阅读能力天天练(12)

阅读能力天天练

说明：本周同学们的阅读任务是社会类题材。我们精心为大家准备了六篇国外报刊上的文章，希望同学们每天看一篇，红色标识处为考研大纲词汇，蓝色标识为超纲词汇，粉色标识为常用短语，划线部分为一些长难句，同学们可试着翻译一下。

Text 67

Deserving of respect

A hundred years ago, the only signs of elephants at Kruger National Park in north-eastern South Africa, which had just opened, were a few tracks in a dry riverbed(河床). Game hunters of the 19th century had hunted the creatures almost to extinction. Conservation efforts were so successful that, in 1967, the authorities decided they had to start culling (拣选)elephants -shooting them from helicopters and hauling their dead bodies away in trucks-to keep their populations between 6,000 and 8,000, considered to be the park’ s \"carrying capacity. \" Few people questioned the policy, which was dropped in 1995. Since then, the elephant population has soared to 14,000. Conservationists now fear that it might destroy vegetation, threatening many life forms with extinction.

A new proposal to select the creatures has created a dilemma for the national parks authority, South African National Parks. As a responsible department, it has urged that \"decisive action is required\" to safeguard the survival of the rich and various life forms in South African wildlife reserves. The culling of elephants, it argues, is needed as a necessary measure to avert local creatures’ extinctions in the future. \"A decision on the use of culling as a legitimate elephants,\" the park manager said back in 2005, \"should not be delayed beyond April 2006. ” What has held up this action is fierce disagreement over whether culling the elephants is a morally responsible choice——a debate that didn’t exist in 1967. What’s changed? Scientists have told us in recent years that elephants and other higher mammals - such as chimpanzees(黑猩猩), gorillas, dolphins, whales and dogs, have aspects of consciousness, feelings and intelligence that until recently most people thought was the province of humans alone. Geneticists have shown that 98 per cent of the human genetic code is identical to that of chimpanzees. Psychologists and neuroscientists assert that higher mammals experience emotions. Linguistic researchers have proved that many mammals have languages with a diversity of sounds and symbols. The debate over what to do about Kruger’s elephants——like similar debates over the ethics of animal testing and the treatment of animals raised for food——is challenging us to reflect on how we treat other living beings.

The elephant is a fitting object of this dilemma because it has more in common with humans than meets the eye. Elephants typically live for 65 years, spending their first 14 years growing up in a social group. Females teach them about the geography and vegetation of their range, the social hierarchies of their species and how to raise their young. They are playful, compassionate (有同情心的) with the sick and mournful (悲伤的) of deceased family members. An elephant will pause and smell the bones of its dead, making mournful sounds too low for humans to hear.

Key Words:

1 / 12

creature ['kri:tʃə]

n.生物，动物；创造物，产物 helicopter ['helikɔptə]

n. 直升机，直升飞机 capacity [kə'pæsiti]

n. 容量，容积；能量，能力；接受力 dilemma [di'lemə] n. 窘境，困境 safeguard ['seifgɑ:d]

v. 保护，维护，捍卫 n. 安全装置，安全措施 avert [ə'və:t]

v. 防止，避免；转移，移开 legitimate [li'dʒitimit]

adj.合法的；合理的；合乎逻辑的 v. 使合法 debate [di'beit]

n.争论，辩论

symbol ['simbəl]

n. 符号，标志；象征 reflect[ri'flekt]

v.反省，反射，反映，表现，沉思 vegetation [,vedʒi'teiʃən] n. 植物，草木 hierarchy ['haiərɑ:ki]

n. 等级体系，等级制度；统治集团，领导层

Useful Expressions:

hold up

阻挡，举起，支撑 in common with 和……一样 meet the eye 呈现在眼前

Text 68

Real Food For Thought

Nearly 25 years ago a simple and elegant Robin Hood of an idea took root in a fledgling (刚会飞的幼鸟，指缺乏经验的人)organization called City Harvest. Take the overflow from New York's restaurants, hotels, wholesalers(批发商)and markets, and pass it on to the soup kitchens, shelters and food pantries. This year the group expects to distribute more than 21 million pounds of food. Sad to say, New Yorkers need it.

