决战1010精英组Economist阅读汇——amanda分贴

rosanna1029UID: 2318257

生词、红宝词、词组、句型、例子、不懂的

http://www.economist.com/obituary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15767243

Doris Haddock

Doris “Granny D” Haddock, campaigner for election reform, died on March 9th, aged 100

Mar 25th 2010 | From The Economist print edition

THE most trying part（最难熬的一段）
came in the Mojave desert（莫哈韦沙漠） of California. The royal blue sky glared down on the grey brittlebush（['britlˌbuʃ]扁果菊）, and the heat was searing（灼热）. Great trucks thundered past, showering her with grit（砂砾，粗砂石，勇气）, and a fierce wind got up that made her stagger. The worst of it was that her hat (the straw garden hat that had belonged to her dear friend Elizabeth) was whipped off and trundled（['trʌndl]v.
沉重地滚动） through the cacti(cactus仙人掌), where it splintered(v.裂成碎片n. 碎片) and broke.

She was walking across America, an odd occupation for a woman of 89.(定语) But Doris Haddock became annoyed if anyone made much of(lay much emphasis on特别强调) that. Her large, dark eyes narrowed then, and her gentle voice acquired an edge. And indeed there was little in that voice, with its perfectly enunciated consonants (drilled into her at Emerson College of Oratory, when she had girlish dreams of going on the stage) to suggest she was much over 30. The adventurer in her heart, she liked to say—stressing that she meant the adventurer in everyone’s heart—was always young. She could still ski, hump a 25-pound pack, sleep on the ground and get up again; and though she went to bed choking on dust in Arizona, or nursing bleeding feet from frozen shoes in West Virginia, the next day she made sure she walked her set ten miles, until all 3,200 had been done. Friends in Louisville made a stout(粗壮的; 结实的) oak staff for her; she slung(sling vt.扔；悬挂 n.挂带；) it over her shoulder, and hung her banner from it.
The question she wanted people to ask was not how (on earth!), but why. Why, in January 1999, had she set off to walk from Pasadena to Washington, DC? The simple answer was that she had lost patience with the power of big money in American politics. Congressmen and senators（['sɛnətɚ]） did not listen to people like her—people who spent years nursing their husbands when they had Alzheimer’s,or who battled to keep the interstate(adj. 州际的n. 洲际公路) out of their small towns, in her case Dublin, New Hampshire. They patted little old ladies like her patronisingly([,pætrə'naɪzɪŋ]
treat (sb) as an inferior; treat (sb) in a condescending way) on the head, while taking wads(卷, 沓, 捆) of money from special interests for whom they would do favours later. Mrs Haddock was sick of(对 ... 感到厌烦) it. She had organised petitions（n.请愿书，申请书，诉状 v.请愿，正式请求） for campaign-finance reform, with tens of thousands of signatures, but got nowhere（毫无进展，不成功）. So it was sneakers on, and hit the road（离开，开始旅行）.
She also had more complex reasons which, with her usual candour（frankness 坦白; 率直）, she didn’t hide. Six years after her Jim’s death she had entered a “dry and blank space” where she seemed to need to do something, but couldn’t tell what. She had always hiked the mountains as a respite（interval of rest or relief 休息; 暂时的缓解或放松） from order forms（定货单; 购货单） and insoles（鞋垫） at the Bee Bee shoe company in Manchester, where she worked for 20 years and became the manager’s assistant. And once in 1960 (though she found politics a “total bore” in those days) she and Jim had taken the Volkswagen（n. 大众） as far as Alaska to protest against hydrogen-bomb（['haɪdrədʒən]
氢弹） testing near an Inuit village. Almost 40 years later, oddly enough（adv. 说也奇怪）, as she was being driven through Florida by her son, also Jim, she spotted in the wilderness, miles from anywhere, an old man in a mackintosh（['mækɪn,tɑʃ]n.雨衣，防水胶布）
holding a paper bag and walking with a cane（手杖，藤条）. He seemed, to her, some ghost or remnant （['rɛmnənt]n.残留部分）of her protest days（抗议日）, calling to her to get walking.

Hat and feather

Her trudge（长途跋涉）was not just a lone yell for honesty and equality in politics, though that was the burden of the bright yellow banner flying over her bent back. She also treated it as a meditation（n. 沉思，冥想）, a way to represent love in the world in the style of Gandhi or Martin Luther King, from whose pulpit（['pulpɪt]n.[宗]讲坛） in Little Rock she preached（vt.宣教，布道） when she got there. Her notion was to walk as a pilgrim（['pɪlgrɪm]n.朝圣者）, fasting until she was given food and not resting until she found shelter. She never had to worry on either score. She was taken in all along the route, serenaded（n. 夜曲，小夜曲vt. 为 ... 弹奏或歌唱小夜曲） on street corners, welcomed by marching bands and protected on the highways by squads of hefty（a.强壮的，笨重的）
bikers. Nature was her only opponent, choking（v.(使)窒息，呛；塞满，塞住） with reeds her path to the Pecos river, sending down blizzards（n.暴风雪） that forced her to take to skis in the Appalachians, and playing up（强调，突出） her arthritis（关节炎; 历节风）—though she made nothing of that.
Boldly（ad.大胆地；醒目地） in February 2000 she marched into Washington and up the Capitol steps, announcing that she was going to sweep the scoundrels（
['skaundrəl] n 恶棍；无赖）away as thoroughly as leaves from her porch（n.门廊）. The scoundrels stayed, shameless as ever.
The election that November proved the most costly to date. In advance of the next one Mrs Haddock—now universally known as “Granny D”, for Doris, with her straw hat brightly banded and stuck with a turkey feather—tried a new tack of driving in a gaudy（adj （服装）俗丽的＝showy） bus through swing(v 摇摆；n 秋千) states, persuading women to register to vote. She was then 93; she covered 22,000 miles. The next year she ran against Judd Gregg, pretty creditably（值得赞扬的）, on small donations only, for the Senate.

Public funding of campaigns, her great hope, got no closer. And even McCain-Feingold, the most solid reform of recent years, passed not long after her triumphant（adj. 得胜的，得意扬扬的） walk, was gutted（【英】【俚】伤心的;失望的） by the Supreme Court in January this year. The ruling came just before Mrs Haddock’s 100th birthday, when anyone else might have been content to sit smiling beside the cake. But she was busy drafting a letter to the nine “bastards”（ n.坏蛋，混蛋）, threatening to go in “breathtaking（adj. 惊人的, 惊险的） new directions” to defend democracy, and casting more than one longing（强烈渴望的）thought towards the sneakers in her closet, and the desert’s mischievous（adj 淘气的；有害处的） wind.

不懂的地方：

1.
She also treated it as a meditation, a way to represent love in the world in the style of Gandhi or Martin Luther King, from whose pulpit in Little Rock she preached when she got there.
中from的作用。

2.
She never had to worry on either score. 有文章题为Romantic Gestures That Either Score or Spook

3.
Public funding of campaigns, her great hope, got no closer.

4.
but she was busy drafting a letter to the nine “bastards”, threatening to go in “breathtaking new directions” to defend democracy, and casting more than one longing thought towards the sneakers in her closet, and the desert’s mischievous wind. 整句和Sneaker 的翻译。

rosanna1029UID: 2318257

Trade in endangered species
Fishy businessHow the elephants’ success hurt the bluefin
tuna
Tuna getting ready for the table
AS OLD hands tell it, protecting a threatened species used to be a relatively straightforward（adj 成直线前进的；（表达、性格）诚实坦率的；直接而公开）affair at the Convention（会议） on Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Government officials would turn up at the triennial（[traɪ'ɛnɪəl]a.
每三年的） meetings and, after listening to advice from scientists, conservationists(保护主义者) and their own environment ministries, were likely to agree to a “listing”.
This year at its meeting in Doha, everything changed. Seemingly alarmed by the large number of proposals to list marine species, Japan turned up in force(大批涌现,in force:大批的). Japan’s 30-strong delegation（[,dɛlə'geʃən]） was as big as the one from America. And thanks to its “capacity building” efforts—in other words, providing finance for projects in developing countries—Japan was also able to fly in a dozen or so（大约，左右） fisheries ministers, mostly from Africa, to ensure their participation—and, no doubt, their votes.
CITES has become a battleground because it is a strong convention. It is one of the few places where global environmental laws are made. It can ban trade in a species (an Appendix 1 listing), or limit that trade so that it has to be carried out sustainably using permits (Appendix 2). As a consequence, says Sue Mainka, head of the delegation from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, an environmental group, the people who come to the meetings are changing. Governments are increasingly sending delegates from trade and fisheries ministries, rather than environment and wildlife officials. Industry groups have also expanded their lobbying（n. 大厅，门廊，门厅，休息室，游说议员者v. 游说） efforts. And the receptions to woo（求爱；争取…的支持） delegates are changing: Japan hosted two events where bluefin tuna（n. 金枪鱼）, a critically endangered species, was pointedly served.如何翻译？(Your correspondent（adj 符合的，一致的；n 记者；通信者）tried to attend one but was asked to leave because the press were excluded.)

