经济学人文章精选

经济学人文章精选

这篇文章有几个非常有意思的句子和表达，我贴出来，大家一起赏析一下：

佳句篇：

 

Sentence 1.

He helped popularise the idea that some diseases not previously thought to have a bacterial cause were actually infections, which ruffled many scientific feathers when it was first suggested.

解析：

Ruffle弄皱的意思

Ruffle one’s feathers惹怒（想想逆毛流撸猫）

The idea that ...用的是同位语从句，不太多，常用搭配是the evidence that，the concept that 等。That后从句解释idea, concept或evidence等。

Which的指代问题。Which指代的不是上文任何一个出现的单词或词组，而是Dr. Cochran的这波操作。

Sentence 2.

Ashkenazim generally do well in IQ tests, scoring 12-15 points above the mean value of 100, and have contributed disproportionately to the intellectual and cultural life of the West, as the careers of Freud, Einstein and Mahler, pictured above, affirm.

disproportionately不成比例地

主干and复合句+非谓语动词scoring+as引导的从句（插入后置定语）

每个部分都不难，集合到一起就对理解产生障碍了。

Sentence 3.

But in the Middle Ages, success in Christian society tended to be violently aristocratic (warfare and land), rather than peacefully meritocratic (banking and trade).

这个句子不难，为什么拿出来是因为这个violently的用法。简单来讲，这一个单词乍一看是作aristocratic的副词，实则在翻译（以及理解）当中，我们必须单独翻译成一个实意的成分，而且作副词处理。

Aristocratic贵族统治

Meritocratic德治

Sentence 4.

That small, reproductively isolated groups of people are susceptible to genetic disease is well known.

主语从句，注意that.

Sentence 5.

Most of the dozen or so disease genes that are common in them belong to one of two types: they are involved either in the storage in nerve cells of special fats called sphingolipids, which form part of the insulating outer sheaths that allow nerve cells to transmit electrical signals, or in DNA repair.

典型长句，如何解析？

Most of the dozen or so  disease genes that are common in them  belong to one of two types:

Or so大约

斜体作的是disease genes

they are involved either in the storage in nerve cells of special fats called sphingolipids, which form part of the insulating outer sheaths that allow nerve cells to transmit electrical signals, or in DNA repair.

either or后面是两个in...

第一个in后面的which form part of the insulating outer sheaths解释的是Sphingolipids

that allow nerve cells to transmit electrical signals解释的是sheaths。

也就是说，（非限制性）定语从句后面紧接另一个定语从句。

第二个in后面很简单，但！！！文章最后一段有解释，对于 文章结构 至关重要。

Sentence 6&7.

Thus, the theory goes, the pressure  to keep the sickle-cell gene in the population because of its malaria-protective effects balances the pressure  to drive it out because of its anaemia-causing effects.

It therefore persists without becoming ubiquitous.

两句话放一起。

主干已加黑。很有意思的句子，工整、对仗，而又解释非常清楚。

下一句，persist和ubiquitous用词极其精准，整句话像外科手术般，精准简练。作者还是怕读者一下子没读懂，用简单而又高效的句子总结下。写作手法很老练高超，字字玑珠，像极了宝马M3。

Sentence 8.

Genes that promote intelligence in an individual when present as a single copy create disease when present as a double copy.

乍一看没什么稀奇，再一看，把一个comparison分别放在了主语和谓语的修饰成分中，可谓老辣。

作何解？

That promote intelligence对genes做了一个限定，指的是genes的其中一种特征，然后用when说明了适用情况。

Create谓语的主语也是genes，但这时候是没有限定的genes。Create disease做的是限定，其实对应的是promote intelligence。后面同样用一个when来说明范围。

简单来讲，genes的含义做了一个缩小和限定，又在create的时候恢复了genes的双重功能含义。

Promote intelligence和create diseases一个对应，尽管成分差别很大。

两个when的对比。

可谓神句。

Sentence 9.

An Israeli clinic devoted to treating people with Gaucher's has vastly more engineers, scientists, accountants and lawyers on its books than would be expected by chance.

Than (what) would be expected by chance.

省略了what。。。你能理解吗？

还有这个books，这个同语境关联强烈。

好的表达：

1. ruffle one’s feather

2. Tremble at the thought

3. Affirm作不及物动词（Ashkenazim generally do well in IQ tests, scoring 12-15 points above the mean value of 100, and have contributed disproportionately to the intellectual and cultural life of the West, as the careers of Freud, Einstein and Mahler, pictured above, affirm. ）

4. aristocratic v.s. meritocratic

5. Exact a price类似用法 exert influence

附原文及翻译：

Natural genius? 天生我才？

The high intelligence of Ashkenazi Jews may be a result of their persecuted past

德系犹太人的高智商或许是因为曾经遭受迫害的后果

THE idea that some ethnic groups may, on average, be more intelligent than others is one of those hypotheses that dare not speak its name. But Gregory Cochran, a noted scientific iconoclast, is prepared to say it anyway. He is that rare bird, a scientist who works independently of any institution. He helped popularise the idea that some diseases not previously thought to have a bacterial cause were actually infections, which ruffled many scientific feathers when it was first suggested. And more controversially still, he has suggested that homosexuality is caused by an infection.

某些少数民族的平均智商高于其他民族这一说法，是很多不敢公开的假设之一。不过著名的科学狂人Gregory Cochran 决意要做第一个吃螃蟹的人。他很特别，总是独立工作而不属于任何机构。某些曾被诊断并非病菌引起的疾病，其实病源来自传染病。这一观点因他的推动受到了关注。此观点一经提出，就受到了许多科学家的反对。这还不算，更具争议的是，他认为同性恋也是由传染病引起的。

Even he, however, might tremble at the thought of what he is about to do. Together with Jason Hardy and Henry Harpending, of the University of Utah, he is publishing, in a forthcoming edition of the Journal of Biosocial Science, a paper which not only suggests that one group of humanity is more intelligent than the others, but explains the process that has brought this about. The group in question are Ashkenazi Jews. The process is natural selection.

