阅读冲刺3

On 8th November 1974 Lord Lucan, a British aristocrat, vanished. The day before, his children’s nanny had been brutally murdered and his wife had been attacked too. To this day the British public are still interested in the murder case because Lucan has never been found. Now, over 30 years later, the police have reopened the case, hoping that new DNA techniques will help solve this murder mystery.1

People suspected that “Lucky”, as he was called by friends,

wanted to kill his wife he no longer lived with. They say that Lucan entered his old house and in the dark, killed the nanny by mistake. His estranged wife heard noises, came downstairs and was also attacked, but managed to escape. Seven months after the murder, a jury concluded that Lucan had killed the nanny.

What happened next is unclear, but there are several theories which fall into one of three categories: he may have killed himself, he could have escaped or he might have been killed. It appears that the night after the murder, “Lucky” borrowed a car and drove it,

Lucan’s friend Aspinall said in an interview that he thought Lucan had committed suicide by sinking his boat in the English Channel.

Another version of events says that “Lucky” left the blood-soaked car on the coast and took a ferry to France.2 He was met there by someone who drove him to safety in another country. However, after a time, his rescuers became worried that they would become involved in the murder too and so Lucan was killed.

A further fascinating theory was made in the book Dead Lucky by Duncan MacLaughlin, a former detective. He believes that Lucan traveled to Goa, India, where he assumed the identity of a Mr Barry Haplin. Lucan then lived in Goa till his death in 1996. In the end the claim turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. The man who died in 1996 was really Haplin, an ex-schoolteacher turned hippy. So what is the truth about “Lucky”? DNA testing has solved many murder cases, but who knows if it can close the book on this one.3

词汇：

Vanish v．消失 suicide n.自杀 Case n．案件 detective n. 侦探 Nanny n． 保姆

注释：

1. Now, over 30 years later, the police have reopened the case, hoping that new DNA techniques will help solve this murder

mystery．30多年后的今天，重新调查案件，希望新的DNA技术帮助揭开这个谋杀之谜。

2. Another version of events says that “Lucky” left the blood-soaked car on the coast and took a ferry to France.另一个版本是说“幸运的”把被血染了的车子扔在了海岸上，乘上了一艘开往法国的船。

3. DNA testing has solved many murder cases, but who knows if it can close the book on this one. DNA鉴定破了很多谋杀案件，但是不知它能否把这个案件做个了结。

Pool Watch

Swimmers can drown in busy swimming pools when lifeguards fail to notice that they are in trouble. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents says that on average 15 people drown in British pools each year, but many more suffer major injury after getting into difficulties. Now a French company has developed an artificial

intelligence system called Poseidon that sounds the alarm when it sees someone in danger of drowning.

When a swimmer sinks towards the bottom of the pool, the new system sends an alarm signal to a poolside monitoring station and a lifeguard’s pager. Hi trials at a pool in Ancenis, it saved a life within just a few months, says Alistair McQuade, a spokesman for its maker, Poseidon Technologies.

Poseidon keeps watch through a network of underwater and

overhead video cameras. AI software analyses the images to work out swimmers’ trajectories. To do this reliably, it has to tell the difference between a swimmer and the shadow of someone being cast onto the bottom or side of the pool. “The underwater environment is a very dynamic one, with many shadows and reflections dancing around”, says McQuade.

The software does this by “projecting” a shape in its field of view onto an image of the far w41of the pool. It does the same with an image from another camera viewing the shape from a different angle. If the two projections are in the same position, the shape is identified as a shadow and is ignored. But if they are different, the shape is a swimmer and so the system follows its trajectory.

To pick out potential drowning victims, anyone in the water who starts to descend slowly is added to the software’s “pre-alert”1 list, says McQuade. Swimmers who then stay immobile on the pool bottom for 5 seconds or more are considered in danger of drowning. Poseidon double-checks that the image really is of a swimmer, not a shadow, by seeing whether it obscures the pool’s floor texture when viewed from overhead. If so, it alerts the lifeguard, showing the swimmer’s location on a poolside screen.

The first full-scale Poseidon system will be officially opened next week at a pool in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. One man who is impressed with the idea is Travor Baylis, inventor of the clockwork radio. Baylis runs a company that installs swimming pools- and he was once an underwater escapologist with a circus. “I say full marks to them if this works and can save lives” he says. But he adds that any local authority spending￡30,000 -- plus on a Poseidon system ought to be investing similar amounts m teaching children to swim.

词汇：

Pager n．携带式电子播叫机 trajectory n．轨迹

Descend vi.下降 immobile adj．不移动的 Texture n．特征；质地 clockwork n．时钟机构 Escapologist n．擅长从捆扎的绳索中脱身的杂技演员

注释：

1 pre-alert：预先警戒的。The software’s“pre-alert” list：软件的“预警”名单。Pre-alert“list：软件的“预警”名单。Pre-：是前缀，意思是先于；预先。又如：preadult：成年前的；precancerous：癌症前期的.alert:警戒的，警觉的。

The National Park Service

America’s national parks are like old friends. You may not see them for years at a time, but just knowing they’re out there makes you feel better1. Hearing the names of these famous old friends – Yosemjte2, Yellowstone3, Grand Canyon4- revives memories of visits past and promotes dreams of those still to come.

