It’s hard to get too worked up about dust. Yes, it’s a nuisance, but it’s hardly one that causes us much anxiety — and our language itself suggests as much. We call those clumps of the stuff under the bed dust bunnies after all, not, say, dust vermin. to get worked up 为某件事生气；不开心 clumps of 一团一团的
dust bunny 积尘；灰兔子（关于灰尘的比较萌的说法）
But there’s a higher ick factor to dust than you might think. And there’s a science to how it gets around — a science that David Layton and Paloma Beamer, professors of environmental policy at the University of Arizona, are exploring. get around 传播；散播
Layton and Beamer, whose latest study has been accepted for fall publication in the journal Environmental Science &Technology, knew a lot about their subject even before they set to work. Historically, everyone from chemists to homemakers has tried to figure out just what dust is made of, and the Arizona researchers drew their preliminary data mostly from two studies of household dust conducted in the Netherlands and the U.S. The American survey in particular was a big one, covering six Midwestern states. Layton and Beamer also included a localized study in Sacramento, Calif., that focused particularly on lead contamination. What all those surveys showed was decidedly unappetizing.
figure out 理解；解决；计算
The specific dust mix in any household differs according to climate, age of the house and the number of people who live in it — not to mention the occupants’ cooking, cleaning and smoking habits. But nearly everywhere, dust consists of some combination of shed bits of human skin, animal fur, decomposing insects, food debris, lint and organic fibers from clothes, bedding and other fabrics, tracked-in soil, soot, particulate matter from smoking and cooking, and, disturbingly, lead, arsenic and even DDT.
\"There are more [components],\" Beamer says. \"Dust is a hodgepodge of all sorts of things. It would probably be impossible to make a list of all the possible items.\"
But dust’s ingredient label is not the whole story, since all of those flecks and bits behave differently and present different levels of health risk. To investigate those factors more closely, Layton and Beamer developed a computer algorithm that looked at the size, source and toxicity of dust particles as well as how easily they enter the house, if they ever exit and, if so, by what route. That information, by extension, can provide at least a rough sense of the dust load in your own home.
As a general rule, the majority of household dust — about 60% — comes from outside, through windows, doors, vents and, significantly, on the soles of your shoes. Smaller dust particles — from 28 to 49 microns, or thousandths of a millimeter — tend to stay on your shoes. The rest is shaken off inside. A higher share of the dust that floats in the air gets deposited, but again, there’s a lot that determines how much any one home will get.
\"Here in Arizona,\" says Beamer, \"where we leave our windows open most of the year and have an arid climate, we would probably have a higher ratio.\" Industrial centers or sooty cities have plenty of dust too, though for different reasons. arid adj. 干旱的；不毛的 ratio n. 比例
There’s not much to fret about in simple particles of dirt or organic materials such as pollen
(though they can trigger allergies), but lead, arsenic and DDT can be a more serious matter. About one-third of the arsenic in the atmosphere comes from natural sources — volcanoes principally. The rest comes from mining, smelting, burning fossil fuels and other industrial processes. Even in relatively low concentrations, arsenic is not without risk, especially to small children who play on the floor and routinely transfer things from their hands to their mouths. The same is true for lead, which comes less from wall paint — the source most people would expect — than from auto exhaust, smelting and soil deposits. \"Lead loading on floors is a key determinant of blood-lead levels in children,\" Layton and Beamer wrote in their paper. fret about 因„„焦急；为„„烦恼 particle n. 颗粒；微粒 pollen n. 花粉
low concentration 低浓度
determinant adj. 决定性的 n. 决定因素
The fact that DDT is still in house dust is a surprise to most people, since the pesticide was banned in the U.S. in 1972. But a house is a little like a living organism: once it absorbs a contaminant, it may never purge it completely. \"Dust in our homes,\" says Beamer, \"especially deep dust in our carpets and furniture, is a conglomerate of substances over the life of the home and can provide a historical record of chemicals that have entered it.\" contaminant n. 污染物；致污物 purge v. 净化；清除
The mess that originates within the home is a lot easier to measure and control. The more people who live there, the more skin that’s going to be shed, the more pets, the more animal fur. And, as Mom always warned, the more you walk around the house while eating, the more food debris you’ll drop on the floor — which also attracts more insects that will die, decompose and add their own special zest to your dust. Cooking smoke and tobacco smoke, which are the most obvious contributors when they’re being produced, actually make only a small contribution to what winds up on floors and surfaces. The tiny size of the particles makes them likelier to rise and adhere to other surfaces or simply remain in the air than to settle. shed v. 散发；流出 wind up 卷起；扬起
It goes without saying that your home will never be dust-free, but there are ways to reduce your own dust loading — and it’s important that you try. Dust mites, which feed on shed skin, produce allergens that are known triggers for people suffering from asthma. Same goes for cockroach dust, especially in cities. No one needs much convincing about the wisdom of getting rid of arsenic, and the good news is that about 80% of it can be removed simply by cleaning floor dust regularly.
it goes without saying 不言而喻；不消说 allergen 过敏原；反应原
None of this means that dust poses a clear and present danger or that you need to take any extraordinary measures. Just clean regularly, don’t smoke, eat at the table — and try not to freak out. Dust bunnies are still only bunnies; you may just want fewer of them. freak out 吓坏了；崩溃 Question time:
1. How does dust come into our houses?
2. What’s the key factor of blood-lead levels in children according to Layton and Beamer’ papaer?
3. How to get rid of the dust in house? 参考答案
1. Generally, the majority of household dust — about 60% — comes from outside, through windows, doors, vents and on the soles ofour shoes. 2. Lead loading on floors.