然而就算是Cochran，也为自己接下来要做的事捏了一把汗。他准备同Utah大学的Jason Hardy与Henry Harpending一同，在最新一期的《生物社会科学杂志》发表一篇论文，文中不仅提出了某一少数民族比其他民族更聪明这一观点，还解释了这一结果产生的过程。文中两大主角就是德系犹太人和自然选择。

History before science

不管是否科学，先来看看历史

Ashkenazim generally do well in IQ tests, scoring 12-15 points above the mean value of 100, and have contributed disproportionately to the intellectual and cultural life of the West, as the careers of Freud, Einstein and Mahler, pictured above, affirm. They also suffer more often than most people from a number of nasty genetic diseases, such as Tay-Sachs and breast cancer. These facts, however, have previously been thought unrelated. The former has been put down to social effects, such as a strong tradition of valuing education. The latter was seen as a consequence of genetic isolation. Even now, Ashkenazim tend to marry among themselves. In the past they did so almost exclusively.

德系犹太人不仅在IQ测试上表现不俗，正常人一般在100分左右，而他们大多都能得个112-115分，而且虽然人数不多，但他们在欧洲知识、文化生活中的地位却举足轻重。想想弗洛伊德、爱因斯坦、马勒，我们就会点头称是了。但同时，他们中患有如泰-萨克斯病、乳腺癌这类严重的遗传疾病的比率明显高于其他种族。这些事实，最初被人们认为是毫无联系的。前者被说成是社会原因引起的，如浓烈的价值观教育的传统；后者则被说成是基因隔离的结果，不过即使是现在，德系犹太人还是愿意同本族人结婚，在过去，就更是如此了。

Dr Cochran, however, suspects that the intelligence and the diseases are intimately linked. His argument is that the unusual history of the Ashkenazim has subjected them to unique evolutionary pressures that have resulted in this paradoxical state of affairs.

但Cochran博士对以上两点表示质疑，并认为德系犹太人的天赋异禀与痛病缠身联系密切。他认为正是异常的历史环境强加给了德系犹太人独有的进化压力，才导致了这些看似奇怪的现象。

Ashkenazi history begins with the Jewish rebellion against Roman rule in the first century AD. When this was crushed, Jewish refugees fled in all directions. The descendants of those who fled to Europe became known as Ashkenazim.

德系犹太人的历史源于公元1世纪。犹太人在反对罗马人的统治失败后，犹太难民四散而逃，逃亡欧洲的犹太后裔就是如今的德系犹太人。

In the Middle Ages, European Jews were subjected to legal discrimination, one effect of which was to drive them into money-related professions such as banking and tax farming which were often disdained by, or forbidden to, Christians. This, along with the low level of intermarriage with their gentile neighbours (which modern genetic analysis confirms was the case), is Dr Cochran's starting point.

在中世纪，欧洲的犹太人在法律上地位很不平等，结果之一就是他们不得不从事与金钱相关的职业，如被人看不起或不准基督徒涉足的银行或征税工作，此外，他们只能与邻居中社会地位较低的非犹太人通婚（这种状况通过现代基因学分析得到了证实）。上述就是Cochran 博士论文的起点。

He argues that the professions occupied by European Jews were all ones that put a premium on intelligence. Of course, it is hard to prove that this intelligence premium existed in the Middle Ages, but it is certainly true that it exists in the modern versions of those occupations. Several studies have shown that intelligence, as measured by IQ tests, is highly correlated with income in jobs such as banking.

他认为欧洲犹太人从事的职业都是些需要一定智商的职业，虽不能证明这些职业在中世纪时就是这样了，但在当代它们确实如此。一些研究表明，智力水平（按智力测试的标准来算）与工资水平（如那些从事银行工作的人）联系密切。

What can, however, be shown from the historical records is that European Jews at the top of their professions in the Middle Ages raised more children to adulthood than those at the bottom. Of course, that was true of successful gentiles as well. But in the Middle Ages, success in Christian society tended to be violently aristocratic (warfare and land), rather than peacefully meritocratic (banking and trade).

这些历史记录证明了，那些在欧洲工作地位较高的犹太家庭子女存活率要高于那些地位较低的犹太家庭。情况对于那些其他种族的也是一样的。但在中世纪，基督教社会中所谓的成功多是贵族通过战争与土地强争豪取，而非通过量才而用（如从事银行或贸易工作）和平地获得。

Put these two things together—a correlation of intelligence and success, and a correlation of success and fecundity—and you have circumstances that favour the spread of genes that enhance intelligence. The questions are, do such genes exist, and what are they if they do? Dr Cochran thinks they do exist, and that they are exactly the genes that cause the inherited diseases which afflict Ashkenazi society.

把智力与成功的关联以及成功与生殖力的关系合二为一，你就具备了有利于智商提高的基因传播的条件。问题是这种智商基因确实存在吗？假如它果真存在的话，那究竟是什么呢？科克伦博士认为它们的确存在，而且正是那种引起折磨德系犹太人遗传疾病的基因。

That small, reproductively isolated groups of people are susceptible to genetic disease is well known. Constant mating with even distant relatives reduces genetic diversity, and some disease genes will thus, randomly, become more common. But the very randomness of this process means there should be no discernible pattern about which disease genes increase in frequency. In the case of Ashkenazim, Dr Cochran argues, this is not the case. Most of the dozen or so disease genes that are common in them belong to one of two types: they are involved either in the storage in nerve cells of special fats called sphingolipids, which form part of the insulating outer sheaths that allow nerve cells to transmit electrical signals, or in DNA repair. The former genes cause neurological diseases, such as Tay- Sachs, Gaucher's and Niemann-Pick. The latter cause cancer.

众所周知，越是人口稀少并且生育范围狭小的种族就越易患遗传疾病。总是于同族人通婚，就算不是近亲，也会较少遗传的多样性，同时也会使某些致病基因没有规律地在该种族内部泛滥起来。而这种无规律性意味着人们不知道何类致病基因会被大量传播。但对德系犹太人来说，Cochran 医生指出，情况却并非如此。他们当中最常见的十几种疾病基因基本上可以归结于两类：一类参与神经细胞中鞘脂类特殊脂肪）的储存。鞘脂组成一部分绝缘外层鞘，允许神经细胞发射电子信号。另一类参与DNA 的修复。前者基因会引发神经性疾病，如泰萨二氏病、脑苷脂沉积病和神经鞘磷脂沉积病；而后者会导致癌症。

That does not look random. And what is even less random is that in several cases the genes for particular diseases come in different varieties, each the result of an independent original mutation. This really does suggest the mutated genes are being preserved by natural selection. But it does not answer the question of how evolution can favour genetic diseases. However, in certain circumstances, evolution can.

