement, graduates see their E-mail transition to the traditional ad-based formats of Gmail and Hotmail. And unlike before, when universities couldn't afford to host thousands of alumni, Google and Microsoft can maintain every account indefinitely, retaining customers as long as customers still want them. Not all schools are ready to outsource their tech dirty work, with privacy and security topping the list of concerns. Critics worry that by handing over the responsibility of E-mail hosting, colleges also relinquish the freedom to keep the information safe in the best way they see fit. Even in the corporate world, there is great skepticism of consumer technologies like Google Apps. Yet most university IT managers agree that outsiders would do a better job protecting individual E-mail from viruses and spam than their own small operations, and strong word-of-mouth praise has done wonders to supplement the almost nonexistent marketing budgets for these Microsoft and Google projects. The price tag—or lack of one—isn't a bad sales pitch either. Ramin Sedehi, the vice dean for finance and administration at Penn, says 30 percent of Penn's students already forward their messages to outside clients, and he predicts universities will eventually be out of the E-mail hosting business altogether. Ball State University and the Indiana University Alumni Association are now on Windows Live, and Arizona State University switched to Google Apps in October 2006, already converting at least 40,000 of its 65,000 students to the new system. Penn State University and California Polytechnic State University, to name two, have been in talks, while other schools are watching and waiting.译文: 长期以来，维护内部电子邮件系统一直是大学信息技术主任最头疼的问题。服务器难以控制、稳定性 差，在过去的几年中，学生抱怨的数量呈指数增长，而不断进步的供应商如雅虎邮件、Hotmail、Gmail更 多考虑电子邮件能提供什么服务。许多学校的解决办法就是举起白旗，将电邮交给外面的专家打理。 拥有Hotmail的微软，谷歌(Gmail)是教育电邮市场最大的玩家。外包系统除了有灵巧的辅助小工具 (如收发消息、日历和协作工具)，该系统更加稳定，有更好的广告过滤器, 并提供比大学传统的内部系统 更大的存储空间。在宾西法尼亚大学，老电邮服务为学生提供60m的存储，是Windows Live现在提供的 2G空间的3%。但是谷歌和微软都不收费，起码从金钱上或是短期来说是这样的。微软的Windows Live @ edu以及谷歌的教育应用版对于学校是免费的。这两个科技巨头还除去了另外一项收入来源，即将各自的 广告服务去除，以免去教育家的担忧。微软甚至中断了这项业务(其在即时消息那样的非电邮服务上运营 广告)，而几乎完全靠广告获得收入的谷歌公司现在正亏损运行。 但是虽然他们现在没有赚到的钱，这些公司希望在未来通过终身用户的形式获得巨大的红利，谷歌的 Jeff Kelter这样说。一旦毕业典礼结束，学生们就会看到自己的电邮转为传统的基于广告的Gmail和 Hotmail 了。和以前不同的是，如果大学应付不了成千上万的校友，谷歌和微软可以无限期地保留每个人的纪录， 他们有需求就可以一直保留用户身份。 但是并不是所有的学校都打算将自己的技术工作外包，隐私和安全问题是他们最为关心的。批评者认 为如果将电邮的职责交出去的话，学校也就放弃了以他们认为合适的方法保证信息安全的自由。即使在业 界，对于诸如谷歌Apps这样的用户技术也存在很大的怀疑。但是大多大学IT负责人认为比起他们自己的 小型程序，外包可以更好地保护个人邮件免受病毒和广告的侵扰，而学生们对这些系统的口头赞扬已经为 微软和谷歌的项目补充了那些几乎不存在的市场预算。 35 价格标签——或者没有——也不是一个坏的销售方式。宾西法尼亚大学财务和管理副主任Ramin Sedehi称 30%的学生已经将他们的信息转给外部委托人，他预计大学最终将完全脱离自主电邮行业。鲍尔州立大学 和印第安纳大学校友会使用Windows Live，而亚利桑那州州立大学2006年10月开始使用谷歌Apps，目 前已经将至少65000名学生中的40000名转移到了新系统上。宾西法尼亚州州立大学和加利福尼亚工艺州 立大学已经在商谈中，而其他学校都在观望和等待。 TEXT TWO China makes computers, but imports most of its chips. India makes drugs, but copies almost all of the compounds; it writes software, but rarely owns the result. The bolder claims made for all three industries thus have a similar, hollow ring. They have flourished, but mostly on the back of other countries' technology. ―We are not at the stage of Intel Inside,‖ admits Arvind Atignal of Clinigene, a clinical-research firm, drawing his own analogy between desktops and drugs. ―We are the keyboard, screens and peripherals.‖ How much does this matter? Joseph Xie of SMIC, the Chinese chipmaker, spent seven years working inside Intel. Its strategy, he says, was simple: ―get there first; make most of the money; let the second guy get the change.‖ That is certainly one way to run a technology firm. But competing in that race is expensive and exhausting. Few of Intel's rivals still try to keep up with it, nanometre by nanometre. Countries of China's and India's heft and ambition cherish the idea of pushing back the limits of technology. But that push is risky, costly, frustrating work. A country shouldn't do it unless it has to. Although China and India could devote their considerable intellectual resources to solving the problems faced by economies on the technological frontier, why cross that bridge until you reach it? Seen in this light, India's generic drugmakers are models not laggards. They invest in just enough know-how to exploit the rest of the world's discoveries. Thanks to them, Indians enjoy some of the world's cheapest medicines. Under the WTO's Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights agreement (TRIPS), India has ceded the right to free-ride foreign advances. It now grants 20 years of patent protection to inventions hatched after 1995. In return, it hopes tighter laws will inspire Indians to new exploits in innovation, and reassure foreigners wary of inventing or making original products in the country. The tougher laws may yet succeed. A recent study by Bruce Abramson of the World Bank expresses high hopes. A ―patent chic‖ is already detectable in the country, he reports. He has even heard of Indian farmers calling lawyers in the hope of patenting their prize vegetables. But, as yet, the new regime has not proved its worth. Over 17,000 patent applications were filed in India in 2004-05, almost 40% more than the year before. But only 3,500 were by Indians. Of the 49 most prolific filers in the past decade, 44 are either foreign companies or subsidiaries. Of the five Indian firms, all are either government-sponsored institutes or generic-drug companies, which did fine before TRIPS. The new regime will be costly to run, if India takes it seriously. But the larger cost lies in the opportunities for unabashed imitation that India has now forgone. These lost opportunities might be quite big. Had Indian firms been prevented from copying fluoroquinolones, for example, the Indian public would have been worse off by the equivalent of $255m a year, reckons a study of the antibiotics market by Shubham Chaudhuri of the World Bank, Pinelopi Goldberg of Yale and Panle Jia of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 参考译文: 中国制造电脑，但大部分芯片都是进口的。印度制药，但所有的配方都是抄来的;印度还编软件，但 最后的成果却很少归他们所有。关于这三个行业的大胆设想都有相似的、空洞的性质。这些行业都很兴盛， 但是却要依仗其他国家的技术。―我们还没到因特尔内核那个层面，‖临床研究公司Clinigene的Arvind Atignal说道，他将电脑和医药进行了类比。―我们只不过是键盘、显示器和一些外围设备罢了。‖ 那么这有什么关系呢,中国芯片制造商SMIC的Joseph Xie 在因特尔公司工作了七年。他说，因特 尔的策略很简单:―先到一个地方;赚一大部分钱;让第二个人得点零头。‖这当然是运营科技公司的一种 方法，但是这种竞争是昂贵的，也是耗人体力的。因特尔仅有的几个对手仍在追赶它，尽管是以毫微米的 速度。 在影响、抱负方面与中国、印度不相上下的国家都希望能把科技的极限推回去，但是这种作法有一定 风险、耗费财力且容易落空。一个国家如果不是迫不得已就不应该这样做。尽管中国和印度能够投入他们 36 可观的智力资源来解决经济在技术前沿遇到的经济问题，那为什么不在碰到问题时再跨越这座桥呢,要这 样看的话，印度生物制药商就是典范而不是落后者了。他们只用足够的专门技术去开发世界各地的发现。 正是因为他们，印度人才能够享受世界上最便宜的药物。 根据世界贸易组织的相关知识产权协议，印度已经放弃了借鉴国外先进的权利。现在印度赋予1995 年后孵化的发明20年的专利保护。希望从紧的法律可以激励印度人探索新发明，也让那些一直对在这个 国家的发明创造充满戒心的外国人安心。 更为从紧的法律还未成功。不过世界银行的Bruce Abramson最近的一项研究表达了较高的期望。他 报道说，在这个国家已经发现了―专利chic‖。他曾听说印度农民打电话给律师，希望可以为他们得奖的蔬 菜申请专利。 但是，这个新兴的国家还没有证实自己的价值。2004年至2005年，印度的专利使用权申请有17000 多宗，比前一年多了几乎40%。但是其中只有3500宗是印度人申请的。在过去的十年里，49个最多产的 专利申请机构中有44个或是外国公司、或是外国公司子公司。而这五家印度公司要不是政府资助的研究 所，要不是生物制药公司，它们在TRIPS前做得很出色。 如果印度真的要这样做的话，这个国度运作起来就太耗费钱财了。但是更大的消耗在于印度目前放弃 的模仿机会。这样丢失掉的机会可能很多。比如根据世界银行的Shubham Chaudhuri、耶鲁大学的Pinelopi Goldberg以及麻省理工大学的Panle Jia做的一项关于抗生素市场的研究，如果禁止印度公司效仿氟硅酮， 那么印度公众可能一年就要损失掉2亿550万美元。 TEXT THREE Thousands of writers in Los Angeles and New York went on strike this week, risking their incomes and careers. They want more money for their work when it is used online than Hollywood studios are willing to pay. Because the strike is over matters of principle, not just dollars and cents, it could last for months. The immediate effect was to shut down late-night talk shows, including ―Late Show with David Letterman‖ and ―The Tonight Show with Jay Leno‖. If the last writers' strike, in 1988, is any guide, the talk shows will stay silent for a couple of months before going back on air without scripts. Soaps will be next to go, in a week or two; then prime-time dramas, a few weeks later. Some say the film business is safe, because studios have stockpiled scripts. But scripts often need tweaking by writers at the last minute. Media companies argue that the market has become increasingly competitive and uncertain for many reasons, including internet piracy and tumbling box-office receipts. They want to cut writers' income from ―residuals‖, which are payments made when a TV show is re-used. The writers are determined not to repeat the mistake they made in 1985, when they listened to the studios' plea that home video was an unproven new market and agreed to a residual payment of 0.3%, which translates into about four cents for each sale of a DVD—or one-tenth of what DVD-box manufacturers get. The writers now want a residual payment of 2.5% for re-use of material online and on mobile phones. The studios say that internet delivery is the same as home video, so the old rate still applies. And they refuse to pay anything to writers when content is streamed over the internet free to viewers, supported by ads, because this is merely ―promotion‖. Both sides made last-minute concessions on traditional-media payments. But because new-media rights are so critical to the future earnings of writers and studios, neither was willing to compromise. Who will suffer the most? ―The strike won't affect most studios unless the writers stay out three to five months,‖ says a senior executive at a media conglomerate. Because writers on reality and animation programmes are not unionised, the networks will be able to switch to other forms of programming; sport will fill the gaps, too. But Moody's, a credit-rating agency, reckons that a strike lasting into late 2008 would have a serious financial impact. Broadcast networks and premium-cable channels would be hurt most, because they rely most on first-run scripted shows. Some writers, of course, are wealthy. ―I'm walking the picket line with some guys who are worth millions,‖ says Lou DiMaggio, a reality- and game-show writer who won an Emmy award for ―Win Ben Stein's Money‖. But the vast majority of writers, he says, earn about $50,000-75,000 a year. Mr DiMaggio says he backed out of buying a house because of the strike; junior writers may have to go back to waiting tables. Luckily for Hollywood, however, most scribes are too devoted to their calling to be put off. Gary Goldman, a writer picketing outside Fox Studios who 37 has worked on science-fiction thrillers such as ―Minority Report‖, says that many writers will spend their free time working on screenplays that they hope to sell to the studios on spec. 38 参考译文: 洛杉矶、纽约成千上万的编剧不惜以他们的工资和职业作为赌注于这周举行了游行。他们希望自己作 品在网上使用时，得到的报酬比好莱坞制片商愿意支付的更多一些。因为这次罢工事关原则问题，而不仅 仅是金钱问题，因此可能会持续几个月。罢工的直接效应就是暂停了夜间的谈话节目，包括―David Letterman 晚间谈话‖和―Jay Leno夜间谈话‖。如果之前那次的编剧罢工(1988年)有点示范作用的话，那么这些谈 话节目得沉寂几个月才会重新回到屏幕、但却没有剧本，接下来肥皂剧会在一两周内恢复，之后几周内黄 金时间剧作才会回归。有人认为电影行业是安全的，因为制片商有成堆的剧本。但是在紧要关头剧本总是 需要编剧做些调整。 媒体公司认为市场竞争越来越激烈，而且因为许多原因变得更加扑朔迷离，比如因特网盗版和票房收 入的下降。他们想要从给作者的电视片重映报酬中卡掉一些。而编剧们决心这次不再犯他们1985年犯过 的错误了，当时他们听信了制片商的借口，说家庭录像还是一个未知的新市场，于是最终同意收取0.3% 的重映费，这相当于每卖出一张DVD他们只能得4美分，这是DVD制造商所得的1/10。现在编剧希望如 果在网上或移动电话上使用这些材料的话，可以支付2.5%的重映费。 制片商称因特网的传播和家庭录像是一样的，因此将执行原来的比率。如果相关内容放在网上免费 给观众收看，那么他们不会向编剧支付任何费用，因为这些是靠广告支撑的，只是一种―宣传‖。双方在传 统媒体支付上都做出了最后的让步，但是由于新型媒体的权利对于编剧和制片商未来的收入都至关重要， 因此双方都不肯做出妥协。 那么谁会损失最多,―对于制片商，这次罢工不会有什么影响，除非编剧可以离开三到五个月，‖ 一 家媒体集团的首席执行官这样说。因为实景剧和动画片的编剧不会组织成工会，广播公司可以转向其他形 式的节目，体育也可以填补空白。但是一家信贷评级机构Moody's认为如果罢工一直持续到2008年末的 话，经济就会受到严峻冲击。广播网和付费频道损失最大，因为它们依赖的就是原稿节目的首轮放映。 当然有一些剧作家是很富有的。―跟我一起沿着警戒线走的是一些身价值百万的家伙们，‖ 实景、游戏 编剧Lou DiMaggio这样说，他曾因―赢掉本?斯坦的钱‖而获得了艾美奖。但是他说大部分的编剧年薪为5 万到7万五千美元。DiMaggio说他就是因为这次罢工打消了买房子的主意。而级别低的编剧可能得回到搁 置名单中了。但是，好莱坞是幸运的，因为大多编剧都愿意响应他们的号召，不会推迟。Gary Goldman是 在福克斯公司外工作的编剧，他曾经为科幻惊恐电影如―少数人报告‖中工作过，他说许多编剧都会在业余 时间里写电影剧本，他们希望可以碰碰运气看能否出售给制片商。 TEXT FOUR Working out exactly what students and taxpayers get for the money they spend on universities is a tricky business. Now the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a Paris-based think-tank for rich countries, is planning to make the task a bit easier, by producing the first international comparison of how successfully universities teach. ―Rather than assuming that because a university spends more it must be better, or using other proxy measures for quality, we will look at learning outcomes,‖ explains Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's head of education research. Just as the OECD assesses primary and secondary education by testing randomly chosen groups of youngsters from each country in reading and mathematics, it will sample university students to see what they have learned. Once enough universities are taking part, it may publish league tables showing where each country stands, just as it now does for compulsory education. That may produce a fairer assessment than the two established rankings, though the British one does try to broaden its inquiry by taking opinions from academics and employers. There is much to be said for the OECD's approach. Of course a Nobel laureate's view on where to study may be worth hearing, but dons may be so busy writing and researching that they spend little or no time teaching—a big weakness at America's famous universities. And changes in methodology can bring startling shifts. The high-flying London School of Economics, for example, tumbled from 17th to 59th in the British rankings published last week, primarily because it got less credit than in previous years for the impressive number of foreign students it had managed to attract. The OECD plan awaits approval from an education ministers' meeting in January. The first rankings are planned by 2010. They will be of interest not just as a guide for shoppers in the global market, but also as indicators 39 of performance in domestic markets. They will help academics wondering whether to stay put or switch jobs, students choosing where to spend their time and money, and ambitious university bosses who want a sharper competitive edge for their institution. The task the OECD has set itself is formidable. In many subjects, such as literature and history, the syllabus varies hugely from one country, and even one campus, to another. But OECD researchers think that problem can be overcome by concentrating on the transferable skills that employers value, such as critical thinking and analysis, and testing subject knowledge only in fields like economics and engineering, with a big common core. Moreover, says Mr Schleicher, it is a job worth doing. Today's rankings, he believes, do not help governments assess whether they get a return on the money they give universities to teach their undergraduates. Students overlook second-rank institutions in favour of big names, even though the less grand may be better at teaching. Worst of all, ranking by reputation allows famous places to coast along, while making life hard for feisty upstarts. ―We will not be reflecting a university's history,‖ says Mr Schleicher, ―but asking: what is a global employer looking for?‖ A fair question, even if not every single student's destiny is to work for a multinational firm. 40 参考译文: 要算出学生和纳税人花在大学上的钱能有多大的回报，这一直是个棘手的问题。总部位于巴黎的经济 合作和发展组织是一家富裕国家的智囊团机构，目前在建立第一个大学教学国际比较体系，希望借此可以 让这个难题容易解决一些。 ―我们不会认为一个大学投入的资金越多越好，也不会用其他代理措施来评估质量，我们更注重学习 结果。‖ 经济合作和发展组织教育研究主任Andreas Schleicher说道。就像经济合作和发展组织曾从每个 国家随机抽取了一些学生，测验他们的阅读和数学从而评估其初级和中级教育水平一样，这次也会从大学 生中取样来看他们的学习效果。如果有足够多的大学参与进来，就可以公布联合报表，评定每个国家在教 育所处的位置，这就跟他们目前在义务教育方面所作的工作一样。这样得出的评判要比目前已有的两种评 级更为公正，尽管英国评级目前因广泛了接受学术界和雇主的意见从而扩展自己的调查范围。 经济合作与发展组织的方法可圈可点之处还有很多。当然诺贝尔奖得主关于应该在哪里学习的意见值 得听取，但是大学教授们可能忙于写书或做研究，因此在教学方面投入的时间很少或几乎没有，这是美国 名校一个大的弱点。方法上的改变可以带来令人震惊的结果。比如说，抱负远大的伦敦经济学院在上周发 行的英国评级中，由第17位滑落至第59位，这主要是因为相对于上一年度，该校在尽力争取大量的外国 学生方面所得的分数减少了。 经济合作和发展组织在等待一月份教育部长会议的审批，并计划于2010年进行第一次评级。这些评 级会赢得广泛的兴趣，不仅仅因为可以作为全球市场中雇主的指南，还因为在国内市场也能充当业绩的指 标。这样就可以帮助学术界决定是否原地不动还是应该进行一些改变，学生也可以选择在哪里投入自己的 时间和钱财，还可以帮助充满抱负的大学校长增强本校的竞争力。 经济合作与发展组织进行的工作是艰难的。在像文学、历史这样的科目上，各个国家的课程各不相同， 甚至各个学校也大相径庭。但是经济合作与发展组织研究者认为可以主要关注雇主所重视的可转换的技 术，比如批评性思考和分析，并只在那些有共同核心的领域如经济、工程等考察科目知识掌握情况。 Schleicher说，这是一项值得做的工作。他相信，目前的这些评级无助于政府评判给与大学教育学生 的资金能否取得好的回报。学生们更喜欢一些有名气的学校，而忽略了二类学校，虽然这些学校在教学方 面更出众一些。更糟糕的是，根据名气来评级会让名校成绩下滑，而让那些充满活力的新兴学校生存困难。 ―我们并不能反映一个大学的历史，‖Schleicher先生说，―但是要问问自己:这难道是全球雇主所需要的吗,‖ 尽管不是每个学生的目标都是供职于一个跨国公司，但这是一个合理的问题。 UNIT SEVEN TEXT ONE Once upon a time—when the U.S. dollar was king—American students blithely flocked overseas to nibble on affordable scones and croissants between classes. How times have changed.As the dollar dips to all-time lows, college students are feeling the pinch. Especially in the United Kingdom and countries that use the euro—which currently is at 68 cents to the dollar—the cost of living has skyrocketed. "Years ago we could say studying abroad was the same price as staying on campus," says Daeya Malboeuf, an associate director at Syracuse University. "There's no way we can say that anymore." Yet this unfavorable economic environment hasn't stopped students from scrambling overseas. According to the Institute of International Education, study-abroad programs have grown 144 percent in the past decade and continue to increase around 8 percent each year. Considering the rising costs, "it's surprising how little the students haven't been deterred," says Natalie Bartush, who handles the study-abroad program at the University of Texas. Where the real change appears to be happening as a result of rising prices is in the length and location of students' foreign study choices. The number of participants in short-term summer programs has swelled, as has the interest in courses at more exotic locales. For Middlebury College students, for example, a year in Florence costs around $37,000; at Santiago, Chile, it's $27,000. Such price differences have contributed to modest or flat growth at traditionally popular programs in western Europe and Australia, whereas schools in Chile, Argentina, South Africa, and China (particularly Hong Kong) are aggressively expanding to meet rising demand. 41 Program directors are quick to point out that the shift is not just about money. "You can't understand the United States today without understanding what's going on outside our borders, and that's not just Europe anymore," says Rebecca Hovey, dean of the study-abroad program at the School for International Training. Interest in nontraditional locales spiked even before the dollar began dropping, and foreign countries are marketing themselves to American students. A surge of support from education nonprofits and the State Department also has fueled the trend. Study-abroad costs also vary wildly based on the way colleges structure their programs. Schools that effectively swap students with a foreign college are less affected by the falling dollar, but American schools that operate their own student centers often end up paying more for rent, utilities, and faculty salaries as the U.S. currency falters. The dollar's slide also means that trying to set student fees in advance is a tiresome guessing game for college officials. Most of these educators' energy, however, is spent scrounging up extra financial aid for needy travelers. Students already getting help can usually transfer their aid to tuition and fees abroad, but basics like housing and food are often at the mercy of the fluctuating dollar. Airfare, which can exceed $1,000 round trip, is not generally included in school fees, and whirlwind trips across continents are rarely cheap. The emphasis on student financial responsibility is especially evident at private schools like Syracuse, which charges the same pricey tuition abroad as at home. Even at more affordable public universities and private colleges like Middlebury—which charges U.S. students the often cheaper tuition of the international host schools—counselors are quick to peddle the virtue of thrift, a lesson no longer lost between those on safety and culture shock. 42 参考译文: 当美元还是老大的时候，美国学生都高高兴兴地成群跑到海外上学，课间可以品尝价格合适的烤饼和 羊角面包。可是时代变化的真快啊。美元突然跌到空前的低点，学生们都感到了压力。特别是在英国和使 用欧元的国家里(目前欧元对美元的汇率为68欧分兑1美元)，生活的成本陡然增加。―几年前，我们可 以说在国外学习和在国内大学学习花费差不多，‖锡拉库扎大学的副院长Daeya Malboeuf这样说，―但我们 现在可不能这么说了。‖ 但即使在这么不好的经济环境下，学生们还是争先恐后到海外去。国际教育学院认为，在过去十年内， 海外学习项目增长了144%，而且还以每年4%的速度在继续增长。考虑到上升的成本问题，德克萨斯大学 海外教育项目负责人Natalie Bartush说，―奇怪的是有很少学生因此而不去上学的。‖ 因为价格升高真正出现的变化是学生对于国外学习的时间长短和学习地点的选择。参加短期暑假学习 项目的学生数量急剧增加，此外他们更有兴趣到那些和自己文化相异颇大的地方学习。比如，Middlebury 学院的学生在佛罗伦萨一年的消费要3万7千美元;而在圣地亚哥和智利只要2万7千美元。价格的悬殊 使得在西欧和澳大利亚较受欢迎的传统项目增长平平，而智利、阿根廷、南非和中国(尤其是香港)的学 校却因需求急剧增加，也飞速扩大。 项目主任指出这种变化不仅仅是因为费用。―现在如果你不知道美国之外其他地方的情况，就不能说 你了解美国。美国之外的地方现在也不仅仅指欧洲了。‖ 国家教育学校海外教育项目主任Rebecca Hovey 说道。在美元贬值前学生们对非传统地区的兴趣就已经开始增加了，而外国学校也在向美国学生宣传自己。 而教育非盈利和美国国务院增加的扶持也推动了这种趋势。 海外教育费用也因学校组织项目方式的不同方式而有很大差异。而那些与外国大学进行学生交换的学 校因美元贬值受到的影响也较小。但是自己运营学生中心的美国学校却因为美元的波动，要在房租、设备、 人员工资方面支付更多费用。而美元的贬值也意味着提前设定学费对于大学行政人员来说是个麻烦的估算 工作。但是，大多数教育者的精力却花费在给那些贫困的旅客寻找额外的经济援助上面。已经获得援助的 学生可以支付在国外学习的学费，但是其它的必需花费，如租房、伙食费就会受到美元波动的影响。超过 1000美元的往返机票也一般不包括在学校费用中，而跨洲航班很少有便宜的。 在像锡拉库扎这样的私立学校，学生需要自己负担经济费用的现象更是突出，这些私立学校对国内国 外学生都收取同样昂贵的学费。公立大学或是像Middlebury这样的私立学院一般向美国学生收取的学费要 比国际寄宿学校收取得少，相对比较便宜，但现在法律顾问也在提倡节约，这是安全与文化冲击之间不再 会失去的一个教训。 TEXT TWO The company that revolutionized the delivery of information now aims to do the same with electricity. Technology powerhouse Google today announced it would spend "tens of millions" of dollars next year in research and development and investments in an effort to drive down the cost of large-scale renewable energy to make it cheaper than coal. Not only will Google be hiring engineers and energy experts for its new initiative, known as RE 合同 劳动合同范本免费下载装修合同范本免费下载租赁合同免费下载房屋买卖合同下载劳务合同范本下载 。但是从巴西运货物到中国花费的 时间是从澳大利亚到中国的三倍，实际上降低了运载量。 另一方面，JPMorgan的Jon Chappell说，中国以前出口铁矿石数量要比进口多。2001年中国净出口量为 8900万吨，而今年出口和进口几乎持平。其他东亚国家，如日本、韩国等以前的煤炭进口主要依靠中国， 而现在也不得不从澳大利亚、南非和美洲进口。印度也是一样。除此之外，澳大利亚的旱灾也意味着亚洲 进口商必须从美洲来进口粮食。 Icap Hyde指出，总的来说，大西洋和太平洋之间存在一种―海洋失衡‖。虽然需求主要集中在亚洲，但供应 却要跨越两洋。主要干货的运输吨/英里数是用来衡量长途船运载量情况，该数据在2001年到2006年之间 增长45%。如果有更多的船运需求的话，这对于船运费用是个好消息。所有评论都认为，这种牛市行情能 延续到2009年，到那时会有许多新船下水。希望这些船只是用于跨洋船运。 TEXT FOUR As dusk falls, kerosene stoves ignite in the poorer kitchens of Delhi. Sengeni, who lives on an alley wedged between the Nizamuddin railway tracks and a tributary known as ganda nallah (or dirty ditch), is looking forward to a dish of rice. He is entitled to a quota of 11 litres of cheap kerosene every fortnight, which he buys for about nine rupees (23 cents) a litre, compared with a free-market rate of about 25 rupees. The price hasn't changed for months, he says, despite the surge in oil prices. 45 In India, as in many countries, the government dares not allow the rising price of crude to be felt in the common man's pockets. Only a third of the 48 developing countries studied in an IMF review let the market set fuel prices. The governments of Yemen and Indonesia, for example, spent more holding down the price of fuel than they spent on health and education combined. Attempts to raise energy prices—as in Yemen in 2005, Nigeria in 2000 or Indonesia in 1998—have a sorry record of prompting riots and revolutions. India's government subsidises kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) directly. It keeps other fuels, such as diesel, artificially cheap by the simple expedient of stopping state oil companies from raising their prices. These firms keep themselves afloat with ―oil bonds‖, which the government guarantees but does not enter on its books. In October, for example, the government announced it would issue bonds worth 235 billion rupees this fiscal year, which will compensate oil-market companies for about 43% of their losses. All told, India's fuel subsidies might cost as much as $17.5 billion this year, according to Lombard Street Research, a British firm of economists. That amounts to as much as 2% of the country's GDP. Cheap kerosene fires the poor man's stove in India's cities and lights his home in the country's villages. More prosperous city folk cook instead with more refined gases. Thus a kerosene subsidy can at least claim to be progressive as well as expensive. This is more than can be said for India's cheap LPG. According to Bharat Ramaswami of the Indian Statistical Institute, the richer half of India's urban population captures about three-quarters of this subsidy. Unfortunately, about half of India's subsidised kerosene never makes it to household stoves, he says. It is diverted to the black market, where it is either sold at a higher price or used to adulterate diesel, which sells for about 30 rupees per litre. This then poses an acute dilemma for the government. The subsidies are costly. Yet more expensive kerosene would hurt the poor (not to mention the government's own electoral prospects). And if it kept kerosene cheap while letting diesel rise in price, it would only increase the scope for arbitrage between the two. Not all fuel in India is subsidised. By the Nizamuddin rail tracks, a gaggle of children warm themselves on a chilly night by burning scraps of wood. One thick-skinned show-off waves his foot in the flames for a foolhardy second. India's fragile government, on the other hand, is in no mood to play with fire. 46 参考译文: 黄昏到来时，煤油炉在德里穷人家中的厨房里点燃了。Sengeni住在Nizamuddin火车铁轨和ganda nallah(肮脏的河沟)支流中间形成的一个楔形小巷里，他正盼望一盘米饭。每两周他能按配额领取11升 的低价煤油，每升价格为9卢布(折合23美分)，而自由市场的价格为25卢布。他说，尽管汽油一直在 涨价，但这个价格几个月都没变过。 就像其他国家一样，印度政府也不敢允许原油价格的上涨影响普通人的支出。根据国际货币基金组织 的一次检查，48个发展中国家只有1/3允许市场决定石油价格。比如，也门和印尼这两个国家的政府用于 控制石油价格的花费要比用于医疗和教育这两项费用迭加起来还要多。也门于2005年、尼加拉瓜于2000 年、印尼于1998年试图提高能源价格，可最终都以暴乱和革命收场。 印度政府直接补贴煤油和液化石油气。政府还禁止国有石油公司提高价格，以保证其他燃料如柴油等 价格低廉。这些公司自己带着―石油枷锁‖，这是市政府保证的，但是没有写入正文。比如十月份，政府宣 布将在该财年发行价值2350亿卢布的债券，以补偿石油市场公司43%的损失。据英国一家经济学家公司 朗伯德街研究所的研究，今年印度燃料补助可能要达到1750万元，占到这个国家GDP的2%。 便宜的煤油在印度各个城市穷人家中的炉子中燃烧着，照亮了乡下的房子。而在较为富有的城市中， 人们却用更好的煤气烧饭。因此，煤油补助至少可以说是进步的，也是昂贵的。而且相对于印度低廉的液 化石油气来说，可以说的就更多了。印度统计学会的Bharat Ramaswami指出，印度城市人口富有的那一半 人掠夺了3/4的补助。不幸的是，印度补助的煤油有一半都没有用到家庭炉子中。这些都转到了黑市上， 在那里或以高价卖出、或用于掺杂柴油，而柴油价格是每升30卢布。 这让政府面临着一个两难境地。补助很昂贵，但是更贵的煤油会危害穷人(更别说政府自己的选举前 景了)。如果保证煤油价格低廉而让柴油上涨，那么只会增加两者之间的套利交易机会。但在印度并不是 所有的燃料都有补助。在Nizamuddin铁道旁，一群小孩在寒冷的黑夜点了木屑来取暖。一个厚皮肤出风 头的人在火中用脚示意。而另一方面，印度岌岌可危的政府却根本没心思去玩火。 UNIT EIGHT TEXT ONE New York is in the middle of a culture fest celebrating Berlin, a 17-day marathon of music, film, architecture, literature and photography that began on November 2nd. ―Berlin In Lights‖ is largely the brainchild of Sir Clive Gillinson, a former managing director of the London Symphony Orchestra who became executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall in July 2005. Determined to make the New York concert hall more international, he is initiating a series of cultural festivals celebrating cities, nations or artistic movements. Berlin is the first of these. A visit by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, under its principal conductor Sir Simon Rattle had been planned for some time. Much taken by the extraordinary transformation of Berlin since reunification—the city thrives through culture and politics; there is hardly any business or finance—Sir Clive decided to expand that visit into a full-blown festival. He got an enthusiastic response from other New York institutions. Berlin and New York have sizeable mutual admiration societies but, until recently, post-war Berlin could only dream of being in the same league of creative effervescence as New York. Now, in partnership with the American Academy in Berlin, Carnegie Hall has put together a crowd of seminars—on literature, the visual arts, film-making—inviting stars such as Volker Schlöndorff and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, both Oscar-winning German directors. The Goethe-Institut and the German consulate-general are showing photographs, the Museum of Modern Art is screening films about Berlin and the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Centre is screening the 13 episodes and epilogue of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's television epic ―Berlin Alexanderplatz‖ in 14 separate rooms. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, extending its visit to eight days, will be performing Gustav Mahler's last three major works as well as music by Thomas Adès, Magnus Lindberg and György Kurtag, three contemporary composers. In addition, various chamber ensembles made up of Philharmonic musicians are playing both at Carnegie and at ―neighbourhood concerts‖ in the city's five boroughs. The most innovative of the Philharmonic's 47 offerings will be the performances on November 17th and 18th at the United Palace Theatre in Washington Heights of Igor Stravinsky's ―The Rite of Spring‖, danced by kids from state schools who have been trained for just eight weeks. To those who think that the result will be shambolic, the organisers retort that the experiment worked well with children—including refugees—from state schools in Berlin. ―Berlin In Lights‖ is not comprehensive: there is no theatre and little dance. A festival that gets too big loses its charm, says Sir Clive: ―We would like to capture people's imagination and incite them to explore new horizons.‖ The audience at some of the shows—a performance by Max Raabe and the Palast Orchestra of songs from the 1920s and 1930s, Ute Lemper, a German chanteuse specialising in Kurt Weill, in cabaret—were made up largely from what one participant described as the geriatric intelligentsia from the Upper West Side. As many of them have German- or Austrian-Jewish origins, they have a loving, knowledgeable relationship with German culture. One critic hissed that Ms Lemper was a poor copy of Lotte Lenya, Weill's wife, whom she had seen perform in the 1940s. Sir Clive hopes that concerts by the Nomad SoundSystem, a Berlin band performing western dance music and North African melodies, and concerts by Berlin's Turkish and Kurdish communities may bring in a younger crowd. 48 参考译文: 纽约目前正在举行于11月2日开始的为期十三天的柏林文化节，包括音乐、电影、建筑、文学和摄 影等方面的活动。―光之柏林‖是CliveGillinson爵士创意，他是伦敦交响乐团的前任负责人，并他于2005 年8月成为―卡内基大厅‖的行政、艺术主任。他决意要使得纽约的音乐厅更为国际化，因此发起了一系列 的城市文化节、国家文化节和艺术活动。其中柏林文化节是第一个。 策划由指挥家SimonRattle指挥的柏林爱乐乐团的访问演出已经有一段时间了。自东西德国统一之后， 柏林发生了许多变化，这个城市因为文化和政治，而不是因为商业或金融而繁荣起来。Clive为这个城市 所打动，决定将这次访问演出扩大为真正的文化节。他还从纽约其他机构获得了热烈的回应。 柏林和纽约都有规模较大的艺术欣赏团体，但是战后的柏林只能幻想拥有和纽约一样充满创造的活 力。目前，卡内基大厅和柏林的美国协会一起组织了一些有关文学、视觉艺术和电影制作的研讨会，邀请 了著名人物如Volker Schlöndorff 和 Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck参会，这两位都是获得奥斯卡奖的 德国导演。歌德学院和德国总领事馆展出了照片，现代博物馆在播放关于柏林的电影，P.S.1现代艺术中心 在十四个房间里播放了Rainer Werner Fassbinder电视史诗―Berlin Alexanderplatz‖中的13个集及其大结局。 柏林爱乐乐团将自己的访问演出扩展到了8天，将会演奏GustavMahler的最后三个主要作品，也会 演奏三位现代作曲家ThomasAdès、MagnusLindberg和GyörgyKurtag的作品。此外，由爱乐乐团音乐家组 成的室内合奏团会在卡内基和该城市五个街区的―社区音乐会‖进行表演。爱乐乐团最富有创意的表演是11 月17日和18日在Washington Heights的联合宫殿剧院表演的由IgorStravinsky创作的―春的典礼‖，伴舞的 是来自州立学校的孩子们，他们只训练了8个星期。有些人认为这样会太混乱，而组织者回应说这次尝试 中，柏林州立学校的孩子们(包括难民)配合得很好， ―柏林之光‖并不包含所有形式的艺术——没有戏剧表演，也没有小型舞蹈。一个节日如果场面过于宏 大，就会失去其魅力，Clive说，―我们希望可以抓住人们的想象，激发他们去探索新的空间。‖ 一些演出(如Max Raabe的表演、Palast管弦乐队演奏的20世纪20年代和30年代的歌曲，专研Kurt Weill 的德国女歌手UteLemper的歌舞表演)的观众主要由一些来自于纽约上西面的老年知识分子组成。他们中 许多人都有德国或奥地利犹太血统，因此非常喜爱和深谙德国文化。一位评论家在20世纪40年代就看过 Lemper的演出，他认为Lemper女士是对Weill 妻子LotteLenya的拙劣模仿。Clive希望演奏西方舞曲和北 美音乐的柏林乐队―流浪声系‖，以及柏林的土耳其和库尔德团体举办的音乐会可以吸引年轻的观众。 TEXT TWO Publishers cannot have enough of books from serious historians about the ―whys‖ of war. Why do they start? Why do they last? What makes a peace fragile? The past is one place to look for answers. Charles Esdaile, a lecturer at the University of Liverpool, is too good a scholar to make easy comparisons between then and now. But the ―whys‖ of war run through his masterly account of the Napoleonic wars, a 12-year conflict between France and Europe's other powers that killed almost 2m soldiers. Mr Esdaile, in a politico-military survey of extraordinary scope and detail, tells us what he believes caused the conflict, what it was about and why it lasted so long despite, as it seemed, frequent chances for peace. Neither battlefield chronicle nor biography in disguise, ―Napoleon's Wars‖ is explanatory history of high order. Historians date the Napoleonic wars from 1803, when Britain declared war on France after the brief Peace of Amiens. Mr Esdaile recounts how Napoleon came to power in 1799, mastering France and then Europe. Britain commanded the seas after Trafalgar in 1805. But France held the continent thanks to victories on land against the Austrians, Prussians and Russians. Setbacks in Spain, which Napoleon's troops entered in 1807, and disaster in Russia in 1812, led to eventual defeat at Waterloo. Mr Esdaile makes that familiar story fresh in three connected ways. He shows how marginal-looking conflicts—for example over the Romanian lands, Sweden, Portugal, Canada—ignited larger ones or divided potential allies. He reminds us that defeating Napoleon was never sure. Europe's armies had first to learn from their own failures and their rulers had to make common cause. Both things happened, but late in the day. Above all, he stresses that the conflict was not ideological but geopolitical. It was about the balance of power, disturbed for a century by Ottoman decline, Russian and Prussian growth and Franco-British rivalries. 49 Few if any of France's foes were fighting for regime change in Paris. At many times they would have settled with Napoleon—had he settled with them. But they could never trust him to settle, and the wars went on. His two strongest opponents, Britain and Russia, resisted him, in Mr Esdaile's view, not because he was a revolutionary, a republican or the head of an upstart dynasty. They fought him because as long as he controlled France, there was no telling where France would stop. At this point Napoleon's character enters Mr Esdaile's intricate geopolitical equations. Without accepting a great-man theory of history, he thinks the Napoleonic wars deserve their name. Europe's powers would have fought over their differences without Napoleon. But the scale and ferocity of conflict was due in large part to the emperor's ―aggression, egomania and lust for power‖. Mr Esdaile's book reflects a vast and varied range of recent scholarship. But he never leaves his geopolitical story for long. War started, he believes, because Europe was not in balance. It dragged on because Napoleon could not be trusted. Peace came—and lasted until later generations forgot the horror of the alternative. 1( 50 参考译文: 关于战争的―为什么‖，出版商们能从严肃的历史学家那里获得的书远远不够。为什么会发生战争,为什 么战争一直延续,是什么使得和平不堪一击,历史只是寻找答案的一个途径。Charles Esdaile是利物浦大 学的一名讲师，他是一位优秀的学者，因此并没有简单地对比现在和过去。但是，在他关于拿破仑战争的 精妙叙述中，战争的―为什么‖却一直贯穿始终。拿破仑战争是法国和欧洲其他国家进行的为期12年的一场 战争，有200万名士兵为此捐躯。Esdaile先生在他一次广泛、细致的政治军事调查中告诉我们他对这次战 争起因的看法，这次战争的目的并解释为什么虽然看起来有好多次都有可能恢复和平，但战争还是持续了 很长时间的原因。―拿破仑战争‖既不是战争编年史，又不是传记，它是对非凡历史的解释。 历史学家将拿破仑战争战争追溯到1803年，当时英国在短暂的―亚眠和平‖后向法国宣战。Esdaile先生 讲述了拿破仑如何于1799年当政开始统治法国，而后统治了整个欧洲。英国在1805年特拉法尔战争后获 得了海上霸权。但是由于法国在陆上战争中打败了澳大利亚、普鲁士和俄罗斯，最终取得了陆上霸权。而 拿破仑军队于1807年侵入西班牙后遇阻，1812年在俄罗斯又遇到灾祸，最终导致了滑铁卢惨败。 Esdaile先生以三种途径给予了这个旧故事新的诠释。他指出看起来很微小的冲突，比如因罗马尼亚土 地、瑞典、葡萄牙和加拿大而引起的冲突，最终引发了更大的战争，或者将本来可以结盟的盟国弄得四分 五裂。他认为很难说我们是否彻底击垮了拿破仑。欧洲军队必须从自己的失败中汲取教训，而统治者则需 要联合起来。这些后来都实现了，但已经为时过晚。他强调，首先这场战争并不是基于意识形态的，而是 基于地理政治学的。这是一场关于权力均衡的战争，在一个世纪中由于土耳其帝国的衰落、俄国和普鲁士 的不断强大以及英法对抗等因素而不断延续。 法国敌人中几乎没有一个是为了要巴黎政权而战的。很多时候如果拿破仑愿意停战的话，这些愿意也 很可能停战。但是这些国家不相信拿破仑这么做，因此战争就一直持续下去。在Esdaile看来，拿破仑的 两个劲敌——英国和俄国与之抵抗并不是因为他是革命者、是共和党人或是一个崛起的王朝的领袖，而是 因为只要他统治着法国，其他国家无法预料法国什么时候才能停止扩张。 在这一点上, 拿破仑的个性被列入Esdaile复杂的地理政治方程式中。Esdaile没有接受历史英雄理论， 但他认为拿破仑战争理应享受如此盛名。即使没有拿破仑，欧洲强国也会因为彼此不同而发动战争，但是 拿破仑战争的规模和惨烈程度却很大程度上是因为这个皇帝的―侵略性、自大狂和对权力的贪欲‖。 Esdaile的这本书反映了近期学术广泛、多样的特点。但是他从未离开过地理政治这个概念。他相信， 战争就是由于欧洲大陆的不平衡引起的，而战争一直延续是因为各国无法信任拿破仑。和平最终来临，直 到后面几代人都忘记了战争的残酷。 TEXT THREE It is, by general consent, the most important securities-litigation clash for a generation. A case now before the Supreme Court, Stoneridge v Scientific-Atlanta, is shaping up to be a key test of attitudes towards shareholder class actions. A decision in favour of aggrieved investors would greatly increase the number of companies on which trial lawyers could train their sights. A ruling the other way would be a crushing defeat for the plaintiff's bar. Adding to the suspense, the government bodies with an interest in the case cannot agree on a common position. The case involves a cable company, Charter Communications, which used a transaction with two suppliers of set-top boxes to inflate its revenues. Shareholders sued not only the company but the vendors too, claiming that they participated in the fraud, even though they may not have been aware of the misreporting. Led by the legendary Bill Lerach, plaintiff lawyers have lobbied ferociously for the principle of going after third parties, known as ―scheme liability‖. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is backing Mr Lerach's lot, thanks to a change of heart by its Republican chairman, Christopher Cox, traditionally no friend of the plaintiff's bar. Mr Cox urged the Department of Justice to fall in behind it, but this week it declined to do so. It has a month to decide whether to support the defendants or offer no opinion. The Treasury is at odds with the SEC, too, fearing that a ruling in favour of investors would further damage American competitiveness. Many foreign firms that choose to list their shares elsewhere point to America's ―litigation lottery‖ as the principal reason. Although filings of securities class actions have been falling since 2005, the overall value of settlements has continued to rise. 51 Bankers and accountants are watching just as closely as cable-box makers. In a similar case, Mr Lerach's firm sued Enron's financial advisers on behalf of shareholders, claiming that they facilitated the book-keeping shenanigans at the now-defunct energy trader. He lost—though not before collecting billions from banks that settled early. He has lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court and wants the case joined with Stoneridge. Business is encouraged by its track record: a steady pruning of plaintiffs' rights since the 1970s. A number of its justices are thought to sympathise with the view that scheme liability is best left to the SEC, which has the power to pursue aiders and abettors under its Rule 10b-5. Some lawyers in Washington even suggest that Mr Cox only sided with investors because he was convinced that they had almost no chance of support from the Supreme Court. But with numerous fine legal points at issue, the outcome is uncertain. An unfavourable ruling would send a chill through boardrooms, and not only in America. If suppliers and advisers can be dragged into class actions, it would no longer even be necessary to issue shares in the United States to incur securities liability, points out Peter Wallison of the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank. Any firm, anywhere, doing business with American companies would have to live with the risk that the transaction could later be portrayed as fraudulent or deceptive. And painting such pictures is what trial lawyers do best. 1. 52 参考译文: 人们普遍认为，本案是这一时代最大的一起安全诉讼冲突。现在最高法院审理的一个案子 ——Stoneridge v ScientificAtlanta发展成为试探对股东共同起诉的重要个案。如果决议有利于那些权利受到 不法侵害的投资者，那么就会有更多的公司找寻律师来起诉。不利于投资者的裁决对于原告律师团则是一 个致命的打击。除了这个悬念之外，关心该案件的政府机构也不能达成一致意见。 该案件涉及到一个电报公司——Charter Communications，公司利用与两个置顶盒供应商的交易来扩大 其收入。投资者不仅仅起诉了这家公司，而且也起诉了供应商，称他们参与了诈骗行为，虽然他们可能没 有意识到那些误报。以富有传奇色彩的Bill Lerach为首的原告律师团强烈要求实行寻找第三方的原则，即 ―方案责任‖。 安全与交流委员会赞成Lerach先生的抓阄建议，这主要是因为该委员会的共和国主席Christopher Cox 改变了主意，此人与原告律师团没有任何联系。Cox先生要求司法部同意该提议，但是这周司法部却予以 拒绝。司法部有一个月的时间来决定是支持被告还是不提供任何意见。 财政部也和安全与交流委员会有分歧，财政部担心如果裁决有利于投资者会进一步削弱美国的竞争力。 许多选择了到其他地方上市的外国公司指出，美国―立法抓阄法‖是它们不在美国上市主要的原因所在。尽 管共同起诉的案件自2005年以来一直在下降，裁决所牵涉的整体价值却一直在上升。 和电报盒制造商一样，银行家和会计一直在密切关注这起案件。之前也有一起相似的案件，Lerach先 生的公司代表股东起诉了Enron金融顾问，称他们促成了现已不存在的能源经纪人的薄记交易诡计。Lerach 最终败诉，虽然之前因裁决从银行取到了几十亿美元。他向最高法院提出了上诉，希望这个案件可以加入 到Stoneridge。纪录可以刺激交易，这是20世纪70年代后原告权利的逐步修改的成果。人们认为一些法 官同意―方案责任‖最好交由安全与交流委员会来负责的观点，该委员会有权利根据其10b-5法规来追踪资 助人和教唆者。 华盛顿一些律师甚至暗示Cox先生只站在投资者一边，因为他相信投资者们不可能从最高法院获得任 何援助。但是由于有太多的法律事项都不能达成一致，结果还是个未知数。不利的裁决会让股东会议室充 满寒意，而且不仅仅限于美国。 美国智囊机构美国企业协会的Peter Wallison指出，如果供应商和顾问也被拽入共同起诉中，那就不再 需要在美国发行股票来得到安全债务。任何地方的任何公司，只要和美国公司做生意，就必须承担这些交 易以后可能会被认为有欺诈性质的危险。而这向来是律师们的拿手好戏。 TEXT FOUR How fair are juries? A study published this week offers timely support for a system that used to be regarded as one of the bulwarks of an Englishman's civil liberties but has come under increasing attack of late. In England, unlike America, juries no longer decide most civil trials. And now the government is pushing a bill through Parliament to abolish them in complex fraud cases. In America the selection of jurors acceptable to both the prosecution and the defence sometimes takes longer than the trial itself. The process can involve exhaustive interviews about prospective jurors' beliefs and prejudices. But in Britain jurors are selected randomly from the 94 Crown Court catchment areas in England and Wales. Most accept the call, and there is little chance to challenge a juror unless he actually knows the defendant. This has not prevented assertions that English juries produce verdicts that are racially biased because they do not accurately reflect society's ethnic mix. A four-year study by a team at the University of Birmingham's law school, led by Cheryl Thomas, has shown those charges to be largely a myth. In over 95% of the 84 Crown Courts that were surveyed, ethnic minorities were not under-represented among either those summoned for jury service or those actually serving as jurors. Members of ethnic minorities and whites were equally willing to do jury service and to support the jury system. The study punctured another myth too: that juries are largely made up of the retired and the unemployed. Women, young people and self-employed folk were all fully represented, the report's authors concluded. And far from shirking jury duty, fancy people in fancy jobs were found to be more conscientious than others, if anything. All in all, jury pools seem to reflect the local population quite closely in terms of race, gender, age and background. Yet the perception of racial bias is not always unfounded. In London, where 45% of ethnic minorities live and a quarter of all jurors serve, juries are always racially mixed. But in 74 of the 94 court-catchment areas, ethnic 53 minorities, though sometimes concentrated in pockets, make up less than 10% of the population overall. They therefore have little chance of being selected for jury duty. Ms Thomas and her team chose to study racially mixed juries to see whether a defendant's race influenced deliberations. Contrary to widespread belief, no discrimination was found. In an elaborate case simulation at London's Blackfriars court, which involved more than 300 jurors on 27 juries, the verdicts were all remarkably similar, regardless of whether the defendant was black, Asian or white. This does not mean that a defendant's race did not influence individual jurors. Black and Asian jury members tended to show more leniency toward black defendants, whereas white jurors were usually softer on white defendants. But these individual biases did not affect the collective verdicts of the juries. Ten of 12 jurors must usually agree for a verdict to be reached, so individual biases cancelled each other out. Lord Falconer, the newly styled justice secretary, hailed the report as a vindication of juries, which he believes are ―utterly vital to our justice system‖. This has not, apparently, changed his and the government's determination to abolish juries for complex and lengthy fraud trials, however—despite the opposition of most lawyers, civil-liberties groups and the vast majority of the British public. 54 参考译文: 陪审团公平程度如何呢,而本周公布的一项调查为该体制提供了及时的支持。一个原来被认为是每 个英国人公民自由保障的制度，但是近来却受到了不断升温的攻击，与美国不同的是，在英国陪审团不再 裁决民事审判。目前政府正在试图使一项议案获得议会同意，从而在复杂的诈骗案件中废除陪审团。 在美国，陪审员既要被原告方也要被被告方接受，选择陪审员花去的时间往往比审判本身的时间还 要长。该程序还包括对陪审员信仰及偏见的详尽问询。但是在英国，陪审员却是从英格兰和威尔士94个 刑事法庭附近区域中随机选取。大多数都接受传唤，除非本人确实认识被告，否则陪审员很少会被质问。 但是即使这样还是有人难免认为英国陪审团所作出的裁决具有种族偏见，因为陪审团不能准确地反映社会 的种族混合情况。 伯明翰大学法律学院Cheryl Thomas领导的一个小组进行了一项长达四年的研究，该研究表明这些指 控大多都是莫须有的。所调查的84个刑事法庭的95%的法庭中，不管是被临时应急召集过去的人员还是 真正的陪审团，少数民族都得到了充分的代表。少数民族成员和白人都愿意从事陪审工作或支持陪审团制 度。 该研究还打消了另外一个说法:陪审团大多由退休和失业人士组成。研究报道的作者称，妇女、青 年和半雇佣工人代表都有出席。那些在从事奇特行业的奇特人士并没有推卸陪审团责任，而是比其他人更 加尽责。总而言之，陪审团在种族、性别、年龄和社会背景上所反映的情况都和当地人民相一致。 但是种族偏见也时有发生。伦敦生活着45%的少数民族，有1/4的陪审员在服务，因此陪审团经常是 种族混合。但是94个法庭附近地区中有74个地区，虽然少数民族有时聚集在某一地区，但是只占总人口 的10%。因此，他们几乎没有机会被选择来参与陪审工作。 Thomas女士及其团队选择研究种族混合的陪审团，从而了解是否被告的种族会影响陪审团的审议。 和人们普遍的想法相反，其实不存在没有任何偏见。在伦敦Blackfriars法庭的一次精心的案件模拟中，有 27个陪审团的300个陪审员参加，不管被告是黑人、亚洲人还是白人，裁决都非常相似。这并不能说明被 告的种族并不会影响单个陪审员。黑人和亚洲陪审团成员对黑人被告更为宽容，而白人陪审员对于白人被 告相对温和。但是这些个人偏见并不会影响陪审团集体的裁决。12个陪审员中必须有10个同意某个裁决， 因此个人偏见会互相抵消掉。 新式司法秘书Falconer阁下将该报告作为对陪审团的辩护，他相信这―对于我们的司法体系是非常重 要的‖。显然，报告还没改变影响到他和政府在复杂、漫长的诈骗案审理中废除陪审团的决定，尽管大部 分律师、公民自由组织和英国大部分公民都持反对意见。 UNIT NINE TEXT ONE For many college students, back to school also means back to downloading music over the university's high-speed Internet connection. But not so fast: The music industry's crackdown on piracy on campus didn't stop with the end of the spring semester. In August, the Recording Industry Association of America sent pre-litigation letters to 58 colleges—coast to coast, from Boston University to San Diego State. More than 2,400 letters already have been sent to students at schools targeted by the RIAA. The letters offer students the option of paying a settlement fee based on the number of tunes the student allegedly downloaded illegally or taking the risk of a potentially more expensive lawsuit. The music association isolates Internet addresses that generate high downloading and file-sharing traffic, then asks the school to turn over the identity of those students, so it can get in touch with them. Some schools, like the University of Wisconsin, have declined to assist the RIAA, explaining that "to identify the IP users and forward the letters to them would put the university in an uncomfortable and inappropriate alliance with the RIAA," says Meg McCall, a spokesperson for the university. "While we agree that violation of copyright law is serious and should be addressed, the only way to be certain of infractions is to pursue ac Students also are a bit flummoxed by the pre-litigation letters, though many appear to be opting for the quick settlement. When Cassandra Hunt, then a sophomore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, received a 55 notice from the school stating she was identified for violating copyright law, she asked the RIAA about the settlement fees. Explaining that it had identified 272 songs, which could potentially cost $750 per song should her case go to trial, it offered her a settlement fee. "Now, I know what you're thinking," wrote the physics major in an op-ed for The Tech last year. "With a collection of 272 whole songs, no wonder the RIAA felt compelled to squash my threat to the sanctity of music. However the lady on the phone told me they'd be willing to settle for $3,750." And that fee, explains Hunt, was requested to be paid within 15 days (though the RIAA offers a six-month payment plan). Colleges are taking their own measures to persuade students not to pirate music. Some schools are making deals with music download services such as Ruckus to provide their students with free, legal options. Penn State is one of the schools that have signed up for Ruckus, which also incorporates social-networking features. Users can "friend" others to see what playlists they are putting together and download those songs in seconds if their school has a Ruckus server installed. "We like to think of ourselves as a discovery tool," explains Charlie Moore, a senior vice president of Ruckus. But the songs downloaded can be listened to on the Ruckus player only, explains Moore. While some portable media devices can play the songs, Ruckus tunes can't be imported into iTunes or iPods. Students at Penn State also have reported some problems getting the Ruckus service to work on Apple's Mac computers. Nevertheless, that's still likely less commotion than they face from a pre-litigation letter. 