2 / 12

At this time of year, as every lifestyle magazine seems to veer(转向) from the perfect cookie recipe to the surefire(准不会有错的，一定会达到目的的) post-holiday diet, it's worth noting that the United States is still in the grip of a hunger epidemic. The Department of Agriculture released the figures just before most of us dug into our turkey and yams: 35 million people don't have enough food, 12 million of them children. America's Second Harvest, a consortium (联合，合伙，国际财团)of emergency food organizations, says 25 million people sought help from it last year.

When a social problem is intractable and profoundly serious, you can usually complain that the public doesn't know, corporations don't care and philanthropy(慈善事业) hasn't stepped up, that there's no creative thinking and limited resources. None of that is true of hunger in America. The resources exist: \"There's food that we can pick up this hour that can be feeding people in the next hour, or be in the garbage by the end of the day,\" says Jennifer McLean, City Harvest's vice president of program operations. And Americans know real need exists, too; one survey showed that a majority of those polled believe hunger is as bad or worse here as in other developed countries.

Many companies have contributed manpower and money to the effort. Food banks have sprung up throughout the country. And some of the newest initiatives are plenty smart, like the school program that sends kids home for the weekend with a backpack full of food. Smart, and sad: the idea came in part because teachers who oversaw meal programs noticed how many kids gorged themselves on Fridays, preparing for two days of bare cupboards(碗橱). Even government can't take all the blame for some of the holes in this terribly porous(可渗透的，多孔的) safety net. A fraction of the students who eat subsidized school lunches also take part in breakfast programs, in part because schools have struggled with the logistics. That shortfall has left billions in federal subsidies unspent(未用完的，未耗尽的). And food banks report that only about a third of their patrons(赞助人，保护人) receive food stamps, although many more are eligible.

Key Words: pantry ['pæntri]

n. 餐具室，食品室 overflow

v.充满，充斥；使泛滥，使溢出 elegant ['eligənt]

adj. 美好的，优雅的，精美的，俊美的 yam[ jæm ] n.番薯，甜薯 intractable [in'træktəbl]

adj. 不听话的，倔强的，棘手的 profoundly [prə'faundli]

adv. 深深地，衷心地 spring [spriŋ]

3 / 12

n. 春天，弹簧，跳跃，泉水 v. 涌现，弹起，弹出，跳，裂开 backpack ['bækpæk] n. 双肩背包 gorge [gɔ:dʒ]

v. 狼吞虎咽，塞饱 subsidize ['sʌbsidaiz]

v. 给予补助金，资助，贿赂 logistics [ləu'dʒistiks] n. 后勤学

Useful Expressions: in the grip of

受……支配，受……控制 dig into

把……戳进……，大口大口地吃 step up

走近，逐步增加，提高，提升 spring up

大量涌现，发生，迅速生长 take all the blame 负所有的过失 a fraction of 一小部分 Text 69

Mandatory water meters a step closer

Powers allowing water companies to force customers to accept meters are to be simplified under measures to prevent or reduce shortages. Suppliers in areas where there is serious water stress will be able to apply for entire regions to be compulsorily (强制地)metered.

Serious water stress has been defined by the Environment Agency in relation to the ratio of long-term rainfall levels to the population of an area. Under the agency’s definition most of the South East of England and some parts of East Anglia are already considered to be water-stressed.

The move was announced by Phil Woolas, the Environment Minister, and means that 12 companies qualify to apply for compulsory water metering. Only one company, Folkestone and Dover, has previously sought to force customers to have meters. Mr Woolas said that the new rules, which form part of a 25-year plan, will enable suppliers to resort to compulsory metering instead of building reservoirs or taking other measures.

He said that despite recent flooding there are many areas where shortages have been an issue in the past decade and are likely to worsen as more homes are built. 4 / 12

“As the impacts of climate change on our weather and rainfall patterns increase, we have to face up to the fact that what we might now consider to be extremes could become more commonplace,” he said. “We need a flexible range of tools at our disposal if we are to manage supplies sustainably in the future. Metering saves water, about 10 per cent per household, and it seems right to me that in seriously water-stressed areas the costs and benefits of compulsory metering are given consideration alongside (与……相比，在……旁边) other options.”

The minister insisted that the measure should not be viewed by water companies as an alternative to reducing leakages(泄漏).

“This is not a green light for universal metering, and it in no way absolves (宣布免除)companies from their responsibility to deliver on leakage targets,” he said.

