雅思泛读及精读材料.doc

沈阳环球雅思学校 SNOWClimate and Country WealthA. Why are some countries stupendously rich and others horrendously poor? Social theorists have been captivated by this question since the late 18th century, when Scottish economist Adam Smith argued in his magisterial work The Wealth of Nations that the best prescription for prosperity is a free-market economy in which the government allows businesses substantial freedom to pursueprofits. Smith, however, made a second notable hypothesis: that the physical geography of aregion can influence its economic performance. He contended that the economies of coastal regions, with their easy access to sea trade, usually outperform the economies of inland areas.B. Coastal regions and those near navigable waterways are indeed far richer and more densely settled than interior regions, just as Smith predicted. Moreover, an areas climate can also affect its economic development. Nations in tropical climate zones generally face higher rates of infectious disease and lower agricultural productivity (especially for staple foods) than do nations in temperate zones. Similar burdens apply to the desert zones. The very poorest regions in the world are those saddled with both handicaps: distance from sea trade and a tropical or desert ecology, The basic lessons of geography are worth repeating, because most economists have ignored them. In the past decade the vast majority of papers on economic development have neglected even the most obvious geographical realities.C. The best single indicator of prosperity is gross national product (GNP) per capita- the total value of a countrys economic output, divided by its population. A map showing the world distribution of GNP per capita immediately reveals the vast gap between rich and poor nations. The great majority of the poorest countries lie in the geographical tropics. In contrast, most of the richest countries lie in the temperate zones. Among the 28 economies categorized as high income by the World Bank, only Hong Kong, Singapore and part of Taiwan are in the tropical zone, representing a mere 2 percent of the combined population of the high-income regions. Almost all the temperate-zone countries have either high-income, economies (as in the cases of North America, Western Europe, Korea and Japan) or middle-income economies (as in the cases of Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and China). In addition, there is a strong temperate-tropical divide within countries that straddle both types of climates. Most of Brazil for example lies within the tropical zone, but the richest part of the nation-the southernmost states-is in the temperate zone.D. There are two major ways in which a regions climate affects economic development. First, it affects the prevalence of disease. Many kinds of infectious diseases are endemic to the tropical and subtropical zones. This tends to be true of diseases in which the pathogen spends part of its life cycle outside the human host: for instance, malaria (carried by mosquitoes) and helminthic infections (caused by parasitic worms). Although epidemics of malaria have occurred sporadically as far north as Boston in the past century, the disease has never gained a lasting foothold in the temperate zones, because the cold winters naturally control the mosquito-based transmission of the disease. Winter could thus be considered the worlds most effective public health intervention,- 19 -It is much more difficult to control malaria in tropical reasons, where transmission takes place year-round and affects a large part of the population.E. According to the World Health Organization, 300 million to 500 million new cases of malaria occur every year, almost entirety concentrated in the tropics. Widespread illness and early deaths obviously hold back a nations economic performance by significantly reducing worker productivity. But there are also long-term effects that may be amplified over time through various social feedbacks. A high incidence of disease can alter the age structure of a countrys population. Societies with high levels of child mortality tend to have high levels of fertility: mothers bear many children to guarantee that at least some will survive to adulthood. Young children will therefore constitute a large proportion of that countrys population. With so many children, poor families cannot invest much in each childs education. High fertility also constrains the role of women in society, because child reading takes up so much of their adult lives.F. Moreover temperature affects agricultural productivity. Of the major food grainswheat, maize and ricewheat grows only in temperate climates, and maize and rice crops are generally moreproductive in temperate and subtropical climates than in tropical zones. On average, a hectare of land in the tropics yields 2.3 metric tons of maize, whereas a hectare in the temperate zone yields6. 4 tons. Farming in tropical rainforest environments is hampered by the fragility of the soil: high temperatures mineralize the organic materials, and the intense rainfall leaches them out of the soil.In tropical environments that have wet and dry seasonssuch as the African savanna-farmersmust contend with the rapid loss of soil moisture resulting from high temperatures, the great variability of precipitation, and the ever present risk of drought. Moreover, tropical environments are plagued with diverse infestations of pests and parasites that can devastate both crops and livestock.G. Moderate advantages or disadvantages in geography can lead to big differences in long-term economic performance. Favorable agricultural of health conditions may boost per capita income in temperate-zone nations and hence increase the size of their economies. The resulting inventions further raise economic output, spurring yet more inventive