3. It’s important that you try, just clean regularly, don’t smoke, eat at the table — and try not to freak out.
Americans get wiser with age. Japanese are wise from the start.
ONE stereotype of wisdom is a wizened Zen-master smiling benevolently at the antics of his pupils, while referring to them as little grasshoppers or some such affectation, safe in the knowledge that one day they, too, will have been set on the path that leads to wizened masterhood. But is it true that age brings wisdom? A study two years ago in North America, by Igor Grossmann of the University of Waterloo, in Canada, suggested that it is. In as much as it is possible to quantify wisdom, Dr Grossmann found that elderly Americans had more of it than youngsters. He has, however, now extended his investigation to Asia—the land of the wizened Zen-master—and, in particular, to Japan. There, he found, in contrast to the West, that the grasshoppers are their masters’ equals almost from the beginning. stereotype n. 刻板印象；老套
benevolent adj. 仁慈的；亲切的；仁爱的 quantify v. 量化；为„„定量
Dr Grossmann’s study, just published in Psychological Science, recruited 186 Japanese from various walks of life and compared them with 225 Americans. Participants were asked to read a series of pretend newspaper articles. Half described conflict between groups, such as a debate between residents of an
impoverished Pacific island over whether to allow foreign oil companies to operate there following the discovery of petroleum. (Those in favour viewed it as an opportunity to get rich; those against feared the disruption of ancient ways and potential ecological damage.) The other half took the form of advice columns that dealt with conflicts between individuals: siblings, friends and spouses. After reading each article, participants were asked “What do you think will happen after that?” and “Why do you think it will happen this way?” Their responses were recorded and transcribed.
walks of life 各界；各行各业
impoverished adj. 穷困的；用尽了的，无创造性的 in favor 赞同；偏向
disruption n. 破坏；毁坏 sibling n. 兄弟姐妹 spouse n. 配偶
transcribe v. 转录；抄写
Dr Grossmann and his colleagues removed age-related information from the
transcripts, and also any clues to participants’ nationalities, and then passed the edited versions to a group of assessors. These assessors were trained to rate transcribed responses consistently, and had been tested to show that their ratings were statistically comparable with one another.
The assessors scored participants’ responses on a scale of one to three. This attempted to capture the degree to which they discussed what psychologists consider five crucial aspects of wise reasoning: willingness to seek opportunities to resolve conflict; willingness to search for compromise; recognition of the limits of personal knowledge; awareness that more than one perspective on a problem can exist; and appreciation of the fact that things may get worse before they get better. compromise n. 妥协 perspective n. 观点
A score of one on any aspect indicated a participant gave no consideration to it. A score of two indicated some consideration. A score of three indicated a great deal of consideration. Each participant’s scores were then added up and
mathematically transformed to create an overall value within a range of zero to 100 for both interpersonal and intergroup wisdom.
The upshot was that, as Dr Grossmann had found before, Americans do get wiser with age. Their intergroup wisdom score averaged 45 at the age of 25 and 55 at 75. Their interpersonal score similarly climbed from 46 to 50. Japanese scores, by contrast, hardly varied with age. Both 25-year-olds and 75-year-olds had an average intergroup wisdom of 51. For interpersonal wisdom, it was 53 and 52.
Taken at face value, these results suggest Japanese learn wisdom faster than Americans. One up, then, to the wizened Zen-masters. But they also suggest a paradox. Generally, America is seen as an individualistic society, whereas Japan is quite collectivist. Yet Japanese have higher scores than Americans for the sort of interpersonal wisdom you might think would be useful in an individualistic society. Americans, by contrast—at least in the maturity of old age—have more intergroup wisdom than the purportedly collectivist Japanese. Perhaps, then, you need individual skills when society is collective, and social ones when it is
individualistic. All of which goes to show that the real root of wisdom is this: do not assume, little grasshopper, that your prejudices are correct. paradox n. 悖论；似是而非的观点 Question time:
1. What’s the finding of Dr Grossmann’s research? 2. What are the crucial aspects of wise reasoning?
参考答案
1. Americans get wiser with age. Japanese are wise from the start.
2. willingness to seek opportunities to resolve conflict; willingness to search for compromise; recognition of the limits of personal knowledge; awareness that more than one perspective on a problem can exist; and appreciation of the fact that things may get worse before they get better.
Do today’s kids make terrible entry-level workers? That’s a question much on employers’ minds as graduation season kicks off and young adults begin their first full-time jobs. We’ve all heard the stories: assistants who won’t assist, new workers who can’t set an alarm, employees who can’t grasp institutional hierarchies.
Bosses who toiled in the pre-self-esteem era salt mines have little patience for these upstarts. A popular advice columnist had some choice words last week for a young employee who dismissively waved her sandwich at a superior requesting backup during a critical meeting; the young woman explained that she was on her lunch break and was merely “setting boundaries” with a “disrespectful colleague who sorely needs them.” Moreover, she noted, being “errand girl” wasn’t in her job description.
It’s easy to laugh off these anecdotes, but there are some complex reasons for the lack of familiarity with work norms. For one thing, many 20-something adults have never held a menial summer job, once considered training wheels for adult life in the American middle class.
It was once common to see teenagers mowing lawns, waiting tables, digging ditches and bagging groceries for modest wages in the long summer months. Summer employment was a social equalizer, allowing both affluent and financially strapped teenagers to gain a foothold on adulthood, learning the virtues of hard work, respect and teamwork in a relatively low-stakes atmosphere. But youth employment has declined precipitously over the years, and young people are losing a chance to develop these important life skills in the process.
