【thatll】iBT备考日志

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【听力---SSS---June 2, 2009】
[size=1.15em]Mice Sensing Leptin Stave Off Diabetes
[size=1.15em]---In a study in the journal Cell Metabolism, mice given the ability to sense the hormone leptin ate less, exercised more, and had better blood sugar profiles.

[size=1.15em]
[size=1.15em]Leptin is a hormone made by fat cells that tells you when you’re full. If you didn’t have leptin—and some people don’t—you’d eat way too much, get real fat and almost certainly develop diabetes. Leptin acts like a natural appetite suppressant（这个suppressant的发音要注意）. Kids born without the hormone can top 100 pounds before they hit kindergarten. And mice without leptin are sluggish balls of blubber（鲸脂）. But how does leptin work its dietary wonders?

Slang Very; extremely: "Can they really make a car that's way cool?" Fortune.
说这字时﹐要拉长些﹐要稍微重点﹐但不能太重。 如果还要更强调﹐可以用 way way. Like:
His math is off, way way off.

To find out, scientists took mice that don’t respond to leptin because they lack the receptor to which it binds. They then added the leptin receptor to one small group of brain cells. The result: the enhanced mice eat less and spend twice as much time running around. Even better, being able to sense leptin returns their blood sugar to normal levels, staving off（ : to ward off (as something adverse)  : FORESTALL  *trying to stave off disaster*） diabetes. The study appears in the June 2nd issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.

Could be that these brain cells, in response to leptin, convince muscles to remove more sugar from the blood, or they might be telling the liver to stop dumping sugar into the bloodstream in the first place，either way you get healthier mice—and maybe someday healthier people, too. Thanks to researchers who saw a difficult problem and leapt in（这里see...in表示带进来）.

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[size=1.15em]【听力---SSS---June 3, 2009 】
Ocean Noise Clue to Climate Change
---A study in the journal Science shows that analysis of ocean sounds, previously considered noise（这样的表达要注意，要学起来，就是表达被人为的认为的） to be filtered out（之前认为要被过滤掉的噪音）, can provide information about climate unavailable elsewhere（其他任何地方得不到的）.

Seismologists spend a lot of time listening to the earth. Ocean acoustic monitors have been providing information on the earth’s vibrations since the 1930’s. But there are other sounds those monitors pick up as well, for instance those of waves and choppy（: rough with small waves） waters. These sounds are usually considered just noise and are filtered out of the equation.

But researchers now realize that paying attention to what was previously considered noise can help monitor global climate change. That’s according to a study in a recent issue of the journalScience.

In shallow coastal waters, the breaking waves directly hit the ground and cause vibrations. In deeper waters, waves traveling in nearly opposite directions create a pulse that travels all the way to the ocean floor and causes new vibrations that can travel long distances.

Measured at 30-second intervals, these are called microseisms. They’re unique and not detectable on land. And they can help us understand more about the frequency, intensity and duration of storms.

An 80-year archive of acoustic information already exists. The length, stability and regularity give these data a leg up（=help） over a sometimes spotty historical scientific climate record. Another tool to understand more about our changing climate.

spotty : lacking uniformity especially in quality *the performance was spotty*; also : irregularly or sparsely distributed *spotty attendance* *spotty data*

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【听力---SSS---June 4, 2009】
[size=1.15em]Illness Behind Most Bankruptcies
[size=1.15em]---A study in The American Journal of Medicine finds that in 2007 more than 62 percent of all bankruptcies were driven by medical costs, a number that has likely gone up since the recession began. And most of the bankrupted had health insurance.

Remember the heady days（就是昨日的意思，也即过去的时光这样的感觉，一种感叹在里面，或是辉煌，或是怎样） of 2007, before the large economy sized recession? Well, even back then medical problems contributed to（这里要注意主动与被动，是医疗问题造成了破产） over 62 percent of all bankruptcies. That’s according to a study by researchers at Harvard Med, Harvard Law and Ohio University just published online and scheduled for the August issue of The American Journal of Medicine. The authors note that with the recession, the 62 percent figure has likely gone up even more.

David Himmelstein, the lead author of the study said, "Our findings are frightening. Unless you're Warren Buffett, your family is just one serious illness away from bankruptcy.” He also noted that “private health insurance is a defective（不完美的，优缺点的，这个词要成为我们的主动词汇） product, akin to（类似于） an umbrella that melts in the rain."（这里我们要注意，如果我们要翻译一句，类似于会在雨中融化的雨伞，我们要学会akin to an umbrella that melts in the rain）

And co-author Steffie Woolhandler, said, "We need to rethink（重新思考，要成为主动词汇） health reform. Covering the uninsured isn't enough. Reform also needs to help families who already have insurance by upgrading their coverage and assuring that they never lose it. Reforms that expand phony insurance—stripped-down plans riddled with co-payments, deductibles and exclusions—won't stem（阻止） the rising tide of medical bankruptcy."

