GRE阅读需要了解的国外知识.doc

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1、GRE阅读需要了解的国外知识 GRE阅读需要了解的国外知识,我们来看看吧，下面就和大家分享，来欣赏一下吧。GRE阅读需要了解的国外知识无论是科技类还是社科类的阅读*，国内很多考生都十分苦恼为何就是不明白，其实造成这个的主要原因就是GRE阅读中提及的国外文化背景考生并不是很了解。像这种BT长阅读，说的好像是什么impressionist(印象派)和modernist(现实主义)的东东。由于对这方面毫无了解，所以读这篇*毫无感觉。我不是要大家去补习美国文化的知识，这工程量太大，尤其对10G的同学。网上都说平时要多看什么economist什么的，试问有几个人会真正为了GRE去看?我的建议就是，大家可

2、以抽一点时间，利用相关资料(比如 wikipedia)，多去了解一下GRE社科类阅读爱考的知识。以往年经验来看，GRE社科类阅读非常喜欢考黑人文学Black literature，黑人音乐Black music(尤其是Jazz)，妇女(包括妇女地位的改变，妇女文学)，艺术类包括impressionist、modernist等。另外，GRE考试阅读务必多留意一下上述知识的代表人物!比如Ragtime就是Jazz的代表人物及一种风格。并不是要求大家知道这个人物做了什么，只需要混个眼熟，考试的时候万一碰到一大串人名，能对其中一两个有点眼熟，能大概猜测出来是关于什么的就行!等到时候*做得比较熟了，那时

3、往往你自己也大概了解了社科类的阅读喜欢考哪些领域了。总之，GRE阅读最重要的就是日常的积累和良好的阅读习惯，不要为了考试而考试，如果平时养成看英文报、英文期刊的习惯，到时候考试中的阅读题一定能拿高分。Free exchangeFor richer, for poorer自由交流：贫富皆为One way or another, Americas government will end up bailing out Puerto Rico无论如何，美洲政府都会出钱援助波多黎各IN DECEMBER, as a winter chill descends on the continental Uni

4、ted States, temperatures in Puerto Rico often reach 30C. Palm trees sway alongside the Spanish colonial buildings in Old San Juan; the blue Atlantic stretches to the horizon. Yet the economic outlook for Americas Caribbean dependency is anything but sunny. Its government owes $72 billion in debt, wh

5、ich it says it cannot repay. On December 1st the territory is supposed to makeand is almost certain to missa $354m debt payment. And that is just the first of a series of repayments that add up to $1.4 billion (or nearly 1.5% of GDP) due in December and January.12月，美国大陆寒气袭人，加勒比地区的属地波多黎各却是30C。那儿的圣胡安老

6、城留有西班牙殖民时期的建筑，街道两旁的棕榈树来回摇摆。还有蔚蓝的大西洋，一眼望不到头。可它的经济前景并不明朗。政府欠债720亿美元，还还不了。12月1日应当还款3.54亿美元，这肯定是做不到的。12月和1月要还款14亿美元，而3.54亿美元的还款仅是第一步。Politicians in Washington are scrambling for a solution. The islands fiscal woes are in part the result of chronically bad budgeting. But they also stem from structural ec

7、onomic weakness. Bailing out Puerto Rico, which is self-governing but not a state, is not a popular option. Yet when any corner of America faces a deterioration in its long-run economic fortunes, the costs will end up being shared, one way or another.此时，华盛顿的政要们正在寻找对策。波多黎各遭遇了财政灾难，既因为长期以来预算糟糕，又因为结构性经济

8、疲软。这个岛屿虽然自治但未独立。经济援助并不欢迎，但美洲只要有国家经济面临下滑，人们就各种方法共同解决问题。For decades Puerto Rico, which is poorer than the mainland, enjoyed a special tax status designed to encourage economic development. From 1976 the income of some manufacturers was exempt from both federal and local tax. Investment poured in, nota

9、bly in pharmaceuticals. But in the 1990s the tax break fell victim to efforts to balance Americas federal budget and was phased out. When it came to an end in 20XX, the island sank into a deep and protracted depression. The economy has since shrunk by 14%. Employment is 12% below the peak of20XX. As

10、 the economy has withered, obligations to creditors have loomed larger.波多黎各比美国大陆穷。几十年来，为鼓励经济发展，税收状况特殊。1976年以来，某些制造业免除了联邦税和地方税。投资拥入，尤其是药业。1990年代，人们努力平衡美洲联邦财政，实行了减税政策，结果失败，并逐步停止。20XX年废止时，经济已经陷入大萧条，旷日持久。自此，经济缩减14%，就业率12%，低于20XX的最好时期。经济萎缩，债权人负担加重。Many Puerto Ricans have not waited for a recovery. More t

