【Native Speaker每日综合训练—30系列】【30-01】文史哲

jay871750293

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Part 1 Speaker

Socialising

[Rephrase1]


[Dialog 6'05]

MP3:

Transcript:

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2013/12/131212_6min_socialising.shtml

jay871750293

Part 2 Speed

Article 1(Check the title later)
Six Things We Learned About Our Changing Climate in 2013

December 27, 2013

[Time2]

2013 was a great year for science. We discovered hundreds of exoplanets, found yet more evidence of ancient water on Mars and learned all about our species’ own evolution.

But it’s important to remember that, in terms of the long-term survival of both our species and all others on the planet, 2013 is remarkable for a much darker reason. It’s a year in which we’ve pushed the climate further than ever away from its natural state, learned more than ever about the dire the consequences of doing so, and done as little as ever to stop it.

As greenhouse gas emissions soar unabated and the ramifications become rapidly apparent, here’s a rundown of what we learned about climate change in 2013:

1. There are record levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Starting in 1958, scientists at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii have tracked the general concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, far from power plant smokestacks or carbon-emitting traffic. This past May, for the first time in human history, they saw carbon dioxide levels surpass 400 parts per million (ppm).

The planet hasn’t seen carbon dioxide concentrations this high anytime in the past million years—and perhaps anytime in the past 25 million—but what’s truly alarming is how rapidly they’re rising. Pre-industrial levels were likely around 280 ppm, and the first measurements at Mauna Loa were 316 ppm. Now that we’re emitting the gas faster than ever, it’s not a stretch to imagine that people alive today could, as the Carbon Brief predicts, “look back on 400 ppm as a fond memory.”

2. Global warming may have appeared to slow down, but it’s an illusion. Over the past few years, average land surface temperatures have increased more slowly than in the past—prompting climate change deniers to seize upon this data as evidence that climate change is a hoax. But climate scientists agree that there are a number of explanations for the apparent slowdown.

For one, there’s the fact that the vast majority of the world’s warming—more than 90 percent—gets absorbed into the oceans, and thus isn’t reflected in land temperatures, but is reflected in rising sea levels and ocean acidification. Additionally, even during a period in which average land temperatures continue to climb, climate models still predict variability for a variety of reasons (like, for instance, the El Niño/La Niña cycle).

But all this variability merely masks a consistent underlying trend. Break down the graph at left (which shows annual temperature changes) into decade averages, shown at right, and the overall picture becomes clear. As physicist Richard Muller aptly described it in a recent New York Times op-ed, “When walking up stairs in a tall building, it is a mistake to interpret a landing as the end of the climb.”
[Words: 467]

[Time3]

3. An overwhelming majority of scientists agree that human activities are changing the climate. Healthy disagreement is a key element of any science—a mechanism that drives the search for new and ever-more-accurate hypotheses. But human-driven climate change, it turns out, is a particularly well-established and broadly-accepted idea.

A recent survey of every scientific study published between 1991 and 2012 that included either the phrase “global climate change” or “global warming” underscored this point. In total, of the 11,944 studies the researchers found, 97.1 percent supported the idea that humans are changing the climate, and when the authors of these studies were contacted by the researchers, 97.2 percent of them explicitly endorsed the idea.

The initial phase of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Report, published in September, further emphasized this consensus. The report, a synthesis of the research conducted by thousands of climate scientists around the planet, found that it’s “extremely likely” that human activities are the driving force behind the changing climate.

4. Climate change is already impacting your life. It’s tempting to think of climate change as a far off problem that we’ll have to deal with eventually. But an abundance of studies released this year show that the consequences of climate change are already being felt in a huge variety of ways, from the everyday to the catastrophic.

In terms of the former, Climate change is forcing insurance companies to raise their premiums, driving up the price of coffee, altering the taste of apples, helping invasive species take over local ecosystems, threatening the suitability of wine-growing regions, reducing our ability to perform manual labor, melting outdoor ice hockey rinks and causing plants to flower earlier.

And, of course, there’s the most direct consequence: warming. Globally, we observed the hottest November on record, part of a string of 345 straight months with above-average temperatures compared to the 20th century average.

But it’s the catastrophic ramifications of climate change that are most terrifying. An altered climate will mean more extreme weather as a whole, something we’ve already begun to see all around the world. India, for instance, has experienced a wildly unpredictable rainy season recently, with some years bringing disastrously weak monsoons, but this year’s was unprecedentedly heavy, with many areas receiving record 24-hour rainfalls and three times as much rain in total as average, leading to flooding that caused more than 5,700 deaths.