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【听力---SSS---June 5, 2009】
[size=1.15em]A Little Yolk for Boys
---It's long been known that nest temperature influences the sex determination of reptile embryos. Now a study in Current Biology finds that, for alpine lizards, smaller yolks（卵黄） lead to males.

When it comes to lizard sex, size does matter,（当谈到什么的时候，什么是有关系的） but not in the way you might think. Because in the June 4th online issue of the journal Current Biology, scientists say that for at least one type of lizard, larger eggs are more likely to make girls while smaller eggs yield boys.

For many animals, the sex of an individual is dictated solely by（被什么唯一支配） its chromosomes. But for small alpine lizards, gender isn’t so cut-and-dried（事先准备的，俗套的，呆板的）. The scientists had earlier found that nest temperature can influence the sex of lizard hatchlings（人工孵化）. Cooler nests turn out more boys—no matter what their chromosomes say.（无论什么怎么样，...） At the same time, the researchers noticed that larger eggs seemed to make more daughters. But they wanted to put their observation to the test. So they took big eggs and removed some yolk—and, voila（那就是，瞧，表示事情成功或满意之感叹词）, they made males. Adding yolk to a little egg was a recipe for a female.

This size manipulation might allow moms to balance their babies’ sexes when a chilly nest would otherwise produce mostly sons. Because when it comes to alpine lizards, sex determination all comes down to a practical yolk.

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【听力---SSS---June 8, 2009】
Hudson Plane: Out-of-Town Geese Did It
----A study in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment shows that the birds that took down U.S. Airways Flight 1549 were migrating geese, not a local N.Y.C. population--important info for development of aviation（飞行术） bird avoidance techniques.



Back on January 15th, US Airways Flight 1549 made that amazing water landing in the Hudson after both engines were taken out by Canada geese, which can weigh eight pounds each. Now scientists have used forensic（这个单词其实是GRE单词，法庭的，辩论的） techniques（辩论术） to clear local geese—the perpetrators（作恶者，犯罪者） were out-of-towners（A visitor from another town or city.）. The study appears June 8th in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Crash investigators sent feather samples from the plane’s engines to the Smithsonian, which has a dedicated Feather Identification Lab. The researchers examined the feather’s hydrogen isotopes, which include regular hydrogen atoms and hydrogens with additional neutrons. The isotope ratios tell you about the bird’s diet. And that tells you where they dined（dine就是用餐，吃饭）.

The analysis showed that the birds that hit the plane were much closer to geese migrating from Canada’s Labrador region than the geese who live year-round（一年到头的，整年的） in New York. That info could be important for strategies to avoid future bird strikes. The usual techniques for keeping resident birds（不迁徙的鸟） away from planes are still working—but we need ones for strangers just passing through.

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【阅读+写作】
EDITORIAL
Trying to Recover
Published: July 31, 2009

As the economy crawled into 2009, there was never any reasonable doubt about the need for immense federal stimulus. But there was plenty of unreasonable opposition. Only three Republicans voted in February to pass a $787 billion stimulus package, President Obama’s first legislative victory. Ever since, some of Mr. Obama’s Republican opponents have routinely asserted that the ongoing recession is evidence that the stimulus has failed.

immense：
1 : marked by greatness especially in size or degree;  especially   : transcending ordinary means of measurement  *the immense and boundless universe*
2 : supremely good  : EXCELLENT
routine：
1 : of a commonplace or repetitious character  : ORDINARY  *routine problems*
2 : of, relating to, or being in accordance with established procedure  *routine business*

The good news, then, is that the stimulus is, indeed, cushioning the worst effects of the downturn. Still uncertain is whether it will lay a foundation for future growth or whether（第二个whether后面又套一个从句，一旦...，即用once引导）, once most all of the money is spent in 2010, the economy will stall or even regress.（这里用了完全倒转，原因是主语是一个很长的从句，而接下来的成分很简单是is still uncertain.）The assertion was always silly. Now it has been proved wrong. The report on second-quarter economic activity, released on Friday, showed that the pace of contraction slowed markedly from April through June — falling at an annual rate of 1 percent after shrinking at an annual rate of 6.4 percent in the first quarter. If it weren’t for stimulus spending, the contraction would have been closer to 4 percent. From July through September, when the largest chunk of stimulus money is scheduled to be spent, the boost to activity is projected to be even greater.