In 2010, the latest year for which numbers are available, less than half of the nation’s youths (ages 16 to 24) were employed during the month of July, traditionally the peak of summer employment, the lowest percentage since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started collecting data in 1948 and almost 20 points lower than the peak in 1989. There’s little indication of that number improving. Teenagers and 20-somethings are the least skilled and most expendable members of the workforce, so it’s not surprising that they would be edged out in a recession by more reliable full-time workers such as senior citizens, immigrants and other adults who need those jobs.
But other long-term factors are at play. Life is more competitive than ever before, and kids — or perhaps their parents — worry about wasting time on jobs that won’t yield career dividends. On Harvard’s campus, where I work, students feel crushing pressure to build their résumés the instant they arrive, eschewing unskilled summer jobs for unpaid internships with nonprofit organizations, political campaigns and research labs. Others spend the summer studying foreign languages or preparing for grueling graduate-admissions exams.
The same pattern is found at the secondary-school level, where teen employment has been on a downward trend since 2000. Tougher graduation standards have created a threefold increase in summer-school attendance over the past 20 years. And students feel the need to pad their college applications with unique life experiences as the admissions process has grown more selective. High schools also now routinely require public service — surely a good thing — that can further limit the available hours to work for pay.
Many of these social changes are a sign of a healthy, and upwardly mobile, society. But there’s a problem when more than 50% of the nation’s young workforce has never held a basic, paying job. We may be postponing their entry into adulthood. One paradox of contemporary life is that the lengthening of adolescence has not better prepared young people for what comes next. Despite unprecedented technological and cultural sophistication, this generation’s 20-year-olds
lack some of the soft skills that are necessary to move up the professional ladder: perseverance, humility, flexibility and commitment.
In the end, though, it’s their elders who are responsible, and we shouldn’t demonize young people for our own failings. Most graduates embarking on their first job are eager to perform well and desperately need the income. It’s grownups, not teenagers, who have honed the values, expectations and opportunities from which our nation’s youth develop their work habits. If we want a more respectful and industrious workforce, we need to do a better job creating one. 【重点单词及短语】 kick off 开始 ；（足球比赛等）开球 dismissively adv. 轻蔑地；不屑一顾地 errand girl 供差遣的人 laugh off 一笑置之
menial adj. adj. 卑微的；仆人的；适合仆人做的 training wheels 辅助措施 mow lawns 修剪草坪
strapped adj. 身无分文的；资金短少的 edge out 挤掉；替代
unprecedented adj. 空前的；史无前例的 Question time:
1. What’s the benefits of summer jobs according to the author? 2. What are the soft skills necessary for work?
Be happy. Live longer.
No, it’s not that simple, but new research says happy lives are longer — by 35%.
The study, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that those who reported feeling happiest had a 35% reduced risk of dying compared with those who reported feeling least happy. Rather than rely on recollections about their feelings of happiness as in earlier studies, this British study of 3,853 participants ages 52-79 rated their feelings at different times on one particular day. Five years later, researchers recorded the number who died and controlled for a variety of factors, including age, gender, health, wealth, education and marital status. rely on 依靠；依赖
This approach \"gets closer to measuring how people actually feel\" rather than relying on recollections or general questions about well-being, says epidemiologist Andrew Steptoe, a psychology professor at University College in London, who co-authored the study.
epidemiologist n. 流行病学家
How happy a person is at any point in time, he says, is a product of \"some background disposition; some people tend to be happier than others,\" but also \"what they are doing, who they are with, and other features of that point in time. Both are important.\" \"It’s perfectly true that someone’s happiness over a single day will be affected
by what happens to them over that period,\" Steptoe says. \"However, survey experts and psychologists have come to the view that in many ways, this is a better approach to understanding how people actually feel than asking them general questions about how happy they are. Responses to general questions are influenced strongly by personality, by what people think they ’ought’ to say and by recollections that might not be quite accurate,\" Steptoe says.
What’s not clear, he says, is whether happy feelings are the key to longevity or if it’s something else that causes extended life. \"We can’t draw the kind of final conclusion that the happiness is leading directly to better survival,\" he says. longevity n. 长寿；寿命 draw a conclusion 下结论
Others who have done research in this area but haven’t read the study say this link between a one-day measure and mortality is important.
\"The fact that positive emotions in one day predicted survival is pretty amazing,\" says Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University of California, Riverside.
\"We do know that happiness is associated with an extended life span,\" she says. If we can get people to be happier, would that extend the lifespan? We don’t know that yet. Future research can definitely try to show that.\" Arthur Stone, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at Stony Brook University in New York, who has used measurements over the course of a day in his research, says the fact that the researchers \"got a relationship with mortality means that the relationship must be fairly robust because they only had 3,800 people and they were only measuring the one day.\" psychiatry n. 精神病学 robust adj. 强健的；健康的
And what if some who were measured on that one day were just having a bad day? \"A ’bad day’ should weaken the relationship,\" Stone says. \"What it’s saying is there are enough people here that people having odd days didn’t really matter very much. Some people had bad days and some had good days. If they had been able to measure several days with these techniques, one would guess that the relationship would be even stronger.\"
Laura Kubzansky, an associate professor in the Department of Society, Human Development and Health, at Harvard’s School of Public Health in Boston, says there’s a \"burgeoning body of work that suggests positive psychological functioning benefits health,\" and this study is significant because it \"adds to the arsenal.\" \"It could say to people, you should take your mood seriously,\" Kubzansky says. \"I think people sort of undervalue emotional life anyway. This highlights the idea that if you are going through a period where you’re consistently distressed, it’s probably worth paying attention to how you feel — it matters for both psychological and physical health.\" sort of 有点儿；稍稍
highlight v. 突出；强调；使显著 distressed adj. 痛苦的；忧虑的
This study asked participants to rate how happy, excited and content they felt at four points during a single day — 7 a.m., 7 p.m. and a half-hour after each. They used a rating scale from 1 (\"not at all\") to 4 (\"extremely\").
