[Clover] Eco Analysis by 辰

missingusaUID: 2625832

The book of Jobs
It has revolutionised one industry after another. Now Apple hopes to transform three at once

APPLE is regularly voted the most innovative company in the world, but its inventiveness(独创性) takes a particular(独特的) form. Rather than developing entirely new product categories, it excels(优秀, 胜过他人) at taking existing, half-baked ideas and showing the rest of the world how to do them properly. Under its mercurial(雄辩机智的) and visionary(幻想的) boss, Steve Jobs, it has already done this three times. In 1984 Apple launched the Macintosh. It was not the first graphical, mouse-driven computer, but it employed these concepts in a useful product. Then, in 2001, came the iPod. It was not the first digital-music player, but it was simple and elegant, and carried digital music into the mainstream. In 2007 Apple went on to launch the iPhone. It was not the first smart-phone, but Apple succeeded where other handset-makers had failed, making mobile internet access and software downloads a mass-market phenomenon.

As rivals rushed to copy Apple’s approach, the computer, music and telecoms(=telecommunication) industries were transformed. Now Mr Jobs hopes to pull off(努力实现, 赢得) the same trick for a fourth time. On January 27th he unveiled(使公诸于众) his company’s latest product, the iPad—a thin, tablet(写字板,书写板)-shaped device with a ten-inch touch-screen which will go on sale in late March for $499-829 (see article). Years in the making, it has been the subject of hysterical online speculation(投机,投机买卖) in recent months, verging(濒临) at times(有时, 不时) on religious hysteria: sceptics(抱怀疑态度者) in the blogosphere jokingly call it the Jesus Tablet.

The enthusiasm of the Apple faithful may be overdone(做得过分, 过度), but Mr Jobs’s record suggests that when he blesses a market, it takes off. And tablet computing promises to transform not just one industry, but three—computing, telecoms and media. Companies in the first two businesses view the iPad’s arrival with trepidation(颤抖), for Apple’s history makes it a fearsome competitor. The media industry, by contrast, welcomes it wholeheartedly(全心全意,全神贯注). Piracy(盗版), free content and the dispersal(散布, 分散) of advertising around the web have made the internet a difficult environment for media companies. They are not much keener([爱尔兰] 哭丧女(尤指职业的哭丧女人)) on the Kindle, an e-reader made by Amazon, which has driven down book prices and cannot carry advertising. They hope this new device will give them a new lease(租约,租借权) of life, by encouraging people to read digital versions of books, newspapers and magazines while on the move. True, there are worries that Apple could end up wielding(支配, 行使) a lot of power in these new markets, as it already does in digital music. But a new market opened up and dominated by Apple is better than a shrinking market, or no market at all.

summary: take a particular form
               sb./sth. excels at....
               carry sth. into the main stream
               at times: 有时, 不时
               the enthusiasm be overdone
               view....with trepidation
               fearsome competitor
               to read while on the move
               a shrinking market

missingusaUID: 2625832

Keep taking the tablets

Tablet computers aimed at business people have not worked. Microsoft has been pushing them for years, with little success. Apple itself launched a pen-based tablet computer, the Newton, in 1993, but it was a flop(砰然落下, 拍击声, 失败). The Kindle has done reasonably(适度地, 相当地) well, and has spawned a host of similar devices with equally silly names, including the Nook, the Skiff and the Que. Meanwhile, Apple’s pocket-sized touch-screen devices, the iPhone and iPod Touch, have taken off as music and video players and hand-held games consoles(控制台).

The iPad is, in essence, a giant iPhone on steroids. Its large screen will make it an attractive e-reader and video player, but it will also inherit a vast array(排列, 编队,大批) of games and other software from the iPhone. Apple hopes that many people will also use it instead of a laptop(膝上型电脑). If the company is right, it could open up a new market for devices that are larger than phones, smaller than laptops, and also double as e-readers, music and video players and games consoles. Different industries are already converging(会聚,聚合) on this market: mobile-phone makers are launching small laptops, known as netbooks, and computer-makers are moving into smart-phones. Newcomers(新来者, 新到的移民) such as Google, which is moving into mobile phones and laptops, and Amazon, with the Kindle, are also entering the fray(冲突, 打架, 争论): Amazon has just announced plans for an iPhone-style “app store” for the Kindle, which will enable it to be more than just an e-reader.

If the past is any guide, Apple’s entry into the field will not just unleash(释放) fierce competition among device-makers, but also prompt(敏捷的, 迅速的, 即时的) consumers and publishers who had previously been wary(机警的) of e-books to take the plunge(跳进, 投入), accelerating the adoption of this nascent(初期的; 初生的, 新生的) technology. Sales of e-readers are expected to reach 12m this year, up from 5m in 2009 and 1m in 2008, according to iSuppli, a market-research firm.

summary: launch a certain product
               but it was a flop: but it was a failure
               to do reasonably well: 修饰well
               open up a market for .... +plause(that)....
               converge on the market
               enter the fray: 用于市场竞争的比喻
               entry into the field: 介词的用法
               fierce competition: 形容competition

missingusaUID: 2625832

Hold the front pixels

Will the spread of tablets save struggling media companies? Sadly not. Some outfits(用具, 配备)—metropolitan(首都的, 主要都市的, 大城市) newspapers, for instance—are probably doomed(注定, 判决) by their reliance on classified advertising, which is migrating to dedicated websites. Others are too far gone already. Tablets are expensive, and it will be some years before they are widespread enough to fulfil their promise. In theory a newspaper could ask its readers to sign up for a two-year electronic subscription(签署, 同意), say, and subsidise(消退,下沉,平息) the cost of a tablet. But such a subsidy would be hugely pricey(价格高的；昂贵的), and expensive printing presses will have to be kept running for(竞选, 赶快去请) readers who want to stick with paper.

