⭥《雅思写作论证论据素材大全》
⭥第一大类学校教育与校园文化类
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⭥1.教育的重要性
⭥段落大意:教育对于个人和社会的成功都有着非常重要的作用。
⭥In today’s society, education is really important. Education has evolved a lot over time and has greatly shaped American society. Back in the old days, education was not that important, because many jobs did not have educational requirements. In those days, you could have a high school diploma and get a good job. Today, if you only have a high school diploma, the types of jobs that you can get are restricted(受限制的)to fast food restaurant cashiers(收银员)or even construction workers. Getting a college degree is very essential to your success and your opportunity to get a good job that pays well.
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⭥2.终身学习
⭥段落大意:终身学习已经成为人们的一种选择和目标。
⭥The term“lifelong learning”indicates that learning does not stop at the end of compulsory education(义务教育). It is a continuous process and can continue throughout a person’s life. The use of the word“learning”as opposed to“education”suggests a difference between the formal framework(框架)of compulsory education required of children and young people and the more relaxed learning environment enjoyed by adults.
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⭥3.学习方式
⭥段落大意:个人学习习惯和思维的差异决定了每个人都有不同的学习方式。
⭥Each of us learns and absorbs information in different ways. Many teachers simply talked to us, and we answered their questions. Schools taught in such a way and didn’t assist or encourage us to learn in our unique ways. There are many different techniques to classify learning styles such as perceptual modality(感知模式)and information processing(信息加工). Perceptual modalities define biologically-based reactions to our physical environment and represent the most efficient way we adopt data. By learning our perceptional(认知的)style, we can seek out information most directly. Information processing distinguishes the way we sense, think, solve problems, and remember information. Each of us has a preferred, consistent and distinct way of perceiving(感知), organizing, and retaining(保存)information.
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⭥4.教育的基础
⭥段落大意:老师是教育工作展开的基础。
⭥What is the purpose of education? What is education for?Education, would be to learn or to gain knowledge of something through the teaching of others or through self-learning (自学). One of the definitions from the Webster’s dictionary states that education is the activities of instructing or teaching, activities that impart(传授)knowledge or skills. The two most important words about education are teaching and learning. Why do we teach? By definition, teachers are leaders, and to put it simply leaders lead. Teachers lead their students through the path of knowledge. According to the Foundation of Education text, teachers also demonstrate leadership by working with others and modeling desirable behaviors.
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⭥5.教育的价值
⭥段落大意:教育能够带给人们知识、经验和深入思考的能力等等。
⭥“If you think the price of education is high, find out the price of ignorance (无知). You will pay for ignorance everyday for the rest of your life.”Parents often ponder (思考) the real value ofcollege education as college costs continue to grow and rates exceed inflation(通货膨胀). Keeping in mind that one does not necessarily need to obtain a degree to“enjoy life”, especially financially. Then still,“What is the value of a college education?”An individual gains value from college education as he/she learns to think critically, put the acquired knowledge into practice, understand one’s true self, and recognize others’values. Expectations are also reached.
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⭥6.优先教育的必要性
⭥段落大意:教育是使国家进步的巨大动力,应被放在首要位置。
⭥China, as a developing country, is determined to catch up with and even surpass (超越)the developed ones. I think that one of the best possible ways to do so is to give first priority(优先考虑)to the development of culture, science and especially education. In modern times, when science and technology are making great progress, the education of the work force(劳动力)is of primary importance. Moreover, many of the success in advanced countries have demonstrated that a nation’s prosperity mainly depends on its labor force, especially those who have been well educated. In a developing country like China, our investment in culture, education and science, and especially elementary education, must enjoy top priority. This is crucial for China to catch up with the developed nations in today’s surging (汹涌)waves of technological revolution. Otherwise, the gap between China and advanced countries will be widened rather than bridged.
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⭥7.对学生的全方位培养
⭥段落大意:对学生的培养不应仅局限在学术方面,也应该提升他们的基础技能,例如体育、烹饪等。
⭥We need to provide young people with the most possibility of doing well at school. In traditional curriculum there is a wide variety of subjects with a mix of academic (学术) and non-academic(非学术)subjects. In this way a young person is formed with a well-rounded education (通才教育). Non-academic subjects would include sports, cooking, woodwork(木工)and metalwork(金属加工). I believe this is the best form of education. A young person should learn things other than academic subjects. Sport is particularly important. Young people have to learn to love sport so that they can be fit and healthy in their future life. Otherwise, we will be raising an obese and unfit generation.
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⭥8.政府在教育中的责任
⭥段落大意:政府在教育过程中应该承担相应的责任,包括教学硬件的配置、老师的培养等。
⭥I believe that local, state, and federal governments are responsible for the appropriation (拨款) of funds for school systems to meet their students’educational needs. This includes providing adequate facilities for schools, hiring trained and experienced school administrators, and offering tempting salaries to attract highly qualified educators. Although supplying the adequate funds for school systems is not always an easy task, it should enjoy the priority. Unfortunately, too many schools are forced to rely on standardized test scores as a means of additional funding from the government, and this focus should be shifted to other criteria (评判标准) of school performances.
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⭥9.对学校的选择
⭥段落大意:每年新入学的学生都面临着选择学校的问题。到底是去四年制大学还是社区学校成为他们的矛盾。
⭥Every year thousands of junior and senior high school students face the difficult question about what they want to do with their lives after high school. Choosing a college means venturing (冒险) into a new, unfamiliar world of immense possibilities. An exciting experience awaits teenagers when coming to this point in life. Or is it a world of unknown risks? Students have a wide variety of options (选择) when it comes to making their decisions. Some of these students choose a path that will take them to higher levels of education at a prestigious(名声显赫的)four-year college or university, while others take the option of staying close to home at a community college (社区大学).
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⭥10.教育的重要性
⭥段落大意:教育是人们成功的重要保障因素。
⭥The importance of learning is self-evident (显而易见的). Receiving a high-quality education enables the individual to bring out the ultimate (极限) of his or her potentials. Without education, the human mind is underdeveloped (未充分发展的). No human being in the world has been able to succeed without certain proper source of education. It’s not that a person is not a human without an education, but that the mind is made to be trained. Without education, a person is incomplete in that sense. Education makes a person great thinker and wise decision-maker (决策者). It is achieved by bringing him knowledge from the outside world, teaching him to reason, and acquainting him with history.
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⭥11.教育解决贫穷问题
⭥段落大意:教育是解决贫困问题的重要途径和根本方法。
⭥What is so depressing is the fact that education is the only way to get people out of poverty. Education is the only intervention (干预) that can help children from poor families break the cycle. In addition to giving young people basic skills, education can make them aware of opportunities beyond the ghetto (贫民窟). The few who escape the problems of crime, drugs, prostitution(卖淫), and unwed motherhood(未婚妈妈)are those who have received help from committed teachers and social workers(社工).
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⭥12.性教育的必要性
⭥段落大意:性教育教给孩子们正确面对性问题的方法和观念。这种教育的作用不容忽视。
⭥“High schools must provide young people with adequate sex education because ignnorance can be harmful.”The largest gulf(鸿沟)of understanding still remains between the parents and the youth, especially in the area of sexuality. Sex is a natural part of life, and when questions arise, they can be discussed in a mature way. Owing to this, we realize that sex education is important in a person’s life. Therefore, sex education in high schools is very necessary for youngsters to acquire information and form their attitudes, beliefs and values about identity, relationships and intimacy(亲密关系). Sex education also encompasses (包含) sexual development, affection, body image(体像)and gender roles(性别角色). In other words, it is about learning how we grow, reproduce(繁衍)and change over the years. It also includes a positive view of sex and safety involved in sexuality.
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⭥13.老师在教育中扮演的角色
⭥段落大意:老师在教育中应该扮演很多种角色,例如咨询者、关怀者、鼓励者等等。
⭥A teacher’s role is very dynamic (不断变化的) and versatile(多方面的). However, there are quite a number of conflicting (冲突的) expectations teachers face about the roles they should play. This makes teaching one of the most challenging and demanding jobs. Along with teaching in their curriculum area, the role of a teacher is to foster(培养)children’s interests and facilitate(促进)their learning ability in a positive manner. As a result, the teacher also has the role of mentor, role model, parent, caregiver, counselor and motivator, and so on so forth..
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⭥14.音乐教育的重要性
⭥段落大意:音乐教育能够提升孩子们取得成功的能力,应被纳入核心课程。
⭥With school budgets cut, and music instrument short, more and more people begin to realize the benefits of having music in education. Providing music as part of education helps develop intelligence (智力) that leads to greater success in school and in life. Everyone from Save The Music and The National Association For Music Education agrees that,“Every student in the nation should have an education in arts.”These two institutions are doing everything they can to spread the information about music, and the importance of resorting(恢复)music education as part of the core (核心的) curriculum. Giving a child opportunity to play an instrument can promote their later success in society. Researchers have found that children involved in music education are more likely to graduate from high school and attend college, and are less likely to be involved in gangs (黑社会团伙) and substance abuse(药物滥用). Music is part of everyday culture in America.
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⭥15.家庭作业应该被减少
⭥段落大意:太多的家庭作业有害无益,因此应该被减少到适合的范围之内。
⭥Homework has traditionally been given to students to reinforce (巩固) what they have learned at school, and ultimately to help them absorb (吸收) the material better. However, too much homework is not helpful, and can even be counterproductive (起负面作用的). Excessive(过量的)amounts of time spent on completing homework can take up a kid’s social and family gathering time, and limit their participation in sports or other activities. The amount of homework a teacher can give to a student should be restricted, and only assigned due to necessity.
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⭥16.电脑和教育
⭥段落大意:电脑普遍应用于教育之中这一现象引起了人们的广泛思考。
⭥Education is defined as“the knowledge or skill obtained or developed by a learning process or an instructive or enlightening (启发性的) experience”. It is referred to as the knowledge obtained, but does it matter where this knowledge is obtained? We now use computers in our society, which allows us to do many things. In some cases in today’s society, children go through their entire education with computer. There is now cyber (网络)schooling, where a child no longer attends school but learns at home in front of their computers. Should this, however, be the way students learn and become educated?
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⭥17.教育等级划分
⭥段落大意:初级教育、中级教育、高等教育以及成人教育的简介。
⭥1) Primary Education
⭥Primary education includes preschool(学前)and elementary(基础的)education. Preschool, or kindergarten, can last up to three years, with children entering as early as age three, until age six, when they typically enter elementary school. The academic year (学年) is divided into two semesters(学期).
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⭥2) Secondary Education
⭥Secondary education is divided into academic secondary education and specialized/vocational/technical(专科/职业/技术)secondary education. Academic secondary education is delivered by academic lower and upper middle schools. Lower middle school graduates wishing to continue their education take a locally administered entrance exam(地区入学考试), on the basis of which they will have the option either of continuing in an academic upper middle school or of entering a vocational secondary school. Vocational schools offer programs ranging from two to four years and train medium-level(中级的)skilled workers, farmers, and managerial(管理的)and technical personnel(人才). Technical schools typically offer four-year programs to train intermediate technical personnel(中级技术人才).“Schools for Skilled Workers”typically train junior middle school graduates for positions requiring production and operation skills. The length of training is typically three years.
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⭥3) Higher Education
⭥Higher education at the undergraduate (本科)level includes two-and three-year junior colleges—sometimes also called short-cycle colleges(短期学校)—four-year colleges, and universities offering programs in both academic and vocational subjects. Many colleges and universities also offer graduate programs leading to the master’s or Ph.D. degree. Chinese higher education at the undergraduate level is divided into vocational and academic programs. Vocational programs are offered not only at short-cycle colleges, but also frequently at four-year colleges and universities. Academic programs are offered at four-year colleges and universities but do not always lead to the bachelor’s degree. Immense higher education opportunities also fall under (被归入) the general category of adult education.
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⭥4) Adult Education
⭥The adult education(成人教育)category overlaps all three of the above categories. Adult primary education includes Workers’Primary Schools(工人初级学校), Peasants’Primary Schools(农民初级学校), and literacy classes(识字班). Adult secondary education includes radio/TV specialized secondary schools for cadres(基干官兵), staff, workers and peasants. It includes in-service teacher training schools and correspondence (函授)specialized secondary schools as well. Adult higher education includes radio/TV universities, cadre institutes, workers’colleges, peasant colleges, correspondence colleges, and educational colleges. Most of the above offer both two- and three-year short-cycle (or vocational) curricula, yet a few also offer regular undergraduate curricula.
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⭥18.双语教学
⭥段落大意:双语教学被证明非常有用,但是也带来很多问题。
⭥Bilingual education (双语教学) was first initiated in 1968. It was a new means to educate the children who spoke a minority language. Thirty-one years later the same problems exist for those children who speak languages other than English. The experiment of bilingual education has been a failure and now it’s time to move on. The first English only initiatives were brought forth in 1981 by newly elected president Reagan. Since then the conflict over bilingual education has drove on. Currently twenty-three states have“English Only”laws with 4 states having laws that are pending(待定的). The issue of bilingual education and the conflict that surrounds it is primarily focused between whites and Hispanics(西班牙和葡萄牙人), although since the mid 70’s it’s also been involved with the Chinese culture. However, bilingual education has failed; currently the movement is towards the English only educational system.
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⭥19.音乐教学
⭥段落大意:在教学中加入音乐被证明是非常有助于学生学习的。
⭥In today’s society, people are constantly looking for new ways to have students produce more from their public education. Some argue that more funding (拨款) is the answer, while others believe that better learning facilities will help. Studies recently conducted show that a simple change in the curriculum will produce the outcome that people are searching for. The simple change is music education. Music education has been proven to improve general academic skills as well as social skills in children. If music classes are added to a child’s schedule (课程表), they will begin to show improvement in learning that educators are looking for. Instead of the ideas of more funding and better facilities, all the students need is a simple music course in their everyday lives.
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⭥20.音乐和教育
⭥段落大意:音乐能够锻炼人们的思维和大脑,在教学中加入音乐,对学生非常有帮助。
⭥Ursula K. Le Guin makes an excellent point in her quote,“Music and thinking are so much alike that it is almost as if they are one and the same.”Music has a huge impact on the brain. It has been proven that it makes contributions to the development of cognitive (认知的) and perceptual(知觉的)skills, refines (完善) the development of the brain and entire neurological (神经的) system, and connects and develops the motor systems(引擎系统)of the brain in a way that cannot be done by any other activity. Since music has such a huge impact on the brain, it is evident that music education is important and should therefore remain an important key factor of kindergarten through high school students’education.
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⭥21.教育的启蒙塑造作用
⭥段落大意:教育塑造人类文明,从根本上解决一切社会经济问题。
⭥Education is one of the most powerful instruments in shaping the human race. Education is the only answer to all our socio-economic(社会经济的)problems. Several global organizations and nations have been emphasizing the need for the universalisation(普及化)of primary education. At the world education conference at Jomtien(乔木提恩会议), access to education was declared as a human right. The Economics Nobel laureate(获得者)of 1998, Prof. Amartya Kumar Sen has also pointed out that for sustainable development(可持续发展), even the poorest of the poor should be provided proper education. Accordingly, steps have to be taken to bring primary education to the doorsteps of the rural people, since more than 75 percent of Indians live in rural areas.
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⭥22.教育对个人的益处
⭥段落大意:教育是人类用来武装自己,培养自己知识、技能以及良好习惯的重要手段。
⭥Education has essentially been a social process in capacity building and maintenance(维持)of society since the creation of human beings. To cope with the changing realities and uncertainties of human life, education has been a weapon with which people equip themselves to acquire relevant knowledge, skills and habits of surviving in the modern world. Education for All (EFA) has been an international concern since 1968. There was an international conference in Paris with a theme titled“The World Crisis in Education”. This triggered (触发) the process of developing the World Declaration on Education for All. It was spread over the several months and all over the world. The World Bank and the United National Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (国际教科文组织) came together to sponsor the World Conference on Education for All in Jomtiem (乔木提恩), Thailand in March, 1990.
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⭥23.对“学校已死”的辩论
⭥段落大意:教育改革家称学校已死,就连诺贝尔奖获得者也称学校是浪费时间,他们大多数时间是在学校以外学习。
⭥It is unconventional wisdom to regard school as dead. The phrase“school is dead”is the title of a book by Everett Reimer, a scholar with many years’experience in attempting to reform schools for poor children in the third world. However, what we might call“unconventional wisdom”has been skeptical (怀疑的) of schooling for thousands of years. Since the time of the Roman Empire there have been many quotations from notable persons about problems of schooling and its effects on learners. A general state education is a mere contrivance (发明) for moulding(塑造)people to be exactly like one another, and it pleases the predominant power in the government, be it a monarch (君主), a priesthood, an aristocracy (贵族), or the majority of the existing generation. As it is efficient and successful, it establishes despotism (专制主义) over the mind, leading to a collective community. In more modern times Nobel Prize winners have said that school is a waste of time, saying that they learned mostly outside school. In any event, it is clear that school attendance is something distinct from learning.
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⭥第七大类:工作与成功类
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⭥1.美国职业教育概况
⭥段落大意:美国的职业教育在中学和社区大学里进行,并部分由联邦资助。
⭥In the U.S., vocational education programs are conducted in public secondary schools and community colleges and are financed in part by federal funds. Other programs are conducted by business and industry, labor organizations, the armed forces, and private vocational-technical schools. Programs in both public and private institutions are general in scope (范围), providing training for several jobs in an occupational cluster(群). Programs conducted by business, industry, and the armed forces usually focus on particular aspects. Under the Vocational Education Amendments (1968), vocational programs are administered by the U.S. Department of Education.
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⭥2.无门槛的职业教育
⭥段落大意:无门槛职业教育的目的是为每个人提供高质量职业指导。
⭥Many public and private schools offering vocational instruction (教育) adopt a so-called open-door policy, that is, anyone who can profit from the instruction may attend the school. The goal of the public school vocational program is to provide access for all people to high-quality instruction that will meet occupational demand. Every state department of education in the U.S. employs specialists in vocational education.
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⭥3.一些有关职业发展的相关问题
⭥段落大意:一些与职业发展相关的问题,包括某领域需求的关键技能、热门工作等等。
⭥You might want to pose questions that relate to your vocation as follows:
⭥1)The key skills and core competencies (能力) that employers are looking for in the field
⭥2)The hottest sectors of the job market for this type of work
⭥3)Three to five of the most important issues currently being addressed in the field
⭥4)The professional resources used by the movers(行动者)and shakers(摇动者)in the field
⭥5)Changes that could impact the field and industry
⭥6)How to gain status and recognition in the field or industry
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⭥4.职业教育的范围
⭥段落大意:职业教育有短期和长期之分,范围包括办公技能、农业、贸易、健康服务和技术培训等。
⭥Vocational education programs range from short-unit (ten weeks or less) to long-term programs up to two years in length. The programs include numerous occupational areas, such as office skills, agriculture, various trades, health services, and technical training. The scope of vocational education is broad, ranging from occupations requiring little skill to those requiring a high degree of skills and scientific knowledge. Jobs requiring minimum training are not generally included in formal programs because the necessary skills can be readily learned on the job.
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⭥5.职业教育的必要性
⭥段落大意:技术对职业的冲击、雇主对雇员更高的教育背景要求、对拥有专门训练雇员的需求——这些因素导致职业教育势在必行。
⭥Vocational education refers to instruction on skills necessary for persons who are preparing to enter the labor force or who need training or retraining in the technology of their occupations. The impact of technology on occupations, the tendency of employers to set higher educational requirements, and the need for employees to gain specialized skills have made vocational training imperative (急需的). Part-time programs are essential to provide occupational mobility among workers and to overcome the effects of job obsolescence(过时).
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⭥6.职业咨询
⭥段落大意:职业咨询的基本原则:职业咨询师可以帮助人们了解自己的性格特点及职业要求,从而更好地进行职业准备。
⭥Although the vocational guidance and vocational education movements developed separately during the early 1900s, they later became closely associated. Today career counseling is recognized as being important for everyone. The basic principle of career counseling and guidance is that a person is better equipped to make occupational plans after exploring his or her own characteristics, examining the requirements of various occupations, and matching the two sets of facts with the aid of a skilled counselor. Various standardized tests and inventories (详细目录) have been developed to measure skills, aptitudes(资质), interests, and other abilities and traits(特色). In addition to school records, job-shadowing techniques and computerized programs are also used to assist students with occupational selection.
