1006G[REBORN FROM THE ASHES组]备考日记 by dingyi0311——改变从现在开始

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

The refusal of some countries to extradite persons accused or convicted of terrorist act has focused attention on the problems caused by the political offense exception to extradition. Extradition is the process by which one country returns an accused or convicted person found within its borders to another country for trial or punishment. Under the political offense exception, the requested state may, if it considers the crime to be a “political offense,” deny extradition to the requesting state.

Protection of political offenses is a recent addition to the ancient practice of extradition. It is the result of two fundamental changes that occurred as European monarchies were replaced by representative governments. First, these governments began to reject what had been a primary intent of extradition, to expedite the return of political offenders, and instead sought to protect dissidents fleeing despotic regimes. Second, countries began to contend that they had no legal or moral duty to extradite offenders without specific agreements creating such obligations. As extradition laws subsequently developed through international treaties, the political offense exception gradually became an accepted principle among Western nations.( L% V7 q* n7 Y/ S6 F. s+ _* _  D1 m

There is no international consensus, however, as to what constitutes a political offense. For analytical purposes illegal political conduct has traditionally been divided into two categories. “Pure” political offenses are acts perpetrated directly against the government, such as treason and espionage. These crimes are generally recognized as nonextraditable, even if not expressly excluded from extradition by the applicable treaty. In contrast, common crimes, such as murder, assault, and robbery, are generally extraditable. However, there are some common crimes that are so inseparable from a political act that the entire offense is regarded as political. These crimes, which are called “relative” political offenses, are generally nonextraditable. Despite the widespread acceptance of these analytic constructs, the distinctions are more academic than meaningful. When it comes to real cases, there is no agreement about what transforms a common crime into a political offense and about whether terrorist acts fall within the protection of the exception. Most terrorists claim that their acts do fall under this protection.5 l8 [- \" ^% W. f' B( L
1 y* |$ P7 q8 ?8 {/ _: c4 f" P( O
Nations of the world must now balance the competing needs of political freedom and international public order. It is time to reexamine the political offense exception, as international terrorism eradicates the critical distinctions between political offenses and nonpolitical crimes. The only rational and attainable objective of the exception is to protect the requested person against unfair treatment by the requesting country. The international community needs to find an alternative to the political offense exception that would protect the rights of requested persons and yet not offer terrorists immunity from criminal liability.8 P. q- e2 v7 ~  s8 @$ b
7 {% s- H2 Q! {2 t+ S1 {
6.In the passage, the author primarily seeks to, _2 w3 e. p* v/ V0 ]! R
(A) define a set of terms- d. N8 t- H4 |* o0 h  O
(B) outline a new approach; w* O1 c, T; N+ }% S9 r$ C5 `- J2 V( ^
(C) describe a current problem) q4 W0 r- _. N* L
(D) expose an illegal practice& d+ V3 ]; m( K' G( B. l( O
(E) present historical information- ?; d9 J5 g+ E* w( c+ D

.According to the passage, when did countries begin to except political offenders from extradition?; ]8 @- }8 u, s9 I- X( G& @6 W
(A) when the principle of extraditing accused or convicted persons originated; F1 M( x( Z# B$ \! J5 e  {
(B) when some nations began refusing to extradite persons accused or convicted of terrorist acts) M& r$ B, g2 T; G9 [
(C) when representative governments began to replace European monarchies
(D) when countries began to refuse to extradite persons accused or convicted of common crimes% r% Z7 N3 m+ X3 e0 |
(E) when governments began to use extradition to expedite the return of political offenders9 o4 `( |( J- B0 Y2 p" d
' v% x$ I7 x0 b4 D5 e+ |
8.Given the discussion in the passage, which one of the following distinctions does the author consider particularly problematic?6 R) u: o  K. \+ R( k
(A) between common crimes and “relative” political offense
(B) between “pure” political offenses and common crimes
(C) between “pure” political offenses and “relative” political offenses
(D) between terrorist acts and acts of espionage0 r5 W' ~( t2 k+ M
(E) between the political offense exception and other exceptions to extradition9 `, `4 u2 h+ L' I" A
+ f0 c5 B9 Y* z3 k1 o" f+ l# u- T
9.According to the author, the primary purpose of the political offense exception should be to
(A) ensure that terrorists are tried for their acts
(B) ensure that individuals accused of political crimes are not treated unfairly3 f/ m+ C( e& @( \
(C) distinguish between political and nonpolitical offenses- Y# G2 x  I$ T( b/ V5 y
(D) limit extradition to those accused of “pure” political offenses
(E) limit extradition to those accused of “relative” political offenses
B' u! n5 ~
10.It can be inferred from the passage that the author would agree with which one of the following statements about the political offense exception?
(A) The exception is very unpopular.: F( W$ t, g2 A' @8 Q: t4 O
(B) The exception is probably illegal.& ~" V, E3 G$ S! ~0 E
(C) The exception is used too little.
(D) The exception needs rethinking.
(E) The exception is too limited.5 \5 v  e: ]: a* G. M
5 l: b+ ^% r) T7 R! E
11.When referring to a balance between “the competing needs of political freedom and international public order” (lines 54-55) the author means that nations must strike a balance between0 r/ D) C( Y: A) c$ h% h! C" X
(A) allowing persons to protest political injustice and preventing them from committing political offenses
(B) protecting the rights of persons requested for extradition and holding terrorists criminally liable
(C) maintaining the political offense exception to extradition and clearing up the confusion over what is a political offense" K4 H9 K$ s+ Q* f
(D) allowing nations to establish their own extradition policies and establishing an agreed-upon international approach to extradition* r! B% z( w* u2 K% b4 R; X8 X1 O
(E) protecting from extradition persons accused of “pure” political offenses and ensuring the trial of persons accused of “relative” political offenses

12.The author would most likely agree that the political offense exception
(A) has, in some cases, been stretched beyond intended use
(B) has been used too infrequently to be evaluated
(C) has been a modestly useful weapon again terrorism
(D) has never met the objective for which it was originally established
(E) has been of more academic than practical value to political dissidents+ j6 U4 K+ V0 C( J2 G/ t0 X
7 j) i) c2 G" A* ?2 h+ M# }/ ?
13.Which one of the following, if true, would give the author most cause to reconsider her recommendation regarding the political offence exception (lines 62-66)?
(A) More nations started refusing to extradite persons accused or convicted of terrorist acts.7 Y( t. u5 c/ ^
(B) More nations started extraditing persons accused or convicted of treason, espionage, and other similar crimes.(C) The nations of the world sharply decreased their use of the political offense exception protect persons accused of each of the various types of “pure” political offenses." F" r$ \9 J; R( l( Z3 b5 j% h
(D) The nations of the world sharply decreased their use of the political offense exception to protect persons accused of each of the various types of “relative” political offenses.
(E) The nations of the world started to disagree over the analytical distinction between “pure” political offenses and “relative” political offenses.