From Acadia to Zion, 369 national parks are part of a continually evolving system5. Ancient fossil beds, Revolutionary War battlefields,

magnificent mountain ranges, and monuments to heroic men and women who molded this country6 are all a part of our National Park System (NPS). The care and preservation for future generations of these special places is entrusted to the National Park Service.

Uniformed Rangers, the most visible representatives of the Service, not only offer park visitors a friendly wave, a helpful answer, or a thought-provoking history lesson, but also are skilled rescuers, firefighters, and dedicated resource protection professionals. The National Park Service ranks also include architects, historians,

archaeologists, biologists, and a host of other experts7 who preserve and protect everything from George Washington’s teeth to Thomas Edison’s wax recordings.

Modern society has brought the National Park Service both massive challenges and enormous opportunities. Satellite and

computer technologies are expanding the educational possibilities of a national park beyond its physical boundaries. Cities struggling to revive their urban cores are turning to the Park Service for expert assistance to preserve their cultural heritage, create pocket parks8 and green spaces, and re-energize local economies. Growing

communities thirsty for recreational outlets9 are also working with the NPS to turn abandoned railroad tracks into bike and hiking trails, as well as giving unused federal property new life as recreation centers.

To help meet these challenges and take advantage of these opportunities, the National Park Service has formed partnerships – some dating back 100 years, some only months old – with other

agencies, state and local governments, corporations, American Indian tribes and Alaska Natives, Park Friends groups, cooperating associations, private organizations, community groups and individuals who share the National Park ethic.

National Park Week 1996 is a celebration of these partnerships.

词汇：

Revive vt．重新唤起，重新记起；苏醒，复苏 Ianger n．国家公园管理员，国有森林护林员

Promote vt．促成，促进；晋升，提升 core n．中心；核心

Evolve vi．演化 vt．使逐步形成 trail n. 小道，小径

Fossil adj．化石的 ethic n．道德规范，伦理标准

Range n．山地；山脉 entrust vt．委托管理；委托

注释：

1. You may not see them for years at a time, but just knowing they’ re out there makes you feel better。你可能几年都见不到它们一次，但是只要知道它们在那里，你的心情就会比较畅快。注意：may not中的not可以否定may，也可以否定后面的动词。如否定may，作“不允许”解；如否定后面的动词，作“可能不”解。Not是否定may还是其后面的动词，这取决于上下文。在所讨论的句子中，not否定see。但mayn’t没有歧义，只作“不允许”解。At a time：每次，一次。又如：I am away two weeks at a time．我每次外出总要两星期不回家。

2．Yosemite：优山美地国家公园（位于加州中东部） 3．Yellowstone：黄石国家公园（位于怀俄明州西北部）

4．Grand Canyon:大峡谷国家公园（位于亚利桑那州西北部） 5．a continually evolving system:-种不断演化的体系

6. …monuments to heroic men and women who molded this country…：……为塑造这个国家而献身的英雄儿女纪念碑…… 7．a host of other experts：许多其他的专家 8．Pocket park:处于城市建筑群之间的小公园

9．Growing communities thirsty for recreational outlets…：渴望娱乐场所不断发展的社区……

Find Yourself Packing It On? Blame Friends

Obesity can spread from person to person, much like a virus, researchers are reporting today. When one person gains weight, close friends tend to gain weight, too.

Their study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, involved a detailed analysis of a large social network of 12,067 people who were been closely followed for 32 years, from 1971 to 2003．

The investigators knew who were friends with whom as well as who was a spouse or sibling or neighbor, and they knew how much each person weighed at various times over three decades.’1 That let them reconstruct2 what happened over the years as individuals became obese. Did their friends also become obese? Did family members? Or neighbors?

The answer, the researchers report, was that people were most likely to become obese when a friend became obese. That increased a person’s chances of becoming obese by 57 percent.3 There was no effect when a neighbor gained or lost weight4, however, and family members had less influence than friends.

It did not even matter if the friend was hundreds of miles away, the influence remained.5 And the greatest influence of all was

between close mutual friends. There, if one became obese, the other had a 171 percent increased chance of becoming obese, too.

The same effect seemed to occur for weight loss, the investigators say. But since most people were gaining, not losing, over the 32 years, the result was, on average, that people grew fatter.

Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis, a physician and professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School and a principal investigator in the new study, said one explanation was that friends affected each others’ perception of fatness6. When a close friend becomes obese, obesity may not look so bad.

“You change your idea of what is an acceptable body type by looking at the people around you”, Dr. Christakis said.

The investigators say their findings can help explain why

Americans have become fatter in recent years – each person who became obese was likely to drag along some friends.7

Their analysis was unique, Dr. Christakis said, because it moved beyond a simple analysis of one person and his or her social contacts and instead examined an entire social network at once, looking at how a person’s friend’s friends, or a spouse’s sibling’s friends, could have an influence on a person’s weight.

