1006GKiKi的备考日记--努力不一定会成功，但不努力一定不会

emteddybearUID: 2699606

你的阅读速度怎么那么快
牛啊
90# KiKi~淇水滺滺

zhengchangdianUID: 2563082

楼主好厉害哦！加油哦~~:lol

KiKi~淇水滺滺UID: 2679824

一直很喜欢一篇文章，是Peter Hessler的《The road ahead》，是National Geographic中国专刊的结语，决定还是把它搬上来。是关于中国的现状的，写得很好，由细节入手，印象真的很深刻。

The Road Ahead

China's expectations are rising, with no end in sight.
What's next?

By Peter Hessler

Photograph by Fritz Hoffmann

The genesis of a Chinese factory town is always the same: In the beginning nearly everybody is a construction worker. The booming economy means that work moves fast, and new industrial districts rise in distinct（截然不同的） stages. Those early laborers are men who have migrated from rural villages, and immediately they're joined by small entrepreneurs. These pioneers sell meat, fruit, and vegetables on informal stands, and later, when the first real stores appear, they stock construction materials. After that cell phone companies set up shop: China Mobile, China Unicom. They deal prepaid phone cards to migrants; in the southeastern province of Zhejiang, one popular product is called the Homesick Card. During these initial stages there's rarely any sign of police. Government officials are prominently（显著地） absent. It's not until plants start production that you see many women. Assembly-line（工厂产品的装配线） bosses prefer young female workers, who are believed to be more diligent and manageable. After the women appear, so do the clothes shops. It's amazing how quickly a shoe store emerges from a barren strip of factories, like a flower in a broken sidewalk. In the early days garbage accumulates in the gutters（贫民窟）; the government is never in a rush to institute basic services. Public buses don't appear for months. Manholes remain open till the last instant, for fear that early settlers will steal the metal covers and sell them for scrap.

Over a two-year period, I traveled repeatedly to Zhejiang, watching factory towns rise from the farmland. Every time, I rented a car and followed a brand-new highway that connected the boomtowns of tomorrow. I drove the road for six months before noticing any clear indication of local authority. That's when I began to receive speeding tickets—$20 each, three or four every journey. They were issued by automated cameras, usually in places where the posted speed limit mysteriously dropped without warning. I collected violations（罚单） in factory towns all across the province: in Jinhua, known for producing brassieres; in Lishui, maker of synthetic leather; in Qiaotou, famous for buttons and zippers.

Fines were deducted from my deposit at the Prosperous Automobile Rental Company. “It's a good business for the police," the rental company boss told me. Later I learned that individual cops invested in cameras as private entrepreneurs with a stake in profits. The boss told me to memorize the camera locations, but I was never able to do that. It was hard enough to manage every trip so I always returned the car with an empty tank. That was Prosperous Automobile's business strategy: Whenever they rented out a vehicle, they made sure it had just enough fuel to make it to a gas station. If I returned a car with so much as a gallon in the tank, it would be siphoned off and sold——another profit in the cutthroat world of Chinese business.


The poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who marveled at（惊奇） the early industry of Lowell, Massachusetts, described the “city springing up, like the enchanted palaces of the Arabian tales, as it were in a single night." Today it's the factory towns of China that seem to be conjured up from another world. The sheer human energy is overwhelming: the fearless entrepreneurs, the quick-moving builders, the young migrants. Virtually everybody has been toughened by the past; families remember well the poverty of the Mao period. Meanwhile most Chinese have seen their living standards rise in recent years, often dramatically. This combination—the struggles of the past, the opportunities of the present—has created a uniquely motivated population. It's hard to imagine another place where people are more willing to work.

KiKi~淇水滺滺UID: 2679824

But few Chinese spend much time thinking about the future. Decades of political turmoil taught citizens that nothing lasts forever, which inspires the fearlessness of the entrepreneurs but also makes them shortsighted. The same is true of the Communist Party. During the reform years, authority has become so decentralized that there's little oversight, and most local governments have to find their own funding. They rely heavily on real estate transactions——a city can acquire farmland, build basic infrastructure, and then sell to industry or commercial developers. Economists estimate that cities receive roughly half their fiscal revenue from such sales, and in many places it's resulted in madcap development, financed by loans from state banks. Cadres take advantage of any opportunity for corruption, because the party has a policy of rotating leaders. "Every five years you change the local government officials," Wang Lina, an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told me. "So they know they have a limited opportunity. Do they worry about the next generation of leaders? They have to get it while they can."

