雅思阅读资料汇总
为了帮助大家在备考雅思阅读的时候能够多多练习一些材料,下面小编给大家带来雅思阅读资料汇总。
雅思阅读材料大集合:美国人整形为了自拍?
Plastic surgeons say they're seeing more patients who want facial surgery, and they attribute the rise to social media and the growing "selfie" trend.
据CNET报道,整形外科医务人员表示现在越来越多的病人想要进行面部整形,他们认为之所以会出现这种现象,是因为受到当下社交媒体和愈演愈烈的全民自拍风潮的影响。
In response to a survey conducted by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, one in three plastic surgeons reported seeing an increase in requests for facial procedures by patients who wanted to look better online. The doctors reported that between 2012 and 2013, they saw a 10 percent rise in nose jobs, a 7 percent rise in hair transplants, and a 6 percent rise in eyelid surgery.
据美国科学院外科整形和再造外科学会发表的报道:接受采访的整形外科医院中,有三分之一的整形医师认为,越来越多的人想要进行整形手术,因为这些人都想在网络上看起来更美丽更英俊。医生表示,2012至2013年间,隆鼻顾客多出10%,头发移植多出7%,双眼皮手术多出6%。
"Social platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and the iPhone app Selfie.im, which are solely image based, force patients to hold a microscope up to their own image and often look at it with a more self-critical eye than ever before," Dr. Edward Farrior, president of the academy, said in a news release. "These images are often the first impressions young people put out there to prospective friends, romantic interests, and employers, and our patients want to put their best face forward."
“Instagram, Snapchat,还有iPhone应用Selfie.im等社交平台,均为图片社交,人们被迫仔细端摩自己的照片,用前所未有的自我批判视角对自己进行审视,”该学会主席爱德华?法里奥博士说道。“年轻人在网络上发布这些照片是为了结识新朋友,寻找艳遇,同事也能看到,所以前来整容的顾客都希望自己可以更上相。”
In part because of social media, surgeons reported that plastic-surgery patients are getting younger.
据报道,整形外科手术顾客呈低龄化趋势,而这或多或少和社交媒体都有些关系。
The annual poll queries a select group of the organization's 2,700 members to get a sense of the latest trends in facial plastic surgery. This year, 58 percent of the doctors surveyed said they saw an increase in patients under 30 coming in for plastic surgery and injections in the last year.
这项年度调查询问了这个学会的2700名成员,询问他们对于近来面部整容手术风潮的相关看法。今年有58%的医生表示,去年一年,越来越多的三十岁以下年轻女性前来接受面部整形手术和面部注射整容。
The study found that bullying is also a factor in young people deciding to get surgery, "but most surgeons surveyed report children and teens are undergoing plastic surgery as a result of being bullied (69 percent) rather than to prevent being bullied (31 percent)."
研究发现,受到欺侮也是年轻人决定整容的一个原因,“医患调查结果表明:青少年儿童整容病例中,69%是受到欺凌的结果,预防欺凌占31%。”
Women are still plastic surgery's primary customers, accounting for 81 percent of all procedures and injections, but men are increasingly becoming more interested in plastic surgery. Whereas women more often ask for facelifts and eye lifts, men are more interested in keeping their hair and combating wrinkles.
当今,女性仍为整容手术的主要消费群体,在所有疗程、注射等整容项目中占有81%,但男性对整容也越发感兴趣了。女性整容项目通常为拉皮,割双眼皮,而男性整容项目通常是生发和抗皱。
Meanwhile, in the under-35 category, the nose job remained the most popular elective surgical procedure for both genders, accounting for 90 percent of procedures in women and 86 percent in men.
与此同时,35岁以下的整容者不论男女都很中意美鼻,此项目占女性整容病例的90%,男性整容病例的86%。
Have your selfies ever made you feel self-conscious about the way you look?
你的自拍照是否曾经也让你对自己的容貌有所思考呢?
雅思阅读材料大集合:EQ高也是一把双刃剑
如同其他能力一样,情商也是一把双刃剑,既能作为成功的垫脚石,又能成为危害他人和社会的利器。下面就和我们一同来揭开高情商的阴暗面。
Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is the ability to read and understand emotions in ourselves and others. It is said that emotional intelligence accounts for 80 percent of one’s success.
情商也称EQ,是一种读懂自身和他人情绪的能力。据说一个人的成功80%取决于情商的高低。
That’s almost certainly an exaggeration. But ever since the 1995 publication of US psychologist and science writer Daniel Goleman’s best-seller, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, EQ has been seen by leaders and educators as the solution to many social problems. In some Western countries such as the US, emotional intelligence is now taught widely in secondary, business and medical schools.