Meanwhile, the strongest typhoon ever to make landfall—with winds exceeding 190 miles per hour—hit the Philippines, killing at least 6,109 people. While it’s impossible to link that one specific event to climate change, scientists agree that climate chage will make particularly intense storms more common. Elsewhere, in 2013 we saw Brazil’s worst drought ever, Australia’s hottest summer on record, all-time heat records set in Austria and Shanghai, and what even the National Weather Service called a “biblical” flood in Colorado.
[Words: 481]

[Time4]

5. There’s not nearly enough being done to stop climate change. There have been some bright spots in 2013: Production of renewable energy in the U.S. has continued to increase, now accounting for a little over 14 percent of the country’s net energy generation. Due to this trend—and the continued decline of coal, replaced in part by less carbon-dense natural gas—U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are at the lowest levels they’ve been in twenty years.

But this apparent good news simply hides another troubling trend: Instead of burning our coal, we’re simply exporting more and more of it abroad, especially to China. And unfortunately, there are no borders in the atmosphere. The climate’s going to change no matter where fossil fuels are burned.

This further emphasizes the need for an international agreement to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, something negotiators have repeatedly tried and failed to reach before. Climate activists are hopeful that the 2015 round of UN negotiations, to be held in France, will result in a meaningful agreement, but there are a lot of hurdles to be cleared before that can happen.

6. There is one key formula to preventing catastrophic climate change. The amount of data and fine detail involved in calculating climate change projections can seem overwhelming, but a report released this summer by the International Energy Authority articulates the basic math.

Of all existing fossil fuel reserves that are still in the Earth—all of the coal, oil and natural gas—we must ultimately leave two-thirds unburned, in the ground, to avoid warming the climate more than 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit), a number scientists recognize as a target for avoiding catastrophic climate change.

If we can figure out a way to stay within this carbon budget before it’s too late, we can still avert a climate disaster. If we can’t, then we too might look back at today’s record-breaking temperatures, droughts and floods as a fond memory of milder times.
[Words: 325]
Source: Smithsonian
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/12/six-things-we-learned-about-our-changing-climate-in-2013/

Article 2(Check the title later)
A Texas Ban on Gay Two-Stepping Shows Why We Still Need Gay Bars

By June Thomas

[Time5]

Are gay bars still necessary? A story out of Victoria, Texas, reminds us why their continued existence is vital, even in the age of mainstreaming.

According to the Victoria Advocate, a gay couple was pulled from the dance floor of the Cactus Canyon on Dec. 20 and told that club policy prohibits gay couples from dancing to country music. Justin Meyer, 21, and James Douglas, 30, had already danced several songs without incident, but a manager intervened when the music switched to Dustin Lynch’s “Cowboys and Angels.”

Douglas claimed he was confused by this policy, telling the New York Daily News, “So he’s telling me that it would be perfectly acceptable to bump and grind all over my boyfriend to Bubble Butt, a song they play three times a night, but we can’t two-step to country music?” He also told the Daily News that at Cactus Canyon,“It’s OK if girls with tight butts and big boobs dance together, whether they’re straight or lesbian, but gay guys can’t.”

I’ve never been to Texas, much less the Golden Crescent region, but it does indeed sound like a special kind of place. Can it really be that boy-on-boy bumping and grinding is “perfectly acceptable” while two-stepping is off limits? It seems far more likely that the Cactus Canyon doesn’t want gay guys doing couple dances at all. In fact, that’s exactly what a company spokesman told CNN: “For many decades, it’s acceptable for women to dance together in all kinds of clubs; country western, Top 40, etc. But it’s not acceptable for men to dance together in this type of business that we run.” Those final words— “in this type of business that we run”—make me think that the Cactus Canyon wouldn’t really be all that keen on women dancing together if it was a lesbian couple rather than a pair of straight women doing the Texas two-step.

Although the particulars of the dispute between Cactus Canyon management and Douglas and Meyer are contested, it’s seems clear that the club was concerned about safety issues—not only for the protection of its patrons but because maintaining the peace at its establishments is key to keeping its license from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. But there are other economic issues in play. Several commenters on the Victoria Advocate story suggest that straight customers are less likely to patronize a bar if even a couple of gay men are dancing there. (It is astonishing how people who can avert their eyes from all kinds of nasty goings-on can’t ignore one couple on a crowded dance floor.)

