THE WORLD in 2019, as seen through the news, will be a depressing place. The headlines will tell us about terrorism, war, inequality, pollution. But journalism, even at its most accurate, is bound to paint a distorted picture of reality. News is about things that happen, such as wars and epidemics, not things that don’t happen, such as peace and health. Adding to the gloom is the ethos of journalism, in which reporting failure is considered a professional duty, whereas reporting success is considered public relations. All this creates a market for entrepreneurs of mayhem, such as terrorists, rampage shooters, trolls and politicians, who leverage fear and outrage into saturation coverage.
(一)内容总结:
如果我们通过新闻头条看世界,2019年无疑会是很糟糕的一年。但是新闻头条说的都是已经发生的事,而不会报道“没有事情发生”,你只会看到记者报道这里爆发了战争或者流行病,而不会说这里已经和平了多少多少年或者这里没有流行病发生。
(二)实用表达总结:
① depressing 令人沮丧的
我们在学校里是否听到英语老师讲过“人用ed物用ing”。这个表述不够准确,人用ing的例子比比皆是。一般而言,由-ing分词转化来的形容词通常带有主动意义,由-ed分词转化来的形容词则带有被动意义。试比较:
He is boring. 他很无趣。(他令别人觉得无趣)
He is bored. 他感到厌倦。(其他什么东西,让他感到厌倦)
这里是depressing place(令人感到沮丧的地方)而不是depressed place。
depressed用来形容人的时候,是感到沮丧的,
如果后面形容的是place/industry这类词,就是另外一个意思了“不景气的,萧条的”,depress这个动词,有“使萧条,使不景气”之意。
如果后面跟的是prices/wages这类词的话,是“降低了的,减少了的”之意,depress有“减少,降低”之意。
另外,-ed有已完成之意,-ing有正在进行之意,试比较:
boiled water 白开水 boiling water 沸水
所以:人可以用ing,物也可以用ed,要根据实际含义来看。
② gloom 忧郁,无望
同义词depression。形容词是gloomy,更刚刚的depressing/depressed是同义词,具体跟那个是同义词,还是要看语境:
a gloomy/depressed expression 沮丧的表情
a gloomy/depressing picture of the country's economic future 该国经济前景黯淡
了解一个gloom相关的习语:doom and gloom 前景黯淡,悲观无望
The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.
这份关于我们经济状况的报告,充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
③ even at its most accurate
at sb's/sth's+形容词最高级:处于最...的状态
The garden is at its best in June. 花园六月最美丽。
This is Murray at his best. 这是穆雷的最佳表现。
原文的句式也非常好:But journalism, even at its most accurate, is bound to paint a distorted picture of reality. “...即使在最...的状态下,也...” 我们可以仿照这个句子来造句:
But Lincoln Jr., even at his most effective, is not comparable to his father. 小林肯,即使在效率最好的情况下,也比不上他爸爸。
But this pill, even at its strongest, is no antidote to the poison. 这个小药片,即使药效发挥到最佳,也不能解毒。
④ be bound to do/be sth
之前想当然地认为,be bound to是“必须得做某事,有义务做某事”的意思,当然,确实有这层含义,但是放在这句中,还是“一定会,很可能会”这层含义更合适一些,让我们来看一些例句:
You've done so much work. You're bound to pass the exam. 你下了这么大功夫,考试一定可以通过的。
It's bound to be sunny again tomorrow. 明天肯定又会是阳光灿烂了。
⑤ ethos 道德思想,道德观
虽然是以s结尾,但是却是单数哦!
an ethos of public service 公益服务的道德意识
(三)重难点分析:
Adding to the gloom is the ethos of journalism, in which reporting failure is considered a professional duty, whereas reporting success is considered public relations.
这个句子属于完全倒装句,倒装的目的是为了强调主语,使主语处于句末信息中心位置。正常的语序是
The ethos of journalism is adding to the gloom. In the ethos of journalism reporting failure is considered a professional duty, whereas reporting success is considered public relations.
