每日新闻阅读

jocelynql

如有可能，请金老师推荐些比较适合我水平的阅读材料。多谢！

lamjin

请教金老师：
我明白通过阅读扩充词汇量是上策，可我苦于基础词汇量偏小，读新闻时有很多不认识的生词。我想通过阅读来扩展词汇量，并提高阅读速度的方案是否可行？如果可行，请问文章生词量的比例是多少对我来说比 ...
jocelynql 发表于 2013-2-11 23:27

                               
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可以每天看报纸如 24 hours 和Metro 这两份的都是免费的， 看自己看兴趣的报道，不会的单词要查和记，记在小本上或贴在这来。最好逐渐看英英解释。 这两份报纸，如果你坚持看，就会发现，那些是常用词了， 因为那些词天天出现。关键要坚持， 每天都看。

lamjin

如有可能，请金老师推荐些比较适合我水平的阅读材料。多谢！
jocelynql 发表于 2013-2-11 23:28

                               
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可以去图书馆， 借这边小学3-4年级的阅读材料看， 里面的生词量应该适合你的水平。如果觉得都会了，在看小学5-6年的阅读。

lamjin

personally, I think
the Chinese New Year  和 the Lunar New Year  分别表示 中国新年和农历新年，都是指春节。
穆子 发表于 2013-2-11 19:39

                               
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另：我觉得两个年没啥区别吧？都是指春节吧？

这边韩国，菲律宾，越南等移民都不赞成叫 Chinese New year,  说应该叫Lunar new year ，因为人家也过春节。 在多元文化中， 这就是区别。

lamjin

如有可能，请金老师推荐些比较适合我水平的阅读材料。多谢！
jocelynql 发表于 2013-2-11 23:28

                               
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测试一段：今天报纸的新闻，感觉生词如何？ 限时2分钟。

Shootout at the Ex

Ontario ’s Special Investigations Unit says the gunfire erupted around 2:30 a.m. in a parking near Muzik Night Club on Saskatchewan Rd., just east of Dufferin St.
“Officers heard gunshots and saw a car leaving the area,” the SIU said in a statement on Sunday. “When the car failed to stop, officers discharged gunshots at the car.”
The vehicle, a dark blue Honda, continued for several hundred metres despite being hit at least five times, according to investigators.

The car exited CNE grounds through the Dufferin Gate, travelled north up Dufferin St., then careened off the road, crashing into a snow bank south of King St. W.
The Honda remained there throughout the day as police and the SIU investigated.
Its driver’s side was riddled with bullet holes — one through the windshield, two piercing the driver’s window and at least two in the rear door. Two people in the Honda suffered serious gunshot wounds and were rushed to St. Mike’s hospital, according to the SIU.
A third occupant, who was uninjured, was taken into custody.
Police weren’t talking because of the SIU’s involvement, so it’s unclear if they laid any charges. The SIU probes any serious injury or death involving police. Two other men were found with gunshot wounds in the parking lot where the melee began. One is in stable condition but the other is fighting for his life.

jocelynql

这段新闻能读懂，但有些单词不认识。有些根据上下文能猜到大概意思。请问金老师，读新闻需要把每个单词意思都弄懂吗？我现在开始试着用朗文的英英词典，觉得英语解释英语很清楚呢。以前都没发现。

jocelynql

Ex就不知道这里指啥，是指“前车”？还是Exit？
CNE grounds不知道具体啥意思，但没影响理解。
careened off the road，careened不认识，但能猜出大概意思。
riddled with bullet holes，riddle不认识，但能猜出大概意思。
occupant，本来不认识，根据词根并通过这篇文章上下文应该能知道啥意思了。
laid any charges，不知道啥意思，虽然单个词都认识。“罚款”？
melee，不认识，能猜到大概意思。

jocelynql

我现在陪我儿子（他上SK）读他带回来的小书，也能认识一些单词。学了20多年英语了，看幼儿园小朋友的书，有时候还需要查字典滴。

lamjin

这段新闻能读懂，但有些单词不认识。有些根据上下文能猜到大概意思。请问金老师，读新闻需要把每个单词意思都弄懂吗？我现在开始试着用朗文的英英词典，觉得英语解释英语很清楚呢。以前都没发现。 ...
jocelynql 发表于 2013-2-13 13:51