Still, even though tablets will not save weak media companies, they are likely to give strong ones a boost(推; 升, 提). Charging for content, which has proved difficult on the web, may get easier. Already, people are prepared to pay to receive newspapers and magazines (including The Economist) on the Kindle. The iPad, with its colour screen and integration(成为整体; 集成; 综合; 一体化) with Apple’s online stores, could make downloading books, newspapers and magazines as easy and popular as downloading music. Most important, it will allow for advertising, on which American magazines, in particular, depend. Tablets could eventually lead to a wholesale(大规模的) switch(转换, 转变) to digital delivery, which would allow newspapers and book publishers to cut costs by closing down printing presses.

If Mr Jobs manages to pull off another amazing trick with another brilliant device, then the benefits of the digital revolution to media companies with genuinely(真正的; 名符其实的) popular products may soon start to outweigh(胜过, 强过) the costs. But some media companies are dying, and a new gadget(新发明, 小玩意儿) will not resurrect(使复活; 复兴) them. Even the Jesus Tablet cannot perform miracles.

summayr: hugely pricey
               give ... a boost
               lead to a wholesale switch to ....: 介词用法
               the benefits outweigh the costs: win profits

missingusaUID: 2625832

Shelling out
A new breed of oyster may encourage aquaculture

MUCH of the bounty(慷慨, 宽大) of the ocean is, these days, far less plentiful than it used to be. Scarcity(缺乏, 不足) has made oysters(牡蛎, 蚝) expensive, turning this unattractive mollusc(软体动物) into a delicacy for the rich. That could change if researchers find a way to breed a faster growing and larger oyster.

As many gardeners and farmers know, crossbreeding(杂交) two wimpy(懦弱的,无用的) specimens(样本; 样品; 实例) sometimes produces strong offspring—an effect known as hybrid vigour. Hybrid vigour is common in plants and is found in some animals—though, some speculate(推测, 思索), it may be lacking in European royalty.

Several years ago Dennis Hedgecock of the University of Southern California and his colleagues discovered that oysters can hybridise(杂交). If a tiny inbred(天生的, 先天的, 内在的) strain(紧张, 张力, 应变) called “oyster 6” is bred with the similarly puny(小的, 弱的, 微不足道的) “oyster 7”, the result is a large and fast-growing oyster—“oyster 6x7”—which is easy to open and produces tens of millions of eggs. The problem, though, is that when oyster 6x7 is bred with itself, the resulting offspring are puny again. The hybrid does not, in the jargon(行话), breed true.

If new hybrids were easy to generate in quantity, that would not matter. But oysters 6 and 7 themselves produce only around a million eggs per adult, and their shells are hard to open. Oyster farms each need tens of billions of eggs to operate commercially. Constantly regenerating the hybrid is not a viable(能维持下去的,可行的) approach.

To get around(绕过) this problem, Dr Hedgecock and his colleagues took some other puny inbreds and created a second hybrid line, oyster 8x9. This is also big, fast-growing and easy to open, and, like oyster 6x7, it produces tens of millions of eggs. The trick is that although it too does not breed true itself, when it is hybridised with 6x7 to produce a super-duper 6x7x8x9 crossbreed, the outcome is just as large, fast-growing and tasty. The result of this two-stage crossbreeding process is that, though none of the hybrids involved breeds true by itself, a marketable(适于销售的) hybrid oyster can nevertheless be turned out in large quantities. That is the hope, although the proof will come next year, when the hybrids are grown on a commercial scale.

Of course, it would help if more were known about what creates hybrid vigour in the first place. To this end, Dr Hedgecock has been looking at how hybrid oysters express their genes. He has done so by collecting and analysing the animals’ messenger RNA. This molecule, as its name suggests, carries genetic information from the DNA of a cell’s nucleus to the places where proteins are made under genetic instruction. If a great deal of messenger RNA for a particular gene exists in an animal’s cells, it may indicate that this gene is particularly active. So far, the work has revealed that 350 genes of the 23,000 in the oyster genome(基因组,染色体组) are expressed differently in the hybrid oysters than in the parent strains(家族,血统). The next step is to sort out(挑选出) what these genes do and which are responsible(有责任的, 可靠的) for large size and rapid growth.

If hybridisation works out, oyster farming could follow the same path as salmon farming, and turn a delicacy for the wealthy into the food of the masses. Unlike salmon, moreover, oysters are filter feeders that clean up the water column, making oyster farms healthy parts of the ocean. Salmon farms are environmentally controversial. Oyster farms should please consumers and environmentalists alike.

summary: Scarcity makes .... expensive
               a delicacy for the rich: the food of the masses
               produces strong offspring
               the resulting offspring: resulting用法
               in the jargon
               in quantity:  in large quantities: quantity单复数的变化
               get around this problem
               marketable: 适于销售的
               it would help if more were known about +clause(what....)
               follow the same path as
               environmentally controversial

银落UID: 2632560

恩。。看了很感动。。下次早点睡吧。。~。。

AdelineShenUID: 2630498

来顶辰辰~~不要老那么晚睡啊~~

zzl1989UID: 2755891

5点钟。。。真乃牛人！！看来12点睡觉的我要好好反思下。。。。

missingusaUID: 2625832

Running out of juice
How will we recharge all the electric cars?

