It was 3: 45 in the morning when the vote was finally taken. After six months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates, Australia’s Northern Territory became the first legal authority in the world to allow doctors to take the lives of incurably ill patients who wish to die. The measure passed by the convincing vote of 15 to 10. Almost immediately word flashed on the Internet and was picked up, half a world away, by John Hofsess, executive director of the Right to Die Society of Canada. He sent it on via the group’s on-line service, Death NET. Says Hofsess: “We posted bulletins（公告，消息） all day long, because of course this isn’t just something that happened in Australia. It’s world history.”

• Hot：受欢迎的one of the hottest young directors in Hollywood好莱坞最受欢迎的青年导演之一；棘手的，难办的：The climate was too hot politically to make such radical changes.政治气候过于严峻，很难彻底变革；热门的：The affair is a hot topic of conversation.那件事成了热门话题。
• Incurably：无法改变的，不可救药的
• Convince：v 说服，劝服。/persuade：~ sb. to do/into doing sth.

  Convincing:有说服力的
• Flash:闪现，出现The screen flashes a message: Try again...屏幕上显示出一条信息：再试一次。
• Pick up：这个短语有很多意思，也提到过不是一次了。还不知道的可以去自己查字典。

  • The space cadets’ other hope, China, might pick up the baton.太空学员们的另一个希望之地，中国，也许将拾起接力棒。
  • But world growth should pick up to 3.8 percent next year.但是世界经济增长在明年应该能达到3.8%。
  • Another sign that business investment will pick up in the US. 又有迹象表明美国的商业投资将会回升。

A report consistently brought back by visitors to the US is how friendly, courteous（有礼貌的）, and helpful most Americans were to them. To be fair(公正的说), this observation is also frequently made of Canada and Canadians, and should best be considered North American. There are, of course, exceptions. （转折）Small-minded officials, rude waiters, and ill-mannered（掌握这三个形容人的词） taxi drivers are hardly unknown in the US. Yet it is an observation made so frequently that it deserves comment.（这种话题值得讨论，从而引出下文）

For a long period of time and in many parts of the country, a traveler was a welcome break in an otherwise dull existence. Dullness and loneliness were common problems of the families who generally lived distant from one another. Strangers and travelers were welcome sources of diversion（消遣，娱乐）, and brought news of the outside world.

• Distant: 遥远的，疏远的。There is little doubt, however, that things will improve in the not too distant future.不过事情在不久的将来会有所改善，这几乎毋庸置疑。（可以用在现象类作文中凑字数）
• 仿写练习：Pessimism and loneliness were common problems of the children who generally lived distant from their parents.(子女教育问题)

Technically, any substance other than（除了） food that alters our bodily or mental functioning is a drug. Many people mistakenly believe the term drug refers only to some sort of medicine or an illegal chemical taken by drug addicts（吸毒者）.

They don’t realize that familiar substances such as alcohol and tobacco are also drugs. This is why the more neutral（中立的） term substance is now used by many physicians and psychologists. The phrase “substance abuse “is often used instead of “drug abuse” to make clear that substances such as alcohol and tobacco can be just as harmfully misused as heroin and cocaine.

• Technically：严格地说，从专业意义上说。
• Substance: 物质；重要性；主旨。（后两个意思往往是重点）

  • 外刊例句：So from that stand point, the substance of Obama care has yet to be tested. 所以从这个角度来看,奥巴马医改的实质还有待考验。
  • It may also suit China to give the appearance of co-operation with America, without the substance.装出与美国合作的样子，虽无实质可言，但眼下对中国来说也许会很适用。
• Alter: v 改变;alterative:；alteration: n 变动

  • Making some simple alterations to your habits will improve your quality of life and increase your learning efficiency .对你的习惯做些简单的调整就会改善你的生活质量并且提高你的学习效率。

No company likes to be told it is contributing to the moral decline of a nation. “Is this what you intended to accomplish with your careers?” Senator Robert Dole asked Time Warner(时代华纳) executives （在之前新闻中讲过多次的单词）last week. “You have sold your souls, but must you corrupt our nation and threaten our children as well?” At Time Warner, however（体会转折含义）, such questions are simply the latest manifestation of the soul-searching that has involved the company ever since the company was born in 1990. It’s a self-examination that has, at various times, involved issues of responsibility, creative freedom and the corporate bottom line.

• Corrupt：adj 堕落的，腐败的；v 堕落，腐败；破坏

  • 扩展词汇：Corrupter、corruptive、corruption
  • 外刊例句： The spokesman stresses that the PLA has zero tolerance for corrupt officials.该发言人强调称，中国人民解放军对腐败官员采取"零容忍"的态度。
• A free and open news media often keep corruption in check.一个自由和开放的新闻媒体常常能够抑制腐败。（注意一个固定搭配 keep…… in check 控制，阻止约束）
• Manifestation：表现，迹象（These latest ……are a clear manifestation of…….最近发生的……是……的明显迹象。）
• bottom line：底线；最重要的因素

Much of the language used to describe monetary policy（货币政策）, such as “steering the economy to a soft landing”（经济软着陆） or “a touch on the brakes”（踩刹车）, makes it sound like a precise science. Nothing could be further from the truth. The link between interest rates and inflation（自己找类似的词） is uncertain. And there are long, variable lags before policy changes have any effect on the economy. Hence the analogy that likens the conduct of monetary policy to driving a car with a blackened windscreen, a cracked rear-view mirror and a faulty steering wheel.

• Precise：明确的，精确的
• Nothing could be further from the truth.事实远非如此。
• lag behind：落后

  • Price rises have matched rises in the money supply with a lag of two or three months.在增加货币供应两三个月后，物价也跟着上涨。
  • 外刊例句：When it comes to math, reading and computer skills, Americans lag behind their counterparts in 22 industrialized nations.在谈及数学、阅读和计算机技巧时，美国人落后于其余22个工业化国家