downturn: a downward turn especially toward a decline in business and economic activity
stall:
intransitive verb  
1 : to come to a standstill (as from mired wheels or engine failure)
2 : to experience a stall in flying

Unfortunately, a muted（默默的，柔和的） recovery seems to be the most likely scenario（就是最有可能会出现的情况）. The stimulus, while helpful, was designed for a milder recession than what has actually occurred. So unless the administration and Congress agree on more stimulus, federal spending is unlikely to spark（所以这个词又是一个activate的同义替换） a strong, self-sustaining recovery.（除非如何，否则什么是不可能的）

spark：
transitive verb  
1 : to set off in a burst of activity  : ACTIVATE  *the question sparked a lively discussion* ? often used with off
2 : to stir to activity  : INCITE  *sparked her team to victory*

Worse, whatever growth the economy manages to eke out over the next year or so is bound to be constrained by unrelenting foreclosures and tight credit — and the lack of a robust policy response to either.（前面一段开头是unfortunately，这里是更糟糕的是，不管这个经济体要在下一年维持一个什么样的增长速度，这个速度都必将被无情的关闭和信用紧缩所限制，还有就是缺少对这两个的强有力的政策）

eke out：
1 : to make up for the deficiencies of  : SUPPLEMENT  *eked out his income by getting a second job*
2 : to make (a supply) last by economy

This week, many of the nation’s big mortgage servicers met at the Treasury Department to discuss their lack of progress in modifying bad mortgage loans. At the end of the day, they committed to modifying 500,000 loans by November. That’s not really a solution.

The issue is not only how many loans are modified, but how they are reworked. The administration has earmarked $75 billion to help servicers reduce troubled borrowers’ monthly payments. But when a homeowner has no home equity — as is increasingly the case with troubled borrowers — the most effective modification is to reduce the loan’s principal balance, restoring some of the lost equity. That’s what the administration should be pressing for（要着急做的）.

Economic recovery will also be impaired by the ongoing credit crunch. The stress tests of the nation’s big banks in May — and the banks’ subsequent success at raising new capital — calmed the banking industry. But the underlying problems endure. For instance, bad loans remain on the banks’ books, feeding uncertainty about potential future losses and constraining credit. The administration’s policy seems to be to buy time, hoping that confidence and growth resume gradually and that nothing terrible happens in the meantime. At best, that portends a tepid recovery.

The stimulus is helping, and more stimulus would help even more. But going forward, new policies to stop foreclosures and to jump-start（迅速启动） lending must also be part of the plan for economic recovery.

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【写作---多样化表达】
科学技术的发展使人们能够非常轻松地学习知识。
1.The development of science and technology has made obtaining knowledge very easy for people.
2.Due to the development of science and technology, people could acquire knowledge quite easily. (Thanks to, Owing to, Because of)
3.The development of science and technology enables people to take no effort in attaining knowledge.
4.With the development of science and technology, gaining knowledge is extraordinary easy for people.
5.Accumulating knowledge has become effortless for people as a result of the improvement of science and technology.
【这里就是说一种因果关系的表达方式可以有这么的多样化】

越来越多的人意识到环境保护的重要性。
1.More and more people have realized the importance of environmental protection.
2.People in increasing number are conscious of the key role that environmental protection has played.
3.The significance to preserve our environment has increasingly gained people’s awareness.
4.The number of people who are aware of the importance of environmental protection is on the rise.
5.The importance of protecting our environment has attracted attention of increasing people.

我认为在我们社区建工厂是不好的。
1.I don’t think it’s a good idea to build a factory in our community.
2.I consider it improper to establish a factory in our community.
3.In my view, there’s no good in building a plant in our community.
4.My opinion is that it’s unwise to establish a factory in our community.
5.From my perspective, our community is not a proper place to build a factory.
6.In my opinion, to build a factory in our community lacks of consideration.

由于年龄的关系，父母亲对孩子的了解有时还不如他们的同伴。
1.Owing to the age, parents sometimes know less about their children than their children’s friends.
2.For the sake of parent’s age, children’s friends sometimes understand the children better than their parents.
3.The age of parents prevents them from knowing their children better than peers of the children.
4.Because of the age, parents couldn’t have a full understanding of their children as the peers of their children do.
5.The age of parents sometimes leads to a worse understanding of their children compared with the children’s friends.

要是团队里的每个人都竭尽全力，他们的工作效率会有很大提高。
1.If everyone in the team does its best, their working efficiency will be greatly improved.
2.In case that every member of the team makes great efforts, their work will be more efficient.
3.There will be enormous improvement in their working efficiency on condition that everyone in the group works hard.
4.Everyone in the group exerting himself/herself is the premise on which to enhance the working efficiency.
5.Every member in the team doing his/her utmost will lead to notable enhancement in their working efficiency.