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⭥7.职业咨询有助于了解工作种类
⭥段落大意:职业咨询有助于人们了解各种各样的工作,从而更加自由地选择职业。除此以外,工作经验也是择业的一大促进因素。
⭥A major aspect of career counseling and guidance is the knowledge of the field of work. Ignorance of work has been a great deterrent (阻碍物) to freedom of occupational choice. To help solve this problem, some schools provide opportunity for students to gain actual work experience as part of their vocational preparation. The value of work experience in education has long been recognized and is now emphasized in the counseling of youth.
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⭥8.教育指导
⭥段落大意:教育指导帮助学生获得自我认知和自我定位。
⭥Educational guidance is the process of helping students achieve self-understanding and self-direction which is necessary to make informed choices and move toward personal goals. Guidance, a uniquely American educational innovation, focuses on the complete development of individual students through a series of services designed to maximize school learning, stimulate career development, and respond to the personal and social concerns that inhibit individual growth. Although guidance activities are usually associated with educational professionals known as counselors, educational guidance is actually a cooperative enterprise (努力) involving the participation of teachers, administrators, other educational specialists, and parents.
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⭥9.美国教育指导的起源
⭥段落大意:教育指导起源于职业指导服务,并得到了迅速发展。
⭥The origins of educational guidance are firmly rooted in the development of vocational guidance services. In 1908 the Vocation Bureau of Boston was established under the direction of the American lawyer and educator Frank Parsons to assist young men in making vocational choices based on their occupational aptitudes and interests. It soon became obvious that individuals needed vocational guidance while still in school so that they could prepare for their chosen careers. By midcentury, counseling services had been provided for a larger range of people, and counselors extended their activities beyond vocational advice to problems of social adjustment.
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⭥10.美国国防教育法的目的
⭥段落大意:美国国防教育法的目的是寻找能力突出的学生,鼓励并帮助他们接受更高教育。
⭥The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958 more than doubled the number of trained personnel available to provide expanded guidance services in the public schools. The purpose of the act was to identify students with outstanding abilities, to encourage them to seek higher education, and to assist them in following studies best suited to their abilities. NDEA also provided financial incentives (激励) like grants(奖助金)to train institutions to make educational guidance an integral part of public secondary education.
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⭥11.美国教育指导项目:制订学术计划和学生评估
⭥段落大意:美国教育指导项目包括一系列服务,如制订学术计划和学生评估等。
⭥In public schools, guidance programs are organized as a series of services. One service is academic planning. Counselors assist students with curriculum and individual course selection, and they also help students who have academic difficulties. Student appraisal (评估) is another counseling function. Standardized tests are administered to assess academic achievement, to identify individual aptitudes, to explore vocational interests, and to examine personal characteristics. Tests are also used to identify gifted students and those with special learning problems.
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⭥12.美国教育指导项目:职业发展项目
⭥段落大意:美国教育指导项目还包括职业发展项目,其目的是培养职业选择意识、人际交往技巧和实际工作技能等。
⭥Other counseling services include career-development programs to foster(培养)awareness of career alternatives, programs in human relations skills, and training in practical job skills, as well as the acquisition and dissemination (宣传) of related information. Counselors work with teachers, administrators, and families in coordinated efforts to help resolve problems of specific students. If necessary, they can introduce students to train therapists for additional assistance. In colleges and universities, administrative offices concerning student affairs, admissions, financial aid, housing, and student health and so on, provide guidance services. College counseling centers assist students with academic, vocational, or personal problems.
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⭥13.美国教育指导现状
⭥段落大意:除了学校颁发的证书,专职教育指导者还希望取得从业执照。对教育指导行业的规范同样要求更高的职业责任心。
⭥In addition to state certification as educationally qualified personnel within schools, many guidance professionals are seeking licensing (执照) outside of school settings. Several states currently grant license to counselors. Increased efforts to license and regulate guidance workers also elicit (引出) greater demands for professional accountability. Guidance workers are required to develop specific programs with measurable goals and systematic evaluation procedures to demonstrate their effectiveness. Programs have been developed for such special problem areas as abusive(虐待的)families, divorce, and substance abuse(滥用药物), and for specific groups such as minorities and the physically and developmentally disabled. Community-based programs also emphasize prevention and crisis intervention as primary guidance strategies.
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⭥14.关系网的概念
⭥段落大意:构建关系网的目的是获得并散布信息,这可以通过非正式且自然的方式来进行。构建关系网的目的是了解他人,并寻求他人对自己项目的建议。
⭥Networking is the art of building relationships for the purpose of acquiring and disseminating information. It can be done informally and naturally every time you interact with another professional. When you network, your objective is to learn about the other individual and to seek their advice on your project. In the case of job searches, the project is about locating resources—including individuals—that will help you learn about the job market specific to your particular expertise and interests. It’s a good idea to network while you are still happy or moderately (普通地) happy with your job. Once you’ve established a professional network, you can more easily expand on and give attention to this process when the need arises.
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⭥15.构建关系网
⭥段落大意:构建关系网是进行职业管理的必要技巧。通过构建关系网,可以建立资源、获取信息并帮助他人。
⭥In this age of increasingly short-term job cycles, networking is an essential skill for managing your career. Many people think that networking is simply a euphemism (委婉语) for asking for a job. However, if you are truly networking, you are building resources, acquiring information, and offering assistance to others at the same time. Unfortunately, networking is not an instinctive skill, and it can only be achieved by practice.
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⭥16.如何通过会谈构建关系网
⭥段落大意:可以通过电子邮件和电话来与认识的人进行会谈,探讨自己的职业发展状况。
⭥Once you’ve made the transition from informal to more formal contacts, assess whether it is better to call or write to request for a meeting based on the nature of your relationship with that individual. In some cases, you may want to do both. Send a letter or an e-mail message, and then follow up with a phone call. Whatever the medium, you can set the tone for the meeting and provide your contact with some general background including the following points:
⭥1)Opening lines that express interest in this person and a reference to the last time you met
⭥2)A brief update on your professional status
⭥3)A statement about your interest in investigating a new career direction
⭥4)A request to discuss these ideas and obtain some advice on your endeavor
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⭥17.合理组织关系网构建
⭥段落大意:非求职状态下,保持每个月五次的关系网交谈;求职状态下,每周进行几次关系网交谈。
⭥If you are networking while currently employed, you might want to set a goal of five networking conversations per month. These could occur in person or over the phone. If you are actively hunting jobs, you should aim at having several networking conversations per week. Very quickly you’ll find that you need a tracking system to record names of initial contacts, referrals (参考) obtained from those contacts, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and mailing addresses. You’ll also want to note the source for each referral, dates when you’ve made contact, and any follow-up conversations you plan to have with that individual.
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⭥18.如何开始关系网的构建
⭥段落大意:首先将所认识的人列出,包括朋友、亲戚、同事以及为自己提供服务的人。与这些不同的人交谈将有助于构建有益的关系网。
⭥Some of the best networkings can be simply talking to people you know well. If you are new at networking and are just beginning career research or a job search, begin by making a broad list of people you know, even those people you hadn’t thought about having network contacts. Your list should include friends, relatives, work colleagues (past and present), and service providers such as your accountant, physicians, and others with whom you do business on a personal basis. Also include neighbors, club members, teachers and professors, alumni (校友) contacts, social and community contacts, and local merchants. Informal discussions with these various individuals can often lead to more helpful, formal networking contacts. Be prepared to discuss your career background even with people who know you well. You’d be surprised how little others may know about your work accomplishments. You can also start networking by joining a professional association.
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⭥19.失业保险
⭥段落大意:失业保险的概念。
⭥Unemployment insurance is a form of social insurance, designed to provide income to persons who have lost their jobs. Unemployment insurance is wage related and is paid as a matter of right to any insured eligible (符合条件的) worker. The two major goals of the system are to prevent unemployed persons from undergoing severe hardships and to get them back to work. Unemployment compensation benefits account for approximately 1 percent of personal income in most developed Western nations.
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⭥20.失业保险的重要性
⭥段落大意:随着失业率的升高,失业保险越来越重要。
⭥With the higher unemployment rates in Western nations since 1973, the protection offered by unemployment insurance has increased in importance. If unemployment stays high, pressures for extensions of potential duration and for increased weekly benefits are likely to grow, while public concern about preventing payment to those not seriously seeking work expands. In the future as in the past, interest in a country’s unemployment insurance program will be directly related to the degree of the unemployment problem.
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⭥21.失业保险的实现方式
⭥段落大意:州失业补偿法建立基金,由雇主提供资金,对失业人员提供失业保险。
⭥State unemployment compensation laws establish a fund, financed by contributions from employers, from which weekly unemployment benefits are paid for a specified number of weeks. Employers’contributions are based on experience rating, that is, they are related to the amount of benefits received in the past by workers laid off from the business. A few states also require contributions from employees. To be eligible for benefits, an unemployed worker must have earned a given amount of wages within a specific period of time. In addition, a worker must file a claim, register for work at the state employment service, be able to work, and be available for suitable work. A claimant may be disqualified(剥夺资格)from benefits for varying periods if he or she left a job voluntarily without a good cause, dismissed for misconduct, or refused an offer of suitable work. Until another job is found or the benefit period ends, a worker receives a weekly payment by reporting at scheduled intervals(间隔)to the local unemployment office.
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⭥22.企业家精神
⭥段落大意:创业企业家将商业运作的相关因素组织在一起,筹集资金、确定商业场所、组织工人、管理整个企业运作,并同时承担相应的风险。
⭥Entrepreneurship(企业家精神)is an ability some people have to accept risks and combine factors of production in order to produce goods and services. Entrepreneurs (企业家) organize the various components necessary to operate a business. They raise the necessary financial backing(支持), acquire a physical site for the business, assemble a team of workers, and manage the overall operation of the enterprise. They accept the risk of losing the money they spend on the business in the hope that eventually they will earn a profit. If the business is successful, they receive all or some share of the profits. If the business fails, they bear some or all of the losses.
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⭥23.创业者和经理人的区别
⭥段落大意:经理人并不是创业者或企业家,因为他们只是执行上层决策。而创业者或企业家不仅要对整个企业负责,而且要愿意承担风险。
⭥Many people mistakenly believe that anyone who manages a large company is an entrepreneur. However, many managers at large companies simply carry out decisions made by higher-ranking executives. These managers are not entrepreneurs because they do not have final control over the company and they do not make decisions that involve risking the company’s resources. On the other hand, many of the nation’s entrepreneurs run small businesses, including restaurants, convenience stores, and farms. These individuals are true entrepreneurs, because entrepreneurship involves not merely the organization and management of a business, but also an individual’s willingness to accept risks in order to make a profit.
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⭥24.工资
⭥段落大意:工资所包含的内容。
⭥Wages, in economic theory, refer to price paid for labor. Wages consist of all payments that compensate individuals for time and effort spent in the production of economic goods and services. The payments include wages in the ordinary, narrow sense, which are the earnings, computed(计算)generally on an hourly, daily, weekly, or output basis, of manual and clerical(文书的)workers. It also contains weekly, monthly, or annual salaries of professional and supervisory (管理的) personnel, bonuses added to regular earnings, premiums (津贴) for night or holiday work or for work exceeding stated norms of quantity or quality, fees and retainers (聘用定金) for professional services, and that part of the income of business owners that compensates them for time devoted to business.
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⭥25.高回报率与年收入
⭥段落大意:高回报率并不意味着高的年收入。
⭥A high rate of pay does not ensure large annual earnings. Construction workers are paid at relatively high hourly rates, but their annual income usually is low because of the irregularity of their employment. In addition, nominal (名义的) wages do not accurately reflect real earnings. During a period of inflation the real value of wages may fall although nominal wages rise, because the cost of living rises more rapidly than monetary earnings. Deductions(减除)from wages for income taxes, social security taxes, pension payments, union dues(应付款), insurance premiums(保险费), and other charges further reduce the worker’s final earning.
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⭥26.生活成本与生活水平影响工资水平
⭥段落大意:生活成本与生活水平影响工资水平。
⭥The factors determining wage levels in particular countries at particular times are cost of living and standards of living. First is the cost of living. Even in poor societies, wages are usually at least sufficient to pay the cost of sustaining workers and their children. Otherwise, the working population will not reproduce itself and will decline. The other is the standards of living. Prevailing living standards influence conceptions of what constitutes a so-called living wage, thus helping to determine wage levels. Improvements in general living conditions generate moral pressures for giving laborers a share of the better life. In the presence of such pressures, employers are more inclined to grant wage increases and legislators are constrained to approve minimum-wage and other laws designed to improve workers’conditions. However, this effect is not large.
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⭥27.劳动力供应和生产率影响工资水平
⭥段落大意:劳动力供应和生产率等影响工资水平。
⭥The relative supply of labor: Where labor is relatively scarce compared to capital, land, and other resources, as in the United States in the 19th century, employers’competitive bidding (出价) for labor tends to raise the general wage level. On the other hand, as in present-day India, where the ratio of labor to other resources is high and accordingly the supply of labor greatly exceeds demand, competition among laborers for the relatively few available jobs tends to depress the wage level.
⭥Productivity: Wages tend to rise with productivity. Productivity depends partly on the energy and skill of the labor force and more on the level of technology employed. U.S. wage levels are high largely because American workers obtain the skills necessary for operating the most advanced industrial equipment.
⭥Bargaining power: The organization of labor in trade unions and in political associations enhances its relative bargaining power and thus tends to win for organized labor, especially in time of deflation, a larger share of the national income.
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⭥28.工资水平七大影响因素I:产品相对价值、能力获取成本
⭥段落大意:工资水平受七大因素影响,其中包括产品相对价值和能力获取成本。
⭥The general wage level is an average of widely differing individual pay rates and earnings. The various elements contributing to wage differentiation are as follows.
⭥Relative value of product: An industrious and skilled worker who produces a more valuable output than workers of lesser capabilities is worth more to an employer and usually is paid more.
⭥Costs of required capabilities: Employers must pay the price of special training if they need workers who are so trained. If engineers did not receive more compensation than laborers, relatively few persons would invest the time, money, and effort required to become engineers.
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⭥29.工资水平七大影响因素II:特定劳力相对稀缺性、职业相对吸引力、劳动力机动性
⭥段落大意:工资水平受七大因素影响,其中包括:特定劳力相对稀缺性、职业相对吸引力、劳动力机动性。
⭥Relative scarcity of specific kinds of labor: Common labor is paid poorly because it is common, but entertainers, such as movie stars and television performers, who have qualities regarded as unique enjoy very large incomes.
⭥Comparative attractiveness of occupations: Difficult, disagreeable, or dangerous jobs usually bring higher rates of pay than do more inviting jobs requiring less skills. Thus, a truck driver engaged in moving explosives earns more than one delivering groceries.
⭥Mobility of labor: Where the working population is immobile, wage differentials(差别)are wide. On the other hand, the readiness of workers to change jobs or to move long distances to better-paying positions tends to narrow wage differentials among firms, occupations, and communities.
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⭥30.工资水平七大影响因素III:讨价还价能力、习俗与立法
⭥段落大意:工资水平受七大因素影响,其中包括:讨价还价能力、习俗与立法。
⭥Comparative bargaining strength: A union may lift the wages of its members above the scales paid to unorganized workers of equal skill.
⭥Custom and legislation: Many wage differentials are rooted in custom or legislation. For example, both custom and legislation are responsible for the fact that black miners in South Africa have long earned only a fraction of the wages paid white miners doing equivalent work. On the other hand, governments and unions frequently act to eliminate wage differentials based on race, sex, and other irrelevancies(无关之物)and to standardize wages generally.
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⭥31.工资理论:生存理论
⭥段落大意:第一个现代工资理论,生存理论,认为维持生活消费是决定工资水平的决定性因素。
⭥The first modern explanation of wages, the so-called subsistence(生存)theory, emphasized the consumption needed to sustain life and maintain the working population as the chief determinant(决定因素)of wage levels. The theory was adumbrated(大致描述)by mercantilist(重商主义者)economists, elaborated by the Scottish economist Adam Smith, and developed fully by the British economist David Ricardo. Ricardo argued that wages are determined by the cost of barely sustaining laborers and that wages cannot long depart from the subsistence (生存) level. If earnings should fall below that level, he contended(声称), the labor force would not reproduce itself. If earnings rise above it, the number of working-class children who would survive would be more than that needed to replenish (补充) the labor force, and wages again would be forced down to subsistence levels by the competition of laborers for the available jobs.
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⭥32.收入分配
⭥段落大意:收入分配指两个不同但相互关联的过程:社会成员收入以及生产元素间的价值分配。
⭥Distribution, in economics, refers to two different, but related, processes. The first is the division among the members of society, as individuals, of the national income and wealth. The second is the apportionment (分摊) of the value of the output of goods among the factors or agents of production, namely, labor, land, capital, and management. The division or apportionment of this value takes the form of monetary payments, consisting of wages and salaries, rent, interest, and profit. Wages and salaries are paid to workers and managers; rent is paid for the use of land and for certain kinds of physical objects; interest is paid for the use of capital; and profit is realized by the owners of business enterprises as a reward for risk taking.
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⭥33.影响收入的其他因素
⭥段落大意:影响收入的其他因素包括垄断、工会的集体讨价还价能力以及社会立法等。
⭥The distribution of the national income is influenced by a number of factors in addition to the operation of supply and demand. These factors include the practice by some monopolies(垄断)and cartels (联合企业) of creating artificial scarcities and fixing prices, collective bargaining by unions and management, and social reform legislation, such as social security and minimum wage and maximum hour laws. Such factors tend to increase the income of one group or another above the level it would reach through the unimpeded (不受妨碍的) operation of the law of supply and demand. Taxation is also an important factor affecting income distribution.
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⭥34.收入不公平
⭥段落大意:收入不公很大程度上取决于供求法则。
⭥Authoritative opinion mainly maintains that inequalities in income result, in great part, from the operation of the law of supply and demand. In this view, for example, an overproduction of cotton will result, through a consequent fall in the price of cotton, in a decrease in the income of cotton growers. It will also tend to result in an increase in the real income, or purchasing power, of the purchasers of cotton, who can buy more with the same amount of money. Similarly, when capital is abundant and the demand for it is low, interest rates tend to fall. As a result, the relative share of the national income of creditors tends to decrease, while the share of borrowers tends to rise. Variations in the relative share of the national income of workers are also explained in terms of the operation of the law of supply and demand. When labor is plentiful, wage rates tend to fall; when labor is scarce, as in wartime, wages tend to rise. Finally, inequalities in income among workers are explained by the relative abundance or scarcity of their skills. Skilled workers, less numerous than unskilled ones, receive higher wage rates. Workers with rare skills are paid at a higher rate than those with skills found in abundance.
⭥第二大类:家庭教育类
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⭥1.家庭教育
⭥段落大意:越来越多的人关注并参与到家庭教育中,一些研究也证实了家庭教育的优越性,越来越多的大学也愿意录取家庭教育下的学习者。
⭥Today, over one million home-schooled children in the United States and hundreds of thousands of learners in other parts of the world are learning outside school. As homeschooling is growing worldwide, these learners’experience shows that schools are not always necessary for learning. Particularly, researches confirm that young people can grow up more maturely and healthily than their peers if they avoid the typical age segregation (隔离) of most schools. Professionals in the field of language development of children all agree that parental interaction (亲子互动) with children is indispensable(不可或缺的)for children when they are learning to talk. Therefore, it is for sure very necessary for other aspects of children’s development as well. Even schools of higher education for adult learners are happy to admit applicants who have never attended school in their childhood. The number of colleges that admit homeschoolers has grown to more than 1,000 in at least five countries.
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⭥2.父母和孩子们之间必然存在着代沟
⭥段落大意:代沟在父母和孩子之间无处不在。
⭥Generation gap(代沟)is a common phenomenon(现象)that exits everywhere in the world and influences both the old and the young. Generally speaking, generation gap results in different understanding and appreciation of the great and constant changes of the world, different reaction to new things, and different attitudes to traditional principles and beliefs. Therefore, we may say,“Where there are the old and the young, there is the generation gap.”Generation gap is natural, but very influential. If we cannot deal with it appropriately, the gap will be greater and consequently affect the relation between the old and the young.