3分26秒，第一遍不是很懂，好像讲的是工业革命的进展是靠个人的兴趣不是靠利益驱动
其实是讲工业革命的基础是什么，那就是逻辑
As is well known and has often been described, the machine industry of recent times took its rise 9有利于0by a gradual emergence out of handicraft in England in the eighteenth century. Since then the mechanical industry has progressively been getting the upper hand in all the civilized nations, in much the same degree in which these nations have come to be counted as civilized. This mechanical industry now stands dominant at the apex of the industrial system.

The state of the industrial arts, as it runs on the lines of the mechanical industry, is a technology of physics and chemistry. That is to say, it is governed by the same logic as the scientific laboratories. The procedure, the principles, habits of thought, preconceptions, units of measurement and of valuation, are the same in both cases.

The technology of physics and chemistry is not derived from established law and custom, and it goes on its way with as nearly complete a disregard of the spiritual truths of law and custom as the circumstances will permit. The realities with which this technology is occupied are of another order of actuality, lying altogether within the three dimensions that contain the material universe, and running altogether on the logic of material fact. In effect it is the logic of inanimate facts.
The mechanical industry makes use of the same range of facts handled in the same impersonal way and directed to the same manner of objective results. In both cases alike it is of the first importance to eliminate the “personal equation,” to let the work go forward and let the forces at work take effect quite objectively, without hindrance or deflection for any personal end, interest, or gain. It is the technician’s place in industry, as it is the scientist’s place in the laboratory, to serve as an intellectual embodiment of the forces at work, isolate the forces engaged from all extraneous disturbances, and let them take full effect along the lines of designed work. The technician is an active or creative factor in the case only in the sense that he is the keeper of the logic which governs the forces at work.% I3 y8 A% `% }6 l, T! Y

These forces that so are brought to bear in mechanical industry are of an objective, impersonal, unconventional nature, of course. They are of the nature of opaque fact. Pecuniary gain is not one of these impersonal facts. Any consideration of pecuniary gain that may be injected into the technician’s working plans will come into the case as an intrusive and alien factor, whose sole effect is to deflect, retard, derange and curtail the work in hand. At the same time considerations of pecuniary gain are the only agency brought into the case by the businessmen, and the only ground on which they exercise a control of production.
`7 ^9 Q* N* {: K2 z) X% n- {
14.The author of the passage is primarily concerned with discussing
(A) industrial organization in the eighteenth century4 u* W& l6 k+ R3 N9 P( _2 ?# a
(B) the motives for pecuniary gain8 H# {& x+ r+ ]- J- z9 V* j+ G1 @( {
(C) the technician’s place in mechanical industry: m; b* K7 B4 i4 ^) Q) ^8 [
(D) the impersonal organization of industry7 k+ k: ~: g+ y* e! }: l) [
(E) the material contribution of physics in industrial societ
15.The author of the passage suggests that businessmen in the mechanical industry are responsible mainly for7 O6 \3 X/ a( Z3 Y0 `( a. g2 q8 z
(A) keeping the logic governing the forces at work# H9 Y- I7 }* d( t; Y; E- K4 l) J
(B) managing the profits$ i! X8 k1 O4 l8 {* D8 F
(C) directing the activities of the technicians
(D) employing the technological procedures of physics and chemistry* {" X) A8 J- s6 M8 s
(E) treating material gain as a spiritual truth# ]! T1 ?- O0 V: J8 F  V
! K; L9 w/ X4 c' _5 l
16.Which one of the following, if true, would contradict the author’s belief that the role of technician is to be “the keeper of the logic” (lines 45-46)?; z# C; c, U8 m6 f8 u
(A) All technicians are human beings with feelings and emotions.
(B) An interest in pecuniary gain is the technician’s sole motive for participation in industry.
(C) The technician’s working plans do not coincide with the technician’s pecuniary interests.. C. s' Q6 Q0 X9 C0 Q1 o! x
(D) Technicians are employed by businessmen to oversee the forces at work.* x- \  ~+ ^! x; |0 V# P) |; l
(E) Technicians refuse to carry out the instructions of the businessmen.( r. v( D9 h) D9 A2 b; x

17.The author would probably most strongly agree with which one of the following statements about the evolution of the industrial system?
(A) The handicraft system of industry emerged in eighteenth-century England and was subsequently replaced by the machine industry.
The handicraft system of industrial production has gradually given rise to a mechanistic technology that dominates contemporary industry.
(C) The handicraft system emerged as the dominant factor of production in eighteenth-century England but was soon replaced by mechanical techniques of production., a& \% \; l9 b: Q' y6 b! K
(D) The mechanical system of production that preceded the handicraft system was the precursor of contemporary means of production.  v: f: F0 |, c+ C& ?" y
(E) The industrial arts developed as a result of the growth of the mechanical industry that followed the decline of the handicraft system of production.

18.Which one of the following best describes the author’s attitude toward scientific techniques?. u% q- }1 K3 E4 n: z% D# h( s
(A) critical2 i$ l9 k8 d. s- t/ A. l
(B) hostile
(C) idealistic. u$ A+ h. Y% G% o; q
(D) ironic
(E) neutral
(This passage was originally published in 1905)* ?; \" O5 L6 }0 S! @
$ w2 V7 m$ V( M. H& r2 p " G0 m! o8 h/ W0 u( [( p$