语言环境对外语学习的影响是很大的。
1.Language environment could largely affect the study of a foreign language.
2.Language environment imposes a tremendous influence on learning a foreign language.
3.Language environment has an enormous impact on the study of a foreign language.
4.The effect of language environment on foreign language study is outstanding.
5.Language environment is one of the key factors in affecting the study of a foreign language.

我们要像保护自己的亲人那样保护野生动物。
1.We should protect wild animals as we protect our relatives.
2.We should regard protecting wild animals as protecting our relatives.
3.Wild animal protection should have the same importance as protection of our relatives.
4.To preserve wild animals shall be considered as to protect our family members.
5.Protection of wild animals should be done in the same way we protect our family members.

我们从电视上学会了好多有用的东西。
1.By watching TV, people have learned numerous things that are helpful.
2.People have obtained plenty of knowledge via TV.
3.TV is a good form of media to equipped people with useful information.
4.Watching TV enables people to acquire vast amounts of useful information.
5.With the help of TV, people have learned a great number of useful things.

我赞成政府花钱进行外太空探索。
1.I am in favor of the government’s idea to spend money on outer space exploration.
2.I support the government to spend money on outer space exploration
3.I approve of the government spending money in exploring the outer space.
4.I agree with the government about spending money on outer space exploration.
5.I think it’s a good idea that government spends money on outer space exploration.

如果人们愿意在太空探索上面多花一些钱，人们就会在不久的将来更多地享受高科技给我们的生活带来的便利。
1.If people are willing to spend more money on space research, there will be more convenience in people’s life brought by high technology in the near future.
2.The more money people are willing to spend on space exploration, the more convenience high technology will bring to people’s life in the near future.
3.Suppose that people are ready to spend more money on space exploration, they will have more convenience high technology brings to their lives in the near future.
4.In the near future, people’s life can be more convenient due to high technology in case that more money is used to explore the space.
5.People will enjoy more convenience in their lives brought by high technology in the near future on condition that more money is spent on space exploration.

强健的体魄是实现伟大理想的前提。
1.A strong and healthy body is the premise to realize great ideals.
2.A strong and healthy body is the pre-condition of realizing great ideals.
3.Realizing great ideals is based on a strong and healthy body.
4.Only if you have a strong and healthy body can your great ideals be realized.
5.A strong and healthy body is the basic requirement for realizing great ideals.

偶尔的失败有时候会有助于日后的成功。
1.Occasional failure could sometimes be helpful to future success.
2.Future success sometimes derives from occasional failure.
3.Occasional failure sometimes leads to future success.
4.Occasional failure sometimes plays a positive role in achieving future success.
5.To fail once in a while could sometimes be a key factor in forming future success.

(1)The development of science and technology enables people to acquire knowledge dramatically easily.
(2)It becomes totally impossible for people to gain knowledge in a remarkably easy way without progressing science and technology.
(3)With the improvement of science and technology, people are empowered to accumulate knowledge at amazing ease.
(4)What gives people the ability to obtain knowledge easily is the growth of science and technology.
(5)Knowledge accumulation becomes strikingly easy for people as a result of the development of science and technology.
The development of science and technology results in an easy way for people to learn.
·It is extraordinarily easy for people to study because of the promoting in science and technology.
·Science and technology is highly improved;as a result, people can easily have an access to learning.
·By reason of advancedscience and technology, people get knowledge easily.
·Science and technology develop, hence an easy way for people to study.

(1)More and more people realize/come to know the importance of protecting the environment/ the environmental protection.
(2)The significance of the environmental protection has been clearly understood by an increasing number of people.
(3)There are an increasing number of people who come to know / become aware of the necessity of the environmental protection.
(4)The number of people who come to know how vital it is to protect the environment is enormously/dramatically/remarkably increasing.
(5)The significance of the environmental protection is increasingly recognized.
(6)People in increasing numbers come to know the importance of the environmental protection.

(1) I don't think it's a good idea to build a factory in our community.
(2)I oppose building a factory in our community.
(3)From my point of view, building a factory in our community is totally stupid/harmful.
(4)In my opinion, the plan/idea to set up a factory in our community is far from being wise/ sagacious.
(5)As far as I see, the idea of building a factory in our community is anything but good/right/admirable/wonderful.
(6)I believe the last thing we should do is founding a factory in our community.

