【Native Speaker每日综合训练—30系列】【30-14】文史哲

jay871750293

Official Weibo: http://weibo.com/u/3476904471

Part 1 Speaker

Showrooming and Shopping

[Rephrase1]


[Dialog: 6'04]

Mp3:  

Transcript:  

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2014/01/140102_6min_showrooming.shtml

jay871750293

Part 2 Speed

Article 1(Check the title later)
Why Does Society Value Beauty Over Brains?

By Quora Contributor

[Warm up]

When I was young, I was gifted with an exceptionally high IQ, great athletic ability, and the desire for adventure and discovery. However, what was the most consistent trait that other people talked about?

"Oh, you're so pretty!"
"Oh, I wish you'd wear your hair down every once in a while. You'd look so much prettier!"
"Aren't you pretty? You should wear a dress. It'll make you stand out even more."
"You should wear makeup. You'd make all the boys drool!"
"If you want that job, you'd better dress up nice. They don't want to hire an ugly girl."

Even my mother, who wanted me to be a high-achiever, was guilty of complimenting my perhaps slightly above-average looks more than my exceptional intelligence. As a result, I find myself fighting this stereotype on a daily basis. I am fighting to unlearn that I should spend more time doing my hair and makeup than studying for a test—and yes, this ingrained mindset has cost me quite a bit of ground in terms of grades and opportunities because these "female rituals" are such a habit that they take up my time without me even realizing what is happening.
[Words: 197]

[Time2]

Not only do I have to fight this mindset in order to focus on what truly matters to me, I also have to deal with the consequences—I am still judged first and foremost by my looks instead of my intelligence. I pay the price for what matters to me. It's no wonder women have a hard time getting ahead in many fields and instances; not only are we taught to engage in meaningless rituals that take up the time we could be using for other pursuits, but we also have to fight against a culture that looks at our bodies before it even listens to what we are saying (if it listens at all).

And, as far as evolutionary explanations go, they are great as far as understanding some things about us. However, what we have to take into account is the sheer adaptability of the animals that evolution helps to shape; this is the reason we have survived so well in so many environments. While the evolutionary explanation may explain some of what is going on, it does not explain the particular conception of beauty that our culture is pressing. Why makeup and skinny bodies? Why not the larger figures favored by some cultures? Why not obvious muscle? Why not peacock feathers sticking out of our ears (to put a point to the arbitrariness)? Even so, we might still say that the emphasis for females is on "beauty," whatever that conception may be. Still, without a certain culture there to press it, what would there be to strive for in terms of "beauty"?

If one thinks about the things we find attractive or unattractive and compares them to the things that truly indicate genetic health (which is what we, by evolutionary explanations, should be striving for), they sometimes, but not always, overlap. Do skinny (underweight) figures indicate genetic health? Do a few pimples indicate unhealthiness? Do colored eyelids and thin eyebrows indicate genetic health? If the evolutionary explanation is correct, it would seem that our conception of beauty would match the indicators of genetic health, but they don't always do so. In fact, in many instances, they indicate neither genetic health nor youth.
[Words: 365]
Source: Slate
http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2014/01/11/women_and_beauty_why_does_society_value_looks_over_intelligence.html

Article 2(Check the title later)
The Financial Benefits of Being Beautiful

DEREK THOMPSONJAN 11 2014, 9:31 AM ET

[Time3]

"Love of beauty is taste," said Ralph Waldo Emerson, a co-founder of this magazine. His perspective would fit snugly in a modern corporate boardroom. A raft of new research suggests not only that good-looking CEOs are paid more handsomely, but also that they're actually better for their companies in surprising ways.

Attractive CEOs have “a positive and significant impact on stock returns" when they first appear on television, according to a working paper by Joseph T. Halford and Hung-Chia Hsu at the University of Wisconsin. "Our findings suggest that more attractive CEOs have higher compensation because they create more value for shareholders through better negotiating prowess and visibility," they said. When better-looking execs appear on TV, their stock gets an exaggerated bump. Comely CEOs also snag better terms in mergers with other companies.

Blame the boards for shallowness if you like. But if economic partners, like traders and executives, are going to be suckered by good looks anyway, you might as well pay extra for it.

The problem is that the right look is often valued for the wrong reasons. "Mature-looking" CEOs are presumed to be more competent, according to another study by John R. Graham, Campbell R. Harvey and Manju Puri. But while beautiful faces might actually be more valuable for their companies, there's nothing special about wizened heads or the brains inside them. "Psychology research shows that baby-faced-looking people often possess qualities opposite to those projected by their facial traits," the researchers write (and this author cheers the finding). Mature-looking CEOs aren't any better at their jobs. They're just better at looking like they're better.