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

四分半钟读完，还是看的不太懂，郁闷啊，好像讲的是一个民主政府的由来和注意的问题，明天在来细看，马上要考试了，郁闷啊

(This passage was originally published in 1905)
5 K/ k4 M6 m& o' |1 G1 }0 yThe word democracy may stand for a natural social equality in the body politic or for a constitutional form of government in which power lies more or less directly in the people’s hand. The former may be called social democracy and the later democratic government. The two differ widely, both in origin and in moral principle. Genetically considered, social democracy is something primitive, unintended, proper to communities where there is general competence and no marked personal eminence. There be no will aristocracy, no prestige, but instead an intelligent readiness to lend a hand and to do in unison whatever is done. In other words, there will be that most democratic of governments—no government at all. But when pressure of circumstances, danger, or inward strife makes recognized and prolonged guidance necessary to a social democracy, the form its government takes is that of a rudimentary monarchy established by election or general consent. A natural leader emerges and is instinctively obeyed. That leader may indeed be freely criticized and will not be screened by any pomp or traditional mystery; he or she will be easy to replace and every citizen will feel essentially his or her equal. Yet such a state is at the beginnings of monarchy and aristocracy.* R- ]- }/ \3 h5 d+ _
Political democracy, on the other hand, is a late and artificial product. It arises by a gradual extension of aristocratic privileges, through rebellion against abuses, and in answer to restlessness on the people’s part. Its principle is not the absence of eminence, but the discovery that existing eminence is no longer genuine and representative. It may retain many vestiges of older and less democratic institutions. For under democratic governments the people have not created the state; they merely control it. Their suspicions and jealousies are quieted by assigning to them a voice, perhaps only a veto, in the administration. The people’s liberty consists not in their original responsibility for what exists, but merely in the faculty they have acquired of abolishing any detail that may distress or wound them, and of imposing any new measure, which, seen against the background of existing laws, may commend itself from time to time to their instinct and mind.
( g' W' d% B3 Z9 R5 G4 @If we turn from origins to ideals, the contrast between social and political democracy is no less marked. Social democracy is a general ethical ideal, looking to human equality and brotherhood, and inconsistent, in its radical form, with such institutions as the family and hereditary property. Democratic government, on the contrary, is merely a means to an end, an expedient for the better and smoother government of certain states at certain junctures. It involves no special ideals of life; it is a question of policy, namely, whether the general interest will be better served by granting all people an equal voice in elections. For political democracy must necessarily be a government by deputy, and the questions actually submitted to the people can be only very large rough matters of general policy or of confidence in party leaders.
8 s# ~+ @/ H# B3 }  t1 c19.The author suggests that the lack of “marked personal eminence” (line 11) is an important feature of a social democracy because6 g% y2 o+ E, r  u) m+ u( w
(A) such a society is also likely to contain the seeds of monarchy and aristocracy' C: \" t: N" r2 G6 B/ O) T
(B) the absence of visible social leaders in such a society will probably impede the development of a political democracy
8 b' d+ `' a9 e" N6 [4 D3 R(C) social democracy represents a more sophisticated form of government than political democracy& u$ s- z; q4 ]; p7 j
(D) a society that lacks recognized leadership will be unable to accomplish its cultural objectives
, b! N. l! c8 `9 u2 `0 O% q(E) the absence of visible social leaders in such a community is likely to be accompanied by a spirit of cooperation
1 R: E- l& L5 c  B" l- v20.Which one of the following forms of government does the author say is most likely to evolve from a social democracy?
+ v% J6 M4 K; U; g(A) monarchy
3 ?" s- I! I- F: G* s3 W3 `(B) government by deputy. i6 R. l/ a$ ]
(C) political democracy7 |5 T1 b1 E) V7 ^  g
(D) representative democracy7 H* D4 t& _) k  t/ s
(E) constitutional democracy4 h; \1 f5 E) }+ k! }2 Q9 l7 u" h+ N
21.The author of the passage suggests that a political democracy is likely to have been immediately preceded by which one of the following forms of social organization?, `- q3 I, C* a% z, {8 Z
(A) a social democracy in which the spirit of participation has been diminished by the need to maintain internal security
7 [8 k1 Z+ S. @, i- t$ ](B) an aristocratic society in which government leaders have grown insensitive to people’s interests
, |2 \+ }" `1 Y, W1 `(C) a primitive society that stresses the radical equality of all its members) ?9 G( n3 M9 i& Z" ]
(D) a state of utopian brotherhood in which no government exists
8 i7 B- o5 c1 m; L- Z* p(E) a government based on general ethical ideals
( [9 V0 M" M& Y# m3 _6 b& Z22.According to the passage, “the people’s liberty” (line 42) in a political democracy is best defined as6 k, n. F, C# F; z
(A) a willingness to accept responsibility for existing governmental forms$ h8 t& o/ l- Z2 U- _
(B) a myth perpetrated by aristocratic leaders who refuse to grant political power to their subjects
$ u% ~0 o- j& R& Y* |1 r5 {(C) the ability to impose radically new measures when existing governmental forms are found to be inadequate+ x- V) f# J+ h# @6 H* j
(D) the ability to secure concessions from a government that may retain many aristocratic characteristics
  j* x7 t8 M- L$ H7 z1 Y(E) the ability to elect leaders whom the people consider socially equal to themselves; Z! K) s" S+ R: Z" B( M
23.According to the author of this passage, a social democracy would most likely adopt a formal system of government when0 B1 F  }, x9 ]
(A) recognized leadership becomes necessary to deal with social problems9 X2 B3 J$ A1 n7 u5 e. n
(B) people lose the instinctive ability to cooperate in solving social problems
; T, z3 o# c! J/ B: V2 E& Y) f(C) a ruling monarch decides that it is necessary to grant political concessions to the people
, z# H# O' A# V, b0 X7 H+ g(D) citizens no longer consider their social leaders essentially equal to themselves
, f, C  [) f5 H0 I  |) x  g(E) the human instinct to obey social leaders has been weakened by suspicion and jealousy
- t9 b* V8 J* F6 j- ]24.According to the passage, which one of the following is likely to occur as a result of the discovery that “existing eminence is no longer genuine and representative” (lines 35-36)?4 x/ e1 Z/ b+ P. k0 I( A/ c
(A) Aristocratic privileges will be strengthened, which will result in a further loss of the people’s liberty.
6 H' \' e- }9 ~1 J4 Q7 z2 a(B) The government will be forced to admit its responsibility for the inadequacy of existing political institutions.
' i- o" M0 l; E6 r6 Z/ k! v(C) The remaining vestiges of less democratic institutions will be banished from government.6 K% g+ e, m  l& J! Y& r9 N( s
(D) People will gain political concessions from the government and a voice in the affairs of state.
! m6 A* S. ]: l8 K1 D% I(E) People will demand that political democracy conform to the ethical ideals of social democracy.2 f; o: n/ [8 x0 m7 B
25.It can be inferred from the passage that the practice of “government by deputy” (line 64) in a political democracy probably has its origins in
5 ~. `% r8 h& F/ q(A) aristocratic ideals  [3 T  y+ _* K+ O% k3 R' p8 V
(B) human instincts
" \. k. i2 m; B0 m1 n(C) a commitment to human equality
. [3 V1 `, \3 M! i, V5 }7 c; q9 ^2 V(D) a general ethical ideal
% a) q' p8 K3 v(E) a policy decision, s& P! W6 _6 z7 F" t3 a; r
26.Which one of the following statements, if true, would contradict the author’s notion of the characteristics of social democracy?
$ r: U4 r+ B3 S) V2 J(A) Organized governmental systems tend to arise spontaneously, rather than in response to specific problem situations.3 q6 I4 a7 S9 L  x$ ~
(B) The presence of an organized system of government stifles the expression of human equality and brotherhood.; F7 t' Y* x+ c/ c! O
(C) Social democracy represents a more primitive form of communal organization than political democracy.: [. @' C# ]1 ]% ?  W
(D) Prolonged and formal leadership may become necessary in a social democracy when problems arise that cannot be resolved by recourse to the general competence of the people.
  ~( p9 y& {1 ~1 m& O(E) Although political democracy and social democracy are radically different forms of communal organization, it is possible for both to contain elements of monarchy.

