江晚水烟微，沙空鸟自飞。今天上午2018年12月1号的场次是SAT改革后全球范围第33场新SAT考试，即亚洲第13场考试（School Day和补考除外）。在8月北美场次重复旧题，10月亚洲场次部分考生成绩延迟，以及10月和11月北美评分严苛等事件和风波之后，12月考试作为2018年的最后一场考试如约而至。
 
本场是部分新人的首秀，也是很多老鸟的决战。但大家心态似乎放平了许多，报考经验也趋于成熟，少有听说去北美撞运气考生，而且很多学生会选择提前注册澳门和一些香港小考场考位来避免一些不可控因素影响出分。一如既往，在为学生提供优质送考服务的同时，沃邦坚持整理最全的考试资料，研究并预测最新考试趋势，习惯性派出多名教师亲赴考场参与考试，希望能够大家带来及时而又专业的考情回顾！
 

考试概述

 
本场虽然没有再次出现之前重复试卷使用的情况，但昨晚该套试题仍在小范围内流传，据传是10月10日北美schoolday题目，然而并不影响整体的考试公平性。题目整体难度中等偏上，与2018年10月亚太场次难易水平基本相似，尤其阅读部分文章结构排序几乎一模一样，所以可以预计阅读评分标准也很可能趋于一致，但语法普遍反应简单curve可能会很高。
 

各科回忆 

阅读部分

阅读第 1 篇文章概述
小说刻画一个 grinder的形象，通过开始描述别人对于问其年龄的置之不理，转向描写grinder不断吹嘘自己的工作有多么引以为傲，自己的技术是多么的高潮纯熟，虽然当地的其他人并不这么觉得，但是当出现了另一个与之性格相反，一向默默无闻的另一个grinder的时候，主人公开始改变自己的策略去吸引更多的顾客，其中竟然包括60天的质保服务，如果有问题只是重新给人加工处理，并不会更多争辩。
 
阅读第 1 篇题目
文章结构题目
写作中心从什么变成了什么，main focus shifts from what to what？ 
本题解题重点在可以利用排除法把带有livelihood等完全无中生有选项做适当排除，答案可得。
 
词汇题
考察pressed，本题需要放在语境下，看到是其他人不断追问其年龄，让其感觉到很压迫很紧迫，选项有，urged，occupied等。
 
询证题
题目文主人公Ranga 相比于过去，现在如何？
本题考查作者变化，可以从下面证据部分知道对应信息，其中有younger people对应 overdue older 等。
 
细节题
考查磨刀匠遇到的顾客都是什么样的？
定位知道到其与顾客的谈话，其中有信息顾客对于他的新方法不感兴趣，勉强接受的信息。选项包括：hypocritical action，sarcastic等。
 
询证题
考察磨刀匠的新策略效果如何？通过定位到后面四个证据，找到其 实效果不佳，对应信息有reluctant等信息，本题可以解答。
 
功能题
问作者文章中  an egg用法的作用，本题需要通过an egg定位到是磨刀匠评价对手时候的一个比喻用法，强调了到的使用功能。
 

 

 
阅读第 2 篇文章概述
文章主要基调是论述美国文化以及与英国文化之间的关系，最后谈到美国文化应该何去何从。
 
主要内容
第一段，重点讲解美国现在有一个很好的基础，美国文化在活跃的发展，其中作者Whitman是比其他人对这一点体会更佳深刻。
 
第二段，论述了在美国，英国文化的特点，其中尤其是以多为主要特点，作者认为是可以作为借鉴学习的很好的资源。
 
第三段，文章论述核心部分，重点分析了美国应该如何对待英国文化，其中指出要在借鉴学习的基础上，描写自己的生活，自己的诗歌，进而形成自己的文化。
 
阅读第 2 篇题目
11题，考察文章结构变化，main focus shift from what to what?
本题目可利用关键词有效排除，例如选项中 introduction of a theory 等。
 
12题，whiteman表明美国文化的重要组成部分，可以更多的依赖什么？
选项有：纽约；一般人的工作；更重视诗歌，城市的普通生活等。
本题需要参照下面询证题，周到对应的表达，形成匹配答案，普通人的生活。
 
13题，同上。
 
14题， 词汇题，考察drawn的含义，其中选项包括，provoked，dragged，extracted等，本题需要放在语境之下，理解作者描述自己与其他人的不同，更佳冷静客观的分析美国文化的特征。
 
