【揽瓜阁4.0】+“vinago”打卡贴

vinago

打卡贴

vinago

Pinduoduo faces growing PR crisis over employee death
阅读时间：4’18
总结时间：25’
总时间: 50’

文章中心大意
It is a hot topic that an employee of Pinduoduo died because of overwork. Thus, Pinduoduo has to face the public relations crisis and investigation into its working conditions. Meanwhile, the incident has once again aroused public’s attention on the long-hours culture.
每段段落大意
P1: This paragraph describes the main idea: Pinduoduo has to face social pressure and an investigation into its working conditions after one of its employees died on her way home from work.
P2-P6: The long-hours culture has been around awhile and an “anti-996”campaign made an effort to change the working condition but failed. Among those companies with such brutal work culture, Pinduoduo in particular is known for the workplace norms; however, in return, employees of Pinduoduo are paid higher salary than counterparts in other companies.
P7-P12: The cause of the death of the girl remains unknown. A post of pinduoduo after the girl died went viral , putting pinduoduo into the public crisis again. Pinduoduo blamed the post on an external agency employee and claimed that it is a mistake.
P13-P15: The social security bureau of the Shanghai district has taken action to investigate the working conditions in Pinduoduo .
印象深刻的句子
The employee’s death ,which occurred in the early hours of December 29, has revived concerns over the brutal work culture at some Chinese tech companies.
The sector’s exhausting working weeks have come under fire in the past, with and “anti-996”campaign gaining steam in 2019 among tech workers and activists.
Pinduoduo went on to blame the errant post on an external agency employee.

生词
Gruelling schedules: 折磨人的日程
A secretive culture: 神秘的文化
996 norm
Boycott of its platform 抵制平台
Backtrack：改变意见，收回声明

Economic Scene; Good news for the down and out, or are the data misleading?
阅读时间：6‘04
总结时间：21’46
总时间:30’

文章中心大意
Researchers found that Income inequality has improved over the last decade. Opportunity weighs more than equality during the change. But G points out flaws of the argument.
每段段落大意：
P1-P2 Researchers found that income distribution problems has improved and they are trying to find what made the change. Opportunity matters most.
The Rest: These paragraphs try to find out what leads to the change and G argues that there are some flaws of the results. First,the method that researchers use. They measure incomes actually earned by individuals. But children grows up to earn a salary after 16 years. Second, mobility partially offsets the impact of inequality.

印象深刻的句子
Most Americans struggling to make ends meet (收支平衡) are on the fast track to affluence.
Maybe it would make sense to spend less time splitting hairs(吹毛求疵) over what’s happened- and more trying to figure out what can be done for the losers
Tracking individuals overtime the Cox. Study mingles the impact of real economic mobility with income gains linked to accumulating work experience.

生词
Fuss:焦虑操心
Amiss：不合适的，不正常的
Impediment：障碍
Mobility：流动性
plight: 困境

PS:1，第二篇文章明显比第一篇读的难受, 没太看明白。
2，写作能力很差。实在不知道如何更好将看到的内容转化成自己英文表达。

妥妥

赞！

vinago

Shades of black: For centuries, the colour black has tested artists’ingenuity
阅读时间：9’05
总结时间：31’
总时间: 41’

文章中心大意
Different from others, the colour black is always bound with the underworld,witchcraft ,night-time and the far side of the moon. However, from artists opinions, black can represent their ingenuity. Then the author elaborates the point with the facts that how black is used in the art from ancient times to now.

每段段落大意
P1-P2 Started with a story of the death of Claude monet linked with colour, the passage describes that colours represent different things for different people except for black , which is bound up with witchcraft, the underworld, night-time and far side of the Moon.
P3-P4 However, many artists argue that black represents an intellectual and technical challenge to them. Then several examples around the world in the ancient times are listed to elaborate this point.
P5-P7 What kind of black pigments is preferred by artists and how artists uses the colour black in their works.
P8-P12 This part describes how black is performed by artists in the 20th century. Among these different forms， Black Square plays an important role.

印象深刻的句子
It was only when black pigments-made from coal, lampblack or even burned ivory -were successfully mixed with gum Arabic or linseed oil that it became possible to create the black gloss that many European artists came to love.
Unlike Palmer and other Romantics, Monet and some of his fellow Impressionists banished black entirely.