\"Generally, they were less happy when they woke up and most happy at 7 p.m.,\" Steptoe says.
Question time:
1. What matters to how happy a person is?
2. When do people feel happiest during a single day?
参考答案
1. Some background disposition; some people tend to be happier than others, And what they are doing, who they are with, and other features of that point in time.
2. 7 p.m.
Is time spent on grooming time well spent? 人们花在梳妆打扮上的时间合理吗？
Getting ready for work in the morning, looking primped and polished, can be a major time suck. Earlier this year, at the Economy conference, banking executive Sallie Krawcheck quipped that even if women spent just 15 minutes each workday morning on hair and makeup, that's more than 60 hours a year or about two and a half full days ─ just getting ready for work. So are those hours worth it?
每天早上要为上班做好准备，让自己看起来光鲜亮丽，这个过程可能会很耗时。银行业高管克劳切克(Sallie Krawcheck)在今年初“女性与经济”(Women in the Economy)大会上打趣说，即使每个工作日早上女性仅花15分钟来打理发型并化妆，一年也要花掉60多个小时，大约相当于整整两天半的时间，而这仅仅是上班的准备工作。 那么，花在梳妆打扮上的时间到底值不值呢？
For a man, it can help. For a woman, not so much.
对于男人来说可能有点帮助，而对于女人则没有太多效果。来源：上考试大网校，考试轻松过关
A study cited in the Harvard Business Review found that for women, an increase in personal grooming time is associated with lower earnings. (The data comes from federal time-use surveys; grooming is defined as time spent washing and dressing oneself, including brushing, shaving, getting dressed, choosing and changing clothes, combing hair, applying moisturizers, etc. ) For instance, if a white woman doubles her daily grooming from 45 minutes to a whopping 90 minutes, her earnings drop an average of 3.4%, found the study by researchers at Elon University. The researchers in the paper say the earnings drop may have to do with the negative stereotypes associated with an overly groomed woman in the workplace.
曾被《哈佛商业评论》援引过的一份研究报告发现，女性打扮时间的增多与其收入降低有关。(该数据来自联邦政府对时间使用的调查，其中梳妆的定义是指人们在梳洗和穿衣方面所花的时间，包括刷牙、剃须、穿戴整齐、选择和调整着装、梳头发及涂抹润肤霜等。)美国伊隆大学(Elon University)研究人员经调查后发现，如果一名白人女子每天的梳妆时间从45分钟增加一倍，达到90分钟，她的收入平均会下降3.4%。研究人员在报告中说，这种
收入减少可能与职场中往往对“过度打扮”的女性有成见有关。
For men, it depends on race. Grooming has no effect on white men's earnings, but for minority men, going from 40 to 80 minutes of grooming increases earnings by some 4%. The researchers say grooming may counter negative stereotypes of minority men. 对男性来说，打扮时间与收入之间的关联受到人种的影响。打扮时间的长短对白人男子的收入没有影响，但对少数族裔的男性来说，将打扮时间从40分钟增至80分钟，其收入可增加大约4%。研究人员说，适当修饰自己可能会抵消人们对少数族裔男性的成见。
The bottom line. It's important to look neat, clean and professional. But, at least for women, try to speed up the process.
说到底，让自己看起来整洁大方和干练职业固然重要，但至少对女性来说，应尽量将这一过程缩短。
Readers, how fast is your morning-grooming routine? Any grooming shortcuts or tips? Do you think women are penalized in the workplace if they are 'overly groomed'? 读者朋友，你早上一般要花多长时间梳洗打扮呢？有没有什么省事的好方法或小贴士？你觉得如果“打扮过头”的女性在职场会吃亏吗？
The future of out-of-home advertising is rosy, and digital.
ROADSIDE billboards, posters on buses and subway escalators, ads in airport terminals—a type of publicity known as out-of-home advertising—used to be the dull end of the industry. No more. The falling price and improving quality of flat-screen displays mean that static posters printed on paper are being replaced by snazzy digital commercials with moving pictures, sound and sometimes interactive features. As some advertising media, especially newspapers, see their audiences fade, streets, airports and other public spaces are becoming crowded with more potential viewers than ever, as people continue moving to cities and travel more.
MagnaGlobal, a media researcher, predicts that worldwide spending on out-of-home advertising will expand by 8.3% in 2011 to about $26.4 billion, faster growth than that seen for other non-internet forms of advertising. Spending on digital billboards and posters is expected to double in the next five years, to $5.2 billion. William Eccleshare, who runs the international operations of Clear Channel, an American firm which is one of the largest out-of-home ad companies, thinks that in some countries more than 90% of its business will be digital by the decade’s end.
His arch-rival, Jean-Charles Decaux, the boss of France’s JCDecaux, agrees that there will be a significant switch to digital, but mainly inside airports, railway stations, shopping malls and other controlled environments. Ads in bus shelters and other outdoor spots at risk of vandalism will take a lot longer to move away from paper, Mr Decaux thinks. Digital displays already account for about one-quarter of his company’s sales in transport hubs, but for less than 5% in street furniture and billboards.
The pace of the switch to digital is but the least of several areas of disagreement between the two men. JCDecaux boasted in February that it had overtaken Clear Channel to become the world’s largest out-of-home ad company, with revenues of €2.4 billion ($3.2 billion) last year. “It is rare that a European media company is bigger than an American one,” says Mr Decaux. Because his group is less indebted than the others, Mr Decaux says it could consider buying the American operations of CBS Outdoor, the world number three, or indeed those of Clear Channel itself, if the opportunity arose.
