【每日阅读训练第三期——速度越障1系列】【1-14】文史哲

fox0923

抱歉了~一直没有网络，现在才刚刚在library找到网~速度越障上！


速度1 (251words)


Out-of-Control Immigration
By James Goldsborough
September/October 2000
IRRATIONAL EXUBERANCE


The immigration debate in America has recently switched direction by about 175 degrees. Only five years ago, the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform (the so-called Jordan Commission) proposed to cut legal immigration by at least a third and eliminate illegal immigration through new workplace enforcement measures. The commission's recommendations were based both on critiques of the 1986 and 1990 immigration reform laws and on a growing sentiment that as America entered the twenty-first century immigration should be reduced from its record levels. This sentiment was reflected in annual Gallup polls, votes on measures such as California's Proposition 187, and studies showing new immigrants doing less well today than in previous times. It was also shown in increasing hostility toward new arrivals in immigrant-heavy states such as California, Arizona, and Florida -- hostility that showed signs of spreading to other parts of the country.
Yet only five years later, immigration into the United States is at its highest absolute levels in history: more than 1.1 million annually, some 400,000 higher than the previous high-water mark of around 700,000 annually during the 1900-1920 "Great Migration" (though as a percentage of population, today's rate of immigration, 0.4 percent, is actually lower than that at the turn of the century, 0.7 percent). Despite these high numbers, Congress' interest has faded. Immigration policy today is driven by businesses that need more workers -- skilled and unskilled, legal and illegal. Somehow, the process has gotten out of control.


速度2 (315words)


Shame on You, Trademark Holders
By Joe Palazzolo


Pro tip: If you’re going to craft a cease-and-desist letter, you have to account for the possibility that it’s going to make its way online. Remember in 2010, when the FBI sent Wikipedia a letter demanding that the site take down its logo? The move met with great success.
The WSJ’s Angus Loten reports that entrepreneurs are embracing the tactic — online shaming — to obviate legal battles over trademarks.
Take Phil Michaelson, who created a web cookbook last year for people to collect and share recipes. The cookbook let consumers save the instructions for making a certain dish by clicking on a “K” for “Keep.” But AdKeeper Inc., a New York-based service that allows users to save, or “keep,” online ads, sent him a letter claiming his use of the “K” and “Keep” as well as his website’s name, KeepRecipes.com, constituted “blatant trademark infringement.”
Michaelson posted the letter Chillingeffects.org, a website created by U.S. universities to help protect lawful online activity from legal threats. Eventually, the letter found its way to lawyers, who have offered to represent him at no charge. AdKeeper, which declined to comment, has not filed a lawsuit.
“Trademarks are meant to protect your image, so it doesn’t really help to look like you’re coming down hard on the little guy,” Wendy Seltzer, a Yale Law School fellow who founded Chillingeffects.org, told Loten.
But shaming tactics can backfire. If the claims in the letter are legitimate, entrepreneurs wind up casting a spotlight on their own infringing conduct, according to David Bernstein, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton.
Some are dubious that shaming can deter large companies from action. Intellectual property laws require them to be aggressive — even against minor infractions — or risk weakening the scope of their protections, Kenneth Port, director of the Intellectual Property Institute at the William Mitchell College of Law, told Loten.


速度3 (364words)


?    March 1, 2012, 10:57 AM
Federal Judge Apologizes for Racist Email About President Obama


