【每日阅读训练——速度4系列】【速度4-17】&【越障4-17】

抓抓sandra

要忏悔一下先……昨天居然漏掉了，啊~现在回到学校也安定下来了，坚持每天继续~


阅读训练大本营：http://forum.chasedream.com/GMAT_RC/thread-562296-1-1.html


【速度4-17】
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Getting to the Root of How to Water Trees


Some trees can survive a long time without water. Think of trees that grow in the desert. But other trees may need more moisture than they can get from rainfall or from the air -- from, say, coastal or mountain fog.
The soil stores moisture during cooler weather. But most of that moisture is gone by the middle or end of the hottest months of the year.
Trees and other plants can look thirsty. Leaves can become droopy and hang downward. They can also turn yellow. Yellowing can be a sign of too much water. But it can also be a warning sign of too little water.
The Vacaville Tree Foundation is a volunteer community group in California. It has advice for watering newly planted trees and established trees.
With a newly planted tree, the roots have not yet spread out from the root ball. The root ball can become dry faster than the dirt around it. So put water on the area of the root ball and the surrounding soil until the roots become established.
Once a tree is well established, water deeply instead of often. The amount of water needed depends on the tree and the soil. Clay soils hold water for longer periods while sandy soils hold less water. During the hottest season, a deep watering may satisfy a tree for anywhere from ten days to four weeks.
Part of skilled watering is knowing to stop when the soil needs a little time to absorb the water. Otherwise the water runs off the surface and gets wasted.
Ted Swiecki is a plant scientist in California with the Phytosphere Research company and the Vacaville Tree Foundation. He says people should not water established trees at the base of the trunk. This can harm the tree.
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Too much water in the soil at the base of a tree can lead to the growth of fungi. If the area is too wet, harmful organisms have a better chance to invade the tree and cause disease.
Mr. Swiecki says this is true especially in Mediterranean and semi-dry climates. Many trees in these climates have adapted to having a dry area near their base during the hottest season.
TED SWIECKI: "Water displaces air in the soil. And roots are aerobic; they require oxygen (for the soil) to function properly. So if you keep the soil saturated and there's no air there, and then you are basically starving the roots for oxygen."
And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. For more growing advice, and to learn English, go to 51voa.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube at VOA Learning English. I'm Bob Doughty.


