【甚解小组】【task 3】原文抄抄抄 From 周九

周九UID: 2769406

背景：


由于Obama Calls for Major Change in Education Law（The Obama administration on Saturday called for a broad overhaul of President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind law, proposing to reshape divisive provisions that encouraged instructors to teach to tests, narrowed the curriculum, and labeled one in three American schools as failing. ）http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/education/14child.html 所以去年这段时间，各大媒体对美国教育的方方面面有很多报道，这些报道可以为issue里面很多education类题目提供很多角度和素材，还有很多地道的说法，a highly effective teacher或者student achievement这种用词简单，却表达到位的词组。


下面是从 U.S News & World Report上摘抄的，去年它的一月刊整版都是相关报道。


（本来过春节的时候task2就想完成这个，但各种意外状况把它stifle啦，下面的文章由于是我看着杂志打的，所以很可能有拼写错误，大家看到的时候，告诉我下哈，谢谢~~）


关于No Child Left Behind Act的维基介绍
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act

周九UID: 2769406

Learning From No Child Left Behind
Experts weigh in on what worked and what must be fixed in the landmark education law

When George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind legislation into law in January 2002, it marked a controversial landmark for the federal government in education policy. The law mandated a series of high-stakes tests meant to measure whether students are learning enough and, when they are not, whether they are improving fast enough. Schools whose students fail to show progress are subject to penalties such as cuts in funds or getting reconstituted. The law is past due for reauthorization, so U.S. News asked four experts-including Bush’s Second education secretary, a top education official from the Clinton administration, the head of a teachers union, and the head of an education think tank-to give their views on the lessons that can be drawn.

Measuring the Value of Accountability
By Margaret Spellings

What lessons have we learned from the historic legislation known as No Child Left Behind? The most gratifying is that more kids are learning their lessons. How do we know? Because our schools are now required to find out how each student is doing every year in the key building-block subjects of reading and math. Now that we have annual assessment data that are disaggregated by student group, we can diagnose and correct weakness in instruction and learning.

Our nation’s education report card tells the story. Achievement is up across the board, especially for those too often “left behind”: poor, minority, and special education students. In reading, 9-year-olds made more progress in the last nine years than in the previous 28 years combined. What gets measured does indeed get done. Lesson No.1: Accountability is a powerful tool and is working to improve learning.

Lesson No.2: Accountability also makes people uncomfortable. We no longer are able to hide from the facts, which say that only half our minority students stand a chance of graduating from high school on time. The discomfort this has created shows the fundamental power of accountability that is at the core of the No Child law. We would be loath to go back to the days when we tested students every few years and averaged their scores together to mask the staggering achievement gap that plagues our country. Politicians of both parties, educators, and especially parents now rightfully expect to know the truth.

We’ve also identified ways that the law can be improved. The policy calls made when the law was enacted on far less information than we have today. We only had a single snapshot of data in elementary and middle school. We did not ask schools to report on achievement gaps between low-income and minority students and their peers. That all has changed. Now, the reauthorization will be guided by these data and a better understanding of the law’s strengths and limitations.
Lesson NO.3: The law should encourage continuous improvement in our classroom, give educators the credit they deserve for the most challenging work, and provide parents and students more customized options. Now that we have annual assessment in all 50 states, we can use systems that give schools and teachers credit for an individual student’s year-over-year improvement, rather than looking at absolute scores. As secretary of education, I started a pilot program to allow states to use such systems. We can build on this pilot and expand it nationwide.

We can also do a much better job of evaluating and assessing teacher effectiveness. Research shows that the most powerful way to improve student achievement is to make sure every child is taught by a highly effective teacher. Our most effective teachers should be teaching our most disadvantaged students and be rewarded with better pay and more support. On this issue, too, we can build on the work started through President Bush’s Teacher Incentive Fund and expand it to all 50 states.

Parents deserve even more information and better options that customize schools to meet the needs of their children. We need more charters, more school choice, more customized technology, and more real-time feedback to catch educational problems, intervene immediately, and better address the needs of our student population. Those will make a real difference.