56 参考译文: 对于许多大学生来说，回到学校就意味着可以重新通过学校的高速因特网下载音乐了。但现在不会快 了:音乐界打击校园盗版的行动并没有因为春季学期的结束而告终。 八月份，美国唱片产业协会将预诉讼信送到了58所大学，从东海岸到了西海岸，从波斯顿大学到圣 地亚哥州立大学。有2400多封信件已经寄到美国唱片产业协会注意到的学生手中了。信中给了学生两个 选择，学生可以根据涉嫌非法下载歌曲的数量来支付一笔罚金，否则就可能面临更昂贵的诉讼。 音乐协会隔离了高速下载和文件分享的因特网地址，还要求学校移交那些学生的身份以便与他们取得 联系。一些学校，如威斯康星大学就拒绝协助美国唱片产业协会，该校解释说―找到这些IP用户并把信件 转交给他们，这会使学校与美国唱片产业协会结成不合适的联盟，‖ 学校发言人Meg McCall说道，―虽然 我们也认为违反版权法的行为后果严重，应该被处理，但是应该是通过法院来进行确定。‖ 学生们对于预诉讼信件也颇为惶惑，虽然许多人选择了快速解决。Cassandra Hunt是麻省理工学院的 大学二年级学生，她从学校接到通知说已经被确定违反了版权法，于是就向美国唱片产业协会询问了解决 费用。协会解释说目前已经确定了272首歌，如果上升到法院的话可能每首歌要花费750美元，但协会说 她可以交一笔解决费用了事。―现在我知道你是怎么想的，‖去年这个物理学专业学生写道，―一共272首歌， 毫无疑问美国唱片协会不得不压制我对音乐版权的侵犯。但是，电话上那个女士告诉我他们愿意以3750 美元解决。‖ Hunt 解释说，这笔费用必须在15天内缴清(虽然美国唱片产业给出了一份6个月的分期支 付计划)。 学校自己也在采取措施防止学生下载盗版音乐。大多数学校与一些音乐下载服务(如Ruckus)进行合 作，为学生提供免费、合法的音乐。宾西法尼亚州立大学已经和拥有社会网络功能的Ruckus签订了协议。 用户可以与他人―成为朋友‖，从而看到他们的播放列表，如果这些朋友的学校也有Ruckus服务器的话，就 可以在几秒内下载这些歌曲。―我们更愿意把我们想象成探索工具，‖ Ruckus资深副总裁Charlie Moore解 释道。但是下载的歌曲只能在Ruckus播放器上播放，Moore解释说。虽然一些可携媒体设备可以播放这 些歌曲，Ruckus歌曲却不能输入iTunes 或 iPods。宾西法尼亚州立大学学生也反映在苹果计算机上运行 Ruckus服务存在一些问题。但是，比起预起诉的麻烦来说这已经不算什么了。 TEXT TWO On the face of things, a fall in the number of people infected with HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) from 39.5m to 33.2m over the course of a single year, as reported in this year's AIDS epidemic update from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNAIDS, should be cause for rejoicing. Indeed, it is, for it means there are fewer people to treat, and fewer to pass the infection on, than was previously thought. But the fall is not a real fall. Rather, it is due to a change in the way the size of the epidemic is estimated. If you factor in that change, the number of infected individuals has actually risen since last year, by 500,000. Yet even that is not necessarily bad news in the paradoxical world of AIDS. As treatment programmes are rolled out around the world, death rates are falling. According to the revised figures, the lethal peak, of 2.2m a year, was in 2005. Now the figure is 2.1m. Since the only way for an infected person to drop out of the statistics in reality (as opposed to by sleight of statistical hand) is for him to die, such increased survivorship inevitably pushes up the total size of the epidemic. The best news of all, however, is that the new figures confirm what had previously been suspected—that the epidemic has peaked. The highest annual number of new infections around the world was 3.4m in 1998. That figure has now fallen to 2.5m. Both the change in the death rate and the change in the infection rate are partly a consequence of the natural flow and ebb of any epidemic infection. But they are also a reflection of the hard graft of public-health workers in many countries, who have persuaded millions of people to modify or abandon risky behaviour, such as having unprotected sex, as they have also created the medical infrastructure needed to distribute anti-retroviral drugs that can keep symptoms at bay in those who do become infected. The revision of the figures is mainly a result of better data-collection methods, particularly in India (which accounts for half the downward revision) and five African countries (which account for another fifth). In India many more sampling points have been established, and in all countries better survey methods, relying on surveyors knocking on doors rather than asking questions at clinics, have gathered data from more representative samples. 57 Sceptics will feel vindicated by the revision. They have suspected for a while that the older survey methods were biased, and that the inflation thus produced was tolerated because it helped twang the heart-strings of potential donors. However, the structures for collecting and distributing money to combat AIDS are now well established, and accurate data are crucial if that money is not to be misdirected. The new information also means that the goal of treatment for all who need it will be easier and cheaper to achieve. The WHO and UNAIDS are planning to publish a report on the matter early next year, but Paul De Lay, UNAIDS's director of evidence, monitoring and policy, says that the financial requirements for 2010 will probably be about 5% less than previously estimated, and that by 2015 that figure will have risen to 10%. Good news for everyone, then, donors and sufferers alike. 58 参考译文: 世界卫生组织和UNAIDS报告的本年度艾滋病最新数据表明，在短短一年的时间内感染HIV(引发艾 滋病的病毒)的人数从3950万人减少到3320万人，表面上来看这确实令人欣喜。实际上也确实如此，因为 这意味着需要治疗的人喝传播疾病的人比原来估计的要少。但这个数量的减少却不是真正的减少，而是因 为估计该传染病规模的方法发生了改变。 如果将这种改变考虑进来，受感染的人数实际上比去年增长了50万人。但是即便如此，这对于艾滋 病世界来说也不一定是坏消息。随着全世界治疗方案的大量出现，死亡率开始有所下降。根据修改后的数 据统计，死亡高峰出现在2005年即一年220万人死亡。现在这个数字为210万。因为受感染的患者要真 正退出统计数字(而不是通过数据统计办法)，唯一的方法就是死亡，存活患者人数的增加不免增加了感 染者的总数。 但是最好的消息就是新数据肯定了先前被怀疑的事实——感染人数已经过了最高点。1998年新感染者 的最高总人数为340万人，现在降到250万人。 死亡率的变化和感染率的变化部分是由于每一种传染病都存在的自然起落规律，但是也反映了许多公 共卫生工作者的努力，他们成功说服了成百万上千万的人们改变或者放弃危险的性行为、如没有任何保护 措施的性行为，他们还建立了医疗基础措施来分发反逆转药物，这种药物可以让那些已经被感染的患者症 状消失。 数据修改是实施了更好数据收集方法的结果，特别是在印度(该数据的下降有一半是因为印度数据的 改变)和五个非洲国家(数据下降的1/5是因为这些国家)。印度建立了更多的取样点，而所有国家都实行 了更好的调查方法，主要依靠上门调查而不是在诊所询问问题，这样收集到了更全面的病例数据。 持怀疑态度的人会因为数据修改而证实了他们先前的怀疑。他们曾怀疑过去的调查方法有一定偏颇， 由此导致的数据上涨也是在容许范围内，因此这样就可以使许多潜在的捐赠人动心。但是，现在为抗击艾 滋病建立了收集和分发资金的结构，如果想要这些正确使用资金，那么正确的数据是非常重要的。新信息 也意味着治疗所有患者的目标实现起来会更简单，更廉价。世界卫生组织和UNAIDS目前计划在明年年初 发布一个报告，但是UNAIDS取证、监测和政策主任Paul De Lay称2010年财政需求要比先前预计的少 5%，到2015年该数字将达到10%。这对于那是的每个人来说，不管是捐献者还是患者都是好消息。 TEXT THREE Depending on your age and memory, it was a week of radically new or reassuringly old developments in the advertising industry. To Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Facebook, a popular social-networking website, it was the former. Standing in front of about 250 mostly middle-aged advertising executives on November 6th, he announced that Facebook was offering them a new deal. ―For the last hundred years media has been pushed out to people,‖ he said, ―but now marketers are going to be a part of the conversation.‖ Using his firm's new approach, he claimed, advertisers will be able to piggyback on the ―social actions‖ of Facebook users, since ―people influence people.‖ Mr Zuckerberg's underlying idea is hardly new. But, says Randall Rothenberg, the boss of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade association, the announcements this week by Facebook and its larger rival, MySpace, which has a similar ad system, could amount to a big step forward in conversational marketing. If new technologies that are explicitly based on social interactions prove effective, he thinks, they might advance web advertising to its fourth phase. From the point of view of marketers, the existing types of online ads already represent breakthroughs. In search, they can now target consumers who express interest in a particular product or service by typing a keyword; they pay only when a consumer responds, by clicking on their ads. In display, they can track and measure how their ads are viewed and whether a consumer is paying attention better than they ever could with television ads. Yet now the holy grail of observing and even participating in consumers' conversations appears within reach. The first step for brands to socialise with consumers is to start profile pages on social networks and then accept ―friend requests‖ from individuals. On MySpace, brands have been doing this for a while. For instance, Warner Bros, a Hollywood studio, had a MySpace page for ―300‖, its film about Spartan warriors. It signed up some 200,000 friends, who watched trailers, talked the film up before its release, and counted down toward its DVD release. 59 Facebook, from this week, also lets brands create their own pages. Coca-Cola, for instance, has a Sprite page and a ―Sprite Sips‖ game that lets users play with a little animated character on their own pages. Facebook makes this a social act by automatically informing the player's friends, via tiny ―news feed‖ alerts, of the fun in progress. Thus, at least in theory, a Sprite ―experience‖ can travel through an entire group, just as Messrs Lazarsfeld and Katz once described in the offline world. In many cases, Facebook users can also treat brands' pages like those of other friends, by adding reviews, photos or comments, say. Each of these actions might again be communicated instantly to the news feeds of their clique. Obviously this is a double-edged sword, since they can just as easily criticise a brand as praise it. Facebook even plans to monitor and use actions beyond its own site to place them in a social context. If, for instance, a Facebook user makes a purchase at Fandango, a website that sells cinema tickets, this information again shows up on the news feeds of his friends on Facebook, who might decide to come along. If he buys a book or shirt on another site, then this implicit recommendation pops up too. 参考译文: 这一周对于广告行业来说可能意味着全新的发展, 但也可能是旧模式的发展, 这要视人们的年龄和记 忆而定。对于社会网络网站Facebook的老总Mark Zuckerberg来说就是根本上的全新发展。 12月6日， 他站在大约250名中年广告经理面前，宣布Facebook将为他们提供了一个新项目。 ―在过去的百年中，媒 体被推到人们面前，‖他说，―今天，商人们也成为这场对话中的一员。‖他声称采用该公司的新措施，广告 客户就可以借助Facebook用户的―社会行为‖，因为―人可以影响人‖。 Zuckerberg先生的基本观点并不是很有新意。但是，一家名为互动广告局的贸易协会老总Randall Rotherberg 认为Facebook和其最大的对手——拥有相似广告体系的MySpace在本周发布的宣言将对话市 场营销中向前迈出的一大步。他认为， 如果基于社会互动的新技术证明有效的话， 他们就可以将网络广 告推向第四阶段。 从商人角度来说， 现有的各类网上广告已经代表了突破。 他们现在通过输入关键字就可以锁定对某 种产品或服务感兴趣的顾客， 但只有顾客做出反应，也就是点击了他们的广告后，商人才付费。在展示 中，他们可以跟踪其广告是如何被顾客观看的，以及相比广告顾客是否更好地关注网络广告。然而，目前 观察、甚至是参与顾客会话的圣杯仿佛近在咫尺了。 品牌要和顾客取得交流的第一步就是在社会网络上启动图形页，从而可以从个人那里接受―友情邀请‖。 一些品牌在MySpace上这样做已经有一段时间了。 比如，好莱坞电影公司华纳兄弟在MySpace上有一个 专门的页面服务于―300‖，这是关于斯巴达勇士的一部电影。有20万个人注册成为该网页的朋友, 这些人 观看宣传片, 在影片放映前进行讨论, 对DVD发行进行倒计时。 从这周起, Facebook允许品牌在其网站上制作自己的网页。比如，可口可乐已经开一个雪碧网页，还有 一个―雪碧吸吮‖的游戏，用户可以在其网页上用一个生动的小角色来玩这个游戏。Facebook通过小的―新 闻‖提醒自动通知玩家的朋友这种游戏的快乐，使之成为一种社会行为。这样，至少在理论上，雪碧―经验‖ 可以穿越整个群体，正如Messrs Lazarsfeld和 Katz在线下世界所描述的那样。 在许多情况下，Facebook用户也可以象对待其他朋友一样对待品牌的网页，比如可以增加评论、照片 或者注释。而且每一个活动都可以马上传到他们小圈子的新闻地带。很显然，这是一把双刃剑，因为他们 可以轻易地批评一个品牌，也可以表扬一个品牌。Facebook甚至计划要在自己网站之外也采取一些行动， 从而将之置于一个社会环境中。比如，一个Facebook的用户在卖电影票的网站Fandango进行了一笔交易， 这个信息会出现在Facebook上的朋友新闻地带中，他们也可能会决定一起去。如果该用户在另外一个网站 买了一本书或一件衬衫，这种暗示的推荐也会出现。 TEXT FOUR This is a book you can imagine Alec Leamas, the miserable spook hero of ―The Spy Who Came In From the Cold‖, enjoying on the number 11 bus back to his dingy Hammersmith flat. ―What do you think spies are: priests, saints, martyrs?‖ Leamas famously snarled. ―They're a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too, yes; pansies, sadists and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives.‖ Plus ça change, apparently. ―Curveball‖ offers a squalid and up-to-date procession of real-life fools, traitors and game-players seeking to brighten their rotten lives. Principal among them is an Iraqi chemical engineer who 60 pitched up in Germany without a visa in 1999. He asked for political asylum and knew that he would greatly improve his chances of getting it if he could make himself interesting to the intelligence services. Which he did. Before long he had their rapt attention, as well as his own code name, Curveball. Bob Drogin, a reporter on the Los Angeles Times, relates how over the next couple of years Curveball impressed his interrogators with his detailed knowledge of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons programmes. He spoke at length of such things as mobile laboratories that were being used to cook up lethal bugs. The Americans were desperate to have a look at him too. But the Germans fobbed off their rivals with transcripts and reports, blocking direct access to their prize informer. Nevertheless, Curveball's story became an important part of the American government's case for invading Iraq. Information taken from his testimony cropped up in the National Intelligence Estimate of October 2002 (which maintained with ―high confidence‖ that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons); in George Bush's state-of-the-union message in January 2003 (which included a reference to ―mobile weapons labs designed to produce germ-warfare agents‖); and in Colin Powell's presentation to the UN the following month (which featured computer-generated images of those mobile weapons labs, based on descriptions and drawings by Curveball). But it was all rubbish. Curveball was a low-level drone and borderline nutcase with a gift for telling people what they wanted to hear. In the run-up to the war—despite the doubts expressed by some experts about Curveball's reliability—nobody bothered to check out his story properly. It was not until 2004, a year after the invasion of Iraq, that the CIA admitted that Curveball had foxed them. He ―appears to be fabricating in this stream of reporting‖, the burn notice read. Mr Drogin points out that, in the aftermath of September 11th 2001, critics lambasted American intelligence for failing to ―connect the dots that might have prevented the terrorist attacks‖. What makes the Curveball case so dreadful, he reckons, is that this time they simply invented the dots. ―If Curveball fused fact and fiction, others twisted and magnified his account in grotesque ways,‖ he concludes. ―Time and again, bureaucratic rivalries, tawdry ambitions and spineless leadership proved more important than professional integrity.‖ You can just about hear old Alec Leamas muttering ―Told you so.‖ 61 参考译文: 从这本书你可以想象AlecLeamas，这个《从寒冷而来的间谍》中幽灵式的主角坐着11路公共汽车， 通往他那位于河北岸伦敦自治区的昏暗公寓。―你们觉得间谍是什么人, 牧师, 圣徒还是殉教者,‖ Leamas咆哮着，―他们不过是一群卑鄙的傻子，也是叛徒;还有女里女气的人、施虐狂和酒鬼，他们只是 假扮牛仔或是印第安人来让他们腐烂的生活看起来光鲜一些。‖ 当然，这一切都已经变了。―Curveball‖ 展现给我们的是一群卑鄙的真实生活中的傻子、叛徒和游戏玩 家，他们也在美化自己腐烂的生活。他们中的主角是一名伊拉克化学工程师，他于1999年在没有签证的 情况下在德国扎根。他申请了政治庇护，而且他明白如果让情报机构对自己感兴趣的话，那么就可以增加 申请成功的几率。他也这样做了。没过多久他就引起了情报机构的高度注意，也有了自己的代号 ——Curveball。 《洛杉矶时报》记者BobDrogin讲述了在过去的几年中，Curveball是如何通过详细描述伊拉克化学和 生物武器项目，最终给审问他的人留下了深刻的印象。他详细地讲述了用来制造有毒细菌的活动实验室。 美国人也急切地希望见到他。但是德国人用了一些转述和报告来应付他们的对手，这样美国人就不能与这 个金牌告密者取得直接联系。 但是，Curvball的故事成为美国政府入侵伊拉克的重要组成部分。他证词中的信息出现在2002年10 月国家情报评估中(该评估将伊拉克拥有化学和生物武器定为―高级机密‖);也出现在George Bush 2003 年1月的国情咨文中(该国情咨文提到了―旨在培养细菌战药剂的活动武器实验室‖);还出现在次月Colin Powell 向联合国的陈词中(该陈词用电脑中的活动武器实验室的图像，这些都是基于Curveball的描述和 绘画而制作出来的。) 但这些都是胡说八道。Curveball是一个低级的闲人，也是一个疯子，他的本领就是告诉大家希望听到 的东西。尽管一些专家怀疑Curveball的可信度，但随着战争的升温，没人再去费心地查证他的故事了。 直到2004年，也就是入侵伊拉克一年之后，中情局才承认Curveball愚弄了他们。他―好象在报道中捏造事 实‖， 欺骗通告这样写道。 Drogin先生指出，在2001年9月11日之后，批评家严厉地责骂美国情报机构没有―把疑点联系起来， 本来还可以避免恐怖袭击的‖。他承认Curveball事件的可怕在于这次他们自己捏造了这些疑点。―如果 Curveball把事实和虚构混在了一起， 那么其他人则是以奇怪的方式把这些扭曲、放大了，‖他总结道，―实 践再次证明了官僚敌对、俗气的野心、没有骨气的领导要比专业的真正品质更为致命。‖ 你听，老Alec Leamas嘀咕着―告诉你吧。‖ UNIT TEN TEXT ONE When Princeton, the University of Virginia, and Harvard announced last fall that they would drop their early admissions options because they gave an unfair advantage to affluent students, many college counselors held their breath. Would early decision go the way of kegs in dormitories? Not for now, at least. Early admission is still going strong at many colleges and universities, including many top-tier schools. Early decision in particular--in which a student commits to a first-choice institution--is often touted as a plus for both schools and students. Colleges can lock up half of their class before January, and acceptance rates are typically higher than under regular admission. The major drawback of early decision is that it leaves students who are in the market for the best financial aid package out in the cold. By applying early, you must enroll if accepted, so comparing awards with those of other schools is out of the question. Schools like that, of course, because it helps their bottom line. But there is a possible end run: Ask if a school will release you from your obligation should its aid package fall short. In some cases, a school will roll you into the regular admission pool, allowing for comparison shopping come springtime. While some schools admit almost the same percentage of applicants during early and regular admission, many favor the early pool. Johns Hopkins University took 44 percent from its early round and 24 percent from the regular pool. Early birds at Hopkins make up a third of this fall's freshman class.Nonetheless, college counselors have seen 62 borderline students get a boost by applying early decision. "If they aren't legacies, athletes, or an underrepresented minority, early decision may be the only hook that some students have," says Jim Conroy, chair of post-high-school counseling at New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, Ill. But you need to be realistic. "If a school is out of your reach, it's out of reach whether you apply early decision, early action, or regular admission," says Sarah Wilburn, a college counselor at Campus Bound in Quincy, Mass. "Move on and set some new goals." Advantage or not, applying early decision makes sense only if you're convinced that a school is a good fit for you. Erin Murray decided to apply to Dartmouth early despite the advice of her college counselor and others. They wanted her to beef up her transcript after she had spent a semester of high school in Italy. But the teenager from Cheyenne, Wyo., wisely played up her experience abroad (her 4.0 GPA and top-notch board scores didn't hurt, either) and was accepted. "I probably would have fit well at a number of schools," she admits, "but Dartmouth was the only place I could see myself walking across the greens. It was a gut reaction." If you lack the same certainty but clinching a slot before New Year's is appealing, consider other early admissions plans. Early action is a nonbinding alternative that allows you to apply by November 1 and hear back before the regular application deadline. Some highly selective schools require that you submit only one early action application--called single-choice early action--meaning you can't apply early elsewhere. Another option is to apply early to rolling admissions, where an application that arrives in the fall may stand out more than one that arrives with most of the others in January. 63 参考译文: 普林斯顿大学、弗吉尼亚大学和哈佛大学去年秋天宣布将取消提前入学选择，因为这是给富裕学生的 一种不公平的优待，许多大学顾问都紧张了起来。提前择校是不是要和宿舍小桶事件如出一辙,起码现在 不是这样的。提前择校在许多大学和学院中依然愈演愈烈，包括许多一流学校。 提前择校时指学生指定到首选学校上学，这种方式常被吹嘘为对学校和学生都有利。大学可以在1月 前就确保其大半课程的人数，接受率一般要比正常入学的高。提前入学的主要缺点是让那些寻找最好的经 济资助的学生们暴露在了冷风中。如果他们提前申请，那么如果一旦学校接受他们就必须得入学，因此无 法比较其他学校的奖学金。当然，学校喜欢这种做法，因为这可以帮助他们达到底线。也有个迂回方法， 学生在申请时可以先问问学校如果其助学金不多是否将自己放行。在有些情况下，学校可以把你加入正常 入学学生的名单中，这样学生就可以在春天的时候选择学校了。 一些学校称提前和正常入学学生的申请人数几乎一样，但是许多学校都更倾向于录取提前入学的学 生。约翰斯?霍普金斯大学从申请提前入学学生中选了45%，从申请正常入学学生中选了24%。霍普金斯 提前入学的学生占当年秋季入学一年级班级的1/3。不过，学校顾问们发现一些态度不明确的学生如果申 请了提前入学可以得到一些帮助。―如果他们不是遗产继承人、运动员或未被充分代表的少数民族，那么 提前入学可能就是一些学生的必然选择。‖Winnetka的New Tier镇中学后高中咨询中心主席Jim Conroy说 道。但是你必须要现实一些。马萨诸塞州昆西校园约束顾问Sarah Wilburn说，―如果你没有资格到某个学 效，那么不管你填写了提前入学申请或一般申请你都还是没有资格，接下来你得设定新的目标才行。‖ 不论是否有利，除非你需要坚信某所学校是非常适合你的，否则的话不要急于采取行动。Erin Murray 决定提前申请达特茅斯学校，尽管她的大学顾问和其他人都不让她去。他们希望她先去意大利读完一个学 期的高中后就可以加强她的成绩单竞争力了。而十几岁的夏安族学生Wyo却聪明地强调提到自己在国外的 经验(4.0 GPA和高分也都没有负面影响)，后来获得了该校的录取通知书。―我感觉好多学校都可能适合 我，‖ 她承认说，―但是达特茅斯是唯一一个我可以看到自己漫步绿地的地方。这是一种内心的反应。‖ 如果你没有Wyo那么确定但却希望在新年前作出决定，那么就考虑一下其他提前入学计划吧。提前入 学是种没有限制的选择，你可以在11月1日前申请，在一般的申请中止之前静候佳音。一些严格的学校 要求你只能提交一份提前申请，叫做―单一选择提前申请‖，意思是你不能在别的地方再提前申请。另外一 个选择是提前申请到入学名单中，在秋天之前就能拿到申请表，而不是和其他人一样在一月份才能拿到。 TEXT TWO Galvanized by the April tragedy at Virginia Tech, in which Seung Hui Cho killed 32 students and faculty members and then committed suicide, colleges and universities around the country are urgently taking stock of the reach and effectiveness of their mental-health services. The goal is not just to avoid another catastrophe caused by a deeply troubled student who fell through the cracks. It's also to face up to the needs of today's students, who increasingly struggle with eating disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression. The rate of depression among college students has doubled in just 15 years; last year, some 45 percent of all students said they've sometimes felt too depressed to function, according to an annual survey by the American College Health Association. Nine percent of college students seriously considered suicide. "Some of the key questions that Virginia Tech has brought out are: When do you recognize that a student's having serious problems? What steps do you take, and how do you coordinate care?" says Richard Kadison, director of mental-health services at Harvard University and author of College of the Overwhelmed. Last week, Kadison and other campus psychiatrists from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., to map out a better way to meet the demand. Many schools are finding that change will be a significant challenge. About 65 percent of campus counseling centers still have no relationship with the health center, for example, making it difficult to manage illnesses that require medication. Just 59 percent have a psychiatrist available. And the funds necessary to add expertise can be hard to find. Days after the Virginia Tech slayings, Florida public university administrators asked for $3.5 million to hire more psychologists and campus police officers and to set up interdisciplinary teams that would identify troubled students. The Legislature denied the request. The ratio of counselors to students at the University of South Florida is 1 to 3,500; at Cornell, there's a counselor for every 800 64 students. Experts say that parents should check out the mental-health resources when they send their child to school and make sure that the counseling office is aware of any history. "Continuity of care is really important, so that people don't fall through the cracks and have unnecessary stresses and strains," says Jerald Kay, chair of psychiatry at Wright State University Medical School. The thrust of the movement at institutions in the lead has been to redouble efforts to identify students in need of help and then make that help available. Some, like Cornell and Wisconsin, are adding counseling offices in dorms and academic buildings so students have ready access; Cornell has two counselors on staff whose sole job is to talk with faculty and staff and pick up the first inklings of trouble. The University of Illinois requires anyone who threatens or attempts suicide to have a four-session mental-health evaluation. And early-warning systems that involve the entire university community are a priority on many campuses. At Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., for example, faculty and staff can log concerns about academic problems or behavioral issues on a website, which is monitored by an intervention team of representatives from the dean's office, faculty, housing staff, campus police, and counseling center. The team meets regularly to decide on an appropriate response. 参考译文: 弗吉尼亚科技学院四月份发生了一起惨案，Seung Hui Cho杀死了32名学生和教师，然后自杀。该惨 案的教训使得全国的学院和大学都迫切审视本校提供的心理服务的范围和效果。这样做不仅是为了避免再 次发生精神混乱的学生引起的惨案，也是为了应对目前学生的需求，特别是那些有饮食混乱、精神分裂症、 双重混乱和消沉的学生。根据美国校园健康协会的年度调查，在15年内大学学生消沉的比率翻了倍，去 年大约45%的学生称他们感觉过于压抑而无法正常生活。9%的大学学生曾认真考虑过自杀。 ―弗吉尼亚科技学院引发得主要问题是:你什么时候能辨认出学生有严重问题,你会采取什么措施， 你如何调整对他的关照,‖ 哈佛大学心理服务中心主任即the Overwhelmed大学创立者Richard Kadison说 道。上周，Kadison和来自全国其他学院的精神病专家齐聚在华盛顿特区，希望可以找到满足这种需求的 更好方法。 许多学校发现这种变化是一个非常大的挑战。比如，大约65%的学校咨询服务中心和健康中心之间没 有联系，这使得控制需要药物治疗的疾病非常困难。只有59%的学校拥有一个精神病医师。 提高专业技术所需要的资金也很难找到。弗吉尼亚科技学院惨案发生后没几天,佛罗里达大学管理层申 请350万美元用于雇佣更多的精神病医师和校园警官，并建立跨学科团队以便更好地发现有问题的学生。 立法机构否决了这一申请。南佛罗里达大学顾问和学生的比率为1比3500;在康耐尔大学，每800名学生 有1位顾问。专家称家长应当在送孩子上学时应考察学校的心理卫生资源，确保咨询部门知道每个学生的 历史。―持续关心是非常重要的，这样可以确保学生不会有严重的问题，不会有不必要的压力和紧张。‖赖 特州立大学医学院精神病学主席Jerald Kay这样说。 一些带头开展行动的机构的是要加倍努力发现需要帮助的学生，并随时提供帮助。一些学院，如康耐 尔和威斯康星大学在宿舍和学院大楼中都增加了咨询办公室，使学生可以随时可以咨询。康奈尔有两个顾 问，其主要工作是与教员交谈，以找出问题的最先迹象。伊利诺斯大学要求那些可能或试图自杀的学生参 加长达四个学期的心理健康评估。涉及到整所大学的预警系统在许多学校都是优先的。比如，在纽约州特 罗伊的Rensselaer工学院，全体教职员工可以将学术和行为问题放在网站上，该网站由院长办公室、教职 员工、住宅职员、校园警察和咨询中心的代表组成的干涉小组来监控。该小组会定期会面，以给出适当的 回应。 The partygoers who gathered on a small farm outside campus were not your typical gaggle of business school students. Sure, some would soon move on to plum jobs at investment banks and oil companies, but instead of traditionally celebrating their success, they opted for a "sellout party." The event was held by students at the University of Michigan Erb Institute, a three-year, dual-degree program between the university's business and natural resources schools. Most of the institute's students are environmental advocates first, business people second, yet see the importance of money in making a difference. They represent a small but growing cadre of M.B.A.-wielding social activists who plan to bring about change, one PowerPoint presentation at a time. Greg Shopoff, a third-year student at the Erb Institute, studied geology at Colorado College and briefly considered going into environmental law. But he found the legal profession too slow for his tastes and opted for business school. "If you can harness the impact of business for good," he says, "you have the potential for larger-scale change in a shorter period of time." More students have begun thinking like Shopoff, and business 65 schools clearly see the shift. At the Erb Institute, director Tom Lyon notes the program has grown from five new students a year to as many as 25. The sheer number of business school classes like Corporate Social Responsibility and Competitive Environmental Strategy is up across the country, and school officials say students are asking for more conferences, lectures, and workshops on social and environmental stewardship. "This generation has grown up with a much higher global awareness," says Kriss Deiglmeier, director of the Stanford School of Business Center for Social Innovation. "They see what kind of problems we're facing and want to be engaged in solving them." On the hiring side of the job market, recruiters from both non- and for-profits are looking increasingly for this type of multifaceted talent. In the nonprofit sector, the push makes good business sense. More money is now at stake within mission-based organizations than just a couple of years ago, and nonprofits compete more fiercely with one another for funds and with corporations for government contracts. "A decade ago, nonprofits would not have appreciated as much how useful an M.B.A. would be," says Sharon Oster, director of the Yale School of Management Program on Social Enterprise. "Now there are more opportunities for M.B.A. grads to move into that sector." Corporations provide the rest of the rising demand for these students, especially as they see that environmental values can help boost the bottom line. Both companies and environmental consulting groups are hiring. Environmental Defense–a nonprofit advocacy group that partnered with FedEx to promote its hybrid electric fleet and also helped McDonald's phase out Styrofoam packaging–actively seeks out multidisciplinary employees who understand environmental issues but use business acumen to address them. The intersection between financial know-how and social responsibility is not really new–just look at the number of CEOs on the boards of nonprofits and charities. But as M.B.A. programs have stepped up, schools serve not only as the nexus between corporate America and students but also as the link between business savvy and the need for social and environmental advocacy. 参考译文: 在校外一家小农场开聚会的那群人可不是那种一般的商学院学生。当然他们中很快有人就会去投资银 行或石油公司从事好的工作，但是他们现在并不是在庆祝自己成功就业，而是在选择一个―宣传会‖的形式。 这个活动由密歇根大学Erb学院的学生举办，是该大学商业学院和自然资源学院为期三年的 双学位项目。 该学院大部分学生首先是环保倡导者，然后才是商业人士，他们发现金钱可以改变现状。他们代表一小群 正在发展壮大的希望能带来改变的MBA社会活动者，每次都会有一个幻灯片展示。 Greg Shopoff是Erb学院的三年级学生，他在科罗拉多学院学习地质学，现在暂时考虑研究环境法。 但是他发现法律专业于他的兴趣而言进度太慢，于是选择了商业学院。―如果你可以一直控制商业影响，‖ 他说，―你就有可能在很短的时间内促生极大的变化。‖现在有越来越多的学生与Shopoff的想法是一样的， 而商业学院也发现了这种变化。在Erb 学院，主任Tom Lyon发现该项目已经从一开始的每年5个学生发 展为现在的25个。全国各地商业学校都在开更多像―共同社会责任‖、―竞争环境策略‖之类的课程，学院官 员称学生希望有更多有关社会和环境工作的会议、讲座及研讨会。―这一代是在更高的全球意识中生长起 来的，‖斯坦福大学商业中心负责社会创新的Kriss Deighmeier说，―他们明白我们面对的是什么样的问题， 希望可以参与进解决过程中来。‖ 在人才市场，盈利或非盈利机构的招聘人员也在寻找这种多面的人才。在非盈利机构，这种趋势有很 好的商业意义。比起前几年，盈利机构更难要多的资金，而非盈利机构为了得到更多资助而彼此激烈竞争 同时为了拿到政府合同而与盈利机构竞争。―十年之前，非盈利机构还不明白一个工商管理硕士的价值，‖ 耶鲁大学社会事业管理项目学院 主任Sharon Oster说道，―现在工商管理硕士到这些部门工作的机会多了。‖ 公司将自己日益增加的职位提供给了这类学生，尤其当他们发现环境价值可以帮助推进账本底线。公 司和环境咨询机构都在雇佣此类人才。―环境保护‖是一家非盈利的宣传机构，和FedEx一起促进混合电力 车的使用，也帮助麦当劳逐步停止使用聚乙烯塑料包装，该机构积极寻求综合性的员工，他们既懂得环境 知识，又可以使用商业知识来工作。 金融方面的知识与社会责任的结合并不是新颖，看看那些非盈利机构和慈善团体董事会中首席执行官 的数量就可以明白这一点。但是随着工商管理项目的增加，学校不仅仅是美国商业界和学生之间的连结， 而且也是商业知识和社会环境宣传的连接。 Back in 2000, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, described a grand vision for the future of health care. One day, he said, everyone would have a secure and private website on the internet on which their doctors could post 66 their ―scans, lab results, test results, visit minutes‖, and to which the owner could grant certain people access, to view some or all of that information. His ideas met with guffaws from the old lags of the industry, who have seen many fancy schemes for electronic medical records fall flat. America's health sector is simply too balkanised and too paper-based to stitch together easily in digital form. Even Mr Ballmer conceded back then that he was searching for the ―holy grail‖ of healthcare. And yet, after years of frustration and furious development work, Microsoft now believes it has realised Mr Ballmer's dream. On October 4th, the software giant was poised to unveil its new health-information product at a big event in Washington, DC. It is called the Health Vault, in keeping with Microsoft's promise to make storing data on the internet just as secure as keeping it in a bank. Health Vault will store all its customers' health data, ranging from test results to doctors' reports to daily measurements of weight or blood pressure, online. Individuals then have access to those records anytime, anywhere, via the internet—a great boon for those who travel a lot. Medical offices and hospitals who sign up for the service could easily send test results in digital form to the vault, and patients could authorise them in turn to have access to various, carefully circumscribed bits of their personal data. Microsoft was also set to announce this week that several dozen manufacturers, hospitals and charities have signed up for Health Vault. Big names including the American heart, diabetes and lung associations, the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and Omron and Texas Instruments, in addition to various firms devoted to the craze for ―wellness‖, are all now on board, and are expected to announce products and services shortly. If the software giant has really found a hacker-proof way of storing records online, then the benefits of Health Vault are clear. But use of the vaults will be free both for the individuals that sign up for them and for the vendors and doctors that provide services based on the information they contain. So how will Microsoft make any money? Sean Nolan of Microsoft explains that the business model depends on one thing: targeted search. Microsoft is betting that people will use its Health Vault Search to find out about their ailments. This service relies on an approach known as ―vertical search‖ which attempts to provide more relevant results than generalist search engines like Google and Yahoo! by specialising in a particular field. The firm's recent acquisition of Medstory, a vertical-search engine focusing on health care, has given it a boost in this area. Health Vault's search engine would definitely work better than those of rival sites if it could examine users' health records and past queries, and thus provide the responses that are most relevant to each individual's situation. But in order to attract any users in the first place, Microsoft has promised to enforce strict privacy rules. These would preclude such data-mining. 1. 67 参考分析: 早在2000年, 微软的首席执行官Steve Ballmer就未来医疗保健描绘了一幅灿烂的前景图。他说，有那么一天，每个人在互联网上都会拥有安全 的私人网站，医生可以将他们的―扫描图、化验结果、检查结果、来访时间‖等信息贴在网站上，而用户自 己也可以赋予某些人访问权利，使他们可以看到部分或全部信息。他的想法却被该行业的老古董们所耻 笑，这些老古董亲眼目睹过许多电子健康记录方案的失败。美国卫生机构过于分散且工作都在纸上进行 ，要以电子形式将其连接起来实在不容易。甚至Ballmer先生也有所退缩，他觉得自己是在寻找医疗保健 的―圣杯‖。 但是，经过了数年的挫折和飞快的发展，微软现在相信自己已经实现了Ballmer先生的梦想。10月4日 ，这个软件巨子在华盛顿特区一次大型活动上，平静地揭开了卫生信息新产品的面纱。该产品名为―健康 库‖，兑现了微软关于放在因特网上的数据就像放在银行中一样安全的承诺。―健康库‖会储存所有客户的 健康数据，包括检查结果、医生报告日常体重测量或血压测量等。个人可以随时随地在网上看到这些记 录，这对于那些经常旅行的人来说是个福音。签约该服务的卫生机构和医院可以轻松地将检查结果以电 子形式发到数据库，病人们也可以允许医院察看这些多样的、精心确定的私人数据。 微软本周还宣布有几十个厂商、医院和慈善团体已经签订了―健康库‖。除了全力追求―健康‖狂热的各 种公司外，一些有名的机构如美国心脏、糖尿病、肺部协会，纽约长老会医院、欧姆龙和德克萨斯器械 公司现在都是榜上有名，近期有望宣布其产品和服务。如果软件巨子真正找到了在线储存记录的防黑客 技术，那么―健康库‖的好处就显而易见了。但是注册的个人用户和基于网上信息提供服务的卖家和医生都 可以免费使用健康库。那么，微软如何赚钱呢, 微软的Sean Nolan解释说这种商业模式取决于一点:目标搜索。微软相信人们会使用其―健康库搜索‖来找到与他们疾 病相关的内容。该服务依赖于一种名为―垂直搜索‖的方法，该方法限定于某一专业领域，试图提供比谷歌 、雅虎等通用搜索引擎更为接近的相关结果。 ―健康库‖搜索引擎如果可以查看用户的健康记录和历史询问的话，就一定会比其对手网站运行得更好 ，也可以根据个人的不同情况提供最接近的答复。但是为了吸引用户，微软承诺遵守严格的隐私规范。 这些将预示了数据挖掘。 UNIT ELEVEN TEXT ONE ―WHANG—Boom—Boom—cast delicacy to the winds.‖ Thus Ezra Pound in a letter to his father, urging the old man to help promote his first published collection. It might have been the poet's manifesto. Pound is as divisive a figure today as he was in his own lifetime. For some he was the leading figure of the Modernist movement who redefined what poetry was and could be; and who, in his role as cultural impresario, gave vital impetus to the literary careers of T.S. Eliot, James Joyce and Wyndham Lewis, among others. But for many Pound remains a freak and an embarrassment, a clinical nutcase and vicious anti-Semite who churned out a lot of impenetrable tosh before losing the plot completely. During the second world war he broadcast pro-Fascist radio programmes from Italy and later avoided trial for treason at home only because he was declared insane. On his release from St Elizabeth's Hospital near Washington, DC, he returned to Italy (―America is a lunatic asylum‖), where he died in 1972 aged 87. David Moody, emeritus professor of English at York University, makes a strong case for Pound's ―generous energy‖ and the ―disruptive, regenerative force of his genius‖. His approach (unlike Pound's) is uncontroversial. He follows the poet's progress chronologically from his childhood in Idaho—still, at the time of his birth in 1885, part of the wild west—to his conquest of literary London between 1908 and 1920. He marshals Pound's staggering output of poetry, prose and correspondence to excellent effect, and offers clear, perceptive commentary on it. He helps us to see poems, such as this famous, peculiarly haunting 19-syllable haiku, in a new light: The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals on a wet, black bough. That Mr Moody is constantly being upstaged by the subject of his study is not surprising. Pound was one of the most colourful artistic figures in a period full of them. According to Ford Madox Ford, who became a good friend of Pound's shortly after the bumptious young American arrived in London: ―Ezra would approach with the step of a dancer, making passes with a cane at an 68 imaginary opponent. He would wear trousers made of green billiard cloth, a pink coat, a blue shirt, a tie hand-painted by a Japanese friend, an immense sombrero, a flaming beard cut to a point and a single large blue earring.‖ W.B. Yeats's simple assessment was that: ―There is no younger generation of poets. E.P. is a solitary volcano.‖ A great merit of Mr Moody's approach is the space he gives to Pound's writings. It is love-it-or-hate-it stuff, but, either way, undeniably fascinating. ―All good art is realism of one kind or another,‖ Pound said. Reconciling that tidy statement with practically any of his poems is hard work but, as Mr Moody shows over and over again, hard work that offers huge rewards. His first volume ends in 1920, with Pound quitting London in a huff, finally fed up—after more than a decade of doing everything in his power to rattle the intellectual establishment—with ―British insensitivity to, and irritation with, mental agility in any and every form‖. His disgraceful radio programmes and the full blooming of his loopiness lie ahead. So, too, do most of his exquisite Cantos. 69 参考译文: ―砰砰——隆隆——隆隆——把精致扔到风中。‖在Ezra Pound在写给父亲的一封信中，他要求这位老人帮助自己宣传第一本出版诗集。而这可能就是这位诗人的宣言。 Pound在他的时代里是一个有争议的人物，直至今日仍然如此。对于一些人来说，他是现代主义运动的领导人，他重新定义了什么是诗歌及诗歌应该如何等问题。而作为文化发起人，他大力推进了T.S. Eliot、James Joyce和Wyndham Lewis等人的文学事业。但是，对于许多人来说，Pound还是一个怪诞的人、一个让人窘迫的人、一个疯子、一个反对闪族人的恶人，在他的阴谋彻底流产前还说了许多不可理喻的疯话。 二战期间, 他播放了来自意大利的亲法西斯电台节目, 而后因被诊断为为疯子才在家躲了叛国罪的审讯。当他从华盛顿特区附近的圣伊丽莎白医院被放出来时，他就回到了意大利(―美国是疯子收容所‖),在那里他活到了87岁,于1972年去世。 David Moody是约克大学的英语文学教授,他找到了强有力的证据证明Pound ―充沛的能量‖ 和 ―他天才的分裂性的再生力量‖。与Pound不同的是，他的方法是没有争议的。他先是按年代追溯这位诗人从艾达荷州的童年(1885年他出生时，艾达荷州还是拓荒前的美国西部)到他于1908年至1920年征服了伦敦文学界的经历。Moody整理了Pound令人惊愕的诗歌集、散文和信件，还加了有条理、有洞察力的评论。他帮助我们用一种新的眼光来读诗，比如下面这首著名的、令人难以忘怀的19音节悱句: 人群中这些面容的出现， 在黑色、潮湿树枝上的花瓣。 一点都不奇怪Moody先生一直以他所研究的主题而自豪。在充满艺术家的年代里，Pound是最多彩的艺术家之一。 Ford Madox Ford在这个傲慢的美国年轻人到达伦敦后不久就成为了他的好朋友，Ford说:―Ezra常踱着舞步过来，而且还用拐杖为假想敌开路。他常穿绿色的布裤，一件粉色上衣，一个日本朋友手绘的领带，一顶特大的宽边帽，火红的胡须修到一点, 还戴着一个很大的蓝色耳环。‖ W.B. Keats的简单评价是: ―没有更年轻的一代诗人了，Pound是个孤独的火山。‖ Moody先生研究的最大特点就是他给Pound作品留的空间。这是个―爱他或恨他‖的故事，但是不管如何，那迷人的色彩是不容置疑的。―所有好的艺术都是一种或另一种的现实。‖Pound说。将他的任何诗歌与整齐的陈述协调起来确实难度较大，但是Moody先生一次又一次地证明了，难度越大的工作，回报就越多。他的第一本书写到1920年，Pound一怒之下离开了伦敦，在用尽自己力量震动知识界的十年后，他终于厌倦了―英国对于精神活力的任何形式都不在乎、甚至感到恼火‖。他不光彩的电台节目以及他的疯狂展现了出来。还有他杰出诗歌的大部分。 TEXT TWO Not all modern observers of Byzantium have been so willing to associate the city on the Bosphorus with universalism or cultural breadth. While Byzantium's rating has risen recently, it has not entirely shaken off the criticisms dished out in the 18th and 19th centuries, including the devastating verdict of William Lecky, an Irish historian, who in 1869 described the Byzantine empire as ―the most thoroughly base and despicable form that civilisation has yet assumed.‖ Even Byzantium's modern defenders have tended to set out their case in qualified terms, stressing the empire's relationship to other historical developments. Some see it as a connecting line between classical antiquity and the modern world; others, particularly those who think that civilisations are doomed perpetually to clash, stress the 70 empire's role as a bulwark against Islam, without which Europe as a whole would have turned Muslim. Others again see it as a catalyst for the European Renaissance, especially after Hellenic talent was freed from Byzantine dogmatism. Judith Herrin, a professor at King's College London, sets out to show that there are far better reasons to study and admire the civilisation that flourished for more than a millennium before the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and whose legacy is still discernible all over south-east Europe and the Levant. She presents Byzantium as a vibrant, dynamic, cosmopolitan reality which somehow escaped the constraints of its official ideology. For example, despite the anti-Semitism of the empire's public discourse and theology, its complex, diversified economy could hardly have functioned without the 30-plus Jewish communities that Benjamin of Tudela, a 12th-century rabbi, described. Ms Herrin also shows that there was a fluid and perpetually evolving relationship between the competing influences of classical Greek learning, Greek Christianity and popular Byzantine culture. She pays particular attention to the powerful female voices that emerged from Byzantium: not just pious ladies who wrote saints' lives and hymns (including one breathtaking piece of sensual, almost erotic religious poetry) but the sophisticated political history that was penned by Anna Komnene, a frustrated would-be empress of the 12th century. Ms Herrin will certainly win over some sceptics. But it will remain the case that more people are drawn to Byzantine civilisation through its dazzling art and architecture than by its literature. In August 2006, for example, more than 1,000 academic specialists on Byzantium converged on London for a week-long conference. The success of the quinquennial event was a sign that Byzantine studies are flourishing in almost every corner of the world. But it is a reasonable bet that, whatever they ultimately studied, these scholars were first drawn to the Byzantine world by gazing in wonder at an icon or a frescoed church rather than by perusing the pages of Anna Komnene. The brilliance of Byzantine art is proof enough that something extraordinary happened on the Bosphorus. And this brilliance remained undimmed even when the empire's geopolitical fortunes were collapsing. Snobbish Western classicists who called Byzantium a poor substitute for ancient Greece may have missed the point. True, the Byzantine world was weighed down by deference to classical Greek models. But that charge could also be laid against the pedagogues who used to dominate the study of the humanities in the Western world. Right now, Byzantine history is in vogue at many universities while old-fashioned classical studies are struggling to hold their own. 71 参考译文: 并不是所有观赏拜占庭的现代人都愿意将这个位于博斯普鲁斯海峡的城市和普世或文化宽容联系起 来。尽管对拜占庭近来有所改进，但它还是不能完全摆脱18、19世纪对它的那些批评，包括爱尔兰历史 学家William Lecky对其猛烈的俄抨击，他于1869年将拜占庭帝国描述为―所有文明中最低级、最卑劣的 形式‖。 拜占庭的现代拥护者也倾向于用一些低调的词语来形容这座城市，重在强调该帝国与其他历史发展的 关系。一些人将它看作是古典世界与现代世界的连接线，而还有一些人特别是那些持文明冲突论的人强 调拜占庭的作用主要是作为对抗伊斯兰的一个壁垒屏障，如果没有拜占庭，整个欧洲都可能变为穆斯林 国家。还有一些人认为拜占庭是欧洲文艺复兴的催化剂， 尤其在是希腊智慧摆脱了拜占庭教条主义之 后。 伦敦国王学院教授Judith Herrin表示拜占庭文明值得研究和敬仰，拜占庭文明在1453年被君士坦丁堡 征服之前已经兴盛了一个多世纪，其遗迹在整个东南欧洲和累范特还是可以看出来的。她将拜占庭看作 是充满活力的、生机勃勃的世界，并且摆脱了官方意识形态的束缚。比如，尽管该帝国的公众演说和神 学带有反犹太的特点，但是如果没有12世纪Tudela的拉比Benjamin描述的那30多个犹太社会，帝国那 复杂多样的经济就得不到发展。 Herrin女士也表示希腊古典学术、希腊基督教此与拜占庭流行文化之间的竞争关系是不断变化和进化 的。她特别关注拜占庭出现强有力的女性声音:不仅仅是那些描写圣人生活和书写圣歌的虔诚妇女(包括 一篇令人惊心的情色、甚至可以说是淫秽的宗教诗歌)，而且还有12世纪那位失意的未来女皇Anna Komnene书写的复杂的政治历史。 Herrin女士肯定胜过了哪些怀疑论者。但是一个不变的事实是，更多的人是为拜占庭炫目的文化和 建筑而着迷，而不是其艺术的影响。比如2006年8月，1000多名研究拜占庭的学术专家汇聚伦敦，举行 了为期一周的会议。这个五年一次会议的成功举办是拜占庭研究在世界各个角落兴盛的标志。但是不管 这些学者的最后研究内容是什么，一个比较理性的观点就是他们一开始都是因为看到雕像或画有壁画的 教堂才被拜占庭吸引的，而不是因为细读了Anna Komnene的文字。 拜占庭的辉煌艺术足以证明在博斯普鲁斯海峡曾经发生过的那些非凡大事。而这种繁荣即使在拜占庭 帝国地理政治的财富被摧毁了之后仍然存在。那些假装内行的西方古典学家称拜占庭是古希腊可怜的替 代品，其实他们错了。确实，拜占庭世界因为遵循古希腊的模式而被低估。但这一点也可以用来反驳那 些过去在西方人文研究方面的权威学究。现在，拜占庭历史在许多学校都很盛行，而那些过时的正统研 究也在竭力坚守着自己的立场。 TEXT THREE The main ingredient of a semiconductor is silicon, but it might as well be pyrite, or fool's gold. That is because consistently making money out of chips is notoriously difficult. Cyclical demand means that profits are volatile, and new kinds of chips quickly become commoditised. The business is also highly capital-intensive: a new fabrication plant, or fab, costs $3 billion-5 billion, and new facilities must be built every few years as technology advances. Accordingly, many Western technology firms, such as Philips, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola and Siemens, long ago spun off their chipmaking units in order to focus on the final products, rather than the bits inside them. Japan's huge electronics conglomerates have largely resisted this ―fab lite‖ strategy. This now seems to be changing, though the companies' willingness to let go fully is still in doubt. On October 18th Sony said it would put its processor-chip division into a joint venture with Toshiba, which will also buy Sony's chipmaking facilities. Sony will no longer have to make huge investments in chip technology, and will still be sure of a supply of processors for its PlayStation 3 games consoles and other products. Its chip division lost ?10 billion ($90m) last year, and the company has been getting rid of non-core businesses. Last month it floated its financial-services arm, raising nearly $3 billion. For its part Toshiba, one of the world's biggest chipmakers, will gain economies of scale. 72 Sanyo, another Japanese electronics firm, had hoped to do something similar. But its plan to sell its semiconductor unit for nearly $1 billion to Advantage Partners, a private-equity fund, fell through on October 16th. Sanyo is owned by a number of investors, including Goldman Sachs, which are doing their best to revive the struggling company by slimming it down to focus on its solar-panel and battery businesses. But the banks financing the purchase of Sanyo's chip unit balked at the price and at Advantage's plan to retain the existing management. Sanyo's announcement that it would keep the unit sent its share price plummeting. Meanwhile, NEC, which in 2002 turned its chip business into a separate, publicly listed subsidiary, NEC Electronics, has spurned an offer from Perry Capital, a New York fund. Perry is willing to pay $1.3 billion to raise its stake from roughly 5% to 30%, on the condition that NEC relinquishes control of the chipmaker's board. (That works out at a premium of 60% over the average share price in the past three months.) Now Perry is quietly trying to convince other shareholders of the merits of its offer. Taken together, this action (and inaction) adds up to a test of the willingness of managers at Japan's electronics firms to take rational but uncomfortable decisions. Spin-offs make sense because there are too many firms doing the same thing on too small a scale, and the need to finance new fabs is a drag on the firms' main businesses. In Japan, however, corporate pride often trumps economic logic. Electronics giants are used to being diversified and vertically integrated: they regard selling a subsidiary as akin to amputating an arm. Still, some now see the need for surgery. 73 参考译文: 半导体的主要成分为硅，但也可以是黄铁矿，或称作傻瓜的金子，因为大家都知道，总是依靠芯片赚 钱是非常难的。周期性的需求意味着利润是不稳定的，新型芯片很快就会成为平价商品。同时这也是一个 资金高度密集型产业，新建一个加工厂需要投资30—50亿元，而且每隔几年随着技术进步就需要增添新 设备。 因此，许多西方科技公司，如飞利浦、Hewlett-Packard、摩托罗拉和西门子在很早以前就把芯片制造 部门分离出来，专注于制造终端产品而非里面的芯片。日本最大的电子集团以前对强烈抵制这种―轻制造‖ 的策略，但现在似乎也发生了变化，尽管还不一定要全面放开。 10月18日，索尼称将其信息芯片部门放入于东芝成立的一家合资企业中，而东芝也购买了索尼的芯 片制作设备。由此索尼不再需要向芯片科技投入大量资金，且仍然不用担心其第三游戏站游戏控制台和其 他产品处理器的供应。其芯片分部去年损失了100亿日元(合9000万美元)，同时公司也将非核心业务都 分割了出去。上个月索尼创立了其金融服务公司，筹集了近30亿美元。而世界最大的芯片制造商东芝公 司也将获得规模效应。 另外一家日本电子公司三洋也希望效法索尼的做法。但是它以10亿美元将其半导体部门卖给私立基金 Advantage Partners的计划于10月16日失败了。三洋目前由一些投资者控股，包括高盛公司, 他们正削减 其规模以专注于太阳能板和电池产业,从而让勉强经营的三洋可以重新振作起来。但是筹集资金收购三洋芯 片部的银行却因价格以及Advantage想要保留目前管理权等因素而停手。而后三洋宣布将保留该部门，这 使得公司的股价直线下降。 同时，NEC于2002年将芯片业务转为一个公开上市的独立子公司NEC电子。美国一家基金佩里愿意 支付13亿美元将自己的股份从5%提高到30%， 条件是NEC放弃对芯片制造董事会的控制，但遭NEC 拒绝。(在过去三个月内平均股价高出60%溢价成交。) 现在佩里正悄悄地试图说服其他股东该其收购会 带来利益。 总的说来，通过这种行为(和无行为)可以看出日本电子公司经理是否愿意采取这种合乎理性的但合 乎心意的决定。分离还是有必要的，因为太多公司都在以很小的规模做一件事情，要给新的工厂投资也会 拖累公司的主营业务。但是在日本，公司的荣誉往往会战胜经济逻辑。电子巨头们习惯于产业多样化和垂 直结合:他们觉得卖掉分公司就好像是斩去了一条胳膊。不过，一些人发现现在也有必要来一个手术。 