IN THE ten years since hybrid(混合的, 杂种的) electric vehicles first hit the highways and byways(小道) of America, they have come to represent 2.5% of new car sales. Yet, in places like Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, DC, every other car seems to be a Toyota Prius((处方用语)在前的). That is because hybrids like the Prius have sold overwhelmingly where well-heeled(富有的, 穿着考究的) early adopters reside(居住).

Expect the new generation of “Post-Prius” electrics—plug-in hybrids like the Chevrolet Volt from General Motors and those relying only on a battery such as the Nissan Leaf—to end up nosing around the same upscale(高消费阶层的) neighbourhoods. With more than a dozen plug-in and pure-electric models arriving in showrooms((商品样品的)陈列室) over the next year or so, sales are expected to outstrip(超过) even those enjoyed by the Prius and other hybrids in their early days. A couple of million of the new electric vehicles could be bought by early adopters during the first few years.

That would be a problem. Unlike the Prius and its ilk(家族, 同类, 种类)—which use their petrol engines, along with energy recovered from braking, to recharge their batteries while motoring—plug-in hybrids and pure electrics have to be recharged direct from the grid(格子, 栅格). The popular assumption is that they will be plugged into a wall socket in the garage late at night, taking advantage of cheap off-peak(非尖峰的, 非高峰的) power. Unfortunately, things are not that simple.

For a start, the new generation of electric vehicles are not glorified golf-carts, but cleaner and more frugal(节俭的, 朴素的) alternatives to today’s petrol-powered family cars. When fully charged, the Volt (to be called the Ampera in Europe) can travel 40 miles (64km) on electric power, enough for three out of four commuters(通勤者, 经常往返者) in America to get to work and back without needing to burn a single drop of fuel. Beyond that range, a 1.4-litre engine kicks in to generate electricity and simultaneously propel the car and recharge its batteries.

The medium-sized hatchback( 有仓门式后背的汽车) Leaf can carry five adults 100 miles on a single charge. To go farther, Nissan has put its faith in a network of rapid-charging stations it is developing with partners. The Leaf is expected to cost $25,000-30,000, about the same as a comparable diesel-powered car. But the battery pack will have to be leased(租借, 租约) separately (for around $150 a month).

One thing the new plug-ins and pure electrics have in common is a beefy(象牛肉的, 健壮的, 结实的) lithium-ion battery pack that needs a lot of heavy charging. At the very least((=at the least, in the  least)一点, 丝毫), that involves installing 220-volt wiring in the home. Trying to recharge a modern electric car with a standard American 110-volt supply takes too long to be practical (up to 18 hours in the case of the Leaf).

Of course, if not fully charged at night it may have to be recharged during the day—when electricity rates can be up to five times more expensive. Average peak rates in America are 33 cents a kilowatt-hour compared with seven cents off-peak. Charging at the peak rate is equivalent to buying petrol at $3.63 a gallon (80 cents a litre), instead of 77 cents a gallon off-peak, reckons(计算, 总计, 估计) Southern California Edison, a utility(效用, 有用) based in the Los Angeles area. In America, peak-rate charging totally destroys any economic advantage an electric car may have.

At least the electricity companies ought to be pleased at the prospect(前景, 前途, 期望) of selling more power, day or night. In theory, recharging electric vehicles during off-peak hours should help utilities “fill the valley”—the trough(槽, 水槽) in electricity demand between midnight and six in the morning, and thereby get better utilisation from their coal- or gas-fired generating stations. But, again, things are not quite as they seem. No utility wants to run its network flat out. Scheduling maintenance(维护, 保持, 生活费用) becomes difficult, which can lead to more frequent failures. The net result is that additional capacity has to be installed at a cost that would not otherwise be justified.

A study done a few years ago by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, suggested there was enough idle(停顿的, 无用的, 无价值的) generating capacity in America to recharge three quarters of the country’s 230m cars if they were plug-ins of one sort of another—provided they only connected to the grid during off-peak hours, and preferably(更适宜) in the coal-rich midwest. But the vast majority of new plug-ins will be located in a handful(一把, 少数) of urban centres on the east and west coasts, which, unlike the midwest, do not have huge reserves of cheap, coal-fired generating capacity. Nor can they import it easily from the middle of the country, given the fragile(易碎的, 脆的) nature of the grid.

Southern California Edison has been operating a fleet of 300 electric vehicles to find out how customers will use and recharge them. Above all(最重要, 首先), it wants to make sure that a conversion(变换, 转化) to electric motoring goes smoothly, unlike a previous attempt in the mid-1990s. Back then, California thought electric cars like the Honda EV+ and the General Motors EV1 were the wave of the future, and thousands of public charging points were hurriedly installed in shopping centres, libraries and airports. But the enthusiasm collapsed when the motor industry successfully lobbied(游说议员, 经常出入休息室) the California Air Resources Board in 2001 to get it to relax a mandate((书面)命令, 训令, 要求) requiring 10% of new cars sold in the state to be emission-free by 2003. With no need to worry about zero-emission vehicles any more, GM and Honda promptly(敏捷地, 迅速地) called in all their leased electric cars and crushed them.