11、han 200 move to the mainland everyday. Roughly 5m Americans of Puerto Rican descent live in the continental United States; 3.5mremain on the island. Its labor force has shrunk 11% since 20XX.波多黎各很多人都等不起复苏。每天有200人流向美国大陆。将近有500万波多黎各血统的美国人住在美国大陆;350万人未走。20XX年后，劳动力缩减11%。This migration to more prosperous

12、 places saps the Puerto Rican economy of potential, but it is precisely what economists think ought to happen when one region of a larger economy falls on hard times. At 5.7%, the unemployment rate in Detroit, a cash-strapped American city, is ten percentage points below the level of six years ago,

13、when the car industry was in crisis. It would be much higher but for the shrinkage of Detroits labour force, which has contracted by about 5% since 20XX. Between 2000 and 20XX about 90,000 Detroiters, or 2% of the population, moved away. In much of Americas industrial heartland, labour forces are sh

14、rinking. The migration of working-age adults away from struggling areas reduces joblessness. The country as a whole benefits as labour is drawn toward places that are on the up.人口流向更加富庶的地区，破坏了本地经济的潜力。这就是大经济体中小区域落难时的情况，跟经济学家想的一样。美国城市底特律缺乏资金，失业率为5.7%，比6年前低10个百分点。但假如劳动力不萎缩，失业率还会更高。20XX年后，萎缩近5%。2000 至20

15、XX年间，底特律约有9万人(总人口的2%)出走。美洲很多工业中心城市，劳动力都在缩减。适龄工作人口离开艰苦的地区，减轻了失业状况。总体来看，波多黎各还是受益了，因为劳动力都流向了富庶的地区。Migration reduces unemployment, but it cannot liberate struggling spots from accrued obligationsmost notably pensions. Puerto Ricos biggest government-pension programme has sufficient funds to cover just 0

16、.7% of future obligations. State pension pots are not in quite such bad shape, but massive liabilities still loom. In Illinois, where the labour force has shrunk by about 3% since 20XX, pensions are just 39% funded. Puerto Rico will not be the last local government to run out of money.人口外流可以减少失业，但不能

17、解放那些艰苦的地区，因为那里债台高筑，主要是养老金方面。波多黎各养老计划是最大的项目，有充足的资金，未来可以负担0.7%。波多黎各养老金体系并不差劲，但巨大的债务还是令人担忧。20XX年后，伊利诺斯州劳动力缩减约3%，州出资的养老金只占39%。波多黎各不会成为把钱花光的最后一个地方政府。Perhaps for that reason, many politicians are adamant that the federal government should never rescue insolvent localities. Detroit, for one, was left to wr

18、ite down its debts in bankruptcy court. Puerto Rico cannot do that. The law bars states and territories from declaring bankruptcy, in order to deter profligate behaviour. That makes little sense when redistribution among states is already enormous. Because Americas tax system is proGREssive, rich st

19、ates contribute much more per person to the Treasury than poor ones. Alabama and West Virginia routinely receive more than $2 in federal spending for each dollar they pay in federal tax; New York and California receive less than $0.70 on the dollar. Most of the redistribution comes in the form of pr

20、ogrammes like Social Security (the national pension scheme) and Medicare (public health insurance for the elderly), for which average spending per person is not that different from one state to another.可能由于此，很多政要都坚定认为，联邦政府不能求助破产的地方政府。底特律就是例子，当时底特律在破产法院记录下了自己的债务。波多黎各不能这样，因为法律规定，州和属地不能宣布破产，就是为了避免挥霍。这就

21、是说不通了，因为美国各州之间分配差异巨大。较富裕的州上缴国库，对个人的分配多于较贫穷的州。阿拉巴马州和西弗吉尼亚州，每上缴联邦税收1美元，就会收到联邦2美元多的返还。纽约和加利福尼亚返还却不足0.7美元。重新分配多是以社会保障(国家养老金计划)和医保制度(老年人医辽保险)的形式进行，为的是对个人花费州与州之间不能差异太大。During the financial crisis these handouts to poorer regions became even more generous. The federal government stood behind all American b

22、anks and borrowed to finance infrastructure spending and increased unemployment benefits. It also took in less tax, offsetting some of the pain of the recession. Indeed, Americas fiscal union is so good at absorbing shocks that it is often cited as a model for the more accident-prone euro zone.金融危机期

23、间，贫困地区的援助更加大方。联邦政府支持所有的美国银行，让他们放款去资助基础设施建设，增加失业救济。同时，还减轻税务，减轻因衰退产生的悲痛。其实，美国的财政同盟十分擅长吸收冲击，都被事故多发的欧元区引为典范。In sickness and in health无论生病还是健康The administration of Barack Obama has released a sensible plan to repair Puerto Ricos finances. It would allow indebted government agencies, such as the islands p