The one question driving all of our actions should be “Are kids learning?” Policymakers have come a long way in 10 years. Talk of class size ratios, modernization of school facilities, and how much money is being spent is now overshadowed by a focus on student achievement. But there are some who would rather go back to the days of policymaking based on inputs rather than results. It’s an easy way to avoid the hard decisions about what to do with our lowest-performing schools. Lesson No.4: Watch for special-interest agendas that stall the focus on closing the achievement gap.

That leads to the last lesson, which is the hardest. To really close the achievement gap and provide opportunity to every student, from gifted academic learners to special education students, we must get more serious about this work. Policymakers still have not taken on the most sacred cows in education: How to effectively use time and people in our schools. We intuitively know that no enterprise of any kind can be fully successful without the best use of both. It’s time for us to put kids before adults and begin to get really serious about our lessons.


Margaret Spellings was secretary of education from 2005 to 2009.

周九UID: 2769406

红宝单词

1man·date 1    n.

Pronunciation:	'man-ˌdāt
Function:	noun
Etymology:	Middle French &Latin; Middle French mandat, from Latin mandatum, from neuter of mandatus, past participle of mandare to entrust, enjoin, probably irregular from manus hand + -dere to put ― more at MANUAL，DO
Date:	1501

1 : an authoritative command especially : a formal order from a superior court or official to an inferior one
2 : an authorization to act given to a representative <accepted the mandate of the people>
3 a : an order or commission granted by the League of Nations to a member nation for the establishment of a responsible government over a former German colony or other conquered territory b : a mandated territory
2mandate 2    n.

Function:	transitive verb
Inflected Form:	man·dat·ed ; man·dat·ing
Date:	1919

1 : to administer or assign (as a territory) under a mandate
2 : to make mandatory : ORDER also : DIRECT, REQUIRE


ac·count·abil·i·ty    n.

Pronunciation:	ə-ˌkau̇n-tə-'bi-lə-tē
Function:	noun
Date:	1794

: the quality or state of being accountable especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions <public officials lacking accountability>

grat·i·fy    v.

Pronunciation:	'gra-tə-ˌfī
Function:	transitive verb
Inflected Form:	-fied ; -fy·ing
Etymology:	Middle French gratifier, from Latin gratificari to show kindness to, from gratus + -ificari, passive of -ificare -ify
Date:	1539

1 archaic : REMUNERATE, REWARD
2 : to be a source of or give pleasure or satisfaction to <it gratified him to have his wife wear jewels ― Willa Cather>
3 : to give in to : INDULGE, SATISFY <gratify a whim>

in·ter·vene    v.

Pronunciation:	ˌin-tər-'vēn
Function:	intransitive verb
Inflected Form:	-vened ; -ven·ing
Etymology:	Latin intervenire to come between, from inter- + venire to come ― more at COME
Date:	1587

1 : to occur, fall, or come between points of time or events <only six months intervened between their marriage and divorce>
2 : to enter or appear as an irrelevant or extraneous feature or circumstance <it's business as usual until a crisis intervenes>
3 a : to come in or between by way of hindrance or modification <intervene to stop a fight> b : to interfere with the outcome or course especially of a condition or process (as to prevent harm or improve functioning)
4 : to occur or lie between two things
5 a : to become a third party to a legal proceeding begun by others for the protection of an alleged interest b : to interfere usually by force or threat of force in another nation's internal affairs especially to compel or prevent an action
synonyms see INTERPOSE
–in·ter·ven·tion \-'ven(t)-shən\ noun
–in·ter·ven·tion·al \-'vench-nəl, 'ven(t)-shə-nəl\ adjective

周九UID: 2769406

文章的三分之一，明天继续~

周九UID: 2769406

这个文章太长袅，暂停，最近小组忙着讨论argument，原文抄抄抄都搁置袅。。。。今天看到一篇小短文，感觉很不错~~

周九UID: 2769406

Wireless electricity could be just months away

By Maryam Maruf
Digital Planet



In 1905 the Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla built a huge 18-storey tower in Long Island.


