“Zero tolerance” - 2017.11.28
Cheating in GCSE and A-Levels by pupils, teachers and even school exam centres rose markedly last year, with ever more sophisticated electronic gadgets being smuggled into exam halls(作定语)(作状语). The number of teenagers found guilty of cheating(作定语) rose by 6.2% to 4 415 during last summer’s exams. But not only pupils were at it——the number of teachers disciplined for test “malpractice” was 30% higher than the year before.
A breakdown of figures from the Office of the Qualifications and Exams Regulator (Ofqual) showed that the most common form of cheating was “bringing a mobile phone or other electronic gadget” into the room(宾语从句). Some candidates were caught with concealed earpieces, decribed as “exam cheat equipment” on some of the websites (that sell them(定语从句))(作定语), which could receive information from outside an exam hall(非限制性定语从句). Exam bosses admitted that these were more difficult to detect(宾语从句), although many schools now use mobile tracking devices to detect (whether a signal is being sent from anywhere in the room(条件状语从句))(让步状语从句). The second most common cause of malpractice was plagiarism (剽窃) or copying other students’ work, which accounted for 1 084 cases(非限制性定语从句). Disruptive behavior in the exam room, including swearing (说脏话)(作状语), rose from 514 cases in 2008 to 539 last year. Candidates were also docked marks for including offensive and obscene comments in their exam papers.
In total, 2 155 students lost marks after being found guilty, 644 failed their exams and 1 616 escaped with warnings. “Candidates who bring a mobile phone into an exam room but do not have the phone at their desk(定语从句) might receive a warning, whereas candidates found using a mobile phone during an exam might be disqualified from the unit or qualification in the current exam series.” a spokesman for Ofqual explained.
The number of teachers disciplined rose from 68 to 88, and 17 were suspended from invigilating (监考) in exams. Their crimes include leaving the exam hall unsupervised and helping candidates to answer questions.
Ofqual stressed that the figures confimed that only 0.03% of pupils cheated in exams taken last summer(宾语从句). However, Jim Sinclair, director of the Joint Council for Qualifications同位语, the organization which represents the examination boards(定语从句), said (that) it took a “zero tolerance” approach to all froms of cheating, including the possession of unauthorized items such as mobile phones, iPods and other digital music players.(状语从句)
Mick Brookes, of the National Association of Head Teachers, said he did not condone cheating but pointed out that children knew some exams were “extremely high stakes” and schools were under more pressure to succed. “Young people are in a highly pressurized environment, partly due to the jobs market being more difficult than it was, and university entrance being restricted,” he added.
Geothermal energy - 2017.11.26
Geothermal energy has been used for thousands of years in some countries for cooking and hearing. It is simply power derived from the Earth’s internal heat(作定语). This thermal energy is contained in the rock and fluids beneath Earth’s crust. It can be found from shallow ground to several miles below the surface, and even farther down to the extremely hot molten rock called magma (岩浆).
Ａ geothermal heat pump system can take advantage of the constant temperature of the upper ten feet (three meters) of the Earth’s surface to heat a home in the winter while extracting heat from the building and transferring it back to the relatively cooler ground in the summer(时间状语从句). Geothermal water from deeper in the Earth can be used directly for heating homes and offices, or for growing plants in greenhouse. Some US cities pipe geothermal hot water under roads and sidewalks to melt snow.
To produce geothermal-generated electricity(表目的), wells, sometimes a mile (1.6kilometers) deep or more(非限制性定语从句？反正作定语), are drilled into underground reservoirs to tap steam and very hot water that drive turbines linked to electricity generators(定语从句). The first geothermally generated electricity was produced in Larderello, Italy, in 1904.
There are three types of geothermal power plants: dry steam, flash, and binary (二元的). Dry steam, the oldest geothermal technology(同位语), takes steam out of fractures in the ground and uses it to directly drive a turbine. Flash plants pull deep, high-pressure hot water into cooler, low-pressure water. The steam that results from this process is used to drive the turbine. In binary plants, the hot water is passed by a secondary fluid with a much lower boiling point than water. This causes the secondary fluid to turn to vapor, which then drives a turbine. Most geothermal power plants in the future will be binary plants.
There are many advantages of geothermal energy. It can be extracted without burning a fossil fuel such as coal gas, or oil. Geothermal fields produce only about one-sixth of the carbon dioxide that a relatively clean natural-gas-fueled power plant produces. Unlike solar and wind energy, geothermal energy is always available, 365 days a year. It’s also relatively inexpensive: saving from direct use can be as much as 80 percent over fossil fuels.