15题，段落功能题，考察第二段（16-28line）作用？本题目可以通过排除绝对词选项，例如everything等，然后定位段落分析观点句，重点强调在美的英国文化如此之多，值得借鉴。
 
16题，词汇题，考察rich的作用，选项有：manifestly affluent，deeply colored等，解题需要分析语境下英国文化的特点，本题可以解题。
 
17题，观点题，考察Whitman对于在美的英国文化，应该被如何看待？
本题可以通过选项中的情感态度类词汇解题，例如，a 讲到critics，可以通过情感态度进行有效排出。另外，把握作者观点，广泛吸收借鉴并有创新。
 
18题，询证题，Whitman暗示，美国文化和英国文化应该处于何种关系？
可以通过文章的中心，对于在美国的英国文化进行学习借鉴然后发展自己的文学对用到观点homage。
 
19题，同上。
 
20题，段落主旨，考察Whitman在最后一段（29-62line）中的观点？选项有： 美国resist the creation a literature new and original; 美国literature needed and overdue等。
 
21题，问Whitman在最后一段的祈使句的作用是什么？本题可以通过文章主旨以及关键词进行排除，例如选项中struggle of American writers.
 

 
阅读第 3 篇文章概述
第一段先概述coffee Berry borer对农业农民带来的危害，它们会吃咖啡豆，但是咖啡因对一般的昆虫是有危害的，所以它们必须抵抗这种caffine
 
研究者们提出了一个假说，在毒素被吸收之前，虫子里的细菌可能在抵抗这些咖啡因，但不知是何种细菌
 
实验人员在wild bettles中做实验发现了一种叫fulva的细菌，里面有一种酶可以转化咖啡因。研究人员表示如果用一种antibiotics可以杀死这种细菌，便可以杀死这种虫子。但不确定需要吸收多少这样的antibiotics才能起到作用（此处是括号有出题），再者过渡使用antibiotics有可能使这些细菌生成抵抗性。还有另一种方法可以消除这个细菌，用bacteriophage，这个方法已经被研究用来给人治病
 
最后一段是作者的评价，有可能虫子内有其他细菌会代替fulva和bacteriophage，但是这个研究是一个非常novel的方式，可以帮助我们理解pest control 
 
阅读第 3 篇题目
第 22 题 主旨题
 
第 23 题 词汇题 diminish选项中有 belittle reduce distcredit underestimate 
 
第 24 题 问borer对农民完成影响是因为什么
 
第 25 题 单一询证 问假如那些虫吸收了咖啡因会对他们的maturation有何种影响
 
第 26 题 词汇题 confer
 
第 27 题 考括号句子的作用 by no means certain, for the larvae would have to ingest sufficient antibiotic for the purpose
 
第 28、29 题 双询证，考p.fulva的细节信息
 
第 30、31 题 图表题
 

 
 
阅读第 4 篇文章概述
第四篇是典型社会学科科研型文章。
 
第一段通过最高法院开会描写来引入话题，最高法院开会的平等组织形式尽量避免法官之间的相互干扰。
 
第二段点出实验问题。
 
第三段实验过程，单个实验对象被放入房间被一群群众演员”actors”包围（实验对象误以为其他人也是来参与实验），被问到问题很简单，三根明显长度不同的线，哪个跟第四根长度一致。但是actors已被研究人员授意说一个明显错误的答案，实验发现在迫于多数压力的情况下，就算答案如此明显，大部分的个体还是会服从大家意见，给出一个错误的答案。
 
第四五段说这不是说实验对象容易操控的问题，其实在现实生活中，不管你多坚定多智商高，都有多数压力而质疑自己的情况，不敢speak up。
 
第六段研究对象进一步改变了实验设计，让其中一个（！）其中群众演员说出正确的答案（其他演员还是说错误的答案），但就这么一个小改动就可能让实验对象坚持正确的答案，speak up！
 
阅读第 4 篇题目
第 33 题 考第一段主旨，问supreme court cases以这种方式组织的目的是什么
 
第 34 题 词汇题 represent  
 
第 35 题 单一询证题 第一个实验用各种方式避免结果是由subjects error in perception引起的evidence
 
第 36 题 问suject为什么用双引号，这是一个常见考点。
答案选强调实验者的策略？
 
第 37 题 问作者对第一次实验服从大多数人判断对实验对象有什么看法（注意考的是作者态度）
 
第 38 题 针对37题的询证题
 
第 39 题 问作者第二部实验设计要回答什么问题？
正确选项：假如group没有unanimity可以让持反对意见的speak up
 
第 40-42 题 图表题
  
阅读第 5 篇文章概述
开始讲解Darwin 研究蚯蚓的印象，尤其是在野外环境下，其中有一种声音是蚯蚓的存在是有益的，尤其是对有利于植物生长的土而言，并论证了其整个有利于土壤的过程。
 
