★征战AW，不忘阅读★Times or Economist系列精读★

nvligreUID：2689384

Good word
Gre word
New word
Nice structure
Seeking compromise

THE Copenhagen climate conference is supposed to be making a fresh start, as ministers and heads of government prepare to arrive in the Danish capital in the coming days. Instead, it has endured a fresh stall. The meeting was to focus on two sparkling new texts （应该可以理解为有争议的问题或者是集中关注的问题吧）that are notable at least for their concision. The draft statement for one of the two main “tracks” of discussion（表达针对某个问题的不同观点，比different views好多了） (on long term co-operation) has shrunk from 179 pages at the beginning of last week to six.

But on Monday December 14th progress on the substantial discussions stuttered（问题进展的不顺利）, more or less, to a halt as poorer countries, grouped as G77 and China, walked out（离去，to depart ，get away ，drop away）temporarily. By the time things had started again some of the sessions were facing their first late-night negotiations. There will be a lot more.

The problem was not specifically over the strength of the measures being called for, though that is a point of difference between the most vulnerable countries and the more developed ones. Last week the Alliance of Small Island States called for global warming to be limited to 1.5ºC over pre-industrial levels, something which many other poor countries support. Most richer countries, by contrast, are working on the basis of a limit of 2ºC. This seems one of the easier issues to resolve as many studies relating emissions to temperature agree that limiting a rise to 1.5ºC is in all practical ways impossible.

Some of the poorer countries appear to be using the 1.5ºC figure as a useful bargaining position from which to press for bigger emissions cuts from the rich world. The cuts proposed so far, although larger than might have been expected a year ago, are unlikely to limit global warming even to 2ºC. In addition, many poorer countries are seeking to extract more money from rich ones. A “fast start” package of $10 billion a year, over the next few years, which is being put together by rich countries is seen as grossly（比较好的非常的表达方法，还有的表达：very ，extraordinary ，）insufficient by poor-country negotiators, who talk of transfers of “5% of GDP”. On all this the new slimline text which is supposed to frame an agreement to replace the Kyoto protocol is magnificently reticent: “To be elaborated: a long-term goal for financing.”

The overall shape of the Copenhagen agreement is proving to be the main bone of contention. One proposal is that rich countries should remain subject to Kyoto-level emission cuts, which are due to expire in 2012, until 2020. Poor countries are adamant that richer countries should be held responsible with a binding protocol. But the rich countries that signed up to Kyoto (mostly European ones) are refusing to agree to do this unilaterally because they would get nothing in return from America, which is not party to Kyoto, or from any developing countries, on which Kyoto makes no demands.

A compromise that is contained in the draft text, suggesting that richer countries would cut emissions, but without the binding nature of Kyoto, may offer some way to get beyond this impasse. But there are plenty of other ways for things to go wrong once the heads of government turn up. One concern is the question of （看着简单的结构但是很少用这个结构）what, if anything, poorer countries will be bound to do themselves. The current text requires that developing countries act only when rich countries pay them to do so. It seems highly unlikely that an agreement will be reached without further requirements of some sort.（此句可以用在不同的文章针对不同有分歧的问题有待解决的时候） It is up to the conference to work out what they might be.
可用于发生利益冲突的例子

emily_feifeiUID：2626151

考完了~在忙申请了~但是看到这个贴忍不住收藏了~学校上不了T 和E~顶~

StefanaUID：2143510

需要记忆的词汇
用得恰当的词汇
短语提炼
句子表述提炼

The world economy
The Great StabilisationDec 17th 2009
From The Economist print edition

The recession was less calamitous than many feared. Its aftermath will be more dangerous than many expect
IT HAS become known as the “Great Recession”, the year in which the global economy suffered its deepest slump since the second world war. But an equally apt name would be the “Great Stabilisation”. For 2009 was extraordinary not just for how output fell, but for how a catastrophe was averted. （提出文章的T-word——great stablisation）

Twelve months ago, the panic sown by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers had pushed financial markets close to collapse. Global economic activity, from industrial production to foreign trade, was falling faster than in the early 1930s. This time, though, the decline was stemmed within months. Big emerging economies accelerated first and fastest. China’s output, which stalled but never fell, was growing by an annualised rate of some 17% in the second quarter. By mid-year the world’s big, rich economies (with the exception of Britain and Spain) had started to expand again. Only a few laggards, such as Latvia and Ireland, are now likely still to be in recession.

There has been a lot of collateral damage. Average unemployment across the OECD is almost 9%. In America, where the recession began much earlier, the jobless rate has doubled to 10%. In some places years of progress in poverty reduction have been undone as the poorest have been hit by the double whammy of weak economies and still-high food prices. But thanks to the resilience of big, populous economies such as China, India and Indonesia, the emerging world overall fared no worse in this downturn than in the 1991 recession. For many people on the planet, the Great Recession was not all that great.