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

LSAT第02套 SECTION I
  C8 m7 S+ D; P7 r% }There is substantial evidence that by 1926, with the publication of The Weary Blues, Langston Hughes had broken with two well-established traditions in African American literature. In The Weary Blues, Hughes chose to modify the traditions that decreed that African American literature must promote racial acceptance and integration, and that, in order to do so, it must reflect an understanding and mastery of Western European literary techniques and styles. Necessarily excluded by this decree, linguistically and thematically, was the vast amount of secular folk material in the oral tradition that had been created by Black people in the years of slavery and after. It might be pointed out that even the spirituals or “sorrow songs” of the slaves—as distinct from their secular songs and stories—had been Europeanized to make them acceptable within these African American traditions after the Civil War. In 1862 northern White writers had commented favorably on the unique and provocative melodies of these “sorrow songs” when they first heard them sung by slaves in the Carolina sea islands. But by 1916, ten years before the publication of The Weary Blues, Hurry T. Burleigh, the Black baritone soloist at New York’s ultrafashionable Saint George’s Episcopal Church, had published Jubilee Songs of the United States, with every spiritual arranged so that a concert singer could sing it “in the manner of an art song.” Clearly, the artistic work of Black people could be used to promote racial acceptance and integration only on the condition that it became Europeanized.& ^5 g9 r" {9 h1 J) i+ \

- Y7 L4 D+ ]( |! b* V. j8 {Even more than his rebellion against this restrictive tradition in African American art, Hughes’s expression of the vibrant folk culture of Black people established his writing as a landmark in the history of African American literature. Most of his folk poems have the distinctive marks of this folk culture’s oral tradition: they contain many instances of naming and enumeration, considerable hyperbole and understatement, and a strong infusion of street-talk rhyming. There is a deceptive veil of artlessness in these poems. Hughes prided himself on being an impromptu and impressionistic writer of poetry. His, he insisted, was not an artfully constructed poetry. Yet an analysis of his dramatic monologues and other poems reveals that his poetry was carefully and artfully crafted. In his folk poetry we find features common to all folk literature, such as dramatic ellipsis, narrative compression, rhythmic repetition, and monosyllabic emphasis. The peculiar mixture of irony and humor we find in his writing is a distinguishing feature of his folk poetry. Together, these aspects of Hughes’s writing helped to modify the previous restrictions on the techniques and subject matter of Black writers and consequently to broaden the linguistic and thematic range of African American literature.
/ \# N2 b, Z: c3 k0 L% }- ~$ W1 H1 n- y& k0 P
1.The author mentions which one of the following as an example of the influence of Black folk culture on Hughes’s poetry?; W2 C5 A" G- H
(A) his exploitation of ambiguous and deceptive meanings
  G) K9 ]  l. G. C/ e(B) his care and craft in composing poems
6 v! h9 x7 |! B0 Q( C( D8 s(C) his use of naming and enumeration0 p# I, z  Q- w
(D) his use of first-person narrative
8 B9 ]7 v: s! m+ L2 H(E) his strong religious beliefs
; F: z+ t! b, p% G3 g9 |( s4 p
; \: D& z  H. a& K/ n$ o$ J2.The author suggests that the “deceptive veil” (line 42) in Hughes’s poetry obscures
. z" n4 V; M& b4 u- }  ~: D(A) evidence of his use of oral techniques in his poetry
: k# p- A: E4 U1 u(B) evidence of his thoughtful deliberation in composing his poems- b2 I; W  N, e, v* C; M9 D9 C# T8 ?/ j
(C) his scrupulous concern for representative details in his poetry
9 d* e: ]' Q4 d(D) his incorporation of Western European literary techniques in his poetry
8 b  n+ }! K5 }( y2 Z& ^(E) his engagement with social and political issues rather than aesthetic ones# l! B/ x6 s/ v$ {6 D, A# @
) R( ]  X- r$ F( `. h
3.With which one of the following statements regarding Jubilee Songs of the United States would the author be most likely to agree?
3 ?' @% w9 N9 ?" k) c( n7 T(A) Its publication marked an advance in the intrinsic quality of African American art.; C7 O2 z6 E/ {9 d( ~' |/ Q
(B) It paved the way for publication of Hughes’s The Weary Blues by making African American art fashionable.
7 [) Z1 d% a. u& v( S(C) It was an authentic replication of African American spirituals and “sorrow songs”.( i' }1 K/ h% e' E4 u! l4 c" W7 J
(D) It demonstrated the extent to which spirituals were adapted in order to make them more broadly accepted.
) u* J. i, ~" ?1 F* H% Q0 ?(E) It was to the spiritual what Hughes’s The Weary Blues was to secular songs and stories.
, q+ J8 A* K+ ?$ ^% _* ?% o: U
6 E% x+ Q3 @# i+ S/ q' Q4.The author most probably mentions the reactions of northern White writers to non-Europeanized “sorrow songs” in order to5 \) u0 v- h5 @5 ~
(A) indicate that modes of expression acceptable in the context of slavery in the South were acceptable only to a small number of White writers in the North after the Civil War
* h: ~& C. l' [  \" K(B) contrast White writers earlier appreciation of these songs with the growing tendency after the Civil War to regard Europeanized versions of the songs as more acceptable' N( C5 N8 p- T2 A, _" J
(C) show that the requirement that such songs be Europeanized was internal to the African American tradition and was unrelated to the literary standards or attitudes of White writers
. p5 ~8 _9 F+ m(D) demonstrate that such songs in their non-Europeanized form were more imaginative
' ?! P' j$ J* ^(E) suggest that White writers benefited more from exposure to African American art forms than Black writers did from exposure to European art forms: B% ~( w2 @. ]# \& }' H% h6 ~