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⭥3.代沟的字典定义
⭥段落大意:了解“代沟”这个术语的确切字典含义有助于我们更深刻地认识它。
⭥What is generation gap? According to the Oxford Dictionary, it is a difference in attitudes between people of different generations. The key word here is“ATTITUDE”. Attitude is a way of thinking or feeling about someone or something. A generation gap occurs when the old and the young don’t understand each other because of their differences in opinion, experience and nature. Definitely, this difference still exists in our society today.
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⭥4.产生代沟的原因
⭥段落大意:代沟产生的原因分析。
⭥Generation gap is the major reason why parents and children are moving away from each other. Nowadays, most of the youth are deeply influenced by the western standards and cultures. With the changes of the environment, their life styles and minds have changed greatly either. Today’s new generation doesn’t like others interfering in any of their personal business; neither do they like to be ordered by their parents. If they try to tell the parents what’s wrong with them, it is regarded as misbehavior (行为不当). The question is that what the reason behind all of these conflicts is. Is it the parents’mistake? Generation gap is basically created by parents themselves. They don’t talk to their children and share their points of views with the children. The fact is that parents are just so busy with their work that they don’t have time for their family and their children. When they realize it, there has already been a huge distance between the kids and the parents. If parents could spare their children more time from their busy schedule, then there would be less such problems. Sometimes you need to act as a friend with your children in order to understand them better.
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⭥5现今学校教育体系的缺陷
⭥段落大意:今天的学生更多关注学习,而不是其他方面能力的提升。
⭥Today’s education system has further deteriorated (恶化). In earlier times, people didn’t attach so much importance to education and there was not much competition. The focus was on the all-round development (全面发展) of an individual. However, the focus has been shifted to sheer academic performance now. Mechanic learning by rote (死记硬背) is very common. Students spend increasing time on academic studies. This leads to less time of interaction between parents and children. Parents also push the child too hard and cause a“burnout”(筋疲力尽), making things even worse. A recent study by a leading institute states that the amount of time for interaction between parents and children has dramatically decreased by 75% over the last five decades.
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⭥6.网络技术使孩子丧失了交际能力
⭥段落大意:网络技术给孩子带来的不利影响之一是使孩子逐渐丧失了交际能力。
⭥We are living in a“smart”world, as a result of the Internet and other advanced technology. Obviously, nowadays children are spending more time on the computer and their lack of social skills is an alarming problem. Online chatting with friends and relatives may seem a good thing, but the amount of time for interacting with people face to face is sacrificed. Thus Internet may cause more harm than benefits to children’s social skills. In some cases, they are even not able to express themselves properly.
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⭥7.让孩子学会理财
⭥段落大意:家长应该掌握如何让孩子学会理财的办法。
⭥When the children are old enough to earn their own money through babysitting, odd jobs (零工), paper delivery or other part-time jobs, first talk with them about opening a savings account, tracking their spending and creating their own budget(预算). Second, consider having a brief appointment with a financial advisor (理财顾问) at your bank. Third, determine what portion(比例)of your income goes for items—such as lunch money and clothes—for your children. Put your child in charge of spending all or part of that money. Allow them to decide what they want to buy for lunch or for school clothes. Fourth, consider providing some guidelines. For example, at least 20 percent must be spent on fruit, or 30 percent on a pair of dress shoes. If they choose to blow the balance on expensive athletic shoes, do not increase their budget. When they realize cream-filled desserts aren’t such a great lunch and that they don’t want to wear last year’s shirts, they’ll quickly learn the importance of being economical (精打细算的) with their spending.
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⭥8.有效防止孩子受到网络色情侵害的办法
⭥段落大意:家长采取一些有效的措施来防止孩子受到网络色情的侵害,这一点刻不容缓。
⭥Children need to be taught how to behave on the Internet. The panel(专家小组)said an analogy(类比)could be drawn between Internet and swimming pools.“Swimming pools”can be dangerous for children. To protect them, one can install locks, put up fences and deploy pool alarms. All of these measures are helpful, but by far the most important thing that one can do for children is to teach them how to swim. Among the potential approaches are:
⭥—Allowing access only to Web pages that have already been checked and found appropriate.
⭥—Blocking inappropriate material with filtering (过滤) software.
⭥—Warning the child about explicit(明确的)material and suggesting he or she choose something better.
⭥—Monitoring minors’(未成年人)Web activity and imposing a penalty if they are caught visiting such sites.
⭥—Educating the child not to view explicit material with reasons and building their sense of responsibility.
⭥—Making it harder for minors to find explicit materials or making access to such material more cumbersome (麻烦的) and inconvenient.
⭥—Helping children cope with the exposure to inappropriate material they will probably encounter at least occasionally.
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⭥9.家长要让孩子明白犯错误有时候是件好事
⭥段落大意:孩子犯了错误,家长不应该批评,而是应让孩子知道犯错误有时候是件好事。
⭥Most of us need to get more comfortable with mistakes. Sometimes, pointing out mistakes may prove not helpful. It works better to emphasize the things that work well. However, children often notice mistakes themselves. I believe it is helpful for children to learn that the mistakes they see in their drawing are useful for learning and getting new ideas. Tell them it is okay to erase and fix major mistakes, but point out that they can learn new things from mistakes. Sometimes the mistakes add some interest and expressive qualities that are hard to appreciate at first.
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⭥10.单亲家庭教育问题
⭥段落大意:单亲并不一定影响孩子的教育;单亲并不会减弱孩子的学习意愿。
⭥“Living in a single-parent family(单亲家庭)does not necessarily determine how well-prepared children are for school”, concludes a Cornell University Study of about 1,700 children between 6 to 7 years old from white and black households. Henry Ricciuti, a emeritus professor(荣誉教授)of human development at Cornell, stressed that the potential adverse effects of growing up in a single-parent family might not emerge until later in childhood. He also said that many children in single-parent families might have the advantage of a smaller family size and the increased likelihood of the presences of a maternal(母系的)grandparent, aunt, or uncle in the household. The findings of this study suggest that such support for single-parent families should begin in the early childhood years, when the potential adverse effects of single parenthood have not yet emerged or become apparent. Most of the previous studies have focused on adolescents or high school students and have tended to report adverse effects, typically attributed to(归因于)differences in family income. The study by Ricciuti is one of the few thatfocuses on younger children.
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⭥11.单亲家庭孩子教育的不利之处[m1]
⭥段落大意:单亲家庭的孩子在接受教育时所受到的不利影响是显而易见的。
⭥In the book Growing Up with a Single Parent, the author summarized the findings of a number of studies that had been conducted in the 1980s. These studies generally found that children who were raised in single-parent families were less likely to attend college than those from two-parent families, and much less likely to graduate from college. However, there was clear evidence that these effects were much less severe if one parent had died than if the child’s parents had divorced or had never married. These results suggest that it is not“single-parenting”that yields(产生)adverse effects. Rather, single parenting appears to act as a proxy(代表)for the underlying factors that lead parents not to marry, or to divorce. It is those unobserved factors that have the primary impact on children’s future performance. These studies also explored the effects of parental absence due to divorce or death on the children’s labor market outcomes as adults. Although these studies are consistent(一致的)in finding that the absence of a parent has some effect on adult earnings, they disagree on what that effect is. For example, some experts concluded that whereas the earnings of women were the same regardless of family backgrounds, those of men from divorced families were approximately three percent lower than those of men from intact families.
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⭥12.家长对学生的影响
⭥段落大意:学生的基础交流技能和态度都深受家庭影响,这种影响不容忽视。
⭥Some parents think that once their children are at school, they can relax and let the education system take control, but this is not the case at all. As a research shows, parents have a greater influence on their children’s academic results than the school does. Children’s ability to communicate with teachers and peers and their attitude to learning are largely formed at home. Parents can help give their children a head start(领先), by beginning their education at home.
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⭥13.家庭对学生的重要影响
⭥段落大意:家庭在学生的成长和成功过程中扮演着非常重要的作用。
⭥The family is a key element in every person’s life, and it has the greatest impact on children’s socialization(社会化). Socialization is a learned behavior that remains with a person’s entire life. Family influences nearly every aspect of children’s life, including their education. Increasing evidence indicates that schools are not solely responsible for promoting our young people’s academic success; rather, families must be engaged in helping youths develop the knowledge and skills they need to function(发挥良好作用)in tomorrow’s workplace. Therefore, the question is not whether parents influence education, but how and to what extent they do.
⭥第三大类:技术与进步类
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⭥1.汽车工业的发展变化
⭥段落大意:汽车工业的快速发展加速了竞争,和“大鱼”之间的竞争使得世界汽车工业重新分配力量。
⭥There is no industry having more far-reaching effects in the world-wide community than the automobile industry. The automobile has changed the lives, culture, and economy of the people and nations that manufacture and demand them. Ever since the late 1800s when the first modern car was invented by Benz and Daimler in Germany, the automobile has grown into a billion dollar industry affecting various aspects of our lives. There are more than 400 million passenger cars (轿车) alone on the road today. During the early twentieth century, the United States was home to more than 90 percent of the world automobile industry, but has shrunk(缩小)to about 20 percent in today’s world. This drastic change has occurred as a result of the booming (急速发展的) economies in nations such as Japan, Germany, Canada, France, and Italy. The total US auto industry sale is $205 billion, which accounts for 3.3 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By the end of 19th century, there were about 500 auto manufacturers, but that number dropped sharply to 23 by 1917, and today the Big Three (美国三大汽车公司) dominate the market. Ford (福特), General Motors (通用汽车) and Chrysler (克莱斯勒) make up the Big Three which account for 23 percent of the world’s motor vehicle.
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⭥2.工业化的意义
⭥段落大意:英国的工业化发展对西方工业化发展具有示范作用;同时,工业化也带来了社会变革。
⭥Industrialization is the process of converting (转变) to a socio-economic order (社会经济结构) in which industry is dominant. How or why some agrarian (农业的) societies have evolved into industrial states is not always fully understood. What is certain, though, is that the changes that took place in Britain during the Industrial Revolution (工业革命) in the late 18th and 19th centuries provided a prototype (原型) for the early industrializing nations of western Europe and North America. Along with its technological components, such as the mechanization (机械化) of labor and the reliance upon inanimate sources of energy, the process of industrialization entailed profound social developments. The release of the labor from feudal (封建的) and customary obligations created a free market in labor, with a pivotal (关键的) role for a specific social class, the entrepreneur. Cities drew large numbers of people off the land and provided massive workers for the new industrial towns and factories. Later industrializing countries attempted to manipulate (控制) some of these elements. The Soviet Union, for instance, industrialized largely on the basis of forced labor and elimination of the entrepreneur, while in Japan strong state involvement (国家参与) stimulated and sustained the entrepreneur’s role. Other states, notably Denmark and New Zealand, were industrialized primarily by commercializing (商业化) and mechanizing (工业化) agriculture.
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⭥3.工业化的发展变革
⭥段落大意:工业化发展带来了心理和社会的变革。
⭥Although urban-industrial life offers unprecedented (前所未有的) opportunities for individual mobility (流动性) and personal freedom, it can take high social and psychological tolls (代价). Various observers such as Karl Marx andÉmile Durkheim cited the“alienation”(异化) and“anomie”(混乱) of individual workers faced by seemingly meaningless tasks and rapidly altering goals. The fragmentation(破碎)of the extended family and community tended to isolate individuals and to counter (对抗) against traditional values. From the very beginning, industrialism appears to create a new strain of poverty, whose victims for a variety of reasons are unable to compete according to the rules of the industrial order. In the major industrialized nations of the late 20th century, such developments as automated technology, an expanding service sector, and increasing suburbanization (郊区城市化) signaled what some observers called the emergence of a post-industrial society.
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⭥4.技术发展的影响
⭥段落大意:技术的发展给人们带来诸多好处,其中的两大好处不容忽略:其一,技术的发展提高了人们的生活质量;其二,技术的发展帮助探索未知世界。
⭥Technology, which is changing the world every day, has benefited people’s lives a lot, including two main advantages. Firstly, technology has improved the quality of people’s lives remarkably. People can get much more entertainment and information with the development of modern technology. The inventions of mobile phone and Internet also make the world increasingly smaller. People can communicate easily and share information as they like even if they are far away. Moreover, better medical instruments can be used to cure the patients. On average, people will live longer than before. Another important advantage is that with the help of technology, human beings can know more about the unknown world. For example, scientists can study the microscopic (微小的) material such as the structure of the DNA and the huge universe at the same time. Many discoveries have shown the mysteries of the nature, broadening our horizon.
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⭥5.技术发展对环境的影响
⭥段落大意:技术的发展对环境的破坏作用和解决方案。
⭥However, one thing of great importance is that some technologies do harm to the environment. A typical example is the universal use of air-conditioners, which has a great influence on“green house effect”(温室效应). It can cause the temperature of the earth to increase. Furthermore, some technologies are used to break the balance of nature in order to get more profits. As a result, humans will be punished and lose more in the end.In order to solve the problem above, government should make some laws and follow the disciplines of development. In other words, products which pollute the environment should be charged with more taxes. Also, the environmentally harmful technology must be replaced by the new one gradually.
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⭥6.克隆技术的发展
⭥段落大意:两类克隆技术的不同特点及其发展的现实意义。
⭥There are two types of cloning. One is therapeutic cloning (治疗性克隆) that involves harvesting stem cells (干细胞) from embryos (胚胎). These are the biological equivalent of a template (模板). They can develop into any kind of mature functional cell (功能性细胞) and thus help cure many degenerative (退化的) and auto-immune (自我免疫) diseases. The other kind of cloning is much derided (嘲笑) in popular culture as the harbinger(预言)of a Brave New World (美好新世界,指社会大变动后出现的使人满怀希望的新时期,常含讽刺). A nucleus (细胞核) from any cell of a donor is embedded (植入) in an egg (卵细胞) whose own nucleus has been removed. The egg is then implanted in a woman’s womb (子宫) and a cloned baby is born nine months later. Biologically, the cloned infant is a replica (复制品) of the donor. Cloning is often confused with other advances in bio-medicine and bio-engineering such as genetic selection (基因选择). It cannot in itself be used to produce“perfect humans”or select sex or other traits (特征). Hence, some of the arguments against cloning are either specious (似是而非的) or ignorant.
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⭥7.克隆技术发展过程中有关生命权的讨论
⭥段落大意:克隆技术对生命权的威胁以及生命权的定义。
⭥According to skeptics of cloning, the nucleus removed from the egg could otherwise have developed into a human being. Thus, removing the nucleus amounts to murder. It is a fundamental principle of most moral theories (道德理论) that all human beings have a right to life. The existence of this right implies obligations or duties of third parties towards the right-holder. One has a right against other people. The fact that one possesses a certain right prescribes (规定) others certain obligatory behaviors and proscribes (禁止) certain acts or neglect. This Janus-like nature (两面性) of rights and duties as two sides of the same coin creates great confusion. People often and easily confuse rights and their accompanying (伴随的) duties or obligations with the morally decent, or even with the morally permissible. In order to protect other people’s rights, one should never confuse these obligations with what one SHOULD or OUGHT to do morally in the absence of a right.
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⭥8.有关安乐死的讨论
⭥段落大意:安乐死是自我生命终结权的表现之一,是以自愿为前提条件的。
⭥The right to euthanasia (安乐死), to have one’s life terminated (终结) at will, is restricted by numerous social, ethical, and legal rules, principles, and considerations. Briefly speaking, in many western countries one is thought to have a right to have one’s life terminated with the help of third parties, if one is going to die shortly anyway or if one is going to be tormented and humiliated by great agony for the rest of the life. Of course, one has to be in sound mind and to will his/her death consciously and forcefully.
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⭥9.对克隆技术的主要担忧
⭥段落大意:人们对克隆技术的主要担忧聚焦在对胚胎大量死亡的担忧,这被认为是对生命的亵渎和不道德行为。
⭥The main concern about cloning is that even the therapeutic one, will cause large number of embryos, nealy 95% with current biotechnology, to die. Others can be secretly and illegally implanted in the wombs of“surrogate mothers”(代理母亲). It is undeniably immoral, goes the argument above, to kill so many embryos. Cloning is such an immature technique that its success rate is still unacceptably low. There are alternative ways to harvest stem cells which are less costly in terms of human life. If we accept that life begins at the moment of fertilization (受精), this argument is valid. However, it also implies that once cloning becomes safer and scientists become more adept, cloning itself should be permitted. This is unacceptable to those who fear a slippery slope. They abhor the very notion of“unnatural”conception. To them, cloning is human’s narcissistic (自我崇拜的) act and an ignorant and dangerous interference in nature. They would ban procreative (生产性的) cloning, regardless of how safe it is. Furthermore, they believe that the therapeutic cloning, will allow bold scientists to cross the boundary between permissible (curative cloning) and illegal (baby cloning).
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⭥10.肝细胞疗法
⭥段落大意:细胞疗法主要指肝细胞克隆疗法,少数人对此项技术的滥用不应阻碍该项技术的发展。
⭥Cell therapy based on stem cells often leads to tissue rejection (组织排斥) and requires costly and potentially dangerous immunosuppressive (免疫制疫力的) therapy. However, when the stem cells are harvested from the patient himself and cloned, these problems are avoided. Therapeutic cloning has vast untapped (未开发的)—though at this stage still remote—potential to improve the lives of hundreds of millions. As far as the term“designer babies”(设计婴儿) goes, pre-natal cloning (胎前克隆) and genetic engineering (基因工程) can be used to prevent disease or cure it, to suppress unwanted traits, and to enhance desired ones. It is the moral right of a parent to make sure that his progeny (后代) suffers less, enjoys life more, and attains the maximal level of welfare throughout his or her life. That such technologies can be abused by over-zealous, or mentally unhealthy parents in collaboration with greedy or unscrupulous (无道德原则的) doctors, should not prevent the vast majority of stable, caring, and sane parents from gaining access to them.
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⭥11.互联网带给社会的变革和影响
⭥段落大意:互联网对人类生活的影响及其未来的发展。
⭥The Internet is, literally a network of networks. It consists of thousands of interconnected networks spanning the globe. The computers that form the Internet range from huge mainframes (大型主机) in research establishments to modest PCs in people’s homes and offices. Despite the recent hype(大肆宣传), the Internet is not a new phenomenon. It stems from a collection of computers in the 1970s that were linked together to form the US Department of Defense’s (国防部门) communications systems. Fearing the consequences of nuclear attack, there was no central computer holding vast amounts of data; rather the information was dispersed (分散) to thousands of machines. Protocols (协议), a set of rules known as TCP/IP, were developed to allow separate devices to work together. The original network has a long history since it was upgraded and expanded, and TCP/IP is now a“de facto”(事实上的) standard. Millions of people worldwide are using the Internet to share information, make new associations and communicate. Individuals and businesses, from students and journalists to consultants, programmers and corporate giants, are all making the most of the power of the Internet. For many businesses the Internet is becoming an integral part of their success. The future holds promises for even bigger success of Internet.
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⭥12.互联网音乐产业
⭥段落大意:互联网促成了音乐产业的全球化发展。
⭥The music industry is in a time of growth at this very moment. Its growth has been increasing rapidly across many geographical boundaries and has been established through information technology (信息技术), especially the Internet. The music industry has not only been affected by globalization (全球化) as an economic institution, but has also become a worldwide-globalized commodity (商品). Though its product is not a necessity, it is affected by large economic factors and has become a large market. Moreover, the music market has globalizing tendencies for the consumers. People listen to music in cars, workplaces, shopping centers and restaurants. Runners listen to music as they exercise. Patients listen to music while sitting on the dentist chair. Everybody listens to music everywhere at anytime. Try to go on line and among links on Travel, Stock Quotes (股票报价), Sports or Entertainment, you will certainly find a link on Music.
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⭥13.互联网的道德制约
⭥段落大意:互联网的作用及其道德制约。
⭥No one will deny that the Internet is the most useful tool for research, business, and education. However, the Internet is a subject of a topic as controversial as the legalities of abortion or homosexual (同性恋) rights. Many erotic (色情的), illegal, and unhealthy materials are available on the Internet such as pornography (色情作品) and pirated (盗版的) software. On the other hand, many educational tools are on-line as well. This creates an urgent need for the establishment of ethics in the Internet realm. The Internet is a worldwide computer network of home, corporate, and government computers. It is necessary to understand that the Internet is not just composed of web pages, but of files, e-mails, newsgroups, internal computer networks, personal computers etc. The media that provide the majority of the controversial content are most often here.