Mr Eccleshare dismisses such provocative talk, noting that Mr Decaux has repeatedly talked of big acquisitions in America—where it is a weak number four in the market—without anything happening. He acknowledges that there will be consolidation in the highly fragmented industry, though he expects it to take place within, rather than across, national borders. For instance, China has 60,000 out-of-home advertising firms, many of them microbusinesses with one or two signs, and is clearly ripe for rationalisation.
Clear Channel is so optimistic about digital posters because it believes they offer enormous potential for making advertisements more effective. Advertisers can tailor their pitch to the time of day: McDonald’s can advertise its sausage and egg McMuffin at breakfast time, change to its regular Big Mac fare at lunch and follow that with ads for apple pie and ice cream during teatime. They can also react to events as they happen: when Spain won the football World Cup last year, digital billboards in Madrid, sponsored by Nike, showed the result within seconds.
Advertisers constantly talk about wanting to “engage” with consumers, so they are taking great interest in the potential for interactivity that digital technology will bring. JCDecaux, for example, is offering a free iPhone application called U snap: when a consumer sees a poster (paper or digital) for something that attracts his interest and takes a photo of it on his phone, the app recognises it, gives him product information and discount vouchers and directs him to the nearest retailer.
Then there is “gladvertising” and “sadvertising”, a rather sinister-sounding idea in which billboards with embedded cameras, linked to face-tracking software, detect the mood of each consumer who passes by, and change the advertising on display to suit it. The technology matches movements of the eyes and mouth to six expression patterns corresponding to happiness, anger, sadness, fear, surprise and disgust. An unhappy-looking person might be rewarded with ads for a sun-drenched beach or a luscious chocolate bar while those wearing an anxious frown might be reassured (some might say exploited) with an ad for insurance.
Such Big Brotherish software would no doubt detect a satisfied grin on the faces of out-of-home advertising bosses as they contemplate the next 18 months, in which a string of big events will boost their business: the Rugby World Cup, the American presidential election, the Euro 2012 football championship and the London Olympics. Wherever you go—the street, the subway, the airport or the bus station—there will be no escape from ads linked to these events, and the out-of-home advertising firms will be raking it in. 【重点单词及短语】 static adj. 静态的
snazzy adj. 时髦的;华丽而俗气的 arch-rival n. 主要竞争对手;劲敌 vandalism n. 故意破坏;破坏公物 provocative adj. 挑衅的;刺激的 consolidation n. 巩固;合并
ripe for 时机成熟;为„„做好准备 take interest in 对„„感兴趣 interactivity n. 交互性;互动性 discount voucher 折扣券;优惠券 contemplate v. 沉思;注视;思忖;预期 a string of 一系列;一串
rake in 迅速大量取得;大量地敛集(钱财) Question time:
1. What is out-of-home advertising?
2. Why Clear Channel takes a positive attitude for digital posters?
Nature photography appeals to our nostalgia for a time when we were more in harmony with the planet.
The old adage \"a picture is worth a thousand words\" needs to be rethought. More importantly, a picture can have the power to move a thousand hearts and change a thousand minds. Often, photographs bring to our eyes what we may have seen many times before, but not noticed. They can shed new light on the everyday and the ordinary. They can redirect the course of our vision, so that we see, think, imagine and even, perhaps, act differently.
No doubt, one of the most pressing campaigns of our times is that for sustainability and environmental awareness. In the ruthless course of modernity, our approach to nature has been one of extraction and use. We urgently need to alter how we relate to the world around us and to re-educate ourselves in terms of the larger planetary scheme, hung, as it is, on a delicate ecological balance that is being dangerously disturbed by our many modern machinations in the name of science, technology, development and progress – and, dare I say it, capital.
Nature photography has become a potent tool in this struggle. Through it, we learn of the many others – the wondrous diversity of flora and fauna – with whom we cohabit on this planet. It is also, as the Guardian’s nature photography project reveals, a medium taken up by professionals and amateurs alike. So, what role does photography play in defining our relationship with nature? What do images of nature and wildlife tell us and why do we feel compelled to view them? Who among us has never been moved to snap a sunset on the horizon, a flowing river, a blossom in spring?
Our zeal for visually representing nature has a long and complex history. The advent of photography was celebrated as a milestone in the modernist quest to capture nature better. For early photography was largely devoted to documentary purposes and, in the apparent fidelity of its representations, the camera in the 19th century exceeded the naturalist drives of painters who, during the Renaissance and early modern period, tried to explore, and so tame, nature by rendering it into art.
Photography, however, is poised on a fine borderline between documentary and art. Never just one or the other, photographs can exceed the set frame. Moreover, the photographic frame can reveal the unsettling ability to extend and include us in its space. Photography is inclusive in its mediatory role. It extends covenants.
Often, nature photography calls on modern humanity’s sense of nostalgia for a harmony between man and the environment. As John Berger has rightly stated, the way we see is conditioned by our history, and so it is that we may look at nature in terms of loss. As with the many images of the recent oil spill off the coast of Florida, this can be founded in fact and so provoke a sense of culpability, a sudden awareness or questioning of our precepts and actions. Photographs lead us to rethink, to realign the frame of our understanding.
The force of photography also lies in its playfulness. And by this, I mean the many overlapping discoveries of unvoiced knowledge, feelings and imagination that we stumble upon via images. So, the flipside of loss or pathos can be a freshness of vision or a change of
perspective. Above all, nature photography lends to our lives what we long ago lost in our modern abandonment of nature – the experience of wonderment, that sense of discovery, newness and awe.