上述看起来并非毫无规律。而且更趋于规律的表现就是，在一些病例中，特殊疾病的致病基因来自于不同的变体，而每个变体都是独立的原基因变异的结果。这就印证了变异基因是自然选择保留下来的结果，可它却不能回答自然选择为什么会成了遗传疾病的帮凶，但在一些特殊的条件下，进化能够产生这样的结果。

West Africans, and people of West African descent, are susceptible to a disease called sickle-cell anaemia that is virtually unknown elsewhere. The anaemia develops in those whose red blood cells contain a particular type of haemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen. But the disease occurs only in those who have two copies of the gene for the disease-causing haemoglobin (one copy from each parent). Those who have only one copy have no symptoms. They are, however, protected against malaria, one of the biggest killers in that part of the world. Thus, the theory goes, the pressure to keep the sickle-cell gene in the population because of its malaria-protective effects balances the pressure to drive it out because of its anaemia-causing effects. It therefore persists without becoming ubiquitous.

如西非人以及他们的后代易患一种叫做镰状细胞性贫血的疾病，这种病在西非之外几乎都没人听说过。贫血症发于那些红血球中含有一种特殊的血红蛋白，其蛋白质中含有氧气的人。但这种镰状细胞性贫血症只会发生在同时有两组这种致病的血红蛋白（父母都有这种血红蛋白）的人身上。而那些只有一组的人不但不会患这种贫血症，也不会患疟疾，该病被称为非洲的头号杀手。因此，我们可以这样说，抵御疟疾的特性使得镰状细胞在得以人体中存活下来，同时这种细胞导致贫血症的特性也会被人体排斥，只有在为保持这两种状态而产生的压力达到平衡时，才不会有任何一个特性占据上风。

Dr Cochran argues that something similar happened to the Ashkenazim. Genes that promote intelligence in an individual when present as a single copy create disease when present as a double copy. His thesis is not as strong as the sickle-cell/malaria theory, because he has not proved that any of his disease genes do actually affect intelligence. But the area of operation of some of them suggests that they might.

Cochran博士认为，德系犹太人也面临着同样的情况，他们的某些基因如果以单组出现就可以提高智力，一旦以双组出现就会引起疾病。显然，该理论并不如他的镰状细胞/疟疾理论那样具有说服力，因为他尚未证明任何一种致病基因确实能够影响智力，但是某些基因的活动区域显示它们或许真能影响智力。

The sphingolipid-storage diseases, Tay-Sachs, Gaucher's and Niemann-Pick, all involve extra growth and branching of the protuberances that connect nerve cells together. Too much of this (as caused in those with double copies) is clearly pathological. But it may be that those with single copies experience a more limited, but still enhanced, protuberance growth. That would yield better linkage between brain cells, and might thus lead to increased intelligence. Indeed, in the case of Gaucher's disease, the only one of the three in which people routinely live to adulthood, there is evidence that those with full symptoms are more intelligent than the average. An Israeli clinic devoted to treating people with Gaucher's has vastly more engineers, scientists, accountants and lawyers on its books than would be expected by chance.

鞘脂储存类疾病，如泰萨二氏病、脑苷脂沉积病和神经鞘磷脂沉积病，都涉及到连接神经细胞的凸起的多余生长和分叉。显然，这种生长和分叉太多的话就会引起疾病。但是，也有可能，仅有单份致病基因的人会出现比较有限的、但仍然加强了的凸起生长。这将有助于加强脑细胞之间的连接，或许因此导致智力提高。实际上，在脑苷脂沉积病的例子中，在三分之一能够活到成年的患者中，确实有证据表明完全发病的人拥有高于平均值的智商。根据一家专门治疗脑苷脂沉积病的以色列诊所的医疗记录，患者中的工程师、科学家、会计和律师的比例多于常人。

Why a failure of the DNA-repair system should boost intelligence is unclear—and is, perhaps, the weakest part of the thesis, although evidence is emerging that one of the genes in question is involved in regulating the early growth of the brain. But the thesis also has a strong point: it makes a clear and testable prediction. This is that people with a single copy of the gene for Tay-Sachs, or that for Gaucher's, or that for Niemann-Pick should be more intelligent than average. Dr Cochran and his colleagues predict they will be so by about five IQ points. If that turns out to be the case, it will strengthen the idea that, albeit unwillingly, Ashkenazi Jews have been part of an accidental experiment in eugenics. It has brought them some advantages. But, like the deliberate eugenics experiments of the 20th century, it has also exacted a terrible price.

为什么基因修复系统失灵会提高智力，现在还不清楚原因何在。虽然，陆续有证据表明产生问题的基因之一参与了调节大脑的早期发育，但是这仍是该论题最薄弱的环节。不过，该理论也有令人信服的地方：它对于拥有单份泰萨二氏病或脑苷脂沉积病或神经鞘磷脂沉积病基因的人会比普通人更聪明做出了明确而可检验的预测。Cochran 博士和他的同事认为，这些人的智商因此会比平均水平高出5 个点。尽管有人不愿接受，假如确实如此的话，它将有力地证明，德系犹太人在不经意间经历了优生实验，而这为他们带来了智商上的优势。但是，如同发生在20 世纪的人为的优生实验一样，它同样让他们付出了可怕的代价。

《经济学人》精读Down in flames(para3)

Aerospace

Down in flames

A tragedy casts doubt on Russia’s civil-aviation renaissance

航空工业

火中坠落

一场悲剧令俄罗斯民航业的复兴蒙上阴影

了解时事的童鞋都知道，俄罗斯本月初发生了一场重大航空事故，造成41人遇难。此篇文章即为经济学人就该事件对俄罗斯飞机制造业发展所进行的梳理。

前两段说到，俄罗斯在UAC身上倾注了很大的期望，但一场事故彻底打破了这种希望。那么在事故之前，UAC有着什么样的目标呢？而它的实际情况又是否能支撑它达成那样的目标？