下一段开始做反对观点分析，重点讲解蚯蚓的存在有一定负面作用，其中包括影响估计，以及会对水土腐蚀作出一定贡献，让土壤被侵蚀，总结说蚯蚓的影响力巨大。
 
阅读第 5 篇题目
43细节题，考查Darwin的特质是什么？，是对人物特点的分析，选项都以 a thinker who 定语从句形式出现，选项有：modern thinker，insightful thinker，innovative thinker，imaginative thinker等。
 
44题，词汇题，考察词组，claims for，其中定位到文首，可以看到达尔文对于蚯蚓有很多claims，选项有，request，allowance，assertion，right等。
 
45题，询证题，考察第一篇哪个证据让达尔文相信蚯蚓有利于对植物有意的土壤？
本题可以通过定位，找到第二段其中描述蚯蚓对土壤的反动，造成营养丰富有利于土壤。
 
46题，功能题，其中考察指代词 “they are” 反复出现的作用是什么，本题根据定位词需要找到该信息属于讲解蚯蚓对鱼土壤的破坏力，题目可解。
 
47题，细节题，考察第二篇文章中国年 great lakes具备什么特征，本题目可以根据定位找到文首部分对于great lake以及下文信息综合，下文有提到入侵等。选项有：foundation of the ecosystem，entry point for invasion，local manifestation，ongoing safeguard等。
 

语法部分

  
语法第 1 篇文章概述
第一篇主要讲科学家观察到章鱼的颜色变化 展开研究 发现部分章鱼变色的秘密。
 
语法第 1 篇题目
第一题考察简洁，选择最简单的visual signals
 
第二题平行结构 pattern与前两个词平行
 
第三题为过渡，大意是“通过他们获得的信息”
 
第四题为词汇题，选择decode表示“揭示”
 
第五题为标点符号题目，答案为cromatic, or color, components
 
第六题为主谓一致，主语是expansion，所以选择单数
 
第七题为语料支持题，大意是仍然与颜色有关
 
第八题考察不完整句，“for example”作为插入语
 
第九题为过渡，后文内容是“科学家还不清楚某些方面”，所以选择despite these findings
 
第十题为标点符号，应为Crittermun's findings
 
第十一题考察结论，大意应为“虽然章鱼的结构非常简单，我们对其还是知之甚少”
 

 
语法第 2 篇文章概述
主要讲述了音乐行业从业者需要更多地发展技能，拓展收入手段。
 
语法第 2 篇题目
第十二题考察标点，应为“People believe that”
 
第十三题为词汇题，选择primarily
 
第十四题为语料支持，前句说他有很多音乐方面的关系，所以答案为“通过这些关系他可以获得稳定工作机会”
 
第十五题为逻辑主语，前半句内容为“不光是打磨他作为音乐家的技巧”，所以选择以主角Zabrocki作为主语的D选项
 
第十六题为语料支持，需要一个quotation。全文都在讲多样化的重要性，所以选择diversification
 
第十七题为图表题，收入只有一个来源的人约为900余人
 
第十八题为图标题，表上可以看出，大部分人都有两个以上的来源，而两个和三个来源的人是最多的
 
第十九题考察简洁，选择主角Z也是有“三个收入来源”的人
 
第二十题为标点符号，creates songs与前面的几个动作平行，所以用逗号
 
第二十一题考察主谓一致，主语是Having something，所以为单数
 
第二十二题考察合并句子，选择“通过（by）那些忠实客户，音乐从业者可以养活自己”
 

 
语法第 3 篇文章概述
大意是随着科技的发展一些存储档案的技术会过时不能被使用，所以要回归到传统的高质量的档案纸。
 
语法第 3 篇题目
第 23 题 考察时态
第 24 题 标点符号的使用
第 25 题 考查哪句话符合段落竹纸大意
第 26 题 词汇搭配，考察兼容的意思
第 27 题 标点符号的考察
第 28 题 句子合并题
第 29 题 考查是否需要添加所给的句子信息
第 30 题 考查平行结构
第 31 题 代词指代
第 32 题 考察是否需要添加所给句子信息
第 33 题 考察标点符号的使用
 

