【每日阅读训练第四期——速度越障10系列】【10-6】经管

angela不怕孤单

【神猴插播曲目】
everybody, 小分队从第10系列将开始“考勤制度”啦~~有些人已经注意到咯
以后每系列（如9系列）结束后，我们会在下一系列（如10系列）插播公布上系列（9系列）所有成员的出勤率，希望能对大家的努力有所反馈。帮助大家监督自己。
由于工作量较大，我们只能每系列进行一次，还希望到时大家帮助神猴一起来完成。每次统计需要至少4人以上，多多益善哈（4人的话每人约15分钟）
宣传完毕，我们来公布第9系列的出勤数据咯~！

小分队第四期9系列封神榜

出勤率前五名的是！
No.1, 2012Michelle ---20 days
No.1, attractg ---20 days
No.3, Xiaodiehoo ---19 days
No.3, peill ---19 days
No.5, ENJ0Y ---17 days

获封9系列大神的是！
“不可思议神奇无比全满贯大神”---大米、attractg ~
“9系列大神” --- Xiaodiehoo、peill（并列第三）
差一点点气死人9系列鼓励小奖 --- ENJ0Y（还要再加把劲哦）

恭喜他们
（同时9系列还有10人获得了一闪即逝轻功了得大奖哦，详细出勤排行榜，请见小分队-风云系列排行榜）
【插播结束，打扰了~~继续坚持阅读哦！】

不好意思，发帖有点晚，辜负了晚上练阅读的筒子们~
不知道这次越障难度是否合适~要是觉得简单，大家回忆的时候提下，我下次再努力找找更难的~
各位，周末愉快~

【speed】
The Business of Learning Mandarin
【time 1】

English is the international language of business. But an increasing number of American companies that do business in China or with Chinese companies are having their workers learn Mandarin.

Michael Cheng is a Taiwanese-American Internet entrepreneur and property developer. He is also in the business of teaching Chinese. Mr. Cheng is president and founder of the Mando Mandarin Online School. The school is based in New York and uses teachers in China to teach over webcams.

"China over the past few years very quickly has already become the world's second-largest economy. And, you know, it's just common business savvy. If China's got over three trillion dollars in reserves now, so if you want to do business or connect with the fastest-growing country in the world, it might make sense to make an effort to engage the people in their own language, as understanding of their language and culture goes a long way in building strong relationships -- especially with the Chinese."

By some predictions, China could pass the United States and become the world's largest economy by twenty twenty-five. Michael Cheng says that as China's economic power has increased, so has its cultural power.

"Starting back in two thousand four, the Chinese Ministry of Education, along with what was called their Chinese Language Council, began to set up, around the world, Confucius Institutes, and with the purpose of promoting and developing Chinese language and culture teaching resources around the world."

Now, he says, there are more than three hundred Confucius Institutes in almost one hundred countries. These institutes work to promote Chinese language at the university level. The Chinese government has partnered with colleges and the Asia Society to set up programs across the United States. High schools have also received money to start Chinese language training programs.

Mr. Cheng says that, just as many English speakers want to learn Mandarin, many people in China want to learn English.
【319】

【time 2】
"In fact, if you want to talk numbers, there's, based on sheer population, there are actually more people learning, well, who speak English in China than there are [English speakers] in the United States. I think right now there's about four hundred million people who are either learning or currently speak English."

He says taking the time to learn someone else's language is a great sign of respect and a way to build business relationships.

"Speaking of relationships, here's a quick business -- Chinese business lesson for some listeners. It's one word, it's two syllables and the word is guanxi. To get things done quickly and effectively, it's important to have what's called guanxi. In Mandarin it means personal relationships or networks of influence, and it's very essential to doing business or making connections in China."

Welfare in India
Money where your mouth is
A debate is growing about how to get welfare to the needy
Nov 10th 2012 | RAGHUBIR NAGAR AND RAIPUR | from the print edition

IN THIS bustling corner of western Delhi, ironmongers hammer away in workshops, and the narrow streets swarm with motorbikes and rickshaws. Raghubir Nagar is not desperately poor, yet signs of poverty abound.

Before a doorway a delivery man deposits two modest-sized aluminium pots. They contain rice and beans supplied, free, as part of a midday-meal scheme for all who attend school. Somehow 70 children from the nearby alleys are supposed to share the contents.