① Before the accident UAC was aiming to increase its share of global revenues from civilian aircraft, from 17% in 2017 to 40% by 2025. ②The target now looks unreachable. ③Yet even beforehand Sukhoi had been making only slow progress towards it. ④The company has grabbed 20% of the global market for regional jets and secured a similar number of orders as rival aircraft from Bombardier of Canada and Embraer of Brazil, the two firms which have historically dominated the sector. ⑤But although the SuperJet is cheaper to buy, even Russian airlines were already falling out of love with it, says Tom Chruszcz of Fitch, a rating agency. ⑥The lack of a global maintenance network made servicing Sukhois more expensive, and the amount of time not in the air longer, than for the Canadian and Brazilian jets. ⑦Sanctions on Russia have crimped the availability of spare parts outside of Russia. ⑧Alexei Navalny, a former member ofAeroflot’s board turned vocal critic of Mr Putin, has previously deridedSuperJets as “always standing idle” and generating losses for the flag carrier.

第①句给出了UAC在事故之前给自己定下的目标。

本句语言点：

Aim 此处是用作动词: I] to try or intend to achieve something力求达到;

Share : [singular,单数] the part of something that you own or

are responsible for〔某人拥有或应负担的〕一份; 此处即为UAC在全球营收中的所占份额；

Revenue ：N-UNCOUNT Revenue is money that a company,

organization, or government receives from people. (公司、组织或政府的) 收入；

civilian aircraft 顾名思义是“民用飞机”，相对应的“军用飞机”则为military aircraft;

本句语法结构：

Before the accident（时间状语） UAC（主语） was aiming（谓语） to increase its share of global revenues from civilian aircraft, from 17% in 2017 to 40% by 2025（状语）.

主干则为：

UAC was aiming toincrease its share.

第②句比较简单，一针见血地指出，该目标现在看来是遥不可及了。

The target now looks unreachable.

第③句进一步指出，UAC在某些方面还是做的不错的。

本句语言点：

Beforehand : ADV If you do something beforehand, you do it earlier than a particular event. 事先; 预先; 表达“事情的进展”用 make progress, 常见搭配有：

Slow/steady/rapid/good/significant/littleprogress

本句语法结构

Yet（表示转折） even beforehand（状语） Sukhoi （主语）had been making （谓语）only slow progress（宾语）towards it.

主干即为：

Sukhoi had beenmaking only slow progress.

第④句紧接第三句，具体描述UAC在此前怎么就进展缓慢了。

本句语言点：

Grab 抓取，这里的取义也是相关的：

[ VN ] to take sth for yourself, especially in a selfish or greedy way （尤指自私、贪婪地）捞取，赚取，抢占；从释义可以看出，如果采用该词，则后面的市场份额、数额、金额、占比都应该是相对较大的，此处UAC占有全球20%的支线客机市场，是个不小的份额；

regional jet : 支线客机（此处建议与前文的civil aircraft统一记忆）；

支线客机：支线客机(regional aircraft)通常是指100座以下的小型客机，一般设计座位为35～100座；

干线客机 (trunk-liner)：在客流量大的城市之间的干线上飞行的民航客机叫干线客机。我国一般把100座以下航程在3000千米以内的飞机划分为支线客机，而100座以上的飞机算做干线客机。

secure 此处不是安全，而是一个动词，常常与orders搭配：

~ sth (for sb/sth)~ sb sth ( formal ) to obtain or achieve sth, especially when this means

using a lot of effort （尤指经过努力）获得，取得，实现, 除了与orders搭配，还常常与deal/contract搭配，表示“订立合同、达成协议”，当然也可以有其它的用法：

He secured a place for himself at law school. 他在法学院取得了学籍。

Rival 此处是名词，表示“对手”，但也可以作为修饰成分，比如：

a rival bid/claim/offer 竞争投标

rival groups 竞争团体；

rival gang 敌对团伙；

Dominate : to control or have a lot of influence over sb/sth, especially in an unpleasant way 支配；控制；左右；影响;

Sector 代表一个行业：a part of an area of activity, especially of business, trade etc〔尤指商业、贸易等领域的〕部门；行业；

本句语法结构：

The company（主语） has grabbed（谓语1） 20% of the global market（宾语1） for regional jets（介词短语做后置定语） and secured（谓语2） a similar number of orders（宾语2） as rival aircraft from Bombardier of Canada and Embraer of Brazil（此处省略了have secured）, the two firms（前面2家公司的同位语） which（定从，修饰firms） have historically dominated（定从谓语） the sector（定从宾语）.

主干很简单：

The company hasgrabbed 20% of the global market and secured a similar number of orders.

第⑤句来了个转折，表示Superjet这个项目发展并不好。

本句语言点：

Fall in love with…爱上…

“不爱了”就是这里的 fall out of love with…

Rating agency 在读外刊的时候会经常碰到，指“评级机构”；

本句语法结构：

But although the SuperJet is cheaper to buy（转折状语从句）, even Russian airlines（主句主语） were already falling out of love （主句谓语）with it, says Tom Chruszcz of Fitch, a

rating agency（Fitch的同位语）.

主干:

Russian airlineswere already falling out of love with it.

第⑥句紧跟第五句，阐述为什么Superjet会发展受阻。

本句语言点：

Maintenance : ~ (of sth) the act of keeping sth in good condition by checking or repairing it regularly 维护；保养;

Service 此处也是“维修、维护”的意思：

[ usually passive] to examine a vehicle or machine and repair it if necessary so that it continues to work correctly 检修；维护；维修；保养，比如：

We need to have the car serviced. 我们得把车送去检修一下了。

这句话主要难点在它的结构：

The lack of a global maintenance network（主语） made （谓语）servicing Sukhois （宾语1）more expensive（宾语补足语）, and the amount of time not in the air（宾语2） longer（宾语补足语）, than（此处省略the amount of time not in the air） for the Canadian and Brazilian jets（比较状语）.

than for the Canadian and Brazilian jets，此处省略了the amount of time not in the air，即比较的对象是“不在空中的时间”；

除了第六句提到的维修网络问题，第⑦句指出还有美国对俄罗斯的制裁也是原因之一。

本句语言点：

Sanctions : [ Cusually pl. ] ~ (against sb) an official order that limits trade, contact, etc. with a particular country, in order to make it do sth, such as obeying international law 制裁;

Crimp ：( NAmE informal ) to restrict the growth or development of sth 妨碍（或阻止）…的发展，比如：

The dollar'srecent strength is crimping overseas sales and profits.