(1) The exact impact put on the relationship between parents and children is that parents understand their children less than children’s friends do.
(2)Resulting from the effect of the generation gap, parents sometimes cannot know the children better than the children’s companions do.
(3)Owing to the generation gap, the children sometimes are better understood/known by their companions than by their parents.
(4)The fact that parents sometimes don't know the children better than the children’s companions do should be attributed to the great difference in age.
(5)The reason why sometimes parents don't know the children better than the children’s companions is the generation gap.

(1)If all the staff in the team spares no effort to work, their working efficiency would be enormously/dramatically increased.
(2) If each does his utmost, the working efficiency in this team will be improved without any doubt.
(3)The working efficiency of the team will be highly improved by all the members’ extremely hard work.
(4)Dramatically increasing working efficiency is owing to everyone in the team devoting all his/her power.
(5)Great efforts made by all these team members are responsible for the high working efficiency.

(1)Language environment has a remarkable impact/influence/effect on the acquisition of a foreign language.
(2)When it comes to obtaining/gaining/acquiring/mastering/learning/studying a foreign language, the language environment is definitely/undoubtedly/surely/certainly a main factor.
(3)The obtainment of a foreign language requires an excellent language environment.
(4)Language environment is essential/crucial/vital for mastering the foreign language.
(5)There is a call for a favorable language environment in picking up a foreign language.

(1)We should protect wild animals as they are our own family members.
(2)Wild animals need our protection as forcefully as our family members.
(3)It is imperative that we protect wild animals as much as our relatives.
(4)It is necessary for us to make wild animals be protected no less than our own family.
(5)Our protection is as crucial to wild animals as to our family members.

(1)We have learned plenty of useful things from those TV programs.
(2)Thanks to those programs on TV we acquire a lot of wonderful knowledge.
(3)There is much valuable wisdom obtained by us from these TV programs.
(4)What we gained from these TV programs is the wide information.
(5)Through those TV programs, we accumulated a variety of helpful skills.

(1) It is the outer space’s probe that I maintain the government ought to spend money on.
(2)I approve of the government spending much money in doing the research of outer space.
(3)The idea made by the government about using money to further probing the outer space is absolutely backed up by me.
(4)From my point of view, outer space is where the government should put a large investment in.
(5)I believe that the thing which the government is supposed to do most is collecting the fund for the advanced research of the outer space.
(6)I claim that money is what the government is required to provide for the wider probe of the outer space.

(1)If people would like to spend more money on the outer space probe, they will enjoy the convenience brought by high technology in the near future
(2)In the foreseeable future, a larger supply of conveniences will be brought in front of people by advanced technology on the condition that people agree to spend much more on the probe of the outer space.
(3)The more people are ready to spend on the probe of the outer space, the more conveniences they will gain from the sophisticate technology in the close future.
(4)People’s will to put more fund into the probe of the outer space leads to a wonderful prospect that life is going to become more and more convenient for people with the high technology.
(5)It is most likely that people who afford much more on the outer space will lead an easier life as the technology is progressing.

(1)Realizing a great ideal is based on the premise of the strong body.
(2)A strong body is fundamental/basic to reach a grand goal.
(3)It is impossible for people to transform the ambition into reality without the strong body.
(4)The prerequisite of the realization of a splendid dream is surely the strong body.
(5)The most influential power of a strong body is to make a spectacular dream come true.

(1)Sometimes, occasional failure is helpful for the later success.
(2)Failing from time to time can foster/promote the future success.
(3)What is beneficial for being successful in the future is failing casually \at times.
(4)Sometimes, occasional failure can make it more possible for people to attain the goal of being successful in the foreseeable future.
(5)The success of the near future sometimes depends on the unexpected failure.

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【听力---SSS---June 9, 2009】

Antioxidants and Male Fertility
---A study in the journal Fertility and Sterility found a connection between an antioxidant-rich diet and sperm quality.

Guys, here’s another reason to eat your veggies（吃蔬菜，蔬菜的表达我们要veggies而不是vegetable这个总称）: they might be good for your sperm. Some studies show that male fertility and what’s called（称为什么的东西） seminal quality（精液质量，seminal精液的，种子的） have declined over the last few decades. So researchers from two fertility clinics in Spain looked at（是考虑的意思） the reproductive power of fruits and vegetables. The scientists have spent the past four years analyzing diet and possible exposure to workplace contaminants（工作场所的污染物） in men with fertility problems.

look at：
1 : CONSIDER 1 *looking at the possibility of relocating*
2 : CONFRONT, FACE *looking at a mandatory fine---Cindy Kilass*

One effort examined the effects that antioxidants might have on sperm. The researchers hypothesized that antioxidants could lower the oxidative stress that can harm sperm. More antioxidants could theoretically improve both sperm concentration and motility.

