【速度】+【越障练习】GMAT得阅读者得天下，大家一起来练阅读吧

进击的智人阿飞

【速度1-11】
计时

1min, +5行 ， +58s， +2行， 58s

first part:  Brazil national museum in 里约热内卢 has suffered a fire， which burnt the museum projects into ashes. Many projects are served as the evidence of Brazil's 500 years' history. Thus many people raised parade in memory of it. No one was injured in this fire and the factor of the fire is unknown. However, many people protest the government for not taking matural measures to protect the museum. What's noteworthy is that these days happened to be the end of the national election. It's probably that new government's credibility is to be damaged. The new government planed to reconstruct the museum. But the author felt the childern is the most pityful group for they don't have a chance to see the past culture.

Second part: Switzerland is supportive to parental leave. The companies allowed dad's paied parental leaves . And extra money for additional days. The government,in order to promote gender equality, asked man to take as much responsiility as women in this regard. However, mothers are still the main force in child-raising, and most dads still prefer to work .  A dad was interviewed said he though this job difficult. And he preferred to appear as a image of working man but not baby's dads. But this parental leave indeed gives them sometime to contemplate

进击的智人阿飞

【越障1-11】计时 9min
主旨：作者从组织架构和执政理念两个方面来抨击了当时共和党候选人Ryan的不靠谱。
结构：过往的共和党和民主党领导架构，对比现在的领导架构，反对Ryan执政理念理由一，理由二，Ryan执政可能带来的后果。

大意： 民主党一般是让年轻人当领导，用思想较为保守的老派政治人来辅助当二把手；共和党则相反：他们选择更为成熟的人当党主席，更为年轻活跃的人当二把手。
但是今年的共和党则让人摸不着头脑，主席是Ryan，副主席 romney，后者明显更为老到。 而且他们俩内部不是很合，至少Romney并不完全认可Ryan的思想。
一个表现是，Ryan的执政理念非常的幼稚，表面上看来充满了创造性，但若真要用于实际会造成很大不良后果。作者认为，这可能跟Ryan本人一直在象牙塔里生活，见不到民间疾苦有关。第二个表现是，他的几个题案就没有成功过的。一个题案是供给侧减税。他预言即使减了税，也并不会减少政府收入。但是从历史上来讲，曾经也有两位总统也这样干过，结局是并没有减少赤字，反而是下任总统为了弥补减税后果，更大地增加了收税的力度。 从实际来讲，供给侧改革原理是干的多的人交税少，于是中产阶级交税增加了，底层赋税负担十分重，而上层社会的富人，交税却减少了。  实际情况与预测相符，Ryan的措施并没有减少政府赤字。  
他非人道的减税政策直接影响的还有医疗系统，很多比较穷的老人必须要在好的医疗和养老之间做出艰难选择。尽管Ryan有提出一个长期的医疗补助，但仍是不现实的（没读懂最后一句为什么不现实）

进击的智人阿飞

【越障1-12】https://phys.org/news/2018-09-tiny-curiosity-motor-massive-martian.html?utm_source=menu&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=item-menu
           How a tiny Curiosity motor identified a massive Martian dust storm（806 words） （科技天文）

There is no shortage of eyeballs, human and robotic, pointedat Mars. Scientists are constantly exploring the Red Planet from telescopes onEarth, plus the six spacecraft circling the planet from its orbit, and tworoving its surface. So when dust filled the atmosphere during the recentplanet-wide dust storm, observations were plentiful.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provided theearliest insights on May 30 when it observed an accumulation of dust in theatmosphere near Perseverance Valley, where NASA's Opportunity rover isexploring. The increasingly hazy storm, thebiggest since 2007, forced Opportunity to shut down science operations by June8, given that sunlight couldn't penetrate the dust to power the rover's solarpanels. Scientists are anxiously waiting for the roving explorer to regainpower and phone home.

Meanwhile,on June 5, evidence quietly materialized on the other side of the globe thatthe storm was growing and beginning to affect Gale Crater, the research site ofNASA's Curiosity rover. (The storm was officially classified as global on June20.)

It came froman unexpected source: an actuator, or motor, that powers a lid to a funnel thattakes in samples of powdered Martian rock dropped in by Curiosity's drill. Thesamples then undergo chemical analysis by the portable Sample Analysis at Mars(SAM) chemistry lab, designed by scientists at NASA's Goddard Space FlightCenter in Greenbelt, Maryland and built into Curiosity's belly.