Paying for pulchritude isn't limited to Wall Street. Research shows that attractive people are widely perceived to be more competent leaders, harder negotiators, and smarter workers. According to Daniel Hamermesh, an economist who spent two decades researching the financial effects of being a hottie, the top third of attractive men earn 4 percent more than intellectually similar (but average-looking) men. The ugliest guys make 13 percent less. For the typical worker, that would add up to $230,000 "beauty premium" over a career.
[Words: 350]

[Time4]

Hamermesh's work fleshes out something old and intuitive: Making decisions is hard, and we often rely on our first impressions. Some people look trust-worthy, and some people look like crooks. Some people look like they can be president, and some people are Dennis Kucinich. Cute students are rated as smarter than uglier students, older-looking people seem more mature, and taller people seem more authoritative. The economics benefits of height (particularly for men) are so widely established that the Harvard economist Greg Mankiw once cheekily suggested a Tallness Tax to level the playing field.

First impressions are short-cuts, but sometimes our instincts are off. In one study of hedge funds, Ankur Pareek and Roy Zuckerman found that managers that looked more trustworthy attracted more funds, but there was "no evidence that perceived trustworthiness predicts actual manager skill." In fact, the trusty-seeming managers generated worse returns. The same principle appears in the peer-to-peer lending market, where Enrichetta Ravina found that pretty women, in particular, get cheaper loans, despite being more likely to default.

There are at least two levels of bias baked into the "beauty premium," as Daniel Hamermesh calls it. The first level is personal: We are, like Ralph Waldo, drawn to beauty and want to trust in it. The second level is strategic: Understanding that most people are drawn to beautiful faces, companies in the business of making impressions will pay a bonus for them. It might not be rational to give an attractive couple a favorable interest rate or loan term. But boards are just trying to raise their market cap by betting on the wisdom, or foolishness, of the crowd—which is repeatedly biased toward giving good-looking people the benefit of the doubt. Of all the weird financial benefits of good looks, the bloated pay packages of beautiful CEOs might be one of the least irrational.
[Words: 308]
Source: The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/the-financial-benefits-of-being-beautiful/282975/

Article 3 (Check the title later)
Some Everyday Words That Meant Really Different Things to Early American Colonists

By Rebecca Onion

[Time5]

Joan P. Bines’ Words They Lived By: Colonial New England Speech, Then and Now is a collection of words that are still familiar today, but that were used in totally different ways in colonial New England. Bines, director of the Golden Ball Tavern Museum in Massachusetts, follows words in several categories (work, drinking, the military, the sea) from the everyday contexts of colonial life through to the present day. Each word, as you might expect, contains a little story about the way life was once lived.

Here are a few of my favorites.

Backlog: Then: The largest log in the fire, set at the back of the kitchen fireplace to provide warmth. Housewives built smaller fires closer to the front, where they could control the heat for cooking. Now: A surplus, a reserve; or, less comfortably, a list of orders yet to be filled or emails yet to be answered.

Humble pie: Then: Entrails of a deer were called “the humbles.” Servants might eat a pie filled with minced “humbles.” Now: To eat “humble pie”: to make a sincere, shame-filled apology.

Logrolling: Then: “A community get-together for mutual assistance,” in which neighbors came together to help a new settler clear a cabin site of its trees. Now: Mutual back-scratching, as done by politicians; the connotation has become distasteful.

Mechanic: Then: Any of a class of respected, skilled craftsmen who made things with their hands: goldsmiths, cabinetmakers, blacksmiths. Now: Somebody who works with engines or machines.

Negligee: Then: A “dress that opened in the front to show the handsomely decorated petticoat beneath.” Now: The word, used only for lingerie, has a decidedly sexier connotation.

Pioneer: Then: In the colonial military, “a foot soldier who was sent ahead of the troops to repair roads, dig trenches, and open the way for the others.” Now: The word has a more generalized meaning: a person who settles on a frontier, or works in unknown intellectual territory.

Plantation: Then: Simply a planted area; sometimes used to indicate a farming settlement or community (see: Plimouth Plantation). Now: Usually used to describe a large estate, held by one person; the word is now intertwined with the practice of slavery.

Sad: Then: In an object: Of muted color (flax, puce, somber green). In a man: Grave, serious, trustworthy, firm. Now: Unhappy or sorrowful.