+ |) {" j9 @7 T: b5.The passage suggests that the author would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements about the requirement that Black writers employ Western European literary techniques?# [. U, [; f$ w# m1 v% W
(A) The requirement was imposed more for social than for aesthetic reasons.! k" [0 s7 W& _" H2 }1 I/ n/ i
(B) The requirement was a relatively unimportant aspect of the African American tradition.2 U0 V3 O. x. E! N; m
(C) The requirement was the chief reason for Hughes’s success as a writer.
% J1 V" b/ l) O! y& d! {(D) The requirement was appropriate for some forms of expression but not for others.
6 N5 k% M( D: Q+ |/ n! r(E) The requirement was never as strong as it may have appeared to be.
: _; d/ C) A/ |# g3 m" e* g- I" N- i4 y5 A7 A: q
6.Which one of the following aspects of Hughes’s poetry does the author appear to value most highly?/ t# p/ q  [/ `3 ?  b0 J
(A) its novelty compared to other works of African American literature3 F' w* w# n, ?% I. N' t1 L
(B) its subtle understatement compared to that of other kinds of folk literature7 ]+ p0 A6 H/ o2 t& q
(C) its virtuosity in adapting musical forms to language
5 D% r, `1 G* ^(D) its expression of the folk culture of Black people
# L! E$ l' C1 X+ P% }/ Z/ p(E) its universality of appeal achieved through the adoption of colloquial expressions

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

用了5分钟，好像讲的是一些人对铁路是否有好处的争论
Historians generally agree that, of the great modern innovations, the railroad had the most far-reaching impact on major events in the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, particularly on the Industrial Revolution. There is, however, considerable disagreement among cultural historians regarding public attitudes toward the railroad, both at its inception in the 1830s and during the half century between 1880 and 1930, when the national rail system was completed and reached the zenith of its popularity in the United States. In a recent book, John Stilgoe has addressed this issue by arguing that the “romantic-era distrust” of the railroad that he claims was present during the 1830s vanished in the decades after 1880. But the argument he provides in support of this position is unconvincing.; a& b! J( Y2 H" \$ W! J5 ~% l
What Stilgoe calls “romantic-era distrust” was in fact the reaction of a minority of writers, artistes, and intellectuals who distrusted the railroad not so much for what it was as for what it signified. Thoreau and Hawthorne appreciated, even admired, an improved means of moving things and people from one place to another. What these writers and others were concerned about was not the new machinery as such, but the new kind of economy, social order, and culture that it prefigured. In addition, Stilgoe is wrong to imply that the critical attitude of these writers was typical of the period: their distrust was largely a reaction against the prevailing attitude in the 1830s that the railroad was an unqualified improvement.
, l* B9 Q- V+ m! T1 S4 F, @5 x0 _Stilgoe’s assertion that the ambivalence toward the railroad exhibited by writers like Hawthorne and Thoreau disappeared after the 1880s is also misleading. In support of this thesis, Stilgoe has unearthed an impressive volume of material, the work of hitherto unknown illustrators, journalists, and novelists, all devotees of the railroad; but it is not clear what this new material proves except perhaps that the works of popular culture greatly expanded at the time. The volume of the material proves nothing if Stilgoe’s point is that the earlier distrust of a minority of intellectuals did not endure beyond the 1880s, and, oddly, much of Stilgoe’s other evidence indicates that it did. When he glances at the treatment of railroads by writers like Henry James, Sinclair Lewis, or F. Scott Fitzgerald, what comes through in spite of Stilgoe’s analysis is remarkably like Thoreau’s feeling of contrariety and ambivalence. (Had he looked at the work of Frank Norris, Eugene O’Neill, or Henry Adams, Stilgoe’s case would have been much stronger.) The point is that the sharp contrast between the enthusiastic supporters of the railroad in the 1830s and the minority of intellectual dissenters during that period extended into the 1880s and beyond.1 h- _2 M$ [2 \- }- ?9 F$ h
7.The passage provides information to answer all of the following questions EXCEPT:
9 Q- r) t2 o; U$ J8 m2 D. C(A) During what period did the railroad reach the zenith of its popularity in the United States?
- `" `% h0 d' Y4 J(B) How extensive was the impact of the railroad on the Industrial Revolution in the United States, relative to that of other modern innovations?9 W9 Y/ ^. J! f2 b+ B8 R
(C) Who are some of the writers of the 1830s who expressed ambivalence toward the railroad?
2 F4 ^3 E$ p7 Q6 _* y(D) In what way could Stilgoe have strengthened his argument regarding intellectuals’ attitudes toward the railroad in the years after the 1880s?
5 a) f$ @' ?6 d# P  T(E) What arguments did the writers after the 1880s, as cited by Stilgoe, offer to justify their support for the railroad?
$ f0 }5 q) [6 d# z5 ^8.According to the author of the passage, Stilgoe uses the phrase “romantic-era distrust” (line 13) to imply that the view he is referring to was
% |4 A3 o( f1 t) E% n' Z(A) the attitude of a minority of intellectuals toward technological innovation that began after 18308 I  y! z: @& Y( M/ m, M2 U6 `
(B) a commonly held attitude toward the railroad during the 1830s
3 Z2 a/ V# A# D0 q5 }& C  A(C) an ambivalent view of the railroad expressed by many poets and novelists between 1880 and 1930
: p9 L3 D9 V- X(D) a critique of social and economic developments during the 1830s by a minority of intellectuals
8 m# X5 O$ ?6 `9 A9 S  _: O5 F' Q(E) an attitude toward the railroad that was disseminated by works of popular culture after 1880; h+ e: F0 ?' u: _
9.According to the author, the attitude toward the railroad that was reflected in writings of Henry James, Sinclair Lewis, and F. Scott Fitzgerald was
/ k4 w' C1 Y' s9 }  o+ t) _(A) influenced by the writings of Frank Norris, Eugene O’Neill, and Henry Adams
+ F. K- B: u3 O8 j2 m(B) similar to that of the minority of writers who had expressed ambivalence toward the railroad prior to the 1880s' l+ ^. N! \, N  E. S
(C) consistent with the public attitudes toward the railroad that were reflected in works of popular culture after the 1880s
# W) d# Z2 z3 z(D) largely a reaction to the works of writers who had been severely critical of the railroad in the 1830s
% o0 D, O) I9 ?. {/ r. p) j6 d6 z(E) consistent with the prevailing attitude toward the railroad during the 1830s9 r1 z2 i: H, \2 Y& X- x
10.It can be inferred from the passage that the author uses the phrase “works of popular culture” (line 41) primarily to refer to the
3 o! n# a; c$ _4 S8 f(A) work of a large group of writers that was published between 1880 and 1930 and that in Stilgoe’s view was highly critical of the railroad
: l" e3 Q. n7 k8 j, T(B) work of writers who were heavily influenced by Hawthorne and Thoreau
0 A5 J* _% d3 j5 p) n/ c(C) large volume of writing produced by Henry Adams, Sinclair Lewis, and Eugene O’Neill
$ V# n5 s- D( J0 X' {(D) work of journalists, novelists, and illustrators who were responsible for creating enthusiasm for the railroad during the 1830s6 A: h2 d# n* D% g
(E) work of journalists, novelists, and illustrators that was published after 1880 and that has received little attention from scholars other than Stilgoe
: d% h& o; J- c) P: c3 k: @' }11.Which one of the following can be inferred from the passage regarding the work of Frank Norris, Eugene O’Neill, and Henry Adams?
* ]! P: u7 z& z* U- r. x  C(A) Their work never achieved broad popular appeal.
$ w. V: b, T/ _(B) Their ideas were disseminated to a large audience by the popular culture of the early 1800s.9 ^2 y3 w- |2 X2 r7 l1 e
(C) Their work expressed a more positive attitude toward the railroad than did that of Henry James, Sinclair Lewis, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
) b3 S7 T$ }/ r& S' {4 [; y(D) Although they were primarily novelists, some of their work could be classified as journalism.
1 V' z8 y" ?, m( K) F6 p(E) Although they were influenced by Thoreau, their attitude toward the railroad was significantly different from his.. L' ?, J6 c0 ?! {
12.It can be inferred from the passage that Stilgoe would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements regarding the study of cultural history?
8 q5 r! r* P7 A" p3 w4 `(A) It is impossible to know exactly what period historians are referring to when they use the term “romantic era.”8 J0 z/ l: D6 z% w8 M0 a
(B) The writing of intellectuals often anticipates ideas and movements that are later embraced by popular culture.
3 B. g# ~7 `$ O# {(C) Writers who were not popular in their own time tell us little about the age in which they lived.
! c& P$ M- S  M$ b5 I% }5 T(D) The works of popular culture can serve as a reliable indicator of public attitudes toward modern innovations like the railroad.& u* e1 T* \, n7 q. ?+ i5 H% |9 V6 u2 O
(E) The best source of information concerning the impact of an event as large as the Industrial Revolution is the private letters and journals of individuals.
; ^% w) r- t% ^6 r" J1 T) |$ M# I13.The primary purpose of the passage is to
) E* U9 c( L* ?! D- n; w' d- @- S(A) evaluate one scholar’s view of public attitudes toward the railroad in the United States from the early nineteenth to the early twentieth century: u% T6 g9 V; G) ?3 i' x
(B) review the treatment of the railroad in American literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
0 t& E8 p! e. w( b(C) survey the views of cultural historians regarding the railroad’s impact on major events in United States history
5 Q7 M" R4 `' N7 N$ p(D) explore the origins of the public support for the railroad that existed after the completion of a national rail system in the United States5 J2 B4 h# ^! S; Q5 \8 g
(E) define what historians mean when they refer to the “romantic-era distrust” of the railroad