That outcome was not inevitable. It was the result of the biggest, broadest and fastest government response in history. Teetering banks were wrapped in a multi-trillion-dollar cocoon of public cash and guarantees. Central banks slashed interest rates; the big ones dramatically expanded their balance-sheets. Governments worldwide embraced fiscal stimulus with gusto. This extraordinary activism helped to stem panic, prop up the financial system and counter the collapse in private demand. Despite claims to the contrary, the Great Recession could have been a Depression without it.
Stable but frail
So much for the good news. The bad news is that today’s stability, however welcome, is worryingly fragile, both because global demand is still dependent on government support and because public largesse has papered over old problems while creating new sources of volatility. Property prices are still falling in more places than they are rising, and, as this week’s nationalisation of Austria’s Hypo Group shows, banking stresses still persist. Apparent signs of success, such as American megabanks repaying public capital early, make it easy to forget that the recovery still depends on government support. Strip out the temporary effects of firms’ restocking, and much of the rebound in global demand is thanks to the public purse, from the officially induced investment surge in China to stimulus-prompted spending in America. That is revving recovery in big emerging economies, while only staving off a relapse into recession in much of the rich world.

This divergence will persist. Demand in the rich world will remain weak, especially in countries with over-indebted households and broken banking systems. For all the talk of deleveraging, American households’ debt, relative to their income, is only slightly below its peak and some 30% above its level a decade ago. British and Spanish households have adjusted even less, so the odds of prolonged weakness in private spending are even greater. And as their public-debt burden rises, rich-world governments will find it increasingly difficult to borrow still more to compensate. The contrast with better-run emerging economies will sharpen. Investors are already worried about Greece defaulting, but other members of the euro zone are also at risk. Even Britain and America could face sharply higher borrowing costs.

Big emerging economies face the opposite problem: the spectre of asset bubbles and other distortions as governments choose, or are forced, to keep financial conditions too loose for too long. China is a worry, thanks to the scale and composition of its stimulus. Liquidity is alarmingly abundant and the government’s refusal to allow the yuan to appreciate is hampering the economy’s shift towards consumption. But loose monetary policy in the rich world makes it hard for emerging economies to tighten even if they want to, since that would suck in even more speculative foreign capital.
Walking a fine line
Whether the world economy moves smoothly from the Great Stabilisation to a sustainable recovery depends on how well these divergent challenges are met. Some of the remedies are obvious. A stronger yuan would accelerate the rebalancing of China’s economy while reducing the pressure on other emerging markets. Credible plans for medium-term fiscal cuts would reduce the risk of rising long-term interest rates in the rich world. But there are genuine trade-offs. Fiscal tightening now could kill the rich world’s recovery. And the monetary stance that makes sense for America’s domestic economy will add to the problems facing the emerging world.

That is why policymakers face huge technical difficulties in getting the exit strategies right. Worse, they must do so against a darkening political backdrop. As Britain’s tax on bank bonuses shows, fiscal policy in the rich world risks being driven by rising public fury at bankers and bail-outs. In America the independence of the Federal Reserve is under threat from Congress. And the politics of high unemployment means trade spats are becoming a bigger risk, especially with China.

Add all this up, and what do you get? Pessimists expect all kinds of shocks in 2010, from sovereign-debt crises (a Greek default?) to reckless protectionism (American tariffs against China’s “unfair” currency, say). More likely is a plethora of lesser problems, from sudden surges in bond yields (Britain before the election), to short-sighted fiscal decisions (a financial-transactions tax) to strikes over pay cuts (British Airways is a portent). Small beer compared with the cataclysm of a year ago—but enough to temper the holiday cheer.


WORDS REVIEW:
slump:
n. 暴跌,意气消沉,(土地)下沉
vi. 猛然掉落,坍塌,大幅度下跌
常常在经济类词汇里与recession一起用，eg.The current economic slump is an earnest of the major recession to come.
larggard:
n. 落后者
adj. 缓慢的, 落后的
eg.The problems existed in the prior period of construction project,such as laggard work and imperfect scheme,are pointed out in this paper.
whammy:
n. 晦气, 剧烈的打击
teetering:
adj.摇摆的，摇摇欲坠的
eg.Their teetering currency rates have caused their purchasing power to be weakened.
rev
v. 发动机旋转, 加快速度
eg.Since the introduction of new techniques, the production has been revving up.
divergence
n. 分歧，散度(数学用语)
eg.Sufficient coordination between banking and marketing executives should be enough to eliminate divergence of results.
Liquidity
n.流动性, 偿债能力
Hong Kong's financial markets are characterised by a high degree of liquidity.