This time the Californian utilities are being more circumspect(慎重的, 周到的). They are concerned about highly concentrated pockets of ownership and the effects of everyone deciding to recharge their electric vehicles at once—as they inevitably will do when they return home from work. The local electricity system could be easily overwhelmed( 受打击, 制服, 压倒), and wider swathes(收割的刈痕, 细长的列) of the grid brought to its knees in the process. Preparing for this means beefing up(加强, 充实) local transformers( 变压器) as well as installing heavy-duty(重型的, 结实或耐受力强的, 重载, 高功[效]率) wiring and smart meters in homes to provide early warning of network troubles ahead. Sooner or later, those additional costs will have to be passed on to customers.

Much, of course, will depend on how quickly the new plug-ins and pure electrics become part of mainstream motoring. Generally speaking, it takes 15-20 years for a new technology to capture 10% of an established market, and a further 10-15 years for it to own 90%. That was the case when steam ships replaced clippers in the mid-19th century, and when petrol-engined taxis took over from horse-drawn cabs(出租马车, 出租汽车, 计程车) in the early 20th century. The same sort of lag(落后) occurred with the introduction in the 1970s of emission controls on cars. It takes years for the benefits of volume production to work their way through to the market, and for the supply chain to catch up.

If plug-in electrics follow a similar demand curve to other disruptive(使破裂的, 分裂性的) technologies, there could be 25m of them humming(嗡嗡叫) quietly around by 2025, and ten times that number by 2040. Hopefully, by then(到那时候), the utilities will have learned to cope with(与...竞争, 应付) recharging them.

summary: represent 2.5% of .... sales
                 sales are expected to ....
                 adopter: 代替复杂的从句
                 Unfortunately, things are not that simple.
                 travel .... on electric power: 介词用法
                 without needing to burn a single drop of fuel: need与a drop of fuel
                 on a single charge
                 beefy battery: =.=
                 At the very least((=at the least, in the  least)一点, 丝毫)
                 A is equivalent to B
                 be pleased at the prospect of
                 thereby: 实用的词, 都快忘了他了, 只记得therefore
                 at a cost that +clause(would not otherwise be justified) ....
                 the vast majority of
                 (operate) a fleet of: 这个在文中什么意思还是不太懂
                 Above all: 最重要,首先,也是几乎被遗忘的词,只会用firstly了
                 the wave of the future: wave在文中的意思也没有理解, 这个行业在未来的导向?
                 with no need to worry about: 用with的时候嵌入句子的用法
                 return home from work: 介词的用法
                 beefing up: 其实并不猛, 意思是"加强, 补充"
                 sooner or later: 简单实用的短语
                 it takes 15-20 years for a new technology to capture 10% of an established market, and a further 10-15 years for it to own 90%.: 关键词: capture, further, own
                 by then: 到那时候, 简单实用的短语. 用将来时.
                 cope with: 与...竞争, 应付, 简单实用的短语.

StefanaUID: 2143510

你早点睡觉。

missingusaUID: 2625832

Never forgotten
Chopin: Prince of the Romantics.

TWO centuries ago an elfin(小妖精的, 象小妖精的) musical prodigy(惊人的事物, 天才(特指神童)), Frédéric Chopin, was born in a village near Warsaw. At 11, he dazzled((使)眼花, 眩耀) the Russian tsar([za:(r)]沙皇), Alexander I, with his own piano music. His poetic performances continued to enthrall(迷惑, 迷住, 奴役); at 22, he was at the pinnacle of Parisian society. By the time he died at 39 he had written music of sublime(庄严的, 崇高的, 壮观的) beauty that “revolutionised the art form and opened the way for all modern music”, thought Camille Saint-Saëns. Like Johann Sebastian Bach and Claude Debussy, he never wrote a bad piece, and today Chopin’s music is more widely loved. “Time,” Chopin wrote, “is the best censor(检查员).”

Adam Zamoyski’s significantly updated biography of Chopin (to coincide with the bicentenary(]二百年的; 二百年之久的) of his birth on February 22nd) is a scholarly yet highly readable(易读的) account of the Polish composer’s life. But it is no hagiography(圣徒传, 圣徒言行录). The author’s insights into the mind and milieu(周围, 环境) of Chopin reveal an unstable, shy and sickly(有病的, 苍白的, 惨淡的) individual, whose unfailing(经久不衰的,无穷尽的) politeness, modesty and effervescent(冒泡的, 兴奋的) humour were as common as his petulance(闹气, 性急) and bossiness(作威作福).

Chopin’s aura(气氛, 气味, (圣象头部的)光环) drew a loyal bunch of friends. But his private life was a depressing saga(传奇) of unrequited(无报答的, 无报酬的) passions, as much a source of gossip in Orleanist Paris as it is of curiosity today. He was “prepared to give everything but never gave himself,” noted his friend and admirer, Franz Liszt. “When it comes to feelings, I’m always in syncopation(切分法, 省略中间的音节, 中略) with others,” Chopin lamented(悲伤, 哀悼, 恸哭).

The only exception was a volatile(爆炸性的) affair with George Sand, a domineering(极权的, 作威作福的), chain-smoking French novelist five years his senior, which began hesitantly(迟疑地, 踌躇地) in 1838. She became captivated(迷人的, 有魅力的) by this angelic(天使的, 似天使的) “little creature”. They lived together with her two children, travelled to Spain and blissfully(幸福地, 充满喜悦地) whiled(消磨) away their time at Sand’s ancestral(祖先的, 祖传的) property at Nohant. The affair unravelled(未修剪过的) acrimoniously in 1847. How long their relationship was physical is contested(,争论, 争辩); Chopin struggled with intimacy(亲昵行为(尤指不正当的性关系)). His passionate letters to male friends from his youth, and a marked facility for male company, suggest a latent homosexuality.

