1006G[REBORN FROM THE ASHES组]备考日记 by 中原527--战胜自己

中原527UID: 2707367

第20讲主要是讲spelling问题，大致看了下有几个不太清楚的
Conscious, Conscience

·conscious= adjective meaning awake, perceiving:
Despite a head injury, the patient remained conscious.

·conscience = noun meaning the sense of obligation to be good:
Chris wouldn't cheat because his conscience wouldn't let him.

Idea, Ideal

·idea = noun meaning a thought, belief, or conception held in the mind, or a general notion or conception formed by generalization:
Jennifer had a brilliant idea — she'd go to the Writing Lab for help with her papers!

·ideal = noun meaning something or someone that embodies perfection, or an ultimate object or endeavor:
Mickey was the ideal for tutors everywhere.

·ideal = adjective meaning embodying an ultimate standard of excellence or perfection, or the best:
Jennifer was an ideal student.

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Higher Order Concerns (HOCs) and Lower Order Concerns (LOCs)

When you are revising your papers, not every element of your work should have equal priority. The most important parts of your paper, often called "Higher Order Concerns (HOCs)," are the "big picture" elements such as thesis or focus, audience and purpose, organization, and development. After you have addressed these important elements, you can then turn your attention to the "Lower Order Concerns (LOCs)," such as sentence structure and grammar.

Keep in mind, however, that moving between HOCs and LOCs might be a natural process for you. Experienced writers may begin with HOCs and dip into the LOCs as they revise. Inexperienced writers may revise systematically through the HOCs and then the LOCs. In addition, LOCs, such as punctuation and spelling, may affect HOCs. For example, if the first sentence of your introductory paragraph is riddled with punctuation and spelling errors, readers may not move far enough into your work to get to your thesis statement. In these cases, you should address LOCs first.

Some HOCs

Thesis or focus:

·Does the paper have a central thesis?
·Can you, if asked, offer a one-sentence explanation or summary of what the paper is about?
·Ask someone to read the first paragraph or two and tell you what he or she thinks the paper will discuss.

Audience and purpose:

·Do you have an appropriate audience in mind? Can you describe them?
·Do you have a clear purpose for the paper? What is it intended to do or accomplish?
·Why would someone want to read this paper?
·Does the purpose match the assignment?

Organization:

·Does the paper progress in an organized, logical way?
·Go through the paper and jot down notes on the topics of the various paragraphs. Look at this list and see if you can think of a better organization.
·Make a brief outline. Does the organization make sense? Should any part be moved to another part?
·Ask someone to read the paper. At the end of each paragraph, ask the person to forecast where the paper is headed. If the paper goes in a direction other than the one forecasted by the reader, is there a good reason, or do you need to rewrite something there?

Development:

·Are there places in the paper where more details, examples, or specifics are needed?
·Do any paragraphs seem much shorter and in need of more material than others? (For more help, see our handout on paragraphing.)
·Ask someone to read the paper and comment if something is unclear and needs more description, explanation, or support.

Some LOCs

Sentence structure, punctuation, word choice, spelling

·Are there a few problems that frequently occur? Keep a list of problems that recur and check for those.
·Read the paper aloud watching and listening for anything that sounds incorrect.
·Ask yourself why you put punctuation marks in certain places. Do you need to check any punctuation rules? (For more help see our handouts on punctuation.)
·For possible spelling errors, proofread backwards, from the end of a line to the beginning.

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Improving Sentence Clarity

There are many strategies for improving the clarity of your sentences and your papers.

Go from old to new information

Introduce your readers to the "big picture" first by giving them information they already know. Then they can link what's familiar to the new information you give them. As that new information becomes familiar, it too becomes old information that can link to newer information.

The following example sentence is clear and understandable because it uses old information to lead to new information:
Every semester after final exams are over, I'm faced with the problem of what to do with books of lecture notes (new information). They (old) might be useful some day, but they just keep piling up on my bookcase (new). Someday, it (old) will collapse under the weight of information I might never need.

Here is a sentence that is not as clear. It moves from new information to old information:
Lately, most movies I've seen have been merely second-rate entertainment, but occasionally there are some with worthwhile themes. The rapid disappearance of the Indian culture (new) is the topic of a recent movie (old) I saw.

Did you find the second sentence hard to read or understand? If so, it could be because the old information comes late in the sentence after the new information. A clearer version that moves from old information to new information might look like this:
Lately, most movies I've seen have been merely second-rate entertainment, but occasionally there are some with worthwhile themes. One recent movie (old) I saw was about the rapid disappearance of the Indian culture. (new)

Transitional words

There are many words in English that cue our readers to relationships between sentences, joining sentences together. See the handout on Transitional Devices (Connecting Words). There you'll find lists of words such as however, therefore, in addition, also, but, moreover, etc.

I like autumn, and yet autumn is a sad time of the year, too. The leaves turn bright shades of red and the weather is mild, but I can't help thinking ahead to the winter and the ice storms that will surely blow through here. In addition, that will be the season of chapped faces, too many layers of clothes to put on, and days when I'll have to shovel heaps of snow from my car's windshield.

Be careful about placement of subordinate clauses

Avoid interrupting the main clause with a subordinate clause if the interruption will cause confusion:
clear (subordinate clause at the end):
Industrial spying is increasing rapidly because of the growing use of computers to store and process corporate information.
clear (subordinate clause at the beginning):
Because of the growing use of computers to store and process corporate information, industrial spying is increasing rapidly.
not as clear (subordinate clause embedded in the middle):
Industrial spying,because of the growing use of computers to store and process corporate information, is increasing rapidly.

Use active voice

Sentences in active voice are usually easier to understand than those in passive voice because active-voice constructions indicate clearly the performer of the action expressed in the verb. In addition, changing from passive voice to active often results in a more concise sentence. So use active voice unless you have good reason to use the passive. For example, the passive is useful when you don't want to call attention to the doer; when the doer is obvious, unimportant, or unknown; or when passive voice is the conventional style among your readers.
clear (active):
The committee decided to postpone the vote.
not as clear (passive):
A decision was reached to postpone the vote.

Use parallel constructions

When you have a series of words, phrases, or clauses, put them in parallel form (similar grammatical construction) so that the reader can identify the linking relationship more easily and clearly.
clear (parallel):
In Florida, where the threat of hurricanes is an annual event, we learned that it is important (1) to become aware of the warning signs, (2) to know what precautions to take, and (3) to decide when to seek shelter.
not as clear (not parallel):
In Florida, where the threat of hurricanes is an annual event, we learned that it is important (1) to become aware of the warning signs. (2) There are precautions to take, and (3) deciding when to take shelter is important.
In the second sentence, notice how the string of "things to be aware of in Florida" does not create a parallel structure. Also, notice how much more difficult it is for a reader to follow the meaning of the second sentence compared to the first one.

Avoid noun strings

Try not to string nouns together one after the other because a series of nouns is difficult to understand. One way to revise a string of nouns is to change one noun to a verb.
unclear (string of nouns):
This report explains our investment growth stimulation projects.
clearer:
This report explains our projects to stimulate growth in investments.

Avoid overusing noun forms of verbs

Use verbs when possible rather than noun forms known as "nominalizations."
unclear (use of nominalization):
The implementation of the plan was successful.
clearer:
The plan was implemented successfully.