The effects, he said, “highlight the importance of a spreading process, a kind of social contagion8, that spreads through the network.”

Of course, the investigators say, social networks are not the only factors that affect body weight. There is a strong genetic component at work, too.

Science has shown that individuals have genetically determined ranges of weights, spanning perhaps 30 or so pounds for each person. But that leaves a large role for the environment in determining

whether a person’s weight is near the top of his or her range or near the bottom. As people have gotten fatter, it appears that many are edging toward9 the top of their ranges. The question has been why.

If the new research is correct, it may say that something in the environment seeded what some call an obesity epidemic, making a few people gain weight. Then social networks let the obesity spread rapidly. 词汇：

Obesity n．肥胖，肥大 investigator n.调查人 Detailed adj. 细的，逐条的 sibling n．兄弟，姐妹

Spouse n．配偶（指夫或妻） principal adj．主要的，首要的 Influence n. 影响 epidemic adj．流行的，传染的，流行性的

Highlight v．使显著，强调 virus n．病毒

注释：

1. The investigators knew who were friends with whom as well as who was a spouse or sibling or neighbor, and they knew how much each person weighed at various times over three decades. 调查人员了解被调查人的朋友以及夫妻、兄弟姐妹或者邻居，并且了解他们30年来各个时期的体重。As well as表示“和”“又”。

2．Reconstruct:重建，推想。Re是表示“又，再”之义的词根。

3．That increased a person’s chances of becoming obese by 57 percent．这使得发胖的概率增加了57%。chance这里指概率，可能性。 4．Gained or lost weight：体重增加或减少。

5. It did not even matter if the friend was hundreds of miles

away,the influence remained. 即使朋友远在千里之外，这种影响仍然存在。

6．Perception of fatness:对于肥胖的感知。

7. The investigators say their findings can help explain why Americans have become fatter in recent years-each person who

became obese was likely to drag along some friends． 调查人员声称，他们的发现可以帮助解释近年来美国人变得越来越胖的原因：每个发胖的人都可能带动朋友一起变胖。

8．Contagion：传染，传染病

9．Edge toward…：向……缓慢或逐渐地前进

Importance of Services

The United States has moved beyond the industrial economy stage to the point where it has become the world’s first service economy1. Almost three-fourths of the nonfarm labor force is

employed in service industries, and over two-thirds of the nation’s gross national product is accounted for by services. Also, service jobs typically hold up better during a recession than do jobs in industries producing tangible goods2.

During the 20-year period of 1966 to 1986, about 36 million new jobs were created in the United States – far more than in Japan and Western Europe combined. About 90 percent of these jobs were in service industries. During this same time span, some 22 million

women joined the labor force – and 97 percent of these women went to work in the service sector. These employment trends are expected to continue at least until the year 2000. For the period 1986 – 2000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that over 21 million new jobs will be created and 93 percent of them will be in service industries.

Moreover, most of this explosive growth in services employment is not in low-paying jobs, contrary to the beliefs of many

economists3 ,business and labor leaders, and politicians. These

people argue that manufacturing jobs, which have been the economic foundation of America’s middle class, are vanishing. They claim that factory workers are being replaced with a host of4 low-wage earners. It is true that manufacturing jobs have declined, with many of them going to foreign countries. It is also true that there has been growth in some low-paying service jobs. Yet cooks and counter peoples till represent only l percent of the U. S. labor force today. Furthermore, for many years the fastest-growing occupational category has been “professional, technical, and related work”. These jobs pay well above the average, and most are in service industries.

About one-half of consumer expenditures are for the purchase of services. Projections to the year 20005 indicate that services will

attract an even larger share of consumer spending. A drawback of the service economy boom is that the prices of most services have been going up at a considerably faster rate than the prices of most tangible products. You are undoubtedly aware of this if you have had your car or TV set repaired, had your shoes half-soled, or paid a medical bill in recent years.

When we say that services account for close to one-half of consumer expenditures6, we still grossly understate the economic importance of services. These figures do not include the vast amounts spent for business services. By all indications7, spending for business services has increased even more rapidly than spending for consumer services.

词汇：

Gross national product国民生产总值，略作GNP tangible goods 有形商品

Drawback n．缺点，不利条件；退款；退税

Understate vt．＆vi．没有充分表达实情地陈述，打折扣地报道

注释：

1. The United States has moved beyond the industrial economy stage to the point where it has become the world’ s first service economy．美国已经跨越了工业经济的阶段，成为世界上第一个服务型经济的国家。

2. …service jobs typically hold up better during a recession than do jobs in industries producing tangible goods.……服务业的工作往往要比从事生产有形商品的工作更能经受经济萧条的打击。

3、Contrary to the beliefs of many economists…：……这与许多经济学家的观点相反……

4．a host of：一大群

5．Projections to the year 2000…：……到2000年的规划……

6．Account for close to one-half of consumer expenditures…：……占了将近一半的消费开支……close to的意思是“接近……”。例如：We have a parking lot close to our street.在街道附近我们有一个停车场。

7．By all indications…：根据所有的迹象来看……