Short-term thinking, both individual and institutional, represents one of China's fundamental challenges. Another issue is simply population. In some ways it's a strength: Of China's 1.3 billion citizens, 72 percent are between the ages of 16 and 64. In modern history the nation has never enjoyed such a large percentage of able workers, and their movement from the countryside has turned China into the world's factory floor. In 1978, when Deng Xiaoping initiated free-market reforms（市场经济改革）, there were only 172 million urban residents. Now there are 577 million——over 40 percent of the population. Social scientists predict that this figure will approach over 60 percent by 2030. Each year roughly ten million rural Chinese move to the cities, providing a constant supply of cheap labor.
But cheap labor isn't always best for long-term development. It's worth comparing with Whittier's century, when American industry and agriculture were revolutionized. Back then the prime motivator was actually a shortage of workers. The U.S. had plenty of land and relatively few people; anyone who saved a few months' wages could move west and farm. Industrialists had to hire unskilled workers, mostly recent immigrants, and they made the most of limited labor. The need for efficiency inspired innovations that changed the world: the cotton gin（棉花机）, the sewing machine, the assembly line, the American system of standardization and interchangeable parts.

China's industrial revolution has followed a different path. There's little incentive to save labor, because of constant migration. Competition is ruthless, but it's not the sort that leads to innovation（跟我们风险管理课老师说很像，中国现在竞争真的很强烈，看上去也像大国，但真正的创新却没有，没有人问为什么要这么做，所有的人想得都是怎么做，这样中国永远成不了一流的国家）; most plants simply try to shave down the cost of making low-margin products. Education suffers from a similar low-end approach. （教育亦如此。将中国的工业化进程与教育类比）Chinese schools have been remarkably successful at basic skills——the literacy rate is over 90 percent, compared with 65 percent in 1982, according to the Ministry of Education. But the conservative curriculum depends heavily on rote memorization（死记硬背）, and higher education is particularly weak. The next step is to develop a population that can do more than make cheap goods for less.

KiKi~淇水滺滺UID: 2679824

The people themselves are desperate for better training. In a Chinese factory town, after the early construction is finished and the machines begin to hum, private courses proliferate: English classes, typing classes, technical classes. In Zhe-jiang I met Luo Shouyun, who had been illiterate when he first left his village; sometimes he had spent as much as a quarter of his income on after-hours training. Now he was a master machinist, with a salary that placed him solidly in the middle class. Another young man had learned Arabic in order to translate for Middle Eastern buyers. An assembly-line worker with a seventh-grade education showed me the book he read at night: Harvard MBA Comprehensive Volume of How to Conduct Yourself in Society. "I'm not mature enough," he explained. "Somebody as young as me needs help, and this book can provide it."

It was remarkable what they accomplished with almost no institutional support. That's another contrast to 19th-century America, when rapid development across the nation also amazed visitors, who described new towns rising in distinct stages. Typically the earliest settlers included lawyers, along with traders and bankers. A local newspaper often began printing while people still lived in tents. The first buildings were generally the courthouse and the church, and lending libraries appeared quickly. If it was a tough world, at least there was some early sense of community and law.

In China, though, new cities are strictly business: factories and construction supplies and cell phone shops. Local governments focus on profiteering, and the Communist Party has always discouraged the kind of organizations that contribute in other societies. This is perhaps the nation's greatest human rights challenge. Westerners tend to focus on the dramatic——dissidents, censorship——but it's the lack of institutions that actually hurts most Chinese. Workers are left to fend for themselves: no independent unions, no free press, few community groups. Through sheer willpower, many succeed, but the wasted potential is staggering. In the reform years China has unleashed its remarkable population; the next stage is to learn to respect this wealth.

In Zhejiang I drove through a half dozen new towns that were being constructed as part of the Tankeng Hydroelectric Dam. More than 50,000 people were being relocated, and the dam would provide electricity for the region's factories. Nowadays energy shortages have inspired a wave of dambuilding across China, where people are relocated into new communities that follow familiar construction stages: the building supplies for sale, the cell phone shops, the garbage-strewn streets. But there's always a police presence, because of the fear of unrest by people forced to leave their homes. And propaganda banners（宣传横幅） are everywhere. In Zhejiang it was hard not to become suspicious when the Communist Party's slogans suddenly praised long-term thinking: Offer the Tankeng Dam as a tribute today / benefit the generations of tomorrow.（很讽刺，真的很讽刺）

KiKi~淇水滺滺UID: 2679824

Almost nothing about today's China inspires optimism about environmental issues. National characteristics are potentially disastrous: massive population, weak central government, local authorities that need to raise funds through constant development. According to a World Bank report, China already has four of the ten cities with the most polluted air, and increasingly the nation's problems are the world's. China has become the leading emitter of sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide. And yet the auto boom has just begun; the nation is responsible for less than 10 percent of worldwide oil consumption.（其实我个人倒觉得美国刚开始工业化得时候也是如此的。）

The fact that China and the world can no longer ignore each other may be the one source of optimism. If these problems are to be managed, collaboration will be crucial. And no one in the developed world should criticize China without taking a hard look in the mirror. The nation has risen by making products for overseas consumption, and there's nothing foreign about the materialistic dreams of average Chinese. An American criticizing China's environmental record is like an addict blaming his dealer.