 
语法第 4 篇文章概述
大意是20世纪三十年代当时只有精装版的书，但是携带非常不方便且卖书的地方也有限，于是孕生出了口袋书。
 
语法第 4 篇题目
第 34 题 涉及到标点符号，前面有括号
第 35 题 涉及句子的合并
第 36 题 考查上下句修饰连接
第 37 题 是否需要转折词but,前面已经有though
第 38 题 词汇的辨析，observe，view等词
第 39 题 时态和主谓一致，涉及到was,are等选项
第 40 题 横线句子是否需要保留
第 41 题 涉及上下文句子是否保留和段尾句
第 42 题 同上
第 43 题 考察介词的搭配
第 44 题 上下句连接词的考察，选nevertheless
 

数学部分

 总体概述

本次数学较简单，同学们大部分题目只要仔细计算大都能做对。但也出现了考察三角函数的较难考点；统计学的题目中两次出现了margin of error的知识点，值得以后备考的同学们注意此类知识点。此外考试中需要阅读的题目有所减少，欺骗选项也不多。几道难题（例如给出折旧率要求学生计算多年后的残值，计算一个点在图形阴影部分的概率）有些同学可能会有些困惑。
 

作文部分 

作文分析

这次12月的Essay Writing部分难度较高，作者是在分析目前外语学习方面的一些常见的误区，呼吁美国大学要将外语学习纳入大学课程，这样才能为21世纪储备更多的人才。
 
文章从写作策略来说，主要是反驳（counterargument），也可以是to clarify misconceptions, to rebut mistaken beliefs，此外， 作者引用了一些典型例子以及大量first-hand observation。 鉴于作者就是大学教授，所以他的观点某种程度上来说就是有专业性和说服力的，文章中没有考生常见的数字或者大量的研究报告。 
 
In an era of dwindling budgets, universities have identified language programs as an area for possible cuts. Languages with few students are being framed as luxuries that cannot be afforded during a time of scarcity. The target is easy: Language instruction is delivered by nontenured faculty members to a much greater extent than most other subjects are. Some universities have even announced that entire language departments might be eliminated as a way to, euphemistically, realign resource allocation with emerging priorities. There is a fundamental misunderstanding of the role that language learning should play in undergraduate and graduate curricula, which could seriously imperil the ability of the university to educate the students of the 21st century.
文章一开始引用了不少常见的外语学习领域的常见错误：美国大学对外语教学不重视，具体的表现是： language instruction delivered by non-tenured faculty numbers, entire language departments might be eliminated。 作者开宗明义地告诉我们， 这些都是对语言学习重要性的错误认知(fundamental misunderstandings)，这些错误认知是有害的—影响了美国大学为21世纪培养所需人才。 
 
The conventional wisdom among university administrators is that languages are helpful only as tools to achieve an end, such as being able to live, work, or do research in countries where operating in English is not an option. My casual conversations with parents of students and with officials of external sources of support, including government agencies and foundations, reveal a similarly limited view. This stance is as shortsighted as it is widespread among the people who make key decisions about resource allocation across disciplines and programs, and among those who pay for our students' education.
作者指出了第一个错误认知(conventional wisdom)：多数教育者都认为语言只是工具，作者批评说，这样的普遍性的错误观点是short-sighted， 他的观点是，这样的方式学习外语， 忽略了target language所背后的文化学习。 从For example这里开始，作者以英语国家为例，证明了就算在English-speaking countries, 学习者必须要了解细微的文化差异。 
 
We know from research and experience that acquiring another language makes students better problem solvers, unleashing their ability to identify problems, enriching the ways in which they search and process information, and making them aware of issues and perspectives that they would otherwise ignore. I have often observed that students with exposure to two or more languages and cultures are more creative in their thinking, especially when it comes to tackling complex problems that do not have clear solutions.
 