Chopin’s decrepit(衰老的) health reinforced(加强, 增援, 补充) his emotional trauma(外伤, 损伤). His life was routinely(例行公事地) punctured(刺破) by bouts(一回, 一场, 回合) of infection, tuberculosis(肺结核), severe anxiety, toothache and influenza(流行性感冒). It is even possible he had undiagnosed(未确诊的,尚未找出原因的) cystic(膀胱的, 胆囊的) fibrosis(纤维症, 纤维化). Such frailty(虚弱, 脆弱, 意志薄弱) at least provided more time for composition; he avoided the strenuous concert hall whenever he could.

Chopin was at the vanguard(前锋, 先锋, 领导者) of Romantic music, but his own musical tastes were conservative. Where Felix Mendelssohn and Liszt were lionised(把...奉为名人), Chopin preferred Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He refused to imbue(浸透) his music with a patriotic mission or himself with any grand purpose, preferring art for art’s sake. He was also uncomfortable with the muscular(肌肉的, 强健的) nationalism other musicians were embracing(信奉). Once settled in Paris from 1831 he never returned to his native Poland. Sand thought him backwards and bigoted(固执的, 执迷的, 顽固的) in everything but music.

Chopin fled(逃避, 逃跑) Paris in 1848 to escape the revolution, and toured England and Scotland. The stress of travel enervated(削弱) him completely, and his creative spirit shrivelled((使)无能为力, (使)失效)“Why does God not kill me straight away?” he wrote plaintively(悲哀的, 哀伤的) The end came soon. On his return to Paris he began coughing up blood. He died, lonely and sad, emitting “horrifying sobs(呜咽, 哭泣)”, in October 1849; yet his lavish funeral in Paris drew thousands of mourners(悲伤者, 哀悼者, 忏悔者).

summary: at the pinnacle of ....
                by the time he died (at 39)....
                be more widely loved
                scholarly yet highly readable: yet用法,表转折
                prepared to give everything but never gave himself
                volatile affair: affair的修饰方式
                whiled away (their time)....: waste their time的另一种表达方式
                mmusical tastes: 音乐品味
                imbue .... with .... (or himself with any grand purpose)
                for ....'s sake: for the sake of ....
                bigoted in (everything but music)....
                on his return to (Paris)....: 介词on的用法
                coughing up blood
                draw thousands of mourners

missingusaUID: 2625832

A land neither green nor pleasant
Anarchy in London’s West End

JEZ BUTTERWORTH and Mark Rylance are an odd couple. Six years ago Mr Rylance was running Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on the south bank of the River Thames, where he distinguished himself by playing Cleopatra as well as Hamlet. Mr Butterworth was a promising(有希望的, 有前途的) playwright(剧作家), the singular quality of his dramatic imagination being evident at Cambridge University, where he had adapted for the stage a cookbook by Katharine Whitehorn.

In 2003 Mr Butterworth sent to Mr Rylance the first draft of a play called “Jerusalem”, about anarchy and authority. It was set in rural Wiltshire, and its hero, Johnny “Rooster” Byron, was a drug taker and dealer, a seducer(诱惑者, 骗子) of adolescent girls, a hard-drinking and hard-swearing romantic fantasist(幻想曲作曲家). Rooster lived in a mobile home parked illegally in a glade(林间空地, 一片表面有草的沼泽低地) in the woods where he held wild parties and mocked(骗, 挫败, 嘲弄) society and its institutions, especially the Kennet and Avon Council.

Mr Rylance liked what he read so much that he agreed to take on the part when the play was completed. Mr Butterworth took himself off to Somerset, where he breeds pigs on his smallholding(小农地, 小农场) and takes his dog for long walks. Having finished a successful directorship(管理者的职位) of the Globe, Mr Rylance went on to play a variety of roles in the commercial theatre.

“Jerusalem” finally opened at the Royal Court Theatre last July, directed by Ian Rickson, their mutual(相互的, 共有的) friend; its reputation spread quickly by word of mouth. It soon sold out, and during the winter playwright(剧作家) and actor swept both major theatre awards. The success of “Jerusalem” has been phenomenal(现象的, 能知觉的), appealing, as John Osborne’s Jimmy Porter did, also at the Royal Court, in 1956, to the instinctive(本能的) rebelliousness(造反, 难以控制) of the young, though its contempt(轻蔑, 耻辱,不尊敬) for “health and safety” extends its appeal to an older generation.

Rooster’s mobile home is parked beneath the leaves of real trees, with a hen coop(鸡(兔)笼), and a clutter(混乱) of broken furniture. Mr Rylance makes an astonishing entry, flinging himself into a handstand(手倒立) on a tank of water and dunking(泡, 浸) his whole head in. He is an anarchic life force, presiding(主持) over a “Bucolic Alcoholic Frolic” attended by alienated young girls and grown-up losers, one of whom delivers a quite original definition of what makes local TV news local: “to make any sense [of it] you’ve got to have at least a chance of shagging(蓬松的, 表面粗糙的) the weather girl”.

The action is set on St George’s Day when a fair is held in the village. The play is frenetic, uproarious(骚动的) and foul-mouthed(满嘴脏话的), a lament for an idealised, free and easy rural England, infused with legends of gods and giants, that has succumbed to(屈服于) invasive bureaucracy. Rooster tells of meeting with a 90-foot giant (“Just off the A14 outside Upavon. About half a mile from the Little Chef”). The giant, who claims, incidentally, to have built Stonehenge, warms to Rooster and gives him a drum; if he ever needs help he should bang(发巨响, 重击) it and the giants will come.