BenitoPrats, a Goddard electromechanical engineer, noticed the dust storm slowlyreaching Curiosity through the continuous temperature readings he collected fromactuator sensors.

"All my charts showed the dust storm effect on the actuator because it'sexposed; it's sitting out there on the rover deck," said Prats. "Allof a sudden, I saw the daytime temperature drop really quickly."

Pratsobserved in the chart above temperature dropping during the day and rising atnight above normal levels. This happens during a dust storm because less sunpenetrates the dusty atmosphere during the day, cooling the surface of theplanet, while at night, the warmer, dusty atmosphere heats the ground.

There areother tools on the rover that track the weather. The Rover EnvironmentalMonitoring Station measures air temperature, atmospheric pressure, and otherenvironmental conditions, which were also beginning to indicate accumulatingdust.

Unlike solar-powered Opportunity, Curiosity is powered by a plutonium generator,so its operations were not affected by the dust shade. The temperature changesalso didn't affect SAM actuators—there are two sample funnel, in case one getsclogged—since they like warmer, less extreme temperatures.

SAM analyzesMartian rocks and soils in search of organic materials. In order for SAM towork properly, its actuators need to be at -40 degrees Celsius (-40Fahrenheit). This is why Prats keeps a close eye on their temperature. WhenMartian temperatures in spring dip to -60 degrees Celsius (-76 Fahrenheit) atnight, SAM heaters warm up the motors to lift the funnel lid for sample drops.

After Prats discovered the effects of the dust storm in his temperature data,he combined it with historic actuator temperature averages to estimate when thedust storm would abate.

"At sol2125 (July 28), I noticed a linear trend," he said, "so I said OK, Ican predict that sol 2180 (September 23) is going to be when we're going to getout of the dust storm and the temperature will return back to normal, though Ilater updated that to sol 2175 (September 18)." His prediction wasconsistent with more formal ones, and matches recent actuator temperaturereadings, which were back to normal around September 18, indicating that thedust over Gale Crater settled by then. A majority of the dust also has settledat Perseverance Valley.

Data fromany source, even the most unexpected, are useful to planetary scientists, givenwe still don't know why some Martian dust storms last for months and growmassive, while others stay small and last only a week.

Scientistshope to be able to forecast these global events, like they can forecasthurricanes on Earth, in order to better understand the planet's current andpast climate and to properly design robotic and human missions to the planet,NASA scientists say.

"Thereare some things about Mars that make it more predictable and some that make itless so than Earth," said Scott D. Guzewich, a Goddard atmosphericscientist leading Curiosity's dust storm investigation.

"I canestimate, two years in advance, the temperature, air pressure, and whetherthere's going to be dust or clouds in the air during the non-dusty seasonanywhere on the planet," he said. "But during the dusty season, inlocations that have dust storms, I can't give you any prediction at all thatthere will be a dust storm on one day and notanother."

进击的智人阿飞

【越障1-12】 计时 8min 46s
主旨：NASA科学家如何成功预言了一次火星上的dust storm。
结构： 观测到这个不寻常的火星现象的过程，以及观测到的原因，有什么意义

NASA的环火星探测器，和探索的飞船已经很多了，但是还没有一个能够提供足够的信息。关于观察到这次的storm，比较偶然，先是在6.8，一个MRS（忘了）检测到NASA的机遇号没电了，因为机遇号是太阳能驱动，所以肯定是有什么把光挡住了嘛，但是因为没电，就也没有返回的信号，科学家们也就不知道怎么回事。 然后偶然的事发生了， NASA的另一个探测器好奇号，不小心打碎了dust storm里的一块石头，然后石头碎了，就被一个lab采集到，然后发现温度非常的高。 一个叫P的人，他是负责操作观察这个好奇号工作的人，他就发现了这个事情，因为正常的温度是白天高，夜晚低，但好像若有风暴遮住了太阳光晚上就会温度很低，白天出奇的高。(这里有提到penetrate这个词，应该是很关键的，可以让人判断出是storm ) 他也预言风暴9月份会停掉，与之后的观测证实一致。
接下来讲了为什么能有幸观测到这次的storm，一个是因为虽然机遇号是太阳能，好奇号确事内置的燃料，观测好奇号的aucator也是，为的就是防止都无法运作的情况出现。
这次观测的意义是让我们离掌握火星的气候地貌又进了一步，为之后的太空移民什么的做基础。 最后有借一个比喻，我们可以说出过去几年内在无风暴情况下的天气，却不能说出在有风暴情况下一天后的天气。大概就是能预言对这一次，非常不容易啦

kksj

Mark一下！               

进击的智人阿飞

【速度1-12】
计时1 （298 words)

After IVF shock, mom gives birth to twosets of identical twins

(CNN) -- A Utah couple whose journey through in-vitrofertilization captivated the nation welcomed quadruplets -- two sets ofidentical twins -- Sunday.