The inventor of Sherlock Holmes was the most commercially successful author of his time. Arthur Conan Doyle was a phenomenon: practising doctor, war correspondent, businessman, politician and a campaigner for legal and colonial reforms as well as a popular novelist. But he considered his fiction undervalued. Though he was known worldwide as the author of the Holmes stories and even sometimes addressed as Mr Sherlock Holmes, Doyle regarded himself as primarily a writer of uplifting historical fiction, usually with a medieval background. At first he considered Sherlock Holmes a pleasant diversion that filled a gap in his income. Eventually he came to think of the detective as an irksome burden: ―He keeps me from higher things,‖ he wrote. The Sherlock Holmes stories continue to exercise extraordinary power. The writing is never more than efficient but the setting remains perennial: the comfortable, carpeted, fire-lit Baker Street sitting room shared by Holmes and Watson, the paradoxically womblike world of a Victorian bachelor set above an anarchic underworld full of violence and immorality. Doyle's literary masterstroke was dividing the story between Holmes and Watson. It was a device the writer used frequently but never as effectively as here. Doyle's true theme was division: between order and anarchy, reason and emotion, the material and the spiritual. He himself was a man divided, as two new biographical books make clear. The very picture of an upright Victorian gentleman, Doyle was not averse to fighting in the street when the mood took him. And in his late 30s, at the height of his fame, he ran a double life, conducting a largely secret affair with the woman who eventually became his second wife, while his first was gradually succumbing to tuberculosis. Much of this is revealed in detail in Andrew Lycett's biography and in a selection of Doyle's letters edited by the present executor of the Doyle estate. The story behind the publication of these two books might make a Doylesque thriller in itself. Mr Lycett and the Doyle estate vied to gain control of newly discovered material, each trying to get to market first. Mr Lycett's book is a serious piece of work from an experienced professional biographer. If he never 74 quite gets fully to grips with Doyle's elusive personality, the author is particularly good on the intellectual background to Doyle's work, both known and forgotten. The biography is hobbled by the Doyle estate's refusal to permit quotation from numerous documents. But Mr Lycett makes the best of what he has and fills the gaps with insight. The selected letters by contrast are strictly an enthusiast's book. The editors' comments are a bit haphazard and it is poorly presented. On the other hand, it does convey an almost physical presence of the author, with his strange mixture of kindness and carelessness, overbearing self-confidence and depressive self-doubt. Above all there is the impression of a man driven by internal forces. Since boyhood Doyle had been struggling with the consequences of his rationalist rejection of Catholicism and his growing conviction that there must be some kind of reality beyond the scientific. This was a division that in the end he could not manage. By the close of his life he was spending his diminishing energies defending not only the world of spiritualism but also the outermost fraudulent fringes of supernatural belief. It was a sorry ending. 75 参考译文: 福尔摩斯的缔造者可能是那个时代在商业意义上最成功的作家。Arthur Conan Doyle是一个现象:实习 医生、战地记者、商人、政治家、法律和殖民地改革的推行者，还是受人喜欢的小说家。 但是Doyle 认为他的小说价值被低估了。尽管全世界都知道他是福尔摩斯故事的作者，甚至有时候人 们就把他叫做福尔摩斯先生，Doyle还是把他自己首先看作是高雅的历史小说作家，一般还是以中世纪为 背景的历史小说。一开始他认为写福尔摩斯是一种消遣，可以给他添点收入，到后来他认为这个侦探成了 讨厌的负担。―他让我没法做更高雅的事情。‖他这样写道。 福尔摩斯的故事还一直有非凡的魔力。写作本身并不是很出色，但是故事的场景却是永久的:福尔摩 斯和华生在贝克街舒适的、铺着地毯、烧着壁炉的公共起居室;一位维多利亚单身男子那荒谬的像子宫一 样的世界，而这个世界下面是充满着暴力和不道德的混乱的黑暗。Doyle的妙笔就是把故事分为福尔摩斯 和华生两条叙述线索。虽然这个手法经常为Doyle使用，但他在这里却运用得最为成功。 Doyle真正的主题是分裂:秩序和混乱，理智与情感，物质与精神。他自己本人也是分裂的，从关于他 的两本新传记就可以看出来这一点。虽然他被描述为一位正直的维多利亚绅士，但如果情绪激动起来Doyle 也会在街头打架。他30多岁时富有盛名，但却过着双面生活，与一位女士有着秘密的交往，这位女士以 后成为他的第二任妻子，但他的发妻却慢慢被肺结核所吞噬。 这些在Andrew Lycett写的传记和被遗嘱指定的Doyle财产执行者整理的Doyle的信件中有详细描述。 出版这两本书背后的故事本身都可以成为Doyle式的恐怖小说。Lycett先生和Doyle财产的执行者争着要 占有新发现的资料，他们都想让自己的新书最先上市。Lycett先生的书是经验丰富的职业传记作家的一部 严肃作品，他总是爱较真地弄明白Doyle难以捉摸的个性，而且他也是Doyle作品学术背景研究的专家， 不论是大家熟知的还是为人们所遗忘的方面。但是Doyle财产的执行者拒绝让他引用众多文件，传记写作 因此受到阻挠，但是Lycett先生充分挖掘自己手头有的资料，用自己的独到的见解填补了空白。 相反，选出的书信看起来却是出自一位热情洋溢的人。编辑的评论有些随意，展现在读者面前的书也 不够精美。但另一方面，这本书确实展现了这位作者真实的存在，展现了他善良和粗心混合的奇特一面， 又有着压抑的自信和郁闷的自疑。最重要的是，在这本书中我们看到了一位受内心力量驱使的男子。少年 时代的Doyle一方面在理性上否认天主教的存在，但另一方面又越来越相信在科学之外有其他现实存在， 因此他备受这两方面思想的煎熬。直到他走到了人生尽头，也没能处理这种分歧。在弥留之际，他不仅维 护着唯灵论，还为超自然信仰最具欺骗性的外部边缘而辩护。这种结局令人感到遗憾。 UNIT TWELVE TEXT ONE The idea that mobile phones bring economic benefits is now widely accepted. In places with bad roads, few trains and parlous land lines, they substitute for travel, allow price data to be distributed more quickly and easily, enable traders to reach wider markets and generally ease the business of doing business. Leonard Waverman of the London Business School has estimated that an extra ten mobile phones per 100 people in a typical developing country leads to an extra half a percentage point of growth in GDP per person. To realise the economic benefits of mobile phones, governments in such countries need to do away with state monopolies, issue new licences to allow rival operators to enter the market and slash taxes on handsets. With few exceptions (hallo, Ethiopia), they have done so, and mobile phones are now spreading fast, even in the poorest parts of the world. As mobile phones have spread, a new economic benefit is coming into view: using them for banking, and so improving access to financial services, not just telecoms networks. Pioneering m-banking projects in the Philippines, Kenya and South Africa show the way. These ―branchless‖ schemes typically allow customers to deposit and withdraw cash through a mobile operator's airtime-resale agents, and send money to other people via text messages that can be exchanged for cash by visiting an agent. Workers can then be paid by phone; taxi-drivers and delivery-drivers can accept payments without carrying cash around; money can be easily sent to friends and family. A popular use is to deposit money before making a long journey and then withdraw it at the other end, which is safer than carrying lots of cash. 76 There is no need to set up a national network of branches or cash machines. M-banking schemes can be combined with microfinance loans, extending access to credit and enabling users to establish a credit history. Some schemes issue customers with debit cards linked to their m-banking accounts. All this has the potential to give the ―unbanked‖ masses access to financial services, and bring them into the formal economy. What can governments do to foster m-banking? As with the spread of mobile phones themselves, a lot depends on putting the right regulations in place. They need to be tight enough to protect users and discourage money laundering, but open enough to allow new services to emerge. The existing banking model is both over- and under-protective, says Tim Lyman of the World Bank, because ―it did not foresee the convergence of telecommunications and financial services.‖ In many countries only licensed banks are allowed to collect deposits. Even if a mobile operator forms a partnership with a bank, its agents may have to comply with banking rules covering everything from the height of the counter to the installation of alarms. Financial institutions may have to provide detailed statements to the central bank every week, which is tricky for organisations with agents in remote areas. Some countries have rigid rules on the documents demanded of anybody opening an account, which excludes many. 77 参考模式: 移动电话可以带来经济效益，这个想法现在已广为接受。在那些公路路况糟糕、几乎没有火车，陆上 线路危险的地方，移动电话可以代替行路、可以让价格数据更快更方便地发布出去、可以让商人获得更大 的市场，因此总的来说可以让做生意更为便捷。伦敦商学院的Leonard Waverman预计在典型的发展中国家， 每百人中增加10部移动电话就可以使人均GDP增加0.5个百分点。为了实现移动电话的经济效益，这些 国家的政府需要消除国家垄断，并发布新的许可证以允许竞争运营商进入市场，同时削减手机税收。除了 几个国家之外(如埃塞俄比亚)，大多数国家已经这样做了，现在即使在世界上最穷的地方，移动电话也 扩展得很快。 随着移动电话的普及，新的经济利益也出现了:用移动电话办理银行业务，从而改进金融服务渠道， 而不仅限于电信网络。菲律宾、肯尼亚和南非的尝试已经为电子银行项目指出了前景。这些―无行‖方案允 许顾客通过移动运营商的空中转售代理商来存取现金，也可以通过文本信息把钱支付给对方，对方只需找 到代理商就可以换成现金。员工们也可以通过电话来领工资;出租车司机和货运司机可以接受付款却不用 带着现金到处跑，同时钱也可以便捷地送到朋友和家人手中。现在比较流行的做法是:长假开始前先存钱， 到了目的地再取出来，这要比携带大笔现金安全多了。 建立全国性分行系统和取款机网络也是没有必要的。移动电话银行项目可以与微型金融贷款相结合， 从而扩张到信用领域，并为用户建立一个信用历史。一些系统为顾客发行信用卡，可以连接到他们的电子 银行账户。这些系统就有潜力使―不去银行的‖一大部分人获得金融服务，引领他们进入正式的经济体系。 那么政府可以采取什么措施来发展电子银行呢,随着移动电话的扩展，这在很大程度上取决于能否制 定出合理的规则。规则应当严格一些，以保护用户、打击洗钱，但也要适当开放、允许新的业务出现。世 界银行的Tim Lyman说，现有的银行模式要不就过于保护，要不就是保护不力，因为―它没有预见到电信 和金融服务会汇集到一点。‖ 在许多国家中，只有拥有许可证的银行才可有权存款。即使是移动运营商和银行建立了合作关系，其 职员也必须服从银行的规则，这些规则包罗万象，从柜台的高度到报警器的安装都有说明。金融机构可能 每周得向中央银行提供详细的说明，这对于那些职员在偏远地区的组织来说是非常讨厌的一件事情。一些 国家对于任何开户人的档案有严格的要求，这使得许多人都被排除在外。 TEXT TWO Mobile phones are making life better for people in remote, underserved areas of India. They no longer have to walk kilometers to public call offices to use a telephone—an essential tool for buying and selling goods based on the latest market data, getting credit from lenders and other commonplace activities. So far, most of the benefits have come from one of the phone's simplest features: voice calls. With more than 250 million mobile users and 6 million new ones added each month, India now has the "teledensity" to support more-sophisticated mobile technologies, which could have a big impact on Indian society and the economy in the next few years. These include "voice broadcast" services that would let a truck owner inform residents of a village about a scheduled trip to the city, or doctors announce the availability of polio vaccinations. A more complex system would allow a small business, say, to keep track of shipments. What's holding up these services is the lack of mobile banking. With urban markets nearing saturation, global giants like Nokia are now looking to appeal to the hinterlands. Reliance Communications, which has offered Internet service over its mobile phones since 2002, is sponsoring a contest this year for developers to invent new rural services. "We want to really take advantage of our mobile platform, our data network, and our ability to provide the mobile Internet experience to bridge the digital divide," says Mahesh Prasad, president of applications and development. Several small companies are at work on mobile banking for small businesses. New Delhi-based ekgaon technologies has developed a system for tracking transactions made by so-called Self Help Groups, which pool members' money and offer small loans to poor people. The system uses a camera-equipped mobile phone to scan forms and a voice-recognition system. A.Little.World, a mobile software business in Mumbai, has developed a 78 microfinance and payment system that lets customers perform banking transactions through a local agent affiliated with a bank. Customers get a secure electronic identity via phone or smart card; agents take deposits and dispense cash. Biometric data, such as fingerprints, make the phones and smart cards more secure than paper-based banking. A.Little.World has extended such services to about 400 local businesses acting as agents. And it's now working on a national rollout with the State Bank of India—the biggest player in the rural market. Meanwhile, ekgaon, whose partners include CARE, WorldVision and the World Bank, has a pilot transaction-management system for 10,000 Self Help Groups, with plans to extend it to 14 Indian states. Mobile banking services can reduce the cost of transactions for loans and other services—the main obstacle to providing banking for the poor—by as much as three quarters, according to ekgaon's chief operating officer Rohit Magotra. Mobile transactions could have an even broader effect applied to India's social-security payments and public-distribution system, which sells essential goods to the poor at subsidized rates. By March 2008, people in 8,000 villages in Andhra Pradesh will get their benefits zapped via mobile phone to their smart cards, which they may eventually use instead of cash to buy goods at the ration shop. A.Little.World, which is building the system, says a nationwide service could help reduce fraud in the public-distribution system. It would also mean going from a bankless world to a cashless one, maybe even faster than America or Europe. 79 参考译文: 移动电话可以改善印度那些地处偏远、服务设施不完善地区人们的生活。他们不再需要步行几公里 到公共电话厅打电话，而电话是他们根据最新的市场信息进行买卖交易、从银行获取贷款或者其他普通服 务的最基本工具。迄今为止，大部分的补贴都是通过电话的最简单功能——语音服务来解决的。 印度有两亿五千万的移动电话用户，而且每个月还有600万新增用户。现在印度的―电话覆盖‖已经 可以支撑更加复杂的移动技术，这在未来的几年内会对印度的社会、经济都产生巨大的影响。这其中包括 ―语音广播‖服务，卡车司机可以通过该服务通知村民们到城里的计划行程，医生们也可以通知脊髓灰质炎 疫苗的到货通知，更为复杂的系统可以让小公司跟踪货运情况。而目前这些服务的障碍就在于没有移动银 行。 随着城市市场趋于饱和，一些国际大公司如诺基亚现在对偏远地区发生了兴趣。―信任通讯‖自2002 年以来就一直通过移动电话来提供因特网服务，它今年还赞助了一个竞赛，鼓励开发商发明新的郊区服务。 ―我们确实想要利用我们的移动平台、数据网络以及我们提供移动因特网服务的经验来为数字分界搭建桥 梁。‖ 应用和开发部经理Mahesh Prasad说道。 几家小公司已经在为小型企业研制移动银行了。位于新德里的ekgaon技术已经研发出了一个系统来 跟踪―自助集团‖的交易，该公司把会员的资金收集起来，以为穷人提供小型贷款。该系统使用了一种装有 照相机的移动电话来扫描图形，还使用了一种语音识别系统。―小世界‖是孟买的一家小型移动软件公司， 目前已经研制出微型金融支付系统，可以让顾客通过银行的附属本地代理商来进行银行交易。顾客通过电 话或智能卡获得安全的电子身份，代理商收取存款、分配现金。生统数据——比如指纹——使电话和智能 卡比纸上作业的银行更加安全。―小世界‖已经将其服务扩展到了约400家作为代理商的本地企业，目前正 在与印度国家银行一起策划首次展出，而国家银行是农村市场的最大玩家。同时，拥有CARE、世界视窗 和世界银行这些合作伙伴的ekgaon拥有可以为一万家自助团体服务的交易管理系统，它计划是将其扩展到 印度14个州。 据ekgaon首席运营官Rohit Magotra称，移动银行服务最多可以减少贷款和其他服务交易费用的3/4， 而交易费用是为穷人提供银行服务的最主要障碍。移动交易有更为广泛的作用，可以用于印度社会保障支 付和公共分配系统，该系统以补助价格将基本物品卖给穷人。到2008年3月，Andhra Pradesh8000个村庄 的居民都可以通过移动电话将他们的补贴打入智能卡中，然后用智能卡而不再是现金到定量配给商店购买 商品。―小世界‖正在建立这种系统，它认为全国性的服务有助于减少公共分配体系中欺诈行为，还意味着 可以从无银行的世界进入无现金的世界，可能印度要比美国或欧洲更早实现。 TEXT THREE He gave no steer on future interest-rate decisions and no assessment of where he sees the economy going. Yet Ben Bernanke's speech at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC, on November 14th may be judged as the one in which he stamped his mark on America's monetary policy. The Federal Reserve's chief used his speech to unveil the central bank's new strategy for communicating with the public. In short, the Fed plans to talk more—and more often—about its assessment of the economic outlook. While the Fed is not about to join the band of central banks that are guided by an explicit goal for prices, it will borrow some of the inflation-targeters' clothes. More than one Fed-watcher dubbed the new public-relations policy ―inflation targeting-lite‖. Until now, the Fed has published two forecasts a year. Starting on November 20th it will publish projections once a quarter. The end-point for forecasts will be pushed out from two to three years hence. And alongside the forecasts will be a ―narrative‖ that gives more detail on the differences on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed's rate-setting body. Lengthening the forecasts from two to three years is more important than it sounds. Three-year forecasts should be untainted by transitory factors that blow the economy off course. As a result, they will say a lot about how quickly policymakers think the economy can grow and how low they believe the jobless rate can safely go. And since forecasts are conditional on an ―appropriate‖ setting for monetary policy, the longer-term projections will 80 reveal the inflation rate the FOMC is aiming for. If views diverge, then Fed-watchers will have not one but several inflation ―targets‖ to focus on. Ever the diplomat, Mr Bernanke said that the new communications set-up is a ―work in progress‖ and stressed it would not affect policy decisions. Yet his speech gives a clear sense of the kind of central bank he wants to run. The emphasis on providing a deeper insight into the spread of views on the FOMC signals a different approach from that of his predecessor, Alan Greenspan. Mr Bernanke said allowing diverse views reduces the risk that one voice becomes ―unduly dominant‖. Another theme is a more prominent role for explicit benchmarks. Mr Bernanke acknowledged that his preference for an inflation target is not compatible with the Fed's ―dual mandate‖, which puts the goal of maximum employment on an equal footing with price stability. But he has nevertheless managed to find a way to get the Fed to be much clearer about its objectives. He acknowledged that one benefit of extending the Fed's forecasts for an extra year is that it will provide ―an evaluation of certain long-run features of the economy.‖ And by agreeing to publish forecasts for headline inflation, as well as the less volatile core data, Mr Bernanke has also addressed the growing perception that the Fed thinks fast-rising food and energy costs are not its problem This is an opportune time to make the Fed's policymaking more open. As Mr Bernanke made clear, greater transparency will bolster the Fed's legitimacy and help preserve its independence. Since recent readings on inflation and activity are sending conflicting signals, the Fed will need an understanding and informed public if it is to make the right choices. 81 参考译文: Ben Bernanke没有表示今后利率会如何调整变化，也没有评论经济会有如何的走势，但是他于11月 14日在华盛顿特区加图学院的讲话可以表明他对美国货币政策的看法来。 通过这次演讲，这位美联储主席揭示了中央银行和公众交流的新政策。简要地说，联储计划要增加 对经济前景评论的频率。虽然联储不会加入明确以价格为目的的中央银行群，但却打算借用这些以通胀为 目标的群体的外衣。不止一位联储观察员认为新的公众关系策略是―以通货膨胀为目的‖。直到现在，联储 在一年内已经发布了两次经济预测。从11月20日起，它将于每季度发布一次经济预测。而经济预测的年 限将从两年推到三年。除了经济预测外，还有关于联邦开放市场委员会(联储利率设定机构)变化细节的 陈述。 将经济预测从两年延长至三年，这点要比听起来更要重要。三年的经济预测不受那些会使经济脱离 轨道等短期因素的影响。因此，经济预测将会更多涉及决策者认为经济发展会有多快、失业率能安全地降 到多少。而因为预测取决于货币政策是否―合理‖制定，长期计划可以表示联邦开放市场委员会对于通货膨 胀率的目标。如果意见有分歧，联储观察员就不得不关注一个通货膨胀―目标‖。 Bernanke先生曾经担任过大使，他说建立新的交流是一项―正在进行的工作‖，并强调这不会影响决 策。但是他的讲话明说明知了他希望运行怎样的中央银行。他强调要对联邦开放市场委员会发表的意见有 更为深刻的认识，这一点体现了他与其前任Alan Greenspan完全不同的策略。Bernanke先生说允许有不同 观点存在可以避免出现一种声音的―过分独裁‖。 另外个主题是明确基准点的重要性。Bernanke先生承认他对通胀目标的偏好与联储的―双委任‖有冲 突，―双委任‖ 把最大程度的就业和价格稳定视为同等重要。但是他仍然希望找到一种方法可以让联储给出 更为明确的目标。他认为将联储预测延长一年的好处就是可以提供―经济长期发展特征的评估‖。Bernanke 先生同意发布总通货膨胀预测以及比较稳定的中心数据，他还提到联储认为飞速上涨的食品和能源价格并 不是它的问题。 这是使得联储更为公开的一个契机。正如Bernanke先生所说，增加透明度可以支持联储的合理性， 并有助于保持其独立性。因为人们对于通胀和活动的看法有一些分歧，如果联邦储备系统要做出正确的抉 择，就需要有理解力的、消息灵通的公众。 TEXT FOUR Kids heading back to enlightened schools this fall may find nutrition and exercise on the agenda even in math class. In an effort to reverse the alarming increase of obesity in children, some schools have found ways to encourage healthful lifestyle changes without emphasizing the negative—too much body weight. Planet Health, developed by Harvard University researchers and now used in hundreds of schools throughout the country, integrates obesity prevention lessons into the science, math, and social studies curricula, for example. Students come to appreciate the importance of reducing TV time by calculating during math class the amount of their lifetime they've spent in front of the set. In gym, they decide on goals for subbing in physical activity instead. The program costs only about $15 per student annually, a bargain, considering the payoffs: A 2005 study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine found that middle-school girls who had Planet Health in their schools were half as likely to purge or use diet pills as those in schools without it. "It really focuses on the positive, and that's why we think it's protective against these dangerous behaviors," says study author Bryn Austin, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. A second program adopted by 7,000 elementary schools nationwide, the Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH), similarly puts the focus on good health habits instead of weight. In class, students use a traffic-light system to identify "go," "slow," and "whoa" foods and take breaks to do jumping jacks. In the cafeteria, fruits, vegetables, low-fat milk, and whole-grain starches are labeled with green-light tags, and pizza gets a yellow light. Gym activities are designed to keep students constantly moving. "Every kid gets a ball to dribble or a hula hoop; there's no lining up and waiting to take a turn," says Phil Nader, professor of pediatrics emeritus at the University of California—San Diego, who helped develop CATCH. A three-year study comparing CATCH schools with others without the program found that CATCH increased the proportion of gym class spent in motion, from 40 percent to 50 percent, and reduced the consumption of fat in schools from 39 percent of total calories to 32 percent. A second study found that the program prevented the growth 82 in number of overweight students that normally occurs from grade 3 to grade 5. CATCH students in El Paso, Texas (with one of the highest obesity rates in the nation), held the line between those grades, but in schools without the program, the share of overweight girls increased from 26 percent to 40 percent and of overweight boys from 29 percent to 39 percent. Glen Cove Elementary School, near El Paso in Ysleta, was one of the first schools to adopt CATCH, and parents there have learned to eat better and exercise more along with their kids. "We have a day where everyone comes to fly kites and Wellness Wednesdays where family members run around for 20 minutes with their kids," says physical education teacher Ben Avalos, who brought the program to Glen Cove in 1998. "Parents also tell me their kids have gotten them to throw out the 'whoa' foods in the house." Avalos uses walking sticks, pogo sticks, and Chinese yo-yos in gym class—and nobody relaxes on the sidelines. 83 参考译文: 今年秋天孩子们返回学校时会发现数学课上居然也有营养和锻炼科目。一些学校为了改变儿童肥 胖不断增加的现状，找了一些鼓励健康生活方式的方法，但是也不过分强调肥胖。―行星健康‖是哈佛大学 研究者们的成果，目前已经在全国的上百家学校推行，该项目将防止肥胖课程与科学、数学、社会学等课 程结合了起来。学生们在数学课上通过计算自己一生在电视前花费的时间就会明白减少看电视时间的重要 性。在体育馆里，他们可以自己设立体育活动的目标。 参与该项目的每个学生每年只需要花费约15美元，这是考虑成本的一个较便宜的估价:2005年 发表在《儿童与青少年医学档案》的一项研究表明，实施―行星健康‖中学的女孩服用泻药或减肥药的几率 为没有实施该项目学校的学生数量的一半。―该项目关注好的方面，这也就是为什么我们认为它可以预防 危险行为。‖该研究的作者，哈佛医学院儿科助理教授Bryn Austin说道。 另一个项目―儿童健康合作方法‖目前已在全国7000所小学采用，该项目注重良好的健康习惯而不 是体重。在课上，学生用红绿灯系统来标示―通行‖、―减速‖、―停止‖食物，课间可以玩抓子游戏。在自助 餐厅里，水果、蔬菜、低脂牛奶、全麦淀粉都用绿灯标签标示，而比萨则用黄灯标示。体育馆运动的设计 目的就是要让学生一直不停地运动。―每个孩子都保证有球或呼拉圈玩;不需要排队，也不需要等着轮流 玩。‖ 圣地亚哥加州大学儿科荣誉教授Phil Nader说道，他协助研发了―儿童健康合作方法‖。 旨在比较实施―儿童健康合作方法‖学校和未实施该方法的学校的一项研究发现，―儿童健康合作方 法‖增加了体育课活动的比例，即从40%提高到50%，同时也降低了学生的肉类食用，即从39%降到了32%。 另外一个研究表明该项目减少了三年级到五年级之间的超重学生数量的上升。德克萨斯埃尔帕索城参加 ―儿童健康合作方法‖的学生(该城市学生在全国肥胖比率居前)在从三年级到五年级保持体重没变，但是 没有实施该项目的学校里，超重女生从26%增加到了40%，男生从29%增加到了39%。 Ysleta埃尔帕索附近的格伦科夫小学是最先采取―儿童健康合作方法‖的学校，家长们也在孩子的 带动下健康饮食、多做运动。―我们确定了一个风筝日，每个人都来放风筝;还有?健康星期三‘，在这一天 家庭成员和孩子们一起跑20分钟。‖体育老师Ben Avalos说道，他于1998年将该项目引入了格伦科夫小 学。―家长也告诉我孩子们让他们把那些?停止‘食品扔掉。‖Avalos在体育课上使用了手杖、弹簧单高跷和 中国游拉线盘让学生运动，没有人是在一旁闲着的。 UNIT THIRTEEN TEXT ONE On Tuesday afternoon, as news about the Virginia Tech murders filtered out, the staff of a hamburger restaurant in downtown Austin gathered in front of a television suspended over the bar. A boyish-looking waiter speculated that if the gunman had really used a 9mm handgun, he must have had an accomplice. That handgun can hold a fair number of bullets, he said, but the gunman would have had to stop to reload. It is not unusual for a Texan to be casually conversant about firearms. A state resident does not need a permit to buy a gun and guns do not have to be registered. Police are, as a result, not sure how many guns there are in the state. But the number is substantial. In a 2001 poll by the Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, 36% of respondents said that their household had at least one. The state's gun laws are lax, and becoming more so all the time. In March Governor Rick Perry signed a bill into law that gives increased discretion to open fire. Previously, Texans were justified in killing someone only if ―a reasonable person in the actor's situation would not have retreated‖. The new law, which takes effect in September, eliminates the need for escape attempts. It assumes that the otherwise law-abiding citizen had a good reason for standing their ground. It also gives shooters immunity from civil suits. The law has plenty of critics. Law-enforcement officials say the duty to retreat saves lives because it discourages people from escalating conflicts. The new law seems to protect hysterical trigger-fingers who feel themselves genuinely threatened when no real threat exists. The law was probably not necessary anyway. There is 84 no carjacking crisis in the state. And juries have never been sticklers about the duty to retreat. There is widespread sympathy for the idea that, as Oliver Wendell Holmes put it in 1921, ―Detached reflection cannot be demanded in the presence of an uplifted knife.‖ Still, the bill flew through the legislature with broad support. In a way, it simply marks a return to form for the state. Texas did not acknowledge a duty to retreat until 1973. And Texas is just the 16th state to pass such legislation since Florida did so in 2005. Florida's law goes even further, as it presumes that any cat burglar has murderous intent. Texans largely support gun ownership, despite the fact that the state has experienced mass murders of its own. In 1966 Charles Whitman, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, shot almost 50 passers-by from the top of the campus clock-tower. Sixteen died. And in 1991 George Hennard drove his truck into a restaurant in the small town of Killeen, where he killed 23 patrons before killing himself. Before this week, those episodes were, respectively, the deadliest campus shooting and the worst mass shooting in America's history. 85 参考译文: 星期二下午，关于弗吉尼亚科技学院杀人案的消息传开后，奥斯汀市区一家汉堡包餐厅的员工聚集在 吧台上方的电视机前。一个看上去还是个大男孩的侍者推测如果这个开枪者真的用了一把9毫米口径的手 枪，那么他肯定有一个同谋。他说，这种手枪只能装下一定数量的子弹，他中间得停下来继续装弹。 德克萨斯人在聊天时可以对枪支侃侃而谈，这并不鲜见。德州居民不需要许可证就可以购买枪支，而 拥有枪支也不需要登记。因此，警察也不确定该州到底有多少枪支，但数量应该相当可观。2001年―行为 风险因素监察调查‖中，36%的被调查者称他们家中至少有一支枪。 该州的枪支法律不很严格，而且有越来越松的倾向。3月份，Rick Perry州长签署了一项议案，增加了 开枪的自由。以前，只有―行动者为有理智的人且没有撤退‖的情况下 德克萨斯人开枪才是合法的。而将于 9月份生效的新法律却去掉了辨别是否有逃跑企图的这种需要。新法律认为守法公民有理由坚持他们的立 场。这也将使得开枪者免于民事诉讼。 该法律受到了许多批评。法律执行官员称退却义务可以救命，因为这种义务能防止冲突升级。新法律 似乎在保护那些处于兴奋状态的开枪者，他们在没有真正威胁的情况下却感觉到自己受到了威胁。该法律 可能不是必需的。在该州并没有截车的危险，陪审团也并未坚持要求退却义务。公众普遍认同1921年Oliver Wendell Holmes提出的建议，―面对已经举起的刀时不能要求人们没有任何反应。‖ 但是，该法律还是获得了广泛的支持才最终得以立法。在某种程度上，这表示了该州回归形式的趋向。 德克萨斯直到1973年才承认了退却义务，却是美国第十六个通过这种法律的州，此前是佛罗里达州于2005 年通过了该法律。佛罗里达州的法律更加离谱，认为任何窃贼都有杀人的企图。 德克萨斯州的人们支持枪支合法，尽管该州曾经历过多次大规模的杀人事件。1966年，奥斯汀德克萨 斯大学一名学生Charles Whitman从学校钟塔上向50名行人开枪，导致16人死亡。1991年，George Hennard 驾驶自己的卡车进入基林小镇的一家餐馆，杀死了23名顾客，最后自杀。而本周前发生的是美国历史上 最为恐怖的校园枪击案，也是最残酷的多人被杀枪击案。 TEXT TWO Tracy Borman can tell a good story. Admittedly, her subject is a gift. But Henrietta Howard, mistress to George II, lived in the midst of a large cast of characters, many of them entangled in the complicated politics of 18th-century court life, and Ms Borman handles them and their world with aplomb. Though the 18th century is called the Age of Reason, it was anything but. Henrietta was born in 1689, a year after the balance of power in Britain shifted from monarch to Parliament. But this did nothing to shift the tyranny of men over women, and Henrietta's life was largely shaped by violent and unreasonable men.When she was eight, her father, the profligate and choleric squire of Blickling Hall in Norfolk, challenged a neighbour to a duel for impugning his valour. He was killed for his pains, leaving a wife, eight children and a pile of debts. Eight years later, perhaps hoping to help her now motherless siblings, Henrietta released her dowry money by marrying a cousin, Charles Howard, 14 years her senior. It was a disaster. Charles turned out to be a compulsive gambler and wife-beater, and their lives descended into lodging-house flits and near-starvation. Then, aged 25, Henrietta made her own astonishing gamble. In 1714, when Queen Anne lay dying, she took herself and Charles off to Hanover, where George Louis, heir presumptive to the English throne, held court. There she joined throngs of other hopefuls, all jockeying for the notice either of George Louis, or his son, George Augustus, or his daughter-in-law, Caroline. Henrietta's gamble paid off, though frying pans and fires come to mind. Her appointment as Woman of the Bedchamber to Princess Caroline meant long days of tedious and exacting ceremony, such as holding her mistress's wash basin on bended knee, a point that Caroline spitefully insisted on when Henrietta became her husband's mistress. Not that that was much comfort either. The man was a boor, and dull with it. In any case, Henrietta never really supplanted Caroline. Being a royal mistress was, in this case, more a post than a romance. But it suited Henrietta in that it protected her from her husband—something the law denied her. 86 Henrietta was known for her discreet and even temper, but she must also have had sharp elbows. As Ms Borman vividly shows, the court was a scandal-mongering, fickle place, riven by political factionalism and held at fever pitch by the royal family's own very public quarrels. This was the atmosphere Henrietta breathed. And yet she somehow managed to be liked. Even acid-tongued poet, Alexander Pope, described her as reasonable, good-humoured, witty and, above all, a friend. Some of Ms Borman's most engaging writing describes Henrietta's circle of friends—poets, writers and wits such as Lord Chesterfield and Horace Walpole—and the pleasure they all took in the design of her Palladian villa, Marble Hill at Twickenham. When her husband's death made it safe for her to retire, this was where she came: to entertain, to re-marry, to have a home. After a life of winging it, such hard-wrung domesticity feels almost heroic. 87 参考译文: Tracy Borman是个讲故事的好手，必须得承认，她选取的题材是不同凡响的。Henrietta Howard，这 位乔治二世的情人生活在一大群人物中间，他们许多都和18世纪宫廷生活的复杂政治纠结在一起，但 Borman女士却能沉静地描述这些人以及他们的世界。 虽然18世纪被称为是理性时代，但却恰恰相反。Henrietta出生于1689年，而在1688年英国的权利 由君主转向了议会，但是却没有除去男性对女性的专制，Henrietta的大部分生活都是由一些暴力、非理性 的男性控制着。八岁时，她的父亲，一个贪于享乐、性格暴躁的诺福克Blickling Hall乡绅，因为一位邻居 驳斥他不勇猛，就向邻居提出了决斗。他最终因为伤痛死去，留下了妻子、八个孩子和一堆债务。八年后， 也许是希望可以帮助那时已失去母亲的兄弟姐妹们，Henrietta嫁给了比她大十四岁的表哥Charles Howard， 条件是免于出嫁妆钱。 这场婚姻是个灾难。Charles是个没有自制力的赌徒，还经常殴打妻子，他们的生活颠簸流离，几近 饿死。就在这时，25岁的Henrietta给自己下了最令人震惊的赌注。1714年，安妮皇后去世，Henrietta和 Charles一起到了汉诺威，在那里英国王位的假定继承人George Louis继位。Henrietta加入了那些希望通过 一些手段引起George Louis、或是他儿子George Augustus和儿媳Caroline的注意的人群。 Henrietta的赌注赢了，尽管她得留意煎锅和火苗。她成为Caroline公主的卧室女仆，这就意味着她每 天都得应付那些单调、严格的礼节，比如屈膝端着洗脸盆到某一高度，这是Caroline在Henrietta成为他丈 夫情妇后恶意坚持的。但除此外作为George Augustus的情妇也不是什么舒服的事情。这是个粗野的男人， 而且也厌烦了。但无论如何，Henrietta从没有真正取代过Caroline. 既然这样，作为王室情人更多是一个 职位，而不是什么浪漫的事情，但这个职位却适合Henrietta，能够使她免于受到丈夫的伤害，而这正是法 律不能给与她的。 Henrietta 因为她的审慎和好性格而著称，但是她的肘部得尖锐些。正像Borman女士写的那样，宫廷 是个谣言肆虐、感情淡薄的地方，受政治的党派之争驱动，加上王室内部的争吵，这一直是水深火热之地。 而这就是Henrietta生活的地方，但她却让人人都喜欢她。即使是尖酸刻薄的诗人Alexander Pope 也把形容 她为理智、好脾气、机敏，最重要的是Pope 把她当成了朋友。 Borman女士的迷人笔法描述赋予了Henrietta的朋友们——有诗人、作家还有像Lord Chesterfield 和 Horace Walpole那样的才子——以及他们在为设计Henrietta设计位于Twickenham的Palladian别墅和大理 石山时的快乐。在丈夫死后，Henrietta就可以安全地退休了，她开始享乐、然后再嫁人，拥有了一个家。 经历这一切之后，辛苦得来的家庭生活感觉就像是英雄史诗一般壮美。 TEXT THREE For most of his life Chuck Feeney has guarded his privacy obsessively. When he became a philanthropist, his gifts came on condition that his name never appeared on any press release or plaque; all donations would cease if confidentiality was breached. But when he decided to co-operate with Conor O'Clery on this book, many of the people in his life, released from their Trappist vows, let themselves go. The result is gripping. An Irish-American, born in New Jersey in 1931, Mr Feeney made a fortune by co-founding Duty Free Shoppers (DFS) which first sold tax-exempt goods to American soldiers abroad and then tapped into the rise of mass tourism. When DFS was sold in 1997, it had delivered nearly $8 billion to its four main shareholders, of which Mr Feeney was the joint biggest, with 38.75% . Tax avoidance is the flip side to Mr Feeney's philanthropic coin. He is addicted to it. ―Chuck hates taxes. He believes people can do more with money than governments can,‖ says a friend. In 1964 a young New York lawyer, Harvey Dale, told Mr Feeney that changes in the tax laws threatened his business, which was running risks that could put the founders in jail. On his advice, Mr Feeney and his co-founder, Robert Miller, transferred ownership to their foreign-born wives, from France and Ecuador, respectively. In 1974, through a deal with the American government, the firm turned the Pacific island of Saipan into a tax haven. Then, in 1978, Mr Feeney grouped his various investments, including his shares of DFS, in a holding company, General Atlantic Group Limited, in tax-free Bermuda. To escape the American taxman, everything was still registered in his wife's name. 88 Mr Feeney carefully shunned all outward evidence of wealth. But as soon as DFS became reliably profitable, he started the practice of giving 5% of his pre-tax profits to good causes. In 1982 he created a foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies, based in Bermuda. Two years later he signed over his fortune to the foundation, except for sums set aside for his wife and children. His net worth fell below $5m. When he broke the news to his children, he gave them each a copy of Andrew Carnegie's essay on wealth, written in 1889. Mr Feeney has given his alma mater, Cornell University, more than $600m, dwarfing all other donations from a single alumnus to an American university. He has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars towards higher education in Ireland, South Africa and Australia. He has helped with health care in Vietnam. In 2004 he went to Cuba, where he met Fidel Castro, who seemed only too happy to accept his capitalist-tax-avoided dollars. But it was his support for the Irish peace process that caused the most controversy, including accusations (without foundation, it turned out) that he had financed the IRA. Mr Feeney is committed to giving away all the money in his foundation by a fixed date—thought to be in about ten years—but his investment prowess makes this difficult. Currently, Atlantic Philanthropies is worth $4 billion (up from $3.5 billion in 2001) even though, over its lifetime, it has given away about $4 billion in increasing amounts. The trouble for Mr Feeney is that the foundation's assets are growing as fast as he tries to get rid of them. 89 参考译文: Chuck Feeney在生命的大部分时间里都竭尽全力保护自己的私人生活不受干扰。成为一个慈善家后， 他在捐赠时提出的条件就是自己的名字不能出现在任何新闻稿或匾额上。如果违反了这种机密性，他的捐 赠就会中止。但是当他决定要和Conor O‘clery合作写本书时，他生命中的许多人都得以摆脱他们缄口的誓 言，从而可以畅所欲言了。这个结果真是够吸引人的。 Feeney先生是一位美籍爱尔兰人，1931年出生在新泽西。他和别人共同创办了免税店而发了大财， 该免税店最开始是向那些在国外的美国士兵出售免税商品。后来随着旅游者的增多，业务也转向了他们。 1997年卖掉免税店时，四个大股东得到了80亿美元，而Feeney是最大的股东，他占有的份额为38.75%。 免税只是Feeney先生慈善事业的另一面而已。他甚至对免税上了瘾。―Chuck憎恨税收。他认为人们 用钱可以比政府办更多的事情。‖ 他的一位朋友说。1964年，一位年轻的纽约律师Harvey Dale告诉Feeney 先生税收法的改革可能会威胁到他的生意，甚至可能会让这些创办者们锒铛入狱。在他的建议下，Feeney 和他的合伙人Robert Miller将免税店所有权移交给了他们分别出生在法国和厄瓜多尔的妻子。1974年，通 过与美国政府的一项协议，公司将太平洋上的塞班岛变成了一个免税的地方。1978年，Feeney先生把自己 各种投资都集合起来，包括他在免税店的份额，然后投进了一家在免税的百慕大群岛成立控股公司——大 西洋有限公司。为了逃避美国的收税员，所有公司都是以他妻子的名义注册的。 Feeney先生小心地抹去了自己财产的所有表面证据。但是当他确定免税店已经盈利的时候，他开始 将自己税前利润的5%用于慈善事业。1982年他创立了一个基金会——大西洋慈善事业，总部设在百慕大。 两年后他将自己的财产转到该基金会，只留了一些给妻子和孩子。他的净资产从而降到了500万美元以下。 当他告诉孩子们这个消息时，他给每个孩子都送上了一篇卡内基1889年写的关于财富的文章。 Feeney先生捐给自己的母校康奈尔大学的资助达6亿多美元，数额超过了美国大学所有毕业生单独 捐款的数额。他还捐了几亿美元用于爱尔兰、南非和澳大利亚的高等教育。此外他也资助了越南的卫生保 健事业。2004年他来到古巴，在那里会见了Fidel Castro，Castro非常高兴地接受了Feeney先生通过免税 得来的美元。但是正是他对爱尔兰和平运动的援助，才导致了最大的争议，人们指责他赞助了爱尔兰共和 军(事实上毫无根据) Fenney先生在某一固定日期之前会把所有的财产投入其基金会(可能10年)，但是他的投资能力 却为这项任务增加了困难。目前―大西洋慈善‖价值40亿美元(而在2001年只有35亿)这是在已经累计捐 出了40亿美元之后的情况。Feeney目前面临的问题是基金会财产增长的速度和他捐钱的速度几乎是齐头 并进的。 TEXT FOUR John Kao is an innovation guru described as ―Mr Creativity‖ by this newspaper a decade ago. Now he is concerned about America losing its global lead and becoming ―the fat, complacent Detroit of nations‖. In his new book, ―Innovation Nation‖, he points to warning signs, such as America's underinvestment in physical infrastructure, its slow start on broadband, its pitiful public schools and its frostiness toward immigrants since September 11th 2001—even though immigrants provided much of America's creativity. What America needs, he reckons, is a big push by federal government to promote innovation, akin to the Apollo space project that put a man on the moon As head of California's Stanford Research Institute, Mr Carlson knows the strengths of Silicon Valley from first-hand experience. And yet here he is insisting that America's information technology, services and medical-devices industries are about to be lost. ―I predict that millions of jobs will be destroyed in our country, like in the 1980s when American firms refused to adopt total-quality management techniques while the Japanese surged ahead.‖ The only way out, he insists, is ―to learn the tools of innovation‖ and forge entirely new, knowledge-based industries in energy technology, biotechnology and other science-based sectors. It is natural to be sceptical of such dour arguments and calls for government action. After all, the United States still leads in innovation. Whether it is by traditional measures, like spending on research and the number of patents registered, or less tangible but more important ones, like the number of entrepreneurial start-ups, levels of venture-capital funding or the payback from new inventions, America is invariably at the top of the league. Indeed, 90 the Council on Competitiveness recently concluded in a report that, by and large, the outlook is bright for America. Yet the same council's innovation task force also gave warning that other countries are making heavy investments that threaten to erode America's position. It would like a big push in four areas: improving science, engineering and maths education; welcoming skilled immigrants; beefing up government spending on basic research; and offering tax incentives to spur ―US-based innovation.‖ These are mostly sensible recommendations because they focus on those framework conditions and bits of infrastructure that the market would not provide on its own. Where such prescriptions tend to go awry is when they argue for specific subsidies or tax breaks for favoured industries (like supporting only ―US-based‖ innovation in today's world of global creative networks). After all, the Schumpeterian forces of creative destruction must be allowed to work their magic. Resilience in the face of those disruptive forces gave Silicon Valley the edge over its nearest high-tech rival, Boston's Route 128 technology corridor. Both clusters were riding high until the personal computer and distributed-computing changed the market. Firms went through wrenching change, but those in northern California, like Hewlett-Packard and Xerox, emerged stronger than those near Boston, like Digital Equipment and Wang—which no longer exist. As Berkeley's AnnaLee Saxenian has shown, Silicon Valley's champions were nimble and networked but those on Route 128 were brittle, top-down bureaucracies. 91 参考译文: John Kao是一位创新领导者，十年前被本报称作―发明大王‖。现在他担心美国正在逐步丧失世界领导 权，成为所有―国家中那个臃肿、自负的底特律‖。在他的新书《创新国家》中，他指出了一些危险的信号， 比如美国在基础设施上投资不足、在宽带方面启动较慢，以及可怜的公立学校，还有自2001年9月11日 以来对移民的过严政策，尽管移民是美国创新的主导力量。他认为，美国需要的是联邦政府大力推动创新， 就像计划把人送到月球上的阿波罗太空一样。 Carlson先生是加利福尼亚斯坦福研究院院长，他从自己的第一手经验中深刻理解了硅谷的力量。但是 现在他也坚持说美国的信息技术、信息服务和医疗设备产业将要落后。―我预计我们国家将损失成百万的 工作岗位，就象20世纪80年代美国公司拒绝采用全面质量管理技术而日本却在这方面走到了前头一样。‖ 他认为，唯一的出路就是 ―学习创新技术‖， 并在能源科技、生物技术和其他科学领域建立全新的基于知 识的产业。 人们很自然地要质疑这些严峻的评论以及要求政府采取行动的迫切呼吁。毕竟，美国依然是创新的领 头军。无论评判的 标准 excel标准偏差excel标准偏差函数exl标准差函数国标检验抽样标准表免费下载红头文件格式标准下载 是在研究方面的费用、注册的专利权的数量，还是不那么切实却非常重要的一些标 准，如创业企业的数量、风险投资的水平或新发明的回报等，美国一直处于领先地位。事实上，竞争委员 会近日在一个报告中总结说，美国的前景基本上还是光明的。 但是该委员会的创新特别工作组警告说其他国家也投入了巨大的资金，这可能威胁到美国的地位。该 小组希望能推动四个领域快速进展:改进科学、工程学和数学教育;欢迎技术移民;加强政府在基础研究 上的投入;利用税收鼓励来激励―美国本土创新‖。 这些是最明智的建议，因为其针对的都是市场本身不能提供的结构条件和基础设施。这些建议的偏颇 之处就在于要求给受惠的企业一些特别的补贴或减税(如在全球创造网络世界中支持―美国本地‖的创新)。 总之，必须得允许熊彼特创造性摧毁力量发挥自己的威力。 面对破坏性力量的灵活性使得硅谷比起最有竞争力的高科技对手——波士顿128路科技廊略胜一筹。 这两家一直很成功，直到后来个人电脑和分布式计算改变了市场，使得公司们经历了巨大的变化，但是北 加利福尼亚的公司如Hewlett-Packard和施乐要比波士顿附近的公司如―数码设备‖和―王‖(这些都不复存在 了)要更强大些。正如伯克利的AnnaLee Saxenian所说，硅谷的冠军都是机敏的、连成网络的，而128路 的都是脆弱的、自上而下的官僚机构。 UNIT FOURTEEN TEXT ONE When times get tough, people with an abundance of disposable income are inclined to keep disposing of it while the rest of us are forced to keep our thinner wallets in our pockets. With that in mind, Tobias Levkovich, Citigroup's chief United States equity strategist, has created the Living Large Index, comprising stocks of businesses that cater to affluent consumers. Profits and share prices of luxury-goods makers, higher-end retailers and travel and entertainment companies should hold up even if businesses serving them suffer from difficult economic conditions, he said. The index is a new creation, but back-testing shows that building a portfolio from its component stocks would have been a far more lucrative long-term strategy than mimicking the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. A $100 investment in Living Large at the end of 1995 would have grown to $1,013 by Oct. 31, compared with $252 for the S.& P. No wonder the logic behind the index wins high marks from investment advisers. ''It certainly makes sense conceptually,'' said Charles L. Norton, manager of the Vice fund, which invests in companies like tobacco makers, gambling emporiums and purveyors of alcohol. ''Usually in a recession, people at the lower end of the food chain are hurt most and so those catering to the luxury end tend to be relatively insulated.'' Mr. Norton holds one index constituent, Wynn, the owner of casinos, including one in Macao that has become a popular destination for Asian gamblers. Asia is expected to be a source of tremendous growth for the gambling industry. If catering to well-heeled Americans is profitable, doing the same for wealthy people around the globe may be even more so. As economies develop, the number of rich people soars, and they have the same expensive tastes as Americans do. ''The next big frontier for many of these luxury retailers is emerging countries, where growth is faster and the number of affluent people is growing even faster,'' said Andrew Peck, manager of the Baron Asset 92 fund.'' There are opportunities ahead for them in markets like China and India, where many new millionaires are being created every day.'' He expects Wynn and Tiffany to benefit from those opportunities, along with a retailer not in Mr. Levkovich's index, Polo Ralph Lauren. John Buckingham, chief investment officer of Al Frank Asset Management, recently recommended Nordstrom and Callaway Golf. He cautioned against depending on them and other Living Large stocks to hold their value if weakness persists in the economy and stock market, however. Much of their sales come from so-called aspirational buyers, those who hope to be affluent one day but are not yet in that category. The already affluent can afford cruises and top-name accessories when times are tough; the would-be affluent cannot. He noted that some of the index companies, notably Coach, Tiffany and Nordstrom, have recently reported earnings lower than analysts' estimates, a result of ''aspirational buyers' slowing their purchases. Mr. Peck's quibble is with the selection of companies from disparate industries to create an index that purports to track a single phenomenon. Their share prices may be driven by myriad factors other than the appeal of their products and services to affluent consumers, he said. Still, the index ''makes intuitive sense to me, within reason,'' he said. ''As a result of gains on Wall Street and a reduction of the top tax rate, the rich are getting richer. They are going to continue to be able to afford luxuries.'' 93 参考译文: 当日子变得紧巴巴的时候，拥有大笔可支付收入的人们倾向于继续花钱，而我们其他人就不得不勒紧 腰带了。发现这一点后，花期银行的美国首席资产策略师Tobias Levkovich发明了Living Large指数，该 指数由专为富裕顾客提供的商品股票组成。他称即使受到经济情况的影响，奢侈品制造商、高端商品零售 商旅游娱乐公司的利润和股票价格应该能支撑下去。 这个指数是个新发明，但后来的实验表明用该指数的成分证券建立的证券组合是个长期策略，要比模 仿标准普尔500指数更为有利。如果1995年将100美元投资于Living Large，到10月31日已经增长到了 1013美元，而投资S.& P.仅仅是252美元。因此，投资顾问为该指数的基本原理打了高分。―从理论上来 讲有一定的意义，‖Vice基金主席Charles L. Norton这样说，该基金投资于烟草制造商、博彩中心和酒类承 办商。―在经济衰退时，一般来说，食物链底端的人们受损最多，而供给富人的商品相对损失要小得多。‖ Norton先生拥有一家该指数的组成证券——Wym, 这是一家赌场业主，包括在澳门的一家赌场，目前澳门 已经成为受亚洲博彩者欢迎的地方了。亚洲可望成为博彩业迅速发展的源头。 如果说迎合富有的美国人可以获得丰厚的利润，那么对于全球的富人来说也是一样。随着经济的发展， 富人数量迅猛增加，他们和美国人一样有着奢侈的品位。―对于许多奢侈品零售商来说，下一个大的前沿 阵地就是新兴崛起的国家，这些国家发展迅速，富人数量增长迅猛。‖Baron资产基金经理Andrew Peck说 道。―像中国和印度这样的国家里有的是机会，在那里每天都有百万富翁诞生。‖他希望Wym和Tiffany可 以从这些机会中获利，以及另一家不属于Levkovich指数的零售商——Polo Ralph Lauren. Al Frank资产管理的首席投资官John Buckingham最近推荐了Nordstrom和Callaway Golf。他认为， 如果经济和证券市场弱势不变的话，依靠它们和其他Living Large证券来保值是有风险的。它们大部分的 销售额来自所谓的渴望购买者，这些人希望今后某一天可以富有，但目前还不是这样。已经富有的人们有 能力购买游艇以及一线品牌商品，但是如果经济不景气，那些将来的富有人群就不会再去购买这些商品了。 他提到该指数的一些公司，特别是Coach, Tiffany和Nordstrom最近的收入比分析家预计的要少，这主要是 因为―渴望购买者 ‖的购买下降了。 Peck先生质疑针对从完全不同类的产业中选取一些公司组成的一个指数，并由此监督某一现象。他认 为这些证券的价格是由多种因素制约的，而不单单是因为其产品、服务受到富有消费者的亲睐。但是，该 指数―对我来说在直觉上是有道理的，‖他这样说，―随着华尔街收入增加以及重要税收的削减，富人们变得 更加富有了。他们会一直有能力够买奢侈品。‖ TEXT TWO Here is a plea to save the English parish church, still standing after the convulsions of the Reformation, the English civil war and social alteration. Roy Strong would like to see the churches preserved, just as he strove to preserve English country houses and country gardens while he was director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in the 1970s. Early worship by Christians was deeply spiritual, ritualistic and physical. Images of saints adorned the walls of the church, where parishioners came for all the sacraments that represented the life cycle of ordinary people. Feast days and saints' days were many, the congregation stood during services, coming and going, talking and kneeling. The building boom of elaborately beautiful churches reached its height in the 14th and 15th centuries. The Reformation began in the 1530s, but lasted way beyond Thomas Cromwell's dissolution of the monasteries, with the government of evangelical Edward VI continuing the work of stripping the churches and banning ritual. Worshippers were ordered to cease their devotions to images or relics, or ―kissing or licking the same‖. What the parishioner lost was enormous. The church was the meeting place for the community as well as a place of worship. Churchgoers were left to stare at a whitewashed wall, or an empty niche where a statue of the Virgin once stood. People were forced to give up religious ceremonies practised for 1,000 years. It is surprising how little rebellion there was. Yet these upheavals were nothing, Sir Roy claims, in comparison to the puritanical purges of the civil war, during the mid-1600s, which devastated not only the fabric of the church but also the social communion of the congregation. Moreover, the loss of income, particularly from banning the making and selling of church ales, meant that the buildings started to crumble. The book's illustrations show churches stripped bare and others in which the 94 gaudy tombs of the elite have replaced images of saints. A reusable coffin from the civil-war period (shown above) is an unfortunate early sign of recycling. The Georgian era was not just a peaceful one for the church, but also an apparently lackadaisical one. Churches were restored and ―exuded the light and clarity of the age of Enlightenment‖. Most welcome of all, there was a return to music, introduced gently, so as not to bear the faintest whiff of popery. The aristocracy ran the parish church, their tenant farmers and workers making up the congregation. Plaques and family pews proliferated; the gentry even had their own fireplaces in some churches. They nearly always grabbed the job of clergyman for their sons. One historian called it ―the age of negligence‖, as the clergy distanced themselves from the congregation and absented themselves from their pastoral ministry. Sir Roy ends with the church facing an uncertain future in the 21st century. He does indeed cover the whole story in a relatively ―little‖ book. For his account of the Reformation, he draws from Eamon Duffy's ―The Stripping of the Altars‖ (Yale, 1992). And this is ideal further reading for those keen to find out more. 