Take, for example, Ernst Haas’s images of dramatic skies, the elements and the seasons. His work, dramatic and inspiring, calls upon our pre-modern imaginations of the world at its most elemental, charged with a dynamic energy.
Photographs can also point out the extraordinary or magical in the seemingly irrelevant, as in Bolucevschi Vitali’s prizewinning image of ants poised like dancers in stellar form. Modernised, urbanised and alienated as many of us are, photographs remind us of nature’s many complexities and subtleties. Or, as in Sebasti?o Salgado’s on-going project Genesis that is linked to an equally challenging project at the Instituto Terra to restore Brazil’s Atlantic rain forest, photography marries wonderment, amazement and joy to a well-defined and articulated commitment to the planet. It melds fractures and helps envisage solidarity in our imbalanced and fractured world. So what moves us to snap a sunset on the horizon, a flowing river, a blossom in spring? The photograph by itself is only a token of a moment gone by. Its power lies in the metaphor, for photography captures our minds more than we capture the subject.
In the case of nature photography, we discover that the battle for sustainability and environmental balance is not something fought \"out there\returns us to the natural. Environmental photography matters, because it offers the lifeline of a bridge between our modern, denaturalised, mechanistic mores and the imperative of nature within and without.
【重点单词及短语】
nostalgia n. 乡愁;怀旧之情
in harmony with 与„„协调一致;与„„和谐相处 shed light on 阐明;使„„清楚显示 redirect v. vt. 使改方向;重新寄送 potent adj. 有效的;强有力的
wondrous adj. 奇妙的;令人惊奇的 flora and fauna 动植物;动植物群 take up 拿起;开始从事 zeal n. 热情;热忱
render into 译成;转化为
as with 正如;与„一样;就„来说 spill v. 溢出;流出 provoke 驱使;激怒
realign v. 重新编排;改组 lie in 在于
overlapping adj. 重叠的;覆盖的 stumble upon 偶然发现 flipside 另一面;反面
In the case of 至于;在„„的情况下 in the distance 在远处
imperative n. 命令;规则 adj. 必要的;势在必行的 Question time:
1. What’s the function of photographs?
2. What’s the relationship between photography and environment?
At the close of each business day, most trained teachers, administrators, politicians, and statesmen make objective analyses of all that has transpired. They then carefully evaluate performance in the achievement of certain specified objectives. You, as a student, would be wise to adopt the same practice and reflect upon your performance in relating to the achievement of certain personal and educational objectives.
First, what was your purpose, your motivational force in seeking an education? Did you seek an education in active performance, or did you seek to be educated in passive reception and automatic acquisition(获取) of information that was fed to you? Was the profit motive your primary motivation for obtaining an education? Do you want a better education for the sole purpose of getting a better job? What does the educational process really mean to you?
We are part of a world in which men thrill to the touch of gold and hearts respond to the word money instead of being thrilled by the thought of good. We five in a world in which we are taught that the pursuit of happiness is an equation for the most rapid acquisition of money, by whatever means.
If profit and money are your first priorities, and compassion and commitment to people your least concern, you have done little other than accumulate some facts and compile some information for future reference. If making money is your daydream and losing money your nightmare, if poverty is your worst fear and making money your most fervent prayer, you have missed the opportunity for education. You have failed yourself and have only received Nome instruction.
1. This passage suggests that students should______.
A. assess their aims for learning B. learn more to earn more
C. evaluate their politicians and statesmen D. keep knowledge to themselves 2.The educational procedure should be one in which the student______. A. does what he is told
B. gets a better education to get a better job
C. makes principles of education for self-betterment of their aims D. approaches the benefits of being well-off 3. The author seems to feel that______.
A. people's welfare should be the chief concern in learning B. profit has nothing to do with people C. poverty is good for the soul
D. knowledge is not the main objective for learning 4.A good title for the selection might be______. A. The Benefit of Education
B. Education Motivation—Progress or Profit C. Self-Education D. Profit and Money
5. The word \"nightmare\" in the last paragraph is nearest in meaning to_______. A. a very bad dream B. unhappiness
C. sleeplessness D. a hazard to your health
参考答案：1. A 2. C 3. A 4. B 5. A
We might marvel at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person's knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to device anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For all the pious claim that examinations text what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person's true ability and aptitude.
As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the mark of success of failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. It doesn't matter that you weren't feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that don't count: the exam goes on. No one can give of his best when he is in mortal terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of vicious competition where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of 'drop-outs': young people who are written off as utter failures before they have even embarked on a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?
A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus, so the student is encouraged to memorize. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. They lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive the teacher of all freedoms. Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their subjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques which they despise. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under duress.
The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by some anonymous examiner. Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they make mistakes. Yet they have to mark stacks of hastily scrawled scripts in a limited amount of time. They work under the same sort of pressure as the candidates. And their word carries weight. After a judge's decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner's. There must surely be many simpler and more effective ways of assessing a person's true abilities. Is it cynical to suggest that examinations are merely a profitable business for the institutions that run them? This is what it boils down to in the last analysis. The best comment on the system is this illiterate message recently scrawled on a wall: 'I were a teenage drop-out and now I are a teenage millionaire.' 1. The main idea of this passage is
[A] examinations exert a pernicious influence on education. [B] examinations are ineffective.
[C] examinations are profitable for institutions. [D] examinations are a burden on students. 2. The author's attitude toward examinations is [A]detest. [B] approval.
[C] critical. [D] indifferent.
3. The fate of students is decided by [A] education. [B] institutions. [C] examinations.
[D] students themselves.