In Shifan, one of the dam-relocation communities, I joined a family for the first meal in their new apartment. The father was a moderately successful businessman, and he proudly showed me the finished home. It was full of fashionable possessions: a karaoke machine, a 45-inch television, a bed that came with a telephone in the headboard. Most impressive was the lighting system in the living room. A massive chandelier（枝形吊灯） contained nearly three dozen bulbs, and rows of blue lights had been inlaid along the ceiling to evoke the sky. Red bulbs were hidden in alcoves ("They give a warm feeling," said the father). Everything could be flicked on and off by remote control.

For lunch they invited relatives and friends, and throughout the meal everybody complained about the dam. Compensation for lost homes had been too low; promises hadn't been kept; cadres had embezzled. They worried that they wouldn't be able to do business in the new community. "These are very serious matters, and people are upset," the father said to me. All told there were 65 bulbs in that room, and every single one was turned on.

KiKi~淇水滺滺UID: 2679824

91# emteddybear

有吗？时间是我没看后面题目的时间啦~最后两篇的情况你也看到了，不能作准的啦~相信你也很厉害哒~

zhengchangdianUID: 2563082

楼主真的很有毅力啊，加油！

lghscuUID: 2552043

LZ的AW改时间了？
没有记错的话，应该是11月份的吧

KiKi~淇水滺滺UID: 2679824

99# lghscu

是11月没错啦~只是觉得作文是自己蛮薄弱的地方，也算长期性的功课，所以再复习一遍也没什么咯~
一直觉得lghsu很认真呢~要像你学习~

KiKi~淇水滺滺UID: 2679824

Student finance
Uniformly shabby
Dec 10th 2009 From The Economist print edition
Funding for those in higher education is needlessly chaotic

WHINGEING students may be a standard（支柱） feature of university life in England but this autumn the grievances(不满) have been genuine(真的). When term started, many who had applied on time had nonetheless not received the government grants and loans to which they were entitled. An investigation published on December 8th by Sir Deian Hopkin, the interim vice-chancellor(副校长) of the University of East London, found that students are still waiting for their money, including some who should have got extra because they are disabled or have young children. Reluctant to see their charges going hungry and homeless, university administrators are dipping into institutional pockets, shelling out(支付) an average of about £100,000 and spending time on such non-core matters as explaining the situation to irate nurseries.

A new finance scheme was introduced in February. The intention was to make life simpler for students. Before then, they had to apply to the local authority in which their parents lived for grants to cover part of their living expenses, and to the Student Loans Company, a public body, for subsidised(资助) loans to cover the rest along with the tuition fees charged by universities. Now the company deals with all aspects of government-issued finance, from advising students to assessing applications to processing payments. But technical problems and poor planning (the company hired no extra staff to answer telephones, meaning 95% of calls made during the first week of September went unanswered) led to a growing backlog. It still has not been fully cleared.

The mess could tarnish the idea of rationalising taxpayer support for students. That would be a shame, for it is a sensible one. The range of help on offer is bewildering, from loans covering tuition fees (available to all full-time undergraduates) to grants which vary depending on parental income, place of study, whether the student is disabled and other factors. (Part-time students get a much rawer deal.) And in 2004, when the government decided to allow universities to hike tuition fees, it insisted that they return some of the extra cash to the poorest students in the form of bursaries. But a separate report by Claire Callender of Birkbeck College, London, out on December 3rd, found that a quarter of students and their parents were unaware that such funding was available, as were a tenth of higher-education advisers in schools.

Students and parents are already becoming more demanding now that they pay tuition fees, albeit subsidised ones. And in November Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, whose department’s wide remit includes universities, started a review of how much students in England should have to pay for the privilege of a higher education. It will not conclude until after next year’s general election, but it is widely expected to recommend that tuition fees should rise. If that happens, both government and universities will be under pressure to provide better information to those in search of an education—and a bargain.

果然,教育和经济真的关联很大啊~

KiKi~淇水滺滺UID: 2679824

不知道自己又怎么了，想好要写好的comments又没有写完~哭~

不过日志还是要更的。。。。明天补上。。。。

先睡了，好累。。。。。

KiKi~淇水滺滺UID: 2679824

Goldman Sachs: Losing its glister

From a telescope on the 10th floor of its Washington office at 101 Constitution Avenue, Goldman Sachs staff can look straight into the dome of the Capitol, legislative hub of the US government.

This privileged perch of the most powerful player in global finance is decorated in neutral tones, enlivened by a couple of ornamental weather vanes. But if Goldman executives wanted to know which way the wind was blowing this week, they would have had to look earthward - to the gaggle of protesters gathered outside.

