Text 1

Is Weather Getting Worse

About the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics:

   The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory is engaged in comprehensive long lead-time research fundamental to NOAA's mission.

   The goal of this research is to expand the scientific understanding of the physical processes that govern the behavior of the atmosphere and the oceans as complex fluid systems. These systems can then be modeled mathematically and their phenomenology can be studied by computer simulation methods. In particular, GFDL research concerns the following:

   * the predictability of weather on large and small scales;

   * the structure, variability, predictability, stability and sensitivity of global and regional climate;

   * the structure, variability and dynamics of the ocean over its many space and time scales;

   * the interaction of the atmosphere and oceans, and how the atmosphere and oceans influence and are influenced by various trace constituents;

   * the Earth's atmospheric general circulation within the context of the family of planetary atmospheric circulations.

About National Climate Data Center:

   NCDC is the world's largest active archive of weather data. Its  mission is to manage the Nation's resource of global climatological in situ and remotely sensed data and information to promote global environmental stewardship; to describe, monitor and assess the climate; and to support efforts to predict changes in the Earth's environment. This effort requires the acquisition, quality control, processing, summarization, dissemination, and preservation of a vast array of climatological data generated by the national and international meteorological services. NCDC's mission is global in nature and provides the U.S. climate representative to the World Meteorological Organization, the World Data Center System, and other international scientific programs. NCDC also operates the World Data Center for Meteorology, Asheville.

Language notes:

1. In less than 24 hours, more than 70 hellholes of wind rampaged though Oklahoma and Kansas, killing 49 and causing more than $1 billion in damages.

(在不到二十四小时之内，70多个“地狱”风暴在俄克拉何马和堪萨斯州横行肆虐，造成49人死亡以及十多亿美元的损失。)

Hellhole: an oppressive or unbearable place.
Rampage: rush around in a violent and uncontrollable manner.
    e.g. Several thousand of demonstrators rampaged through the city.

2. That doesn't mean that you can indict weird weather in your neck of woods as proof.

(这并不意味着你可以用某一有限区域的怪异天气作为控诉的证据。)

Neck of the woods: a particular area or locality.
    e.g. Fancy seeing her in this neck of the woods.

3. If they crank up the resolution by 50 percent to focus on an area half that size, they pay for it in computing time - a calculation that took 10 days to perform might now need three months.

(如果他们想研究上述一半大小的区域，提高50%的解析率，那么代价就是计算时间。先前十天的计算现在也许要三个月。)

Crank something up: increase the intensity of something.
    e.g. The volume is cranked up a notch.

4. Heat will hasten ocean evaporation, and because hot air can hold more moisture, it could all be whisked away to rain more upon our heads.

(热量将加快海水的蒸发，因为热空气可以含更多的湿气，就会朝我们的头上降更多的雨。)

Whisk: take or move someone or something in a particular direction suddenly and quickly.
    e.g. The ambulance whisked him off for dry-cleaning.

5. Within months came another, stronger piece of real-world data, nailed down by one of the men caught in that January snowstorm.

Nail something down: identify something precisely.
    e.g. Something unexpected happened, I can't nail it down, but it made me uneasy.

6. Contrasting cool ocean currents in the Pacific can usher in the opposite phase, La Nina, which tends to dry out the southwestern and the South Central States.

Usher in: cause or mark the start of something new.
    e.g. The railways ushered in an era of cheap mass travel.

Text 2

Basic Instinct

About Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz:

     Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) was a German philosopher, mathematician, and logician who is probably most well known for having invented the differential and integral calculus (independently of Sir Isaac Newton). In his correspondence with the leading intellectual and political figures of his era, he discussed mathematics, logic, science, history, law, and theology.

　  Leibniz is known among philosophers for his wide range of thought about fundamental philosophical ideas and principles, including truth, necessary and contingent truths, possible worlds, the principle of sufficient reason (i.e., that nothing occurs without a reason), the principle of pre-established harmony (i.e., that God constructed the universe in such a way that corresponding mental and physical events occur simultaneously), and the principle of noncontradiction (i.e., that any proposition from which a contradiction can be derived is false). 

　  Leibniz had a lifelong interest in and pursuit of the idea that the principles of reasoning could be reduced to a formal symbolic system, an algebra or calculus of thought, in which controversy would be settled by calculations.

Green Eggs and Ham

   Green Eggs and Ham is a story written by Dr. Seuss. This story is an all-time favorite by children of all ages. The following is part of the story.

　 We meet Sam who becomes Sam-I-Am. That "Sam-I-Am" tries to get his friend to eat green eggs and ham. The friend refuses stating, "I do not like them, Sam-I-Am. I do not like green eggs and ham."
   Sam-I-Am then tries to get the friend to taste them anyway. He suggests different places and with different creatures. The friend keeps refusing. Finally the friend agrees to try them if Sam-I-Am will stop bothering him. Sam agrees, and hesitantly, the friend takes that first bite. He really likes them! ...

About Dr. Seuss:

   Dr. Seuss is the pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991). He was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 and three Academy Awards, Geisel authored and illustrated 44 children's books. His enchanting stories are available as audiocassettes, animated television specials, and videos.

Language notes:

1. From philosophers to economists, many modern researchers believe that rationality is objective and open to mathematical analysis.

(从哲学家到经济学家，许多现代研究者都相信，理性是客观的，可以对其进行数学分析。)

Open: likely to suffer from or be affected by, vulnerable or subject to.

    e.g. The system is open to abuse.

2. It may look like sloppy thinking when we jump to a conclusion or follow a gut feeling, but our mental shortcuts turn out to be astonishingly successful.

(我们很快做出决定或跟着直觉走时，看上去很草率，但是思维捷径结果却惊人地成功。)

Gut: an informal expression, meaning coming from or concerning one's natural feelings, rather than from careful thought.

    e.g. I had a gut feeling that something would go wrong.

3. In the real world, a good decision is less about finding the best alternative than about finding one that works.

Less...than...: not so much...as...

    e.g. She is less poor than careless with money. (= She is not so much poor as careless with money.)

4. Simon's ideas have become fashionable in recent years, and the Berlin researchers are leading the renaissance.

(近些年来，西蒙的观点开始流行起来，而柏林的研究者们正领导着这一复兴潮流。)

Renaissance: a renewal of interest in some particular kind of art, literature. The Renaissance usually refers particularly to the period in Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries, when the art, literature and ideas of ancient Greece were discovered again and widely studied, causing a rebirth of activity in all these things.

5. Chances are you'll pick people you know, or have heard are good.

It is likely you'll pick people you know, or have heard are good.

6. This uses a succession of cues to whittle away the alternatives until only one remains.

Whittle away: to reduce by a continuous and gradual process.

    e.g. Bad financial management has whittled away the company's profits.

7. The team has found that people tend to use more calculated reasoning when they can take their time, while heuristics come into their own when people are forced to think on their feeet.

(该小组发现，在时间充裕的时候，人们更倾向于进行较多的计算推理，而当人们被迫立即做出反应的时候，启发法才会起作用。)

Come into one's own: to show one's true worth or abilities.

    e.g. On bad roads, this tough little car really comes into its own.

Think on one's feet: to respond immediately without much time to think.

8. Not only do they allow us to choose between alternative courses of action, they also work when a choice doesn't come with all the options up front.

(它们不但让我们能在供选择的行动路线之间做出选择，而且，当我们无法从面前的各选项中做出选择的时候，也对我们有所帮助。)

Up front:  in front of.

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