Love Reading--天薇凉的阅读日志

天薇凉UID: 3403940

开这个帖子的目的是为了督促自己每天定时定量的完成自己的阅读任务，积累写作素材、词汇。

Active Reading.  Never Fake your interests.

Materials include but not limited to
The Economist，Economics, Technology
The Browser, Aldaily, Arts, Literature
The Atlantic
New Yorker books

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July 2013
7.7~7.14期末考试+回家处理杂七杂八。7.15恢复更新。

SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THUR	FRI	SAT
	7.1	7.2	7.3	7.4	7.5	7.6
7.7	7.8	7.9	7.10	7.11	7.12	7.13
7.14	7.15	7.16	7.17	7.18	7.19	7.20
7.21	7.22	7.23	7.24	7.25	7.26	7.27
7.28	7.29	7.30	7.31

June 2013
6月27～30外出，暂停summary内容。

					6.22	6.23
6.24	6.25	6.26	6.27	6.28	6.29	6.30

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Accumulation:
Moore's Law
Civil Rights Act of 1964

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cited from 拿什么拯救你我的GRE阅读

1)好奇心（好奇害死猫）

在阅读中读到晦涩难懂的概念的时候不知道各位是什么态度，我的想法是真有意思啊，我又了解到某些东西。事实是你可能一辈子也不会读到这些文章了，去了美国你只会读关于你专业的学术文章，所以GRE为你提供了一个平台，让你去涉猎更多的领域。当你读到美国宪法修正案，美国黑人奴隶斗争史，女性作家时候试着让自己置身于这样一个年代，你会发现自己更投入。

2)随手查阅不懂得概念/事件/人物

GRE阅读的pre-knowledge到底有没有用？这是一个很有争议的话题。GRE阅读难点有两点：

①句子晦涩难懂
②时间非常有限，一遍必须读懂

如果你事先对某一概念了解了，那么这个绝对可以帮你化险为夷。但是不要把自己的观点过多的带入到文章，这样会影响你的理解。

当你在阅读时候读到了自己不熟悉的概念（在论坛大家主要是对文学评论类文章犯怵）这里我推荐几个好的方法给大家

①使用Evernote/Word 等随时记下感兴趣或者不知道想要查阅的东西
②打开Google Scholar或者 The New Yorker搜索相关概念

3)主动的去阅读

这是一个再强调也不过分的习惯。阅读时候你必须去主动的读，消极被动的阅读会让你读完一篇文章根本不知道讲了什么。而主动的读文章最好的方法就是PEAR

PEAR 也就是

①Pause, 读完每个段落停下来
②Evaluate, 总结大意，思考此段落的作用
③Anticipate, 预期下一段会讲什么
④Reassess, 读完下一段再对第二步的evaluate进行评估。

读下一段接着继续PEAR 直到全文读完 Reassess全文并清晰了解全文的行文方式和逻辑构思。

这里我想介绍一个更加aggressive的方法，这个方法可以在练习的时候使用。

①读文章首句
②停下来，回读文章首句，读的时候发挥自己的想象力，想一下这篇文章会怎么写，用什么观点，作者会持怎么样的态度

其实你无须猜中，如果你猜中了会让你印象非常深刻，猜不中你也会去主动的去阅读。于是主动阅读的目的就达到了。继续阅读的时候采用PEAR的法则。

4)Passage Map
你在每一次读完一篇GRE文章，都需要在脑子里有一个Passage Map, 这是非常重要的。
我需要你从现在起每一篇文章都有10-15秒的时间去画出这个passage map

天薇凉UID: 3403940

June 22
http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/987
Technological Progress
Is technological progress accelerating?

反方列举了一堆数据比较来削弱这个观点，不过正方认为引用数据的区间略狭窄，时间跨度也不足以证明其观点，本身数据也不足；同时还需要考虑其他因素。

The proposer's opening remarks
Two problems of the opponents' opinions:
1. Relies on data from a short time period:
2. Ignore what is going on in the world: Since 2004 there has been a steady flow of digital innovations, from smartphones and tablets to novel robots for factories and warehouses to self-driving cars and Jeopardy!-champion supercomputers. These are not gimmicks or toys; they are being deployed to business benefit, or will soon be.