All About Fireflies and Possible Liquid Water on Mars


CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Christopher Cruise.
BOB DOUGHTY: And I'm Bob Doughty. Today, we tell about evidence of liquid water on the planet Mars. We also consider a theory that the Earth once had a small second moon. And we celebrate summertime with a report about creatures known to light up the night sky.
(MUSIC)
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: An American spacecraft orbiting Mars shows it is possible that the planet could someday support human life. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has found the best evidence yet that liquid water flows on Mars during the planet's warm season.
Charles Bolden heads the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He says NASA's Mars Exploration Program keeps bringing scientists closer to learning if Mars could support some form of life. He says the program has shown that the planet is an important goal for future human exploration.
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BOB DOUGHTY: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter studied many mountain slopes across the planet's southern hemisphere. The dark lines of mountain sides are said to look like fingers. The marks appear and disappear with the seasons.
The marks appear when temperatures on Mars rise. They look larger as they go downhill. When it gets cold, these streaks disappear. But they are seen again on the planet during the next spring, or warming season.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Alfred McEwen is lead investigator for the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment. He also is a professor of planetary geology at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Professor McEwen says a flow of briny, or salty, water is the best explanation for the orbiter's observations. Other spacecraft and Martian meteorites have shown that the Martian surface is salty.
The professor says the water on Mars may differ from that found on Earth. He says the Mars water might be more like a thick fluid.?? "Science" magazine published a report about the orbiter's findings.
BOB DOUGHTY: Professor McEwen and his team believe that water probably flowed across ancient Mars. But whether water exists as a liquid on the Red Planet can still be debated. The iron oxide on Mars gives the planet its reddish color.
Philip Christensen is an expert in geological science at Arizona State University. He says scientists have known for years that ice existed on Mars.
PHILIP CHRISTENSEN: "We know Mars has a lot of ice. But this is the first time we have seen the potential for liquid water. It might be salty water. But it is still liquid. And I think that is the real key here. It is not that Mars does not have a lot of ice. But liquid water – certainly to an organism – is very, very very different than ice."
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Geology expert Lisa Pratt of Indiana University welcomes the research results. She says the discovery will help scientists plan future travels to look for life signs on present-day Mars.
(MUSIC)
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: "Blue moons, you saw me standing alone." The cow jumped over the moons. "Shine on Harvest Moons." These expressions sound unusual. Why the choice of "moons" and not just "moon?" There is only one moon, right? Yes, there is only one, but long ago there might have been two!
American and Swiss researchers say the Earth may once have had a big moon, the one that is still there, and a little moon. And then, about four billion years ago, they hit each other. The little moon exploded into rock and dust, and much of it landed on the dark side of the larger moon. The researchers call it the "big splat."
Scientists from the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of Bern reported their findings in "Nature" magazine. The scientists say the little moon was very small, only about one thousand two hundred kilometers across. They say the little moon and the big moon were just fine together for one hundred million years. Then something happened and the little moon lost the battle.
BOB DOUGHTY: The Earth and the moon turn in a way that keeps the dark side of the moon away from us. From earth, we see only one side. But we know what the other side looks like. Spacecraft have taken many pictures of the dark side. Those pictures show that the side of the moon we see is a lot different from its other side.
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Our side has ridges or hills, and craters, some of them deep. But it is not nearly so "bumpy" as the dark side. Researchers think this is because the little moon crashed, fell apart, and landed on the other side. They say the dark side has a thick upper layer of soil. It also has much higher mountains than on the side we see. Some of them are three thousand meters high. And when the little moon hit the big moon, it caused a bulge. The other side of the moon sticks out into space more. Think of a children's ball that has been hit or kicked too much. That ball, and our moon, are no longer round. They are lop-sided. Pictures of the dark side clearly show this.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: You may be wondering how our moon got there in the first place. Scientists think it also resulted from a crash. Billions of years ago, they say, something very large hit the earth. It may have been as big as the planet Mars. When that happened, part of the earth was thrown out into space. Over time, these pieces of earth-rock and dust came together, and formed not one, but two moons.
The American space agency plans to explore the moon further within the next year. That may help to prove the two-moon crash idea, or maybe offer something completely new. But if the latest research is correct, what is now one, was once two!
(MUSIC)
JIM TEDDER: Imagine a summer night in America. A father and mother are watching television or reading the newspaper. Their children are outside the house, playing and waiting for a special time. Then, just as it starts to get very dark, the magic begins.
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自由阅读 1
CHILD'S VOICE: "Look (blip) there's one over there ... (blip) and another over there! Look (blip blip blip) three more ... near the tree. Let's catch ‘em."
BOB DOUGHTY: What they would like to catch and put into a glass jar are coleoptera: flying beetles better known as "fireflies" or "lightning bugs."
Scientists say there are about two thousand kinds of these insects. Most are brown. Each is only about a centimeter long. Fireflies have wings folded over their backs. When they fly, they do so in an unusual way. Some people say they fly in the shape of the letter "J." That means they fly horizontally, then drop quickly, only to rise again. But the most surprising thing about these little creatures is that they make light.
They do this by the process known as bioluminescence. Oxygen mixes with chemicals in the body of the lightning bug. Then, for a second, its belly lights up. Some produce a flash of yellow light. Others appear green or red. But why do they do this?
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Entomologists, people who study insects, think the flashing light is an invitation to have sex. They believe the male firefly is making a signal to a female waiting in the grass. He is saying, "Look, here I am. Let's get together." If the female agrees, she will answer with a flash of her own. Studies at the University of Kansas have shown that females like males who can flash the fastest.
In some parts of the world, fireflies act in an amazing way. Thousands of them flash their light on and off at the same time. This can often be seen in Malaysian jungles and in the American states of Tennessee and South Carolina.
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自由阅读 2
Scientists do not know how lightning bugs are able to communicate with each other to do this. But they think it is either a call for sex, or a warning sign from the bugs to their enemies. Insects with lights carry chemicals that do not taste good. Some of those chemicals, however, are useful to people. Health researchers use them in the study of cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, and cystic fibrosis.
BOB DOUGHTY: Fireflies live for about three years. Most of that time is spent in the ground as larvae. Some people call it a "glow worm" before it becomes a flying adult. And yes, glow worms ... larvae ... do, indeed, glow. Scientists say these little bugs only come out in warm weather, and only at night. During the day, they hide on the ground or in trees or other plants.
Wherever there is light, there is heat. A common light bulb wastes ninety percent of the energy it uses in the form of heat. But a lightning bug produces "cold light." That means that most of its flash is true light. Only about three percent of its energy comes as heat.
After three years, the life of a lightning bug's life is done. The females bury their eggs in the ground, and the birth and death cycle starts all over again, just as it has for millions of years.
JIM TEDDER: Summertime in America: ice cream, baseball games, and, yes, (blip blip blip) fireflies at the close of another day.
(MUSIC)
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson and Jim Tedder, who you also heard on our program. Our producer was June Simms. I'm Christopher Cruise.
BOB DOUGHTY: And I'm Bob Doughty.Visit us at 51voa.com, where you can find transcripts and MP3s of our reports. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.
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【越障4-17】
Taiwan Is Losing the Spying Game
If President Ma Ying-jeou doesn't clean house in his military, the U.S. won't sell advanced weapons.
By J. MICHAEL COLE