By Sam Favate


A federal judge in Montana apologized Wednesday for forwarding an email with a racist joke directed at President Barack Obama. The the judge said passed along the joke because it was “anti-Obama,” not because he is a racist.
Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull forwarded an email on Feb. 20 from his courthouse chambers, and wrote: “Normally I don’t send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine,” according to the Great Falls Tribune.
The forwarded portion of the email contained a joke that compared African Americans to animals.
“There’s no doubt it’s racist,” Cebull said, according to The Billings Gazette. “It wasn’t forwarded for that purpose. If anything, it was political.” Adding it is “a hard lesson to learn. I apologize,” Cebull admitted he is “not a fan” of Obama’s.
Critics have complained that the email contained racist rhetoric unbecoming a federal judge. “It’s one thing if the judge is not a fan of President Barack Obama, but you would think someone in his position would articulate that in a way that criticizes his policy decisions or his positions on issues,” Travis McAdam, executive director of the Montana Human Rights Network, told the Great Falls Tribune.
Cebull said he doesn’t see himself as prejudiced against people of other races or ethnic background, and claims his actions in the courtroom have demonstrated that, yet he acknowledged that some people will think of him as racist because of this.  “And I don’t blame them,” Cebull told the Billings Gazette. “The fact is that isn’t how I’ve conducted myself as a federal judge. Never has anybody asserted I was racist.”
Cebull, appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001, has served as chief judge since 2008. Prior to that, he was a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of Montana from 1998-2001.
Law Blog contacted the judge’s chambers for comment, but a spokesperson wasn’t immediately available.


速度4 (286words)


Three Ways Women Can Make Office Politics Work for Them
9:10 AM Thursday March 8, 2012
by Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath, and Mary Davis Holt | Comments (14)


Raise your hand if you hate politics: The shady, behind-the-scenes deal-making. The tradeoffs where neither party is satisfied. The game-playing that leaves us feeling disillusioned.
And we're not even talking about Washington.
Office politics have gotten a bad a rap for some very good reasons. Just ask a woman. Over a multi-year period we examined the 360-degree performance reviews of hundreds of managers and conducted follow-up discussions with the executives themselves. Part of what we've heard is that men are much more likely to report that they are skilled at office politics, whereas women say they want to avoid it at all costs.
In our coaching interviews we've learned that women perceive political maneuvering as a violation of their moral code, saying things like, "I'd rather be a straight shooter," "I tend to look people in the eye and tell it like it is," or "I don't play favorites or trade favors."
When we talked to the ace political consultant Mary Matalin about this, however, we seem to have struck a nerve. "This business about politics at work being sleazy drives me crazy. Virtue can be the essence of politics. The reality is that politics can be just as virtuous or as sleazy as you are." Amen.
The reality is that politics is how power is managed on a practical basis everyday. And from what we've seen women are great at it. It has very little to do with morality and everything to do with managing relationships and getting the job done. In other words: it's not optional.


速度5 (373words)


We've seen in performance discussions that women on average get strong nods of approval for how they forge relationships — managing clients, vendors, peers and direct reports. However, we tend to get lower marks when it comes to managing up. Some say it's a matter of confidence, others site alack of sponsorship in the sink-or-swim environment of upper management. Either way, here are a few of the tips we give women to help them flex their political muscle:
1.    Make a map. Most organizations have informal social networks that are just as important as the obvious corporate hierarchy — if not more so. It's worth your while to chart the peer groups that have influence. Is there a cross-section of functional experts who meet monthly to solve difficult problems? Get to know these people and understand their spheres of influence. Being aware of informal teams and alliances will help when you are trying to get buy in or influence a decision.
2.    Cash in your chips. Women don't like to ask for favors or trade on relationships. According to aresearch report published by The Center for Work-Life Policy, "To their detriment, women perceive cultivating relationships and mobilizing them on their behalf as, at best, an occasional necessity rather than the key exercise of leadership. They fail to see that the practice of seeking out powerful people, cultivating favor and cashing in those chips is itself a demonstration of leadership potential." The reality is that all of us, throughout our careers, need to forge and cultivate relationships that are based on mutual interest.
3.    Campaign for your career. We coach women to realize that they need to be politically astute and lobby for support. It is naïve to believe that you will be selected for high-level jobs without building a coalition. Campaign for your career as if you are running for office by articulating a perspective, creating a platform and lining up sponsors — and then doing it all over again as your agenda changes.
If these approaches strike you as unseemly, ask yourself why — and where your hesitation is coming from. Because the bottom line is that it's just not possible to opt out of the political game at work and still win in your career.