Several other commenters said that if gay men want to dance together, they need to go to a gay bar. Except, of course, that there isn’t one in Victoria. Indeed, there are fewer and fewer gay bars all across the United States. Back in 2011, when I wrote a series about gay bars, I reported that between 2005 and 2011, the number dropped from 1,605 to 1,405, a 12.5 percent decrease.
[Words: 505]
Source: Slate
http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2013/12/27/cactus_canyon_bans_gay_two_stepping_why_gay_bars_still_matter.html

Article 3(Check the title later)
What's the Difference Between an Oiran and a Geisha?

By Quora Contributor

[Time6]

Oiran (花魁) was a name given to a prostitute who was very popular and highly regarded, mostly for her beauty, in the brothels of Yoshiwara in Edo (Tokyo). In the Edo period(江户时代), prostitution conducted in specified areas, called yuukaku (遊郭), like Yoshiwara and was legal. A regular Yoshiwara prostitute was called a yuujo (遊女) which means "play woman." (Other types of prostitutes had other names.) An oiran was like the pinup girl of Edo—many of the bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) that exist as woodcut prints are of oiran.

There are no oiran left in modern Japan since prostitution is illegal now. There are some borderline almost prostitution businesses around, but the women who work in them are not called oiran or yuujo.

A geisha (芸者), geiko (芸子), or geiki (芸妓), is a trained entertainer who is very skilled in song, dance, playing an instrument, and otherwise entertaining guests. Although not primarily prostitutes, some did sleep with clients and many "successfully" retired by becoming the mistress of a client, or sponsored by one or more, and so forth. There were also male geisha in the Edo period.

A tayuu (太夫) was the name used especially in Kyoto and Osaka for highly lauded and popular geiko and yuujo. Early on, the term was used for similarly ranked women in Edo too, but oiran became more widely used. (The term tayuu is also used in many other contexts for men and women. Basically it does mean the best or most respected in a certain field, such as in noh theater.)
[Words: 282]
Source: Slate
http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/12/20/geisha_and_oiran_in_japan_what_s_the_difference.html

jay871750293

Part 3 Obstacle

Article 4 (Check the title later)
During the holidays, remember our ‘least’

By Katrina vanden Heuvel, Published: December 24

[Paraphase7]

As we celebrate the holiday season, we are instructed by virtually all faiths to turn our thoughts to the “least of these.” January will mark the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty, but most notable today is how impoverished our discussion of poverty is.

Political leaders in both parties pledge to save the “middle class,” because polls show that most Americans consider themselves part of the broad middle. Democrats tout their “middle out” economics against Republican “trickle-down” economics. Republicans claim to be fighting to save small businesses and middle-class homeowners from the rapacious demands of government. Very little attention is given to the poorest among us.

Perhaps that is because poverty scars this rich nation. A recent report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) reveals that among 35 developed nations the United States ranks 34th in childhood poverty, above only Romania, a country several times less wealthy. Worse, we are also next to last in the depth of childhood poverty — the gap between average income of child’s family and that of poverty standard.

There is no argument about the facts. The poor were much more deprived when Lyndon Johnson declared his “war on poverty,” of course, but the percentage in poverty hasn’t changed much . Childhood poverty translates into poor health, poor education, and poor prospects. It isn’t an accident that the country frequently is at the top of the international education rankings – Finland — also has the lowest levels of childhood poverty in that U.N. study.

So you’d think Washington would be focused on what to do to reduce the number of children in poverty, to address mass unemployment, declining wages, family distress. Instead, Washington has decided to administer a little “tough love.” Last month, Congress cut food stamps by an average of 7 percent for 48 million Americans . And this week 1.3 million jobless Americans will lose unemployment benefits , with as many as 5 million left in the cold over the course of the coming year .

In his recent “exhortation,” Pope Francis wrote starkly about the moral challenge of poverty:

“We can only praise the steps being taken to improve people’s welfare in areas such as health care, education and communications. At the same time, we have to remember that the majority of our contemporaries are barely living from day to day, with dire consequences. A number of diseases are spreading. The hearts of many people are gripped by fear and desperation, even in the so-called rich countries.  . . 

“Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure but it is news when the stock market loses two points?”

Here, the pope was standing firmly in the long tradition of the church’s concern for the poor, but among American conservatives, the response was hysteria. Rush Limbaugh accused him of peddling “pure Marxism.” Louis Woodhill in Forbes scorned him for “Papal Bull” that seemed “copied and pasted out of The Nation or Mother Jones.” (I take that as a compliment.) Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), a pious Catholic, was notably silent.

In a recent speech on inequality, President Obama insisted, “We are a better country than this,” and he made the case for government action. But his agenda was far less impressive than his rhetoric — including lower corporate tax rates, more trade accords, “streamlined” regulations, a “responsible budget” (meaning continued austerity).