But it has some environmental problems. The main concern is the release of hydrogen sulfide (硫化氢), a gas that smells like rotten eggs at low concentrations. Another concern is the disposal of some geothermal fluids, which may contain low levels of toxic materials(非限制性定语从句). Although geothermal sites are capable of providing heat for many decades, eventually specific locations may cool down.
What explains the dramatic recovery and the rising prices in London in particular? - 2017.11.23
When Britain’s long-bubbly housing market slumped in 2008(时间状语从句), few expected a quick rebound. After the last big house-price crash, in 1989, it took almost a decade for prices to recover to their previous heights, even in nominal terms. Yet(然而) this time(这一次) around they have managed it in about half that time(这个句型我不会). In London, prices are already 25% above their 2008 peak, and are now rising at a rate of 18% a year. The average home in the capital costs more than ￡450 000； in some neighborhoods the average house price is more than ten times the average income. What explains this dramatic recovery, and the rising prices in London in particular?
One cause is financial. Price entered a downward spiral during the recession, as banks gave out less generous mortgages(原因状语从句), which meant that only people with substantial cash deposits could get together the money to buy a house(宾语从句).(非限制性定语从句) Since then, thanks to government subsidies(原因状语从句), 95% loan-to-value mortgages (for which the buyer needs a deposit worth only 5% the value of the house(定语从句)) have reappeared. The number of new mortgages approved for house purchases has increased by about one-half in the past year. Meanwhile, thanks to the policies of the Bank of England(原因状语从句), interest rates are low, meaning people can afford to borrow large amounts(结果状语从句？). Yet cheap money is back all over Britain, and prices have not risen equally everwhere. In London and the more affluent parts of the southeast, they are soaring. But in most of the north of England, they are still substantially below 2008 levels.
The London phenomenon is due to a restriction of supply at a time of soaring demand. In the north of England, slow economic growth, low population growth and plenty of new construction mean that there are lots of homes and not all that much demand for them(宾语从句). In London and the southeast, by contrast, tight planning rules and a shortage of land mean that relatively little new housing is being built(宾语又从句), even as a booming economy and spectacular population growth create lotf of demand for it(让步状语从句). Tight “green belts”——areas in which most new construction is banned(定语从句)——surround London and small, pretty cities such as Oxford and Cabridge, making it difficult to build new suburbs(结果状语从句). Tall apartment blocks are constricted by laws protecting the skyline, and by the difficulty and expense of acquiring land and demolishing (拆毁，毁掉) existing homes.
That suggests that unless there is more construction(条件状语从句), prices in London and the south east will continue to climb, at least as long as interest rates stay low, the population keeps growing and there isn’t another financial crisis(三个并列的条件状语从句…厉害了，不，加上前面一个四个…).
The climate change is making punguins’ life worse - 2017.11.21
Life has never been easy for just-hatched Magellanic penguins, but climate change is making it worse, according to a decades-long study of the largest breeding colony of the birds. The chicks are already vulnerable to predation and starvation. Now, the study at Punta Tombo, Argentina, found that intense storms and warmer temperatures are increasingly taking a toll.(宾语从句)
Climate scientists say more extreme weather, including wetter storms and more prolonged periods of heat and cold, is one impact of a climate that is changing(定语从句) because of emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.(原因状语从句) While monitoring the penguin colony(让步状语从句), Dr. Boersma, a University of Washington scientist(同位语), and her colleagues also documented regional temperature changes and increases in the number of days with heavy rains. The study is one of the first to show a direct impact of climate change on seabirds. Most studies have looked at how warming temperatures affect animals indirectly(宾语从句), by altering predation patterns or food supplies(方式状语从句？). William J. Sydeman, senior scientist at the Farallon Institute in California(同位语), who was not involved in the research(非限制性定语从句), said the study linked changes in climate, which occur on a scale of decades(非限制性定语从句), to the daily scale of life in the colony.
The colony at Punta Tombo, in a temperate and relatively dry region about midway along Argentina’s coast(地点状语), is home to about 200,000 breeding pairs of the penguins, which are about 15 inches tall(非限制性定语从句). Dr. Boersma has been working there since 1982, with long-term support from the Wildlife Conservation Society. For this study, the reserachers compiled data on nearly 3500 chicks that they meticulously tracked by checking nests once or twice a day throughout the six-month breeding season(定语从句), which starts in September(非限制性定语从句).