这一说法虽然略显夸张。但是自从1995年美国心理学家兼科学作家丹尼尔?戈尔曼的畅销书《情商:它为什么比智商更重要》出版以来,很多领导者和教育家都将情商视为解决诸多社会问题的关键。如今,在美国等西方国家,在中学、商学院和医学院中情商教学随处可见。
Anti-social behavior
反社会行为
EQ is important. But our enthusiasm for it has obscured a dark side, says a recent article in The Atlantic.
美国《大西洋月刊》近日刊登文章称,情商固然重要,但是人们的趋之若鹜却掩盖了它的黑暗面。
Weapon of mass emotion
操纵大众情绪的武器
Recent research and studies show that as people improve their emotional skills, they become better at manipulating others. When someone knows what others are feeling, they can tug at their heartstrings and motivate them to act against their own best interests.
最新研究表明,随着人们情商能力的提高,他们会更擅长操纵他人。当一个人能了解别人的感受时,他就可以撩动他们的心弦,促使他们做出违背自身最大利益的行为。
Does this remind you of those “managers” at pyramid scheme companies? Hundreds of thousands of otherwise cautious and rational people have been brainwashed by their impassioned speeches and become bankrupt as a result.
这是否会令你联想到那些非法传销公司的“经理”们?无数处事理智而谨慎的人被他们激情澎湃的演讲洗脑,最后却落得个倾家荡产的下场。
Social scientists have begun to document this dark side of emotional intelligence. A study by the University of Cambridge found that when a leader gave an inspiring speech filled with emotion, the audience was less likely to scrutinize the message and remembered less of the content.
社会科学家已经开始研究情商的黑暗面。剑桥大学一项研究发现,当一名领导人充满激情地演讲时,听众不会太注意其传达的信息,并且记住的内容也很少。
Researchers call this the “awestruck effect”, but it may just as easily be described as the dumbstruck effect, says The Atlantic article. Leaders who master emotions can rob us of our capacity to reason. If they have self-serving motives, or their values are out of step with our own, emotional intelligence becomes a weapon of manipulation and the results can be devastating.
据《大西洋月刊》报道,研究人员将其称为“敬畏效应”,但它也很容易被描述成“惊吓效应”。善于掌控情绪的领导者会让我们丧失辨别是非的能力。当他们产生谋私利的动机,或者他们的价值观与我们的不合拍时,情商就会变成操控他人情绪的武器,其后果不堪设想。
Hidden agenda
隐藏的动机
This is consistent with another recent study from Kyoto University. According to The Huffington Post, the study shows that “people with high interpersonal EQ influence others’ emotions based on their own goals”.
该观点与日本京都大学的一项研究成果不谋而合。据《赫芬顿邮报》报道,该研究表明:“高情商者会根据自己的目标去干扰他人情绪”。
A research team led by University College London professor Martin Kilduff shed more light on this dark side of emotional intelligence. According to them, emotional intelligence helps people disguise one set of emotions while expressing another for personal gain. Emotionally intelligent people “intentionally shape their emotions to fabricate favorable impressions of themselves”, Kilduff’s team writes in the journal Research in Organizational Behavior. “The strategic disguise of one’s own emotions and the manipulation of others’ emotions for strategic ends are behaviors evident not only on Shakespeare’s stage but also in the offices and corridors where power and influence are traded.”
伦敦大学学院的马丁?吉尔达夫教授带领一支研究小组揭开了情商的黑暗面。该小组称,人们为了谋取私利,会掩饰情绪,当面一套背后一套。情商高的人“会故意给人留下对自己有利的印象”。吉尔达夫率领的研究小组在《组织行为研究》期刊中写道:“采取策略来伪装个人情绪,同时为了达到战略目的而操控他人情绪,这些行为不仅出现在莎翁的戏剧中,在交易权力和影响力的场所也十分常见。”
It seems that to better understand the dark side of EQ, we need look no further than Shakespeare’s Macbeth or its modern adaption on TV: House of Cards.
看来,要想更好地了解情商的黑暗面,我们只需看看莎翁名著《麦克白》或者它的现代电视剧版——《纸牌屋》就够了。
雅思阅读材料大集合:小睡一个小时的作用有多大?
