“大洋彼岸之风” Brian 备考日志

brianwangboUID: 2643722

大洋彼岸有着多少人的梦想，愿者彼岸之风带给你们惬意的感觉，大家加油！
目标：1400+  4.5+
个人格言：海阔凭鱼跃，天高任鸟飞
备考地：北京
望各位牛人多多关照
各位“大洋彼岸之风”组员加油，来这里就是来看压力的，别的10G组早已超过我们的进度了，请大家不要甘于做一个追赶者，要一步一步，最后超越他们......加油

brianwangboUID: 2643722

第一次作业链接https://bbs.gter.net/thread-957582-1-1.html

brianwangboUID: 2643722

0910AW 同主题写作第二期 ARGUMENT173 by Brian Wang
https://bbs.gter.net/thread-958803-1-1.html

brianwangboUID: 2643722

第二次作业：https://bbs.gter.net/thread-959042-1-1.html

brianwangboUID: 2643722

不熟悉的单词
逆序：nomadic adj. 游牧的
soporific adj. 催眠的，安眠药
polemic n. 争论，论战
runic adj. 北欧古代文字的，神秘的
somatic adj. 肉体的
peripatetic adj. 巡游的
narcotic n. 催眠药，adj.催眠药
myriad adj. 许多的，无数的
weed adj.杂草，野草 V 除草
ragged adj. 破烂的
serried adj. 密集的
marred adj. 受伤的，毁坏变形的

brianwangboUID: 2643722

续
splice v. 接合，衔接
precipice n. 悬崖
allegiance n.忠诚
semblance n.外貌，相似
parlance n. 用法，用语，词汇
petulance n.发脾气，性急，暴躁
provenance  n.(艺术等的)出处，起源
exuberance n.愉快，茁壮
obeisance n.鞠躬，敬礼
pittance n.微薄的薪俸，少量的收入
nuance n.细微的差异
opalescence n.(不透明的)乳白光
indigence n.贫穷
deference n.敬意，尊重
ensconce v.安置，安坐
convalesce v.(病)康复，复原
spruce n.云杉；adj.整洁的
promenade v/n.散步，开车兜风
charade n.字谜游戏，易识破的伪装
pervade v.弥漫，普及
snide adj.讽刺的，含沙射影的
prude n.过分守礼的人
turpitude n.邪恶，卑鄙（行为）
pulchritude n.美丽
platitude n.陈词滥调

brianwangboUID: 2643722

gaffe n.(社会上令人不快的)失言，失态
rife adj.流行的，普遍的
persiflage n.挖苦，嘲弄
suffrage n.选举权，投票权
salvage n./v.(从灾难中)抢救，海上救助
ridge n.脊(如屋脊，山脊等)，隆起物
dislodge v.逐出，取出
trudge v.跋涉
singe v.(轻微的)烧焦，烫焦
twinge n.(生理，心理上的)剧痛
panache n.羽饰，炫耀
loathe v.憎恨，厌恶
stymie v. 妨碍，阻挠
spoke n.(车轮上)辐条
stroke v.抚摸；n.击，打，一笔
fluke n.侥幸，意想不到的事情
regale v.款待，使.......享受
despicable v.可鄙的，卑劣的
malleable adj.可塑的，易改变的
friable adj.易碎的
inviolable adj.不可侵犯的，不可亵渎的
impregnable adj.攻破不了的，征服不了的
inexorable adj. 不为所动的；坚决不变的
potable adj.适于饮用的
incorrigible adj.积习难改的，不可救药的
indelible adj.擦拭不掉的，不可抹不灭的
gullible adj.易受骗的
ostensible adj.表面上的
combustible adj.易燃的，易激动的
fumble v.摸索，笨拙的搜寻，弄乱，搞糟
voluble adj.健谈的，易旋转的
saddle n鞍，马鞍
swindle v.诈骗
raffle n.(尤指为公益事业举办的)抽奖售物(活动)
shingle n.木瓦，屋顶板，木质小招牌
bungle v.贻误事情，拙劣的工作
nubile adj.(女孩)到婚嫁年龄的，吸引人的
puerile adj.幼稚的，儿童的
spackle n.填泥料(用以填塞裂缝和洞穴)

brianwangboUID: 2643722

Children are exceptions to the country’s work ethic

AMERICANS like to think of themselves as martyrs to work. They delight in telling stories about their punishing hours, snatched holidays and ever-intrusive BlackBerrys. At this time of the year they marvel at the laziness of their European cousins, particularly the French. Did you know that the French take the whole of August off to recover from their 35-hour work weeks? Have you heard that they are so addicted to their holidays that they leave the sick to die and the dead to moulder?

There is an element of exaggeration in this, of course, and not just about French burial habits; studies show that Americans are less Stakhanovite than they think. Still, the average American gets only four weeks of paid leave a year compared with seven for the French and eight for the Germans. In Paris many shops simply close down for August; in Washington, where the weather is sweltering, they remain open, some for 24 hours a day.

