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标题: [读书荐书] 双语新闻 （新闻天天有，学习日日鲜） [打印本页]
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-4 08:36     标题: 双语新闻 （新闻天天有，学习日日鲜）

As part of my English learning schedule, going through some bilingual news has become my morning routine. From this activity, I can not only get the latest news everyday, but it is also very benificial  to my English study. I think it will be selfish to enjoy the very news myself. That's why I'd like to put some pieces of the interesting, funny, meaningful and beautiful news here. Tt will be updated everyday if possible. wish you like it.  (most of the sources will be from China Daily)

[ 本帖最后由 冲动de惩罚 于 2008-11-14 09:07 编辑 ]
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-4 08:42     标题: 研究：帅爸好相貌传女不传儿

Attractive fathers do not pass their looks on to sons

[ 2008-11-03 09:32 ]

Attractive fathers do not pass their looks on to their sons but they will hand their good looks down to their daughters, research shows.

In a study of family photographs, psychologists Professor David Perrett and Elisabeth Cornwell - now at the University of Colorado have found that while both father and mother can influence the attractiveness of their daughters, the couple's good looks do not necessarily contribute to the attractiveness of their son as an adult.

Handsome men with masculine looks are likely to pass on masculine features, but not facial attractiveness.

The theory suggests it is not unusual for attractive parents to produce a beautiful daughter while failing to pass on the same good looks to a son.

While many celebrity mothers produce stunning daughters - such as Goldie Hawn and her daughter Kate Hudson or Jerry Hall and her daughter Georgia - the same is not necessarily true of celebrity fathers.

Sean Stewart, the son of Rod Stewart and his first wife Alana, would probably be judged less attractive than his model sister Kimberly.

"We can't see a strong relationship between the parents' attractiveness and the sons. If the parents are supermodels, the chances are the daughters will be lookers," Perrett said.

Prof Perrett said it has previously been suggested that a woman could increase her own reproductive success by choosing a "sexy" mate whose genes would be passed on to male offspring, making them irresistible to the next generation.

But the new study, published in the current edition of the journal Animal Behaviour, contradicts the theory.

He said: " When we looked at women's faces, we found clear evidence that attractiveness passed from both father and mother to daughter. For the male line, we find that facial masculinity conforms to the rule 'like father - like son'. Masculine dads have masculine sons.

"But we did not find any evidence that facial attractiveness is passed from father to son.

一项研究表明，帅爸的好相貌能遗传给女儿，但不见得会传给儿子。

科罗拉多大学的两位心理学教授大卫•佩雷特和伊丽莎白•康沃尔通过对一些家庭照片进行研究后发现，女孩的相貌一般会受到父母两人的影响，但男孩就不见得了，尤其是他们成年之后。

研究发现，帅爸爸也许能将他的阳刚特质传给儿子，但他英俊的相貌却遗传不了。

这一理论说明，帅爸靓妈能生出漂亮女儿但不一定能生出帅气儿子其实很正常。

很多女明星的女儿都很漂亮，比如戈蒂•霍恩的女儿凯特•哈德森，杰瑞•哈尔的女儿佐治亚，但男明星就不一定了。

罗德•斯图尔特和他的第一任妻子阿莱娜所生的儿子西恩•斯图尔特就不如他们的女儿——名模金伯丽相貌出众。

佩雷特说：“我们发现儿子的长相与父母之间没有很大联系。如果父母都是名模，那他们很可能会生个漂亮的女儿。”

佩雷特教授说，此前有研究认为，女性可以通过选择“性感”的配偶来提高男性后代的质量，因为帅爸能将自己的这种优良基因遗传给儿子。

但这项在最新一期《生物行为》期刊上发表的研究结果推翻了这一理论。

佩雷特说：“我们仔细观察女性的容貌，找到了可靠的证据证明她们的漂亮脸蛋遗传自父母。此外，我们发现男性脸部透出的阳刚气质的确符合“有其父必有其子”这一规则：有阳刚之气的父亲会生出具有相同气质的儿子。

“但我们并没有发现父亲的英俊脸庞遗传给儿子的任何证据。”



Vocabulary:

looker:十分漂亮的人；美人

[ 本帖最后由 冲动de惩罚 于 2008-11-17 10:36 编辑 ]
作者: 天边的一片彩云    时间: 2008-11-4 21:27

very interesting
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-5 07:33

continue
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-5 07:45     标题: Election eve

A tear runs down the face of US Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) as he speaks about his grandmother who died earlier on Monday, during a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina November 3, 2008. On the eve of Tuesday's US presidential election, Obama's grandmother Madelyn Dunham died after a battle with cancer.

图片附件: 0013729c00250a79ea481b.jpg (2008-11-5 07:45, 21.81 KB) / 该附件被下载次数 82
http://sq.k12.com.cn/discuz/attachment.php?aid=77139

作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-5 07:48

US Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) (R) and his wife Cindy wave from the door of their campaign plane as they arrive for an airport hangar campaign rally in Moon Township, Pennsylvania November 3, 2008.  Senator McCain is scheduled to make campaign appearances in seven states on the final day before the election.

图片附件: 0013729c00250a79eb1335.jpg (2008-11-5 07:48, 24.64 KB) / 该附件被下载次数 83
http://sq.k12.com.cn/discuz/attachment.php?aid=77140

作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-5 07:50

who will be the winner of the election?
who will be the next US president?
welcome to give you opinion here.
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-6 08:57     标题: 奥巴马当选 美国迎来变革时代

[ 2008-11-05 15:53 ]
Barack Obama swept to victory as the nation's first black president Tuesday night in an electoral college landslide that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself. "Change has come," he declared to a huge throng of cheering supporters.

巴拉克•奥巴马在当地时间周二的晚间以压倒性优势获胜，扫除了有史以来的种族屏障，当选美国首位黑人总统。奥巴马在胜选演说中向民众高呼：“变革的时代来了！”
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-6 08:59     标题: 奥巴马其人

Brief Introduction

Barack Hussein Obama, born on August 4, 1961, is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2008 United States presidential election.



Obama is the first African-American to be nominated by a major American political party for president and became the first African-American president in American history on November 4, 2008. A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he became the first black person to serve as president of the Harvard Law Review, Obama worked as a community organizer and practiced as a civil rights attorney before serving three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate in January 2003. After a primary victory in March 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He was elected to the Senate in November 2004 with 70 percent of the vote.

As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, he helped create legislation to control conventional weapons and to promote greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. During the 110th Congress, he helped create legislation regarding lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel. Obama announced his presidential campaign in February 2007, and was formally nominated at the 2008 Democratic National Convention with Delaware senator Joe Biden as his running mate.

奥巴马简介

巴拉克•侯赛因•奥巴马，出生于1961年8月4日，是代表美国伊利诺州的资深联邦参议员，2008年美国总统选举民主党候选人。

奥巴马是美国历史上第一位获得主要政党提名的非裔总统候选人，并于2008年11月4日当选为美国历史上首位非裔总统。他毕业于哥伦比亚大学和哈佛法学院，是《哈佛法律研究》的第一位黑人社长。在连续三届担任伊利诺伊州州参议员之前（1997-2004），奥巴马从事社区工作和民权律师工作。1992年到2004年，他在芝加哥大学教授宪法学。2000年奥巴马竞选美国众议院议员失败，2003年他宣布参选联邦参议员。2004年3月奥巴马取得初步胜利，7月他在民主党全国大会上发表了主题演讲。2004年11月，奥巴马以百分之70的选票当选为联邦参议员。

在第109届国会会期内，作为民主党内的少数族裔，他协助编纂了控制常规武器和使用联邦基金进一步推动公共问责的法律。他还对东欧，中东和非洲进行了官方访问。在第110届国会会期内，他协助编纂了关于游说和选举诈骗，气候变化，核恐怖活动以及帮助退伍军人的法案。2007年2月，奥巴马宣布参加总统竞选，2008年民主党全国大会上获得正式提名，选择代表特拉华州的联邦参议员乔•拜登做副总统人选。

[ 本帖最后由 冲动de惩罚 于 2008-11-6 09:02 编辑 ]
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-6 09:00

Early life and Education

Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a Luo from Kenya, and Ann Dunham, a white American from Wichita, Kansas. His parents met while attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was a foreign student. They separated when he was two years old and later divorced. Obama's father attended Harward Universtiy for his Doctor’s Degree and returned to Kenya and saw his son only once more before dying in an automobile accident in 1982.