At the end of “Jerusalem”, as the Rooster is about to be evicted(驱逐, 逐出(租户)) from his mobile home, Mr Rylance gives a virtuoso(艺术品鉴赏家) performance on that drum. In the final moments, heavy footsteps are audible offstage. Who comes? A giant—or the two dozen policemen who are about to evict him? The state sledgehammer(大锤, 猛烈的打击) is surely about to crack the nut, and Rooster’s subversiveness(颠覆性, 破坏性) takes on a heroic grandeur.

The only problem with this absorbing play is that Mr Rylance’s brilliance may deter(阻止) other actors. That would be a terrible shame. This “Jerusalem” is a memorable production. Someone should film it.

summary: distinguish .... by ....
                 adapt for: 为....改编
                 take oneself off: 离开
                 extends its appeal to an older generation
                 fling oneself into: 投入
                 tell of: 讲述
                 tell off: 分派出, 责备, 向 .... 透露

missingusaUID: 2625832

Sounds wonderful
The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can’t Do Without It. By Philip Ball.

MUSIC is a mystery. It is unique to the human race: no other species produces elaborate sound for no particular reason. It has been, and remains, part of every known civilisation on Earth. Lengths of bone fashioned into flutes(长笛) were in use 40,000 years ago. And it engages people’s attention more comprehensively than almost anything else: scans show that when people listen to music, virtually every area of their brain becomes more active.

Yet it serves no obvious adaptive purpose. Charles Darwin, in “The Descent of Man”, noted that “neither the enjoyment nor the capacity of producing musical notes are faculties of the least direct use to man in reference to his ordinary habits of life.” Unwilling to believe that music was altogether(完全地) useless, Darwin concluded that it may have made man’s ancestors more successful at mating. Yet if that were so, you might expect one gender(性,种,类) to be musically more gifted than the other, and there is no evidence of that. So what is the point of music?

Steven Pinker, a cognitive(认知的, 认识的, 有感知的) psychologist best known for his book “The Language Instinct”, has called music “auditory cheesecake, an exquisite confection crafted to tickle(胳肢, 逗笑) the sensitive spots of at least six of our mental faculties.” If it vanished(消失, 突然不见) from our species, he said, “the rest of our lifestyle would be virtually unchanged.” Others have argued that, on the contrary, music, along with art and literature, is part of what makes people human; its absence would have a brutalising(野兽派的) effect. Philip Ball, a British science writer and an avid(渴望的) music enthusiast, comes down somewhere in the middle. He says that music is ingrained(彻底的, 根深蒂固的) in our auditory, cognitive and motor(运动肌,运动神经) functions. We have a music instinct as much(本能) as a language instinct, and could not rid ourselves of it if we tried.

Music can mean different things in different cultures. But although it is culturally specific, some of its building blocks are universal: melody, harmony, rhythm, the timbre(音品, 音色, 音质) produced by a variety of instruments and the distinctive style added by particular composers. Almost all musical systems are based on scales spanning an octave(八度音阶)—the note that sounds the same as the one you started off with, but at a higher or lower pitch. Pythagoras, a Greek philosopher who lived around 500BC, is said to have discovered that notes that sound harmonious together have simple ratios between their frequencies: for example, one that is an octave higher than another has double the frequency. The Pythagorean “diatonic(全音阶的)” scale, still the basis of most Western music, is made up from seven notes. But it is far from the only one. Javanese gamelan uses two scales with different numbers of notes; North Indian music has 32 different scales. Arnold Schoenberg devised a 12-tone scheme of atonal(无调的) music about a century ago.

Mr Ball goes through each component of music in turn to explain how and why it works, using plentiful examples drawn from a refreshingly wide range of different kinds of music, from Bach to the Beatles, and from nursery rhymes to jazz. If you can read music, you will find yourself humming aloud to see what he means. If you can’t, you might occasionally get lost among the technicalities(专门性, 学术性). But before things get too rarefied(纯净的, 稀薄的), Mr Ball’s facility for conveying(搬运, 传达, 转让) complex facts in simple language comes to the rescue.

His basic message is encouraging and uplifting(促进, 振奋, 提高): people know much more about music than they think. They start picking up the rules from the day they are born, perhaps even before, by hearing it all around them. Very young children can tell if a tune or harmony is not quite right. One of the joys of listening to music is a general familiarity with the way it is put together: to know roughly what to expect, then to see in what particular ways your expectations will be met or exceeded. Most adults can differentiate between kinds of music even if they have had no training.

Music is completely sui generis(独特的，自成一格的). It should not tell a non-musical story; the listener will decode it for himself. Many, perhaps most, people have experienced a sudden rush of emotion on hearing a particular piece of music; a thrill(发抖) or chill(寒意, 寒战, 寒心), a sense of excitement or exhilaration(令人高兴, 愉快), a feeling of being swept away by it. They may even be moved to tears, without being able to tell why. Musical analysts have tried hard to find out how this happens, but with little success. Perhaps some mysteries are best preserved.

summary: for no particular reason
              it serves no obvious adaptive purpose
              be part of what makes people human
              a music instinct as much as a language instinct
              rid oneself of
              double the frequency
              in turn (to ....): 依次, 轮流
              differentiate between kinds of music
              experience a sudden rush of emotion (on hearing ....): 介词用法

missingusaUID: 2625832

In sickness and in health
Despite efforts to improve the health of the poor, the richer you are, the better

GOOD news: people in Britain are living longer than ever before. They are the healthiest they have ever been. Moreover, the lot of the poor has been improving at a phenomenal(显著的, 现象的, 能知觉的) rate. Over the decade to 2005, the most recent years for which data are available, life expectancy(期待, 期望) for boys born in the least salubrious(有益健康的) neighbourhoods has rocketed by 2.7 years to more than 75 years. Yet, despite this progress, they are losing ground to more fortunate folk. Boys born to parents living in more comfortable surroundings have always expected to live longer. But the gap between the two groups has increased.