Learners of languages, by exposing themselves to other cultures and institutional arrangements, are more likely to see differences of opinion and conflicts by approaching a problem from perspectives that incorporate the values and norms of others as well as their own. Knowledge of other languages also fosters tolerance and mutual understanding. Language learning is thus much more than becoming operational in an environment different than one's own. It is a powerful way of appreciating and respecting the diversity of the world.
这两端作者是作者进一步强化了他的观点，学习外语需要了解目标语言的文化的重要性：学习外语能够让学生更好地解决问题。作者引用了大量的first-hand observation，从两个方面论证了自己的观点，一方面是会外语让学生从不同角度去处理信息，另一方面是学会从他人的立场去理解问题、处理问题。语言能够增进不同文化之间的宽容和理解，为多元化的世界做出贡献。这一段的关键词就是如何正确理解perspective。 这些大量的logical reasoning都是非常有力地支持了作者的观点，即：语言学习不能仅仅视为工具，语言学习对世界的融合起到了关键性的作用。
 
Another common misconception about the study of languages is that globalization has reduced the market value of most of them while increasing that of English, the lingua franca of business, science, and technology. According to that logic, students would be wise to invest their time and energy in other subjects once they have mastered spoken and written English. While it is true that major multinational companies use English at their most important meetings, I continue to come across case-based evidence indicating that if you work for a German, Japanese, Chinese, Swedish, or Brazilian company, you'd better speak the language of the home country, or you will be at a disadvantage when it comes to understanding the subtleties of decision-making and advancing your career. English proficiency may have become a necessary qualification for employment at most multinational organizations, but it is certainly not sufficient to pursue a successful professional career in an international context. 
作者提出了第二个错误观点，忽视了其它语言的价值。为了反驳这个错误观点，作者进行了逻辑分析，在这样的错误观点的指导下，学生的错误做法是，学生在掌握了英语的听说能力后，就可以开始学习别的学科了，作者认为这是错误的。他通过引用facts来反驳这样的观点：在真正的跨国企业，学习对方国家的语言是很重要的，作者在这里还运用了一个concession，认为仅仅是英语能力，在跨国公司工作是不足的。
 
Students who are serious about engaging in a demanding activity, whether learning to speak a language or play a musical instrument, are more motivated to learn other subjects. The language learner is undaunted by the difficulty of the task and eager to benefit from the discipline that language instruction offers. I teach sociology and management courses to undergraduate and graduate students. Those who have knowledge of languages other than English tend to perform better.
作者以大学老师的经证明，能说外语的学生学习动力更强，他用了analogy和comparison的写作方法来证明他的观点。 
 
By undermining the importance of learning other languages, we are losing an opportunity to educate our students to be better citizens of the world, and failing to provide them with the tools and mind-set they need to understand and solve complex problems. Learning a language exercises the mind and enriches the spirit. It is a fundamentally humbling process by which students learn that their culture and way of expressing it are relative, not absolute. That perspective makes them more open to other points of view, and more likely to avoid one-size-fits-all solutions to the problems of the world.
最后，作者用fear strategy来提醒错误观点的危害，We are losing an opportunity to educate our students to be better citizens of the world. 再次强调，学习外语给了学生重要的视角（perspective）批评了“一刀切”（one-size-fits-all）的错误观念。
 

 

附录

 阅读题原文

阅读第 1 篇文章原文
When pressed to state his age, Ranga would generally reply, ‘Fifty, sixty or eighty.’ You might change your tactics and inquire, ‘How long have you been at this job?’ 
 
‘Which job?’ 
 
‘Carrying that grinding wheel around and sharpening knives.’ 
‘Not only knives, but also scythes, clippers and every kind of peeler and cutter in your kitchen, also bread knives, even butcher’s hatchets in those days when I carried the big grindstone; in those days I could even sharpen a maharaja’s sword’ (a favorite fantasy of his was that if armies employed swords he could become a millionaire). You might interrupt his loquaciousness and repeat your question: ‘How long have you been a sharpener of knives and other things?’ ‘Ever since a line of moustache began to appear here,’ he would say, drawing a finger over his lip. You would not get any further by studying his chin now overlaid with patchy tufts of discolored hair. Apparently he never looked at a calendar, watch, almanac or even a mirror. In such a blissful state, clad in a dhoti, khaki shirt and turban, his was a familiar figure in the streets of Malgudi as he slowly passed in front of homes, offering his service in a high- pitched, sonorous cry, ‘Knives and scissors sharpened.’ 
 