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⭥14.互联网的消极影响
⭥段落大意:互联网对人心理状态的消极影响。
⭥While our culture holds the Internet as a technological wonder, one thing that we can’t neglect is that Internet also has a negative effect on individuals and their social skills. A recent study conducted by Carnegie Mellon University concludes that the use of Internet leads to small but statistically significant increases in misery and loneliness and a decline in overall psychological well-being (American Psychological Association, 1998). The Home Net project studied a sample of 169 people in Pittsburg during their first year or two online. Data showed that as people in this sample used the Internet more, they were found to have contact with fewer friends. They also spent less time talking with their families, while experiencing more daily stress and feeling more lonely and depressed. These results occurred even though interpersonal communication was their most important reason for using the Internet.
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⭥15.互联网对青少年的消极影响
⭥段落大意:互联网正在消极地影响着青少年的社会交往能力。
⭥According to the Home-Net study, teenagers are much heavier (更严重的) Internet users than their parents. While adults tend to use the Internet as part of their jobs and to get employment-related information, teenagers are more likely to use the Internet to play games, to listen to music, and to make acquaintance with (结识) new people. This particular appeal (吸引) has caused further concern among educators such as Michael A. Weinstein, professor of Political Science at Purdue University. He believes Internet users will“lose the savvy (悟性) and skills and patience to conduct social relations in the corporeal (物质) world”, and that the Internet will intensify the negative effect that television has already had on our social skills. Taking his view then, it is assumed that we are encouraging our children to become social nitwits (笨蛋)!
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⭥16.有关科技发展的安全性争论
⭥段落大意:有些人强烈反对科技的发展,例如,他们认为科技发展过程中不存在绝对安全,绝对安全只是一种假象。
⭥Throughout history, some have violently opposed scientific developments. For example, Guardian columnist Jeremy Rifkin described biotechnology as“a form of annihilation (灭绝) every bit as deadly as nuclear holocaust (大屠杀), and even more profound”. This dispute between science and anti-science, progress and reaction, the materialist (唯物主义者) and idealist (唯心主义者) philosophies, can never be resolved. It is a fundamental philosophic divide (分界线) that cannot be bridged. One or the other must prevail. The argument that we must wait for a consensus (共识) to emerge is conservative, for this would mean waiting forever. No amount of additional debate can ever win round the opposition to progress, because that opposition is based on faith-based dogma (教条); it is impervious (无动于衷的) to evidence and reason. Calls for stop of development are prevarication (支吾搪塞). Similarly, the search for absolute safety, like all searches for absolutes, is a delusion (幻想), which makes the precautionary (预防的) principle another reason for stasis (停滞).
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⭥17.克隆技术[m1]受到阻碍
⭥段落大意:对克隆技术研究的禁止制约了对人类有益的克隆技术的发展。
⭥Opponents of cloning opposed In Vitro Fertilisation (体外受精) too. Possibly one million babies have been born through IVF since 1978. This safe and beneficial procedure came from decades of improving techniques on a variety of animals. Safe cloning will similarly result from animal research, and a ban on research would prevent work of making cloning safe. In Germany the government has banned all research work on embryos, so Germany makes no contribution and has no influence in this field. Britain’s parliament has passed a law that regulates therapeutic cloning (治愈性克隆), but unfortunately bans all efforts at reproductive cloning (繁殖性克隆).
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⭥18.生物技术
⭥段落大意:对一些生物技术(例如肝细胞和克隆技术)的禁止将在很大程度上制约对人类有益的发展。
⭥Fear of biotechnology(生物技术)has done great harm, because technological stagnation (停滞) poses greater risks than technological innovation. Banning stem cell research or research into reproductive cloning would prevent many promising (有希望的) developments in medical research. It could drive such research to countries less equipped to balance safety with development. The biotechnology revolution, IVF for instance, has already brought enormous benefits and will bring much more, provided that we encourage and support research into cloning.
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⭥19.信息系统在商业社会中发挥的作用
⭥段落大意:信息系统在现代商业社会中起到了至关重要的作用。
⭥Today’s information systems are both technical and social in nature. Management must understand the importance of information for the organization. It is management’s job to understand how information is collected, processed (加工), and distributed. We are all extremely affected by information systems and must be willing to understand and work with them. Our global economy does not allow us to depend on face-to-face transactions (交易) as in the 1980s. Today, few managers can ignore the importance and impact of how information is handled by their organization. Information systems play a critical role in today’s business organization and society.
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⭥20.DNA芯片与制药业的发展
⭥段落大意:DNA芯片改变了基因的研究并且转变了制药业的研究和生产方式。
⭥When future historians look back on the greatest scientific advancements of the 20th century, they will undoubtedly focus on only three events: the Apollo Moon landing, the invention of the microprocessor (微型计算机), and possibly the greatest scientific endeavor (成就) yet, genomics(基因学), the science of identifying genes and how they work in humans. It is possibly not a total coincidence then that two of this century’s greatest advancements have grown out of the same cradle (摇篮) of technology, Silicon Valley (硅谷). The first advancement was the invention of the microprocessor, and the second was the invention of the DNA chip (芯片), also called the DNA array or biochip (生物电路芯片). These DNA chips are the newest tools being used in the study of genomics. They are changing the way researchers analyze the genetic make-up of cells, and will soon make traditional pharmaceutical (药物的) research obsolete. This allows for whole new generations of drugs that will be made to combat diseases by effecting changes in their specific genetic design.
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⭥21.计算机产业的垄断
⭥段落大意:垄断的定义及其在计算机领域的体现。
⭥The definition of pure competition is the absence of significant barriers for new firms to enter the market. Monopoly (垄断), correspondingly, arises because of such barriers. A monopoly firm is the exclusive seller of a good or service with no close substitutes (近似替代品). The market in which the monopoly firm operates is called a monopoly market. Two forces dominated developments in the computer industry in 1995, the arrival of Microsoft Corp.’s new Windows 95 personal computer operating system and the overnight authority of the Internet and the World Wide Web, a subset (子集) of the Internet for multimedia use. Events in 1995 drew so much attention to both Windows 95 and the Web that by the end of the year the computer mouse had become almost as well known to the world population as the television remote control. Both Windows 95 and the Web were milestones on what clearly emerged during the monopoly.
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⭥第四大类:社会问题类(上)
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⭥1.青少年犯罪的概念
⭥段落大意:青少年犯罪指18岁以下青少年犯罪。
⭥Juvenile (青少年) Crime, in law, refers to various offenses committed by children or youths under the age of 18. Such acts are sometimes referred to as juvenile delinquency (少年犯罪). Children’s offenses typically include delinquent acts, which would be considered crimes if committed by adults, and status offenses, which are less serious misbehavior such as truancy (逃学) and parental disobedience. Both are within the jurisdiction (管辖范围) of the juvenile court. More serious offenses committed by minors may be tried in criminal court and be subject to prison sentences.
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⭥2.青少年犯罪的动机
⭥段落大意:有犯罪动机的违法行为才构成犯罪。长期以来,人们认为14岁以下儿童没有犯罪动机。这一说法现在受到质疑。
⭥Under Anglo-American (英美的) law, a crime is an illegal act committed by a person who has criminal intent (动机). A long-standing presumption held that, although a person of almost any age can commit a criminal act, children under 14 years old were unlikely to have criminal intent. Many juvenile courts have now discarded this so-called infancy defense and have found that delinquent acts can be committed by children of any age.
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⭥3.美国的青少年犯罪
⭥段落大意:公众对青少年犯罪的关注度日益增长。过去的青少年犯罪涉及各种严重犯罪;现在,青少年犯罪中的轻度犯罪比例呈上升趋势。
⭥The public appears to be much more aware of juvenile crime today than in the past; this is due in part to more thorough reporting techniques and greater emphasis on publicizing delinquent acts in the media. Official U.S. crime reports in the 1980s showed that about one-fifth of those arrested for crimes are under 18 years of age. In the 1970s, juvenile arrests increased in almost every serious crime category, and female juvenile crime more than doubled. During the recent five years, juvenile arrests have decreased slightly each year. Unofficial reports, however, suggest that a higher percentage of juveniles are involved in minor criminal behavior. Grossly underreported common offenses include vandalism (破坏公物), shoplifting (商店行窃), underage drinking, and using marijuana (大麻).
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⭥4.青少年犯罪多为团伙作案
⭥段落大意:大多数青少年犯罪为团伙作案。犯罪团伙成员一般具有不稳定的性格。
⭥Official records indicate that much juvenile crime is a group or gang (团伙) activity. Juvenile gangs are typically classified as violent, delinquent and social. Members of violent gangs sometimes have unstable personalities. Disputes center on territory or gang warfare and are assaultive (武力的), often involving deadly weapons. While group violence is sanctioned (批准), individual violence is discouraged. The delinquent gang is a small cohesive (团结的) group developed to carry out criminal acts, such as petty thievery (小偷小摸) and robbery. Although violence may be used, the primary goal is material gain. The social gang is a relatively permanent group of youths. In contrast to the common characterization of gang-generated crime, however, studies often reveal that youth crime is a personal, independent effort not directly related to group activity.
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⭥5.青少年犯罪的诱因
⭥段落大意:青少年犯罪一般是由于个人因素或社会影响。如果先前的违法行为未得到足够的惩处,则会导致继续犯罪。与社会疏离的人更容易犯罪。如果青少年无法成功提升自己的社会经济地位,或对中产阶级价值观持对抗态度,也会导致犯罪。
⭥Many theories concerning the causes of juvenile crime focus either on the individual or on society as the major contributing influence. Theories centering on the individual suggest that children engage in criminal behavior because they were not sufficiently penalized (惩罚) for previous delinquent acts or that they have learned criminal behavior through interaction with others. A person who becomes socially alienated (疏离) may be more inclined to commit a criminal act. Theories focusing on the role of society in juvenile delinquency suggest that children commit crimes in response to their failure to improve their socio-economic conditions, or as disapproval of middle-class values.
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⭥6.家庭对青少年犯罪的影响
⭥段落大意:贫穷家庭和富裕家庭的孩子都有可能犯罪。缺少家长控制、无法及时取得成年人身份、有享乐倾向——这些因素都会导致富裕家庭的孩子犯罪。
⭥Most theories of juvenile delinquency have focused on children from disadvantaged families, ignoring the fact that children from affluent homes also commit crimes. The latter may commit crimes because of the lack of adequate parental control, delays in achieving adult status, and hedonistic (享乐) tendencies. All theories, however, are tentative (试验性的) and are subject to criticism.
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⭥7.社会结构变化对青少年犯罪的影响
⭥段落大意:社会结构变化会影响青少年犯罪率。经济变化导致青年人的就业机会减少,由此引发的不满可能会导致犯罪。
⭥Changes in the American social structure may indirectly affect juvenile crime rates. For example, changes in the economy that leads to fewer job opportunities for youth and rising unemployment in general, make gainful employment increasingly difficult for young people to obtain. The resulting discontent may in turn lead more youths into criminal behavior.
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⭥8.家庭变化和学校对青少年犯罪的影响
⭥段落大意:家庭变化,如单亲家庭,使孩子受不到足够的家庭监护。缺少家长监护会导致青少年犯罪。学校里的挫折和失败、毒品和酒精的滥用、虐待和忽略儿童——这些都是导致青少年犯罪的因素。
⭥Families have also experienced changes in the last 25 years. More families consist of one-parent households or two working parents; consequently, children are likely to have less supervision at home than in the traditional family structure. This lack of parental supervision is thought to be an influence on juvenile crime rates. Other identifiable (可确认的) causes of delinquent acts include frustration or failure in school, the increased availability of drugs and alcohol, and the growing incidence of child abuse and child neglect. All these conditions tend to increase the probability of a child committing a criminal act, although a direct causal relationship has not yet been established.
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⭥9.青少年犯罪的处置I:社区处置
⭥段落大意:对青少年犯罪的处置有四大方法:社区处置、居所处置、非居所社区处置和专门机构收容。社区处置对犯罪孩子实行缓刑,但其必须受到青少年法庭官员的监控,并遵守特殊约定。
⭥The juvenile justice system tries to treat and rehabilitate (改造) youngsters who are involved in delinquency. The methods can be categorized as community treatment, residential treatment (居所处置), nonresidential community treatment (非居所社区处置), and institutionalization (机构收容). In most cases community treatment involves placing the child on probation (察看). When the child is believed to be not harmful to others, he or she is placed under the supervision of an officer of the juvenile court and must abide by the specific rules that are worked out between the officer and the child. In some instances community treatment also takes the form of restitution (赔偿), in which the child reimburses (偿还) the victim either through direct payment or through some form of work or public service.
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⭥10.青少年犯罪的处置II:居所处置和非居所社区处置
⭥段落大意:居所处置包括犯罪青少年群居、为其提供的心理和职业指导,以及森林营地或劳教农场。非居所社区处置指犯罪青少年居住在家中,同时接受心理健康治疗等服务。
⭥Residential treatment generally takes place in a group home (教养所) where the juvenile is provided with psychological and vocational counseling. Other forms of residential treatment include rural programs such as forest camps and work farms (劳改农场). Youngsters placed in nonresidential community-based treatment programs do not reside at the facility. Instead they live at home and receive treatment from mental health clinics or similar services.
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⭥11.青少年犯罪的处置III:专门机构收容
⭥段落大意:专门机构收容是对青少年犯罪者最严厉的处置手段。犯罪青少年被监禁在专门机构中,并被限制自由。专门机构负责犯罪青少年的辅导、教育、娱乐、食宿和其他日常活动。
⭥Institutionalization is the most severe punishment for juvenile offenders. The child is incarcerated (监禁) in a secure facility and denied freedom to come and go in the community. The institution is responsible for the child’s counseling (劝告), education, recreation, room and board, and other daily activities.
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⭥12.青少年犯罪处置方式的有效性
⭥段落大意:处置方式的有效性是通过累犯率来衡量的。所有处置方式的累犯率都相同。
⭥No specific treatment has been proven the most effective form. Effectiveness is typically measured by recidivism (累犯) rates, that is, by the percentage of children treated who subsequently commit additional criminal acts. The recidivism rates for all forms of treatment, however, are about the same. That a large percentage of delinquent acts are never discovered further complicates this measurement. Thus, an absence of subsequent reported delinquent acts by a treated child may mean nothing more than that the child was not caught.
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⭥13.不同国家青少年犯罪率的比较
⭥段落大意:不同国家青少年犯罪率的比较受到国家司法体系、犯罪形式、犯罪报告方式等因素的限制。然而,有些相似性是很明显的。
⭥Comparisons of the juvenile crime rates in various countries are severely limited by wide variations in national legal systems, categories of criminal behavior, and methods of reporting crimes. Certain similarities are apparent, however. For example, Canadian, Australian, and European criminal studies show the actual number of crimes to be several times those known to the authorities. According to one study in Finland, the larcenies (盗窃罪) known to the police were only 5 percent of the total that occurred. Also, homicide (杀人) rates in France, Spain, and the United Kingdom are far lower than those in such countries as the United States and Mexico.
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⭥14.父母与孩子的法定关系
⭥段落大意:父母与孩子的法定关系规定:父母双方均为孩子的监护人;离婚或分居后任一方家长均可作为孩子的监护人;父母必须为孩子提供生活必需品,如食物、衣物、住所、教育和医护;身体或精神虐待孩子的父母会受到法律制裁。
⭥The legal relationships of parent and child established under common law have been modified by statute (成文法) in Britain and the U.S. In general, such statutes provide (规定) that a married woman is a joint guardian of her children with her husband, with equal powers, rights, and duties. Either parent has the right to custody of the children of the marriage. In a divorce or separation, the court can award custody to the parent best qualified and able to care for the children. Parents must provide for their children such necessities of life as food, clothing, shelter, education, and medical care, and if they cannot or will not, state laws authorize intervention by designated authorities to ensure that children’s needs are met. Children who are physically or emotionally abused by their parents may be the subject (对象) of legal action in order to protect the children. Parents’rights to custody of their children may be limited or, in extreme cases, terminated (终结) because of failure to provide adequate care. Laws require a father to support his minor children if he is able to do so, whether or not he has ever been married to their mother. Failure to provide support may result in civil or criminal proceedings against him. If paternity (父亲的身份) has been admitted or established, laws permit children to inherit from their father’s estate unless specifically excluded in his will.
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⭥15.家庭暴力
⭥段落大意:家庭暴力指家庭成员间发生的身体或情感伤害行为,包括配偶间暴力、虐待儿童、虐待老人等。
⭥Family violence refers to physically or emotionally harmful acts between individuals in families or in intimate relationships. The term“family violence”covers a wide range of behaviors and includes domestic violence (sometimes referred to as spouse abuse), child abuse, and abuse of the elderly. Violence between adult partners can include threats and coercion (胁迫), physical and sexual assault, and murder. Child abuse ranges from physical or sexual assault to neglect of a child’s basic needs. Violence toward the elderly may involve physical, psychological, or financial abuse or neglect.
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⭥16.虐待儿童
⭥段落大意:虐待儿童指导致儿童身体或情感伤害的有意行为。虐待儿童是主要社会问题之一。不同国家对虐待儿童评判的标准各不相同。
⭥Child abuse refers to intentional acts that result in physical or emotional harm to children. The term“child abuse”covers a wide range of behavior, from actual physical assault by parents or other adult caretakers to neglect of a child’s basic needs. Child abuse is also sometimes called child maltreatment. Although the extent of child abuse is difficult to measure, it is recognized as a major social problem, especially in industrialized nations. It occurs in all income, racial, religious, and ethnic groups and in urban and rural communities. It is, however, more common in some groups, especially those below the poverty line. Cultures around the world have different standards in deciding what constitutes child abuse. In Sweden, for example, the law prohibits any physical punishment of children, including spanking (掌掴). By contrast, in some countries of Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, parents are expected to punish their children by hitting them.
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⭥17.虐待儿童的行为种类
⭥段落大意:虐待儿童的行为包括身体虐待、情感虐待等。
⭥There are several different types of child abuse, and some children experience more than one type. Physical abuse includes deliberate acts of violence that injure or even kill a child. Unexplained bruises, broken bones, or burn marks on a child may be signs of physical abuse. Sexual abuse occurs when adults use children for sexual gratification or expose them to sexual activities. Sexual abuse may begin with kissing or fondling(爱抚)and progress to more intrusive sexual acts, such as oral sex and vaginal (阴道的) or anal (肛门的) penetration. Emotional abuse destroys a child’s self-esteem. Such abuse commonly includes repeated verbal abuse of a child in the form of shouting, threats, and degrading or humiliating criticism. Other types of emotional abuse are confinement, such as shutting a child in a dark closet, and social isolation, such as denying a child’s friends.
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⭥18.最常见的虐待儿童行为:忽略
⭥段落大意:最常见的虐待儿童行为是忽略,包括身体忽略——即父母没有提供足够的食物、衣物等,情感忽略以及教育忽略等。
⭥The most common form of child abuse is neglect. Physical neglect involves a parent’s failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care to a child. It may also include inadequate supervision and a consistent failure to protect a child from hazards(危险)or danger. Emotional neglect occurs when a parent or caretaker fails to meet a child’s basic needs for affection and comfort. Examples of emotional neglect include behaving in a cold, distant, and unaffectionate(无温情的)way toward a child, allowing a child to witness chronic or severe spousal abuse (配偶间暴力), allowing a child to use alcohol or drugs, and encouraging a child to engage in delinquent behavior. Another form of neglect involves failing to meet a child’s basic education needs, either by failing to enroll a child in school or by permitting a child to skip school frequently.
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⭥19.虐待儿童的原因I:代代相传
⭥段落大意:许多孩子受到其父母暴力行为的影响,在长大后,会继而虐待自己的孩子。
⭥Many children learn violent behavior from their parents and then grow up to abuse their own children. Thus, the abusive behavior is transmitted (传递) across generations. Studies show that some 30 percent of abused children become abusive parents, whereas only 2 to 3 percent of all individuals become abusive parents. Children who experience abuse and violence may adopt this behavior as a model for their own parenting. However, the majority of abused children do not become abusive adults. Some experts believe that an important predictor of later abuse is whether the child realizes that the behavior was wrong. Children who believe they behaved badly and deserved the abuse become abusive parents more often than children who believe their parents were wrong to abuse them.
