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经济学人--suicide--精读⑥⑦⑧段

经济学人--suicide--精读⑥⑦⑧段

作者: 是肉丸子啊 | 来源:发表于2018-11-28 21:34 被阅读0次

Social stability is also a factor. In the turbulence that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, many middle-aged people saw their sources of income and status collapse. Unemployed people kill themselves at around two-and-a-half times the rate of those in work. The financial crash of 2007-08 and the resulting recessions are reckoned to have caused an extra 10,000 or so suicides in America and western Europe. As crises recede and employment rises, so suicide tends to ebb. And falling poverty rates among the old, which have declined faster than among other groups globally, are reckoned to have contributed to the drop in the number of elderly suicides.

(一)内容总结:

前文说到为什么自杀的人数减少了,本段举例说明了原因之一:社会稳定。苏联解体,美国的金融危机,都造成自杀率上升,而随着这些社会动荡因素的影响逐渐减弱,自杀率也降低了。

(二)实用表达总结:

1. 我们来总结一下,本文里面,“对...起到作用”或者“是造成...的原因” 这样的意思,都用了什么表达吧:

① sth is also a factor

Social stability is also a factor.

② sth helps

Urbanisation and greater freedom have helped. 

Leaving the village helps in another way, too. 

Efforts to curb access to the means to kill oneself can help, too. 

Requiring potentially lethal medicines to be sold only in small quantities... has also been shown to help.

③ cause

... are reckoned to have caused an extra 10,000 or so suicides in America and western Europe.

④ contribute to

...are reckoned to have contributed to the drop in the number of elderly suicides.

... are reckoned to have contributed to the recent decline.

⑤ play a role 

Policy plays a role, too. 

⑥ make a big difference

And spending on health services, especially those that most benefit the old and sick, can make a big difference.

⑦ in part because:

The remarkable recent fall in suicide among elderly Britons may have happened in part because Britain’s palliative-care system is the best in the world.

⑧ account for

The most toxic pesticides account for one-seventh of suicides.

 The difference in gun ownership largely accounts for the state-by-state variation in suicide rates.

⑨ do their bit 

The media can also do their bit.

⑩ the consequence of 

But the decline is not just the consequence of big social trends. 

2.  turbulence

我们坐飞机的时候,可能听到过这个词 We're now experiencing severe turbulence...

本意是“涡流”,引申意为“动荡动乱”

The 1960s and early 1970s were a time of change and turbulence.

20 世纪整个 60 年代和 70 年代初期是风云变幻、动荡不安的一个时期。

形容词形式是:turbulent

注意:turbulence是不可数名词

可以搭配的动词:experience,go through,undergo

3. see 

之前每日一词里面学过这个词,是“为...发生的地点/时间”之意,复习一下:

This stadium has seen many thrilling football games. 这座体育馆里,举办过许多激动人心的足球比赛。

Next year sees the centenary of Mahler's death. 明年是马勒逝世一百周年。

本文后面段落里也出现了see的这层含义

“When South Korea outlawed paraquat in 2011, it saw a decline in suicides but no drop in agricultural output.”

而这段里面的see是“认为,看待”之意:

...many middle-aged people saw their sources of income and status collapse. 许多中年人认为自己的收入来源和社会地位也跟着崩塌了。

4. result

result我们很熟悉他的名词“结果”的意思,但是在这段里,result是动词“(因)...发生;(随...)产生”

The financial crash of 2007-08 and the resulting recessions...2007年到08年的经济大萧条,以及随之而来的经济衰退...

5. 头韵 alliteration

这篇里面用到了好几个头韵,我们来总结一下:

 The rise is largely among white, middle-aged, poorly educated men in areas that were left behind by booms(繁荣) and crushed by busts(破产).

As crises recede(减弱) and employment rises(上升)...

...a suicide postponed(延迟) is likely to be a suicide prevented(阻止).

可以看出,前面两句的头韵是意思相反的,最后一句是递进的。

6. ebb

ebb退潮的意思,反义词涨潮是flow,两个词在一起组成一句习语“ebb and flow”“盛衰,起伏,消长”

既可以是名词,也可以是动词 “...suicide tends to ebb.” 原文里面是动词。

Just the usual ebb and flow of the stock market.仅仅是股市的牛市熊市罢了。

Every marriage has its ebb and flow. 婚姻生活都是有悲有喜。

Over the years, its reputation has ebbed and flowed.多年来 它的名声时起时落。

(三)重点分析:

As crises recede and employment rises, so suicide tends to ebb.

这里面的as和so不是因为所以的意思,而是类比两种类似的情况。

危机逐渐减弱,就业率有所上升,自杀的概率也有减少的趋势。

Just as large companies are having to cut back, so small business are being forced to close. 大公司不得不紧缩,小企业则被迫关闭。

Just as French love their wine, so the English love their beer. 法国人爱自己的葡萄酒,而英国人则爱自己的啤酒。

But the decline is not just the consequence of big social trends. Policy plays a role, too. When Mikhail Gorbachev restricted the production and distribution of booze in the mid-1980s, both drinking and suicide fell sharply. The collapse of the Soviet Union swept those regulations aside, and both drinking and suicide shot up again. Restrictions introduced by Vladimir Putin in 2005 are reckoned to have contributed to the recent decline.

