11/13 Daily Podcast

◆ CNN Student News│CNN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Discover what's significant about the location of the upcoming APEC summit
  
• Hear why a history lesson about the past has sparked concerns in the present
• Check out some of the newest entries in a renowned book of global records

→WORD LIST:

※ premeditated adjective 預謀的

(especially of a crime or something unpleasant) done after being thought about or carefully planned
premeditated murder
a premeditated attack
The assault was premeditated and particularly brutal(野蠻的;殘暴的).

※ agenda noun 議程;應辦事項

•a list of matters to be discussed at a meeting
There were several important items on the agenda.
The question of security is high on the agenda for this afternoon's meeting.
•a list of aims or possible future achievements
Women's rights have been put back on the agenda (= are being discussed publicly again).
The subject of safety must be placed high on/at the top of the agenda (= must be discussed because it is very important).
Education was placed firmly on the political agenda in the Prime Minister's weekend speech.

※ slam verb 砰然關上，撞上;猛烈抨擊

•[I or T] to (cause to) move against a hard surface with force and usually a loud noise
The wind made the door/window slam (shut).
Close the door carefully, don't slam it.
He slammed the brakes(煞車) on (= used them quickly and with force) when a child ran in front of his car.
I had to stop suddenly, and the car behind slammed into the back of me.
•[T] informal to criticize
Although the reviewers slammed the play, the audience loved it.

※ protectionism noun 貿易保護主義

the actions of a government to help its country's trade or industry by taxing goods bought from other countries

※ revenue noun 稅收

the income that a government or company receives regularly
Taxes provide most of the government's revenue.
Government revenues fell dramatically.

※ pledge verb 保證給予（或做）；正式承諾

to make a serious or formal promise to give or do something
We are asking people to pledge their support for our campaign.
If you join the armed forces, you have to pledge allegiance (忠誠) to your country.
So far, £50 000 has been pledged (= people have promised to pay this amount) in response to the appeal.
[+ to infinitive] Both sides have pledged to end the fighting.
I've been pledged to secrecy.

※ forge verb 艱苦幹成

[T] to make or produce, especially with some difficulty
The accident forged a close bond between the two families.
She forged a new career for herself as a singer.

※ quash verb 制止

to forcefully stop something that you do not want to happen
The revolt (叛亂) was swiftly (迅速地) quashed by government troops.
The company moved quickly to quash rumours (謠言)/ speculation (臆測) that it is losing money.

※ lingering adjective 拖延的;遲遲不去的

lasting a long time
She gave him a long, lingering kiss.
She's says she's stopped seeing him, but I still have lingering doubts.
The defeat ends any lingering hopes she might have had of winning the championship.

※daredevil noun 魯莽大膽的人

a person who does dangerous things and takes risks
daredevil adjective

racing-car drivers doing daredevil stunts(特技)



◆ 60-Second Science│ ScientificAmerican

Pick the World's Ugliest Insect
Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University want your vote at askabiologist.asu.edu/uglybugs to help them crown the ugliest insect in the world. Adam Hinterthuer reports

→WORD LIST:

※ titbit noun 趣聞;小片食物

a small piece of interesting information, or a small dish of pleasant-tasting food
Our guide gave us some interesting titbits about the history of the castle.
This magazine is full of juicy titbits (= small pieces of interesting information, especially about other people's private lives).
Grandma always has a few titbits for the children if they're visiting at lunchtime.

※ rogue noun 流氓

•old-fashioned humorous a person who behaves badly but who you still like
"Come here, you little rogue!" chuckled my uncle.
The women all think he's a loveable old rogue.
•old-fashioned a dishonest or bad man

※ snag verb 迅速抓到

[T] US informal to get or catch something by acting quickly
They'd have gone bust if they hadn't snagged that contract from their rivals.
The ball was hit well, but Silverman snagged it for the final out of the inning.

※ leap verb 跳躍;猛衝

[I + adverb or preposition] to make a large jump or sudden movement, usually from one place to another
He leapt out of his car and ran towards the house.
I leaped up to answer the phone
The dog leapt over the gate into the field.

