古今对比是托福常考的一个小话题。题目经常让我们跟50年前的人,生活比较，到底是现在更好还是过去更好。 也会跟未来50年比较：是否现在生活中的问题会在未来的几十年中被解决。
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement:（2020.12.12）
语料学习
社会更安全
尽管各种血腥头条充斥媒体，我们的世界远比过去安全。全球范围内，较之上一代人所处的世界，战争的规模变小，频率也降低了。唯一变得更为频繁 的暴力行为是恐怖主义，而人们普遍过分夸大了恐怖主义蔓延的程度。平均来说，欧洲人从楼梯跌落致死的几率是遭受恐怖主义分子袭击致死的十倍。若要说明过去的生活比现在更野蛮，不仅可从数据中获得佐证，还能在文化上寻到蛛丝马迹。例如，一项研究显示，过去童谣的暴力程度是现在英国晚9 点以前黄金时段电视节目的11倍。
Despite the bloody headlines, the world is far safer than it used to be. Globally, wars are smaller and less frequent than they were a generation ago. The only type of violence that is growing more common is terrorism, and people wildly overestimate how much of it there is. The average European is ten times more likely to die by falling down stairs than to be killed by a terrorist. Evidence that the past was more brutal than the present can be gleaned not only from data but also from cultural clues. For example, children‘s nursery rhymes are 11 times more violent than television programmes aired before 9pm in Britain, one study found.
1. glean. v. 收集
2. nursery rhymes 童谣
3. air. v. 播放
4. 此段用了2个含有倍数的比较句型:
① The average European is ten times more likely to die by falling down stairs than to be killed by a terrorist.
A be ten times more likely to do B. than to do C.
A做B的可能性是做C的可能性的十倍.
②Children‘s nursery rhymes are 11 times more violent than television programmes aired before 9pm in Britain.
A be 11 times more + adj. + than B
A 比B 更adj.十一倍.
现在社会的不足：
大部分人的生活得到了改善不代表所有人的生活都更好了。富裕国家男性蓝领工人的收入一直裹足不前。他们作为消费者享受了新技术发展带来的福利，即使统计数据不能充分体现这一点，其社会地位的下降却是实实在在，而且有切肤之痛。
That life is improving for most people does not mean it is improving for everyone. Male blue-collar workers in rich countries have seen their earnings stagnate. Even if the statistics fail properly to capture the benefits they enjoy as consumers of new technology, the slippage in their status is real and painfully felt.
5. earnings stagnate. 收入停滞
earnings. (复数). n. 收益
stagnate. v. 不流动的，停滞
*a stagnating industry 不景气的工业* I feel I'm stagnating in this job. 我觉得我干这份工作没什么前途.
环境问题-全球变暖：
全球变暖也引人担忧，但诺伯格希望人类的聪明才智能遏制这一趋势。他充满激情地论及各种绿色创新。例如，更加高效的农耕技术让世界可能已经达到了"农田面积高峰”（译注：peakfarmland，农田 面积足以满足需求，不会再增加）。据估计，到本世纪末两倍于法国国土面积的农田将退耕，恢复自 然状态。
Global warming is a worry, too, but Mr Norberg hopes that human ingenuity will tame it. He writes with enthusiasm about all kinds of green innovation. For example, thanks to more efficient farming technology, the world may have reached “peak farmland”. By the end of the century, an area twice the size of France will have been returned to nature, by one estimate.
7.human ingenuity will tame it.
ingenuity. n.
n [U] cleverness and originality in solving problems 心灵手巧; 善于发明创造.
tame. v.
① (domesticate) 驯服 ‹bird, animal›
② figurative
(control) 控制 ‹ tame passion, river, country›; 梳理‹hair›; 抑制‹ tame interest rates, inflation›
总结：人类社会变好的核心原因是:
人类生活改善的主要原因在于知识可以累积，且容易分享。人类的大脑才是最重要的资源......好在大脑学到的知识是可以不断传承的。
The main reason why things tend to get better is that knowledge is cumulative and easily shared. The most important resource is the human brain...which is pleasantly reproducible.
8.knowledge is cumulative and easily shared. 知识可以积累，且容易分享
clumulative. adj.
adj gradually increasing in amount, force, etc by one addition after another （数量、力量等）渐增的, 累积的
*the cumulative effect of several illnesses 几种疾病日积月累造成的影响.