activity. The moderate geographical advantage is thus amplified through innovation. In contrast, the low food output per farm worker in tropical regions tends to diminish the size of cities. With a smaller proportion of the population in urban areas, the rate of technological advance is usually slower. The tropical regions therefore remain more rural than the temperate regions, with most of their economic activity concentrated in low-technology agriculture rather than in high-technology manufacturing and services.H. Geographical factors, however, are only part of the story. Social, land economic institutions are critical to long-term economic performance. It is particularly instructive to compare the post World War II performance of socialist and free-market economies in neighboring countries that share the same geographical characteristics: North and South Korea, East and West Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria, and Estonia and Finland. In each case we find that free-market institutions vastly outperformed their counterparts.I. If these findings are true, the policy implications are significant. Aid programs for developingcountries will have to be revamped to specifically address the problems imposed by climate and geography. In particular, new strategies have to be formulated that would help nations in tropical zones raise their agricultural productivity and reduce the prevalence of diseases such as malaria.Medieval Toys and ChildhoodA. This toy knight comes from a rich harvest of archaeological finds, made in the mudbanks of the River Thames in London during the Jest 30 years. It was manufactured in about 1300, and illustrates several facets of medieval childhood. Then as now, children liked playing with toys. Then as now, they had a culture of their own, encompassing slang, toys, and games. Then as now, adults cored for children and encouraged their play. An adult made this toy and another adult bought it t for a child, or gave a child money to buy it. The toy knight was made from a mould, and produced in large numbers. It probably circulated among the families of merchants, shopkeepers, and craft workers, as well as those of the nobility and gentry, The finds also include toys that girls might have liked: little cups, plates, and jugs, some sturdy enough to heat up water by a fireside, There is even a self-assembly kit: a cupboard cut out of a sheet of soft metal, instead of the plastic that would be used today. Toys give us a positive view of medieval childhood.B. Medieval toys might be home-made by adults with time on their hands, fashioned by the children themselves, or bought from wandering peddlers or merchants at fairs even ordered specially from the most children once their usefulness as fashion models was past. Naturally, the types and magnificence of the toys varied with the status of the recipient.C. Many of the dolls sold in England came from abroad, chiefly from Germany and Holland, although very fancy dolls were sold in the Palais du Justice, alongside other expensive luxuries. However, the industry was slow to develop into a guild, hampered partly by its own rules- toys had to be finished by the appropriate masters, and thus could not be made all in one workshop, for instance. There was also the hindrance that toy making was for a long time considered an addition to a realtrade, and to a great extent left to the local craftsmen in their spare time, rather than quickly becoming an industry of its own, as was the case in many other fields. However, dolls among other toys appear to have been traded on a small but constant and gradually increasing level throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Dockenmacher (doll-makers) are recorded in Nuremberg from 1413, and their very existence indicates the rising importance of the toy trade on both the local and the international scene.D. Written sources for the existence of toys, and to some extent of their type and manufacture, are fairly plentiful, from legal records, to poetry describing the age of innocence, and sermons on the immature behavior of the socialites of the day. Most pictorial sources are generally later, but one drawing survives from around 1200, which shows two youths playing with a pair of foot soldiers. The warriors appear to be on strings, enabling them to be pulled back and forth in semblance of battle. Boys are often shown in illustrations playing with such warrior dolls, and various jousting figures survive which show the perfection of articulated armour and fine horse-trappings which could be achieved in a boys plaything. In portraiture of the sixteenth century, noble girls are often pictured holding exquisitely dressed dolls. Possibly bought new for the sitting as them seem fresh from the box and neither grubby nor worn down with use. These dolls are likely to be accurately painted rather than idealized, as the sitters themselves often were, so it must be assumed that suchdolls were indeed artistically finished, beautifully attired and painted with the most delicate of features. In contrast, the seventeenth-century painting of a peasant family, by Adriane van Ostade, offers proof that children of more humble origins also played with dolls.E. Archaeological evidence is more widely available than might at first be thought. Naturally, more survives, the closer we get to modern times, and the material of which dolls were made doubtless influences our picture of their history. From Viking settlements in the far north a few dolls have been separated from the multitude of figures identified by the experts as idols and funerary figures. Some heads and limbs have been found, which may once have had cloth bodies, although it is uncertain whether these were designed as toys or votive offerings. Although no surviving pieces have thus far been uncovered, wealthy