巴拉克•奥巴马出生于夏威夷州檀香山，他的父亲老巴拉克是生于肯尼亚的卢欧族人，母亲安•杜汉姆（Ann Duham）出生于美国堪萨斯州的威奇托。

奥巴马的父母在檀香山玛诺亚的夏威夷大学上学时相识，当时他的父亲以国际学生身份在校求学。奥巴马两岁岁时，父母分居，之后离婚。此后，他的父亲便前往哈佛大学攻读博士学位，之后返回肯尼亚。1982年，老巴拉克在一场车祸中丧生，此前他与儿子只见过一次面。

Young Obama and his family


After her divorce, Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, and the family moved to Soetoro's home country of Indonesia in 1967, where Obama attended local schools in Jakarta until he was ten years old. He then returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents while attending Punahou School from the fifth grade in 1971 until his graduation from high school in 1979. Obama's mother returned to Hawaii in 1972 for several years and then back to Indonesia to complete fieldwork for her doctoral dissertation. She died of ovarian cancer in 1995.
离婚后，奥巴马的母亲嫁给了一位印度尼西亚籍的学生Lolo Soetoro。1967年，奥巴马六岁时，与母亲一家迁居到雅加达并在当地的学校上学。四年后，奥巴马回到夏威夷，与外祖父母住在一起。从五年级起，奥巴马就读于位于檀香山的大型私立学校Punahou学校，并于1979年从这所学校毕业。

1972，奥巴马的母亲回到夏威夷并在这待了几年，之后为了完成她的博士论文，她又返回印度尼西亚进行实地考察和调研。奥巴马的母亲于1995年因卵巢癌去世。

Young Obama and his mother

As an adult Obama admitted that during high school he used marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol, which he described at the 2008 Civil Forum on the Presidency as his greatest moral failure.

Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at Occidental College for two years. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialization in international relations.
在中年时代，奥巴马吸食过大麻和可卡因，他在“2008年总统公民论坛”上表示，这是他一生中最大的道德失败。

高中毕业后，奥巴马在加州洛杉矶的西方学院（Occidental College）求学两年，随后转至纽约市的哥伦比亚大学，在那里主修政治学及国际关系

Career

Obama graduated with a B.A. from Columbia in 1983, then at the start of the following year worked for a year at the Business International Corporation and then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.

After four years in New York City, Obama moved to Chicago, where he was hired as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP) and worked there for three years from June 1985 to May 1988.

Obama entered Harvard Law School in late 1988. At the end of his first year, he was selected, based on his grades and a writing competition, as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. In February 1990, in his second year, he was elected president of the Law Review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the Law Review's staff of eighty editors.

After graduating with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago.

He served from 1994 to 2002 on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, and also from 1994 to 2002 onthe board of directors of The Joyce Foundation.

Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee. He resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the US Senate.
职业生涯

1983年在哥伦比亚大学取得学士学位后，奥巴马在“国际商务集团”和“纽约公共利益研究所”工作了一年。

1985年，他迁往芝加哥，并在之后的三年主持了一个社区发展计划。

奥巴马于1988年底进入哈佛法学院。第一年年末，奥巴马凭借其出色的成绩和在一次论文比赛中脱颖而出，被选为《哈佛法律评论》的编辑。1990年2月，他被选为该学术期刊的主席，任全职主编，手下有八名编辑。

1991年，奥巴马在哈佛大学获得了“极优等”（拉丁文的学位荣誉，magna cum laude）法学士的学位，并回到芝加哥。1994年至2002年，奥巴马分别在芝加哥森林基金会和乔伊斯基金会的董事会任职过一段时间。

1996年，奥巴马进入政坛，当选伊利诺伊州参议员。2003年1月，奥巴马被选为伊利诺伊斯州卫生公共服务委员会主席。2004年11月，他在国会选举中当选伊利诺伊州联邦参议员。

2008 Election

On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois. Throughout the campaign, Obama has emphasized the issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health care. And he promised “change” in the campaign course.

Barack Obama swept to victory as the nation's first black president Tuesday night in an electoral college landslide that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself. "Change has come," he declared to a huge throng of cheering supporters.

The Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his historic triumph by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Iowa and more.


2008年参加美国大选
2007年2月10日，奥巴马在伊利诺斯州首府春田市的老州ZF大厦前正式宣布参加2008年总统大选。伊拉克战争、增大能源自主和全民医疗保险是奥巴马竞选纲领所关注的三大主要问题。此外，“变化”是奥巴马的竞选主题。

巴拉克•奥巴马在美国当地时间周二的晚间以压倒性优势获胜，成为美国首位黑人总统。这一结果颠覆了美国有史以来存在的种族隔阂现状。他在获胜后对欢庆胜利的众多支持者们喊道：“变革的时代来了。”
这位伊利诺伊州民主党参议员在俄亥俄、佛罗里达、弗吉尼亚、爱荷华等几个角逐激烈的战场州击败共和党参议员约翰•麦凯恩之后，这一历史性胜利的局面便已锁定。

[ 本帖最后由 冲动de惩罚 于 2008-11-6 09:11 编辑 ]

图片附件: [Barack Obama, US new president-elect makes appearace in Chicago before delivering his victory speech] 0013729e42d20a7c81d70b.jpg (2008-11-6 09:11, 40.94 KB) / 该附件被下载次数 69
http://sq.k12.com.cn/discuz/attachment.php?aid=77220

作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-7 12:09     标题: 九招教你省钱又时尚！

Still on a budget? Try these cheap fashion tips:

1. Keep your store receipts and product tags for at least two months. You never know when you might want to return something because your tastes have changed, you have found a defect in the garment or the color is all wrong. Most chain stores have a very forgiving return policy. Of course, if you have worn it ... don't be a chiseler, it's yours.

2. Take a strapless dress or tunic and wear it over a turtle neck for winter or over a tee shirt or thin blouse in warm weather. You get two looks for the price of one, and when traveling, packing these items can double your wardrobe.

3. Wearing mule style shoes this summer? Try a spritz of hair spray on the inner sole so your feet don't slip.

4. Are your shoes scuffed? Dab the spot with a small dollop of Vaseline and blend into the entire shoe for instant shine. Or, polish the shoes with a little hand cream poured onto a paper towel.

5. For dry cuticles, use either Vaseline or A&D ointment. On top of this slather your hands with your favorite hand lotion. Your hands and nails will stay moisturized for hours.

6. Another nail tip: For drying wet nail polish quickly, dip hands into ice cold water or spray nails with cooking oils

7. Stop paying top dollar for makeup removal pads . Try generic brands of baby wipes to remove makeup.

8. If you are a thin, petite-sized woman, don't overlook the children's department for casual clothing such as shorts, capris, cargo pants, denim jackets and T-shirts.

9. This is the season of fake tans . Try using hair removal creams to remove any self-tanner streaks on the sides of your feet, palms, elbow and knees. Rub it on, then immediately wipe it off with a washcloth or tissue.


手头还是有点紧？试试以下几个省钱时尚小窍门：

1、 将购物小票和商品标牌保存至少两个月。你不知道自己什么时候会因为口味改变、发现衣服上有瑕疵或颜色不对，而想把东西给退了。大多数连锁店在退货方面还是很“仁慈的”。当然，如果你穿过了，那就别去蒙人了，留着吧。

2、 冬天，将无肩带连衣裙或罩衫穿在高领衫外面；暖和的天气可以把它穿在T恤或薄短衫外面。这样，一件衣服“两穿”，旅游时带上很实用。

3、 今年夏天爱上凉拖？可以在内鞋底上喷点发胶，这样脚在里面就不会打滑了。

4、 鞋上有磨痕？可以在这些地方涂一小团凡士林，抹匀之后可以使鞋子立刻发亮。或者用纸巾蘸点护手霜把鞋擦亮。

5、 皮肤干燥？用凡士林或A&D药膏。此外，把自己最爱用的护手霜厚厚的涂在手上。这样，你的手和指甲会保湿好几个小时。

6、 另一个护甲窍门：要想让指甲油速干，可以把手放进冰水里，或者往指甲上喷炒菜油。

7、 不用昂贵的卸妆巾，可以用一般牌子的婴儿用清洁巾来卸妆。

8、 如果你很娇小，可以去儿童区看看短裤、紧身裤、休闲运动裤、帆布夹克及T恤等休闲装。

9、 “假檀”是本季的流行风。可以用脱毛膏除去脚、手掌、胳膊肘和膝盖上的“假晒色”。抹上之后，立刻用毛巾或湿巾擦试干净。

Vocabulary:  

turtle neck : 高领衫

removal pad : 卸妆巾

fake tan : “假檀”，即“假晒色”
(from China daily)

[ 本帖最后由 冲动de惩罚 于 2008-11-7 12:10 编辑 ]
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-8 09:31     标题: 世界各地庆奥巴马当选美国总统

Africa, and world, celebrate Obama victory

From Europe and Asia to the Middle East, many expressed amazement that the US could overcome centuries of racial strife and elect an African-American president.

