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, 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 V oorspoed 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.
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.''
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.
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。
2015考研英语阅读理解精读P18—医学 Passage 18(Doctor-assisted Suicide：Is It Ever an Option?) Should doctor-assisted suicide ever be a legal option? It involves the extreme measure of taking the life of a terminally ill patient when the patient is in extreme pain and the chances for recovery appear to be none.Those who argue against assisted suicide do so by considering the roles of the patient，the doctor，and nature in these situations. Should the patient take an active role in assisted suicide? When a patient is terminally ill and in great pain，those who oppose assisted suicide say that it should not be up to that patient to decide what his or her fate will be.There are greater powers at work that determine when a person dies，for example，nature.Neither science nor personal preference should take precedence over these larger forces. What role should the doctor have? Doctors，when taking the Hippocratic oath，swear to preserve life at all costs，and it is their ethical and legal duty to follow both the spirit and the letter of this oath.It is their responsibilities to heal the sick，and in the cases when healing is not possible，then the doctor is obliged to make the dying person comfortable.Doctors are trained never to hasten death.Those who oppose assisted suicide believe that doctors who do help terminally ill patients die are committing a crime，and they should be dealt with accordingly.Doctors are also，by virtue of their humanness，capable of making mistakes.Doctors could quite possibly say，for instance，that a cancer patient was terminal，and then the illness could later turn out not to be so serious.There is always an element of doubt concerning the future outcome of human affairs. The third perspective to consider when thinking about assisted suicide is the role of nature.Life is precious.Many people believe that it is not up to human beings to decide when to end their own or another’s life.Only nature determines when it is the right time for a person to die.To assist someone in suicide is not only to break criminal laws，but to break divine 1aws as well. These general concerns of those who oppose assisted suicide are valid in certain contexts of the assisted suicide question.For instance，patients cannot always be certain of their medical conditions.Pain clouds judgment，and so the patient should not be the sole arbiter of her or his own destiny.Patients do not usually choose the course of their medical treatment，so they shouldn’t be held completely responsible for decisions related to it.Doctors are also fallible，and it is understandable that they would not want to make the final decision about when death should occur.Since doctors are trained to prolong life，they usually do not elect to take it by prescribing assisted suicide. I believe that blindly opposing assisted suicide does no one a service.If someone is dying of