The average Briton gets six-and-a-half hours' sleep a night, according to the Sleep Council. Michael Mosley took part in an unusual experiment to see if this is enough.
It has been known for some time that the amount of sleep people get has, on average, declined over the years.
This has happened for a whole range of reasons, not least because we live in a culture where people are encouraged to think of sleep as a luxury - something you can easily cut back on. After all, that's what caffeine is for - to jolt you back into life. But while the average amount of sleep we are getting has fallen, rates of obesity and diabetes have soared. Could the two be connected?
We wanted to see what the effect would be of increasing average sleep by just one hour. So we asked seven volunteers, who normally sleep anywhere between six and nine hours, to be studied at the University of Surrey's Sleep Research Centre.
The volunteers were randomly allocated to two groups. One group was asked to sleep for six-and-a-half hours a night, the other got seven-and-a-half hours. After a week the researchers took blood tests and the volunteers were asked to switch sleep patterns. The group that had been sleeping six-and-a-half hours got an extra hour, the other group slept an hour less.
While we were waiting to see what effect this would have, I went to the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford to learn more about what actually happens when we sleep.
In the Sleep Centre, they fitted me up with a portable electro-encephalograph, a device that measures brain wave activity. Then, feeling slightly ridiculous, I went home and had my seven-and-a-half hours of sleep.
The following day I went to discuss what had happened inside my head during the night with Dr Katharina Wulff.
The first thing she pointed out was that I had very rapidly fallen into a state of deep sleep. Deep sleep sounds restful, but during it our brains are actually working hard. One of the main things the brain is doing is moving memories from short-term storage into long-term storage, allowing us more short-term memory space for the next day. If you don't get adequate deep sleep then these memories will be lost.
You might think: "I'll cut back during the week and then make up for it at the weekend." Unfortunately it doesn't work like that, because memories need to be consolidated within 24 hours of being formed.
Since deep sleep is so important for consolidating memories it is a good idea if you are revising or perhaps taking an exam to make sure that you're getting a reasonable night's sleep. In one study, people who failed to do so did 40% worse than their contemporaries.
Deep sleep only lasts for a few hours. My electrode results showed that during the night my brain went through multiple phases of another kind of activity, called REM sleep.
"This is the phase when you are usually paralysed - so you can't move," Wulff explained. But the eye muscles are not paralysed, and that's why it's called rapid eye movement sleep."
During REM sleep an extraordinary thing happens. One of the stress-related chemicals in the brain, noradrenalin, is switched off. It's the only time, day or night, this happens. It allows us to remain calm while our brains reprocess all the experiences of the day, helping us come to terms with particularly emotional events.
We get more REM sleep in the last half of the night. Which means that if you are woken unexpectedly, your brain may not have dealt with all your emotions - which could leave you stressed and anxious. Drinking alcohol late at night is not a good idea as it reduces your REM sleep while it's being processed in your body.
Back at the University of Surrey our sleep volunteers had finished their second week of the experiment. What we wanted to see was the effect switching from six-and-a-half hours to seven-and-a-half hours, or vice versa, would have on our volunteers.
Computer tests revealed that most of them struggled with mental agility tasks when they had less sleep, but the most interesting results came from the blood tests that were run.
Dr Simon Archer and his team at Surrey University were particularly interested in looking at the genes that were switched on or off in our volunteers by changes in the amount that we had made them sleep.
"We found that overall there were around 500 genes that were affected," Archer explained. "Some which were going up, and some which were going down."
What they discovered is that when the volunteers cut back from seven-and-a-half to six-and-a-half hours' sleep a night, genes that are associated with processes like inflammation, immune response and response to stress became more active. The team also saw increases in the activity of genes associated with diabetes and risk of cancer. The reverse happened when the volunteers added an hour of sleep.
So the clear message from this experiment was that if you are getting less than seven hours' sleep a night and can alter your sleep habits, even just a little bit, it could make you healthier. "Have a lie-in, it will do you good" - that's the kind of health message that doesn't come along very often.
据英国睡眠委员会(Sleep Council)调查显示,英国人平均每天只睡6.5小时。为了验证这样的睡眠是否足够,迈克尔·莫斯利医生(Michael Mosley)参加了一项不寻常的实验。
近些年来,人们已经认识到了这样的事实:我们的平均睡眠时间正在逐渐减少。
这一现象的原因是多方面的,其中之一便是我们所处的文化让我们觉得睡觉是件奢侈的事情,可以轻而易举地缩减。毕竟,咖啡因的功能就在这儿了:把你唤回清醒的状态。然而,随着睡眠量的不断下降,肥胖和糖尿病的发病率却在大幅升高——二者之间会不会有一定关系呢?