Typically, nearly two-thirds of hatchlings at the colony do not survive to leave the nest. In most years, the researchers found, starvation and predation——by other seabirds and small——caused the majority of the deaths. But they found that heavy storms killed birds in 13 of the 28 years of the study(宾语从句). In two years, storms were responsible for most of the deaths. Extreme heat killed more hatchlings as well, although the effects was less pronounced.(让步状语从句) Like other young birds, penguin hatchlings can die from hypothermia (低温过低) if their down gets wet(条件状语从句). The birds are most vulnerable from about a week after hatchling——before that they are largely protected by a parent——to about six weeks, when they develop waterproof plumage (全身羽毛). Since 1987, the number of breeding pairs in the colony has declined 24 pecent, Dr. Boersma said. It is difficult to calculate how much of that decline can be attributed to storms and rain(宾语从句), she said. Dr. Boersma said the increasing frequency of heavy storms was most likely directly affecting other seabird species that were breeding in the region(定语从句).
The Thync package which can alter user’s moods - 2017.11.19
Feeling stressed out or in need of a boost? Soon you may be able to turn to your smartphone for help. American tech company Thync this week released a smartphone-controlled headset which can alter users’ moods by stimulating nerve endings on the skin(定语从句).
The Thync package, which costs $299 and is currently only available in the US(非限制性定语从句), consists of a small, triangluar shaped headset, five adhesive strips which stick(粘贴) it to the user’s foreheads, and a downloadable iPhone app, which controls the headset via bluetooth radio(非限制性定语从句).(定语从句) Designers say (that) the headset uses a process called “neurosignalling”, which stimulates the skin on the forehead and neck using tiny pulses of electricity(非限制性从句), arousing nerve endings which then supposedly activate a change in users’s brain activity and overall mood, thus creating a state of calm or a boost of energy. The time this takes depends on the user’s preference as they can choose the intensity of their session.(方式状语从句) Dr.Jamie Tyler, founder and chief scientific officer at Thync(同位语), told Newsweek (that) “Thync combines what we know about modern neuroscience(神经学) and how it works with modern consumer technology to help people to relax or give them a little boost of motivation(并列宾语从句).“ Tyler says Thync is aimed at “healthy adults who want a different tool to gain more energy or relaxation in their day(定语从句)“.
However, Emiliana Simon-Thomas, science director of Greater Good Science Centre at the University of California at Berkeley has raised questions about the safety of the device, emphasising the possibility of negative, longterm side effects. “At what point does it become something that your nervous system adapts to? We don’t know the longitudinal impact,” she told Buzzfeed, adding that she would not use the device. Thync’s website says (that) the device is a “low-risk transdermal (穿过皮肤的) neurostimulation device“, claiming it has been tested in a number of single-blind and double-blind placebo-controlled studies on over 3500 users without “significant” side effects. Tyler adds that the techonology behind Thync “is very similar to the technology used to treat pain via electrical muscle stimulation”.(宾语从句) Early reviews have been mixed. TechCrunch’s Kyle Russell noted experiencing tingling sensations around his temples and forehead, and found the device so effective when testing it out(时间状语从句), that he experienced difficulty constructing a coherent sentence when trying to speak to onlooking Thync staff(时间状语从句). Buzzfeed’s reviewer claimed (that) the device caused her forehead to throb and ache when cranked up to 50%.
For now, the product is only available in two modes: calming and energizing. However Thync designers are working on ther, newer technoloies which will be ready for release next year and while the headset is currently only available in the US currently(让步状语从句), Tyler confirmed that expanding the Thync brand to Europe is on the company’s radar.(宾语从句)
The dramatic effect what data caps result in on consumer behavior - 2017.11.17
Most of us are acutely aware of how much mobile data we consume on our phones and tablets(药片). That’s because Americans are largely bound to cellular plans that come with data caps(定语从句)——monthly limits on usage that apply steep overage fees or other penalities for going over(定语从句).(表语从句) It turns out(证明，结果是…) that data caps are incredibly effective at getting people to use less data, and not merely on cellphone plans(宾语从句). A new paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research(作定语) takes actual, real-world data on data usage from a North American Internet provider and shows that even for people on fixed, wired home broadband, data caps have a dramatic effect on consumer behavior(宾语从句).