Avoid multiple negatives

Use affirmative forms rather than several negatives because multiple negatives are difficult to understand.
unclear (multiple negatives, passive):
Less attention is paid to commercials that lack human interest stories than to other kinds of commercials.
clearer:
People pay more attention to commercials with human interest stories than to other kinds of commercials.

Choose action verbs over forms of be

When possible, avoid using forms of be as the main verbs in your sentences and clauses. This problem tends to accompany nominalization (see above). Instead of using a be verb, focus on the actions you wish to express, and choose the appropriate verbs. In the following example, two ideas are expressed: 1) that there is a difference between television and newspaper news reporting, and 2) the nature of that difference. The revised version expresses these two main ideas in the two main verbs.
Unclear (overuse of be verbs):
One difference between television news reporting and the coverage provided by newspapers is the time factor between the actual happening of an event and the time it takes to be reported. The problem is that instantaneous coverage is physically impossible for newspapers.
Clearer:
Television news reporting differs from that of newspapers in that television, unlike newspapers, can provide instantaneous coverage of events as they happen.

Avoid unclear pronoun references

Be sure that the pronouns you use refer clearly to a noun in the current or previous sentence. If the pronoun refers to a noun that has been implied but not stated, you can clarify the reference by explicitly using that noun.
This, that, these, those, he, she, it, they, and we are useful pronouns for referring back to something previously mentioned. Be sure, however, that what you are referring to is clear.
Unclear (unclear pronoun reference):
With the spread of globalized capitalism, American universities increasingly follow a corporate fiscal model, tightening budgets and hiring temporary contract employees as teachers. This has prompted faculty and adjunct instructors at many schools to join unions as a way of protecting job security and benefits.
Clearer:
With the spread of globalized capitalism, American universities increasingly follow a corporate fiscal model, tightening budgets and hiring temporary contract employees as teachers. This trend has prompted faculty and adjunct instructors at many schools to join unions as a way of protecting job security and benefits.
Unclear (unclear pronoun reference):
Larissa worked in a national forest last summer, which may be her career choice.
Clearer:
Larissa worked in a national forest last summer; forest management may be her career choice.


Sentence Fragments

This resource was written by Purdue OWL.
Last full revision by .
Last edited by Allen Brizee on December 17th 2007 at 9:09AM
Summary: Provides an overview and examples of sentence fragments
.
Sentence Fragments

Fragments are incomplete sentences. Usually, fragments are pieces of sentences that have become disconnected from the main clause. One of the easiest ways to correct them is to remove the period between the fragment and the main clause. Other kinds of punctuation may be needed for the newly combined sentence.
Below are some examples with the fragments shown in red. Punctuation and/or words added to make corrections are highlighted in blue. Notice that the fragment is frequently a dependent clause or long phrase that follows the main clause.

·Fragment:Purdue offers many majors in engineering. Such as electrical, chemical, and industrial engineering.
Possible Revision: Purdue offers many majors in engineering, such as electrical, chemical, and industrial engineering.
·Fragment: Coach Dietz exemplified this behavior by walking off the field in the middle of a game. Leaving her team at a time when we needed her.
Possible Revision: Coach Dietz exemplified this behavior by walking off the field in the middle of a game, leaving her team at a time when we needed her.
·Fragment: I need to find a new roommate. Because the one I have now isn't working out too well.
Possible Revision: I need to find a new roommate because the one I have now isn't working out too well.
·Fragment: The current city policy on housing is incomplete as it stands. Which is why we believe the proposed amendments should be passed.
Possible Revision: Because the current city policy on housing is incomplete as it stands, we believe the proposed ammendments should be passed.
You may have noticed that newspaper and magazine journalists often use a dependent clause as a separate sentence when it follows clearly from the preceding main clause, as in the last example above. This is a conventional journalistic practice, often used for emphasis. For academic writing and other more formal writing situations, however, you should avoid such journalistic fragment sentences.
Some fragments are not clearly pieces of sentences that have been left unattached to the main clause; they are written as main clauses but lack a subject or main verb.

No main verb

·Fragment: A story with deep thoughts and emotions.
Possible Revisions:
oDirect object: She told a story with deep thoughts and emotions.
oAppositive: Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," a story with deep thoughts and emotions, has impressed critics for decades.
·Fragment: Toys of all kinds thrown everywhere.
Possible Revisions:
oComplete verb: Toys of all kinds were thrown everywhere.
oDirect object: They found toys of all kinds thrown everywhere.
·Fragment: A record of accomplishment beginning when you were first hired.
Possible Revisions:
oDirect object: I've noticed a record of accomplishment beginning when you were first hired
oMain verb: A record of accomplishment began when you were first hired.

No Subject

·Fragment: With the ultimate effect of all advertising is to sell the product.
Possible Revisions:
oRemove preposition: The ultimate effect of all advertising is to sell the product.
·Fragment: By paying too much attention to polls can make a political leader unwilling to propose innovative policies.
Possible Revisions:
oRemove preposition: Paying too much attention to polls can make a political leader unwilling to propose innovative policies.
·Fragment: For doing freelance work for a competitor got Phil fired.
Possible Revisions:
oRemove preposition: Doing freelance work for a competitor got Phil fired.
oRearrange: Phil got fired for doing freelance work for a competitor.
These last three examples of fragments with no subjects are also known as mixed constructions, that is, sentences constructed out of mixed parts. They start one way (often with a long prepositional phrase) but end with a regular predicate. Usually the object of the preposition (often a gerund, as in the last two examples) is intended as the subject of the sentence, so removing the preposition at the beginning is usually the easiest way to edit such errors.

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Sentence Punctuation Patterns

To punctuate a sentence, you can use and combine some of these patterns. For more information on independent and dependent clauses plus independent and dependent markers, see our handouts on those subjects.

Pattern One: Simple sentence
This pattern is an example of a simple sentence:
Independent clause [ . ]
Example: Doctors are concerned about the rising death rate from asthma.

Pattern Two : Compound Sentence
This pattern is an example of a compound sentence with a coordinating conjunction:
Independent clause [ , ] coordinating conjunction independent clause [ . ]
There are seven coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet.
Example: Doctors are concerned about the rising death rate from asthma, but
they don't know the reasons for it.

Pattern Three: Compound Sentence
This pattern is an example of a compound sentence with a semicolon.
Independent clause [ ; ] independent clause [ . ]
Example: Doctors are concerned about the rising death rate from asthma; they are unsure of its cause.

Pattern Four: Compound Sentence
This pattern is an example of a compound sentence with an independent marker.
Independent clause [ ; ] independent marker [ , ] independent clause [ . ]
Examples of independent markers are the following: therefore, moreover, thus, consequently, however, also.
Example: Doctors are concerned about the rising death rate from asthma; therefore, they have called for more research into its causes.

Pattern Five: Complex Sentence
This pattern is an example of a complex sentence with a dependent marker.
Dependent marker
dependent clause[ , ] Independent clause[ . ]
Examples of dependent markers are as follows: because, before, since, while, although, if, until, when, after, as, as if.
Example: Because doctors are concerned about the rising death rate from asthma, they have called for more research into its causes.