懒羊羊123UID：2739261

The world this yearDec 17th 2009
From The Economist print edition
Reuters
Barack Obama was inaugurated as America’s 44th president. In a whirlwind first year in office, Mr Obama overturned a prohibition on federal funding for stem-cell research, eased some restrictions on dealing with Cuba, lifted a ban on people with HIV travelling to the United States, pushed Congress to pass health-care reform, promised to close the detention camp at Guantánamo, pledged a cut in America’s emissions and promoted the first Hispanic person to the Supreme Court.
whirlwind：resembling a whirlwind especially in speed or force <a whirlwind campaign> <a whirlwind romance>
A new sheriff in townMr Obama also set about changing the tone of American foreign and security policy, for example by seeking to “reset” relations with a prickly Russia and by stopping the use of torture during intelligence interrogations. Speaking in Cairo, Mr Obama’s call for “a new beginning” with Muslims was applauded by the Arab world. The new president was awarded the Nobel peace prize, though many said this was premature. He defended the use of force in “just wars”.
set about
: to start doing or dealing with something, especially something that needs a lot of time and effort
prickly:
3 a : TROUBLESOME, VEXATIOUS <prickly issues> b : easily irritated <had a prickly disposition>
Iran and North Korea
remained belligerent despite Mr Obama’s plea to tyrannies to “unclench your fist”. Iran moved ahead with its nuclear programme, conducting missile tests just before it attended talks in Geneva with six leading powers. A secret Iranian uranium-processing facility was discovered. North Korea launched a rocket that the West believed could target Alaska. Two American female journalists held by North Korea were freed when Bill Clinton went to Pyongyang to meet Kim Jong Il, the Hermit Kingdom’s ailing dictator.
American troops withdrew from Iraq’s big cities in June. Earlier, Mr Obama presented a plan to withdraw most troops from Iraq in 2010. Sporadic bursts of suicide-bombings that killed scores of people continued to plague the country. A general election will be held in March.
scores of : a lot of people or things
Efforts to stabilise Afghanistan were hampered by a disputed presidential election. Amid claims of corruption and poll-rigging, Hamid Karzai was declared the winner, but only after his remaining rival pulled out of a run-off ballot.
rig: to manipulate or control usually by deceptive or dishonest means
It was the worst year by far for coalition casualties in the war in Afghanistan. General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander there, requested more forces to fight the resurgent Taliban, but Mr Obama came in for some flak for dithering over his response. He eventually agreed to send an extra 30,000 troops.
dithering over :
to keep being unable to make a final decision about something
The violence also intensified in Pakistan, with the most savage terrorist assaults carried out in Peshawar, capital of the North-West Frontier Province. In October the Taliban attacked Pakistan’s army headquarters in Rawalpindi. Pakistani troops began a campaign against the Taliban in the tribal areas of South Waziristan.
To the right, quick marchA military coup in Honduras ousted Manuel Zelaya from the presidency. Mr Zelaya found refuge in the Brazilian embassy in the capital. After much fruitless diplomacy, an election was won by Porfirio Lobo, the centre-right candidate, though many governments said they would not recognise the result.
found refuge:接受避难
The European Union’s Lisbon treaty finally came into force after the Irish approved it in a second referendum and the Czech president (eventually) signed it. This did not lessen the enthusiasm of Eurosceptics for bashing the document. Herman Van Rompuy, Belgium’s prime minister, was elevated to the lofty position of permanent president of the European Council.
come into force: if a new law, rule, change etc comes or is brought into force, it starts to exist
referendum: the principle or practice of submitting to popular vote a measure passed on or proposed by a legislative body or by popular initiative
Mexico’s government in December achieved a rare success in its war on drugs when troops killed Arturo Beltrán Leyva, a leading trafficker. In March, the United Nations renewed its commitment to drug prohibition, though there were more waverers. Marijuana is becoming legal in many parts of the Americas.
trafficker: someone who buys and sells illegal goods, especially drugs
Marijuana:大麻
China’s economy began to roar ahead again; imports and exports grew following a sharp decline and itsreturning appetite for raw materials was partly responsible for a rise in commodity prices.
Labour painsGovernments around the world took measures to tackle the worst economic crisis in decades as unemployment shot up. The American Congress passed a massive $787 billion stimulus package in January and the Bank of England implemented a programme of “quantitative easing” thatpumped &pound;200 billion ($330 billion) of new money into Britain’s economy.
shoot up: to increase very quickly and suddenly
As a result of such measures Western economies emerged tentatively from recession, allaying fears that the world would enter a Depression-style slump. But worries were soon aired about the sustainability of large budget deficits: America’s hit more than $1.4 trillion. The IMF, European Central Bank and others urged countries to take steps to unwind their stimulus schemes.
unwind: to undo (a financial arrangement or position) through the necessary legal or financial steps <unwound most of its natural gas hedges ― N.Y. Times>
With stockmarkets up, and after passing government “stress tests” to see how they would cope in future downturns, many banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, began to repay the bail-out money they had received at the height of the crisis. Many financed this by offering shares through big capital-raising plans.