Africa

"If it were possible for me to get to the United States on my bicycle, I would," said Joseph Ochieng, a 36-year-old carpenter who lives in Kenya's sprawling Kibera shantytown.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki declared a public holiday Thursday in the country of Obama's late father, allowing celebrations to continue through the night and into a second day.

Scenes of jubilation broke out in the western Kenya village of Kogelo, where many of Obama's Kenyan relatives still live. People sang, danced in the streets and wrapped themselves in U.S. flags. A group of exuberant residents picked up the president-elect's half brother Malik and carried him through the village.

"Unbelievable!" Malik Obama shouted, "Obama's coming, make way!"

Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, said Obama gave the world the courage to dream.

"Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place," Mandela said in a letter of congratulations.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf — the first woman elected to head an African country — said she did not expect to see a black American president in her lifetime.

"All Africans now know that if you persevere, all things are possible," she said.

In the New Nyanza provincial general hospital in Kisumu, the capital of the region which is home to Barack Obama's ancestral village, a woman gave birth to twins she named Obama and Michelle.

At least eight other boys were named Barack or Obama in this hospital alone while maternities in the capital Nairobi and across the entire country reported new namesakes for the future occupants of the White House.

Indonesia, Asia

In Indonesia, where Obama lived as child, hundreds of students at his former elementary school erupted in cheers when he was declared winner, pouring into the courtyard where they hugged, danced in the rain and chanted "Obama! Obama!"

"I remember in the class book, all students were writing down their goals and wishes. Some said they wanted to be lawyers, soldiers, pilot and doctors, but he was the one who said he wanted to be president," said Dewi Asmara, a former classmate.

"We never understood what was on his mind that day."

Obama's classmates said they were delighted with his win because they felt a special emotional connection with the Democrat who spent four years in Indonesia.

Japan, Asia

The town of Obama, Japan, celebrated the presidential victory of the US politician who shares the town's name with singing, dancing and chanting.

Parties at the town's seafront museum featured revelers celebrating the victory of Democratic President-elect Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States, with celebratory singing, hula dancing and chants of "We love Obama," The Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.

"This all started as a bit of a joke. But as more and more people got involved, it became more serious," said Yasunori Maeno, secretary of the Obama for Obama campaign group. "Now there are many businesses involved in the Obama campaign and it will continue now that he is president. This will change the future for us."

The Obama for Obama group said more than 1,300 residents of the town of 33,000 participated in their campaign during the past four months.

Europe

Europe, where Obama is overwhelmingly popular, is one region that looked eagerly to an Obama administration for a revival in warm relations after the Bush government's chilly rift with the continent over the Iraq war.

"At a time when we have to confront immense challenges together, your election raises great hopes in France, in Europe and in the rest of the world," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a congratulations letter to Obama.

Middle East

Skepticism, however, was high in the Muslim world. The Bush administration alienated the Middle East by mistreating prisoners at its detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison — human rights violations also condemned worldwide.

Some Iraqis, who have suffered through five years of a war ignited by the United States and its allies, said they would believe positive change when they saw it.

"Obama's victory will do nothing for the Iraqi issue nor for the Palestinian issue," said Muneer Jamal, a Baghdad resident. "I think all the promises Obama made during the campaign will remain mere promises."

American celebrities

Talk-show host Oprah Winfrey wept tears of joy, Leonardo DiCaprio said he was proud to be an American and several hip-hop music stars said Sen. Barack Obama's election as the first black U.S. president fulfilled the dreams of America's youth.

"It feels like America did the right thing," Winfrey told CNN. "It feels like there's a shift in consciousness. It feels like something really big and bold has happened here, like nothing ever in our lifetimes did we expect this to happen."


从欧洲到亚洲再到中东，世界各地的人们都发出了同样的感叹：美国扫除了几个世纪以来的种族屏障，选出了其历史上首位非洲裔总统。
非洲：肯尼亚全国放假庆祝奥巴马胜选
在奥巴马父亲的故乡肯尼亚，居住在基贝拉贫民区的36岁的木匠约瑟夫•奥臣说：“如果能骑车去美国，我一定会去。”
肯尼亚总统姆瓦伊•齐贝吉于当日宣布周四全国放假一天，庆祝奥巴马当选美国总统。
奥巴马的很多亲戚居住在肯尼亚西部的盖戈洛村，那里到处是一派欢庆的景象。人们身披美国国旗，在大街上载歌载舞。兴高采烈的村民把奥巴马同父异母的兄弟马力克抬了起来，在村子里游行。
马力克高喊：“真是不可思议！奥巴马来了，快让路！”
南非首位黑人总统尼尔森•曼德拉说，奥巴马用他的胜利告诉全世界：每个人都能拥有梦想。
他在发给奥巴马的贺电中说道：“你用你的胜利告诉全世界的人们，人人都能拥有将这个世界变得更加美好的梦想。”
利比亚总统艾伦•约翰逊-瑟里夫说，她没想到自己这辈子还能看到一个黑人当选美国总统。艾伦是非洲首位女总统。
她说：“现在所有非洲人都明白了这个道理：有志者，事竟成。”
当天，在奥巴马祖辈生活过的新尼扬扎省的首府基木苏，一位母亲在当地的省立总医院生下一对龙凤胎，并给两个孩子取名为“奥巴马”和“米歇尔”。
当天在这家医院还有八个新生儿取名为巴拉克或奥巴马，在首都纳奥比和全国其他地区的产科医院，都有这样的例子。
印度尼西亚：儿时伙伴：他从小就梦想当一位总统
奥巴马在印度尼西亚度过了他的童年。当天奥巴马被宣布获得大选胜利时，他曾在印尼所就读的那所小学的数百名小学生欢呼雀跃，他们奔向操场，互相拥抱，在雨中跳舞，高喊“奥巴马！奥巴马！”
奥巴马的小学同学德维•阿斯马拉说：“我记得当年大家都在课本上写下自己的理想和愿望。有的人写他们长大后想当律师、军人、飞行员或医生，但他却说他梦想自己能成为一名总统。”
“当时我们简直无法理解他脑子里在想些什么。”
奥巴马的同学们说，他们很高兴奥巴马赢得了大选，因为他们对这位在印尼生活了四年的美国民主党人有一份特殊的感情。
日本：Obama小城狂欢
在日本小城“小浜”（英文Obama），人们载歌载舞，庆祝与之“同名”的美国总统候选人奥巴马赢得大选。
英国《每日电讯》报于本周三报道说，当天，小浜城的海滨博物馆热闹非凡，人们在这里开party，庆祝奥巴马当选美国首位黑人总统，开心的人们唱着欢庆的歌、跳起了呼啦圈舞，高唱“我们爱奥巴马”。
“Obama for Obama”声援团的秘书Yasunori Maeno 说：“刚开始带有一点玩笑的性质，但随着参与的人越来越多，事情就‘闹’大了。现在我们这里有很多企业都参加了奥巴马声援团，现在他当选了，我们还会一如既往地支持他。这也会改变我们的未来。”
据奥巴马声援团介绍，在过去4个月中，小滨城的3.3万名居民中共有1300人参与了他们的声援活动。
欧洲：“给欧洲乃至全世界带来了希望”
奥巴马在欧洲人气极高。欧洲民众期待他当选美国总统后能够推动欧美关系的改善，此前由于欧洲与布什ZF在伊战问题上存在分歧，欧美关系出现裂痕。
法国总统萨科奇在给奥巴马的贺信中说：“目前欧美需要共同应对前所未有的挑战，你的当选给法国、欧洲乃至全世界都带来了希望。”
中东：“只有看到了变化，才会真正相信”
然而，对于奥巴马的当选，穆斯林国家的人们还是心存怀疑。发生在古巴“关塔那摩监狱”和伊拉克阿布格莱布监狱的虐囚事件导致美国和中东国家的关系跌入低谷。这种侵犯人权的丑恶行径也受到了国际社会的广泛谴责。
美国及其盟国于五年前发动了伊拉克战争，这场战争让伊拉克人民饱受战乱之苦。一些人说，他们只有亲眼看到，才会相信那些所承诺的积极的转变。
巴格达居民Muneer Jamal 说：“奥巴马的当选无论对于伊拉克问题还是巴勒斯坦问题，都毫无意义。在我看来，他在竞选时做出的那些承诺到头来还是空头支票。”
美国名人：美国的大事件
美国著名脱口秀“名嘴”奥普拉•温芙瑞在获悉奥巴马当选后喜极而泣；莱昂纳多•迪卡普里奥称他为自己身为一个美国人感到无比骄傲，几位嘻哈乐手认为奥巴马当选美国首位非裔总统实现了美国年轻人的梦想。
温芙瑞在接受CNN的采访时说：“美国人民做出了正确的选择。我们看到了人们意识的转变。美国真是发生了一件重大并且大胆的事，这在过去我们几乎无法想象。”

[ 本帖最后由 冲动de惩罚 于 2008-11-8 09:33 编辑 ]

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作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-9 21:46     标题: 地球真的受伤了……

Earth's "vital signs" in bad shape: report

More wood was removed from forests in 2005 than ever before, one of many troubling environmental signs highlighted on Thursday in the Worldwatch Institute's annual check of the planet's health.