Much ink has been spilled in recent months over the Obama administration's reluctance to sell Taiwan the 66 F-16C/D fighters it has been requesting since 2007. A final decision is expected by Oct. 2, and while many observers predict that political considerations will lead Washington to nix the deal, another factor may be at work: the penetration of almost every sector of Taiwanese society by Chinese intelligence. For the U.S. government and defense manufacturers, any arms sale to Taiwan carries the risk that sensitive military technology will end up in Beijing.


This worry is not new. Anyone who has followed developments in Taiwan over the years knows how deeply Chinese forces have infiltrated Taiwan's military, especially its senior officers. For years American officials have looked on in amazement as newly retired Taiwanese generals traveled to China for a round of golf, were wined and dined by their counterparts in the People's Liberation Army, and no doubt had their inebriated brains picked for information.


Taiwan's reputation has not been helped by a string of embarrassing cases involving members of the armed forces or civilians who spied for China. Some of the programs compromised involved American assistance, such as the Po Sheng "Broad Victory" upgrade to the military's command and control infrastructure. Even more damaging are the instances when culprits got away with a light sentence. Earlier this year Lai Kun-chieh, a software engineer, received a mere slap on the wrist for attempting to pass information about the PAC-3 Patriot missile defense system to China.


Also puzzling is the apparent lack of coordination between border, airport, immigration, foreign affairs and defense agencies over the return to Taiwan this month of Ko-suen "Bill" Moo. Mr. Moo was a former top salesman for Lockheed Martin who was arrested in Miami in 2005 and sentenced to 6.5 years in jail for trying to sell, among other items, an entire F-16 engine to China. Taiwanese authorities failed to meet Mr. Moo at the airport on his arrival, despite being tipped off by the U.S., and haven't been able to track him down since. The 64-year-old, who was involved in the Po Sheng project, had close friends within the upper echelons of the Taiwanese air force. It is alleged that he was part of a small group within the Taiwanese Air Force known as the "gang of four," which included former Defense Minister Chen Chao-ming.


Infiltration can occur via more innocuous-seeming channels, too. In June, Taiwan allowed Chinese tourists to travel independently for the first time, meaning that they no longer have to be part of a tour group with a predetermined, and therefore more easily monitored, itinerary. As Chinese tourism to Taiwan was exploding in March 2010, the Nanjing Military Region's General Political Department had established "311 Base," an operation described in online reports as "the cornerstone of the PLA's psychological warfare against Taiwan" and which included the use of tourists as part of its tactics.


My sources also say they have seen a recent increase in the number of hacking attacks originating in Taiwan and targeting Taiwanese universities and conferences. The National Security Bureau, Taiwan's premier intelligence agency, has said that it is aware that some Chinese spies have visited under cover of tourism or academic exchanges. Presumably Chinese spies also target such events in other countries, including the U.S. itself. But Taiwan's particular problem is a lack of resources to meet this threat. The NSB has said that it doesn't have enough manpower to deal with the problem.