Organised by the SEIU trade union, the demonstrators attacked Goldman for its unusually close ties to government - its alumni include former Treasury secretaries, senior White House staff and regulators around the world-and for reaping huge profits and doling out billions of dollars in pay at a time when more than one in 10 Americans is unemployed.

The event was only the latest salvo in the barrage of criticism that has hit Goldman in the past few months. As the bank made the most of government assistance and stormed back to the top of Wall Street, it was branded a “vampire squid” by Rolling Stone, ridiculed by Saturday Night Live for receiving a priority batch of swine flu vaccine and criticised by religious leaders after Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive, quipped that it did “God’s work”. The blogs are now abuzz with a spoof “Lloyd’s Prayer”.

KiKi~淇水滺滺UID: 2679824

帖子开始不正常。。。。。哭。。。。算了 我传文档好了~我真是个聪明的小孩~hoho~

KiKi~淇水滺滺UID: 2679824

Summary

There’s no overstate that the subprime crisis in 2007 is a disaster for the financial systems all over the world. However, with the help of government aid, Goldman Sachs rebounds from the crisis that had threatened its very existence much faster than others, which draws sharp public criticism and is endangering its brand.

In this article, the author provides the Goldman Sachs’ situation now. A group of protesters gathered outside its office building, many criticisms in the newspapers and a love-hate relationship has been existed between it and many of its counterparts. As an adviser, market-maker and co-investor in private equity deals, Goldman had to balance among rival clients, sometimes it pleasured its client and sometimes it annoyed them.

The author also lists the reasons why Goldman Sachs can rebound and succeed, the two advantages of its good performance and its excellent behaviors on risk management.

The two cornerstones of its success are a tightly knit, if ruthless, culture bound by high compensation; and aggressive trading strategies. Two main strengths are a long-standing commitment to making money as a firm rather than a collection of individuals; and a daring boldness in trading and regulatory matters. Its culture that drives Goldman’s success are the corporate pride, the strong belief in “doing right” by itself and its clients and the intellectual arrogance that comes with being seen as the best. The cohesive internal culture devoted to maximizing profits and the belief that company partners are personally responsible for the company’s profits and losses gives Goldman a laser focus on the risks and rewards of its business.

The Goldman’s famed model is to hire the best, pay them accordingly and keep in touch with those who move into public service. High compensation plays an extremely important role in it, which brings Goldman the best people and agglomerates the people working in it. Although being criticized a lot now, its profitability, its discretion and its closeness to government make this company becoming the best dealer in the financial world.

The Goldman’s risk management is one of the best in the world. The risk management side is as powerful as the risk-taking side and a keen and comprehensive appreciation of risk is at the centre of everything they do. It marks its positions to market every day, logging its holdings at the prevailing price- a practice that enables it quickly to spot changes in value. On the other hand, as the world’s largest and best-connected trader, Goldman uses aggregate information gleaned from their interactions with investors, hedge funds and companies to prevent risks and use to inform its own trading.

Comments

Goldman is a legend in the financial market without question. Hundreds of top students graduated from top business schools dream of entering it every year. Whether we like it or not, we have to admit that Goldman’s model is effective: the high salary has brought the best business people together in deed, the excellent risk management skills avoids its losses and the relationships with thousands of companies and investors ensure its profits in its own trading.

From this article, we can find this model is successful. The high compensation unites all the employees. Those who are made to be partner of the company behave more like owners than employees – for example, not selling their Goldman shares until retirement and being personally responsible for the company’s profits and losses.

Under this conception, people do their best in their work and make the most of their resources. Goldman also emphasizes the risk management to avoid losses. For example, with the cheap credit boom in full flow, as banks such as Lehman and Citigroup doubled up on their mortgage bets, Goldman realized the problem and accumulated a small short position on the mortgage market. Although Goldman still incurred losses of $1.7bn in its residential mortgage portfolio, they were a fraction of those amassed by the likes of Citi.

Goldman is not just about avoiding losses. By cultivating close relationships with not only thousands of companies and investors but also government officers, Goldman gains knowledge it uses to inform its own trading. This year, trading has been a big driver of Goldman’s profits as credit markets thawed and the reduced competition enabled it to charge more for its capital. Its fixed-income, currency and commodities business had net revenues of $19.3bn in the first nine months, accounting for more than half of total net revenues.

The financial market is competitive and ruthless, especially the investment banks, company will not survive if it is selfless. For this reason, I really appreciate the ways Goldman does to keep its place in this industry. However, the soon-recovering also attracts a lot of criticism and damages its brand. What Goldman should do now is restraining its arrogance, doing more to help other companies and trying to keep itself away from the sight of the public.