He stuck his arm through the frame of a portable grinding apparatus; an uncomplicated contraption operated by an old cycle wheel connected to a foot-pedal. At the Market Road he dodged the traffic and paused in front of tailor’s and barber’s shops, offering his services. But those were an erratic and unreliable lot, encouraging him by word but always suggesting another time for business. If they were not busy cutting hair or clothes (tailors, particularly, never seemed to have a free moment, always stitching away on overdue orders), they locked up and sneaked away, and Ranga had to be watchful and adopt all kinds of strategies in order to catch them. Getting people to see the importance of keeping their edges sharp was indeed a tiresome mission. People’s reluctance and lethargy had, initially, to be overcome. At first sight everyone dismissed him with, ‘Go away, we have nothing to grind,’ but if he persisted and dallied, some member of the family was bound to produce a rusty knife, and others would follow, vying with one another, presently, to ferret out long-forgotten junk and clamour for immediate attention. But it generally involved much canvassing, coaxing and even aggressiveness on Ranga’s part; occasionally he would warn, ‘If you do not sharpen your articles now, you may not have another chance, since I am going away on a pilgrimage.’ 
 
‘Makes no difference, we will call in the other fellow,’ someone would say, referring to a competitor, a miserable fellow who operated a hand grinder, collected his cash and disappeared, never giving a second look to his handiwork. He was a fellow without a social standing, and no one knew his name, no spark ever came out of his wheel, while Ranga created a regular pyrotechnic display and passing children stood transfixed by the spectacle. ‘All right,’ Ranga would retort, ‘I do not grudge the poor fellow his luck, but he will impart to your knife the sharpness of an egg; after that I won’t be able to do anything for you. You must not think that anyone and everyone could handle steel. Most of these fellows don’t know the difference between a knife blade and a hammerhead.’ 
 
Ranga’s customers loved his banter and appreciated his work, which he always guaranteed for sixty days. ‘If it gets dull before then, you may call me son of a . . . Oh, forgive my letting slip such words . . .’ If he were to be assailed for defective execution, he could always turn round 
 
and retort that so much depended upon the quality of metal, and the action of sun and rain, and above all the care in handling, but he never argued with his customers; he just sharpened the knives free of cost on his next round. Customers always liked to feel that they had won a point, and Ranga would say to himself, ‘After all, it costs nothing, only a few more turns of the wheel and a couple of sparks off the stone to please the eye.
 
THE EDGE 
By Narayan 1994
 
阅读第 2 篇文章原文
Swiftly, on limitless foundations, the United States too are founding a literature. It is all as well done, in my opinion, as could be practicable. Each element here is in condition. Every day I go among the people of Manhattan Island, Brooklyn, and other cities, and among the young men, to discover the spirit of them, and to refresh myself. These are to be attended to; I am myself more drawn here than to those authors, publishers, importations, reprints, and so forth. I pass coolly through those, understanding them perfectly well. and that they do the indispensable service, outside of men like me, which nothing else could do. In poems, the young men of The States shall be represented, for they out-rival the best of the rest of the earth.
 
The lists of ready-made literature which America inherits by the mighty inheritance of the English language—all the rich repertoire of traditions, poems, historics, metaphysics, plays, classics, translations, have made, and still continue, magnificent preparations for that other plainly signified literature, to be our own, to be electric, fresh, lusty, to express the full-sized body, male and female—to give the modern meanings of things, to grow up beautiful, lasting, commensurate with America, with all the passions of home, with the inimitable sympathies of having been boys and girls together, and of parents who were with our parents.
 
What else can happen The States, even in their own despite? That huge English flow, so sweet, so undeniable, has done incalculable good here, and is to be spoken of for its own sake with generous praise and with gratitude. Yet the price The States have had to lie under for the same has not been a small price. Payment prevails; a nation can never take the issues of the needs of other nations for nothing. America, grandest of lands in the theory of its politics, in popular reading, in hospitality, breadth, animal beauty, cities, ships, machines, money, credit, collapses quick as lightning at the repeated, admonishing, stern words, Where are any mental expressions from you, beyond what you have copied or stolen? Where the born throngs of poets, literats, orators, you promised? Will you but tag after other nations? They struggled long for their literature, painfully working their way, some with deficient languages, some with priest-craft, some in the endeavor just to live—yet achieved for their times, works, poems, perhaps the only solid consolation left to them through ages afterward of shame and decay. You are young, have the perfectest of dialects, a free press, a free government, the world forwarding its best to be with you. As justice has been strictly done to you, from this hour do strict justice to yourself. Strangle the singers who will not sing you loud and strong. Open the doors of The West. Call for new great masters to comprehend new arts, new perfections, new wants. Submit to the most robust bard till he remedy your barrenness. Then you will not need to adopt the heirs of others; you will have true heirs, begotten of yourself, blooded with your own blood.
 