‘Tis the season to be jollyBank bosses were roasted by politicians for continuing to pay out large bonuses. The revelation that bonuses were given to executives at American International Group, a troubled insurer that obtained a $170 billion bail-out, sparked outrage. Britain’s chancellor imposed a supertax on bankers’ bonuses in Britain.
roast: to subject to severe criticism or ridicule <films have been roasted by most critics ― H. J. Seldes>
Bernie Madoff received a 150-year jail sentence for defrauding clients of $65 billion in his Ponzi scheme. Sir Allen Stanford, a Texan billionaire and cricket promoter, was arrested for allegedly defrauding investors out of $8 billion through his bank in Antigua.
An Air France jet en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed into the mid-Atlantic in June killing 228 people, the worst plane crash in a decade.
The Iranian presidential election brought about the Islamic Republic’s worst crisis since the 1979 revolution. Polls had suggested that Mir Hosein Mousavi, a reform-minded candidate, might defeat Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The scale of Mr Ahmadinejad’s victory caused millions to take to the streets to protest against what they said was a rigged election. Hundreds were arrested in Tehran and elsewhere. Dissidents were sentenced in a series of televised trials.
After a quarter of a century of conflict, Sri Lanka’s civil war came to an end when the army overwhelmed the last remnants of the rebel Tamil Tigers. Thousands were killed in the final days of fighting and up to 300,000 were displaced.
Australia suffered its worst-ever outbreak of wildfires in February, in which more than 170 people died across Victoria.
Deck the hallsRevelations about the expenses charged by British members of Parliament
crushed many reputations. The juicier claims included those for duck islands, manure, moat-cleaning and adult films.
General Motors went bust with debts of $172 billion, America’s biggest-ever industrial failure. The American government took a majority stake in the carmaker as it emerged from bankruptcy protection. GM and its rivals benefited from “cash-for-clunkers” subsidies schemes, which encouraged consumers to trade in their old bangers for more fuel-efficient models.
bust: to ruin financially
emerge from :
to come out of a difficult experience
Chrysler also went bankrupt and was eventually rescued by Fiat. Other companies of note that went to the wall included Nortel Networks, a telecoms-equipment maker, Reader’s Digest, Six Flags, an amusement-park operator, Trump Entertainment, a casino-owner in Atlantic City, the publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times, and Waterford Wedgwood, a maker of crystal and china.
go to the wall:
if a company goes to the wall, it fails, especially because of financial difficulties
A power-sharing government in Zimbabwe saw Robert Mugabe retain the presidency and Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, become prime minister. A month after being sworn in Mr Tsvangirai was injured in a car crash in which his wife died.
After Hamas stepped up its rocket attacks at the end of 2008, Israel began a major offensive in the Gaza Strip, launching air strikes and a ground invasion. Hundreds of Palestinian civilians were killed and thousands injured before Israel pulled out in mid-January. Following an investigation, the UN’s Goldstone report, published in September, accused both Israeli forces and Hamas of committing war crimes, but reserved its harshest criticism for Israel, which rejected the document as grossly biased.
pulled out : to get out of a bad situation or dangerous place, or to make someone or something do this
Binyamin Netanyahu became prime minister of Israel—for the second time—at the head of a coalition government following an election. Diplomacy over prisoner exchanges and settlement freezes continued at a glacial pace, frustrating many, though in June Mr Netanyahu for the first time publicly accepted the idea of Palestinian statehood.
Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez won a referendum that abolished term limits for the presidency. Mr Chávez continued to harass the opposition and threatened military action against Colombia, after its government updated an agreement which allows American troops to use its bases to fight drug-traffickers.
The H1N1 influenza virus, or swine flu, spread from Mexico prompting the World Health Organisation to declare a global pandemic. Countries advised their citizens to restrict travel and avoid public places. At least 9,500 people worldwide are thought to have died from the disease so far.
Global swarmingHordes of environmental activists mingled with heads of state at the Copenhagen conference on climate change, at which governments tried to thrash out agreements to reduce emissions.
thrash out : to discuss something thoroughly with someone until you find an answer, reach an agreement, or decide on something
In other elections, Angela Merkel was returned to power in Germany
at the head of a new centre-right coalition, the Congress party increased its majority in India, Jacob Zuma was chosen as South Africa’s new president and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was re-elected president in Indonesia. Japan’s election was won by the Democratic Party of Japan, ending almost half a century of uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.
Greenland celebrated home rule from Denmark by distributing two tonnes of rare whale meat.
Georgia’s entry was banned from the Eurovision song contest. Its ditty, “We Don’t Wanna Put In”, was deemed to be a swipe at Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, whose “negative move” was allegedly “killin’ the groove”.
swipe :
a sharp often critical remark <took a parting swipe at management>