Smug: Then: Well-dressed. Now: Complacently self-righteous. (Or: Well-dressed, and knows it.)

Tenterhooks: Then: Hooks lining a wooden frame, or “tenter,” used to stretch washed woolen cloth after weaving. Now: “On tenterhooks” means to feel emotionally strained or anxious—a direct derivation from a vanished everyday craft.

Truck: Then: Goods used for trade or barter in a cash-poor economy (furs, pots and pans, bullets). Vegetables grown at home and taken to market. Later, a single-axeled carriage drawn by two horses. Now: A vehicle meant for hauling.

Wallet: Then: A knapsack that might carry enough provisions for a trip of a few days. Now: A small billfold that holds money, credit cards, and mementoes.
[Words: 497]
Source: Slate
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2014/01/10/colonial_words_everyday_words_whose_meanings_have_changed_since_colonial.html

Article 4 (Check the title later)
How People in Muslim Countries Think Women Should Dress

OLGA KHAZANJAN 9 2014, 10:14 AM ET

[Time6]

Wearing some form of head covering in public is an important sign of Islamic identity in many Muslim-majority countries, but there is considerable variation in the extent to which women are expected (and sometimes mandated) to cover up.

A recent Pew report, based on a survey conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research from 2011 to 2013 in seven majority-Muslim nations, reveals just how widely opinions about female attire differ in the region.

The researchers asked the respondents in each country, “Which one of these women is dressed most appropriately for public places?” while showing them this panel:

In the full paper, the study's authors explain that "style #1 is en vogue in Afghanistan; #2 is popular among both conservatives and fundamentalists in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf Arab countries; #3 is the style vigorously promoted by Shi’i fundamentalism and conservatives in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon; #4 and #5 are considered most appropriate by modern Muslim women in Iran and Turkey; and #6 is preferred by secular women in the region."

The fourth style, a white hijab that fully covers the hair, ears, and neck, was the most popular across all of the nations on average, while a fully uncovered look (#6) was only embraced among the comparatively liberal Lebanese.

The authors also asked participants if women should be able to choose how they dress, and majorities in only two countries—Turkey and Tunisia—agreed.

A country's economic development, it seems, had little correlation with preferences for a less-conservative veil. One of the richest countries of the lot, Saudi Arabia, also had the most people saying they preferred a black niqab that covers the entire face.

Instead, the authors found that dress preferences tracked most strongly with each country's level of gender equality and social freedoms.

That makes Tunisia's preference for a relatively conservative hijab particularly interesting, since Tunisians hold otherwise relatively liberal values: The country showed tepid support for an Islamic government, it had the most respondents who were supportive of a woman's right to dress as she wishes, and it also had the largest percentage of people disagreeing with the idea that university education is more important for boys than for girls.

And while respondents in all of the countries rated their own country as more moral than the U.S., Tunisians were the most likely to say they'd want Americans as neighbors.

[Words: 398]
Source: The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/01/how-people-in-muslim-countries-think-women-should-dress/282942/

jay871750293

Part 3 Obstacle

Article 5 (Check the title later)
Five myths about Michelle Obama

By Robin Givhan, Published: January 11

[Paraphase7]

Robin Givhan covered Michelle Obama for The Washington Post in 2009 and 2010.

Michelle Obama entered the White House as a chimera. To some, she was emblematic of fully realized African American womanhood and an incomparable fashion icon. To others, she was the voice of racial grievance, the nanny state and Seventh Avenue vanity. She has proved herself to be neither vengeful nor the patron saint of activist feminism. Yet misperceptions linger. So as she celebrates her 50th birthday, here are a few facts in the face of persistent fictions.

1. Michelle Obama is the most fashion-friendly first lady.

Obama has been a pronounced and polished advocate for American style, seamlessly moving from custom-made evening gowns to mass-market fare. She has made the fashion industry swoon with her willingness to embrace the work of some of its most eccentric players, such as Thom Browne , and its lesser-known talents, such as Isabel Toledo and Duro Olowu. One 2010 study in the Harvard Business Review estimated she could boost a company’s stock 16 percent by wearing its clothes.