【243】

【time 3】
A woman of about 50, Shahjaha, oversees the distribution of the meal from her small brick house. She serves as a sort of health and social worker for the nearby streets. A skinny frame and wispy hair tell of her own limited supply of calories. For a family of 14 she scrapes together a few kilos of subsidized wheat, sugar and pulses each month. Her jobless husband complains it is hard sometimes to find the money, despite the subsidies.

A year ago, he says, things were easier. During 2011 Mrs Shahjaha was enrolled in a pilot project in the area, testing how cash transfers could replace public distribution of rations for “below poverty line” families. She got a monthly stipend of 1,000 rupees ($20) direct into her bank account instead of a right to use the ration shop.

The results were broadly encouraging. In all, 100 families got the monthly money. The women’s group overseeing the scheme found a “marked increase” in nutrition among families who got the cash, as they enjoyed a richer diet and better quality food. Strikingly, the quality of food in the ration shop also improved, perhaps as it saw customers opting to go elsewhere.

Mrs Shahjaha says she “once or twice” used some of the monthly money to buy medicine or pay for a trip to a doctor. Inevitably, she grumbles that the monthly stipend was too mean. Yet, overall, households appeared to gain, buying food where they wished. For the poorest, especially migrants lacking proof of a local address, getting cash via bank accounts was far simpler than proving eligibility for rations.
【268】

【time 4】
Cash in clean hands
Direct cash payments should drastically curtail corruption. In India abuse of the public distribution of food, fuel, fertiliser and other welfare-in-kind is legendary —two-fifths or more is stolen in some states. Switching to electronic cash transfers all but eliminates that. The success of such schemes elsewhere, such as Bolsa Família in Brazil, a “conditional” scheme that channels public money to 13m poor families while encouraging children to attend school, is now being debated in India.

Prominently, in late October the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, flanked among others by Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the ruling Congress Party, appeared in Jaipur, Rajasthan, to launch a national campaign promoting schemes for cash welfare. They praised those who have signed up to the country’s fast-expanding biometric database, known as the “unique identity” (or UID) project.

Nandan Nilekani, a former IT tycoon who has cabinet rank and oversees the project, says the next 18 months will bring a rapid expansion of the database and more applications to make use of it for cash transfers. Within two years he expects those in the database to rise to 600m—over half the population—from 215m today.

Mr Nilekani points to a rush of new pilot schemes where recipients are starting to get payments directly into bank accounts tracked with their UID number. They are for pensioners in Tripura state, employees in rural make-work schemes in Jharkhand and, soon, academics in Maharashtra. Yet making existing cash welfare more efficient is the easy bit. What follows—switching non-food rations for the poor to cash—will be more controversial.
【264】

【time5】
First in line are public supplies of cooking gas. Over 100m Indian families get six cylinders of subsidised gas a year, through suppliers receiving wholesale payments from the government. Much is stolen and diverted to a thriving black market. Mr Nilekani and other reformers want gas sold to everyone at market rates, with government money sent to the bank accounts of the needy to help them buy supplies.

Since a cash system will eliminate fake recipients and be easier to audit, savings of a third could be made. A successful pilot scheme for gas provision in Karnataka state is a model for the country. Similar changes could be made to the provision of cheap fertiliser, paraffin and other fuels.

In the long run, and most controversially, officials want to see how to replace food rations with cash transfers, just as in Raghubir Nagar. Many oppose this, saying that in rural areas especially, recipients would struggle to spend cash well because working local food markets do not exist. Others fear that recipients will squander their cash on local hooch and the like.

Rather than switch to cash, critics say, food rations could be delivered much better, as has started to happen in certain states. For example, the chief minister of Chhattisgarh, Raman Singh, in his office in Raipur, cheerily describes how in the past few years he has transformed the supply of rations of rice to 3.4m poor families.
【238】

【剩余】
Mr Singh says the state system is now transparent. Food deliveries by lorry are tracked using GPS technology. Local councils rather than privately run ration shops oversee storage and distribution. Mr Singh claims that malnutrition and infant mortality are down as a result of the changes. Crucially, Mr Singh says, much less is being stolen. An aide claims that the gains are so popular that villagers now call the chief minister “Father Rice”. That should help Mr Singh as he faces a state election next year. He is against cash transfers.