<a letter from Whitman to Emerson 1856>
选自<leaves of grass>草叶集
  
阅读第 3 篇文章原文
THE coffee-berry borer is a pesky beetle. It is thought to destroy $500m-worth of unpicked coffee beans a year, thus diminishing the incomes of some 20m farmers. The borer spends most of its life as a larva, buried inside a coffee berry, feeding on the beans within. To do so, it has to defy the toxic effects of caffeine. This is a substance which, though pleasing to people, is fatal to insects—except, for reasons hitherto unknown, to the coffee-berry borer. But those reasons are unknown no longer. A team of researchers led by Eoin Brodie of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Fernando Vega of the United States Department of Agriculture had a suspicion the answer lay not with the beetle itself, but with the bacteria in its gut. As they outline in Nature Communications, that suspicion has proved correct.
 
The team’s hypothesis was that the borer’s gut bacteria are shielding it by eating any caffeine it has ingested before the poison can be absorbed through the insect’s gut wall. Experiments on a laboratory-reared strain of the borer suggested this hypothesis was probably true. Initially, the larvae’s droppings were caffeine-free. When the lab-reared insects were dosed with antibiotics, this changed. Caffeine started appearing in their droppings, and the animals themselves began, as it were, dropping off the perch. Over the course of an experiment lasting 44 days after their guts had been sterilised (a period that let the insects complete an entire life cycle of egg, larva, pupa and adult), the population of the experimental colonies fell by 95%—and even those larvae that did not die had trouble pupating. Clearly, immunity to caffeine was being conferred by bacteria. The question was, which ones?
 
To answer that, Dr Brodie and Dr Vega turned to wild beetles. They collected samples from seven coffee-growing countries and combed through the insects’ gut floras, looking for features in common. By constructing what was, in effect, a Venn diagram of microbes from these populations, and also those from their lab-bred strain, they were able to focus on the bacterial species found in all of them.
 
They tried growing each of these on a medium whose only source of carbon and nitrogen for metabolism was caffeine. Some of the bugs were able to survive on this diet, others were not. Of the survivors, the most abundant in beetle guts was Pseudomonas fulva. This species, a genetic analysis showed, is blessed with an enzyme called caffeine demethylase, which converts caffeine into something that can be dealt with by normal metabolic enzymes.
 
Kill P. fulva, then, and you would probably kill the borer. But that is easier said than done. Even if spraying coffee plantations with antibiotics were feasible and would do the job (by no means certain, for the larvae would have to ingest sufficient antibiotic for the purpose), it would be undesirable. The profligate use of antibiotics encourages resistance, thus making them less effective for saving human lives.
 
There might, though, be another way of getting at P. fulva. This would be to craft a type of virus, known as a bacteriophage, specific to the bug—an approach already being investigated for the treatment of human illness caused by a different species of Pseudomonas.
 
In practice, more than one type of phage would probably be needed, for if P. fulva were knocked out, another caffeine-consuming bacterium in the beetle’s gut might end up replacing it. But, regardless of the details, this study has introduced a novel way of thinking about pest control. Many plants use poisons to protect themselves from insects. Sometimes, such plants are crops. Being able to circumvent these natural insecticides is an important part of becoming abundant enough to constitute a pest. It is possible other agronomists who have been seeking to understand how critters do this have been looking in the wrong place—ie, at the critters themselves, rather than among the bacteria in their guts.
 

 
阅读第 4 篇文章原文
“The conference is purposely structured and has been run in essentially the same way since the 1800s. “In the conference, we go around the table in order of seniority, from the chief justice down to the most recent appointment,” Breyer explained, “and everybody speaks once before anybody speaks twice.” This ensures that every opinion is represented. “Each person might spend five minutes per case…They’re trying to explain their reasons for which direction they’re leaning. And everybody writes down what everybody else says. And then there’ll be some discussion back and forth afterwards. And on the basis of that discussion—which is a preliminary discussion—it’s fairly clear how the Court is likely to break down.”
 
The group dynamic that the conference unintentionally avoids was first empirically studied by Solomon Asch in a landmark psychology experiment. This study not only illuminates what goes on in the Supreme Court, but also explains how the role played by a single individual can shift an entire group’s opinion.
 