越障


How Afghanistan Can Escape the Resource Curse
Local Is the Only Way to Go
J. Edward Conway
February 29, 2012
Until just a few weeks ago, serious talk about an Afghan economy based on natural resources seemed premature. But as Kabul inks more mining deals with international investors -- it awarded two major tenders at the end of 2011 -- and as NATO continues its drawdown of international troops, natural resources are shaping up to serve as the cornerstone of sustainable development there. This raises an unavoidable and possibly tragic question: Considering the country's lack of infrastructure and its rampant corruption, will Afghanistan become yet another data point in the literature on underdeveloped countries that fall victim to the resource curse?
The possibility is real. Officials in both Washington and Kabul claim that the country's mineral wealth is worth as much as $3 trillion. Experts have suspected Afghanistan's resource potential for decades, and U.S. Geological Survey fieldwork conducted between 2009 and 2011 confirmed the existence of significant copper, iron ore, gold, lithium, rare earths, and mineral fuel resources such as coal, oil, and gas, and possibly even uranium.


But several countries in Central Asia have struggled with exactly these challenges in recent decades -- and offer a valuable guide to Kabul, Washington, and international investors.


Mining corporations and the Afghan government have wasted no time. In late 2011, Afghanistan's Ministry of Mines signed an oil exploration and production deal with the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation to develop the Amu Darya basin's 80 million barrels of estimated crude reserves over the next 25 years; production is expected to begin this year. At the moment, the ministry is finalizing details with an Indian consortium of mining companies to develop the Hajigak deposit, one of the largest undeveloped iron ore deposits in the world, which has the potential to produce steel for the next 40 years. Both of these deals come after Kabul signed over to the Chinese the rights to the Aynak copper deposit in 2008, and the Qara Zaghan gold deposit to a consortium of investors gathered together by J. P. Morgan in early 2011. Taken together, these first forays into Afghanistan's newfound subterranean treasure chest will mean billions of dollars in investment over the next decade; there will be new rail infrastructure, power plants, and possibly even a refinery. Kabul will reap significant new tax revenues, and tens of thousands of Afghans will be put to work.
Unconditional celebration, however, would be premature. Agreements notwithstanding, not a single mine has produced anything tangible -- not even the almost four-year-old Aynak copper mine, which will allegedly begin operation next year. Chinese investors also appear to be sliding on their promise to build a railroad as a part of the Aynak deal. Because of likely high operating costs, it remains unclear when the J. P. Morgan consortium will be able to produce an ounce of gold that competes at market prices.
What's more, estimates for trillion-dollar earnings are almost entirely based on resources, not reserves -- a technical but critical difference. Reserve estimates incorporate economic, legal, social, governmental, and environmental risks to determine what is actually profitable to develop, as well as the site-specific mining and metallurgical challenges. Resource estimates result in optimistic press releases; reserve estimates result in foreign investment, jobs, and budgetary contributions. Kabul and Washington have focused on signing deals, thinking that a few key agreements would soothe the concerns of risk-averse investors. But the real challenge for the industry will be in production. And the test for Afghanistan -- herein lies the possibility of a curse -- will be whether or not a majority of the country reaps the secondary benefits of the mining sector's development.
Resource curse theories follow two tracks. On the first, the overwhelming revenue drawn from the sector exacerbates corruption within the government. That scenario is hardly difficult to imagine in Afghanistan, as the country is currently considered the second most corrupt in the world, according to Transparency International. On the second track, increased mineral exports strengthen a country's currency and consequently crowd out other sectors (such as agriculture) from being competitive on the world market. This is a threat in Afghanistan, clearly, as its economy is largely dependent on farming.
But several countries in Central Asia have struggled with exactly these challenges in recent decades -- and offer a valuable guide to Kabul, Washington, and international investors. Many states in the region are blessed with mineral wealth but cursed by infrastructure obstacles and social instability; accordingly, they have faced challenges in attracting foreign investors, cultivating resources without losing profits to graft, and avoiding introducing new divisions among the population. The most important lesson for Afghanistan to learn is that it will have to build a resource-based economy with the support of local Afghans.