Pattern Six: Complex Sentence
This pattern is an example of a complex sentence with a dependent marker.
Independent clause
dependent marker
dependent clause [ . ]
Examples of dependent markers are as follows: because, before, since, while, although, if, until, when, after, as, as if.
Example: Doctors are concerned about the rising death rate from asthma
because it is a common, treatable illness.

Pattern Seven
This pattern includes an independent clause with an embedded non-essential clause or phrase
First part of an independent clause [ , ] non-essential clause or phrase, rest of the independent clause [ . ]
A non-essential clause or phrase is one that can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence or making it ungrammatical. In other words, the non-essential clause or phrase gives additional information, but the sentence can stand alone without it.
Example: Many doctors, including both pediatricians and family practice physicians, are concerned about the rising death rate from asthma.

Pattern Eight
This pattern includes an independent clause with an embedded essential clause or phrase
First part of an independent clause essential clause or phrase rest of the independent clause [ . ]
An essential clause or phrase is one that cannot be removed without changing the overall meaning of the sentence.
Example: Many doctors who are concerned about the rising death rate from asthma have called for more research into its causes.

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Dash

Dashes are used to set off or emphasize the content enclosed within dashes or the content that follows a dash. Dashes place more emphasis on this content than parentheses.
Perhaps one reason why the term has been so problematic—so resistant to definition, and yet so transitory in those definitions—is because of its multitude of applications.
In terms of public legitimacy—that is, in terms of garnering support from state legislators, parents, donors, and university administrators—English departments are primarily places where advanced literacy is taught.
The U.S.S. Constitution became known as "Old Ironsides" during the War of 1812—during which the cannonballs fired from the British H.M.S. Guerriere merely bounced off the sides of the Constitution.
To some of you, my proposals may seem radical—even revolutionary.
Use a dash to set off an appositive phrase that already includes commas. An appositive is a word that adds explanatory or clarifying information to the noun that precedes it.
The cousins—Tina, Todd, and Sam—arrived at the party together.
Punctuation in Types of Sentences

Learning rules for how and when to punctuate a sentence can be difficult, especially when you consider that different types of sentences call for different types of punctuation. This handout should help to clarify not only the types of sentences, but also what punctuation to use in what situation.

Punctuation in Types of SentencesIndependent clause: a clause that has a subject and a verb and can stand alone; a complete sentence
Dependent clause: a clause that has a subject and a verb but cannot stand alone; an incomplete sentence

Simple: composed of 1 independent clause.No standard punctuation.

Compound: composed of 2 or more independent clauses.Join 2 independent clauses by a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, for, nor, so).
Road construction can be inconvenient, but it is necessary.
Join 2 independent clauses by a colon when you wish to emphasize the second clause.
Road construction in Dallas has hindered travel around town: parts of Main, Fifth, and West Street are closed during the construction.
Join 2 independent clauses by a semicolon when the second clause restates the first or when the two clauses are of equal emphasis.
Road construction in Dallas has hindered travel around town; streets have become covered with bulldozers, trucks, and cones.

Complex: composed of 1 or more dependent clauses and 1 or more independent clauses.Join an introductory dependent clause with the independent clause by a comma.
Because road construction has hindered travel around town, many people have opted to ride bicycles or walk to work.
Many people have opted to ride bicycles or walk to work because road construction has hindered travel around town.

Compound-Complex: composed of 1 or more dependent clauses and 2 or more independent clauses.Join an introductory dependent clause with an independent clause with a comma. Separate 2 independent clauses with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, for, nor, so).
When it is filtered, water is cleaner, and it tastes better.
Join an introductory dependent clause with an independent clause with a comma. Separate 2 independent clauses by a colon when you wish to emphasize the second clause.
Whenever it is possible, you should filter your water: filtered water is cleaner and tastes better.
Join an introductory dependent clause with an independent clause with a comma. Separate 2 independent clauses by a semicolon when the second clause restates the first or when the two clauses are of equal emphasis.
When it is filtered, water is cleaner and tastes better; all things considered, it is better for you.

中原527UID: 2707367

第二十五期——A versus An没啥好说了...
第二十六期How to Use Articles (a/an/the)
总觉得中文版的总结得更具体些

中原527UID: 2707367

Identifying Independent and Dependent Clauses

When you want to use commas and semicolons in sentences and when you are concerned about whether a sentence is or is not a fragment, a good way to start is to be able to recognize dependent and independent clauses. The definitions offered here will help you with this.

Independent Clause

An independent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought. An independent clause is a sentence.
Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz.

Dependent Clause

A dependent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought. A dependent clause cannot be a sentence. Often a dependent clause is marked by a dependent marker word.
When Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz . . . (What happened when he studied? The thought is incomplete.)

Dependent Marker Word

A dependent marker word is a word added to the beginning of an independent clause that makes it into a dependent clause.
When Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz, it was very noisy.
Some common dependent markers are: after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order to, since, though, unless, until, whatever, when, whenever, whether, and while.

Connecting dependent and independent clauses

There are two types of words that can be used as connectors at the beginning of an independent clause: coordinating conjunctions and independent marker words.

1. Coordinating Conjunction
The seven coordinating conjunctions used as connecting words at the beginning of an independent clause are and, but, for, or, nor, so, and yet. When the second independent clause in a sentence begins with a coordinating conjunction, a comma is needed before the coordinating conjunction:
Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz, but it was hard to concentrate because of the noise.

2. Independent Marker Word
An independent marker word is a connecting word used at the beginning of an independent clause. These words can always begin a sentence that can stand alone. When the second independent clause in a sentence has an independent marker word, a semicolon is needed before the independent marker word.
Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz; however, it was hard to concentrate because of the noise.
Some common independent markers are: also, consequently, furthermore, however, moreover, nevertheless, and therefore.

Some Common Errors to Avoid

Comma Splices

A comma splice is the use of a comma between two independent clauses. You can usually fix the error by changing the comma to a period and therefore making the two clauses into two separate sentences, by changing the comma to a semicolon, or by making one clause dependent by inserting a dependent marker word in front of it.
Incorrect: I like this class, it is very interesting.
·Correct: I like this class. It is very interesting.
·(or) I like this class; it is very interesting.
·(or) I like this class, and it is very interesting.
·(or) I like this class because it is very interesting.
·(or) Because it is very interesting, I like this class.

Fused Sentences
Fused sentences happen when there are two independent clauses not separated by any form of punctuation. This error is also known as a run-on sentence. The error can sometimes be corrected by adding a period, semicolon, or colon to separate the two sentences.
Incorrect: My professor is intelligent I've learned a lot from her.
·Correct: My professor is intelligent. I've learned a lot from her.
·(or) My professor is intelligent; I've learned a lot from her.
·(or) My professor is intelligent, and I've learned a lot from her.
·(or) My professor is intelligent; moreover, I've learned a lot from her.

Sentence Fragments
Sentence fragments happen by treating a dependent clause or other incomplete thought as a complete sentence. You can usually fix this error by combining it with another sentence to make a complete thought or by removing the dependent marker.
Incorrect: Because I forgot the exam was today.
·Correct: Because I forgot the exam was today, I didn't study.
·(or) I forgot the exam was today.