In Asch’s study each participant was placed in a room with several other people. The participants were told they would be tested for visual acuity. The task seemed simple enough: the group was shown[…]”
“and each person was asked to determine which of the three lines matched a fourth line. It was pretty straightforward; the lengths were so glaringly different that you certainly didn’t need a magnifying glass or a ruler.
 
But what the participant didn’t know was that the other “subjects” in the room were really actors, and all of them had been instructed to give the same wrong answer. As the actors called out their erroneous answers one by one, the real participant was bewildered. But something strange happened: rather than stick to their guns, most participants began to doubt themselves and their lone dissenting opinion. What if I misunderstood something, or what if I’ve been looking at the lines from a weird angle? Time and again, they figured that it was best to go along with the group—and save themselves the embarrassment of being odd man out. Indeed, 75 percent of subjects joined the group in giving the wrong answer in at least one round.
 
Now, it’s easy to dismiss the study participants as being too easily manipulated. But regardless of how independent-minded and steadfast we may think we are, we’re all tempted at times to align ourselves “with a group. We may worry that if we voice an unpopular viewpoint others will doubt our “intelligence, taste, or competence. Or we may just not want to make waves. The challenge is to know when to speak up.
 
Breyer explained that even when the thought “Oh, I’m the only one” arises, he’ll speak up, saying something like, “I actually don’t agree, but I’ll swallow it because there’s no point writing a dissent in this. I don’t feel that strongly about it.” He added, “If I’m all by myself, I have to feel pretty strongly before I write a dissent.” This reasoning makes perfect sense. If justices were to write a formal dissent every time they disagreed on a small point, the Court would come to a standstill. But the fact that a dissenter speaks up can make all the difference.
 
As Asch found, although the sway of group conformity is incredibly strong, it depends on unanimity for its power. In a variation of the line study, Asch ran the experiment exactly as before (an unsuspecting participant, a room full of actors giving the wrong answer), but this time he added a single actor who gave the right answer. This lone dissenting voice was enough to break the spell, as it “gave permission” to the real participant to break ranks with the other members of the group.
 

 
阅读第 5 篇文章原文
 
5 - 2
In the 1990s, biologist Cindy Hale took a field trip to Chippewa National Forest in the middle of northern Minnesota. There she saw a changed landscape. Gone were forest floor plants like ferns and wildflowers and understory plants like bushes and tree saplings that make up the middle height of the forest. She and other ecologists on the field trip were given a surprising reason for the loss of the plants and the ecosystem they sustained: invasive earthworms. 
 
To get an idea of the earthworms’ destruction, picture these forests before European settlers — and their earthworms — arrived in the Great Lakes region around 200 years ago. Leaves, twigs and other plant debris had accumulated on the forest floor over the years and created a thick layer of what is called duff. Fungi, bacteria and microscopic invertebrates such as mites slowly broke down this debris. The duff held moisture like a sponge, nurturing the growth of many understory plants like wildflowers, shrubs and tree seedlings. Small animals and birds nested and fed on the forest floor and in understory foliage.
 
When the first European earthworms arrived, they began doing what they always do: munching, mixing and moving. Some plant litter earthworms munched through the forest floor and its fungi and bacteria. Burrowing species, like the common nightcrawler, pulled leaf litter down into their holes to finish munching and mixing. Slowly, earthworms destroyed the duff on which wildflowers, understory shrubs and tree seedlings depended.
 
Listing the effects of invasive earthworms on northern hardwood forests is overwhelming.
 
Shown in blue are the areas of North America covered by glaciers 11,000 to 14,000 years ago. Most of the area of glaciation was earthworm-free until European settlers introduced earthworms in the 1600s.
 
GREAT LAKES WORM WATCH
 
Before long, says Lee Frelich of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Forest Ecology, “Earthworms become the dominant living thing that influences the ecosystem. They influence the type of plants that can grow, the type of insects that can live there, the habitat for wildlife species and the structure of the soil.”
 
In one recent study, scientists looked at how invasive earthworms have affected a type of litter-dwelling mite. Mites help break down a forest floor’s duff and spread fungus spores, the tiny reproductive units similar to seeds that give rise to more fungi. Today, more than 100,000 mites of more than 100 species may occupy each square meter of northern forest soil. That may sound like a lot, but this study showed that in soil free of invasive earthworms, the mites seem to fare better. They were between 72 and 1,210 times more abundant and the number of mite species was one to two times higher.
 

 

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