The president touted his “race to the top” education program, when, in fact, schools in low-income districts have been forced to fire teachers, leaving classrooms far more crowded. He bragged on his college loan efforts even as reports showed students are graduating even deeper in debt. He did repeat his call for universal preschool and raising the minimum wage, but neither of these has been able even to receive a vote in the Republican-led House.

The reality is that government programs to lift the poor work. Johnson’s War on Poverty brought poverty down dramatically, but that war was lost to the war in Vietnam. Today, the United States does a much better job lifting poor children out of poverty than it did before Johnson pushed through Medicare and Medicaid expansions, child nutrition programs, subsidized school lunches and more. Even so, the United States still does far less than other developed countries. In 2010, for example, Dutch government programs reduced its poverty rate from 25 percent to 7.5 percent , while the United States only reduced its rate from 28 percent to 17 percent .

Two fundamental issues should be at the center of our debate. The first, posed by Pope Francis and Barack Obama, is what must be done to make the economy work for working people? The second is that posed by the president: Are we a better country than this? Do we want to be? We know what works. We can afford it, even more than other industrial countries. But are we prepared to do what needs to be done?
[Words: 871]
Source: The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/katrina-vanden-heuvel-during-the-holidays-remember-americas-least/2013/12/24/ce1506a8-6c17-11e3-a523-fe73f0ff6b8d_story.html

疏离无罪

沙发 我来拉~~~30系列第一发 好早   感谢JAY   
说好的全球变暖，为什么上海的冬天越来越冷了


Speaker:An embrassing situation in socialising.Tips to solve it:found it,apologize and move on.

02:10
Some things learnt about climate change in 2013:1 the highest record of greenhouse gas in atmosphere 2 global warming is slowing down since the ocean absorb most of the heat which lead to the raise of sea level.

02:03
3 Most scientists and studies agree that human activities change the climate. 4 Cliamte change can affect everyone in different aspects.

01:29
5 there are still not enough being down to stop the climate change. 6 We need apply carbon budget to avoid catastrophic climate change.

02:52
Tell a story in Texas and discuss several reasons why they prohibit gay couples from dancing to country music.And accoding to this,the author raised that a gay bar is necessary.

01:38
Introduce Oiran geisha and tayuu.

06:16
Main Idea:the war to the poverty
Both party in the usa forcus much on the middle class and little on the poor people.But the poverty is really an big problem in this rich nation.Childhood poverty in america is almost in the bottom among developed contries.
Childhood poverty may lead to poor health,poor education and so on.But the government and the society do not put much attention on poverty.
Although President Obama said the country is becoming better,the low-income community and people do not become better,even worse.Admittedly,the government has already done many things to  change the situation,but it is still not enough.
Two fundamental issues should be at the center of our debate.The first is what must be done to make the economy work for working people.The second is  Are we a better country than this?

kimwang53

thx jay~            楼下的同学，好巧啊~
2.44
3.26
2.56
2.56
1.44

小鱼上树

新一期，楼上的同学又是你们啊

30-01

speaker

Business socializing-forget the names or get the name mixedup-don’t panic, find out and apologize and move on-I think we met before, Howis things with you-we all make mistakes, keep the conversation flow

2 467 2min20

3 481 2min14

4 325 1min31

The past 2013 has been a darker year for global climate. Thecarbon dioxide levels have never been higher in the past 25 million years.Global warming is slow down due to melting more ice. It’s broadly accepted thathuman activities is the drive force for the climate changing. The changingclimate also changes our daily life from the price of goods to the happening ofdisaster. We haven’t done enough and we need global agreement.  

5 505 2min29

A club in Taxes has the policy that gay can’t dance two-stepto country music but women are allowed to dance anything no matter they arestraight or lesbian. Through the years, the number of gay bar has declinedespecially in Victoria, there is no gay bar at all. Is gay bar still necessary?

6 282 1min37

Obstacle 871 4min35

sherlock1992

今天有些早啊~ thx, jay!
Speaker:
Situation: business socializing:
when you are socializing, it is very embrassing to forget the poeple's name/job title or maybe just have met before.
1)find out.
2)apologize.
3)move on.
Find out: I think we've met before, haven't we?/ You must be.../ I can't quiet remember your name.
Apologize: I'm so sorry...
Move on: how i think with you?/ how are you?
->just try and keep the conversation flowing.

