reading comprehension07.docx
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reading comprehension07.docx
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readingcomprehension07
22February2013Lastupdatedat14:
58GMT
Chinaacknowledges'cancervillages'
Chinahaswitnessedgrowingpublicangeroverpollutioncausedbyindustrialdevelopment
China'senvironmentministryappearstohaveacknowledgedtheexistenceofso-called"cancervillages"afteryearsofpublicspeculationabouttheimpactofpollutionincertainareas.
Foryearscampaignershavesaidcancerratesinsomevillagesnearfactoriesandpollutedwaterwayshaveshotup.
Buttheterm"cancervillage"hasnotechnicaldefinitionandtheministry'sreportdidnotelaborateonit.
TherehavebeenmanycallsforChinatobemoretransparentonpollution.
Thelatestreportfromtheenvironmentministryisentitled"Guardagainstandcontrolriskspresentedbychemicalstotheenvironmentduringthe12thFive-Yearperiod(2011-2015)".
ItsaysthatthewidespreadproductionandconsumptionofharmfulchemicalsforbiddeninmanydevelopednationsarestillfoundinChina.
"Thetoxicchemicalshavecausedmanyenvironmentalemergencieslinkedtowaterandairpollution,"itsaid.
Thereportgoesontoacknowledgethatsuchchemicalscouldposealong-termrisktohumanhealth,makingadirectlinktotheso-called"cancervillages".
"Thereareevensomeseriouscasesofhealthandsocialproblemsliketheemergenceofcancervillagesinindividualregions,"itsaid.
Beijingsmog
TheBBC'sMartinPatienceinBeijingsaysthatasChinahasexperiencedrapiddevelopment,storiesaboutso-calledcancervillageshavebecomemorefrequent.
AndChinahaswitnessedgrowingpublicangeroverairpollutionandindustrialwastecausedbyindustrialdevelopment.
Mediacoverageofconditionsintheseso-called"cancervillages"hasbeenwidespread.In2009,oneChinesejournalistpublishedamapidentifyingdozensofapparentlyaffectedvillages.
In2007theBBCvisitedthesmallhamletofShangbainsouthernChinawhereonescientistwasstudyingthecauseandeffectsofpollutiononthevillage.
Hefoundhighlevelsofpoisonousheavymetalsinthewaterandbelievedtherewasadirectconnectionbetweenincidencesofcancerandmininginthearea.
Untilnow,therehasbeenlittlecommentfromthegovernmentonsuchallegations.
EnvironmentallawyerWangCanfa,whorunsapollutionaidcentreinBeijing,toldtheAFPnewsagencythatitwasthefirsttimethe"cancervillage"phrasehadappearedinaministrydocument.
Lastmonth-Beijing-andseveralothercities-wereblanketedinsmogthatsoaredpastlevelsconsideredhazardousbytheWorldHealthOrganisation.
Thechokingpollutionprovokedapublicoutcryandledtoahighlychargeddebateaboutthecostsofthecountry'srapideconomicdevelopment,ourcorrespondentsays.
23February2013Lastupdatedat00:
19GMT
Questions:
1.Translatethesentence“Chinahaswitnessedgrowingpublicangeroverpollutioncausedbyindustrialdevelopment”.
2.“北京被笼罩在雾霾中,其危害程度远远超过世界卫生组织认定的危害水平。
”PleasefindtheEnglishversioninthereport.
3.Doyouthinkthisreportisaratherbiasedcoverageoftheeventorafairlyreasonableone?
WhyspeakingEnglishcanmakeyoupoorwhenyouretire
ByTimBowlerBusinessreporter,BBCNews
Notalllanguagesrequiretheuseofafuturetense
Couldthelanguagewespeakskewourfinancialdecision-making,anddoesthefactthatyou'rereadingthisinEnglishmakeyoulesslikelythanaMandarinspeakertosaveforyouroldage?
ItisacontroversialtheorywhichhasbeengivensomeweightbynewfindingsfromaYaleUniversitybehaviouraleconomist,KeithChen.
ProfChensayshisresearchprovesthatthegrammarofthelanguagewespeakaffectsbothourfinancesandourhealth.
Bluntly,hesays,ifyouspeakEnglishyouarelikelytosavelessforyouroldage,smokemoreandgetlessexercisethanifyouspeakalanguagelikeMandarin,YorubaorMalay.
Future-speak
ProfChendividestheworld'slanguagesintotwogroups,dependingonhowtheytreattheconceptoftime.
“StartQuote
Ifyourlanguageseparatesthefutureandthepresentinitsgrammar,thatseemstoleadyoutoslightlydisassociatethefuturefromthepresent”
EndQuoteKeithChenYaleUniversity
Strongfuture-timereferencelanguages(strongFTR)requiretheirspeakerstouseadifferenttensewhenspeakingofthefuture.Weakfuture-timereference(weakFTR)languagesdonot.
"IfIwantedtoexplaintoanEnglish-speakingcolleaguewhyIcan'tattendameetinglatertoday,Icouldnotsay'Igotoaseminar',Englishgrammarwouldobligemetosay'Iwillgo,amgoing,orhavetogotoaseminar'.
"If,ontheotherhand,IwerespeakingMandarin,itwouldbequitenaturalformetoomitanymarkeroffuturetimeandsay'Igolistenseminar'sincethecontextleaveslittleroomformisunderstanding,"saysProfChen.
EvenwithinEuropeanlanguagestherearecleargrammaticaldifferencesinthewaytheytreatfutureevents,hesays.