生词
Ingenuity: the skill at working out how to achieve things or skill at inventing new things
Pantheon:众神
Concoction: 调制品
Conjure up：联想
Charcoal:木炭
Confect：to put together from varied material
Enlivener:活跃者
Banish:消除
Contour:轮廓
Turmoil:骚乱

Women and property across Colonial America: A comparison of Legal Systems in New Mexico and New York
阅读时间：4‘36
总结时间：15’
总时间: 20’

文章中心大意
Women in colonial American live under control by two kinds of legal system based on regions. The traditional view is that Common law system is superior to civil law system. However, the author contends that Civil law system is more protective of women’s property than the common law system. Then the author take New Mexico as an example to support his point.

每段段落大意
P1: Describe the background: women in colonial America have to live under common law system or a civil law system according to the regions they live.
P2-P4: The common view: Common law system is better. The author refute the suggested view by take New Mexico as an example to illustrate that civil law system give women more benefits.
印象深刻的句子
When travelers from the United States later encountered Spanish-American law, they scornfully dismissed it as inferior to Anglo-American law.
New Mexico provides a good example of the impact of Spanish law on colonial women, while New York provides a more complex example of a civil law system(Dutch) giving way to a common law(English) system.
生词
Scornfully: 轻蔑的
Dowry：嫁妆
Give way to :A’s discomfort gave way to anger.

vinago

Day 3
What quantum computers reveal about innovation- Venture capital is often the last guest to arrive at the party
阅读时间：9‘52
总结时间：30’
总时间: 40’

文章中心大意
Describe the status quo of quantum computing and what benefits it can bring about. Now venture capital is flowing into companies related to quantum computing. Venture capitals always enter late until the technology proves plausible.
每段段落大意
1, Introduce the topic quantum computing, which will be 40 next year
2, Venture capital starts to flow into companies built around quantum computers.
3,The advantages of developing quantum computing: 1,  specific fields such as chemistry, maths.. 2, industrial application
4, However, the commercial application always developed after the commercial return of the technology is proved plausible.
5, The author believe that it is risky to invest a lot in the earlier stage but is worthwhile.

印象深刻的句子
If those bets pay off, it would be good news, and not just for investors.
Building them could open up entirely new vistas(景色)
None of that is to deny the importance of the people who run the last few miles, taking nascent technologies and trying to spin out profitable business
But those who want to see more of that success should keep in mind that a great deal of less celebrated, less glamourous work must come first.
生词
Nascent:新生的
Blunt one’s precision
Frenzy：疯狂
Abstruse：难解的

Mini ice age
阅读时间：2’40
总结时间：12’
总时间: 15’
文章中心大意
The earth is actually getting warmer and may result in the next mini-ice age. Freshwater trend indicates such transition. Small changes will lead to disaster.
每段段落大意
1, the earth is actually warming and such warming could be culprit of the next mini-ice age.
2, the whole passage then explains the point. -> freshwater trend mixed into the salty sea -> the trend could result in a little ice age ->the mass of fresh water impedes the thermohaline circulation of ocean

印象深刻的句子
The new mass of relatively fresh water sits on top of the ocean like a big thermal blanket, threatening the thermohaline circulation
Small changes, such as a couple of years of heavy precipitation or melting ice at high latitudes, could yields a big response.
生词
Torrent:洪流
Subvert：颠覆
Soak up:吸收 soak up moisture 吸收水分
Thermohaline circulation: 温盐环流

vinago

Surrogacy-wish fulfilment or exploitation?
阅读时间：8’15
总结时间：35’
总时间: 45’

文章中心大意
Divided opinions on surrogacy->For some, it realized someone’s dream->For others, it indicates exploitative and unethical.-> Apart from basic rights in the laws, the author shows other concerns.

每段段落大意
1，Opinions on surrogacy are divided : On the one hand, some argue that it embodies true altruism. On the other hand, some criticize that surrogacy is inherently exploitative and unethical.
2, Surrogacy laws are under revised in the UK to improve original laws, including level of payments for surrogate mothers. However, the author believes there are other concerns in the process of surrogacy, including imbalances between surrogate mothers and intended parents, the risks of pregnancy and birth, and human rights concerns that may crop up during a surrogacy process. Then he elaborates on his idea in terms of these sub-points.
-imbalances：intended parents tend to be older and wealthier than surrogate mothers.
-the risks during surrogacy involve mental and physical risks to pregnant women.
-human rights: surrogant mothers may be under the pressure from intended parents. Their rights dignity and bodily autonomy may be undermined.
3,In the end, the author argues that all the perspectives should be taken into account about this issue. Both of the intended mothers’ appeal and surrogate mothers’ experience are essential part of the story.

