近读Economist，打算出一本关于Economist 英文特点，词汇，句式乃至段落的教材。

　　想法一出，立即展开批判性的阅读。

　　现将今日阅读收获与读者分享，请青岛北京雅思的同学认真阅读，请other readers多提宝贵意见：

　　插入成分

　　And this, whether it is motivated by obstinacy¹, denial or a sober calculation of the strategic stakes in Iraq, is a good thing.

　　The new American commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, must report to Congress in mid-September on how his campaign is going.

　　Advocates of quitting say that after losing more than 3,000 soldiers and spending more than $300 billion America has already failed and should therefore depart.

　　So why, instead of waiting two months for the general's report, have politicians in Washington allowed the debate to take on such a frantic² new character?

　　前置成分：

　　WHEN a war such as the one in Iraq turns bad, there is not always a particular moment that defines the　point of defeat.

　　If anything, it has so far been a modest success.

　　As John McCain told the Senate this week after a visit to Iraq, the new

　　strategy has been an improvement on the one it replaced.

　　By venturing out of their bases to offer direct protection to Iraq's population, American soldiers have been able to reduce the sectarian killings³ in the capital.

　　In Diyala province American troops have moved on the city of Baquba.

　　In a trial widely condemned⁵　abroad as unfair, the six have been convicted of deliberately⁶ infecting hundreds　of Libyan children with HIV.

　　后置成分

　　Continuing to support this war has now become a near-suicidal strategy for any ambitious politician, as the principled Senator McCain has discovered to his cost.

　　An earthquake rocked Kashiwazaki in Japan, killing⁴ ten people.

　　A nuclear plant was damaged and　leaked water containing radioactive compounds, raising safety concerns about Japanese facilities.

　　He also took steps to boost the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and his secular⁷ Fatah group in the　West Bank, in the hope of weakening its Islamist rivals in Hamas, which took over the Gaza Strip last　month.

　　经济学人杂志典型段落分析：

　　What Iran is doing at Natanz is entirely⁸ illegal. It has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and　says its nuclear aims are peaceful. But having spent decades deceiving nuclear inspectors⁹, it is　disbelieved even by its friends. A year ago this month Russia and China therefore joined the rest of the　UN Security Council in ordering Iran to stop. It carried on regardless. The Security Council followed up　with two resolutions, in December 2006 and March this year, repeating its demands and applying　sanctions. The centrifuges spin defiantly¹⁰ on.