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來自美國NPR的一則新聞報道。

NPR，全稱為National Public Radio，即國家公共廣播電臺。它的王牌欄目有  NPR podcasts、NPR music、NPR This I Believe、NPR Stories等，對英語學(xué)習(xí)者來說也是很好的聽力練習(xí)材料。

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美國Newsweek的一篇新聞報道。

Newsweek即《新聞周刊》，是美國時政雜志中因評論優(yōu)秀而獲得榮譽(yù)最多的周刊。它與《時代周刊》《美國新聞與世界報道》并稱為美國三大新聞周刊。

在美國，《新聞周刊》是僅次于《時代》的周刊，但有時它的廣告收入會超過《時代》。在發(fā)行量上，它超過了《美國新聞和世界報道》。在這三份期刊中，《新聞周刊》的觀點(diǎn)通常被視作比《時代》更自由而比《美國新聞和世界報道》更保守。

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As data breaches and identity theft become more and more common, the market is growing for biometric technologies—like fingerprint or iris scans—to keep others out of private e-spaces. They're still expensive, though, and some balk at the prospect of having deeply personal identifiers taken and maintained by a third party.Researchers from Georgia Tech say they have come up with a low-cost device that gets around some of these issues: a smart keyboard. This contraption precisely measures the cadence with which one types and the pressure fingers apply to each key. These patterns are unique to each individual, says Jun Chen, a doctoral engineering student. By measuring how somebody types a password, he says, the keyboard can determine people's identities, and thus, by extension, whether they should be granted access to the computer it's connected to—regardless of whether someone gets the password right.It also doesn't require a new type of technology that people aren't already familiar with. “Everybody uses a keyboard...and everybody types differently,” Chen says.The device also harnesses energy when fingers touch keys—energy that could be used to, for example, power a wireless emitter and eliminate the need for a cord. The keys are made of layers of polymers that harbor a slightly negative charge, whereas skin is partially positively charged, Chen explains. When fingers come into contact with the keys and press down, and lift again, they transfer electrons to the keys. This completes an electric circuit with the keyboard, producing a small current.

The smart keyboard powers itself by generating electricity when a person’s fingertips make contact with its multi-layer plastic materials. The keyboard could offer a stronger layer of security by analyzing things like the force of a user’s typing and the time between key presses.

This phenomenon, called “contact electrification,” is the same process that creates static electricity, Chen says: “It's like when you run your hand across a wool blanket and see ‘sparks' in the darkness.” Only to a lesser and invisible degree.In a study describing the technology published in the journal ACS Nano, the researchers had 100 volunteers type the word touch four times using the keyboard. Data gleaned from the device could be used to identify individual participants based on how they typed, with very low error rates, Chen says. So far, there is just one working prototype of the intelligent keyboard. But, Chen says, it should be pretty straightforward to commercialize and is mostly made of inexpensive, plastic-like parts. The team hopes it could make it to market in about five years.

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Sacred Heart Greenwich是一所美國女校，本文選自其官網(wǎng)中的一篇文章。該校位于美國康涅狄格州格林威治市國王街1177號，占地110英畝，是一所天主教私立大學(xué)預(yù)科學(xué)校。

原文：

Be Nice — You Won’t Finish Last

Posted on April 16, 2017

The New York Times

By SARAH MASLIN NIR APRIL 7, 2017

CreditRon Barrett

During the rosy years of elementary school, my inclination to share my dolls and my knack with knock-knock jokes (“Who’s there?” “Tank.” “Tank who?” “You’re welcome!”) were enough to elevate my social status. I was the belle of the playground. Then came my tweens and teens, and mean girls and cool kids. They rose in the ranks not by being amiable but by puffing cigarettes, breaking curfew and pulling pranks on unsuspecting nerds, among whom I soon found myself.

Popularity is a well-explored subject in social psychology. The latest thinking is parsed by Mitch Prinstein, a professor and director of clinical psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in his forthcoming book, “Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World,” and in his currently running MOOC. (Some 58,000 have taken the online course, via Coursera.)

Dr. Prinstein sorts the popular into two categories: the likable and the status seekers. The likables’ plays-well-with-others qualities cement schoolyard friendships, jump-start interpersonal skills and, when cultivated early, are employed ever after in business and even romance. Then there’s the kind of popularity that emerges in adolescence: status born of power and even notorious behavior.

Enviable as the cool kids may have seemed, Dr. Prinstein’s studies show negative consequences. Those who were highest in status in high school, as well as those least liked in elementary school, are “most likely to engage in dangerous and risky behavior,” like smoking cigarettes and using drugs.

