【正文】 salty 含鹽的。saline / 39。 `topжz/ n (a) [U] transparent yellow mineral 黃玉（礦物）. (b) [C] semiprecious gem cut from this 黃玉。plжηktэn。s, but especially in the Depression conditions of the 193039。26. International Business and Crosscultural CommunicationThe increase in international business and in foreign investment has created a need for executives with knowledge of foreign languages and skills in crosscultural munication. Americans, however, have not been well trained in either area and, consequently, have not enjoyed the same level of success in negotiation in an international arena as have their foreign counterparts.Negotiating is the process of municating back and forth for the purpose of reaching an agreement. It involves persuasion and promise, but in order to participate in either one, the negotiators must understand the ways in which people are persuaded and how promise is reached within the culture of the negotiation.In many international business negotiations abroad, Americans are perceived as wealthy and impersonal. It often appears to the foreign negotiator that the American represents a large multimilliondollar corporation that can afford to pay the price without bargaining further. The American negotiator’s role bees that of an impersonal purveyor of information and cash.In studies of American negotiators abroad, several traits have been identified that may serve to confirm this stereotypical perception, while undermining the negotiator’s position. Two traits in particular that cause crosscultural misunderstanding are directness and impatience on the part of the American negotiator. Furthermore, American negotiators often insist on realizing shortterm goals. Foreign negotiators, on the other hand, may value the relationship established between negotiators and may be willing to invest time in it for longterm benefits. In order to solidify the relationship, they may opt for indirect interactions without regard for the time involved in getting to know the other negotiator.27. Scientific TheoriesIn science, a theory is a reasonable explanation of observed events that are related. A theory often involves an imaginary model that helps scientists picture the way an observed event could be produced. A good example of this is found in the kinetic molecular theory, in which gases are pictured as being made up of many small particles that are in constant motion.A useful theory, in addition to explaining past observations, helps to predict events that have not as yet been observed. After a theory has been publicized, scientists design experiments to test the theory. If observations confirm the scientist’s predictions, the theory is supported. If observations do not confirm the predictions, the scientists must search further. There may be a fault in the experiment, or the theory may have to be revised or rejected.Science involves imagination and creative thinking as well as collecting information and performing experiments. Facts by themselves are not science. As the mathematician Jules Henri Poincare said, “Science is built with facts just as a house is built with bricks, but a collection of facts cannot be called science any more than a pile of bricks can be called a house.”Most scientists start an investigation by finding out what other scientists have learned about a particular problem. After known facts have been gathered, the scientist es to the part of the investigation that requires considerable imagination. Possible solutions to the problem are formulated. These possible solutions are called hypotheses.In a way, any hypothesis is a leap into the unknown. It extends the scientist’s thinking beyond the known facts. The scientist plans experiments, performs calculations, and makes observations to test hypotheses. Without hypothesis, further investigation lacks purpose and direction. When hypotheses are confirmed, they are incorporated into theories. Roles of Public EducationOne of the most important social developments that helped to make possible a shift in thinking about the role of public education was the effect of the baby boom of the 195039。s, the United States experienced a declining birth rate every thousand women aged fifteen to fortyfour gave birth to about 118 live children in 1920, in 1930, in 1936, and 80 in 1940. With the growing prosperity brought on by the Second World War and the economic boom that followed it young people married and established households earlier and began to raise larger families than had their predecessors during the Depression. Birth rates rose to 102 per thousand in 1946, in 1950, and 118 in 1955. Although economics was probably the most important determinant, it is not the only explanation for the baby boom. The increased value placed on the idea of the family also helps to explain this rise in birth rates. The baby boomers began streaming into the first grade by the mid 194039。 `plжηktэn/Scattered through the seas of the world are billions of tons of small plants and animals called plankton. Most of these plants and animals are too small for the human eye to see. They drift about lazily with the currents, providing a basic food for many larger animals.Plankton has been described as the equivalent of the grasses that grow on the dry land continents, and the parison is an appropriate one. In potential food value, however, plankton far outweighs that of the land grasses. One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the world produce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates each year, the sea’s plankton generates more than twice as much.Despite its enormous food potential, little effect was made until recently to farm plankton as we farm grasses on land. Now marine scientists have at last begun to study this possibility, especially as the sea’s resources loom even more important as a means of feeding an expanding world population.No one yet has serio