懒羊羊123UID：2739261

And here the controversy begins.For the mine’s security, in a land that epitomizes insecurity, is paid for by others.
懒羊羊认为for 做“因为”的意思，因为前后两句有因果的关系。in a land作为状语。

StefanaUID：2143510

A special report on climate change and the carbon economy
Getting warmer
Dec 3rd 2009 From The Economist print edition

So far the effort to tackle global warming has achieved little. Copenhagen offers the chance to do better, says Emma Duncan (interviewed here)
Illustration by M. Morgenstern

THE mountain bark beetle is a familiar pest in the forests of British Columbia. Its population rises and falls unpredictably, destroying clumps of pinewood(from wikipedia:The wood of the pine; A forest of pine trees) as it peaks which then regenerate as the bug recedes. But Scott Green, who studies forest ecology at the University of Northern British Columbia, says the current outbreak is “unprecedented in recorded history: a natural background-noise disturbance has become a major outbreak. We’re looking at the loss of 80% of our pine forest cover.”* Other parts of North America have also been affected, but the damage in British Columbia is particularly severe, and particularly troubling in a province whose economy is dominated by timber.
(The outbreak of bark beetle is unprecedented)

Three main explanations for this disastrous outbreak suggest themselves. It could be chance. Populations do fluctuate dramatically and unexpectedly. It could be the result of management practices. British Columbia’s woodland is less varied than it used to be, which helps a beetle that prefers pine. Or it could be caused by the higher temperatures that now prevail in northern areas, allowing beetles to breed more often in summer and survive in greater numbers through the winter.
(Three explanations for disastrous outbreak of bark beetle)

The Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which the United Nations adopted at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, is now 17 years old. Its aim was “to achieve stabilisation of greenhouse-gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. The Kyoto protocol, which set about realising those aims, was signed in 1997 and came into force in 2005. Its first commitment period runs out in 2012, and implementing a new one is expected to take at least three years, which is why the 15th conference of the parties to the UNFCCC that starts in Copenhagen on December 7th is such a big deal. Without a new global agreement, there is not much chance of averting serious climate change.
(The aim of the UNFCCC)

Since the UNFCCC was signed, much has changed, though more in the biosphere than the human sphere. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the body set up to establish a scientific consensus on what is happening, heat waves, droughts, floods and serious hurricanes have increased in frequency over the past few decades(可以弄到AW里举例用); it reckons those trends are all likely or very likely to have been caused by human activity and will probably continue. Temperatures by the end of the century might be up by anything from 1.1&ordm;C to 6.4&ordm;C.
(The change of the biosphere since the UNFCCC was signed)

In most of the world the climate changes to date are barely perceptible or hard to pin on warming. In British Columbia and farther north the effects of climate change are clearer. Air temperatures in the Arctic are rising about twice as fast as in the rest of the world. The summer sea ice is thinning and shrinking. The past three years have seen the biggest losses since proper record-keeping started in 1979. Ten years ago scientists reckoned that summer sea-ice would be gone by the end of this century. Now they expect it to disappear within a decade or so.
(The facts to prove the effects of the climate change are pin on warming.)

Since sea-ice is already in the water, its melting has little effect on sea levels. Those are determined by temperature (warmer water takes up more room) and the size of the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps. The glaciers in south-eastern Greenland have picked up speed. Jakobshavn Isbrae, the largest of them, which drains 6% of Greenland’s ice, is now moving at 12km a year—twice as fast as it was when the UNFCCC was signed—and its “calving front”, where it breaks down into icebergs, has retreated by 20km in six years. That is part of the reason why the sea level is now rising at 3-3.5mm a year, twice the average annual rate in the 20th century.
(The bad effects of global warmming.)

As with the mountain bark beetle, it is not entirely clear why this is happening. The glaciers could be retreating because of one of the countless natural oscillations in the climate that scientists do not properly understand. If so, the glacial retreat could well stop, as it did in the middle of the 20th century after a 100-year retreat. But the usual causes of natural variability do not seem to explain the current trend, so scientists incline to the view that it is man-made. It is therefore likely to persist unless mankind starts to behave differently—and there is not much sign of that happening.
(The reason caused the outbreak of the bark beetle is not clear.)

Carbon-dioxide emissions are now 30% higher than they were when the UNFCCC was signed 17 years ago. Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 equivalent (carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases) reached 430 parts per million last year, compared with 280ppm before the industrial revolution. At the current rate of increase they could more than treble by the end of the century, which would mean a 50% risk of a global temperature increase of 5&ordm;C. To put that in context, the current average global temperature is only 5&ordm;C warmer than the last ice age. Such a rise would probably lead to fast-melting ice sheets, rising sea levels, drought, disease and collapsing agriculture in poor countries, and mass migration. But nobody really knows, and nobody wants to know.
(Some facts about CO2.)

Some scientists think that the planet is already on an irreversible journey to dangerous warming. A few climate-change sceptics think the problem will right itself. Either may be correct. Predictions about a mechanism as complex as the climate cannot be made with any certainty. But the broad scientific consensus is that serious climate change is a danger, and this newspaper believes that, as an insurance policy against a catastrophe that may never happen, the world needs to adjust its behaviour to try to avert that threat.
(Some thoughts about dangerous warming.)

The problem is not a technological one. The human race has almost all the tools it needs to continue leading much the sort of life it has been enjoying without causing a net increase in greenhouse-gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Industrial and agricultural processes can be changed. Electricity can be produced by wind, sunlight, biomass or nuclear reactors, and cars can be powered by biofuels and electricity. Biofuel engines for aircraft still need some work before they are suitable for long-haul flights, but should be available soon.
(Some problems in other fields.)

Nor is it a question of economics. Economists argue over the sums (see article), but broadly agree that greenhouse-gas emissions can be curbed without flattening the world economy.

A hard sell

It is all about politics. Climate change is the hardest political problem the world has ever had to deal with. It is a prisoner’s dilemma, a free-rider problem and the tragedy of the commons all rolled into one. At issue is the difficulty of allocating the cost of collective action and trusting other parties to bear their share of the burden. At a city, state and national level, institutions that can resolve such problems have been built up over the centuries. But climate change has been a worldwide worry for only a couple of decades. Mankind has no framework for it. The UN is a useful talking shop, but it does not get much done.
(The climate change is a worldwide worry for the governments.)

