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[阅读小分队] 【每日阅读训练第四期——速度越障13系列】【13-7】经管

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发表于 2013-1-16 17:09:21 | 显示全部楼层 |阅读模式

各位晚上好,今天是偶生日,提前发上个作业来庆祝一下~ (作业是周四的昂) 生日一边感冒一边复习gmat , 太欢乐了有木有~?
因为学习了Elen , 所以我的文章莫有标题了昂~~ 标题设置在了最底下回复可见~ 嘿嘿 如果大家阅读完后想看标题,看自己想的main Idea准不准的话,那就可以看看作参考~

大家保持队形,阅读加油昂!!!


[Speed]

Time 1:

    [attachimg=640,360]113059[/attachimg]

A major credit rating agency is warning Washington that delays in resolving a dispute over government borrowing will prompt a "review" of the nation's credit rating.

The Fitch rating agency said it expects Congress will eventually raise the "debt ceiling," making the risk of a default on U.S. debts "extremely low."

Back in August 2011, political squabbling in Congress over raising the legal borrowing limit prompted the rival S& agency to downgrade the U.S. credit rating one notch from its previous top level.

Fitch is making it clear it could consider a downgrade if Congressional action is stalled by renewed bickering. Fitch called the debt ceiling an "ineffective and potentially dangerous" mechanism for controlling government spending.

Investment advisor Frank Reilly of Reilly Financial Advisors said the political fight is likely to go "down to the last minute" which has damaged consumer and investor confidence. He said the political uncertainties means businesses are reluctant to make investments and hire people.

However, once the political squabbling is over, Reilly thinks the U.S. economy is poised to grow more quickly, an outlook that is in line with economic reports published Tuesday.

The Commerce Department said U.S. retail sales rose half-a-percent in December, which is more than first estimated. Economists watch retail sales closely because consumer demand drives most U.S. economic activity.

A survey by the Gallup organization showed Americans grew a bit less pessimistic about the economy last week, but remain concerned about financial issues.

A separate measure of inflation at the wholesale level shows prices declining slightly for the third month in a row. Relatively tame inflation means the U.S. central bank can continue its efforts to stimulate the economy by keeping interest rates at ultra-low levels. If inflation were to rise sharply, the Federal Reserve would likely raise interest rates to cool the economy.

(303words)

Time 2:

    [attachimg=640,360]113060[/attachimg]


SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — At an age when most Americans begin thinking about retirement, Lauren Walters founded a company aimed at feeding the world's hungry children.

The idea came to the lifelong political activist and entrepreneur after a visit to Rwanda. He'd made a significant donation to an international health care organization and wanted to see first-hand where his contributions were going.

“What I learned was that, for malnutrition in children, we know exactly what to do," Walters says. "We know how to bring them back from the brink.”

What it takes, he learned, is a nutrient-rich protein packet.

“These are packets, little sachets, that are 500 calories, that are medically formulated," Walters says. "It’s basically sweet peanut butter with vitamins. Those sachets, given over four to six weeks, several a day, can bring a kid back from the edge and can give them the chance, if they get adequate nutrition going forward, of developing in a normal way.”

However, relief agencies and humanitarian groups were unable to distribute enough packets to satisfy the growing need. So Walters came up with a concept to help meet the demand: a food company based on a one-to-one model.

For every item sold, a nutritious meal would be donated to a malnourished child.

“This one-to-one idea is a unique way to engage millions of Americans, Europeans, and others who will be buyers one day with the notion that they could do something for themselves and something good for another person," Walters says. "If we can give people easy ways of helping other people, I think that really changes the world.”

At around the time Walters came up with that business concept, Will Hauser was also getting ready to change the world.

His parents were old friends with Walters, and Hauser often called Walters for business advice.

(302words)


Time 3:

Now a Harvard graduate working in finance in New York, Hauser told Walters he was unhappy and looking for another path. When Walters explained what he wanted to do, Hauser jumped at the chance to be part of what was to become the Two Degrees Food Bar Company.