All of which helps explain why bluefin tuna, some 80% of which is consumed in Japan, was refused a listing in a vote on March 19th, even though scientists agree that it qualifies for Appendix 1. One of the arguments given by Japan and its allies for rejecting the proposal was that there is already an organisation that exists to manage bluefin—the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). But this is something of a red herring（n.鲱鱼；青鱼）, as it were（as it is实际上）. An Appendix 1 listing would not prevent ICCAT from managing the fishery or setting local fishing quotas（n.定额，限额，配额）. Rather, it would reduce demand and thus provide the restraint on tuna fishing that ICCAT has failed to.
Behind the scenes, there was also a feeling among some countries that the European Union (which supported an Appendix 1 listing for bluefin) would benefit unfairly, because its fishermen would still be allowed to trade bluefin between EU countries. Such trade is technically domestic and does not therefore fall under（v. 列入，受到影响）
CITES. To complicate matters, many observers think the EU is one of the villains（['vilən]
n.反派演员；问题的起因） at ICCAT. According to Masanori Miyahara, chief counsellor from the fisheries agency of Japan, “The EU caused this mess.” Japan seems to think the EU needs to try harder to make ICCAT work.
Bluefin was not the only sea creature which lost out（v. 输掉、失败，被压倒，被取代）. 如何理解？Red and pink coral, a group of deep-sea species that have suffered from years of over-exploitation, were turned down for an Appendix 2 listing. A joint American-European proposal would have required states that export items made from the corals to certify that the trade was sustainable（能承受的，能维持的） and issue permits. Japan, once more, was against it.
Sharks did badly too. The main committee of CITES discussed a group of them, including the hammerhead（n. 锤头，双髻鲨）, oceanic whitetip, porbeagle and spiny dogfish. There was wide scientific support for most of them to get an Appendix 2 listing. In a close-run（adj. 以微弱优势获胜的、以微劣势败北的）
vote on March 23rd, all except the porbeagle failed. Discussions continued as The Economist went to press.
“I think the Japanese are against any further inclusions of marine species into CITES,” observed Sue Lieberman of the Pew Environment Group. “We look on（观看，旁观） a case-by-case（具体分析，个例） basis, but as a general principle we are not convinced CITES measures can help,” says Mr Miyahara. Regional fisheries-management organisations such as ICCAT are a better solution, he argues.
Elephants remainJapan is sceptical（adj. 怀疑的） about CITES because of the way it has been applied to elephants and other land animals. Even when endangered populations recover, it has proved difficult to reduce or remove CITES protection. After intense lobbying by other governments and wildlife charities（n.救济金；[ pl.]慈善团体） both Tanzania and Zambia were denied applications to move their elephant populations from Appendix 1 to 2.
“Fisheries have to change in accordance with fish reserves, and CITES is not flexible,” says Mr Miyahara. Sunset（n. 日落，衰落时期） clauses on CITES listings, as well as formal links between CITES and regional fishery bodies such as ICCAT, would help Japan overcome its objections（n.反对，异议）, he adds. This means governments and wildlife campaigners have just under three years to adjust their campaign strategies accordingly, if they hope to protect more marine species at the next meeting, in 2013.


不懂的地方：
1.
首句：AS OLD hands tell it
2.
Japan turned up in force。还是japanese?
3.
Japan was also able to fly in a dozen or so（大约，左右） fisheries ministers, mostly from Africa, to ensure their participation. Fly in如何翻译？
4.
And the receptions to woo（求爱；争取…的支持） delegates are changing: Japan hosted two events where bluefin tuna（n. 金枪鱼）, a critically endangered species, was pointedly served.如何翻译？
5.
Bluefin was not the only sea creature which lost out（v. 输掉、失败，被压倒，被取代）. 如何理解？
6.
Sunset（n. 日落，衰落时期） clauses on CITES listings, as well as formal links between CITES and regional fishery bodies such as ICCAT, would help Japan overcome its objections（n.反对，异议）, he adds.

rosanna1029UID: 2318257

晕，有阴影的地方看不到。

rosanna1029UID: 2318257

Easy come, easy goThe dinosaurs went out with a bang, but they arrived after chaosREVOLUTIONS have unpredictable outcomes. Who is going to end up in power is rarely obvious at the start. That is as true in biology as it is in politics. Like political revolutions, though, biological ones often follow a predictable course. The old order is destroyed. There is a period of confusion. Then a new ecosystem（['ɛko,sɪstəm]） emerges that looks surprisingly like the old one, but with different actors.
This cycle has happened five times in the history of modern life. The most famous occasion was 65m years ago, when the dinosaurs were wiped out and the mammals（哺乳动物） emerged victorious from the wreckage（失事,遭难，残骸）. A bigger mass extinction, at the end of the Permian（n. 二叠纪） period 251m years ago, killed 70% of the world’s land vertebrates（脊椎动物） (and 96% of all marine animals) and paved the way for the age of reptiles（['reptail] 爬行动物）.
Exactly which sort of reptile would come out on top, however, was not something that was decided until later—201.4m years ago, to be precise. This was towards the end of the Triassic（[trai'æsik] n. 三叠纪） period. Then, the ranks of aetosaurs（坚蜥类）, phytosaurs（植龙类）, shuvosaurs and many other uncrocodile-like relatives of the crocodiles（['krɔkədail]n.鳄鱼） were suddenly thinned, and a previously obscure（模糊的；无名的）group came to the fore. The result, once natural selection had done its work over the course of millions of years, was the now familiar cast of Allosaurus（异龙）, Diplodocus（梁龙）, Triceratops（三角恐龙） and Tyrannosaurus（暴龙） rex.
Another one bites the dustThe dinosaurs were done for（结束，毁了，穿破，累死）, as everybody knows, by a collision with an asteroid（['æstərɔid] n.小行星）. The Permian was curtailed(v 削减（经费等）；缩短（讲话等）；剥夺) by massive volcanism. But what exactly happened towards the end of the Triassic has been much debated. A study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, by Jessica Whiteside of Brown University in Rhode Island and her colleagues, pretty well nails it down(用钉子钉住，确定). It was the geological chaos that created the North Atlantic Ocean.
Dr Whiteside used fossil(化石) evidence sandwiched between layers of lava（ ['lɑ:və]n.熔岩） from some of the earliest eruptions that accompanied the rift(n.岩石上狭窄的）裂缝；（在良好的关系中的）矛盾). Specifically, she located two sites in what is now eastern North America where a series of giant lakes had formed on the layers of cooled lava and plant matter(plant material 植物体，植物物质) had accumulated at the bottom of the lakes. Using detailed chemical analysis of waxy（adj. 像蜡的） molecules extracted from the fossil plants, she examined the carbon isotopes（n.同位素） they contained.
Non-radioactive carbon comes in two forms: 12C and the heavier (and much rarer form) 13C. The ratio varies in the atmosphere, depending on where carbon-rich gases, mainly carbon dioxide and methane（ ['meθein]n.甲烷）, are coming from. Dr Whiteside found the ratio yawed（adj. 偏航的） around like a drunken sailor as the continents（大陆，洲） split apart and the lava started pouring out. First, the level of 13C plummeted（['plʌmɪt] v.垂直或突然地坠下；（股市）爆跌＝plunge）. Then it shot up again, a long way over the recent historical average, before settling down.
Crucially, the period of plummeting coincides with a phenomenon called the late Triassic fern（n.蕨） spike(n.长钉，大钉；v.（用大钉）钉牢). This marks precisely—to within a few thousand years—the point of mass extinction on the land. What is believed to have happened is that something killed all the forests and with them the animals that depended on them. Freed from the competition for light (because the shade from the trees had gone), ferns flourished (their spores(n.孢子) are ubiquitous( [ju'bɪkwətəs] adj 无所不在的＝omnipresent) in the rocks). Previous work has suggested that the oceans also became acidic([ə'sɪdɪk]) at this time. Shelled creatures, whose calcium(['kælsiəm])-carbonate-rich armour(n. 盔甲, 装甲钢板) tends to dissolve in acid, suddenly became rare.
Put it all together and the probable course of events was this. The initial volcanism as North America split from Europe released carbon dioxide from deep inside the Earth. That produced a greenhouse effect which, in turn, melted seabed structures known as methane clathrates(笼形包合物), which trap that gas in ice. This caused a massive release of 12C-rich methane into the atmosphere, explaining the initial drop in 13C concentrations(集中). The methane, being a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, exacerbated（[ɪg'zæsɚ,bet] v 使…加重，恶化（如病痛）） things, while the carbon dioxide acidified the oceans, killing most of the animal shellmakers and fertilising the photosynthesis（[,fotə'sɪnθəsɪs]） of planktonic（ ['plæŋtɔnik]浮游的） plants. The subsequent plankton bloom sucked up the 12C and the isotope ratio veered off（偏离轨道，离开，转向）
in the opposite direction.
The greenhouse warming and the acid rain also did for the forests and many of the reptiles. Only once things had settled down could the survivors regroup. New species of trees took over. The forests grew back. And a bunch of hitherto（[,hɪðɚ'tu] adv 到目前为止；迄今，hither（adv 这里）） not-so-terrible lizards(n.蜥) began their long march.