The closest parallel is the world trading system. This has many achievements to its name, but it is not an encouraging model. Not only is the latest round of negotiations mired in difficulty, but the World Trade Organisation’s task is child’s play compared with climate change. The benefits of concluding trade deals are certain and accrue in the short term. The benefits of mitigating climate change are uncertain, since scientists are unsure of the scale and consequences of global warming, and will mostly accrue many years hence. The need for action, by contrast, is urgent.
(Some actions for the climate change.)

The problem will be solved only if the world economy moves from carbon-intensive to low-carbon—and, in the long term, to zero-carbon—products and processes. That requires businesses to change their investment patterns. And they will do so only if governments give them clear, consistent signals. This special report will argue that so far this has not happened. The policies adopted to avoid dangerous climate change have been partly misconceived and largely inadequate. They have sent too many wrong signals and not enough of the right ones.
(The way to solve the problem.)

That is partly because of the way the Kyoto protocol was designed. By trying to include all the greenhouse gases in a single agreement, it has been less successful than the less ambitious Montreal protocol, which cut ozone-depleting gases fast and cheaply. By including too many countries in detailed negotiations, it has reduced the chances of agreement. And by dividing the world into developed and developing countries, it has deepened a rift that is proving hard to close. Ultimately, though, the international agreement has fallen victim to domestic politics. Voters do not want to bear the cost of their elected leaders’ aspirations, and those leaders have not been brave enough to push them.
(The outcomes of the international aggrement.)

Copenhagen represents a second chance to make a difference. The aspirations are high, but so are the hurdles. The gap between the parties on the two crucial questions—emissions levels and money—remains large. America’s failure so far to pass climate-change legislation means that a legally binding agreement will not be reached at the conference. The talk is of one in Bonn, in six months’ time, or in Mexico City in a year.
(A legally binding agreement will not be reached at the conference.)

To suggest that much has gone wrong is not to denigrate the efforts of the many people who have dedicated two decades to this problem. For mankind to get even to the threshold of a global agreement is a marvel. But any global climate deal will work only if the domestic policies through which it is implemented are both efficient and effective. If they are ineffective, nothing will change. If they are inefficient, they will waste money. And if taxpayers decide that green policies are packed with pork, they will turn against them.
(The attitude of the taxpayers.)

WORDS REVIEW:
fluctuate
vi. 变动, 上下, 动摇
vt. 使动摇
eg.Statistics about Internet usage fluctuate greatly depending upon the source, and change almost daily.
prevail
vi. 获胜, 盛行, 主导
eg.This view did not prevail in all parts of the executive branch.
anthropogenic
adj. 人类发生的，人类起源的，人为的
reckon
vt. 计算,估计,认为
vi. 计(算),判断,依靠
eg.If we reckon up the numbers of visitors to the exhibition for the past week, we shall see a surprising total.
marvel:
n. 奇异的事物, 罕见的例子
v. 惊异于, 惊异
eg.The foreign tourists marvel at the fine view of the West Lake.

bark beetle(from wikipedia):
A bark beetle is one of approximately 220 genera with 6,000 species of beetles in the subfamily Scolytinae. Traditionally this was considered a distinct family Scolytidae, but nowadays it is understood that bark beetles are in fact very specialized members of the "true weevil" family (Curculionidae). Well-known species are members of the type genus Scolytus - namely the European elm bark beetle S. multistriatus and the large elm bark beetle S. scolytus, which like the American elm bark beetle Hylurgopinus rufipes transmit Dutch elm disease fungi (Ophiostoma). Another well-known species of Europe is the Ips typographus.

windandrain2004UID：2597690

From Times Online
January 13, 2010
Google defies Chinese censors after cyberattacks on Gmail accounts of activists
Chinese man, under the watchful eyes of a security guard, talks to the media after he places bouquets of flowers in front of the Google China office in Beijing on January 13, 2010.


Watched by police, a passer-by places flowers in front of Google's China headquarters after the internet company said it would no longer censor content