Ashley and Tyson Gardner said they are"overwhelmed with joy" after the birthof Indie, Esme,Scarlett and Evangeline by Caesarean section at Utah Valley Regional MedicalCenter in Provo. Three of the newborns weighed a little more than 2 pounds atdelivery. The fourth weighed slightly less than 2 pounds, according to thehospital.

The Gardners announced the news on the Facebook page wherethey share news about the pregnancy.

"Mom and babies are doing incredible!!!We are so happy with how everything turned out today! The doctors, nurses, andstaff were incredible!! More updates to follow soon!!"

The Pleasant Grove couple conceived two setsof identical twins this summer with the help of in-vitro fertilization. InOctober, Ashley Gardner had emergency laser surgery in California to save oneset suffering from twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, the hospital saidin a news release. She began staying in an antepartum suite at UtahValley Regional in November after doctors decided hospital bed rest wasnecessary.

The four girls, dubbed the "QuadSquad" by the hospital, were due March 11. Doctors decided to deliver them12 weeks early after discovering that Ashley Gardner had ruptured somemembranes and her contractions continued to progress in intensity, the hospitalsaid.

Complications leading to premature deliveryare common in multiple gestations, whether achieved naturally or though IVF,said Dr. Andrew Toledo, CEO of Reproductive Biology Associates in Atlanta, thelargest IVF program in the Southeast. But data show that women who achievepregnancy through IVF have a slightly higher rate of complications comparedwith patients who conceive naturally.

计时2 （286 words）

It's also extremely rare for both embryos tosplit, but it's more common in IVF pregnancies compared with patients whoconceive naturally, he said.

In a YouTube video postedSunday morning from the hospital, Tyson Gardner said that mom and the babieswere doing well after a night in the hospital and that they expected the quadsto come in the next couple of days.

"We need lots of prayers the next 48hours," Ashley Gardner said from her hospital bed.

The Gardners tried for years to get pregnant.Finally, they learned in July that their first in-vitro fertilization attemptwas successful. But the real surprise came during the ultrasound, when theylearned she was pregnant with quadruplets.

A friend in the room captured the priceless look onher face in a picture that took the Internet by storm. In one week, theGardners' Facebook page grew by nearly 16,000 likes to 24,300. Today, it hasalmost 300,000 Facebook fans, and the TV network TLC is following them for aseries set to air in 2015.

Well-wishers flooded their Facebook pageMonday with congratulations and requests for pictures.

"Congratulations," one person said."Wishing you health and happiness for many years to come."

Christmas comes early for toddler withterminal cancer

"Jingle Bells" played onradios across Ohio. The local mall plastered "Merry Christmas" on itsdigital signs. And hundreds of people, in 90-degree weather, wore Santa hats asthey caroled in front of one little boy's home. It's only September, but for a2-year-old with terminal brain cancer, Christmas came early this year.

Colerain Township,a suburb of Cincinnati, celebrated the holiday this weekend because doctors saythe boy, Brody Allen, wouldn't make it to December.

计时3 （288 words)

Despite aggressiveand painful chemotherapy, brain scans showed that Brody's five embryonal tumorswere not responding to treatment. "The doctor had tears in his eyes as hewas telling us," said his aunt, Dina Brock. "The poor boy had gone throughso much in the hospital, but there wasn't any good news."

After Brody spentmore than 90 days at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, much of it in theintensive care unit, the Allen family decided to bring him home. Painfulradiation therapy would do little for his prognosis, doctors told the family,and "we wanted to do everything we could to let him live life," saidBrock.

"He can't use the left side of his body, his speech haschanged, and he has tremors," she said. But back at home, "he doesn'tget down about it. He doesn't know what we know. He doesn't know he hascancer."