Run-ons - Comma Splices - Fused Sentences

·Run-ons, comma splices, and fused sentences are all names given to compound sentences that are not punctuated correctly. The best way to avoid such errors is to punctuate compound sentences correctly by using one or the other of these rules.
·1. Join the two independent clauses with one of the coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet), and use a comma before the connecting word.
·_________________________, and _________________________.
·He enjoys walking through the country, and he often goes backpacking on his vacations.

·2. When you do not have a connecting word (or when you use a connecting word other than and, but, for, or nor, so, or yet between the two independent clauses) use a semicolon (;).

plukaUID: 2721764

新年快乐，串门来啦！

中原527UID: 2707367

113# pluka
呵呵呵谢谢啦~~~

123runfordreamUID: 2697608

帖子回来了吧？
这里？
新年快乐！！一起奋战哈！！
嘿嘿~~

中原527UID: 2707367

1.1
comments：
In the long history of the world , the battle for the possession of the nation’s territory is always the theme. In this day, as the decreasing material resource or the history’s problem, the increasing countries focus on the territory problems such as seabed, sea lanes, and sea and land borders.
The article’s main idea is all the problems surrounding the far north in Canada. In recent years, the importance of this vast area never visited is more obvious, because the place may has the rich resource, and the long marine line.
After the Canada government is conscious of the weightiness of the far north. They take the actions rapidly in there. For instance, they improved the fund input and outfitted the aboriginal people with the military force.
红字为该词汇在文中的含义
quaint
1 obsolete : expert, skilled
2 a : marked by skillful design <quaint with many a device in India ink — Herman Melville> b : marked by beauty or elegance
3 a : unusual or different in character or appearance : odd <figures of fun, quaint people — Herman Wouk> b : pleasingly or strikingly old-fashioned or unfamiliar
aboriginal
1 : being the first or earliest known of its kind present in a region <aboriginal forests> <aboriginal rocks>
2 a : of or relating to aborigines b often capitalized : of or relating to the indigenous peoples of Australia
Overhaul
1 a : to examine thoroughly b (1) : repair (2) : to renovate, remake, revise, or renew thoroughly
2 : to haul or drag over
3 : overtake
Debilitate
: to impair the strength of : enfeeble
Squabbles
: a noisy altercation or quarrel usually over petty matters
Federal
2 a : formed by a compact between political units that surrender their individual sovereignty to a central authority but retain limited residuary powers of government b : of or constituting a form of government in which power is distributed between a central authority and a number of constituent territorial units c : of or relating to the central government of a federation as distinguished from the governments of the constituent units
Heed
: to pay attention transitive verb : to give consideration or attention to : mind <heed what he says> <heed the call>
Monitor
: to watch, keep track of, or check usually for a special purpose
Outfit
1 : to furnish with an outfit
2 : supply <outfitting every family with shoes — American Guide Series: Vermont>intransitive verb
: to acquire an outfit
Tricky（这里最常用的是欺骗的诡计的，在文中是指棘手的，困难的）
3 : requiring skill, knack, or caution (as in doing or handling) : difficult <a tricky problem>; also : ingenious <a tricky rhythm>
Ironic(一开始以为是铁的，金属的意思，后来觉得看着奇怪就顺手查了韦氏~~~)
1 : relating to, containing, or constituting irony <an ironic remark> <an ironic coincidence>
2 : given to irony <an ironic sense of humor>
Pledge （以后不会老是用swear了~~~）
1 : to make a pledge of; especially : pawn
2 : to drink to the health of
3 : to bind by a pledge
4 : to promise the performance of by a pledge
Benign（差点看成begin了…）
1 : of a gentle disposition : gracious <a benign teacher>
2 a : showing kindness and gentleness <benign faces> b : favorable, wholesome <a benign climate>
3 a : of a mild type or character that does not threaten health or life; especially : not becoming cancerous <a benign lung tumor> b : having no significant effect : harmless <environmentally benign>
最后小小地总结文中出现兵器相关的词汇~
fleet舰队
Soviet bombers.（苏联轰炸机）
Submarine 潜水艇
Monitor 侦查
Rifles 来复枪

好词~

a vast area never visited
badly needed housing（极度被需要的住宅）
the usual cost overruns of military projects
paid little heed militarily to
outfitted a few Inuit with baseball hats and rifles,

中原527UID: 2707367

Back to the future
Dec 19th 2009
From Economist.com
The taste for clutter and realism is curiously buoyant
WHILE the contemporary art market constantly seeks the new—new names, new imagery, new media or simply new novelty—another curious corner of the art market has remained steadfastly old-fashioned, cluttered and sentimental. With bad weather coming, much of London may have been preparing to shut down early for Christmas last week. But Christie’s sale of Victorian and British Impressionist pictures
on December 16th and Sotheby’s sale of Victorian and Edwardian paintings
the next day were surprisingly busy.



Sotheby's

Of the two auctions, Sotheby’s was by far more successful, fetching &pound;4.4m ($7.1m) for works by some of the best-known names of the period, including Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Sir Alfred Munnings, Dame Laura Knight and Charles Spencelayh. The cover lot, Spencelayh’s “The Old Dealer
”, sold for a record price for the artist at auction. The buyer was David Mason, a London dealer who joined his father’s firm, MacConnal-Mason, when he was just 17. Mr Mason, who has seen recessions come and go in the 53 year he has been in the business, said afterwards: “Prices today reflect what is happening out there. （issue经济类可借鉴）People are discounting the coming inflation and buying quality. They know that inflation has always been the art dealer’s friend.”
Buyers in every sector of the art market, from Chinese porcelain to Old Masters, now seem to follow a pattern. They are happy to pay over the odds for top-ranking pictures, but leave the rest untouched. Nearly 40% of the lots in Sotheby’s sale were bought in. Its success lay in the high prices achieved for those that sold, half of which were bid up beyond their high estimate.
Some pieces went for as much as four times what the auction house had predicted.
John Atkinson Grimshaw is a painter who celebrated industry, commerce and conspicuous
wealth during Queen Victoria’s reign, dying in 1893. His works are often dark social commentaries featuring streets and portsides, full of ships’ rigging and lamplight that seems visually interchangeable with moonlight. Eight years ago Mr Mason sold an 1881 Grimshaw entitled “Prince’s Dock, Hull
” to an American collector for &pound;130,000. Consigning the picture to Sotheby’s, that same American saw his Grimshaw sell to an anonymous bidder for &pound;397,250 (including commission and taxes), the third highest price achieved for the artist at auction.

Spencelayh, the son of an iron and brass founder, rose to be a prolific member of the Royal Academy of Arts and a favourite of Queen Mary. His work is, if anything, even more unfashionable-looking than Grimshaw’s. Spencelayh, who died in 1928, liked to paint fussy interiors. The most sought after are realistic pictures of men, often gathered around a table in a room full of clutter, with glazed jugs, books, umbrellas and pieces of velvet jumbled together. There is usually a pipe or two on the table, and there is nearly always a clock hanging on the wall.

A Manchester cotton merchant named Levy supported Spencelayh from the early 1920s. He offered the artist and his wife a house to live in and bought a number of his paintings. When Levy's widow(寡妇), Rosie, auctioned his collection in 1946, the picture [that fetched the highest sum] was “The Old Dealer”, which Spencelayh had painted in 1925. It was sold again in 1973, where it was bought by Richard Green, a London dealer, on behalf of an American collector for about &pound;30,000.