“Two Degrees for me is this perfect marriage between my love of entrepreneurship and my long desire to do something good,” Hauser says.

The company name reflects the two steps involved in helping a malnourished child. For every Two Degrees energy bar sold, the company donates a prepared food packet in poor communities around the world.

The packets, given out by the United Nations and other relief agencies, are produced in Europe and the United States, but Walters wanted to be able to buy packets that were produced in the areas where they are needed.

“We wanted to do it locally, because we think that it’s a better development model," Walters says. "eople need jobs. And, even in our small way, if we can contribute to demand locally, we can help break the cycle which often leads to malnourished children.”

They contracted with a Malawi-based company, Valid Nutrition, to make the packets.

In February, 2011, one year after Two Degrees was launched, Will Hauser visited Malawi to witness the 11,000 nutrition packets his company donated being distributed to hungry children.

He says the trip transformed him.
“It’s a really sobering experience to see a severely malnourished child," Hauser says. "It’s just really a shocking experience to see that first-hand. You wonder how this could possibly happen.”

Two years later, Walters and Hauser have even bigger plans for their company.

They hope to donate millions of nutritional meal packets each year by expanding their offerings.

They're working on producing other healthy snack products including cereal, coffee and possibly yogurt, all packaged under the Two Degrees brand.

(313words)

Time 4:

The World Economic Forum says the most likely risk facing the world over the next 10 years is the severe disparity in income between rich and poor. The estimate was made in a new report called the World Economic Forum's Global Risks 2013. Many of the issues discussed in the report are familiar. Food availability and the spread of extremism and terrorism are noted every year. But new risks, especially technological and financial ones, are becoming more important than ever.

The World Economic Forum is based in Geneva, Switzerland. The non-profit group says its risk report is based on surveys of more than 1,000 experts from around the world. They include industry leaders and specialists in government, academics and civil society.

The experts considered the likelihood that risks could become serious problems in the future. They also studied the impact, or influence, that these risks would have if they became reality.

The experts judged the likelihood that a risk would become a problem over the next 10 years. Sharp income differences between rich and poor were the risk considered most likely. This is the second time in two years that the disparity in wealth was identified as the most likely problem. It was followed by what the report calls "chronic fiscal imbalances," or the failure of governments to deal with heavy debt over time.

The risk said to have the biggest possible impact was a major failure in the world financial system, like the collapse of a top institution or currency. But experts rated a water supply crisis as second on the list of high-impact risks. The report's organizers say this issue has generally received little attention.

How the experts change their opinions is also something to note. This year, the mismanagement of the aging population moved from the 18th to the fifth most likely threat. The failure to deal with the costs and social issues involved with an aging population is now considered a risk with greater possible impact.

The experts also were asked about extreme possibilities. The report calls these "X Factors." They include the likelihood of climate change going out of control, and even the results of discovering alien life forms.

The World Economic Forum is an international group whose members represent industry, charitable organizations and other partners. Its stated goal is to improve the state of the world.

(392 words)

Time 5:

NAIROBI — Kenyans are venting their anger over a late-night decision by the country's parliament to grant lawmakers lavish retirement benefits including a $100,000 bonus and other perks. An online campaign is underway to stop the president from signing the bill.

In one of their last sessions of the year, members of the Kenyan parliament passed a retirement bill that would give each member a hefty bonus, bodyguards for life, private chauffeurs and a state funeral.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki rejected a previous iteration of the bill a month ago. But this time, lawmakers have tacked it onto another order that would also award the president a $300,000 bonus on his retirement next year.

The new amendments were introduced late Wednesday night and made public on Thursday. Kenya's Nation Newspaper reports some of the changes were handwritten on a piece of paper signed by the finance minister.

The public fallout of the bill took to Twitter on Friday, as angry citizens voiced their outrage on the popular social media site - deriding members of parliament as “MPigs.”

A popular Kenyan blogger Robert Alai has been leading the online charge against the lawmakers who he says are already overpaid.