24、ower company, to declare bankruptcy, and would provide for a restructuring of other debts and pension obligations. The federal government would also oversee the territorys future public spending; as a sweetener, residents of the territory would gain full access to various anti-poverty schemes that a

25、re less generous there than on the mainland.奥巴马执政后，实施了一项明智的举措，来修补波多黎各的财务。政府欠债的各种单位，比如能源公司可以允许破产;还可以重组其它债务和养老金债务;联邦政府将会负责本地区的公共开支。让地区居民尝到甜头的是，他们可以充分享受各种扶贫政策，当然钱比美国大陆的要少。If Congress spurns this plan, Puerto Ricos government will be forced to raise taxes to crippling levels and slash spending to pay it

26、s bills. That would hit the islands residents, 40% of whom live below the poverty line, hard. It is difficult to imagine the federal government ignoring the humanitarian crisis that would probably follow. In addition, emigration to the mainland would presumably jump, initiating a vicious cycle where

27、by a shrinking tax base leads to rising taxes and curtailed services, prompting further emigration. As American citizens, the migrants will be eligible for public support of various kinds on the mainland. There is no question, in other words, that America will end up bearing much of the cost of Puer

28、to Ricos past profligacy. The only question is how considered and efficient its assistance will be.假如国会通过此项决计，波多黎各政府将会被迫提高税收，减少支出，来偿还债务。这将会严重伤害岛内居民，其中40%生活在贫困线以下。这也很难想象，联邦政府会忽视随之而来的人道主义危机。此外，移居美国大陆的人可能会更多，进而开始恶性循环，因为税基萎缩，导致税收提高，服务缩减，又进一步激发人口出走。波移民也是美国居民，在美国大陆有资格申请各种公共支持。换言之，毫无疑问，波多黎各曾经肆意挥霍，最后需要美国共同承

29、担。问题的核心是援助的效率和成熟度。GRE双语阅读：地铁进站扶梯靠右站是常识吗Subway passengers in some Chinese cities are not standing on the right side of escalators and sparing the left side for those to walk through.中国一些城市的地铁乘客在进站的时候并没有站在自动扶梯的右边、把左侧留给那些走过的人。An earlier report hit the Internet saying that Nanjing city in eastern China

30、only requires subway passengers to stand firm and hold the handrail rather than to stand on the right side as it did formerly.早先有一份报告在网上造成了轰动，称南京市只要求地铁乘客站稳并抓好扶手，而并没有像以前那样要求乘客一定要靠右站。The Nanjing Subway Group explained on their Weibo account that it found 95 percent of escalators were seriously worn on

31、 the right side.南京地铁公司在其微博上解释说，他们发现95%自动扶梯的右侧都严重磨损。Shi Dajiang from the citys public security bureau agreed that standing on the right side will speed up the abrasion of the escalator, shorten the service life and increase risk of breakdown.来自南京市公安局的石大江(音)表示赞同，他说道靠右站会加剧自动扶梯的磨损、缩减使用寿命、并且加大扶梯损坏的风险。Sta

32、tion staff also said the escalator step is 21 centimeters in height, six centimeters higher than the height of the public stairs. It is dangerous to walk on the operating escalators.地铁站工作人员也表示说，自动扶梯每一层的高度为21厘米，比公共阶梯要高6厘米。在运行中的自动扶梯上行走是非常危险。Guangzhou canceled the standard to stand on the right side of

33、 escalator about ten years ago. Ye Zichuan from the Guangzhou subway publicity department said they have investigated escalator accidents, finding that more than 90 percent of the accidents were caused by passengers walking through the escalator.大约10年前广州取消了自动扶梯靠右站的标准。广州地铁宣传部门的叶子川(音)表示说他们对自动扶梯事故进行了调查

34、，发现超过90%的事故是由于乘客在自动扶梯上行走造成的。But some netizens support the international standard to stand on the right side of the escalator, saying the standard is popular in many countries and there are few escalator accidents in those countries.但是一些网民支持在自动扶梯上靠右站的国际标准，称许多国家都使用了这一标准，但是却很少发生扶梯事故。Other netizens argu

35、e that the international standard is not necessarily feasible in China. With the large population and the crowded rush hours in big cities, they say standing on the right side and allowing walk-through traffic on the left doesnt fit in China.而其他一些网民争论说这一国际标准并不一定适用于中国。他们指出大城市在高峰时期会有大量的乘客通过，靠右站、使得左侧可以让人通过的做法并不适合中国。GRE阅读需要了解的国外知识