rosanna1029UID: 2318257

4.Shining a light on the pastHow to bring out（1 a
: to make apparent b
: to effectively develop (as a quality) 2 a
: to present to the public b
: to introduce formally to society） the best in ancient artefacts（artifact n. 人工制品，假象）Mar 25th 2010 | From The Economist print edition
LOOK at an ancient coin under ordinary light and the chances are that (=It is likely that)its features, worn down by its passage from hand to hand, will be hard to make out. (句型)Point a spotlight at it, though, so that the face of the coin is illuminated from an acute angle, and the resulting shadows will emphasise any minor details. (两种方法的对比)

This is the basic principle behind a novel（n.(长篇)小说 a.新颖的，新奇的）
technique that is helping archaeologists reveal previously invisible clues hidden in the worn or damaged surfaces of any objects they uncover. From wall paintings in Herculaneum to Scandinavian stone tools to rock art in Libya, polynomial texture mapping, as the process is known, is proving an invaluable way to illuminate the past(句型) .(引出第二种方法)
The lighting method was originally developed by Tom Malzbender, a computer scientist at HP’s laboratory in Palo Alto, California, to generate better 3-D imagery for computer games. In its most basic form, the process involves capturing between 30 and 50 digital photos of an object of interest. The pictures are taken from directly above the object in a darkened room. Though the camera is fixed, the object is lit（light的过去式(分词)） from a different angle in every shot. The photos are then combined on a computer to create an image that can have a “virtual” light shone from various angles to reveal any hidden surface detail. The wavelength of this virtual light can also be changed using the computer, allowing colour-sensitive details of the artefact’s surface to be brought out more clearly. (详述第二种方法的原理)
Graeme Earl of the University of Southampton, in England, has used the technique to study wall plaster(n.灰浆；石膏；膏药 vt.在…上抹灰泥) from the Neolithic（a.新石器时代） settlement of Catalhoyuk in Turkey and artefacts including consular（adj. 领事） brick stamps found at Portus, an ancient harbour（港口；避难所＝retreat＝refuge；v 包庇；窝藏；为…提供住房【反】evict（v 驱逐房客）） at the mouth of the Tiber. He has also carried out trials which suggest that the use of a high-speed video camera can accelerate the process, so that it can be used in the field. (第二种方法的应用)
The technique has also been used to increase the number of readable characters on the Antikythera mechanism—a badly corroded（v 腐蚀（通过氧化或化学反应慢慢破坏金属或合金）；削弱＝deteriorate） geared（n 齿轮（用来传送运动或改变方向、速度）；（用于一特殊活动的）装备＝paraphernalia＝equipment＝apparatus＝machinery【类】gear:tooth＝screw:thread   齿轮上有齿＝螺丝钉上有螺纹"） device that spent more than 2,000 years at the bottom of the sea—from 800 to more than 2,000. It has also enhanced cuneiform（楔形的; 楔状的;楔形文字） inscriptions（n.铭文，碑文，题字）—markings made in clay tablets（n.药片；碑，牌，(木、竹)简）
dating back as far as 3000BC that are the earliest known form of writing. Many video games, from “Tomb（n.坟墓） Raider（n. 袭击者，侵入者）”（古墓丽影） onwards, borrow from archaeology. It is nice to see video-game technology returning the favour（报答，回报）.(其他应用：characters，video-game)

rosanna1029UID: 2318257

5.The old man of the mountainThe fossil record reveals both a hitherto（迄今为止hither：到此处） unsuspected mountain-dwelling hominid（ ['hɔminid] n. 原始人类adj. 灵长类的） and, in this article, how the dinosaurs began

MYTH and fantasy populate the world with “othermen”—the elves（elf：n 小精灵（具有魔力的，经常恶作剧的小动物）；小淘气（可爱的、喜欢恶作剧的孩子）【类】elf:imperious  淘气鬼是专横的"）, goblins（n.恶鬼，小妖精）, dwarfs（n 侏儒；矮小的植物；矮星；）and giants that live in the wild wood, in the cave or on the high mountain peak. Not animal, but not quite human either, they feed fear and imagination in equal quantity（不懂）.Nor are such creatures merely the province of the past and the poetaster. The story of the yeti—the abominable（adj 可恶的＝loathsome；极坏的（极不舒适或不合意的）【例】abominable weather   糟糕的天气an abominable affair  恶行） snowman that haunts the Himalaya—has provoked（v 激怒（激起愤怒或怨恨的情感）【类】taunt:provoke＝plot:outwit嘲弄是一种挑拨＝密谋是一种以智取胜） serious investigation by explorers hoping to find not-quite-human humans. Sadly, there is nothing there. But not so long ago there might have been. For a bunch of explorers of a different sort, using DNA sequences instead of hiking boots, have discovered a real otherman from the mountains of Asia.
Svante Paabo, of the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, was the inspiration for Michael Crichton’s novel “Jurassic Park”. His group extracts and sequences genetic material from fossils, and has produced DNA analyses of both mammoths and Neanderthal man. Their latest object of study is a finger bone found in a cave in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia (pictured above). The team Dr Paabo assembled（v 集合，聚集（召集到一起成为整体）＝collect；装配（把配件或零件装配在一起）） to look at this bone, led by Johannes Krause, assumed it was either from an early modern human or a Neanderthal, both of whom once lived in the area. What they found shocked them. It was neither.
The new, as yet unnamed species—the first to be defined solely by its DNA—is unveiled in this week’s Nature. Anatomically(adj 解剖的，解剖学的), it consists of the distal（adj. 末梢部的） manual phalanx of the fifth digit or, in layman’s parlance（n 说法；习惯用语. laymann.门外汉，外行）, the tip of the little finger. Even by the standards of palaeontology（n. 古生物学）, one of whose early practitioners, Georges Cuvier, claimed to be able to extrapolate（v 预测；推断（通过已知推断或估计未知）＝speculate）an entire animal from a single bone, declaring a species from evidence this slight（n （尺寸、程度或数量）微小的；微不足道的＝trifling；n /v 轻蔑；怠慢＝scant＝snub）would be ambitious（a.有抱负的，雄心勃勃的；有野心的）. It was not the bone itself, though, but what was in it, that allowed Dr Krause and Dr Paabo to be so confident.
Fingering the truthFrom 30 precious milligrams drilled out of the sample they extracted mitochondrial(adj. 线粒体的) DNA. The mitochondria, a cell’s power packs, are the much-modified descendants of bacteria that took up residence in the ancestors of modern animal and plant cells a billion years ago. As a relic(n.遗迹) of that ancestry they still have a few genes of their own and, because each cell has thousands of mitochondria, those genes are easier to find in old samples than are genes from the nucleus, of which there is only one per cell.
Using the latest DNA-sequencing technology, Dr Krause and his colleagues worked out the order of the genetic “letters” of over 1m fragments of DNA from their sample. By looking for overlaps between these fragments and fitting the resulting contiguous（adj 接壤的；毗邻的＝adjacent；连绵不断的）sequences to reference sequences from humans and Neanderthals the team were able to come up with a DNA sequence for most of the mitochondrion, and it was nothing like one that would have been expected from either a modern human or a Neanderthal.
The rate at which random changes over the generations occur in mitochondrial DNA is fairly well known and, using that knowledge, Dr Krause estimates that the newly discovered species last shared an ancestor with modern humans about 1m years ago. That is extraordinary. It means that its ancestors must have emerged from Africa (where that million-year-old common ancestor would have lived) independently of the migrations which gave rise to（引起，导致，生产为…的原因；to be the cause or source of : PRODUCE） Neanderthals and humans.

The common ancestor is, however, too recent for the new species to be a remnant（残留部分） of the first human excursion from Africa, the one that led to Java man and Peking man, now known as Homo erectus. It is, in other words, a fourth example of anthropological tourism from Africa to the rest of the world, on what is now looking like a well-worn route. Yet it is the lone example. That shows how fragmentary（a.片断的） and ill-understood（病态地了解着） human history is.

The finger bone was found in strata dated to between 48,000 and 30,000 years ago (the bone itself has not yet been dated). That means the creature was contemporary with both Neanderthals and modern humans in the area. There was, then, a real ecosystem of othermen in southern Siberia. In 2003 the scientific and popular press were both filled with the discovery of a similar arrangement on the Indonesian island of Flores. A hitherto unsuspected species of dwarf human turned up in caves there, contemporary with modern humans. It was quickly dubbed（dub：vt.起绰号，把…称为；配音，译制片） the “hobbit”. Do not be surprised if, whatever proper name it is eventually assigned, the new, mountain-dwelling, central-Asian species actually becomes known as the yeti.