Passage 1 一、A wise man once said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. 【解析】 1、全句主干：A man said that the thing is to do nothing. 其中，that引导的从句作said的宾语； 2、necessary for …（…所需要的）。necessary for the triumph of evil （邪恶的胜利所需要的，邪恶获胜所需要的），这是个形容词短语，在句中作thing 的后置定语。 3、for good men （对好人来说），这个介宾短语作that从句的状语，放到从句主语之前翻译。 【翻译】 直译：一个智者曾经说过，对好人来说，邪恶的胜利所需要的唯一一个东西是（好人）什么都不做。 意译：一个智者曾经说过，坏事得逞所需要的唯一一个条件，就是坏事发生时好人袖手旁观。 二、Thirty years ago, if a crime was committed, society was considered the victim. Now, in a shocking reversal, it’s the criminal who is considered victimized: by his underprivileged upbringing, by the school that didn’t teach him to read, by the church that failed to reach him with moral guidance, by the parents who didn’t provide a stable home. 【解析】 1、consider A B = consider A as B = consider A to be B 把A看做、当做 B （省略as或to be的第一个短语更常用，要格外重视）。 2、A is considered B. A被（人们）看做B，人们把A看做B。 3、It is the criminal who …是一个强调句。 一般来说，判断是否强调句，把It be和that（或who）三个词去掉，如果句子仍然完整，就是强调句，否则就不是。例如It is English that is most widely used in the world，去掉It is和that，剩余部分English is most widely used
Text1 Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. “Not ch In but habit rules the unreflecting herd,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. the ever-changing 21st century, even the word “habit” carries a negative connotation. So it seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. 习惯是件有趣的事情。我们无意识间养成了一些习惯，我们的大脑是自动运 转的，轻松进入熟知套路所带来的不自觉舒适状态。“这并非选择，而是习惯控 制了那些没有思想的人”，这是威廉?华兹华斯（William Wordsworth）19世纪时 说的话。在现在这个日新月异的21世纪，甚至习惯这个词本身也带有负面涵义。 因此，在创造和革新的背景下来谈论习惯，似乎显得有点矛盾。 But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks. But don’t bother trying to kil off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the hippocampus, they there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately ingrain into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads. 但大脑研究人员发现，当我们有意识地培养新的习惯的时候，我们创建了平 行路径，甚至是全新的脑细胞，可以让我们的思路跳转到新的创新轨道上来。但 是，不必费心试图摈弃各种旧习惯；一旦这些程序惯例融进大脑，它们就会留在 那里。相反，我们刻意培养的新习惯会创建平行路径能避开原来那些老路。 “The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder,” says D Markova, author of “The Open Mind” and an executive change consultant for Professional Thinking Partners. “But we are taught instead to ‘decide,’ just as decide is to kill off president calls himself ‘the Decider.’” She adds, however, that “to all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.” 大学英语
考研英语阅读理解精读100篇之经济类
考研英语阅读理解精读100篇之经济类 unit1 unit1 Some of the concerns surrounding Turkey’s application to join the European Union, to be voted on by the EU’s Council of Ministers on December 17th, are economic-in particular, the country’s relative poverty. Its GDP per head is less than a third of the average for the 15 pre-2004 members of the EU. But it is not far off that of one of the ten new members which joined on May 1st 2004 (Latvia), and it is much the same as those of two countries, Bulgaria and Romania, which this week concluded accession talks with the EU that could make them full members on January 1st 2007. Furthermore, the country’s recent economic progress has been, according to Donald Johnston, the secretary-general of the OECD, "stunning". GDP in the second quarter of the year was 13.4% higher than a year earlier, a rate of growth that no EU country comes close to matching. Turkey’s inflation rate has just fallen into single figures for the first time since 1972, and this week the country reached agreement with the IMF on a new three-year, $10 billion economic programme that will, according to the IMF’s managing director, Rodrigo Rato, "help Turkey... reduce inflation toward European levels, and enhance the economy’s resilience". Resilienc e has not historically been the country’s economic strong point. As recently as 2001, GDP fell by over 7%. It fell by more than 5% in 1994, and by