But when it comes to the young the situation is reversed. American children have it easier than most other children in the world, including the supposedly lazy Europeans. They have one of the shortest school years anywhere, a mere 180 days compared with an average of 195 for OECD countries and more than 200 for East Asian countries. German children spend 20 more days in school than American ones, and South Koreans over a month more. Over 12 years, a 15-day deficit means American children lose out on 180 days of school, equivalent to an entire year.

American children also have one of the shortest school days, six-and-a-half hours, adding up to 32 hours a week. By contrast, the school week is 37 hours in Luxembourg, 44 in Belgium, 53 in Denmark and 60 in Sweden. On top of that, American children do only about an hour’s-worth of homework a day, a figure that stuns the Japanese and Chinese.

Americans also divide up their school time oddly. They cram the school day into the morning and early afternoon, and close their schools for three months in the summer. The country that tut-tuts at Europe’s mega-holidays thinks nothing of giving its children such a lazy summer. But the long summer vacation acts like a mental eraser, with the average child reportedly forgetting about a month’s-worth of instruction in many subjects and almost three times that in mathematics. American academics have even invented a term for this phenomenon, “summer learning loss”. This pedagogical understretch is exacerbating social inequalities. Poorer children frequently have no one to look after them in the long hours between the end of the school day and the end of the average working day. They are also particularly prone to learning loss. They fall behind by an average of over two months in their reading. Richer children actually improve their performance.

The understretch is also leaving American children ill-equipped to compete. They usually perform poorly in international educational tests, coming behind Asian countries that spend less on education but work their children harder. California’s state universities have to send over a third of their entering class to take remedial courses in English and maths. At least a third of successful PhD students come from abroad.

A growing number of politicians from both sides of the aisle are waking up to the problem. Barack Obama has urged school administrators to “rethink the school day”, arguing that “we can no longer afford an academic calendar designed for when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home ploughing the land at the end of each day.” Newt Gingrich has trumpeted a documentary arguing that Chinese and Indian children are much more academic than American ones.

These politicians have no shortage of evidence that America’s poor educational performance is weakening its economy. A recent report from McKinsey, a management consultancy, argues that the lagging performance of the country’s school pupils, particularly its poor and minority children, has wreaked more devastation on the economy than the current recession.

Learning the lesson
A growing number of schools are already doing what Mr Obama urges, and experimenting with lengthening the school day. About 1,000 of the country’s 90,000 schools have broken the shackles of the regular school day. In particular, charter schools in the Knowledge is Power Programme (KIPP) start the school day at 7.30am and end at 5pm, hold classes on some Saturdays and teach for a couple of weeks in the summer. All in all, KIPP students get about 60% more class time than their peers and routinely score better in tests.

Still, American schoolchildren are unlikely to end up working as hard as the French, let alone the South Koreans, any time soon. There are institutional reasons for this. The federal government has only a limited influence over the school system. Powerful interest groups, most notably the teachers’ unions, but also the summer-camp industry, have a vested interest in the status quo. But reformers are also up against powerful cultural forces.

One is sentimentality; the archetypical American child is Huckleberry Finn, who had little taste for formal education. Another is complacency. American parents have led grass-root protests against attempts to extend the school year into August or July, or to increase the amount of homework their little darlings have to do. They still find it hard to believe that all those Chinese students, beavering away at their books, will steal their children’s jobs. But Huckleberry Finn was published in 1884. And brain work is going the way of manual work, to whoever will provide the best value for money. The next time Americans make a joke about the Europeans and their taste for la dolce vita, they ought to take a look a bit closer to home.

brianwangboUID: 2643722

28"Students should memorize facts only after they have studied the ideas, trends, and concepts that help explain those facts. Students who have learned only facts have learned very little."学习类 频数85
30"The primary goal of technological advancement should be to increase people's efficiency so that everyone has more leisure time."科技类
频数71
40"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."社会类 频数126

brianwangboUID: 2643722

235"Most people are taught that loyalty is a virtue. But loyalty—whether to one's friends, to one's school or place of employment, or to any institution—is all too often a destructive rather than a positive force."行为
   221"The chief benefit of the study of history is to break down the illusion that people in one period of time are significantly different from people who lived at any other time in history."；历史
  218"In order for any work of art—whether film, literature, sculpture, or a song—to have merit, it must be understandable to most people."艺术
  212"If a goal is worthy, then any means taken to attain it is justifiable."行为
  208"The way people look, dress, and act reveals their attitudes and interests. You can tell much about a society's ideas and values by observing the appearance and behavior of its people."行为
  207"Rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. Without them, societies or groups of people have a diminished sense of who they are."行为
  203"The best way to understand the character of a society is to examine the character of the men and women that the society chooses as its heroes or its heroines."社会

brianwangboUID: 2643722

Paranoid, mischievous and heading in the wrong direction, Russia is an awkward prospect for Barack Obama

Getty ImagesTHE last time Barack Obama was in Russia, he and Senator Dick Lugar were detained by border guards for several hours at an airport in the Urals, where they were looking at how American funds were helping to get rid of stocks of dangerous Soviet-era weapons. America’s president has every reason to hope things will go better this time, but that is not setting a very high hurdle for success. Of all the great power relationships Mr Obama inherited from George Bush, Russia is the most awkward—awkward not only because it has been getting ever harder to deal with but also because it cannot be ignored.