Consigned last week to Sotheby’s by this same collector, it sold for more than ten times that (&pound;337,250 including commission and taxes) to Mr Mason. Mr Green, an earlier owner, was the under bidder. “It has everything you could want: the old man, the clock, the knickknacks,” Mr Mason said afterwards. “It is quite simply the best example of a Spencelayh I have ever seen.” Mr Mason said he bought the picture for stock, with no particular collector in mind.
“On the Cliffs
” (pictured above) is one of a series of pictures that Laura Knight painted of women sitting high above the water on the Cornish coast. In one of the earliest examples, “Daughter of the Sun”, the women were naked. That picture did not sell when Knight exhibited it at the Royal Academy in 1912, and Knight later cut it up and sold the pieces after it had become damaged. She continued to be inspired by the Cornish theme in the years before the end of the first world war, after she and her husband moved to London. In “On the Cliffs” one woman is sewing while the other may be threading a needle. Both are strong, calm figures. Behind them the sea, silvery, shimmering and full of light, has the same idyllic quality of water painted at the time by the Scottish Colourists.
But there are no men in any of Knight’s pictures of this period, reminding viewers that war was close at hand.

“On the Cliffs” sold to an anonymous bidder for &pound;646,050, nearly twice the top estimate. Even at that price, many regard the painting as a bargain. In July, Galen Weston, a Canadian billionaire whose family owns Fortnum & Mason, bought the companion picture, “Wind and Sun”. It cost him &pound;914,850.
Comments:
Nowadays, the art market is full of the blundering atmosphere in china. Many paintings ,which have the obvious characters of the great proletarian cultural revolution such as the figure of chairman Mao and the political propagandistic paintings in that period time. Because of the paticularity of the time, the paintings are favor of the collectors. However, there are not few paintings are bid up beyond the auction’s high estimate. As Mr. Mason said that the inflation has always been the art dealer’s friend, including American art market. There are few collectors not regarding painting as a bargain, especially in China. Collecting usually is the privilege of the rich.
Nawdays>nowadays
Atmasphere>atmosphere
Contemporory>contemporary

Main Entry: 2clutter
Function: noun
Date: 1649
1 a
: a crowded or confused mass or collection b
: things that clutter a place
2
: interfering radar echoes caused by reflection from objects (as on the ground) other than the target
3 chiefly dialect :
disturbance
, hubbub

Main Entry: re·al·ism
Pronunciation: \ˈrē-ə-ˌli-zəm\
Function: noun
Date: 1817
1
: concern for fact or reality and rejection of the impractical and visionary
2 a
: a doctrine that universals exist outside the mind; specifically : the conception that an abstract term names an independent and unitary reality b
: a theory that objects of sense perception or cognition exist independently of the mind — compare nominalism

3
: the theory or practice of fidelity in art and literature to nature or to real life and to accurate representation without idealization
Main Entry: buoy·ant
Pronunciation: \ˈbȯi-ənt, ˈbü-yənt\
Function: adjective
Date: 1578
: having buoyancy: as a
: capable of floating b
:
cheerful
, gay
c
: capable of maintaining a satisfactorily high level <a buoyant economy>
— buoy·ant·ly adverb
contemporary
a.当代的，同时代的
n.同时代的人
novelty
n.新奇，新颖，新奇的事物
sentimental
a.
感伤性的，感情脆弱的
Steadfastly
adv.踏实地，不变地
Victorian
n．维多利亚女王时代著名人物
a.维多利亚女王时代的，有维多利亚女王时代特色的
odds
n.可能的机会, 成败的可能性, 优势, 不均, 不平等, 几率, 差别
odd
adj.奇数的, 单数的, 单只的, 不成对的, 临时的, 不固定的, 带零头的, 余的
fetching
a.
动人的，吸引人的，迷人的
Recession
n．撤回，退回，工商业的衰退，不景气
inflation
n.通货膨胀，物价暴涨
sector
n.部门，部分
v.使分成部分，把…分成扇形
odds
n.可能的机会, 成败的可能性, 优势, 不均, 不平等, 几率, 差别
bid up
v.(在拍卖中)竞出高价, 哄价, 抬价
knickknack
n．小玩意儿
anonymous
a.匿名的
conspicuous
a.显著的
if anything 如果有什么区别的话
idyllic
a.
田园短诗的, 牧歌的, 生动逼真的
Thread a needle 穿针引线

中原527UID: 2707367

[REBORN FROM THE ASHES][comment][01.02]