'Team Brody' goes viral

Thefamily started a Facebook group, "Team Brody,"to update loved ones on his status. Hoping to celebrate the holidays one lasttime with their son, the family made a post asking friends and family forChristmas lights.

Thatsmall request went viral, and more than 13,000 people have since joined thegroup, sending prayers from as far away as London and Paris. "The love andattention they're giving Brody is unbelievable," said Brock. "Peopleare reaching out for no other reason than their good will."

Back at home, Brody's neighborhood soon turned into a winterwonderland. Inflatable snowmen lined the streets and garland hung from fencesand front doors. Brody was the Grand Marshal of his own superhero-themedChristmas parade, which featured Santa riding a firetruck, cheerleaders and adazzling fireworks display this past Sunday.

计时4 （252 words）

"When the parade started,my family was in the front row to see it all," said Amanda Hill, aColerain Township resident who watched with her husband and twin children."It was overwhelming and abundantly clear how much that little boy meantto the community."

A town comes together

In divisive times,Brody's story has brought family, friends and even strangers together.

"This is acommunity of people with diverse backgrounds, beliefs, ethnicities and genderscoming together for Brody," said Matt Castleman, a pastor at the CrossroadsWest Side church outside of Cincinnati. Castleman, who studied musical theater,worked with local radio station WARM 98.5 to organize a flash mob on Saturdayoutside of Brody's home.

The Children's Theatreof Cincinnati provided reindeer and elf costumes, Castleman's church helpedturn out singers, and the station took photos. Volunteers handed out lyricsheets at a local grocery store before consolidating cars and heading toBrody's neighborhood, where they distributed gifts and sang songs like "SilentNight" while holding hands.

"The Allen family knew that we were coming, but they wereshocked when we showed up with hundreds of people," Castleman said. It wasso hot, he added, that "you couldn't tell if people were crying orsweating."

The airwaves wereblanketed with the holiday spirit, too. "We decided to play one Christmassong per hour with a shout out to Brody before every song, to help himcelebrate with his family a little early," said Brian Demay, the programdirector at WARM 98.5.

计时5 （284 words）
'He definitely seems happier'

That support has meantthe world to Brody, an outgoing boy who spent months in the ICU, where he oftenwasn't allowed to see his brothers or sisters. "He definitely seemshappier to me," said Brock. "He loves people and he's not afraid ofanyone."

"He's aflirt," she added. "He's a major flirt. He's flirting with any andeverybody, but mostly the ladies."

And he has fans,too. Supporters have been using the hashtag #TeamBrody to send support tomembers of the Allen family, who have already raised more than $37,000 througha GoFundMe created to cover Brody's medicalexpenses. The boy's father, Todd Allen, wrote on Facebook that "the worldcollectively has reached out to hug our son."

"You havetaught me that we are not bound together solely by our nationality, language,religion, culture, race, social or economic status," he said. "We arebound by our humanity."

Combined birth control may reduce ovariancancer risk

(CNN)Use of contemporary birth control pills,patches or rings that contain both estrogen and progestin was linked to a reducedrisk for ovarian cancer in women of reproductive age, according to a newstudy published in the medical journal BMJ.

The findings fromthe observational study backed up prior data thatshowed similar results with the use of older forms of oral birth control,widely used until the 1980s.

"Based on ourresults, contemporary combined hormonal contraceptives are still associatedwith a reduced risk of ovarian cancer in women of reproductive age, withpatterns similar to those seen with older combined oral products," theauthors wrote in the study.

The use protectedfrom nearly all types of ovarian cancer, the researchers said.

进击的智人阿飞

【速度1-12】
计时  +5行， +4行， +2行， 58s，+2行


part I: The parents who conceived twins through IVF now successfully get birth to two babies. They are the parents eager to have children but failed in the past. They then tried IVF , and the wife finally get preganant . But she was then found to be contracted by a disease, so the doctor told the couple that they have to give birth to two babies three weeks in advance. Many people knew this news and were concerned about them. Now thanks to the contribution from the doctor and also a miracle, the surgery is succeeded and both babies and mom are healthy.  The miracle is that two babies are born to be split , which is very rare in normal conceive of birth. But the doctor said both the contraction and the split are common in IVF.
Part II: a 2-year-old baby called Grody has a earlier Chitsmas day, because the doctor said he couldn't make through this december. The family and the doctor have tried every thing to save his life but failed. All the treatment noe doen't work for the boy. So the family decide to bring him home. The boy keeps tremoring and disabled in leftside, but he is very positive.  His story is posted on Facebook and many people followed him and simultaneously raise fund for him.  When the day comes, the boy's family are well-dressed in Christmas style and so is their home. Many of his fans on Facebook should come! They hired some Chritsmas facilities for him and accompanied him to go through a happy earlier chritsmas.
Part II: the use of traditional children-forbidden method can reduce women's risk to have 宫颈癌。 手段包括避孕药和子宫帽？？