 美元最近的坚挺削减了海外的销售和利润。

spare part 指“零部件”；

本句语法结构：

Sanctions on Russia（主语） have crimped（谓语） the availability of spare parts（宾语） outside of Russia（地点状语）.

要阐述观点，总要找点权威人士说过的话，第⑧句就引用了Alexei Navalny的言论。

本句语言点：

Board此处指“董事会”；

Vocal 跟声音有关：telling people your opinions or protesting

about sth loudly and with confidence 大声表达的；直言不讳的，比如：

Foley has beenparticularly vocal in his criticism of the government.

福利批评政府时尤其直言不讳。

Critic “批评者”；

Deride : [ VNV speech ] ~ sb/sth (as sth) ( formal

) to treat sb/sth as ridiculous and not worth considering seriously 嘲笑；愚弄；揶揄;

Idle : ( of machines, factories, etc. 机器、工厂等 ) not in use 闲置的, 常见搭配有：

to lie/stand/remain idle 闲置着；

flag 有“国旗”的意思，此处代表俄罗斯；

本句语法结构：

Alexei Navalny（主语）, a former member of Aeroflot’s board（同位语） turned vocal critic of Mr Putin（过去分词短语后置修饰member）, has previously derided（谓语） SuperJets（宾语）as “always standing idle” and generatinglosses for the flag carrier.

主干：

Alexei Navalny has previously derided SuperJets.

本段中文：

   此次空难发生前，UAC的目标是到2025年将其民用飞机在全球收入中的份额从2017年的17%提高到40%。现在看来这一目标是遥不可及了。然而，即便在这之前，苏霍伊公司朝此目标迈进的速度也很缓慢。苏霍伊公司已经占据了全球支线客机20%的市场份额，并获得了与加拿大庞巴迪公司（Bombardier）和巴西航空工业公司（Embraer）生产的竞争机型差不多数量的订单。后两家公司长期以来处于该领域主导地位。但评级机构惠誉（Fitch）的汤姆·赫鲁什奇（Tom Chruszcz）表示，尽管SuperJet的价格更便宜，但是就连俄罗斯自己的航空公司也已经不再青睐它。由于缺乏全球性的维修网络，SuperJet的维修费用高于加拿大和巴西的客机，维修停飞的时间也更长。对俄罗斯的制裁影响了俄罗斯以外地区的零部件供应。俄航前董事、后来常公开批评普京的阿列克谢·纳瓦尔尼（Alexei Navalny）此前就曾嘲讽SuperJet“永远闲着”，导致这家国家航空公司亏钱。

本段有不少长句子，只要仔细剖析一下，主干支干都很清晰，所以对长句子不可有畏难情绪哦

《经济学人》精读41：Data and medicine

A revolution in healthcare is coming

Welcome to Doctor You

Feb 1st 2018

NO WONDER they are called “patients”.When people enter the health-care systems of rich countries today, they know what they will get: prodding doctors, endless tests, baffling jargon, rising costs and, above all, long waits. Some stoicism will always be needed, because health care is complex and diligence matters. But frustration is boiling week three of the biggest names in American business—Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase—announced a new venture to provide better, cheaper health care for their employees. A fundamental problem with today’s system is that patients lack knowledge and control. Access to data can bestow both.

The internet already enables patients to seek online consultations when and where it suits them. You can take over-the-counter tests to analyse your blood, sequence your genome and check on the bacteria in your gut. Yet radical change demands a shift in emphasis, from providers to patients and from doctors to data. That shift is happening. Technologies such as the smartphone allow people to monitor their own health. The possibilities multiply when you add the crucial missing ingredients—access to your own medical records and the ability easily to share information with those you trust. That allows you to reduce inefficiencies in your own treatment and also to provide data to help train medical algorithms. You can enhance your own care and everyone else’s, too.

jargon: the language used for a particular activity or by a particular group of people

stoicism: the quality or behavior of a person who accepts what happens without complaining or showing emotion

现在病人走进一家医院，都能预料到会是什么样的：仓促的医生，数不清的检测，看不懂的病例，涨不停的费用和无尽的等待... 病人的问题就是他们不清楚状况和缺乏对自己病情的控制

所以亚马逊和JPMorgan还有Berkshire Hathaway 成立了一个新的公司，为他们的员工提供更好更廉价的医疗

The doctor will be you now

Medical data may not seem like the type of kindling to spark a revolution. But the flow of information is likely to bear fruit in several ways. One is better diagnosis. Someone worried about their heart can now buy a watch strap containing a medical-grade monitor that will detect arrhythmias. Apps are vying to see if they can diagnose everything from skin cancer and concussion to Parkinson’s disease. Research is under way to see whether sweat can be analysed for molecular biomarkers without the need for an invasive blood test. Some think that changes in how quickly a person swipes a phone’s touchscreen might signal the onset of cognitive problems.

A second benefit lies in the management of complex diseases. Diabetes apps can change the way patients cope, by monitoring blood-glucose levels and food intake, potentially reducing long-run harm such as blindness and gangrene. Akili Interactive, a startup, plans to seek regulatory approval for a video game designed to stimulate an area of the brain implicated in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (see article).

医疗数据可能不会带来一个伟大的变革，但是会有非常多的好处，这四段分别讲了四个有用的地方，看经济学人重要的是看清楚文章的逻辑！

第一个好处是：更好地诊断

第二个好处是：管理复杂的疾病

Patients can also improve the efficiency of their care. Although health records are increasingly electronic, they are often still trapped in silos. Many contain data that machines cannot read. This can lead to delays in treatment, or worse. Many of the 250,000 deaths in America attributable to medical error each year can be traced to poorly co-ordinated care. With data at their fingertips, common standards to enable sharing and a strong incentive to get things right, patients are more likely to spot errors. On January 24th Apple laid out its plans to ask organisations to let patients use their smartphones to download their own medical records (see article).