我们想看看把平均睡眠时间增加一小时会有什么效果,于是邀请了7位志愿者参加我们的实验。这7个人平日的睡眠在6—9个小时之间。实验由萨里大学(University of Surrey)的睡眠研究中心负责主持。
我们将志愿者随机分为两组,一组每晚睡6.5小时,另一组睡7.5小时。一周之后研究者对两组人的血液进行检测,并调换两组的睡眠量,原来睡6.5小时的一组多睡一小时,另一组则少睡一小时。
就在我们等待实验结果的过程中,我来到位于牛津的约翰·拉德克里夫医院(John Radcliffe hospital),看看我们睡觉时究竟发生了什么。
在该院的睡眠中心里,工作人员为我戴上一台便携式脑电图仪。就这样,我戴着仪器半觉好笑地回到家,睡了7.5个小时。
第二天,我来到医院,向卡塔琳娜·伍尔夫医生询问了我的情况。
首先,她指出我很快就进入了深睡眠。虽然听上去挺安详,大脑在深睡眠时其实在积极地工作,其中一件重要的事情便是将短期记忆转存到长期记忆中,从而为第二天的短期记忆腾出空间。如果睡得不够,一些短期记忆便会丢失。
你也许会想:“我在工作日里缩减睡眠,到周末再补上不就行了吗?” 遗憾的是,大脑的运行机制并非如此,因为记忆需要在最初形成的24小时内得到强化。
由于深睡眠对于强化记忆十分重要,复习和考试前睡够觉就很有必要。在一项研究中,那些在复习和考试前没能睡够觉的学生比同龄人表现差了40%。
深睡眠只能持续几个小时。我的脑电图显示,大脑在夜里经历了几个称为快速动眼睡眠(REM)的阶段。
“人处于这一阶段时通常是麻痹的,所以动不了。”伍尔夫解释道。但由于这时的眼部肌肉并未麻痹,因此这一阶段的睡眠称作“快速动眼睡眠”。
快速动眼睡眠时,我们的体内会发生一种奇特的变化:脑内的去甲肾上腺素(一种与压力有关的化学物质)会大量消失,使得我们能够在平静中对白天的经历进行再加工,从而更好地应对某些事件对我们造成的情绪影响。然而,无论黑夜还是白天,去甲肾上腺素只有在快速动眼睡眠中才能大量消失。
由于快速动眼睡眠更多地分布于后半夜,如果你在夜里突然醒来,大脑这时很有可能还没完全处理掉你的情绪,从而导致压力感和焦虑的产生。深夜饮酒可不是什么好事情,因为代谢酒精会缩短快速动眼睡眠的时间。
两周后,我们的睡眠志愿者们结束了实验。我们想看看,人在少睡一小时和多睡一小时时会有哪些变化。
计算机测试结果表明,少睡一个小时时,多数人在完成思维敏捷性的任务时显得力不从心。不过更有趣的还是血液的检测结果。
萨里大学的西蒙·阿彻博士和他的团队发现,睡眠时间的变化会影响基因的活跃程度。
“我们发现一共约有500个基因受到影响。”阿彻说。“有些变得更加活跃,有些则相反。”
他们发现,当志愿者的睡眠从7.5小时减少到6.5小时时,体内与炎症、免疫和应对压力相关的基因变得更加活跃,与糖尿病和癌症相关的基因也是如此。而当受试者的睡眠时间增加后,这些基因的活跃程度便减弱了。
因此,实验清楚地表明,对于那些睡不够7个小时的人而言,如果他们能够改变睡眠习惯,哪怕只是做出一点点改变,他们的身体都会变得更健康。“多睡会吧,对你有好处。”遗憾的是,这样的建议我们听到的太少了。
雅思阅读材料大集合:小米公司计划与李嘉诚加强合作
Xiaomi Inc., the startup that has rocked Chinese smartphone market, is looking to leverage the global footprint of Asias richest man, Li Ka-shing, and his telecommunications empire to further expand in overseas markets.
震动了中国智能手机市场的初创企业小米公司(Xiaomi Inc.)正打算利用亚洲首富李嘉诚的全球影响力以及他的电信帝国进一步拓展海外市场。
Xiaomi Global Vice President Hugo Barra, the former Google Inc. official who joined the Chinese company in October, said Xiaomi is looking at further collaboration with Li-controlled Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.'s telecom operations beyond Hong Kong, where it will launch the latest flagship smartphone Mi 3 with Li's mobile carrier 3 Hong Kong on Wednesday.