Yet for the Congress Party in Delhi, the political opportunity may lie precisely with benefits as cash, not in kind. National elections are due by 2014 and Congress, beset by scandal and slowing rates of economic growth, has little to inspire voters with. If Mr Nilekani were able to get another 300m-odd people signed up for the UID scheme before the election, with their bank accounts linked to their electronic identities, then a new cash-welfare scheme could conceivably be rolled out in time. The capital’s politicians, who have promised to deal with public graft, might see the political advantages from cash transfers. In the alleys of Raghubir Nagar residents sound keen on the idea of leaders pledging to put money in their bank accounts, if they are not left worse off. Then one woman, a participant in the cash-transfer pilot scheme, cautions her neighbours: “We can’t believe what politicians promise. We have to see what they do.”
【248】

【obstacle】
How to solve the fiscal cliff
The Obamney tax plan
Nov 8th 2012, 23:33 by G.I. | WASHINGTON, D.C.

PRESIDENTS choose their words carefully. So when Barack Obama talked of “tax reform” but not “tax rates” in his acceptance speech early Wednesday, he was presumably sending a signal. And it was similarly significant that later that day John Boehner repeatedly stated his opposition to higher tax “rates” rather than tax revenue.

Within those two statements lies the nucleus of a deal: raising tax revenue through some means other than higher tax rates. There are myriad ways of doing this; the trick is to find one that both Democrats and Republicans can live with. During the supercommittee negotiations last year, Senator Pat Toomey proposed raising $250 billion in revenue over 10 years by closing loopholes. But he would also have cut rates sharply, which would have benefited the richest households most. That was anathema to Democrats; they wanted more revenue, but not if it made the tax system less progressive.

So the price for Democrats is that tax reform must be progressive: after-tax incomes of people at the top must be squeezed more than for people at the middle. Thus far, Mr Obama has equated that with allowing the top two income tax brackets to return to their pre-2001 levels. But there is an alternative route to the same goal that does not require higher rates, and it comes courtesy of Mitt Romney. Recall that when asked how he would pay for a 20% cut to marginal rates, he proposed a cap on deductions, an idea proposed in 2011 by Martin Feldstein, Maya MacGuineas and Daniel Feenberg.

I don't have a ready estimate of how much capping deductions for those earning more than $250,000 would raise. But you can ballpark it by looking the Tax Policy Center's estimates for capping itemized deductions at $50,000. It would raise $749 billion over 10 years, within the $800 billion that Mr Boehner has previously agreed to. That’s also more than the $429 billion yielded from returning the two top rates to their pre 2001 levels. The appeal for Republicans is that no one’s rates go up, and the preferential rate for capital gains and dividends is preserved. The appeal for Mr Obama is that it is highly progressive. According to the TPC, less than 1% of the bottom 60% of households would pay more tax while the top 1% would pay 79% of the additional revenue. The average tax rate for the bottom 60% wouldn’t change, while it would go up 2 percentage points for the top 1%. It's worth noting that Mr Obama’s budgets proposed capping the value of deductions for upper income households at 28%, which would have raised $584 billion over 10 years. Prior to 2001, the personal exemption and itemized deductions phased out for upper income taxpayers; those phaseouts were eliminated by the Bush tax cuts. Mr Obama's budget would reinstate them, raising $164 billion over a decade. (These provisions would raise considerably less revenue if the two top rates did not go up.)

Would such a deal fly? One source close to House Republicans tells me: “I think they'd take it; they're holding no cards at the moment… The capping of deductions would be very magnaminous and a good way to lay the groundwork for negotiating real tax reform.” But, he adds, “I don't think Obama would offer that—why not fall back to Reid-Pelosi and increase it on people making over $1 million and dare house Republicans to walk away from that? Sacrificing the chance to earn political points will be very difficult for Democrats to do.”

On the other hand, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, though unhappy to be excluded from Mr Obama’s grand bargain negotiations with John Boehner in 2011, seemed ready to fall in line with a deal that met Mr Obama's conditions. So the bigger question is whether this sort of deal qualifies: is Mr Obama prepared to let the lower rates stay in place if he can get the revenue by other means? One former Administration official thinks he would: “Obama's budget likes the idea of capping deductions at 28 percent," and this would be an even lower cap. "The problem is that it hurts both housing and charities. Both are powerful constituencies. And housing is fragile at the moment and phase-in would still roil real estate. Also at what level of income? Lots of Congressional Democrats want the bracket at $1 million, not $250,000.” He also thinks Democrats would want to raise rates on capital gains, which is a bigger deal to Republicans than income tax rates.