※ nasty adjective 令人厭惡的;不友好的;危險的;無理的

•bad or very unpleasant
a nasty shock/surprise
There's a nasty smell in here.
He had a nasty cut above the eye.
She has a nasty habit of picking on people in meetings.
•unkind
Don't be so nasty to your brother - he's four years younger than you!
•dangerous or violent
In an emergency you could get out through a window, but it would be a nasty drop.
The situation could turn (= become) nasty at any moment.
•rude or offensive
She said some quite nasty things about him.

※ ward sb/sth off 防止(危險,疾病,攻擊)

to protect or defend yourself against danger, illness, attack, etc.
to ward off criticism/intruders (入侵者)
She put up her hands to ward him off.

※ poll noun 民意調查;選舉投票

[C] a study in which people are asked for their opinions about a subject or person
We're carrying out/conducting a poll to find out what people think about abortion(墮胎).
The latest opinion poll puts the Democrats in the lead.

11/13 Daily Reading

◆譯言堂


"Instead of a primitive economy based on raw materials, we shall create a smart economy, producing unique knowledge, new goods and technologies, goods and technologies useful for people." -- Dmitry Medvedev

「我們該創造智慧經濟，生產獨特的知識、新貨物與新科技，以及對人類有用的貨物和科技，而非以原物料為基礎的原始經濟。」

俄國總統麥維德夫12日發表年度第二次國會演說，指出俄國貨的競爭力「低得可恥」，並呼籲俄國要走出仰賴能源和重工業的經濟模式，轉型為發展資訊科技、通訊和太空等產業。
   
primitive：原始的、未開化的。raw material：原物料。


◆Word of the Day | rife

By THE LEARNING NETWORK

rife adjective （壞事）盛行，普遍；充斥，充滿

1: most frequent or common
2: excessively abundant

The word rife has appeared in 163 Times articles over the past year, including in “A Cheap Deadbolt Is No Bargain”:

Don’t forget to lock up — it’s a sound practice, yet something many people forget to do, resulting in millions of break-ins nationwide every year, according to the National Crime Prevention Council, a nonprofit organization in Washington.

…If installing a lock yourself seems too intimidating(令人膽怯的), you can pay a locksmith $150 to $200 to do it for you, a fee that should include the cost of a quality deadbolt. Proceed with caution, though, as the locksmith industry is rife with scams(詭計,詐財騙局).


◆ Words in the News│BBC

Language after stroke ( 13 November 2009 )
A new initiative aimed at helping people re-learn language after suffering a stroke has shown the success of the learning may depend largely on which language the stroke sufferer is trying to learn.

Stroke sufferers often loose the ability to speak or remember events, but how difficult or easy it is to re-learn language can depend on which part of the brain was affected by the stroke and which language is being learnt.

Professor Anthony Kong from the University of Central Florida noticed this when working in Singapore. He found a big difference in stroke patients' symptoms depending on whether they spoke English or Chinese.

Professor Kong
'In Chinese there is a higher portion of right hemisphere activation, in terms of processing the language, and this contrasts with English or other Latin based languages in which most of the activations are on the left side of the brain.'

He says brain imaging techniques show tonal languages, such as Chinese, make more use of the right side of the brain, whereas the processing for Latin based languages, such as English, tends to occur in the left side. This means for Chinese speakers, most of the medical research on re-learning language after a stroke may not be relevant to them, as it comes from investigations with English speakers.

Professor Kong is now about to start the first Chinese specific research project on the way brain damage affects speech. He hopes this will lead to better after stroke therapy for speakers of Chinese and other tonal languages.