4. According to the author, the most important of a good education is [A] to encourage students to read widely. [B] to train students to think on their own. [C] to teach students how to tackle exams. [D] to master his fate.
5. Why does the author mention court? [A] Give an example. [B] For comparison.
[C] It shows that teachers' evolutions depend on the results of examinations. [D] It shows the results of court is more effectise. Vocabulary
1. knack 窍门，诀窍 2. embark 乘船，登记
3. write off 勾销，注销。确认某食物已损失或无效 4. syllabus 教学大纲
5. cram 塞入，把某物塞进，突击式学习(尤指应考)，以注入方式教人 6. duress 威胁，逼迫 7. stack 堆，垛
8. scrawl 写/画(的内容不工整，不仔细)潦草的笔迹，七扭八歪的字 9. script 讲稿，剧本，脚本，笔试答卷
10. cynical 愤世嫉俗的，自私得为人不齿的 11. boil down 熬浓，浓缩，归纳 难句译注
1. For all the pious claim that examinations test what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite.
【参考译文】尽管所有那些虔诚的说法说考试能测定你所知道的东西，但其结果常常是适得其反，这是众所周之的常识。
2. As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none.
【结构简析】second to none固定搭配，义：不亚于任何人或事物。 【参考译文】(测)考试作为忧虑的制造者，真是出类拔萃。 3. induce cramming
诱人采用突击式学习方式。Cram尽力塞入，应试突击学习。EX: cram for a chemistry test.为应付化学考试而临时抱佛脚。Cram pupils以填鸭式教学生。
4. Yet you have to mark stacks of hastily scrawled scripts in a limited amount of time.
【参考译文】他们不得不在限定的时间内，给一大堆匆忙涂写而成的笔试答卷批分。 5. And their word carries weight.
【参考译文】可他们的话/文字(这里指分数)有份量(有影响)。
6. This is what it boils down to in the last analysis. 【参考译文】这就是最终分析所归纳的一切。 参考答案：
1. A 2. C 3. C 4. B 5. B
Antarctica has actually become a kind of space station a unique observation post for detecting important changes in the world's environment. Remote from major sources of pollution and the complex geological and ecological systems that prevail elsewhere, Antarctica makes possible scientific measurements that are often sharper and easier to interpret than those made in other parts of the world.
Growing numbers of scientists therefore see Antarctica as a distant-early-warning sensor, where potentially dangerous global trends may be spotted before they show up to the north. One promising field of investigation is glaciology. Scholars from the United States, Switzerland, and France are pursuing seven separate but related projects that reflect their concern for the health of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet a concern they believe the world at large should share.
The Transantarctic Mountain, some of them more than 14,000 feet high, divide the continent into two very different regions. The part of the continent to the \"east\" of the mountains is a high plateau covered by an ice sheet nearly two miles thick. \"West\" of the mountain, the half of the continent south of the Americas is also covered by an ice sheet, but there the ice rests on rock that is mostly well below sea level. If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet disappeared, the western part of the continent would be reduced to a sparse cluster of island.
While ice and snow are obviously central to many environmental experiments, others focus on the mysterious \"dry valley\"of Antarctica, valleys that contain little ice or snow even in the depths of winter. Slashed through the mountains of southern Victoria Land, these valleys once held enormous glaciers that descended 9,000 feet from the polar plateau to the Ross Sea. Now the glaciers are gone, perhaps a casualty of the global warming trend during the 10,000 years since the ice age. Even the snow that falls in the dry valleys is blasted out by vicious winds that roars down from the polar plateau to the sea. Left bare are spectacular gorges, rippled fields of sand dunes, clusters of boulders sculptured into fantastic shapes by 100-mile-an-hour winds, and an aura of extraterrestrial desolation.
Despite the unearthly aspect of the dry valleys, some scientists believe they may carry a message of hope of the verdant parts of the earth. Some scientists believe that in some cases the dry valleys may soak up pollutants faster than pollutants enter them. 1. What is the best title for this passage? [A] Antarctica and environmental Problems. [B] Antarctica: Earth's Early-Warning station. [C] Antarctica: a Unique Observation Post. [D] Antarctica: a Mysterious Place.
2. What would the result be if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet disappeared? [A] The western part of the continent would be disappeared. [B] The western part of the continent would be reduced.
[C] The western part of the continent would become scattered Islands.
[D] The western part of the continent would be reduced to a cluster of Islands. 3. Why are the Dry Valleys left bare?
[A] Vicious wind blasts the snow away. [B] It rarely snows.
[C] Because of the global warming trend and fierce wind. [D] Sand dunes.
4. Which of the following is true?
[A] The \"Dry Valleys\" have nothing left inside. [B] The \"Dry Valleys\" never held glaciers.
[C] The \"Dry Valleys\" may carry a message of hope for the verdant. [D] The \" Dry Valleys\" are useless to scientists. Vocabulary
1. distant-early-warning sensor 远距离早期报警传感器 2. plateau 高原，高地 3. slash 挥砍
4. blast 一阵疾风/狂风
5. vicious 邪恶的，凶魔般的 6. gorge 峡谷
7. ripple 起伏，使起微波 8. sand dune 沙丘 9. verdant 绿色
10. extraterrestrial 地球之外的 11. aura 气氛 参考答案：
1. A 2. D 3. C 4. C
The tourist trade is booming. With all this coming and going, you'd expect greater understanding to develop between the nations of the world. Not a bit of it! Superb systems of communication by air, sea and land make it possible for us to visit each other's countries at a moderate cost. What was once the 'grand tour', reserved for only the very rich, is now within everybody's grasp? The package tour and chartered flights are not to be sneered at. Modern travelers enjoy a level of comfort which the lords and ladies on grand tours in the old days couldn't have dreamed of. But what's the sense of this mass exchange of populations if the nations of the world remain basically ignorant of each other?
