奥巴马能否不负众望？ - 金融英语速读训练

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每天一篇《金融时报》

在全球化日益激烈的金融行业中，能迅速地阅读英文的专业文献，把握全球金融趋势，和海外的金融业者交流，已经成为每个金融业者必备的技能。如果你能坚持每天阅读一篇《金融时报》精选的文章，并不断提高阅读速读和理解准确率，你的专业水平和英文水平，必将令人刮目相看。

准备好了吗？开始吧。

为什么要每天阅读《金融时报》？
- 对于全球的金融业从业人员来说，阅读《金融时报》是每天必须进行的修炼。要想把握金融业的趋势，提高自己的“金融智慧”，和全球的金融业者站在同一高度，《金融时报》是你的首选。
为什么要训练阅读速度？
- 在信息爆炸的今天，能够迅速地阅读和理解大量资料，已成为金融业者必不可少的技能。著名的投资家股神巴菲特曾表示，他每天都会阅读大量报刊和年报，这也是他多年来始终能做出正确的投资决策的基础。
训练阅读速度的小工具
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速度：+ -

阅读以下文章

<b>The heavy weight of expectations</b>

By Clive Crook

Published: November 2 2008 17:55 | Last updated: November 2 2008 17:55

<img src=http://media.ft.com/cms/78d634e6-1462-11dc-88cb-000b5df10621.gif border=0 style="margin-right:5px;float:left;">As a British citizen residing in Washington DC, I have no vote in Tuesday’s election. (So much for “no taxation without representation”.) If I did, I would cast it for Barack Obama, with reservations.

I understand and share in the excitement that Mr Obama has generated during the course of his campaign. He is an extraordinary politician: instantly likeable, a brilliant speaker, a genuine intellectual, a seeker of consensus, undogmatic, calm, pragmatic and open-minded, with unaffected empathy for the less fortunate. He is the very model of an appealing centre-left leader.

Because of these qualities, he would be a star in US politics if he were white – but he also happens to be black. It arouses accusations of “reverse racism” to point this out, but let us not be squeamish: the fact that he is black is another huge point in his favour.

<img src=http://media.ft.com/cms/66e3f1f0-a9e0-11dd-958b-000077b07658.gif border=0>
The US is a country still divided by race. Just how potent a force white bigotry remains is something we may find out on Tuesday – though whatever the outcome, there will be room for disagreement about the causes. I am struck by how fearful many Obama supporters are that latent racism will deny their man the prize. Nonetheless, one great barrier to the social and economic advance of black Americans is self-imposed. Few things are more debilitating than an excuse for failure. Urban black culture, which guides the ambitions of black youngsters, is astonishingly self-destructive. It goes beyond merely accepting failure and taking it for granted; it actually celebrates it.

Anything that attacks this mindset would be enormously to the advantage of black Americans and the country at large and, by sheer force of example, that is what Mr Obama’s election would do. Wanda Sykes, the black comedienne, put it well when asked what difference a President Obama would make: “You can’t keep blaming the man when you are the man.”

The immediate challenge, of course, will be to manage the economic crisis. I trust the level-headed Mr Obama and his well-chosen technocrats to do a better job of this than the lately erratic and unpredictable John McCain. That same temperament also gives Mr Obama a big advantage in foreign policy. Healthcare reform ought to be among the highest priorities of the next president; Mr Obama’s proposals are rightly more ambitious than his rival’s and would do much more to widen coverage.

All in all, I think it is right to regard Mr Obama as a once-in-a-generation politician and an opportunity that the country ought to grasp. And yet, as I say, I have reservations.

If he wins, he will have to carry an insupportable burden of expectations and this is partly his own fault. His theme of momentous historic change has often tipped over into self-parody – “the moment when the world’s oceans stopped rising” and so forth. Far from giving his supporters pause, this kind of stuff only raised them to a higher state of ecstasy. He encouraged them.

Great presidents inspire but they also deliver. The plain fact is, Mr Obama cannot deliver what he has promised. The problems he will confront are too difficult. The parallel with Tony Blair is impossible for a Briton to ignore. Enthusiasm among Mr Obama’s supporters is not just naive, it borders on the deranged, much like the enthusiasm in Britain in 1997 for Mr Blair. Remember how everything was possible, finally? “Things can only get better.” Look how that worked out.

My other big reservation is on economics. Here Mr Obama remains an unknown quantity. He can talk a good centrist line, as he did in last week’s 30-minute campaign broadcast, praising American values of self-reliance, enterprise and innovation. But he is also a sceptic on liberal trade and rails against companies that “send jobs abroad”.

Some of Mr Obama’s centrist supporters believe that his position on trade is purely tactical. (In Mr McCain, it would be called “cynical”.) I wonder. He has done nothing to modify it since winning the nomination. Perhaps he really believes that taxes, mandates and trade barriers can keep jobs at home and improve living standards. He has surrounded himself with advisers who think this is nonsense but they have made no detectable impression on his campaign speeches. So who knows?