The study enrolled 61 men from couples with fertility problems. Thirty of the men were shown to have sperm problems. The other 31 one acted as the control. Interviews revealed that the males with good semen（精液） quality ate significantly more fruits and vegetables—their diets were higher in vitamins and antioxidants in general. The study appears in the journalFertility and Sterility. The researchers say this finding suggests that healthy diets lead to healthy sperm. So remember, guys, an apple a day keeps your swimmers in play.


注意了，男同胞们！ An apple a day keeps your swimmers in play！
每天一个苹果保证你可爱的精虫们活蹦乱跳~~~~

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【听力---SSS---June 10, 2009】

Speed-Dating Roles Influence Attraction Perception
----A study in the journal Psychological Science reveals that in speed-dating situations, those in stationary positions tend to be more picky（就是很会pick的意思，很挑剔，很吹毛求疵） than those assigned to move around the room.


For folks（这是常人的有一个表达） who’ve engaged in the strange ritual of “speed dating,” finding that special someone is like winning a romantic game of musical chairs. Now scientists from Northwestern University say that the results depend on who’s doing the circling and who gets to sit.


If you’re not familiar with the process, in a typical bout（回合） of speed dating women are seated at a table and men come up to join them. The couples chat for a few minutes, and when the timer goes off the men stand up and move to the next table. At the end of the evening, participants fill out a score card indicating which partners they might like to see again. In this situation, it seems that the guys are usually less selective（注意这个选择跟picky一样的意思，而不是被选择，是主动而非被动） than the gals. They express interest in following up with more of their dates.


But when psychologists turned the tables and asked the boys to remain seated while the girls did the rotating, the results also did a 180（念成one eighty）—and the ladies became less picky, findings published in the journal Psychological Science . So the mere act of moving toward a potential mate seems to make that person more attractive. Which means that beauty may well be in the eye of the approacher.

月下花魂UID: 2603612

好强大啊，继续加油

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160# 月下花魂

谢谢鼓励，恩！

那不勒斯UID: 2593275

LZ什么时候考啊？

thatllUID: 2538832

162# 那不勒斯
8.22，呵呵，你呢

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【听力---SSS---June 11, 2009】

Maple Seed Flight Aerodynamics
---A study in the journal Science shows that maple seeds generate lift as they slowly whirl to the ground.

What do a hummingbird, a moth, and a maple tree have in common（听力的时候要注意这个词，have in连读）? They all use a similar trick to fly. Okay, okay, a maple tree doesn’t fly. But its seeds kind of（这个词汇很重要，呵呵，副词，表示somewhat或者是rather等意思） do. Maples make those little whirlybird（直升机） seeds you see spiraling down in droves（成群结队，陆陆续续） every spring. Their papery（类似于纸张的，薄的） little wings keep them aloft so they can find a good place to germinate（没听出来的词汇） and make a new maple. But how they manage to fall so slowly has been a bit of a mystery（of a mystery这样的表达我们要学会，相当于mysterious，所以前面的a bit是副词）—until now.

Scientists filmed maple seeds as they wafted through a smoke-filled wind tunnel. And they found that a spiral of（一圈圈的） air develops on top of each falling seed’s wing. That vortex（漩涡） generates lift, and acts like a miniature（形容词，表示小规模的） tornado that sucks the seed up. The study appears in the June 12th issue of the journal Science.

The same type of vortex also helps bats, hummingbirds and insects soar. So it seems that plants and animals have both stumbled on（stumble on表示无意中发现，偶然找到，这个stumble本身的含义是使绊到） the same aerodynamic approach to battling gravity. Which explains why the acorn might not fall far from the tree, but maple seeds can really go the distance.

学习：
whirl和spiral的区别：
whirl就是旋转的意思，spiral是螺旋式旋转
kind of：

Also, sort of. Rather, somewhat, as in I'm kind of hungry, or The bird looked sort of like a sparrow. [Colloquial; c. 1800] This usage should not be confused with a kind of or a sort of, which are much older and refer to a borderline member of a given category (as in a kind of a shelter or a sort of a bluish color).

thatllUID: 2538832

EDITORIAL
Curbing Runaway Health Inflation
Published: August 1, 2009

This year’s effort to reform health care revolves around（围绕的意思，就是以什么为中心展开这样的感觉，这个词很好，要学起来） two powerful, conflicting（就是冲突的，矛盾的，不相容的） imperatives（ : an obligatory act or duty ）. One is to cover tens of millions of uninsured Americans. The other is to absorb the enormous cost of that plan — which could reach $1 trillion over 10 years — without（强调了不同时伴随后面所说的两种情况） increasing the budget deficit in the next decade or setting the nation on a course that（set sth. on a course that...这个句型很好啊，） will drive up（抬高，迫使...上升） deficits later.