To get compulsory metering introduced a water company would have to apply to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The application would be considered by the department in tandem(一前一后) with the Environment Agency, the water watchdog of water, the Consumer Council for Water and a form of public consultation(咨询).

Consumers would have to bear the costs of metering, but it would be charged as part of the water bill rather than as a one-off installation charge, and should make no difference to total payments because schemes would be carried out instead of other works.

Dame Yve Buckland, the chairwoman of the Consumer Council for Water, broadly welcomed the move, but said that concerns remained about how people on low incomes would cope with the charges. She said: “We support the Government’s view that metering is essential in water-stressed areas, but have argued that compulsory metering will make it difficult for low-income, larger households to afford their water bills, and there is currently no credible support system to help them.”

Key Words simplify['simplifai]

v.简单化，简化，使单纯 ratio ['reiʃəu] n.比，比率 rainfall ['rein,fɔ:l] n. 降雨量

previously['priviəslɪ] adv. 先前，以前 reservoir[ 'rezəvwɑ: ]

n.水库，蓄水池；储藏，汇集 commonplace['kɔmənpleis]

adj. 普通的，平庸的 n. 寻常的事物，平庸的东西，平凡的事 flexible ['fleksəbl]

adj. 灵活的，易弯曲的，灵活的，能变形的 alternative [ɔ:l'tə:nətiv]

5 / 12

n.可供选择的办法，二选一，取舍 adj.二选一的，选择性的 responsibility [ri,spɔnsə'biliti]

n. 责任，责任心；职责，任务 installation [,instə'leiʃən]

n. 安装，设置；装置，设备 credible ['kredəbl]

adj. 可靠的，可信的

Useful Expressions: in relation to

关于，涉及，与……相比 face up to

勇敢地面对，正视 at one’s disposal

由某人做主，听某人之便，受其管理，由其支配 It seems to me that 在我看来 in no way 决不

in tandem with

同……串联，同……合作 Text 70

Women Keeping Up Pressure for a Better Travel Experience

IT isn’t easy to astonish Kathleen Ameche, who is usually on the road five days a week as a speaker, and who literally wrote the book on women and business travel. But the results of a recent Web seminar on travel safety that she helped organize among 500 female business travelers did just that.

“Ninety-eight percent of them said they had their personal safety compromised on a business trip within the last 45 days,” said Ms. Ameche, the author of “The Woman Road Warrior (战士，勇士): A Woman’s Guide to Business Travel” (Agate, 2005). “Ninety-eight percent! That number is staggering. In 2007 we still have that issue?”

It has been noted, here and elsewhere, that the growing number of female business travelers has had significant effects on the travel experience. Women are a big part of the reason that a typical hotel room, whether midlevel or luxury, has better bedding, lighting, room service, closets, work spaces and overall design. Unlike men, women tend to notice the details and share them with friends and colleagues. So hotels are going to be hearing more about safety.

6 / 12

“We do take notes and we talk, and we do make most of the buying decisions in business and personal travel,” said Ms. Ameche, who encourages women who travel to network with one another. “The hotel experience got a lot better over the years,” she said. “They improved the creature comforts of the room, and now we’re talking a lot more about food service and healthy eating. Obviously, they have to go a little further on safety, but they’re listening.”

Among the biggest complaints about safety are hotel clerks who address a female guest by name and announce her room number at check-in. “That drives women crazy,” Ms. Ameche said. “There are issues that need addressing about where you put us on a floor, like next to the elevator. We’re telling them, just be cognizant (晓得，知道的) of us.”

Much of the recent growth in business travel among women comes from small businesses. Women own nearly 10.4 million businesses, employing nearly 13 million people. And many of these women are frequent travelers who approach life on the road differently from men.

“Women and men have different management styles,” according to a report by the Center for Women’s Business Research. “Women emphasize relationship building and are more likely to consult with experts, employees and fellow business owners.”

Hotels took the major initiatives in designing travel marketing specifically for women. In 1995, Wyndham Hotels, with American Airlines as a partner, began a marketing program called Women on Their Way.

Yesterday, American Airlines, encouraged by the Wyndham program’s successes, introduced a Web site for female travelers, www.AA.com/women. It is the first airline to do so.