Speed:
3'05''
3'25''
2'10''
3'12''   *Bump and grind: a style of party partner dancing that basically amounts in bumping each other's hips and buttocks and suggestive rubbing of bodies.
1'28''

Obstacle-5'53"
Politicians pay more attention to middle class because of the poll reason and ignore the poorest class.U.S. has a serious situation in childhood poverty, which causes a series of derivative side effects.
Government still hasn't an effective measure to cope with this poverty problem.
From the pope's words, the author emphasizes the public should concern more for the poor.
In the end part, back to the politicians in Washington, the reality is still not optimistic.

Changpoyu

今天怎么这么早，还想补昨天的呢，一看是30期•••••好吧，先跟上
Day 2013.12.29
No Excuse
Time 2:4'18"21
The article mentions two aspects of climate change one is the carbon dioxide has increasing over years and the sea level is the same as carbon dioxide ,other is the temperature still growth
Time 3:4'36"51
The scientist's study indicate that the human being's activity bring influence to the climate. And the change of climate which may cause by human-self has bring a great damage to human society that we have suffered serval catastrophic which even cause death
Time 4:2'38"77
The author think we have a lot of thing to do to reduce carbon dioxide output but the fact is what we have done is too few to stop the change. Personally I think human in the world should have a good cooperation ,not like the US that not only earn money form abroad but make the carbon dioxide pump to the firegn country
Time 5:3'38"52
A bit astonished
About the gay couple is being prohibit dance together in some where by the new policy but the gay bar that the can dance is decreasing,that cause the gays argument
Time 6:1'41"44
I guess it about the "nan you & nv you" 's named in old Japan

obstacle

Time 7:7'29"30
First read :in my temperature memory I think it could about the poverty and eduction
Secondly :
People has gap in poverty ,the poor people is been ignore

黄衣小亮

TIME2 03'47
main idea:2013 is a great year in sciencem by a darker means.human's envolvment destroied environment seriously.
content:1)the discharge of carbon gas in 2013 is far more than that of any year in the history.it's plants and the like by which carbon gases were absobed that are overwhelming.moreover,human beings do not show any tact in dealing with this tricky situation.
2)the global warming seems to slow down,but it's not true.the majority of melted ice is absobed by oceans,so that the temperature of land shows almost no increase.

TIME3 03'22
content:3)over 90 percent of people agree that the activities of humanity play a important role in climate changing.
4)impaction to human's life.the author makes some examplary fact to indicate the saying:the drop in coffee's price and so on.what's even more seriously is that climate change makes the weather more extremely,eg.the heavy rain in India.....

TIME4 02'28
5)many countries utilize increasing amounts of renewable energy,willing to slow down the speed of temerature climbing,however the author does not have faith in the method.US removes numbers of its pollutional factories to China,in order reducing it's carbon releases.but the authomosphere does not have a border.
6)it's reaching a agreement over countries that can help,while it's hard to make consensus about discharge of pollutant.

TIME5 03'04
main idea:should gay bar exist?
content:a gay couple danced in a local bar,when the mucis turned to a country music,the manager came to tell them that they were not allowing dancing under this song.the gay man felt hurt.they wanted to protest for their rights.
bar manager said that if gay man wanted to dance they could go to gay bar instead of the "straight bar".he and the like also held an opinion that allowing a gay couple dancing would lose some straight customers .
the number of gay bar fell in the recent years.

TIME6 01'33
main idea:some knowledge about prostitutes.
content:the names of prostitutes in 江户时代.
in the modern society,there has been no prostututes anymore since protitutes is suppossed to illegal.those 艺妓 who sleeping with clients will be more successful and may be eventually become mistress of a client = =

TIME7 05'52
main idea:debate about poverty.the author says that this situation is very ironic.instead about the middle class ,the goverment should do more to deal with the poverty problems(childhood....education of poor kids,unemployment workers)the government did not pay enough attention to this serious problem!(what they have to do)

开心的柠檬

thx~JAY~ i like ur name, which the same as my idol JAY : )
掌管 6        00:03:59.06          00:13:44.98
Obstacle: the discussion of poor in USA. what's the poor, how to fix it.
掌管 5        00:01:03.68          00:09:45.92
oiran in  Edo period
掌管 4        00:02:47.40          00:08:42.23
gay couple can't dance together, but two girls can, no matter the girls are lesbian or friends.
掌管 3        00:01:38.89          00:05:54.82
coal and globe warming
掌管 2        00:01:58.45          00:04:15.93
humans are changing climate; climate changes is impacting human's life, such as strongest typhoon and so on.
掌管 1        00:02:17.48          00:02:17.48
the climate changes in 2013. Gobal warming appear to slow down, but it is an illusion.

Speaker:  
in a business event, if you foget a person's name, but you want to talk to that person. how to fix this situation? find out a apology and then move on