进击的智人阿飞

【越障1-13】来源： https://phys.org/news/2018-09-cats-rats.html#jCp
In the battle of cats vs.rats, the rats are winning （774words) （科技生物）

The first study to document interactions between feral catsand a wild rat colony finds that contrary to popular opinion, cats are not goodpredators of rats. In a novel approach, researchers monitored the behavior andmovement of microchipped rats in the presence of cats living in the same area.They show the rats actively avoided the cats, and only recorded two rat killsin 79 days. Published as part of a special "rodent issue" in Frontiersin Ecology and Evolution, the findings add to growing evidence that anybenefit of using cats to control city rats is outweighed by the threat theypose to birds and other urban wildlife.

"Like any prey, rats overestimatethe risks of predation. In the presence of cats, they adjust their behavior tomake themselves less apparent and spend more time in burrows," says thestudy's lead researcher Dr. Michael H. Parsons, a visiting scholar at FordhamUniversity. "This raises questions about whether releasing cats in thecity to control rats is worth the risks cats pose to wildlife."

Peoplehave long associated cats as the natural enemy of rats. However Australian andUS researchers say cats prefer smaller, defenseless prey such as birds andsmaller native wildlife—which makes cats a threat to urban ecosystems.

"NewYorkers often boast their rats 'aren't afraid of anything' and are the 'size ofa cat'," says Parsons. "Yet cats are commonly released to controlthis relatively large, defensive and potentially dangerous prey."

"Untilnow, no one has provided good data on the number of city rats killed bycats," adds co-author Michael A. Deutsch, from Arrow Exterminating CompanyInc. "But the data have been very clear as to the effect of cats on nativewildlife."

When feral cats invadeda New York City waste recycling center, the researchers took the opportunity tocorrect the record. Their team was already studying a colony of more than 100rats living inside the center, by microchipping and releasing the animals tostudy their life history. When the cats entered the research area, they set upmotion-capture video cameras to quantify the effect of the cats on the rats—thefirst time this has been studied in a natural setting.

"Wewanted to know whether the number of cats present would influence the number ofrats observed, and vice versa," says Parsons. "We were alsointerested whether the presence of cats had any effect on eight common ratbehaviors or their direction of movement."

Theresearchers examined 306 videos taken over 79 days. Although up to three catswere active beside the rat colony each day, only 20 stalking events, three killattempts and two successful kills were recorded in this time. Both kills tookplace when cats found rats in hiding; the third attempt was an open-floor chasewhere the cat lost interest.

Thevideos also revealed that in the presence of cats, the rats spent less time inthe open and more time moving to shelter.

"Thepresence of cats resulted in fewer rat sightings on the same or following day,while the presence of humans did not affect rat sightings," says Parsons. Incontrast, the number of rats seen on a given day did not predict the number ofcats seen on the following day.

"Wealready knew the average weight of the rats was 330 g, much more than a typical15 g bird or 30 g mouse," says Parsons. "As such, we expected a lowpredation rate on the rats—and our study confirmed this."

"Weare not saying that cats will not predate city rats, only that conditions mustbe right for it to happen," adds Deutsch. "The cat must be hungry,have no alternative less-risky food source, and usually needs the element ofsurprise."

Thefindings could explain why people continue to release cats as"natural" rat control tools. "People see fewer rats and assumeit's because the cats have killed them—whereas it's actually due to the rats changingtheir behavior," says Parsons.

"Theresults of our study suggest the benefits of releasing cats are far outweighedby the risks to wildlife," he adds.

Theresearch team plans to continue collecting data as part of their long-termstudy and will update their findings as new information becomes available.

"Muchmore research is needed to better understand the city rat problem, we hope oursuccesses will compel others to perform similar studies in other venues,"says Parsons.

Butfor now, in the battle of New York City cats andrats it appears the rats are winning.