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

今天晚上阅读文章和进行题库的思考，明天白天复习考试，晚上学英文

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

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（大块的）of pinewood 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.

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.

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.

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; 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 1.1ºC to 6.4ºC.

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.

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.

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.

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 5ºC. To put that in context, the current average global temperature is only 5ºC 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 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
This article is about the author’s concerning of the climate change. By citing the environment problem caused by a certain insect-mountain called bark beetle, the author arouses the interests of the reader. three possible explanations for the insects over propagation have been illustrated，and Then, the author shift our attention to the environment issue through a series of statistics like the average temperature increase of the globe and warning of the melting ice that will lead to increasing sea level. It was revealed in the last few paragraphs that the technology is not the exactly obstacle to impede the implementation of the protocols such as the Tokyo Protocol, but the politic is the point----the governments fear to injure the economic because of protecting the environment, people will turn against the government once they have known green policies are packed with pork, protocols include too many countries that make it less likely to reach a consensus and the divide of the developing and developed country deepened the rift that proving hard to closed. Further, the author point out that any global climate deal will work only if the domestic policies through which it is implemented
As to this topic, I have may own opinion that there will be economic difficulty for those countries that will change their industrial structure.  In fact, any change of the industrial structure will be a big project. new facilities need to be built and unemployment caused by the alteration should be tackled with. For instance. countries that want to replace the energy factory fueled with coal need to built other clean energy factory that generate electricity through wind, unclear power, and water, the miners will lose their job and need support form the government. once this structure change take place. All these will be a burden to the financial budget of the government.

Sentence that difficult to be understood is follows, I hope some can help
1. Its population rises and falls unpredictably, destroying clumps（大块的）of pinewood as it peaks which then regenerate as the bug recedes.(为什么which前面没有逗号啊)
2． 第三段和第四段好像之间没有过渡的段或者句子
3. 第八段突然bark beetle 又出来了显得有点突兀
Several words and expressions need to be learnt was marked with bold and underscore.

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

明天加油了啊，晕死了，总紧张不起来啊，还有两个多月了

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

哎，明天复习吧，后天考试了

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

哎。。寝室吵死了啊，烦

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

今天晚上看是个题目，下午把小组的作业做完

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

A special report on the world economy

The long climb

Oct 1st 2009 From The Economist print edition

The world economy is recovering from financial disaster. But it will not return to normal as we know it, says Simon Cox (interviewed here)

NEWPORT BEACH, California, is not a bad place to contemplate the future of the world economy. Its information office promises nine miles of pristine sand, fine dining for devoted epicureans and an atmosphere of laid-back sophistication. Yet students of economic turmoil will find their subject matter conveniently close to hand. California’s unemployment rate has doubled to 12.2% since the start of 2008. Saddled with the worst credit rating信誉级别 in the country, the “Golden State” is cutting spending on schools, prisons and health care for the elderly, as well as closing parks and laying off staff for three days a month. It will pay its workers a day late at the end of the fiscal year so that the expense will show up in next year’s budget. Financial shenanigans are not the sole province of the banking industry.

Newport Beach is also the home of Pimco太平洋投资管理公司, the biggest bond manager债券型基金经理in the world, which handles $840 billion on behalf of pension funds, universities and other clients. In May the company held its annual “Secular Forum”, in which it tries to peer five years into the economic future. After two days of rumination, Pimco’s laid-back拖欠 sophisticates concluded that the financial markets may well “revert to mean”, which is a statistician’s way of saying that what comes down must go up. But the next five years will not resemble the five preceding the crisis. Not every change wrought by(worked by) 造成发动the financial breakdown will be reversed. The world economy is fitfully getting back to normal, but it will be a “new normal”.
Click here to find out more!

That phrase has caught on, even if people disagree about what it means. In the new normal, as defined by Pimco’s CEO, Mohamed El-Erian, growth will be subdued and unemployment will remain high. “The banking system will be a shadow of its former self,” and the securitisation markets, which buy and sell marketable bundles of debt, will presumably be a shadow of a shadow. Finance will be costlier and investment weak, so the stock of physical capita有形资本, on which prosperity depends, will erode.