In addition, many types of recent technological progress are captured only weakly or not at all by economic statistics. online search, network information.

A second machine age. "Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these." LOL

The opposition's opening remarks
1. Cites diagram to show that technical change is not accelerating if we compare the 2.33% growth rate of the 80 years before 1972 with the 1.55% average growth rate of the bars since 1972. Also, at a shorter horizon, technical change is not accelerating if we compare the record of the past eight years (2004-12) with the previous eight "dotcom" years (1996-2004).
2. Against: the share of manufacturing output and employment in the total economy has declined from 30% in 1953 to 10% last year. "Manufacturing is performing a magnificent ballet on a shrinking stage."

In sum, the opposition cites data to compare the proportions between times before and after 1972.

I personally support the defendents' opinion. XD.

天薇凉UID: 3403940

Moore's Law摩尔定律
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law

Moore's law is the observation that, over the history of computing hardware, the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles approximately every two years. The period often quoted as "18 months" is due to Intel executive David House, who predicted that period for a doubling in chip performance (being a combination of the effect of more transistors and their being faster).
The law is named after Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore, who described the trend in his 1965 paper. The paper noted that the number of components in integrated circuits had doubled every year from the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958 until 1965 and predicted that the trend would continue "for at least ten years". His prediction has proven to be uncannily accurate, in part because the law is now used in the semiconductor industry to guide long-term planning and to set targets for research and development.

This trend has continued for more than half a century. Sources in 2005 expected it to continue until at least 2015 or 2020. However, the 2010 update to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors has growth slowing at the end of 2013, after which time transistor counts and densities are to double only every three years.

希望中的玫瑰UID: 2909568

天薇凉 发表于 2013-6-22 16:10
June 22
http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/987
Technological Progress

Personally, I think the latter view ingnore one point that the technology plays a role of different importance on the past time and contemporary society. As people in past time had limited access to technology advance, the improvement of technology could reveal a tremendous increase. However, based on the past inventions, the space for us to achieve new technology will not be as large as that in the past time.

MaxFeburarybirdUID: 3023313

我之前也有发起这个活动的想法，但是无奈我的组员对于 follow 我的 schedule 都不太感兴趣，所以就一直没实行，今天你这个帖子给了我把这个活动进行下去的鼓励哈~~~大家一起加油！！！

Irene1084UID: 3420779

给凉凉顶了！
我都堕落了好几天了……要振作！阅读抓起来！
加油~(^o^) 互打鸡血

天薇凉UID: 3403940

June23
Debate
http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/973
Driverless car
Are completely self-driving cars feasible in the foreseeable future?

the technology is said to be matured around 2020
the issue of liability: who is to blame if driveless technology goes wrong and causes a crash?
the convenience to the elderly and disabled

The proposers anticipate the self-driving cars and believe that those forecasting problems could be dealt with without many efforts. However, the oppositions provide more concerns towards the issue.

The proposer's opening remarks
It firstly give positive anticipation of the futuristic driverless cars, and it answers several questions to exclude seemingly roadblock.
1.Technology:  "Today's prototypes like the Google self-driving car work well enough, but consumer-ready vehicles will require vastly more intelligence and sensory awareness." However, thanks to Moore's law, it won't be a problem considering the past experience that we have already succeeded several times.
2. Legislation and policy: The National Institute of Standards and Technology is drafting standards for autonomous vehicles, an indicator that policymakers at all levels of government are being both proactive and friendly to the prospect of self-driving cars.
3. Insurance and liability: Lawyers will sort these questions out quickly in the first few cases, and all insurers need is enough data to quantify the magnitude of risk and adjust policies accordingly.