参考译文: 这是一个拯救英国教区教堂的请求，这些教堂虽然经历了宗教改革、英国内战和社会变革的洗礼，但 仍然屹立如初。Roy Strong希望看到这些教堂能够保存下来，就像他在20世纪70年代担任伦敦维多利亚 和艾伯特博物馆馆长时努力保护了乡村住宅和乡村花园一样。 基督徒早期的崇拜是精神层面的，注重仪式。教堂的墙壁上装饰有圣人的画像，教区居民参加所有代 表普通人生命轮回的圣礼。有许多欢庆日和圣人节，参加集会的人们在仪式中站立，来来回回走动，或谈 话，或下跪。这种建造精美教堂的趋势在14世纪和15世纪达到了极盛。 宗教改革于16世纪30年代开始，到了克伦威尔解散了修道院后还一致延续，后来新教派爱德华六世 政府继续拆除教堂、禁止宗教仪式。禁止教徒对画像或遗迹表达宗教热情，也不允许―亲吻或舔类似的物 品‖。教区居民的损失是巨大的。教堂是社团聚集地，也是做礼拜的地方。但此后经常做礼拜的人只好凝 视着刷白的墙壁、或空空的壁龛，那里原来竖立着圣母玛丽亚的塑像。人们被迫放弃了宗教礼仪达1000 年。奇怪的是几乎没有什么反抗。 但是比起17世纪中叶内战期间的清教徒运动，这些都算不了什么。清教徒运动不仅毁坏了教堂的建筑 物，而且摧毁了圣会的社会团体。此外，收入的减少，尤其是禁止制造和出售教堂的麦酒，意味着教堂开 始走上消亡之路了。这本书的插图显示了被剥夺得一无所有的教堂，或是奢侈的精英之墓代替了圣者的画 像。内战时期可以循环使用的棺材就是这种不幸的早期迹象。 乔治王时代对于教堂不仅是一段平静时光，而且也是明显没有生气的一段时间。教堂被保留了下来， 甚至―散发着启蒙时代的光彩‖。最令人高兴的是又恢复了音乐，而且是逐渐恢复的，以免沾染上天主教的 气息。贵族主持着教区教堂，他们的佃户和雇工组成了圣会。匾额和教堂里的家庭靠背长凳多了起来，乡 绅们甚至在一些教堂里安放自己的壁炉。他们经常将牧师的工作交给自己的儿子。一位历史学家将这段时 期称作―失职时期‖，因为牧师们都远离了圣会，也从教会团体中淡出了。 Roy爵士的结尾是教堂在21世纪面临的未知未来。实际上他在比较―小‖的一本书中概括了整个故事。 他对于宗教改革的描述引用自Eamon Duffy的《圣坛的脱落》，如果有人希望了解得更多，这本书是比较 理想的作品。 TEXT THREE In the 1990s New York City's success in cutting crime became a model for America and the world. Innovative policing methods, guided by the ―broken windows‖ philosophy of cracking down on minor offences to encourage a culture of lawfulness, showed that a seemingly hopeless situation could be turned around. It made the name of the mayor, Rudy Giuliani, now a presidential aspirant. Hopeless is how many people feel about America's government-funded public schools, particularly in the dodgier parts of big cities, where graduation rates are shockingly low and many fail to achieve basic levels of literacy and numeracy. As with urban crime, failing urban schools are preoccupying countries the world over. And just as New York pointed the way on fighting crime, under another mayor, Michael Bloomberg, it is now emerging as a model for school reform. On November 5th Mr Bloomberg announced a new ―report card‖ for the city's schools, designed to make them accountable for their performance. The highest-graded schools will get an increased budget and perhaps a bonus for the principal. Schools that fail will not be tolerated: unless their performance improves, their principals will be fired, 95 and if that does not do the trick, they will be closed. This is the culmination of a series of reforms that began when Mr Bloomberg campaigned for, and won, direct control of the school system after becoming mayor in 2002. Even before the ―report cards‖, there have been impressive signs of improvement, including higher test scores and better graduation rates. Mr Bloomberg has not been as brave with schools as Mr Giuliani was with crime. Oddly given his belief in competition, the former media mogul shunned the most radical option—vouchers that allow parents to shop around beyond the public-schools system for their children's education. On the other hand, even supporters of school choice, like this newspaper, have to admit it is proving hard to sell. Nor has Mr Bloomberg made a big push to introduce large numbers of independent charter schools as exist, say, in Los Angeles. Against this, Mr Bloomberg has provided an example of what a mayor with control of schools can do even without embracing such controversial ideas. He has avoided inflammatory political terms—―merit pay‖ and ―vouchers‖ are red rags to teachers' unions. Instead, by using the carrot of pay rises to extract performance concessions from principals and teachers, and by persuading philanthropists such as Bill Gates to pay for innovations that might be hard to sell to the public if the public had to pay for them, he has put in place a system based on transparency, accountability and competition that he hopes will achieve much the same effect. Will it? A lot will depend on whether Mr Bloomberg's actions continue to match his tough talk. Unless bad schools are indeed closed, his scheme will be as much good as a blackboard with no chalk. But there are some parallels with Mr Giuliani's crime reforms. For the New York Police Department's giant CompStat database, which provided useful insight into crime patterns, read a new schools information system for students, parents, teachers and schools administrators designed by IBM. For the concept of making precinct police captains personally accountable for reducing crime, read the grading of schools and firing of failing principals. 参考译文: 20世纪90年代，纽约市成功降低了犯罪率，成为美国和世界的榜样。新型的治安方法以―破窗户‖原 理指导，严厉打击小规模犯罪行为，鼓励遵纪守法的文化，这说明看起来没有希望的情形仍可以被扭转过 来。这一事件使得纽约市市长Rudy Giuliani一举成名，现在他是总统候选人。 许多人们对于美国政府资助的公立学校都感到失望，特别是大城市中难以管理的地方，那里的毕业率 惊人的低，许多学生连最低的读写和算术水平都达不到。和城市犯罪一样，城市学校问题也困扰着世界上 的许多国家。正当纽约提出打击犯罪新主张的时候，在新任市长Michael Bloomberg的领导下，纽约正崛 起成为学校改革的模范。 11月5日，Bllomberg宣布城市学校中使用一种新的―声誉卡‖，促使学校为自己的表现负责。高分学 校可以获得更多的经费，甚至学生也会有奖金。而那些表现不佳的学校就不能再放任自流了，除非其成绩 可以提高起来，否则就解散学生。如果还不能奏效，那么就得关门。Bloomberg先生于2002年担任市长后， 他通过努力并赢得了对学校系统的直接监控权，自此开始了一系列改革，而这次算是达到了顶点。在―声 誉卡‖实施之前，学校就有显著的进步迹象，比如考试分数有所提高，毕业率也上升了。 Bloomberg先生在学校改革方面的勇气还比不上Giuliani先生在打击犯罪改革方面的勇气。他说对竞 争很有信心，但这位前媒体大亨却避开最激进的选择，即发出教育权以允许家长在公立学校系统之外给孩 子们选择教育资源。另一方面，即使是像本报这样的择校支持者也得承认很难出售这种教育券。而 Bloomberg也没有大力引进洛杉矶现有的大量独立特许学校。 对于这些，Bloomberg先生用自己的行动证明了即使不采取这些有争议的方法，一个对学校拥有控制 权的市长可以做些什么。他没有使用那些有煽动性的政治词语，如―活动付酬‖和―书面证书‖，这些都会激 怒教师协会。可以使用增加工资的方法来取得学生和老师之间的妥协，对于那些需要公众付费才能使用而 一般难有销路的发明创造，就可以说服象比尔?盖茨那样的慈善家买单，Bloomberg 已经通过这些方法将这 个基于透明、责任心和竞争力的体系安置妥当了，可望能够达到同样的效果。 那么这能实现吗,主要还得取决于Bloomberg先生的行动能否一直兑现他坚决的诺言。除非糟糕的学 校真的关了门，否则他的计划就像是没有粉笔字的黑板一样，看起来永远都那么好。但是这里也有与 Giuliani先生打击犯罪改革相似的地方。纽约警察总局的大型ComStat数据库曾在犯罪类型方面提供了有 价值的见解，而由IBM设计的一个为学生、家长、老师和学校管理者服务的全新学校信息系统也已经开始 运行了。而让地区警察队长亲自负责降低犯罪率的理念同样也运用到了学校评分和开除表现不好的学生 上。 96 Peter Löscher, the first outsider to become chief executive of Siemens, one of the world's biggest electrical-engineering firms, spent his first three months at the firm travelling and listening. Then on October 4th he announced plans to centralise the conglomerate, reduce its nine divisions to three and downsize its 11-man executive board, which would truncate the power of the company's regional bosses. On the same day Siemens accepted a ?201m ($285m) fine imposed by a court in Munich for bribery by its communications division, forgoing the right to appeal. The coincidence could mark a turning point in attempts to change the firm's culture and put past scandals behind it. Last November police raided Siemens's offices, starting a scourge on bribery which so far has cost the company its chairman, its chief executive, another board member and its chief compliance officer, as well as at least ?239m in fines and ?179m in tax liabilities (the bribes had been deducted). What is more, in the nine months to June 30th alone, the bill for legal expenses and external advice came to ?188m. The affair has cost a great deal of management time too. Debevoise & Plimpton, an American law firm, and forensic auditors from Deloitte are still scouring the company for evidence of more irregularities. In America the Department of Justice has two investigations running, and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) is also examining claims of corruption. Legal proceedings in America alone could cost Siemens billions of dollars, say analysts, although Siemens argues in its most recent quarterly filing with the SEC that its ―consolidated financial position should not be materially affected‖ by the welter of litigation. Analysts are confident that Siemens will not only survive but benefit from all the upheaval. ―Comparable American companies have gone through this, so have Alstom in France and ABB in Sweden, and they have emerged stronger and better run,‖ says James Stettler of Dresdner Kleinwort, an investment bank. The three divisions Mr Löscher has unveiled are energy products (such as power turbines and transmission equipment), infrastructure (such as factories and trains) and health care (such as MRI scanners and other clever medical kit). That does not necessarily mean Mr Löscher will sell the businesses that do not fit, such as Osram, a maker of light bulbs, BSH, a joint venture with Bosch in household appliances, and Nokia Siemens Networks, recently formed to build telecom infrastructure. The company's supervisory board will vet the changes on November 28th. Mr Löscher may have most difficulty winning approval for those that will affect workers in Germany, whose representatives make up half the membership of the 20-strong supervisory board. If he gets his way, however, Mr Löscher's next proposal may be to register Siemens as a Societas Europaea (SE) instead of as a German joint-stock company (AG). That would entail a slimmer supervisory board with reduced representation for German workers, but would give a voice to employees abroad. Other icons of German business, most notably Siemens's Munich neighbour, Allianz, a big insurer, have already made the switch. Mr Löscher is chummy with Paul Achleitner, a member of Allianz's board and a fellow Austrian, with whom he recently stayed for three months. 97 参考译文: Peter Löscher是世界上最大的电器公司西门子的首席执行官中的第一位行外人，他上任的前三个月就 是在公司内巡视、倾听。10月4日，他宣布计划集中控制公司，将九个公司缩减为三个，并缩小11人的 执行委员会，这也将减少公司在各地经理的权利。同一天，西门子接受了慕尼黑一法庭的两亿一百万欧元 (折合两千八百五十万美元)的罚金，原因是其通信公司行贿受贿，目前西门子已经放弃了上诉的权利。 这种巧合标志着公司改变企业文化和抛弃过往丑闻的转折点。去年11月，警察突然搜查西门子办公 室，开始了一场关于行贿受贿审查的灾祸，导致该公司的主席、首席执行官、董事会另一个成员和其首席 税务官都被罢免，罚金最少有两亿三千九百万欧元，还有一亿七千九百万欧元的税收债务(贿赂金已经扣 除)。除此之外，截至6月30日的九个月内，法律费用和行外通知的账单已经达到一亿八千八百万欧元。 该事件也耗费了大量的管理时间。一家美国法律公司Debevoise & Plimpton和来自Deloitte的法院审 计员还在继续审查公司，试图找出更多不规范的证据。在美国，司法部进行两项调查，安全与交流委员会 也在调查腐败事由。分析家称仅美国法律诉讼就要耗费西门子几百万美元，虽然最近与安全与交流委员会 进行的季度档案整理中西门子认为其―巩固的金融地位不应当因为不断的诉讼受到实质性影响‖。 分析家断言西门子不仅会安然度过困境，而且还会从这次剧变中受益。―美国与之相似的公司已经经 历过这些了，同样法国的Alstom和瑞典的ABB也都经历过，之后它们都更为强大，运营更加成功。‖投 资银行Dresdner Kleinwort的James Stettler这样说。 Löscher先生公布的缩减后的三家公司是能源产品公司(如电力涡轮和传导设备)、基础设施公司(如 工厂和或火车)以及卫生保健公司(如MRI扫描仪和其他智能医疗用具)。但这并不代表Löscher先生会 将不适合的企业卖掉，如灯泡制造商Osram, 和博施合资的家用电器公司BSH、诺基亚西门子网络(最近 为建立电信系统而成立的)等。 公司的监督管理委员会将于11月28日审查这些变革计划。Löscher最大的困难在于赢得那些将影响 德国工人的变革措施的批准，这些工人的代表占到20个监督管理会成员的一半。但是如果解决了这个问 题，Löscher先生的下一个议题可能就是将西门子注册为Societas Europaea，而不是德国合资公司。这就需 要更为精简的监督管理委员会，减少德国工人的代表，却给海外员工发言更多的机会。德国企业的其他代 表，最为有名的就是西门子在慕尼黑的邻居大保险公司Allianz，已经开始在进行这些改变。Löscher和 Allianz 管理委员会成员Paul Achleitner关系甚好，此人为奥地利人，Löscher与他最近一起呆了三个月。 TEXT ONE As the oil price climbed towards $100 a barrel during the past few weeks, big Western oil firms were reporting their results for the third quarter. Record oil prices, it turns out, do not translate into record profits. Oil is now close to exceeding the record set in 1979 of between $100 and $110, depending on how you adjust for inflation and what benchmark you use. Yet almost without exception, big oil firms' profits are falling from the peaks reached last year. Exxon Mobil, for example, reported a 10% drop in profits in the third quarter, and BP's fell even more sharply. Profits also fell at Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Eni. They rose at Total and Royal Dutch Shell—but only thanks to exchange-rate fluctuations and one-off asset sales. Analysts at Citigroup calculate that, measured in dollars, the biggest oil firms' earnings fell by 15% on average. To be fair, the oil price has surged most dramatically since the end of September, although it was also buoyant in the third quarter. The majors' poor showing also reflects lower profits from refining, as the difference in price between petrol and crude oil has fallen from the exceptionally high levels of recent months. But the fact remains that oil giants are struggling to pump more oil and gas. In part, this is due to a quirk of the rules that oblige Western oil firms to share the crude they produce with state-owned oil firms in many countries. The contracts in question often stipulate that as the price goes up, the volume of oil the foreigners receive decreases. Worse, several countries are changing contracts or tax rules in ways that will further erode the Western oil firms' profits—and in some cases are throwing them out altogether. Rising costs are also a problem. Exxon, which is known for its stringent financial discipline, saw costs rise almost twice as fast as revenue in the third quarter. The shortage of labour and equipment that is feeding this 98 inflation is also causing delays to new projects. And there are not enough new projects in the pipeline. The International Energy Agency reckons that the expansion plans of the big Western and state-owned oil firms will leave the world 12.5m barrels per day short of requirements in 2015. Despite this looming deficit and the glaring price signal, all the big companies except Total produced less oil and gas in the third quarter than they did in the same period last year. According to Citigroup, the average decline in overall output was 3.3%. If the relatively steady supply of natural gas is stripped out, the numbers look even worse: oil production fell by 9% on average. No matter how high the price goes, the oil majors cannot make a profit from oil they do not produce. 参考译文: 随着石油价格在过去几周内攀到每桶100美元，西方据几家大型石油公司汇报了他们第三季度的收 益。结果表明，石油价格创记录并不代表石油公司利润也创了记录。石油价格目前即将打破1979年创下 的每桶100到110美元的记录，不过这与通胀及使用的标准有关。但是无论如何，几乎所有的石油公司利 润都在去年达到峰值后出现了下滑。 比如，Exxon Mobil报告第三季度利润减少了10%，而英国石油公司利润下滑则更为厉害。Chevron, ConocoPhillips 和 Eni利润也出现了下滑， Total和Royal Dutch Shell的利润虽然有所增加，但是这只是 由于利率波动和一次性资产出售的原因。花旗银行分析家用美元核算得出的结果是最大型石油公司的利 润平均下降了15%。 其实石油价格从九月底就急剧上升，尽管在整个第三季度呈缓慢上升的态势。主要石油公司惨淡的 汇报也反映了炼油企业的利润降低，因为近几个月内汽油和原油之间的高差价已经缩小了。 但事实上石油巨头仍然在努力抽出更多的石油和天然气。这部分是由于在许多国家突然规定西方石油 公司必须将制造的原油分给国有石油公司。这些合同经常规定如果石油价格上涨，那么出口给外国人的石 油量就要减少。更糟糕的是几个国家甚至修改了合同或税收规则，进一步减少了西方石油公司的利润，更 有甚者还逐出了西方石油公司。 成本上升也是个问题。Exxon以其严格的财务纪律而著名，在第三季度公司成本上涨的速度是利润上 涨速度的两倍。这种成本上升再加上劳动力和设备的短缺，使得新项目被延迟。同时在输油管道建设方 面没有足够的新项目，国际能源组织承认西方大型石油公司和国有石油公司的扩展计划将导致世界在 2015年每天的石油缺口达一千两百五十万桶。 尽管隐约出现了赤字和价格信号，但除了Total以外的所有大公司在第三季度生产石油和天然气的数 量都比去年同期减少了。花旗银行称总产量平均下降了3.3%。如果不考虑天然气相对稳定的供应，那么数 字更为惊人:石油产量平均下降了9%。无论石油价格多高，主要石油公司都不能他们生产的石油中获利。 TEXT TWO From its birth in 1981 with just two employees, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation has become one of the world's largest sovereign funds, managing more than $100 billion in assets, with 900 employees in eight offices around the world. It is larger even than Temasek Holdings, the government's better-known fund. Temasek gained attention with its $1.9 billion purchase of a controlling stake in Thailand's dominant telecommunications company from the family of the country's prime minister. That helped stir street protests that led to a coup d'etat there last year. The stake was part of a broader expansion started in mid-2002 by the company's executive director, Ho Ching, formerly head of government-owned Singapore Technologies and wife of Singapore's primeminister, Lee 99 Hsien Loong. Aimed at reviving Temasek's financial performance in the wake of a recession, Temasek has since taken large stakes in banks as distant as India, China and the Standard Chartered Bank of Britain. Temasek says its investments are purely for financial purposes despite its ownership by the government. Nonetheless, it has run into political headwinds in the region. An Indonesian court recently ruled that it would have to sell one of the controlling stakes it holds, one directly and the other through a subsidiary, in the country's two dominant cellular telephone companies. Over the last few years, Singapore has embarked on an aggressive effort to court private banks and their clients as a way of diversifying the economy as manufacturing jobs were shifting to China and Vietnam, turning the country into an Asian asset base. There are already at least 40 private banks with offices in Singapore, managing assets worth at least $150 billion. With many wealthy Europeans shifting assets to Singapore from Switzerland to take advantage of rapid Asian growth and avoid new withholding taxes in Europe, the European authorities have stepped up criticism of Singapore's banking system, saying that Singapore needed to tighten controls against money laundering. Singaporean financial authorities say they do not condone money laundering and recently stepped up fines against banks found to be involved in illicit financial activity. The Government Investment Corporation, known as G.I.C., is controlled by the state, and Singapore's founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, is its chairman. His son, the current prime minister, is deputy chairman. Tony Tan, its executive director, is a former deputy prime minister. Both Temasek and G.I.C. have aggressively recruited top international financial talent, and G.I.C. in particular has a reputation among bankers and analysts as a shrewd and powerful investor. More than 40 percent of its employees are not Singaporean. Its investment panel includes Charles Ellis, chairman of the Yale University Investment Committee, and Robert Litterman, a managing director of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Despite managing public funds, G.I.C. does not publicize its holdings or returns. Last year on its 25th anniversary, Lee Kuan Yew offered the company's first financial disclosure, reporting that G.I.C. had averaged a 9.5 percent annual return in United States dollar terms over its lifetime 参考译文: 新加坡政府投资集团于1981年成立，当时只有两个员工，而今天已经成为世界上最大的独立基金， 旗下管理的资产超过了一千亿，在全世界拥有八个办事处，900个员工。该基金规模甚至比政府最有名的 基金Temasek还要大。Temasek因为耗资19亿从新加坡总理家族购买了泰国垄断的电信公司的绝对股权引 起了人们的注意。这为上街游行火上浇油，导致了去年的政变。 该股份为公司执行董事Ho Ching于2002年年中开始实施的公司扩展计划的一部分Ho Ching是政府 所有的新加坡科技公司的前总裁，也是新加坡总理李显龙的夫人。Temasek为了在经济萧条后重振雄风， 从那时开始就在印度、中国、英国的渣打银行持有大量股份。Temasek称自己虽然归政府所有，但是其投 资只是出于经济目的。然而，公司还是卷入了该地区的政治风波。印尼一法庭最近命令Temasek必须卖出 所持有的印尼两大垄断移动电话公司其中一家的控股股权——Temasek对两家的股权一为直接控股，一为 通过其子公司控股。 过去的几年中，随着制造业转向中国和越南，新加坡致力于吸引私有银行及其职员，从而增加其经济 的多样性，将新加坡打造成为亚洲的资金大本营。目前已经有至少40家私有银行将办事处设在新加坡， 管理的资产最少价值一千五百亿。许多富有的欧洲人都将资产从瑞士转移到新加坡以分享亚洲经济快速增 长的盛宴，并且逃避欧洲的新税收，因此欧洲一些政府都在批评新加坡的银行体系，称新加坡需要加紧控 制洗钱。 新加坡财政部称他们不会姑息洗钱活动，最近还对那些发现涉及非法金融活动的银行加大了处罚。政 府投资集团由国家控制，新加坡第一个总理李光耀担任主席。他的儿子即现任的总理担任副主席，而执行 董事Tony Tan是前副总理。 Temasek和政府投资集团聘请了国际最知名的金融专家，政府投资集团还在银行家和分析师中间享有 精明、强大的投资家的美誉。其40%的员工不是新加坡人。其投资顾问小组包括耶鲁大学投资委员会主席 100 Charles Ellis、高盛公司资产管理公司常务董事Robert Litterman。尽管政府投资集团是管理公募基金，但却 不公开其持有的股份和收益。在去年的25周年庆典中，李光耀第一次公开了公司的财务，宣布以美元来 计算有平均9.5%的年收益。 TEXT THREE Two real-world studies from Europe demonstrate the health damage done by automotive air pollution, especially the kind emitted by diesel engines. An 11-year period of improving air quality in Switzerland, which started with some of the cleanest air in Europe, produced measurable benefits in lung function for adults as they aged, according to a report in the Dec. 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. "Even with small improvements in air quality, you get measurable health benefits," said Dr. Ursula Ackermann-Liebrich, a professor of public health at the University of Basel. "That is true at levels even which are quite low." And an unusual collaborative study by American and British researchers, reported in the same issue of the journal, showed that people with asthma who walked along a street used by diesel-powered traffic experienced loss of breathing much greater than those who strolled through a traffic-free park. "The unique feature of this study in real-world conditions was that we have demonstrated that typical urban levels of air pollution with diesel-rich powered vehicles have measurable effects," said Dr. Junfeng Zhang, chairman of environmental and occupational health at the New Jersey School of Public Health and an American member of the research team. "There have been theories or hypotheses of diesel exhaust or particle matter and also laboratory studies with animals, but this was a study in the real world with real people." The study had 60 adults with mild or moderate asthma walk for two hours along two London locales -- busy, exhaust-filled Oxford Street or the more bucolic Hyde Park. The Oxford Street walk produced a 5 percent to 6 percent reduction in lung function, "and asthmatics already have compromised lung function," Zhang said. The reduction in lung function was "significantly larger" than what was measured after the Hyde Park walk and was accompanied by an increase in biomarkers of lung inflammation. The negative effect on the lung was greater than has been seen in animal studies using breathing chambers, Zhang said. The Swiss study found a decrease in the amount of airborne fine particulate pollutants, a major feature of diesel emissions. That improvement in Swiss air quality was accompanied by a slowing in the rate of the loss of breathing function that occurs as people age, Ackerman-Liebrich said. The journal report attributed the healthful effect to "decreasing exposure to airborne particulates." "There seems to be something more potent than other forms of air pollution in diesel exhausts," said Dr. Morton Lippman, a professor of environmental medicine at New York University. "It is something many other studies have pointed to." The issue of diesel pollution is of growing interest because "new diesel technologies are increasingly coming on the market," Lippmann said. Diesel automobiles are much more common in Europe than in the United States but are gaining attention because of their greater fuel efficiency, he noted. The two studies are welcome because they assess the effect of diesel emissions at relatively low levels, Lippmann said. "That remains a complex issue," he said. "Getting statistically significant information on a small average effect on a large population is not easy. There are a lot of unknowns. Most effects are associated with particles rather than gases in the mixture, but there is no data on which part of the components is particularly nasty." 参考译文: 欧洲两项实地研究证明了汽车排气污染，尤其是柴油引擎排出的气体污染对人体造成的危害。根据发 表在12月第六期《新英格兰医学期刊》上的一项报告，一个旨在提高瑞士空气质量的11年长期项目大大 有益于老年人的肺功能，该项目是在欧洲空气最清洁的地方开始的。―即使空气质量只改善一点点，对你 的健康也有一定的好处，‖巴塞尔大学公共健康教授Ursula Ackermann-Liebrich博士说，―即使污染程度很 101 小的地方也会有这样的效果。‖ 而该期刊同期刊登的一项由美国和英国研究者合作进行的研究表明，哮喘病人在走过靠柴油为动力的 汽车行驶的路以后，要比那些在没有汽车的公园散步的病人呼吸困难得多。―在实地进行这项研究的特别 之处在于我们证明了城市中那些以柴油为动力的汽车造成的空气污染水平对人体有一定的影响。‖新泽西 公共健康学校环境和职业健康系主任、该研究团队的美国成员Junfeng Zhang说道。―曾经有过关于柴油排 气或其他颗粒物的理论和假设，也有过在实验室进行的动物试验，但是我们是在真实世界的真人上进行了 研究。‖ 该研究让60个有轻微或中度哮喘的成年人在伦敦的两个地点散步两小时，一个是繁华、充满排放气 体的牛津街，另外一个是具有田园风格的海德公园。在牛津街散步的人肺功能减弱了5到6个百分点，―哮 喘病人肺功能出现了很危险的情况，‖Zhang说。这些人肺功能减弱的程度要比那些在海德公园散步的人―大 得多‖，而且还伴有炎症生物指标增加。Zhang说对于肺部的这种负面影响要比使用呼吸房进行的动物实验 结果严重得多。 瑞士的研究发现空气细微颗粒污染物的数量有所减少，这种颗粒物是柴油排放的主要标志。在瑞士空 气质量改善的同时，人们随年纪增大而出现的呼吸功能丧失的几率也在减少，Ackerman-Liebrich说。该期 刊的报道认为―暴露在空气颗粒下的情况减少‖是健康改善的原因。―这好像要比柴油排放的其他形式污染气 体有更大的影响力。‖纽约大学环境医学教授Morton Lippman说，―其它许多研究都已发现了这一点。‖ 柴油污染在不断得到人们的关注，因为―新的柴油技术不断问世‖，Lippmann说。在欧洲，柴油驱动 的汽车比在美国更为普遍，然而由于其燃料的高效引起了人们越来越多的关注，他强调说。 Lippmann称这两项试验受到了人们的欢迎，因为它检测了较低水平的柴油排放效果。―这仍然是个非 常复杂的问题，‖他说，―测到对于大量人口有微小的平均效果的重要统计数据不是件容易的事。而且仍然 有许多未知的情况。大部分影响都与混合成分中的颗粒物有关而非气体，但是还没有数据表明究竟哪个部 分是最具影响力的。‖ TEXT FOUR Although close relationships are often wellsprings of health-enhancing support, accumulating evidence indicates that persistent domestic conflict deals a blow to the body—and especially the heart. In one of the latest studies, researchers found that British adults who were in adverse close relationships were 34 percent more likely to suffer coronary problems, ranging from chest pain to deadly heart attacks, than those who weren't. Numerous American studies have produced similar findings. Last year, for example, a long-term analysis of more than 1,000 marriages found that strained matrimonies take a clear toll on physical health over time, hitting the elderly the hardest. Negativity-plagued relationships are toxic in part because of the effects of chronic stress, says Sheldon Cohen, a Carnegie Mellon University psychologist. In addition to damaging the heart, ongoing stress can deplete the immune system—creating openings for colds, cancers, and other maladies—and also lead to depression and risky coping behaviors like excessive drinking. People who endure persistent interpersonal problems are more at risk than those reeling from an isolated blowup, Cohen says. But spouses aren't the only potential source of unrelenting trouble. In the recent British study, 20 percent of adults identified someone other than a romantic partner as the object of their closest relationship, according to the report in the October 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Fortunately, strategies for minimizing feuds within the family are similar to those that can resolve conflicts 102 with in-laws, coworkers, neighbors, and others, says Redford Williams, a behavioral scientist at Duke University. One technique he recommends is this: Before lashing someone with a sharp-tongued comment, step back and evaluate a brewing dispute. Say it's your turn to host the annual holiday family feast. Frazzled, juggling food prep for 20 people with a maniacal effort to scrub everything clean, you finally feel pleased by your home's facelift. Then the doorbell rings. In strides your 84-year-old aunt, craning her neck to eyeball the surroundings. "Well you certainly don't pay much attention to keeping your house tidy," she barks, flinging her coat over your outstretched arms. "If we did what came naturally, we'd either explode or keep fuming for the rest of the day," Williams says. Instead, he suggests, ask yourself four questions: Is this situation important? After years studying the strain hostility and anger place on the heart, he and his wife, also a doctor, have developed a system called Williams LifeSkills. A 2005 study found that when people with heart disease used Williams's techniques, their anger levels, average blood pressure, and blood pressure elevation when angry all went down; their depression and anxiety diminished; and they reported being more satisfied with family and friends. Nevertheless, the holidays tend to strap everyone with a little extra stress, so make an effort to be on your best behavior, especially if you're prone to conflict, says Williams. But if family fighting's become an annual theme, there might be something wrong. Not all conflict is bad, according to Harvard University lecturer Tal Ben-Shahar, author of the new book Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment. "Negativity is normal, as long as it's outweighed by positivity," he says. "No negativity at all is actually a bad sign" that people may be avoiding serious issues. 参考译文: 虽然亲密的关系是健康之源，但是越来越多的证据显示持续的家庭纷争会对身体造成危害，特别是对 心脏来说。在最近的一次研究中，研究人员发现亲密关系不好的英国成年人患有心脏病的几率要比那些没 有这种情况的人大34%，他们心脏病程度小到胸口疼、大到致命的心脏病发作。美国人进行的许多研究也 发现了同样的情况。比如去年一项对1000多对夫妇的长期分析发现，紧张的婚姻关系对身体健康有明显 的影响，特别是对年纪大的人。 那种折磨人的消极关系是有害的，这部分是因为慢性压力的影响，卡内基?梅隆大学心理医师Sheldon Cohen 说。除了会对心脏有损害外，持续不断的压力会破坏免疫系统，为感冒、癌症和其他疾病带来可趁之机， 也会引发抑郁和危险的行动、如饮酒过量。 那些有长期人际关系问题的人比那些经历了丧偶或离婚打击而挺过来的人有更大的风险，Cohen说。 但是夫妻关系并不是持续不断问题的唯一潜在根源。根据《国内医学期刊》上的一篇文章，在英国最新的 一项研究中，20%的成年人认为是除配偶外，还有其他人与他们有亲密关系。 幸运的是减少家庭冲突的方法同解决与姻亲、同事、邻居及其他人的矛盾的方法差不多，杜克大学行 为科学家Redford Williams说。他推荐的一个方法是:在准备向某个人发起刻薄的言语攻击时，先退后一 步，斟酌一下是否要吵架。比如这次该你主持每年一度的节日家庭聚餐了。你在准备了20个人的食物后 又费劲地把所有的东西弄干净，最后虽然疲惫不堪，但看到家里面目一新总算感觉欣慰了。这是门铃响了， 你84岁的阿姨迈步走了进来，伸长脖子把四周扫视了一遍。―噢，你肯定没有注意保持家里的整洁，‖她大 叫到，把自己的外套扔到你伸出的胳膊上。―很自然地，我们会勃然大怒，或者会在之后闷闷不乐。‖Williams 说。但是，他建议我们应该问自己四遍这个问题:这种情形很重要吗, 经过数年研究敌对和怒气对于心脏的影响，他和同为医生的妻子研究出了一种名为威廉姆斯生命技能 的系统。2005年的一次研究发现，有心脏疾病的人使用威廉姆斯技术后，在发怒时他们的愤怒程度、平均 血压和血压升高的症状都有所降低，压力和焦虑也有所减少，并且他们称对自己与家人及朋友之间的关系 也更加满意了。 并不是所有的冲突都不好，哈佛大学讲师Tal Ben-Shahar说，他出版了新书《快乐点:掌握每天快乐 103 和长期幸福的秘诀》。―消极的情绪是正常的，只要积极的情绪能战胜它。‖他说，―如果没有消极的情绪， 反而是一个危险的信号，‖可能人们忽视了一些重要的问题。 但是，节假日可能会让每个人都有点小小的多余的压力，所以努力让自己表现得好些，即使你就要发 生冲突了，威廉姆斯这样说。但是如果家庭冲突成为年年的主题，那么可能真的存在什么问题了。 TEXT ONE Britons’ most searing memories of their encounter with foot-and-mouth disease in 2001 are of the piles of animals slaughtered to try to stop its spread. Such a draconian policy might have been accepted had the disease been controlled quickly. But its ineffectiveness—more than 6m cows, sheep and pigs were culled before the disease was eradicated—led to widespread revulsion and a government rethink. Just as in 2001, if an animal is thought to be infected, its herd will be culled and a quarantine zone set up. But this time, unless the disease is stamped out quickly, animals nearby will also be vaccinated to create a “fire-break” across which it is unlikely to travel. Already 300,000 doses of vaccine have been ordered, so that if government vets decide that slaughter alone is unlikely to be effective, they can start vaccinating straight away. Humans almost never catch foot-and-mouth and it rarely kills the cloven-hooved beasts it affects. But animals produce less milk and meat, so its economic effects are severe. It is also highly contagious: infected livestock produce the virus that causes it in large quantities, and transmit it through saliva, mucus, milk, faeces and even droplets in their breath. Even so, only countries where foot-and-mouth is endemic, as in parts of Latin America, vaccinate all animals. One reason is cost: the disease is caused by a virus with seven main types and tens of sub-types, with a targeted vaccine needed for each strain and shots repeated, perhaps as often as twice a year. It is also because vaccinating damages exports. Places that are free from foot-and-mouth are unwilling to import vaccinated beasts, or fresh meat from them, because they may still carry the disease. The fear of being shut out of foreign markets led to the British government's disastrous foot-dragging over vaccination in 2001. But that same year an outbreak in the Netherlands involving 26 farms was brought under control in just one month by vaccinating 200,000 animals. Though healthy, these beasts then had to be culled so that farmers could return to exporting without restrictions as soon as possible. Not even eternal vigilance on imports can keep a country free of foot-and-mouth disease: the latest outbreak was apparently caused by a breach of bio-security at the Pirbright laboratory complex in Surrey, where government researchers keep the live virus for vaccine research and Merial, an American animal-health company, manufactures vaccine for export. Human action, accidental or deliberate, seems likely to have been involved. Ironically, one reason for eschewing vaccination is that although it provides the best hope of dealing with outbreaks, maintaining the capacity to produce vaccine is itself a risky business. Many earlier episodes of foot-and-mouth in countries normally free from the disease have been caused by laboratory escapes; in 1970 a leak from Pirbright's isolation facilities was fortunately contained. 参考译文: 英国2001年口蹄疫情给人留下的最差记忆就是，为了阻止疫情蔓延，大批的动物都被屠宰了。如果该 疾病因而得以迅速控制，那么如此严厉的政策或许可以为人们所接受。但该政策没有什么效果——口蹄疫 被根除前，共屠宰了600万牛、羊和猪——这引起了广大民众的反感和政府的重新思考。 在2001年，如果某个动物被认为是染上了口蹄疫，那么其所在牧群就会被杀掉，而且还会设立了隔离 区。但是这一次，除非疾病被迅速根除，否则附近的动物也要进行预防接种，从而来建立一个“防御区” 来阻止疾病的传播。政府已经预订了30万支疫苗，如果兽医宣布仅仅用屠宰一种手段不是很有效的话， 人们就可以对牲畜们进行预防接种了。 人类几乎从来不会染上口蹄疫，而且这种病很少会导致偶蹄类动物死亡。但是动物产肉产奶都会因此 104 下降，经济收益的形势就变得很严峻。而且口蹄疫是高传染性的，染病的牲畜会制造病毒，使其数量增加， 并通过唾液、粘液、奶液、粪便，甚至他们滴下来的口水传播。 即便如此，只有在那些口蹄疫只是地方性传播范围的一些国家，比如拉丁美洲的一些地区才会给所有 的动物都注射疫苗。其原因之一就是成本:口蹄疫由一种病毒引发，该病毒有三个种类和十几个次种类， 每个重复出现的种类有对应的疫苗，通常两年重复出现一次。还有就是注射疫苗会影响动物出口。没有发 生口蹄疫情的地区不愿意进口打了疫苗的动物，甚至也不愿意进口打过疫苗的肉类，因为害怕肉中可能带 上了疾病。 由于害怕被挤出国际市场，英国政府2001年在疫苗上进行了包裹脚。但同年荷兰暴发的涉及26家农 场的口蹄疫情中，只用了一个月时间为20万头动物注射了疫苗，使得疫情受到了控制。尽管牲畜都很健 康，但还是必须被屠宰掉以便于农场主可以尽快无限制地出口产品。 对进口产品保持警觉也不能保证一个国家免于口蹄疫，最近的一次疫情爆发显然是由于Surrey的 Pirbright实验室复合体生物安全出现了问题，其中政府研究者保存了活的病毒以供疫苗研究，而美国动 物健康公司Merial则制造疫苗以供出口。无论是偶然还是有预谋的人类行动都可能是原因之一。 讽刺的是，避开疫苗接种的一个原因是虽然接种提供了应对疾病暴发最好的办法，但是制造疫苗的能 力本身就是件危险的事情。一些没有这种疾病国家的早期口蹄疫就是由实验室泄漏引起的。1970年 Pirbright隔离设备泄漏就很幸运地被遏制住了。 TEXT TWO “OH DEAR! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” So muttered the White Rabbit just before he plunged into Wonderland, with Alice in pursuit. Similar utterances have been escaping the lips of European physicists, as it was confirmed last week that their own subterranean Wonderland, a new machine called the Large Hadron Collider, will not now begin work until May 2008. This delay may enable their American rivals to scoop them by finding the Higgs boson—predicted 43 years ago by Peter Higgs of Edinburgh University to be the reason why matter has mass, but not yet actually discovered. The Large Hadron Collider is a 27km-long circular accelerator that is being built at CERN, the European particle-physics laboratory near Geneva, specifically to look for the Higgs boson. When it eventually starts work, it will be the world's most powerful particle collider. It will also be the most expensive, having cost SFr10 billion ($8 billion) to build. The laboratory had hoped it would be ready in 2005, but the schedule has slipped repeatedly. The most recent delay came at the end of March, with the dramatic failure of a magnet assembly that had been supplied by CERN's American counterpart, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) near Chicago. This device was one of four designed to focus beams of particles before they collide in the experimental areas. Admittedly, it had been placed under extreme conditions when it failed, but such forces are to be expected from time to time when the machine is running normally. The magnets have yet to be fixed, although physicists think they know how to do it. Other, smaller hitches have compounded the problem. The collider has been built in eight sections, each of which must be cooled to temperatures only just above absolute zero. This is because the magnets used to accelerate the particles to the high energies needed for particle physics rely on the phenomenon of superconductivity to work—and superconductivity, in turn, needs extremely low temperatures. Unfortunately, the first of the eight sections took far longer to chill than had been expected. If, as the other seven sections are cooled, further problems emerge, the start date will have to be put back still further. It takes a month to cool each section, and a month to warm each one back up to normal temperatures again. If it took, say, a month to fix any problems identified as a section cooled, each cycle would postpone the start date by three months. To accelerate progress (as well as particles), CERN's management decided last week to cancel an engineering run scheduled for November. Instead of beginning slowly with some safe-but-dull low-energy collisions, the machine's first run will accelerate its particles to high energies straight away. 105 Such haste may be wise, for rumours are circulating that physicists working at the Tevatron, which is based at Fermilab and is currently the world's most powerful collider, have been seeing hints of the Higgs boson. Finding it would virtually guarantee the discoverer a Nobel prize—shared jointly, no doubt, with Dr Higgs. Hence the rush, as hundreds of physicists head down the rabbit hole, seeking their own adventures in Wonderland. 参考译文: “噢～噢～我可能太晚了～” 白兔在陷入奇幻世界中这样咕哝着，爱丽丝在后面跟着它。相同的句子也 出现在欧洲物理学家的嘴边，因为上个星期他们也证实了自己的地下奇幻世界——一种叫做“大强子碰撞 器”的新机器——将推迟到2008年5月份投入使用。这个推迟可能会他们的美国对手抢先发现西格斯介子 的玻色子。爱丁堡大学的Peter Higgs在43年前就预言玻色子将是事物为什么有质量的原因，但是目前还 没有真正发现这种玻色子。 大强子碰撞器是一个27公里长的环形粒子加速器，在日内瓦附近的欧洲粒子物理实验室CERN建成， 目的就是为了寻找西格斯玻色子。最后在加速期开始工作时，它将成为世界上最强大的粒子碰撞器，也会 成为世界上最昂贵的碰撞器，价值100亿瑞士法郎(80亿美元)。实验室本来希望可以在2005年就可以 准备就绪，但其日程却不断推迟。 最近的一次推迟发生在三月底，是因为CERN美国部门在芝加哥附近的菲尔米国家加速器实验室提供 的磁铁组出现了巨大的问题。该设备是在他们在实验区域内碰撞之前聚焦粒子束的四个装置之一。无可否 认，出问题是由于一些极端的条件，但是机器运行正常时这种情况也会发生。磁体还没有修好，尽管物理 学家已经知道应该如何处理了。 其他更小的故障使得问题更为复杂。八个部分都安装了加速器，每个都必须被冷却到一定温度，只比 绝对零度高一点。这是因为用来加速粒子到高能量的磁铁依靠超导电性来工作，而超导电性需要极度的低 温。不幸的是，八个部分的第一个就用了比预想要多得多的时间来冷却。 如果其余的七个部分却被冷却了，那么会出现更多的问题，开始使用机器的日期就会继续延迟。冷却 每个部分大约要用一个月，而将其加温至原来的正常温度又需要一个月。如果每一个部分冷却下来都需要 用一个月来检查问题的话，那么每一轮都会将开工日期缩短三个月。 为了加速进程(也为了加速粒子)，CERN管理层上周决定取消11月份的工程运行计划。这使得机器 不再通过一些安全但是迟钝的低能量碰撞来慢慢开始，而是立即将其粒子加速到高能量。 这样的速度可能是明智的，因为现在有谣言说在Tevatron工作的物理学家已经看到了西格斯玻色子的 迹象，Tevatron是位于Fermilab的目前世界上最强有力的碰撞器。发现该玻色子的人一定会获得诺贝尔 奖，当然会与西格斯博士一起分享。因此，随着成百上千的物理学家来兔子洞寻找奇幻世界的冒险，便出 现了蜂拥而入的景象。 TEXT THREE Whatever else, Airbus cannot be accused of failing to put on a brave face at this week's Paris Air Show, held every two years. Louis Gallois is the troubled European airframe-maker's third chief executive within 12 months. But still he declared: ―I can tell you with full confidence that Airbus is back and fully back.‖ Supporting his confident public message was an extraordinary flow of orders and commitments for over 600 aircraft accumulated in time for the show by the firm's super-salesman, John Leahy. Although it is heading for a second successive loss—last year it plunged ?572m ($718m) into the red—Airbus is undoubtedly in better shape than it was 12 months ago when wiring problems delayed the A380 and the weak dollar exposed the firm's bloated cost base. It has begun the ―Power8‖ recovery plan, intended to save ?2 billion annually by cutting 10,000 jobs and auctioning off six factories to partners. And the giant A380 will begin commercial service with Singapore Airlines in the autumn, although being two years late. In the contest between the twin-engined wide-body Boeing 787 and the A350 XWB, Mr Gallois struggles to be as positive. The 787 is already a sales phenomenon, with over 630 firm orders even before the plane's roll-out next month. The airlines are excited by its revolutionary use of a composite material called carbon-reinforced plastic 106 (CRP). Five years behind the 787, which will enter service next year, the A350 contains a similar share of composite material, but is based on a less advanced structural design that involves hanging CRP panels on a titanium frame. Boeing acknowledges that the A350 may be as light as the 787, but argues that it will be a less pleasant plane to fly in and a more difficult one to maintain. Mr Gallois admits that following Boeing's approach would have been too expensive and risky for Airbus. At the same time Mr Gallois bemoaned the advantage his rival has in government-supported research and development. Boeing, he claims, receives about $800m a year—ten times as much as Airbus. Earlier in the week, during meetings with ministers representing the four Airbus partners (France, Germany, Britain and Spain), he asked them to fund half the company's planned ?600m-a-year investment in research and technology. He is not hopeful. But for the moment what matters most for Airbus is that the market stays strong and that it gets to grips with its costs. This may require going further in imitating Boeing's risk-sharing partner (RSP) model than Airbus seems willing to contemplate. According to some estimates, about 80% of the work on the 787 is outsourced to RSPs, saving Boeing both precious development time and working capital. What this week has shown is that for all the success of the 787 and the mistakes of Airbus, the competitive duopoly of the past decade is still firmly in place. But will things stay that way? That depends partly on whether Airbus really has learnt its lessons and partly on who else wants to get into the game. Boeing reckons that in 20 years, 36% of the market will be in the Asia-Pacific region. For the time being, the Chinese, the Indians and others are happy to be partners and customers. But that could change. 参考译文 无论如何，我们不能说空中客车在这周举办的两年一度的巴黎航空展表现不佳。Louis Gallois是这个 遇到麻烦的欧洲飞机制造商12个月内的第三任首席执行官。但是他声称:“我可以充满信心地告诉你们， 空中客车回来了，完全地回来了。”他之所以发表如此充满信心的讲话，是因为该公司的超级销售员John Leahy在航展前及时地拉到了600多架飞机的大规模订单和合同承诺。 尽管空中客车今年会连续第二年亏损—去年该公司的赤字为5.72亿欧元(折合7.18亿美元)—空中 客车毫无疑问比12个月前的情况好得多，那个时候由于配线问题导致了A380延迟推出，同时疲软的美元 凸现了公司的高成本问题。现在公司实施了―Power8‖恢复计划，目的在于通过裁员1万人、并把6个工厂 拍卖给合作伙伴等措施，从而每年节约20亿欧元。新加坡航空公司将在今年秋天首先把巨型的A380用于 商业服务，这比原计划推迟了两年。 在空客A350 XWB和双引擎宽体的波音787的竞争中，Gallois先生力图保持积极的姿态。波音787 销售已经十分成功，该机型在下个月正式出场之前就已经收到了超过630架的订单。这款机型革命性地使 用了一种叫做碳增强塑料(CRP)的合成材料，这使得航空公司都非常振奋。将于明年开始投入使用的A350 比波音787晚了五年，它拥有一种类似的合成材料，但是这种材料所基于的技术不如波音787先进，即把 CRP板挂在钛框架上。波音承认A350有可能和787 一样轻，但同时指出坐在A350上可能不是非常舒适， 且这款机型比较难操作。 Gallois承认紧跟波音的步子对空客来说成本昂贵且风险很大。同时，Gallois也感叹其对手拥有政府的 研发支持。他声称波音每年得到的资金为8亿美元，这是空客的10倍。本周早先时候，在与空客的四家 合作者(法国、德国、英国和西班牙)的部长会谈中，他要求后者为公司每年提供6亿欧元的资金用于技 术研发。但是希望并不大。 目前对于空中客车来说，最重要的是市场保持强劲，而且公司要处理其成本的问题。这可能要求空客 进一步去模仿波音的风险分担伙伴(RSP)模型，尽管这也许超出了空客预期。根据一些预测数据，波音 787约80%的工作外包给了RSP，这给波音节约了宝贵的研发时间和工作资金。 本周的一系列事件告诉我们，尽管波音787取得了巨大的成功而空客犯下了一些错误，但这两家竞争 公司的垄断地位依旧岿然不动。可是这种情况会一直持续下去吗,这一部分取决于空客是否真的吸取了教 训，一部分取决于是否还有别的公司愿意加入这场游戏。波音估计在20年后，36%的市场在亚太地区。 目前，中国人、印度人等都非常愿意成为合作伙伴和客户。但是这种局面也是会改变的。 TEXT FOUR 107 The humble but industrious ant has long served as a metaphor for the economic virtues of simplicity, parsimony and diligence. But in the case of weaver ants in Africa, this description may be more than just a metaphor. According to Paul van Mele of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and his colleagues, African mango farmers could increase their harvests by as much as two-thirds with the help of these doughty insects. Mangoes in Africa, as elsewhere, often fall prey to fruit flies, which destroy about 40% of the continent's crop. In fact, fruit flies are so common in African mangoes that America has banned their import altogether, to protect its own orchards. African farmers, meanwhile, have few practical means to defend their fruit. Chemical pesticides are expensive. And even for those who can afford them they are not that effective since, by the time a farmer spots an infestation, it is too late to spray. Added to that, spraying tall trees is a much more complicated and unhealthy business than treating low-growing fruit and vegetables. Agricultural scientists have also looked at controlling fruit flies with parasitic wasps. But the most common ones kill off only about one fly in 20, leaving plenty of survivors to go on the rampage. Lethal traps baited with fly-attracting pheromones are another option. But they, too, are expensive. Moreover, all these methods require farmers to detect the presence of fruit flies, and to identify them as the main threat to their crop—no mean feat when most of the action is taking place in dense, leafy canopies ten metres off the ground. Instead, most farmers simply harvest their fruit early, when it is not yet fully ripe. This makes it less vulnerable to the flies, but also less valuable. Farmers whose trees are teeming with weaver ants, however, do not need to bother with any of this. In a survey of several orchards in Benin, Dr van Mele and his colleagues found an average of less than one fruit-fly pupa in each batch of 30 mangoes from trees where weaver ants were abundant, but an average of 77 pupae in batches from trees without weaver ants. The weaver ants, it turns out, are very thorough about hunting down and eating fruit flies, as well as a host of other pests. The only drawback is the ants' painful bite, which can be avoided by harvesting fruit with poles, rather than climbing trees. Weaver ants have been used for pest control in China and other Asian countries for centuries. The practice has also been adopted in Australia. But Dr van Mele argues that it is particularly suited to Africa since weaver ants are endemic to the mango-growing regions of the continent, and little training or capital is needed to put them to work. All you need do is locate a suitable nest and run string from it to the trees you wish to protect. The ants will then quickly find their way to the target. Teaching a group of farmers in Burkina Faso to use weaver ants in this way took just a day. Those farmers no longer use pesticides to control fruit flies, and so are able to market their mangoes as organic to eager European consumers, vastly increasing their income. The ants, so to speak, are on the march. 参考译文: 谦虚而又勤勉的蚂蚁一直以来都是经济意义上简易、节俭和勤奋的象征。但是对于非洲的织网蚂蚁 来说，这种描述就不仅仅是个比喻了。据国际农业研究咨询组织的Paul van Mele和其同事看来，非洲芒 果农民有了这些勇敢昆虫的帮助，可以使得收成提高2/3。 就像在别的地方一样，非洲的芒果也会受到水果飞虫的影响，这种飞虫可能会损害陆地上40% 的谷 物。实际上，水果飞虫在非洲芒果生产中如此常见，以至于美国干脆禁止进口非洲芒果，以此来保护自己 的果园。同时非洲的农民没有什么实际的措施来保护自己的水果。化学农药非常昂贵，即使有些人可以支 付得起，农药也不是那么有效，因为等到农民发现了害虫群袭时再去喷药已经为时过晚了。除此之外，相 比那些较低的果树和蔬菜，给高树喷药是非常复杂的，也很不健康。 蔬菜科学家也在考虑用寄生黄蜂来控制水果飞虫。但是最普通的黄蜂也只能消灭1/20的飞虫，大部 分的残余飞虫依旧肆虐。另外一个方法是吸引飞虫的信息素构成的致命陷阱，但也非常昂贵。而且，所有 这些方法都要求农民先发现水果飞虫出现，还要确定它们是自己作物的主要威胁，而且在离地面十米高的 树叶帐篷中采取措施可是一个大动作。大多数农民只是在水果还没完全成熟时就早早地收割水果，这样就 不会那么容易地受到飞虫的袭击，但是其价值也因此有所降低。 但是，有织网蚂蚁的树就没有这样的问题了。在对贝宁湾几个果园的调查中，van Mele博士及其同 事发现只要有大量的织网蚂蚁，那么在每30棵芒果树上就只有不到一只水果飞虫的蛹,而没有织网蚂蚁的 树上平均有77个蛹。这种织网蚂蚁能够彻底地捕食水果飞虫和其他害虫。仅有的缺点就是蚂蚁的咬痛， 108 但农民可以使用长杆来收获水果而不用爬上树去，以避免这一问题。 织网蚂蚁还被用在中国和其他亚洲国家来控制害虫。澳大利亚也采取了类似的措施。但是van Mele 博士认为这种方法特别适用于非洲，因为对于非洲大陆种植芒果的区域来说，织网蚂蚁是有地方性的，也 不需要什么训练或资金就可以让它们工作。你所需要做的就是放置一个合适的巢，从它到你希望保护的树 之间拉根绳子。蚂蚁很快就会找到通往目标的途径。向布基纳法索的一群农民教授这种方法只需要一天就 够了。这些农民从而可以不再使用农药控制水果害虫，而且可以将完整的芒果销售给那些高需求的欧洲消 费者，从而增加的收入。如此说来，这些蚂蚁正在征程中。 TEXT ONE Pier 17 in downtown Manhattan is not the most likely destination for theatre-goers. But here on the East River, among the wailing seagulls, frying fish and tourists, is an enchanting offer of entertainment. Spiegelworld is back in town for its second summer, with two spicy cabaret shows of dance, music, acrobatics and burlesque. Called “Absinthe” and “La Vie”, the shows are staged in the anachronistic opulence of a spiegeltent (Flemish for “tent of mirrors”). Nobody seems to know how many of these European pavilions are left but most people agree that there are fewer than 20. Built by hand without nails, spiegeltents are beautiful assemblies of teak, velvet, stained glass and bevelled mirrors, created originally in Belgium in the early 20th century as mobile dance halls. Only two families in Belgium and the Netherlands still know how to make them, producing one every five or ten years or so, says Vallejo Gantner, one of the show's producers and a long-time spiegeltent aficionado. “But you know it when you walk into an old one. They have a special boutique quality.” This one, which dates from the 1920s and has a painted art-nouveau façade, lends continental glamour to the pier. It holds about 350 people on wooden chairs and banquettes around a modest, circular stage. And it is this intimacy, this proximity to the performers, that gives these shows their special feel. Erotic contortionists, balletic hand-balancers and bawdy jugglers emanate a sweaty, tangible humanity. Many of them, Mr Gantner explains, have left larger circus troupes, such as Cirque du Soleil, in order to make eye-contact with their audience. The simplicity of the staging gives their performances a gritty authenticity. Once in a while, a family on a children's outing is fooled by Spiegelworld's festive red-and-blue tent spires. Make no mistake: the shows are for adults. “La Vie”, created by Les 7 Doigts de la Main, a Montreal-based troupe, laces an array of artfully sexy circus acts with the premise that everyone is dead and in purgatory, travelling on “a flight to hell that never quite gets there”. Wearing what looks like a straitjacket, a contortionist moves in a highly unsettling way to a recording of “Crazy”, crooned by Patsy Cline. The show closes with a steamy pas de deux between the devilish master of ceremonies and the evening's lip-curling seductress. “Absinthe” is a more explicit grab-bag of stripping, cross-dressing and intrigue, without a unifying theme. The show's strongest moments come from the acrobats, all of whom carry a powerful sexual charge. Two women sway with suggestive grace on the trapeze. An aerialist in black trousers, his sculpted chest glistening, pulls and twists himself up two hanging straps to the lusty music of “Jealous Guy”, sung by a transvestite diva. Sexy but not tawdry. Despite colourful language and a brief moment of unnecessary male nudity in “La Vie”, the setting is too elegant and the talent too astonishing for that. It's a bit of risqué fun that has been warmly received by New Yorkers, many of whom have grown tired of the wholesome, tourist-friendly fare of Broadway. Last summer “Absinthe” ran for two months to sell-out crowds; this year's two-show programme is for three months until the end of September. 