Yet other first ladies have had more personal relationships with designers — and opened the White House doors to them in a way Obama has not. Jacqueline Kennedy designated Oleg Cassini her official dressmaker, and the style they created inspired generations of women and designers. Lady Bird Johnson in 1968 hosted a formal fashion show that involved models parading through the State Dining Room as the wives of visiting governors looked on. Nancy Reagan had let’s-meet-for-lunch friendships with several designers, and she received the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s lifetime achievement award — which she accepted in person. In 2005, Laura Bush’s presence at New York’s Fashion Week rippled through the industry like the Second Coming.

Obama has celebrated creativity through the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt Design Awards, but she has maintained distance from the industry. Jason Wu , designer of her two inaugural gowns, didn’t meet her until the first was installed in the Smithsonian a year after she wore it. She doesn’t attend fashion industry events. When Seventh Avenue honored her in 2009, she sent her thanks via video message.

2. She is a food tyrant of Bloombergian intolerance.

The first lady is renowned for her Let’s Move campaign to fight childhood obesity through healthy eating and exercise. One of her first projects upon settling into the East Wing was sowing the White House Kitchen Garden. She even gave out dried fruit on Halloween — President Obama joked that it would get the White House egged.

Her focus on the nation’s eating habits has led to complaints that she wants to deprive Americans of dessert. But Obama repeatedly expresses her belief in moderation, talks about her affection for French fries and unapologetically went in for a 1,700-calorie splurge at Shake Shack in 2011.

As for sweets, the first family’s Thanksgiving last year featured nine types of pie, as righteous a display of dessert democracy as one can get.

3. Her legacy will be Let’s Move or Joining Forces.

Fighting childhood obesity and supporting military families have been the first lady’s most formal and most publicized campaigns. But the guiding principle of her tenure has been a belief in youth mentoring and “paying it forward.”

She introduced mentoring as an institutional commitment at a 2009 lunchtime meeting, pairing 13 Washington area high school girls with top female White House staff members. A similar program for boys came later. In addition to getting personal time with the first lady, the students sat down with Supreme Court justices, met with a curator from the African American history museum and sampled a state dinner menu while learning about diplomacy.

The same ethos has guided how Obama has positioned herself abroad. At a London school, she described seeing herself in the faces of the students, who were overwhelmingly from disadvantaged backgrounds. The centerpiece of a Mexico City trip was a speech at a Jesuit university, where she said: “We have seen time and again that potential can be found in some of the most unlikely places. My husband and I are living proof of that.”

White House arts workshops, visits to underserved schools and the inclusion of young people at state events are now standard practice and may be her most lasting legacy.

4. She hates Princeton.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama’s senior thesis, “Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community,” was exhumed from the archives of the university and fueled the perception that she detested it. “My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my ‘Blackness’ than ever before,” she wrote. “I have found that at Princeton no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my White professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don’t belong. Regardless of the circumstances under which I interact with Whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, I will always be Black first and a student second.”

After she declined invitations to return for special events and skipped her 25-year reunion with a reference to a scheduling conflict, speculation about her animosity intensified. Princeton alumni — I’m one — celebrate reunions with ferocity. Skipping one’s 25th? That’s heresy.

Still, there’s no active vitriol. The conclusions of her thesis are nuanced and measured. More than a reprimand of a school struggling with diversity, they explain her determination to stay connected to the black community.


Obama also has not been wholly disengaged from Princeton. She accepted a position on the sociology department’s advisory board in 2005, though the presidential campaign soon kept her from going to meetings. In 2012, she did a fundraiser in the town of Princeton that included university students, alumni and faculty.

Obama has reserved most of her campus speaking for historically black colleges and universities, and schools serving disadvantaged students or military families. She hasn’t delivered an address at her alma mater, but she has upheld its informal motto: “Princeton in the nation’s service and in the service of all nations.”

5. She represents an unusual success story.

Her story — as a successful wife, mother and professional who happens to be black — is not unique. The Labor Department estimates that by age 46, almost 70 percent of black men and women have, at some point, been married. According to the last census, 45 percent of black children are raised in two-parent households. More than one-third of employed black women work in professional fields.

But popular culture hasn’t normalized women like Obama. Columbia law professor Patricia Williams laments: “The jurisprudence of the entire 20th century was about black people trying to get into school.” Popular culture, she said, renders the results of that striving “invisible.”

Women like Obama were thriving long before the 2008 election, but a lot of people hadn’t noticed.
[Words: 1136]
Source: Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-michelle-obama/2014/01/10/6666b5fc-78d7-11e3-af7f-13bf0e9965f6_story.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop

疏离无罪

又是沙发~~~~~~感谢JAY

speaker:people go to showroom to see the goods and buy it online,which can save money and time. high street compete internet.People alos use internet in store to buy goods in bottom price,since shopping in stores has several benefits.