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6.The struggle for its soulTwo books about the desert kingdom draw surprising conclusions about the tensions between conservatives and modernists, clerics and terrorists

SAUDI ARABIA is a land of superlatives(a.最佳的). It has the biggest oil reserves in the world, the driest deserts and the holiest cities of Islam, as well as the most stubbornly(ad.顽固地，倔强地) autocratic(a.独裁的，专制的) of governments and irksomely(adv. 厌倦地，讨厌地) puritanical (adj 在宗教上奉行作风严格的【记】源于：puritan（n 清教徒）)people. But the realm(n 王国；领域，范围) that was patched together(拼凑) in the early part of the last century by its first king, Abdel Aziz ibn Saud, with an equally energetic mix of jihad and tribal(adj. 部落的，种族的) diplomacy(n.外交手腕), also ranks as one of the most poorly understood countries. Critics portray(vt.描写，描绘；扮演，饰演) the kingdom as an oily heart of Islamic darkness, a wellspring (n. 水源，泉源)of the fanaticism(n.狂热，盲信) that threw up Osama bin Laden and his furious(a.狂怒的，暴怒的；强烈的，激烈的) ilk(n. 种类，类型，家族). Apologists, swayed as often by the ruling Al Sauds’ courtly(polite and dignified) manners as by their fat purses(v 聚拢或皱起（嘴唇或眉毛）；n 女用钱包（用来携带钥匙、皮夹或其他私人用品）), paint it instead as a repository(n 贮藏室；仓库＝warehouse) of noble Arab tradition, a bastion(n （可扩大射击范围的）堡垒，工事＝stronghold) of stability in a strategically crucial but hopelessly troubled region(n.地区，地带，区域；范围，幅度).
So it is a relief(n.轻松，宽慰；缓解) to find two accounts with a rare combination of sympathetic(adj 同情的；意气相投的) nuance(n （意义、感情或音调等的）细微的差异)
and critical rigour(n. 严格，艰苦). Robert Lacey and Thomas Hegghammer are very different writers. Mr Lacey, an English popular historian, has written a score of books, ranging from a biography of Queen Elizabeth II to a study of Sotheby’s, a global auction house. Mr Hegghammer, a Norwegian academic, is a scholar of modern Islamic radicalism. Their latest books on Saudi Arabia differ sharply in style and focus, yet cover the same time frame, share a similar dispassionate objectivity and come to similar conclusions. Both serve as useful correctives to common misreadings of the kingdom and deserve a wide audience.
Mr Lacey has the lighter touch(柔性的手法,温柔的方式). “The Kingdom”, his first book on Saudi Arabia, was written 30 years ago. It traced the history of what then seemed an almost miraculous(a.奇迹般的，不可思议的) arc of rags to immense(adj 极大的＝huge；无限的；浩瀚的) riches. His new work, out last October, focuses, instead, on the three decades since, a much darker period, marked by turbulence(n 骚乱；骚动) and doubt and culminating(vi.(in)(以…)告终) in an explosion of Islamist violence not just in New York but also in Saudi Arabia itself. Based on hundreds of interviews during a three-year sojourn(v /n 逗留；旅居（旅游中途暂时居住）), the book is less a chronology than a layered sequence of lively and illuminating(adj 启示性的，启发的；发光的) anecdotes(n 轶事（短而有趣的故事）＝yarn；秘史).
Mr Lacey is unsparing(1giving freely and generously,2. severe or merciless) about the shortcomings of Saudi rulers, particularly under King Fahd, who died in 2005. In a bid to quash(v （通过司法行为）取消，拒绝接受, 平息) his own reputation as a playboy, the king began by pandering(v.迎合) to religious extremists, with disastrous results, and ended his life enfeebled(v 使衰弱（使丧失力量；使虚弱）) by a series of strokes. Yet Mr Lacey remains sympathetic, quoting a companion(n 同伴，同伙（comrade，mate）) of the king as saying that when he died he must surely have gone to heaven, considering that “his life on earth was such hell being perpetually (adj 连续不断地)polite to those religious fanatics(n.狂热者，
入迷者 a.狂热入迷的).” Mr Lacey’s keen(adj 灵活敏锐的) ear picks out enlightening comments from the regime(n 政权；政治制度)’s detractors(n 诋毁者，贬低者), too, such as a now-reformed radical describing his youthful dabbling(adj.涉猎的) with extremist groups as having felt like a pursuit of boyish(a.少年的；幼稚的) fun, where “there was no one who mattered outside your own tight little group.”
The author is good at explaining the mechanics of royal rule, with its bouts(n.一回合) of harshness(adj 粗糙的；严厉的＝stern；刺耳的) followed by conciliation(n 安抚；抚慰), and its constant(adj 持续不断的＝persistent；稳定不变的；n 常数＝invariable), wary punctiliousness(adj 谨小慎微的) regarding religious and tribal rules. In one passage, he describes Prince Salman, the powerful governor of Riyadh, the Saudi capital, personally checking a list of 63 extremists captured after their bloody attempt to seize the great mosque(n.清真寺) at Mecca in 1979, to make sure that each would be beheaded by, and in front of, members of his own tribe.
Mr Lacey believes that in its slow, crab-like fashion, the kingdom is evolving into a more tolerant society and that, having mostly crushed the internal challenge from violent jihadists, its government is stable. Yet he is equivocal(a.模棱两可的) about its long-term prospects: “If, as a country, you adopt the Koran as a constitution(n 宪法；章程；构造), then all your wars must be holy wars, those who die for your country are holy warriors(n.勇士，武士，斗士)—and the secret police are doing the work of God.” In other words, the Al Sauds may have softened somewhat, but they still rely on their subjects’ fear of the sword(n.剑，刀), combined with submission(n 恭顺；提交) to the faith and giant dollops(块，团) of cash, to sustain them. That is not, ultimately, a happy formula(n 分子式；公式；（用于典礼、仪式或礼节的）惯用语，客套话).
Mr Hegghammer might well agree, though his careful dissection(v 解剖；仔细检查、分析或详细评论＝analyze) of the motives and methods that gave rise to Saudi jihadism is narrower in its scope. Through the 1980s and early 1990s, conflicts(v （公开的长期的）斗争＝fight＝battle；冲突（持不同见解的人思想或兴趣之间的矛盾；心理冲突，小说中人物的冲突）＝opposition＝clash) in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Bosnia produced a dovetailing(vt.密合) of interests between Western-backed government policy and a home-grown urge(v 极力催促；强烈要求;鼓励) for glorious action in the name of Islam. But various factors that converged(v （从不同方向）会聚于一点；达成一致) at the end of the 1990s led to a violent split between those interests. These included a vengeful(showing a desire for revenge; vindictive 报复心驱使的; 图谋报复的; 复仇的.) backlash(n. 后冲，反撞，激烈反应，强烈反对) against the torture(n /v （作为惩罚而施的肉体或精神上的）酷刑；折磨) of radical dissidents(n （在政治上）唱反调者＝dissenter), a vacuum in religious discourse(n （正式的长时间的书面或口头）讨论；演讲) left by the death of a generation of senior Wahhabi clerics, the fanning of Muslim grievances(n.委屈，抱怨) by the internet and satellite television and unfolding(v.展开，打开；显露，展现) events in Iraq and Palestine.
The result was that by August 2001, al-Qaeda’s camps in Afghanistan were populated by as many as 1,000 Saudis, with the same number again mobilising(mobilize
vt.动员；调动，鼓动起 vi.动员起来) and arming at home to rid(vt.使摆脱，解除负担) Arabia of alien influence. Their lunge(n.猛冲) for power has been bloody and, as Mr Hegghammer shows, disastrously(灾难性地) counterproductive(adj 事与愿违的（对某人的目的不是有用而是有阻碍趋势的，使达不到预期目标的）). After a wobbly start, the Al Sauds have proven quite resilient(a.有弹性的；恢复活力的), and have become increasingly effective at countering the challenge. In particular, their adoption of a softer approach, combining targeted policing with media campaigns and direct incentives(n 刺激；鼓励；诱因（引起行动或激发努力的某事）＝motive；adj 刺激的；诱发的) to wean(使（孩子）断奶；使戒掉（根深蒂固的东西）) radicals back to the fold, has nearly eliminated(v 消除；淘汰（不予考虑或忽略）＝remove＝eradicate), for now, the threat of terrorist action at home. However, the announcement on March 24th that more than 100 suspected militants(a.激进的，好斗的 n.激进分子，斗士) linked to al-Qaeda had been arrested suggests that the Saudi authorities are still prepared to crack down.