参考译文: 曼哈顿区17码头不是经常上剧院的人最有可能造访的地方。但是在东河那啼鸣的海鸥、炸鱼和旅游 者间，是一场迷人的娱乐盛戏。Spiegelworld今年夏天再度来到曼哈顿，将献上两台火辣的歌舞、音乐、 杂技和滑稽表演。这些演出被称为“苦艾酒” 和“生活”，在spiegeltent(佛兰德语，意为“镜子帐篷”)中 的古老舞台上演。 109 好像没有人知道欧洲的这种帐篷存留了下来，但是大多数人都认为这种帐篷现存不超过20个。 Spiegeltent用钉子手工制成，是由柚木、天鹅绒、彩色玻璃和斜面镜子组成的美丽合成品，在20世纪初 刚出现时作为流动的舞蹈厅。该演出的出品人之一的spiegeltent铁杆迷Vallejo Gantner说只有在比利时 和荷兰的两个家族知道怎么来组装这种帐篷，而且他们每隔五年或十年才生产一个。“你一走进一个老帐 篷就会明白，它有一种特别的品质。” 现在的这顶帐篷源于20世纪20年代，其外表描画着艺术画，为码头带来了陆地的光辉。中等圆形 场地中的木椅和软长椅上可以容纳约350个人。正是因为与表演者的亲密接触使得这种演出有了特别的感 觉。性感的柔术演员、芭蕾舞的手部平衡演员以及俗气的变戏法演员都散发出一种真实的人性光芒。 Gantner先生解释说，他们许多人已经离开了大型马戏团，比如“太阳圆环”，其目的就是为了能与观众进 行眼神交流。而舞台设置的简洁使得演出多了一份真实的感觉。 曾经有一个家庭的孩子们在外出旅行时被Spiegelworld红蓝色的帐篷尖顶迷惑住了。不错，这些演 出就是为成人而准备的。“生活”是由蒙特利尔的马戏团“7个手指”创造，有一系列性感的杂技演出，演出 假定每个人都已死去，在“通往地狱的航行”中行进，没有终点。Patsy Cline低声说，柔术演员穿着紧身衣， 在非常高的地方做出“疯狂”的动作。演出结尾是恶魔和晚会上弯嘴唇的迷人女子之间的双人舞。 “苦艾酒”则是更加明显的脱衣舞、交叉换衣和密谋的混杂表演，没有统一的主题。演出最精彩的时 刻就是那些杂技演员的性感表演。两个女人在吊秋千上摇摆。穿着黑裤子的高空杂技师那雕塑般的胸膛发 着光，拉住两根悬挂的带子，伴随着的是“妒忌的小伙子”这样的音乐、由易装癖女主角演唱。 虽然性感但却不俗气。虽然“生活”有着缤纷的语言，也有短短的一段不必要的男性裸体演出，但是 其舞台布置是雅致的，演出者是富有天赋的。这种趣味已经受到纽约人的热情欢迎，许多人都厌倦了百老 汇那些宏大、针对旅行者的演出。去年夏天，“苦艾酒”整整两个月的票都一售而空，而今年的两场演出更 是长达三个月，直到九月底结束。 TEXT TWO Sex is a mystery—and not just to those who indulge in it. By combining her genes with a male's, a female halves her genetic contribution to her offspring, and subsequent generations see it halved again and again. On top of that, the need for each individual to have two parents means the population can grow only half as rapidly as it otherwise might. Why, therefore, bother with the whole messy business in the first place? Julia Jones of the University of Wales, Bangor, and her colleagues may soon have the answer to that question. They have found a species of crayfish that follows the logic of asexuality and does, indeed, clone itself. Though Dr Jones did not actually discover this species, she was the person who identified it in the wild—in Madagascar. Her interviews suggest it was imported in about 2003, by people working on a road bypassing Antananarivo, the country's capital. As a result of this accidental import, the stage is set for an unplanned evolutionary experiment. Brute mathematics predict the new species, known as the marbled crayfish, will outcompete the locals. Those who ponder the purpose of sex, though, think the newcomer will eventually face its come-uppance. The reason, according to those ponderers, is that the genetic diversity promoted by sex is a protection against disease. An asexual female who clones herself ten times is like someone who buys ten raffle tickets, each with the same number. A female who reproduces sexually gets only five tickets for her effort, but they are all different. This, however, is a raffle that the female wants to lose. That is because the prize is premature death for her descendants at the hands of an infection particularly adapted to the winning number—or, rather, the losing combination of genes. If this explanation is right, the marbled crayfish will do very well for an indeterminate period, and will then suddenly vanish. At the moment, those who work in the paddy fields outside Antananarivo are enjoying the upward part of the trajectory. They are selling marbled crayfish by the condensed-milk-tin load along all the main roads from the city. And the rest of the country is likely to follow suit soon, as the crustacean now appears to be striking out from its bridgehead. A group of experts has gathered in Antananarivo to draw up a list of questions that need researching. One of their concerns is that the marbled crayfish's sexual cousins have caused havoc elsewhere. The red 110 swamp crayfish, for example, has tucked into the paddy fields of the Iberian peninsula with gusto, eating rice seedlings and burrowing into the banks of drainage channels, causing them to collapse. The enthusiasm that many Malagasy seem to have for spreading their new and fecund friends around the country, to provide an additional “crop”, may thus backfire. Another worry is that the red swamp invader has helped unleash a deadly fungal disease on native crayfish populations around Europe—a plague to which it is, itself, resistant. That bodes ill for Madagascar's local species. If the theoreticians are correct, a plague will be exactly what gets rid of the newcomer, but it could also spread to the natives, reducing their numbers as well. Until then, however, the researchers can look forward to an experiment involving many a tasty barbecue. 参考译文: 性是个谜，这不仅仅对于那些研究者来说是这样。通过将自己的基因和一个男性的基因结合，妇女 就可以将自己一半的基因传给孩子，而其后代又会见证自己基因的不断二分。在最上端，每个人需要父母 两人才能出生意味着人口只能以减半的速度来繁衍。那么，为什么要从一开始就要处理这些杂乱的问题 呢, 班戈区威尔士大学的Julia Jones及其同事可能很快就能给出答案了。他们发现了一种无性繁殖的龙 虾，这种龙虾实际上可以克隆自己。事实上Jones博士并不是第一个发现这个物种的人，她是第一个在马 达加斯加岛荒野中认出来该物种的。她在采访中说明该物种是2003年左右由经过国家首都安塔那那利佛 大路的人带进来的。这种意外的进入为一个事先没有计划的实验做好了伏笔。残忍的数学预言这种被称为 大理石龙虾的新物种可能会超出本地龙虾的数量。但是，那些思考性别目的的人认为新物种最终要面对自 己的将来。 这些研究者认为，原因在于性别促进了的遗传多样性，是防止疾病的一种保护措施。可以克隆自己 十倍的无性物种就好像买了十注彩票，每张彩票都有同一个数字。有性物种的雌性通过自己的努力只拿到 五注彩票，但都是不同的数字。但这却是雌性想要丢掉的彩票，因为奖品就是她的后代在感染疾病后会夭 折，或者是没有基因组合。如果这种解释是正确的话，大理石龙虾会在不确定的时期内做得非常好，然后 就突然消失了。 目前在安塔那那利佛外谷田工作的人们享受着这其中的好处。他们使用压缩牛奶罐沿着城市的主路 来售卖大理石龙虾。甲壳虫现在好像要伸出其桥头堡来，这个国家的其它地方很快也会效仿。 一些专家集合在安塔那那利佛，他们列出了一系列需要研究的问题。其中一个备受关注的一个问题 就是大理石龙虾那些有性生殖的同类可能会在别的地方引起大破坏。沼泽地的红色龙虾已经藏到了伊比利 亚岛的谷地中，吃大米的种子，挖下水道管直至管子最终断裂。马达加斯加人希望自己的新朋友能散布到 整个国家，从而提供一种新的“粮食”，这种热情却因此可能事与愿违。 另外一个担忧就是红虾入侵者会帮助一种致命的菌类疾病入侵欧洲本地龙虾，这种瘟疫本身是有抵抗 力的。这预示着马达加斯加的本土物种会染上这种疾病。如果这些理论家是正确的话，那么瘟疫就是消灭 这些新来客的原因，但是也可能扩展到本地的物种中、从而也会减少它们的数量。但是到那时，研究者期 望能够有一种包括了很多美味烧烤的实验。 TEXT THREE It is a curious irony that Europe, which often takes a dim view of market forces, lets them rip in sport, while America, usually the world's most enthusiastic exponent of commerce and its consequences for society, has all sorts of arrangements in place to mitigate its effects on the nation's favourite pastimes. But these days, the American model is gaining adherents in Europe. Sports ministers in many countries are arguing that football needs to be exempted from competition law in order to allow governing bodies to equalise the resources of clubs without risking prosecution. The European Commission's strategy paper on sport, published on July 11th, ignored those calls; but the pressure will not go away. Professional sport differs from other businesses in one important respect. Rival teams need each other to produce a sellable product: a match. In most businesses co-operation between rivals would attract the ire of antitrust authorities. But in sport, an element of collusion is unavoidable. The balance between collusion 111 and individualism is a hard one to strike, but has been managed reasonably well by Europe's trustbusters. The collective selling of television rights, now the main source of income for football's elite, has usually been sanctioned by the European Commission's antitrust arm. Joint marketing is defensible, because sports contests are by their nature a collaboration. Egalitarians quibble that the bulk of the money ends up with rich well-supported clubs. The English Premier League, for instance, collectively sells its television rights and splits the proceeds between clubs. But a club's share partly depends on how many of its games are broadcast and how high it finishes in the league, so Chelsea and Manchester United get a bigger slice. The worry is that the continued dominance of national championships by a few clubs will drive away supporters. In the United States the baseball, basketball, hockey and American football leagues try to mitigate the effects of competition and inequality through revenue- and talent-sharing agreements, such as “the draft” (baseball even has a specific exemption from antitrust law). But it is not clear that this is either necessary or desirable. Measures to increase equality within a league take the edge off competition—and therefore, presumably, off the terror that drives sportsmen to excellence. There is more to sport than watching too well-matched teams vie for supremacy. Professional basketball in America has lost some of its shine since one of Michael Jordan's many retirements ended the Chicago Bulls' dominance of the sport. The lesson from this and from golf's popularity since the emergence of Tiger Woods is that sporting prowess matters more to fans than strict competitive balance. European football has never been a balanced affair. The very first professional league championship in 1889 was a cakewalk for Preston North End, which went through a 22-game season without losing a match (it won in 1890 too, though never since). Championships in Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands and Scotland are nearly always won by just two or three clubs. Leagues in bigger countries are scarcely less open. Manchester United has won nine out of 15 league titles since the English Premier League was set up in 1992. None of this has impeded the global popularity of football, which has done far better as an export industry than America's more equal sports. 参考译文: 这是一个很讽刺的现象:欧洲对于市场力量不屑一顾，但是却在体育上任其发挥作用，而美国虽然是 全世界对商业最热情的支持者，且美国社会本身就是商业发展的结果，但这个国家却采取了各种措施来减 少这个国家最受欢迎的消遣运动的影响。但是最近美国模式在欧洲也赢得了支持者。许多国家的体育部长 认为足球需要免于竞争法的限制，这样让政府机构不用冒被起诉的危险就可以平衡俱乐部的资源。欧洲委 员会于7月11日发表的体育战略，对这些呼吁置之不理，但是这种压力却不会消失。 专业体育与其他商业在一个重要的方面是不同的，即作为对手的两个球队需要对方来创造可出售的产 品——比赛。在大多数的商业活动中，对手间的合作会招致反托拉斯机构的反感。但是在体育界，联合因 素是不可避免的。团队与个人之间的平衡是很难把握的，但是欧洲联邦反托拉斯检察官们却处理得很好。 电视转播权是足球精英最主要的收入来源，集体出售电视转播权已经获得欧洲委员会反托拉斯部门的批 准。联合商业是有正当理由的，因为体育比赛本身就是一种联合。 平等主义者认为大量的金钱最后只是产生了广受支持的俱乐部。比如英国第一联队共同出售了电视转 播权，俱乐部之间瓜分收益。但是每个俱乐部的份额一部分看有多少节目转播、也要看在同盟中最后地位 如何，因此切尔西和曼彻斯特联队获得了较大的份额。现在的担忧就是一些俱乐部持续控制着国家锦标赛， 这样可能会赶走那些支持者。 在美国，棒球、篮球、曲棍球以及美国足球联队都试图通过收入和才能共享协议、如 “草稿”(棒球甚 至有免于反托拉斯法律限制的特别权利)以减少竞争和不平等的影响。但是这是否必要或值得还不很清楚。 在联队之间增加平等的措施减少了竞争，因此也减少了让运动员不断使使自身完美的恐惧。 体育界不仅仅意味着观看不相上下的队伍争夺第一。自从Michael Jordon退役从而终结芝加哥公牛队的 霸主地位后，美国职业篮球已经失去了其原有的光辉。自从Jordon以及Tiger Woods出现后导致高尔夫的 流行说明体育的魅力对于体育迷来说要比严格的竞争性平衡要重要得多。 欧洲足球从来都不是平衡的。1889年第一个职业联盟锦标赛的冠军就是普雷斯顿北方的表演赛，它在 22个赛季中没有输掉任何一场(1890年也取得了胜利，尽管自此后再没有取胜过。)葡萄牙、希腊、荷兰 和苏格兰的锦标赛也经常是两三个俱乐部独占鳌头。大国的联队开放程度也差不多。曼联自从英国于1992 年成立第一联赛后就赢得了15次联赛的9次冠军。这些都没有阻止足球在全球的受欢迎程度，作为一种 112 出口产业，它要比美国更为平等的体育做得更好。 TEXT FOUR Infertility is normally seen as a private matter. If a couple are infertile and wish they were not, that is sad. But there is understandable resistance in many countries to the idea that treatments intended to deal with this sadness—known collectively as assisted reproductive technologies, or ARTs—should be paid for out of public funds. Such funds are scarce, and infertility is not a life-threatening condition. However, two papers presented to the ―State of the ART‖ conference held earlier this month in Lyon argue that in Europe, at least, there may be a public interest in promoting ARTs after all. The low fertility rate in many of that continent's more developed countries means their populations are ageing and shrinking. If governments want to change this, ARTs—most significantly in-vitro fertilisation (IVF)—could offer at least part of a way to do so. As the conference heard, IVF does seem to be keeping up the numbers in at least one country. Tina Jensen of the University of Southern Denmark has just finished a study of more than 700,000 Danish women. She found that young women in Denmark have a significantly lower natural conception rate than in past decades. That is partly, but not entirely, because they are having their children later in life. The rest of the cause is unknown, though reduced sperm quality in men may be a factor. Whatever the cause, she also found that the effect has been almost completely compensated for by an increasing use of ARTs. Denmark's native population is more or less stable, but some 3.9% of babies born there in 2003 were the result of IVF. The comparable figure for another northern European country, Britain, was 1.5%. Without IVF, then, the number of Danes would be shrinking fast. That it is not may have something to do with the fact that in Denmark the taxpayer will cover up to six cycles of IVF treatment. In Britain, by contrast, couples are supposed to be entitled to three cycles. In practice, many of the local trusts that dish the money out do not pay for any cycles at all. Jonathan Grant, the head of the Cambridge branch of the Rand Corporation (an American think-tank), believes this is shortsighted. His paper showed that if Britain supported IVF at the Danish level then its birth rate would probably increase by about 10,000 a year. The cost of offering six cycles to couples (and doing so in practice, rather than just in theory) would be an extra ?250m-430m a year. That is not trivial, but Dr Grant reckons it is cheaper than other ways of boosting the birth rate. Some countries, for example, have tried to bribe women into having more children by increasing child benefits. According to his calculations, raising such benefits costs between ?50,000 and ?100,000 a year for each additional birth procured. Ten thousand extra births each year would thus cost between ?500m and ?1 billion. There are, of course, some disadvantages to promoting IVF. In particular, women who use it tend to be older than those who conceive naturally, and that can lead to congenital problems in their children. But if the countries of Europe do wish to keep their populations up, making IVF more widely available might be a good way of doing so. 参考译文: 不育一般被看作是很私密的事情。如果一对夫妇不能生育却又不希望能够生育，这就很可悲了。但 是许多国家反对使用公众基金来支付不育问题的治疗方法(辅助生育技术)，这是合情合理的。公众基金 本来就很少，而不育也不是什么可以威胁到生命的问题。 但是，本月初在里昂举行的―辅助生育技术现状‖会议上，有两个报告认为至少是在欧洲，公众可能有 兴趣到促进辅助生育技术。欧洲许多发达国家的低生育率意味着其人口正在老化和减少。如果政府想改变 这种情况，辅助生育技术(最重要的是玻璃体授精)至少可以在某种程度上提供一个出路。 113 正如该会议上所提到的，玻璃体授精起码可以在一个国家内提高人口数量。南丹麦大学的Tina Jensen 刚刚结束了涉及70万丹麦妇女的一项研究。她发现现在的丹麦年轻女性比过去几十年中的自然受精率降 低了许多，这部分是因为她们生育孩子的年龄推后了，但其余的原因还不清楚，尽管男性精子质量下降也 可能是一个因素。不管是什么原因，她还发现使用玻璃体授精后，这种情况可以完全得到缓解。丹麦本土 的人口是稳定的，但是2003年出生的婴儿中3.9%是通过玻璃体授精出生的结果。相应的，另外一个欧洲 北部国家英国的比率为1.5%。 如果没有玻璃体授精技术，丹麦人口就会更快地缩减。这是由于在丹麦，纳税人要支付六个周期的 玻璃体授精治疗费用。而在英国，夫妇本人需要支付3个周期的费用。实际上，许多本地的信托公司都不 支付任何的周期，但却从中赚取金钱。兰德公司(一家美国智囊公司)剑桥分部的老板Jonathan Grant 认为这是目光短浅的做法。他的研究报告表明如果英国人支持玻璃体授精的程度与丹麦人一样的话，该国 每年多出生的婴儿可以增加大约一万。 而给与夫妇免费的六个周期(实际进行而非理论上的)会使政府一年多支付两亿五千万到四亿三千 万英镑。这不是个小数目，但是Grant博士认为这要比其他提高出生率的方法要廉价。比如一些国家通过 提高儿童福利来奖励那些多生育的妇女。根据他的估测，如此一来每增加一个孩子的话，每年要增加5万 到10万英镑的支出。每年多出生一亿万个孩子的话，就需要5亿到10亿英镑。 当然，促进玻璃体授精也有一些弊端。使用这个方法的妇女要比那些自然受孕的女性衰老得更快，也 会让孩子有一些先天性的问题。但是如果欧洲国家希望使本国人口增长的话，普及玻璃体授精可能是个好 方法。 TEXT ONE William Illiam Morris (the wallpaper designer, rather than the carmaker) suggested that nothing should have a place that is not known to be useful or believed to be beautiful. Opals, though, might be both. A group of researchers from the University of Southampton, in England, and the German Plastics Institute in Darmstadt, led by Jeremy Baumberg, have discovered how to create a plastic with the gemstone's iridescent properties. Their invention could be used to make a sparkling substitute for paint, banknotes that are hard to counterfeit and chemical sensors that can act as visible sell-by dates. Opals get their milky sheen and rainbow sparkle from the way light is scattered by the tiny crystals that form them. These crystals are stacked in what is known as a face-centred cubic structure. This means that the constituent atoms are arranged in a lattice of cubes, with one extra atom sitting at the centre of each cube's six faces. Light entering this lattice gets bounced around in ways that generate colour by reinforcing the peaks of some wavelengths and cancelling out those of others. For many years researchers have been trying to develop a synthetic material with the same light-scattering properties as an opal, by etching patterns into various materials. That approach has failed. Instead, Dr Baumberg has built his opalescent material from scratch. He and his team grew tiny polystyrene spheres until they were some 200 nanometres across, before hardening them with a blast of heat. They then coated the spheres with a sticky polymer before heating them again. As the mixture was baked, the spheres moved naturally into a face-centred cubic structure. The result is a flexible film of crystals with opalescent properties that can be used to coat malleable surfaces, producing attractive iridescent hues. The size of the spheres can be tailored to scatter particular wavelengths of light—a useful property for security applications in which it is important that materials can be identified precisely. Moreover, when the film is warped, the spaces between the crystals change—and the colours produced change with them. These two properties make opalescent film an obvious material for currency. Banknotes containing it would produce distinctive colours when stretched, unlike counterfeits made from other materials. 114 To use the film to detect food spoilage, Dr Baumberg proposes adding a sprinkle of carbon particles even smaller than the polystyrene spheres. These would nestle in the spaces between the spheres and cause the material to scatter light from even more angles, making it yet more iridescent. This arrangement could be “tuned” to react to specific toxic chemicals. Food packaging made from such a material would thus change colour as the rot set in. Such packaging need not be expensive. The polymer spheres and carbon particles arrange themselves spontaneously into the correct crystal structure when encouraged by a little heat, so manufacturing opalescent film should be easy. Indeed Merck, a German chemical company that was a partner in the research, has already produced rolls of the stuff a metre wide and 100 metres long. Perfect for wallpaper. 参考译文: William Illiam Morris(壁纸设计人而非汽车制造商)认为任何东西都不是是没有用或者是不美的。 尽管蛋白石是既有用又漂亮。英国南安普敦大学的一群研究者和Jeremy Baumberg领导的位于达姆施塔 特的德国塑料研究所发现了如何用宝石闪光的特性来制造一种塑料。他们的发明可以用于制作油漆的闪光 替代品，难以仿造的钞票、以及就像销售日期那么清晰可见的化学仿形器。 蛋白石因为其光线受到水晶的发射呈现乳白色和五彩的光泽。这些水晶堆积在以平面中心的立方结 构中。这就意味着组成原子呈方块的格子排列，另外一个原子位于每个方块六面的中心。进入该格子的光 线反弹回来，通过加强了一些波长的波峰和减少了其他的波峰长度来产生出颜色。 很多年来，研究者一直想要研发一种合成物质，通过在不同的物质中雕刻形状来使其拥有和蛋白石 一样的光泽发散功能。这种方法却失败了。而Baumberg博士从无到有地创造了自己的乳白色物质。他和 他的小组培养了许多小的聚苯乙烯球体，直至它们长到了200微米，然后用热风来硬化。接着他们用一种 粘性的聚合体来粘在球体外面，然后再次加热。随着混合体的加热，球体自然成为了以平面为中心的立方 结构。 最后得到的就是有弹性的晶体薄膜，它带有蛋白石的成分，可以作为延展性的表面，发出好看的光 泽。球体的尺寸可以进行裁减来发散出特别的光波——这个特点对于安检来说很重要，因为任何物质都可 以被精确地辨认出来。而且，如果薄膜弯曲的话，晶体之间的空间会发生变化，产生的颜色也随之改变。 这两种成分使得乳白色薄膜成为钞票的显性物质。含有该物质的钞票通过伸展可以产生出特别的颜色，这 是用其它材料制作的假钞所不具备的。 如果用该薄膜来检查食品腐败，Baumberg建议加入一些甚至可以比聚苯乙烯的球体更小的碳颗粒。 这些颗粒可以藏在球体间的空间里，使得物质从更多的角度发散光，从而显得更加光亮。也可以用这种方 法来应对特殊的有毒化学物质。用该物质生产的食品包装可以随着腐烂的开始而产生颜色的变化。 这样的包装不需要太昂贵。只要加入一点聚合体球体和碳颗粒就可以自然地安排成正确的晶体结构， 因此生产光亮的薄膜就很容易了。实际上一家德国化学公司Merck是该研究的合作者，现在已经生产出 了一米宽、100米长的薄膜。这对于壁纸来说是非常理想的。 TEXT TWO News reports suggested that the result was in doubt right up to the end, but Rupert Murdoch's admirers were certain that he would prevail. So when Mr Murdoch's News Corporation offered in April to buy Dow Jones, the owner of the Wall Street Journal, he was already pretty sure that the reply, which eventually came in the early hours of August 1st, would be yes—and it was. Mr Murdoch has played a difficult hand brilliantly. He read the internal politics of the sprawling Bancroft clan, which owns a controlling stake in Dow Jones, perfectly—perhaps better than he reads his 115 own family. His $5 billion offer was just high enough to swing the intergenerational politics of the Bancrofts his way, by enticing enough of the younger members of the clan to put money before the continuation of the family's long stewardship of the company. And when some members of the family tried to get Mr Murdoch to raise his offer, his refusal to do so and his threat to walk away were convincing enough to get them to agree to his original offer. He also agreed to various measures to safeguard the Wall Street Journal's editorial independence that were just sufficient to salve enough Bancroft consciences, without meaningfully inhibiting his ability to do as he pleases. The timing of the offer was equally astute, coming after the family had realised that the company faced huge strategic problems, but before the new chief executive they appointed last year had had time to show he could solve them, and so enable Dow Jones to prosper as an independent business. Arguably, Mr Murdoch's eventual triumph was guaranteed from the moment Dow Jones's board admitted that a merger might be the best strategy for the firm, and started to negotiate. The biggest risk to Mr Murdoch was that another buyer, more acceptable to the family, would appear. But his generous offer scared off potential private-equity bidders. Mr Murdoch's only real worry was that there might be a serious counterbid from the two firms with most to lose from his acquisition of Dow Jones: Pearson, which owns the Financial Times, and General Electric (GE), which owns CNBC, a business-news channel. With Mr Murdoch's backing the Wall Street Journal will surely prove a much tougher rival to the Financial Times, and Dow Jones's resources might enable News Corporation's new business-TV channel, due to be launched in October, to do serious damage to CNBC. Yet despite rumours of a joint Pearson-GE bid, no such offer materialised. Mr Murdoch has, however, paid a high price for Dow Jones—at least $1 billion, and perhaps $2 billion, more than appears justified by the fundamentals of the business—so News Corporation's shareholders may come to regard his victory as pyrrhic. No doubt Mr Murdoch's tougher management will squeeze out some cost savings. But his plans to generate strong growth, by expanding the Wall Street Journal and linking it with his other online and broadcast properties, do not seem terribly convincing. Which is why some News Corporation shareholders suspect that they are just excuses, and that Mr Murdoch has put his long-standing desire to own one of the world's great newspapers before any serious consideration of value for money. 参考译文: 新闻报道认为到问题的结果还是个未知数，但是Rupert Murdoch的景仰者却坚信他会获胜。因此， 当Murdoch先生的新闻集团四月份开始收购《华尔街杂志》的主家道?琼斯时，他已经确定答复会是肯定 的，而事实也正是如此，他于8月1号的早上得到了这个答复。 Murdoch先生很成功地完成了一项艰难的任务。他研究了复杂的Bancroft家族的内部政治，该家族在 道?琼斯拥有绝对的股票，而Murdoch对其了解的程度不亚于对自己家族的了解。他出的50亿美元高价 已经足够将Bancrofts的两代政治都玩弄于股掌之中。在公司的长期财务管理员续任之前，他引诱家族中 年轻的成员把钱放到了重要位置。而当家族的某些成员要Murdoch先生提高出价时，他会有力地拒绝并 威胁要放弃收购，使他们同意他最初的出价。他也同意采取各种措施来保证《华尔街杂志》编辑的独立性， 这些措施足以缓解Bancroft在道德上的不安，同时也不会约束他想做任何事的能力。 Murdoch对收购时间的选择也颇具技巧，正好是在该家族意识到自己面临着巨大的决策问题之后，而 在他们去年指定的新任首席执行官有时间来显示自己可以解决这些问题、让道?琼斯作为一个独立的企业 兴盛起来之前。当道?琼斯董事会承认合并可能是对公司最好的战略时，Murdoch才最终确保了他的胜利， 谈判也是从那时开始的。 Murdoch先生最大的风险就是可能会有另外一个该家族比较喜欢的买家出现。但是他的高出价吓跑了 私募基金的出价者。Murdoch先生唯一的担忧就是有两家因他收购道?琼斯而蒙受巨大损失的公司会来出 家拆台，它们分别是拥有《金融时报》的Pearson公司和拥有商业新闻频道CNBC的通用电气公司。有 Murdoch先生做后台，《华尔街时报》肯定会成为《金融时报》强有力的竞争对手，而道?琼斯的资源也可 116 以让新闻集团于10月份开播的新闻商业电视频道对CNBC造成巨大的威胁。尽管有传闻说Pearson和通 用会联合竞价，但是实际上他并没有这么做。 但是Murdoch先生已经给道?琼斯支付了昂贵的价格，至少有10亿美元，也可能是20亿美元，这比 该行业基本认可的价格要高得多。因此新闻公司的股票所有人会认为Murdoch的胜利是付出了昂贵代价 的。毫无疑问Murdoch先生的严格管理会降低一些成本，但是扩张《华尔街杂志》、并将其与自己其他网 上和广播实体结合起来，这种加速发展的计划并不是很让人信服。这也就是为什么一些新闻公司的股票持 有人怀疑这些只是借口而已，Murdoch先生长的远计划是要拥有世界上最大的新闻报纸，在这方面他要 比金钱看重得多。 TEXT THREE Psychologists have known for a long time that economists are wrong. Most economists—at least, those of the classical persuasion—believe that any financial gain, however small, is worth having. But psychologists know this is not true. They know because of the ultimatum game, the outcome of which is often the rejection of free money. In this game, one player divides a pot of money between himself and another. The other then chooses whether to accept the offer. If he rejects it, neither player benefits. And despite the instincts of classical economics, a stingy offer (one that is less than about a quarter of the total) is, indeed, usually rejected. The question is, why? One explanation of the rejectionist strategy is that human psychology is adapted for repeated interactions rather than one-off trades. In this case, taking a tough, if self-sacrificial, line at the beginning pays dividends in future rounds of the game. Rejecting a stingy offer in a one-off game is thus just a single move in a larger strategy. And indeed, when one-off ultimatum games are played by trained economists, who know all this, they do tend to accept stingy offers more often than other people would. But even they have their limits. To throw some light on why those limits exist, Terence Burnham of Harvard University recently gathered a group of students of microeconomics and asked them to play the ultimatum game. All of the students he recruited were men. Dr Burnham's research budget ran to a bunch of $40 games. When there are many rounds in the ultimatum game, players learn to split the money more or less equally. But Dr Burnham was interested in a game of only one round. In this game, which the players knew in advance was final and could thus not affect future outcomes, proposers could choose only between offering the other player $25 (ie, more than half the total) or $5. Responders could accept or reject the offer as usual. Those results recorded, Dr Burnham took saliva samples from all the students and compared the testosterone levels assessed from those samples with decisions made in the one-round game As he describes in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, the responders who rejected a low final offer had an average testosterone level more than 50% higher than the average of those who accepted. Five of the seven men with the highest testosterone levels in the study rejected a $5 ultimate offer but only one of the 19 others made the same decision. What Dr Burnham's result supports is a much deeper rejection of the tenets of classical economics than one based on a slight mis-evolution of negotiating skills. It backs the idea that what people really strive for is relative rather than absolute prosperity. They would rather accept less themselves than see a rival get ahead. That is likely to be particularly true in individuals with high testosterone levels, since that hormone is correlated with social dominance in many species. 117 Economists often refer to this sort of behaviour as irrational. In fact, it is not. It is simply, as it were, differently rational. The things that money can buy are merely means to an end—social status—that brings desirable reproductive opportunities. If another route brings that status more directly, money is irrelevant. 参考译文: 长期以来心理学家认为经济学家是错误的。大多数经济学家、至少那些有着传统信念的人认为任何经济利润、不管其有多小都值得拥有。但是心理学家认为这不是真的，他们知道这一点是因为终极游戏的结果总是人们拒绝免费的金钱。 在这场游戏中，一个玩家将一盆钱分给自己和另外一个人。另外这个人接着选择是否接受，如果他拒绝接受，那么两个玩家就都不能受益。虽然传统经济学认为人在本能上会接受这笔钱，小气的出价(另一个人得到少于总数1/4的钱)实际上经常被拒绝。问题就是，为什么会这样, 对于拒绝者策略的一个解释为人类的心理更习惯重复的交互作用，而不是一次性的交易。在这个事情上，如果自我牺牲，从一开始就采取强硬姿态会在未来几轮游戏中获得额外的资金。因此在一次性的游戏中拒绝小气的出价是一个更大计划中的一步。实际上，当有经验的经济学家玩一次性的终极游戏时，他们确实比一般人更倾向于接受小气的出价。但是他们也有一定的局限。为了弄清楚为什么存在这些局限，哈佛大学的Terence Burnham近来组织了一群微观经济学的学生，让他们玩这种终极游戏。他选择的所有学生都是男性。 Burnham博士的研究资金被投入到一系列40美元的游戏中。在这种终极游戏中有许多回合，玩家学习更加平等地分配金钱。但是Burnham博士只对那些只玩一轮的游戏感兴趣。在这个游戏中，玩家事先就知道这一轮是最后的结局，因此不会有影响未来的结果，分钱者只能选择给其他玩家25美元(也就是说多于全部金额的一半)或者是5美元。回应者一般可以接受或拒绝该出价。这些结果都记录在案，Burnham博士从学生那里搜集了唾液的样本，并将这些样本中的睾丸激素和一轮游戏中的决策进行对比。 他在《皇家社会学报》中描述道，拒绝低价出价的回应者的睾丸激素水平要比那些接受的人高出50%。睾丸激素最高的七个人中有五个拒绝了5美元的最后出价，而其他的19个里人只有1个做出了相同的决定。 Burnham博士最终的结论不是关于谈判技巧的轻微错误发展，而是更深层的对传统经济原则的拒绝。事实支持这个观点，人们真正追求的是相对财富而非绝对财富。他们宁可自己拿得更少，而不愿看到对手多拿。那些有高睾丸激素水平的人更是这样，因为该激素和许多物种的社会优势有关。 经济学家经常认为这种行动是不理智的。实际上这是理智的，只是不同的理智而已。金钱可以买到的只是达到某个目的的方法而已，如社会地位，达到目的便给人们带来他们想要的不断再生的机会。如果有另外一条路可以更为直接地达到目的，金钱就是不相关的。 TEXT FOUR Launching people into space may make headlines but it does little useful science. So when George Bush redirected America's space agency, NASA, away from scientific research and towards a manned return to the moon in 2004, many scientists were disappointed. Now the agency has finally offered some small morsels of comfort in the form of four projects that could accompany efforts for a lunar return. The most exciting of these is the plan for a radio telescope that could be placed on the far side of the moon. Such a device would look back at the early universe to the time when large-scale structures such as galaxies and stars formed. A lunar-based radio telescope would be able to detect long wavelengths that 118 cannot be sensed on Earth because they are absorbed by the outermost layers of the planet's atmosphere. Moreover by pointing the telescope away from the din of shorter-wavelength radio waves that are used for communication on Earth, astrophysicists would be able to see the early universe in unprecedented detail. Finding alien life might also be possible with such a telescope. It would be able to map the magnetic fields of stars and exoplanets (planets that circle stars outside the solar system). It is the magnetic field of the Earth that protects its inhabitants from being bombarded by high-energy particles from space that would otherwise leave the planet sterile. Detecting a magnetic field surrounding an Earth-like exoplanet would prove a promising sign for finding extraterrestrial life. The proposal, led by Joseph Lazio, of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, is to create an array of three arms arranged in a Y-shape, each of which would be 500 metres long and contain 16 antennae. Each arm would be made of a plastic film that could be rolled out onto the surface of the moon, either by robots or by astronauts. A second project, headed by Michael Collier, of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, would examine how the solar wind—a stream of charged particles ejected from the sun—interacts with the tenuous lunar atmosphere close to the moon's surface. Such bombardment produces low-energy X-rays that would be detected on the surface of the moon. The third and fourth projects are similar both to each other and to earlier ventures dropped on the moon by the Apollo and the Soviet Luna missions in the late 1960s and 1970s. Some 35 years on, reflectors placed on the lunar surface are still used by scientists interested in geophysics and geodesy (for example, how the moon's gravitational field shifts over time). Most of the reflectors are clustered close to the lunar equator. The proposals, led by Stephen Merkowitz, also of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, and Douglas Currie, of the University of Maryland, are to sprinkle some more sophisticated versions over more of the moon's surface. Such efforts may attract little attention compared with the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour this week. Nevertheless, when NASA argues that putting people into space inspires young people to study science, it is precisely these endeavours that it wishes to encourage. 参考译文: 把人送入太空也许能成为头条新闻，但是对科学研究却没有甚大帮助。因此，当George Bush在2004 年要求美国宇航局将重点从科学研究转移到载人回归月球时，很多科学家都备感失望。现在，美国宇航局 为回归月球计划增加了四项科研项目，总算给大家带来了些许安慰。 这些项目中最激动人心的是一种可以安装在月球背面的无线电天文望远镜。通过这种望远镜，人们可 以了解到从宇宙早期至大规模天体结构如星云和恒星形成的时期。安装在月球上的无线电天文望远镜可以 探测到那些无法在地球表面被检测到的长波，因为这些长波都被地球大气层的最外层吸收了。此外，天体 物理学家们使该望远镜远离地球上频繁的用于通信的较短波长无线电波，从而能够史无前例地细致观察早 期的宇宙。 使用这台望远镜也许还可以寻找外星生物。因为它能够描绘出恒星和太阳系外行星(太阳系之外围绕 恒星运动的行星)的磁场图。正是由于地球磁场的保护，地球上居住着的生物才能幸免于来自太空中高能 量粒子的袭击，否则这个星球就会变成一片不毛之地。如果能够检测到某个太阳系外行星也像地球一样被 磁场包围，就有希望找到地球以外的生命。该计划由美国华盛顿特区海军研究实验室的Joseph Lazio领导， 目标是创造出一个以三臂状构成Y字形的天线阵，其中每只臂长500米，含16根天线，用塑料薄膜制成， 以便由机器人或宇航员平铺在月球表面。 第二项计划的负责人是美国宇航局戈达德太空飞行中心的Michael Collier，该计划将研究太阳风—— 太阳喷发出的一束带电粒子流——如何与月球表面附近稀薄的大气相互作用。这种作用产生的低能量X 射线可以在月球表面被探测到。第三和第四项计划彼此相似，并与早前于20世纪60年代末和70年代进 行的阿波罗计划和前苏联的登月计划也大同小异。现在那些放置于月球表面的反射器已差不多工作了35 年，且仍然为那些对地球物理学和测地学(如研究月球引力场如何随时间而变化)感兴趣的科学家们服务 着。大多数反射器都安装在靠近月球赤道的地方。这两项计划的主管人是美国宇航局戈达德太空飞行中心 119 的Stephen Merkowitz以及马里兰大学的Douglas Currie，其目标是在月球上更大范围布置一些尖端反射 器。 与本周发射的奋进号航天飞机相比，这些月球计划可能不会引起多大关注，但是，当美国宇航局极力 主张载人航天可以激励年轻人学习科学时，为月球计划而“奋进”的精神也正是它所要鼓舞的。 2( TEXT ONE Most cells are transparent—in other words, they are not very good at reflecting or absorbing light. To look at them under a microscope thus requires trickery. Many of these tricks kill the cells, and even those that keep them alive look only at slices through each cell, rather than seeing the whole thing in three dimensions. Michael Feld, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his colleagues, think they can change that. They have invented a way to look at cells that are still alive. Moreover, they can do so in three dimensions. Their method is called tomographic phase microscopy, and it is reported in this week's Nature Methods. Instead of relying on absorbed or reflected light, Dr Feld's technique celebrates transparency by looking at light that gets through unaltered. It does so by measuring a property called the refractive index. This index measures the speed of light in a material. (Light zips along at the actual ―speed of light‖, faster than which nothing can go, only when it is travelling through a vacuum.) The different components of a cell, though transparent, have different refractive indices. Dr Feld and his team therefore set out to map what these differences are, with a view to using them to distinguish between cellular components. To measure the refractive indices of different parts of a cell they use a technique called interferometry, which involves splitting a beam of light in two. One half, known as the object beam, passes through the cell; the other is directed along a different path and acts as a reference. The length of the reference path is such that if no sample is present, the two daughter beams will be as perfectly in phase when they meet as they were when they were separated. The crests and the troughs of their waves will reinforce each other, and the result will be brightness. The more that the light passing through the sample is slowed down, however, the more the two beams will be out of phase. Crest will fall on trough, and the result will be darkness. It is this phase shift that gives Dr Feld's new form of microscopy its name. A single pair of beams does not, however, produce a useful image. To do that requires scanning the object beam through the target about a hundred different ways. From the refractive index of each path it is possible—with the application of some suitably crunchy computing power—to produce a three-dimensional image. To test his idea, Dr Feld looked at cervical-cancer cells. If you identify this cancer early, the patient will probably survive. Miss it, and she will die. Dr Feld wondered if the changes that occur during cancer would show up using his new method. They did, in a part of the cell called the nucleolus. This is the place where the components of protein factories are made. Since cancer cells grow rapidly, and thus have a high demand for proteins, it was a likely place to expect changes. Dr Feld also has plans to use beams of different colours, since each colour has a slightly different refractive index in a given material. That would provide extra data for the computer to chew on, and probably result in better pictures. With enough pictures, Dr Feld's technique may make biology as transparent as the cells it studies. 参考译文: 大多数的细胞都是透明的，也就是说，他们没有很强的反射或吸收光的能力强。因此，要在显微镜 下看到它们就需要一定的技巧了。许多技巧都会杀死这些细胞，而那些能保证它们存活的技巧使人们看到 细胞的切片，而不是从三维立体的角度来观察细胞。 麻省理工大学的Michael Feld 及其同事认为他们可以改变这一点。他们发明了观察活细胞的方法， 而且还可以从三维立体观察到。他们的方法叫做X线断层阶段显微镜方法，于本周刊登在《自然方法》上。 Feld博士不是通过那些吸收或反射的光、而是利用了细胞的透明来观察穿过后细胞没有改变的光。该方法 120 是通过测量折射率来实现的。 折射率测量光在某种物质中的速度。(光只有通过真空时才以真正的―光速‖来快速移动，没有别的物 体比它更快了)细胞的不同成分虽然是透明的，但是却有不同的折射率。Feld博士及其小组因此开始寻找 这些不同，希望可以通过不同的折射率来辨析细胞的成分。 为了估测某一细胞不同组成部分的折射率，他们使用了一种将一束光线一分为二的干涉测量方法， 其中一半叫做物体光束，能穿过细胞;另外一半则沿着不同的路线前进，作为参照。参照路线的长度一定， 如果没有物体，那么这两个光束就会同相，与它们分开时的情况一样。两束光的波峰和波谷会互相加强， 结果就是非常明亮的光。通过物体的光度减慢越多，两个光束异相的程度就越大。此时，波峰会落到波谷， 最终结果就是黑暗。正是因为相的变化，Feld博士的新显微镜方法才有了自己的名称。 但是单对光束不会创造出有用的图像来。图像的生成需要将物体光束以一百种不同的方式来通过物 体并进行扫描。从每条路的折射率来看，通过运用一些适当的计算力量，就有可能可以生成三维图像。 为了检测这种想法，Feld博士研究了子宫癌细胞。越早辨认出该细胞，病人存货的几率就越大。如 果忽略了该细胞，病人就会死亡。Feld博士想知道使用自己的新方法是不能发现癌症期间的一些变化。他 们在一种名为核仁的细胞中发现了这种变化。这种细胞是生产蛋白质工厂。因为癌症细胞生长过于迅速、 需要大量的蛋白质，因此这里是发生改变最有可能的地方。 Feld 博士还计划使用不同颜色的光束，因为每种颜色的光束在某一物质中都有略微不同的折射率。 这就为计算机运行提供了更多的数据，而且可能会有更好的图像。有了足够多的图像，Feld 博士的技术就 可以让生物学变得透明起来，就像他研究的那些透明细胞一样。 3( TEXT TWO For a Nobel laureate, the molecular biologist Max Perutz made a lot of mistakes. His science was strewn with assertions that were not supported by the sparse evidence he had gathered. No matter. He was eventually right about the important things—and gentleman enough to concede his errors. With bloody-minded persistence, Perutz mastered the painstaking task of analysing images of haemoglobin, the component of blood that carries oxygen. This was no mean feat: a molecule of haemoglobin consists of thousands of atoms and, at the time, only simple structures of tens of atoms had been mapped. It was for this work that Perutz was awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry in 1962. But his triumphal announcement of the correct structure of haemoglobin was by no means his first solution to the problem: he had previously claimed all sorts of unlikely arrangements, backing down each time a colleague spotted a fatal flaw. Even when he did finally hold the secret to why blood supports life, he did not piece together the evidence to produce the ultimate result. Indeed, Perutz was furious when a junior researcher saw how the final piece fitted and could not resist popping it into its slot, completing what Perutz viewed as his jigsaw puzzle. Nevertheless, it was Perutz who had gathered all the pieces and who ensured, in the end, that they were correctly assembled. Perutz was long the outsider. Of Jewish descent, he was a lapsed Catholic by religion. He left his native Austria in 1936, two years before Hitler annexed it. The outbreak of war saw him expelled to Canada as an enemy alien. On returning to Cambridge, he was not welcomed by his college. It was only after he won the Nobel prize that he felt accepted as an Englishman, despite having been naturalised as a British subject 20 years earlier. As a scientist, too, Perutz was always on the fringe. His field of endeavour, X-ray crystallography, was neither physics nor maths nor chemistry nor biology but a combination of these. As often happens to researchers working in interdisciplinary areas of science, his progress was impeded by an establishment that sought to promote existing subjects. He lived from grant to grant, each lasting a matter of months. Nevertheless, he managed to establish the unit in which James Watson and Francis Crick elucidated the double helix structure of DNA. A decade later, a whole institute was established under him. 121 Georgina Ferry's biography captures not only the scientific advances made by Perutz but also his curious personal qualities. A skinny, sickly and, for much of his life, skint individual, Perutz is an unlikely hero. He was demanding—his diet required him to eat black bananas, even in February—and he was unselfconscious in ensuring that his elaborate needs were met. He was also naive in insisting that scientific reasoning would trump political thought and religious teaching. Ms Ferry portrays his foibles sympathetically. Perutz used to complain that, although he was famous, few people knew what it was he had achieved. By combining scientific with personal anecdotes, her book goes a good way towards redressing that balance. 参考译文: 作为一个诺贝尔奖获得者，分子生物学家Max Perutz可出了不少错。他的一些科学论断都不能被他搜 集的那些零星证据所支持。但这都没关系，他在一些重要方面都是正确的，而且也很绅士地承认自己的错 误。 尽管困难重重，但Max Perutz还是一直主持分析血红蛋白的形状，血红蛋白是血液中带有氧的成分。这可不是个一般的壮举;血红蛋白的一个分子就包括有成千上万个原子，而只有几十个原子的简单结构被 绘制出来了。正是因为这项工作，Perutz于1962年被授予诺贝尔化学奖。但是血红蛋白正确的结构并不是 他原来解决该问题的首选方案，他之前曾经作出各种各样的不可能的安排，每次都因为某个同事指出了致 命的错误而放弃其主张。 甚至当他最后已经掌握了血液为什么能够维持生命的奥秘时，他也没有将这些证据都综合起来以得出 最后的结论。实际上，一个资历较小的研究者发现最后的证据一致并禁不住将该证据放入合适的地方，从 而完成了Perutz认为是他自己的成果时，Perutz便勃然大怒。但是，正是Perutz搜集了所有的证据，最后 也确定它们都放到了正确的位置。 Perutz一直被视为一个外人。他有着犹太人的血统，是个离经叛道的天主教徒。他在1936年即希特勒 占领奥地利的两年前离开了自己的祖国。战争爆发后，他被当成异族敌人而被驱逐到加拿大。回到剑桥后，他却没有受到学校的欢迎。后来直到他获得了诺贝尔奖以后，他才感觉是被接受为一个英国人，尽管20年前他已经移民成为一名英国人。 Perutz作为一名科学家也一直处在边缘地位。他自己的研究领域X射线结晶学既不是物理、也不是数 学、化学或生物，而是这些科学的混合。正如发生在那些交叉科学领域研究者身上的情况一样，他的成就 受到一股致力于促进现有学科发展的力量的阻挠。他的资助基金不断从一个转到另一个，每个都持续不了 几个月。但是他竭力建立起了自己的单位，James Watson 和Francis Crick就是在这里阐释了DNA双螺旋 结构的。十年后，他成立了一个完整的研究所。 GeorginaFerry的传记不仅记录了Perutz在科学上的成就，还记载了他的古怪个性。Perutz一生大部分 时间都是消瘦、苍白的穷光蛋，他根本不像个英雄。他过分要求自己，他的食谱只允许他吃黑香蕉，甚至 在二月也得如此，他在确保自己复杂的要求都能够满足时甚者不会意识到这些要求有多么高。他也非常天 真，坚持认为科学的推理要优于政治思想和宗教指导。 Ferry夫人富有感情地描述他的怪癖。Perutz过去抱怨说虽然自己名气很大，但是很少有人知道他所作 出的成就是什么。Ferry夫人的书将科学与个人轶事结合在一起，从而调整了这种平衡。 4( TEXT THREE Laden with hefty backpacks, French children filed back to school this week amid fresh agonising about the education system. Given its reputation for rigour and secular egalitarianism, and its well-regarded baccalauréat exam, this is surprising. What do the French think is wrong? Quite a lot, to judge from a 30-page ―letter to teachers‖ just sent by President Nicolas Sarkozy. Too many school drop-outs; not enough respect or authority in the classroom (pupils, he says, should stand up when the teacher 122 enters); too little value placed on the teaching profession; too little art and sport in the curriculum; too much passive rote-learning; and too much ―theory and abstraction‖. France, the president concludes, needs ―to rebuild the foundations‖ of its education system. The criticisms touch all levels. A government-commissioned report reveals that two in five pupils leave primary school with ―serious learning gaps‖ in basic reading, writing and arithmetic. One in five finish secondary school with no qualification at all. Even the baccalauréat is under attack. This year's pass rate of 83% is up from just over 60% in the early 1960s. ―The bac is worth absolutely nothing,‖ asserts Jean-Robert Pitte, president of the Sorbonne-University of Paris IV. The bac is not under review, but other changes have begun. Xavier Darcos, the education minister, has loosened school-catchment rules, to allow children from poor areas to get places in good schools elsewhere. He has set up an after-hours service for lower secondary schools, to supervise homework and keep kids off the streets. Mr Sarkozy has established a commission under Michel Rocard, a former prime minister and yet another of his recruits from the left, to look into the teaching profession—and perhaps to soften up the unions before less palatable changes. Some hard questions remain. France's rigorous system suits able pupils: half of all 15-year-olds match the standards in writing, maths and science of the very best performers in the rich-country OECD. But schools fail the weakest. The bottom 15% of French 15-year-olds rank among the OECD's worst. The main cure for struggling pupils is redoublement, the repeat of a school year. By the age of 15, 38% of French pupils have repeated a year, more than in any other OECD country. Yet an official report suggests that redoublement has no noticeable effect on a child's progress. Mr Darcos told Le Parisien this week that he ―believed very little in the efficiency of redoublement‖. But it is unclear what he would put in its place. He plans to trim teacher numbers. He hints at more streaming of pupils by ability, so that children can stay with their age group, but the unions are hostile. Mr Sarkozy suggests another answer: less abstract teaching, which might engage less academic pupils. Mr Sarkozy will find it hard to translate his ambitious ideas into concrete plans. His wish-list for the curriculum is daunting: more art and sport, but also more ―civic education‖, comparative religion, ―general culture‖, trips to the theatre, walks in the forest, visits to businesses. Yet French 15-year-olds already spend an average of 1,042 hours a year in the classroom—150 more than German pupils, and 282 more than English ones. 参考译文: 本周，法国的孩子们背着沉重的书包、带着对教育体系的新苦恼又回到了学校。法国教育以其严格、 平等以及非常重视学士学位考试而闻名，因此孩子们有这样的反应就很奇怪了。那么法国人觉得哪儿出问 题了呢, 很多地方都有问题，这是Nicholas Sarcozy总统刚刚递交的长达30页的―致老师书‖里表达出的意见。 有太多辍学的学生;教堂中没有尊重和威信(他称学生在老师进教室前应该起立);教师职业评价不够; 课程安排上艺术和体育的内容太少;有太多死记硬背的教学;太多的―理论和抽象‖。总统最后的结论是， 法国需要―重新建立‖ 其教育体系基础。 这些批评几乎涉及了各个层次。政府进行的一项研究表明，每五个学生中就有两名因为在基础读写和 算术方面学习差距过大而放弃了小学学习。每五个学生中就有一个中学毕业后没有取得毕业证书。甚至连 学士学位也受到了抨击。毕业率从20世纪60年代早期的60%上升到了现在的83%。―学士学位一文不值，‖ 巴黎第四大学校长Jean-Robert Pitte这样说。 学士学位目前不在考虑之列，但是其他的一些变化已经开始了。教育部长Xavier Darcos放宽了学校入 学规则，允许贫穷地区的孩子可以到其他地方的好学校上学。他为初中设立了课后服务，监督学生做家庭 作业，不让他们一下课就在街上乱逛。Sarcozy先生建立了一个委员会，由前总理现在仍担任其左派幕僚 的Michel Rocard负责，主要审查教师行业，也是为了在推进其他更严厉的变革之前软化工会。 但是还有更多棘手的问题。法国严格的教育只适合哪些好学生:所有15岁的青少年只有一半达到了 读写、数学和科学课程标准，该标准是富裕国家OECD最优秀学生的标准。但是学校忽略了最差的学生。 法国15岁青少年最差的15%学生是OECD国家中最差的。对于这些学生的主要解决方法就是复读，即重 新读一年。法国38%的学生在15岁前都曾复读过，这要比其他OECD国家都高很多。但是官方的一个报 告却指出复读对学生的提高没有显著的作用。 123 Darcos先生本周告诉Le Parisien，他―认为复读几乎没有什么成效‖。但是至于他要用什么样的方法来 取代还不清楚。他计划减少教师的数量。他提到可能会根据学生的能力来编班，这样学生就可以和他们一 个年龄层的同学呆在一起，但是工会却表示反对。Sarcozy建议采取另外一种办法:减少理论教学，这可 能会吸引那些非学院派的学生。Sarcozy先生发现要将自己的宏图大志转化为具体的计划难度很大。他对 于课程的希望让人害怕:要有更多的艺术和体育课，但也要有更多的―公民教育‖、比较宗教学、―普通文化‖、 到剧院参观、在森林散布、到公司参观。但是法国15岁的青少年每年在教室的时间已经有1042小时了， 这比德国学生多了150小时，比英国学生多了282个小时。 5( TEXT FOUR It's normal for your muscles to lose tone when you sleep—that's why people in meetings nod off so amusingly. But in as many as 10 percent of middle-aged and older adults, the throat muscles relax so much that the airway repeatedly closes up, a condition that can be deadly, as it turns out. According to a study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, obstructive sleep apnea sharply increases the risk of stroke or death. People with sleep apnea often don't realize they have it, since they don't remember waking up again and again, gasping for breath. Often, it's a bed partner who hears the choking and "industrial-strength snoring," says Klar Yaggi, a sleep specialist at Yale who led the study. He and his colleagues followed two groups of patients who were tested for sleep apnea (defined as stopping breathing five or more times per hour). Some had the condition; some didn't. During the 3? years or so that they were studied, the people with sleep apnea were about twice as likely to have a stroke or die. No one really knows why, although the explanation could have to do with the spikes of adrenaline that course through the body when breathing stops, increasing blood pressure, or with repeated plunges in the level of oxygen in the blood. This study didn't look at whether treatment—sleeping with a contraption that continuously blows air into the mouth—lowers risk. But losing weight will improve sleep apnea. And patients who use the machine get much more rest, Yaggi says, which should help them avoid one of the other major dangers of sleep apnea: car accidents. Another study in the same issue of the New England Journal looked at how well the continuous air treatment works for people with central sleep apnea, a different disorder altogether. In both forms of sleep apnea, you stop breathing periodically. But in central sleep apnea, the problem is not an obstructed airway but that the brain fails to send out the command to breathe. The disorder is usually caused by congestive heart failure, in which the heart doesn't pump as well as it should and fluid collects in the chest. Researchers think that providing a continuous air flow during sleep might help drive water out of the lungs and make breathing more regular. The treatment did help people with central sleep apnea in some ways: Their hearts worked better, they didn't stop breathing as often, they didn't have adrenaline surges, and they were able to exercise more. "That's the good news," says Douglas Bradley, a pulmonologist at the University of Toronto and author of the article. "The bad news is that we didn't improve survival." The treated patients weren't any less likely to die in the follow-up period than those who were not given the treatment. While Bradley suspects a larger study would prove a lower risk of dying, he says the benefits shown in this study aren't significant enough to recommend using the treatment routinely in people with central sleep apnea. 