Take Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous, landlocked country with little rail infrastructure, deteriorating roads, and an economy based on foreign aid, remittances, and mining. Until recently, successive authoritarian leaders since the mid-1990s, such as Askar Akayev and Kurmanbek Bakiyev, advised foreign mining companies to avoid getting involved locally; a few token social projects to placate the people living near a project would suffice. But keeping out of local affairs has backfired. Mining revenues were funneled to elites in the capital, and a negligible percentage went to the local community for development and infrastructure projects.
Over time, local miners moved their families (and wealth) to the capital city; the loss of revenue and investment left the mining towns without running water or a functioning sewage system. In Barskaun, the only paved road is the one that leads to the mine -- Kumtor, a single gold mine, which represents ten percent of the country's GDP. That neglect not only shortchanged the locals but breeds insecurity today. In Aral, where there is a foreign-operated gold mine, armed men on horseback caused a million dollars' worth of damage in October 2011, forcing the site to remain closed until a settlement was reached with villagers three months later.
But then consider Kazakhstan, where the opposite has happened. The country of 16 million is an oil and gas exporter but also a global leader in copper, iron ore, chromite, lead, zinc, gold, coal, and uranium reserves and production. Since its independence in the 1990s, both foreign investors and government officials have focused on socioeconomic development in the areas surrounding key mining sites; today mines serve as a catalyst for province-wide growth. Managers and workers live locally, spend locally, and educate their children locally.
Astana has imposed strict requirements on foreign miners -- forcing them to sign annual memorandums of cooperation with local governors, under which both parties together determine the social investment projects to be funded by the firm in the province for that year. The strategy dates back to the Soviet era, when most of these mining operations had their hand in all aspects of the local community. Today this is reflected in foreign mining companies funding schools, gyms, sports stadiums, daycare centers, and orphanages and foster care networks, as well as providing electric-power capacity to homes and businesses across the country. Not coincidently, Kazakhstan ranks far ahead of all other Central Asian states on country risk indices for foreign investors.
Unfortunately, at the moment Afghanistan is looking more like the former than the latter. Politically the country is already overly centralized in Kabul, and with Aynak and Hajigak within driving distance, it's not difficult to envision a future where the benefits of the extractive sector remain in the capital. Further, while all foreign developers are required to invest in development projects, it remains to be seen if these firms will make good on their promises and if local leaders will be empowered in the subsequent decision-making process. Whereas Kazakhstan enforces strict production and investment quotas -- if you don't produce and invest as you promised, you're out -- citing force majeure in Afghanistan (from war to civil disturbances to labor issues) seems like an easy way for Aynak and Hajigak to renege on local commitments, potentially aggravating the existing socioeconomic gap between Kabul and the rest of the country.
It all comes back to ensuring a positive correlation between increased foreign investment and improved quality of life. In Kyrgyzstan you have armed men on horseback; in Kazakhstan you have local athletes wearing jerseys sporting the foreign miner's logo. There's no question that there are significant differences between the situation in Afghanistan and those in the Central Asian states. Afghanistan's levels of corruption and violence are far higher, the education level is much lower, and on transport infrastructure and power capacity issues, it is starting from scratch. But just as Kabul's mining deals to date are little more than agreements on paper, the unsettled nature of the larger issues can provide an opportunity to forge a path ahead. If Afghanistan wants to achieve that positive correlation of foreign investment with local quality of life -- and in doing so open the gates to foreign investment from the more risk-averse -- the Kabul-based elites and their foreign miners will need to spread the wealth.

fox0923

第一次坐自己的沙发~

1'10"
1'30"
1'29"
1'06"
1'40"

Daisy汪

1'29 immigration to American持续增高
1‘24 trademark，一个人把菜谱放在网络上供大家分享，找了一个律师来维护他的法律问题
1’38 C对奥巴马道歉，因为之前写了一封开奥巴马玩笑的信，并在信中将African American比作animal。C表示自己不是racist，但也承认自己不是奥巴马的fan
1‘28 内容没怎么看懂
1’29 是对women塑造political muscle的建议：1、map a 人际关系网，没有的话把自己常见的帮助自己解决问题的人写上；2、cash in chips；3、campaigning for your career