                               
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一种方法是猜出的，不影响理解的词， 可以不查。 如果以后日子发现，这个词总出现，那就要查一下了。

如果想更主动的扩大词汇， 可以把不认识的都写下来学习。 不过随着阅读量的扩大， 慢慢就会发现， 哪些词常见的， 哪些词出现的频率高，这些词就要重点学习了。

lamjin

Ex就不知道这里指啥，是指“前车”？还是Exit？
CNE grounds不知道具体啥意思，但没影响理解。
careened off the road，careened不认识，但能猜出大概意思。
riddled with bullet holes，riddle不认识，但能猜出大概意思。
occupant，本来不认识，根据词根并通过这篇文章上下文应该能知道啥意思了。
laid any charges，不知道啥意思，虽然单个词都认识。“罚款”？
melee，不认识，能猜到大概意思。
jocelynql 发表于 2013-2-13 14:04

                               
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the Ex 是指 CNE （Canadian National Exhibition）, 也就是枪击发生的地点。

careen, riddle, melee 出现的频率低一些， 但遇到这种事件，这些词就会被用上。

occupant, lay charges 是很常用的。 lay charges 每天都会在报纸或新闻的听到的，是“指控” 的意思。 charge  的意思很多，在TTC  的地铁门上， 会看到“ DO NOT  CHARGE THE DOOR”.

jocelynql

多谢金老师，受教了。看来我的英文差的还远呢！

vertigoooo

差的太远了，不查的话仅能看懂大概意思。

lamjin

朗文的英英词典是个很不错的学习词典。

lamjin

Alberta’s oil woes mean trouble ahead for Canada
The Canadian economy has been kept alive by the resource boom. It could be ending.

                               
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Alberta Premier Alison Redford congratulated Finance Minister Doug Horner on Thursday after he announced a budget that slashes public spending.                        


By:Thomas WalkomNational Affairs, Published on Fri Mar 08 2013



Alberta’s bad news budget is not only a commentary on that province’s finances. It is a signal from the front lines that the resource boom — the boom that has kept Canada afloat during this global slump — faces deep trouble.

Provincial Finance Minister Doug Horner made it official Thursday: Thanks to falling oil prices, the government’s revenues are collapsing. Boom-and-bust Alberta is in danger of going bust and public spending is — again — being slashed.

It is an ominous sign.

Since the world economy went off the cliff in 2008, resources have kept Canada going. Americans may not be buying Ontario’s manufactured goods, but they have been buying oil — at prices that, thanks to Chinese demand and the production quotas of the OPEC cartel, have been sky-high.

For Prime Minister Stephen Harper this has been a godsend. Insofar as his Conservative government has any kind of industrial strategy, it is one based on oil and resources.

To that end, Ottawa has modified or eliminated environmental rules that resource companies fear might interfere with their business.

At the same time, it is pushing hard for pipelines to move tarsands oil more easily to Asia and the U.S.

Even Harper’s free-trade agenda is resource-oriented. Free trade with Japan is supposed to provide new opportunities for oil and gas exporters. Free trade with the European Union is designed to benefit livestock exporters.

The government makes no secret of its intentions. The unemployment rate in Canada may be 7 per cent. But that hasn’t stopped Ottawa from allowing resource firms to bring in cheaper foreign labour.

At the same time, the government has made it even harder for Canadian jobless and seasonal workers to obtain employment insurance — on the theory, presumably, that this will give New Brunswick fishermen a greater incentive to apply for jobs in the booming doughnut-shop economy of Calgary and Edmonton.

But now even Calgary and Edmonton are facing problems. China’s appetite for resources is no longer as insatiable as it was. More alarmingly, new sources of cheaper shale oil are coming on tap in the U.S.

The so-called break-even price for Alberta heavy oil, the price at which extraction is profitable, varies from $65 to $100 a barrel. But in recent months, Alberta’s heavy crude producers have been getting as low as $45 a barrel — in part because there isn’t sufficient pipeline capacity to move their oil to world markets, but also because these world markets are softer.