Agreement on taxes constitutes only half of a deal. Republicans will accept higher tax revenue only if accompanied by spending cuts. Mr Obama is okay with cuts, but perhaps not the cuts to entitlements that Republicans want.
But it’s quite possible that the two could start out small with more modest caps on deductions and cuts to discretionary spending with cosmetic trimming of health care entitlements - enough to justify extending the lower tax rates for a year and delaying the sequester of automatic spending cuts. It would be a down payment on a more ambitious plan next year.

Both Mr Obama and Mr Boehner say they are not as far apart as people think. It's encouraging that neither laid down markers that the other side can't stomach; we'll see if Mr Obama maintains that openness in an address on the economy scheduled for Friday. He has previously said he would reach out to Mr Romney for ideas; he could do worse than to adopt this one.
【923】

fightfor700

谢谢angela辛苦分享！文章和排版都很好，越障个人觉得难度适中，正好。本已准备睡觉了，结果手一犯jian打开小分队，强迫症立刻就犯了。

速度：1:51, 1:45, 1:54, 2:01, 1:53, 1:43. 貌似今天有两个speed 3。
越障：7:24.

spencerX

谢谢anglela的分享~文章难度适中
ps：你有两个time 3，我计时的时候还以为我摁错了。呵呵。

1'12
55''
1'14
1'18
1'07
1'02

4'40

attractg

又只剩地板了~~555 ~~~   angela 辛苦！！！

发作业：今天的越障很喜欢，看标题“The Obamney plan” 就觉得很有意思... 可惜对文章税收的一些表达没太明白...回去读了第二遍才好些...

速度：
2’16’’(391) As China grows to be the second-largest economy. Many foreign companies set business in China and have their employees learn Chinese. e.g.. Mando Mandarin online school… Just as many English-speakers want to learn Mandarin, many Chinese wants to learn English.

1’47’’(243) In fact, there are more people who is Chinese that speak English or learn English than Native English-speakers. Spending time learning a foreign language is a respect and good way to establish business relationships. To make things done quickly and efficiently , you have to learn the “Guanxi ”, which is called personal relationships or network influence in China.

In new Delhi, the issue of how social welfare should reach the people who need is over debated. A delivery man supply… midday meal.. 70 students will share the content.

1’57’’(268)
Ms. S, has a 14-members family. She served as a health and social workers in the street. Her family leads a difficult time when using the rations in shop. A project is testing of using cashes transfer instead of rations. After receiving monthly pay, many families can afford quality foods and have better diet, including S’s family.

2’18’’(264)
Paying the poor families directly into bank accounts is a good way avoiding corruption. The welfare money … in some states have been stolen. A scheme pouring public money to 13 million poor families successfully applied to Brazil now is under debate in India. The raise of UID project.. the unique identity. A new scheme that residents can get pay in their bank accounts tracked with UID numbers.

1’39’’(238) A pilot scheme of replacing food rations to cash transfer , can be easily audit , and perhaps a third can be saved. However, many critics said cash transfer is not good for rural areas, where market food shops do not exist. Instead of cash transfer, we can improve the food rations.

1’50’’ (248) ** says food delivery are transparent now. Food trunks are tracking with GPS technology, and local government not private food stories can see food distribution and shortage. The election in Congress is in 2014… If….can gather 300m-odd people support for the cash transfers, then a policy will roll out at a time.

越障：
6’23’’ (923)
Theme: The Obamney tax plan
Main Idea: Discuss how R&D think a tax plan and whether the tax plan will put into effect.
Author’s attitude: Neutral
Structure:
>> A proposed tax plan
Presidents use words carefully. In Obama’s speech, he use the words “tax reforms” rather than “tax rates”.. J said higher tax “rates” rather than “tax revenues”. Both they means: Raising the tax revenues by some other means rather than high tax rates… The trick is to find one both R & D can live with it.
D wants to raise more revenue , so the tax reform must be progressive. There is also another way achieve the same goal and do not require high tax rates: (comes courtesy of Romney): a cap on deductions.
Obama’s tax reforms let rich squeeze more for the middle class.
The appeal of R.. is no one’s rate goes up… The appeal for O it is highly progressive..
>> Whether the plan will put into effect
Would such a deal fly ?
Agreement on tax institution is only half of a deal.
Encourage: neither laid down markers that the other side can’t stomach.
…It could be worse if Obama receive this one: reach out Romney for ideas

miffyhui

1’44”
1’09”
1’01”
1’04”
1’00”