revolve：
transitive verb  
1 : to turn over at length in the mind  : PONDER  *revolve a scheme*
2 : ROTATE 1
intransitive verb  
1 : RECUR
2 a : to ponder something  b : to remain under consideration  *ideas revolved in his mind*
3 a : to move in a curved path round a center or axis  b : to turn or roll round on an axis
4 : to have or come to a specified focus  : CENTER --- usually used with around  *the dispute revolved around wages*

也就是revolve about [round]
围绕...而旋转
反复考虑
围绕(某一个问题)

It is easier to see how to accomplish the first task than the second. But Congress should not slow the push for（放慢推动什么的步伐） near-universal coverage while it looks for ways to apply the brakes to the growth in（寻找方法对什么的增长进行刹车） costs. We can be virtually certain（真正的确认） that the reforms enacted will be deficit-neutral over the first 10 years. President Obama and Democratic leaders will find cuts in Medicare and raise sufficient taxes to offset（抵消） the initial cost of insurance expansion.
It is much harder to find ways to slow inflation in health care costs. Peter Orszag, Mr. Obama’s budget director, has been searching for what he calls “game changers” that can “bend down the cost curve” in coming years. The question is how well he and Congressional champions of health care reform have succeeded.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANTThe skyrocketing（大幅上升，飞涨） cost of health care is driving up federal deficits, threatening to（威胁到了什么） bankrupt Medicare, forcing（迫使） employers to cut or drop benefits, and leaving（使得谁人落得某一下场） workers and their families with unaffordable bills.【其实这里的表达真的很有气势，skyrocketing cost is driving up sth., threatening to sth., forcing sb. to do sth., and leaving sb. with sth.】 Even a relatively small reduction in（即使是在某一方面的一个相对小的减少） the average annual growth rate over the next decade — from, say, 6.2 percent to 4.7 percent — could save more than $2 trillion for the health care system and hundreds or thousands of dollars for the average family. There is an enormous amount of money in the health care system, much of it spent on tests and procedures that do not improve health. It should be possible to wring out（绞出，压榨出） some of that spending.

HOW CAN WE JUDGE SUCCESS? Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, testified（testify本身有两个含义，一个是证实，一个是宣称，那这里就是宣称） in mid-July that he saw no fundamental changes offered by the bills then emerging（作为后置定语，表示后来，也就是这位director宣称之后，变得emerging了） that would reduce the trajectory of federal health spending significantly. The implication was that（隐含的意义就是） the pending bills could actually make deficits bigger after the initial break-even（收支相当） decade. That’s because covering the uninsured would increase federal spending and a high rate of medical inflation applied to that larger base would make future deficits worse. However, Mr. Elmendorf was looking only at bills that had cleared committees, which did not include one still being fashioned by the pivotal Senate Finance Committee.
Senator Max Baucus, the Democrat who heads that committee, revealed last week that the C.B.O. had evaluated a draft of his bill and concluded that it would cover 95 percent of all Americans, for a cost below $900 billion, and would actually start reducing the deficit in 2019. That is better than the administration’s goal of being deficit-neutral in that final year, but we will not know for sure until the C.B.O. issues a verdict on a final bill.
The budget office provides vitally important（极为重要的） guidance to Congress, but focuses primarily on how new legislation might affect federal spending and federal deficits. The office gives only a cursory glance at how reforms might cut costs for the overall system and yield savings for employers, families and state and local governments, the issue that concerns most people.（这是一件很多人关心的事）
Moreover, the office makes middle-of-the road（中庸的） estimates of cost and more pessimistic estimates of savings. That makes sense (lawmakers and government agencies routinely exaggerate the virtues of their proposals), but it makes it harder to evaluate proposed innovations.
Respected analysts who are not bound by the C.B.O.’s conservatism have projected significant savings from reforms that the C.B.O. scores poorly. The Commonwealth Fund, a research organization, and David Cutler, a Harvard health economist, separately estimate that an array of reforms could save the government hundreds of billions of dollars in the first decade and the health care system even more. These estimates, coming from advocates of reform, may be too rosy（光明的，有希望的，就是promising）, but underscore the point that（强调了某点，注意不是低估哦） the C.B.O. may undervalue savings.