The Washington-based think tank's "Vital Signs 2007-2008" report points to global patterns ranging from rising meat consumption to Asian economic growth it says are linked to the broader problem of climate change.

"I think climate change is the most urgent challenge we have ever faced," said Erik Assadourian, director of the Vital Signs project.

"You see many trends in climate change, whether we are talking about grain production which is affected by droughts and flooding. Or meat production as livestock production makes up about 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions," he told reporters in a telephone interview before the report's release.

Assadourian said the key message of the report was that unsustainable consumption patterns were responsible for climate change linked to carbon emissions and other ecological woes.

He said of the 44 trends tracked by the report, 28 were "pronouncedly bad" and only six were positive.

The trends range from the spread of avian flu to the rise of carbon emissions to the number of violent conflicts. The growing use of wind power is among the few trends seen as positive.

Some of the points highlighted in the report include:

- Meat production hit a record 276 million metric tons (43 kilograms or 95 pounds per person) in 2006.

- Meat consumption is one of several factors driving rising soybean demand. Rapid expansion of soybean plantations in South America could displace 22 million hectares (54 million acres) of tropical forest and savanna in the next 20 years.

- The rise in global seafood consumption comes as many fish species become scarcer. In 2004, people ate 156 million metric tons of seafood, the equivalent of three times as much seafood per person than in 1950.

Other analysts and think tanks have focused on different trends they say mean less cause for alarm. For example, they point out that while more wood is being removed from forests on a global scale, many parts of Europe and North America have experienced reforestation in recent decades.


上周四，世界观察研究学会一年一度的“地球健康体检”报告出炉。2005年，地球的森林砍伐量创历史新高，这是该报告强调的众多环境问题征兆之一。

该驻华盛顿智囊机构在一份题为“地球生命征兆2007-2008”的报告中指出，从肉类消费量的不断增长到亚洲经济发展等各种全球性态势与气候变化这一显著问题都有关系。

“地球声明征兆2007-2008”项目的负责人埃里克•阿萨多利安说，“我认为气候变化是人类有史以来所面临的最严峻的挑战”。

在报告公布前，阿萨多利安在接受记者的电话采访时说，“我们可以看到气候变化中出现的众多趋势，比如，粮食生产受到洪涝灾害的影响；以及肉类生产，据统计，家禽饲养过程中所产生的温室气体占温室气体总排放量的20%”。

阿萨多利安说，这份报告的主题是，二氧化碳排放及其它生态灾难引起气候变化，“不可持续”的消费模式才是气候变化的罪魁祸首。

据他介绍，在报告中提到的44种与气候变化有关的趋势中，有28种“尤为不利”，仅有六种具有积极意义。

这些趋势包括禽流感的蔓延、二氧化碳排放量的增加、以及暴力冲突的增加等。风能使用的日益增多是仅有的几大积极趋势之一。

报告中的一些重点包括：

--2006年，肉类生产量创2.76亿吨（人均43公斤/95磅）的最新记录。

--肉类消费量的增加是造成大豆需求不断增长的几大因素之一。在南美洲，大豆种植面积迅速扩大，这可能会导致未来20年热带森林和热带草原面积减少2200万公顷（5400万英亩）。

--很多鱼类品种日益稀少，全球海鲜消费量增加。2004年，全球共消耗1.56亿吨海鲜产品，人均消费量相当于1950年的三倍。

也有分析人士和相关智囊机构在关注另外一些趋势，他们认为这些趋势可以降低“警报级别”。

例如，尽管全球森林砍伐量创新高，但欧洲和北美的很多地区近几十年来一直在进行再造林。

[ 本帖最后由 冲动de惩罚 于 2008-11-9 21:48 编辑 ]
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-10 10:55     标题: 伦敦：吸烟者不能领养小孩

Smokers banned from fostering

A council has become the first in London to rule that smokers will no longer be able to foster children.

Redbridge Council's cabinet agreed Tuesday night to a ban on placing children with foster carers who smoke unless there are exceptional circumstances.

The local authority in northeast London said the decision, which will come into force in 2010, was made to protect children from the "damaging effects of passive and second-hand smoke."

Other councils around the country have introduced similar measures, particularly relating to very young children, but Redbridge's ban is thought to be the most far-reaching.

"We know this is a difficult issue because some people will feel it is an intrusion on personal freedoms," said Councilor Michael Stark.

"But we also know that smoking increases the risk of serious illness in childhood. On balance, we have decided children in our care shouldn't grow up breathing second-hand smoke."

The council cited scientific evidence that showed passive smoking caused lung cancer and childhood respiratory disease.

Existing smokers will be told of the new policy and given help to quit.

The Fostering Network, a charity which represents groups involved in fostering, said it believed no child under five should be placed with carers who smoked.

However the charity, which estimates there is a shortfall of some 10,000 carers, said it did not want potentially good foster parents to be put off because they had an occasional cigarette.

Tobacco lobby groups said the move was part of an "ongoing campaign to stigmatize smokers."

"It's going to exclude people who could be outstanding foster parents," said a spokesman for pro-smoking group Forest.

"It sends out an insidious message that smokers in general are unfit parents and I don't think any politician has the right to do that."

英国伦敦某区ZF日前通过一项禁令，规定吸烟者不可收养小孩。这一禁令在伦敦还是首例。

位于伦敦东北部的雷德布里奇区内阁于上周二晚通过该禁令。禁令规定，除非有特殊情况，否则吸烟者不可收养小孩。

雷德布里奇区ZF称，决定颁布这一禁令是为了让儿童免受被动吸烟或 “二手烟”的危害。该禁令将于2010年开始实施。

英国其他一些地方ZF也采取了类似的禁烟措施，尤其针对一些年龄很小的孩子。但雷德布里奇的这项禁令被认为是其中影响最大的。

议员迈克尔-斯塔克说：“我们知道这是一个艰难的决定，因为一些人会觉得这侵犯了他们的个人自由。”

他说：“但同时，我们也很清楚吸烟会增加儿童患疾病的风险。经过权衡后，我们决定，不应该让生活在我们这一辖区的孩子受到二手烟危害。”

雷德布里奇地区ZF称，有科学证据表明，被动吸烟会导致肺癌和儿童呼吸道疾病。

该区ZF将告知吸烟者这一新政策，并会帮助他们戒烟。

儿童领养慈善机构“领养社区”称，五岁以下的儿童的确不能由吸烟者领养。

但该组织称，他们也担心一些条件很好但偶尔吸烟的人也会因此被拒之门外。目前该机构还需要约1万名领养者，

烟草业游说团体称，此举是“对吸烟者的一种污辱’”。

吸烟支持组织Forest的发言人说：“这项禁令会把一些很出色的领养者拒之门外。”

“这等于是在说，吸烟的人都不适合做父母。可谁都没有剥夺别人做父母的权利。”

[ 本帖最后由 冲动de惩罚 于 2008-11-10 10:57 编辑 ]

图片附件: [A smoker lights a cigarette in a undated file photo. Redbridge Council's cabinet of London agreed T] 0013729e42d20a81c9e902.jpg (2008-11-10 10:57, 5.23 KB) / 该附件被下载次数 79
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作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-10 10:58

what's your opinion about this policy?
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-11 08:12     标题: 奥巴马透露“第一犬”标准 混血狗可能性大

Obama:First pooch may be mutt 'like me'

President-elect Barack Obama Friday admitted he faced a monumental challenge after promising his daughters Sasha, seven, and Malia, 10 a dog after the campaign, saying some of the pooches the first family-to-be were considering were "mutts like me."
"With respect to the dog, this is a major issue. I think it has generated more interest on our website than just about anything," Obama said at the press conference after the election.
In revealing that Malia is allergic, Obama stressed the need for a hypoallergenic breed of dog, which produces fewer allergic reactions in people.
But he said the family needed to reconcile that with their preference for dogs obtained from an animal shelter, which are often mixed-breeds.
"There are a number of breeds that are hypoallergenic, but on the other hand our preference is to get a shelter dog. But obviously, a lot of the shelter dogs are mutts like me," he quipped.
Obama's mother was a white woman from Kansas and his father was from Kenya.
His race has been a point of discussion since he launched his bid for the presidency nearly two years ago, and his Tuesday victory triggered a wave of elation as people around the globe celebrated an African-American elected to lead the world's most powerful nation.
In his victory speech Tuesday night, Obama revealed the family was getting a puppy.
"Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House," he said to wild applause.
Presidential pets have long been a focus of intense interest. Every president since Calvin Coolidge, elected in 1923, has had at least one dog in the White House, according to dogsinthenews.com.