While the problem isn't new, its severity is. China has adjusted to the new opportunities created by closer engagement, but Taiwan appears to have given up on addressing its vulnerabilities, or at least is looking the other way. A clear lack of guidance on the part of President Ma Ying-jeou's administration, added to mixed signals on whether China should be regarded as an ally or a friend amid efforts to lower tensions in the Taiwan Strait, are exacerbating the situation.


Whether warranted or not, Taiwan is increasingly perceived as leaking secrets like a sieve. This does nothing to reassure the U.S. government or weapons manufacturers that their technology will not be passed on to the Chinese once it is sold to Taiwan. This applies not only to the F-16C/Ds, but also to the highly advanced active electronically scanned array radars that are part of the proposed upgrade program for Taiwan's 146 F-16A/Bs.


If President Ma is determined to defend Taiwan and its democratic way of life, he will have to do more than ask to buy weapons from Washington. He must launch a housecleaning of the Taiwan military and invest in a national security apparatus that reflects the severity of the espionage threat. Such efforts will involve going against deeply entrenched interest groups within the armed forces, whose aims may not necessarily dovetail with those of a free Taiwan. Otherwise, Taiwan's one and only security guarantor will become reluctant to share the kind of weapons and intelligence that the island needs to keep China off its shores.


Mr. Cole is deputy news chief at the Taipei Times and a correspondent for Jane's Defence Weekly.

fox0923

1‘10”
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1‘30”
1‘28“
1‘12”
自由阅读
1‘20“
1‘18”

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去跑步，在家里闷太久了~~

抓抓sandra

1 A 01:12
2 A 01:16
3 A 01:31
4 A 01:07
5 A 01:22
自由阅读1 01:10
自由阅读2 01:17

今天纯科普~内容还和上个月咱做的一大堆mars和moon的越障差不多，当温习温习了~

superbat28

啊啊啊啊啊啊！不想读啊不想读。。
下午都不知道干了些什么就晃过去了。。。mark，开始读。。。T T

然后买键盘去。。。

superbat28

98s
85s
90s
75s
80s

我一直不理解科学家们为什么要在火星上找水。。。谁证明了所有生物都要水才能生存啊= =
而且，又有谁说，所有的水都是一个形式的。。那么多同位素呢，火星上为什么一定要有和地球上一样的水- -

superbat28

6分06，这么高度政治敏感的文章？抓，你要被和谐了咋办？
貌似我还没怎么完全读懂。。

1. US may become reluctant to sell military weapons to Taiwan, political concerns is a factor, another factor is the security problem. The US fears that any weapon it sold to Taiwan may eventually end up in Beijing.
2. US officials become more and more confusing, since some Taiwan offcials flew to China simply for a Golf play..
3. XXXXXXXXXXXX Totally lost.
4. Another case is the failure of the transmission of a certain criminal, who participated in selling a F-16 engine to China, caught in Miami. He was tipped to Taiwan airport but Taiwan forces failed to catch up. It was believed that this person had close relationship with some big men.
5. The open policy is also damaging. Since Taiwan has let Chinese Citizens to travel independently to Taiwan, they are less stricted. It would mean that such person would have more freedom and free visits. CHina has taken great advantage from such a process, hiding their spies as toursists or exchange students. Surely, China is also doing the same thing to US. But Taiwan seems dull about this thing. Ma Yingjiu wants to keep a good relationship with China, and seems to be indifferent to such changes.
6. If Taiwan wants America to sell its weapons, Ma should not only asking US for sell. Instead, he should clear up the government. If Taiwan really want to de demoncratic, then great efforts are needed.

balapupu

今天好忙啊。。。逻辑阅读还都没做呢。。
1.1‘00
2.1’03‘
3.1’07‘
4.53’
5.55‘

balapupu

4’38‘
今天木有时间写回忆啦~~反正就是美国对两岸关系影响的问题啦~~速速去补逻辑了~

kidvii

今天是我发吗？daisy出去旅游啦。

bat发的那个还没读完。这个速度。大家太快啦~！！！

南瓜0729

1’16
1’09
1’13
1’08
1’11