Julian Siddle, BBC

→WORD LIST:

※ stroke sufferers 中風者
people who have had a stroke, i.e. a sudden change in the blood supply to a part of the brain, and are often partially disabled (usually on one side of their body) as a result

※ symptoms
a symptom is one of the ways in which a disease, illness or medical condition manifests, or shows itself

※ a higher portion of
more

※ hemisphere
here, half of the front part of the brain; the left and right hemispheres of your brain process information in different ways: the left hemisphere works in a more logical, linear, reality-based way, whereas the right hemisphere is more random, intuitive and fantasy oriented

※ contrasts with
is opposite to, is unlike brain imaging studying the brain using scans, tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, encephalography or other techniques

※ tonal languages
languages where using specific tones, i.e. the quality of the speaker's voice (e.g. pitch, rising or falling intonations etc.), is very important both for expressing yourself while speaking and for understanding the speech

※ tends to occur
usually happens

※ investigations
research, examining and/or testing

11/12 Daily Podcast

◆ CNN Student News│CNN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Find out some topics that President Obama plans to address on a trip to Asia
  
• Hear the story of a late Pakistani janitor who is being hailed as a hero
  
• Visit a class reunion that brought former students together for the first time

→WORD LIST:

※


◆ 60-Second Science│ ScientificAmerican

Finding Room For New Memories
A study in the journal Cell shows that the formation of new memories requires the movement of other memories located in the hippocampus to long-term storage in the neocortex. Karen Hopkin reports.

→WORD LIST:

※

11/12 Daily Reading

◆譯言堂

"In East Asia, if you start to get a strong rebound in growth, and you've got a lot of liquidity, there is the question of whether one could start to face asset bubbles in particular markets." -- Robert Zoellick

「在東亞，經濟成長若出現強勁的復甦現象，會有許多流動性，就會產生一個問題：特定市場是否會產生資產泡沫。」

世界銀行總裁佐立克11日在新加坡的亞太經濟合作會議（APEC）座談會上表示，他憂心某些市場將有潛在的資產泡沫，尤其亞洲是全球經濟起飛最迅速的地區，政府應謹慎處理資金過熱的問題。

rebound：彈回，復甦。liquidity：流動性，流動資產。


◆Word of the Day | pacify

By THE LEARNING NETWORK

pacify verb 平息,撫慰;平息戰爭

1: cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of
2: fight violence and try to establish peace in (a location)

The word pacify has appeared in 21 Times articles over the past year, including in an Op-Ed by Victor Sebestyen, “Transcripts of Defeat”:

Much of the fighting during the Soviet war in Afghanistan was in places that have grown familiar to us now, like Kandahar and Helmand Provinces. The Soviets’ main base of operations was Bagram, which is now the United States Army headquarters. Over the years, the Soviets changed their tactics (戰略) frequently, but much of the time they were trying and failing to pacify the country’s problematic south and east, often conducting armed sweeps along the border with Pakistan, through which many of the guerrillas (游擊隊) moved, as the Taliban do now.

11/11 Daily Podcast

◆ CNN Student News│CNN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Hear some students pay tribute to veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces
  
• See how a program connects veterans with the government that they've served
  
• Find out what happens to items that are left at the Vietnam Memorial

→WORD LIST:

※


◆ 60-Second Science│ ScientificAmerican

Judging a Book by Its Odor
A study in the journal Analytical Chemistry identifies various organic compounds that old books give off and that can be analyzed noninvasively, offering important clues to an historic work's condition and prognosis. Steve Mirsky reports

→WORD LIST:

※

11/11 Daily Reading

◆譯言堂

"I do not think that either of these ideas was terribly bright, but together they made it possible to create the H-bomb." -- Vitaly Ginzburg

「我不認為這兩個想法特別厲害，但結合起來卻能創造出氫彈。」

俄羅斯籍諾貝爾物理學獎得主金茲柏格8日晚間在莫斯科辭世，享歲93。蘇聯研發氫彈，金茲柏格扮演關鍵性的角色。諾貝爾獎評審於2003年頒給他物理學獎，表揚他對超導體理論方面的貢獻。

bright：聰明的、厲害的。H-bomb：氫彈。


◆Word of the Day | slacken

By THE LEARNING NETWORK

slacken verb （使）放慢，減緩，鬆弛，呆滯

1: become slow or slower
2: make less active or fast
3: become looser or slack
4: make slack as by lessening tension or firmness