Besides a booking system, the site offers advice from an advisory panel of seasoned female travelers, and will soon offer tips and experiences from customers. According to American, 48 percent of its passengers are women.

Key Words: astonish [əs'tɔniʃ]

v. 使……吃惊,使惊讶 literally ['litərəli]

adv. 照字面意义，照原文的；确实地，真正地；简直 adv.完全 compromise ['kɔmprəmaiz]

v.妥协，折中，危及，放弃原则 n. 妥协，折中 staggering ['stægəriŋ]

adj. 惊人的，摇晃欲倒的，犹豫的 bedding [kəm'plaiəns] n.寝具 closet ['klɔzit]

n.壁橱 adj.私下的，隐蔽的 v.把……引进密室会谈 overall ['əuvərɔ:l]

adj. 全部的，整体的 creature ['kri:tʃə]

7 / 12

n.人，动物；生物；创造物，产物，物质享受 advisory ['əuvərɔ:l]

adj. 顾问的 n. （pl.）工作服 seasoned ['kri:tʃə] adj. 经验丰富的 dedicated [ˈdelikitid]

adj. 专用的，专注的，献身的

Useful Expressions: take notes 作笔记

advisory panel 顾问团

Text 71

Financial Planning: Wills and Other Ways

When you think about leaving money to heirs, the process seems simple. You put your decisions in your will (you have one, right?). When the will is read, your family and friends bless your sainted memory. If you yourself are an heir, you expect to collect your promised share.

Think again. That picture is from the movies (old movies). Nowadays your will may affect only a fraction of what you own. Most of your serious property will probably pass outside your will, through joint ownership, living trusts or the beneficiary (受惠者，受益人) forms attached to life insurance and retirement accounts. If the forms aren't in sync (同步的) (and they're often not), the wrong person might inherit or an adult child (maybe you) might get less than the parents intended. Risks multiply with divorce and remarriage. An ex-wife might still be named on an old insurance policy. A new husband might inherit and cut his stepchildren out.

Errors, omissions and greed can rend (撕碎) family relationships for generations. Forget polite Thanksgivings--get ready for angry phone calls and lawsuits. What can you (and your parents) do to help everyone walk away reasonably happy? Here's a guide:

Give yourself heirs. Your will tells the family how you want your property distributed when you die. But here's something you might not know: your will? and your wishes? can be overridden (不顾，不理睬；否决，压倒，优先于) by other forms you've signed and forgotten about. Take the beneficiary form that came with your life-insurance policy. If it names your two children as beneficiaries and later a third child is born, only the first two will get the money. To include the third, you'll have to change the form.

Then there's your 401(k) retirement plan. If you're married, your spouse automatically inherits the whole amount even if the marriage is just one day old, and even if your will and the beneficiary form say something else. If both of you think the 401(k) should be left to someone else say, to the kids; the spouse has to file a notarized (证明，确认) statement waiving (放弃) his or her rights.

8 / 12

And take the beneficiary form for an Individual Retirement Account. That, too, trumps the will. In a typical story, an unhappy young husband e-mailed Ed Slott, author of \"Your Complete Retirement Planning Road Map.\" His wife had died. The IRA she'd opened before their marriage named her sister as beneficiary of her $80,000 account. The wife had intended to change it but tragedy intervened. The sister got the money and wouldn't share. Was there anything the husband could do? In most states, no, Slott replied. IRA trustees (托管人，保管人) look only at beneficiary forms, not wills or spousal (配偶的) \"rights.\" (But spouses have rights in community-property states.)

Key Words: sainted ['seintid]

adj.成为圣人的，德高的，上天堂的 heir [ɛə]

n. 继承人 fraction ['frækʃən]

n.小部分，片断，分数，一点儿，碎片 joint [dʒɔint]

n. 接合处，接头，关节 adj. 共同的 trust [trʌst]

n. 信任；盼望；委托；（to）依靠；n.信任，依赖；委托；托拉斯 multiply ['mʌltiplai]

v.增加，（by）乘，使相乘；倍增，增加，繁殖 omission [əu'miʃən] n.遗漏，省略 lawsuit ['lɔ:sju:t] n. 诉讼，控诉 reasonably ['ri:znəbli]