“I don't feel that the country needs to give the MPs such amount of money after serving just five years. And very few of us in employment or running our businesses can get to decide to go out with such a pay package after just five years," he said. "You know, it's kind of ridiculous.”

Alai orchestrated a street protest the last time the parliament tried to pass the benefits bill, and says he is planning similar action for next week, which may include a mock state funeral.

The online campaign drew the attention of Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who denounced the retirement package on his Twitter account, saying the two bills “border on criminality.”

Alai says social media has been able to succeed in empowering citizens where the country's traditional media have fallen short.

“If it were not for social media, I think some of us would not be as much vocal because the problem is that the mainstream media is still majorly owned by the leaders or the politicians themselves," Alai noted. "So social media has been a great godsend to us.”

As the country waits for President Kibaki to make his decision on whether to approve or veto the bills, Kenyans online are joking that they hope members of parliament get those state funerals they have asked for.

(418words)

[Obstacle]

Although it has been nearly 30 years since I came to the United States to attend graduate school, it was only a decade ago that I decided to become an American citizen. I hadn’t thought “becoming American” would be meaningful or emotional, but it was. I had to turn in my Indian passport and pledge allegiance to the United States, and I worried about losing a piece of my identity. Midway through the process, I was ambivalent. But like generations of immigrants before me, I went through the interview, took the citizenship exam, and entered a majestic room—in my case, Boston’s Faneuil Hall—to take the oath. Standing there, I realized that I was proud to be an American—and that, despite my new commitment to the United States, I was never going to lose my Indian heritage. This opportunity for newcomers to hold on to a piece of their past while embracing the promise of a better future as an American is, I’ve come to believe, just one important attribute of the set of values we know as the American Dream.

As anyone who paid attention to the 2012 U.S. presidential race can attest, it’s a dream that seems to be in great peril. “The American Dream is slipping away,” the historian Jon Meacham wrote before last summer’s political conventions, calling this issue “the crisis of our time.” We’re right to be deeply concerned. The American Dream is the country’s most important asset—more valuable than its extraordinary natural resources, deep financial capacity, or unparalleled workforce. It’s so valuable because it is a narrative that continues to draw people here from other countries, and it inspires those of us who are already here to work hard every day to better ourselves and our children. To watch this powerful force deteriorate is troubling—and understanding what might be done to stop the deterioration is imperative.

That task has been embraced in several recent books. The Betrayal of the American Dream, by the veteran investigative reporters Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, illustrates the two primary difficulties of writing about this topic, particularly after a drawn-out campaign. First, the basic facts and forces at work—globalization, outsourcing, the decline of labor unions, less progressive tax policies, and deregulation—have been described in countless newspaper articles, political stump speeches, and attack ads, which leads to a wearying I’ve-heard-this-all-before feeling. Second, the subject has become so wrapped up in partisanship that it’s difficult to explore in a thoughtful and fair-minded manner. Barlett and Steele seem uninterested in even appearing fair-minded: Their one-sided analysis reads like a liberal manifesto, and ultimately it offers little fresh thinking.

The writer and PBS correspondent Hedrick Smith examines the same forces but offers deeper, more-thoughtful analysis in Who Stole the American Dream? In particular, he examines how the “virtuous circle” of prosperous workers that created the consumer demand that drove the postwar U.S. economy has now been broken. I agree with him that restoring confidence in the link between business success and social prosperity will be vital to sustaining the American Dream.

To get the dream back on track, Smith offers prescriptions similar to those espoused by Barlett and Steele: “fairer” trade, a more progressive tax code, investments in infrastructure and education, and a shift toward a more responsive and pragmatic politics. All seem tall orders in an era when bipartisan cooperation is so rare. That’s also true of the fixes suggested by the Rutgers professor Carl E. Van Horn in Working Scared (or Not at All): The Lost Decade, Great Recession, and Restoring the Shattered American Dream, one of the most recent books on this topic. Van Horn draws on voluminous survey research to examine the problem, and the results are insightful. He does a particularly good job of capturing the anxiety and vulnerability of working-class Americans in a global economy, especially those with low skills and educational levels. Van Horn suggests more direct government employment and broader workforce training initiatives as possible solutions, but it requires imagination to envision such measures passing the 113th U.S. Congress, which begins this month.