On February 11th Sir Michael Marmot, a well-known epidemiologist(流行病学家) at University College London, published a report looking at the relationship between health and wealth. It was the third officially-sanctioned(批准, 同意, 支持) attempt to do so in 30 years. The findings demonstrate what Sir Michael calls “the social gradient(梯度, 倾斜度) in health” (see chart). People living in rich communities live longer than those in modest suburbs(市郊, 郊区) who, in turn, outlive(比...长命, 比...耐久) those residing(居住) in the rougher parts of town. And the poor also spend more of their shorter lives coping with a disability. In England people on the poorest housing estates die, on average, seven years earlier than those in the grandest accommodation(住处, 膳宿). They can expect to become disabled 17 years earlier.

Why should this be, given that the National Health Service (NHS) provides free care to all? One argument is that the poorer people are, the more likely they are to do unhealthy things that brighten their otherwise dull lives temporarily. Smoking, for example—blamed for a third of all cancers—is twice as common in households where the main breadwinners(养家活口的人, 负担家计的人) have routine and manual(手工的, 体力的)  jobs than in professional and managerial(管理的) homes. And white-collar workers are kicking the habit faster than manual labourers. So too with obesity(肥胖, 肥大), which causes diseases such as diabetes(糖尿病, 多尿症): it is increasing fastest among those at the bottom of the heap(堆, 大量, 许多). Yet the rich also have their vices(恶习, 恶行, 坏脾气), among them under-reported drink(少报(收入等), 低估): a third more alcohol is put back(放回原处, 推迟) by professionals than by manual labourers.

The government has long sought to reduce persistent health inequalities(不等式, 不平均), but to little effect. One problem has been that it sets targets which focus efforts in the wrong places. For example, the goal of reducing infant mortality(死亡率) among lower social classes, more prevalent(普遍的, 流行的) than higher up the scale, initially appears laudable(值得赞美的, 值得称赞的). But the mandarins(官话, 普通话, 满清官吏, 中国柑桔) count only those babies whose father’s occupation is stated clearly enough for the cherub’s(小天使, 胖娃娃) social class to be ascertained. Infant mortality among the offspring of single mothers, and of others whose partners remain vague(含糊的, 不清楚的, 茫然的, 暧昧的), is ignored in the rush to reach the target. Yet infant deaths in this group are markedly more frequent than among babies whose fathers are poor but committed(效忠的, 忠于…的) parents.

Anna Dixon, acting head of the King’s Fund, a health-policy think-tank, describes the reasons for health inequalities as “complex and long-standing”. It is clearly up to the NHS to help everyone improve their chances to live longer and healthier lives. But the health service on its own cannot do away with(废除, 弄死) all the factors that lead to poor health. The government should take a wide view in assessing health inequalities and support not just NHS efforts but programmes that address the wider determinants(决定性的) of health, she says.

The highest priority, Sir Michael suggests, is to ensure that every child has a good start in life by concentrating on poorer children during their earliest years. This begins when a child is in the womb(子宫, 发源地) and his mother needs extra health care. Toddlers(初学走路的孩子) whose mothers may not have achieved much at school themselves and so might fail to equip them properly for starting school also need help, through more SureStart centres and the like. Equality of nurturing(养育, 教育) is key.

Sir Michael points out, sensibly(明显地, 敏感地, 聪明地), that more should be done to avoid ill health in the first place. The NHS accounts for a fifth of all public spending but uses just 4% of its funds to dodge(避开, 躲避) disease rather than tackle(处理, 解决) it. As ever, prevention is better than cure.

summary: improve at a phenomenal rate
                rocket by
                cope with a disability
                have/has long sought to ....
                be ignored in the rush
                improve their chances to ....
                do away with: 废除, 弄死

missingusaUID: 2625832

Funny valentine
A Compendium of Kisses.

“LORD, I wonder what fool it was that first invented kissing?” That may be Jonathan Swift’s opinion, but Lana Citron has a more impassioned view. Philematology, the study of kissing, is the subject of her new book. An actress, stand-up(直立的, 站立的, 衣领挺的) comic and author of five novels, she is also devoted, she says, “to the spread of kisses”.

This is no self-help(自助) guide or teenage fantasy, but a confident and knowledgeable offering filled with bite-sized facts and anecdotes, and adorned(装饰) with quotes from literary greats. Ms Citron explores the etymology (语源, 语源学) of the word “kiss”, the anatomy of kissing, kissing throughout history, across cultures and in literature and art. In short, it’s a seductive(诱人的) Schott’s “Miscellany”.