In one study, Dr. Prinstein examined the two types of popularity in 235 adolescents, scoring the least liked, the most liked and the highest in status based on student surveys. “We found that the least well-liked teens had become more aggressive over time toward their classmates. But so had those who were high in status. It was a nice demonstration that while likability can lead to healthy adjustment, high status has just the opposite effect on us.”

Dr. Prinstein has also found that the qualities that made the neighbors want you on a play date — sharing, kindness, openness — carry over to later years and make you better able to relate and connect with others.

In analyzing his and other research, Dr. Prinstein came to another conclusion: Not only does likability correlate to positive life outcomes, but it is also responsible, he said, for those outcomes, too. “Being liked creates opportunities for learning and for new kinds of life experiences that help somebody gain an advantage,” he told me.

The findings were music to my nerdy ears: Those halcyon early days of popularity really did matter.

The meek — or rather, the genuinely nice — shall inherit the earth after all.

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CNN Travel是CNN國際頻道一個新的旅游網(wǎng)站。網(wǎng)站中有最新的旅游新聞、游記、新奇的旅游點(diǎn)子、新開發(fā)或熱門的景點(diǎn)以及本土導(dǎo)游推薦當(dāng)?shù)刈罹W(wǎng)紅的小吃、酒吧、民宿、游玩攻略。

CNN，全稱為Cable News Network，即美國有線電視新聞網(wǎng)。CNN國際新聞網(wǎng)每周七天，每天二十四小時進(jìn)行全球直播新聞報道。面對突發(fā)的新聞時都會作現(xiàn)場報道。

對同學(xué)們來說，完全接觸CNN新聞報道也許仍有一定難度，不過有一個頻道：CNN Student News難度適中，比較適合同學(xué)們觀看。

原文：

"This is the silliest thing I've done in my life," Ann says as she emerges from her tent.

"I should have done it when I was much younger."

"Tomorrow you'll think it was worth the effort," Maria responds.

It's a bitterly cold night in January.

I'm at Barafu Camp on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, with Ann Austen, a 69-year-old New Yorker and Maria Nielson, 55, from Sweden.

In the midnight darkness I watch them join a line of 200 headlamps, slowly ascending the last slope to reach the highest point in Africa -- 5,895 meters (19,340 feet) above sea level. (Kilimanjaro's official elevation is the subject of dispute -- the preceding figures are the most commonly cited.)

But I'm waiting.

I'd learned from a local that while most groups trek to the summit overnight, hundreds at a time, to catch the sunrise from the top, the best time to climb is around 10 a.m. when the crowds, and the clouds, clear.

"I know the mountain, this is my mountain," Sifael Malle tells me.

It's a good decision.

We're alone on Uhuru Peak, the highest point on Kibo crater, one of the three volcanic cones that comprise the mountain.

Three champagne corks are the only sign that others had been here earlier.

Without Malle's local knowledge, however, it could have been different.

MORE: The stunning mountains where China collects bags of fresh air

Tourism impact

Local tip: Avoid crowds by climbing in the day, when everyone else has returned.

Local tip: Avoid crowds by climbing in the day, when everyone else has returned.

The Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a British think tank, estimates that every year 40,000 people attempt to climb Kilimanjaro, bringing with them tons of waste and other environmental threats, including water contamination and soil erosion.

The crowds threaten the beauty of the place, which cultural narratives depict as a symbol of solitude and peace.

The glaciers are disappearing, changing the face of Kilimanjaro.

Local porters are often underpaid and climb without adequate equipment.

Hearing these stories, I'm skeptical about the place -- other destinations are described as "purer" natural experiences.

However, I soon discover that much has changed since the days of horrific reports of camps among open-air latrines, trash littering the landscape and congested trails.

I find a clean mountain, with toilets at camps and along the routes.

The environmental challenges are significant but the initiatives implemented by the Tanzania National Parks Authority seem to be paying off.

The ODI calculated in 2009 that tourists spend just less than $50 million per year around the Kili experience.

Some 28%, $13 million, is considered to directly benefit the poor.

The ODI says this is the most successful transfer of resources from international tourists to impoverished locals they've witnessed.

MORE: Africa's magnificent mountains: Seven amazing climbs

The local view

Porters are no longer required to carry loads of more than 20 kilos. 

Porters are no longer required to carry loads of more than 20 kilos.

andrea oschetti/cnn

Take, for instance, my local guide.

Malle comes from a poor farming family that lived by a road used by tourists.

In previous years, he'd rush toward the jeeps that drove by, hoping to receive gifts.

"We dreamed of owning those cars," he told me. "But the reality is poverty, few jobs, often unstable and underpaid.