Anglo-Saxon children in England may have entertained themselves with carved alabaster dolls, a substance which had been used for doll-making since the Roman occupation, while poorer children of this age would have owned wooden or cloth dolls.F. Dating from as early as the 13th century, items unearthed from the mudbanks of the River Thames include tiny cannons and guns, metal figurines, and miniaturized household objects such as stools, jugs, cauldrons, and even frying pans complete with little fish. Made mainly from pewter (a tin-lead alloy). These medieval toys are exceptionally rare and have helped transform perceptions of childhood during the Middle Ages, says Hazel Forsyth, curator of post-medieval collections at the Museum of London. “In the 1960s French historian Philippe Aries claimed that there wasnt really such a thing as childhood in the Middle Ages and that parents didnt from emotional attachments with their offspring, regarding them as economic providers or producers for the household.”Forsyth said. Aries pioneered ways of looking beyond tings, politics, and war to everyday medieval life. He argued that parents invested little emotional capital in their children because they had lots of offspring, many of them died in infancy, and that surviving children were sent to work at the ages of six or seven.G. Ariess views had a lot of currency. And for very many years, people took it for granted. It has only been recently, with discovery of ancient childhood items by contemporary treasure hunters, that weve challenged this received wisdom. “Surprise, surprise, human nature doesnt change.” Forsyth said: Some parents from the Middle Ages were very devoted to their children and gave them every luxury and pleasure they could afford.”Brain Gymnasticsa. Hundreds of fans heard Prof. Greenfield speak at a public lecture. Britains most famous neuroscientist whose Mind Gym training programmes have worked with over 100 well-known companies including Microsoft, Barclays Bank, Guinness and Proctor and Gamble, Prof. Susan Greenfield dismissed the idea tossed around by scientists for decades that we use less than one quarter of our brains. In fact, she said our brains could be exercised like our muscles and could grow and perform at maximum capacity-we just had to go to the metaphorical gym. We all know what it feels like to fall on the couch in a heap, well, your brain falls on a couch as well if you dont exercise it,she said yesterday. Memory is not lost, your brain just remembers what isimportant to you at the timeand whats not important is pushed into the background.b. Our understanding of the brain has developed enormously over the past 20 years. Since we can now seebrain activity through MRI scans and other medical technology, we can now begin to see what happens when we think and when we think different kinds of thought. As neurologists tell us more about the brain we can apply that knowledge to construct optimum situations for learning. Each human brain has 100 billion brain cells and each cell has 100,000 potential connections to any other. it would take you 32 million years at one per second to count the connections even in the outer layer of your brain. Greenfield tells us. She adds the good news,Your brain is configured exactly for you.it is the only part of your body that can get better and better-if used.c. There are three traditional views toward creativity. The first view is that there is nothing you can do about it. New ideas will come about by chance or by inspiration. On this basis Newton may never have come to his ideas on gravity if an apple had not fallen on his head. The second traditional view is that creativity is a special talent which some people have and others can only envy. It is perfectly true that some people are more motivated to be creative and also have more confidence in their creative ability. Over time such people do develop quite a creative skill. The second view is that if you do not have this special talent there is not much you can do about it. The third traditional view is that being free and liberated will make a person more creative. From this belief come methods like brain-storming. You sit around feeling free and generate ideas. It can work but is a very weak method. A person whose hands are tied to his side cannot play the violin. But cutting the rope does not make that person a violinist. If you are inhibited it is indeed difficult to be creative. But making you uninhibited does not itself make you creative.d. The brain is specifically designed to be non-creative-and we should be grateful for this. With eleven pieces of clothing there are 39,916,800 ways of getting dressed. Trying out one method every minute would take seventy six years of life. The purpose of the brain is to make stable patterns for dealing with a stable universe. That is why you can get dressed in the morning, cross the road, get to work, read or write. All this depends on the standard patterns formed in your brain. In The Mechanism of the Mind, EDWARD DE BONO described how the nerve networks in the brain organize these patterns from incoming information. The brain is a self-organizinginformation system which creates patterns. These patterns are not symmetric, so the route from A to B is not necessarily the same as the route from B to A. From this arises the phenomenon of humour which is by far the most significant behavior of the human brain-in terms of indicating the underlying system.e. So for the first time in history we can understand creativity. We can understand the logical basis of creativity in how the brain works. From such an understanding we can derive the deliberate tools of thinking. These tools can be learned and used. As with any skill (cooking or skiing for instance) some people will become more skilful than others. But everyone can learn to b