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Mr Hegghammer’s analysis of the rise and fall of Saudi jihadism reveals some fascinating details. Many Afghan-bound holy warriors were propelled(vt.推进，推动；激励，驱使) not by animus(n 敌意＝animosity＝antagonism＝rancor,憎恨) against the West, but by the trickery(n 欺骗；诡计) of recruiters(recruit n 新兵；新成员；v 征募（新兵）) who promised that this was the road to liberating Jerusalem. Yet what stands out most are his persuasive insights. The spread of jihadist ideas in Saudi Arabia, it seems, owed as much to temporary(a.暂时的，临时的) local factors as to outside influences or, for that matter(就此而言，而且), to Islamic scripture. The state erred, for instance, with policing methods that switched abruptly from being so hard as to provoke(v 激怒（激起愤怒或怨恨的情感）) anger to so soft as to dispel(v 驱散（乌云等）；消除（疑虑等）＝disperse＝scatter) fear. Hair-splitting ideological rivalries between Islamists, meanwhile, led to a polarisation(n. 极化) of the different camps and to a radicalisation of no more than a few men.
However, the jihadists’ overriding(a.最主要的) focus remained not revolution at home, but action abroad. What this means, says Mr Hegghammer, is that in the global fight against al-Qaeda, “addressing the symbols of Muslim suffering is more urgent than political and economic reform in the Arab world.” If only this had been better understood back in September 2001.

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7、Is Oregon’s metropolis（n.首都；大城市） a leader among American cities or just strange?


THE city most comparable to Portland might be Vancouver in Canada, reckons(v 猜想；认为) Sam Adams, Portland’s mayor, although “we look to Amsterdam, Helsinki and Stockholm” for ideas. Ethan Seltzer, a professor of urban planning in Portland, thinks little Freiburg, in Germany, is the best comparison, with its similar obsessions (n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感))about recycling, sustainability(可持续发展), public transit and bicycling. Others pick Zurich, which, like Portland, has a view of snow-capped mountains, orderly (bordering on staid(adj 镇定自若的；严肃的＝sober)) streets with trams, even the same peculiar(a.奇怪的；特有的，独具的，独特的) fondness for direct democracy and tolerance of assisted suicide.
(先提出3种和Portland比较的城市)

This might seem odd for a city on the American West Coast that once was the terminus(n.(火车，汽车)终点站) of the Oregon Trail and has a cowboys-and-rodeos heritage. The locals, in fact, enjoy feeling odd: “Keep Portland weird”, say bumper(n （汽车前后的）保险杠；（铁路机车的）减震器（用来减少碰撞中的冲击的金属杆）) stickers(贴纸；标签) on the city’s cars, which all seem to be hybrid(n 杂种，混血)-electric vehicles. “Keep Portland sanctimonious(adj 假装神圣的),” mumble(v /n 咕哝) a few contrarians(adj. 与他人意见相反的人，逆向投资者), while others savour(vt.品尝，欣赏 n.味道，风味；情趣，趣味) the irony(n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄) that Portland had to steal the slogan(n.标语，口号，广告语) from Austin, Texas. But on the whole, Portlanders not only love their city but believe that it is, and ought to be, a model for the rest of America.

Mr Adams has personally contributed by becoming the first (though no longer the only) openly gay mayor of a big American city, and even surviving a recall(v /n 回忆；收回) attempt after a sex scandal (he is now confronting another). Mr Adams has a vision of progressive urbanism: a city where most people cycle or ride the streetcar, recycle what they consume, exist in harmony with nature and live in communities rather than the suburban sprawl(v /n （懒散地舒展四肢）坐、躺；无计划的扩张) of cities like Los Angeles, Houston, Phoenix or Atlanta.( Suburban Sprawl is a term for the expansive, rapid, and sometimes reckless, growth of a greater metropolitan area, traditionally suburbs (or exurbs) over a large area.
与传统的郊区蔓延(suburban Sprawl)模式背道而驰的，被称为“新城市主义(Neo—urbanism)”的“精明增长”理念应运而生)

Nature, in fact, is the main draw for the mostly young and single newcomers to this city, almost the fastest-growing on the West Coast, says Joe Cortright, a Portland economist: the ocean to the west; the Cascade(n 小瀑布＝small waterfall) mountains to the east; and the high desert beyond them. The vineyards(n.葡萄园) of pinot noir(加州葡萄酒) and chardonnay along the Willamette Valley are all within a manageable drive. In Portland, “business casuals(便装)” means wearing a fleece(n 羊皮；（一次剪得的）羊毛＝wool；v 骗取（钱或财物）). The area’s main industrial cluster(主要产业集群) is “activewear”, led by Nike and Columbia Sportswear and including thousands of smaller companies.

The environment is also the main theme of public policy. The biggest force in local politics is not a party (Democrats in effect rule without opposition) but cyclists. The bike lanes(n.(乡间)小路(巷)；车(跑，泳)道；航道)
are impressive and getting even better now as streets get “bioswales”, patches of turf(n.草皮) and shrub(n.灌木) that capture and filter storm water and simultaneously calm traffic and separate pedestrians(n.步行者，行人) and cyclists from the Priuses. Those who can’t bike are encouraged to use public transport, which is free downtown.

Mr Adams says Portland’s success is “totally replicable(
adj. 可复制的，能复现的)”. But much of it seems to be an unintended consequence of land-use policies dating back to 1973. Back then, Oregon adopted “urban-growth boundaries” (UGBs) to preserve the farmlands that were then the mainstay(n. 主要支持) of Oregon’s economy. Over time the rationale (n.基本原理，根据) for UGBs changed to “don’t Californicate Oregon”—ie, don’t become Los Angeles, a freeway sprawl with no centre. The result has been unusually compact living, which is in turn easily served by public transport.(最后一句result指的的Portland)

But cities with sprawling, California-style layouts will find it harder to make people use public transport. Phoenix, for example, has an excellent light-rail system, but it is often empty. And it may be even harder for such cities to get their residents to live more closely together.

Joel Kotkin, a Los Angeles-based demographer(n. 人口统计学家) and author, thinks that places like Portland, San Francisco and Boston have become “elite(n 精华，中坚) cities”, attractive to the young and single, especially those with trust funds, but beyond the reach of(超出 ... 的范围)middle-class families who want a house with a lawn.( 对单身年轻人具有吸引力，特别是对那些拥有信托基金，但远没有达到那些拥有带草坪的房子的中产阶级的年轻人而言.而不是没有城市没有达到中产家庭的要求) Indeed Portland, for all its history of Western grit（西部开拓史）(n 沙砾（细小的粗颗粒）；（竖毅而不屈服的）决心，勇气＝pluck；v 下定决心；咬紧牙关), is remarkably white, young and childless. Most Americans will therefore continue to migrate to the more affordable “cities of aspiration” such as Houston, Atlanta or Phoenix, thinks Mr Kotkin. As they do so, they may turn decentralised(vt.
分散(疏散，划分，配置)) sprawl into quilts of energetic suburbs with a community feeling. (在他们移民时，可能会慢慢将分散蔓延到居民聚集变成充满活力和社区氛围的城郊生活带)

That is not to belittle(vt.贬低) Portland’s vision. It is a sophisticated(a.老练的；精密的，尖端的；高雅的) and forward-looking place. Which other city can boast that its main attraction is a bustling(adj. 熙熙攘攘的，忙乱的,bustle vi.奔忙n.忙乱，喧扰) independent book store (Powell’s) and that medical students can go from one part of their campus to another by gondola, taking their bikes with them? Other cities will see much to emulate(v 模仿并超越). Minneapolis, for example, this month displaced Portland as Bicycling magazine’s most bike-friendly city (“they got extra points for biking in the snow,” grumble Mr Adams’s staff). Adam Davis of Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall, a Portland polling(poll n.民意测验[ pl.]大选 vt.民意测验；得票) firm, says that Oregonians like to consider themselves leaders but also exceptions. They are likely to remain both.

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The recession

8.When did it end?

A question of not just academic interest

Apr 15th 2010 | WASHINGTON, DC | From The Economist print edition

THE American recession is over. In the summer of 2009 real GDP and industrial production hit bottom and resumed(adj 继续的；重新开始的, 源于：resume（n 摘要；v 再继续；重新开始）) growth, and expansion in both measures strengthened as the year ended. Industrial production has continued to grow in early 2010 as, in all likelihood, has output. By the end of the current quarter the American economy may have returned to its pre-recession peak in real GDP.

Most economists agree about all of this. Prominent voices like Northwestern University’s Robert Gordon, Harvard’s Jeffrey Frankel, and Stanford’s Robert Hall have declared the recession dead and gone. But those men all sit on the National Bureau(n.局，办事处，分社) of Economic Research’s recession-dating committee, responsible for pinpointing(vt.确定；精确地定位 n.针尖 a.十分精确的) the beginning and end of business cycles. On April 12th that committee announced that it was not able to set an official end-date for the American recession.

That a date has not yet been chosen is not that unusual; the committee has taken longer to decide in past recessions. The choice to delay a conclusive statement may have been an act of caution, to avoid a black eye in the event that the economy contracts again before reaching its previous peak.( 选择推迟作总结性声明或许是一种谨慎的行为，以防在没达到先前的峰值之前经济再次衰退而遭谴责。)

But the suggestion that the economic pain is not yet definitively over struck a discordant note amid cheerier headlines.( 淹没在各大报刊杂志对美国经济的溢美之词中，那些关于经济衰退还未结束的建议也成了不谐之音。) Earlier in the month this paper expressed the hope that a needed transition in the American economy had begun, and others have gone further. The New York Times and Washington Post have both featured business columnists arguing that Americans are too pessimistic about the strength of the economy. BusinessWeek praised the success of Obamanomics on its cover. Newsweek’s cover announced, “America’s Back! The Remarkable Tale of Our Economic Turnaround(转机，突然好转)”.