Taken together, these books offer a dispiriting picture, but it’s important not to succumb to pessimism. While the American Dream rests on a broad set of virtues—including a strong work ethic, a belief in meritocracy that enables mobility, and a welcoming attitude toward immigrants—its foundation is a spirit of optimism. The United States has always had what I think of as an “ambition economy,” fueled by Horatio Alger tales and reinforced by modern stories of self-made men and women who’ve become role models in business and politics. In America it’s natural to tell our children that they can achieve anything they want. In contrast, many other countries have an “envy economy,” in which parents suppress their children’s ambition and condition them to accept that they can’t have the things that more-fortunate citizens possess.

Lately there are signs that America is shifting from an orientation of ambition toward one of envy. Whether it is the 99% who envy the 1% or the 53% who resent the 47% who are receiving government distributions, we are beginning to show signs of focusing more on others than on ourselves. That’s a shift we want to avoid. Over time envy has a corrosive, pernicious effect on an economy. It reduces agency and encourages people to attribute outcomes to forces beyond their control. It shifts people’s gaze toward others in a negative way and takes their focus off their own goals. In an ambition economy, people generally enjoy watching others get ahead, because it reinforces their sense that they, too, can succeed. In an envy economy, in contrast, people often feel like they’re playing in a zero-sum game and that if someone else gets ahead, it comes at their own expense.

When I was growing up in India, I heard an aphorism that illustrated this dynamic. It was based on the way fishermen keep the crabs they catch in a tin pail without a top. “You don’t need a top, because if any crab tries to escape, the other crabs will pull it back down,” people said. I have no idea whether crabs really behave this way, but the saying implied that the same was true of Indian society: If one person tried to rise above his class, the rest would pull him back down. Other cultures have similar sensibilities. In New Zealand, Australia, the UK, and Canada, they call it the “tall poppy syndrome,” which refers to how anyone whose achievements set him apart from the crowd is urged to underachieve and blend in. America is fortunate to have avoided these envy-driven sentiments, and it’s imperative that we keep it that way.

(1126 words)


这里是标题啦,回复可见~~ 读完了需要的话可以看一下~


标题:

【Speed】
Time 1: Credit Rating Agency Warns Washington
Time 2、Time 3: Snack Maker's Business Model Aids Hunger Relief
Time 4:World Economic Forum Rates Global Risks for 2013
Time 5:Kenyans Outraged Over MP Pay Package
【Obstacle】
Envy and the American Dream





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发表于 2013-1-16 17:14:53 | 显示全部楼层
生日快乐!!!!新的一年要好好加油呀~~!

带病坚持学习,太用功了……祝LZ身体早日康复

1'31
1'17
1'21
1'50
2'04

越障:7'21
Introduaction: The author decided to join American nationality because he identify with American Dream.

American Dream is diminishing. It used to inspired people to work hard for better lives, therefore it is crucial to understand the reason of its deterioration. There are several books talk about this task.
>>Book 1 showed 2 difficulties in writing this task, one is the facts and forces at work(inelastic tax policies, globalization...) have been repeated on various media for so many times and people are getting tired about the information; the second one is the difficulty to explore the problems in a thoughtful and fair-minded manner, but the analysis are not novel
>>Book 2 examed on the same force as book 1 did, but in a deeper thoughtful analysis. The author agree with the factors which are vital to sustaining the American Dream
>>Both of the two books agree on the suggestions about how to bring the Dream back: progeressive tax policies, fairer trade, investment in education...
>>Book 3 suggested more direct employment and broader skill training

All the books above reveal a disappointing reality, but it is more important to get out from the pessimisive emotion. American Dream is based on the optimistic spirit. The author regards America as the ambition economy that encourage people to chase for whatever they want, but a sign of envy economy recently appears in the society because of the unfair distribution and greater pressure. That's a shift American society need to avoid