A final benefit of putting patients in charge stems from the generation and aggregation of their data. Artificial intelligence (AI) is already being trained by a unit of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to identify cancerous tissues and retinal damage. As patients’data stream from smartphones and “wearables”, they will teach AIs to do ever more. Future AIs could, for instance, provide automated medical diagnosis from a description of your symptoms, spot behavioural traits that suggest you are depressed or identify if you are at special risk of cardiac disease. The aggregation of data will also make it easier for you to find other people with similar diseases and to see how they responded to various treatments.

第三个好处是提高医疗效率

第四个好处是病人掌控自己的数据整合等

讲完了好处接下来讲坏处...

An Apple a day

As with all new technologies, pitfalls accompany the promise. Hucksters will launch apps that do not work. But with regulators demanding oversight of apps that present risks to patients, users will harm only their wallets. Not everyone will want to take active control of their own health care; plenty will want the professionals to manage . Data can be pored over by those who are interested, while those who are not can opt to share data automatically with trusted providers.

The benefits of new technologies often flow disproportionately to the rich. Those fears are mitigated by the incentives that employers, governments and insurers have to invest in cost-efficient preventive care for all. Alphabet has recently launched a firm called Cityblock Health, for example, which plans to trawl through patients’ data to provide better care for low-income city dwellers, many of them covered by Medicaid, an insurance programme for poorer Americans.

pitfall: a danger or problem that is hidden or not obvious at first

pore over: to read or study something very carefully

trawl: to search through something in order to find someone or something

很多先进的技术都是益了富人，因此这需要纳税人，政府和保险公司一起想出保障到所有人的医疗制度

Google在这方面有做出了努力，成立了一各公司Cityblock Health，为低收入人群提供更好的医疗！（真心觉得googlers 是为了人类进步而发展的公司...)

Other risks are harder to deal r transparency may encourage the hale and hearty not to take out health insurance. They may even make it harder for the unwell to find cover. Regulations can slow that process—by requiring insurers to ignore genetic data, for example—but not stop it. Security is another worry. The more patient data are analysed in the cloud or shared with different firms, the greater the potential threat of hacking or misuse. Almost a quarter of all data breaches in America happen in health care. Health firms should face stringent penalties if they are slapdash about security, but it is naive to expect that breaches will never happen.

Will the benefits of making data more widely available outweigh such risks? The signs are that they will. Plenty of countries are now opening up their medical records, but few have gone as far as Sweden. It aims to give all its citizens electronic access to their medical records by 2020; over a third of Swedes have already set up accounts. Studies show that patients with such access have a better understanding of their illnesses, and that their treatment is more successful. Trials in America and Canada have produced not just happier patients but lower costs, as clinicians fielded fewer inquiries. That should be no surprise. No one has a greater interest in your health than you do. Trust in Doctor You.

hale: healthy and strong, usually used in the phrase hale and hearty 

一个坏处就是让那些身体情况良好的人不会再买保险，而让那些身体不好的人很难买到保险；还有分享的数据越多，就越有可能发生数据泄露和被黑客黑的可能

stringent: very strict or severe

slapdash: quick and careless

那分享这些医疗数据到底是不是利大于弊还是弊大于利？种种迹象标明是 利大于弊的！

总结：科技改变生活，本文是这期经济学人杂志的封面文章

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Results

Lexile®Measure: 1100L - 1200L

Mean Sentence Length: 16.04

Mean Log Word Frequency: 3.16

Word Count: 1030

这篇文章的蓝思值是在1100-1200L， 适合英语专业大二的水平学习，是经济学人里比较简单的

使用kindle断断续续地读《经济学人》三年，发现从一开始磕磕碰碰到现在比较顺畅地读完，进步很大，推荐购买！ 点击这里可以去亚马逊官网购买~

经济学人精读|海龟误食塑料，原来不是因为长得像食物

本文节选自《经济学人》2020.3.14期Science & technology版块的一篇文章《Why turtles eat plastic》，介绍了海龟为什么会吃塑料袋的新研究

本文总共6段，建议大家先自主阅读原文，再学习精读笔记。

文末会总结此次学习写作可以使用的词句，读者也可自己总结。 会定期将内容进行总结，做成word分享，希望大家也能坚持学习

1

Turtles  have an unfortunate habit of devouring  plastic objects floating in the sea. These then get snared in their alimentary canals , cannot  be broken down  by the animals’ digestive enzymes and may  ultimately  kill them.  It is widely assumed that  this  penchant for  plastics  is   a matter of mistaken identity . Drifting plastic bags, for instance, look similar to  jellyfish , which many types of turtles love to eat. Yet lots of plastic objects that  end up inside turtles   have no resemblance to jellyfish . Joseph Pfaller of the University of Florida therefore suspects that something more complicated is going on. As he writes in Current Biology, he thinks that the  odor of marine microorganisms which  colonize  floating plastic objects  induces turtles to feed .

have an unfortunate habit of ： 有一个不幸的习惯

devour ： to eat all of sth quickly, especially because you are very hungry 【词汇积累】

get snared in their alimentary canals ： 残留在消化系统中，可以记住be snared in这个词组。snare意为伴住，缠住，be snared in意为被缠住，alimentary canals表示消化系统 【词组积累】

be broken down ： 被分解，A be broken down into sth，A被分解成……，文中指的是塑料物在消化系统中无法被分解 【词组积累】

ultimately ： 最终

It is widely assumed that  ……： 人们普遍认为，assume释义为认为，to think or accept that sth is true but without having proof of it 【句式】

penchant for ： 喜好某事 【词汇积累】

sth is   a matter of mistaken identity ： a matter of表示“……的问题”，mistaken identity认错身份，弄错身份。文中是指海龟喜欢吃塑料是认错 【词汇积累】

jellyfish ： 水母

end up inside turtles ： 最终落在海龟肚中

have no resemblance to jellyfish ： 和水母不像，have no resemblance to sth与某物不相像，look similar to sth则表示与某物相似。 【词组积累】

odor ： 气味

colonize ： ~ sth（在某一地区）聚居，大批生长to live or grow in large numbers in a particular area。Colonize 后面的名词可表示地点。 【词汇积累】

induces turtles to feed ： induce sb to do sth诱使某人做某事，这里和下一段中的 lure sb to do sth 是相似的意思， lure animals to their doom 引诱动物步入死亡，doom表示厄运，毁灭和死亡 【词组积累】