"The dreams get easily forgotten. I tried to keep mine: to live a better life, to start my own business and to be able to support others.

"I begged guides to take me on the mountain, even for free. They told me I was too thin, incapable of carrying the weight.

"They asked for my climbing equipment, and laughed as I did not have any. I persisted and found a guide who employed me."

Malle became a porter in 1999. He went back to school to study tour guiding and botany.

In 2006, he passed the government examination and became a licensed guide.

"I soon thought that with my experience of the mountain I could be a better tour operator, as most of the existing ones have never been on the mountain."

He set up us his own company.

"I sent hundreds of messages to people announcing my new company, and gradually people started to respond."

Kili Base Adventure was born.

Kilimanjaro is offering entrepreneurial opportunities that were impossible a decade ago.

MORE: An empty Everest: But should you climb?

Conquest vs. experience

Kilimanjaro has five ecosystems, from moorland to arctic-like conditions.

Kilimanjaro has five ecosystems, from moorland to arctic-like conditions.

andrea oschetti/cnn

The highlight of a Kilimanjaro experience, in my view, isn't reaching the top.

A simple, aimless wander on a mountain trail might not seem to have the drama of a summit ascent.

But mountains are regarded as spiritual places by many cultures, not least for their natural attributes.

This view is especially evident on Kilimanjaro as climbers venture through five ecosystems in the space of few kilometers.

At the base is a dense rainforest.

It ends abruptly at 3,000 meters, giving way to alpine heathland, abundant with giant heathers.

Further up the weather changes -- low clouds envelop the slopes, which become covered with tussock grass and sporadic giant lobelias.

Here the greens are less vibrant but more varied than in the brighter forest below.

I count 12 shades of verdant green in a three-meter radius from where I stand.

Above 4,000 meters is the highland desert: gravel, stones, rocks and cliffs. A place for ascetics.

Finally you climb into an arctic-like zone, with permanent snow and the glaciers that may soon disappear.

MORE: 10 mountains for every kind of climber

Clean climb

Does Kilimanjaro deserve its reputation as a crowded mountain with long lines of tourists spoiling the atmosphere of solitude?

I found the opposite to be true.

Throughout my climb the trails were empty and, on the summit, I was alone.

My secret, of course, was the local knowledge provided by Malle and tailor-making my own climb.

The tourism industry sells standardized packages: everyone follows the same route, does the same thing, walks at the same time.

I didn't -- my sense of satisfaction came from the connection with the spirit of a beautiful and legendary place.

End of March to early June is low season around Kilimanjaro, often marked by heavy rains. January, February, August and September are the busiest months.

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Camping.com是一個介紹露營相關(guān)事宜的美國網(wǎng)站。網(wǎng)站中盤點(diǎn)了美國各州適宜露營的地點(diǎn)，最有特色的露營地等。游客可在網(wǎng)站中查詢到最新的露營攻略以及一些實(shí)用的露營貼士。

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OLD JOE雜志，是一本面向伯明翰大學(xué)校友的官方雜志。

Old-Joe-autumn-2013

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THE WEEK，即《周刊報道》，是一本新聞時事周刊。1995年由Jolyon Connell創(chuàng)刊于英國。2001年4月The Week登陸美國并在2008年8月首次在澳大利亞出版發(fā)行。該雜志收集了世界各地媒體的播報與主流評論，為讀者提供了各種信息，包括政治、科技、商務(wù)、體育與藝術(shù)等領(lǐng)域。

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The Palm Beach Post，即《棕櫚灘郵報》。是一個美國本土媒體，主要報道時事、體育、娛樂新聞。

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Newsweek即《新聞周刊》，是美國時政雜志中因評論優(yōu)秀而獲得榮譽(yù)最多的周刊。它與《時代周刊》《美國新聞與世界報道》并稱為美國三大新聞周刊。

在美國，《新聞周刊》是僅次于《時代》的周刊，但有時它的廣告收入會超過《時代》。在發(fā)行量上，它超過了《美國新聞和世界報道》。在這三份期刊中，《新聞周刊》的觀點(diǎn)通常被視作比《時代》更自由而比《美國新聞和世界報道》更保守。

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Reader's Digest，即《讀者文摘》。美國雜志，在全球多個國家和地區(qū)都有發(fā)行。1922年創(chuàng)刊，月刊。是一本能引起大眾廣泛興趣的內(nèi)容豐富的家庭雜志。它所涉及的故事文章涵蓋了健康、生態(tài)、政府、國際事務(wù)、體育、旅游、科學(xué)、商業(yè)、教育以及幽默笑話等多個領(lǐng)域。

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