参考译文: 睡觉的时候肌肉失去伸缩性是很正常的，这也是人为什么开会时会打瞌睡的道理。但是中年或稍微 年长的人中间有10%的喉咙肌肉会过于放松，以至于气流通道会反复关闭，这种情况被证明是会致命 的。本周《新英格兰医学期刊》上刊登的一项研究表明，睡觉时呼吸突然受阻暂停会增加中风或死亡的危 险。 睡觉时呼吸会暂停的人们根本意识不到自己有这种情况，因为他们不记得自己一遍又一遍地醒来喘 气了。经常是同床的人听到了呼吸不畅的声音，或是―大声的打鼾‖，该研究的领头人耶鲁大学睡眠专家 Klar Yaggi这样说。他和同事一起跟踪研究了两组睡觉呼吸暂停的病人(呼吸暂停的标准就是每个小时呼 124 吸停止五次以上)。有些人才这样的情况，而有些人却没有。大约3年半的研究中，睡觉时呼吸暂停的人 中风或死亡的几率大约是正常人的两倍。 没有人知道这是为什么，虽然可能与肾上腺素的神经元局部电位差有关系，呼吸停止时该电位差通 过身体，增加血压;或者是与血液中氧反复降低有关。该研究并没有涉及是否通过治疗(睡觉时使用一种 装置不停将空气吹到嘴里)能降低这种危险。但是治疗确实有助于改善睡眠时呼吸暂停的情况。Yaggi说 使用该装置的病人可以得到更多的休息，这可以使他们避免睡眠呼吸暂停带来的另一个主要危险——交 通事故。 刊登在该期刊同期的另外一个研究则关注持续的空气疗法对于有中央睡眠呼吸暂停的人们有什么样 的效果——中央睡眠呼吸暂停是另外一种完全不同的疾病。这两种睡眠呼吸暂停的患者都会间歇地停止 呼吸。但是中央睡眠呼吸暂停问题不是呼吸到受阻，而是大脑不再发出呼吸的命令。该疾病一般是由于 先天性心脏病引发，由于心脏不能正常抽吸，于是体液都聚集在腹腔中。研究这认为睡眠中提供连续的 气流有助于将水排出肺部，使得呼吸更为均匀。 但是该疗法确实有助于中央睡眠呼吸暂停的患者。他们的心脏可以工作得更好，呼吸停止不再那么 频繁，肾上腺素也没有增加，他们因此可以做更多的活动。―这是个好消息，‖多伦多大学呼吸专家 Douglas Bradley即该文章的作者说，―但是坏消息就是我们却不能解决存活问题。‖ 在以后的时间中，接受治疗患者的死亡几率与那些没有接受治疗患者的几率是差不多的。Bradley猜 测可能更大规模的研究能证明治疗会减少死亡的风险，但是该研究所显示的结果还不足以可以建议让那些 患有中央睡眠呼吸暂停的病人接受常规的治疗。 TEXT ONE When honey bees began to desert their hives recently, never to return, it threw apiarists into a panic. What appeared to be perfectly healthy adult bees would flee their queen, the young and their foodstores. Instead of ransacking the empty hive, other bees would avoid it like the plague. Yet there was nothing obviously wrong. Researchers have now identified the first tangible clue in the mystery—a relatively new virus. Colony collapse disorder became widespread in America in the winter of 2006-07, when about a quarter of the nation's beekeepers were affected, each losing between 30% and 90% of their winged workers. Bees are valued not so much for their honey, which is worth some $200m a year in America, but for their work in pollinating crops. This brings the economy some $15 billion a year, as apiarists move their hives to land producing fruit, vegetables and nuts. Finding exactly why colonies collapse has been taxing the minds of both federal and university scientists. There have been few bodies on which to conduct autopsies. Those adult bees that have been found dead near an abandoned hive have been riddled with almost every bee disease known to man. Now a report by Diana Cox-Foster of Pennsylvania State University and her colleagues, published in the September 6th issue of Science, points the finger at the Israeli acute paralysis virus. The lurgy in question was, the researchers suggest, imported from Australia. Because many factors could be acting together to cause bee colonies to collapse, Dr Cox-Foster and her colleagues decided to examine everything they could find within the empty hives. They collected samples from infected hives and compared them not only with samples from apparently healthy hives but also with an analysis of royal jelly—a bee secretion fed to the larvae—from China, which has not been affected by the mystery disorder. From their samples, the researchers extracted RNA—a chemical that carries and helps to decode genetic information. Their analysis revealed the presence of various bacteria, fungi and viruses that were lurking in the hives and the royal jelly. They then looked to see whether there was anything in the abandoned hives that was not found elsewhere. What they found was a virus first identified in 2004 in the Middle East. Bees infected with Israeli acute paralysis virus shiver, their bodies become frozen and they die. But the virus itself cannot be the sole cause of 125 colony collapse disorder. For a start, all the hives infected with it were also infested with a second nasty, the Kashmiri bee virus. Yet this virus was also present in many of the apparently healthy hives. Intriguingly, there was also a virus that the researchers were unable to classify. They suspect it may be a new lineage of the Kashmiri bee virus, but it could be something completely novel. This second virus was also found only in the abandoned hives. The researchers reckon that the reason why so many honey bees are dying is down to a combination of factors that are found only, so far, in America. The Israeli acute paralysis virus may have had such a devastating effect there because of the presence of a parasite called the varroa mite. This parasite weakens the immune systems of bees, making the consequences of an infection more likely to be fatal. Tellingly, bees in Australia have not been infected by the parasite. 1. When honey bees desert their hives, the other bees will usually _____ 参考译文: 当蜜蜂开始离开自己的蜂房、再也不回来的时候。这让养蜂人陷入了恐慌。那些壮年的蜜蜂离开了 蜂皇、幼蜂和它们的食物储藏地。其它密封也没有去占领那些空的蜂房，反而像避瘟疫一样地避开。尽管 表面上看起来没什么大的问题，研究者们现在找到了这个谜团的第一丝线索——一种比较新的病毒。 2006年至2007年的冬天，蜂房倒塌在美国随处可见，全国四分之一的养蜂人都遭受了损失，每个人 都失去了30%到90%的工蜂。蜜蜂的高价值并不在于其生产的蜂蜜(在美国一年为2亿美元)，而是因为 它们可以给谷物授粉。养蜂人将蜂巢移到生长水果、蔬菜和坚果的地方，每年因此带来的收入为150亿美 元。 这些帝国瓦解的原因一直让联邦和大学的科学家们头疼，因为没有多少蜜蜂可供研究。而在被遗弃 蜂巢旁死去的成年蜜蜂几乎得过所有人类知道的蜜蜂可能得的病。宾西法尼亚州立大学的Diana Cox-Foster 及其同事发表的一篇报道(发表于9月6号的《科学》杂志)将矛头指向了以色列急性麻痹病毒。研究者 认为，这种疾病是从澳大利亚传入的。 因为许多因素可能共同导致蜜蜂王国的崩溃，Cox-Foster博士及其同事决定把他们在空巢中找到的所 有东西都检查一遍。他们从受到感染的蜂巢中搜集了一些样品，不仅将其与正常健康的蜂巢样品作比较， 而且和中国蜂王浆(喂养幼虫的蜜蜂分泌物)进行分析比较，这种蜂王浆没有受到这种奇怪的侵害。研究 者从取样中提取了RNA，这是携带并帮助解读遗传信息的化学物质。他们的分析发现了许多细菌、真菌和 病毒都潜伏在蜂巢和蜂王浆里。接着他们调查被遗弃的蜂巢中是否还有别的什么东西在其它地方是没有 的。 他们发现的是一种2004年在中东首次确认的病毒。染上以色列急性麻痹病毒的蜜峰会颤抖，进而身 体变僵硬，最后死去。但是病毒本身不可能是蜜蜂王国瓦解的唯一原因。最开始，所有感染该病毒的蜂巢 也染有第二种病毒——克什米尔蜜蜂病毒。但是这种病毒在许多健康的蜜蜂体内也存在。奇怪的是，还有 一种病毒研究者们不能辨别。他们怀疑这可能是克什米尔病毒的新变种，但是也可能是完全新型的病毒。 第二种病毒在被抛弃的蜂巢中也能找到。 研究者承认为什么如此多蜜蜂死去的原因是一系列因素综合作用的结果，到目前为止只在美国出现。 以色列急性麻痹病毒有可能因为一种名为varroa mite的寄生虫的存在而得到了摧毁性的效果。这种寄生虫 减弱了蜜蜂的免疫系统，使得感染疾病的蜜蜂更容易是死亡。据说，澳大利亚的蜜蜂就没有受到这种寄生 虫的侵害。 TEXT TWO Once upon a time, the only ideologically acceptable explanations of mental differences between men and women were cultural. Any biologist who dared to suggest in public that perhaps evolution might work differently on the sexes, and that this might perhaps result in some underlying neurological inequalities, was likely to get tarred and feathered. Today, by contrast, biology tends to be an explanation of first resort in matters sexual. So it is 126 salutary to come across an experiment which shows that a newly discovered difference which fits easily, at first sight, into the biological-determinism camp, actually does not belong there at all. Writing in Psychological Science, a team led by Ian Spence of the University of Toronto describes a test performed on people's ability to spot unusual objects that appear in their field of vision. Success at spatial tasks like this often differs between the sexes (men are better at remembering and locating general landmarks; women are better at remembering and locating food), so the researchers were not surprised to discover a discrepancy between the two. The test asked people to identify an ―odd man out‖ object in a briefly displayed field of two dozen otherwise identical objects. Men had a 68% success rate. Women had a 55% success rate. Had they left it at that, Dr Spence and his colleagues might have concluded that they had uncovered yet another evolved difference between the sexes, come up with a ―Just So‖ story to explain it in terms of division of labour on the African Savannah, and moved on. However, they did not leave it at that. Instead, they asked some of their volunteers to spend ten hours playing an action-packed, shoot-'em-up video game, called ―Medal of Honour: Pacific Assault‖. As a control, other volunteers were asked to play a decidedly non-action-packed puzzle game, called ―Ballance‖, for a similar time. Both sets were then asked to do the odd-man-out test again. Among the Ballancers, there was no change in the ability to pick out the unusual. Among those who had played ―Medal of Honour‖, both sexes improved their performances. That is not surprising, given the different natures of the games. However, the improvement in the women was greater than the improvement in the men—so much so that there was no longer a significant difference between the two. Moreover, that absence of difference was long-lived. When the volunteers were tested again after five months, both the improvement and the lack of difference between the sexes remained. Though it is too early to be sure, it looks likely that the change in spatial acuity—and the abolition of any sex difference in that acuity—induced by playing ―Medal of Honour‖ is permanent. That has several implications. One is that playing violent computer games can have beneficial effects. Another is that the games might provide a way of rapidly improving spatial ability in people such as drivers and soldiers. And a third is that although genes are important, upbringing matters, too. In this instance, exactly which bit of upbringing remains unclear. Perhaps it has to do with the different games that boys and girls play. But without further research, that suggestion is as much of a ―Just So‖ story as those tales from the savannah. 参考译文: 过去，关于男性和女性之间思想存在差别唯一可以为人接受的解释就是文化。敢于在公共场合宣称进 化在男女身上起不同的作用, 并称这可能导致了神经方面的不平等，这样的人可能会受到重罚。现在情况 正好相反，当今生物学可能成为了性别方面差异的解释。因此，当一项试验发明发现的一种差异第一眼看 来和绝对论阵营一致、而实际上并非如此时，这是值得庆贺的。 《心理科学》上报道，多伦多大学的Ian Spence领导的一个小组进行了一项实验，旨在研究人们发现 视野中出现的的异物的能力。男性和女性完成这种空间实验的表现往往有差别 (男性在记忆和确定路标 方面表现更优;女性在记忆和找出食物方位方面表现更好)，因此研究者发现了性别之间的差异。该实验 要求人们在24个相同物体的展示台上辨认出―孤立的物体‖。男性的正确率为68%，而女性正确率为55%。 如果实验到此为止，那么Spence博士和他的同事就可以得出结论，认为他们发现了性别之间另外一种 差别，用一个―也就是如此‖的故事来解释非洲大草原上的劳动分工，然后继续。但是，他们却没有这样做。 他们让一些志愿者花十个小时玩一种叫做―荣誉勋章:太平洋攻击‖的捆绑行动射杀游戏。参照组的志愿者 玩一种名为―平衡‖的非捆绑行动的拼图游戏。然后再让两组人一起再做―孤立物体 ‖试验。 ―平衡‖游戏的玩家前后表现没有什么变化。而―荣誉勋章‖的玩家中，无论男性还是女性的表现都有所 改善。这一点都不奇怪，因为游戏性质有别。但是，女性能力的增强幅度要比男性的幅度大，以至于最后 两者之间已经没有明显的差别了。而且，这种差异的消失一直都会存在。五个月后志愿者又进行了一次测 127 试时，玩家的能力进步与性别之间的无差别还保持不变。尽管现在下结论还为时尚早，但是因为―荣誉勋 章‖游戏引起的空间敏度差别，以及该敏度上男女差别的消失是一直不变的。 这个结论有几个意义。其中一个意义是玩暴力电脑游戏会有一些比较好的效果。另外一个意义为该游 戏可以提供一种快速提高人们(如司机和士兵)能力的方法。第三个意义是，虽然基因很重要，但是后天 的培养也很重要。在这个例子中，具体是哪些后天因素引起了能力的改变还不明确。也许这与男孩、女孩 玩的不同游戏有关。由于没有进一步的研究，这种建议也只是―仅此而已‖的故事罢了，这和大草原上的那 些故事并没有两样。 TEXT THREE The dinosaurs fell victim to an asteroid smashing into the Earth, but people have no plans to allow such a calamity to befall them. For the past decade or so, astronomers have been watching the skies to identify dangerous flying objects. One lump of rock, called Apophis, the Greek name for an Egyptian god of destruction, alarmed astronomers when it was first spotted in 2004. They now think it is extremely unlikely to hit the planet. Even so, a private company has just unveiled plans to visit it, in case Apophis does decide to pop in on Earth sometime soon. The reason for the trip is that the orbits of asteroids are difficult to predict. Apophis is expected to sweep close enough to the Earth in 2029 to pass below the altitude of communications satellites. Depending on its exact path, it could pass through what is known as a keyhole—a narrow range of orbits—that would deflect it and cause it to crash into the planet when it comes round again exactly seven years later. Hence the bid to launch a probe by Astrium, a spacecraft subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace and defence giant. It would study the way in which Apophis is drifting because of the effects of sunlight and that would enable astronomers to plot its course more accurately. The probe would also map the details of Apophis's surface and determine its thermal properties, which would help identify the composition of the asteroid. Such information could prove invaluable if it became necessary to nudge the projectile from its path. The idea is to launch the mission, called Apex, in 2013 and for it to rendezvous with the asteroid in January 2014. The probe would spend three years stalking Apophis so that, if it did appear to be heading towards the keyhole, action could be taken to divert it well before 2029. Improbable though astronomers think this particular impact may be, it would be good to know more about nearby asteroids so that when one does threaten to strike, its route can be changed. Apophis is some 350 metres across, considerably larger than the object that is thought to have flattened 2,000 square kilometres of Siberian forest as it vaporised in the atmosphere above Tunguska in 1908. Smashing such an object to smithereens, a technique championed by Hollywood films, would be silly because the Earth would be pelted with lots of smaller bits of debris that could prove just as destructive, particularly near a city. Better to knock it off course or tow it away using the gravitational attraction of a spacecraft sent to divert it. The success of this approach would depend not only on the path the asteroid is expected to take, but also on how the material that forms it is bound together. Astrium's plans have been submitted to the Planetary Society, a group of space enthusiasts that has stumped up $50,000 in prize money to inspire interest in a mission to Apophis. Given that the actual cost for such a mission would be more like $50m, both the American space agency, NASA, and its European counterpart are taking a close interest. It is they, after all, who would be footing most of the bill. 参考译文: 恐龙因为一颗小行星撞击到了地球而灭绝了，不过人类可不会让这种灾难降临到他们身上。过去的几 十年中，天文学家一直在观测天空，以辨明危险的飞行物。其中有一块巨石叫做Apophis, 这是个希腊名字， 指的是埃及破坏之神。这块巨石于2004年被天文学家勘测到，引起了他们的警觉。目前他们认为Apophis 128 不太可能撞击地球。即使有这样的论断，一家私人公司已经公开发表了要访问这颗小行星的计划，以防止 它哪天忽然要撞击地球。 展开这次行动是因为小行星的运行轨道很难预测。Apophis可能于2029年非常接近地球，比通讯卫星 离地球还要近。从它的路线来看，七年后再次返回时它可能要经过一个小洞——狭窄的轨道区，这会导致 这颗小行星偏离轨道，然后撞击地球。 正因为如此，欧洲一家航空和防卫巨头EADs的一个太空船子公司Astrium才决定要进行一次探索。 它将研究Apophis因太阳效应而漂浮的路线，这可以让天文学家更为精确地计算它的路线。该研究也会找 出Apophis表面的详细信息，确定其热量成分，这有助于判定该行星的组成。如果这样的信息对于改变其 路径非常有用的话，那就是很宝贵的信息了。 目前的计划就是在2013年发动Apex行动，于2014年与这颗小行星相会。该研究将用三年时间来追踪 Apophis，如果它确实朝小洞进发，那么就展开行动在2029年前让它改变方向。尽管天文学家认为这颗小 行星不太可能撞击地球，但是如果能更好地了解地球附近的行星，从而在其可能要撞击地球改变将其航线， 这样做还是很好的。Apophis直径约为350米，要比本来可能夷平2000平方公里的西伯利亚森林的那个星 体更大，该星体1908年在通古斯卡河上空蒸发了。 将这样的物体击为碎片，这是好莱坞电影才有的特技，这种想法很傻，因为这些小碎片飞落到地球 上同样有毁灭性的后果，尤其在城市附近落下的话。最好让其改变航线或者利用太空飞船的万有引力来 将它拖走。这种方法要取得成功，不仅要看行星的运行路线，还要看组成该行星的物质是如何结合在一 起的。 Astrium计划已经交到行星学会，该学会由一群宇宙狂热者组成，他们设立了五万美金的奖励来激励 人们对Apophis行动的兴趣。因为这样的行动实际花费是五亿多美元，因此美国空间局、国家航空和宇宙 航行局以及欧洲的相关部门都非常关注，因为他们得支付大部分的费用 Walk along the River Warnow, in northern Germany, and you may be lucky enough to spot a SeaFalcon, a sleek, white machine with two propellers, two wings and a distinctly un-birdlike tail. It looks like an aircraft. Which is what it is. Except, it isn't. It is a ship—at least in the eyes of the International Marine Organisation, which regulates such things. That matters, because ships are much more lightly regulated than aircraft. The SeaFalcon is really a ground-effect vehicle. It flies only over water and only two metres above that water. This means the air beneath its wings is compressed, giving it additional lift. In effect, it is floating on a cushion of air. That makes it far cheaper to run than a plane of equivalent size, while the fact that it is flying means it is far faster—at 80-100 knots—than a ship of any size. Its designer, Dieter Puls, thus hopes it will fill a niche for the rapid transport of people and light goods in parts of the world where land and sea exist in similar proportions. The theory of ground-effect vehicles goes back to the 1920s, when Carl Wieselsberger, a German physicist, described how the ground effect works. There was then a period of silence, followed by a false start. In the 1960s the Soviet armed forces thought that ground-effect vehicles would be ideal for shifting heavy kit around places like the Black Sea. Their prototypes did fly, but were never deployed in earnest—and their jet engines consumed huge amounts of fuel. This did, however, prove that the idea worked. And two German engineers, Mr Puls and Hanno Fischer, have taken it up and made it work by using modern, composite materials for the airframes, and propellers rather than jets for propulsion. One reason the Soviet design was so thirsty is that the power needed to lift a ground-effect vehicle is far greater than that needed to sustain it in level flight. The Soviet design used heavy jet engines to deliver the power needed for take-off. But the SeaFalcon uses a hydrofoil to lift itself out of the water, and Airfish 8 uses what Mr Fischer calls a hoverwing—a system of pipes that takes air which has passed through the propeller and blasts it out under the craft during take-off. The next stage is to begin production in earnest—and that seems to be about to happen. Mr Puls says he has 129 signed a deal with an Indonesian firm for an initial order of ten, while both he and Mr Fischer are in discussions with Wigetworks, a Singaporean company, with a view to starting production next year. South-East Asia, with its plethora of islands and high rate of economic growth is just the sort of place where ground-effect vehicles should do well. But a note of caution is needed. For another sort of ground-effect vehicle was also expected to do well and ended up going nowhere. The hovercraft differed from the vehicles designed by Messrs Puls and Fischer in that it relied on creating its own cushion of air, rather than having one provided naturally. That meant it could go on land as well as sea—which was thought at the time to be a winning combination. Sadly, it was not. Hovercraft have almost disappeared. But then, in the eyes of the regulators, they counted as aircraft. 参考译文: 沿着德国北部的Warnow河散步，如果幸运的话你就能看到―海鹰‖，这是一种圆圆的白色机器，有两 个螺旋桨，两个机翼和一个不像鸟类尾巴的机尾。它看起来像飞机，也确实是飞机。除此之外，它并不是 飞机，而是一艘船，至少国际航海组织是这样认为的，该组织负责下达此类规定。这种界定是至关重要的， 因为船要比飞机受到的约束少很多。 ―海鹰‖是一种气垫车，只会在水面上飞行且只能高出水面两米。这就意味着其机翼下是压缩空气，从而 提供了额外的升力。实际上，它是在气垫上漂浮的。这样比运行同等大小的飞机省钱得多。其设计者Dieter Puls因此希望可以为人们的快速行动提供一个特殊的空间，在那些陆地和海洋面积相仿的地区运送货物。 制造气垫车的理念要回溯到上个世纪20年代，德国物理学家Carl Wieselsberger描述了气垫的原理。接 着是一段沉寂期，后来又是一个错误的开始。60年代，苏联军队认为气垫车可以用在黑海附近区域运输沉 重的工具。他们制造的模型也确实可以飞行，但是却没有进行真正的部署，此外他们的喷射引擎需要消耗 大量的燃料。 但这却说明这个主意是可行的。两位德国工程师Dieter Puls和Hanno Fischer接手了这项工作，他们使 用现代复合材料制造机身，用螺旋推进器而不是喷气机作为推动力。苏联的模型耗燃料如此之大的的一个 原因是用来拉升气垫车的动力要比维持其水平飞行的动力更大。苏联设计使用了重喷气引擎来传输起飞需 要的动力，但是海鹰使用了水翼来将自己拉出海面，飞鱼8使用的是一种被Fischer先生称做盘旋翼的导 管系统，该系统吸取通过推进器的空气，在起飞时将其喷出。 下一个步骤就是真正来制造这种气垫车了，这好像马上就会成为可能。Puls先生说他已经和一家印尼 公司签订了合同，首期制造十架飞机，而他和Fischer先生都在和新加坡公司Wigetworks商谈，可能明年 会投入生产。东南亚因为岛屿众多，且经济增长速度很快，正是气垫车发挥作用的好地方。 但还是需要谨慎一些，因为有另外一种气垫车运行良好，但是最后却失败了。气垫船和Puls 及Fischer 先生设计的气垫车的不同之处在于依靠前者自有的气垫而不是自然的气垫。这意味着它可以在陆地行使， 也可以在海上行驶，当时认为是双赢的组合。令人沮丧的是，结果却不是这样。这种气垫船几乎已经消失 了。而在当时管理者的眼里，它们是飞机。 TEXT ONE Although it symbolises a bright idea, the traditional incandescent light bulb is a dud. It wastes huge amounts of electricity, radiating 95% of the energy it consumes as heat rather than light. Its life is also relatively short, culminating in a dull pop as its filament fractures. Now a team of researchers has devised a light bulb that is not only much more energy-efficient—it is also expected to last longer than the devices into which it is inserted. Moreover, the lamp could be used for rear-projection televisions as well as general illumination. The trick to a longer life, for light bulbs at least, is to ensure that the lamp has no electrodes. Although electrodes are undeniably convenient for plugging bulbs directly into the lighting system, they are also the main 130 reason why lamps fail. The electrodes wear out. They can react chemically with the gas inside the light bulb, making it grow dimmer. They are also difficult to seal into the structure of the bulb, making the rupture of these seals another potential source of failure. Scientists working for Ceravision, a company based in Milton Keynes, in Britain, have designed a new form of lamp that eliminates the need for electrodes. Their device uses microwaves to transform electricity into light. It consists of a relatively small lump of aluminium oxide into which a hole has been bored. When the aluminium oxide is bombarded with microwaves generated from the same sort of device that powers a microwave oven, a concentrated electric field is created inside the void. If a cylindrical capsule containing a suitable gas is inserted into the hole, the atoms of the gas become ionised. As electrons accelerate in the electric field, they gain energy that they pass on to the atoms and molecules of the gas as they collide with them, creating a glowing plasma. The resulting light is bright, and the process is energy-efficient. Indeed, whereas traditional light bulbs emit just 5% of their energy as light, and fluorescent tubes about 15%, the Ceravision lamp has an efficiency greater than 50%. Because the lamp has no filament, the scientists who developed it think it will last for thousands of hours of use—in other words, for decades. Moreover, the light it generates comes from what is almost a single point, which means that the bulbs can be used in projectors and televisions. Because of this, the light is much more directional and the lamp could thus prove more efficient than bulbs that scatter light in all directions. Its long life would make the new light ideal for buildings in which the architecture makes changing light bulbs complicated and expensive. The lamps' small size makes them comparable to light-emitting diodes but the new lamp generates much brighter light than those semiconductor devices do. A single microwave generator can be used to power several lamps. Another environmental advantage of the new design is that it does not need mercury, a highly toxic metal found in most of the bulbs used today, including energy-saving fluorescent bulbs, fluorescent tubes and the high-pressure bulbs used in projectors. And Ceravision also reckons it should be cheap to make. With lighting accounting for some 20% of electricity use worldwide, switching to a more efficient system could both save energy and reduce emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases. 参考译文: 虽然传统的白炽灯泡一直被认为是个伟大的发明，但它其实是不中用的东西。白炽灯浪费了大部分的 电，将95%的能量都转化为热而不是光，其寿命也相对较短，随着灯丝断裂，啪的一声灯泡也走到了终点。 目前一群研究人员已经发明出一种灯泡，不仅节能，而且比灯泡装置的寿命更长。而且，该灯泡既可用于 背投电视，也可用于全面照明。 长寿的秘诀，至少对于灯泡来说，就是保证灯泡没有电极。虽然不可否认电极可以很方便地将灯泡 连接到发光系统，但是这同时也是灯泡为什么坏掉的主要原因:是因为电极用完了。电极会与灯泡里面的 气体产生化学反应，这样灯泡就变暗了。将电极与灯泡的组织焊死也非常困难，而这些焊接的裂缝正是灯 泡坏掉的另外一个潜在原因。 Ceravision是一家位于英国米林基那斯的公司，其科学家设计出一种新式的电灯，可以不用电极。他 们的这个装置使用微波来将电转化为光。该装置包括一块较小的氧化铝，在上面有一个洞。当氧化铝在真 空中被微波撞击时(产生该微波的装置和微波炉是一样的)，就形成了一个密集电场。 如果把包着适当气体的圆柱形封壳塞入洞中，气体的原子就会被电离。随着电场中电子运动的加速， 电子与气体的原子和分子结合之后，把传递到原子和分子上的能量聚集起来，制造出一片光亮的等离子体。 其产生的光是非常明亮的，而过程也很节能。实际上，传统的电灯只将5%的能量转化为光，荧光灯泡的 比率为15%，而Ceravision电灯的能耗比率要大于50%。 因为这种电灯没有灯丝，所以研制该电灯的科学家认为其使用寿命可达几万个小时，换句话说，可以 用几十年。而且，这种电灯产生的灯光是从一点发出的，这就意味着灯泡可以用在放映机和电视上。同 时因为这个原因，这种灯泡的灯光更为定向，比散射的灯泡要更加节能。有些建筑师设计的建筑物比较 131 特别，更换灯泡非常复杂且昂贵，而使用这种这种寿命较长的灯泡就比较理想了。这种灯泡体积较小， 可以与二极管相媲美，但其发出的光要比半导体装置的光更为明亮。单一个微波发生器就可以为几个灯 泡提供能量。 这种新灯泡另外的一个环保优点就是不需要水银，而水银一种高毒性的液体，今天我们使用的大部分 灯泡中都有这种液体，包括节能的荧光灯、荧光管和用在投影机上的高压灯。Ceravision承认新灯泡的造 价也很低廉。全世界20%的电力消耗都用于照明，因此使用更为高效的系统不仅可以节约能源，而且可以 减少导致温室效应的气体排放。 TEXT TWO For its supporters, the idea of growing single-celled algae on exhaust gas piped from power stations is the ultimate in recycling. For its detractors, it is a mere pipe dream. Whoever turns out to be right, though, it is an intriguing idea: instead of releasing the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels into the atmosphere, why not recapture it by photosynthesis? The result could then be turned into biodiesel (since many species of algae store their food reserves as oil), or even simply dried and fed back into the power station. Of course, if it were really that easy, someone would have done it already. But although no one has yet commercialised the technology, several groups are trying. One of them is GS CleanTech, which has developed a bioreactor based on a patent held by a group of scientists at the Ohio Coal Research Centre, at the University of Ohio. The GS CleanTech bioreactor uses a parabolic mirror to funnel sunlight into fibre-optic cables that carry the light to acrylic ―glow plates‖ inside the reactor. These diffuse the light over vertical sheets of polyester that form the platform on which the algae grow. Eventually the polyester is unable to support the weight of the algae, and they fall off into a collection duct positioned underneath. GreenFuel Technologies, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has a different approach. Its reactor is composed of a series of clear tubes, each with a second, opaque tube nested inside. This arrangement makes it possible to bubble the exhaust gas down through the outer compartment and then bubble it back up through the opaque middle. The bubbling gas causes turbulence and circulates the algae around the reactor. The constant shift between light and darkness as the algal cells circulate increases the amount of carbon that they fix, probably by promoting chemical reactions that occur naturally only at night. A preliminary test of GreenFuel's reactor design, which was performed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's campus power plant, suggested that it can remove 75% of the carbon dioxide from a power station's exhaust. A more serious test is now being carried out by Arizona Public Service, that state's power utility, at its Redhawk plant. Another test is planned in Louisiana. GreenFuel claims that over the course of a year, a hectare (2.5 acres) of its reactors should be able to produce 30,000 litres (8,000 American gallons) of oil, which could be used as biodiesel, and enough carbohydrates to be fermented into 9,000 litres of ethanol, which can be used as a substitute for petrol. There is, of course, no free lunch. As Rob Carlson of the University of Washington points out, if money is to be made selling products made from exhaust gas, then that gas goes from being waste matter to being a valuable resource. Far from giving it away, power companies might even start charging for it. That would, indeed, be a reversal of fortune. 参考译文: 对于支持者来说，用发电厂废气来养殖单细胞藻类是个能实现循环利用这个终极目标的办法。而那些 反对者认为，这只是个白日梦而已。不管最后谁是正确的，这个主意确实很吸引人，如果燃料燃烧后产生 132 的二氧化碳排放到空气中，那么为什么不用光合作用来将其消耗掉呢,其生成物可以转化为生物燃料(因 为许多藻类都以石油的形式储存食物)，或只需脱水后再送回发电厂。当然，如果真的有这么简单，早就 会有人这么做了。不过，尽管还没有人将这项技术商业化，有一些公司已经开始试验了。 GS清洁技术就是这样的一家公司，它利用俄亥俄大学俄亥俄州煤炭研究中心科学家们的一项专利而 研制出一种生物反应器。该反应器用一个抛物柱面镜将阳光射到纤维光缆上，光缆把将阳光传到反应器里 面的丙烯酸―白炽盘‖上。这就将光漫射到垂直的聚酯片上，而聚酯片是藻类生长的平台。最后聚酯不能支 持藻类的重量了，就会落到安在下面的管子里。 绿色燃料技术公司的总部设在马萨诸塞的剑桥，该公司采用了另外一种技术。它的反应器由一系列干 净的管子构成，每个官子里面都有另外一个不透明的管子。这种安置方法可以使沿着外层下来的废气起泡， 然后再通过不透明的中间层向上起泡。起泡的气体引起紊乱，使得藻类在反应器内活动。随着藻类的运动， 光亮和黑暗交替出现，把碳固定住并不断增加其数量，这可能是通过促成只在晚上进行的化学反应而产生 的。 绿色燃料公司称该设计的最初试验是在麻省理工大学校园的发电厂里进行的，该实验证明可以将发电 厂排出废气的75%清除掉。亚利桑那公共服务部门目前正在红鹰工厂进行一项更为重要的试验——国家公 共电力。此外路易斯安那州也在计划进行一个试验。 绿色燃料公司声称在一年中，一公顷(2.5英亩)的反应堆应该可以产出三万升(八千美国加仑)的石 油，可以用作生物燃料，还能产生足够的碳水化合物并通过发酵生成九千升的乙醇，作为石油的替代品。 当然，世上没有免费的午餐。正如华盛顿大学的Rob Carlson指出的，如果废气制造的产品可以出售盈 利的话，那么废气就会从一种废品变成一种宝贵的资源。电力公司不仅不会排放出去，而且可能会收费。 这样实际上是财富的逆转。TEXT THREE It is quite a feat to be invisible while occupying substantial buildings in central London flanking the Royal Academy of Arts. But that's just what the Linnean Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Geological Society of London, the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Royal Astronomical Society managed to do for nearly a century. Then, in 2004, Her Majesty's Government not only noticed but also questioned their right to remain at Burlington House, as the complex is called. To the Learned Societies this may have seemed a bitter irony. In 1857, the government of a previous queen had built Burlington House expressly to house them all. Reverence for such institutions, along with the value of real estate, was not what it had been in Victoria's day. But their terms of occupancy remained unchanged. When they moved into Burlington House, only the Royal Academy, run by supposedly impractical artists, asked for a lease. It was given 999 years at a peppercorn rent. The Societies and their allegedly hard-headed scientist members, were leaseless and rent-free. As decades passed, keeping a low profile must have seemed a sensible idea. Indeed, by 1920, some fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL), thought it essential. When a 1919 Act of Parliament made it illegal to bar women from such societies merely because of their gender, a committee of SAL fellows pressed for immediate action: women must be invited to become fellows at once. This was not in order to right previous wrongs. It was to avoid criticism and with it the risk that people might notice that no rent was being paid. The danger averted, heads stayed below the parapet. But danger reappeared in 2004. With the reputed aim of clarifying SAL's presence at Burlington House, the government brought a suit against it. Rumour swept through intellectual London that, in fact, the government wanted to turf the Societies out—or to get a full market rent, which would have amounted to much the same thing. Alarmed feathers from five aviaries of rare birds went flying. Now, three years later, feathers are smooth. Indeed, cooing can be heard occasionally from Burlington House. Compromises reached with the government have given the Learned Societies security of tenure at affordable rents. In return, the Societies have begun introducing themselves to one another and to the public. 133 They have created a ―cultural campus‖ in the courtyard to share scholarship and conviviality—and reflect their new appreciation that there is strength in numbers. Earlier this year, the Linnean Society announced it was producing a digital archive of its priceless collections of specimens, manuscripts and letters of the world famous Swedish naturalist, Carl Linnaeus, on this the 300th anniversary of his birth. The SAL, also 300 this year, is celebrating with a nine-month series of lectures. On November 8th at Harvard, home to many of SAL's 100 American-based fellows, Felipe Fernández-Armesto tackles ―Don Francisco's nose-piece: forming new empires in Renaissance America‖. The biggest birthday event is an exhibition of 150 of SAL's treasures at the Royal Academy from September 15th to December 2nd. Among these treasures is an oil on oak portrait of Queen Mary I painted by Hans Eworth in 1554 and a glowing 12th-century enamel casket designed to hold the remains of Thomas Becket. How good that invisibility is a thing of the past. 参考译文: 位于伦敦中心的皇家艺术学院旁边有大量的建筑物，但却又不那么引人注意，这可是个技巧。但是 Linnean学会、皇家化学学会、伦敦地理学会、伦敦古文物学会和皇家天文学学会在过去一个世纪里成功 地做到了这一点。直到2004年，女王内阁注意到了它们的存在，而且随着情况的复杂化，人们开始质疑 这些学会是否有权利驻扎在伯灵顿宫。对于这些学术学会来说，这看起来像是个极大的讽刺。1837年，前 任女王政府为这些协会专门建造了伯灵顿宫。给与这些学会以如此的尊敬，并赠予如此有价值的地产，这 在维多利亚时期是少见的。而这些房产的占有权一直没有更改过。 当学会们搬进伯灵顿宫的时候，只有由不切实际的艺术家们建立的皇家学院要求签立租约。当时签订 了999年的象征性租期。而其他学会那些无情的科学家们既没有签订租约，也没有缴纳租金。几十年过去 之后，保持低调是比较理智的主意。实际上，1920年之前，伦敦古文物学会的一些成员就认为必须这样做。 1919年议会法案规定如果仅仅因为性别原因而将女性排除在这些学会之外就构成违法，伦敦古文物学会的 一个委员会马上就采取了行动，邀请女性加入学会。这并不是要纠正以往的错误，而是为了避免引起批评， 从而引发公众注意到他们没有为房产付租金。危险得以转移，而领导们可以继续在矮墙下度日了。 但是2004年又出现了危险，为了澄清伦敦古文物学会在伯灵顿宫驻扎的问题，政府提起了诉讼。伦敦 学术界谣言四传，说政府实际上是想要将学会驱逐出去，或者是索要市场租金，这其实都是一回事。五个 稀有品种鸟舍那些鸟类的羽毛纷纷飘了起来。 现在三年过去了，羽毛平静了下来。实际上，伯灵顿宫经常能听到它们咕咕的叫声。学会们与政府达 成了协议，只需要付一定的租金就能拥有使用期限保证。作为报答，学会们要互相交流，并将自己介绍给 公众。 学会们在院子里建立了―文化园‖，用于分享知识和欢乐，也表达了它们对于成员增加感到高兴。今年 早些时候，Linnean学会宣布在世界著名的瑞典自然学家Carl Linnaeus诞辰300周年之际，将保存的珍贵 标本、手稿和信件做成电子档案。 而古文物学会今年也是300周年的诞辰，学会举办了9个月的系列讲座来进行庆祝。哈佛大学是伦敦 古文物学会100多个美国成员的总部，在1 1月8日Felipe Fernández-Armesto进行了―Don Francisco的换 镜旋座:成立新的复兴美国帝国‖。规模最大的周年庆祝是从9月15日到11月2日在皇家艺术学会展出 了150件伦敦古文物学会的珍品。在这些珍品当中有Hans Eworth1554年创作的 玛丽一世橡木肖像的油画， 还有装Thomas Becket的遗体的12世纪瓷釉棺材。遮遮掩掩已经成为过去，这是多好的一件事情啊。 Numbers get a bad press. Almost alone of the academic disciplines, mathematics is one where expressions of ignorance are more of a boast than a shameful admission (imagine admitting at a dinner party that you can't read). Yet numbers are more important than ever. They are the language of most of science and much of government, two forces that do much to shape people's lives. They are the nervous system of any modern country, marshalled in support of arguments over everything from defence to which diseases should be treated. 134 Happily for the number-shy, help is at hand. A book about numbers and how to interpret them doesn't sound like interesting bedtime reading. Yet in the hands of Michael Blastland and Andrew Dilnot, respectively producer and presenter of ―More or Less‖, a BBC radio programme on the subject, that is what it becomes. The chapters proceed from simple concepts to more complicated ones, starting with the simplest of all: working out how big a number is. That is harder than you might think. The British government's promise to spend ?300m ($600m) over five years on child-care looks impressive at first glance. Only after working through the calculations does one realise that it amounts to only ?1.15 a week for every family. The authors avoid a hectoring tone. Their prose is light-hearted and never condescending. Amusing (or occasionally frightening) examples make theoretical arguments instantly accessible. The authors point out that most people have a higher-than-average number of feet (it takes only a single man with one foot to bring the average below two). Incomes are the other way around: thanks to a few billionaires, most people earn less than the average. Later on, trickier and more emotive subjects are tackled. Much of the second half is taken up with the devilishly tricky business of trying to extract causation from correlation. One such issue is the so-called ―cancer clusters‖. A mobile-phone mast is erected in a village. Soon after, cancer rates rise to several times the national average. But masts are common, and some villages are bound to develop high cancer rates through nothing more sinister than sheer bad luck. Proving correlation is easy, but proving causation—despite how obvious the links may seem—is not. The authors make the sobering point that mortality rates for doctors vary so much that, even if he had been constantly monitored, Harold Shipman (a British doctor who murdered at least 200 patients) would have racked up a body-count of several dozen before coming to official attention. The central problem, as the authors admit, is that numbers can often be deeply counter-intuitive. Individuals find it difficult to cope with the vast quantities of cash consumed by a modern nation state, and everyday rules of thumb can sometimes lead to utterly wrong conclusions. That is what makes this book so valuable: it provides a reliable guide to a treacherous subject, giving its readers the mental ammunition to make sense of official claims. That it manages to make them laugh at the same time is a rare and welcome feat. 参考译文: 数字类的书籍销量往往不好。除了在专业学科领域外，承认自己不懂数学更多是一种自夸，而不是丢 脸的事(设想在一次晚宴上承认自己不识字)。但是现在数字比过去重要多了，它们是众多科学学科和许 多政府使用的语言，这两种力量对于人们生活的塑造至关重要。数字还是任何一个现代国家的神经系统， 可以支持各种各样的论点，包括从国防事务到哪种疾病需要治疗等各种议题。 对于那些不懂数字的人来说，幸运的是帮助就在眼前。一本关于数字及如何解读数字的书听起来不像 是那种有趣的枕边读物，但是在Michael Blastland 和Andrew Dilnot的手里，一切却恰恰相反。他们两个 人分别是BBC电台节目―或多或少‖的制作人和推荐人。 该书的章节从简单概念开始，一直讲述到复杂的概念，最开始是最简单的:算出数字有多大。这可 能要比你想像的难得多。英国政府承诺5年内在儿童护理方面投入三亿英镑(六亿美元)，这个数字乍一 看很大，但是只有计算一下大家才能意识到这相当于每个家庭每周有1.15英镑。 两位作者没有使用那种虚张声势的口吻，他们的文字非常平易近人，但又决非降格。好玩的(有时吓 人的)例子使得其理论很容易能让人理解。作者指出大多数人都比平均身高高出一点来(一个人只要矮一 英尺，就能使平均身高降低两英尺)。而收入则恰恰相反，正是因为少数几个亿万富翁的存在，才使得大 多数人的实际工资比平均工资要低。 往后就是一些更难、更微妙的问题了。后半本书中大部分都是关于从联系中找因果关系的问题。其中 一个例子就是所谓的―癌症群‖。某个村庄安了移动电话天线，很快这里的癌症发病率就高出了全国平均发 病率的几倍。天线是很普通的，而且一些村民就认为高的癌症发病率只是由于坏运气的原因。证明存在某 种联系非常容易，但是要证明因果关系就非常难了，虽然看起来这种联系显而易见。作者清楚地指出由于 135 医生手上病人的死亡率差异很大，即使Harold Shipman(一名英国医生，曾杀死至少200名病人)一直受 到监视，他还是会在杀死了几十个病人后才会引起官方的注意。 作者承认，该书的重点在于说明数字经常和人们直觉是相反的。人们发现很难清楚认识到现代国家消 费的资金数额， 而日常的经验法则有时会得出完全错误的结论。正因为这样才使得该书看起来有很高的 价值:它提供了看待微妙问题的可靠方法，让读者明白如何读懂官方的宣告。而这本书又让人哈哈大笑， 这也是一种少有的、受人欢迎的技巧。 TEXT ONE Traditional media may be declining in much of the rich world, but in poor countries it is booming. The growth in private media in developing countries has spurred much of the demand, as has new technology. That is stoking journalism training in far-flung places, in many shapes and sizes. They range from full degree programmes to the short-term specialist training offered widely across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Groups offering such courses include the BBC World Service Trust, the Reuters and Thomson Foundations, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) and Internews Network, a media-development charity based in America. These days the donors are particularly interested in niches, such as investigative reporting and science writing. But that approach sometimes flops. The need for basic reporting skills is still central. Trainers stress the need for flexibility. Participants in the courses praise the results, while complaining about the lack of focus and co-ordination among some providers. Shapi Shacinda, the Reuters correspondent in Zambia and chairman of the press club in the capital, Lusaka, says that foreign-backed training in business and economic reporting has helped bring more sceptical coverage. Previously, news stories used to be taken straight from officials' statements, he says. But governments are harder to teach. Encouraging students to probe sensitive topics may threaten their lives or livelihoods. An Iraqi journalist trained by and working with the IWPR was shot dead earlier this year. Just this week, Zambia's minister of information asserted that state-run media should not criticise the government. In Russia, an organisation founded by Internews has been closed by the authorities, who were apparently suspicious of its American backing. Rich-country governments can be a problem too. Some try to influence the ―messages‖ that trainers deliver, for example by insisting that their diplomats talk to classes on a regular basis. The big training groups insist that they control their own content. Blurring the boundaries can be dangerous both for journalists and the programmes that support them, he notes. But others may be less choosy. More is not always better. Quality varies wildly. Places like Bangladesh and Rwanda have been showered with training in recent years. Gratitude is mixed with the wish for better co-ordination. David Okwemba of Kenya's The Nation newspaper, who also helps train journalists, bemoans overlap between courses and providers' failure to share information. Some courses aspire loftily to build democratic societies through a free press. The BBC trust says it aims to give a say to the common man by holding institutions—public and private—to account. Such a range of goals makes measuring results difficult. Teaching how to point a camera or write a news story may be easy compared to raising awareness of broader issues such as HIV/AIDS. Many old news hands scoff at the notion of formal journalism education. A well-stocked and inquiring mind plus sharp penmanship are the main assets, they reckon. But even the most grizzled veterans of rich-world journalism still seem glad to earn extra money tutoring tyros in poor countries. 参考译文: 在许多富有国家，传统媒体可能已经在走下坡路了，但是在一些贫穷国家这个行业却依然兴盛。发展 中国家私有媒体的增长刺激了对科技的需求。在许多地方都出现了各种形式和规模的新闻培训。在亚洲、 非洲和拉丁美洲既有完整的学位课程，也有短期的专家培训。提供这些课程的机构包括BBC世界服务信 托公司、路透社和汤姆森基金会、战争与和平报道协会以及总部设在美国的发展慈善机构―新闻网‖。 136 最近，参加新闻培训的学员对一些特殊领域特别感兴趣，比如研究式的报道和科学写作。但是这种方 法有时却会遭到彻底失败。核心内容还应该是最基本的报道技巧。同时培训师也强调灵活的必要性。参加 这些课程的学员们对还是满意的，但却抱怨一些培训师没有集中的主题，缺乏配合。Shapi Shacinda是路 透社驻赞比亚的记者，也是赞比亚首都卢萨卡新闻局的主席，他认为外国公司提供的商业、经济新闻报道 培训会使学员们学会以质疑的态度去报道新闻。他说以前有的报道经常是直接从官方文件中摘抄过来的。 但是要教育政府是很困难的。而鼓励学生去探究敏感话题可能威胁到他们的生命或是使他们丢掉工 作。曾接受过战争与和平报道协会的培训并为此工作的一位伊拉克记者今年年初被枪杀了。就在本周， 赞比亚信息大臣称国家运营的媒体不应当批评政府。在俄罗斯，由―因特新闻‖创立的一个机构已经被当局 关闭，显然是当局怀疑其美国背景。富裕国家的政府也可能是一个问题。一些国家试图对学员报道的―信 息‖施加影响，比如说这些国家会坚持让其外交官经常与各阶层的人谈话。大型培训机构坚持认为他们能 够控制自己的内容。混淆界限对于记者或者支持他们的项目来说都是很危险的。但是其他人可能就不那 么挑剔了。 更多并不意味着更好。其中质量有很大差异。近年来孟加拉国和卢旺达等地涌现了大量的新闻培训。 人们在感激之余，又企盼这些项目能有更好的协作。肯尼亚报纸《国家》的David Okwemba也参与了对记 者的培训，他哀叹道这些培训机构一方面提供了课程，而另一方面培训师却没能与学员共享信息。 一些课程希望通过自由的媒体可以建立民主社会。BBC信托认为其目标就是通过举办公共或私人机 构来赋予普通民众说话的权利。这样的目标使得评价效果非常困难。与提高公众对于更为广泛的问题(如 艾滋病)的意识相比，教授如何瞄准相机或者撰写一篇新闻故事更简单一些 许多新闻老手都嘲笑正式新闻教育这个理念。他们认为博学、好问的头脑加上好的写作技巧，这 才是最重要的资本。但是对于在贫穷国家教授新手来取得外快这样的好事，即使是新闻界资格最老的记者 也会乐于此类兼职。 TEXT TWO Like a medieval holy man, or modern hippie, Robert Macfarlane sets out for the remote parts of the northern and western British isles, sea-sprayed islands, craggy mountains and great bog plains. He wants to experience wildness. There is not an icy pool he will not plunge into or tree he would not climb. He picks up shards of roughened granite and smooth flints and turns them in his hand. He says: ―We have in many ways forgotten what the world feels like.‖ A Cambridge academic, who has previously written about men's fascination with mountains, Mr Macfarlane does not forsake civilisation. On the two occasions that the elements threaten him—on the summit of Scotland's northernmost mountain and at the foot of a remote Hebridean climb—he briskly retreats. In scholarly fashion, his urge is to map, to classify and to name. He presents his travels as a ―story map‖ (medieval forebear of the Ordnance Survey grid map) connected by incident and historical anecdote. As a narrative ruse, it is a little too cute. As, indeed, is Mr Macfarlane's beautifully worked but sometimes monotonous prose. Nonetheless, this is indeed a good book, replete with wonderful tales. Like that of Schiehallion: a Scottish mountain so resembling an isosceles triangle that an 18th-century mapmaker used its measurements to estimate the density of the Earth. Or of W.H. Murray, a chronicler of Scotland's hills, who kept his sanity in a Nazi prison-camp by describing them on toilet paper. Or, perhaps the strangest, a metaphoric connection that Mr Macfarlane makes between the holloways of Dorset—lanes deep-trodden into its yellow sandstone—and the 16th-century recusant Catholics who skulked in the county. Predictably, Mr Macfarlane comes to realise that every place in Britain's crowded archipelago is swamped in human history. Its empty margins have been cleansed of large populations: western Ireland by 19th-century famine and emigration; northern Scotland by 19th-century emigration and evictions. He adjusts his idea of wildness. It is not nature unsullied, but nature itself: ―the sheer force of ongoing organic existence, vigorous and 137 chaotic.‖ Like many English poets, he comes to find ―visions in ditches‖. A lichen-encrusted hawthorn trunk appears as a ―shaggy centaur's leg‖. But British nature is everywhere depleted. Of 6,000 acres (2,400 hectares) of surface limestone pavement, 200 remain undefaced. Since the second world war, a quarter of a million miles (about 400,000km) of hedgerows have been erased; another 2,000 miles disappear each year. As the climate warms, more terrible change is threatened. Scottish sea-bird colonies are already starving, as their prey heads north for colder waters. Every year, almost an acre of Essex salt-marsh, a precious flood-defence, is lost to the rising seas. England's last great beech woods, Mr Macfarlane worries, may wither in his lifetime: 50-year-old trees are showing signs of a decline typically found in trees three times as old. There may be no hope of arresting this change. Yet Mr Macfarlane consoles himself with the thought that nature, endlessly changing, will not all die. The beech woods, too, will move north. And when people are gone, nature will remain. ―The wild prefaced us, and it will outlive us.‖ It is a depressing hope. 参考译文: Robert Macfarlane像个生活在中世纪的神人，又像是现代嬉皮士，他奔向英国北部和西部岛屿最荒凉 的地，海水泼溅着岛屿，陆地上是崎岖的大山和巨大的沼泽地。他想要经历荒野的感觉。遇到任何一个冰 湖他都会投身而入，看到任何一棵树他也都会纵身跳跃。他会捡起粗糙的花岗岩碎片和平滑的碎石放在手 里。他说: ―我们在很多方面都忘记了世界是什么样子的了。‖ 作为剑桥大学的一位学者，Macfarlane之前写过人们对于山的迷恋，他并不抛弃文明。他曾经受到过 两次生命威胁，一次是在苏格兰最北面的山峰上，还有一次在赫布里底群岛的山脚下，但是他都迅速地逃 过了危险。他以学术派的风格来勘查、分类和命名。他将自己的旅行描述为―故事图‖(陆地测量部网格地 图的中世纪鼻祖)，旨在把历史和偶发性事件串联起来的。作为一种叙述技法，这好像有点过于装腔作势。 实际上，Macfarlane那精美但有时有些单调的文字也存在这样的问题。不过，这实际上是一本充满了奇思 妙想的好书。 比如Schiehallion的故事，这座苏格兰山脉太像等腰三角形了，一位18世纪的绘图人曾用它的尺寸来 测量地球的深度。W.H. Murray的故事也很有意思，他是一位苏格兰山脉的年代记编者，被关在纳粹集中 营时，他通过在草纸上记录这些山脉来保持自己的心智清醒。最奇怪的或许是Macfarlane将Dorset 道路 ——即一种深陷在黄色砂岩的小路——与16世纪不服权威的天主教徒躲藏在乡村里做了一种隐喻性的联 系。 Macfarlane先生后来意识到英国人居住的每个群岛都有人类的历史。因为西爱尔兰在19世纪的饥荒和 迁徙，以及北苏格兰在19世纪的迁徙和驱逐，空旷的边远地区已经被抹去了人口繁茂的迹象。他由此改 变了自己对于荒野的看法，认为荒野不是没有被玷污过的自然，而是自然本身:―使有机存在持续下去的 那种有力而混乱的绝对力量。‖ 像许多英国诗人一样，他发现了―沟壑中的幻想‖。一颗布满青苔的山楂树看起来就好像是―怪兽毛茸茸 的腿‖。但是英国的自然到处都呈衰败的状态。6000英亩(2400公顷)石灰石公路中只有200英亩的外观 没有被损坏。二次世界大战后，100万英里的灌木树篱中有1/4(约40万公里)被清除掉了，之后每年消 失2000英里。 随着气温的升高，我们受到更多可怕变化的威胁。苏格兰海鸟群已经在逐渐饿死，因为它们的猎物都 到北方去寻求更冰冷的水。每年都有几乎一大片艾塞克斯的含盐沼泽地因为海平面升高而消失，而那是珍 贵的洪水防堤。Macfarlane先生担心英国最后的大毛榉树森林可能会在他的有生之年消失殆尽，而仅有50 年树龄的树木竟出现了本来三倍于该年龄的树上才会有的衰退迹象。 也许没有希望阻止这种变化了。但是Macfarlane先生安慰自己说，自然在永无止尽地变化着，不会死 亡的。而毛榉树林也会向北移动。当人们都消失的时候，自然就会恢复了。―荒野揭开了我们的序幕，也 会比我们存活时间更长。‖这是多么让人压抑的希望啊。 TEXT THREE The past few years have not been kind to Wall Street's equity analysts. Accused of helping to inflate the internet bubble, new regulations were imposed upon them after it popped. Research budgets subsequently tumbled. 138 Fund managers are increasingly bypassing the widely distributed wares of traditional research providers, turning to specialist firms instead. Less than six months ago, Merrill Lynch's head of research complained that Wall Street analysis was being ―Napsterised‖, or pirated. Some big financial firms, such as Prudential, have closed their research arms. Others are pondering their future in the business. To cap it all, a recent study suggested that it was all too easy for companies to buy the loyalty of those who cover their stock. The analyst's heyday would seem to be long gone. But times are changing again. As markets sputter, analysts are regaining some clout. American shares plummeted on August 28th partly because Merrill Lynch's Guy Moszkowski cut his rating on several banks. Another Merrill analyst had earlier caused an even bigger quake by downgrading Countrywide, a big mortgage lender. And shares in Bear Stearns leapt when Dick Bove, an analyst with Punk Ziegel, merely pondered the possibility that the broker might receive a cash infusion from a foreign investor. One explanation for this revival of influence is that, with markets so febrile, any shift in opinion is bound to have an exaggerated effect. But there may be more to it than that. As uncertainty grows, investors seem to be placing a higher value on research than they did only months ago. There is nothing new in this, reckons Mr Bove, a 40-year veteran of the industry. He asserts that nobody cares what analysts think in the good times, when what matters is deploying your money as quickly as possible. But the tables quickly turn when markets fall, as investors seek to steady their portfolios. Mr Bove argues that the golden age for equity analysts was the long bear market of the 1960s and 1970s, when advice on how to avoid losing money was highly treasured. Another factor is the loss of faith in ―quant‖ funds, which trade using complex computer models. Their recent problems have pushed investors back towards ―more bottom-up, fundamental analysis‖, says Lara Warner, head of American research at Credit Suisse. ―People suddenly want to understand what they're holding.