Suddenly, Alberta’s high-cost tarsands are losing some of their lustre.

Curiously, Alberta has much in common with the Venezuela that Hugo Chavez bequeathed to the world. Both rely on heavy oil exports to the U.S. Both are one-party states (Alberta more so than Venezuela). Both are utterly dependent on the price of oil and both have economies that, in different ways, have been deformed as a result of this dependence.

Venezuela faces a reckoning and so does Alberta. So, indeed, does Canada as a whole.

We are already seeing a decline in the Canadian dollar as a result of the resource slowdown. In the long run, this should be good news for Canadian manufacturers who export their goods. In the short run, it means all of us are a little poorer.

Where we don’t see any change is in the federal government’s approach to the economy. The Harper Conservatives remain dazzled by resources. They believe that if the markets want Canadians to hew wood and draw water, that’s what we should do.

But markets are notoriously fickle. This is a fact the entire country will have to face. Alberta is just getting there first.

lamjin

Canada cuts direct foreign aid to China as feds rethink bilateral programs




OTTAWA - Canada has cut direct foreign aid to China as part of an overhaul of international assistance spending.
It's one of 14 countries that will see their aid either reduced or eliminated by the end of next year as the Canadian International Development Agency slashes $377 million in aid spending by 2014-2015.
The cuts are part of an overhaul of bilateral aid programming, with CIDA aiming to target funds more precisely and work more with the private sector.
Many have persistently questioned why China received bilateral aid from Canada, given its economic superpower status, military muscle and increasing influence on world affairs, including a growing development budget of its own.
"When you go to the eastern part of China, which is where probably where 99 per cent of Canadians, if they go to China, do go, places like Beijing or Shanghai, they would put to shame almost any Canadian city," said Bruce Muirhead, associate vice-president of external research at the University of Waterloo, who has studied the issue of Canadian aid to China.
"But if you go a little bit into the interior, it's a completely different situation. ... It's not the urban areas where CIDA puts its money, it's in the rural areas. Those people really need help."

In 2010-2011, Canadian taxpayers contributed close to $30 million to China, via both bilateral and multilateral channels.
Most was funnelled to capacity-building programs that worked on helping the Chinese reform their legal and environmental policy.
Aid will continue through international groups and humanitarian channels, if required, but CIDA Minister Julian Fantino says the end of the China program is recognition of the country's emergence as the world's second-largest economy.
"CIDA has and will continue to evaluate and adjust international development investments so that they can deliver tangible results for those most in need around the world and contribute to Canada's values and interests," Fantino said in an email.
"We look forward to continuing to build a partnership with China that advances our common interests, Canadian values and the friendship between the peoples of our two countries."
Other countries seeing bilateral aid budgets eliminated are Cambodia, Malawi, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, for a total of $39 million in savings.
Budgets for aid to Bolivia, Pakistan, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Tanzania and South Africa are being reduced to save $76 million.
Of the six countries seeing their budgets pared back, five belonged to the so-called "countries of focus," a select group of 20 nations who together received 80 per cent of Canada's international aid.
The program was started in 2009 by the Conservatives after criticisms aid was too scattershot and not reaping enough rewards either for taxpayers or for the countries in need.
But now the concept of "focus" countries seems to be falling out of favour.
Security problems and accountability issues have made many countries less attractive for direct support than they were in the past.
Meanwhile, the idea of the program is seen by the Conservatives as potentially restricting their desire to align aid spending with their declared policy priorities.
That includes focusing on helping specific industries grow in the developing world.
"We will continue to seek out innovative ways to partner with the private sector, such as the agriculture industry, so that we can achieve greater development results which are more sustainable over the long-term," Fantino said.
The New Democrat critic for international development said her concern is that aid budgets seem to shift on a whim.
"CIDA is not the minister's pet toy to do with what he wants to do with it," said Helene Laverdiere.
The non-governmental organization sector says while it would obviously like to see more international assistance spending, the real issue now is a lack of clarity on where — and how — the government wants to spend what scarce dollars remain.
It's been two years since CIDA actively solicited program ideas from the not-for-profit sector.
All eyes are on Thursday's budget to see whether aid funding is further reduced or whether a new program direction is clearly laid out.
"Suddenly, there are no more funds available and no direction whatsoever on what to expect, and how and why," said Chantal Havard, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Council for International Co-operation.
She said some hints can be gleaned for which countries remain on the focus list — Columbia, Peru, Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh, all trading partners for Canada.
"The trend that we see is that there is more and more an alignment of Canada's commercial interests, foreign policy and the international development agenda," Havard said.