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⭥20.虐待儿童的原因II:压力
⭥段落大意:压力导致虐待儿童趋势上升。压力可能来自:失业、生病、贫困的家庭状况、多人口、新生儿降生、残疾家庭成员等。
⭥Stress from a variety of social conditions raises the risk of child abuse within a family. These conditions include unemployment, illness, poor housing conditions, a larger-than-average family size, the presence of a new baby or a disabled person in the home, and the death of a family member. A large majority of reported cases of child abuse come from families living in poverty. Child abuse also occurs in middle-class and wealthy families, but it is better reported among the poor for several reasons. Wealthier families have an easier time hiding abuse because they have less contact with social agencies than poor families. In addition, social workers, physicians, and others who report abuse cases subjectively label children from poor families as victims of abuse more often than children from rich families.
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⭥21.虐待儿童的原因III:社会疏离
⭥段落大意:虐待儿童的父母一般与社会疏离。缺少社会参与导致虐待儿童的父母无法得到社会帮助。
⭥Parents and caretakers who abuse children tend to be socially isolated. Few violent parents belong to any community organizations, and most have little contact with friends or relatives. This lack of social involvement deprives abusive parents of support systems that would help them deal better with social or family stress. Moreover, the lack of community contacts makes these parents less likely to change their behavior to conform (遵守) to community values and standards.
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⭥22.虐待儿童的原因IV:家庭结构
⭥段落大意:虐待儿童的一大原因是由于特定的家庭结构,如单亲家庭、好争吵家庭、虐待配偶家庭等。
⭥Certain types of families have an increased risk of child abuse and neglect. For example, single parents are more likely to abuse their children than married parents. Moreover, single-parent families usually earn less money than other families, so this may account for the increased risk of abuse. Families with chronic marital discord (婚姻不和) or spousal abuse have higher rates of child abuse than families without these problems. In addition, families in which either the husband or wife dominates in making important decisions, such as where to live, what jobs to take, when to have children, and how much money to spend on food and housing, have higher rates of child abuse than families in which parents share responsibility for these decisions.
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⭥23.虐待儿童的文化因素
⭥段落大意:文化因素通常决定了家庭所能得到的社会帮助和支持。在低儿童虐待率的国家,照顾儿童被认为是社会责任。
⭥Cultural factors often determine the amount of community support a family receives. In cultures with low rates of child abuse, child care is usually considered the responsibility of the community. That is, neighbors, relatives, and friends help with child care when the parents are unwilling or unable. In the United States, parents often shoulder child-care demands by themselves, which may result in a higher risk of stress and child abuse.
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⭥24.虐待儿童的后果
⭥段落大意:虐待儿童的后果是严重而长远的。身体虐待会导致瘀伤、大脑损伤、永久残疾,甚至死亡。心理虐待会导致低的自我价值观、无法与同龄人沟通、注意力不集中,或学习障碍等。
⭥The consequences of child abuse and neglect can be devastating (严重的) and far-reaching (深远的). Physical injuries can range from bruises, scrapes, and burns to brain damage, permanent disabilities and death. The psychological effects of abuse and neglect can last a lifetime and may include a lowered sense of self-worth, inability to relate to (与……相处融洽) peers, reduced attention span (时间段), and learning disorders (学习障碍). In severe cases, abuse may result in psychiatric disorders (心理失衡) like depression, excessive anxiety, or split personality as well as an increased risk of suicide. Behavior problems often develop after abuse, including violence and juvenile crime.
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⭥25.帮助受虐儿童
⭥段落大意:防止孩子受到虐待的因素有:高智商、学校里取得的成就、好脾性、拥有亲密朋友等。
⭥Despite being abused, the majority of maltreated children do not show signs of extreme disturbance, and many can cope with their problems. A number of factors help insulate (隔离) children from the effects of maltreatment, including high intelligence, good academic achievement, good temperament, and having close personal relationships.
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⭥26.家庭暴力的程度
⭥段落大意:家庭暴力是广泛存在的社会问题,但家庭暴力的实际程度很难准确评估。
⭥Experts agree that family violence is a widespread problem, but the actual extent is difficult to accurately measure. Most experts believe that the extent of violence is higher than research indicates. Data based on official reports, such as police or hospital records, tend to underestimate the extent of violence and abuse because much violence is never reported. Surveys of individuals, which generally produce higher estimates than official records, are also assumed to underestimate the extent of family violence. Understandably, many respondents may fail to report incidents of violence. Furthermore, definitions of what constitutes abuse may vary. Records indicate that the victims of most instances of family violence are women and children. However, some independent surveys indicate that men are also likely to experience violence from a partner.
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⭥27.家长参与对孩子教育的影响
⭥段落大意:如果家长在孩子小的时候参与其教育,那么,这些孩子以后学习会更加积极。
⭥Parental involvement (家长参与) is a key element of Head Start (领先). Research has shown that if parents become involved in their children’s schoolwork while the children are young, the children are more likely to remain academically motivated in their later school years. Head Start staff members urge parents—but do not require them—to volunteer to help at the centers by supervising children at play, reading to them, working with the staff on serving meals, or preparing art materials for class projects.
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⭥28.美国女性受到的歧视
⭥段落大意:美国女性受到的各种歧视包括选举、就业等。20世纪60年代,女性们组织起来,要求享有与男性平等的合法权利。
⭥American women have historically been victims of discrimination in voting (which was not secured for women until a 1920 constitutional amendment), employment, and other civil rights. For many years, for example, women were denied the right to serve in juries. In the late 1960s women organized to demand legal equality with men. They founded the National Organization for Women and other groups to fight for equality in education, employment, and government. As a result of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (民权法案), women made some gains against employment discrimination. During the 1970s, the effort was aimed not only against discriminatory practices but also against traditional attitudes toward the role of women in society. In 1972 Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment (平等权利修正案) (ERA) to the Constitution and submitted it to the states for ratification (批准). The ERA was designed to eliminate the last vestiges (残留) of legal discrimination against women. With only 35 of the required 38 states ratifying the amendment, however, the necessary approval was not secured by the 1982 deadline. Although this was a defeat of the feminist movement (女权运动), working toward the ERA developed a skilled leadership of female politicians and lobbyists (游说者). The goals of the ERA are being achieved through seperate legislation and through several lawsuits (诉讼) brought to the Supreme Court under the Equal Protection Clause (平等保护条款) of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
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⭥29.种族歧视和宗教歧视
⭥段落大意:美国的种族歧视和宗教歧视。
⭥Throughout the United States history many groups have suffered racial or religious discrimination. Since Europeans first came to America, Native Americans have been forcibly(强制地)deprived of their lands and denied civil rights. Congress enacted (制定) the Indian Civil Rights Act in 1968, and the federal courts have entertained (考虑) a number of suits designed to restore ancestral lands and hunting and fishing rights to Native American tribes. Many religious groups, including Roman Catholics, Jews, and others, have been discriminated against as well.
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⭥30.其他社会歧视现象
⭥段落大意:其他社会歧视现象包括:城市选民无法享有同等的国会代表权;老年人受到就业和住房歧视;有犯罪前科的人和精神病人被剥夺了合法权利;外来人口无法享有同等的就业机会等。
⭥Discrimination has also taken other forms. For many years, urban voters have been denied equal representation in Congress and state legislatures. The elderly have been faced with discrimination in employment and housing, despite federal and state laws enacted (制定) to prevent such practices. Former prisoners and mental patients have suffered unfair treatment after their terms of confinement (拘禁) ended. Some aliens (外来人) have been deprived of equal employment opportunities. Moreover, people with physical disabilities have endured discrimination in employment and access to public facilities and transportation. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 addressed these problems on the national level.
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⭥31.对外来人口和少数族群的歧视
⭥段落大意:大部分国家歧视外来人口和少数族群,包括宗教歧视、种族歧视和性别歧视。
⭥Most nations practice discrimination against foreigners and disfavored (不被喜欢的) minorities (少数群体) within their borders. Such discrimination has various types. It may be religious, such as policies that disfavor people holding certain belief like Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and so forth. It can be racial, as the apartheid (种族隔离) policy that was enforced in South Africa from 1948 to 1992. It may also be the sex discrimination. For example, in many countries women were deprived of voting right for a long time. The laws of each country should be the means of combating discrimination. Nevertheless, instead of reducing it, these laws often encourage discriminatory practices.
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⭥32.人权保护的主要障碍
⭥段落大意:保护人权的主要障碍在于大部分国家不愿接受对其内部事务的干涉。
⭥The major obstacle to international protection of human rights is that most nations will not accept any interference with their internal affairs(国内事务), including questions of discrimination against their own citizens. To a modest degree these difficulties have been overcome through regional bodies(区域性组织)such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The administration of U.S. president Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s introduced human rights as a principal element of foreign policy. This initiative was often ineffectual(无效的), but did lead to some practical gains as well as increased international awareness of the importance of securing human rights for all. During most of the 1980s, the conservative administration of President Ronald W. Reagan showed less inclination(倾向)to include the human rights issue in foreign policy pursuits.
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⭥33.女性权利的定义
⭥段落大意:女性权利指女性享有与男性同等的社会地位、经济地位和政治地位。
⭥Women’s Rights refer to the rights that establish the same social, economic, and political status for women as for men. Women’s rights guarantee that women will not experience discrimination on the basis of their sex. Until the second half of the 20th century, women in most societies were denied some of the legal and political rights accorded (给予) to men. Although women in much of the world have gained significant legal rights, they still haven’t fully achieved political, economic, and social equality with men.
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⭥34.历史上的女性权利
⭥段落大意:历史上,女性被剥夺了财产权、受教育权和合法身份权。女性是自己的丈夫或父兄的职责。但与此同时,也出现了一些敢于争取女性权利的人物。
⭥In most societies throughout history, women were deprived of property, education, and legal status. They were simply the responsibility of their husbands if married, or of their fathers or other male relatives if not. However, there were examples of exceptional women who challenged patriarchal(家长制的)structures in their lives and writings. For example, a German abbess(女修道院长), Hildegard of Bingen, defied the authority of male church leaders. An Italian writer and courtier(朝臣), Christine de Pisan, defended women and wrote biblical (圣经的) commentaries that challenged the patriarchal ideas inherent(固有的)in Christianity. By the end of the 17th century, a number of women writers, such as Mary Astell in England, had called for improvements in women’s education.
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⭥35.女权主义思想的社会影响
⭥段落大意:女权主义思想引导大众关注男女不平等这一社会现象。这导致人们对女性角色的重新思考,也导致了促进平等薪酬和机会的政策的出台。
⭥Feminist thinking has succeeded in drawing public attention to inequality between women and men and to the structures within society that belittle women’s worth and work against women. It has led to the reconsideration of women’s role in workplace and resulted in the promulgation (颁布) of policies that promote equal pay and equal opportunities. Moreover,it has identified and tackled the problem of sexual harassment (性骚扰) at work. Feminism has also succeeded in challenging people’s perceptions(认知)of women’s skills, with the result that some women are entering nontraditional areas of female employment such as the construction industry.
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⭥36.对女性角色的偏见
⭥段落大意:西方文化对女性角色有着根深蒂固的偏见。许多人认为女性的自然角色就是母亲和妻子,女性更适合于养育孩子和做家务。
⭥Throughout much of the history of Western civilization, deep-rooted (根深蒂固的) cultural beliefs allowed women only to perform certain roles in society. Many people believed that women’s natural roles were as mothers and wives. They considered women to be better suited for child-bearing (生育) and homemaking(家政)rather than for involvement in public life, business and politics. The widespread belief that women were intellectually inferior to men caused most societies to limit women’s education to mere domestic (家庭的) skills. On the other hand, well-educated, upper-class men controlled most essential positions in society.
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⭥37.对“女性保护法”的质疑
⭥段落大意:女性保护法一直处于争议中。反对者认为该保护法会阻碍女性要求同等权利的斗争;基于性别的保护法仍然认为女性软弱无助,限制了女性的就业选择面。
⭥Protective legislation for women has been a controversial (有争议的) issue ever since the beginning of the women’s rights movement. Opponents of protective legislation have argued that setting up special rules for women would inhibit(抑制)women’s struggle for equality with men, even if the legislation involves only labor laws. They have claimed that sex-based labor legislation upheld the stereotypes (刻板印象) of women as weak and defenseless, limited their options in employment, and reinforced the notion(观念)that women belonged to the home.
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⭥38.当今女性的政治参与度
⭥段落大意:当今,女性的政治参与度大幅度增加,然而,女性在政府决策中的作用仍受到限制。
⭥In recent decades women around the world have made strides (取得进步) in political participation. By the 1980s women could vote virtually everywhere in the world, except for a few Muslim (穆斯林) countries. As of mid-2005, when women in Kuwait(科威特)won suffrage (选举权), women could vote in all countries where men could vote except Saudi Arabia (沙特阿拉伯). The right to vote usually included the right to run for (竞选) elected office. In 2005 there were 12 female national leaders in the world, including 8 heads of state—3 monarchs(元首)and 5 presidents—and 4 heads of government (prime ministers). In 2005 women made up almost 16 percent of legislative(立法的)bodies worldwide, compared to 11 percent in 1999 and 9 percent in 1987. Despite these advancements, women’s role in governmental decision-making remains limited.
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⭥39.女性合法权利和其经济地位的不协调
⭥段落大意:女性合法权利和其经济地位不协调。
⭥Many disparities (不一致) persist between women’s legal rights and their economic status. Women still haven’t achieved the equality with men in work. Women today constitute nearly 70 percent of the world’s poor, despite international efforts to compensate(补偿)women and men equally in the workplace. While women made up about 32 percent of the world’s labor force in 1990, the percentage of women in decision-making positions was far lower. In 2002 women held only 15.7 percent of corporate executive (执行的) positions in the 500 largest companies in the United States, with an increase of 7 percent since 1995. In the mid-1990s women comprised(构成)only 1 percent of executives in the 1,000 largest corporations outside the United States.
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⭥40.女性受教育权利
⭥段落大意:女性受教育的权利具有明显劣势。女性文盲占世界文盲总数的三分之二。
⭥Women remain at a distinct disadvantage in education as well. While primary school enrollment(招生)of girls now roughly equals that of boys, women constitute about two-thirds of the world’s one billion illiterate (不识字的) adults. Among more than 100 million children who drop out of school before completing the fourth grade, two-thirds are girls. On the other hand, women are entering colleges and universities in increasing numbers. In Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean (加勒比海), more women than men enrolled in institutions of higher education during the 1990s.
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⭥41.女性选举权
⭥段落大意:女性选举权指女性享有同男性同等的政治权利,如代表政府、投票选举、掌控公共机构等。
⭥Woman Suffrage(选举权)refers to the right of women to share on equal terms with men the political privileges afforded by representative government and, more particularly, to vote in elections and referendums(公民投票)and to hold public office. Equal political rights for women have been advocated since the start of feminist movement. Under the autocratic (独裁的) forms of government that prevailed(流行)in ancient times and under the feudal regimes(封建制度)of the Middle Ages, however, suffrage was so restricted, even among men, that enfranchisement(选举权授予)of women never attained the status of a major political issue. Conditions warranted organized woman-suffrage movements only after suffrage had been won by large, formerly disfranchised(被剥夺选举权的)groups of the male population as a consequence of the democratic revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries.
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⭥42.造成失业的四大原因I:摩擦性失业
⭥段落大意:造成失业有四大原因:摩擦性失业、季节性失业、结构性失业和循环性失业。摩擦性失业指劳力供求间的不协调。摩擦性失业的数量取决于人们更换工作的频率和找到新工作所需时间。
⭥Economists have described the causes of unemployment as frictional(摩擦的), seasonal, structural, and cyclical (循环的).
⭥Frictional unemployment arises when workers seeking jobs do not find them immediately. While looking for work, they are counted as unemployed. Friction in this case refers to the incongruity (不协调) between the demand for and supply of labor. The amount of frictional unemployment depends on the frequency with which workers change jobs and the time it takes to find new ones. Job changes occur frequently in the U.S. A January 1983 survey showed that more than 25 percent of all workers had been with their current employers for only one year or less. About a quarter of those unemployed at any particular time are employed one month later. This means that a considerable degree of unemployment in the U.S. is frictional and lasts only a short time. This type of unemployment could be reduced somewhat by more efficient placement services. When workers are free to quit their jobs, however, some frictional unemployment will always be present.
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⭥43.造成失业的四大原因II:季节性失业
⭥段落大意:季节性失业发生在一些有季节性特点的行业,如冬天的户外工作减少。季节性失业同样发生在大量毕业生寻找工作之时。
⭥Seasonal unemployment occurs when industries have a slack (淡季) season, such as construction and other outdoor work in winter. It also becomes conspicuous (明显的) at the end of the school year in June, when large numbers of students and graduates look for work. At its seasonal peak (January and February), unemployment rate in the U.S. between 1976 and 1986 was typically 20 percent higher than that at the seasonal low (October).
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⭥44.造成失业的四大原因III:结构性失业
⭥段落大意:结构性失业指雇主所需工种的工人与寻找工作的工人工种之间的不平衡,这可能是由于技术欠缺、地域或个性等因素引起的。
⭥Structural unemployment arises from an imbalance between the kinds of workers wanted by employers and the kinds of workers looking for jobs. The imbalances may be caused by inadequacy in skills, location, or personal characteristics. Technological developments, for example, necessitate (使成为必须) new skills in many industries, leaving workers who fail to update their skills without a job. A plant (工厂) in a declining industry may close down or move to another area, making those employees who are unable or unwilling to move out of work . Workers with inadequate education or training and young workers with little or no experience may be unable to get jobs because employers believe that these employees would not be productive enough as to be worth paying the legal minimum wage or the rate agreed on with the union. On the other hand, even highly trained workers can be unemployed. This happened in the U.S. in the early 1970s, for example, when the large numbers of new graduates with doctor degrees in physics and mathematics exceeded the number of jobs available in those fields. If employers practice illegal job discrimination against any group of people because of sex, race, religion, age, or national origin, a high unemployment rate for these workers could result even when jobs are plentiful. Structural unemployment shows up most prominently in some cities, some occupations or industries, for those with below-average educational attainments, and for some other groups in the labor force.
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⭥45.造成失业的四大原因IV:循环性失业
⭥段落大意:对劳动力的整体需求缺乏会导致循环性失业。经济发展放缓时,对商品和服务的需求会下降,导致失业。
⭥Cyclical unemployment stems from a general lack of demand for labor. When business follows the downward trend, demand for goods and services drops; consequently, workers are laid off. During the 19th century, the U.S. experienced depressions roughly every 20 years. A long and severe depression occurred in the 1890s, when unemployment rate reached about 18 percent of the civilian (平民的) labor force, and four less-severe depressions occurred in the first quarter of the 20th century. The most destructive depression in the U.S. history happened in the 1930s, at the height of which, one worker in four was unemployed, and some remained out of work for years.
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⭥第四类社会问题类(下)
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⭥46.工业化国家的失业
⭥段落大意:工业化国家里,由于失业保险和其他收入形式,失业不再造成很大痛苦。稳定经济的手段使经济不景气的时间变短,程度变小。
⭥In industrialized countries, with unemployment insurance and other forms of income maintenance, unemployment does not cause as great a hardship as it once did. Measures to stabilize the economy have made economic downturns (低迷) briefer and less severe. Workers are still threatened by long periods of unemployment, however, while some bear a disproportionate(不成比例的)working burden. The problem of modern governments is how to benefit from the economic flexibility and the rising productivity while reducing the number of unemployed workers, keeping their spells (时间段) of joblessness short, maintaining their income, and helping them return to work with viable (维持生计的) skills.
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⭥47.政府对失业的干涉
⭥段落大意:政府通过一系列法律来复苏经济,减少失业。
⭥The enactment(颁布)of various laws aimed at reviving business and industrial activity resulted in a substantial improvement in American economic conditions as well as a decline in unemployment. Soon after the outbreak (爆发) of World War II in September 1939, the U.S. government launched a program for expanding and modernizing the national defense system. The program provided industry with a powerful stimulus (刺激), and unemployment rapidly declined. After the U.S. entered the war in December 1941, not only was the goal of full employment attained, but a shortage of labor substituted for the previous lack of available jobs.
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⭥48.技术进步与失业
⭥段落大意:由于担心技术进步会增加失业率,一些工人反对经济进步。然而节省劳力的技术进步,会增加工人产出,并提高其收入水平。
⭥Fears that the introduction of automation(自动化)and other labor-saving technology would increase unemployment have led some workers to oppose such changes. Labor-saving methods, however, increase each worker’s output and make possible rising of worker’s income. In order to deal with the effects of technological change, the government passed several acts (法令), such as the Manpower Training and Development Act (1962), the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (1973), and the Job Training Partnership Act (1982), to set up programs designed to train the unemployed with skills needed in seeking jobs.