The study looks at tens of thousands of subscribers belonging to an unnamed provider of high-speed broadband(作定语). And one key finding is that the closer people get to hitting their data caps, the more they make a conscious decison to use less Internet(比较状语从句?).(表语从句) “We provide a lot of evidence that people are very, very good at managing their usage over the course of a month(定语从句),” said Jonathan Williams, a co-author of the paper(同位语). “We see people pull back(撤离) substantially(大量的) when the possibility of overages comes up(时间状语从句).”
This might sound obvious in the context of your cellular bill; you probably know how much data you pay for by heart(宾语从句). But Williams was studying the effect of data caps on residential Internet. The really interesting difference has to do with folks on data-capped or usage-based plans versus(与…相对) those on “unlimited” plans with no data caps. At the time the data was collected, in 2012, this particular provider offered higher speeds to those on capped plans, perhaps as incentive(刺激性的) to get unlimited data users to switch(原因状语从句？哇，provider好有心机！). This gets us to the heart of the economics of data caps.
According to the study, people who were on unlimited data plans(定语从句) effectively paid less per gigabyte of data compared to their counterparts on metered plans(作原因状语?). From the Internet provider’s perspective, that’s lost revenue, which explains why providers have a strong incentive to nudge (劝说) people to adopt metered plans(非限制性定语从句). Metered plans have a higher payoff for the company.
But do metered plans pay off for the consumer? According to Williams’ economic modeling, the subscribers in his dataset were far, far more willing to pay for an extra bit of speed. If you think about prices as a reflection of demand, the average user was willing to pay on average $2 for an extra 1 Mibps of speed. By contrast, people were willing to pay, on average, only $0.36 for an extra GB of data. In other words, people valued the extra speed they got from the metered plans far more than they valued the extra data they got on unlimited data plans.
The factors what could influnce the upward mobility - 2017.11.16
Economic inequality is the “defining challenge of our time,” President Barack Obama declared in a speech last month to the Centre for American Progress. Inequality is dangerous, he argued (插入语), not merely because it doesn’t look good to have large gap between the rich and the poor, but because inequality itself destroys upward mobility, making it harder for the poor to escape from poverty.(这个原因状语从句很厉害了) “Increased inequality and decreasing mobility pose a fundamental threat to the American Dream,” he said.
Obama is only the most prominent public figure to declare inequality Public Enemy No.1 and the greatest threat to reducing poverty in America（不定式作定语. A number of prominent economists have also argued that it’s harder for the poor to climb the economic ladder today（宾语从句） beacuse the rungs (横档) in that ladder have grown farther apart (原因状语从句).
For all the new attention devoted to the 1 percent(作定语), a new dataset from the Equality of Opportunity Project at Harvard and Berkeley suggests that, if we care about upward mobility overall (条件状语从句), we’re vastly exaggerating the dangers of the rich-poor gap. (宾语从句) Inequality itself is not a particular strong predictor of economic mobility, as sociologist Scott Winship noted in a recent article based on his analysis of this data (方式状语从句).
So what factor, at the community level, do predict if poor children will move up the economic ladder as adult? (宾语从句) What explains, for instance, why the Salt Lake City metro area is one of the 100 largest metropolitan areas most likely to lift the fortunes of the poor and the Atlanta metro area is one of least likely?
Harvard economist Raj Chetty has pointed to economic and racial segregation, community denisty, the size of a community’s middle class, the quality of schools, community religiosity, and family structure,which he calls the “single strongest correlate of upward mobility (非限制性定定语从句).” Chetty finds that communities like Salt Lake City, with high levels of two-parent families and religiosity, are much more likely to see poor children get ahead than communities like Atlanta,~ with high levels of racial and economic segregation.
Chetty has not yet issued a comprehensive analysis of the relative predictive power of each of these factors. Based on my analyses of the data, of the factors that Chetty has hightlighted, the following three seenm to be most predictive of upward mobility in a given community:
1:Per-capita (人均) income growth
2:Prevalence of single mothers (where correlation is strong, but negative)
3:Per-capita local government Spending
In other words, communities with high levels of per-capita income growth, high percentages of two-parent families, and high local government spending——which may stand for good schools——are the most likely to help poor children relive Horatio Alger’s rags-toriches story.
The influnce and potential problem of new guidelines being developed - 2017.11.15
Saying (that) they can no longer ignore the rising prices of health care(宾语从句)(), some of the most influential medical groups in the nation are recommending that doctors weigh the costs, not just the effectiveness of treatments, as they make decisions about patient care（宾语从句）.