His aim was to create the world's first power station that would transmit wireless electricity around the globe.
Unfortunately the dream was short-lived. His financiers, including JP Morgan, grew cautious and withdrew funding. The project was considered too audacious and ill-thought out, （应该是well thought out （仔细考虑过的）衍生出来的反义词吧）and was eventually abandoned.
The tower, torn down to pay Tesla's mounting debts, became his bold failure. But now, 100 years on, can his ambition be realised?
WiTricity, a US-based firm set up by physicists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is one of a number of companies around the globe developing different models of powering up gadgets without using cables.
Inspired by Tesla's vision, WiTricity believes it can launch wirelessly-powered products within the year.

A wireless world
Wireless electricity is transmitted between a device and its power source via fitted metal coils, explained researcher Aristeidis Karalis
"One coil is the source, the other is the device. The source generates a magnetic field which induces a current in the device. This is converted into the power the device wants to use."
The goal is to transmit electricity over mid-range distances - so electricity from a wall to the middle of a room.
The firm's president Eric Giler says its research is developing rapidly.
"Imagine your house. Look under the table and there's a coil. You see multiple devices working from a distance away. So you come home and your phone is in your purse - you don't have to think about where to put it."
However some say the technology is still far from perfect.
According to Menno Treffers from the Wireless Power Consortium, energy transfer becomes rapidly inefficient the further a device is moved from the source.
"You can make it work over a coil diameter, but what's the point in transmitting power from the wall to the TV - 20 to 30cm away - if you can't take it outside?"


Climate challenge
Eric Giler agrees that wireless power is not as efficient as using a cable, but the environmental difference it makes is considerable.
"A wireless keyboard uses four batteries. We made about 40 billion of these in the world this year. Building one of those batteries is the same as driving three miles in your car.
"The greenhouse gas emissions are huge. But if you put a coil in the table and put the keyboard on the table - on it comes - without a battery."
The WiTricity physicists did look at Tesla's patents for their research, but for now their plans do not include global power transmission. Still, Eric Giler shares Tesla's expectations about the idea's potential.
"Imagine a pacemaker that never needs to be replaced or a car that starts charging as soon as it's parked. Five years from now it will seem obvious - it's only today it sounds futuristic."

周九UID: 2769406

看完这篇文章很激动，对未来各种期盼，另，文章短小，句子巧妙，大赞一个~~









Nikola Tesla envisaged wireless electricity over 100 years ago


一张妩媚小照片~~~ envisaged 这个词用得也很妩媚~~

周九UID: 2769406

占楼，过两天再把红包单词补上吧~~~

周九UID: 2769406

相关issue的题目




20. Scholars and researchers should not be concerned with whether their work makes a contribution to the larger society. It is more important that they pursue their individual interests, however unusual or idiosyncratic those interests may seem. 我们不应该仅仅关注学者和研究者的著作能否对社会做出贡献。更重要的是关注他们如何追求实现自己的兴趣，无论那些兴趣显得是多么的非同寻常。

151. People who pursue their own intellectual interests for purely personal reasons are more likely to benefit the rest of the world than are people who try to act for the public good. 能够造福社会的是那些纯粹出于个人原因而追求自己兴趣知识的人，而不是那些打算为大众谋福利的人。
11. Money spent on research is almost always a good investment, even when the results of that research are controversial. 花在研究上的资金基本上都是不错的投资，即使研究的结果是有争议的。


正如Nikola Tesla和现在MIT的一个小队，wireless electricity是他们研究的兴趣所在，而且这种兴趣看起来还非常不切实际。但事实上，这项研究可以为人类带来很多好处，比如竟然间接的保护了环境，减少了导致温室效应气体的排放。


155. It is always an individual who is the impetus for innovation; the details may be worked out by a team, but true innovation results from the enterprise and unique perception of an individual. 革新的动力往往来自于个人；革新的细节可能来自于团队，但是实质的革新都是个人努力和独特思维的结果。

Nikosla Tesla 想到了wireless这个idea，但一个人把idea付诸于实践的时候往往力不从心，但WiTricity再次以小组形式实践这个idea的时候，在方方面面就能做得更周到，比如资金，实验计划，进度等等。




36. Governments should focus more on solving the immediate problems of today rather than trying to solve the anticipated problems of the future. 政府应该把更多的注意力放在解决当务之急，而不是试图解决将来预期的问题上。