‖ Recent structural changes also play a part. Since the ―Global Settlement‖ of 2003, which severed the links between investment banks' dealmakers and their research departments, the banks have begun to tie analysts' pay more closely to performance. Bold calls earn bigger bonuses, if they prove correct. Ideas that stand out, and are thus valuable to hedge funds seeking ―alpha‖ (above-market) returns, are also rewarded. The audacity of some analysts stands in contrast to the spinelessness of Moody's and Standard & Poor's, which showered complex structured products with top-notch ratings and then twiddled their thumbs until they could no longer avoid downgrading them. By growing too cosy with their paymasters in structured products—the banks that package them—the rating agencies have ended up hopelessly in knots. A bit like equity analysts during the dotcom boom, in fact. 参考译文: 过去的几年对于华尔街的股票分析师们可不是好过的日子。他们被人们指责过分夸大了网络泡 沫，因此在泡沫破灭后政府就出台了限制他们的一些法规。研究预算下降了，基金经理不再关心传统研究 提供那种到处都有的服务了，而是转向了专业公司。6个月前，美林公司研发主任抱怨说华尔街的分析是―孤 注一掷的‖，或者说是剽窃的。一些大的金融公司如Prudential已经关闭了其研究部门。其他的也正在考虑 该行业的未来会如何发展。近期的一项研究表明，公司们想要买到股民们的忠诚真是太简单了。分析师的 全盛时期已经不复存在了。 但是形势又发生了变化。随着市场的回转，分析师又开始产生了一定的影响。因为美林公司的 Guy Moszkowsk调低了对几家银行的评级，美国股票于8月28日大幅下跌。另外一位美林公司的分析师 因为降低了大型抵押贷款公司Countrywide的评级，引发了更大的震动。而Punk Ziegel 的分析师Dick Bove 仅仅考虑了股票经纪人有可能会接受外国投资者的融资，这就使得Bear Stearn股票出现了震荡。 分析师影响重新恢复的原因在于市场处于高热状态，任何观点的变化都会产生扩大的效果。但是 可能还有别的原因。随着不确定性的增加，投资者现在比以前更加看重研究。该行业一位有着40年经验 的Bove先生认为这不是什么新现象。他认为在经济好的时候没有人关心分析师们在想什么，那时候关键 就是如何最快地部署资金。但是一旦市场砸盘，一切就都变了，投资者们就开始寻求如何将自己的资金组 合稳定住。Bove先生认为股票分析师的黄金时期是上世纪60年代到70年代的长期熊市，当时那些有关如 何避免资金损失的建议得到很高的评价。 139 另外一个因素就是人们丧失了对―理学‖基金的信心，这些基金利用复杂的计算模式来进行投资。 基金最近出现的问题将投资者推回到―更加至下而上的基础分析‖，美国瑞士信贷研究主任Lara Warner说。 ―人们忽然想要知道他们手里拿的是什么了。‖ 最近的结构变化也起到了一定的作用。2003年的―全球调整‖切断了投资银行和研究部门的联系， 自此后银行开始将分析师的公司与其业绩更加紧密联系在一起。如果观点正确的话 ，声音越大赚的红包 就越多。而比较突出的对那些寻求a利润(高于市场)的基金那些有价值的突出想法也受到奖励。 一些分析师的大胆与穆迪以及标准普尔指数的分析师的胆小形成了对比，后者摆出高等级的复杂 结构产品，然后开始扭手指直到不得不降级。因为在结构产品中与发薪商(打包结构产品的银行)过于勾 结，评级机构最终得到的都是失望。就好像在网络繁荣时代的股票分析师一样。 TEXT FOUR Photosynthesis is the basis of life on Earth. Thermodynamics is the order and disorder in the universe. Put them together and you have the makings of a book that may re-order the way you think about the world. And that is what Oliver Morton, news editor at Nature (and who once worked for this paper), has done. Mr Morton's thesis is that modern biology has become so focused on the movement of information, in the form of genes, that it has neglected the processes needed to move that information around: in essence, thermodynamics. People talk glibly of ―using up‖ energy when in fact they are doing no such thing. What is actually used up is order. An energy flow drives the process, but it is disorder (or ―entropy‖, to use the jargon) that changes, by increasing. A highly ordered system such as a living thing thus needs an abundant supply of negative entropy (or unentropy, or call it what you will) to maintain its internal order. That negative entropy comes from the sun and is captured by photosynthesis, which uses light to split water molecules and combines the resulting hydrogen with carbon dioxide to form sugars. The sugars are a store of negative entropy that can be used elsewhere. The waste product, conveniently for the animals of Earth, is oxygen. The book, then, is in part a refrain in praise of photosynthesis, the Earth's energy and order currency-exchange market. It is also an entertaining history of how the subject arrived where it is today—and an illuminating insight for the non-scientist into how the magisterial pronouncements of science are every bit as much the result of sausage-making as Bismarck's description of the process of legislation. The text is peppered with vignettes and asides that highlight science's faltering march forward on the backs of researchers, who are by turns quirky and visionary. The process of discovery is not chronological but is forever folding back on itself, revisiting half-solved problems. Mr Morton is careful to point out where progress has been impeded by hubris or tucked away in academic literature. There is also, of course, the inevitable warning. Having perfected the energy-into-order recipe over billions of years, photosynthesis has left a great deal of waste in the Earth, as well as contributing oxygen to the atmosphere. That buried waste—coal, oil and natural gas—is what powers the industrial revolution still sweeping the Earth. By reuniting the two waste products of photosynthesis—oxygen in the air and carbon in the ground—this revolution has fuelled a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide three times higher than any previous rise that can be measured. The system—the interaction between life and its surroundings: the atmosphere, the oceans and the upper levels of the Earth's crust—has been pushed out of equilibrium. Mr Morton argues that the way in which industrialised humanity is interfering with the homeostatic process can be undone—not by way of a single, magic bullet, but by pursuit of a number of ultimately achievable goals. The damage is done but it is, he says, reparable. Humanity had better hope he is right. 参考译文: 光合作用是地球上生命的基础，热力学是宇宙的秩序和无秩序。将它们放在一起，就可以编出一 本书来，而且可能会改变你对世界的看法。《自然》的新闻编辑Oliver Morton(他以前曾供职于该公司) 就做了这样的事情 140 Morton先生认为现代生物学过于关注基因形式的信息活动，以至于忽视了驱动该信息运动的过 程，也就是动力学。人们流畅地谈论―用光‖产生的能源，而事实确非如此，用光的是秩序。能量的流动驱 动了过程，真正改变的是增加的无秩序(或用术语来说叫―熵‖)。 因此，高度规则的系统如生物就需要大量的负熵(或者叫非熵，根据自己喜好而定)来维持内部 的秩序。负熵来自于太阳，靠光合作用摄取，利用光将水分子分裂，将氢气和碳元素结合为糖。糖是储存 负熵的地方，并可以用于其它地方。而为地球上动物留下的废物就是氧气， 该书在赞颂光合作用方面有所保留，光合作用是地球上能量和秩序流通转换的场所。这本书也是 一部关于生物如何变成这个样子的娱乐性历史，也让不懂科学的人们认识到科学权威的声明只不过相当于 香肠制作的结果或俾斯麦关于立法程序的描述。 文本中到处都有一些小插图，旁边说明了科学是如何在研究者的背上蹒跚前进的，这些研究者时 而古怪，时而空想。发现的过程并不是按年代顺序排列的，但这个过程却充满了反思、 以及对未完全解 决问题的重新思考。Morton先生非常谨慎地指出了那些进程受到骄傲的阻碍、或是藏匿在学术中的时刻。 这当然也是必然的警告。光合作用在过去几十亿年中把能量转为秩序的过程完美化了，但却将大 量的废物留在地球上，也将大量氧气排放到空气中。埋藏的废物，如煤炭、石油和天然气都是席卷地球的 工业革命的能量。将光合作用产生的这两种废物即空中的氧气和地上的碳重新结合起来，工业革命使得空 气中二氧化碳的含量比以往增加了3倍。而生命及其周围环境形成的体系，如空气、海洋和地球外壳的表 层已经失去了平衡。 Morton先生认为人类工业化的干预自我平衡的过程可以停止下来，不是靠简单的魔力子弹，而是 靠一些列最终可以实现的目标。损害已经成事实，但是还有补救， 他这样说。人们希望他说的是对的。 TEXT ONE If you found yourself in a cocktail bar with a Neanderthal man, what would he say? A good conversation is one of the great joys of being human, but it is not clear just how far back in the hominid lineage the ability to use language stretches. The question of when grunts and yelps turned into words and phrases is a tricky one. One way of trying to answer it is to look in the fossil record for evidence about what modern humanity's closest relatives could do. Svante Pääbo, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, and his colleagues have done just that. Dr Pääbo is an expert in extracting and interpreting the DNA of fossils. As he reports in the latest issue of Current Biology, he and his team have worked their magic on a gene called FOXP2 found in Neanderthal remains from northern Spain. The reason for picking this particular gene is that it is the only one known so far to have a direct connection with speech. In 1990, a family with an inherited speech disorder known as verbal dyspraxia drew the attention of genetics researchers. Those researchers identified a mutation in FOXP2 as the cause of the dyspraxia. Since then FOXP2 has been the subject of intensive study. It has been linked to the production of birdsong and the ultrasonic musings of mice. It is a conservative type, not changing much from species to species. But it has undergone two changes since humans split from chimpanzees 6m years ago, and some researchers believe these changes played a crucial role in the development of speech and language. If these changes are common to modern humans and Neanderthals, they must predate the separation of the line leading to Homo sapiens from the one leading to Homo neanderthalensis. Dr Pääbo's research suggests precisely that: the FOXP2 genes from modern humans and Neanderthals are essentially the same. To the extent that the gene enables language, it enables it in both species. There has been much speculation about Neanderthals' ability to speak. They were endowed with a hyoid bone, which anchors the tongue and allows a wide variety of movements of the larynx. Neanderthal skulls also show evidence of a large hypoglossal canal. This is the route taken by the nerves that supply the tongue. As such, it is a requisite for the exquisitely complex movements of speech. Moreover, the inner-ear structure of Homo heidelbergensis, an ancestor of Neanderthals, shows that this species was highly sensitive to the frequencies of sound that are associated with speech. That Neanderthals also shared with moderns the single known genetic component of speech is another clue that they possessed the necessary apparatus for having a good natter. But suggestive as that is, the question remains 141 open. FOXP2 is almost certainly not ―the language gene‖. Without doubt, it is involved in the control and regulation of the motions of speech, but whether it plays a role in the cognitive processes that must precede talking remains unclear—jokes about engaging brain before putting mouth in gear notwithstanding. The idea that the forebears of modern humans could talk would scupper the notion that language was the force that created modern human culture—otherwise, why would they not have built civilisations? But it would make that chat with a Neanderthal much more interesting. 1. Which one of the following statements is NOT true of Neanderthal men? [A] they are derived from a branch of early Neanderthals called Homo heidelbergensis. [B] they are existent descendant of Homo neanderthalensis. [C] they are Homo sapiens‘s closest relatives. [D] they are officially named Homo neanderthalensis in the academic circle. 2. Svante Pääbo and his team carried out a study on FOXP2 in order to_____ [A] trace the appearance and evolution of the speech ability. [B] find out how far back in the hominid lineage the ability to use language stretches. [C] find evidence proving the gene which controls the motion of speech. [D] identify the crucial changes that had taken place on this gene and the consequent influence. 3. The gene of FOXP2 is regarded as a gene with a direct connection with speech because_____ [A] it was found in Neanderthal remains from northern Spain. [B] it was found that sudden change of FOXP2 may lead to speech disorder. [C] it was linked to the production of birdsong and the ultrasonic musings of mice. [D] it does not change much from species to species. 4.The word ―scupper‖ (Line 8, Paragraph 6) most probably means _____ [A] deny. [B] defeat. [C] demolish. [D] destory. 5. From the findings of Dr Pääbo's research it may be inferred that_____ [A] FOXP2 is the gene that enables the speech ability in both humans and Neanderthals. [B] the fork seprating the line leading to Homo sapiens from that to Homo neanderthalensis is wrong. [C] more important genes should be identified which control speech ability and cognitive pcrocess. [D] the establishment of human civilization as a result of language ability might be false. 篇章剖析: 这篇文章讲述科学家对于人类语言能力问题的新研究。第一段用生动的叙述来提出问题;第二段讲述了Pääbo博士报告的主要内容;第三段讲述FOXP2的一些情况;第四段讲述对穴居人说话能力的猜测;第五段讲述目前仍然存有的疑问。 词汇注释: hominid n 原始人类 chimpanzee n. 黑猩猩 larynx n. 喉 hypoglossal adj. 舌下神经的 natter n. 闲谈 scupper v. 破坏，摧毁 难句突破: (1) But it has undergone two changes since humans split from chimpanzees 6m years ago, and some researchers believe these changes played a crucial role in the development of speech and language. 142 [主体句式] But it has undergone two changes since humans split from… and some researchers believe these changes… [结构分析] 这是一个复合句，since…引导的是时间状语从句;believe后面是濒于从句。 [句子译文] 但是自从人类于600万年前由黑猩猩分离出来后，该基因已经发生了两次变化，一些研究者认为这些转变在语音和语言的发展中发挥了重要作用。 (2)0If these changes are common to modern humans and Neanderthals, they must predate the separation of the line leading to Homo sapiens from the one leading to Homo neanderthalensis. [主体句式] If these changes are common to …, they must predate the seperation of the line… form the one… [结构分析] 这是一个复合句, if引导的是一个条件状语从句。 [句子译文] 如果现代人类和穴居人有共同的变化，那么他们就必须将智人人类和穴居人的分界线推前了。 题目分析: 1. Which one of the following statements is 1.关于尼安德特人，下列哪个陈述是错误的,NOT true of Neanderthal men? [A] they are derived from a branch of early [A] 他们源自早期名叫Homo heidelbergensis的Neanderthals called Homo heidelbergensis.穴居人。 [B] they are existent descendant of Homo [B] 他们是智人人类现存的后代。 neanderthalensis. [C] they are Homo sapiens‘s closest [C] 他们是智人人类最近的亲属。 relatives. [D] they are officially named Homo [D] 他们在学术界的官方名称是穴居人。neanderthalensis in the academic circle. [答案] C [难度系数] ??? [分析] 细节题。A选项，根据文章四第四段―the inner-ear structure of Homo heidelbergensis, an ancestor of Neanderthals‖说明Homo heidelbergensis是穴居人的祖先，而该选项混淆了二者的关系，因而 是不正确的。B选项，尼安德特人是一种原始人类，因此B是错误的。 C选项，从文章的分析来看，尼安德特人和智人人类有许多共同点，可能是其最近的亲属。答案为C选项。D选项看似正确，具有较强的干扰性，但其实该说法没有在文章中提到。 2. Svante Pääbo and his team carried out a study on 2. Svante FOXP2 in order to_____ Pääbo和其团队开展了一项关于FOXP2的 研究，目的是为了_____ [A] trace the appearance and evolution of the [A]追寻语言能力的出现和发展。 speech ability. [B] find out how far back in the hominid lineage the [B]找出原始人类使用语言的能力要追溯ability to use language stretches. 到哪里。 [C] find evidence proving the gene which controls [C]找到能证明这种基因控制着语言活动the motion of speech. 的证据。 [D] identify the crucial changes that had have taken [D] 找出在该基因上发生的变化以及相应place on this gene and the consequent influence. 的影响。 [答案] A [难度系数] ??? [分析] 推理题。结合第一段和第二段. 首先第一段指出―The question of when grunts and yelps turned into words and phrases is a tricky one‖，即为了找出什么时候咕哝声转变成了语言和短语才进行这样研究的，之后文章主要谈论的话题就是语言能力是在什么时候出现和发展出来的。因此，正确答案为A选项。 3. The gene of FOXP2 is regarded as a gene with a 3.FOXP2基因被看作是和语言有直接联direct connection with speech because_____ 系的基因，因为_____ [A] it was found in Neanderthal remains from [A]在西班牙北部穴居人的遗址中发现了northern Spain. 这种基因。 143 [B] it was found that sudden change of FOXP2 may [B]人们发现FOXP2突变可能会导致语言lead to speech disorder. 障碍。 [C] it was linked to the production of birdsong and [C]该基因鸟类唱歌和老鼠超声波相关。 the ultrasonic musings of mice. [D] it does not change much from species to species. [D] 物种间该基因的变化不大。 [答案] B [难度系数] ??? [分析] 推理题。根据第二段―In 1990, a family with an inherited speech disorder known as verbal dyspraxia drew the attention of genetics researchers. Those researchers identified a mutation in FOXP2 as the cause of the dyspraxia‖，有着遗传性语言障碍——语言运动障碍的一个家庭引起了基因研究者的注意，而研究者认为FOXP2突变是这种语言障碍的原因，因此被紧密联系了起来。答案为B选项。 4.The word ―scupper‖ (Line 58 Paragraph 6) 4. ―scupper‖(第六段第八行) most probably means _____ 最有可能的意思是_____ [A] deny. [A] 否定。 [B] defeat. [B] 打败。 [C] demolish. [C] 摧毁。 [D] destory. [D] 毁坏。 [答案]A [难度系数] ? [分析] 猜词题。根据上下文，现代人类的祖先可以说话会推翻语言是现代人类文化创造的力量这样的论点，选项中A最为符合这个意思。 5. From the findings of Dr Pääbo's research it 5.从Pääbo博士研究的发现可以推导出_____ can be inferred that_____ [A] FOXP2 is the gene that enables the speech [A] FOXP2就是使人类和穴居人拥有语言能ability in both humans and Neanderthals. 力的基因。 [B] the fork seprating the line leading to Homo [B]分割智人人类和穴居人的分叉点是错误的sapiens from that to Homo neanderthalensis is 。 wrong. [C] More important genes should be identified [C] 应该找出那些控制语言和认知过程的更which control speech ability and cognitive 加重要的基因。 process. [D] the establishment of human civilization as a [D]语言创造现代人类的文明这一论点是错result of language ability might be false. 误的。 [答案] B [难度系数] ???? [分析] 细节题。根据第四段，如果现代人类和穴居人有共同的变化，那么他们就必须将智人人类和穴居人的分界线推前了。Pääbo博士的研究表明了这一点:现代人类和穴居人类的FOXP2基因基本相同。可以得出分割智人人类和穴居人的分叉点是错误的。因此答案为B选项。其余的基点并不是Pääbo博士研究可以推导出的。A选项错误的原因在于文章最后一段明确提出―FOXP2几乎肯定不是?语言基因‘‖。C选项在文中没有相应的内容。而D选项也是错误的，因为根据最后一段―The idea that the forebears of modern humans could talk would scupper the notion that language was the force that created modern human culture—otherwise, why would they not have built civilisations‖，可见这种说法不是研究的结论，而只是一个猜测而已。 参考译文: 如果有一天你在鸡尾酒吧发现旁边是一个尼安德特人，他会说些什么呢,比较好的话题就是作为人类是多么快乐的一件事啊，但是这种原始人类使用语言的能力要追溯到哪里就不清楚了。什么时候咕哝声转变成了语言和短语，这个问题很难回答。现在就有人试图从化石记录中找出证据，看看现代人类最近的祖先做了什么。 144 莱比锡Max Planck进化人类学研究院的Svante Pääbo及其同事就进行了这种尝试。Pääbo博士是 提取并解读化石中DNA的专家，在最新一期的《当今生物学》中，他报告了自己带领的小组在从西班牙 北部穴居人遗址中发现的一种叫FOXP2的基因，并对此进行了研究。选择这种基因是因为这是到目前唯 一能确定与语言有直接关系的基因。1990年，一个有着遗传性语言障碍——语言运动障碍的家庭引起了基 因研究者的注意。这些研究者认为FOXP2突变是这种语言障碍的成因。 自那之后，FOXP2成为许多研究的对象，甚至还有人将它与鸟类唱歌和老鼠超声波联系了起来。 这种基因是守恒类型，物种之间的变化不大。但是自从人类于600万年前由黑猩猩分离出来后，该基因已 经发生了两次变化，一些研究者认为这些转变在语音和语言的发展中发挥了重要作用。 如果现代人类和穴居人有共同的变化，那么他们就必须将智人人类和穴居人的分界线推前了。 Pääbo博士的研究也表明了这一点:现代人类和穴居人类的FOXP2基因基本相同。如果该基因赋予了人类 语言能力，那么这两个物种应该都有这种能力。 关于穴居人的说话能力有许多猜测。他们用舌骨来支撑舌头，允许喉部有许多不同的运动。穴居 人头骨也有大的舌下神经通道，这是提供给舌头神经经过的路线。同样，这也是实现说话这个复杂活动的 一个必备条件。而且，穴居人祖先Homo heidelbergensis,的耳内构造表明该物种对与发音相关的声音频率 有非常高的敏感性。 穴居人和现代人还拥有到目前为止已知的共同发音基因，这是能够证明他们有聊天所必要器官的 另外一个线索。但是虽然情况可能如此，这还是个开放的问题。FOXP2几乎肯定不是―语言基因‖。毫无疑 问，该基因与控制、调节语音活动有关，但它是否在语言发生之前的认知过程中发挥了作用还是个未解之 谜，尽管我们有这样的笑话，即说动嘴前要先动脑。如果现代人类的祖先能够说话，这将推翻诸如语言是 创造现代人类文化的力量这样的论点，否则，祖先们怎么没有建立起文明来呢,但如果人类的祖先可以说 话，那么和穴居人聊天就变得有意思多了。 TEXT TWO Berkeley seems like a fitting place to find the godfather of the open-innovation movement basking in glory. The Californian village was, after all, at the very heart of the anti-establishment movement of the 1960s and has spawned plenty of radical thinkers. One of them, Henry Chesbrough, a business professor at the University of California at Berkeley, observes with a smile that ―this is the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love.‖ Mr Chesbrough's two books ―Open Innovation‖ and ―Open Business Models‖ have popularised the notion of looking for bright ideas outside of an organisation. As the concept of open innovation has become ever more fashionable, the corporate R&D lab has become decreasingly relevant. Most ideas don't come from there. To see why travel to Cincinnati, Ohio—which is about as far removed culturally from Berkeley as one can get in America. The conservative mid-western city is home to P&G, historically one of the most traditional firms in America. For decades, the company that brought the world Ivory soap, Crest toothpaste and Ariel detergent had a closed innovation process, centred around its own secretive R&D operations. No longer. P&G has radically altered the way it comes up with new ideas and products. It now welcomes and works with universities, suppliers and outside inventors. It also offers them a share in the rewards. In less than a decade, P&G has increased the proportion of new-product ideas originating from outside of the firm from less than a fifth to around half. That has boosted innovation and, says its boss, Mr Lafley, is the main reason why P&G has been able to grow at 6% a year between 2001 and 2006, tripling annual profits to $8.6 billion. The company now has a market capitalisation of over $200 billion. IBM is another iconic firm that has jumped on the open-innovation bandwagon. The once-secretive company has done a sharp U-turn and embraced Linux, an open-source software language. IBM now gushes about being part of the ―open-innovation community‖, yielding hundreds of software patents to the ―creative commons‖ rather than registering them for itself. However, it also continues to take out patents at a record pace in other areas, such as advanced materials, and in the process racks up some $1 billion a year in licensing fees. Since an army of programmers around the world work on developing Linux essentially at no cost, IBM now has an extremely cheap and robust operating system. It makes money by providing its clients with services that support 145 the use of Linux—and charging them for it. Using open-source software saves IBM a whopping $400m a year, according to Paul Horn, until recently the firm's head of research. The company is so committed to openness that it now carries out occasional ―online jam sessions‖ during which tens of thousands of its employees exchange ideas in a mass form of brainstorming. Mr Chesbrough, of course, heartily approves. He gives dozens of other examples of firms doing similar things, ranging from Clorax, a household products firm to Air Products, an industrial gases company. Mr Chesbrough reckons that ―IBM and P&G have timed their shift to a high-volume open-business model very well‖ and that if their competitors do not do the same they will be in trouble. 1. ―Summer of Love‖ is probably _____ [A] a religious activity celebrating the open-innovation movement. [B] the anti-establishment movement. [C] a movement advocating the innovation. [D] an activity calling for open innovation. 2. According to the passage, the annual profits of P&G in 2001 was about_____ [A] $ 2.87 billion. [B] $ 1.075 billion. [C] $ 2.15 billion. [D] $ 4.3 billion. 3. IBM now gushes about being part of the ―open-innovation community‖ in that_____ [A] it embraced an open-source software language that is widely supported by the ―creative commons‖. [B] it endows people inside and outside the company with the access to the software patents it owns. [C] it encourages an extensive public involvement in the development of new software for the company. [D] it indeed whops its cost and gains considerable profit from using Linux. 4. IBM could provide its clients with cheap operating system because_____ [A] its progrmmers around the world develop Linux essentially at no cost. [B] it makes money by providing its client with toll services supporting the operating system instead. [C] it could save a lot of money by using open-source software. [D] it has shifted its R&D outside, which save a lot of money. 5. According to the last paragrph, if their competitors do not do the same they will be in trouble because_____ [A] their competitors will would lose their market share gradually which would be taken by R&D. [B] they fail to adopt the new model of open business which would pave the way to constant business success. [C] they do not recognize the best time to shift their backward business model. [D] they will be sifted out by the market as a result of their conservativeness. 篇章剖析: 这篇文章介绍了开放式发明的一些情况。第一段从开放式发明运动教父的故乡引入该话题;第二段讲述开放式发明理念的流行;第三、四段讲述宝洁公司过去的研发模式和现在的发明新方式;第五、六段讲述IBM转向开源软件的情况;第七段讲述Chesbrough先生的观点。 词汇注释: detergent n. 清洁剂 bandwagon n.流行 whopping adj. 巨大的 难句突破: (1) For decades, the company that brought the world Ivory soap, Crest toothpaste and Ariel detergent had a closed innovation process, centred around its own secretive R&D operations. 146 [主体句式] The company had a closed innovation process. [结构分析] 这是一个复合句，that引导的是company的定语，centred…分词结构做前面process 的定语。 [句子译文] 几十年来，该公司为世界制造了象牙牌香皂、佳洁士牙膏和Ariel清洁剂，它拥有封闭的发明程序，以其秘密的研发部为核心。 (2) IBM now gushes about being part of the ―open-innovation community‖, yielding hundreds of software patents to the ―creative commons‖ rather than registering them for itself. [主体句式] IBM now gushes about being … [结构分析] 这是一个简单句，yielding… rather than registering…是做前面community的定语。 [句子译文] IBM现在总说自己是―开放发明社团‖的一员，将大量的软件专利权给了―发明的公众‖而不是由公司自己注册。 题目分析: 1. ―Summer of Love‖ is probably _____ 1. ―爱的夏日‖可能是_____ [A] a religious activity celebrating the [A] 庆祝开放式创新运动的宗教活动。 open-innovation movement. [B] the anti-establishment movement. [B] 反对固定的运动。 [C] a movement advocating the innovation. [C] 号召创新的运动。 [D] an activity calling for open innovation. [D] 提倡开放是创新的运动。 [答案] B [难度系数] ?? [分析] 推理题。根据第一段―The Californian village was, after all, at the very heart of the anti-establishment movement of the 1960s and has spawned plenty of radical thinkers‖，20世纪60年代发生了反对固定运动，可能爱的夏日就是这个运动的名称。因此，答案为B选项。 2. According to the passage, the annual profits of 2.根据这篇文章，宝洁公司2001年的年利润P&G in 2001 was about_____ 为_____ [A] $ 2.87 billion. [A] 28.7亿美元。 [B] $ 1.075 billion. [B] 10.75亿美元。 [C] $ 2.15 billion. [C] 21.5亿美元。 [D] $ 4.3 billion. [D] 43亿美元。 [答案] A [难度系数] ??? [分析] 推理题。根据文章第四段―That has boosted innovation and, says its boss, Mr Lafley, is the main reason why P&G has been able to grow at 6% a year between 2001 and 2006, tripling annual profits to $8.6 billion. The company now has a market capitalisation of over $200 billion‖，从2001年到2006年年利润增加，是原来的三倍，是86亿美元，那么原来就应该是28.7亿美元，因此A选项是正确答案。 3. IBM now gushes about being part of the 3.IBM现在不停地说自己是―开放发明―open-innovation community‖ in that_____ 社团‖的一员，因为_____ [A] it embraced an open-source software language [A] 它拥有资源公开的软件语言，这种that is widely supported by the ―creative 语言受到了―发明的公众‖的广泛支持。 commons‖. [B] it endows people inside and outside the [B]它赋予人们使用它所拥有的软件专company with the access to the software patents it 利权。 owns. [C] it encourages an extensive public involvement [C]它鼓励更多的公众参与到 in the development of new software for the 为公司研发新的软件中来。company. 147 [D] it indeed whops its cost and gains considerable [D]由于使用了Linux，公司确实大大降profit from using Linux. 低了成本并增加了可观的利润。 [答案] C [难度系数] ??? [分析] 细节题。根据文章第五段―IBM now gushes about being part of the ―open-innovation community‖, yielding hundreds of software patents to the ―creative commons‖ rather than registering them for itself‖，可见IBM现在不听地说自己是―开放发明社团‖的一员，他让公众发明软件，从而拥有专利权，而不是自己去注册;但是在其他领域自己也进行注册。因此，只有C选项符合题意。A在一定程度上也是正确的，只是没有C选项更加确切地符合原文的意思。 4. IBM could provide its clients with cheap 4.IBM可以为自己的客户提供廉价的操作operating system because_____ 系统，因为_____ [A] its progrmmers around the world develop Linux [A]它分布于世界各地的程序员基本以零essentially at no cost. 成本来开发Linux。 [B] it makes money by providing its client with toll [B]它通过为客户提供支持操作系统的付services supporting the operating system instead. 费服务来赚钱。 [C] it could save a lot of money by using [C]它可以使用资源开放的软件来节约一open-source software. 大笔资金。 [D] it has shifted its R&D outside, which save a lot [D]它将自己的研发部转移到了外面，这of money. 可以省去一大笔钱。 [答案] B [难度系数] ??? [分析] 细节题。根据第六段―It makes money by providing its clients with services that support the use of Linux—and charging them for it‖，可见 IBM为其客户提供支持Linux系统的服务并收取费用来赢得利润，而操作系统就收费低廉了。因此，答案为B选项。 5. According to the last paragrph, if their 5.根据最后一段，如果他们的竞争者不这样competitors do not do the same they will be in 做，他们就会陷入麻烦，因为_____ trouble because_____ [A] their competitors will would lose their [A]他们的竞争者会逐渐失去他们的市场份market share gradually which would be taken 额，这些市场份额都会被宝洁取得。 by R&D. [B] they fail to adopt the new model of open [B] 他们没有采用开放商业的新模式，而只有business which would pave the way to constant 这种模式才能使公司取得持续的成功。business success. [C] they do not recognize the best time to shift [C] 这些公司没有意识到改变他们落后商业模their backward business model. 式的最佳时期。 [D] they will be sifted out by the market as a [D] 他们会因为保守被市场淘汰。 result of their conservativeness. [答案] D [难度系数] ???? [分析]推理题。根据文章最后一段―Mr Chesbrough reckons that ―IBM and P&G have timed their shift to a high-volume open-business model very well‖ and that if their competitors do not do the same they will be in trouble‖，如果他们的竞争对手不这样做，可就麻烦了，要明确是谁会碰到麻烦。是他们的竞争对手，因为这样的话他们的竞争对手很可能会被淘汰出局，因此D选项是正确答案。A选项的前半句即―their competitors will would lose their market share gradually‖是正确的，但是后半句却不正确，这里的公司不仅仅指的宝洁，还包括文中提到的其他采用了新的商业模式的公司。B选项的错误在于文章并没有明确指出开放商业的新模式能够达到―pave the way to constant business success‖的作用。C选项则与题干的问题无关。 参考译文: 伯克利似乎是备受瞩目的开放式发明运动教父的故乡。毕竟这个加利福尼亚村装是20世纪90年代反 148 固定运动的中心，在这里诞生了许多激进的思想者。其中有一位名叫Henry Chesbrough的加利福尼亚大 学商业教授，他笑着说“这是爱的夏日的40周年庆典”。 Chesbrough先生的两本书《开放的发明》与《开放的商业模式》使得在组织向外部寻找好主意的理 念开始流行起来。随着开放式发明的理念越来越流行，公司的研发实验室就显得越来越不重要了。大多数 的新主意都并不是从那些实验室里产生的。 为什么要到俄亥俄州的辛辛那提去呢，那里是全美与伯克利文化差异最大的地方了。这个保守的中西 部城市是保洁公司的发源地，保洁是美国历史上最传统的公司之一。几十年来，该公司为世界制造了象牙 牌香皂、佳洁士牙膏和Ariel清洁剂，它拥有封闭的发明程序，以其秘密的研发部为核心。 但这些都已经成为历史了。保洁公司已大幅度改变了其发明新产品的模式。公司现在欢迎并与大学、 供应商以及外面的发明家合作，甚至还将奖金分给他们一份。十年之内保洁公司就大幅增加了公司外新产 品研发的比例，从不到1/5上的比例升到了现在的1/2。公司老总Lafley先生说这大大推进了创新，也是 保洁从2001年到2006年保持每年6%增长的主要原因，现在年利润已是原来的三倍，达到86亿美元。 目前该公司的市场资本总额为两千亿美元。 IBM是另外一家跳上开放式发明流行花车的传统公司。这家曾经非常秘密的公司进行了U型反转， 开始欢迎一种资源公开的软件语言Linux。IBM现在总说自己是“开放发明社团”的一员，将大量的软件专 利权给了“发明的公众”而不是由公司自己注册。但是，IBM在其他领域继续以创纪录的速度取得专利， 比如高级材料，在这个过程许可费用就达到了每年10亿美元。 由于在全世界有大批程序师以几乎零成本的方式开发Linux，因此IBM现在拥有非常廉价且强健的 操作系统。它通过为户提供支持Linux系统的服务来取费用、赢得利润。据该公司研发主任Paul Horn称， 使用开源的软件一年就为IBM节约了四亿美元。该公司如此致力于开放的态度，以至于它有时会开展一 些“在线会议”，使得成千上万的员工可以通过自由讨论来交流想法。 Chesbrough先生当然赞同这点，他还举了许多其他公司相似的情况，其中就有家居用品公司Clorax， 还有工业汽油公司“空气产品”。 Chesbrough先生承认“IBM和保洁公司成功转变为高度开放的商业模 式”，而如果他们的竞争对手不这样做的话，可能就麻烦了。 TEXT THREE In the cause of equal rights, feminists have had much to complain about. But one striking piece of inequality has been conveniently overlooked: lifespan. In this area, women have the upper hand. All round the world, they live longer than men. Why they should do so is not immediately obvious. But the same is true in many other species. From lions to antelope and from sea lions to deer, males, for some reason, simply can't go the distance. One theory is that males must compete for female attention. That means evolution is busy selecting for antlers, aggression and alloy wheels in males, at the expense of longevity. Females are not subject to such pressures. If this theory is correct, the effect will be especially noticeable in those species where males compete for the attention of lots of females. Conversely, it will be reduced or absent where they do not. To test that idea, Tim Clutton-Brock of Cambridge University and Kavita Isvaran of the Indian Institute of Science in Bengalooru decided to compare monogamous and polygynous species (in the latter, a male monopolises a number of females). They wanted to find out whether polygynous males had lower survival rates and aged faster than those of monogamous species. To do so, they collected the relevant data for 35 species of long-lived birds and mammals. As they report, the pattern was much as they expected. In 16 of the 19 polygynous species in their sample, males of all ages were much more likely to die during any given period than were females. Furthermore, the older they got, the bigger the mortality gap became. In other words, they aged faster. Males from monogamous species did not show these patterns. The point about polygyny is that if one male has exclusive access to, say, ten females, another nine males will be waiting to topple the harem master as soon as he shows the first sign of weakness. The intense competitive pressure means that individuals who succeed put all their efforts into one or two breeding seasons. That obviously takes its toll directly. But a more subtle effect may also be at work. Most students of ageing agree that an animal's maximum lifespan is set by how long it can reasonably expect to escape predation, disease, accident and damaging aggression by others of its kind. If it will be killed quickly anyway, there is not much reason for evolution to divert scarce resources into keeping the machine in tip-top condition. Those resources should, 149 instead, be devoted to reproduction. And the more threatening the outside world is, the shorter the maximum lifespan should be. There is no reason why that logic should not work between the sexes as well as between species. The test is to identify a species that has made its environment so safe that most of its members die of old age, and see if the difference continues to exist. Fortunately, there is such a species: man. Dr Clutton-Brock reckons that the sex difference in both human rates of ageing and in the usual age of death is an indicator that polygyny was the rule in humanity's evolutionary past—as it still is, in some places. That may not please some feminists, but it could be the price women have paid for outliving their menfolk. 1. The passage is mainly discussing about_____ [A] difference in life span between males and females of different species. [B] difference in life span among species of different mating patterns. [C] the reason of why human females outlive their male counterparts. [D] natural selection among males and females during evolution. 2. In the sentence ―That means evolution is busy selecting for antlers, aggression and alloy wheels in males…‖, ―antlers, agression and alloy wheels‖ represent_____ [A] the most excellent ones. [B] the most powerful ones. [C] the most attrative ones. [D] the most aggressive ones. 3. Which one of the following statement is TRUE of points proved by the test of Tim Clutton-Brock and Kavita Isvaran? [A] Polygamous species have shorter life spans than molygynous species. [B] Polygamous species aged faster than than molygynous species. [C] Polygamous males decrease faster in number as they grow older. [D] Monogamous males live as long as their females. 4. The logic behind the fact that the species living in the most dangerous environment have the shortest lifespan is that_____ [A] resources should be devoted to reproduction rather than sustaining life. [B] resources should be used most efficiently. [C] species in the most dangerous environment should not waste the resources. [D] there is no need to divert scarce resources into keeping the machine in best condition. 5. The test conducted by Tim Clutton-Brock and Kavita Isvaran demostrates that_____ [A] Polygymy was the rule in humanity‘s evolutionary past. [B] The sex difference on life span is attributable to humans‘ biological past which should not be denied by feminists. [C] The logic does not work between the sexes as well as between species. [D] It was polygymy that accounts for human females‘ general longevity over males. 篇章剖析: 这篇文章讲述了雄性和雌性在寿命方面的差异。第一段讲述对雄性和雌性寿命差异的一种解释;第二段讲 述一项证实这种解释的试验;第四、五段讲述对试验结果的推论;第六段讲述在这方面人类是一种特殊的 物种。 词汇注释: monogamous adj. 单配的 polygynous adj. 多雌的 topple v. 推翻 harem n. 为一个雄性动物所控制的许多雌性动物 150 难句突破: (1) The point about polygyny is that if one male has exclusive access to, say, ten females, another nine males will be waiting to topple the harem master as soon as he shows the first sign of weakness. [主体句式] The point is that if…, another nine males will be… [结构分析] 这是一个复合句，that引导的是句子的表语从句;该表语从句中，if引导的是条件状语从句，as sonn as 引导的是时间状语从句。 [句子译文] 多配物种中，如果某一个雄性单独拥有十个雌性，那么它一旦出现衰老的迹象，另外九个雄性就会推倒这位占有多个雌性的主人。 (2) Dr Clutton-Brock reckons that the sex difference in both human rates of ageing and in the usual age of death is an indicator that polygyny was the rule in humanity's evolutionary past—as it still is, in some places. [主体句式] Dr Clutton-Brock reckons that… [结构分析] 这是一个复合句。that 引导的是宾语从句;该宾语从句中，indicator后面that引导的是定语从句。 [句子译文] Clutton-Brock博士估计人类衰老速度的性别差异和死亡的正常年龄标志着一夫多妻可能是人类进化的法则，因为现在在某些地方还存在着这种现象。 题目分析: 1. The passage is mainly discussing about_____ 1. 这篇文章主要讨论了_____ [A] difference in life span between males and [A] 不同物种雄性和雌性 females of different species. 之间寿命的不同。 [B] difference in life span among species of [B]物种不同配偶模式 different mating patterns. 之间的寿命的不同。 [C] the reason of why human females outlive [C] 人类女性比男性长寿的原因。 their male counterparts. [D] natural selection among males and females [D] 进化过程中雄性和雌性 during evolution. 间的自然选择。 [答案] C [难度系数] ??? [分析] 主旨题。文章主要讲述了男性和女性之间寿命的不同，以及背后的原因。虽然文章用了很大的篇幅谈论了各种物种，但是从开头、结尾可以看出文章主要针对的人类，因此，答案为C。 2. In the sentence ―That means evolution is busy 2.在句子―这意味着进化忙着选择鹿角、selecting for antlers, aggression and alloy wheels 侵略和和合金轮子‖中，― 鹿角、侵略和in males…‖, ―antlers, agression and alloy wheels‖ 和合金轮子‖代表着____ represent_____ [A] the most excellent ones. [A] 最优秀的雄性。 [B] the most powerful ones. [B] 最强有力的雄性。 C] the most attrative ones. [C] 最吸引人的雄性。 [D] the most aggressive ones. [D] 最有攻击性的雄性。 [答案] C [难度系数] ?? [分析]推理题。在第一段中提到―One theory is that males must compete for female attention. That means evolution is busy selecting for antlers, aggression and alloy wheels in males, at the expense of longevity. Females are not subject to such pressuresOne theory is that males must compete for female attention. That means evolution is busy selecting for antlers, aggression and alloy wheels in males, at the expense of longevity. Females are not subject to such pressures‖， 进化在男性中间选择鹿角、侵略和合金轮子，其实就是雄性最有魅力的特征所在，因此答案为C选项。 151 3. Which one of the following statement is TRUE 3. 关于Tim Clutton-Brock 和 Kavita of points proved by the test of Tim Clutton-Brock Isvaran所进行的实验证明的观点，下列哪and Kavita Isvaran? 个陈述是正确的, [A] Polygamous species have shorter life spans [A]多配物种比单配物种的寿命要短。 than monogynous species. [B] Polygamous species aged faster than than [B] 多配物种比单配物种衰老得快。 monogynous species. [C] Polygamous males decrease faster in number [C]多配物种的雄性随着年老，数量就会减as they grow older. 少。 [D] Monogamous males live as long as their [D]单配物种的雄性和雌性的寿命相同。females. [答案] B [难度系数] ??? [分析] 根据第三段对他们试验的描述―In 16 of the 19 polygynous species in their sample, males of all ages were much more likely to die during any given period than were females. Furthermore, the older they got, the bigger the mortality gap became. In other words, they aged faster. Males from monogamous species did not show these patterns‖，可见多配物种越老，死亡率的差距就越大，老得快;因此，B选项是正确答案。 4 The logic behind the fact that the species living 4.最危险的环境下生活的物种寿命最短，in the most dangerous environment have the 该事实背后的逻辑是______ shortest lifespan is that_____ [A] resources should be devoted to reproduction [A]资源应当用于繁殖而不是用于维持生rather than sustaining life. 命。 [B] resources should be used most efficiently. [B] 资源应当最有效地得到利用。 [C] species in the most dangerous environment [C]在最危险环境中的物种不应该浪费资should not waste the resources. 源。 [D] there is no need to divert scarce resources into [D]没有必要将有限的资源用于将机器保keeping the machine in best condition. 持在最好的状态。 [答案] B [难度系数] ???? [分析] 推理题。根据第四段―If it will be killed quickly anyway, there is not much reason for evolution to divert scarce resources into keeping the machine in tip-top condition‖，动物如果很快就被杀死了，那么就不会将有限的资源用于让它们保持在很好的状态，而是用于繁殖，这背后的逻辑就是资源要得到最有效的利用。答案为B选项。 5. The test conducted by Tim Clutton-Brock and 5. Tim Clutton-Brock 和 Kavita Kavita Isvaran demostrates that_____ Isvaran进行的实验说明了_____ [A] Polygymy was the rule in humanity‘s [A]一夫多妻是人类进化历史中的规律。 evolutionary past. [B] The sex difference on life span is attributable [B]寿命上的性别差异主要源自人类过去的to humans‘ biological past which should not be 生物学特征，这是女权主义者们不能否认denied by feminists. 的。 [C] The logic does not work between the sexes as [C]这种逻辑在性别之间、物种之间都不起well as between species. 作用。 [D] It was polygymy that accounts for human [D]正是一夫多妻制使得女性比男性更加长females‘ general longevity over males. 寿。 [答案] D [难度系数] ??? [分析]推理题。文章最后一段指出―Dr Clutton-Brock reckons that the sex difference in both human rates of ageing and in the usual age of death is an indicator that polygyny was the rule in humanity's evolutionary past—as it still is, in some places. That may not please some feminists, but it could be the price women have paid for outliving their 152 menfolk‖人类现在男女之间还有寿命的区别，这根据他们所作的实验可以推出，过去人类可能是一夫多妻 制，这样男性才比女性的寿命短。因此答案为D选项。A选项具有较强的干扰性，但其错误在于―rule‖一 词，这个词语的意思与原文的推测语气不尽相同。B是错误的，关于女权主义者的话题是作者加进去的， 与该实验无关。C选项明显是错误的。 参考译文: 在平等权利这个问题上，女性会有许多抱怨之处。但有一个明显的不平等现象一直被人们忽略了: 寿命。在这一方面，妇女处于领先地位。全世界各地的女性要比男性寿命长。个中原因尚不清楚，但是许 多物种也存在相同的情况。从狮子到羚羊，从海狮到鹿，雄性总是走得不够长。一种理论认为，雄性必须 通过竞争来获得雌性的注意，这就意味着进化在男性中间选择鹿角、侵略和合金轮子，其代价就是寿命， 而女性却不用面对这种压力。如果这个理论成立的话，那么在那些雄性要通过竞争来引起雌性注意的物种 中，雌性比雄性长寿的现象就应该格外明显。相反，在没有此类竞争的物种中，这种区别会较少甚至没有。 为了证实这种想法，剑桥大学的Tim Clutton-Brock和印度科技学院的Kavita Isvaran决定对比 研究单配物种和多配物种(后者为一个雄性有多个雌性配偶)。他们的目的在于研究是否多配物种雄性的 存活率比单配物种低一些，也老得慢一些。为了达到这一目的，他们搜集了35种寿命较长的鸟类和哺乳 类动物的信息。 他们称结果与他们预想的差不多。他们选择的19种多配物种中，有16种物种各个年龄段的雄性 在任何时期都比雌性更容易死亡。而且，随着年龄增长，它们的死亡率差距就越大。也就是它们老得越快。 而单配物种的雄性没有这些特征。多配物种中，如果某一个雄性单独拥有十个雌性，那么它一旦出现衰老 的迹象，另外九个雄性就会推倒这位占有多个雌性的主人。强大的竞争压力意味着胜利的那些雄性个体会 把所有的精力放在一个或两个繁殖季节。 很明显这会直接缩短了雄性的寿命。但是还存在一个更不易察觉的影响。研究老化的学生都认 为动物寿命最大程度上取决于逃避捕食、疾病、意外和同类进攻等因素。如果它们很快就杀死，那么进化 就不可能将有限的资源用于保证机器处于最好的状态了。相反地，这些资源应当用于繁殖。外界的环境越 危险，寿命就应该越短。 同理这种逻辑在性别或物种之间也存在。该实验旨在找到一种能将自己的环境保护得非常安全、 以便其大多数成员都可以在老年死去的物种，从而检验上述差异是否持续存在。幸运的是还有这么一个物 种——人类。Clutton-Brock博士估计人类衰老速度的性别差异和死亡的正常年龄标志着一夫多妻可能是 人类进化的法则，因为现在在某些地方还存在着这种现象。一些女性主义者可能会不高兴了，但这可能就 是女性比男性寿命更长所要付出的代价吧。 TEXT FOUR With technology leased from the German company Tronical, Gibson has modified its classic Les Paul design to create a guitar that adjusts itself to one of six preset tunings. This is no instrument for beginners. Retailing for between $2,200 and $2,500, the Robot Guitar is courting serious hobbyists and professionals who demand precision tuning, or frequently switch between different tunings and don't want the hassle of lugging multiple instruments around. "It's a cool idea. Nobody likes tuning," concedes Dinosaur Jr. frontman J. Mascis. "But I have to wait for the drummer to rest anyway between songs." Another company, called TransPerformance, sells a similar tuning device that it will install in your nonrobotic guitar for you. But Gibson's is the first out-of-the-box self-tuning ax. It sounds like a minor development in guitar technology, even rather gimmicky. But for an instrument that has barely evolved since the 1950s, the Robot Guitar is nothing short of magic: simply pull out the "master control knob" and strum the guitar. The knob lights up as a computer embedded in the back of the guitar measures each string's pitch. The tuning pegs turn by themselves, making a robotic whirring sound that enhances the wow. The control knob's lights flash blue when your instrument is locked into the tuning you select. If you're so inclined you can override the device and tune manually. But why would you? It takes all of 10 seconds for the Robot Guitar to do its thing—and blow your mind as it hasn't been blown since the first time you heard "Eruption." In an industry that has been flat to sagging, the Robot Guitar could provide a welcome boost to retailers. After 10 years of brisk growth, guitar sales headed south in 2006, according to the April 2007 Music Trades Magazine industry census. Low-end beginner acoustic guitar sales dropped 24.4 percent last year; electric guitars fell 19.1 percent. Certainly there is a dearth of righteous shredding on today's Top 40 radio. And the wildly popular 153 videogame "Guitar Hero" allows even the most tone-deaf nonmusician to simulate the experience of rocking out. Professional musicians account for 15 percent of instrument purchases in the country, according to George Van Horn, a senior analyst at IBISWorld. "Gibson is obviously aiming high, but it's worth chasing" the pros, he says. Judging by all the buzz the Robot Guitar has generated, Gibson won't have a hard time chasing down anyone. "You don't see this kind of excitement often," says Norman Hajjar, the chief marketing officer at Guitar Center, which has stocked 1,000 of the 4,000 Robot Guitars hitting the market nationwide Dec. 7. "They're quite a draw. We let people touch and play with the guitars—they're putting them through their paces. It really charms people." As of Thursday morning, Guitar Center had already taken deposits on roughly a third of the 1,000 Robot Guitars they have in stock. The very fact that "Guitar Hero" and now "Rock Band" are power-chording their way off store shelves this holiday season proves that the dream is alive. The reason that the odious song "Rock Star" is currently ubiquitous has nothing to do with quality songwriting. Truth is, we all want to be rock stars; the videogames and Nickelback's opus get us all a little closer to living the fantasy. But with the Robot Guitar, it's the musicians themselves who have gotten a long overdue leg up. 1.By saying ―But I have to wait for the drummer to rest anyway between songs‖, J. Mascis means_____ [A] that he could use this kind of device only when the drummer stops. [B] that he has no necessity or urgency to use the self-turning guitar. [C] that he make use of the self-turning guitar for precision tuning when the drummer takes a break. [D] that he have to wait for the drummer to follow him if he use the self-tuning guitar. 2.The word ―override‖ (Line 7, Paragraph 2) most probably means_____ [A] shift. [B] close. [C] set aside. [D] disregard. 3. Which one of the following statement is NOT true of guitar sales? [A] Guitar sales have been going up slowly in the past then years. [B] Guitar sales has witnessed its switch to loss of margin in 2006. [C] The fall of guitar sales is due to the drop of purchase by professional musicians. [D] Guitar sales are pinched by the development of the music games. 4. Which one of the following statements is TRUE of George Van Horn‘s opinions on the gimmicky? [A] He thinks although Gibson‘s plan is worth trying, it should lower its expectation. [B] He thinks Gibson‘s target group is too narrow and it should expand to larger clients. [C] He thinks Gibson‘s idea has its value and future though he thinks too highly of his invention. [D] He thinks Gibson has made right choice in choosing future customers. 5. From the last paragraph, it can be inferred that _____ [A] guitar videogames will be a threat to the Robot Guitar. [B] the Robot Guitar can not be mentioned in the same breath with ―Guitar Hero‖ and ―Rock Bank‖. [C] ―Guitar Hero‖ and ―Rock Bank‖ triumphs over the Robot Guitar. [D] ―Rock Star‖ will be defeated by the Robot Guitar. 篇章剖析: 这篇文章讲述了一种新发明的自动吉他。第一段讲述Gibson发明的新吉他的特点;第二段讲述这种吉他 的工作原理;第三段讲述该发明对吉他行业的影响;第四段讲述目前这种新型吉他的预定情况;第五段讲 述该吉他和其他游戏的区别。 词汇注释: 154 hassle n. 激战 nonrobotic adj.不是机器人的 gimmicky n. 小发明 knob n. 旋钮圆形的控制开关 override v. 跳过，不管 dearth n. 缺乏 ubiquitous adj. 普遍存在的 opus n. 作品 难句突破: The very fact that "Guitar Hero" and now "Rock Band" are power-chording their way off store shelves this holiday season proves that the dream is alive. [主体句式] The very fact that…proves that… [结构分析] 这是一个复合句，fact后面that引导的是同位语从句;后面that引导的是宾语从句。 [句子译文] 而―吉他英雄‖和现在的―摇滚乐队‖ 有望在这个假期从货架上买到这种新吉他，从而实现其梦想。 题目分析: 1.By saying ―But I have to wait for the drummer to J.Mascis说―但是我必须得等鼓手在两首rest anyway between songs‖, J. Mascis 歌之间休息的时候才能调音。‖ means_____ 他的意思是说_____ [A] that he could use this kind of device only when [A]他只有在鼓声停止的时候才能使用这the drummer stops. 种装置。 [B] that he has no necessity or urgency to use the [B]他不必要也不急于 self-tuning guitar. 用这种自动调音的吉他。 [C] that he could make use of the self-tuning [C]他可以在鼓手休息的时候guitar for precision tuning when the drummer 用自动调音的吉他进行精确调音。takes a break. [D] that he have to wait for the drummer to follow [D]如果他使用自动调音的吉他，他必须him if he use the self-tuning guitar. 得等鼓手跟上他。 [答案] B [难度系数] ??? [分析]推理题。根据第一段―"It's a cool idea. Nobody likes tuning," concedes Dinosaur Jr. frontman J. Mascis. "But I have to wait for the drummer to rest anyway between songs."‖，J.Mascis这样说意思是反正鼓手要在两首歌之间休息，那我完全可以自己调音。因此，答案为B选项。 2.The word ―override‖ (Line 7, Paragraph 2) 2. ―override‖ (第二段第七行) most probably means_____ 最有可能的意思是_____ [A] shift. [A] 改变。 [B] close. [B] 关掉。 [C] set aside. [C] 放在一边。 [D] disregard. [D] 不理，忽略。 [答案] D [难度系数] ? [分析] 猜词题。根据上下文―If you're so inclined you can override the device and tune manually‖，如果你自己愿意，也可以忽略这个装置，自己手动调解。选项中只有D有这个意思。 3. Which one of the following statement is NOT 3.关于吉他销售，下列陈述中哪个是错误的true of guitar sales? , [A] Guitar sales have been going up slowly in [A]吉他销售在过去十年中一直在缓慢地上the past decade. 升。 [B] Guitar sales has witnessed its switch to loss [B] 吉他销售在2006年开始损失。 of margin in 2006. [C] The fall of guitar sales is due to the drop of [C]吉他销售的下降是因为专业音乐人购买的purchase by professional musicians. 减少。 155 [D] Guitar sales are pinched by the development [D]吉他销售受到其他音乐游戏发展的冲击of the music games. 。 [答案] A [难度系数] ??? [分析] 细节题。根据第三段―after 10 years of brisk growth, guitar sales headed south in 2006, according to the April 2007 Music Trades Magazine industry census‖。这里提到的10 years指的是2006年之前的10年，而这篇文章中提到了2006年和2007年，因此可以推测文章最早也是在2007年写的。