越障：7‘52 讲的是阿富汗的经济问题。阿富汗的经济来源就是石油资源和矿产。中国与阿富汗达成协议，中国在当地开采石油，然后中国帮助阿富汗在当地修建railway，中国履行了承诺。然后说到了阿富汗的问题，大概可能是人口增长？反正就是国内以农业生产为主的经济远远不够。
阿富汗面临的问题：引入外资什么的。然后说阿富汗应该学会建立local公司来利用资源。阿富汗在引入外资方面远远领先于其他中亚国家
K作为一个金矿，是阿富汗国家经济来源地很大一部分

顺序可能有些颠倒。。。其他的不记得了。。o(╯□╰)o

dengly

1.51
2.29
2.21
1.40
2.23
（今天脖子疼得难受，眼睛也难受，速度明显很低）

越障12.21

CHRISTINE2010

补作业的为了把每天作业都补上，所以要占座。。。。

harryhenry

1'28
1'54
1'59
1'11
1'52

越障
9‘05

半阙

01:15

01:53

02:15

01:20

02:09

越障有空再补~~

babybearmm

谢谢狐仙jj，喜欢今天的文章，特别是速度~

速度：
1'07''
1'18''
1'10''
1'00''
1'18''

越障 9'12''

Main purpose: to dissect Afghan's resource curse, and to suggest a solution (based on lessons from other Mid-Asia countries).

Part I. (Problem) Afghan's resource curse

Good side: all about natural resources
1. huge natural resources; 2. In recent years, it has got some great foreign investment (here the author cites 2 huge projects, one with PetroChina and the other with India); 3. according to xxx (an financial institution/authority), trillion-dollar estimation

However, don't unconditionally celebrate on these seeming achievements. One main reason is: the "trillion-dollar" is calculated based on resource rather than reserve, and thus is inherently inflated.
resource - calculation is based on natural potential
reserve - calculation takes into account other practical limitations: political, economical, social, sustainable development

Bad side (underlying): poor infrastructure, corruption (ranked 2nd highest in the world)
This is so-called "resource curse".

Part II. Solution
Resource curse is common in Mid-Asia, and Afghan may learn from the stories of other countries facing the same issue.
The author Cites two examples in two paragraphs, respectively.
Bad example - Country K1.
Good example - Country K2.
Afghan is like Country K1, particularly in that: overly centralized; bureaucracy & corrupt; no good socioeconomic environment; no good governmental policies.

Moreover, it looks paradoxical, but the natural resources is driving the economy worse (so called "resource curse"). Two main reasons: 1. foster corrupt; 2. bring up the currency (as local currency increases, products of other sectors will face threatened competitive edge in global market)

Furthermore, in Afghan there lacks a correlation between "increased foreign investment" and "increased quality of life".

In conclusion, to solve the "resource curse", Afghan should learn from country K2...

我发现，以前仔细捉摸过饭饭贴的一篇速度文（好像叫Arabian Spring），今天的越障就基本都读懂了，一样的话题。

搞G战士DB

1‘32  1’43  1‘43 1’21  1‘54
越障9‘48

很邻家

11'20为什么我觉得越障这么难呀。。。
1. A is a country rich in natural resources. However, lacking infrastructure and rampantly corruptive, this country may be in danger.
2. The natural recourses may attract many countries like China to come to A, and a development of their infrastructure, industry, etc. will be going on. However, it’s premature celebration. The mining is facing financing difficulties, and not a single mine is tangible.
3. The resource estimates and reserve estimate have different results, for reserve estimate incorporate more risks. The government of A commits itself in soothing the risk-averse investors’ concerns. But the largest challenge A meets is the low productivity.
4. The resource curse theories impact on A in 2 ways:
- A is rampantly corrupt;
- The resource exports strengthen the currency of A, crowding other sectors of out of the global market.
However, other countries give hands to A.
5. The author makes an example of a country like A with poor infrastructure, deteriorating road system and low education. This country deterred the foreign investors from mining the local natural resources, as a result, backfired.
6. 貌似还举了一个国家的例子？因为作者又说了：unfortunately, A is more like the former than the latter. 最后又说了A国家人民受教育程度很低，贪污严重等等一堆不好的东西，作者当然最终还是持了一个负态度。