227. It is more important to allocate money for immediate, existing social problems than to spend it on long-term research that might help future generations. 预期花钱进行可能有助于后代的长期性研究，还不如把钱花在迫在眉睫，已经存在的社会问题上


191. Any decision—whether made by government, by a corporation, or by individual person—must take into account future conditions more than present conditions. 任何一个决定，无论它来自政府、公司还是个人，都必须更多地考虑将来的情况而不是现在的情况。


比如，如今wireless electricity 看起来非常Five years from now it will seem obvious - it's only today it sounds futuristic."， 也许很近的将来和现在，情况会发生急剧改变。

周九UID: 2769406

翻看论坛精华的时候，忽然发现了宝贝，pooh的百宝箱，文章很好，~~原文抄抄抄就抄它吧~~~

The Arts

We may generally agree that art has many incarnations: drama, music, painting and sculpture, film, such literary expressions as poetry and the novel, the dance, and, in some ways, architecture. Today we see art forms entering fields that were undreamed of only a half-century ago -- video art, for example; music in which the performers rather than the composer decide what to play and when; dance in which dancers deliberately fall down; and plays without words. The primary question, "what are the arts" is best addressed if we ask about the function of art. Just what do the arts do? For whom?

Across the history of Western civilization there have been more than a few formulations of what the arts do, but I will focus on five. These are functions that have been important, both in the longer Western tradition, and in the relatively short three centuries in which our country has participated in art. Perhaps the oldest definition of the function of the arts is that they provide pleasure. They offer sheer entertainment. We like stories, as in short fiction and TV specials and popular movies. We enjoy being reminded of the familiar, as in musical patterns we have heard since childhood, and we are pleased by arrangements of color, form, sound, and process that remove us from our everyday cares.

That the arts provide pleasure and escape is one formulation. Another is that they present us with insight into what is eternal and universal. Traditionally, this has been called the theory of imitation. Behind every profound work of art, this point of view proposes, is a set of principles about humanity that always prevails. A Renaissance painting of a Madonna and child, for many viewers, is somehow a revelation of transcendent spirituality; a Beethoven symphony is the last word on human endurance. Certain arrangements of color and movement satisfy us over a long period of time, like the ballet Swan Lake, for instance, or Impressionist paintings. We judge them as beautiful. Beauty, many would insist, is the very hallmark of what is truly "art."

周九UID: 2769406

艺术五大功能中的两个，pleasure和insight into what is eternal and universal~~

第二个功能一直想表达，就找不到到底该怎么说，今天终于看到了，insight into what is eternal and universal，对于永恒的追求，总是让人欲罢不能。


下面位置留给红宝单词~~~

周九UID: 2769406

156. The function of science is to reassure; the purpose of art is to upset. Therein lies the value of each. 科学的作用是解惑；艺术的目的是创新。只有这样他们才各得其所。

这篇正好是谈艺术的作用的，艺术和科学的作用往往是交汇的，不会是那么泾渭分明，比如，山歌神马的民间小调，只是为了pleasure，并不是为了激起神马意识觉醒之类。

170. As long as people in a society are hungry or out of work or lack the basic skills needed to survive, the use of public resources to support the arts is inappropriate—and, perhaps, even cruel—when one considers all the potential uses of such money. 一旦人们限于饥饿、失业或者缺乏谋生的基本技能，运用公共资源去扶持艺术是很不恰当的——并且甚至是残忍的——尤其明知这些资金所有可能的用途。

art会带来pleasure，在肚子的时候依然需要pleasure，原始人在洞穴的时候就知道decoration，都已经吃不饱了，还有力气去做这些，政府的意义不只在于给人们带来温饱，而是让大家的利益最大话，其中就该有pleasure。

198. In order for any work of art—whether film, literature, sculpture, or a song—to have merit, it must be understandable to most people. 任何艺术作品为了有价值，例如电影、文学、雕塑或者歌曲，都必须让大多数人易于理解。



理解是需要时间的，不是所有人一开始就能欣赏贝多芬和天鹅湖，但这些并不能减少当人们理解后带来的东西。通俗与否不能成为判断艺术的标准。