2010年考研英语阅读理解部分翻译真题译文+题目翻译 但为君故 但为君故 整理组
Text 1 在过去的25年英语报纸所发生的变化中，影响最深远的可能就是它们对艺术方面的报道在范围上毫无疑问的缩小了，而且这些报道的严肃程度也绝对降低了。 对于年龄低于40岁的普通读者来讲，让他们想象一下当年可以在许多大城市报纸上读到精品的文艺评论简直几乎是天方夜谭。然而，在20世纪出版的最重要的文艺评论集中，人们读到的大部分评论文章都是从报纸上收集而来。现在，如果读到这些集子，人们肯定会惊诧，当年这般渊博深奥的内容竟然被认为适合发表在大众日报中。 从20世纪早期到二战以前，当时的英国报纸上的评论主题广泛，包罗万象，我们现在离此类报纸评论越来越远。当时的报纸极其便宜，人们把高雅时尚的文艺批评当作是所刊登报纸的一个亮点。在那些遥远的年代，各大报刊的评论家们都会不遗余力地详尽报道他们所报道的事情，这在当时被视为是理所当然的事情。他们的写作是件严肃的事情，人们相信：甚至那些博学低调不喜欢炫耀的评论家，比如George Bernard Shaw和Ernest Newman也知道自己在做什么（即他们的文章会高调出现在报纸上）。这些批评家们相信报刊评论是一项职业，并且对于他们的文章能够在报纸上发表感到很自豪。“鉴于几乎没有作家能拥有足够的智慧或文学天赋以保证他们在新闻报纸写作中站稳脚跟”，Newman曾写道，“我倾向于把‘新闻写作’定义为不受读者欢迎的作家用来嘲讽受读者欢迎的作家的一个‘轻蔑之词’” 不幸的是，这些批评家们现在实际上已被人们遗忘。从1917年开始一直到1975年去世不久前还在为曼彻斯特《卫报》写文章的Neville Cardus，如今仅仅作为一个撰写关于板球比赛文章的作家被人们所知。但是，在他的一生当中，他也是英国首屈一指的古典音乐评论家之一。他也是一位深受读者青睐的文体家，所以1947年他的《自传》一书就成为热销读物。1967年他被授予爵士称号，也是第一位获此殊荣的音乐评论家。然而，他的书现在只有一本可以在市面上买到。他大量的音乐批评，除了专门研究音乐评论的人以外，已鲜为人知。 Cardus的评论有没有机会重新流行？前景似乎渺茫。在他去世之前，新闻业的品味早已改变很长时间了，而且他所擅长的措词华丽的维多利亚爱德华时期的散文风格对后现代的读者没有什么用处。何况，由业余爱好者作音乐批评的传统早已经成为昨日黄花了。 21. 第一段和第二段指出 A 文艺评论已经从大城市的报纸上消失了 B 英文报纸过去常刊登更多文艺评论方面的文章
精心整理2011年考研英语(一)阅读真题全文翻译及答案（七绝俗手版） 2011-01-16 21-25CBDBA Text1 ThedecisionoftheNewYorkPhilharmonictohireAlanGilbertasitsnextmusicdirectorhasbeenthet alkoftheclassical-musicworldeversincethesuddenannouncementofhisappointmentin2009.Fort
hemostpart,theresponsehasbeenfavorable,tosaytheleast.“Hooray!Atlast!”wroteAnthonyTo mmasini,asober-sidedclassical-musiccritic。 2009年纽约交响乐团突然宣布聘用艾伦·吉尔伯特为下一位乐曲指挥，从那时起一直到现在，这次任命都成为古典音乐界的话题。退一步说，从总体上看，反应还是不错的。如冷静的古典音乐评论家安东尼·托姆西尼就这样写：从长时间来看，这次委命是英明的。 ,orbootupmycomputeranddownloadstillmorerecordedmusicfromiTunes。 就我的观点而言，我不知道吉尔伯特是不是一位伟大的指挥家，甚至连他是不是算好的指挥家也不敢确定。可以确信的是，虽然他演出了很多令人印象深刻的有趣的乐曲。然而，我不需要访问AveryFisherHall（可能是纽约交响乐团所在地，即吉尔伯特表演之所），或者其他地方才能听到有趣的管弦乐。（作者意思是，不需要听吉尔伯特，到处可以听到有趣的管弦乐。）我所做的，只需要到我的CD棚里去，随便打开我的电脑，从ITUNES上就可下载比那（当指吉尔伯特表演的）多得多的类似的音乐。
考研英语阅读真题及答案 英语阅读关于考研的在历年的真题中，有不少的精华等着大家去发掘。下面是给大家整理的考研英语阅读真题及答案，供大家参阅! 1991年考研英语阅读真题及答案解析Section II Reading Comprehension Each of the passages below is followed by some questions. For each question four answers are given. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each of the questions. Put your choice in the ANSWER SHEET. (30 points) Text 1 A wise man once said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. So, as a police officer, I have some urgent things to say to good people. Day after day my men and I struggle to hold back a tidal wave of crime. Something has gone terribly wrong with our once-proud American way of life. It has happened in the area of values. A key ingredient is disappearing, and I think I know what it is: accountability. Accountability isn t hard to define. It means that every
TEXT 2 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 poe ms 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.