The shift, little noticed(表被动) outside the medical establishment but already controversial inside it, suggests that doctors are starting to redefine their roles（宾语从句）, from being concerned exclusively about individual patients to exerting influence on (how healthcare dollars are spent(宾语从句)).
In practical terms, the new guidelines being developed could result in doctors choosing one drug over another for cost reasons or even deciding that a particular treatment——at the end of life, for example——is too expensive. In the extreme, some critics have said that making treatment decisions based on cost is a form of rationing.
Traditionally, guidelines have heavily influenced the practive of medicine, and the latest ones are expected to make doctors more conscious of the economic consequences of their decisions, even though there’s no obligation to follow them（让步状语从句）. Medical society guidelines are also used by insurance companies to help determine reimbursement（报销）policies.
Some doctors see a potential conflict in trying to be both providers of patient care and financial overseers.
“There should be forces in society who should be concerned about the budget（定语从句）, but they shouldn’t be functioning simultaneously as doctors,” said Dr. Martin Samuels at a Boston hospital. He said (that) doctors risked losing the trust of patients if they told patients(宾语从句), “I’m not going to do what I think is best for you(宾语从句) because I think it’s bad for the healthcare budget in Massachusetts(原因状语从句).“
Doctors can face some grim trade-offs. Studies have shown, for example, that two drugs are about equally effective in treating macular degeneration, and eye disease. But one costs $50 a dose and the other close to $2000. Medicare could save hundreds of millions of dollars a year if everyone used the cheaper drug, Avastin, instead of the costlier one, Lucentis(条件状语从句).
But the Food and Drug Administration has not approved Avastin for use in the eye, and using it rather than the alternative, Lucentis, might carry an additional, although slight, safety risk. Should doctors consider Medicare’s budget in deciding what to use?
“I think ethically（在道德层面上）(that) we are just worried about the patient in front of us and not trying to save money for the insurance industry or society as a whole(宾语从句),” said Dr. Donald Jensen.
Still, some analysts say that there’s a role for doctors to play in cost analysis because not many others are doing so(原因状语从句)(宾语从句). “In some ways,” said Dr. Daniel Sulmasy, “it represents a failure of wider society to take up the issue.”
Protecting the union demand sacrifices those students - 2017.11.14
America’s education system has become less a ladder of opportunity than a structure to transmit inequality from one generation to the next.(美国的教育体制与其说是获得机遇的阶梯，不如说是将不平等代代相传的体系)
That’s why school reform is so critical(宾语从句). This is an issue of equality, opportunity and national conscience. It’s not just about education, but about poverty and justice(不仅关乎教育，还与贫穷和公正相关).
It’s true that the main reason inner-city schools do poorly(表现不佳) isn’t teachers’ unions, but poverty（主语从句）. Southern states without strong teachers’ unions have schools at least as awful as those in union states. Some Chicago teachers seem to think that they shouldn’t be held accountable until poverty is solved(时间状语从句)(宾语从句). There’re steps (what) we can take(定语从句) that would make some difference, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel is trying some of them——yet the union is resisting.
I’d be sympathetic if the union focused solely on higher compensation.(虚拟语气) Teachers need to be much better paid to attract the best college graduates to the nation’s worst schools. But, instead, the Chicago union seems to be using its political capital primarily to protect weak performers.
There’s solid evidence that there are huge differences in the effectiveness of teachers(定语从句). The gold standard study by Harvard and Columbia University scholars found that even in high-poverty schools, teachers consistently had a huge positive or negative impact(宾语从句).
Get a bottom 1% teacher, and the effect is the same as if a child misses 40% of the school year(方式状语从句). Get a teacher from the top 20%, and it’s as if a child has gone to school for an extra month or two(表语从句).
The study found that strong teachers in the fourth throught eighth grades raised the skills of their students in ways ``that would last for decades(定语从句).~~(宾语从句) Just having a strong teacher for one elementary year left pupils a bit less likely to become mothers as teenagers, a bit more likely to go to college and earning more money at age 28.
How does one figure out who is a weak teacher（宾语从句）? Yes, that’s a challenge. But researchers are improving systems to measure a teacher’s performance throughout the year, and, with three years of data, it’s usually possible to tell which teachers are failing.
Unfortunately, the union in Chicago is insisting that teachers who are laid off——often for being ineffective(插入语)——(定语从句) should get priority in new hiring. That’s an insult to students.
