【每日阅读训练第三期——速度越障1系列】【1-11】经管类

whitethelittle

【速度】
Apple's latest iPad The third coming
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APPLE used to be coy about its upcoming products. No longer. The press invitation to today's unveiling of its latest iPad tablet computer depicted a finger pressing a high-resolution touch-screen with the label: "We have something you really have to see. And touch." In the event, perhaps the biggest surprise to come out of the presentation by Apple's boss, Tim Cook, was that the company is calling the device just "iPad" and not, as had been expected "iPad 3".
To be sure, the svelte gizmo sports a plethora of improvements over its numbered predecessor, the iPad 2. Its new "Retina Display" boasts four times as many pixels, close to the limit of human perception, and its four-core graphics processor makes the experience of what was already the smoothest tablet smoother still. Lower-resolution apps, such as those developed for earlier iPads, still look sharp on the new device (each old pixel is translated into four new ones), something rival Android devices, which come in a variety of shapes and sizes, struggle with. It also has a better, 5-megapixel camera. But these changes had been much anticipated in the blogosphere's techier quarters.
There was a bit more uncertainty about fourth-generation (4G) mobile connectivity. Here, Apple seems to have dealt with several bugbears of Long Term Evolution (LTE), an increasingly ubiquitous 4G standard capable of faster download rates and more consistent reception. LTE smartphones are often ungainly due to the hefty electronics needed to support it. Apple, famous for its sleek design, could have none of that. The iPad's already ample battery has been tweaked so that it matches the ten hours in 3G mode of older models, and lasts fully nine hours with LTE on, while feeding a power-hungrier display. That marks a significant improvement over the smaller LTE devices currently on the market, some of which last only a few hours.
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Apple used its buying power and dominant position in the tablet market to hit competitors like Microsoft, whose partners are preparing to launch an array of Windows 8 Metro slates later this year. The new iPad prices haven't budged. They start at $499 for a 16-gigabyte Wi-Fi only unit and finish at $829 for a 4G tablet with 64 gigabytes of flash storage. At the same time, Apple is keeping the older iPad 2 on the market for $399 with Wi-Fi and $529 with 3G.
Other firms had already been hard-pressed to meet Apple's price, battery life and hardware features, let alone its swish operating system, copious media catalogues and the internet's biggest app store. With an upgrade at the top of the line and a drop in price for the current bestselling model, the iPad is unlikely to be dethroned any time soon. Apple has every reason to blow its own trumpet.

Greece Still Short of Reaching Debt Write-Off Goal
Greece is edging closer to its goal of getting the country's private lenders to eliminate $142 billion of the money it owes them, but remained short of the target as a Thursday deadline neared.

The Athens government says it needs the banks, pension funds and other financial institutions holding at least two-thirds of the country's private debt to agree to the write-down. But by Wednesday, agreements had only been reached covering 46 percent of the debt.
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The debt write-down is part of Greece's effort to secure a new $172-billion bailout and avoid a default on its financial obligations.

Five small Greek pension funds holding about one percent of the bonds eligible for the write-down have rejected the deal, as have several investment funds and Germany's best-selling newspaper, Bild. Greece says that if it hits the two-thirds threshold for the reduction, it could seek to force the deal on its remaining creditors.
One German investment trader, Andreas Lipkow, said he thinks that in the end, Greece will be able to cut enough of its debt.

"Yes there would legally be a default if the quota [of the Greek bond swap] will not be high enough, but I think that the pressure is high enough so that quota will be reached," said Lipkow. "I don't really see any repercussions for the international markets by a default by Greece as that is already anticipated by the markets. The ratings agencies have already reacted and downgraded the bonds, interesting for the markets would be mandatory CDS [Credit Default Swaps insurance] payoff, as that would become very expensive for some market participants."
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South Africa Protesters March Against Tolls Roads, Labor Brokering

Tens of thousands of people in South Africa took part in protests Wednesday against so-called e-tolling on highways and to demand that labor brokers be outlawed.
The protests were called by the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions, or COSATU, and have impacted transport as well as schools and health facilities.

COSATU has been at the forefront of a demand made by many organizations that the Gauteng provincial government abandon a plan to introduce an e-tolling system on highways. Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU general secretary said earlier this week motorists should refuse to pay the tolls.

"We will be encouraging motorists to drive through the tolls without paying," said Vavi.

The new system will make use of structures positioned over the highways armed with cameras and electronic reading devices. Motorists can purchase discounted toll fees in advance, loaded onto electronic tags, and the fees will be automatically deducted as they pass under the structure. If they fail to do so, their vehicle registration number will be noted, and they will receive a bill in the mail.