考研英语（一）阅读技巧总结 俗话说：“前人栽树，后人乘凉”，我们做任何事不能闭门造车，备考考研英语也是同样的道理，我们要学会寻找技巧方法，吸取前人的经验教训，进而才能更好的准备我们的考研英语考试。 之前我在准备考研英语考试时，咨询过很多学长学姐，再加上我个人的一些体验，总结了如下技巧（主要是针对考研英语一阅读）一、素材来源 好多同学买到真题就立即上手做，但从未了解过，真题是来源于哪些杂志文章啊，以及它会涉及哪些方面的内容啊，我们只有了解了这些才能做到心中有数，做起题来也更有方向感，其实，考研英语阅读和完形填空的真题文章有一半以上的都来源于英国的著名杂志《经济学人》，这个老牌的英文杂志涵盖的方面比较广泛，包括经济、政治、文化、科技、历史等诸多方面的话题。 二、阅读能力提高 阅读能力的测试包括阅读速度，理解程度以及记忆能力等。要想获得满意的考研英语成绩，最根本的方法就是提高词汇量，加强阅读训练，同时熟悉一些阅读技巧和做题方法也是至关重要的，每个人都有自己做题的一套方法，也各有所取，个人比较偏向于快速浏览，选取关键词的方法，做阅读题时，我们尤其要避免以下几点：第一、不忠于原文，主观选择答案。尤其对比较熟悉的题材或有个人习惯看法的问题往往容易以自己的主观看法代替作者的观点。 第二、问题简单化，粗心以及一些不良的阅读习惯。研究生的阅读题比六级要难一些，一般情况下文章的中心思想比较隐含，不会放在每段的第一句，答案不会在文章中直接给出。 第三、做完题缺少检查。对感觉把握不大或较难的试题，尤其是概括归纳题，作者意图题等在做完后要根据全文和问题的答案，看是否有矛盾，是否符合逻辑。 以上就是个人的经验总结，希望对同学们有帮助，最后，再推
考研英语：阅读理解之八大考点 考生应能读懂选自各类书籍和报刊的不同类型的文字材料（生词量不超过所读材料总词汇量的3%），还应能读懂与本人学习或工作有关的文献资料、技术说明和产品介绍等。对所读材料，考生应能： 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 4篇（总长度约为1600词）文章的内容，从每题所给出的4个选项中选出最佳答案，共20小题，每小题2分，共40分 一、
1.提问方式： 1)直接提问(Main idea型) ?The text intends to express the idea that. . . ?We can draw a conclusion from the text that. . . ?What is the passage mainly about? ?The passage is mainly. ?From the passage we learn that. . . ?The passage is mainly about. . . ?he key point of the passage is that. . . ?This passage mainly deals with. . . ?The main point the author makes in the passage is. ?What does this passage mainly discuss? ?The general/ main/ central idea of the passage is. ?The passage is primarily concerned with. . . 2)给文章定标题 The best title for the text may be. . . Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?' A best title for the passage could be. A best title for the passage might be. This passage can be entitled. . . 3)提问写作目的( Purpose型) ?The article is written to explain. ?The purpose of the passage is. ?This passage is intended to… 2.解题技巧： 1) ①.重点读文章的首段开头部分，如果文章中有这样的主旨句， 那么再看四个选择项，如其中一项所含的信息同主旨句中的信息相似，该项即为正确答案 ②.重点读各段的开头和结尾，四个选项中能涵盖文章各段内容的一项， 就是正确答案
2015考研英语阅读理解精读P18—工学 类 Passage 18 Tennis hopeful Jamie Hunt, 16, felt he could not become a world-class junior player while attending a regular school. The international circuit has players on the road 50% of the time--and it's hard to focus on your backhand when you're worrying about being on time for homeroom. So last year Hunt, who hones his ground strokes at Elite TNT Tennis Academy in April Sound, Texas, enrolled for academics in the $9,750-a-year University of Miami Online High School (UMOHS), a virtual school that caters to athletes. "The online school gives me the flexibility I need," says Hunt. "The workload is the same, but I can do it anywhere. It's nicer to ask a question face-to-face with a teacher, but in some ways it prepares me better for college because I have to be more independent." A year ago, Hunt's world junior ranking was 886; now it's 108. Virtual high schools, which allow students to take classes via PC, have emerged as an increasingly popular education alternative, particularly for on-the-go athletes. UMOHS has more than 400 students enrolled, 65% of whom are athletes. Accredited by the 100-year-old Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, UMOHS offers honors and advanced-placement classes. All course material is online, along with assignments and due dates. For help, says principal Howard Liebman, "a student may e-mail, instant message or call the teacher." Dallas mom Lori Bannon turned to another online school, Laurel Springs in Ojai, Calif. Bannon, who has a medical degree from Harvard, didn't want to compromise the education of her daughter Lindsay, 13, an élite gymnast who spends eight hours a day in the gym. "Regular school was not an option," says Bannon, "but I