The opposition's opening remarks
Except for technology and legislation, there are three further problems: manufacturer motivation, security and privacy, and speed of market adoption.
1. Firstly, if a car can be self-drived, it seems that a family could only take a single car to fulfill all the needs of family members. It could eliminate the needs to own a car and devastate the production volume of cars.
2. The issue of differentiation: the product may make drivers have homogenous driving experiences.
3. security and privacy: related to the private information others would get from the self-drive system.(e,g smartphone) It could make consumers unwilling to purchase it.
4. the speed at which new features are rolled out

洋葱大叔UID: 3429088

薇妹子加油！

天薇凉UID: 3403940

June 24
On Writing Well

CH5 The Audience
You are writing to yourself. This is not contradictory with the idea that you have to make others understand.
Indeed, they are two different issues.
The style problem is craft, of mastering a precise skill, while the phrase that you write for yourself is a question of how you use the skill to express yourself--a problem of attitude.

CH6 Words
You would better try to read and imitate some good writers' works. "I learned by reading the men and women who were doing the kind of writing I wanted to do and trying to figure out how they did it."
Secondly, you have to get used to used dictionaries: to find out how to use a word properly. To figure out synonyms and antonyms, also sutble differences between some synonyms.
In addition, take care of how those words sound like: allitaration is appreciated. ( The Element of Style)

CH7 Usage
Usage has no fixed boundaries and the laws of usage are relative--bending with the taste of the law makers.
To separate usage from jargon.

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The Economist
Why is News Corp splitting in two?
http://www.economist.com/blogs/e ... onomist-explains-14
5min+5min23s

News Corp is going to split their business--separate its newspaper from its television and film assets.
We could probably have three reasons here.

Firstly, split the business helps the company to focus on a certain field. They could separate their advantaged or most profitable part and focus on the area. It could enhance their competence with other competeters considering most other companies already made the change.
1)investors' interests; 2)the different pace of diverse field.
"Part of the answer is that this reflects a broader industry trend: in recent years unwieldy media conglomerates have been slimming down and becoming more focused."
"Investors are unconvinced that there is any benefit in housing newspapers, television networks and film studios under the same roof, and prefer companies with a sharper focus."

Secondly, one of its newspaper was involved into a scandal and forced to shut down last year. The proposal could probably assist the whole group to rearrange their resources and make profits.
"When rumours emerged a year ago that Mr Murdoch was thinking of splitting up News Corp, investors were thrilled."

In addition, after the spliting, they could also consider to make some mergers with other companies--for example, they could cooperate with companies who ran another competitive newspaper. This action could make a win-win situation for both parts.
"The rationalisation of the media industry's sprawling conglomerates sets the stage for a period of consolidation for those businesses that benefit from scale, such as cable television and newspapers. "

天薇凉UID: 3403940

June 25
The Economist Why is hands-free texting dangerous?
http://www.economist.com/blogs/e ... onomist-explains-16
5min37s+4min52s

Hands-free text was designed to help drivers to communicate with others while driving. It was assumed that since it would not require one to use their hands, it could probably avoid distracting the attention from the driver.

However, it turns out that it was actually just the opposite of the assumption. According to the experimental result, hands-free text is far more dangerous than phone calls and some other means of communication. Hands-free could take more mental efforts from a driver.In real world, hands-free texting could result in more problems because they may have to correct their errors by repeating part of the message.

Granted, the tool was designed for assistance, there is no positive feedback of relating test--there could be some in the future. But it could be a good news for self-driving manufacturers.

New Yorker I found myself could be really into New Yorker LOL
How secrecy can distort data
http://www.newyorker.com/online/ ... et-information.html
The U.S government could use the secrecy policy to exclude publicizing information from the public. However, it is widely acknowleged as a quite bad policy. Why government work this way? The answer, also examined by three phychological experiments, turns out to be that information was assigned a higher value when people were told it was secret than when the same information was characterized as public.