Similar tolling systems are also expected to be introduced in other provinces. Last month, in response to protests against the tolls, the finance minister announced the government would subsidize the cost of the $2.5-billion operating system by $725 million. But this did not appease COSATU.
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The system is defended by Professor Roelof Botha of the Gordon Institute of Business Science. He says a study he did indicated that the tolling system would benefit road users because of less traffic congestion and save both time and money. He also said that contrary to many people's perceptions, the tolls will not add to the financial burden of the poor, because public transport vehicles will be exempt, and 94 percent of the tolls will be paid by the wealthiest users.

COSATU is also demanding that the government outlaw labor brokers -- people who employ workers, hire them out to companies, then take a cut of the employees' wages. The unions say the brokers undermine the government’s policy of decent work because many workers have no security of tenure and do not receive heath care and pension benefits. They are also not members of trade unions.

A female protester told the eNews Channel that she has worked for a labor broker for 10 years, and that her salary is so low she finds it difficult to feed her children.

"I am here because I am working for labor brokers for 10 years, and I have children going to school and this money is not [enough] because I can’t buy for, because I [am paid] only R300 [$40] a week in post office, so I can’t [manage]," she said.

Labor brokers became common in the 1990s when stringent new labor laws greatly increased the red-tape involved in hiring and firing workers. The new laws particularly affected small- and medium-sized businesses, which found the complex red tape required to manage personnel increasingly time-consuming and costly.

The government proposes to regulate labor brokers, to ensure that people employed by brokers have fair and equitable conditions of employment.
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【越障】
Why China Should Slow Down – But Probably Won’t

China’s Premier Wen Jiabao sent a shockwave through the global economy this week when he lowered the country’s GDP growth target for 2012, to 7.5% from 8%. In doing so, Wen was not only recognizing the tremendous headwinds China is facing from an uncertain global economy. He was also acknowledging that China needs to alter its growth model if the country’s economic miracle is to continue. Here are some comments from his Monday address, courtesy of state-news agency Xinhua:
“Here I wish to stress that in setting a slightly lower GDP growth rate, we hope to make it fit with targets in the 12th Five-Year Plan, and to guide people in all sectors to focus their work on accelerating the transformation of the pattern of economic development and making economic development more sustainable and efficient, so as to achieve higher-level, higher-quality development over a longer period of time.
To ensure success in all our work this year, we must uphold the theme of scientific development, take transforming the pattern of economic development as the main thread, adopt a holistic approach and coordinate all our work. We must coordinate efforts to achieve steady growth, control prices, adjust the economic structure, improve people’s well-being, implement reform and promote harmony.”
To be honest, I’ve had trouble figuring out why everyone got their underwear in a bunch over these comments. Sure, a slowing China would have negative implications for a global economy still suffering from the ill effects of the Great Recession and the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in Europe. Yet we should look at Wen’s statements with two key points in mind: First, the reality is China needs to slow its economy down. Second, China’s leadership shows no sign of allowing that to happen, no matter what nice speeches Wen might make. And that’s where the real threat to the world economy can be found.
So we all know by now that what happens in China doesn’t stay in China – it impacts the entire world. China’s robust growth through the downturn practically rescued all of East Asia from the Great Recession, while giving a healthy boost to national economies from Australia to Brazil. As a major commodities importer, a slower China would likely mean lower prices for oil, iron ore, copper and other raw materials, dampening growth in many emerging markets. China’s economy has been a major source of new exports for the U.S., so a slowing China would directly hit American companies. Since China is the No.1 trading partner for most countries in Asia, a slower China would drag down growth across the region, and thus dampen overall global growth. In other words, if China’s GDP growth rate declines, just about everybody will feel it.
But let’s face it — a slower growth China is simply inevitable. The bigger China’s economy becomes, the harder it will be to notch those double-digit growth rates. It’s just a normal part of the development process. China is also confronting a radically different demographic profile that is likely to hold down potential growth. Due to the country’s controversial one-child policy, the population is aging rapidly, meaning it will have to carry the burden of a larger number of older, unproductive people relative to its active workforce. Economists generally believe that China’s growth rates over the next 20 years or so will not match those of the previous 20 years.
And just about everybody also agrees that a slower Chinese economy would likely be a healthier one. Growth today is being propelled by an economic model that is creating distortions dangerous enough to lead to a crisis. Investment levels are way too high and the economy is too dependent on property development. Rising costs are testing the competitiveness of its export sector. A surge of debt is placing the health of the banking sector at risk. China needs to shift to a different growth strategy, one based less on investment and exports and more on domestic consumption – the much-promoted “rebalancing.” The economy must operate on a more commercial basis to make sure investment goes where it is truly needed. Wen Jiabao clearly acknowledged this in his speech. The leadership has said again and again that it is imperative that the country shift away from a growth-at-all-costs mentality and focus more on quality of growth and people’s living standards. That’s why the government set a growth target of 7% in its current five-year plan, announced a year ago.
In other words, everyone knows China has to slow down, and agrees it would be a good idea. But in the real world, there is no sign of China’s growth rate dropping anywhere near 7%. Nor is there any indication that the government will allow that to happen. Every time growth slips a bit, policymakers instantly jump in to stimulate it. GDP surged 8.9% in the fourth quarter of last year, well beyond the government’s stated targets, but that’s not fast enough for China’s leadership. The government is expected to run a larger budget deficit in 2012 than 2011 – a way to boost growth. And the central bank has already started to loosen credit by lowering the amount of cash banks have to set aside in reserve.
So in the end, economists simply don’t believe Wen when he talks about slowing China down. Sun Junwei, an economist at HSBC, for example, wrote:”Envisaging another challenging year ahead, Beijing sets itself a 7.5% growth…target for 2012 as we expected. But given a bigger fiscal deficit and more steps towards monetary easing, we expect the GDP growth to hold up well at around 8.6% this year…We reiterate however that the lower GDP target should be seen more as the lower bound of Beijing’s range of acceptable growth forecasts, rather than as an actual growth forecast. Beijing has an impressive track record of overshooting its preannounced growth targets: for example, we refer to the average of 11% y-o-y actual growth vs. 8% y-o-y target growth for 2005-2011.”
Translation from economics into English: Wen’s growth forecast is meaningless. That point was reinforced by Yu Song, an economist at Goldman Sachs:
“In practice, the GDP growth target should be read as the lower bound of the comfort zone instead of a point target the government will try to achieve. A lower GDP target thus would imply a lower tolerable level. We think a slightly lower GDP growth target rate is sensible given the fall in the level of potential GDP growth…(The lower forecast is) a change of mere 0.5% which is within the margin of measurement errors of GDP data, hence not very important by definition.”
Why does China insist on keeping its growth so high? The fact is that the government is much too worried about the potential social fallout (read: widespread unrest) to allow the economy to slow. And since the government’s legitimacy is based on providing rapid economic development (in exchange for repressed civil liberties), a slower economy threatens the leadership’s right to rule. In a way, that’s good news, at least in the short term, since we can expect policymakers to do whatever they can to keep the economy roaring.
For me, though, the world should be more worried about the potential fallout from a China that doesn’t slow down than a China that does. Sure, reduced Chinese growth will hurt the global economy. But an unreformed China that refuses to change its economic model and promotes growth at all costs is a much bigger danger to world economic stability. Wen Jiabao is exactly correct about what China must do. Now let’s see if it really gets done.
【1265】