POTENTIAL GAME CHANGERS It seems hard to believe that over the long haul（在长时间中） the introduction of electronic medical records will not save substantial money. It would help eliminate the costly（花费很大的） repetition of tests, and prevent medication errors that harm patients and lead to costly hospitalization. But it takes money to get started (Mr. Obama’s stimulus package calls for $50 billion over five years) and time（花钱花时间就是take money and time to do sth.） to overcome physicians’ reluctance. Savings in the first decade, if any, are likely to be small.（什么东西，如果有的话，很有可能是什么样的，就是sth., if any, is likely to be...）
So, too, it seems likely that a stimulus investment of $1.1 billion in comparative effectiveness research to gauge（估计，测量） which medicines and procedures work best is likely to pay off in future decades.

pay off：
transitive verb  
1 a : to give all due wages to;  especially   : to pay in full and discharge (an employee)  b : to pay (a debt or a creditor) in full  c : BRIBE
2 : to inflict retribution on
3 : to allow (a thread or rope) to run off a spool or drum
intransitive verb   : to yield returns

The approach has been wrongly portrayed as an effort by government bureaucrats to dictate “cookbook” medicine that will prevent doctors from doing what’s best for their patients and lead to rationing of care. More than 60 physicians’ groups have urged Congress to make comparative effectiveness research an important component of reform. They believe the information would help doctors and patients understand which treatments work best. In some cases, the better treatments might be more expensive, in others less. Either way, patients benefit.（无论哪一种，都是某人获利）
And so it goes, through such ideas as changing Medicare’s payment incentives to encourage better care not just more care, and to encourage new arrangements of doctors and hospitals that might control costs and provide more coordinated care than the fee-for-service system does. All will take time to bear fruit.（任何都得花时间才能有成果）

TAXES One way to keep deficits in check（约束注deficits） would be to impose taxes within the health care system instead of more broadly, which should ensure that revenues increase at the rate of health care inflation. A tax on the value of an employer’s contribution to insurance could lead beneficiaries to choose cheaper policies and think twice before undergoing costly tests. We have been leery of（不随便附和，对什么怀有戒心） recommending a tax that would affect many workers, but a tax on very expensive plans might make sense.

make sense：

1.  Be understandable. This usage, first recorded in
1686, is often used in a negative context, as in
This explanation doesn't make sense.

2.  Be reasonable, wise, or practical, as in
It makes sense to find out first how many will attend the conference. This term employs
sense
in the meaning of "what is reasonable," a usage dating from
1600.

OTHER IDEASThe administration seems to have scoured the health policy literature for ideas（scour sth for sth就是在什么里面搜索什么）, and its proposals reflect the thinking of the nation’s leading experts. Most of these ideas would first be tried on a small scale in Medicare — to see if they reduced costs while improving or at least maintaining the quality of care — before being adopted on a wide scale in government programs. Ideas that work for Medicare would presumably migrate out to the private sector.
We believe that some of the reforms in pending legislation could be strengthened. Both public and private insurance plans, for example, should be allowed — not forbidden — to base reimbursement policies on comparative effectiveness findings. But for the most part, the nation is embarking on（着手，从事） a long-term experiment to see what works, so small-scale tests and pilot programs seem appropriate.

THE OVERSEERWith so much uncertainty, it seems imperative to ensure that the government can change course rapidly to drop approaches that do not work and expand approaches that do. Proposals have been made to create an independent commission of experts, responsible to either the president or Congress, to perform this function at a step removed from the distorting influences of political lobbying.
It is a good idea, if the commission has sufficient power and resources to do an effective job. The panel should be directed to pursue both cost reduction and quality improvement. It should be given cost reduction targets to meet and a mandate to impose across-the-board（全面的） cuts in Medicare if it falls short（不符合，不足，达不到目标）. It should have sufficient resources to evaluate and sponsor studies, a membership beholden to no special interest, and be insulated from political pressure by requiring Congress to approve or reject recommendations as a package, without fighting over individual items of interest to lobbyists.

WRONG-HEADED CRITICISM The Republican Party has started a campaign charging that President Obama is conducting a dangerous and reckless experiment in health care reform that will damage the economy, kill jobs, drive up health care costs, and harm patients. That is a bit hard to take after（学样，像） the Bush administration’s reckless squandering of government surpluses with tax cuts for wealthy Americans that cost $1.7 trillion over 10 years and an expensive Medicare drug benefit that is projected to（预计） cost almost $1 trillion over the next 10 years, without making provisions to cover their costs.

take after：

Follow the example of; also, resemble in appearance, temperament, or character. For example,Bill took after his uncle and began working as a volunteer for the Red Cross.
[Mid-1500s]

The Obama administration is paying meticulous attention to the need for offsets and new revenues. Most important, it seems headed in the right direction to finally slow the rate of growth in health care spending — a beast that has defied past efforts to tame it.（一头拒绝之前驯服它的努力）