The three psychological experiments tell that people could make some distortions while making decisions--not that they CANNOT make decisions. It is to illuminate the mental currents that push and pull on people's choices, unconsciously. We have to keep in mind of the tendency, however to find a balance is not an easy work.

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On Writing Well
PART II Methods
CH8 Unity
Unity is a concern of a whole passage because a loosely structured passage would easily make readers confused. Imagine a reader who read a passage which put several issues without connections between them--what a mess.

Pronoun, tense and mood are all suggested to be unified among a passage. Pay attention to the unity of contents and don't put whatever comes to your mind when you are writing together. (Logical connection)

Another suggestion is try to leave one impressive idea to readers instead of amount of thoughts.

天薇凉UID: 3403940

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Pub.L. 88–352, 78匀琀愀琀.241, enacted July2, 1964) is a landmark piece of civil rights legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities, and women. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public (known as "public accommodations").

Title VII
Title VII of the Act, codified as Subchapter VI of Chapter 21 of title 42 of the United States Code, prohibits discrimination by covered employers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Title VII applies to and covers an employer "who has fifteen (15) or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year" as written in the Definitions section under 42 U.S.C.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as well as certain state fair employment practices agencies (FEPAs) enforce Title VII. The EEOC and state FEPAs investigate, mediate, and may file lawsuits on behalf of employees. Where a state law is contradicted by a federal law, is it overridden. Every state, except Arkansas and Mississippi, maintains a state FEPA (see EEOC and state FEPA directory ). Title VII also provides that an individual can bring a private lawsuit. An individual must file a complaint of discrimination with the EEOC within 180 days of learning of the discrimination or the individual may lose the right to file a lawsuit. Title VII only applies to employers who employ 15 or more employees for 20 or more weeks in the current or preceding calendar year.

天薇凉UID: 3403940

June26
The New Yorker
WILL GINSBURG’S LEDBETTER PLAY WORK TWICE?
http://www.newyorker.com/online/ ... ledbetter-play.html
Case of job discrimination

First of all, we have to ask why the Ledbetter's case could be successful years ago.
A woman called Lily Ledbetter found that she had been paid less than her male counterpart for many years--something she did not know until shortly before she left the company.
It was a 5-4 win. Judge believed that she could win this time for the same reasons. However, it could probably not happen.

Reasons are simple because time changes--circumstances are not like the former cases.
Job discrimination can hardly get as many attentions as before, and more dramatic cases are waiting for the supreme court. The political situation are also different--the motives of the president and the advantages of the Senates, all changed.

In conclusion, the case cannot be replicated as six years ago.

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Big Brother and silicon valley
http://www.newyorker.com/online/ ... silicon-valley.html
Companies in silicon valley used to be more independent on their own work and have fewer connections with government. It turns out that big companies, including Google, YAHOO, Apple all have assisted the some government departments--they provided some private information of their clients to department such as National Security Agency.
The purpose both of the national security and the privacy of customer constitutes a kind of dilemma.

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On Writing Well
CH9 The Lead and the End
A chapter about the lead and the ending of a passage. The point of the start of a passage is to lure readers continuing their reading. They want to know soon what the content is about.

For the majority part, it is a process of accumulation. You would better collect various kinds of knowledges during daily life--everything from your study major to subtle daily details.
The end: the perfect ending should take your readers slightly by surprise and yet seem exactly right.

DjocovicUID: 3414314

想起一个问题 请教天薇一下
就是阅读过程中到底做不做笔记？

Robin的方法可以看懂——厘清篇章段落间的关系
但是没有涉及到段落之间的逻辑
自己做的时候感觉做笔记回头就不知道读到哪儿了 不做吧 定位又很扯

天薇凉UID: 3403940

Djocovic 发表于 2013-6-26 21:20
想起一个问题 请教天薇一下
就是阅读过程中到底做不做笔记？

不做笔记，
每段之间停留的时间就是想逻辑的时间，一个意思。

莉莉斯UID: 2755690

每天坚持很厉害！