印象深刻的句子
1.        Surrogacy is a polarizing（两极分化） issue.
2.        It embodies true altruism- a woman realizing the dreams of others by birthing their baby, with all the medical risks, and physical and emotional toll, that can come with pregnancy, birth and , ultimately , handing over a baby.(hand over a baby生孩子)
3.        For others, surrogacy is inherently exploitative and unethical. They say it makes children commodities, and disadvantaged women “breeders”
4.        Surrogates may be vulnerable to exploitation as there is often socioeconomic inequality between surrogate mothers and intended parents.
5.        As theses scenarios suggest, the surrogate mother’s rights to dignity and bodily autonomy may be subtly undermined by the known wishes or momentary reactions of the intended parents.
6.        Given the current policy climate and controversy around surrogacy, it’s crucial that public discussion of this issue includes the fullest range of perspectives.

生词
Altruism: 利他, 无私
Prostitution:卖淫
Antenatal：产前
Intrapartum：产时
Postnatal：产后
Toll: 1,通行费 2，危险，损失(造成恶果) winter takes its toll on your death 3 death toll 死亡总数 casualty toll伤亡总数
Coercion : 强迫

Hispanic Law Water Right
阅读时间：2’31
总结时间：26’
总时间: 30’

文章中心大意
Late nineteeth- and early twentieth-century state courts developed elaborate theories of water right based on Hispanic law , which is different from Spanish and Mexican legal traditions. Then the author explains the ownership of the water rights and how the theories of water right are determined
每段段落大意
1,As the Mission Inn is Riverside is different from other adobe structures that existed in Southwest around late 19th and early 20th century, the water right is based on Hispanic law which is different from other Spanish and Mexican legal tradition. The Hispanic law provides that pueblo water right belongs to a few cities and landowners.
2,This paragraph illustrates carefully about the point listed earlier. Hispanic law is different from the common law which emphasize that the water right belongs to individual; it entitles the right to municipalities and other users. Some historians argued that nineteenth-and twentieth-century state courts for distorting Hispanic traditions; however , others decried that the distortion is because of judicial “loss of Hispanic learning “ or to parties failing to present documents on Spanish and Mexican water law to the courts.
印象深刻的句子
An ornate, turn-of-the century fantasy of Hispanic architecture, the Inn is completely unlike the unornamented adobe structures that existed in the Southwest before the Americans came
生词
Hispanic: 拉美裔美国籍
Ostensibly：假装的
Unornamented：朴素的
Adobe：土坯
Riparian:河边的

vinago

Day 5
The pandemic has changed China’s nightclubs: It has been local DJs a chance to shine
阅读时间：7’26
总结时间：27’
总时间: 34’

文章中心大意
Nightspots in Beijing were forced to close because of the unprecedented pandemic from January to August last year. However, after the restrictions are lifted, many people have flocked back to them. Anyway, the pandemic has changed nightclub culture in China. First, local DJs have a chance to shine for foreign performers are not able to come. Second, the pandemic has helped speed up the spread of China’s club culture beyond its traditional bases in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu for many starters convert to open clubs in the cities where living cost is lower. However, some people feel sad about status quo for foreign djs can not enter the country, reducing the opportunities to learning from great electronic music culture.

每段段落大意
1, the status quo of nightclubs in Beijing.
2,the pandemic cause a threat to the China’s nightclubs for they had to be closed for nearly a half year. Yet many nightclubs have survived the difficulty.
3,However, the pandemic also changes the nightclub industry. One is that it give local Djs a chance to shine.
4,Another is it help speed up the spread of China’s club culture beyond it’s traditional bases in Beijing, shanghai and chengdu
5,On the other hand, some people feel unhappy for they think exposure to trends from abroad is good for local scene.
印象深刻的句子
Party animals must proved that they have not travelled anywhere they might have picked up covid-19, by showing doormen a code generated by a government mobile app.
The smoke-filled basement is just as sweaty as usual
The pandemic posed an enormous threat to china’s fragile club
Yet many electronic-music clubs have weathered the disruption（经受住）
The company has weathered the recession
The pandemic has wrought changes.(造成变化)
Someone grumbles that…

生词：
Faff : to need a lot of effort 费力
Bop:if you bop,you dance
Techno: 电子乐
Punter: 顾客
Break even：收支平衡
Gyrating

Review: Jim Crow’s Offense
阅读时间：3’44
总结时间：37‘
总时间: 40’

文章中心大意
1, Mc Millen’s opinions- The author refutes the idea->explain the reason
每段段落大意
1, Mc Millen’s point on the nature and evolutions of race relations in the South. However, the author refutes his point. The author argues that the very “ confidence of the dominant race” in the universal recognition of the imperatives of place made legislation unnecessary for two decades.
2, The author starts to explain the point. First, it was the perception of a threat to rigidity that provoked the construction of a legal edifice to enforce an already familiar definition of place. Second, race relations were not functions of class relations.
3, Elaborate on the changes caused by the strategies adopted by black Mississippians in their struggles to achieve autonomy and full citizenship. the shifting responses to oppression define the stages of the dark journey . The significance of the third stage, the Great Migration itself.