wanted to make sure she could go back at grade level if she quit gymnastics." Laurel Springs' enrollment has increased 35% a year for the past four years, to 1,800 students. At least 25% are either athletes or child entertainers. Educators are split on the merits of such schools. Paul Orehovec, an enrollment officer for the University of Miami, admits, "I was somewhat of a skeptic. But when I looked into their programs and accreditation, I was excited. UMOHS is the first online school to be granted membership in the National Honor Society." Kevin Roy, Elite's director of education, sees pitfalls and potential in virtual schools. "You will never have that wonderful teacher who inspires you for life," says Roy. "But the virtual school offers endless possibilities. I don't know where education's imagination will take this." 注(1)：本文选自Time;11/29/2004, p149-149, 1/2p, 1c; 注(2)：本文习题命题模仿对象2004年真题text 4第1、2题(1、2)，text 1 第2 题(3)，text 3第5 题(5)和2000年真题text 4第4题(4); 1. What does Jamie Hunt get from the virtual school? [A] the ability to perfect his tennis skills [B] the time to do his school work
ase to conduct a broad review of business-method patents. In re Bilski, as the case is known, is “a very big deal,” says Dennis D. Crouch of the University of Missouri School of Law. It “has the potential to eliminate an entire class of patents.” 现在，该国最高专利法院似乎完全准备好要缩减商业方法专利，因为商业方法专利自从十年前第一次批准授予以来一直有争议。在一项使得知识产权律师们议论纷纷的提议中，美国联邦巡回上诉法院声称它将利用某个具体案件来对商业方法专利进行广泛的复审。密苏里大学法学院Dennis D. Crouch说，“正如人们所知道的那样，Bilski案例是一件非常大的事情”它可能将消除整个专利类别”。 Curbs on business-method claims would be a dramatic about-face, because it was the Federal Circuit itself that introduced such patents with its 1998 decision in the so-called State Street Bank case, approving a patent on a way of pooling mutual-fund assets. That ruling produced an explosion in business-method patent filings, initially by emerging Internet companies trying to stake out exclusive rights to specific types of online transactions. Later, more established companies raced to add such patents to their files, if only as a defensive move against rivals that might beat them to the punch. In 2005, IBM noted in a court filing that it had been issued more than 300 business-method patents, despite the fact that it questioned the legal basis for granting them. Similarly, some Wall Street investment firms armed themselves with patents for financial products, even as they took positions in court cases opposing the practice. 对于商业方法诉求的限制是个戏剧性的彻底变化，因为正是联邦巡回法院自己引进了这种专利。那是在1998年，对于所谓的美国道富银行的案件中，联邦巡回法院做出了判决，批准了筹集共同基金资产的方法具有专利权。这一裁决使得商业方法专利文件以几何数级增加，起初只是一些 注：to the punch的英文解释为to the first blow or to decisive action ― usually used with beat 所以这里翻译为“先下手为强”或“抢占先机”。 The Bilski case involves a claimed patent on a method for hedging risk in the energy market. The Federal Circuit issued an unusual order stating that the case would be heard by all 12 of the court’s judges, rather than a typical panel of th ree, and that one issue it wants to evaluate is whether it should “reconsider” its State Street Bank ruling. 前面提到的Bilski案例涉及到一份已申请的方法专利，即关于能源市场的风险规避方 The Federal Circuit’s action comes in the wake of a series of recent decisions by the Supreme Court that has narrowed the scope of protections for patent holders. Last April, for example, the justices signaled that too many patents were being upheld for “inventions” that are obvious. The judges on the Federal Circuit are “reacting to the anti-patent trend at the Supreme Court,” says Harold C. Wegner, a patent attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School. 联邦巡回法院的这一裁决效仿了最高法院。最高法院最近做出了一系列的判决，缩小了专利持有者的受保范围。例如，去年四月，法官们认定太多的专利授予了一些显而易见的