Some optimism is warranted(adj 有正当理由的, 担保的；保证的). Recent data indicate that recovery in manufacturing is well established, and service-industry expansion has picked up pace in each of the past three months. Labour markets are finally improving; during the first quarter of this year employment grew by 162,000 or 1.4m, depending on which data set you use(取决于你参照的数据). And investors have bought the idea of recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen by over 10% since early February, and recently closed above 11,000 for the first time since September 2008.

But full-throated cheerleading is premature. By Mr Gordon’s calculations, much of the data point to June 2009 as the likely recession end-date. Since then the American economy has seen a net deterioration in employment by about 900,000 workers. The performance is by far the worst nine-month stretch(v 使（绳子等）变长，拉紧；伸展（四肢）n.一段时间(路程)；伸展) following a recession of any post-war downturn (see chart). The last time the American unemployment rate rose above 10%, during the recession of 1981-82, the economy added between 1m and 2.5m jobs in the first nine months of recovery.

Meanwhile, housing markets look shaky(adj. 不稳固的，摇晃的) just as government schemes to support the sector are ending. The Federal Reserve is not cheering: on April 14th Ben Bernanke, the chairman, predicted a “moderate” recovery amidst(prep.=amid 在...当中) “significant restraints”. Small-business confidence declined in March for a second month. Any number of unpredictable shocks, from a big sovereign(n.君主，元首 a.至高无上的；有独立主权的) default to rapid monetary(a.钱的，货币的，金融的) tightening in overheating emerging markets, could undermine the recovery.( 一些无法预料的冲击，从主权违约到过热的新兴市场的银根快速收紧都可能破坏复苏。)

No vulnerability is so worrisome as unemployment.( 没有比失业问题更令人担心的了。) As of March, 15m Americans were jobless, while another 9m were unwillingly working only part-time. Knowing just when the recession ended will not be of much comfort to them.( 仅仅知道衰退何时结束不会给他们带来多少安慰。)

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Peril in the labyrinth

The West Virginia mine disaster

9.Peril in the labyrinth

What caused America’s worst mining accident in 25 years?

Apr 8th 2010 | NAOMA, WEST VIRGINIA | From The Economist print edition

Many pits, one plea无数矿场，一个心愿。

IF YOU have ever wondered what the little metal ball in a wooden labyrinth(n 迷宫) feels like, drive through rural(a.农村的) West Virginia. The roads seem to have been chiselled(chisel n （用来切削或雕刻石头、木头或金属的）凿子；v  用凿子雕刻或削切；（用不道德的手段）欺骗＝swindle＝cheat) and corkscrewed(n. 拔塞钻，螺丝锥.adj.vt.) into the craggy(a.多峭壁的，粗壮的) Appalachian Mountains. Those mountains, and the coal that lies beneath them, dominate West Virginia; it is the only state that lies entirely within the Appalachians, and it produces 15% of America’s coal. West Virginia prides itself on its independence (the state motto is “Mountain men are always free”), but if those mountains keep the outside world at bay, they also foster(v 培养（促进生长、发展等）＝nurture＝cultivate；领养) a sense of community. And so, by Tuesday morning, billboards(n. 广告牌, vt. 宣传) across the state, from churches in the capital city of Charleston to the Country Roads pharmacy(n.药房，药店；药剂学，配药) in tiny Glen Daniel, said the same thing: “Pray for our miners”.
The day before, an explosion blamed on methane(甲烷; 沼气) at Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal killed 25 miners. Another four miners remain missing within the mine, but high concentrations of methane and carbon monoxide have hindered rescue efforts. Rescuers hope that the miners may have found their way to rescue chambers(n.腔，室；(特殊用途的)房间；会所) built into the mine, but reaching them requires drilling down 1,000 feet.
In 2006 an explosion at a mine in Sago, West Virginia, trapped 13 miners underground for two days; only one survived. That too was blamed on methane, which had accumulated in sealed-off areas of the mine. In the year before the explosion, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), a federal agency that monitors mine safety, cited the Sago mine 208 times for safety violations. In 2009 MSHA cited the Upper Big Branch mine 515 times, often for problems with its ventilation(n.通风) and escape-route plans. Some 48 of the citations were for violations deemed likely to lead to serious injury or illness.

The Massey Energy Company, which owns the Upper Big Branch mine, is contesting(v /n 竞争，竞赛＝compete；争论) many of those violations. But this is not the first time that Massey—the fourth-largest coal company in America—has come under fire for its safety practices. In 2006 two people died in a fire at the Aracoma mine, which Massey owns and which was found to have inadequate water supplies and poor ventilation. Massey paid $4.2m in criminal and civil fines. In 2008 Massey paid $20m in fines levied by the Environmental Protection Agency for clean-water violations.

Don Blankenship, Massey’s boss, was at first rather blithe(adj 轻率的；轻松快乐的，无忧无虑的＝cheerful＝carefree) about safety violations, calling them “a normal part of the mining process”. He may want to consider a change in tone: after the blast, Massey’s share price fell sharply. Of course, mining is inherently a dirty and dangerous business, and America has done reasonably well at making it cleaner and safer: in 2009 18 people died in American mines, while 2,631, down from 3,215 the previous year, died in Chinese ones. Still, that is little comfort to West Virginia, and says nothing about whether Upper Big Branch was operating as safely as it could have been. On Tuesday afternoon, Kevin Stricklin, the federal coal-mine safety chief, hazarded an answer. “We know it wasn’t operating safely,” he said, “or we wouldn’t have had an explosion.”

rosanna1029UID: 2318257

[local]10[/local]

The war on baby girls

10.Gendercide

Killed, aborted or neglected, at least 100m girls have disappeared—and the number is rising

Mar 4th 2010 | From The Economist print edition

IMAGINE you are one half of a young couple expecting your first child in a fast-growing, poor country. You are part of the new middle class; your income is rising; you want a small family. But traditional mores(n.风俗习惯，道德观念) hold sway(v /n 摇摆；动摇（改变观点或感情等倾向于变化）) around you, most important in the preference for sons over daughters. Perhaps hard physical labour is still needed for the family to make its living. Perhaps only sons may inherit land. Perhaps a daughter is deemed(vt.认为，视为) to join another family on marriage and you want someone to care for you when you are old. Perhaps she needs a dowry(n 嫁妆（新娘带给其夫的钱财）；天赋).

Now imagine that you have had an ultrasound(n. 超声(波)) scan; it costs $12, but you can afford that. The scan says the unborn(a.未生的；将来的) child is a girl. You yourself would prefer a boy; the rest of your family clamours(n.吵闹，喧哗) for one. You would never dream of killing a baby daughter, as they do out in the villages. But an abortion seems different. What do you do?

For millions of couples, the answer is: abort the daughter, try for a son. In China and northern India more than 120 boys are being born for every 100 girls. Nature dictates that slightly more males are born than females to offset(vt.补偿，抵消) boys’ greater susceptibility(n 易受感染性；敏感性＝sensitivity) to infant disease. But nothing on this scale.

For those who oppose abortion, this is mass murder. For those such as this newspaper, who think abortion should be “safe, legal and rare” (to use Bill Clinton’s phrase), a lot depends on the circumstances, but the cumulative(a.累积的，渐增的) consequence for societies of such individual actions is catastrophic. China alone stands to have as many unmarried young men—“bare branches”, as they are known—as the entire population of young men in America. In any country rootless young males spell trouble(带来麻烦); in Asian societies, where marriage and children are the recognised routes into society(婚姻和子女是得到社会认可的必要条件), single men are almost like outlaws(n.歹徒，亡命之徒 vt.宣布…为不合法). Crime rates, bride trafficking(人口贩运), sexual violence, even female suicide rates are all rising and will rise further as the lopsided(adj 倾向一方的；不平衡的) generations reach their maturity.

It is no exaggeration to call this gendercide. Women are missing in their millions—aborted, killed, neglected to death. In 1990 an Indian economist, Amartya Sen, put the number at 100m; the toll(n.过路(桥)费;损失,伤亡人数 v.敲(钟)) is higher now. The crumb(n （饼干、蛋糕或面包）屑；碎裂的小东西＝fragment＝scrap＝portion) of comfort(略感安慰的) is that countries can mitigate(v 减轻，缓和（痛苦或罪行的严重性）) the hurt, and that one, South Korea, has shown the worst can be avoided. Others need to learn from it if they are to stop the carnage(n （战争中的）大屠杀＝massacre).