Differences between the two economy: Ambition eco let people work hard for improvement and learn from those successors; while envy eco force people to stay at their original level, the majority get hurt when someone surpasses them and will pull him back (eg. Indian society)

Conclusion: America is lucky because it avoid those envy-sentiments, and it is necessary for the country to keep going as an ambition society with optimistic spirit
发表于 2013-1-16 17:39:36 | 显示全部楼层
楼主
生快~~
发表于 2013-1-16 23:10:42 | 显示全部楼层
生快!
1:28    
1:28
1:40
1:40
2:13
6:26
讲了一个刚刚加入美国籍的印度人关于美国梦的看法,批评了现在的一些流行看法,美国梦由于全球化,正在消失。想法美国人民应该保持那种向上,积极的态度来看待竞争,而不是一些传统国家的那样的消极和嫉妒。
发表于 2013-1-16 23:19:00 | 显示全部楼层
time1: 2'19
time2: 1'53
time3: 2'03
time4: 2'02
time5: 2'31

obstacle: 5'54
发表于 2013-1-17 00:10:11 | 显示全部楼层
(1)2:07,讲信用评价机构对美国的债务危机深表关注,2011年的时候惠誉下调了美国国会的评级,让国会非常难看。专家们担心这种犹豫不决,让美国国债是否违约到最后一分钟才知道,对市场上的投资和消费都造成了极大的损害。很多企业不敢投资和招人了。而去年十二月美国的经济比人们预想的稍微好一点,因为很大的需求拉动了经济活动。而上个星期,这种经济状况有所回落。
(2)1:47,讲在S城,大家都在考虑退休的时候,W开始考虑一个新事业了。他开始考虑建一个公司,在拜访R之后。在那里他捐了钱给一个组织,然后想知道他捐的钱是怎么花的。他发现当地的孩子营养不良,而需要改善这个条件非常容易,只需要两种食物,这些食物含的蛋白质是XX;但是很多孩子吃不起这样的食物,他们的捐助能让孩子吃上,解决营养不良。然后他想通过一对一的捐助,能让人们更好地去帮助这些孩子,其实如果给人们一个简单的方式,让人们去帮助别人的话,很多人都是愿意这样做的。他的事业要开始了。
(3)1:48,当H说他在工作上做的不开心的时候,W跟他说跟我干,我准备开个二度公司,H很高兴。然后他们就开起来了,他们卖东西,并说每卖两个东西,就捐一包食物给M地的孩子。一年以后,W去M地看孩子的时候,亲手分给他们食物。发现饥饿的孩子少了一些。两年后,H和W对他们的公司有更大的计划了。
(4)2:06,讲W论坛提出未来十年最重大的风险是贫富差距加大,这个论坛请了很多专家、政客、行业领袖等,base在日内瓦,之前就鉴定过很多危机,比如shortage of food supply、extremism & terrorism等。但是disparity between rich and poor在不断加大,已经连续连年第一了,造成这个的原因可能是国家的债务违约风险。最大的风险可能发生在金融业,比如一个行业巨头的failure或者一个货币的collapse都有可能造成这种危机。而排第二的是水资源供给危机,很明显这还没有引起人们的重视。最后再次强调W论坛很专业,很牛掰!
(5)2:31,某地的人对总统要给立法院的人签一笔高额的退休工资感到很不满,而作为交换,立法院会批准总统另外一笔退休工资。这个信息周一才在内部发布,周二就在social media上传的到处都是了。人们纷纷到街上游行对此表示抵制。有个人说:“才服务了我们五年就要拿这么多钱,凭什么?”为了娱乐,他们还在街上模拟政府的葬礼。这个活动引起了总理的注意,总理对这个bill是renounce的。而人们说要不是social media,他们可能还蒙在鼓里,因为traditional media大部分还是leader own的,所以social media真是太好了。
(6)6:11,我十年前来到美国,一年前想成为美国人。这可能让我失去一些认同,但是我觉得成为美国人很好。我也去参加考试啊、面试啊,当我站在波士顿的时候,我觉得做个美国人很好。为什么那么多人想成为美国人?因为美国梦,美国梦的寓意非常广泛,是美国最宝贵的资产,比发达的金融什么的都好。也是为什么能吸引其他国家的人来美国的原因。美国梦还包含一种宽容,对移民来的人的宽容和接纳。现在这种美国梦有点不如以前了。有个人站出来说不好,这个观点是不可取的,有两个原因……另外一个人则做了比较客观的分析。为了解决一些问题,需要更多的两党合作,比如更大的教育投资、公共投资,对一些unskill的人,由政府雇佣,但这需要更大的想象力。很高兴在美国,父母们能让孩子们去追求自己的梦想,而在其他国家,父母们都在抑制孩子的梦想,告诉他们这不能那不能。其它国家是一种envy economy,见不得别人好,一个人努力往高处走,实际上是把他和别人区分开来了。有个钓鱼的人告诉我不用把袋子封口,因为一个螃蟹往外爬,其它螃蟹都拽它。我不知道螃蟹是不是也这样,但是很多国家像日本啊、加拿大啊都有这种envy economy,很高兴美国避免了它。
发表于 2013-1-17 05:00:08 | 显示全部楼层
1:49. The author warns that if the Congress doesn’t raisethe "debt ceiling", there will be a national credit downgrade for theUS.