进击的智人阿飞

【越障1-13】 计时 5 min 22s
主旨：一系列证明猫主要吃老鼠，是错误的。
结构： 总起表明一个误解， 猫对控制老鼠无效的几个原因（Both from rats and cat itself)， 一个为进一步证明的实验，研究对象，过程，实验结论，future study
大意：人们认为猫能控制鼠的数量是个误解，实际上猫不怎么吃老鼠，例举了个猫在老鼠栖息地活动的例子，79天内只有2只老鼠死了，它们对老鼠的杀伤力还没有鸟和蛇的大。
有几个原因：第一是老鼠在有猫的地方非常善于掩饰自己，而且事实证明它们根本不怕像猫这么大体型的动物；其次是猫更愿意吃的是比老鼠更小的一些动物，比如一些野生动物。所以把猫放出去是比老鼠更大的环境威胁。
一个实验：想把几只猫关进老鼠栖息地，旨在研究老鼠的数量变化与猫的数量变化的联系；第二是想看看猫的存在是否会对老鼠常规的八个行为产生影响。
实验结果：猫只有为数不多的几次跟踪和捕猎行为，成功的猎食只有两次。而且这两次还是在阴暗的，老鼠落单的地方，其他的追捕和跟踪行为是在open area发生的，猫很快就没兴趣了。结果发现猫更喜欢待在有遮蔽的地方而不是开放的地方，所以它们对老鼠的影响不大：老鼠确实更少出现了，但是它们的数量却没有受到影响。
结论是放猫对控制城市鼠灾没有作用，猫在有其他食物来源时是绝不会碰老鼠的。猫吃老鼠的误解很可能是因为，城市里的老鼠更擅长隐蔽自己，人误以为它们不出现是被猫吃了。 当然未来还会对猫对鼠的其他实质影响作进一步研究

进击的智人阿飞

【速度1-13】

计时1
（309 words）
StudiesExplore American Opinions about Women in Politics

Researchers arenoting changes in American public opinion on the issue of woman in politics.

A new study bythe Pew Research Center tries to explore how Americans truly feel about thesubject.

A new level ofenergy

Two years havepassed since former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became the first womanto win the presidential nomination of a major party in the United States.

In 2018, arecord number of American women are seeking elected office. Also this year,more women than ever before have won major party primary elections for stategovernor, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

The AssociatedPress reports that most of these female candidates support the policies of theDemocratic Party. Some say they decided to enter politics because of PresidentDonald Trump's election and the Republican Party's control of Congress. Otherswere influenced by the #MeToo movement and protest marches organized by and forwomen.

"We areseeing a level of enthusiasm among women voters that wehaven't seen in a long time," said Laura Kelly, a Democrat. She is seekingto become governor in the state of Kansas.

Easier for menthan women

Currently, womenhold just about a fifth of the 535 seats in the U.S. Congress. And six of thenation's governors are women. Yet more than half of the U.S. population isfemale.

In a new study,the Pew Research Center found that a large majority of women (69 percent) arelikely to say that too few women are politicians. Forty-eight percent of menagree.

The study notedthat nearly two-thirds of Americans think it is easier for a man to get electedthan a woman. One in four think that men and women have an equal chance, whileonly five percent think it is easier for women.

计时2（281 words）

The Pewresearchers also found that 61 percent of Americans think "women who runfor office have to do more to prove themselves than men." Seventy-twopercent of women felt that way, compared to 48 percent of men.

Some Americansbelieve the country is not ready to elect women to higher office. Pewresearchers said 57 percent of the women they questioned agreed with that statement,compared to 32 percent of men.

Political andgender differences

When Pew askedif gender discrimination was a reason for fewer women inpolitics, it found that younger women were more likely than older women toanswer ‘yes'.

Sixty-eightpercent of women under age 50 said ‘yes', while 50 percent of those over age 50agreed. Among men, there was little difference between younger and older men.

More than six in10 Americans said women are better than men at showing concern. Forty-twopercent said women are better at working out compromises, while 41 percent saidwomen make better examples for children.

The Pew ResearchCenter also found that Americans think men are more likely to have success inpolitics because they are more willing to take risks. The study found thatbeing decisive, forceful and ambitious helps men, while womenare seen as more approachable, better-looking and caring.

But mostAmericans did see benefits to having women in leadershippositions. A majority said that having women in top positions in business andgovernment would improve the quality of life at least somewhat for allAmericans.