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⭥49.失业与通货膨胀
⭥段落大意:当失业率下降,雇主无法找到合格工人,工资就会增长,造成生产成本增加,从而引发价格上涨,并由此引发通货膨胀。
⭥A major policy issue is the relation between unemployment and inflation (通货膨胀). In theory, when high demand for labor coincides(同时发生)with low unemployment, employers find it difficult to hire qualified workers, which will cause wages to increase, push production costs and prices higher and thus contribute to inflation. On the other hand, when demand declines and unemployment increases, inflationary pressure on wages and production costs are relieved. However, the condition that both inflation and unemployment rates were high in the 1970s confounded(证伪)this theory. The government adopted policies to control inflation that involved reducing demand in the economy with rising unemployment as a cost of lowering inflation.
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⭥50.通货紧缩的社会作用
⭥段落大意:通货紧缩一般由经济产出减少和失业率上升而引起;低价会最终导致消费、投资和外贸等增长。
⭥The specific effects of inflation(通货膨胀)and deflation(通货紧缩)are mixed and fluctuate(波动)over time. Deflation is typically caused by depressed economic output and high unemployment. Lower prices may eventually stimulate consumption, investment, and foreign trade, but only on condition that the fundamental causes of the original deterioration (恶化) are corrected.
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⭥51.通货膨胀的正面社会后果
⭥段落大意:通货膨胀最初会增加商业利润,导致更多资金投资、利率上涨、个人消费增加等。
⭥Inflation initially increases business profits, as wages and other costs lag behind(落后于)price increases, leading to more capital investment and payments of dividends(红利)and interest. Personal spending may increase because of the worry that it will cost more in the future if they don’t buy it now. Potential real estate (房地产) value appreciation (增值) may attract buyers. Domestic inflation may temporarily improve trade because the same volume of exports can be sold at higher prices. Government expenditure (开支) rises because many programs are explicitly (清楚地), or informally, indexed(与生活指数挂钩)to inflation rates to preserve the real value of government services and transfers(转移)of income. Officials may also anticipate paying larger budgets with tax revenues from inflated incomes.
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⭥52.通货膨胀的负面社会影响
⭥段落大意:通货膨胀最终会损害正常经济活动。消费下降;股票和证券贬值;抵押贷款利率上升会拖慢住房建设;通货膨胀会削弱真实购买力,从而导致消费下降。
⭥Despite some temporary gains, however, inflation eventually disrupts normal economic activities. Interest rates rise in accordance with the anticipated pace of inflation, which increase business costs, discourage consumer spending, and depress the value of stocks and bonds(债券). Higher mortgage (抵押) interest rates and rapidly escalating (逐步升高) prices for homes discourage housing constructions. Inflation erodes(侵蚀)the real purchasing power with current incomes, which will result in reduced consumption, particularly if consumers are unable, or unwilling, to draw on (依赖) their savings or personal debts for support. Business investment suffers as overall economic activity declines, and profits are restricted as employees demand immediate relief from chronic inflation by invoking (援引) the automatic cost-of-living (生活费) escalator (自动上涨) clauses(条例). Most raw materials and operating costs respond quickly to inflationary signals. Higher export prices eventually restrict foreign sales, creating deficits in trade and services and international currency-exchange problems. Inflation is a major element in the prevailing(主要的)pattern of booms and recessions(衰退)that cause unwanted price and employment distortions and widespread economic uncertainty.
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⭥53.通货膨胀对个人的影响
⭥段落大意:通货膨胀对个人的影响取决于多种因素。固定收入人群,尤其是低收入人群,会受到通货膨胀的负面影响;有灵活经济能力的人群会从通货膨胀中获益。
⭥The impact of inflation on individuals depends on many variables(变数). People with relatively fixed incomes, particularly those in low-income groups, suffer during accelerating inflation, while those with flexible economic power may adjust to or even benefit from inflation. Those dependent on assets with fixed nominal (名义上的) values, such as savings accounts, pensions, insurance policies, and long-term debts, suffer erosion of real wealth. Other assets with flexible values, such as real estate(房地产), art, raw materials, and durable(持久性的)goods, may keep pace with or exceed the average inflation rate. Workers in the private sector (部门) strive for adjustments in wage contracts. Borrowers usually benefit while lenders suffer, because mortgage, personal, business, or government loans are paid with money whose value keeps depreciating over time and interest rates tend to lag behind (落后于) the average rate of price increases. A pervasive(普遍的)“inflationary psychology”eventually dominates private and public economic decisions.
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⭥54.失业率与贫困
⭥段落大意:即使是发达国家,失业率也会很高。高失业率导致高贫困率。
⭥Even in developed countries, unemployment rates can be high, which can further lead to high level of poverty. Availability of employment also tends to fluctuate (波动), creating periods of high joblessness. Countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, and Luxembourg have managed at times to keep unemployment as low as 2 percent. Unemployment figures during the 1990s in the United States and most of Europe, on the other hand, ranged from about 5 percent to more than 20 percent. In countries with high populations, unemployment rates of only a few percentage points mean that millions of working-age people cannot find work and earn adequate income. Since unemployment figures indicate the number of people who are eligible (合格的) to work and searching for jobs, such figures are not necessarily an accurate indicator of the number of people living in poverty. Some people may earn wages too low to provide for themselves and their families.
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⭥55.人口过剩与贫困
⭥段落大意:人口过剩与贫困关系密切。
⭥Overpopulation, the situation of having large numbers of people with too few resources and too little space, is closely associated with poverty. It can result from high population density—the ratio(比率)of people to land area, usually expressed as numbers of persons per square kilometer or square mile—or from low amounts of resources, or from both. Excessively high population densities put stress on available resources. A given area of land can only support a certain number of people, and that number depends on how much food and other resources the land can provide. In countries where people live primarily by means of simple farming, gardening, herding(牧业), hunting, and gathering, even large areas of land can support only small number of people because these labor-intensive subsistence(生计)activities produce only small amounts of food.
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⭥56.贫困、人口密度与农业
⭥段落大意:贫困程度取决于人口密度和农业产量。
⭥A country’s level of poverty greatly depends on its population density and agricultural productivity. Bangladesh, for example, has one of the world’s highest population densities, with 1,078 persons per sq km (2,791 persons per sq mi). A large majority of the people in Bangladesh engage in manual farming with low-productivity, which contributes to the country’s extremely high level of poverty. Some of the smaller countries in Western Europe, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, have high population densities as well. These countries practice mechanized (机械化) farming and are involved in high-tech industries, however, and therefore have high living standards.
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⭥57.发展中国家的高出生率问题
⭥段落大意:发展中国家的高出生率导致人口过剩。对贫困家庭来说,孩子是财产,可以提供劳动力。
⭥High birth rates contribute to overpopulation in many developing countries. Children are assets (资产) to many poor families because they provide labor, usually for farming. Cultural norms in rural communities commonly sanction (支持) the value of large families. Also, the governments of developing countries often provide little or no support, financial or political, for family planning. Even people who wish to keep their families small have difficulty doing so. For all these reasons, developing countries tend to have high rates of population growth.
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⭥58.资源分配不均与贫困
⭥段落大意:殖民主义导致了全球经济资源分配不均。在许多发展中国家,贫困问题普遍深入,但缺乏原材料和相关知识技能、缺少必要的基础设施等因素,限制了这些国家的脱贫。
⭥Many experts agree that the legacy of colonialism(殖民主义)accounts for much of the unequal distribution of resources in the world economy. In many developing countries, the problems of poverty are massive and pervasive (普遍的). In recent decades most of these countries have tried to develop their economies by supporting industry and technology departments. Some nations have become fairly wealthy, including the Republic of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand. Many developing countries, however, lack essential raw materials and the knowledge and skills which are obtained only by developed countries. They also often lack the necessary infrastructure(基础设施), for example, transportation systems and power-generating facilities. Since these things are essential for the development of industry, developing countries generally must rely on trade with developed countries for manufactured goods. Nevertheless, they cannot afford much.
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⭥59.当今的殖民主义
⭥段落大意:当今,富裕的发达国家继续充当着殖民者的身份。发达国家的财富依赖于与发展中国家的优惠贸易。发达国家低价从发展中国家买进自然资源,并低价雇用劳动力。这些增加了发展中国家的依赖性,却没有提高它们的生活水平。
⭥Some social scientists argue that wealthier developed countries continue to practice a form of colonialism, known as neocolonialism (新殖民主义), on developing countries. The affluence (富裕) of these countries is based to a large extent on favorable trade with the developing world. Developed countries have been able to get cheap natural resources from poorer countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, including oil for power, ores (矿石) and minerals (矿物) for manufacturing. Goods are made in developing countries by low-wage workers in local factories operated by multinational corporations. This practice contributes to the dependency of poorer countries while not raising their standards of living.
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⭥60.教育与贫困
⭥段落大意:文盲和缺乏教育现象在发展中国家很普遍。发展中国家无法提供好的公众教育,尤其是在乡村地区。
⭥Illiteracy and lack of education are common in poor countries. Governments of developing countries often cannot provide good public schools, especially in rural areas. While virtually all children in industrialized countries can receive an education, only about 60 percent of children in sub-Saharan (撒哈拉沙漠以南的) Africa attend elementary school. Without education, most people cannot find decent work. Poor people also often forego (放弃) schooling in order to struggle a minimal living. In addition, developing countries tend to have fewer employment opportunities than developed ones, especially for women. As a result, people may further downplay (不予重视) schooling.
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⭥61.贫困与经济趋势
⭥段落大意:发达国家的贫困与经济趋势有关。
⭥Poverty in many developed countries can be linked to economic trends. In the 1950s and 1960s, for example, most people in the United States experienced booming (激增的) income growth. Taking inflation into account, average family income almost doubled during this period. However, between the early 1970s and the early 1990s, typical incomes, adjusted for inflation, grew little while the cost of living increased. Periods of economic recession tend to particularly affect young and less-educated people, who may have difficulty finding jobs that pay enough to support themselves.
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⭥62.贫困与个人责任
⭥段落大意:一些人认为贫困是社会结构的产物,或者认为贫困来自社会机构的失败,如学校、劳动力市场等——这些人认为贫困与个人无关。而另一些人认为个人对贫困负有责任。
⭥There are differing beliefs about individual responsibility for poverty. Some people believe that poverty is an inevitable proportion (部分) of the whole societal structure. Others feel that poverty results from a failure of social institutions, such as the labor market and schools. These people maintain that poverty is beyond the control of those who experience it, but might be remedied (矫正) if appropriate policies were enacted(颁布). Other people feel that the poor behave in certain ways that cause or perpetuate (持续) their poverty. For instance, if people voluntarily choose to use drugs and thus step into poverty, they are to blame for their situation. However, such an argument cannot completely explain cases in which poverty leads to drug dependence.
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⭥63.贫困与社会福利制度
⭥段落大意:在发达国家,穷人完全依赖于社会福利制度而一直处于贫困状态,许多人指责这是导致贫困状态无法转变的原因。
⭥Many people in developed countries blame cycles of poverty, or the tendency for the poor to remain poor, on overly generous welfare programs. Supporters of this position, including some politicians, argue against government spending and initiatives(计划)to help the poor. They believe that these programs provide continuous and steady payments and other support for the poor, which creates little incentives(激励)for them to escape from poverty. This argument also suggests that welfare discourages marriage. In the United States and other developed countries, when a single parent gets married, the welfare support he or she gets is reduced. On the other hand, cash welfare benefits for the typical poor U.S. family with dependent children fell in value by half between the early 1970s and the mid-1990s, taking inflation into account. Such benefits may have been too meager (薄弱的) to motivate people to get married.
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⭥64.环境恶化与贫困
⭥段落大意:自然环境的恶化是导致贫困的一大诱因。环境恶化会导致食物、净水等缺乏,直接依赖自然资源生存的人受害程度最大。
⭥In many parts of the world, environmental degradation (恶化), the deterioration(恶化)of the natural environment, including the atmosphere, bodies of water, soil, and forests, is an important cause of poverty. Environmental problems have led to shortages of food, clean water, and other essential resources. As forests, land, air, and water are degraded, people whose lives largely depend on these natural resources suffer most from the effects. People in developed countries, on the other hand, have technologies and conveniences such as air and water filters (过滤器), refined(提炼)fuels, and industrially produced and stored foods to buffer(缓冲)themselves from the effects of environmental degradation.
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⭥65.劳动力市场变化与贫困水平
⭥段落大意:劳动力市场变化导致贫困水平增加。靠制造业相关手艺生存的人群的贫困水平会加重。
⭥Changes in labor markets in developed countries have also contributed to increased poverty level. For instance, the number of relatively highly-paid manufacturing jobs has declined, while the demand for workers in service and technology-related industries has increased. Historically, people have learned the skills required for jobs that involve manual(手工的)labor, such as those in manufacturing, either on the job or through easily accessible school vocational programs. As these jobs are replaced by service and technology-related jobs which usually require skills taught at the college level, people who cannot afford college education find it increasingly difficult to obtain well-paying jobs.
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⭥66.贫困的社会后果
⭥段落大意:贫困会导致广泛而严重的社会后果,如营养不良、健康问题、新生儿死亡率上升、寿命下降、传染病蔓延、心理问题等。
⭥Poverty has wide-ranging and often devastating (破坏性的) effects. Many of its effects result directly from having too little income or too few resources, such as malnutrition (营养不良) and physical health problems. These effects can further lead to higher infant mortality rates and lower life expectancies (平均寿命) among the poor. Other effects of poverty may include infectious (传染性的) disease, mental illness, and drug dependence. Poverty can also lead to other problems, though sometimes it is only partially true. For example, studies link poverty to crime, but by no means are all poor people criminals. In many cases, the primary effects of poverty lead to other problems. Extended hunger and lack of employment, for instance, may lead to depression, which may sometimes contribute to high criminal rate.
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⭥67.贫困与犯罪
⭥段落大意:贫困会导致犯罪和暴力行为。愤怒、绝望、无钱购买生活必需品会导致穷人犯罪。
⭥Some experts believe that poverty leads people to commit acts of violence and crime. Anger, desperation, and the need of money for food, shelter, and other necessities may all contribute to criminal behavior among the poor. Other experts caution that the link of cause and effect (因果关系) between poverty and crime is unclear. In some cases, poverty undoubtedly(不可置疑地)motivates people to commit crimes, although it may not be the only factor involved. Other problems associated with poverty are often linked to crime. For example, to obtain money some poor people commit the crime of selling illegal drugs; others may steal to obtain the money to buy drugs on which they are dependent.
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⭥68.贫困的长期影响
⭥段落大意:在贫困的环境中长大会给孩子带来一些长期问题,如缺乏教育、生活会遇到更多困难等。
⭥People who grow up in poverty may experience lifelong problems because of it. They are at a disadvantage in things such as education owing to limited income and resources. Children also need adequate nutrition and health care for good physical and mental development, and poor children are often malnourished(营养不良的)and sick from the formative (形成阶段的) age. Studies have shown that people who grow up in persistently(持续性的)poor households experience more difficulties throughout their lives than those raised in households that are above the poverty level. Overall, they do not do as well in school, have more difficulties in marriage, and more frequently become single parents. In addition, poverty tends to repeat itself. In many cases, those who had poor parents are poor themselves, earning lower-than-average incomes. They may have learned a mindset that keeps them from getting out of poverty. All of these negative long-term effects are much more likely to occur in those who have experienced prolonged poverty in childhood, because an unfortunate circumstance is more likely to affect the vulnerable (脆弱的) children.
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⭥69.发展中国家对抗贫困
⭥段落大意:大部分发展中国家提供的用于对抗贫困的资助非常有限。
⭥The governments of most developing countries provide limited assistance to prevent some poverty. Most have at least minimal social security programs, which provide benefits during periods of unemployment, illness, disability, or retirement. These programs usually only support people who are employed full-time, which cover a very small percentage of the population in most developing countries. Some countries, such as Bangladesh and Nepal, provide mandatory full support only to government employees. A variety of organizations support antipoverty programs in developing countries. They include international government organizations, such as the UN, aid agencies run by developed countries, nongovernmental (mostly nonprofit) organizations, and private development banks.
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⭥70.发达国家对发展中国家的援助
⭥段落大意:发达国家对发展中国家提供援助。然而,有些人认为,金钱援助只会加剧发展中国家的贫困和社会不公现象。
⭥Most developed nations give development aid to developing countries. The UN target for development aid is 0.7% of GDP, which currently has been achieved by only a few nations. Some think tanks (智囊团) and NGOs have argued, however, that Western monetary aid often only serves to increase poverty and social inequality, either because it is conditioned with the implementation of harmful economic policies in the recipient(接收方)countries, or because it’s tied with the importing of products from the donor country over cheaper alternatives(替代品). Foreign aid is seen to be serving the interests of the donor more than the recipient. Critics also argue that some of the foreign aid is stolen by corrupt governments and officials, and that higher aid levels erode (侵蚀) the quality of governance. Policy makers become much more oriented toward(关注)getting more aid money than meeting the needs of the people. Supporters argue that these problems may be solved with better auditing (审计) of how the aid is used. Aid from non-governmental organizations may be more effective than governmental aid. This may be because NGOs are better at reaching the poor and better controlled at the grassroots (草根) level.
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⭥71.改善发展中国家贫穷状况的方法
⭥段落大意:改善发展中国家贫穷状况的方法有:资助住房建设;资助教育;实施计划生育;资助保健;提供就业帮助;鼓励政治参与;实施公正的财产法;减少税收和政府花费等。
⭥Numerous methods have been adopted to upgrade the situation of those in poverty, and some are contradictory to each other. Some of these mechanisms (结构) are:
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⭥1)Subsidized(津贴)housing development.
⭥2)Education, especially that directed at assisting the poor to produce food in underdeveloped countries.
⭥3)Family planning to allow family incomes to better cover the cost of living.
⭥4)Subsidized health care.
⭥5)Assistance in finding employment.
⭥6)Encouragement of political participation and involvement in organizing community.
⭥7)Implementation of fair property rights laws.
⭥8)Reduction of regulatory burden and bureaucratic oversight.
⭥9)Reduction of taxation on income.
⭥10)Reduction of government spending, including a reduction in borrowing and printing money.
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⭥72.通过发展商品交易帮助发展中国家脱贫
⭥段落大意:帮助发展中国家脱贫的另一方法是商品交易,即提供国际市场所需商品的必要信息。
⭥Another method in helping fight poverty is to have commodity (商品) exchanges that will supply necessary information about national and perhaps international markets to the poor who would then know what products will bring better profits and where it is sold. For example, in Ethiopia, remote farmers, who do not have this information, produce crops that may not be very profitable. When they sell their products to a local trader, who then sells to another trader, and another, the cost of the food rises before it finally reaches the consumer in large cities. Economist, Gabre-Madhin proposes warehouses (仓库) where farmers could have constant update of the latest market prices, making the farmer think nationally, not locally. Each warehouse would have an independent neutral party that would test and grade the farmer’s harvest, allowing traders in Addis Ababa, and potentially outside Ethiopia, to place bids(投标)on food, even if it is unseen. Thus, if the farmer gets five cents in one place, he would get three times the price by selling it in another part of the country where there may be a drought.
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⭥73.交通的作用
⭥段落大意:交通与经济力量和军事力量联系紧密。交通提供自然资源的运输手段,可以促进贸易,使国家积累财富和实力。
⭥Throughout history, the economic wealth and military power of a nation have been closely related to the efficiency of its transportation. Transportation provides access to natural resources and promotes trade, thus allowing a nation to accumulate wealth and power. Good transportation also allows quick movement of soldiers, equipment, and supplies so that a nation can wage (进行) war.
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⭥74.交通与人口分布
⭥段落大意:交通系统在很大程度上决定了人们的居住方式和地点。便利的交通系统使人们可以住在远离工厂的郊区。
⭥Transportation systems and the routes they use have greatly influenced both how and where people live. Reliable transportation allows people to work in the city and live comfortably in remote countryside. Moreover, transportation has an important role in the distribution of the U.S. cities. The growth and expansion of the United States were directly related to the means of transportation available at the time. The cities of the U.S. eastern seaboard are compact today because the early human- and animal-based transportation systems allowed only short trips. The cities of the western United States sprawl (杂乱扩展) as a result of an automobile-based transportation system that permits much longer travel distances.
