Voice等

Voice

We welcome， as a neighbouring nation， that China’s economy is advancing rapidly. This can become a foundation for the devel-

opment of the regional economy.

—Japan’s Economy Minister said. On Feb.14， 2011， Japanese officials confirmed that China’s economy surpassed its own as the world’s 2nd largest in 2010. Japan’s GDP of 2010 is $5.47 trillion， while China makes a GDP total of $5.88 trillion.

If you’ve ever read Harry Potter and wondered if wizards really do walk among us， perhaps behind a secret train platform， or in secret communities， I can tell you that we are absolutely real.

—Oberon Zell-Ravenheart said. Oberon has dedicated his life to studying the Dark Arts and now prepares to make the world of Harry Potter a reality. He has opened the world’s only registered wizard academy—the Grey School of Wizardry in March， 2011. It is the first wizard school to be officially recognized as an academic establishment.

regional 整個地區的

official 官員

surpass超過

trillion 萬億

wizard 巫師

Dark Arts 黑魔法

registered 已注冊的

A LONE WNALE

Can you imagine how lonely you will feel when you have lived alone for 19 years？The US marine biologist Mary Ann Daher finds a whale which has been wandering the Pacific for the past 19 years， because its voice is unlike any other.

Mrs. Daher and her colleagues used signals recorded by the US navy’s submarine-tracking hydrophones to trace the movements of whales in the north Pacific.

The records show that a whale singing at around 52 hertz has cruised the ocean every autumn and winter since 1992. It is clearly a baleen whale， but its calls do not match those of any known species， including blue， fin and humpback whales.

Blue whales typically call at frequencies between 15 and 20 hertz. They use some higher frequencies， but not 52 hertz， Daher says. Fin whales make pulsed sounds at around 20 hertz， while humpbacks sing at much higher frequencies. The tracks of the lone whale do not match the migration patterns of any other species， either.

Daher doubts that the whale belongs to a new species， although no similar call has been found anywhere else.

marine 海洋的

wander 游蕩

colleague同事

submarine-tracking追蹤潛水艇的

hydrophone水下測音器

hertz 赫茲（頻率單位）

cruise巡游

baleen whale 須鯨

call叫聲

fin whale 長須鯨

humpback whale 座頭鯨

frequency 頻率

pulsed 脈沖式的

migration 遷徙

A GREAT CONQVEROR

The King’s Speech is a 2010 British historical drama film. It earned 12 nominations at the 2011 Academy Awards， and finally won four， including the Best Picture.

This film tells the true story of how Britain’s King George VI overcame a stutter to inspire his nation during World War II.

As a child， Bertie was shy， sickly and had a stutter. Crowned King George VI of England， he still felt compelled to conquer the stutter. With his country on the brink of war and in desperate need of a leader， he went to see a speech therapist， Lionel Logue. After a rough start， the two eventually formed an unbreakable bond in the progress of treatment. With the support of Logue， his family and his government， the King finally overcame his stutter and delivered a radio-address that inspired his people and united them in battle.

Actually， it is believed that The King’s Speech tells a universal story. If you have many unfortunates because of your physical problem， you should confront it. The one who has conquered himself can win the admiration and respect of others. That is why， at the end of the movie， the George VI can inspire the whole nation by his speech.

conqueror 征服者

（v. conquer）

nomination 提名

Academy Awards

奧斯卡金像獎

overcome 克服

stutter 口吃

compelled 被迫的

on the brink of 即將陷入

therapist 治療師

bond 紐帶，聯系

radio-address 廣播演講

confront面對

READING E-BOOKS MAKES YOUR BRAIN LAZY

These days， with the great development of electronic books， many readers reach for hand-held devices instead of turning paper pages. But latest research suggests that using e-books are less likely to absorb what we have read， because the devices display text in such a clear， legible format that this encourages the brain to be“lazy”， making it more difficult to get information.

A study by Princeton University found that people could recall more information when the text was presented in unusual typefaces on paper. It seems that the disfluency reading encourages readers to acquire information positively. Psychologists agree that the information which has to be actively generated is remembered longer and more accurately rather than passively acquired from simple text.

Besides， experts consider that e-readers and computers hinder us from absorbing information because their screens and fonts tell our subconscious that the words they convey are not important. When we see a font that is easy to read， we’re able to process that in a mindless way; but when we see an unfamiliar font， one full of weird squiggles， we have to work a little bit harder. That extra effort is a signal to the brain that this might be something worth remembering.

e-book電子書

hand-held手提式的

legible（字跡）容易辨認的

format格式

typeface 字體

generate形成

e-reader 電子閱讀器

hinder阻礙

font 字體

subconscious 潛意識

mindless不動腦筋的

weird怪異的

squiggle 潦草的書寫

Question：What causes the “disfluency reading” (in Paragraph 2)?

（Find the KEY in this issue）