海龟有吞食漂浮在海上的塑料物的不幸习惯。这些塑料物残留在消化系统中，无法被消化酶分解，最终可能会杀死他们。人们普遍认为这种对塑料的喜爱是因为把塑料认错了的原因。例如，漂浮的塑料袋和水母看上去很像，而很多海龟都喜欢吃水母。然而，很多最终被吞食到海龟肚中的塑料物和水母并不相像。因此Joseph Pfaller怀疑这之中还有更复杂的原因。在当代生物学中，他写道海洋微生物在漂浮的塑料物处繁殖，其气味吸引海龟来食用。

2

The idea  that the smell of  plastic flotsam  might  lure animals to their doom   first emerged in 2016 . Researchers at the University of California, Davis, noticed that  certain chemicals, notably dimethyl sulphide , which are released into the air by  micro-organism-colonized plastics , are those which many seabirds  sniff to track down food . These chemicals  mark good places to hunt  because they indicate  an abundance of  the  algae and bacteria  that lie at the bottom of marine food chains. The researchers also found that birds which  pursue their food  in this way are five or six times more likely to eat plastic than those which do not.

The idea first emerged in 2016 ： 某个想法第一次出现于…… 【句式】

plastic flotsam ： 塑料漂浮物，flotsam表示漂浮物，这里这个词组代替了上文中的plastic objects floating in the sea 【词汇积累】

certain chemicals, notably dimethyl sulphide ： 特定的化学物质，尤其是二甲硫化物，这里notably与especially意义相近 【同意替换】

micro-organism-colonized plastics ： 布满微生物的塑料物

sniff to track down food ： track down food追踪食物，sniff表示闻，即通过闻气味的方式追踪食物，下文中还有 pursue their food ， 同样表示追踪食物 【同意替换】

mark good places to hunt ： 标志了优良的捕猎场所，mark，标记，信号笔也是mark

an abundance of ……： 丰富的…… 【词组积累】

algae and bacteria ： algae and bacteria ： 藻类和细菌

塑料的味道可能会引诱动物步入死亡，这个想法初次出现于2016年，研究者们发现某些特定的化学物质，尤其是二甲硫化物，这种由布满微生物的塑料释放到空气中的物质，很多海鸟通过闻它来追踪食物。这些物质标志了优良的捕猎场所，因为他们表明那里存在着丰富的藻类和细菌，是海洋食物链的底层。研究者们也发现以这种方式追踪食物的鸟类误食塑料的机率是其他鸟类的5到6倍。

3

Since turtles  are known to break the surface periodically   and sniff the air  when navigating towards their feeding areas, Dr Pfaller  theorized that  they are following these same chemicals, and  are  likewise  fooled into thinking  that floating plastic objects are  edible .

are known to break the surface periodically and sniff the air ： break the surface表示露出水面，通常是break the surface of water，are known to表示某件事为人所知 【词组积累】

theorize that ： theorize是theory的动词形式，表示形成理论，建立理论 【词汇积累】

are fooled into thinking ： be fooled into doing意为被骗做某事，误以为……做某事 【词组积累】

edible ： 可食用的

因为海龟在前往捕食场所时会露出水面呼吸空气，Pfaller认为它们也以这种同样的物质作为导航指向，并有可能被误导，认为漂浮塑料是可食用的。

4

To test that idea, he and his colleagues  set up an experiment involving loggerhead turtles , a species frequently killed by plastic. They arranged for 15 of the animals, each around five months old, to be exposed, in random order, to four odours delivered through a pipe to the air above an experimental arena . The odors were: the vapor from  deionized water ; the smell of  turtle-feeding pellets  made of shrimp and fish meal; the smell of a clean plastic bottle  chopped up into ten pieces ; and the smell of a similarly chopped bottle that had been kept in the ocean for five weeks to allow algae and bacteria to grow on it.

set up an experiment involving loggerhead turtles ：建立了一个以蠵龟为对象的实验，这里involving是which involves，以简洁的方式说明实验对象为蠵龟 【句式】

experimental arena ： 实验平台

deionized water ： 去离子水

turtle-feeding pellets ： 海龟饲料球

chopped up into ten pieces ： 切成十个碎片，chop up意为切断 【词组积累】

为了验证这个想法，他和同事们建立了一个实验，使用蠵龟作为实验对象，这是一种经常被塑料杀死的种类。他们安排了15只，每只的年龄都在5个月左右，他们以随机次序暴露于4种气味，通过管道传送至实验平台。这些气味是：去离子水蒸气味，由虾和鱼肉制成的海龟饲料球的气味，切成10片的干净的塑料瓶的气味，以及被放在海里5周，拥有海藻和细菌生成于上的相同的塑料碎片的气味。

5

Two of the smells  proved far more attractive to  the animals than the others. When sniffing both the odor of food pellets and that of five-week-old bottles turtles kept their nostrils out of the water more than three times as long, and took twice as many breaths as they did when what was on offer was the smell of fresh bottle-plastic or deionized-water vapor.  On the face of it , then, the turtles were responding to the smell of old bottles as if it were the smell of food.