印象深刻的句子
Ironically, it was the perception of a threat to rigidity that  provoked the construction of a legal edifice to enforce an already familiar definition of place.
McMillen's  Mississippi has been shaped largely by continuity in the content and function  of white supremacy, an ideology closely tied to the equally stable plantation  system, but with a logic and legitimacy of its own.

生词
Salient:突出的
Pervasive：遍布的
Disfranchisement：剥夺公民权
Flickering：闪烁的
Codification：法律编纂
Imperative: 重要的，紧急的
Edifice 制度
Provoke ：激起
Redemption:救赎

PS: 第二篇太难了，没有很明白。。。。。

vinago

Day 6
What really killed the dinosaurs? Lingering doubts about the cause of a mass extinction are put to rest
阅读时间：4’03
总结时间：17’
总时间: 23’

文章中心大意
The collision between an asteroid and the earth might account for the extinction of dinosaurs=> however, the point was refuted by a small group of holdout. They argued that volcanic eruptions were the main cause of the mass extinction.=> Yet a paper just published in Science decry that the volcanic eruptions are not responsible for the extinction.
每段段落大意
1, The traditional view is that the collision between an asteroid and the Earth leads to the mass dinosaurs extinction. The crater from that collision was discovered decades ago in southern Mexico.
2,However, the point was refuted by a small group of holdout. They argued that volcanic eruptions were the main cause of the mass extinction. They pointed out that the rocks show that a series of huge volcanic eruptions was happening at the time in what is now India and two earlier mass extinctions also collide with similar eruptions.
3, Yet a paper just published in Science decry that the volcanic eruptions are not responsible for the extinction. The researchers point out that Deccan Traps eruptions did most of their atmospheric damage about 200,000 years before the dinosaurs disappeared. They also collected other evidence to support their point.
印象深刻的句子
The dinosaurs were wiped out more or less instantaneously by a collision between the Earth and a very large space rock.
But that was either a coincidence or the straw that broke the planet’s ecological back
It was the asteroid wot done it (wot=what)
生词
Holdout:拒不合作
Straw : 压垮骆驼的最后一根稻草

The search for dark matter in the recent majestic universe
阅读时间：4’04
总结时间：25’
总时间: 30’

文章中心大意
The passage focuses on to find out what kind of particle dark matter is made of. At first ,the author rejects some possibilities such as protons, neutrons or anything that was once mad of protons or neutrons. One theory indicates that dark matter might be made of neutralino, which has the character of supersymmetry.
每段段落大意
1, Raise the point-> Rejects several possibilities and explain why protons , neutron or anything that was once made of protons or neutrons could not be the part of the dark matter
2，Nor Neutrinos can be the component. Neutrinos are probably too lightweight.
3, New observations: cold dark matter is likely to be the component.
4，Supersymmetry is an attractive explanation for dark matter. Among the candidate, neutralino attacts most attention.
印象深刻的句子
Hot particles were too fleet-footed to settle into observed cosmic structures.

生词
Corroborate：验证
Postulate: 假设

vinago

Day 7
The rising prevalence of dementia is a global emergency: It requires more research, better provision for long-term care and changes in individual behavior
阅读时间：8’09
总结时间：30’
总时间: 38’