The dearth(n 缺乏；短缺（尤指饥荒）＝scarcity＝famine) and death of little sisters

Most people know China and northern India have unnaturally large numbers of boys. But few appreciate(欣赏，赏识；体恤，体谅；增值，涨价) how bad the problem is, or that it is rising. In China the imbalance between the sexes was 108 boys to 100 girls for the generation born in the late 1980s; for the generation of the early 2000s, it was 124 to 100. In some Chinese provinces the ratio is an unprecedented 130 to 100. The destruction is worst in China but has spread far beyond. Other East Asian countries, including Taiwan and Singapore, former communist states in the western Balkans and the Caucasus, and even sections of America’s population (Chinese- and Japanese-Americans, for example): all these have distorted(v 扭曲，弄歪（正确的或天生的部位联系）；误传（用假象使人迷惑）) sex ratios. Gendercide exists on almost every continent. It affects rich and poor; educated and illiterate; Hindu, Muslim, Confucian and Christian alike.

Wealth does not stop it. Taiwan and Singapore have open, rich economies. Within China and India the areas with the worst sex ratios are the richest, best-educated ones. And China’s one-child policy can only be part of the problem, given that so many other countries are affected.

In fact the destruction of baby girls is a product of three forces: the ancient preference for sons; a modern desire for smaller families; and ultrasound scanning and other technologies that identify the sex of a fetus(n （从开始怀孕的第八个星期到出生时期的）胎儿). In societies where four or six children were common, a boy would almost certainly come along eventually; son preference did not need to exist at the expense of daughters. But now couples want two children—or, as in China, are allowed only one—they will sacrifice unborn daughters to their pursuit of a son. That is why sex ratios are most distorted in the modern, open parts of China and India. It is also why ratios are more skewed(adj 不直的，歪斜的；不对称的＝asymmetrical) after the first child: parents may accept a daughter first time round but will do anything to ensure their next—and probably last—child is a boy. The boy-girl ratio is above 200 for a third child in some places.

How to stop half the sky crashing down

Baby girls are thus victims of a malign(v 诽谤；adj 恶毒的) combination of ancient prejudice and modern preferences for small families. Only one country has managed to change this pattern. In the 1990s South Korea had a sex ratio almost as skewed as China’s. Now, it is heading towards normality. It has achieved this not deliberately, but because the culture changed. Female education, anti-discrimination suits and equal-rights rulings made son preference seem old-fashioned and unnecessary. The forces of modernity first exacerbated prejudice—then overwhelmed it.

But this happened when South Korea was rich. If China or India—with incomes one-quarter and one-tenth Korea’s levels—wait until they are as wealthy, many generations will pass. To speed up change, they need to take actions that are in their own interests anyway. Most obviously China should scrap(n 打架；vt 扔弃；互相殴打；adj 废弃的) the one-child policy. The country’s leaders will resist(v 抵抗) this because they fear population growth; they also dismiss(v 开除，解雇；不再考虑（从头脑中去除）＝dispel) Western concerns about human rights. But the one-child limit is no longer needed to reduce fertility (if it ever was: other East Asian countries reduced the pressure on the population as much as China)(表示让步的地方：纵使过去曾经有过需要，如今，降低生育率也不再需要靠独生子女的限制来实现了。东亚其他国家（从未曾采用独生子女的限制）也象中国一样大大减轻了人口的压力。). And it massively distorts the country’s sex ratio, with devastating(devastate v 摧毁，破坏（使变成废墟）＝ravage＝destroy) results. President Hu Jintao says that creating “a harmonious society” is his guiding principle; it cannot be achieved while a policy so profoundly perverts(vt.使入岐途) family life.

And all countries need to raise the value of girls. They should encourage female education; abolish laws and customs that prevent daughters inheriting property; make examples of hospitals and clinics with impossible sex ratios(make an example of somebody: to punish someone for doing something so that other people will not do the same thing They want to make an example of him by keeping him in prison under very difficult conditions.); get women engaged in public life—using everything from television newsreaders to women traffic police. Mao Zedong said “women hold up half the sky.” The world needs to do more to prevent a gendercide that will have the sky crashing down.

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The Catholic church and paedophilia(n. 恋童癖)

11.Crimes and sins

The pope(n.[the P-](天主教)教皇，罗马主教) should say plainly(ad.平坦地；简单地) and loudly that sexual abuse of children is not just sinful. It is criminal

Mar 18th 2010 | From The Economist print edition

IT COULD hardly get worse. Sex scandals are breaking over the Catholic church with such fury(n.狂怒，暴怒；狂暴，猛烈) that the Vatican(梵蒂冈) has felt bound to defend Pope Benedict XVI himself. Children at some Catholic schools in Germany have been systematically abused; paedophiles were transferred to other jobs, rather than dismissed or prosecuted(v.起(公)诉，告发，检举；继续从事). Abuse has surfaced in Austria and the Netherlands. In Ireland Cardinal Sean Brady, the primate, has admitted that he was present in 1975 when two teenage boys were persuaded to sign oaths(n.誓言，誓约；咒骂，诅咒语) of silence about their abuse by Father Brendan Smyth. The church defrocked(v. 剥去法衣，解除僧职) Smyth, but nobody, including Cardinal Brady, told the police about his crimes and he remained free to abuse boys for two decades.

Yet denial still reigns(n 统治时期；v 统治). Bishop Christopher Jones, head of the Irish episcopate’s(n. 主教之职，主教区，主教) committee on family affairs, has complained that the church is being singled out, when most abuse happens inside families and other organisations. (尽管大多数性侵犯事件发生在家庭内部及其他非教会组织，却唯独把教会的挑出来。)“Why this huge isolation of the church and this huge focus on cover-up in the church when it has been going on for centuries?( 性侵犯事件几百年来屡见不鲜，为什么现在却如此大张旗鼓单挑教会出来替罪？为什么现在却只对教会的掩饰行为作如此巨大的聚焦？)” he asked.

He is right that other secretive(adj 守口如瓶的；秘密的；促进分泌的) outfits(n.全套服装；一组人；全套装备(工具)) (orphanages(n. 孤儿的身份，孤儿院) in authoritarian(n 独裁主义者) countries, say) are home to shameful abuse, but that misses the point. No church can expect to be judged merely against the most depraved(vt.
使堕落，使恶化，使腐败) parts of the secular(adj 世俗的（非精神的；非宗教的）) world. If you preach absolute moral values, you will be held to absolute moral standards. Hence, for Catholics and outsiders alike, the church hierarchy’s inability to deal with the issue is baffling(a.令人困惑的). The church now has exemplary(adj 楷模的（值得效法的）＝commendable＝typical＝admonitory) child-protection rules—so strict, in fact, that they sometimes stifle(v 使窒息而死；抑止（声音、愤怒等）) healthily affectionate behaviour(关爱行为). It is the scandals from the past that are so toxic(adj 有毒的，中毒的).

Applying modern standards to conduct long ago is tricky(adj. 狡猾的，欺骗的，棘手的). (用现代准则去处理古已有之的行为是困难的。)The hierarchy in the past often saw paedophilia not as a crime with victims but as a sin that endangered the perpetrator’s(n. 犯人，作恶之人) soul: along the lines of(按照，根据;与……一样？) alcoholism(n. 酒精中毒，酗酒), or pilfering(v 偷窃（少量或小部分）) church funds. A priest who “erred(vi.犯错误)” deserved a rebuke(v 严厉指责；严厉地批评), pastoral(a.田园生活的，宁静的) attention (perhaps) and a fresh start. The dreadful damage done to the victims of the abuse was not appreciated, or was ignored. (对性侵害受害者受到的可怕损害则是不予重视，甚至假装不知。)

A second delusion(n.错觉，谬见，妄)—still lingering(v （因不愿离开而）逗留，留恋) in some church circles—was the conflation(n. 混合，熔合) of paedophilia and homosexuality. A sexual relationship between a priest and a teenage boy was regarded as wrong, just as a liaison(n 联络（一个组织中的不同单位之间相互联系的手段或方法) between two priests would be. But it did not count as a revolting(a.令人厌恶的) abuse of trust.

Some add celibacy(n.独身(主义)) to the charge list.( 有人又把独身加作一条应受指责的理由。) Those cut off from family life may not appreciate the horror parents feel about abuse. In a sex-obsessed(adj 着迷的；困扰的) age abstinence(n. 节制，禁食，戒酒) sounds unnatural and thus a cause of sexual deviancy(性变态). Yet a moment’s reflection shows how unfair that is. The childless care about children too. Parents are some of the worst child-abusers. And nobody has shown a statistical link between celibacy and paedophilia.