小米全球副总裁巴拉(Hugo Barra)说,小米计划与李嘉诚控制的和记黄埔有限公司(Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., 0013.HK)旗下的电信业务在香港之外进一步合作。本周三,小米将在香港与李嘉诚的无线运营商3香港(3 Hong Kong)合作发布最新旗舰智能手机小米3。巴拉曾担任谷歌(Google Inc.)安卓业务副总裁,去年10月加入小米公司。
'We would love to partner with Hutch in other markets, for example, Indonesia and Vietnam where Xiaomi plans to roll out products in the coming months,' Barra said at a Tuesday event in Hong Kong. Xiaomi has been expanding into Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong as part of its plans to grow outside of mainland China, where its low-cost but advanced smartphones are gaining popularity.
巴拉周二在香港的一次活动上说,小米希望与和记黄埔在其他市场合作,比如印尼和越南市场,小米打算未来几个月在这些市场推出自己的产品。小米已经在新加坡、台湾和香港扩张,这是该公司在中国内地以外市场实现增长的努力之一。在中国内地,小米公司价格低廉但性能先进的智能手机越来越受欢迎。
Li is often referred to as 'Superman' in Hong Kong because of his business prowess and track record in spotting trends. His business empire, Hutchison Whampoa, stretches from telecommunications to ports and hotels. Hutchison has operations in 52 countries and employs about 270,000 people worldwide. His global telecommunications unit 3 Group serves about 76 million users in markets including Italy, the U.K., Indonesia, Vietnam and Hong Kong. His 3 Group carries Samsung smartphones globally, as well as iPhones from Apple.
在香港,李嘉诚以其商业影响力和对趋势的准确把握而享有“超人”的美誉。他的商业帝国和记黄埔涵盖了电信、码头和酒店等领域。和记黄埔在52个国家拥有业务,在全球有大约27万名雇员。李嘉诚的全球电信部门3集团(3 Group)为意大利、英国、印尼、越南和香港等国家和地区的7,600万名用户提供服务。3集团在全球范围内销售三星(Samsung)的智能手机,也销售苹果(Apple)的iPhone。
Li has also made a number of high-profile investments in technology companies in the past, most notably a $60 million stake in Facebook Inc. in 2007 through Horizons Ventures, his personal technology investment arm. The private investment arm has also invested in music streaming service provider Spotify Ltd., Tel Aviv-based social traffic and navigation company Waze and newsreader app Summly.
过去,李嘉诚也曾对科技公司进行过几次高调投资,其中最引人瞩目的是2007年通过其个人科技企业投资机构维港投资(Horizons Ventures)对Facebook Inc.投资6,000万美元。这一非上市的投资机构还曾投资流媒体音乐服务供应商Spotify Ltd、位于特拉维夫的交通导航软件公司Waze以及新闻阅读应用软件Summly。
Beijing-based Xiaomi has successfully created a big buzz in China by selling high-end phones for prices close to cost. Its latest flagship e Mi 3 phone costs $330, less than half the price of top models from Apple and Samsung Electronics. The closely-held company is well-known in China for releasing its phones for sale online in limited batches.
总部位于北京的小米公司已经通过以接近成本价销售高端手机的方式成功地在中国内地制造了巨大的轰动效应。其最新款的旗舰手机小米3售价330美元,不到苹果和三星电子最高端型号价格的一半。在中国内地,少数人控股的小米公司以在线限量销售的发布方式闻名。
Barra said Xiaomi has been struggling to make enough phones to meet demand and he has met with major supplier Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Terry Gou in Shenzhen to discuss the plan of increasing production lines to address the shortage issues.
巴拉说,小米一直存在供不应求的问题,他已经与主要供应商富士康(Foxconn Technology Group)董事长郭台铭(Terry Gou)在深圳会面,讨论了增加生产线的计划,希望解决货源不足问题。
He said both Foxconn and Taiwan-based Inventec. Corp. are the company's handset contract manufacturers.
他说,富士康和台湾的英业达(Inventec. Corp.)都是小米手机的代工商。
Taiwan-based Foxconn, officially known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. , is also the major assembler of iPhones and iPads.
总部位于台湾的富士康官方名称是鸿海精密工业股份有限公司(Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.),它也是iPhone和iPad的主要组装商。
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