Teaching is so important that it should be like other profession, with high pay and good working conditions but few job protections for bottom performers(虚拟语气).
This isn’t a battle between garment workers and greedy bosses. The central figures in the Chicago schools strike are neighter strikers nor managers but 350,000 children. Protecting the union demand sacrifices those students, in effect turing a blind eye to the injustice in the education system.
The revisions trying to cut through the confusion of green marketing - 2017.11.13
Manufacturers products that claim to be environmentally friendly（定语从句） will face tighter rules on how they are advertised to consumers under changes（宾语从句） proposed by the Federal Trade Commission.
The commission’s revised “Green Guildes” warn marketers against using labels that make broad claims, like “eco-friendly”. Marketers must qualify their claims on the product packaging and limit them to a specific benefit, such as how much of the product is recycled.
“This is really about trying to cut throught the confusion that consumers have（定语从句） when they are buying a product(时间状语从句) and that businesses have（定语从句） when they are selling a product（时间状语从句）,” said Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the commission.
The revisions come at a time when green marketing is on the rise（定语从句）. According to a new study, the number of advertisements with green messages in mainstream magazines has risen since 1987, and peaked in 2008 at 10.4%. In 2009, the number dropped to 9%.
But while the number of advertisements may have dipped（让步状语从句）, there has been a rapid spread of eco-labeling. There are both good and bad players in the eco-lableing game.
In the last five years or so, there has been an explosion of green claims and environmental claims. It is clear that consumers don’t always know what they are getting（主语从句）.
A handful of lawsuits have been filed in recent years against companies accused of using misleading environmental labels. In 2008 and 2009, class-action lawsuits（集体诉讼）were filed against SC Johnson for using “Greenlist” labels on its cleaning products. The lawsuits said that the label was misleading（宾语从句） (because it gave the impression (that the products had been certified by a third party (when the certification was the company’s own（时间状语从句）)（定语从句）)（原因状语从句）).
“We are very proud of our accomplishments under the Greenlist system and we believe that we will prevail in these cases（宾语从句）,” Christopher Beard, director of public affairs for SC Johnson, said, while acknowledging that “this has been an area that is difficult to navigate.”（让步状语从句）
Companies have also taken it upon themselves to contest each other’s green claims.
David Mallen, associate director of the Council of Better Business Bureau, said (that) in the last two years the organization had seen an increase in the number of claims companies（定语从句） (that) were bringing against each other for false or misleading environmental product claims（定语从句）.
“About once a week, I have a client that will bring up a new certification (that) I’ve never even heard of（定语从句）（定语从句） and I’m in this industry,” said Kevin Wilhelm, chief executive officer of Sustainable Business Consulting. “It’s kind of a Wild West, anybody can claim themselves to be green.” Mr.Wilhelm said the excess of labels made it difficult for businesses and consumers to know which labels they should pay attention to（宾语从句）.
The story of a century of social change - 2017.11.12
These days, nobody needs to cook. Families graze on high-cholesterol take-aways and microwaved ready-meals. Cooking is an occasional hobby and a vehicle for celebrity chefs(知名厨师). Which makes it odd that the kitchen has become the heart of the modern house: what the great hall was to the medieval castle. the kitchen is to the 21st-century home.(厨房在21世纪家居中的地位，犹如大厅在中世纪城堡中的地位。)
The money (that) spent on kitchens(定语从句) has risen with their status. In America the kitchen market is now worth $170 billion, five times the country’s film industry. In the year to August 2007, IKEA, a Swedish furniture chain(同位语), sold over one million kitchens worldwide. The average budget for a “major” kitchen overhaul in 2006, calculates Remodeling magazine, was a staggering $54,000; even a “minor” improvement cost on average $18,000.
Exclusivity, more familiar in the world of high fashion, has reached the kitchen: Robinson & Cornish, a British manufacturer of custom-made kitchens, offers a Georgian-style one which would cost ￡145,000 - 155,000——excluding building, plumbing and electrical work.(定语从句) Its big selling point is that nobody else will have it:”You won’t see this kitchen anywhere else in the world.”(宾语从句)
The elevation of the room (that once belonged only to the servants) to (that of design show case for the modern family) tells the story of a century of social change. Right into the early 20th century, kitchens were smoky, noisy places, generally located underground, or to the back of the house, and as far from living space as possible(地点状语从句?). That was as it should be: kitchens were for servants, and the aspiring middle classes wanted nothing to do with them.