本帖最后由 prettywraith 于 2010-1-2 09:59 编辑 关于REBORN FROM THE ASHES组COMMENTS活动的说明&汇总 https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1042733-1-2.html ======================================================== 文章摘自The New York Times 链接：http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/movies/03dargis.html?8dpc Film Floating in the Digital Experience By MANOHLA DARGIS Published: December 30, 2009 HOW much our world of moving-image entertainment has changed in the past decade! We now live in a world of the 24-Hour Movie, one that plays anytime and anywhere you want (and sometimes whether you want it to or not). It’s a movie we can access at home by pressing a few buttons on the remote (and agreeing to pay more for it than you might at the local video store) or with a few clicks of the mouse. The 24-Hour Movie now streams instead of unspools, filling our screens with images that, more and more, have been created algorithmically rather than photographically. And yet how little our world of moving-image entertainment has changed! On April 14, 1896, The New York Times ran an article with the exciting if cryptic headline “Edison’s Latest Triumph.” The triumph was the Vitascope, a machine that “projects upon a large area of canvas groups that appear to stand forth from the canvas, and move with great facility and agility, as though actuated by separate impulses.” A proprietor of the music hall where the Vitascope was shown off said this machine would reproduce “scenes from various successful plays and operas of the season, and well-known statesmen and celebrities,” adding, “No other manager in this city will have the right to exhibit the Vitascope.” Today, even when digital, our movies are still filled with celebrities and scenes from successful plays (and books and comics), and the owners of image technologies continue to hold on to their exclusive rights ferociously. Edison didn’t invent the Vitascope, but that’s another story. The story I want to tell here does involve him. But first I want to fast-forward to a recent night when, at a movie theater rigged for 3-D projection, I saw James Cameron’s “Avatar” with an audience that watched the screen with the kind of fixed attention that has become rare at the movies. True, everyone was wearing 3-D glasses, which makes it difficult to check your cellphone obsessively, but they also seemed captivated. When it was over, people broke into enthusiastic applause and, unusually, many stayed to watch the credits, as if to linger in the movie. Although much has been made of the technologies used in “Avatar,” its beauty and nominal politics, it is the social experience of the movie — as an event that needs to be enjoyed with other people for maximum impact — which is more interesting. That’s particularly true after a decade when watching movies became an increasingly solitary affair, something between you and your laptop. “Avatar” affirms the deep pleasures of the communal, and it does so by exploiting a technology (3-D),which appears to invite you into the movie even as（正巧，正如） it also forces you to remain attentively in your seat. “Avatar” serves as a nice jumping-off point to revisit how movies and our experience of them have changed. For starters, when a critic calls a new release “a film” these days, there’s a chance that 【what she (and you) are looking at 】wasn’t made with film processes but was created, from pre-visualization to final credits, with digital technologies. Yet, unless a director or distributor calls attention to the technologies used — as do techno-fetishists like Michael Mann and David Fincher, who used bleeding-edge digital cameras to make “Collateral” (2004) and “Zodiac” (2007) — it’s also probable that most reviewers won’t mention if a movie was even shot in digital, because they haven’t noticed or don’t care. This seems like a strange state of affairs. Film is profoundly changing — or, if you believe some theorists and historians, is already dead — something that most moviegoers don’t know. Yet, because the visible evidence of this changeover has become literally hard to see, and because the implications are difficult to grasp, it is also understandable why the shift to digital has not attracted more intense analysis outside film and media studies. Bluntly put, something is happening before our eyes. We might see an occasional digital artifact (usually, a bit of unintentional data) when a director shoots digital in bright light — look for a pattern of squares or a yellowish tint — but we’re usually too busy with the story to pay much mind. Should you care? I honestly don’t know, because I’m not sure what to think about this brave new image world we have entered. I love the luxurious look and warmth of film, and I fervently hope it never disappears. And yet many of us who grew up watching movies in the predigital era have rarely experienced the ones in, and shown on, film in all their visual glory: battered prints and bad projection have helped thwart the ideal experience. Theater 80 St. Marks, a downtown Manhattan repertory house where I spent a lot of time in the 1970s, showed threadbare prints of classic and not-so-classic movies in rear projection, which meant they often looked worse on screen than they did on my television back home. It is because the movies and our experience of them has changed so radically in recent years — we can pull a movie outof our pocket now, much as earlier generations pulled out a paperback — that makes it difficult to grasp what is happening. In 1996, Susan Sontag set off a storm in cine-circles with an essay, “The Decay of Cinema,” which could have been titled the death of specialized cinephilia, one centered on art-house film (“quintessentially modern”), from Dziga Vertov to Jean-Luc Godard, and experienced inside a movie theater, “ideally the third-row center.” Sontag’s essay inspired a spate of similarly themed if often less vigorous examinations: Google the words “death of cinema,” and you get more than 2.5 million hits. In one sense the beginning of the end of cinema as we tend to understand it can be traced to 1933, the year that a feature-length film — a 1932 detective tale called “The Crooked Circle” — was first shown on television. Few Americans owned sets in the 1930s, but the genie was already out of the bottle, or, rather, the movies were out of the theater. As televisions began to fill postwar American homes — from an estimated 20,000 in 1946 to 30.5 million in 1955 — so did the movies, which, despite Hollywood’s initial anxiety, became a crucial television staple. (The studios soon learned that television was a revenue source.) Generations of cinephiles fell in love with the object of their obsession while flopped on the floor, basking in the glow of the family television.(很好的比喻~) In “The Virtual Life of Film,” an elegant 2007 inquiry into the past, present and future of film, the theorist D. N. Rodowick writes, “All that was chemical and photographic is disappearing into the electronic and digital.” Film captures moments in time, preserving them spatially in images we can root around in, get lost in. Digital delivers data, zeroes and ones that are transformed into images, and this is a difference to contemplate. The truth is that the film object has already changed, from preproduction to projection. And the traditional theatrical experience that shaped how viewers looked at film and, by extension, the world, has been mutating for some time. The new types of image consumption and digital technologies have complicated our understanding of cinema. And yet westill watch movies. And if it looks like a duck (in widescreen) and quacks like a duck (in stereo), nothing has changed, right? It has and it hasn’t, as we will only understand as film continues to disappear. These days instead of falling in love with the movies at home in front of the television, new generations fall in love with movies they watch on hand-held devices that, however small, play images that are larger than those Edison showed to customers before the invention of the Vitascope. A teenager watching a movie on her iPhone might not be looking at an actual film. But she is enjoying something like it, something that because of its narrative strategies and visual style carries the deep imprint of cinema. It’s also a good bet that this teenager also watches movies in theaters. If she goes to “Avatar,” she will see a movie that, despite its exotic beauty, seems familiar, even in 3-D. Narrative cinema employs devices, from camera placement to editing, that direct your attention and, if the movie is successful and you fall under its sway, lock you into the story. Mr. Cameron might be a visionary of a type, but he’s an old-fashioned (and canny) storyteller and he locks you in tightly. The 3-D images are often spectacular, and his characters, like the figures in that 1896 Edison film,(可作为issue例子) “appear to stand forth from the canvas, and move with great facility and agility, as though actuated by separate impulses.” (上文提到过) You can get lost in a movie, or so it seems, and melt into its world. But even when seated third row center and occupying two mental spaces, you understand that you and the movie inhabit separate realms. When I watched “The Dark Knight” in Imax, I felt that I was at the very edge of the screen. “Avatar,” in 3-D, by contrast, blurs that edge, closing the space between you and the screen even more.（层层递进！） Like a video game designer, Mr. Cameron seems to want to invite you into the digital world he has created even if, like a film director, he wants to determine your route. Perched between film and digital, “Avatar” shows us a future in which movies will invite us further into them and perhaps even allow us to choose not just the hero’s journey throughthe story, but also our own. 链接：http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/movies/03dargis.html?8dpc

Unspool
transitive verb
1
: to unwind from a spool <unspool the cable>
2
: to execute or present artfully or gracefully <unspooled a jump shot>
<unspooling an intricate tale>intransitive verb
: to be presented or revealed on or as if on a motion-picture screen
melt into
融入，使软化，使感动

algorithmically
来源于
algorithm
: a procedure for solving a mathematical problem (as of finding the greatest common divisor) in a finite number of steps that frequently involves repetition of an operation; broadly : a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem or accomplishing some end especially by a computer
Vitascope
n.老式放映机
the exciting if cryptic headline
4 : even though : although perhaps <an interesting if untenable argument尽管站不住脚但是一篇有趣的文章>  作名词if有这个意思，就是“尽管...但是”(来源韦氏) 感谢prettywraith提供，我不是很懂if在此句中的含义但我也没想到要查韦氏….
Ferociously
来源于ferocious
1 : exhibiting or given to extreme fierceness and unrestrained violence and brutality <a ferocious predator>
2 : extremely intense <ferocious heat>
exclusive rights
专营权利，专有权
Obsessively
强迫性地，分神地
来源于obsessive
1 a : tending to cause obsession b : excessive often to an unreasonable degree
2 : of, relating to, or characterized by obsession : deriving from obsession
Nominal
adj.
名义上的, 有名无实的, 名字的, [语]名词性的
Jumping-off
n.
<美>边远地区,文明终结,世界尽头,起点
Release
n.
版本, 发布
Fetishist
n.
物神崇拜者
intense
adj.
强烈的, 剧烈的, 热切的, 热情的, 激烈的
Bluntly
adv坦率地，率直地
fervently
adv.
热心地, 热诚地
thwart
adj.
横放的
vt.
反对, 阻碍, 横过
adv.
prep.横过
n.
[船]横坐板
radically
adv.
根本上, 以激进的方式
Rapidly
Spate
n．大水
vigorous
adj.
精力旺盛的, 有力的, 健壮的
staple
n.
钉书钉, 钉, 主要产品(或商品), 原材料, 主要成分, 来源
adj.
主要的, 常用的, 大宗生产的
v.
把...分类, 把...分级
Obsession
n.
迷住, 困扰
mutate
v.变异
exotic
adj.
异国情调的, 外来的, 奇异的
Sway
v.
摇摆, 摇动
Spectacular
adj.
引人入胜的, 壮观的
From the article, the recent edition of 3-D’s film “avatar”, which will be on view in the imax lately, means the new era of the cinema coming in. as we know , the latest triumph of Edison was the vitascope, which change our enjoyment of theater in the past. The early generation also remembered the vitascope, a old machine that “projects upon a large area of canvas groups that appear to stand forth from the canvas, and move with great facility and agility, as though actuated by separate impulses.”But the invention’s television computer and MP4 and so on made decreasing people going into the cinema. With the developing of digital technology, the 3D film let the large number of people return to the movie theater. In addition, “avatar” makes us blurt the edge of screen, and we can close the space between us and the screen even more.