Over the past ten years, under Vladimir Putin’s leadership, Russia has become more nationalistic, corrupt and corporatist. Its economy, although much bigger than a decade ago, is even more dependent on oil and gas, an industry now controlled by a small group of kleptocratic courtiers and former spies. The decision by Ikea, a well-known Swedish furniture supplier once bullish about Russia, to suspend investment because of graft is an indictment of the dire commercial climate (see article). Its non-energy exports are smaller than Sweden’s.

Russia’s population is shrinking alarmingly, its death rate double that in most developed countries. Conflicts in its north Caucasus republics have flared again. Its armed forces are woefully ill-equipped and poorly trained. Mr Putin has kept control by unleashing a virulent brand of anti-Western “patriotism”—the latest textbooks are as tough on America as they are soft on Stalin—and thuggishly silencing the opposition. Last year in a pretence of democracy Mr Putin installed Dmitry Medvedev (Mr Obama’s supposed host) as president while he himself became prime minister.

In the long term Mr Putin’s refusal to modernise his country will weaken Russia. Yet the place Mr Obama has to deal with now is still a potent force. The largest country on earth, Russia stretches from Europe to China. It is the world’s biggest producer of oil and gas. It has a seat on the UN Security Council and of course that nuclear arsenal. Above all it has the capacity to do both great harm and some good (see article).

Recently, the harm has been more noticeable. Last year’s invasion of Georgia, followed by Russia’s decision to recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia, was the clearest sign that Mr Putin has given up any hope of joining the West. Since then he has slammed the door on the World Trade Organisation, opting instead for a no-doubt-mighty customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. Russia has long criticised the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe for daring to highlight election malpractice. Now Mr Medvedev is promoting a European security structure that would in effect give Russia a veto over any expansion of NATO. Countries such as Ukraine, in what Russia regards as its sphere of influence, are nervous. At the UN Russia has dragged its feet on sanctions against Iran and autocrats pretty much everywhere.

And yet Iran is also one of many examples of how Russian and American interests should coincide. Neither Mr Obama nor Mr Putin wants to see Iran emerge as a nuclear power, setting off a destabilising arms race in the Middle East. Both also want a stable Afghanistan, with al-Qaeda pushed out of sanctuaries there and in Pakistan: Russia has been a useful conduit for Western supplies and troops. Both have worked to safeguard nuclear and other weapons materials in the old Soviet Union and are co-operating usefully in other countries.

Mr Bush’s policy towards Russia was both confused and confusing. One moment he was looking into Mr Putin’s eyes and finding a man he could trust; the next he was preaching democracy while failing to lift cold-war economic restrictions. Mostly, though, he was not very interested in Russia—and it showed. Russia, self-esteem wounded, claimed that America was promoting democracy to further its geopolitical interests.

Mr Obama’s combination of calmness and humility could well help America deal with a country whose national pride is dangerously spiked with a sense of inferiority. But there are plenty of pitfalls ahead.

America’s president needs to resist the temptation to play on supposed differences between Mr Putin and the more “liberal” Mr Medvedev. These are more notional than real, as the farcical second show trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oil boss and a Putin rival, which is taking place on Mr Medvedev’s watch, demonstrates.

Meanwhile, humility about some of America’s past mistakes should not leave Russia’s leaders with the impression that Mr Obama will be a pushover. Robustness is necessary because of the widening gap between the interests of the Russian people and those of its ruling elite (the people who stoke anti-Americanism even as they send their offspring to Western universities and buy up holiday homes in France). With the economy declining and social discontent rising, a stand-off with the West might be tempting for Mr Putin’s cabal—but ruinous for most Russians. It was not America’s fault that Russia failed to develop an independent judiciary, opting for corruption as the organising principle of its political system. Nor is it America’s fault that Russia wasted the years of high oil prices.

Most of all, Mr Obama needs to be firm over Russia’s ambitions to dominate the countries along its western and southern borders. Mr Bush’s attempt to hurry Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, ready or not (they weren’t, and won’t be for a long time) was a mistake. But both countries, like all others in Europe, have the right to choose their own friends. Mr Obama must make clear that he will not cut them adrift and will not tolerate attempts to destabilise their governments. Europeans could help too by diversifying their oil and gas supplies so that Russia is not tempted to turn off their taps either (see article).

Ironically, given Mr Obama’s difficulties in the Urals, the easiest place to start may be arms control. There is room to reduce further both sides’ warheads; it is also a subject that flatters Russia. But this is going to be an awkward relationship, one where the West’s expectations of success should be low.