To kiss is common in the Western world but not so in other cultures. The Tsonga people of southern Africa find it repulsive(推斥的, 排斥的, 严拒的, 令人厌恶的), “They eat each other’s saliva(口水, 唾液) and dirt!” Malay tribes and Inuits prefer to rub noses rather than join lips in an “olfactory (嗅觉的) kiss”. In Indonesia, kissing in public can invite a ten-year jail sentence. Ms Citron draws on familiar figures and events through the ages, and she is not afraid to strip(剥, 剥去) away the sensuality(好色,淫荡,感觉性). She cites scientific references reducing kissing to a movement of muscles, and talks of halitosis(口臭) and gum disease which made the whole business less attractive in previous centuries. She covers biblical(圣经的) kissing, the French ban on la bise(寒风) during the recent swine(卑贱的人)-flu scare, and much in between, such as Samuel Pepys’s wife discovering his illicit(违法的) kiss with a maidservant(女仆, 女佣), an account he perhaps should not have included in his diary.

The most delightful(令人愉快的, 可喜的) section, however, is “Cultural Kisses”. Here Ms Citron has collected the efforts of poets, playwrights(剧作家), artists and film-makers, from Marlowe to Madonna, who have immortalised(使不灭, 使不朽) the kiss. Pictures of the artworks described would enhance this section but Ms Citron’s animated prose(散文) helps readers to visualise(形象, 形象化, 想象) Alfred Eisenstaedt’s cheeky(厚颜无耻的) Times Square kiss or Rodin’s sexual sculpture(雕刻, 雕刻品).

Published to coincide with St Valentine’s Day, this essential compendium(纲要, 概略) is an intellectual(智力的, 有智力的, 显示智力的) and indulgent(纵容的) treat—one to leave on the cistern(水塔, 蓄水池) or beside the bed. Every dip(浸, 蘸, 沾) will prompt(提示, 鼓动, 促使) a smile, a shock or perhaps even a thrill(激动, 刺激).

summary: with quotes from literary greats
              To kiss is common in the Western world but not so in other cultures
              invite a ten-year jail sentence
              in previous centuries
              enhance
              coincide with

missingusaUID: 2625832

Printed circuit
A way to turn out lighting by the metre

THE printing of body parts (see article) will probably remain a bespoke(预约, 预订, 显示) industry for ever. Printed lighting, though, might be mass produced. That, at least, is the promise of a technology being developed in Sweden by Ludvig Edman of Umea University and Nathaniel Robinson of Linkoping. Dr Edman and Dr Robinson have taken a promising technique called the organic light-emitting diode(二极管), or OLED, and tweaked(拧) it in an ingenious way. The result is a sheet similar to wallpaper that can illuminate itself at the flick(轻弹, 轻轻拂去) of a switch.

An OLED is a layer of semiconducting(半导体的,有半导体特性的) polymer(聚合体) sandwiched(夹入中间) between two conductive layers that act as electrodes. When a current is passed between these electrodes(电极), the polymer gives off light. The light is created by electrons released from one electrode layer falling into positively charged “holes” that have been generated by the polymer’s interaction with the other layer. These holes are gaps in the polymer’s electronic structure where an electron ought to be, but isn’t.

Semiconductors are strange materials. Both holes and electrons can move around within them. (The holes move in a manner analogous(类似的, 相似的, 可比拟的) to the gap in a sliding-tile puzzle.) They are also finicky(过分注意的, 过分讲究的, 过分周到的). Only some sorts of conductors will work as sources of electrons. Only some sorts will work as sources of holes. And no known material works well for both.

The electron source needs to be a metal, and the usual choice is aluminium. Of course, metals are opaque(不透明的, 不传热的, 迟钝的), so the other electrode must be transparent(透明的, 显然的, 明晰的). Fortunately, there are two materials that are both transparent and good hole-generators. One is indium(铟) tin oxide(氧化物). The other is known as poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene(四溴(化)乙烯)).

OLEDs are, however, awkward to make. First, a precisely(正好) crafted layer of aluminium has to be created. Then the other two layers are sprayed(喷射, 喷溅) onto it using an inkjet printer. If the metal electrode could be replaced then it might be possible to make the whole thing using just a printer. That would simplify matters enormously. And that is what Dr Edman and Dr Robinson believe they have achieved.

To do so, they have gone back to their high-school physics lessons. As every schoolboy knows, carbon in the form of graphite is the exception to the rule that metallic(金属(性)的) elements conduct electricity and non-metallic ones do not. Graphite, which is black in bulk(大小, 体积, 大批), consists of layers of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal(六角形的, 六边形的) grid(格子, 栅格). When the substance is only a few of these layers thick, though, it is known as graphene and is transparent.

Graphene sheets are not easy to handle. But Dr Edman and Dr Robinson found another team of researchers, led by Manish Chhowalla of Rutgers University, that was working on making graphene electrodes. Unfortunately, they found that graphene by itself will not do the job. But they overcame its reluctance(不愿, 勉强) by blending(混和) the semiconducting polymer with potassium(钾) trifluoromethylsulfonate. This compound consists of positively charged potassium ions(离子) and negatively charged trifluoromethylsulfonates. When the current is switched on, the two sorts of ion move in opposite directions to the junctions between the polymer and the electrodes. The trifluoromethylsulfonate ions assist the process of hole formation in poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) at one junction. That is useful. What is crucial, though, is that the potassium ions liberate electrons from graphene at the other junction.

The result, as the team describe in ACS Nano, is a sheet that emits light in both directions and which it should be possible to make using industrial inkjet printers to spray layer upon layer. It is a truly enlightening idea.

summary: be mass produced
              If .... then it might be possible ....
              simplify matters enormously
              the exception to the rule
              overcame (its) reluctance
              a truly enlightening idea