© The Canadian Press, 2013

lamjin

GTA to get two new area codes starting Monday; 437 and 365Momin Qureshi        Mar 24, 2013 08:05:15 AM

TORONTO, Ont. – As the city continues to grow, the need for new unique phone numbers has forced the Telecommunications Alliance to add new area codes.

The latest two, 437 for Toronto proper, and 365 for Burlington and Mississauga, will be added to the GTA’s repertoire as of Monday morning.

Joining 416, 905, 647 and 289, the latest two area codes will bring the GTA total up to six.


If you sign up for a new number, however, you may still get one of the older area codes for the next few months until they run out of numbers.


In addition to population growth, the Telecommunications Alliance says the new area codes reflect the growing use of cell phones and mobile devices.

lamjin

Giant welcome to Canada! Chinese Panda bears arrive for five year stayMar 24, 2013 06:25:25 PM

TORONTO – A pair of giant pandas born and raised in China are about to receive a Canadian welcome worthy of their name.

The Toronto Zoo will begin playing host to a male and female bear on Monday, just over a year after the cuddly creatures were officially loaned to Canada by the Chinese government.
Five-year-old Er Shun and her prospective mating partner, four-year-old Da Mao, will call Toronto home for five years before being relocated to the Calgary Zoo for the same length of time. Canadian and Chinese officials have voiced hopes the pair will add to the species’ sparse population during their sojourn.
The animals are arriving in Canada in the sort of style not often experienced by even two-legged diplomats.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who personally announced the loan deal during a trip to China last year, will be on hand to greet the new arrivals as they disembark from a highly customized plane trip.
A FedEx Express Canada MD11 aircraft branded with an image of a panda left for Canada on Sunday afternoon. The plane carrying the pandas is to arrive in Toronto on Monday morning.
FedEx Express Canada president Lisa Lisson said the process of preparing the bears for travel began days before the flight.
“We created very special customized enclosures for the two pandas and we actually sent them over there,” Lisson said. “They’re in the panda’s environment so they can go up to them and look at them and touch them . . . so when they go inside the enclosures they’ll be familiar with them.”
A veterinarian and two attendants is accompanying the pandas for their entire journey, Lisson said, adding part of their job description will be to cater to the animals’ capricious dietary whims.
The aircraft is stocked with bamboo, apples and water as well as some of the pandas’ favourite toys, she said. The bamboo that forms the backbone of the pandas’ diet will continue to be in high demand once the animals are ensconced in their new home, she said. FedEx has agreed to bring in up to 900 kilograms of the plant three times a week from the Memphis Zoo for the duration of their stay, she added.
Lisson said such vast quantities are critical for creatures known for their demanding eating habits.
“They actually eat quite a lot. Up to 16 hours a day they can spend eating. They can consume anywhere from 14 to 20 kilograms of bamboo a day to make sure they get enough nutrition,” she said. “They’re very picky, too. They might go through 10 bamboo just to find one that they like.”
Upon arrival in Toronto, Lisson said the animals will be transported to the Toronto Zoo in specially branded trucks.
The zoo issued a statement saying the pandas will be placed into “immediate quarantine” and will not be accessible to the public. The zoo declined to comment on when the panda exhibit would open.
Er Shun and Da Mao will be the first pandas to visit Canada in 24 years.
The Toronto and Calgary Zoos played host to bear pairs in 1985 and 1988, respectively, while another couple took up a brief residence at the Winnipeg Zoo in 1989.

lamjin

China’s girl students losing out to bias

In the fiercely competitive race for university spots, some boys are being admitted with lower entrance scores

                               
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By: Barbara Demick Los Angeles Times, Published on Sun Mar 24 2013

BEIJING—When the precocious 18-year-old applied for early admission to Beijing’s International Relations University last year, she knew it was a long shot, even with her outstanding scores on the gaokao, the all-important college admissions test

Despite being in the top six per cent of graduating seniors in her province, she wasn’t crushed when she was rejected by the school. She was upset later, however, when she found out that male applicants with lower scores had been accepted.