因此A选项中所谓的―the past decade‖就包括了2006年，因此和文章所指的10年不尽相同，可见该选项是错误的，因此答案为A选项。B选项谈到吉他销售在2006年掉头下降，这里的南指的是向下，因此，该选项是正确表述。C和D选项都能够比较容易地在文章中定位。 4. Which one of the following statements is TRUE 4. 关于George Van Horn对于该发明的of George Van Horn‘s opinions on the gimmicky? 观点，下列哪个陈述是正确的, [A] He thinks although Gibson‘s plan is worth [A] 他认为Gibson值得尝试，但是应该trying, it should lower its expectation. 降低预期。 [B] He thinks Gibson‘s target group is too narrow [B] 他认为Gibson的目标群体太窄，应and it should expand to larger clients. 该扩大客户群。 [C] He thinks Gibson‘s idea has its value and future [C] 他认为Giobson的主意自有其价值和though he thinks too highly of his invention. 未来，虽然他对于自己的发明过于乐观。 [D] He thinks Gibson has made right choice in [D] 他认为Gibson在选择未来的顾客choosing future customers. 上做出了正确的选择。 [答案] C [难度系数] ???? [分析] 细节题。根据第四段―Professional musicians account for 15 percent of instrument purchases in the country, according to George Van Horn, a senior analyst at IBISWorld. "Gibson is obviously aiming high, but it's worth chasing" the pros, he says‖，可见他认为Giboson意在高远，但值得去追求，选项中C符合。 5. From the last paragraph, it can be inferred that 5. 从最后一段可以推导出_____ _____ [A] guitar videogames will be a threat to the [A]吉他视频游戏是自动吉他的一个威胁。 Robot Guitar. [B] the Robot Guitar can not be mentioned in the [B]自动吉他不能和―吉他英雄‖和―摇滚乐队‖ same breath with ―Guitar Hero‖ and ―Rock 相提并论。 Bank‖. [C] ―Guitar Hero‖ and ―Rock Bank‖ triumphs [C]―吉他英雄‖和―摇滚乐队‖胜过了自动吉他over the Robot Guitar. 。 [D] ―Rock Star‖ will be defeated by the Robot [D] ―摇滚明星‖ 将会被自动吉他击败。 Guitar. [答案] B [难度系数] ??? [分析] 推理题。根据最后一段―The very fact that "Guitar Hero" and now "Rock Band" are power-chording their way off store shelves this holiday season proves that the dream is alive…But with the Robot Guitar, it's the musicians themselves who have gotten a long overdue leg up‖，视频游戏是给普通人玩的，让我们接近了梦想一点;但是自动吉他 是音乐人自己的选择，不能相提并论。因此，答案为B选项。 参考译文: Gibson利用从德国公司Tronical租借来的技术改造了古典Les Paul的设计，从而创造出一把可以自动调节到事先设好的六个调的吉他。这可不是给那些初学者用的吉他。自动吉他售价为2200美元至2500美元，其对象为真正的吉他爱好者或者专业人士、他们往往对音准有比较高的要求，或是那些要不 156 停在各个谐音间变化的人，他们不希望把那么多的工具拖来拖去。“这个主意太妙了，没有人喜欢调音”， 恐龙乐队初级乐队领唱人J. Mascis肯定了这一点，“但是我必须得等鼓手在两首歌之间休息的时候才能调 音。” 另外一个名为TransPerformance的乐队也在出售类似的一种调音器，可以安装在非自动吉他上。 但是Gibson发明的是第一个盒外自动调音的吉他。 听起来这好像是吉他技术的一个小小的进展，甚至可以说是个小发明。但是对于从这种上世纪 50年代后再没有改进过的乐器来说，自动吉他绝对是个奇迹:只要把“大师控制的旋钮”拽出，然后就可 以弹吉他了。这个按钮是发光的，好像是嵌在吉他背后的计算机一样，可以调节每根弦的音。调音栓会自 己转动，发出自动运行的声音，从而增加了颤音。如果吉他被锁定在自己选择的谐音上，控制按钮就发出 蓝光。如果你愿意，也可以不管这个装置而手动调节。但是为什么不用呢,只需要10秒钟自动吉他就设 好了，你第一次听到了“爆发”时会受到很大的震动。 对于这么一个濒临衰败的产业，自动吉他能给销售商带来一定的推进。根据2007年4月音乐商 业杂志进行的行业调查，在经历了10年快速成长后，吉他销售开始于2006年一路滑坡。低端的初学者声 学吉他的销售去年下滑了24.4%, 电子吉他销售则下滑了19.1%。当然当今排名前四十的电台缺乏优秀的 吉他音乐，而流行的视频游戏“吉他英雄” 可以让最五音不全的人模拟弹奏摇滚乐。IBIS世界资深分析家 George Van Horn说，专业音乐人占到本国乐器购买的15%。“Gibson意在高远，但值得去争取”更多支 持者，他谈到。 从自动吉他引发的广泛影响来看，Gibson要找到支持者不是件困难的事。“不可能经常看到这种 令人兴奋的事情”， 吉他中心市场部门负责人Norman Hajjar说道，他已经囤积了4000把自动吉他中的 1000把，计划于12月7日推向市场。“这确实挺吸引人的，我们让人们触摸并弹奏吉他，让人们感受节 拍。这真的很吸引人。”自从周四早上开始，吉他中心已经接受了库存的1000把吉他中1/3的定金了。 而“吉他英雄”和现在的“摇滚乐队” 有望在这个假期从货架上买到这种新吉他，从而实现其梦想。 现今难听的“摇滚之星”随处可见的原因与有品质的作曲不能扯上关系。实际上我们都希望成为摇滚明星， 视频游戏和Nickelback的作品把我们与幻想拉近了一点。而自动吉他的发明是音乐人开始追赶自己长期 以来拉下的路。 TEXT ONE Aptera is certainly not the sort of name an old-school carmaker would give to its newest creation. Biologists will recognise it as the term for scuttling wingless insects—silverfish and suchlike. But Steve Fambro, the boss of the eponymous Californian company that plans to make and sell electric vehicles under this name, hopes they will soon be swarming over the state's highways. Unlike Tesla, another boutique electric-vehicle maker from the Golden State, Aptera is aiming for the bottom end of the market. A Tesla sports car will set you back $98,000 (or it would if you could get your hands on one: Tesla has delayed shipment of its first 50 cars until next year). An Aptera, by contrast, starts at $26,900, and should be available this time next year. And instead of a Ferrari knock-off, you get a space-age tricycle. But Aptera and Tesla have things in common. They are both small. They were both started by people with no experience in the motor industry. And they are both aiming to start by roping in the eco-fashionistas of California, and then work outwards to the mainstream. The name Aptera was chosen because the vehicle resembles a small, wingless aircraft. Its three-wheel design exempts it from onerous federal testing regulations. The outer shell is made of a carbon-fibre composite, rather than metal. The lines are wind-tunnel aerodynamic. And protuberances are kept to a minimum. Wing mirrors, for example, are replaced by a rear-facing camera with a 180? field of view and the exhaust valves are recessed to minimise turbulence. In the pure plug-in version, those valves are for waste heat from the electronics. There is also a petrol-electric hybrid, with a single-cylinder generator that extends the range from 200km to 1,130km. Top speed is 150kph. One reason for the emergence of firms such as Aptera is that designing a new vehicle has become as much an exercise in software simulation as in metal (or even carbon-fibre) bashing. That enables the firm's engineers to do extensive development work—even things like crash-testing—on a computer. This is much cheaper than building endless prototypes and driving lots of them into walls. Another reason is the widespread availability of previously specialised components such as lithium-ion batteries. That means that an upstart such as Aptera can focus on the 157 electronic brains of the vehicle and its final assembly, rather than having to make everything from scratch. It can thus, it believes, turn a profit without having to produce large volumes. Automotive history is littered with failed attempts to build electric cars, and sceptics might think the latest batch will be no different. That there is a fashion for such vehicles, though, is hard to deny. Besides Aptera and Tesla—which are, in their different ways, the most conspicuous examples—Venture Vehicles of Los Angeles is proposing an electric version of the Dutch Carver three-wheeled motorbike, while Phoenix Motorcars of Ontario, California, has produced a sports-utility truck. Meanwhile, REVA, an Indian firm, and Think Global, a Norwegian one, are making two-door hatchbacks. Indeed, according to the Venture Capital Journal, about $220m has been invested in such small firms over the past year and a half. 1.Which one of the following statements is NOT true of the common characterists of Tesla and Aptera? [A] Both of them are envioroment-friendly. [B] Both of them are from small companies of California and then expand outwards. [C] Both of them are originated from the marginal status of the industry. [D] Both of them are created by green hands of automobile business. 2. The petrol-electric hybrid version of Aptera is different from its other versions in that_____ [A] Top speed of the hybrid is higher than than of the other versions. [B] The hybrid possesses a stronger capacity of long-distance drive with rapid speed. [C] The hybrid has a special generator that is characterized by a sole cylinder. [D] The hybrid generate more turbulence than the other versions. 3.The word ―protuberance‖ (Line 4, Paragraph 3) most probably means_____ [A] protrusion. [B] accessory. [C] adjunct. [D] impetus. 4. Firms such as Aptera are growing up because of the following reasons except_____ [A] Technologies of metal bashing simulation are well developped. [B] The cost of making cars is greatly reduced. [C] Some specialized parts are available to them. [D] Large venture investment is devoted to such business. 5. Towards to the future of the electric cars, the author‘s attitude can be said to be _____ [A] optimistic. 158 [B] lukewarm. [C] wait-and-see. [D] enthusiastic. 篇章剖析: 这篇文章讲述了一些新型汽车的情况。第一段讲述了Aptera在推出其最新产品;第二、三段讲述这一新产品的特点;第四段讲述Aptera公司目前的研发优势;第五段讲述许多公司现在都开始进军该领域。 词汇注释: scuttle v. 仓皇奔逃;匆匆跑走 eponymous adj. 齐名的 swarm v. 挤满t ricycle n. 三轮车 onerous adj. 麻烦的 aerodynamic adj. 空气动力的 protuberance n. 凸起 valve n. 阀门 lithium n. 锂 litter v. 乱丢，弄乱 hatchback n. 有仓门式后背的车 难句突破: (1) But Steve Fambro, the boss of the eponymous Californian company that plans to make and sell electric vehicles under this name, hopes they will soon be swarming over the state's highways. [主体句式] But Steve Fambro hopes … [结构分析] 这是一个复合句，the boss of…是做主语的同位语;该同位语中that引导的是定语从句，用来修饰company。 [句子译文] 但是计划用这个名字来制造并销售电动汽车的齐名的加利福尼亚公司老总Steve Fambro希望它们很快就能挤满加州的高速公路。 Besides Aptera and Tesla—which are, in their different ways, the most conspicuous examples—Venture Vehicles of Los Angeles is proposing an electric version of the Dutch Carver three-wheeled motorbike, while Phoenix Motorcars of Ontario, California, has produced a sports-utility truck. [主体句式] Besides Aptera and Tesla, Venture Vehicles …is proposing… while… [结构分析] 这是一个复合句。while引导的是句子的伴随状语。 [句子译文] 除了Aptera和Tesla这两个最有名的例子，洛杉矶的冒险汽车公司也在计划制造德国Carver三轮摩托车式的电动车，而加州安大略的凤凰汽车公司已经制造了一种运动型载重卡车。 题目分析: 159 1.Which one of the following statements is 1. 关于Tesla NOT true of the common characterists of 和Aptera共同的特点，下列哪项陈述是错误的Tesla and Aptera? , [A] Both of them are envioroment-friendly. [A] 它们都是环保的。 [B] Both of them are from small companies of [B] 它们都是从加州的小公司开始做起，后来California and then expand outwards. 向外扩张。 [C] Both of them are originated from the [C] 它们原先都处于该产业的边缘地位。marginal status of the industry. [D] Both of them are created by green hands [D]它们都是由汽车行业中的新手制造的。of automobile business. [答案] B [难度系数] ??? [分析] 细节题。第一段中提到了它们之间的共同点有三个―But Aptera and Tesla have things in common. They are both small. They were both started by people with no experience in the motor industry. And they are both aiming to start by roping in the eco-fashionistas of California, and then work outwards to the mainstream‖，体积小，创始人都是该行业的新手，环保;而且这两个公司都是小公司，后来渐渐向主流发展，可见原先是出于行业的边缘。选项中只有B不是共同点，因为不存在―expand outwards‖。 2. The petrol-electric hybrid version of Aptera 2.Aptera的汽油电力混合版和它其他的版本区is different from its other versions in 别在于_____ that_____ [A] Top speed of the hybrid is higher than than [A] 混合版的速度要比其他版本高。of the other versions. [B] The hybrid possesses a stronger capacity [B] 混合版比其他版本的长途高速驾驶能力更of long-distance drive with rapid speed. 强。 [C] The hybrid has a special generator that is [C] 混合版有一种独特的单气缸发动机。 characterized by a sole cylinder. [D] The hybrid generate more turbulence than [D] 混合版比其他版本生产的动荡大。the other versions. [答案] B [难度系数] ??? [分析] 细节题。根据第三段―There is also a petrol-electric hybrid, with a single-cylinder generator that extends the range from 200km to 1,130km. Top speed is 150kph‖，可见 混合版本可以将行程延长200到1130公里，这就是区别之处，因此答案为B选项。A、D选项都不是混合版的特征。C选项的表述虽然符合混合版的特征，但是却不是它区别于其他版本车的主要原因。 3.The word ―protuberance‖ (Line 4, 3. ―protuberance‖ Paragraph 3) most probably (第三段第四行)最有可能的意思是_____means_____ [A] protrusion. [A] 突出。 [B] accessory. [B] 零件。 [C] adjunct. [C] 附件。 [D] impetus. [D] 推动力。 [答案] A [难度系数] ? 160 [分析] 猜词题。根据第三段―And protuberances are kept to a minimum. Wing mirrors, for example, are replaced by a rear-facing camera with a 180? field of view and the exhaust valves are recessed to minimise turbulence‖，讲述该特征时举的例子——比如风镜由180度视角的朝后的摄像机代替，可以看出主要为了避免有突出的部分。选项中A最为符合。 4. Firms such as Aptera are growing up because of the following reasons 4. except_____ Aptera这样的公司成长起来是因为以下除了___ _之外的原因。 [A] Technologies of metal bashing simulation [A] 金属撞击模拟的技术发展得很好 are well developped. [B] The cost of making cars is greatly [B] 制造车的费用大大降低了 reduced. [C] Some specialized parts are available to [C] 他们可以拿到 一些特别的部分 them. [D] Large venture investment is devoted to [D]大型的投资活动被投入到了这样的商业中 such business. [答案] D [难度系数] ??? [分析] 细节题。根据第四段。这样的公司能成长起来是因为模拟演习已经发展起来，这样就可以节约试验成本;先前那些专门的配件随处都可以买到;选项中，A、C选项是正确的，B选项是A、C选项的结果;D选项在文章没有提到。因此，答案为D选项。 5. Towards to the future of the electric 5.对于电气汽车的未来，作者的态度是_____cars, the author‘s attitude can be said to be _____ [A] optimistic. [A] 乐观的。 [B] lukewarm. [B] 冷淡的。 [C] wait-and-see. [C] 观望的。 [D] enthusiastic. [D] 热心的。 [答案] A [难度系数] ??? [分析] 态度题。根据最后一段，都是一些成功的案例，因此，作者对电气汽车的未来的态度是乐观的，因此正确答案为A选项。D选项有一定的干扰性，但是从文中可以看出作者的语气一直比较平淡客观，虽然持支持的态度但是没有表现出―热心‖的层面，该选项过于夸张，因而是错误的。 参考译文: Aptera 肯定不是传统汽车制造商会给新产品起的名字。生物学家会认为这是一种行色匆匆走路的无翼昆虫的名字，比如蠹虫等。但是计划用这个名字来制造并销售电动汽车的加利福尼亚公司老总Steve Fambro希望这种车很快就能挤满加州的高速公路。 Tesla 是金色之州(加州)的另一家流行电动汽车制造商，但Aptera与前者不同，其目标是低端市场。一辆Tesla运动跑车得花九万八千美元(或者说你如果能亲自开上一辆就得花这么多钱，因为Tesla第一批的50辆车推迟到明年才能到货)。而一辆Aptera起步价仅为两万六千九百美元，而且明年的这个时候应该就可以提货了。你拿到的并不是法拉利的缩版，而是太空时代的三轮车。但是Aptera和Tesla也有相似之处，两种车体积都很小，两家创始人都是这个行业的新手，目标都是要从环保理念盛行的加州起步，然后 161 再逐渐扩展到主流市场。 起Aptera这个名字是因为这种汽车像小小的无翼飞机。三轮的造型使其免受繁琐的联邦检测法规的约 束。车的外壳是碳类合成物，而不是金属。其设计为风道空气动力，且尽可能避免凸出部分，比如风镜由 180度视角的向后摄像机代替，排气阀凹进去从而将气流减到最小。在插入式车型中，这些阀门是用来为 电器散发出来的废热而设计的。还有一种汽油和电力混合汽车，只有一个气缸加速器，可以将行程延长200 到1130公里，最高时速为150公里/小时。 像Aptera这样的公司之所以能够兴起，其中一个原因就是设计新型汽车的软件模拟演习几乎能与金属 (甚至碳材料)撞击演习相媲美。这就使得公司的工程师可以在电脑上进行大量的研发工作，甚至是碰撞 试验，要比制造无数个汽车模型再撞墙测试廉价得多。另外一个原因就是随着先前那些专门供应的部件、 比如锂电池已随处可得，这意味着像Aptera这样的新秀可以将精力集中于汽车的电子脑和最终的装配上， 而不是所有的东西都得从头来过。它相信这样一来，不用很大的制造量就可以获利了。 在汽车制造历史上有许多制造电动汽车失败的故事，一些怀疑论者可能认为这批最新汽车也差不多。但是 现在制造这种汽车的风气正盛，这是无法否认的。除了Aptera和Tesla这两个最有名的例子，洛杉矶的冒 险汽车公司也在计划制造德国Carver三轮摩托车式的电动车，而加州安大略的凤凰汽车公司已经制造了一 种运动型载重卡车。同时，印度REVA公司和挪威的思想全球公司也在制造双门有仓门式后背的汽车。据 《风险资本期刊》称，过去的一年半中有大约两亿两千万美元注入到了这样的小公司中。 TEXT TWO When Archaeopteryx, a feathered skeleton that was seemingly half dinosaur and half bird, turned up in 1862—three years after the publication of ―The Origin of Species‖—the origin of birds became a subject of raging debate among palaeontologists. Suggestions that they were the direct descendants of theropod dinosaurs (a group of bipedal meat-eaters that include Allosaurus, Velociraptor and Tyrannosaurus) caused quite a flap. Today, most researchers agree that birds are, indeed, a branch of the Dinosauria. How they made the transition from the land to the sky, though, has yet to be agreed. But a paper in this week's Current Biology, by Christopher Glen and Michael Bennett of the University of Queensland, makes a strong case that they did it by jumping. Considering the diversity of life on Earth, flight is surprisingly rare. It has evolved only four times: among the insects about 300m years ago, the pterosaurs (230m), the birds (150m) and the bats (50m). That suggests it is a hard trick to pull off. For birds, there is general agreement that feathers came before flight. Fossils from north-eastern China show animals that had feathers but clearly could not have flown, as well as ones that look like proper birds. The best guesses are that feathers evolved either for insulation (as fur did in mammals) or for display, and that natural selection took advantage by turning them into a means of transport. There are two broad schools of thought about what happened next. One argues that birds' immediate ancestors lived in trees. Members of this school think that powered flight developed as a natural extension of gliding (such controlled falling is used as a way of travelling from tree to tree by several arboreal species today). Gliding itself developed because of the lift provided by feathered forearms. The alternative is that flight evolved on the ground. Some researchers who belong to this school of thought suggest that the power provided by flapping protowings may have given their owners an edge in the pursuit of prey. Others hypothesise that feathery forearms helped animals steer and stabilise themselves. Unfortunately, behaviour does not fossilise, so it looked as though the question might never be answered. But Dr Glen, a palaeobiologist, and Dr Bennett, a biomechanic, think they have worked out how to do so. Their crucial observation is that in modern birds the curvature of the third toe (which carries a lot of weight during walking and climbing) varies with species' lifestyles. Birds that spend lots of time climbing around on the trunks of trees have dramatically curved third toes. Those that hop around on branches have mildly curved ones. Those that forage mainly on the ground have the least curved of all. The two researchers compared these observations with their findings for the bird-like dinosaurs and dinosaur-like birds of China. They noticed that the toes of both feathered dinosaurs and of the earliest flying birds were similar to those of modern birds that spend most of their time on the ground. Flight, in other words, came before birds took to the trees. They are not fallen angels, but risen reptiles. 162 1. Which one of the following statements is NOT true of the current debate on the origin of birds? [A] The opinion that birds were the direct descendants of dinosaurs gives the world a shock. [B] Palaeontologists have get consensus on the specie‘s transition from the land to the sky. [C] Palaeontologists have different opinions on the process of the transition. [D] The paper in this week's Current Biology demostrate that the specie moved by hopping before they flied. 2. The reason why flight is surprisingly rare is that _____ [A] life on earth is diversified. [B] many species of this kind were eliminated during evolution. [C] feathers evolved not for a means of transport. [D] it is very hard to have such evolution. 3.The two schools of thought have different opinions on _____ [A] the functions of feathered forearams in transition from ground to sky. [B] the location of living place before the animals‘ evolution to birds. [C] the development of powered flight. [D] the power provided by either gliding or flapping. 4. The conclusion of the study carried out by Dr. Glen and Dr. Bennet is that_____ [A] powered flight developed as feathered forearms provided lift. [B] flight evolved on the ground before they descend on the trees. [C] earliest birds share similar toes with their modern counterparts. [D] earliest flying birds evovled from feathered dinosaurs. 5.Which one of the following statements is NOT true of opinions of Dr. Glen and Dr. Bennet? [A]Birds realized the transition from reptile to flight by jumping. [B] Dinasaurs are, as a matter of fact, the direct ancester of birds. [C]Feathers evolves not for the purpose of flight. [D] Bird‘s behaviors is indeed fossilised by their various shape of the third toe. 篇章剖析: 这篇文章讲述了关于鸟类进化的一些研究情况。第一段讲述研究者对于鸟类如何从陆地转到空中生活的进化史有一定的分歧;第二段讲述了鸟类羽毛出现的过程;第三、四段讲述了两派不同看法;第五、六段讲述研究者根据鸟类脚趾情况断定了上述转化是如何发生的。 163 词汇注释: Archaeopteryx n. 始祖鸟 palaeontologists n. 古生物学家 theropod adj. 兽脚亚目的 bipedal adj. 两足动物的 Allosaurus n. Velociraptor n. 异龙 Tyrannosaurus n. 暴龙 arboreal adj. 树栖的 biomechanic n. 生物力学家 curvature n. 弯曲 hop v.跳跃 forage v. 翻寻搜寻食物 难句突破: (2) When Archaeopteryx, a feathered skeleton that was seemingly half dinosaur and half bird, turned up in 1862—three years after the publication of ―The Origin of Species‖—the origin of birds became a subject of raging debate among palaeontologists. [主体句式] When Archaeopteryx turned up …, the origin of birds became… [结构分析] 这是一个复合句，when引导的是时间状语从句。 [句子译文] 当始祖鸟——一种一半是恐龙一半是鸟类的羽毛动物——的骨架出现在1862年，也就是《物种起源》出版的三年后，鸟类的起源成为古生物学家激烈争论的主题。 (3) Fossils from north-eastern China show animals that had feathers but clearly could not have flown, as well as ones that look like proper birds. [主体句式] Fossils …show animals … as well as ones … [结构分析] 这是一个复合句。两个that引导的都是定语从句修饰前面的名词。 [句子译文] 华东发现的化石表明拥有羽毛的动物当时不一定能飞行，即使那些看起来完全像鸟类的也是这样。 。题目分析: 1. Which one of the following statements is NOT 1.关于鸟类起源的争论，下列哪个陈述true of the current debate on the origin of birds? 是错误的, [A] The opinion that birds were the direct [A]鸟类是恐龙直接后裔，这个观点让descendants of dinosaurs gives the world a shock.世界很震惊。 [B] Palaeontologists have get consensus on the [B]古生物学家就该物种从地上到空中specie‘s transition from the land to the sky. 的转化这个问题上达成了一致。 [C] Palaeontologists have different opinions on the [C]古生物学家对于转变的过程有不同process of the transition. 的观点。 D] The paper in this week's Current Biology [D]本周《当今生物》上的论文显示了demostrate that the specie moved by hopping before 它们在掌握飞行能力之前是靠跳跃来移they flied. 动的。 164 [答案] D [难度系数] ?? [分析]细节题。A选项，第一段中有提到了这点;B选项，第一段提到许多研究者同意鸟类是恐龙的一个分支，与这点相符;C选项，第一段提到了他们在该问题上有争议;D选项，是靠跳跃实现由地到空的转变，不是移动。因此，答案为D选项。 2. The reason why flight is surprisingly rare is 2. 为什么飞行动物很少是因为_____that _____ [A] life on earth is diversified. [A] 地球上的生物是多元化的。 [B] many species of this kind were eliminated [B]飞行动物的许多物种在进化过程中都灭绝during evolution. 了。 [C] feathers evolved not for a means of [C]鸟类并不是为了移动的方式才进化的。transport. [D] it is very hard to have such evolution. [D] 发生这样的进化很难。 [答案] D [难度系数] ???? [分析] 细节题。根据第二段―Considering the diversity of life on Earth, flight is surprisingly rare. It has evolved only four times: among the insects about 300m years ago, the pterosaurs (230m), the birds (150m) and the bats (50m). That suggests it is a hard trick to pull off‖，非行动物只进化了四次，进化是很艰难的过程，因此飞行动物品种少。答案为D选项。 3.The two schools of thought have different 3. 两派在_____上有不同的观点。opinions on _____ [A] the functions of feathered forearams in [A]长有羽毛的前臂在从地上到空中转变transition from ground to sky. 的作用 [B] the location of living place before the animals [B] 这些动物进化为鸟类之前生活的地方 evolution to birds. [C] the development of powered flight. [C] 动力飞行的发展过程 [D] the power provided by either gliding or [D]力量是由滑翔或者拍动翅膀提供的 flapping. [答案] C [难度系数] ??? [分析]细节题。根据第三段和第四段，两派科学家在鸟类的飞行是靠滑行还是靠翅膀提供的升力形成的这一点上有分歧，选项C符合题意。此外B选项比较具有干扰性，文章中提到两种观点认为这些动物在进化为鸟类之前是分别住在地面上和树上，但这只是一个表面的原因，深层次的原因还在C选项。 4. The conclusion of the study carried out by Dr. 4.Glen博士和Bennet博士在该研究中得到Glen and Dr. Bennet is that_____ 的最后结论是_____ [A] powered flight developed as feathered [A]长有羽毛的前臂提供了升力，从而使forearms provided lift. 得动力飞行发展起来。 [B] flight evolved on the ground before they [B] 飞行是从地上发展而来的，其发生在descend on the trees. 它们降落到树上之前。 [C] earliest birds share similar toes with their [C]飞行是鸟类在到树上之前生活发生的modern counterparts. 。 [D] earliest flying birds evovled from feathered [D]最早飞行的鸟类与现代鸟类有着相似 165 dinosaurs. 的第三脚趾。 [答案] B [难度系数] ??? [分析]细节题。根据第五段和第六段，他们通过研究鸟类脚趾得出结论，鸟类是一开始是在地上生活，后来在到树上生活之前就可以飞翔了，那么它们的飞翔是从地面发展而来的。答案为B选项。C选项具有一定的迷惑性，但是要注意的是―modern counterparts‖范围过于广泛，而文中指的是―modern birds that spend most of their time on the ground‖，因此该选项错误。 5.Which one of the following statements is NOT true 5(关于Glen博士和Bennet博士的观of opinions of Dr. Glen and Dr. Bennet? 点，下列哪个陈述是错误的, [A]Birds realized the transition from reptile to flight [A] 鸟类依靠跳跃实现了从爬行动物到by jumping. 飞行动物的转变。 [B] Dinasaurs are, as a matter of fact, the direct [B] 恐龙实际上是鸟类直接的后裔。 ancestor of birds. [C]Feathers evolves not for the purpose of flight. [C] 鸟类的羽毛不是为了飞行而形成 的。 [D] The bird‘s behavior is indeed fossilised by their [D] 最早飞行的鸟类的第三个脚趾是轻various shape of the third toe. 微弯曲的。 [答案] B [难度系数] ??? [分析] 细节题。B选项，这一点不符合他们的观点，文章中的意思应该是鸟类是恐龙的直接后裔。A选项是正确的，这一点在第一段中就有所提及―But a paper in this week's Current Biology, by Christopher Glen and Michael Bennett of the University of Queensland, makes a strong case that they did it by jumping‖。C选项的表述也是正确的，因为文章提到羽毛的出现甚至在鸟类掌握飞行能力之后，因此不是为了这个目的。D选项的表述是正确的，文章倒数第二段提到―Unfortunately, behaviour does not fossilise, so it looked as though the question might never be answered. But Dr Glen, a palaeobiologist, and Dr Bennett, a biomechanic, think they have worked out how to do so‖，进而指出他们采用的方法就是研究鸟类的第三脚趾。因此答案为B选项。 参考译文: 当始祖鸟——一种一半是恐龙一半是鸟类的羽毛动物——的骨架出现在1862年，也就是《物种起源》出版的三年后，鸟类的起源成为古生物学家激烈争论的主题。有人提出它们是兽脚亚目的恐龙(一群两足食肉恐龙，包括异龙、…和暴龙)的直接后裔，这引起了一片哗然。现在，许多研究者同意鸟类实际上是恐龙的一个分支。但是，它们是如何从陆地转到空中生活，在这个问题上还有分歧存在。但是本周《当今生物》发表了昆士兰州Christopher Glen 和Michael Bennett的一篇文章，证明了正是靠跳跃实现了这种转变的。 鉴于陆地上生命的多样性，飞行动物的种类相对是比较少的。飞行动物只进化过四次:三亿年前昆虫类的进化，两亿三千万年前的翼龙，一亿五千万年前的鸟类和五千万年前的蝙蝠。这表明了进化是艰难的历程。大家普遍同意在能够飞行之前，这些动物先有了翅膀。华东发现的化石表明拥有羽毛的动物当时不一定能飞行，即使那些看起来完全像鸟类的也是这样。可能的情况就是羽毛的出现或者是充当隔离层(作用和动物的皮毛一样)，或者是为了好看，而自然选择又将它们转变成运动的工具。 166 对于接下来的进化，有两派不同看法。一派认为鸟类的直接祖先生长在树上，该派成员认为滑行(今 天还有些树栖种类动物依靠这种有控制的坠落来从一棵树转移到另外一棵树上)自然会发展成为飞行。滑 行自身也会发展，因为长了羽毛的前臂为其提供了升力。 另外一派的观点是飞行是从地面活动发展而来的。该派的一些研究者认为相当于翅膀的那个部分拍 动起来产生的动力让这些动物在捕食时动起来。其他的一些假设还有长了羽毛的前臂有助于动物前行或 保持平衡。 不幸的是，动作不能变成化石，因此看起来这个问题可能永远都没有答案了。但是古生物学家Glen 博士和生物力学家Bennett博士认为他们已经找出了具体的方案。他们关键的观察报告是有关于现代鸟类 第三个脚趾(在行走或爬行的时候这个脚趾承载许多重量)的弯曲度因鸟类生活方式的不同而各有差异。 多数时候在树干上爬行鸟类的第三个脚趾非常弯曲，而在树上跳来跳去的鸟类第三个脚趾稍微弯曲，而 那些在地上搜索食物的鸟类第三个脚趾是最不弯曲的。 这两位研究者将这些观察结果与中国的类鸟类恐龙和类恐龙鸟类的发现作了比较，他们发现有翅膀 的恐龙和最早飞行的鸟类的脚趾与那些大多数时间在地上活动的鸟类相似。换句话说，鸟类在上树生活 之前就可以飞翔了。它们不是坠落的天使，而是飞起来的爬行动物。 TEXT THREE Everyone is interested in whether different foods or nutrients affect our odds of getting diseases like cancer or of developing risk factors for those diseases, such as too much weight or high blood pressure. But there are many barriers to studying dietary change, which is why we still have no easy answers to the question of what, exactly, we should eat to be at our healthiest. It's also why you can be forgiven for often feeling whipsawed by headlines: Is coffee good or bad? What about alcohol, garlic, or chocolate? This week researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association that breast cancer survivors who cram their diets with fruits and vegetables are no more likely to escape a recurrence than women who stick to the usual five-a-day recommendation. Does that mean fruits and vegetables don't protect against cancer? No—just that in this specific group of women with breast cancer, the extra greens and additional apples didn't seem to help. We asked researchers to explain why studies involving dietary changes are so hard to do—and what consumers should keep in mind when they read about them. Here's what the experts said: Most diet studies take place in the real world. That means study subjects are keeping diaries of what they eat as they go rather than having their intake strictly controlled by someone else. You can give them meal advice, counseling, and how-to books up to their ears, but at the end of the day, they are on their own when it comes to what they put in their mouths. It's easier to get people to add something—like garlic, in the form of tasty sandwich spreads, or dark chocolate—than to take something away; no wonder a recent study comparing low-fat and low-carb diet plans found that almost no one was sticking to them by the end. In studies focusing on diet, including the recent study on breast cancer recurrence, the amount of calories subjects reported eating would have caused them to lose far more weight than they actually did lose. The misreporting isn't necessarily vicious, but the inaccuracies add up. Say you're phoned about your daily intake on a day when it was someone's birthday at work and you had a slice of cake. You may not report it, thinking that a typical day wouldn't include the cake...forgetting yesterday's "special occasion" piece of pizza, and the Big Gulp of the day before. Or, despite the portion size guides you get, you characterize your bagel from the deli as a 4-ounce standard serving when a 4-ounce bagel hasn't been sighted in any major city for a decade. "You can't put a camera in everyone's belly and see exactly what they ate," says Christopher Gardner, a nutrition scientist at the Stanford Prevention Research Center who has recently published research on garlic and diet plans. 167 You can get around this in some studies by taking objective measurements. Weight, for example, or if you're assessing intake of fruits and veggies, you can measure the level of pigments called carotenoids in the blood. In the breast cancer study, blood tests showed that the study subjects actually did eat more fruits and veggies (carotenoid concentration was 73 percent higher in those women after one year and 43 percent higher after four years). But objective measures can't definitively nail down whether someone is eating nutrients in certain proportions. 1. One can be forgiven for feeling whipsawed by feeling whipsawed by those headlines because_____ [A] there is no solid and convincing scientific hypothesis on these subjects. [B] they question about what the healthiest food is has no answers. [C] opinions on these subjects are quite contradictory. [D] there is no authoritative answer to these questions. 2.Which one of the following statements is TURE of the conclusion of the study on breast cancer recurrence ? [A] Women who stick to the five-a-day recommendation are less likely to have a recurrence. [B] Women who eat extra greens and vegetables are less likely to escape a recurrence. [C] Women could not depend on fruit diet to avoid the breast cancer recurrence. [D] Fruits and vegetables are no good to women with breast cancer. 3.From the results of the studies focusing on diet, it can be inferred that_____ [A] the amount of calories set in diet could not help people to lose weight. [B] people are reluctant to take part in such studies. [C] it is difficult to get valuable conclusion from these studies. [D] this kind of studies is not objective enough. 4.The fact that a 4-ounce bagel hasn't been sighted in any major city for a decade implies that _____ [A] you should re-examine the standard size of the food you intake. [B] you tend to give an inaccurate report of your actual diet. [C] you fail to cooperate with the doctor by false record of your daily food. [D] you make a mistake in noting down the size of standard serving. 5.The limitation of the objective measurements mentioned in the last paragraph is that _____ [A] they could only assess the proportion of fruits and veggies study subjects have taken. [B] they could not have the subjects follow exactly the food proportion of their diet. 168 [C] they could not identify the levels of all the nutrients in patients‘ blood. [D] they could not tell the exact proportions of nutrients study subjects have eaten. 篇章剖析: 这篇文章讲述了关于饮食的一些研究所存在的问题。第一段讲述了人们对于食物和营养的困惑;第二段讲述研究表明蔬菜和水果对于防止癌症复发没有改善作用;第三、四段讲述专家对这些问题的解释;第五段讲述饮食研究中存在的一些人们没有进行客观报告的问题;第六段讲述更加客观的测量方法。 词汇注释: whipsaw v. 拉锯 calorie n. 卡路里 bagel n. 百吉饼 deli n. 熟食店 pigment n. 色素 carotenoid n. 类胡萝卜素 难句突破: (1) But there are many barriers to studying dietary change, which is why we still have no easy answers to the question of what, exactly, we should eat to be at our healthiest. [主体句式] But there are many barriers …, which is why… [结构分析] 这是一个复合句，which引导的定语从句用来修饰整个主句;定语从句中，why引导的是表语从句，该从句中what引导的是宾语从句。 [句子译文] 但是要进行饮食变化的调查有太多的障碍，这就是我们为什么不能轻松地告诉人们什么食物是最健康的。 (2) You can give them meal advice, counseling, and how-to books up to their ears, but at the end of the day, they are on their own when it comes to what they put in their mouths. [主体句式] You can give them…, but … [结构分析] 这是一个并列句，后面分句中when引导的是时间状语从句。 [句子译文] 你可以告诉他们一些用餐建议，告诉他们应该买些什么，但是这一天里，他们究竟往自己嘴里塞些什么东西就是由不得别人了。 1. One can be forgiven for feeling whipsawed by 1. 人们看到那些新闻标题会觉得很迷those headlines because_____ 茫，这很可以理解，因为_____ [A] there is no solid and convincing scientific [A] 关于这些主题的研究还没有得出可hypothesis on these subjects. 靠和可信的假设。 [B] the question about what the healthiest food is has [B] 关于什么食物是最健康的这个话题no answers. 是没有答案的。 [C] opinions on these subjects are quite contradictory. [C] 关于这些话题的观点分歧很大。 [D] there is no authoritative answer to these [D] 这些问题不存在权威的答案。questions. [答案] D 169 [难度系数] ??? [分析] 推理题。根据第一段―But there are many barriers to studying dietary change, which is why we still have no easy answers to the question of what, exactly, we should eat to be at our healthiest‖，因为要进行摄入食物变化调查的障碍很多，因此在该问题上并没有一定的答案，选项中D最为符合题意。 2.Which one of the following statements is TURE of 2(关于乳癌复发的研究得出的结论，下the conclusion of the study on breast cancer 列哪项陈述是正确的,recurrence ? [A] Women who stick to the five-a-day [A] 坚持一天五顿饭的妇女的复发几率recommendation are less likely to have a recurrence. 要小一些。 [B] Women who eat extra greens and vegetables are [B] 多吃绿色蔬菜和水果的妇女并不能less likely to escape a recurrence. 躲避过复发。 [C] Women could not depend on fruit diet to avoid [C] 妇女可以依靠水果餐来避免乳癌复the breast cancer recurrence. 发。 [D] Fruits and vegetables are no good to women with [D] 水果和蔬菜对于有乳癌的妇女没有breast cancer. 好处。 [答案] B [难度系数] ? [分析] 细节题。根据第二段―breast cancer survivors who cram their diets with fruits and vegetables are no more likely to escape a recurrence than women who stick to the usual five-a-day recommendation‖，该研究报道表明吃大量的蔬菜、水果并不能让患有乳癌的妇女避免复发，那么B选项是正确的。D选项，虽然蔬菜、水果不能帮助妇女避免癌症复发，但是还是对她们身体有好处的。 3.From the results of the studies focusing on diet, it 3(从饮食研究的结果来看，可以推出can be inferred that_____ _____ [A] the amount of calories set in diet could not help [A] 食物中的卡路里数量并不能帮助人people to lose weight. 们减肥。 [B] people are reluctant to take part in such studies. [B] 人们不愿意参加这样的研究。 [C] it is difficult to get valuable conclusion from [C] 要从这些研究中得到有价值的结论these studies. 很难。 [D] this kind of studies is not objective enough. [D] 这类的研究不够客观。 [答案] D [难度系数] ??? [分析] 推理题。根据第五段―the amount of calories subjects reported eating would have caused them to lose far more weight than they actually did lose‖，这种研究的结果表明，受实验者报告自己摄入的卡路里数量本来可以让他们体重降的幅度更大的，这和他们自己报告的情况不够切实有关。因此，这样的研究不够客观。答案为D选项。 4.The fact that a 4-ounce bagel hasn't been sighted 4(已经有十几年在任何一个大城市都没有in any major city for a decade implies that _____ 出售这种4盎司的百吉饼了，这个事实说 明了_____ 170 [A] you should re-examine the standard size of the [A] 你应该重新检查你摄入食物的标准food you intake. 量。 [B] you tend to give an inaccurate report of your [B] 你更容易给出与你实际饮食情况相左actual diet. 的报告。 [C] you fail to cooperate with the doctor by false [C] 你错误地报告了自己每日的饮食，不record of your daily food. 能和医生很好地合作。 [D] you make a mistake in noting down the size of [D] 在记录标准尺寸时犯了一个错误。standard serving. [答案] B [难度系数] ??? [分析] 推理题。根据第六段―Or, despite the portion size guides you get, you characterize your bagel from the deli as a 4-ounce standard serving when a 4-ounce bagel hasn't been sighted in any major city for a decade‖，尽管吃了许多百吉饼，却报告说只吃了4盎司大的，那么可以看出报告有误。答案为D选项。C选项错误的原因在于尽管报告有误，但是没有说明这就是不与医生合作。 5.The limitation of the objective measurements 5(最后一段中提到的客观度量的局限性mentioned in the last paragraph is that _____ 在于_____ [A] they could only assess the proportion of fruits [A] 它们只能估量被研究者的水果和蔬and veggies study subjects have taken. 菜摄入量。 [B] they could not have the subjects follow exactly [B] 被研究者无法严格遵循这些度量规the food proportion of their diet. 定的食物比例。 [C] they could not identify the levels of all the [C] 它们分辨不了被研究者血液中所有nutrients in patients‘ blood. 营养物质的水平。 [D] they could not tell the proportions of nutrients [D] 它们提供不了被研究者已摄入营养study subjects have eaten. 品的数量。 [答案] D [难度系数] ???? [分析] 细节题。根据最后一段―In the breast cancer study, blood tests showed that the study subjects actually did eat more fruits and veggies (carotenoid concentration was 73 percent higher in those women after one year and 43 percent higher after four years). But objective measures can't definitively nail down whether someone is eating nutrients in certain proportions‖，这种血液测量可以测出试验者具体摄入的食物和蔬菜的量，但是却不能确定人们是否摄入了一定量的营养品。答案为D选项。 参考译文: 人们都很想知道到底不同的食物或营养物质是否会影响到我们患癌症等疾病的几率，或引发导致这些疾病的危险因子，如肥胖或高血压。但是要进行饮食变化的调查有太多的障碍，这就是我们为什么不能轻松地告诉人们什么食物是最健康的。这也就是为什么当人们经常被报纸头条弄得一头雾水:咖啡有利于还是有害健康,酒类、大蒜和巧克力呢, 本周《美国医学协会期刊》上的一篇报道称患乳癌而后康复的女性中，每天吃大量蔬菜、水果的人并不比坚持接受每天五顿饭建议的人们更可能避免复发。那么这是不是就意味着蔬菜、水果不能抗癌呢,是 171 的，对患有乳癌的女性来说，额外的绿色蔬菜和苹果无济于事。 我们会问研究者为什么食物变化的研究这么难做呢，人们应该怎样对待媒体上的各种评价,专家是这 样回答的: 大多数的食物研究是在现实生活中进行的，这就意味着研究主体只是每天记录下自己吃的食物，而 不是由别的人严格控制他们的饮食。你可以告诉他们一些用餐建议，告诉他们应该买些什么，但是这一 天里，他们究竟往自己嘴里塞些什么东西就是由不得别人了。让人们往食物里加上点什么——如夹在美 味的三明治里面的大蒜，或是黑巧克力——要比让他们把这些食物拿开容易得多。最近的一项比较低脂 和低碳食物的研究表明，到最后几乎没有人坚持这种食谱。 关于饮食的研究，包括最近关于乳癌复发的研究中，按照实验被试报告的卡路里摄入量，这本可以使 他们体重下降更大的幅度。这种误报不一定是恶意的，但是确实有各种不精确因素。比如你某天打电话汇 报自己吃的东西，而那天正好是一个人的生日，而你吃了一片蛋糕。但你可能不会提到这片蛋糕，觉得正 常情况下你是不会吃蛋糕的，同样你忘记了昨天吃过―特殊节日‖的比萨，前天吃了Big Gulp。或者是尽管 你吃了很多，但你却说自己从熟食店买的百吉饼只有4盎司大，而实际上这十几年以来已经没有任何一个 大城市还在出售4盎司的百吉饼了。 ―你不可能在每个人的肚子里都安装一个摄像机，看看他们到底吃了什么。‖斯坦福预防研究中心营养 师Christopher Gardner说，他刚刚发表了关于大蒜和饮食计划的研究。在一些研究中你可以采用客观的测 量法来避免以上情况发生。比如，如果在检测人们蔬菜和水果摄入量时，可以测量人们血液中叫做类胡萝 卜素的色素水平。乳癌研究中，血液测量表明受试者确实吃了更多的食物和蔬菜(一年后类胡萝卜素浓度 高了73%，四年后高了43%)。但是客观的方法不能确定人们是否摄入了一定比例 的营养品。 TEXT FOUR Citigroup's board was locked in debate over its new leader yesterday, with no clear consensus over who would be tapped. Vikram S. Pandit, the former Morgan Stanley investment banker who joined Citigroup in July, remains the leading candidate, according to people briefed on the situation. But the search committee is still discussing other possibilities, depending on whether or not Robert E. Rubin would agree to stay on as chairman. No final decisions have been made, and not all of the directors have been persuaded that Mr. Pandit is the right choice. The formal search for Citigroup's next chief executive began more than a month ago, after Charles O. Prince III resigned. But as its complexities mount, the search is beginning to resemble a game of multilevel chess. Citigroup's board is weighing the pros and cons of various leadership options, including the question of whether Mr. Pandit, 50, has enough operating experience to be its next chief. No one doubts his intellect, but some are concerned that he may not bring enough charisma or consumer banking knowledge to the job. Mr. Rubin has lobbied hard for Mr. Pandit, but other board members are less convinced. If Citigroup's board chooses Mr. Pandit, the directors recognize that he will need a strong chairman to help him make the leap to his new job. That would mean persuading Mr. Rubin, who took on the chairman role only reluctantly last month, to stay on longer -- or recruiting another seasoned leader for that job. Robert B. Willumstad, Citigroup's former operations chief, might be one contender for the chairman role. He understands the internal workings of the financial empire and brings some consumer banking experience. Yet it was unclear whether he would accept being chairman without being named chief executive as well. Mr. Willumstad, 62, is currently the chairman of the American International Group and the head of Brysam Global Partners, a private equity firm backed by JPMorgan Chase. Leaving A.I.G. would be no real hardship. Extricating himself from Brysam would require some negotiation, although Mr. Willumstad's contract with JPMorgan does allow for his departure. But associates say that Mr. Willumstad, who left Citigroup in July 2005 after being passed over in favor of Mr. Prince, seems to be enjoying the cushy confines of private equity. Negotiating his return to Citigroup might require handing him the top job. 172 If Mr. Pandit does not get the job, there is growing concern that he will leave the company to save face. News reports have all but anointed him as Citigroup's next leader. Deciding on someone else would leave Citigroup's board in a double bind. Not only did they pay an estimated $800 million for an underperforming hedge fund to bring Mr. Pandit to Citigroup, but if he leaves they might also lose the best person to run its investment bank. Citigroup's board could also choose an outside candidate, who could bring a fresh perspective to the beleaguered bank. Several names have surfaced, including Michael A. Neal, the vice chairman of General Electric Capital's big commercial arm. Experts suggest that any outsider would need six months to a year to get up to speed on Citigroup's sprawling operations and contentious politics. Between the current market turbulence and the growing frustration of investors, some doubt that the company can afford to give an outside candidate that much time. 1. Which one of the following statements is TRUE of the candidates of Citigroup‘s new leader? [A] Vikram S. Pandit is the candidate who has won the trust of the majority of the search committee. [B] Robert B. Willumstad will be the most competitive rival of Vikram S. Pandit. [C] Michael A. Neal is also considered a powerful rival of Vikram S. Pandit. [D] Robert B. Willumstad will only return to Citigroup when he is given the highest position. 2. The search for Citigroup‘s next chief executive is compared to a game of multilevel chess because_____ [A] the search becomes very complex in the end. [B] the search involves in different levels of the board. [C] Citigroup‘s board weighs the pros and cons of various leadership options. [D] the search is conducted in several rounds of selection. 3. Robert B. Willumstad left Citigroup in July 2005 probably because_____ [A] he enjoyed the free environment of Brysam Global Partners. [B] he resented the unequal competition with Mr. Prince by the Citigroup board. [C] his lacked adequate strength in standing out of Citigroup‘s contentious politics. [D] he was defeated in the competition for the Citigroup leader. 4. The possible results of Mr. Pandit‘s resignation if he loses this election are the following ones except_____ [A] Citigroup will have to pay a big sum to get Mr. Pandit back to Citigroup. [B] Citigroup will suffer double losses. [C] Citigroup will lose its potential best investment banker. [D] Citigroup will play loose with its money. 5. According to the last paragraph, an outsider will not probably be an ideal candidate because_____ 173 [A] an outsider is not familiar with the internal workings of Citigroup. [B] an outsider could not be adapted to the complex environment of the Citigroup‘s board. [C] Citigroup has a deadline of making the final decision of the search. [D] The present economic situation will not allow Citigroup to give much time to an outsider to familiarize the company. 篇章剖析: 这篇文章讲述了花旗银行董事会新领导人选拔所存在的问题。第一段讲述花旗银行董事会目前就选拔问题陷入僵局;第二、三段讲述大家对Pandit先生的看法;第四段讲述Robert B. Willumstad的情况;第五段讲述目前公司面临的尴尬境遇;第六段讲述如果选择局外人也存在一定问题。 词汇注释: charisma n. 感召力 cushy adj. 轻松的，舒适的 anoint v. 选定，指定 beleaguer v. 围攻 sprawl v. 蔓延 contentious adj. 好辨的 难句突破: (1)Vikram S. Pandit, the former Morgan Stanley investment banker who joined Citigroup in July, remains the leading candidate, according to people briefed on the situation. [主体句式] Vikram S. Pandit remains the leading candidate. [结构分析] 这是一个复合句，who引导的定语从句用来修饰banker, 而the former…是做主语的同位语;according to是句子的状语。 [句子译文] Vikram S. Pandit，这位前摩根斯坦利投资银行家于7月份加入花旗银行，据与会人员表示，他仍然是头号候选人。 (2)Citigroup's board is weighing the pros and cons of various leadership options, including the question of whether Mr. Pandit, 50, has enough operating experience to be its next chief. [主体句式] Citigroup‘s board is weighing the pros and cons… [结构分析] 这是一个复合句，including…是现在分词结构作opinions的定语;whether…是of的宾语从句。 [句子译文] 花旗银行董事会衡量了各个领导层的反对和支持意见，包括现年50岁的Pandit先生是否有足够的经验可以担任下一届的领导人。 1. Which one of the following statements is 1(关于花旗银行新领导候选人，下列哪个陈TRUE of the candidates of Citigroup‘s new 述是正确的, 174 leader? [A] Vikram S. Pandit is the candidate who has [A] Vikram S. Pandit获得了大部分遴选委员会won the trust of the majority of the search 成员的信任。committee. [B] Robert B. Willumstad will be the most [B] Robert B. Willumstad是Vikram S. Pandit最competitive rival of Vikram S. Pandit. 有竞争力的对手。 [C] Michael A. Neal is also considered a [C] Michael A. Neal也是Vikram S. Pandit的一powerful rival of Vikram S. Pandit. 个有力的竞争对手。 [D] Robert B. Willumstad will only return to [D] Robert B. Willumstad 只有在得到最高职Citigroup when he is given the highest 位的时候才会回到Citigroup。position. [答案] B [难度系数] ?? [分析] 细节题。A选项，第一段提到了 他们还在讨论别的可能，可以看出该委员会成员并不是大部分人都愿意选他的。B选项，第四段提到了Robert B. Willumstad―Robert B. Willumstad, Citigroup's former operations chief, might be one contender for the chairman role‖，从后文可以看出他是Vikram S. Pandit强有力的对手。C选项，最后一段提到的内容可以看出选一个公司外部的人并不大可能，因此该陈述错误。D选项，第四段提到了这一点―Negotiating his return to Citigroup might require handing him the top job‖，但是文章中用了―might‖这个词，而选项的表述则过于肯定，因此该选项不正确。因此，正确答案为B选项。 2. The search for Citigroup‘s next chief executive 2(把选拔花旗银行下任首席执行官比喻成is compared to a game of multilevel chess 多级别的国际象棋比赛，这是因为_____ because_____ [A] the search becomes very complex in the end. [A] 选拨到最后变得非常复杂。 [B] the search involves in different levels of the [B] 选拔涉及到董事会的各个阶层。board. [C] Citigroup‘s board weighs the pros and cons of [C] 花旗银行的董事会衡量了各个领导层various leadership options. 的反对和支持意见。 [D] the search is conducted in several rounds of [D] 该选拔要进行好多轮次。 selection. [答案]A [难度系数] ??? [分析] 推理题。根据第二段―But as its complexities mount, the search is beginning to resemble a game of multilevel chess‖，由于事情变得越来越复杂，选拔也成为多级别的国际象棋比赛了，可以看出，这样的比喻也只是突出事情的复杂性而已。因此，答案为A选项。 3. Robert B. Willumstad left Citigroup in July 2005 3. Robert B. Willumstad于2005年七月离probably because_____ 开了花旗银行可能是因为_____ [A] he enjoyed the free environment of Brysam [A] 他喜欢Brysam Global Partners轻松的Global Partners. 氛围。 [B] he resented the unequal competition with Mr. [B] 他怨恨花旗银行董事会没有公平地对Prince by the Citigroup board. 待他和Prince先生。 [C] his lacked adequate strength in standing out of [C] 他没有足够的能力在花旗银行复杂的Citigroup‘s contentious politics. 政治斗争中脱颖而出。 [D] he was defeated in the competition for the [D] 在竞争花旗银行领导人的竞争中他被Citigroup leader. 击败了。 175 [答案] D [难度系数] ???? [分析] 推理题。根据第四段―But associates say that Mr. Willumstad, who left Citigroup in July 2005 after being passed over in favor of Mr. Prince, seems to be enjoying the cushy confines of private equity‖，Willumstad先生是在Citigroup选取了Prince先生而没有考虑他的情况下于2005年7月份离开的，而结合到Prince是前任领导，可以推断出Willumstad先生是因为竞争失败才离开了公司的。因此，D选项为正确答案。 4. The possible results of Mr. Pandit‘s 4. 如果Pandit先生没有当选，那么他肯能resignation if he loses this election are the 会辞职，辞职可能带来的后果是以下除了following ones except_____ ____外的选项。 [A] Citigroup will have to pay a big sum to get [A] 花旗银行可能得向Pandit先生支付一大Mr. Pandit back to Citigroup. 笔钱才能让他重新回来 [B] Citigroup will suffer double loss. [B] 花旗银行会承受双重损失 [C] Citigroup will lose its potential best [C] 花旗银行会失去可能的最好投资银行investment banker. 家 [D] Citigroup will play loose with its money. [D] 花旗银行的钱打了水漂 [答案] A [难度系数] ??? [分析] 推理题。根据第五段，Pandit先生如果辞职就会让董事会陷入两重打击，一方面他们已经向一家运营不佳的保值基金支付了大约8亿美金将Pandit先生挖过来，一方面他们将失去运营投资银行的最佳人选。因此，B、C、D都是可能的后果，而A选项不是，因此是正确答案。 5. According to the last paragraph, an outsider 5. 根据最后一段，公司外的人员不可能是will not probably be an ideal candidate 理想人选因为_____because_____ [A] an outsider is not familiar with the internal [A] 公司外的人员对花旗银行的内部运营workings of Citigroup. 不熟悉。 [B] an outsider could not be adapted to the [B] 公司外的人员不能适应花旗银行董事complex environment of the Citigroup‘s board. 会复杂的氛围。 [C] Citigroup has a deadline of making the final [C] 花旗银行选定领导人人选有限定日期。 decision of the search. [D] The present economic situation will not allow [D] 目前的经济形势不允许花旗银行给公Citigroup to give much time to an outsider to 司外的人员足够的时间来做到合格。make himself qualified. [答案]D [难度系数] ??? [分析] 推理题。最后一段提到了―Experts suggest that any outsider would need six months to a year to get up to speed on Citigroup's sprawling operations and contentious politics. Between the current market turbulence and the growing frustration of investors, some doubt that the company can afford to give an outside candidate that much time‖，即任何一个外来人员都需要六个月到一年来熟悉状况，但是目前经济形势不好，投资者很焦急，不可能给外来的人员那么多适应的时间。因此，答案为D选项。 参考译文: 176 花旗银行董事会昨天因讨论其新任领导人问题而陷入僵局，对于人选没有统一的意见。Vikram S. Pandit，这位前摩根斯坦利投资银行家于7月份加入花旗银行，据与会人员表示，他仍然是头号候选人。但是遴选委员会还在讨论其它人选，这主要取决于Robert E. Rubin是否同意继续担任一段时间的主席。现在尚无最后决定，而且并不是所有的董事都认为Pandit先生是最佳人选。 选拔花旗银行的新任领导人是从一个月前Charles O. Prince III辞职后开始的。但是由于事情变得越来越复杂，选拔也成为多级别的国际象棋比赛了。花旗银行董事会衡量了各个领导层的反对和支持意见，包括现年50岁的Pandit先生是否有足够的经验可以担任下一届的领导人。对于他的睿智没有人怀疑，但是有人担心他的个人号召力不够或没有足够的消费者银行知识，因此不能胜任这份工作。 Rubin先生努力为Pandit先生四处游说，但是其他董事会成员却不太相信。如果花旗银行的董事会选择了Pandit先生，那么董事认为他需要有一位强有力的主席来帮助他顺利接受新的工作。那也就意味着要说服Rubin先生呆更长一段时间，而他上个月勉强接受了主席一职，或者就得聘请另外一位有经验的领导人来担任这项工作。 Robert B. Willumstad是花旗银行前任业务部主管，也可能是主席职位的候选人。他了解这个金融帝国的内部运作，而且也可以带来一些客户银行经验。但是还不能确定他是否在不被任命为首席执行官的情况下愿意接受主席一职。Willumstad先生今年62岁，现任美国国际集团主席和JPMorgan Chase资助的私募基金公司Brysam 全球合作伙伴公司的经理。离开美国国际集团可能不会很难，但是让他从Brysam脱身则需要一些斡旋，尽管Willumstad先生与JPMorgan签订的合同允许他离开。但是会员们称Willumstad先生是在花旗银行选取了Prince先生而没有考虑他的情况下于2005年7月份离开的，他好像很喜欢私募基金轻松的环境。要让他回到花旗银行，可能就得把最高职务交给他。 如果Pandit先生不能当选，那么他非常有可能要离开公司以挽回自己的面子。新闻报道称已经指定他为花旗银行下任领导人了。选择其他人会让花旗银行董事会处于双重约束中。他们不仅向一家运营不佳的保值基金支付了大约8亿美金将Pandit先生挖过来，而且如果Pandit先生要离开公司，那么公司将失去运营投资银行的最佳人选。 花旗银行董事会也可以选取一个外部候选人，从而会给这家遭受围攻的银行带来新气象。这些人选如通用电气资金的商业分部部长Michael A. Neal。专家认为任何一个外来人员都可能需要六个月到一年的时间来与花旗银行的扩张运营以及复杂的政治氛围和上拍。但现在一边是市场动荡，一边是投资者不断的失败，一些人怀疑公司是否能给一个外来的候选人那么多的适应时间。 177 178