As in so many scandals, the cover-up compounds the original sin. The guilty secrets of the past must be flushed(n /v 冲刷（以快速水流冲净，如冲水马桶）；（因发烧、窘迫或强烈的感情而）脸红＝blush) out. And bishops(n.主教) must admit their part in them. It is odd that an institution founded on honesty and penitence(n.后悔) should struggle so. Today’s Catholic leaders might also recall that clerical(a.牧师的；教士的) abuses of power, defended by legalistic(adj. 尊重法律的，条文主义的) quibbling(n.遁词，吹毛求疵的反对意见), greatly angered an itinerant(a.巡回的) preacher in Palestine two millennia ago.(今天的天主教高层们一定还记得，两千年前，祭司滥用权力， 却用法律上的遁词辩护，结果曾经大大激怒了一位在巴勒斯坦的巡回传教士（指耶稣——译者注）。)

rosanna1029UID: 2318257

13.Do the locomotionThe earliest animal tracks yet found have been unearthed in CanadaMar 4th 2010 | From The Economist print edition
Locomotion(n.运动力)

unearth  v 挖出；揭露（使公众注意）

ONE of the greatest mysteries of the history of life is the Cambrian explosion. Prior to 560m years ago, animal fossils are rare. Then, in a geological eyeblink, they become common. Shelly creatures such as trilobites and brachiopods, of whose ancestors there is little sign in the rocks, are suddenly everywhere. Biologists would dearly love to know what happened.
Cambrian(寒武纪（Cambrian 距今5.4～5.1亿年）—海洋无脊椎动物大发展
划分
寒武纪是地质历史划分中属显生宙古生代的第一个纪，距今约５.４亿至５.１亿年)
shelly 多壳的; 壳裂的; 壳状; 贝壳状的
trilobites(三叶虫)
brachiopods(腕足类)
Recent discoveries at the delightfully named Mistaken Point(有个地方叫Mistaken Point), in Newfoundland, serve to lift the veil slightly. These findings are not of Precambrian animals themselves, but of their tracks. And these, paradoxically, may be more useful.
paradox(n 自相矛盾的话（看起来自相矛盾但可能正确的说法）)
paradoxically(似非而是地; 似非而是地说; 自相矛盾地)
Alexander Liu of Oxford University and his colleagues took an interest in Mistaken Point
because it is a site known for so-called Ediacaran fossils, shell-less animals of unknown provenance that slightly predate the Cambrian. As Mr Liu and his team explored the rocks they came across more than 70 markings that looked like tracks—slight impressions in the sediment with tiny ridges sticking up along the sides. These markings, they report in Geology, are up to 13mm wide and up to 17cm long.

provenance  n （艺术品和古董等的）出处，来源

sediment  n 沉淀物（沉落到液体底部的物质）

What is most curious about these tracks is that the rock they are in is reckoned to have formed at least a kilometre below sea level. Fossil bodies might get into such rock by sinking to the sea floor. Tracks, however, must have been made by something that was alive. (化石体倒是可能会沉到海底而进入这块岩石。然而，只有活的东西才能留下足迹。)Precambrian animals must therefore have lived at such depths.

reckon vt.认为，估计；(on)指望；测算

The tracks also cast light on what the Ediacarans actually were. Some palaeontologists think them members of a phylum that is now extinct. Others, though, believe they were Cnidarians, the group that includes modern sea anemones and jellyfish. Cnidarians grow from embryos that have only two layers of cells. Most animals, including all the shelly Cambrian ones, grow from three-layered embryos. The tracks found by Mr Liu look suspiciously like those left by modern sea anemones which, despite their sedentary appearance, do move around slowly.

cast light on
使明白,阐明

palaeontologist  n. 古生物学家

phylum n. 门，语系

anemone
n.银莲花属植物
sea anemones
海葵

jellyfish  n. 水母，海蜇，意志薄弱的人

sedentary  adj 久坐的；土生的

suspiciously adv. 猜疑地，可疑地

conspicuous  adj. 显著的，显而易见的，显眼的

That is not strong evidence that Ediacarans were Cnidarians, but it is something(但它的确是一个重要的发现). Yet if that is the right interpretation, it leaves the question of what evolved into the trilobites and their kind as mysterious as ever.(不过倘若这样的解释是正确的，三叶虫和它的同类由何而来的问题将仍然神秘晦涩，一如往昔。)

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Artificial photosynthesis

14.A sunnier outlook

Using a virus to help produce energy the way plants do（利用病毒以植物的方式产生能量）

Apr 29th 2010 | From The Economist print edition

The ultimate green-energy source

IN HIS latest novel, “Solar”, Ian McEwan’s protagonist is Michael Beard, a Nobel prize-winning physicist who has been resting on his laurels for two decades specialising in “after-dinner speeches and eulogies for retiring or about-to-be-cremated colleagues”. To reinvigorate his career, Dr Beard steals a postdoctoral scientist’s discovery of artificial photosynthesis, described as “an engine running on nothing”, and tries to harness it.

protagonist n.提倡者，支持者

laurel  n.月桂树，桂冠
laurels  n.荣誉

eulogy  n （对死者的）颂词；高度的赞扬

cremate  vt. 焚烧(尸体), 火葬

reinvigorate vt. 使再振作，使复生

invigorate  v 使生气勃勃；使有活力＝animate

harness  n 马具；v 利用；控制；支配

That may be fiction, but it is not fantasy. Photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert energy from sunlight into chemical energy, is one of the most important chemical reactions on earth, so there are many efforts under way to try to replicate it. The process is, though, proving to be particularly difficult to emulate with any great efficiency.

under way
在进行中

emulate  v 模仿并超越

模仿：imitate，simulate，mimic

During photosynthesis two “half-reactions” take place. First, sunlight is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Plants do this with a complex molecular “photosystem” that uses the energy of sunlight to break apart water molecules, liberating electrons, hydrogen ions and oxygen. Then, in the second half-reaction, the electrons and hydrogen ions combine with carbon dioxide to create energy-rich carbohydrates, such as glucose, which plants use to grow.

split
v.分裂；撕裂；分担 n.裂口；分裂

glucose  n 葡萄糖

It is the first half-reaction which provides the potential for an energy source. Sunlight can already be used to split water artificially with solar panels generating the electricity needed for a process called electrolysis. The hydrogen obtained from water can then be stored and used in, say, a fuel cell to produce power when the sun does not shine. But the process is not particularly productive, given the present output of solar panels, and it is costly.

electrolysis
电解

Researchers have tried to mimic the process used by plants with experimental systems that use some of the components of photosynthesis, such as chlorophyll, which makes plants green and helps trap light, and catalysts which facilitate the process of converting carbon dioxide, water and sunlight. But some of the materials and catalysts have turned out to be unstable and inefficient in the laboratory.

mimic adj. 模仿的，假的 [计算机] 模拟的 vt. 模仿

(Tom mimicked his uncle's voice and gestures perfectly. 汤姆把他叔叔的声音和姿态模仿得惟妙惟肖.)

chlorophyll叶绿素

catalyst n.催化剂，促使事情发展的因素

dioxide
二氧化物

Viral(adj 病毒的) power

Now Angela Belcher of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her colleagues have succeeded in mimicking the first part of photosynthesis by using a genetically modified virus to help split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The researchers took a virus called M13, which normally infects bacteria and is harmless to humans, and engineered it to assemble on its coating both iridium oxide, one of the catalysts used by researchers, and light-sensitive biological pigments called zinc porphyrins, which act as an antenna to capture the light.

pigment  n 干粉颜料；色素（在植物或动物组织中产生的一种物质）

assemble vi.聚集 vt.集合，召集；装配

coating
①敷层，涂层②膜，加膜③被覆，包覆，涂布被覆

What the virus provides, says Dr Belcher, is a sort of scaffolding or frame around which the components used in artificial photosynthesis can attach themselves, and do so at the right distances from one another to trigger the water-splitting reaction.( 贝尔切博士解释道，病毒所提供的是一种类似于脚手架或者框架的机制，把人造光合作用过程中包含的不同组分附着在框架上，在它们之间设计合适的距离从而触发水分解反应。对于病毒的这种安排大幅提高了反应效率。) The arrangement provided by the virus greatly improves the efficiency of the reaction. In addition, the structure also assembles itself. There are problems. One is that viruses tend to clump together, which hampers their performance. To prevent this from happening, the team embedded the viruses into a microgel matrix, which preserved their light-collecting abilities.

scaffold  n 脚手架（造房时搭的架子，工人可在高处站或坐在上面工作）

microgel
微凝胶体

matrix  n 模子；矩阵

In their research, recently published in Nature Nanotechnology, Dr Belcher and her colleagues concentrated on the more technically challenging production of oxygen, but they now hope to complete the process by recombining the hydrogen ions and harvesting hydrogen gas. This would provide a way of capturing sunlight, in much the same way as plants do, and then storing the energy in the form of hydrogen gas. The energy is then released when the hydrogen is burned or used in a fuel cell to make electricity.

The researchers are also seeking a catalyst that is cheaper than one based on iridium, which is relatively expensive. In a few years, Dr Belcher speculates, it may be possible to build a prototype machine to split water efficiently using sunlight. Meanwhile, they should watch out for any disgruntled physicists desperate to boost their careers.( 同时，他们应该小心任何像大胡子那样心怀不满、迫切想在事业上更上一层的物理学家们。)

prototype
原型
原型

disgruntle  vt 使不高兴