shelvey

哇哈哈占位成功！！
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CHRISTINE2010

是今天的？？？

Daisy汪

额。。第一篇忘记记时了~~~
1‘26 前两段写的是apple公司的IPAD3，讲到了IPAD3的优势，如LET，以及触屏操作，电池寿命都是其他产品很难比上的
APPLE公司用自己的方式抵抗其他的如微软等公司，谈到了IPAD3的价格
然后写的是debt，好像是关于国债的？
1’05 写的是希腊国债经济危机吧，谈到了德国对其的看法，认为Greece is able to cut its debt
1‘27 写的是非洲居民在highway上集体抵制labor broker，希望lavor broker outlawed。他们认为在tolls上骑摩托车不应该收费，而相关政府希望把这项收费政策推广到更多的province去
1’28 相关人员认为在tolls上收费实际上对tolls users是有好处的，交通不会堵塞，而且收费不会对低收入水平的人民造成负担，因为tolls的使用者一般都比较富有。但是一些公司会雇佣人去送货什么的，会用到tolls，雇主会在职员的工资里扣除交的tolls费。相关人员认为这是由于人们没有在正规的公司就职而造成的，这些公司没有pension和insurance，他们认为应该regulate labor brokers从而保障人们的利益
越障：7’39
写的是中国经济增长速度过快，需要下降但为什么降不下来
先引入了一段温家宝的讲话：将2012的GDP指标由8%下调到7.5%，温家宝说调整的原因是因为中国现在的增长速度很不健康，不利于中国的长久发展，但是国家还是希望能够保证5年计划的实施
然后讲了中国经济增长速度为什么降不下来？因为中国经济会影响到世界，中国是美国商品的出口大国，如果中国经济增长速度下降，意味着低价的油，商品，会对其他国家经济造成影响。
中国政府也不希望经济真的下降，因为一旦下降，将面临着各国的政治施压
但是现在的经济增长速度不利于中国发展，因为中国已经步入老龄化社会，未来的20年的经济发展必然与前20年不匹配
接下来说了有关学者sun对温家宝发言的看法，大部分学者已经不相信温家宝关于经济增长lowing的发言及其原因