In general Mr Obama takes a more expansive view of the economic role of government than did Bill Clinton, for instance. His political style is that of a Clintonian New Democrat – with its rhetorical moderation, pro-enterprise talking points and calls for co-operation with political opponents. But his economic analysis often harks back to a more old-fashioned kind of liberalism, with its emphasis on redistribution, regulation and national priorities.

As I have already said, I am for universal healthcare. I see the case for making US income taxes somewhat more progressive and especially for using tax credits to improve the rewards for work at low incomes. The financial crisis was indeed the consequence, in part, of regulatory failure. On all these points, there is merit in Mr Obama’s positions. But it is unclear how far he wants to push – and I am not sure I trust his instincts. There is a limit to how far you can raise taxes on the highly paid without seriously damaging incentives. Regulation is a hit and miss affair and it is as easy to cripple an economy with too much as too little. A great deal of creative destruction – including “shipping jobs abroad” – is the price you pay for long-term economic vitality.

Perhaps Mr Obama agrees. If he had said so, I could cast the vote I do not have with greater enthusiasm.

Send your comments to clive.crook@gmail.com

选择正确答案

Which of the following best descripts the author's purpose?

Obvious.

To express his support to Obama.
To remind readers about the weakness of Obama.
To predict the result of the US election.
To explain why he support Obama with reservation.

选择正确答案

Which of the following would be a reason to support Obama, according to the author?

The other three are among the author's concerns.

People expect a lot from him.
He cares about the poor.
He will fullfill his promises made during election.
His attitude toward free trade.

选择正确答案

According the author, to gain social and economic advance, Black Americans need to:

Check out this: "Nonetheless, one great barrier to the social and economic advance of black Americans is self-imposed. Few things are more debilitating than an excuse for failure"

Support Obama.
Stop making excuses for their own failure.
Learn from other ethnic groups, like Asians.
Step up their effort to get more favorable treatments.

选择正确答案

The author would agree that:

Check the last few paragraphs.

Free trade is a good thing.
Although not an American citizen, he should have the right to vote for Obama.
In terms of economics, Obama is better than Clinton.
Both Obama and McCain will do a better job than Bush.

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您的正确率太低，在目前这个阶段，对你来说最重要的是提高英文水平和金融专业水平，而不是速度。请您点击后退仔细查看您答错的题目，并和原文对照。对原文中所有不懂的句子和知识点，也请一一查明。建议您：
1. 在进行下一次训练的时候，将滚屏速度保持在100以下。
2. 您可以找一些有声读物，如《经济学人》的audio edition，帮助你提高英文水平。

看得出你是非常认真来进行这次训练的，如果你坚持的话，你会获得非常大的提高。目前你的阅读速度偏低，可能是因为英文不是你的母语。不过，请不要放慢阅读速度。研究表明，阅读速度越快的人，其理解的正确率反而越高。因此，您可以同时提高您的阅读速度和理解能力。给你一点建议：
1. 一定要改掉默念的习惯
2. 不要一个词一个词的看，要学会把一个语义群当作一个整体来看。比如“an emergency $180bn injection of dollar”这个语义群，你要学会把他当作一个整体来看。
3. 看DVD的时候，切换到英文字幕。

用正常语速来朗读一篇文章，平均速度是每分钟140词。这说明你的阅读速度比朗读还要慢。建议您：1. 每一段的第一句话往往是最重要的。
2. “速读”最忌讳的就是“读”，不要一边看一边默念。
3. 在下一个训练中将滚屏速度设为140，迫使自己不能回头去看已经读过的部分。

您的阅读速度已经超过了正常语速，说明你已经开始有些速读的感觉了。美国大学生的最低阅读速度为每分钟250词，加把劲你就可以赶上了。建议您：
1. 养成习惯，读过的部分不要回头去看，这样会影响速读。
2. 加强“扫描”的训练，让自己的眼睛能“一目一行”。

您的阅读速度已经达到了美国大学生的水平，可喜可贺。不过作为金融从业人员，每天需要阅读数不清的中英文研究报告、公司年报、报刊杂志等，您还需要向每分钟350字进军。建议您：
1. 加强“扫描”的训练，让自己的眼睛能“一目两行”。
2. 对中英文的数字，尤其是大数字(million, billion)的转换进行总结和练习。

厉害，您的阅读速度已经超过了美国大学生的水平。不过，要成为巴菲特那样的金融专家，您需要锻炼出“一目十行”的火眼金睛。建议您在每次的训练中注意三个要点：
1. 您已经学会了将文章分成语义群，而非词来阅读，现在，你需要扩大每一个语义群中的词数。
2. 加快阅读每个语义群的速度。
3. 看过的内容尽量不要回看。

这就是传说中的“一目十行”吗？难以置信！

世界纪录才每分钟416,250字，居然被你破了！无语...