新当选美国总统的巴拉克•奥巴马于上周五坦称，他在大选获胜后答应两个女儿——10岁的玛丽娅和7岁的萨莎养一只宠物狗的承诺现在成了件大事。他调侃说，他们正考虑一些“像他一样的混血的狗”。
奥巴马在大选后的新闻发布会上说：“挑选宠物狗成了眼下的一件要事。现在这件事在我们网站上的关注度高于其它任何事情。”
由于女儿玛丽娅有过敏史，所以奥巴马强调必须挑选一种不易引起人过敏的狗。
但奥巴马一家又想从动物收容所挑选一只宠物狗，这里的狗大多是混血品种。
他调侃道：“低过敏性的狗品种倒有不少，但另一方面，我们想从动物收容所收养一只狗。很显然，大多收容所里的狗都像我一样，是混血的。”
奥巴马的母亲是美国堪萨斯州的白人，他的父亲是肯尼亚人。
自奥巴马参加总统竞选近两年来，他的种族问题一直是热议的焦点。他于上周二赢得大选胜利后引发了了一阵欢庆潮，世界各地的人们纷纷庆祝一名非洲裔当选为美国总统。
奥巴马在当晚的胜选演说中“透露”他们一家会养一只宠物狗。
他对台下尽情欢呼的支持者们说：“萨莎、玛丽娅，我爱你们，你们姐妹俩就能带着宠物狗来到白宫了。”
白宫宠物狗一直是美国民众关注的焦点。据dogsinthenews.com网站统计，自1923年卡尔文•柯立芝当选美国总统后，每届总统家至少有一只宠物狗。
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-13 09:04     标题: 城市排名：北京最美丽 香港最安全

Beijing beautiful, HK safe - study

Beijing is the most beautiful city in China and Hong Kong the safest and second most beautiful, according to a study by the China Institute of City Competitiveness.

The capital came in ahead of 558 other mainland cities and the two SARs, with a score of 0.756 points out of one for its impressive historical monuments and tourist attractions.

Gui Qiangfang, the institute's chairman, said: "The capital has a rich history and culture, which have been key to its development."

The assessment took into consideration the cities' urban design, infrastructure, architecture, culture and natural beauty.

Factors including the preservation of historical monuments, forest coverage, air quality, the transportation network, city life, public space and GDP were also considered.

Hong Kong, which ranked second with 0.666 points, won praise for its skyscrapers, Victoria Harbor and the development of its service industry.

Shenzhen took third spot with 0.664 points, scoring highly for its role as the pioneer of China's opening up and reform policies.

Shanghai finished fourth with 0.663 points for being the country's financial center.

In the voting for the safest city, which assessed the social, economic and ecological development, Hong Kong came first with 0.849 points.

In this category, the cities' crime rates, stability of financial policies, authority of the government, industrial accident rate, food safety and pollution situation, were considered.

The institute said Hong Kong had low crime, and the number of work-related casualties is only 18.4 per 1,000 workers last year.

The SAR also attracted $42.7 billion foreign investment last year, up 19 percent on 2005.

Shanghai ranked second in the safe city poll with 0.712 points, followed by Nanjing with 0.666 points.

The institute said Shanghai is developing a harmonious society ahead of the 2010 World Expo.


据中国城市竞争力研究会的一项调查，北京被评为中国最美丽的城市；香港名列第二，并被评为全国最安全的城市。

首都北京的历史古迹和旅游景点令人印象深刻，因此以0.756分（总分为1分）位居558个内地城市及两个特别行政区之首。

中国城市竞争力研究会会长桂强芳说：“北京悠久的历史和深厚的文化底蕴对它的发展至关重要。”

该评估综合考虑了城市的规划设计、基础设施、建筑风格、文化底蕴和自然景观等因素。

此外，历史古迹的保护、森林覆盖率、空气质量、市政交通、城市生活、公共空间、及GDP等因素也被考虑在内。

香港凭借摩天大楼、维多利亚港及服务业的发展，以0.666分名列第二。

深圳凭其改革开放窗口的特殊地位以0.664分名列第三。

全国金融中心上海以0.663分名列第四。

对最安全城市的评选主要基于社会、经济和生态的发展，香港在这项评选中以0.849分名列第一。

此外，城市的犯罪率、金融政策的稳定性、ZF的权威、工伤事故发生率、食品安全及污染状况等因素也被考虑在内。

据中国城市竞争力研究会介绍，香港的犯罪率较低，去年工伤事故的发生率仅为18.4‰（每一千个工人中有18.4起）。

此外，去年香港共吸引外资427亿美元，比2005年增加19%。

上海以0.712分名列第二大最安全城市，其次是南京，得分0.666分。

中国城市竞争力研究会称，上海在2010年世博会召开之前正朝着和谐社会迈进。

[ 本帖最后由 冲动de惩罚 于 2008-11-13 09:06 编辑 ]
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-14 09:04     标题: 希拉里、赖斯当选《魅力》年度女性

Women, politics in the mix at 'Glamour' awards

Talk on the red carpet at Glamour magazine's annual Women of the Year awards Monday night at Carnegie Hall turned to the country's man of the year, Barack Obama. "Change is among us," said singer Fergie, who was scheduled to perform during the ceremony. "People are definitely in a better mood this week."
After the election, "I wrote everybody I knew and I just said, 'I'm just grateful that we're alive to see this happen,' " said Ralph Lauren-clad Debra Messing, a former Glamour honoree back to present Jane Goodall with a lifetime achievement award.
Coming so close on the heels of the election, the ceremony's typically motley mix of politicians and entertainers felt particularly pronounced. Fergie, wearing white and silver Michael Kors, gushed that she wanted to meet honoree Hillary Clinton: "I'm putting that out there."
Honoree Tyra Banks, sporting sleek black Gucci, said she was nervous about the company she was keeping. "I heard they don't have a teleprompter, so I'm like, 'OK, I'm going to just have to go off the cuff in front of Hillary Clinton and (fellow honoree) Condoleezza Rice.' "
Banks shouldn't have feared. Rice revealed that though she hasn't exactly had the time to take in America's Next Top Model over the past eight years, she was excited to meet the model turned media mogul.
Nicole Kidman, in town to promote her new film, Australia, paraded a L'Wren Scott cream sheath down the red carpet. Of her Women of the Year award, she said: "It's such a privilege. I feel a little overwhelmed."
Rice, resplendent in a chocolate and gold Oscar de la Renta gown, had kind words about her fellow A-list political honoree, Clinton: "I'm very fond of her, and I think she's a great lady."
Rice, who's looking forward to her own kind of change come Jan. 20 - heading back to Stanford, writing a book or two - said of another A-list political woman, Michelle Obama: "She looks wonderful in everything she wears." Her fashion advice to the future first lady? "It's OK to wear red once in a while."
Vocabulary:
honoree:领奖者
Jane Goodall:珍妮•古道尔在世界上拥有极高的声誉，20多岁时就前往非洲的原始森林，为了观察黑猩猩，度过了38年的野外生涯。之后她又奔走于世界各地，呼吁人们保护野生动物，保护地球环境。
on the heels of :紧跟着
off the cuff:即兴地

美国《魅力》杂志“2008年度女性”颁奖典礼于本周一晚在纽约卡内基音乐厅举行，而当晚红毯秀上的热议人物却是美国的“年度先生”巴拉克•奥巴马。著名歌手菲姬在演出开始前说：“我们终于迎来了变革。这周人们的心情好多了。”
身穿“拉夫•劳伦”的黛博拉•梅辛说：“选举结束后，我给所有我认识的人写信说，我们能在有生之年看到这一切，真是太令人激动了。”梅辛曾是“魅力女性”大奖得主，此次她是为珍妮•古道尔颁发终生成就奖。
今年的年度魅力女性不仅有娱乐界大腕，还有政界名流。由于大选刚刚结束，参加颁奖典礼的获奖者们都分外活跃。身穿迈克•柯尔斯银白色裙装的菲姬直言她很想见到希拉里•克林顿，“都没心思演出了”。
身穿一袭黑色Gucci长裙的提拉•班克斯说她很紧张自己要与政界名流一同领奖。她说：“我听说没有讲词提示器，那忘词的时候就只能说：‘好，那我就在希拉里•克林顿和康多莉扎•赖斯面前来一番即兴感言吧。”
班克斯不应该紧张，因为赖斯曾透露，虽然自己在过去八年里一直没有时间观看美国超级模特新秀大赛，但她很激动自己能见到这位模特出身的娱乐明星。
正在纽约宣传新片《澳洲》的妮可•基德曼身穿劳伦•斯科特的乳白色紧身长裙亮相红毯。她在发表获奖感言时说：“这真是巨大的荣耀，我感到有些受宠若惊。”
赖斯当晚身穿一件奥斯卡•德拉伦塔巧克力色金边礼服，她在发表感言时盛赞另一位入选的政界女强人希拉里。她说：“我非常欣赏她，她是位了不起的女性。”
在谈及另外一位政界红人米歇尔•奥巴马时，她说：“她穿什么都很漂亮。”在被问及对未来第一夫人的时尚选择有何建议时，赖斯说：“偶尔试一下红色也不错。”赖斯也在准备迎接自己的“变革”。明年1月20日离任后，她将重返斯坦福大学，写一两本书。