中原527UID: 2707367

https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1042733-1-2.html
Planet hunting
Looking in the shadowsJan 5th 2010
From Economist.com
The search for a second Earth gets serious


IN THE 19th century astronomers spent a lot of time seeking shadows crossing the sun. They were searching for Vulcan, a putative planet inside the orbit of Mercury, by looking for its transits. These are the moments when, viewed from Earth, the hypothetical planet would cross the solar disc. Sadly, there was no Vulcan to be found, but the method itself is sound, and it is the modus operandi of Kepler, an American spacecraft that has been trailing the Earth, in the same orbit, since March 2009.

Kepler is a telescope that looks simultaneously and continuously at more than 150,000 stars, recording the amount of light coming from them. It is seeking the tiny, periodic diminutions of illumination caused by planetary transits and, on January 4th, the team running it announced that five such patterns had shown up in the first six weeks of the probe’s operation.

The past 15 years have shown that planets are commonplace. More than 400 have been located around stars other than the sun, by looking for the wobbles in parent stars that orbiting planets cause. A decent wobble, though, requires a massive planet, so the wobble method does not favour the discovery of Earth-sized objects. Kepler, however, can find such planets.
The Earth itself, in transit, reduces the amount of light an observer would see from the sun by about 0.01%.（这个百分比是指啥？） That is well within Kepler’s range.

In fact, the planets found so far are significantly larger than Earth. Four are about the size of Jupiter and one about the size of Neptune. They also have much shorter orbits, ranging from 3.3 to 4.9 terrestrial days. Neither of these facts is surprising. Even using the transit method, big planets are easier to spot than small ones, and to be sure that a flicker in brightness is caused by a planet rather than some property of the star itself, it must occur at regular and predictable intervals. Hundreds of flickers that might have been caused by planets with longer orbits have been seen, but have not yet have been confirmed as transits.



What this does mean, though, is that the planets in question are are much closer to their stars than Earth is, and thus much hotter (1200-1650&ordm;C), as well as being larger. （两个are不懂...）But they are not as hot as the most peculiar discoveries Kepler has made. These are two planet-sized objects that are far hotter (at 12,000&ordm;C) than their distances from their parent stars suggest they should be. That means they are giving out energy of their own, yet they are too small to be stars. One theory is that they are youngsters, giving off heat as they collapse inwards due to the pull of their own gravity, but nobody knows for sure.

None of these discoveries favours the underlying reason why planet-hunting is such a popular sport—the hope that, one day, a life-bearing planet will turn up. For that, more numbers will have to be crunched, and planetary atmospheres analysed for signs of oxygen. The hunt, however, is on in earnest. If Earth-sized planets are out there, they will soon be found.

Comments:
When we can see the universe by using our observing invention, we will feel curious whether there is any a life-bearing planet or not. In scientific common sense in the past that the wobble should require a massive planet, however, Kepler, the telescope of the America spacecraft , can find such planets against the rules. the planets that had been found up to date are significantly larger than Earth. Even though there were not significant discoveries about the planet that the creature can live in, the planet-hunting is such a popular sport.


sence>sense
signful>significant
putative adj.
Generally regarded as such; supposed;
supposed
orbit n.轨道，势力范围
Mercury 水星
hypothetical
a.假定的，假设的，有待证实的
the modus operandi
n.做法，惯技
illumination n.光源，强度，照明
Wobble n.The act or an instance of wobbling; unsteady motion.
A tremulous, uncertain tone or sound:
a vocal wobble.
Neptune 海王星
Jupiter 木星
flicker
n.
A brief movement; a tremor.
An inconstant or wavering light.
A brief or slight sensation:
a flicker of doubt.
Slang A movie.
interval n.间隙
in earnest 认真的诚挚的
crunch v.
2.（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

中原527UID: 2707367

U.S. Had Early Signals of a Terror Plot, Officials Say


President Obama, speaking on Tuesday at a Marine Corps base near Honolulu, said he would “insist on accountability at every level” for failures in security.
The president was told during a private briefing on Tuesday morning while vacationing here in Hawaii that the government had a variety of information in its possession before the thwarted bombing that would have been a clear warning sign had it been shared among agencies, a senior official said. （相当长的句子啊…）
Two officials said the government had intelligence from Yemen before Friday that leaders of a branch of Al Qaeda there were talking about “a Nigerian(尼日利亚)” being prepared for a terrorist attack. While the information did not include a name, officials said it would have been evident had it been compared with information about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian charged with trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Christmas Day. (ISSUE素材)

The government also had more information about where Mr. Abdulmutallab had been and what some of his plans were.
Some of the information was partial or incomplete, and it was not obvious that it was connected, the official said, but in retrospect(回顾) it now appears clear that had it all been examined together it would have pointed to the pending attack. The official said the administration was “increasingly confident” that Al Qaeda had a role in the attack, as the group’s Yemeni branch has publicly claimed.
Shortly after being briefed, Mr. Obama addressed reporters in his second public statement on the matter in two days, announcing that a review already had revealed a breakdown(事故) in the intelligence system that did not properly identify the suspect as a dangerous extremist who should have been prevented from flying to the United States.

“A systemic failure has occurred, and I consider that totally unacceptable,” Mr. Obama said. He said he had ordered government agencies to give him a preliminary report on Thursday about what happened and added that he would “insist on accountability at every level（强调各级问责制）,” although he did not elaborate.

Mr. Obama alluded to the intelligence in his statement. “Had this critical information been shared, it could have been compiled with other intelligence and a fuller, clearer picture of the suspect would have emerged,” the president said. “The warning signs would have triggered red flags, and the suspect would have never been allowed to board that plane for America.”
The president’s withering assessment of the government’s performance could reshape the intensifying political debate over the thwarted terrorist attack. Instead of defending the system, Mr. Obama sided with critics who complained that it did not work and positioned himself as a reformer who will fix it. At the same time, the decision to speak a second time after remaining out of sight for three days underscores the administration’s concern over being outflanked on national security.