The word slacken has appeared in 8 Times articles over the past year, including in the recent article “From Chicago to Fez, Filmmaker’s Favorites” in which various filmmakers write about favorite holiday films. This excerpt is screenwriter David Benioff on the 1987 film “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”:

The great American holiday is Thanksgiving, and the great Thanksgiving movie is “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”…

The story here could not be simpler: Steve Martin is Neal Page, a successful marketing man trying to make it home for the holiday. Everything conspires (協力,共謀) against him, from God to Kevin Bacon…

The only person Neal has the power to hurt is his unwanted traveling companion, Del Griffith, played with grating good cheer by John Candy (above, left, with Mr. Martin). Del is the perfect hell, oozing into(滲到,洋溢) his neighbor’s seat on the plane, removing his shoes and socks to air out his stinking (發臭的) feet, always smiling, never shutting up…We’re laughing at him, but we cringe (感到尷尬不安,難堪) when we see his face slacken with sadness as he learns the man he considered his friend isn’t his friend after all. Neal’s journey home provides the movie’s narrative engine, but Del gives the machine a soul.


◆ Words in the News│BBC

Statues on the move at Thai airport ( 11 November 2009 )
12 large statues of demon spirits are being moved to new positions in Thailand's main international airport. But it's not clear if the reason lies in aesthetics or superstition.
 
You would have thought it hard to miss one six metre high, scowling demon, let alone 12. But the authorities at Bangkok's main airport say they're relocating their spirit statues to the check-in area, where they're thought more likely to be noticed and appreciated by passengers.
Local media are reporting the real reason for the move is that airport staff had come to believe the figures, collectively worth almost a million dollars, had brought them bad luck. Last year the airport was blockaded for eight days by political protestors, resulting in a big loss in earnings.

But moving the statues is not a matter to be taken lightly. Buddihsts believe the demons to be symbols of anger, strength and power. Some astrologers are warning that shifting them to a new location might bring more bad luck and have suggested a safer option might be simply to turn them around to face a different direction.

Rachel Harvey, BBC News, Bangkok

→WORD LIST:

※ hard to miss
difficult not to notice, not to see

※ scowling 皺眉;顯怒容
frowning, showing on your face that you are unhappy or annoyed by something

※ let alone
used after a negative statement (here, hard to miss one statue) to emphasise how unlikely another situation (here, miss 12 statues)

※ relocating
moving to another place or location

※ blockaded
when a country or place (here, the airport) is surrounded by soldiers (or here, protesters) to stop something (here, planes) going in or out

※ resulting in a big loss in earnings
making a lot of businesses lose money or be unprofitable

※ not a matter to be taken lightly
something that should be thought about very seriously

※ demons to be symbols
spirits (often evil or bad ones) are signs

※ astrologers 占星家
people who believe that the movement of the stars at our birth and at other times influences how we behave and what happens to us

※ shifting
them to a new location moving them to another place

11/10 Daily Podcast

◆ CNN Student News│CNN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Consider why the era of "cheap oil" may have dried up
  
• Find out where the Berlin Wall went after it came down
  
• Meet a teen who found a cause after losing his limbs

→WORD LIST:

※ crude noun 原油

oil in a natural state that has not yet been treated

※ defy verb 違抗

to refuse to obey a person, decision, law, situation, etc.
children openly defying their teachers
A few workers have defied the majority decision and gone into work despite the strike.
The fact that aircraft don't fall out of the sky always seems to me to defy (= act against) the law of gravity.
A forest fire raging in the south of France is defying (= is not changed by) all attempts to control it.

※ hefty adjective 大而重的、可觀的

large in amount, size, force, etc
a hefty bill/fine
Her salary will go up by a hefty 10%.
a hefty woman with dyed blond hair

※ legit adjective 合法的

legitimate
allowed by law
The army must give power back to the legitimate government.

I'm not getting involved in this fund-raising scheme if it isn't legit.