(一)内容总结:

不仅社会稳定会让自杀人数减少,政府的政策也有一定影响。20世纪80年代,戈尔巴乔夫限制酒精饮料的生产经销,是自杀率大大减少。后来苏联解体,自杀率又猛增。2005年,普京出台一些政策限制,自杀率有所下降。

(二)实用表达总结:

1. fall sharply,shoot up

一个骤减,一个剧增,两个可以放在一起记。

Ticket prices shot up/fell sharply last year. 去年票价猛涨/陡然减少。

shoot up还可以表示个子突然长高:

Their kids have shot up since I last saw them. 他家的几个孩子都比我上次见到的时候蹿高了好多。

2. sweep aside=to ignore sth completely 置之不理,全然无视

All their advice was swept aside. 他们的所有忠告都被当成了耳旁风。

3. be reckoned 被看作是,被普遍认为是

Children are reckoned to be more sophisticated nowadays. 人们普遍认为,如今的孩子比过去更世故了。

这篇文章里面几次用到be reckoned 

... are reckoned to have caused an extra 10,000 or so suicides in America and western Europe. 

...are reckoned to have contributed to the drop in the number of elderly suicides.

... are reckoned to have contributed to the recent decline.

4. restrict restriction 注意一个词可以使用其不同的词性,来变换表达

...Gorbachev restricted the production and distribution of booze ...

Restrictions introduced by Vladimir Putin...

另外,注意和restriction搭配的动词,可以是原文里的introduce,还可以是create,impose,place,put,set.

(三)重点分析:

But the decline is not just the consequence of big social trends. Policy plays a role, too.

这个句式很好,表示“不仅因为...,...也起了一定作用”,试着造个句子

The extinction of this species is not just the consequence of evolution. Human activity plays a role, too.

这一物种的灭绝不仅仅是进化的结果,人类活动也起到了一定作用。

Governments can also help limit the consequences of social and economic turbulence. Active labour-market policies, which help re-train jobless workers and ease them back into work, prevent many suicides. And spending on health services, especially those that most benefit the old and sick, can make a big difference: fear of chronic pain is one of the things that leads people to seek a quick way out. The remarkable recent fall in suicide among elderly Britons may have happened in part because Britain’s palliative-care system is the best in the world.

(一)内容总结:

政府的政策能够减少社会和经济动荡带来的不良影响。比如劳工市场政策,帮助失业人员再就业,增加医疗福利等都可以减少自杀率。

(二)实用表达总结:

1. ease into sth

= if you ease yourself or someone else into a new job etc, you start doing it gradually or hep them to start 缓慢地进入,慢慢来,熟悉(新工作,新环境)

It's a big step, but we're trying to ease him into the idea. 这是一件大事,我们会尝试慢慢告诉他。

Some parents travel with their children and spend the first week or two with them at university to help them ease into college life.一些父母和孩子一起去学校,和他们在大学里度过一两周的适应期,帮助他们适应大学的生活。

2. chronic 

chronic 慢性的,形容词。副词是chronically。

注意要跟chronicle区分开来,名词是“编年史”的意思,动词是“按照事件发生顺序记载”。形容词是chronological。

3. 本文里面,关于“自杀”有哪些表达

① commit suicide 

② shoot/kill themselves

③ take their own lives

④ seek a quick way out

⑤ self-slaughter 

⑥ self-destruction 

4. elderly 

年纪较大的,礼貌委婉的说法,跟old一个意思,是形容词的,不要看到“ly”就以为是副词哟。

而elder是指,较为年长者。

联想到上一篇有关“日本老龄化”问题的经济学人里面的“aged”一词。

the elderly 是指 people who are old 上了年纪的人

the aged 是指 very old people 年迈的老人

*the+形容词 表示一类人,本段中也出现了

...especially those that most benefit the old and sick...

5. Briton

截图来自牛津词典

(三)背景知识:

 palliative-care 

临终关怀也称「安宁和缓医疗」、「善终服务」、「安宁疗护」、「姑息疗法」,通常是针对癌症末期患者使用的治疗方法,由于物理治疗对末期患者逐渐失去效果,反而只会令患者的性命延长,从而使他们饱受更多的痛苦,因此便提倡以安宁缓和医疗的方式对患者进行护理,令患者能够以更安详和有尊严的姿态离开人世。

安宁缓和医疗于1967年由英国医师西西里·桑德斯开始推广,治疗方法包括以口服和注射药物来减轻痛苦,并在社会、心理和灵性上提供治疗护理。这种治疗方法理论上不会延长病患的濒死期,而其目的是为提升患者在临终前的生活品质。通常由心理辅导师、社工和志愿者提供所需要的护理,除了减轻患者的痛苦外,同时亦能减缓家属的心理创伤及负担。

英国的临终关怀

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