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⭥75.交通与经济
⭥段落大意:交通对经济至关重要。降低原材料运输费和成品上市运输费,是经济竞争的一个关键因素。交通产业是最大的产业。
⭥Transportation is vital to a nation’s economy. Reducing the costs of transporting natural resources to production sites and moving finished goods to markets is one of the key factors in economic competition. The transportation industry is the largest industry in the world. It includes the manufacture and distribution of vehicles, the production and distribution of fuel, and the provision of transportation services. In 2000, approximately 3.2 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) and an estimated 7.4 percent of all jobs in the United States were related to the transportation industry.
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⭥76.交通与战争
⭥段落大意:军队、装备、给养的快速运送是战争胜利的决定性因素。
⭥Transportation systems that link all parts of a nation can also be used in the nation’s war efforts. The rapid movement of troops, equipment, and supplies can be a deciding factor in winning a battle or a war. Just as mobilizing (调动) a nation’s military strength is critical to victory, disabling the enemy’s transportation system is usually an early strategic objective of any armed conflict.
⭥77.交通与环境
⭥段落大意:交通系统会影响到环境,如,机动车尾气会导致污染。
⭥In the later 20th century, people became more aware of the impact transportation systems had on the environment. For example, the burning of fossil (化石) fuels for motor vehicles creates pollution that can be harmful to human health. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that three-quarters of all carbon monoxide(一氧化物)and one-half of all oxides of nitrogen(氮氧化物)come from motor vehicles. In addition, petroleum(石油)-based transportation is responsible for approximately one-third of carbon dioxide(二氧化碳)emissions(排放)in the United States, an important contributor to global warming. Transportation accounts for 66 percent of total U.S. oil consumption. Other environmental effects of transportation systems include impacts on noise levels, water quality, hazardous(危险的)materials, natural habitats(栖息地), and wetlands(湿地). Many governments now require that before a new transportation project is begun, a detailed study called an environmental impact assessment must be prepared to evaluate how the project will affect the environment.
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⭥78.交通与全球化贸易
⭥段落大意:全球化贸易反映了许多国家经济上的相互依赖性,而交通是促成各国贸易的重要因素。
⭥International trade routes connect different countries. These routes reflect the economic interdependence (相互依赖) of many nations around the world. Many countries are dependent on other countries for natural resources, finished goods such as automobiles and electronics, and parts for products assembled (组装) locally. Many of the world’s largest trade partners, such as the United States, Canada, Japan, Mexico, and Europe, are connected with numerous transportation routes and services. In Asia, Japan has strong maritime (海洋的) trade relations with Southeast Asian countries in order to exchange manufactured goods for natural resources. The U.S. ports(港口)of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Miami, Florida, are major ports for trade with Latin American nations.
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⭥79.交通的非直接经济效益
⭥段落大意:除了贸易相关的经济利益,交通还有许多非直接经济效益,如大量工人就业于交通产业;交通产业促进了其他相关产业的发展。
⭥Besides the economic benefits associated with trade, there are many other indirect economic benefits transportation can provide. More than 9.5 million workers are employed in transportation-related industries in the United States, and the transportation sector contributed $314 billion for the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2000 which totaled $9.9 trillion. Aerospace (航空与航天器制造的), naval (海军的), and automobile manufacturers are responsible for a large amount of that figure, as are the industries that supply these manufacturers, such as the steel, rubber (橡胶), petroleum, and electronics industries.
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⭥80.车祸
⭥段落大意:意外事故的最大原因是车祸。
⭥The single greatest cause of accidents in the United States is the automobile. In 1913 the American industrialist Henry Ford introduced assembly-line(流水线)techniques in the manufacture of motor vehicles. The subsequent increase in the number of automobiles in use was huge and led to a great rise in the motor-vehicle accident rate. In 1991 in the U.S., automobile accidents were responsible for about 49.4 percent of all accidental deaths. The remaining part comprised accidents in the home (about 23.3 percent), accidents in public places, including railroads and airplanes (about 20.5 percent), and work-related accidents (about 11.3 percent).
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⭥81.汽车责任保险
⭥段落大意:美国的经济责任法律要求出过车祸的车主再次取得驾驶资格之前,要购买一定的汽车责任险。
⭥Financial-responsibility laws exist in almost every state in the U.S. and require car owners who have been involved in automobile accidents or are guilty of certain offenses(过错)to obtain automobile liability insurance of a specified minimum amount before they are licensed to drive a car again. In addition, about half of the states have compulsory automobile liability insurance laws that require all car owners to obtain automobile liability insurance before they register their cars, thus assuring that innocent victims of automobile accidents will be compensated for personal injury and property damage.
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⭥82.老年问题I:健康
⭥段落大意:最主要的老年问题是健康问题,如听力、视力和记忆丧失以及慢性疾病等。
⭥Gerontologists (老年医学家) study how senior citizens are treated within a society and how they deal with the inevitable problems of aging, particularly those involving health and income. Health problems include normal losses in hearing, eyesight, and memory, and the increased likelihood of chronic (慢性的) diseases. These losses are gradual and proceed at different rates for each individual. Many people do not experience physical declines until very old age. The great majority of the elderly learn to adapt to the limitations imposed by health problems. In general, the health condition of the elderly today is better than that of previous generations, and that is likely to improve still further as more people receive better medical care throughout their lives. In most industrial societies, the high cost of treating chronic illness has been covered, at least partially, by national health programs.
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⭥83.老年问题II:经济收入
⭥段落大意:第二大老年问题是经济收入和福利。老年人不再工作,所以一定形式的收入必不可少。
⭥The second major problem of the elderly involves income and economic welfare. Most old people are no longer in the labor force, so some form of income maintenance(维持)is necessary. Industrial societies are characterized by systems of pensions(养老金)and benefits such as Social Security in the United States, which currently is increased automatically as the cost of living rises, thus reducing somewhat the impact of inflation. The income of retired people is about half that of working people, and most manage to maintain themselves independently. In the United States, however, about 20 percent of the elderly live below or slightly above the poverty level. These are predominantly (占主导地) women and members of minority groups for whom economic security has always been a problem. In numerous other industrialized nations where social welfare systems are more extensive, the proportion of the elderly who lack adequate housing, transportation, and social services has reduced significantly.
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⭥84.养老金
⭥段落大意:养老金是由特定基金支付的年津贴或收入。
⭥Annuity (年金) is annual allowance, payment, or income derived (得自) from funds especially designated for the purpose. Annuities may also be any payments delivered at fixed intervals (间隔). An annuity often represents only the interest derived from a principal(本金)fund, but it may also include periodic(周期的)payments of principal. In many cases the fund is established according to a will or a trust (信托) agreement. Annuities are frequently funded by the earnings of life insurance policies. Recipients may be paid by the funds that were established for their benefit on the deaths of other life insurance policy-holders, or they may have policies of their own. Other forms of annuity are social security and unemployment insurance.
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⭥85.个人养老计划
⭥段落大意:许多工作单位并不提供退休养老金计划,因此个人需要建立自己的退休养老账户。
⭥Many individuals work for organizations or companies that do not offer a retirement plan, so they seek to supplement their retirement income by opening their own retirement accounts. These are known as individual plans, and they represent a part of the third leg of the“tripod (三脚架) of economic security”. There are two main types of individual plans: individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and Roth IRAs. In addition, there are a variety of life insurance products, such as annuities, enabling individuals to save for their retirement.
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⭥86.其他养老保障
⭥段落大意:除了正式退休养老计划,个人还可以使用多种理财产品来存钱,以备退休养老之用,如存钱、共有基金、人寿保险等。
⭥In addition to the various formal retirement savings programs, individuals can use a variety of financial products in the marketplace to save for retirement, like bank savings accounts, mutual funds (共有基金), and life insurance products. Life insurance products, particularly annuities, are commonly used for retirement saving purposes. Insurance products permit the tax-deferred (延税) growth of investment income similar to a retirement plan. Some insurance products are designed with a savings component and a death benefit. Annuity contracts guarantee a stream of income as long as an individual lives, based on the value that has accumulated in the contract. Since an individual cannot outlive (比…活得长) the stream of income from an annuity, these products have historically been used to fund various types of retirement savings plans.
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⭥87.退休计划
⭥段落大意:退休计划指由政府、雇主或个人财政计划提供的退休生活保障。
⭥Retirement Plans refer to a variety of government, employer, and individual financial programs that help provide a livable(能接受的)income when a person stops working. The three principal sources of retirement income in the United States are the government-sponsored social security system, private employer-sponsored retirement plans, and individual savings plans. These three sources of retirement income have often been called the“tripod of economic security”. Most experts agree that people need to receive income from all three sources to remain financially secure during retirement.
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⭥88.养老金与福利计划
⭥段落大意:养老金与福利计划指由雇主独立或联合为雇员提供的人寿保险、事故健康保险、养老金或其他福利。
⭥Welfare and Pension Plans refer to plans maintained by employers separately, or jointly, to provide life insurance, accident- and health- insurance, pensions, or other benefits for employees. Sometimes such plans are called private, or voluntary, employee-benefit plans to distinguish them from the types of social insurance required by law or administered by government, for example, social security and workers’compensation.
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⭥89.监视器的影响
⭥段落大意:监视器最大的影响是大量组织可以使用监视器:国家安全机构合法使用监视器;大公司监视控制员工工作;公司买卖信息来进行市场营销或广告;个人信息有可能被用作犯罪目的。
⭥The greatest impact of computer-enabled surveillance(监视)is that a large number of organizations are involved in this operation.
⭥The state and security services still have the most powerful surveillance systems, because they are enabled under the law. However, today the levels of state surveillance have increased, and by using computers they are now able to draw together many different information sources to produce profiles of persons or groups in society.
⭥Many large corporations now use various forms of“passive”surveillance. This is primarily a means of monitoring the activities of staff and for controlling public relations. However, some large corporations actively use different forms of surveillance to monitor the activities of activists and campaign groups who may impact their operations.
⭥Many companies trade information lawfully, buying and selling it from other companies or local government agencies that collect it. This data is usually bought by companies who wish to use it for marketing or advertising purposes.
⭥Personal information is obtained by many small groups and individuals. Some of this is used for harmless purposes, and increasingly sensitive personal information is being obtained for criminal purposes, such as credit card fraud.
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⭥90.个人隐私
⭥段落大意:不同文化或个人对个人隐私的内容和界限的理解不同,但有一些基本共识。
⭥Privacy is the right of an individual or group to seclude (隔离) information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively. The boundaries and content of what is considered private differs among cultures and individuals. Nevertheless, they share basic common understanding about the concept. Privacy is sometimes related to anonymity (匿名), the wish to remain unnoticed or unidentified in the public realm (领域). When something is private to a person, it usually means there is something within them that is considered inherently special or personally sensitive. The degree to which information is considered private therefore depends on how the public will receive this information, which differs among places and over time.
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⭥91.个人隐私受法律保护
⭥段落大意:个人隐私不受政府、公司或个人侵犯,这一点受到许多国家隐私法的保护。
⭥The right against unsanctioned(未批准的)invasion of privacy by government, corporations or individuals is part of many countries’privacy laws, and in some cases, constitutions. Almost all countries have laws which in some way limit privacy. An example of this would be the law concerning taxation, which normally requires disclosure of information about personal income or earnings. In some countries individual privacy may conflict with freedom of speech laws, and some laws may require public disclosure of information which would be considered private in other countries and cultures.
⭥第五大类:环境保护类
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⭥1.企业和环境的关系
⭥段落大意:企业应该承担一定的社会责任,来保护我们的环境。
⭥Since the rise of environmental awareness, business and industry have always considered environmentalism (环保主义) a waste of time, only getting in the way of profits and production. From the perspective of business, environmentalists push for regulations and restrictions on businesses which cost them more money and frequently restrict some of their practices. What business and economy doesn’t know is that they can actually save money by being environmentally responsible, while protecting the very resources they depend on. The protection of the environment does not only have intrinsic (内在的) value, but also has economic value from which business and industry can benefit. These factors can lead to a new economy that protects what it needs instead of destroying it.
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⭥2.人类增长和环境
⭥段落大意:人类的快速增长会给环境带来更大压力。
⭥The human population is expected to double in the next 50 years, and the ever-growing global population needs vast amounts of food, energy and raw materials. We cannot continue to get these supplies in the way we do now without damaging the earth’s environment beyond repair. Pollution, deforestation (森林砍伐), over-fishing, intensive farming and above all global warming are having great impact on the environment. We need to find ways to improve our food productivity, and to obtain our energy and raw materials in more sustainable ways.
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⭥3.全球化和环境
⭥段落大意:全球化的发展使环境问题已经不单纯是一个国家的问题,它变成了全球的问题。
⭥Globalization can be defined as the trend away from distinct national economic units and toward one huge global market. This trend can be found on many aspects in the business world, be it political, economical, or social. Yet one factor that is of great importance in making globalization possible is the environment issue. The environmental crisis in one nation does not only involve that nation, but also involve the globe village. Developed nations such as the United States should have policies toward the world market that protect the standards and regulations designed to reserve the environment.
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⭥4.环境问题
⭥段落大意:树林的砍伐,动物的灭绝,酸雨的危害,都成为现在人类面对的严重环境问题。
⭥When industrialization began, little thought was given to its ecological effects. Untreated sewage(污水)was poured into rivers and seas. Animals were killed for profit to the point of extinction. The loss of trees through uncontrolled deforestation caused erosion and unstable climate. Acid rain (酸雨) was caused by the poisonous gases released from industries and automobiles. Chemicals in pesticides (杀虫剂) killed animals of no harm but threatened people’s health. Herbicides (除草剂) harmed crops and degraded soil. The balance of nature was disturbed.
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⭥5.天气变化
⭥段落大意:天气变化在近些年来越来越明显。
⭥Climate change is neither new nor unusual. Throughout the history of the earth, the average surface temperature, climate and greenhouse gas concentrations have changed, sometimes gradually other times quite sharply. During the past 10,000 years the earth has been in an interglacial(间冰期)period with fairly stable climate, surface temperature, and greenhouse gas concentrations. However, scientists have discovered that in the past 150 years, especially the last 50 ones, the greenhouse gas concentration has increased significantly, making the 20th century the hottest in the last 10,000 years.
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⭥6.天气变暖的主要原因
⭥段落大意:天气变暖的主要原因是大气中的气体阻碍热量向外层空间释放。
⭥Although the earth has undergone periodic (周期性的) changes known as global cooling and global warming, today’s global warming is unique, due to human influences. The greenhouse effect is essentially caused by gasses in the atmosphere which keep heat from spreading into the exterior space. The major heat trapping gasses found in the atmosphere are CO2 and water vapor—which are found in large quantity, ozone (臭氧), CH4 (methane(甲烷)), and N2O (nitrous oxide(氧化亚氮))—which are better heat trapper but found in smaller quantity, CFC (氟氯化碳)—which is very potent (有力的) to destroy ozone. The rapid increase of these gasses in the past fifty years has been the cause for what scientists call a global warming problem.
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⭥7.燃料对环境的影响
⭥段落大意:燃料的污染会对环境带来很大危害。
⭥Fossil fuels include gasoline (汽油), oil, coal, or natural gases. Whenever we burn them, pollutant gases are emitted (排放) into the atmosphere. Fossil fuels, which are mainly burned to run cars and trucks, heat homes, provide energy for business and power factories, are responsible for about 98% of U.S carbon dioxide emissions, 24% of methane (甲烷) emissions and 18% of nitrous oxide (氧化亚氮) emissions. Because of the harmful effects of these pollutant gases, they pose a major threat to the environment.
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⭥8.环境问题的严峻性
⭥段落大意:环境问题日益严重。我们应该为了自己以及后代子孙的健康发展,重视环境问题。
⭥The environment is a strongly arguable issue in today’s world of highly dense populations and forever growing technologies. People rely daily on the use of cars for example as means of transportation to and from their work. People travel far distances much more than they used to a century years ago due to the ease of traveling by plane, and the fact that they will reach their destinations in a matter of hours. The point is, for such great advantages that we take for granted, there’s an even greater disadvantage, the destruction of our environment. We are abusing our home. Something has to be done to help save the environment for the sake of our children and grandchildren, for their health and new development.
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⭥9.全球变暖
⭥段落大意:全球变暖将引发广泛问题。
⭥Global warming is sometimes referred to as the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is the absorption of energy radiated from the earth’s surface by carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere, causing the atmosphere to become warmer. The greenhouse effect is what is causing the temperature on the earth to rise, and creating many problems that will begin to occur in the coming decades.
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⭥10.人类和环境
⭥段落大意:人类的发展以环境的牺牲作为代价。
⭥For the last 10,000 years, the earth’s climate has been extraordinarily beneficial to mankind. Humans have prospered tremendously (极大地) well under a benign(良性的)atmosphere. Today, however, major changes are taking place. People are conducting an inadvertent(因疏忽造成的)global experiment by changing the face of the entire planet. We are destroying the ozone layer(臭氧层), which allows life to exist on the earth’s surface. All of these activities are unfavorably altering (改变) the composition of the biosphere(生物圈)and the earth’s heat balance.
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⭥11.全球变暖的原理
⭥段落大意:温室效应使全球变暖,这将给环境带来很大危害。
⭥The greenhouse effect and global warming are issues that have been talked about by geologists all the time. The greenhouse effect is a natural process that keeps the earth at temperatures that are livable. Energy from the sun warms the earth when its heat rays (射线) are absorbed by greenhouse gasses and become trapped in the atmosphere. Some of the most common greenhouse gasses are water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane. If there were no greenhouse gasses, very few rays would be absorbed and the earth would be extremely cold. When too many rays are absorbed, the earth’s atmosphere starts to warm, which leads to global warming. Global warming can lead to many problems that affect the environment in which we live.
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⭥12.气温升高的危害
⭥段落大意:气温的升高可能给人类和其他生物带来灭绝性的危害。
⭥The effects of global warming touch everything on this planet, including human, animal, plant, ocean, landmass, and atmosphere level, etc. The numerous effects of global warming are mixes of“good”and“bad”results, depending on how your definition of“good”results and“bad”results are. A“good”effect, a person could say, would be for regions with normally cold temperatures to have warmer temperatures. However, there are more“bad”effects that seem to outweigh the“good”ones. Some of the effects would include increases of flooding, severe storms, and rising sea-levels. One major consequence would be an increase of temperature globally. This would lead to a chain reaction that would change precipitation (降雨量) within many ecosystems, which could cause a possible alteration(改变)in migration routes of various animals or produce permanent damage to creatures and their habitats(栖息地), or worse, result in extinction of animals that cannot stand the change.
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⭥13.保护环境
⭥段落大意:人类活动正在威胁着我们的地球,我们应该提高自己保护环境的意识。
⭥In the recent years there has been a significant rise in people’s concern for the environment. We all affect the natural environment, but we are often unaware of how much we affect it. The earth is an integrated system and there is no part of the earth we can say is not affected by our actions. Our actions are now threatening the health of our planet, the land we live in and work on, the water supply, the ozone layer, the animal species as well as the health of our human beings. Some people may question,“The problem is too great and what can we do now?”Well, we can reflect on our behavior and believe that we can make a difference.
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⭥14.人类活动对环境的危害
⭥段落大意:人类对环境造成毁灭性的危害。
⭥According to the National Academy of Sciences, global warming over the past century has caused a rise in earth’s surface temperature of about 1 degree Fahrenheit (华氏摄氏度). There is an evidence to substantiate(证实)attribution(归因)of the increased rate of this warming phenomenon over the past 50 years to human activities. Human activities have altered the chemical composition of earth’s atmosphere through the increase of greenhouse gases, chiefly carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
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⭥15.水污染
⭥段落大意:塑料、废弃物等对水的污染会带来很大的危害。
⭥Water pollution has affected many people and animals. Water pollution is the disposal (处理) of garbage into streams, rivers and oceans. Some of the water pollution is from littering, some is done by chemical leaks, and others by ships. There are many causes for water pollution. The main one is plastics. The reason for that is that plastics take four hundred and fifty years to decompose (分解) in water. Many companies use plastic and people throw it in waterways(水路). Since water can float and be driven by the wind, plastics can cause great harm to creatures hundreds of feet from where they were originally dumped. Such waste includes bags, bottles, cups, straws (吸管), cup lids(盖子), utensils(器具), fishing line, and floats(漂浮物), etc.