CCcarol

占一个先~
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1‘20
学习国语的热潮~ 和中国经济的迅速崛起密不可分 其中孔夫子学院的发展~ 也推动了国语热~

1’12
具体用中文阐述了关系的意思 （有啥意义么） 中国也有很多人学英文甚至超越了美国人~ 反正学习好国语  最终目的就是为了和中国发展经济

新的一段是说印度的福利制度 图中描绘的就是印度目前贫穷的现状 对于上学的还是 商铺免费供应白天的伙食 后面的share content不知道要怎么理解~

1'23
Shahjaha是一位有远见的女性 尽管在分发食物方面 开头很难 但她坚持下去 最后得到了一个测试项目的帮助 并最终促进了人们生活的进步~ 食物质量也提高了~

1‘25
直接现金的支付方式能够防止腐败并且能够帮助到更多需要帮助的人 因为之前很多物质方面的福利被盗窃 这项措施的效果比较显著 大多数领导人支持 但是对于不给穷人食物而是直接现金的方式 这样的做法存在争议

1’20
对上段有争议的观点进行具体阐述 比如便宜供给家用天然气  他们就会把这些东西偷来并卖到市场里去大多数评论者对这项措施的长期影响表示质疑 他们也不一定会去买最需要的食物 但反对观点是 对于贫困地区 情况会好很多 因为这样的黑市根本不存在~
这里面还是存在漏洞的  一个州已经发现这样的情况 一个长官称过去几年他已经成功改变了该地区给贫困家庭的大米供应~

剩余：1‘06
为了防止一系列不好的影响 他们采用了GPS技术来定位分发的食物供给 在很大程度上改变了不良风气 但是与之而来的影响是国家经济的明显衰退 但是又有一个好处是 政治方面的 是长期来看的 即可以得到很多选民的支持~ 因为选民觉得 他们不知道政府的许诺在未来可不可信 选民就是相信 他们现在做的是什么~

越障：5’05
奥巴马的税收计划 开头对奥巴马措辞仔细的具体描述 是 “tax reform” but not “tax rates”
奥巴的观点是 提高税收而不是提高税率 俩好处 与共和党和平相处+让有钱人变得更有钱。。。
民主党对于税收改革的代价是巨大的 然后上面那一大段的各种数字我看晕了。。。
观点认为 奥巴马在保持低利率的同时 有其他收入来保证平衡
其实民主党在这么做的同时 保证了其支出的减半 奥巴马是没意见的~ 意见在于民主党其他人~ 不过也没有其利益损害了~
奥巴马和Boehner都认为其实这项举措的影响在短期内可以看出来
最后是说他会采取一些罗姆尼的观点 要不然 奥巴会做的更糟糕的

Victoriasong

1.38
1.36
2.06
2.00
1.26
1.3
5.58

attractg

哇....  竟然发完作业1秒钟后，惊奇地发现得到了奖励~~  太激动了~~....  继续努力，猴老大统计工作辛苦~！！！

teddybearj4

跟Carol宝宝占在同一页~~~下午再来做~~~

速度：
1'51   1'14   1'59    1'39   1'40    1'44




越障：5’00
（oh tax reform~~~sensible topic for the US citizens !）
Main Idea:
The AP news introduces Obama's "tax reform".  And looking forward to see the economic scheduel of Obama's government.
Structure:
*Some tricky words in the address of both Obama and Boehner. [Politicians are just like the advertisers, fooling people with words. Don't make their sense literally! Cunning people!!!]
*The current conditions of the economy in the US.(the condition of government revenue exactly.) by presenting some figures and proportions etc.
*Dilemma occurs when the government try to increase the revenues and reduce the tax rates at the same time. The Obama's government attempts to squeeze the tax income from middle class rather than the top class.(??? cannot comprehend the meaning of the body T.T~)
*briefly assess the process of tax reform.

CCcarol

跟Carol宝宝占在同一页~~~下午再来做~~~

-- by 会员 teddybearj4 (2012/11/10 11:32:07)

宝宝的考试不是都结束了嘛~