Google has announced it will no longer submit to Chinese internet censors(A person authorized to examine books, films, or other material and to remove or suppress what is considered morally, politically, or otherwise objectionable) in protest after it discovered cyber attacks aimed at Chinese human rights activists.
The internet company's decision to take a stand may cost it its share of the lucrative and growing Chinese market.
The internet giant company said last night that it had detected a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China”.
Further investigation showed that “a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists”. Google said that at least 20 other large companies from a range of businesses had been similarly targeted.
Google believes that the attack was mostly blocked and that only minor information, such as creation dates and subject lines, were stolen from two accounts.
It said the investigation showed that accounts of dozens of China human rights activists using Gmail in Europe, China or the United States had been “routinely accessed” using malware (malicious software).
Despite its government-mandated filters, Google remains one of the few sites where images of images of students crushed to death under tanks in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown can be found.
That may cease if Google holds to its promise to stop censoring its search engine and pulls its plug on the world’s biggest internet population.
Google officials plan to talk to the Chinese Government to determine whether there is a way that the company can still provide unfiltered search results in the country.
If an agreement cannot be worked out, as is most likely, Google is prepared to leave China
four years after it created a search engine bearing China’s web suffix, “.cn”, to put itself in a better position to profit from the world's most populous country.
David Drummond, Google’s top lawyer, wrote in a blog posting yesterday: “The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences.”
The authorities have so far kept silent on the statement from Google.
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, swiftly stepped into the fray, signalling that President Obama may be ready to take a harder line towards Beijing. Mrs Clinton said: “We have been briefed by Google on these allegations(n.指控), which raise very serious concerns and questions. We look to the Chinese Government for an explanation.
"The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy.
“I will be giving an address next week on the centrality of internet freedom in the 21st century, and we will have further comment on this matter as the facts become clear."
Jeremy Goldkorn, a Beijing-based media expert, said: “It’s quite remarkable. It is unprecedented for a foreign company with significant operations in China to publicly state such things with such evident hostility.
"It will be interesting to see what the fallout would be.”
In a sign that not all Chinese fall into line with some angry web comments that users would manage just fine without Google, some people had been delivering bouquets of flowers to the company’s Beijing office.
One accompanying note read: “Google: a real man.”
Wen Yunchao, the prominent and outspoken Chinese blogger, said: “This attack from China really targets some democracy activists, and for Google this is a challenge to their morals and their legal bottom line. "Google has fired an arrow and they know they can't take it back.”
He added: “The Chinese Government cannot allow Google to operate without censorship. Of course, we hope that following its economic development, China could have more self-confidence and could be a little more open and globalised. The pity is that since 2008, things have been going backwards with the internet.”
The company that has “Don’t be evil” as its motto had been a late entrant into China and its market share is estimated at just over 30 per cent, compared with more than 60 per cent for giant Baidu.
The latter is the mainstay of China’s internet population, which, at more than 300 million, exceeds the entire population of the US.
Chinese internet filters are intended to block access content that the Government deems threatening – such words as Tibetan independence, the Dalai Lama, Taiwan independence and, of course, the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Even with the filters, some references dribble through – far more than can be obtained via Baidu.
Previously, Google had repeatedly said that it would obey Chinese laws requiring some politically and socially sensitive issues to be blocked from search results available in other countries.
The acquiescence had outraged free-speech advocates and even some shareholders, who argued Google's co-operation with China violated its motto.

文中有两处用到line（已标出），根据AHD里的释义，第一处可以解释为An official or prescribed policy，第二处个人理解为words，其实第一处也可以理解为words，不过是official。

長安UID：2573189

留個爪，看了第一篇，每天看一點，堅持到考試
謝謝斑竹！

長安UID：2573189

看完了第二篇，Obama的healthcare reform那個，末尾有句話看不大明白
“The scope of that tax will increase quickly because the income thresholds would not be indexed to inflation. ”
threshold， index to...查了詞典還是不甚清楚，請教T_T

霁月难逢UID：2718354

“The scope of that tax will increase quickly because the income thresholds would not be indexed to inflation. ”
threshold， index to...查了詞典還是不甚清楚，請教T_T
長安 发表于 2010-1-6 19:06

income threshold算是经济学的术语了 收入限额 可以扩展解释为“缴纳个人所得税的最低限额”

index to不用过于字面的去翻译，直接理解成lead to就可以了

至于这里面的关系简单去解释的话就是：

增加税收之后因为人们手头的钱更少了，所以就可以让钱更值钱

而通货膨胀的原因则是因为钱越来越不值钱，所以增加收入限额之后不会导致通货膨胀

逆风的船UID：2724552

凑凑热闹
The Lock Keeper's Inn outside Belfast is an attractive but otherwise unremarkable café. Serving up the usual Northern Irish fare of sausage rolls and stew, it's a place to stop for a quiet coffee after walking along the nearby riverbank. A world away, it would seem, from the bitter feuds of Northern Irish politics. （就是地道）But following a series of remarkable revelations this week, the inn is at the center of a scandal that could threaten the career of Northern Ireland's top politician.

On Thursday, a BBC television program called Spotlight issued a report accusing First Minister Peter Robinson's wife Iris of breaking the law by failing to disclose her financial interest in a 2008 business deal that helped launch the café. The report alleged that Iris Robinson — then aged 59 and, like her husband, a well-known politician in Northern Ireland — had obtained $80,000 from two property developers for a 19-year-old man, Kirk McCambley, with whom she had been having an affair. According to the report, the teenager allegedly used most of the money to set up the café but saved $8,000 to give back to his lover, the appropriately named Mrs. Robinson.
(See pictures of new hope for Belfast.)

The revelation followed a series of other disclosures about the Robinsons' private lives over the past couple of weeks. On Dec. 28, Iris Robinson, who currently serves in both the British Parliament and Northern Ireland assembly, announced she would be ending her 20-year political career, saying she had been suffering from "serious bouts of depression." Then, on Jan. 6, a handful of television journalists were invited to meet Peter Robinson at his home outside Belfast. Robinson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Northern Ireland's largest political party, is known for his clinical, dispassionate public image. As the cameras rolled, Robinson appeared to fight back tears as he revealed his wife's extramarital affair and the fact that Iris had attempted suicide last March because she'd been "racked with guilt" over the relationship. The Spotlight program subsequently revealed McCambley's identity and his age at the time the affair began (he's now 21).