The crisis invited a forceful government entry into several of capitalism’s inner sanctums指挥中心？, such as banking, American carmaking and the commercial-paper market. Mr El-Erian worries that the state may overstay its welcome. In addition, national exchequers 国库may start to feel some measure of the fiscal strain now hobbling制约 California. America’s Treasury, in particular, must demonstrate that it is still a “responsible shepherd of other countries’ savings”.

The notion of a “new normal” is convincing, even if you do not agree with every particular. But some forecasters now harbour higher expectations. They think the economy will bounce back to its old self, almost as if nothing had happened. They draw inspiration from the work of the late Milton Friedman, who showed that in America deep recessions are generally followed by strong recoveries. He likened the economy to a piece of string stretched taut on a board. The more forcefully the string is plucked, the more sharply it snaps back.

Friedman’s piece of string represents the demand side of the economy: the sum of spending by households, firms, foreigners and the government. The rigid board symbolises the supply side. When spending is strong enough, the economy’s resources are fully employed, allowing it to realise its full potential. As the workforce grows, capital accumulates and technology advances, this limit expands over time.
String theory

In a recession demand falls short of supply, leaving a sorry trail of unemployed workers, shuttered factories and unexploited innovations. But when the recovery arrives, Friedman suggested, it is all the more forceful because these resources have been lying idle, waiting to be brought back into production. The economy can grow faster than normal for a period until it reaches the point where it would have been without the crisis, when it reaches its full potential again (see chart 1, scenario 1).

Friedman’s story is heartening, but it can come unstuck失灵 in two ways. If the shortfall in demand persists it can do lasting damage to supply, reducing the level of potential output (scenario 2) or even its rate of growth (scenario 3). If so, the economy will never recoup its losses, even after spending picks up again.

Why should a swing in spending do such lasting harm? In a recession firms shed labour and mothball capital. If workers are left on the shelf too long, their skills will atrophy and their ties to the world of work will weaken. When spending revives, the recovery will leave them behind. Output per worker may get back to normal, but the rate of employment will not.

Something similar can happen to the economy’s assembly lines, computer terminals and office blocks. If demand remains weak, firms will stop adding to this stock of capital and may scrap some of it. Capital will shrink to fit a lower level of activity. Moreover, if the financial system remains in disrepair, savings will flow haltingly to companies and the cost of capital（资本成本） will rise. Firms will therefore use less of it per unit of output.

The result is a lower ceiling on production. In the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook, its researchers count the cost of 88 banking crises over the past four decades. They find that, on average, seven years after a bust an economy’s level of output was almost 10% below where it would have been without the crisis.

This is an alarming gap. If replicated in the years to come, it would blight the lives of the unemployed, diminish the fortunes of those in work and make the public debt harder to sustain. But even worse scenarios are possible. A financial breakdown could do lasting damage to the growth in potential output as well as to its level. Even when the economy begins to expand, it may not regain the same pace as before.

Financial crises can pose such a threat to national incomes because of the way they erode national wealth. From the start of 2008 to the spring of this year the crisis knocked $30 trillion off the value of global shares and $11 trillion off the value of homes, according to Goldman Sachs, an investment bank. At their worst, these losses amounted to about 75% of world GDP. But despite their enormous scale, it is not immediately obvious why these losses should cause a lasting decline in economic activity. Natural disasters also wipe out wealth by destroying buildings, possessions and infrastructure, but the economy rarely slows in their aftermath. On the contrary, output often picks up during a period of reconstruction. Why should a financial disaster be any different?

The answer lies on the other side of the balance-sheet. Before the crisis the overpriced assets held by banks and households were accompanied by vast debts. After the crisis their assets were shattered but their liabilities remained standing. As Irving Fisher, a scholar of the Depression, pointed out, “overinvestment and overspeculation…would have far less serious results were they not conducted with borrowed money.”

Japan found this out to its cost in the 1990s after the bursting of a spectacular bubble in property and stock prices. For a “lost decade” from 1992 the economy stagnated, never recovering the growth rates posted in the 1980s. Richard Koo of the Nomura Research Institute in Tokyo calls Japan’s ordeal a “balance-sheet recession”.

The typical post-war recession begins when the flow of spending in the economy puts a strain on its resources, forcing prices upwards. Central banks raise interest rates to slow spending to a more sustainable pace. Once inflation has subsided, the authorities are free to turn the taps back on.

But in a “balance-sheet recession”, what must be corrected is not a flow but a stock. After the bubble burst, Japan’s companies were left with liabilities that far exceeded their assets. Rather than file for bankruptcy, they set about paying down现金支付 their stock of debt to a manageable level. This was a protracted slog which, by Mr Koo’s reckoning, did not finish until 2005. In the meantime Japan’s economy stagnated. By 2002 its output was almost 23% below its pre-crisis trajectory.

Since Pimco’s forum concluded in May, the world economy has palpably improved. In many ways the new normal is beginning to look a lot like the old, vindicating Friedman’s plucking model. China is outpacing expectations. Goldman Sachs is making hay利用机会去赚钱. The premium banks must pay to borrow overnight from each other is now below 0.25%, the level Alan Greenspan, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, once described as “normal”. Companies in Europe and America are selling bonds at a furious pace. A few months ago financial newspapers were debating the future of capitalism. Now they are merely discussing the future of capital requirements. Shock has given way to relief.



The persistence of debt
But the relief is likely to be short-lived. Just over a year ago, the day Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, the world economy fell off a precipice. When you are falling, you do not look up. Only when you hit bottom can you stop and contemplate the cliff you must now climb.

This special report will argue that although a “new normal” for the world economy is now in sight, it will be different from the old normal in a number of ways. Demand in rich countries will remain weak and emerging economies will not be able to compensate. The report will explain why many governments will have to keep their stimulus packages going for longer than expected, or face entrenched unemployment that will permanently lower their economic potential. Public debt will rise so that private debt can fall. The banks, the report will show, will remain cautious about lending again, which will slow up the recovery but also make companies more careful about their investment; and the securitisation markets that became so fashionable during the boom will recede, though not disappear altogether.

A persistent shortfall in demand will weigh on supply. By the time this crisis is over, as many as 25m people may have lost their jobs in the 30 rich countries that belong to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The danger is that several million may never regain them. The mobilisation of capital will be fitful as the financial system copes with past mistakes and impending regulation. The travails of finance, in turn, may prevent the recovering economy from backing and exploiting innovations.