01:48
People always put too much attention on women's beauty.But there is no good reason or explanation to explain this phenomenon.

01:46
Good-look CEOs are better and more valuable to the company,though there is no improvement about their intelligence.And beautiful people earn more.

01:23
First impressions are important and beautiful people have this advantage.There are two levels of bias in beauty premium.

02:24
Several words change their meanings with times going by.

01:50
Dress preferences in Muslim-majority countries are affected more by the level of gender equality and social freedoms than by the economic development.

06:30
Main Idea:A few fact about the First Lady Michelle Obama
1 Michelle Obama is the most fashion-friendly first lady. But she has never invited any designers to the white house and  attended any fashion industry events.
2. She is a food tyrant of Bloombergian intolerance. But she really eat a lot desert.
3. Her legacy will be Let’s Move or Joining Forces. But the guiding principle of her tenure has been a belief in youth mentoring and “paying it forward.
4. She hates Princeton. But she also has not been wholly disengaged from Princeton.
5. She represents an unusual success story. But she is actually normal.

pennyz

板凳么？
扫了一遍配图赶脚好带敢，明天来填坑
1:52s
as a female,we pay attentions on good-looking and the society seems to evaluate female by their appearance.this judgement is said to be relevant to genetic health but is nonsence
timer1
2:10s
beauty actually pay back financially,for researchers handsome CEO earn more money and boost the stock price
timer2
1:50s
first expression benefit people with better appearance,but sometimes first expression will screw things up.
timer3
3:36s
timer4
2:20s
the different views how women should wear in muslin country and a suprise relation between the preference and liberty
6:52s
some misperceptions of Ms obama
1she is actually the  most far away first lady from fashion industry
2she tries to change the american eating habits
3she promote the equality between different races in children
4as an alumi of priceton,she actually does not hate it
5she is a successful profession before 2008 election

sherlock1992

                  thx, jay!

Speaker:
a new style of shopping-showrooming, is challenging the traditional shopping-the high street shopping. The reasons people choose showrooming are:
1) short on time.
2) short on money.
3) reassurance.
yet the high street shopping has advantages below:
1) expert advice from the sales assistant.
2) good aftercare.

Speed:
1'17''
2'01''
2'16''
2'06''
1'38''
2'23''

Obstacle-7'24''
facts about Michelle Obama:
1.Michelle Obama is the most fashion-friendly first lady. Yet, she always keeps distance from the fashion industry.
2.Michelle Obama publicly objects the American way of unhealthy eating habits, esp. for desserts, and takes herself as a model to promote this 'healthy' eating habits.
3. compared to fighting childhood obesity and supporing military families, Michelle Obama is more enthusiastic in mentoring.
4. Because of the race shadow sowed in the mind of the first lady at her university life, Michelle Obama always dislikes this top university-Princeton.
5. the successful stories like Michelle Obama's are not unique, rather are very normal, but because of historical reason, these stories are concealed.

d2a2n27

1mins31sec;   
3mins02sec   
3mins 12sec;  
3mins05sec;   
4min25sec;   
3mins48sec;   
11mins 06sec
不会越障~ T。T 谢谢楼主~~~

d2a2n27

Time 2: apperance doens't indicate genetic healtness
Time 3: Apperance does matter since a better looking CEO could bring a better profit such as when they show up on TV, the stock value goes up and it is much easier for negotiation. But their lookings doesn't mean anything.
Time 4: it's a two sided thing
Time 5: same words, different meaning during old time and now.
Time 6: A study show the opinion of women's formal dress up in Arab countries.
Paraphrase 7: Michelle Obama's success and unique. she was far away from fashion industry and she hates princeton while she is helping the condition of children obesity  


第一次做阅读小分队~学渣我要更努力~

苏错

火速冲来占楼！！！！！喵~~~‘
谢谢JAY~~’

Speaking: (大爱英式。。。)
shopping
show rooming ?
test products  
on line?
technology changing the way we shop
buy on line
three reasons for people to show room
to  look around for the best deal
UK? (=  =||)

Speed:
Time2:1'54
Time3:1'45
Time4:1'27
Time5:2'23
Time6:2'01

Obstacle:5'14
Facts about  Michelle Obama who celebrates her birthday

d2a2n27

chimera 虚构的怪物
gowns 面罩 礼服
eccentric 古怪的
vengeful 复仇的
vitriol 尖刻的话