尝试意译:新闻业的职业道德要求他们报道负面的新闻,而报道正面的新闻就像在做公关,这无疑是雪上加霜。
其他例句:
Adding to these concerns is the trade dispute between the United States and China.中美之间的贸易争端加剧了这些担忧。
All this creates a market for entrepreneurs of mayhem, such as terrorists, rampage shooters, trolls and politicians, who leverage fear and outrage into saturation coverage.
这句话其实不难理解,我们把难点各个击破
① entrepreneurs of mayhem
这句把“骚乱(mayhem)”比喻成一个行业,骚乱界的“企业家(entrepreneurs)”,比如terrorists, rampage shooters, trolls and politicians这些人。其中值得注意的是troll这个词,本意是“巨怪”的意思,前几天复习哈利波特的时候正好看到这个词。但是这里是“网络喷子/黑子,键盘侠”的意思。
截图来自《哈利波特与魔法石》 截图来自urban dictionary② leverage sth= to get as much advantage or profit as possible from sth as you have 充分利用
The company needs to leverage its resources. 这家公司需要充分利用其资源。
③ saturation coverage =a situation in which every newspaper, television company etc is reporting an event
saturation饱和状态,coverage 覆盖范围,这两个词在一起“覆盖范围是饱和状态”,也就是说“所有的报刊杂志电视等铺天盖地报道同一个事件”。
我们可以说 XXX hit/reach saturation coverage
比如:The story hit saturation coverage.
也可以说 XXX provide saturation coverage of XXX,there is saturation coverage of XXX by XXX
Newspapers, television and radio are all providing saturation coverage of the Olympic Games.报纸、电视和电台全都在铺天盖地地报道奥林匹克运动会。
There was saturation coverage of the event by the media. 媒体对这一事件做了连篇累牍的报道。
整句话的意思是:All this creates a market for entrepreneurs of mayhem, such as terrorists, rampage shooters, trolls and politicians, who leverage fear and outrage into saturation coverage. 所有这些,都为骚乱界的创业家们——比如恐怖分子、横冲直撞的枪杀凶手、键盘侠和政客们——创造了市场,他们新闻报道铺天盖地都是恐惧和愤怒。
The bugs in journalism fiendishly engage the bugs in our psychology. The human mind estimates risk by the anecdotes and images turned up by its internal search engine, which favours vividness and recency. People thus think tornadoes kill more victims than asthma attacks, which are in fact 80 times as lethal.
(一)内容总结:
新闻报道跟我们的心理特点“狼狈为奸”。画面感越强,事情发生得越近,人们就认为它带来的伤害更大。所以,人们觉得龙卷风比哮喘病带来的死亡还要多,而实际上哮喘带来的死亡是龙卷风的八十倍。
(二)实用表达总结:
① favour
我们每日一词里面出现过的,这里跟prefer同义。我们来复习一下:
Many graduates in China favour big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
在中国很多大学生毕业后愿意留在北上广这样的大城市。
注意:直接是favour+sth哦,不能是favour to do sth,所以不是favour to stay in big cities,直接就是favour big cities。
② anecdote
除了“趣闻逸事”,还有一层含义是“传闻”
This research is based on anecdote, not fact. 这项研究的根据是传闻,而非事实。
③ 80 times as lethal
lethal,致命的,同义的还有fatal
这句话非常简洁,主要是因为用到了lethal这个词,如果是我写,可能会写成,
which in fact has killed 80 times as many victims
(三)重难点分析:
The bugs in journalism fiendishly engage the bugs in our psychology.
engage我认为,这里的意思是“雇佣”的意思,是个拟人的说法。新闻行业的“bugs”,巧妙地“雇佣”或者是说“利用了”了我们心理的“bugs”。新闻行业的bugs指上文“even at its most accurate, is bound to paint a distorted picture of reality”这个特点,即使再准确地描绘事实,呈现给我们的也是扭曲的画面。而我们心理上的“bugs”是指下文“estimates risk by the anecdotes and images ”,总是通过传闻和画面来评估风险。这两个“bugs” “狼狈为奸”,造就了下文所说的,我们认为“tornadoes kill more victims than asthma attacks, which are in fact 80times as lethal”龙卷风带来的死亡比哮喘病还多。
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