“It’s not fair,” said the young woman, who asked to be quoted only by her nickname, Kale (pronounced Kala), to avoid reprisal.

“The girls and the boys work just as hard. We all study from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., under heavy pressure, knowing that if we don’t succeed, our future is in limbo,” said Kale, the daughter of a factory worker and the first in her immediate family to go to college.

Chinese girls have become victims of their own success. They are scoring higher and higher on standardized tests, prompting universities that want roughly equal gender enrolment to accept less-qualified male students. It is tantamount to affirmative action for boys and it is making many young women furious.

Guo Jianmei, founder and director of the Women’s Legal Research and Service Center, established 17 years ago, said the problem came to the Beijing centre’s attention last year.

“Parents started contacting us saying their daughters scored the same or better but that the boys were accepted instead,” Guo said.

University admission in China is based solely on the all-important test. About nine million students take it over three days each June and find out over the summer whether they have been admitted to the university and major of their choice.

National data on male and female test scores aren’t made public, but in recent years universities have published scores of incoming students on their websites.

That is how Kale, who scored 614 (out of a maximum 750), discovered that boys had been accepted to the international finance program from her province with scores as low as 609, while 628 was the lowest score for girls who were accepted.

Scouring the websites for evidence of discrimination, women’s rights activists have discovered even higher gaps for foreign language and performing arts majors.

Women’s groups are trying to put together a lawsuit — if they can find a plaintiff willing to go to court.

Kale has decided she won’t sue and has kept her identity and current academic affiliation secret to avoid repercussions. The freshman is studying international finance at a less prestigious college in her hometown of Guangzhou.

“I felt it would be a lot of trouble, and even if I sued successfully in court, it’s not clear I would really benefit,” she said.

“People have told me (the disparity) is in the national interest and that there is nothing to be done about it.”

lamjin

Study finds “high levels” of lead in U.S. rice imports

American researchers have uncovered “high levels” of lead in U.S. rice imports from countries which also ship rice to Canada.

The study, headed by associate professor Tsanangurayi Tongesayi of Monmouth University in New Jersey, concluded that American rice consumers are being exposed to potentially harmful levels of lead, a toxin linked to heart disease, cognitive impairment and calcium deficiency.

Tongesayi’s study, which was presented at The American Chemical Society’s meeting in New Orleans, also found some of the highest levels of lead in baby food.

Looking at rice producing countries in Europe, Asia and South America, the report singled out China and Taiwan as having the highest lead levels in rice, followed by the Czech Republic, Bhutan, Italy, India and Thailand.

Although Canada imported more than 60 per cent of its rice from the U.S. last year, Thailand was the second largest rice provider to Canada, while Italy and China were also in the top 10, according to Industry Canada trade data.

The news follows the discovery last November by Consumer Reports of “worrisome” levels of arsenic in American rice products that are also consumed north of the border.

life007

China’s girl students losing out to bias

In the fiercely competitive race for university spots, some boys are being admitted with lower entrance scores



http://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/ ...
lamjin 发表于 2013-3-26 07:56

                               
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这个报道有点偏见
某些专业女生更容易入学，特殊专业只招女生；
同样，某些专业只招收男生。
关于各个高校在网上填写的某年某专业招生的最低分，那都是骗傻子的。
中国高考后，高校招生中的黑暗，腐败现象比比皆是，而不仅仅是对女生的偏见。
各地招生办，各高校负责招生的牛人，他们想把低分的学生甚至不够分数的学生，送进好的学校，好的专业，那是非常容易的。
只要学生家长出得起大笔的好处费（比如10W， 甚至100W）