深刻感觉到脑容量不够，前面的记下来，到后面就怎么都记不下来了，是不是后面看的太快了呢？？

harryhenry

首页占座

铁板神猴

额 神猴占位水平有待提高呀…… 总让LS那些家伙把好位置占尽了╮(╯▽╰)╭
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fox0923

1'20"50"
忘记按计时键了~~
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MI: Discussing whether China should slow down the GDP growth in the incoming years and the disadvantages and benefits from this method.
Advantage and Disadvantage:
1. China should slow down the economic growth, namely GDP growth. The prime minister Wen claimed that China should lower its GDP near 7%.  However, this implementation might also lower the Global's economy by lowering the price of exported goods and other costs. Accordingly, China is the biggest exporter in Asia and an important trade country to America, so this proposal will definitely affect economy of US and even European countries.
2. But, the incidence of China's GDP will be lowered no matter the new policy target the lower GDP. The China's higher GDP is caused by the soaring development of property instead of domestic development.  In order to maintain a healthy and higher GDP, the new policy for different costs and rules have to be regulated.  Thus, it's good that China lower its growth of GDP when the new leaders replace the current ones.
Opponent:
1. However, the new leadership doesn't seem to embrace Wen's policy, and it's expected that the GDP will be targeted near 7.5% or even rise up to 8.5%. Mr. Yu, an economist of Goldman Sachs, believes that Wen's target of slow GDP growth is meaningless because there's no target for a country's GDP growth but a relative low level or high level of GDP growth.
2. Then why China's GDP growth cannot be lowered? Because Chinese government is afraid of social fallout coming along with the low growth of economy. In order to keep the leadership stably, it's better to maintain such high growth of GDP, and this is actually good for the rest of us to expect what China will do next.
Author:
1. The author still supports Wen's policy that China's GDP growth should be lowered. His reason is based upon that China's deregulation of costs and other issues can eventually make troubles for the Global economy. So we should keep watching what China will do next.

phoebe0624

速度
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越障
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China‘s government want the GDP decline and make the economic growth slow down. The government decide to steadily develop a long term in China’s economy .
That may bring the world economic recession，this will threat lots of conuntries especially EU and American. The price of raw material，such as oil，iron ore， will slow dow. The trade and expor to US will decrease and it will hamper the trade.
But the slown down desicion will be inevitable. The policy that one couple can only have one chird leads to the declined population. With people growing old, the goverment should save more money for those old people who do not have incomes.
reasons：
The goverment casts light on developing health，propose and the domestic economy. The ruler tends to lift up people life standard.
The GDP number is too high that makes bank lower the cash investment
But economist do not believe the economic rate will be decrease. the target rate decline will lead to the GDP decline. Only 0.5% decrease in the economic rate is not obvious fro the economy
The author believes that slow down will be fall out because this is vital to the leadership to rule. China has unreformed  economic system.

kaitlynyl

速度：第一段差2行。其余均读完
越障：中国经济增长预计要减速但是减不了。
         wenjiabao说2012GDP预计要减少。说要改变经济模型什么的。然后开始说社论，下两段讲他的讲话，什么保持更好更快发展云云一大堆。接下来提出观点，可以从他的讲话中看出来什么，讲了2点。然后说，中国经济增长减速的话对世界要带来什么影响，什么欧债危机，对中国本身要带来什么影响。中国经济增长减速然而是不可避免的，分析了一下国内的情况。举了很多例子说中国要缓一下了，但是对世界来说不是神马好事情。接着说很多经济学者不信能增长减速，其中就有汇丰的一个人，说了一堆。然后又一个人，又说了一堆。最后又说了观点，提出增长减速，但是是减不下来的，与开头和文章题目呼应，最后说让我们走着瞧。

昨天等待了很久。居然是因为自己没找见楼主发的贴子。真是对不起楼主了。应该看看发帖时间才对。

铁板神猴

啊 小白 真不好意思，神猴要继续拍砖了…… 做恶人

题目打错了 第三期1-11

第二篇速度 标题未加粗放大 混在一起了…… Greece Still Short of Reaching Debt Write-Off Goal