The aftermath of the attempted bombing has been marked by an increasingly fierce partisan exchange over culpability heading into a midterm election year. With Republicans on the attack against the administration as not taking terrorism seriously enough, Democrats returned fire by accusing the opposition of standing in the way of needed personnel and money while exploiting public fears.
The debate has escalated（争论进一步升级）since Mr. Obama’s secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, said Sunday that “the system worked” after officials said the suspect tried to ignite explosive chemicals aboard a Northwest Airlines flight approaching Detroit. Ms. Napolitano made clear the next day that she had meant the system worked in its response to the attempted bombing, not before it happened.

Mr. Obama appeared to be trying to contain the damage on Tuesday, offering “systemic failure” as a substitute diagnosis for “system worked.” He framed Ms. Napolitano’s statement by saying she was right that “once the suspect attempted to take down Flight 253, after his attempt, it’s clear that passengers and crew, our homeland security systems and our aviation security took all appropriate actions.”
The president praised the professionalism of the nation’s intelligence, counterterrorism, homeland security and law enforcement officials. But he spared little in his sharp judgment about how a known extremist could be allowed to board a flight bound for the United States after his own father had warned that he had become radical.
tributed to this potential catastrophic breach of security,” Mr. Obama told reporters at the Marine Corps base at Kaneohe Bay outside Honolulu, near his vacation home in Kailua. “We need to learn from this episode and act quickly to fix the flaws in our system because our security is at stake and lives are at stake.”

Mr. Obama suggested that he would overhaul the watch-list system. “We’ve achieved much since 9/11 in terms of collecting information that relates to terrorists and potential terrorist attacks,” he said. “But it’s becoming clear that the system that has been in place for years now is not sufficiently up to date to take full advantage of the information we collect and the knowledge we have.”

Mr. Abdulmutallab, who has been linked to the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda, came to the attention of the American authorities when his father went to the embassy last month to report that his son had expressed radical views before disappearing. The father, a respected retired banker, did not say his son planned to attack Americans but sought help locating him and bringing him home, United States officials said.
After Mr. Abdulmutallab’s father asked the embassy in Nigeria for help, embassy officials from several agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, met to discuss the case, officials said.
Paul Gimigliano, a C.I.A. spokesman, said that was the first time the agency had heard of the young Nigerian. “We did not have his name before then,” he said.
The embassy sent a cable to Washington, which resulted in Mr. Abdulmutallab’s name being entered in a database of 550,000 people with possible ties to terrorism. But he was not put on the much smaller no-fly list of 4,000 people or on a list of 14,000 people who are required to undergo additional screening before flying, nor was his multiple-entry visa to the United States revoked.



“It now appears that weeks ago this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect’s name on a no-fly list,” Mr. Obama said of the father’s warning. “There appears to be other deficiencies as well. Even without this one report, there were bits of information available within the intelligence community that could have and should have been pieced together.”

Mr. Obama’s appearance came after another day of Republican criticism. On Tuesday, the National Republican Congressional Committee sought to inject the bombing attempt into next year’s midterm races. In a series of news releases, the committee sought to press vulnerable Democrats on whether they agreed with Ms. Napolitano’s initial assessment.
“All year long, we’ve asked the question: What is the administration’s overarching strategy to confront the terrorist threat and keep America safe?” Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, said in a statement Tuesday. “We haven’t gotten a satisfactory answer, and the secretary’s ‘the system worked’ response doesn’t inspire confidence.”
Democrats countered that Republicans had shown disregard for any terrorism risk by blocking the president’s nominee for head of the Transportation Security Administration and by voting this year against a measure providing $44 billion for Department of Homeland Security operations.
“They have essentially voted against and delayed providing the tools that are necessary to prevent these kinds of actions,” said Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

They also criticized Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the senior Republican on the intelligence committee and a leading critic of the White House, for tying the thwarted bombing to an appeal for money for his race for governor. In a letter first reported by The Grand Rapids Press, Mr. Hoekstra sought donations to help counter Democratic “efforts to weaken our security.”
A spokesman for Mr. Hoekstra’s campaign said the letter was appropriate and sought to inform potential donors of his leadership on national security issues.
Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat and majority leader, said on Tuesday that once the Senate returned on Jan. 19, he would move quickly to overcome Republicans’ objections to the nomination of Erroll G. Southers, a former F.B.I. agent, to lead the security agency.
Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, has blocked the appointment, saying he was worried Mr. Southers might allow T.S.A. workers to join labor unions. “Republicans have decided to play politics with this nomination by blocking final confirmation,” Mr. Reid said.
Mr. DeMint said he was seeking an opportunity to debate the nomination rather than have it approved without discussion, and he accused Mr. Reid of grandstanding. “Senator Reid completely ignored this nominee until the recent terror attempt,” Mr. DeMint said, “and now he’s trying to show concern for airport security.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/us/politics/30obama.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=world
comment:
The uncommitted exploding in a Northwest airlines flight to Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day casted a shadow over the future of the peace in the world, especially in America. The president Obama should try his best with his officials to conciliate the fuss of American who returned from 911 just now.
The article mainly concerned on the neglect of the intelligence system in USA. Before the attack’s happening, there was the omen that the old father , which of a Nigerian who tried to blow up the airplane, went to the embassy last month to report that his son had expressed radical views before disappearing. The intelligence agent put the name into a database of people with possible ties to terrorism. Maybe they thought the people were not very dangerous, since not entered him in the no-fly list. The Democrat asked the government should supply increasing fund for Department of Homeland Security.
explode
expose
Northewest>northwest
Officals>officials
Conceil>conciliate
intelligence n.情报，消息；情报人员
charge with 1.
给…装(炸药)2.
给…充(电)3.
指控…犯有罪4.
承担; 担负5.
充满
blow up 1. 突然开始2. 产生; 出现3. 把…吹旺4. (使)爆炸, 将…炸毁, 毁掉5. (使)失败6. 发怒, 责骂7. 吹胀, 打气8. 爆发
administration政府机关
a breakdown(事故)
overhaul v.彻底检查
in terms of 就…而言，从…方面来说
elaborate v.详细说明描述

v. intr.

To express at greater length or in greater detail:
allude
to refer indirectly, briefly, or implicitly
fuller
n. One that fulls cloth.
suspect
n.嫌疑分子
emerge
To come forth from obscurity
withering
n.1.使人畏缩的; 使人害羞的; 使人难堪的
underscore
vt.强调
concern over/about/for 对…的担心，忧虑
aftermath
n.(战争、事故、不快的事情)的后果，创伤
partisan
n.坚定支持者，铁杆拥护者；a.（对个别人，团体或思想）过分支持，偏护的；盲目拥护的
culpability n.苛责；有罪
democrat
a.美国民主党的 n.民主人士，民主主义者
return fire 回击
escalate v .(使)逐步升级; (使)逐步扩大
ignite v.点燃，引发

substitute for 用…替代，(使)替代
crew n.全体船员，全体机务人员（文中没复数形式）
aviation n.航空，航空学；航空工业
enforcement n.强制，实施，执行，强迫
“There was a mix of human and systemic failures that con
Catastrophic a.灾难性的，惨重的
episode n.片段
revoke v.撤销，废除
To void or annul by recalling, withdrawing, or reversing:

Her license was revoked.
deficiency n.缺乏，不足（以后就少用disadvantage~）
counter v.对抗，抵制
nominee n.被提名者，被任者
Democrat 民主
republican 共和