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⭥16.空气污染Ⅰ
⭥段落大意:空气污染关系到世界上每一个人,引起了广泛的关注。本段讲述了大气层的各组成部分。
⭥Air pollution is a major problem affecting the entire world. In the United States some progress has been made in reducing air pollution through the Clean Air Acts passed by the Congress. Still there is a lot to be done. To prevent air pollution it is important to understand how the air is being polluted, how it impacts on the ecosystem and what we can do about it. Earth is surrounded by layers of gases known as atmosphere. The layer closest to the earth is called the troposphere (对流层). It extends up to ten miles above the surface of the earth. Over the troposphere is the stratosphere(同温层)which extends from ten to forty miles above the earth. Ozone is a part of the stratosphere that blocks the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays (紫外线) from reaching the earth. Over the stratosphere is the ionosphere (电离层) which extends up to 400 miles. In the ionosphere, the gases are broken into individual electrically charged particles(粒子)called ions(离子).
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⭥17.空气污染Ⅱ
⭥段落大意:人类社会的很多废弃物都会污染大气环境,如燃油等。
⭥Air pollution occurs when wastes dirty the air. Natural pollutants(污染物)include dust, soil particles and naturally occurring gases. Most of the wastes that cause air pollution are created by human beings. These wastes are mainly in the form of gases or particles of solid or liquid substance, which result chiefly from burning fuel to power motor vehicles. Industrial processes and the burning of garbage also contribute to air pollution.
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⭥18.空气污染Ⅲ
⭥段落大意:激增的人口、持续发展的工业以及机动车等交通工具都会对大气环境造成污染。
⭥The rapid growth of population and industry and the increased use of automobiles and airplanes have made air pollution a serious problem. The air we breathe in has become so filled with pollutants that it can cause health problems. Polluted air also harms plants, animals, building materials and fabrics (织物). In addition, it causes damage by altering the earth’s atmosphere.
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⭥19.环境污染的严重性
⭥段落大意:环境日益恶化,危害了我们赖以生存的大气、水和其他资源。
⭥Our environment is affected by our daily actions. The earth is plagued(受折磨)with land, air and water pollution. Some of the problems we face are deforestation, nuclear waste, acid rain, global warming, overpopulation and animal endangerment. Air pollution has many different causes. Power stations, oil refineries (精炼厂), chemical plants, and steel mills(制造厂)contribute to about 140 million tons of pollutants into the air every year. Automobiles account for at least 80 percent of air pollution, making it the heaviest polluter. Another type of air pollution is acid rain. Acid rain is formed when sulfur (硫) and nitrogen(氮)are released from factories, automobiles and power plants. The sulfur and nitrogen rise up into the clouds and come down as rain that is contaminated (污染的). It damages forests, crops and soil and kills fish and animals that live in water.
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⭥20.人类生存离不开物种多样性
⭥段落大意:人类的生存离不开物种多样性,但是各种动植物正在急速灭绝。
⭥Human life cannot exist in the absence of millions of species in biological systems. However, as humans, we live in a period of the greatest loss of plant and animal species since the mega-extinctions(巨型灭绝)of the Jurassic (侏罗纪) Period 65 million years ago. Harvard University biologist E.O. Wilson estimates that“50,000 plant and animal species disappear each year due to tropical deforestation, expanding agriculture, and human settlement”. Human activities impact the environment, including clearing forests for agriculture, air, land and water pollution, and the introduction of invasive or non-native wildlife species. If land and wildlife are largely influenced by human activities, humans risk fragmenting (打破) habitats and pushing wildlife to extinction.
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⭥21.保护环境的个人行为
⭥段落大意:个人的良好行为,包括不随意扔垃圾、实行回收等,可以教育他人,并引导他人保护环境。
⭥Through your lifestyle and manners, you can make others aware of the environment and its constant fragile (脆弱的) state. Many people don’t understand that their actions are actually doing harm. By not littering, others will see how easy it is to actually walk to the garbage can. When you pick up trash, your peers will notice how much nicer and cleaner your surroundings seem, and will in turn want that for themselves. When you recycle, they’ll see how simple and easy it is, and what a difference it makes. They will see that there are alternative ways to make their homes and personal environments a lot healthier to live in. Eventually they will see that there is a need to preserve the environment for ourselves and our future, and reap(收获)the benefits by doing so. Eventually they’ll understand that they hold the future in their hands, and that in the end it’s their choice.
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⭥22.热带雨林的重要作用表现
⭥段落大意:热带雨林是人类的宝贵财富,它不但在环境保护上有重要作用,在经济上也会为人类带来很大利益。
⭥“In every sense, a standing rain forest supplies more economic wealth than if it were cleared. Yet deforestation continues at an alarming rate.”(Tropical Rain Forest Coalition, 1996). Rain forests have played a significant role in shaping modern biology. The destruction of the rain forests will influence the fate of all species including various kinds of plants and animals. Many people do not understand the long-term consequences of losing the earth’s rain forests. Rain forests have provided human beings with many natural resources and medicines. Traditionally, there are three major causes of the destruction of rain forests: logging, farming and ranching (牧场经营).
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⭥23.土地资源的减少
⭥段落大意:我们需要保护人类的资源,土地,以维持人类日后的生存和发展。
⭥Though most of the world’s surface is covered by water, since the earth is so large, there doesn’t appear to be a shortage of land. However, when one begins to think of land in terms of human resources, that is, a producer of food, a provider of wood and other raw materials, one realizes that many parts of the earth are either too lacking in nutrients (营养物), too high in elevation(海拔), too prone(倾向于)to flooding, or too cold for humans to live. Furthermore, habitable lands are becoming less abundant due to desertification (沙漠化) (the expansion of deserts due to the misuse of land), and rising sea levels. Since humans aren’t the only species that need land, it isn’t surprising that this resource is becoming limited for other forms of life too. In part as a result of this stress on living things, we have witnessed extinctions of animals at a rate of thousands of species per year. Since these losses are largely due to human actions, such as deforestation and non-native species introduction, many are beginning to pay attention to how we use and protect land. Recent ecological research has also rung alarm bells for the future well-being of life on this planet.
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⭥24.二手烟对人体健康的威胁
⭥段落大意:二手烟已经被证明会导致多种疾病,包括心脏病等。
⭥Exposure to secondhand smoke is called involuntary smoking, or passive smoking. Passive smoking causes at least 3,000 known deaths a year according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Passive smoking has been consistently linked to an increased risk for coronary (冠状动脉的) heart disease and may be responsible for more than 30 cardiovascular (心脏血管的) deaths annually in the U.S. alone.
⭥第六大类:媒体类
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⭥1.媒体对人们的影响
⭥段落大意:媒体对人们的影响包括对人们观念、信仰、态度等的影响。
⭥Media are devices used for delivering information through time or space. They link the sender to the receiver. When a message is sent to a certain receiver or audience, this receiver will eventually interpret its meaning. Therefore, the audience will be influenced and will change in a certain way. In fact, influence refers to the way in which the mass media, in all their forms (television, books, films, etc.), affect the way we, as audience, behave and act in our society and in our daily lives. Depending on the circumstances, mass media can influence people’s beliefs, opinions, and attitudes, and change their thinking about public and political issues. Media can have both positive and negative effects on us.
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⭥2.媒体的重要性
⭥段落大意:媒体的重要性不仅仅体现在信息传播上,还体现在其强大的影响力。
⭥Today, more than ever the media plays a pivotal (关键的) role in influencing the ways in which Americans think and behave. Media can influence the masses in a number of ways. Without the media it would be virtually impossible for the typical American citizens to be informed of today’s events. However, spreading information is not always the media’s goal. In fact, it rarely is. Many Americans feel that they can form opinions on their own. In fact, opinions are formed unknowingly (不知不觉地) by what paper or television channel tells them. The views of the president are greatly affected by the media due to the overwhelming amount of coverage by every form of media.
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⭥3.媒体的目的
⭥段落大意:媒体的目的是为了传播信息、娱乐、广告。
⭥The three main purposes of mass media are to provide information, entertain, and advertise. Media does not only provide information, but also decide which information is important. What we see on television and Internet and what we hear on the radio have all been selected and modified by the media.
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⭥4.媒体对人们的正面影响
⭥段落大意:媒体对人们有着教育等方面的正面影响。
⭥There are many things in our surroundings that influence our behaviors. Among other things (除了别的以外), the education system, family values and the media have shaped our views in life. Whether they are right or wrong, they define to a large extent what we are. The media are where we gather our information. They provide us with education, bring us worldwide information and give us access to global communication. Through the media, viewers enjoy a wealth of knowledge and entertainment. For instance, discovery and history channels on TV provide scientific and cultural information for viewers. It is beneficial for those who cannot go to school to learn these things or those who are still at school. Newspapers, magazines, radio, and television also help people to enhance their understanding about the world.
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⭥5.媒体暴力
⭥段落大意:媒体是不是暴力的主要源泉引起各方激烈争论。
⭥Does violence in the media influence the behavior of society? It is the question that has been asked by authorities, educational institutes (协会) and parents. Some say yes, others say no. To fully comprehend this question we must first understand what violence in the media means, and whom it affects, if there is any. Also, did violence in the media come first, or was it derived from violence in the“real world”? Both sides have their own arguments. Some say that the escalation of violence in society is a symptom of deteriorated value systems and poor parental instruction and that it has nothing to do with violence in the media. Others say, and this is backed with factual evidence, that violence that is seen on television, in the movies or video games is directly linked to the violence in society.
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⭥6.媒体暴力对孩子的影响Ⅰ
⭥段落大意:媒体暴力对于很多成长在不重视教育的家庭的孩子来说,对他们有着不利影响。
⭥The media is a part of everyday life for American kids. Children are surrounded by newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the Internet that are full of violence. It has influence on kids, but does it really mean that kids would act it out even though they know violence is wrong? We must admit that mass media and its components are very powerful and can influence one’s mind, as well as their behavior. Characters in the media use violence and display aggressive behaviors, which makes children believe that violence can happen without consequences. For children who grow up with poor adult examples or don’t have a clear idea about what’s right or wrong, media violence can have a greater negative effect.
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⭥7.媒体暴力对孩子的影响Ⅱ
⭥段落大意:媒体中的暴力内容影响着青少年的发展。有人认为该对他们观看的内容进行审查,还有些人认为父母应该承担起相应的审查责任。
⭥In today’s society, the media is becoming more lenient (宽大的) with censoring(审查)the violence portrayed in music lyrics or television programs. The question we need to ask is whether the material shown to young audiences need to be monitored more closely. Some believe that it is having a negative impact on our youth, influencing them to be more violent towards each other. On the other hand, some argue that it is the responsibility of the parents to look after their children and decide what material they can and cannot watch or listen to.
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⭥8.对媒体的控制
⭥段落大意:媒体有自由的权利,但是这种权利也需要被规制。
⭥No nation in the world guarantees absolute freedom of press and speech. They are all under certain kinds of restriction. Free media should strengthen the national unity, uphold the laws of the land and contribute towards the spiritual integration of the country. The media should also not be afraid of supporting a just and righteous (正义的) cause. It has to be eternally vigilant(警惕的)to protect the right of public and give balanced views of events. The public can be helped by media in the formation of a healthy public opinion. Otherwise media can cause havoc (大破坏) by suppressing any news or giving it an importance out of proportion.
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⭥9.媒体的简介
⭥段落大意:媒体有着多种类型和模式。
⭥There are different forms of media, for example, verbal (言语的) or written media, visual(视觉的)and aural(听觉的)media. Examples of media would include newspapers, magazines, film, radio, television, billboard advertisements as well as the Internet. Media studies came about because of the developments in mass communication, and it provokes the generation into questioning about what we think we know as well as how we get to know. The term“media studies”means different theories concerning different forms of media and different learning outcomes.
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⭥10.媒体暴力[m1]
⭥段落大意:媒体带给人们的暴力影响只占很小一部分,人们不应该把所有的罪过都归结于媒体。
⭥People are quick to blame violence in our society on television, movies or video games because they are believable targets. We have to look beyond this disinformation (假情报) and attack the real causes for the violence in our society. People watch violent images all the time, and only a very small percent of them actually commit violent crimes. Research on the subject does not necessarily support the argument, but they do not counteract it either. The research is too often inconclusive (不确定的). We wrongfully blame these media sources for violent crimes, rather than put the blame where it rightfully belongs. If we can do away with all the disinformation on this topic, we can stop fooling ourselves into thinking that censoring media could prevent the occurrence of violent behaviors.
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⭥11.媒体的竞争力
⭥段落大意:现今,媒体之间的竞争相当激烈。
⭥“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press…”(United States Constitution,1789) Throughout the history of the United States of America, the Constitution has always been put to test. The founders of this great country originally created the first amendment to allow colonists to speak out against the British. In the 17th century, there was little competition among journalists, and the information the press provided was usually accurate. However, today in the 21st century, the circumstances are different and the stakes (赌注) are higher. Due to incredibly high amount of competition among journalists today, the information is usually exaggerated in order to capture the audience.
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⭥12.媒体的作用
⭥段落大意:媒体对人们的态度、生活方式都有着很大的影响。
⭥Media technologies are becoming an important aspect of today’s society. Each and every day, people interact with media of many different forms. Media are commonly defined as a channel of communication. Radio, newspapers, and television are all examples of media. It is impossible to assume that media is made up of completely unbiased (没有偏见的) information and that the media companies do not impose their own control upon the information supplied to media users. Since many people use media very frequently, it has a great effect on people. According to Media Now,“media effects are changes in knowledge, attitude, or behavior that result from exposure to the mass media”. Media has effects on people’s opinions towards violence, prejudice, and sexual behavior.
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⭥13.媒体和政治
⭥段落大意:媒体对政治的发展产生着影响。
⭥The mass media is now a global phenomenon and has revolutionized (改革) the way individuals communicate with each other and receive information. The term“mass media”embraces(包含)all kinds of information sources, such as books, pamphlets(小册子), mail circulars(公告)and films. The three principal sources of political information are television, radio and newspapers. The mass media is a recent innovation (革新), which has reformed the way politics and governments operate. Without newspapers, radio and pre-eminently (显著地) television, the present political system could not work.
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⭥14.媒体和大众的政治观点
⭥段落大意:媒体对大众和他们的政治观点都产生了深远影响。
⭥The media is an intricate part of American government, intertwined(纠缠)with the practice of democracy, but to what extent does the media influence public opinion? To answer this question, several aspects of media coverage have to be explored. The first is the fact that the media is American’s basic source for all the news concerning American politics. The second aspect is that the opinion expressed by the press influences the public. Lastly, the issues the media deem (认为) important often set the national agenda. The most basic way the media influences public opinion is by offering knowledge and information about government decisions. The daily press delivers raw information to the public, who in turn form their own opinions. Without the media it would take the public longer to become informed about governmental proceedings.
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⭥15.媒体和商业
⭥段落大意:媒体和商业道德的关系一直以来被人们关注。
⭥In this world, there is concern about the connection between the media and ethics. The press and the media are responsible for reporting news, issues and events as clearly as possible. Any distortions(扭曲)can cause the message to be misinterpreted or completely wrong. News organizations are given a responsibility to represent the public interest. In order to gain the public’s trust, such broadcasters are required to work within the parameters (界限) of ethics. No matter what issue, company or news are being reported on, every media organization must work with a Code of Ethics. This is a sort of safeguard to the honesty of the organization. It demands that the media should tell the truth, protect privacy of individuals, and avoid the many conflicts that could possibly arise as a result of misinforming the public.
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⭥16.广告与商业繁荣
⭥段落大意:广告的发展给商业带来巨大的繁荣和发展。
⭥With the increasing impact of media on our lives today, it has become easier for companies to manipulate (操控) people’s minds through advertisement. With the introduction of TVs in virtually every home, we are being constantly reached by mind-manipulating commercials (广告). This situation has become worse through the introduction of the Internet at people’s offices and homes. The fact is that it is impossible to go through a day without being bombarded (轰炸) with advertisements unless you live in the deepest part of the Amazon and even then it is still likely that an American Express Employee will find you to hand you a replacement for your recently lost American Express credit card.
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⭥17.广告的作用
⭥段落大意:广告的作用是吸引顾客,使他们相信自己的东西和服务是最好的。
⭥Advertising is used in all aspects of everyday life, in magazines, newspapers, billboards, television and on radios. They aim to show that their products are bigger, brighter and better than any other ones on the market. Frequently, advertisers use color, text, images, language and layout (规划) to fight for viewers’attention, so that they can influence audience’s opinion about this particular product and therefore persuade them to buy.
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⭥18.广告的社会责任
⭥段落大意:广告应该承担起相应的社会责任,不误导消费者。
⭥Almost every time one turns on the television he will see some sort of advertisements. Shoes, cars, phones, and many other products are advertised every day. We see all sorts of commercials which are full of fine lines that are displayed so fast that one, who is not a speed reader, could never make them out before they disappear. There are also radio advertisements, billboards, and fliers (广告传单) containing false or misleading information. Is it fair to say that many of the advertisements today are misleading? No, this is not fair. Most businesses have ethical responsibilities to society to be honest, not misleading.
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⭥19.对于广告的争议
⭥段落大意:广告的快速发展也为其带来很大的争议。
⭥Along with the rapid progress of society, the advertising industry has undergone a remarkable development. Everyday we are surrounded by all kinds of ads and commercials, which have a profound influence on our daily lives. As a result, there arouse a fierce debate concerning the proposal that we should ban all kinds of advertisements.
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⭥20.媒体对选举的影响
⭥段落大意:媒体对各个选举人和被选举人都有着深远的影响。
⭥In our nation today, most of the American citizens cast their votes according to what they see on the news. It is safe to say that the media primarily controls people’s opinion on political issues. Unfortunately the world’s most developed nation doesn’t have time to carefully pick their leaders at any level. While vast opportunity of research is available for American citizens to carefully pick their candidates, they choose to go along with what the media tells them to do. It is the media that control the nation, set the agenda, and select the president. On the other hand, media gives vast amount of information to keep us up to date with the changing world. It is important to watch the news, because news allows us to be informed about current events.
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⭥21.印刷的媒体
⭥段落大意:印刷形式的广告可以给消费者更多、更全面的信息。
⭥The purpose of media is to communicate news and information to the public via printed or visual forms. In contemporary society media is an essential way to advertise a product to its target audience, because it will be seen by a wide range of people. Printed media can be seen in leaflets and brochures since it is used to inform the audience of a certain product by using more detailed information than visual media. Furthermore, printed media can also be seen in newspapers such as broadsheets and tabloids (小报) where they provide readers with information and gossip (in tabloids) around the world.
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⭥22.媒体暴力对孩子的影响
⭥段落大意:媒体暴力对孩子的成长有着深远的负面影响。
⭥The media clearly have an impact on our lives and especially the young, impressionable and weak-minded people in our society. Children become desensitized (使不敏感) to violence when they see it everyday on TV, in movies and even in video games. They are not properly aware of what is real and what is not. TV news deadens (麻木) people’s perception of reality. People of all ages, especially those who are at an impressionable period of their lives, need to know that murder, death and violence are real and that sadness comes with all of these.
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⭥23.媒体是交流工具
⭥段落大意:媒体是用来进行交流、教育、娱乐等活动的强大工具。
⭥If the media does not understand the cultural characteristics of a country, it would not be aware of the shared cultural values of the community and could easily offend the country. The media is a very powerful tool of communication, which is used to educate, inform and entertain people all over the world. The media uses sign systems through newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and the Internet etc.
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⭥24.广告的观念传播
⭥段落大意:广告传播买卖、价值、成功、失败等诸多观念。
⭥The media, which is somewhat reflective of society, has become a powerful tool in shaping our culture. Advertisements are the foundation of mass media. They sell images, values, success, normalcy (常态), and romance. Daily, we are exposed to advertisements no matter whether they are printed or on screen.
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⭥25.广告与政治观念
⭥段落大意:媒体影响着我们生活的各个方面,包括政治。
⭥Media are all around us. We as a society absorb media from television, radio, magazines, billboards, and newspapers. Media has such a strong effect on our lives that we do not even notice its presence sometimes. Media is a powerful force in shaping our culture and democracy. Media reflects and sustains (支撑) the values and traditions of our society. We can use mass media to our advantage if we are cautious of the impact it has over us.
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