Many tourist organizations are directly responsible for this state of affairs. They deliberately set out to protect their clients from too much contact with the local population. The modern tourist leads a cosseted, sheltered life. He lives at international hotels, where he eats his international food and sips his international drink while he gazes at the natives from a distance. Conducted tours to places of interest are carefully censored. The tourist is allowed to see only what the organizers want him to see and no more. A strict schedule makes it impossible for the tourist to wander off on his own; and anyway, language is always a barrier, so he is only too happy to be protected in this way. At its very worst, this leads to a new and hideous kind of colonization. The summer quarters of the inhabitants of the cite universitaire: are temporarily reestablished on the island of Corfu. Blackpool is recreated at Torremolinos where the traveler goes not to eat paella, but fish and chips. The sad thing about this situation is that it leads to the persistence of national stereotypes. We don't see the people of other nations as they really are, but as we have been brought up to believe
they are. You can test this for yourself. Take five nationalities, say, French, German, English, American and Italian. Now in your mind, match them with these five adjectives: musical, amorous, cold, pedantic, native. Far from providing us with any insight into the national characteristics of the peoples just mentioned, these adjectives actually act as barriers. So when you set out on your travels, the only characteristics you notice are those which confirm your preconceptions. You come away with the highly unoriginal and inaccurate impression that, say, 'Anglo-Saxons are hypocrites' of that 'Latin peoples shout a lot'. You only have to make a few foreign friends to understand how absurd and harmful national stereotypes are. But how can you make foreign friends when the tourist trade does its best to prevent you?
Carried to an extreme, stereotypes can be positively dangerous. Wild generalizations stir up racial hatred and blind us to the basic fact—how trite it sounds! – That all people are human. We are all similar to each other and at the same time all unique. 1. The best title for this passage is
[A] tourism contributes nothing to increasing understanding between nations. [B] Tourism is tiresome. [C] Conducted tour is dull.
[D] tourism really does something to one's country. 2. What is the author's attitude toward tourism? [A] apprehensive. [B] negative. [C] critical.
[D] appreciative.
3. Which word in the following is the best to summarize Latin people shout a lot? [A] silent. [B] noisy. [C] lively. [D] active.
4. The purpose of the author's criticism is to point out [A] conducted tour is disappointing.
[B] the way of touring should be changed.
[C] when traveling, you notice characteristics which confirm preconception. [D] national stereotypes should be changed. 5. What is ‘grand tour’ now? [A] moderate cost.
[B] local sight-seeing is investigated by the tourist organization. [C] people enjoy the first-rate comforts.
[D] everybody can enjoy the ‘grand tour’. Vocabulary
1. superb 卓越的，杰出的，第一流的 2. moderate 中庸的，中等的，适度的
3. grand tour 大旅行，指旧时英国富家子弟教育中，到欧洲大陆观光的旅行，为学业必经阶段。
4. package tour 由旅行社代办而费用与路线、日程固定的假日旅游。也可用package holiday。
5. chartered flight 包机航班
6. set out to do sth. = begin a job with a particular aim 开始做某事，决心/打算做„„ 7. cosset 宠爱，溺爱，纵容
8. conducted tour = guided tour 有人指导/引到下的参观，有导游的旅游 9. censor 检查
10. wander off 离开原处/正道，离群，漫步，漫游 11. quarters 住处，营 12. paella 西班牙什锦饭 13. chip 炸马铃薯条(土豆条) 14. amorous 多情的，色情的
15. pedantic 学究式的，卖弄学问的 16. generalization 归纳，概括 17. stir up 惹起，煽动，挑起 18. trite 陈腐的，老一套的 难句译注
1. What was once the 'grand tour', reserved for only the very rich, is now within everybody's grasp.
【结构简析】within sb.'s grasp.某人理解/了解，为某人所能抓到的。 【参考译文】一度只有最富有者专享的“大旅行”现在人人都可获得。 2. The package tour and chartered flights are not to be sneered at. 【参考译文】旅行社包办的旅游，包机航班决不会遭人耻笑。
3. They deliberately set out to protect their clients from too much contact with the local population.
【参考译文】旅行社有意使他们的谷底和当地居民少接触。 4. The modern tourist heads a cosseted sheltered life.
【参考译文】现代旅行者过的使爱护有加与世隔绝的生活。 5. Conducted tours to places of interest are carefully censored.
【参考译文】有人指导下参观一些静电收到组织者――旅行社仔细的检查核准。
6. A strict schedule makes it impossible for the tourist to wander off on his own; and anyway, language is always barrier, so he is only too happy to be protected in this way. 【结构简析】only too + 形容词/分词 = very非常。
【参考译文】严格致密的计划值得旅行者不可能自己一个人到处闲逛;再说，至少语言总是个障碍，所以他对这样保护非常高兴。
7. At its very worst, this leads to a new and hideous kind of colonization. 【结构简析】at one's worst 在情况最坏的时候。
【参考译文】最糟的时候，这种保护会导致形成一种新型而又可怕的殖民现象。 8. Carried to an extreme, stereotypes can be positively dangerous. 【结构简析】carried to an extreme (to an excess )如果做得过分。 【参考译文】如果走向极端，模式化的想法会非常危险。
9. Wild generalizations stir up racial hatred and blind us to the basic fact.
【参考译文】野蛮(乱七八糟)的概括/归纳会激起种族仇恨，使我们对这基本事实视而不见。
参考答案：
1. A 2. C 3. B 4. B 5. D
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