[ 本帖最后由 冲动de惩罚 于 2008-11-14 09:06 编辑 ]

图片附件: [From left to right :Hiilary Clinton, Condoleeza Rice, Nicole Kidman, Tyra Banks, Natalie Portman and] 0013729e42d20a85c0ad08.jpg (2008-11-14 09:06, 31.05 KB) / 该附件被下载次数 77
http://sq.k12.com.cn/discuz/attachment.php?aid=77589

作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-15 14:30     标题: 研究：悦耳的音乐有益于心脏健康

Music to your ears can be music for your heart, too

Songs that make our hearts soar can make them stronger too, US researchers reported on Tuesday.
They found that when people listened to their favorite music, their blood vessels dilated in much the same way as when laughing, or taking blood medications.
"We have a pretty impressive effect," said Dr Michael Miller, director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.
"Blood vessel diameter improved," he said. "The vessel opened up pretty significantly. You can see the vessels opening up with other activities such as exercise." A similar effect is seen with drugs such as statins and ACE inhibitors.
When blood vessels open more, blood flows more smoothly and is less likely to form the blood clots that cause heart attacks and strokes. Elastic vessels also resist the hardening activity of atherosclerosis.
"We are not saying to stop your statins or not to exercise but to add this to an overall program of heart health," said Miller, who presented his findings to a meeting of the American Heart Association in New Orleans.
Miller's team tested 10 healthy, non-smoking men and women, who were told to bring their favorite music.
They spent half an hour listening to the recordings and half an hour listening to music they said made them feel anxious while the researchers did ultrasound tests designed to show blood vessel function.
Compared to their normal baseline measurements, blood vessel diameter increased 26 percent on average when the volunteers heard their joyful music. Listening to music they disliked - in most cases in this group heavy metal - narrowed blood vessels by six percent, Miller said.
Miller said he came up with the idea after discovering the laughter caused blood to literally flow more smoothly.
"I asked myself what other things make us feel real good, besides calories from dark chocolate of course. Music came to mind. ... It makes me feel real good," he said.
Most of the volunteers chose country music but Miller said the style is not so important as what pleases each individual.

美国研究人员于本周二称，令人心情欢畅的音乐还能让心脏更加健康。
研究人员发现，当人们聆听他们喜爱的音乐时，血管就会扩张，跟大笑和服用血管扩张药物的效果相仿。
巴尔的摩马里兰大学医学中心的预防心脏病学主管迈克尔•米勒博士说：“这一效果非常显著，血管直径增大，血管扩张明显。我们知道，人们在从事体育锻炼等其他一些活动时血管也会扩张。”此外，服用他汀类药物和血管紧张素转化酶抑制剂也会出现类似效果。
人体血管扩张得越充分，血液流动就越畅通，导致心脏病和中风的血栓就越不易形成。血管弹性增强还可以预防动脉硬化。
迈克尔•米勒博士在新奥尔良举办的美国心脏病协会研讨会上公布了他的研究成果。他说：“这并不是说听听音乐就可以不吃药或者不锻炼了，但它可以作为保护心脏健康的一个良好的补充。”
研究人员对10位身体健康、不吸烟的男性和女性进行了测试，这些人都按照要求带来了自己平时最爱听的音乐。
研究人员让研究对象先听半小时自己带来的音乐，再听半小时让他们感到焦虑的音乐，并在此期间对他们进行血管功能超声波检测。
实验结果表明，研究对象在听自己喜爱的音乐时，血管直径比正常水平平均增大了26%，而在听他们不喜欢的音乐时（多为重金属音乐），血管较平时收缩了6%。
米勒称，他在发现“大笑可以使血流更通畅”这一事实后产生了这个想法。
他说：“我问自己，除了黑巧克力的热量外，还有什么能让我们感到愉悦呢？我想到了音乐，音乐能让我感到真正的愉悦。”
参与实验的多数志愿者自带的是乡村音乐，但米勒说，只要是自己喜欢，哪种类型的音乐并不重要。
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-16 08:59     标题: 报告：女性在政界仍落后于男性

Sexes equal in education, women lack power: study

Women still lag far behind men in top political and decision-making roles, a waste of talent given that their access to education and healthcare is nearly equal, the World Economic Forum said on Wednesday.
In its 2008 Global Gender Gap report, the think tank ranked Norway, Finland and Sweden as the countries with the greatest equality between the sexes, while Saudi Arabia, Chad and Yemen were the least equal.
Averaging 130 national scores, the report found that girls and women have reached near-parity with their male peers in educational attainment, health and survival, in both rich and poor countries.
But economically, in terms of workforce participation and earning opportunities, and politically, in terms of empowerment, the gap between the sexes remains large.
"The world's women are nearly as educated and as healthy as men, but are nowhere to be found in terms of decision-making," said Saadia Zahidi of the World Economic Forum, a Swiss-based think tank best known for its Davos summit held in January.
"Given that women have almost closed the gap with men on health and education, it is a waste of their talents if they are not catching up in economics and politics," she said.
The report uses United Nations and other data to weigh how evenly each country shares its resources and opportunities between men and women.
Outside the Nordic region, which traditionally scores well on measures of gender parity, New Zealand placed fifth, in part because of its female political empowerment including the tenure of Helen Clark as prime minister.
The Philippines, whose president is a woman, followed in sixth place, and Ireland, the Netherlands, and Latvia placed eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.
The United States ranked 27th, ahead of its neighbor Canada for the first time since the gender gap report was launched three years ago. Canada fell 13 spots to 31st place.
Trinidad, Argentina and Cuba were rated highest among Latin American and Caribbean countries, and Lesotho was the top-rated African state in gender parity.

世界经济论坛于本周三称，虽然女性在受教育和医疗方面已与男性接近平等，但女性在高层政治和决策领域仍落后于男性，这对于她们的才能是一种浪费。
在该论坛发布的“2008全球性别差异报告”中，挪威、芬兰和瑞典被评为性别平等度最高的国家，而沙特、乍得和也门是则性别差异最显著的国家。
该报告通过计算130个国家的平均得分发现，无论在发达国家还是贫困国家，如今女性在受教育、医疗和生存方面所享受的权利都与男性基本相当。
但从就业和工作机遇等经济维度和掌握要职等政治维度两方面衡量，性别差异仍然很大。
世界经济论坛的萨迪亚•扎西迪说：“如今全世界女性的受教育和健康水平已不亚于男性，但在高层决策领域女性仍然很少。”世界经济论坛总部位于瑞士，每年1月份的“达沃斯论坛”就是由该智囊机构举办。
她说：“现在女性在健康和受教育方面的水平已接近于男性，但如果女性在经济和政治领域无法与男性齐平，那是对她们才能的浪费。”
该报告主要根据联合国及其它一些数据评估各国在资源和机会分配方面的性别差异。
北欧地区在性别平等度方面的得分向来较高，新西兰名列第五，这一定程度上是因为海伦•克兰克担任该国总理及其他一些女性任政界要职。
女性任总统的菲律宾位居第六；爱尔兰、荷兰和拉脱维亚分别位居第八、第九和第十位。
美国名列第27位，这是该报告发布三年来美国首次超过其邻国加拿大。加拿大下跌13个榜位，跌至第31位。
特立尼达、阿根廷和古巴位居拉美和加勒比海地区前列，莱索托是非洲性别差异最小的国家
(from China Daily)
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-17 10:34     标题: 日本：超过1/3的夫妇不过性生活

Over a third of Japanese couples skip sex: survey

More than a third of married couples in Japan have stopped having sex, many of them because they are too tired or just can't be bothered, a government-backed medical researcher said on Wednesday.
About 37 percent of couples surveyed this year by Kunio Kitamura, head of the Japan Family Planning Association, said they had not had sex for at least a month, compared with 32 percent in 2004.
The most common reason, given by a quarter of the males surveyed, was being too tired after work, while 19 percent of women said sex was too much of a hassle, he told reporters.
"It's a question of work-life balance," Kitamura said in a telephone interview. "This is not something that the individual can tackle alone. The people who run companies need to do something about it."
His written survey involved 647 men and 821 women aged up to 49, who are married.
The trend could have serious consequences for Japan, whose falling birthrate and aging population are continuing headaches for the government.
The average number of children born to a Japanese woman in her lifetime was 1.34 in 2007, compared with 2.1 in the United States in 2006.
Kitamura said doctors may also be partly to blame for Japan's negative attitudes toward sex during pregnancy or after giving birth.
He is set to report to the Ministry of Health on his findings next year.