The news has stunned Northern Ireland, a staunchly conservative society in which many politicians, particularly those in Protestant-backed unionist parties, see themselves as unofficial guardians of public morality. The Robinsons — who are practicing Evangelical Christians — were certainly no exception.
(See pictures of the British army leaving Northern Ireland.)

Two years ago, Iris Robinson caused an outcry when, during a BBC radio interview, she described homosexuality as "an abomination" and suggested that gay people could be "turned around" through counseling. A few days later, she reiterated her views, telling a TV interviewer that "just as a murderer can be redeemed by the blood of Christ, so can a homosexual." Gay-rights activists accused her of inciting hatred, and scores of complaints were lodged with the police. According to the Spotlight report, Robinson's relationship with McCambley had started before those comments were made.

Although Evangelical influence over the DUP has waned in recent years, Evangelical congregations — particularly those in rural Northern Ireland — still form the backbone of the party founded by the Rev. Ian Paisley in 1971. The couple's standing among these devout members is now likely to deteriorate. "The Robinson affair will be difficult for core DUP supporters," says Gladys Ganiel, a lecturer at Trinity College Dublin and author of a book on Evangelicalism in Northern Ireland. "It certainly doesn't hurt to talk about your faith in public in Northern Ireland politics, and no one has done that more than Iris Robinson. But Evangelical voters expect a certain moral standard, and this [affair] could prove to be a real fly in the ointment."
(Read "Belfast's Paisley Loses His Flock.")

Although Iris Robinson had already indicated her intention to quit politics before the Spotlight show aired, she now faces calls to resign immediately. As for her husband's political future, much depends on how much Peter knew of the money his wife is alleged to have obtained for her lover. The majority of the BBC's evidence came from Selwyn Black, a former political adviser to Iris, who produced several text messages sent by his employer referring to the business deal and her husband. Black also claims that, during phone calls with Iris, he overheard Peter allegedly advising his wife on how the money should be repaid.

Peter Robinson issued a statement Friday denying any personal wrongdoing: "While I have learned from Spotlight for the first time some alleged aspects of my wife's affair and her financial arrangements, I will be resolutely defending attacks on my character and contesting any allegations of wrongdoing." But that hasn't stopped his opponents from pondering whether he'll continue to have a political future. Reg Empey, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, has called for an investigation into the claims, describing the revelations as being of "deep concern to all those concerned with the integrity of political life and the democratic process."

The disclosures come at a delicate time for Northern Ireland's fragile power-sharing government of Catholic and Protestant parties. Peter Robinson and his Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness of the Sinn Fein party, have failed to reach an agreement over the devolution of policing and justice powers from London to Northern Ireland, despite months of negotiations. Catholic republicans have for years accused the British-run law-and-order system of having a pro-Protestant bias, while Protestant unionists have been reluctant to alter the current setup. The impasse has added to the public's frustration over a perceived lack of progress on a host of key issues.
(Read "Site of IRA Hunger Strike Haunts Northern Ireland.")

At the end of Peter Robinson's emotional TV interview on Wednesday, the First Minister said he had no intention of resigning. "I am determined to try and put this issue behind me," he said. "It is my intention ... to continue the work the people of Northern Ireland have entrusted to me." But with the Northern Irish now scrutinizing the Robinson family ever more closely, business as usual looks increasingly unlikely.

See the top 10 everything of 2009.
sausage 香肠腊肠   allegedly 据说  fight back 抵制 spotlight 照明灯车头灯 Protestant 新教徒
unionist  工会会员  abomination 憎恨 可憎的事  has waned 减少 delicate time 微妙的时间

長安UID：2573189

income threshold算是经济学的术语了 收入限额 可以扩展解释为“缴纳个人所得税的最低限额”

index to不用过于字面的去翻译，直接理解成lead to就可以了

至于这里面的关系简单去解释的话就是：

增加税 ...
霁月难逢 发表于 2010-1-8 23:50

to霽月難逢：謝謝:) 記下了，index to居然equates "lead to"...這個用法應該不常見，不知是否適用于aw...
income threshold幾本上用不著了，“purchase power購買力”這個或許還能用上

to Nirvana: Hello there, and yes, I'm back:)

China's reaction to Communism's collapse
"the website has been deluged with postings from Chinese complaining about China’s “great firewall”, as the country’s state-managed internet filtering system is often called."

I would have protested as well. The CCP has cross the line way too much. can't even access Youtube

panpancxUID：2762057

来学习了~
弱问 第一篇 垃圾焚化那个~A modern incinerator, capable of not only burning enormous amounts of rubbish but also of generating energy to be fed into the grid, is an extremely expensive piece of kit. 焚烧垃圾产能不是好事吗~为什么说extremely expensive piece of kit呢~
后面这句更是不懂Waste companies want to be sure that they will have enough waste in the future to justify their investment.

求指教~

長安UID：2573189

49# panpancx

to panpancx: 能焚燒垃圾同時generating energy，和後面的is an extremely expensive piece of kit沒有轉折關係。只是一個陳述句，說這樣機器很貴。
既然機器很貴，買了回來如果沒垃圾好焚燒，當然不划算。所以那些waste companies要保證有enough waste來justify他們（購置機器）這樣昂貴的投資。