adv. 有理的，合理地；适度地，相当地 automatically [,ɔ:tə'mætikəli] adv.自动地，无意识地 trump [trʌmp]

v. 打出王牌，赢，胜过 n. 王牌，法宝 v. 打出王牌赢，胜过，吹喇叭 tragedy ['trædʒidi]

n. 惨事，灾难，悲剧 intervene [,intə'vi:n]

v. 干涉 （in）干涉，干预；插入，介入

Useful Expressions: attach to

1. (使)贴〔系, 粘〕在…上 2. (使)相关; (使)牵连; (使)依附 cut out

切掉，取代 walk away 走开

9 / 12

Text 72

U.S. Database Exposed Thousands of Social Security Numbers

The Agriculture Department for years publicly listed Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of people who received financial aid from two of its agencies, raising concerns about identity theft and other privacy violations.

Officials at the department and at the Census Bureau, which maintains the database where the personal information was listed, were evidently unaware that it contained Social Security numbers. The problem was reported to the government last week by a farmer in Illinois who stumbled (绊倒，使困惑) across the data on the Internet.

“I was bored and typed the name of my farm into Google to see what was out there,” said Marsha Bergmeier, president of Mohr Family Farms in Fairmount, Ill.

The first link in the results was to the Web site of Ms. Bergmeier’s farm. The second was to a site that Ms. Bergmeier had not heard of, FedSpending.org, which has a searchable listing of federal government expenditures(支出，花费). It uses information from the government database.

Ms. Bergmeier said she was able to identify almost 30,000 records in the database that contained Social Security numbers.

“I was stunned,” she said. “The numbers were right there in plain view in this database that anyone can access.”

While there is no evidence that the information has been used improperly, officials at the Agriculture Department and the Census Bureau removed the numbers from the census Web site last week.

Officials said the Agriculture Department’s use of Social Security numbers in a public database was common practice when the database was first created, before online identify theft was a well-known problem. Department officials said that more recently when government agencies began reviewing public databases to remove personal information like Social Security numbers, they failed to notice the numbers’ being published in this instance. Terri Teuber, a department spokeswoman, said the agency was notifying those whose Social Security numbers were on the site. She said the agency planned to contract with a company to monitor the credit reports of those whose numbers were disclosed.

10 / 12

“We took swift action when this was brought to our attention and took the information down,” Ms. Teuber said. “We want to make sure that it doesn’t exist on any publicly available Web site.” The department said its review of the database showed that 63,000 people could be at risk. Officials at the White House Office of Management and Budget, which oversees the database, said they believed that the disclosure of the Social Security numbers was limited to the Agriculture Department information.

“We take the loss or exposure of personal identifiable information very serious,” said Sean Kevelighan, a spokesman for the budget office, “but we are confident that this is an isolated incident.” Privacy advocates, however, say the actions by the agencies may not be enough. The database is more than two decades old and is used by federal and state agencies, researchers, journalists and private citizens to track government spending. Thousands of copies of the database exist. Key Words:

violation [,vaiə'leiʃən]

n.侵害，违反，违背，妨碍 evidently ['evidəntli]

adv. 明显地，显著地；必以为是 bored [bɔ:d]

adj.无聊的，厌烦的 searchable ['sə:tʃəbl]

adj. 可搜寻的，能搜寻的，能搜寻到的 stun [stʌn]

v．使晕倒，使……失去知觉；使目瞪口呆，使吃惊 improperly [im'prɔpəli]

adv.不正确地，不适当地 official[ə'fiʃəl]

n.官员，行政官员，高级职员 adj.官方的，正式的 notify['nəutifai]

v. 通报，通知，告知，报告 disclose [dis'kləuz]

v.揭露，透露，揭示 swift [swift]

adj. 迅速的，快的，敏捷的，立刻的 exposure [iks'pəuʒə]

n. 暴露，揭露；方向；陈列；遗弃；照射量 identifiable [ai'dentifaiəbl] adj. 可以确认的

11 / 12

advocate ['ædvəkit]

n.提倡者，鼓吹者，辩护者，拥护者 transparency [træns'pærənsi]

n.透明，透明度，幻灯片

Useful Expressions: stumble across 偶然发现 in plain view 显而易见

take sth. down

拿下, 录下, 记录, 拆卸, 压下...的气焰 at risk 在危险中

12 / 12