日本一名ZF医学研究人员于本周三称，目前日本有超过三分之一的夫妇不过性生活，其中很多人是因为太累或者只是嫌麻烦。
日本计划生育协会会长Kunio Kitamura称，在今年的调查中，约37%的受访者称他们至少有一个月没过性生活，而2004年的这一比例为32%。
他在接受记者采访时说，其中最普遍的原因是下班后太累，有四分之一的男性给出该原因，而19%的受访女性则认为性生活太麻烦。
他在接受电话采访时说：“这是一个工作与生活平衡的问题，无法依靠个人的力量解决。公司管理层应对此采取一些措施。”
这项书面调查共有647名男性和821名女性参加，他们都是年龄在49岁以下的已婚人士。
这一趋势可能会给日本带来严重后果，出生率持续下降及老龄化加重一直是日本ZF最头疼的问题。
日本去年的生育率（平均每个妇女所生孩子的数量）为1.34，而2006年美国的生育率为2.1。
Kitamura称，医生的不尽职也是日本对待女性妊娠期和产后性生活问题消极态度的部分原因。
Kitamura将于明年向厚生省提交该调查结果。
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-18 10:54     标题: “恶搞版”《纽约时报》称伊战结束

New York Times reports end to Iraq war
The United States has ended the war in Iraq and indicted President George W. Bush on treason charges, The New York Times reported Tuesday. OK, well not really.
An elaborate spoof hit the streets of New York on Tuesday: a convincing fake of The New York Times announcing not just the withdrawal of troops from Iraq but a raft of other US liberal fantasies.
Bush is indicted, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice apologizes that the fuss about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was invented, and Americans are finally getting national health insurance.
And that's just on the front page.
The only problem? The free, 14-page "special edition" newspaper is phoney. phoney:赝品；骗人的东西
Website www.gawker.com has identified the pranksters behind the stunt as The Yes men, a liberal group famous for practical jokes.
The newspaper was a vision of what Americans would love to see under Barack Obama after he takes power in January.
Dated July 4, 2009, its front-page motto reads: "All the news we hope to print" -- a play on the Times' famous "All the news that's fit to print."
A Times spokeswoman said: "This is obviously a fake issue ... We are in the process of finding out more about it."
One of the newspaper's own online commentators had a wittier retort:
"Sorry, folks, the paper isn't free. And the Iraq war isn't over, at least not yet."
It's not the first time the venerable newspaper has been parodied. One was published during the 1978 newspaper strike.
Another came out on April Fool's Day 1999, printed by British business tycoon Sir Richard Branson and titled "I Can't Believe It's Not The New York Times."
据《纽约时报》本周二报道，美国日前结束伊拉克战争，并以叛国罪起诉总统乔治•W•布什。可惜，这不是真的。
一个精心策划的恶作剧于本周二引爆纽约街头：当日的一份“高仿真版”《纽约时报》不仅宣布了美国从伊拉克撤军的消息，还刊载了其它很多大快人心的报道。
其中包括布什总统被指控；国务卿赖斯承认布什ZF在发动伊拉克战争前就知道伊拉克没有大规模杀伤性武器；美国的全民保险制度终于建立等等。
这还只是头版的内容……
只可惜，这份免费的、14版的《纽约时报》“特刊”是假的。
Gawker.com网站通过调查发现，这份假《纽约时报》的幕后操手是一个名叫“应声虫（The Yes men）”的以恶搞而著称的自由组织。
这份报纸反映了美国人希望在奥巴马明年1月接任总统后能看到的一些新变化。
这份日期为2009年7月4日的《纽约时报》在其头版打出了宣传口号，“我们刊登所有我们希望看到的新闻”，而正版《纽约时报》的宣传语则是“我们刊登所有有价值的新闻”。
《纽约时报》的一位女发言人说：“这显然是个恶作剧，目前我们正在对该事件进行调查。”
《纽约时报》的一位网络评论员的反驳则更加诙谐幽默：“不好意思，各位，报纸并不免费，伊战也未结束，至少现在还没有。”
《纽约时报》遭恶搞已不是第一次，其中一次是在1978年报业罢工之时。
另一次是在1999年的愚人节，当时英国商界大亨理查德•布兰森印刷了一批假报，当时报纸的头条是“我不相信这不是《纽约时报》。”
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-24 13:37     标题: 美国少女“无心”生活近四个月

美国女孩德扎娜•西蒙斯因患有罕见心脏疾病，不得不接受两次心脏移植手术。在两次手术之间，西蒙斯靠体外人工心脏成功存活118天。14岁的西蒙斯19日病愈出院，她的母亲瓦拉•安德森把这称为“最不可思议的医学奇迹”。西蒙斯目前恢复良好。但一般接受心脏移植手术的病人需要在12年至13年后更换新的心脏。西蒙斯接下来只需长期服用抗排异药物，来保证植入心脏正常工作。除此之外，她完全可以像同龄人一样参加各种活动。
An American teenager survived for nearly four months without a heart, kept alive by a custom-built artificial blood-pumping device, until she was able to have a heart transplant, doctors in Miami said on Wednesday.
The doctors said they knew of another case in which an adult had been kept alive in Germany for nine months without a heart but said they believed this was the first time a child had survived in this manner for so long.
The patient, D'Zhana Simmons of South Carolina, said the experience of living for so long with a machine pumping her blood was "scary".
"You never knew when it would malfunction," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, at a news conference at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center.
"It was like I was a fake person, like I didn't really exist. I was just here," she said of living without a heart.
Simmons, 14, suffered fromdilated cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the patient's heart becomes weakened and enlarged and does not pump blood efficiently.
She had a heart transplant on July 2 at Miami's Holtz Children's Hospital but the new heart failed to function properly and was quickly removed.
Two heart pumps made by Thoratec Corp of Pleasanton, California, were implanted to keep her blood flowing while she fought a host of ailments and recovered her strength. Doctors implanted another heart on Oct 29.
"She essentially lived for 118 days without a heart, with her circulation supported only by the two blood pumps," said Dr Marco Ricci, the hospital's director of pediatric cardiac surgery. During that time, Simmons was mobile but remained hospitalized.
When an artificial heart is used to sustain a patient, the patient's own heart is usually left in the body, doctors said.
In some cases, adult patients have been kept alive that way for more than a year, they said.
"This, we believe, is the first pediatric patient who has received such a device in this configuration without the heart, and possibly one of the youngest that has ... been bridged to transplantation without her native heart," Ricci said.
Transplant pioneer dies
Dr Adrian Kantrowitz, a cardiac surgeon who performed the first human heart transplant in the United States and who also developed lifesaving medical implants, has died. He was 90.
Kantrowitz died last Friday in Ann Arbor of complications from heart failure, said his wife, Jean Kantrowitz.
In 1967, Kantrowitz performed a human heart transplant three days after the world's first was performed in South Africa.
But the transplant, on an infant who died several hours later, was only a small part of his life's work to solve the problem of heart failure, his wife said.
Adrian Kantrowitz invented and for decades continued to improve the left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, which would later lend its name to his Detroit-based research company, L-VAD Technology Inc.
The device is designed to be permanently implanted in patients with otherwise-terminal heart failure, helping their hearts circulate blood and allowing them to leave the hospital.
Kantrowitz also invented other lifesaving cardiac devices, including the intra-aortic balloon pump.
He never retired, and "he never lost his mental alertness", said Jean Kantrowitz. He was an avid pilot, motorcyclist and sailor.
(Agencies)

Vocabulary:
dilated cardiomyopathy: 扩张型心肌病（DCM）是原因不明的以单侧或双侧心室扩大，心室收缩功泵功能障碍，伴或不伴充血性心力衰竭。
intra-aortic balloon pump: IABP, 主动脉内球囊反搏泵
作者: nmqs    时间: 2008-11-25 14:49     标题: 很好

相当好
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-11-27 15:01     标题: 美国新旧总统感恩节各自感恩

今天是美国一年一度的感恩节，现任总统布什依照惯例在白宫赦免了一只名叫“南瓜”的火鸡，同时发表讲话对军队将士、志愿者、家人等表示感谢，这是他在白宫的最后一个感恩节。而当选总统奥巴马及夫人米歇尔则表示会邀请至少60位朋友到芝加哥的家中共度佳节，以此对家人和朋友表示感谢并让他们的两个女儿知道自己有多幸运并学会感恩。