But as the working classes prospered and the servant shortage(短缺) set in, housekeeping became a matter of interest to the educated classes. One of the pioneers of a radical(激进的) new way of thinking about the kitchen was Catharine Esther Beecher, sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe(同位语). In American Woman’s Home, published in 1869, the Beecher sisters recommended a scientific approach to household management, designed to enhance the efficiency of a woman’s work and promote order.
Many contemporary(同时代的) ideas about kitchen design can be traced back to another American, Christine Frederick, who set about enhancing the efficiency of the housewife(非限制性定语从句). Her 1919 work, Household Engineering: Scientific Management in the Home, was based on detailed observation of a housewife’s daily routine. She borrowed the principle of efficiency on the factory floor and applied it to domestic tasks on the kitchen floor.
Frederick’s central idea, that “stove, sink and kitchen table must be placed in such a relation (that useless steps are avoided entirely(定语从句))(定语从句)“, inspired the first fully fitted kitchen, designed in the 1920s by Margarete Schutter-Lihosky. It was a modernist triumph, and many elements remain central features of today’s kitchen.
Using raw sewage to irrigate may not be a bad thing - 2017.11.11
Facing water shortages and escalating fertilizer costs,(原因状语从句?妈的，星火英语那本大学英语语法感觉不太全啊！剁手买书去！) farmers in developing countries are using raw sewage（下水道污水）to irrigate and fertilize nearly 49 million acres of cropland, according to a new report——and it may not be a bad thing.
While the practice carries serious health risks for many（让步状语从句）, those dangers are outweighted by the social and economic gains for poor urban farmers and consumers who need affordable food（定语从句）.
“There is a large potential for wastewater agriculture to both help and hurt great numbers of urban consumers,” said Liqa Raschid-Sally, who led the study（非限制性定语从句）.
The report focused on poor urban areas, where farms in or near cities supply relatively inexpensive food（非限制性定语从句）. Most of these operations draw irrigation water from local rivers or lakes. Unlike developed cities, however, these areas lack advanced water-treatment facilities, and rivers effectively become sewers（下水道）.
When this water is used for agricultural irrigation（时间状语从句）, farmers risk absorbing disease-causing bacteria, as do consumers（倒装句） who eat the produce raw and unwashed（定语从句）. Nearly 2.2 million people die each year beacuse of diarrhea-related（与腹泻相关的）diseases, according to WHO statistics. More than 80% of those cases can be attributed to contact with contaminated water and a lack of proper sanitation. But Pay Drechsel, an environmental scientist（同位语）, argues that the social and economic benefits of using untreated human waste to grow food outweight the health risks.
Those dangers can be addressed with（被…解决） farmer and consumer education, he said, while the free water and nutrients from human waste can help urban farmers in devoloping countries to escape poverty（让步状语从句）.
Agriculture is a water-intensive business, accounting for nearly 70% of global fresh water consumption.
In poor, dry regions, untreated wastewater is the only viable irrigation source to keep farmers in business（非谓语动词表目的）. In some cases, water is so scarce that farmers break open sewage pipes transporting waste to local rivers（目的状语从句）.
Irrigation is the primary agricultural use of human waste in the developing world. But frequently untreated human waste harvested from lavatories is delivered to farms and spread as fertilizer.
In most cases, the human waste is used on grain crops, which are eventually cooked（非限制性定语从句）, minimizing the risk of transmitting water-borne diseases（目的状语从句？修饰前面的cooked）. With fertilizer prices jumping nearly 50% per metric ton over the last year in some places, human waste is an attractive, and often necessary, alternative.
In cases where sewage mud is used, expensive chemical fertilizer use can be avoided. The mud contains the same critical nutrients.
“Overly strict standards often fail,” James Bartram, a WHO water-health expert, said.”We need to accept that fact across much of the planet, so waste with little or no treatment will be used in agriculture for good reason.”
Structural unemployment is a excuse! - 2017.11.10
What can be done about mass unemployment? All the wise heads agree: there’re no quick or easy answers. There’s work to be done, but workers aren’t ready to do it——they’re in the wrong places, or they have the wrong skills. Our problems are “structural”, and will take many years to solve.
But don’t bother asking for evidence that justifies this bleak view. There isn’t any. On the contrary, all the facts suggest that high unemployment in America is the result of inadequate demand(宾语从句，非虚拟语气). Saying that there’re no easy answers sounds wise, but it’s actually foolish: our unemployment crisis could be cured very quickly if we had the intellectual clarity and political will to act. In other words, structural unemployment is a fake problem, which mainly serves as an excuse for not pursuing real solutions(非限制性定语从句).