※ tribute noun 悼念、致哀

[C or U] something that you say, write or give which shows your respect and admiration for someone, especially on a formal occasion
Tributes have been pouring in from all over the world for the famous actor who died yesterday.
For wedding bouquets, floral tributes (= flowers sent to someone's funeral) and all your flower needs, call Mandy's Florists.

※ pay tribute to sb/sth

to praise someone or something
The minister paid tribute to the men who had fought the blaze.

※ emblazon verb （用圖案、符號或文字醒目地）裝飾

to print or decorate something in a very noticeable way
Her name was emblazoned across the front of the theatre.
cars emblazoned with the company logo

※ intertwine verb 糾纏

to twist or be twisted together, or to be connected so as to be difficult to separate
The town's prosperity is inextricably intertwined with the fortunes of the factory.
The trees' branches intertwined to form a dark roof over the path

※ freak adjective 不正常的、怪異的

very unusual or unexpected
She was crushed in a freak (= very unlikely) accident in a cave in France.
A freak whirlwind has destroyed over 20 caravans in west Wales.

※ amputee noun 被截肢者

a person who has had an arm or leg cut off

※ prosthesis noun 假體 （義肢）

an artificial body part, such as an arm, foot or tooth, which replaces a missing part

prosthetic adjective
a prosthetic hand

※ stomp verb 跺腳、踐踏

[I usually + adverb or preposition] to walk with intentionally heavy steps, especially as a way of showing that you are annoyed
She stomped up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door.
He woke up in a bad mood and stomped off to the bathroom


◆ 60-Second Science│ ScientificAmerican

Diet and the Brain
A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that brain chemicals linked to addiction are in play with a high-sugar diet, and a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine shows that a high-carb diet had lasting mood-elevation effects. Cynthia Graber reports

→WORD LIST:

※ corticotropin 促腎上腺皮質激素

※ withdrawal noun 退癮

[U] when something is taken away so that it is no longer available, or when someone stops being involved in an activity
Doctors demanded the withdrawal of the drug (from the market) after several cases of dangerous side-effects were reported.
Her sudden withdrawal from the championship caused a lot of press speculation about her health.

※ relapse verb 故態復萌

to become ill or start behaving badly again, after making an improvement
She managed to stop using drugs for a month, but then relapsed.
He looked happy for a brief while, before relapsing into silent misery.

※ rodent 齧齒動物

※ waist 腰部

11/10 Daily Reading

◆譯言堂

"The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall should remind us all what incredible luck we had with the reunification of Europe and Germany." -- Angela Merkel

「柏林圍牆倒下20周年紀念，提醒我們有多麼幸運，讓歐洲和德國重新統一。」

來自東德的德國總理梅克爾表示，就算在柏林圍牆倒塌的前幾年時，她也不敢想像此生能親眼看見此牆倒下。柏林圍牆倒塌9日屆滿20周年，各國領袖和政要齊聚柏林，共同紀念這個深具歷史意義的日子。

incredible：難以置信的。reunification：重新統一。


◆Word of the Day | sanctimonious

By THE LEARNING NETWORK

sanctimonious adjective 偽善的；道貌岸然的

excessively or hypocritically pious(虔誠的,盡責的)

The word sanctimonious has appeared in 12 Times articles over the past year, including in the recent review of the new Pearl Jam album “Backspacer,” on September 21, 2009:

While the music hurtles along, Pearl Jam’s new songs don’t try to fake youthful attitudes or troubles. Mr. Vedder no longer sings about surviving traumas, as he did on Pearl Jam’s first albums, or vents (表達,發洩感情)  political anger as he did on the band’s previous studio album, ”Pearl Jam,” in 2006. Now his lyrics reflect — sometimes raucously (沙啞地) , sometimes pensively (沉思地,焦慮地) — on a fulfilled life. [...]

Pearl Jam’s quandary (進退兩難,困窘) is that with fewer outside targets or frustrations to rail against (抱怨,責罵) , it risks turning sanctimonious. No doubt Mr. Vedder means it when he sings, ”Fill the air up with love,” or ”I’m still holding tight to this dream of distant light.” But Pearl Jam’s music doesn’t align (一致) well with satisfaction.