President George Bush is heading to Camp David for Thanksgiving, thankful for his almost-expired "privilege of serving as the president."
President-elect Barack Obama is staying in Chicago to "have a whole bunch of people over to the house" and squeeze in some Christmas shopping.
On a holiday designed for reflection, one man, historically unpopular, is heading to a remote mountaintop with his family. The other, promising change, is surrounding himself with dozens of people in a bustling city.
Dressed casually in a leather jacket and black scarf on Wednesday, Obama handed out food to the needy at a Chicago church with wife Michelle and their two daughters, shaking hands and jovially telling people "you can call me Barack."
He followed that with a quick visit to a school next door, where he asked the excited kids, "Who's going to have turkey?" "Who's going to have green beans?" "Who's going to have sweet potato pie?"
Obama has shown a knack for symbolism, in this case following the Thanksgiving tradition of helping the poor, said David Greenberg, a Rutgers University historian who is working on a history of political spin.
"Here he's showing a different side of himself, the president as national conscience or moral authority. I think that's probably a good note for him to introduce in a transition period that's been so heavily focused on Wall Street and the financial system and these economic problems," he said. "He's not forgetting who these economic problems are hurting the most."
In an interview to be broadcast Wednesday night on ABC, the Obamas told Barbara Walters they were having 60 people, at least, to their Chicago home for the holiday.
Michelle Obama said she's not cooking — explaining that she gets "an out" because her husband ran for president.
For Bush, his final Thanksgiving in office is proving a time for nostalgia. He always reflects a bit at Thanksgiving, but he went further as he spared the Thanksgiving turkey, "Pumpkin," on Wednesday.
He gave thanks to troops and volunteers, to teachers and pastors, to all the American people. Then he gave thanks for his wife and twin daughters — "two Thanksgiving miracles who we were blessed with 27 years ago" — and that his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, was doing well after being hospitalized.
"Most of all," he said, "I thank the American people for the tremendous privilege of serving as the president."
But the occasion was also a chance for levity. A backup bird, named "Pecan" through an online vote, was nowhere to be seen. Undisclosed location, Bush joked.
In 2003, months after the Iraq war began, Bush surprised soldiers serving in Baghdad by showing up unannounced in their mess hall for the holiday meal.
The more private celebration this year is fitting his lame-duck status, Greenberg said, calling Bush's retreat from the spotlight "kind of like a mutual agreement between him and the American public."
"In a way it would be unseemly if he did anything too flamboyant or too showy," he said.
Lest the public read too much into it, Stephen Hess, author of a new book about presidential transitions, notes that Bush has remained "pretty active" since the election. And he says Obama, too, may end up at Camp David next year, if only to keep his travel from disrupting Thanksgiving traffic.
This Thanksgiving, Obama used the opportunity for a relatively rare public event with his wife and children, Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10 — and a chance for a little lesson for the kids.
"I want them to learn the importance of how fortunate they are and to make sure they're giving back," he said of bringing the girls to the church.
And what's he thankful for?
"I just want you to know what I'm thankful for is my family and my friends and my community," he told the schoolchildren. "That's the most important thing."

图片附件: [President George W. Bush poses with 'Pumpkin' the turkey during the Pardoning of the National Than .] 00221910993f0a9851ff06.jpg (2008-11-27 15:01, 11.66 KB) / 该附件被下载次数 74
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作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-12-4 08:23     标题: 赖斯访英 为女王弹奏钢琴

Condoleezza Rice plays piano for Queen at palace

Outgoing US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice played the piano for Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace Monday as a farewell gesture before the end of the Bush administration's term next month.
Rice's spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday the top U.S. diplomat played Brahms and was accompanied on violin by Louise Miliband, the wife of Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband, along with three London Symphony Orchestra members.
An accomplished pianist who ultimately chose foreign policy instead of becoming a professional musician, Rice has made several public music performances as the top US diplomat.
McCormack said the royal recital was in a music room at the palace and the Queen had presented a recording of the performance to Rice afterwards. The musicians practiced for an hour beforehand, he added.
"It was all organized by the British and just a very nice gesture as a farewell gift," McCormack said.
Rice is in London on what is expected to be her final British visit before President-elect Barack Obama takes office on January 20, 2009. Rice will be replaced by former first lady and New York Senator Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.
Rice moves on to Brussels Tuesday for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers and is then set to fly to New Delhi for meetings with Indian officials after last week's attacks in Mumbai.
即将卸任的美国国务卿康多莉扎•赖斯于本周一在英国白金汉宫为女王伊丽莎白二世献上了精彩的钢琴演奏，作为布什ZF任期结束前的一份告别礼物。
赖斯的发言人西恩•麦考马克于本周二称，当天赖斯为女王弹奏的是（德国作曲家）勃拉姆斯的曲子，英国外交部长的妻子路易丝•米利班德为她拉小提琴伴奏，一同伴奏的还有伦敦交响乐团的三名成员。
赖斯在任国务卿期间曾公开表演过几次钢琴独奏。赖斯的钢琴造诣颇深，但她最终没有选择做一名职业音乐家，而是成为了一名外交官。
麦考马克说，当天的演奏地点在白金汉宫的一间音乐厅，女王将赖斯弹奏的钢琴曲录制了下来作为礼物回送给赖斯。据他透露，几位演奏家还预先排练了一个小时。
麦考马克说：“此次演奏全由英方组织安排，堪称一份非常不错的告别礼物。”
这是赖斯在任期间最后一次访问英国，美国总统当选人巴拉克•奥巴马将于明年1月20日就任。赖斯的国务卿一职将由前第一夫人、纽约州参议员希拉里•克林顿接任。
赖斯于本周二离开英国前往布鲁塞尔，参加北约外长会议。之后，她将前往印度首都新德里会见印度官员。上周，印度孟买市发生了连环爆炸恐怖袭击事件。
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-12-4 08:30     标题: Venus, Jupiter, Moon make face in the sky


Venus and Jupiter, two of the brightest naked-eye planets, join a thin crescent moon to create a brief "happy face" in the sky as seen in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, December 1, 2008. Astronomers and star gazers across the world are keeping watch on Monday night for the rare astronomical phenomenon known as "Planetary Conjunction".
作者: 冲动de惩罚    时间: 2008-12-28 20:28     标题: 英女王圣诞致辞：今年圣诞有点愁

Queen Elizabeth sees a sombre Christmas for many
Worries about the global economy and violence across the world have turned the celebration of Christmas into a more sombre affair this year, Queen Elizabeth said on Thursday.
Britain, like many other developed nations, is facing the risk of a prolonged recession. Unemployment is rising fast, household high street firms are collapsing and several big banks are only able to stay in business with government help.
There has also been an increase in the number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan in recent weeks, just as troops in Iraq prepare to come home next year.
"Christmas is a time for celebration, but this year it is a more sombre occasion for many," the Queen said.
"People are touched by events which have their roots far across the world. Whether it is the global economy or violence in a distant land, the effects can be keenly felt at home."
But, in her annual Christmas broadcast which dates back to 1957 and is watched by millions across Britain and the Commonwealth, the 82-year-old said those with courage would work hard to survive and improve their lot.
"When life seems hard the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future," she said, standing by a piano adorned with pictures of her family.
This year has been eventful for the royal family, with Prince Harry, third in line to the throne, fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan for 10 weeks, an inquest into the death of Princess Diana and Prince Charles' 60th birthday.
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英国女王伊丽莎白于本周四发表圣诞致辞，她在致辞中说，全球经济危机和暴力冲突引发的担忧给今年圣诞节蒙上了一层阴影。
和其它很多发达国家一样，目前英国正面临长期经济衰退的危险。失业率飙升，公司倒闭，几家大银行只能靠ZF的援助度日。
就在英国计划明年从伊拉克撤军之时，近几周又传来驻阿富汗英军死亡人数上升的消息。
女王说：“圣诞节本是个欢庆的节日，但今年的圣诞节对于很多人来说并不开心。”
她说：“世界各地发生的事情让人们深感担忧。无论是全球经济衰退还是远在异国的暴力冲突，我们都能深切地感觉到。”
但今年82岁的女王称，勇敢的人会通过自己的努力度过难关，改变境况。英国女王一年一度的圣诞致辞始于1957年，每年会在英国和英联邦国家转播，有数百万人观看。
女王站在摆放有王室成员照片的钢琴边说：“勇敢的人在困境中不会低头认输，相反他们会更坚定地为美好的未来而奋斗。”
今年对于英国王室来说也是个多事之年，期间发生的大事包括英国王位第三继承人哈里王子赴阿富汗前线服役十周，前王妃戴安娜死因调查以及查尔斯王储庆祝60岁生日等。
Vocabulary:
eventful:full of events（多事的；an eventful year 多事之秋）




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