The fact is job openings have plunged in every major sector, while the number of workers forced into part-time employment in almost all industries has soared(让步状语从句). Unemployment has surged in every major occupational category. Only three states, with a combined population not much larger than that of Brooklyn, have unemplyment rates below 5%. So the evidence contradicts the claim that we’re mainly suffering from structural unemployment(定语从句). Why, then, has this claim become so popular?
Part of the answer is (that this is (what always happens during periods of high unemployment(宾语从句))(表语从句))——int part because experts and analysts believe that declaring the problem deeply rooted, with no easy answers, makes them sound serious(宾语从句).
I’ve been looking at what self-proclaimed experts were saying about unemployment during the Great Depression(宾语从句，what既做at的宾语又做saying的宾语); it was almost identical to what Very Serious People are saying now(宾语从句，同上). Unemployment cannot be brought down rapidly, declared one 1935 analysis, because the workforce is “unadaptable and untrained. It cannot respond to the opportunities which industry may offer.” A few years later, a large defense buildup finally provided a fiscal stimulus adequate to the economy’s needs——and suddenly industry was eager to employ those “unadaptable and untrained” workers.
But now, as then, powerful forces are ideologically opposed to the whole idea of government action on a sufficient scale to jump-start the economy. And that, fundamentally, is why claims that we face huge structural problems have been multiplying(宾语从句); they offer a reason to do nothing about the mass unemployment that is crippling our economy and our society(定语从句).
So what you need to know(主语从句) is that there’s no evidence whatsoever to back these claims(宾语从句or表语从句？). We aren’t suffering from a shortage of needed skills; we’re suffering from a lack of policy resolve. As I said, structural unemployment isn’t a real problem, it’s an excuse——a reason not to act on America’s problems at a time (that) action is desperately needed(定语从句).
Interactive Television Advertising - 2017.11.09
Interactive television advertising, which allows viewers to use their remote controls to click on advertisements(非限制性定语从句), has been pushed for years. Nearly a decade ago it was predicted that viewers of “Friends”(老友记), a popular situation comedy(同位语), would soon be able to purchase a sweater like Jennifer Aniston’s with a few taps on their remote control. “It’s been the year of interactive television advertising for the last ten or twelve years”, says Colin Dixon of a digital-media consultancy.
So the news that Cablevision, ~an American cable company(同位语), ~was rolling out interactive advertisements to all its customers on October 6th)(定语从句)~ was greeted with some skepticism. During commercials, an overlay will appear at the bottom of the screen, ~prompting viewers to press a button to request a free sample or order a catalogue.(同位语从句？)~ Cablevision hopes to allow customers to buy things with their remote controls early next year.which is cheaper and offers concrete measurements like click-through rates_especially important at a time when marketing budgets are tight(非限制性定语从句).
Television advertising could do with a boost. Spending fell by 10% in the first half of the year. The popularization of digital video recorders has caused advertisers to worry that their commercials will be skipped(宾语从句). Some are turning to the Internet, ~~ With the launch of interactive advertising, “many of the dollars that went to the Internet will come back to the TV”, says David Kline of Cablevision. Or so the industry hopes.that 30-second spots do not(定语从句)
In theory, interactive advertising can engage viewers in a way ~. Unilever recently ran an interactive campaign for its Axe deodorant(除臭剂), ~which kept viewers engaged for more than three minutes on average.~(that) spent on interactive advertising on television(定语从句)
The amount ~~ is still small. Magna, ~an advertising agency(同位语), reckons it will be worth about $138 million this year. That falls far short of the billions of dollars ~(that 指代前面整个句子) people once expected it to generate(定语从句). But DirecTV, Comcast and Time Warner Cable have all invested in it. A new effort ~led by Canoe Ventures, a coalition of leading cable providers,~ aims to make Interactive advertising available across America later this year. BrightLine iTV, ~which designs and sells interactive ads(非限制性定语从句), says interest has surged: it expects (that) its revenues almost to triple this year. BSkyB, Britain’s biggest satellite-television service, already provides 9 million customers with interactive ads.watching television, a “lean back” medium,~~ crave interaction(定语从句).** Click-through rates have been high so far (around 3-4%, compared with less than 0.3% online), but that may be a result of the novelty. Interactive ads and viewers might not go well together.
Yet there are doubts **whether people ~