第一篇  英语精读2.1| 一个移民美国的英国作家眼中的意大利

第二篇  英语精读2.2 | 美国式个人主义导致了破落不堪的公共设施

But if the car owner can ignore the lack of public transport, he can hardly ignore the decay of services in general. His car needs mechanics, and mechanics grow more expensive and less efficient. The gadgets in the home are cheaper to replace than repair.

1. gadget  n. 小玩意；小器具；小配件；诡计

2. 翻译：但是如果汽车拥有者能无视公共交通缺乏的话，他也很难忽视一般服务性行业情况的恶化。他的汽车需要机修工人，而请机修工的费用变得越来越贵，其效率却越来越低。家用小装置买新的要比修理便宜。

图片来自网络

The more efficiently self-contained the home seems to be, the more dependent it is on the great impersonal corporations, as well as a diminishing army of servitors. Skills at the lowest level have to be wooed slavishly and exorbitantly rewarded. Plumbers will not come. Nor, at the higher level, will doctors. And doctors and dentists know their scarcity value and behave accordingly.

1. self-contained  adj. 独立的；设备齐全的

2. impersonal  adj. 不受个人情感影响的,冷淡的

3. diminish  vt. 使减少；使变小  vi. 变小；减少，缩小

例句：Time will not diminish our friendship.  时间的流逝将不会减弱我们的友谊。

同是表示“减少、缩小”的有decrease, lessen, reduce, dwindle

4. woo  vt. 追求；恳求；向…求爱；

woo sb. to do sth.  缠着某人要他做某事

例句：Politicians try to woo the voters before an election. 在选举前政治家们都力争选民的支持。

5. slavish  adj. 奴隶的；奴性的；卑屈的；盲从的

slavishly  adv. 奴隶般地;盲目地

6.exorbitant  adj. （要价等）过高的；（性格等）过分的；

前缀ex-  +  orbit（轨道）

7. 注意scarce（adj. 缺乏的, 罕见的; 名词scarcity) 与scare (vi. &vt. &n. vi. 受惊)的区别。

8. 翻译：在家庭里越是显得设备齐全，就越要依赖于冷漠的大公司和人数日益减少的服务人员。技术再低的工人也要卑躬屈膝地去恳求，还要付给昂贵的报酬。管子工叫不来，更高层次的，大夫更是难请。医生和牙医知道物以稀为贵，并以此指导自己的行为。

图片来自网络

Americans are at last realizing that the acquisition of goods is not the whole of life. Consumption, on one level, is turning insipid, especially as the quality of the goods seems to be deteriorating. Planned obsolescence is not conducive to pride in workmanship. On another level, consumption is turning sour .

9. insipid  adj. 枯燥的,无生气的;乏味的

10. deteriorate  /dɪ'tɪərɪəreɪt/  vi. 恶化, 变坏

forest-deterioration  森林退化

例句：It is probable that the economic situation will deteriorate further.经济形势可能会进一步恶化。

11. adsolescence  n. 过时；淘汰，废弃

12. conducive  /kən'djuːsɪv/ adj. 有益的；有助于…的

conducive to 有益于…，有益于…

13. 翻译：美国人终于开始明白占有商品并不是生活的全部内容。在一个水准上的消费正变得缺乏吸引力，特别是商品的质量似乎一直在降低。特意制造出很快就会过时的商品不会引起工人对工艺质量的自豪感。在另一个水准上，消费正变得令人不快。

图片来自网络

There is a growing guilt about the masses of discarded junk -rusting automobiles and refrigerators and washing machines and dehumidifiers(除湿器) that it is uneconomical to recycle.  Indestructible plastic hasn't even the grace to undergo chemical change. America, the world's biggest consumer, is the world's biggest polluter.

14. discard  vt. 丢弃；抛弃；放弃 vi. 放弃

15. 翻译：对于大量回收利用不划算的废弃物品——锈蚀着的汽车、冰箱、洗衣机、除湿机——人们越来越感到有负罪感。毁不掉的塑料制品甚至都不肯很快地进行化学变化。美国，这个世界最大的消费者，也是世界最大的污染者。

Awareness of this is a kind of redemptive grace, but it has not led to repentance and a revolution in consumer habits. Citizens of Los Angeles are horrified by the daily pall of golden smog, but they don't noticeably clamor for a decrease in the number of owner-vehicles. There is no worse neurosis(n. 神经症) than that which derives from a consciousness of guilt and an inability to reform.

16. redemptive  adj. 赎回的,挽回的,用于补偿的

17. repentance  n. 悔悟;悔改;后悔;忏悔

18. clamor  vi. 大声地要求或抗议

19.翻译：意识到这一点是某种弥补，但并未导致悔改和消费习惯上的革命。洛杉矾市民一想到每天笼罩着城市的金色烟雾就心惊胆颤，但他们也并未明显地要求减少私人汽车的数目。认识到症结所在，却没有能力改变，这种神经质最糟糕。