Macedoniansto Decide Whether to Change Their Country’s Name

MacedonianPresident Gjorge Ivanov is urging Macedonians to boycott a popular vote on whetherthe country should change its name.

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He calledchanging the country's name from the Republic of Macedonia to North Macedonia"historical suicide."

Ivanov spoke atthe United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

He said,"It is a censorship of the world and an auto-censorshipof the collective conscience of Macedonian people."

Ivanov hasrefused to support a deal reached between Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaevand Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Under the deal, the people ofMacedonia will vote on whether to change the country's name or not.

The AssociatedPress reports that it is unclear if 50 percent of voters will take part inthe referendum, which is required for the vote to be official.

If voters dosupport the change, parliament will have to change Macedonia's constitution.

Ivanov hascalled the deal a clear "violation of sovereignty."

He criticizedthe vote saying: "This referendum could lead us to become a subordinatestate, dependent on another country." He added, "We will become a statein name only, not in substance."

Greece has saidthat the name Macedonia belongs only to its northern province of Macedonia. Itsays by using the name, the country of Macedonia can make a claim to the Greekprovince.

Since Macedoniabecame independent in 1991, Greece has put pressure on it to change its name.Because of the Objections of Greece, Macedonia is known as the Former YugoslavRepublic of Macedonia in the United Nations. Greece also has blocked Macedoniafrom joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO.

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Supporters ofthe name change say it will lead to NATO membership and permit the country tojoin the European Union after a set time period.

Opponentsconsider the change a national humiliation.

On Sunday,September 30, the people of Macedonia will vote on whether to change their nameto North Macedonia.

WithNo Nobel in Literature Named in 2018, a Different Prize To Be Awarded

The Nobel Prizeseason begins on October 1 with the announcement of the prize for physiology ormedicine.

The SwedishAcademy will instead name two literature laureates in 2019.

Members ofSweden's cultural society have come together to create a replacement literatureaward this year. The group released the names of four possible winners of theso-called "New Academy Prize." The winner will be announced onOctober 12.

Scandal at theAcademy

The scandal thathas hit the Swedish Academy involves photographer Jean-Claude Arnault. He isthe husband of Swedish Academy member and writer Katarina Frostenson.

At least 18women have accused Arnault of rape or sexual assault. Some of the assaults aresaid to have happened at properties owned by the Swedish Academy.

For many years,Arnault and Frostenson ran an organization in Stockholm that held readings andperformances by well-known people, including past Nobel laureates. The SwedishAcademy gave money to the organization.

Arnault's rapetrial in Stockholm ended last week. He is now waiting for the court's decision.He has repeatedly denied all the charges against him.

Arnault has alsobeen accused of leaking the names of literature prize winners before they wereannounced, including past laureates Bob Dylan and Harold Pinter. The academyoperates a highly secretive selection process.

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Swedish Academymembers found themselves unable to make a decision about Frostenson andArnault's future with the academy. This led to strong fighting within theorganization. Members insulted each other in media reports.

Three of the 18members resigned after the academy's leadership decided to let Frostensonremain in her position. The academy's permanent secretary then resigned inprotest. Later, Frostenson also left the academy.

A DifferencePrize

After thescandal, 100 of Swedish society's most important cultural members establishedthe New Academy Prize.

Unlike theSwedish Academy, the New Academy's nomination process is not secretive. The NewAcademy asked Swedish librarians to nominate writers for the prize. The publicthen got to vote for the 47 nominees that the New Academy received.

Three top votewinners – plus one candidate chosen by literature experts – made up theshortlist of four nominees. They are Britain's Neil Gaiman, Haruki Murakami ofJapan, Canadian Kim Thuy and Maryse Conde of Guadeloupe.

The New Academyrequired that the shortlist have two women and two men.

Gaiman wrote onTwitter that "winning would not make me any happier than being on thatlist makes me."

However,Murakami said he would not accept the prize. His name was removed from thelist.

Most in theliterary world agree with the Swedish Academy's decision to not name a laureatein 2018.

MariaSchottenius, a Swedish literature critic, said, "This is the best decisionthey could make." She added that the academy will have a chance to rebuilditself and be ready to award the prize next year.

Nobel Prizes areawarded in science, medicine, literature and peacemaking. Swedish inventorAlfred Nobel provided money for their establishment after his death.

This is thefirst time since 1949 that the literature award has been delayed. Japanese-bornBritish novelist Kazuo Ishiguro won the prize last year.