文章中心大意
The estimated view is that the problem of dementia is not urgent=>new report shows that dementia is already a global emergency=>Explain the point by describing the status quo caused by dementia =>What should we do to reduced the risk of dementia. What should the government to act to lessen the social and economic harm from the growing prevalence of dementia.
每段段落大意
1, We generally believe that dementia is not a significant problems among the all the troubles facing the world. However, recent report shows that dementia is already a global emergency.
2,What is the dementia? Most common cause of dementia is Alzhemer’s disease. It usually starts with forgetfulness and mild loss of cognitive functioning. But as it advances ,people lose the ability to look after themselves. Elderly are more likely to get it.
3, The unoptimistic status quo caused by dementia: The number of people who get dementia are climbing, the trend that also put a pressure on the children who have to struggle to cope with their old folk.
4,However, experts said that changing your behavior, such a smoking less, exercising more and losing weight in middle age, can reduced the risk of dementia among old people.
5,What the government should do to lessen the consequence caused by the growing prevalence of dementia. First, appeal to related people who make promise to tackle the problem before to refocus on the dementia risks. Moreover, the governments need to provide long-term care for people with dementia.
6, Second, who take care for the people with dementia.
7, Lastly, how to treat the disease right away in addition to change the behavior in advance.
印象深刻的句子
Of all the troubles facing the world, the rising prevalence of dementia might seem among the less pressing.
to recall the urgency with which many were promising to tackle the problem just a few year ago.
As the pandemic hampers or prevents clinical trials and research, and sucks (吸收)resources away from other areas, dementia risks again being left behind.
生词
Ponderous: 冗长的，生硬的
Humanely:人道的
Offing： likely to happen soon
Patchy: 不稳定的

Did tough antitrust enforcement cause the diversification of American Corporations
阅读时间：10’
总结时间：17’
总时间: 30’

文章中心大意
The passage mainly focus on refuting the view that tough antitrust enforcement cause the diversification of American Corporations.
每段段落大意
1, Bring us to the topic what cause the rise and decline of corporate diversification during the last four decades.
2，One of the most impressive explanations is the “antitrust hypothesis”. Companies diversified in the 1960s in response to the antitrust enforcement.
3, However, this view is refuted by some scholars. Jarrel argues that diversification appears to be common in countries with significantly different antitrust policies than the U.S. Moreover, by assessing a large number of different mergers, the author find diversification was no more common among large mergers than small mergers.
4, The author provide other international evidence that the increasing corporate diversification has been a feature of most western countries in the postwar years even though tough legal restrictions on horizontal growth were unique to the U.S to support his idea.
印象深刻的句子
Even though a number of plausible explanations have been advanced, there is little more than anecdotal support for or against any of them
The finding is robust to a number of different measures of diversification, and also holds for samples of mergers during 1971 and 1974.
(研究结果对多种不同的多元化措施都是稳健的，同时也适用于1971年和1974年的合并样本。)
生词
Diversification: 多元化
Antitrust 反垄断
Venerable: impressive
       

vinago

Day8
Does it matter if “the crown” fictionalizes reality? It is more truthful than the story the royals sold.
阅读时间：6‘54
总结时间：24’
总时间: 30’

文章中心大意
The royals and the governments are not satisfied with the story line of  “the crown” for they believe that the drama is fiction, destroying their images. However, the author argues that though the story might be untrue, the theme is no fiction.
每段段落大意
1，        Oliver Dowden pointed out that “the Crown” does not represent the real royals and Netflix should note that the programme is fiction
2，        However, B contends that all drama that involves real people is,to some extent , fiction
3，        It is not surprising that famous people are not satisfied with their figure in the drama but that is one of the costs of free speech.
4，        Although the story of royals in the drama is fiction, the theme the drama indicates is not fiction.
5，        The author contend that the truth the government argues is welcome,

印象深刻的句子
If the monarchy is so vulnerable that a man pretending to be Prince Charles saying mean things to a woman pretending to be his wife damages it gravely, then the institution has probably outlived its usefulness.

生词：
Snub：不理睬，怠慢,
Smear：涂抹
Traduce：诽谤
Redeeming：补偿的
Estrange：疏远
Veracity：真诚

Anna Wetherill Olmsted and the Ceramic National exhibitions in 1930s USA
阅读时间：2’33
总结时间：15'
总时间: 20'

文章中心大意
Anna Olmsted ‘s reputation waxed and waned between 1939 and 1989. The author focuses on elaborating on the reason why her reputation declined.
每段段落大意
1，        Anna Olmsted plays an important role in promoting Ceramics, though her reputation fluctuated between 1939-1989.
2，        Olmsted’s reputation declined to a low point in 1989. The author provides several reasons for this. First, by 1989, when the catalogue was produced , the history of ceramics in the USA was most definitely written in terms of names subjects. Anna Onlmsted did not suit the condition. Second, changing priorities in American ceramics also have an impact on this.
印象深刻的句子
Retrospectively, it can be seen that Olmsted’s fluctuating reputation went hand in hand with changing priorities in American ceramics.

生词
Epitomize: 缩影，典范