"InEnglishyouhavetosay'itwillraintomorrow'whileinGermanyoucansay'morgenregnetes'-itrainstomorrow."
Disassociatingthefuture
Speakersoflanguageswhichonlyusethepresenttensewhendealingwiththefuturearelikelytosavemoremoneythanthosewhospeaklanguageswhichrequiretheuseafuturetense,heargues.
Continuereadingthemainstory
∙StrongFTRlanguages:
Chaha,English,French,Fula,Gamo,Hausa,Igbo,Italian,Moore,Russian,Tigrinya,Tamil
∙WeakFTRlanguages:
Amharic,Dyula,Estonian,German,Malay,Mandarin,Oromo,Sidamo,Yoruba
Sohowdoesameredifferenceingrammarcausepeopletosavelessfortheirretirement?
"Theactofsavingsisfundamentallyaboutunderstandingthatyourfutureself-thepersonyou'resavingfor-isinsomesenseequivalenttoyourpresentself,"ProfChentoldtheBBC'sBusinessDaily.
"Ifyourlanguageseparatesthefutureandthepresentinitsgrammarthatseemstoleadyoutoslightlydisassociatethefuturefromthepresenteverytimeyouspeak.
"Thateffectivelymakesitharderforyoutosave."
Evenmorecontroversial,isProfChen'sassertionthatlanguagedifferencesunderpinwiderdifferencesinpeople'sbehaviour.
Inhisresearchpaper,hesaysthatcomparedtospeakersoflanguageswhichuseafuturetense,speakersoflanguageswithnorealfuturetenseare:
∙Likelytohavesaved39%morebythetimetheyretire
∙31%morelikelytosaveinayear
∙24%lesslikelytosmoke
∙29%morelikelytobephysicallyactive
∙13%lesslikelytobeobese
Far-fetched?
Notsurprisingly,ProfChen'sfindingshavebeencriticisedbybotheconomistsandlinguists.
Theyarguetherearenumberofcultural,social,oreconomicreasonswhydifferentlanguagespeakersbehavedifferently.
ItisapointProfChenacknowledges,saying"Icompletelyagree,itseemedfar-fetchedtomewhenIstarteddoingthisresearchaswell."
Buthesayshisresearchhascontrolledforallthesefactors,byconcentratingonninemulti-lingualcountries:
Belgium,BurkinaFaso,Ethiopia,Estonia,DRCongo,Nigeria,Malaysia,Singapore,andSwitzerland.
"Youcanfindfamiliesthatliverightnextdoortoeachother,haveexactlythesameeducationlevels,exactlythesameincomeandevenexactlysamereligion.
"Yetthefamilythatspeaksalanguagethatdoesn'tdistinguishbetweenthefutureandthepresentwillsavedramaticallymore,"hesays.
InNigeria,forexample,Hausahasmultiplefuturetenses,whileYorubadoesnot.
"YoucanfindNigerianswhospeakHausaandYorubawholivenexttoeachotherandyethaveradicallydifferentsavingsbehaviour."
Findingschallenged
“StartQuote
Theextenttowhichthelanguageshapesthethoughtistiny”
EndQuoteJohnMcWhorterColumbiaUniversity
ButMortenLau,directorofDurhamUniversity'sCentreforBehaviouralEconomics,saysthefactorswhichaffecthowmuchpeoplesavehavelittletodowithlanguage.
"Inmyownworkwithsavings,itisinterestratesthatdeterminesavingsbehaviour."
ProfLausaysthereareoftensignificantdifferenceswithinlanguagegroups,andjustusingtheaverageoftheseresultsinanalysiscanproveproblematic.
"Youhavetobecarefultheinferencesyoumakefromcorrelationslikethese.Itisverydifficulttocontrolformultiplefactors."
"Forinstance,inourownresearchinDenmark,wefoundthatmalesmokerswantedahigherinterestrateontheirsavingsthandidnon-smokers.Butthatthisdidnotapplytowomensmokers."
'Atemptingidea'
LinguistJohnMcWhorter,ofColumbiaUniversity,saysanyinfluencealanguage'sstructurehasonthewayitsspeakersseetheirworldisextremelysubtle.
"Theextenttowhichthelanguageshapesthethoughtistiny.We'retalkingaboutmillisecondsofreaction.
Languagehasverylittleeffectonthewaywethink,saylinguists
"Noneofithaseverbeenproventohaveanythingtodowithhowpeopleseetheworldorexperiencelife.
"It'satemptingideathatsimplydoesn'tmakeanysense."
Also,hesays,somelanguageshavebeenwronglyclassified,thusunderminingthestatisticalcorrelations.
"Russian,andlanguageslikeit,arealotmorelikeMandarinthanKeithChenthinks."
Despitehiscritics,ProfCheninsistshisfindingsarerobust.
"What'sremarkable,iswhenyoufindcorrelationsthisstrongandthatsurvivesomanyaggressivesetsofcontrols,it'sactuallyhardtocomeupwithastoryofwhatelsemightbecausingthis."
SowhatdoesProfChenthinkoftheideathatifheisright,thenEnglishspeakerswhowanttostartsavingmorefortheirretirement,shouldbetalkingentirelyinthepresenttense?
"Itactuallyseemslikeencouragingyourselftothinkinthepresenttensemakesitalittlebiteasiertoengageinself-control."
Questions:
1.DoyoufindthisconclusiondrawnbytheYaleprofessorju
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