1:47. Instead of retiring like ordinary people, W got toknow how his donation helped children first-handed. An org turns the donationinto nutrition packs, which can help those starving children to grow normallyif they have it continuously. However, the donation cannot meet the demand forthe nutrition packs. W came up with an idea that for every customer buy acertain food product, the food company would donate a nutrition pack to onechildren. ONE-to-ONE

1:45. H and W worked together to start a new company whichcan both fulfill their dream of entrepreneurship and do something good in thelong run. For every particular product the company made was sold, the companywould prepare a nutrition pack for children in the poor community all over theworld. At first, the nutrition pack was prepared in the US, H decided toprepared the nutrition pack in placed where people need it. It creates morejobs for people in that community. They are coming up more products in theircompany to have the same one-to-one donation package.

2:17. It mainly talks about that the possibility of thedifference bt rich and poor has become one of the most serious problem in theworld. The passage also talks about other problems people are facing.

2:29. There is a retirement bill stating that law makersshould receive several benefits such as a bonus and bodyguard protection aftertheir five-yr service. The bill got published on social media and angrycitizens are protesting against the bill to be passed by the president.

6:28. The author was an Indian guy who recently got hisAmerican citizenship. The passage is mainly talking abt the "Americandreams". He spends 2 or 3 paragraphs talking about how people claimed thatAmericans are in crisis of losing the "American dreams". It wasdemonstrated by the author by mentioning a couple of books. In the last twoparagraphs, the author states that we should avoid letting the "Americandreams" shift from abiXXX to envy. People in a envy society will drag downwhoever is ahead of them in the same community, while those in a abixxx societydo not care if other people are going ahead of them. They believe everyone canachieve what they want to achieve.
阅读小分队 Day 2,今天阅读普遍比昨天慢,不太喜欢与法律政府有关的文章. 另祝楼主生日快乐哦!!!
发表于 2013-1-17 09:39:28 | 显示全部楼层
LS们的越障像座大山啊,给力!

attractg昨天生日居然没告诉我呀,生日快乐!!!这天气要注意保暖,还有空气质量实在太不好,留意鼻炎。

起个头,开始做阅读咯~~
发表于 2013-1-17 09:40:22 | 显示全部楼层
阅读小分队 Day 2,今天阅读普遍比昨天慢,不太喜欢与法律政府有关的文章. 另祝楼主生日快乐哦!!!
-- by 会员 辣子安 (2013/1/17 5:00:08)


越不喜欢越要多读~ 越是喜欢的可能反而已经比较擅长了
发表于 2013-1-17 10:34:30 | 显示全部楼层
1'41''
1'44''
1'40''
2'03''
2'37''

6'21''
省略标题真是越来越热门了 风格多变也好~ 让大家都体验体验
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