Voice 等

Voice

If our interpretation is correct， this is the nearest example where the birth of a black hole has been observed， and this may be the first time the common way of making a black hole has been observed.

—On Nov.15， 2010， NASA announced that it has discovered the youngest black hole known to exist in our cosmic neighborhood. The 30-year-old black hole， known as SN 1979C， is about 51 million light years from Earth and occurred in galaxy M-100.

We’re trying to make the remark: why do we care so much about the death of one celebrity as opposed to millions and millions of people dying in the place that we’re all from?

—Said Alicia Keys， a RB singer who is the ambassador for Keep a Child Alive Charity. Lady Gaga， Justin Timberlake and other celebrities quitted their facebook and twitter on Nov. 30， 2010. The quitting would last until $1 million has been raised for the Keep a Child Alive Charity in preparation and to raise awareness of the World’s Aids Day which is on Dec.1， 2010.

interpretation 解釋

cosmic 宇宙的

light year光年

galaxy M-100M-100星系

celebrity 名人

opposed 相反的

ambassador 大使

charity 慈善團體

A Powerful Study Strdtegy

If you’ve got a vocabulary list to learn， what’s the best way to study?

You might stare at the words for a long time， read again and again， and wish they could be copied into your brain like songs into a MP3. However， research shows that there may be a better way to remember — more testing!

In the experiment conducted at Kent State University in Ohio， students were told to learn a list of Swahili words. They were shown the words and the English meanings. One week later， all the students were tested on the Swahili words， and the students who were quizzed as they studied scored higher than the students who only read and reread.

That’s not too surprising， teachers have told students for thousands of years that self-testing is a good study strategy. But why small quizzes work better than staring at the words?

The researcher says students often think they’ve learned something just because they’ve stared at it for a long time. “The illusion is， you read something and think you’ll remember it. But if you don’t try to retrieve it， you don’t know if you know it.”

strategy策略

conduct 進行

Ohio （美國）俄亥俄州

Swahili斯瓦希里語

quiz 小測驗

illusion錯覺

retrieve 檢索

Question: Why do quizzes work better than staring at words in learning vocabulary?

（Find the KEY in this issue）

The Window

Two men， both seriously ill， occupied the same hospital room. One man’s bed was next to the only window. The other had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives， families， homes and jobs. Every afternoon when the man next to the window could sit up， he would pass the time by describing all the things he could see outside the window.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake， the man had said. Ducks played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Grand old trees graced the landscape， and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in detail， the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One afternoon the man by the window described a parade with descriptive words. Unexpectedly， a strange thought entered the other man’s head: “Why should he have all the pleasure of seeing everything while I never? It didn’t seem fair.” He began to find himself unable to sleep. He should be by that window—and that thought now controlled his life.

Late one night， the man by the window began to cough and choke. The other man watched him struggling for the button to call for help， but he never moved， never pushed his own button which would have brought the nurse running. In less than five minutes， the coughing and choking stopped， along with the sound of breathing. Now， there was only silence—deathly silence.

The following morning， when the nurse arrived and found the lifeless body by the window， she was sad and called the hospital attendant to take it away. As soon as it seemed appropriate， the man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse nodded and made the switch.

Slowly， he raised himself up on one elbow to take his first look. Finally， he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He slowly turned to look out of the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.

occupy 占據(jù)

grace 使優(yōu)美

picturesque 優(yōu)美如畫的

parade 游行

descriptive 描述性的

cough 咳嗽

choke 窒息

lifeless 無生命的

attendant護理員

appropriate合適的

elbow 手肘