Like Japan’s bubble years, the years that led to the global financial crisis have left a heavy legacy of debt on the balance-sheets of banks and households, especially in Britain and America. It is this legacy that allows past losses to depress future gains. Fisher, again, put it best: “I fancy that over-confidence seldom does any great harm except when, as, and if, it beguiles its victims into debt.” There is no better example of that than American consumers.



My comments
The author in this report express his opinion to the economic status now in the American. Even the economic will return normal, as the reporter spoke in this article, it is a “new normal”, which means that the economic will return back to a level that is lower than what is it like before the depression. because the ecomomic bubble produce a fake growth. the growth is result of over priced assets hold by bank and householder and acompaned by vast debts. It is also explained why the economic can not return to the previous level and why so large amount of money was knocked off in the recession.

This article make me recall that some people oppose the government involvement in the market, they want they market to be completely free. However, the problem is that the mechanic of free market do not work properly. Banks and investors may maximize their profit in a very risky way. It will only effect those single investors if the high risk investment is limited in small scale, it yet will be destructive to the whole economic of the nation if two many people involved and the financial bubble was over blowed.

Since this will affect the stable of the economic of the society. The government have very reason to impose supervise on those high risk investment activity. Just like that even we all are enjoy freedom in the society, we can do anything we can if it does not hurt other people, but it does not mean that we need no laws to regulate people’s behavior. The high risk delt lended by the bank obviously have the potential to harm the interest of many innocent people-causing high rate of unemployment. It should be intervened.

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

But today it is becoming radioactive（碰不得的，有害的）, as governments step in to rescue failing companies and ordinary people are forced to tighten their belts.
These may be anecdotes, but they are illuminating ones.
The pay of people in the other groups has undoubtedly been driven by market forces; all are compensated in arm's-length markets, not by cronies
t inevitably led to failures like the subprime disasterand the dominoes it toppled as it took the economy down with it.
CEOs are no better off in 2008 than in 1994
The debate about executive pay, though never cool,is particularly hot at the moment.
Contrary to public perception
The second measure replaces expected stock option values with values actually realized and realized pay measures what CEOs walk away with.
Suchbold opening statements raise questions galore
Unemployment is approaching 10% in the United States andmuch higher numbers in many other countries.
By the end of 2007, when Countrywide finally revealed the losses it had previously obscured,

restricted stock限制性股票指上市公司按照预先确定的条件授予激励对象一定数量的本公司股票，激励对象只有在工作年限或业绩目标符合股权激励计划规定条件的，才可出售限制性股票并从中获益
Compensation报酬
radioactive（碰不得的，有害的）
ground zero归零地，起点
demotivate打消积极性
scape goats.替罪羊
stock option 优先认股权
hedge fund manager对冲基金经理
credit crunch 信贷紧缩
bandit强盗
moderator 调解人


After having finished reading these debate the first impression in my mind is that the proposer’s opening mark is more objective and the opponent’s is more subjective or biased. Yet, none of argument form both sides are flawless.

As with Steven N. Kaplan’s argument, two main point was illustrated: (1) the CEOs are not over paid (2) what CEOs earned is firmly fixed with their performance. The proposor use two graphs to demonstrate his argument. One is the median and everage pay(adjusted with inflaction) of the S P 500 CEOs, another is about the shows S&P 500 CEO pay relative to the income of the top 1% of US taxpayers. This make us understand how much the CEOs actually earn.
However, comparing the earns of those CEOs with that of hedge bond manager, athlete, and consultants may not relevant. These jobs usually varies in the attribution and the responsibility. As to those athlete, they have no responsibility for the profit of the company, and what the company need them to do is to using them to improve the popularity among the public. The consultant’s are those providing the company with suggestions in a expert perspectives. Whether their advise was taken or not was depend on the CEOs and broad. And there are not many people invest in the hedge bond which is highly risky and yet highly lucrative.

On the other hand, the Nell Minow’s argument is not representative. All the argument is based on the example of the company Countrywide and its CEO Aubrey McClendon. But we don’t know the complex relationship between the compensation committees, Mr Aubrey McClendon, and the broad, and we have no idea wheather many of the companies have similar things that happened in the Countrywide. It is not that convincible to me.

Before the economic recession, why there are no much concern about the the salaries of the CEOs? The reason is that the media garner people’s attention on this issue. before the recession private investors are focus on the money they can make, less attention was paid on the CEOs earns. And people just know little about the salaries of the CEOs, they have no idea the exact number. The recession changed people’s focus, all the newspapers reports the high salaries of the CEOs and how their malpractice lead to people’s loses, which incur more hatred.

Moreover the government bail out policy helped to increase and spread the annoy among people.. the direct victim will be those people who invest in those companies, CEOs are robbing their money. After the government give those big companies money to save the economic. The direct victim become all tax payers in the country. This policy obviously will arouse more preversive anger. Beside the government involvement, the recession itself have make more people involve in this issue. many people lose their job or have to cut their salaries because of the economic recession. They are anger that those people who directly lead to this are still enjoy high salaries.

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

今天下午的任务是在4点吧小组的comment作业做完，剩下时间自由阅读和想题目
晚上想10个题目

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

Mr Kaplan argues that the most powerful criticism of executive pay-that bosses get upside and no downside-is simply false
Mr Kaplan's best chance of turning the voting around is to demonstrate that outstanding bosses can boost the performance of the organisations that they head
propped up 支持
As in any otherprivate firm, there are no agency costs to worry about and they can dowhatever they like




out of whack.不正常 紊乱
opportunity cost机会成本
gross-ups补偿费
Perquisites津贴
clamping down抑制
rank and file普通员工
oxymoron矛盾修辞法
uncoupled脱节脱离


My comments
Based on the debate above, the argument of Minow is strong and point out the weak point of Kaplan punctually. It is true that the quality of those lawers, consultants, and athlete are completely different, it is not necessary to compare their earns with CEOs’. Minow also point out some of the logic flaw in Kaplan’s statement. But I think the most important thing for them to do is to argue to the point and focus on whether CEOs are over paid, rather than those trivial deficits in the statement.

In my opinion. Following mesures can be applied to make excutive compensation system more proper.

First, laws need to be enact that the company is free to make up for losses in stock value with other grants of cashes and stocks only on the condition that the company must announce bankrupt when futher loses exceed a limit. The limit can be set to grantee that those investors can get certain part of the money back. Recently, the profit is too alluring make the risk seems not that much a problem. By doing so, the cost of failure will multiplied. Broad and CEOs will be more cautious when making investment decisions.

The golden parachute in compensation system need to be revised. The CEOs who was fired can go away with conpensation. But this money need to be fixed with ther performance and contribution to the company during their tenure. Several factors can be count when caculating their severance pay- the total profit the company gain, the period of the tenure, and the loses directly caused by CEO.