A proved far more attractive to B ： A的气味对B更具吸引力

On the face of it ： 从表面上看起来，乍一看起来。表示初步判断，没有经过更细致的检测 【词组积累】

两种气味比其他两种更具吸引力，当闻到食物球气味和放置于海里5周的塑料瓶碎片的气味时，海龟探出鼻子呼吸的时间长度是原来的3倍，呼吸次数是其他两种气味的两种。初步看起来，海龟对于放置于海中较久时间的塑料瓶，会把它们当做食物的味道。

6

Though they have not yet tested whether dimethyl sulphide is the culprit, Dr Pfaller and his colleagues think  it is the most likely candidate.  In an unpolluted ocean,  pretty well  anything which had this smell would be edible—or, at least, harmless. Unfortunately, five-week-old plastic bottles  and their like  are not.

it is the most likely candidate. ： 这是最有可能的犯罪凶手，candidate是候选人，最理想的对象，这里指的是最理想的culprit 【词汇积累】

pretty well ： 差不多，几乎 【词汇积累】

A and their like ： their like指的是A这种物质的同类物质 【词汇积累】

尽管它们没有检测二甲硫化物是不是罪魁祸首，但Pfaller和他的同事们认为它是最有可能的元凶。在一片未受污染的海域，几乎任何拥有这种气味的东西都是可食用的，或者，至少是无害的。不幸的是，5周时间的塑料瓶，以及同类的物质并非无害。

总结

devour ： to eat all of sth quickly, especially because you are very hungry 【词汇积累】

penchant for ： 喜好某事 【词汇积累】

sth is   a matter of mistaken identity ： a matter of表示“……的问题”，mistaken identity认错身份，弄错身份。文中是指海龟喜欢吃塑料是认错 【词汇积累】

colonize ： ~ sth（在某一地区）聚居，大批生长to live or grow in large numbers in a particular area。Colonize 后面的名词可表示地点。 【词汇积累】

plastic flotsam ： 塑料漂浮物，flotsam表示漂浮物，这里这个词组代替了上

文中的plastic objects floating in the sea 【词汇积累】

theorize that ： theorize是theory的动词形式，表示形成理论，建立理论 【词汇积累】

it is the most likely candidate. ： 这是最有可能的犯罪凶手，candidate是候选

人，最理想的对象，这里指的是最理想的culprit 【词汇积累】

pretty well ： 差不多，几乎 【词汇积累】

A and their like ： their like指的是A这种物质的同类物质 【词汇积累】

get snared in their alimentary canals ： 残留在消化系统中，可以记住be snared in这个词组。snare意为伴住，缠住，be snared in意为被缠住，alimentary canals表示消化系统 【词组积累】

be broken down ： 被分解，A be broken down into sth，A被分解成……，文中指的是塑料物在消化系统中无法被分解 【词组积累】

have no resemblance to jellyfish ： 和水母不像，have no resemblance to sth与某物不相像，look similar to sth则表示与某物相似。 【词组积累】

induces turtles to feed ： induce sb to do sth诱使某人做某事，这里和下一段中的 lure sb to do sth 是相似的意思， lure animals to their doom 引诱动物步入死亡，doom表示厄运，毁灭和死亡 【词组积累】

an abundance of ……： 丰富的…… 【词组积累】

are known to break the surface periodically and sniff the air ： break the surface表示露出水面，通常是break the surface of water，are known to表示某件事为人所知 【词组积累】

are fooled into thinking ： be fooled into doing意为被骗做某事，误以为……做某事 【词组积累】

chopped up into ten pieces ： 切成十个碎片，chop up意为切断 【词组积累】

On the face of it ： 从表面上看起来，乍一看起来。表示初步判断，没有经过更细致的检测 【词组积累】

It is widely assumed that  ……： 人们普遍认为，assume释义为认为，to think or accept that sth is true but without having proof of it 【句式】

The idea first emerged in 2016 ： 某个想法第一次出现于…… 【句式】

set up an experiment involving loggerhead turtles ：建立了一个以蠵龟为对象的实验，这里involving是which involves，以简洁的方式说明实验对象为蠵龟 【句式】

certain chemicals, notably dimethyl sulphide ： 特定的化学物质，尤其是二甲硫化物，这里notably与especially意义相近 【同意替换】

sniff to track down food ： track down food追踪食物，sniff表示闻，即通过闻气味的方式追踪食物，下文中还有 pursue their food ， 同样表示追踪食物 【同意替换】

《经济学人》好文赏析：日本人口保卫战

读英文版《经济学人》，目的不外乎：学地道的英语写作、拓展全球视野。《日本人口保卫战》二者兼具，适合读者一文两吃。

本文精读由 现象级社群·第三小组成员 共同完成。标题副标题+1-3段来自自观问渠，4-5段来自陈玉梅，6-7段来自暗夜，8-9段来自哇~，10-12段来自立里。小伙伴的解析都各有风格，文本赏析最大程度的保留了小伙伴的个人特色。有任何问题，欢迎指正~

网页版：三个形容词rising, daunting, bold的叠加使日本的困局呼之欲出。债务飞涨、人口问题严峻、改革畏手畏脚，潜台词：安倍苦啊。

电子版：重点是问句，先转折（but）再问够用否（enough?），潜台词：前景黯淡。

总结：引用莎翁的话，Brevity is the soul of wit. 标题需要简单明了，用词注重实用。

学表达：人口相关，demography(noun),demographic(adj.), population

Demography(uncountable noun) is the study of changes in numbers of births, deaths, marriages, and cases of disease in a community over a period of time.

顺带讲照片，满脸沧桑的安倍眼神无力、欲说还休，脖子被画幅的边缘紧紧卡住，与“人口保卫战斗士”的标题对应，令人唏嘘。

段落大意：

日本首相安倍晋三称，日本出生率下降、人口老龄化加速，政府必须落实政策马上解决问题。政府改革推动就业、减低养老补贴，国会商议五年招收34.5万外国劳工。

赏析：开篇明义，首段是背景介绍。四句话时态分别为：现在进行时、一般过去时、一般现在时、现在进行时。前三句是安倍的话花样出现，第四句是政府举措，本段要点：时态的变化与引用的花样。

段落分析：

第一句：下划线部分为句子主体结构，注意主语the decline and the ageing以整体看待，是单数。引用语在句首，主谓倒装值得注意（法语小伙伴们秒懂，法语里引用语也是倒装达人）。

词汇ageing也有另外的拼写aging，据维基百科 ，两者无区别，ageing更常用。

第二句：重点是间接引语和插入语的写法。

push for something: to request or demand something insistently.

当我们想说，秘书吵着要加薪的时候，就可以说：My secretary is pushing for a raise.

第三句：重点是高频词汇boost及老人的说法。

1. boost: to increase, raise.

之前提到的秘书要加薪，也可以说：My secretary wants to boost her salary.

注意boost与reduce一升一降的搭配使用，可以一起记忆(boost, increase, raise, reduce)。

2. 老人的说法本文中有两个：the elderly和older people，约定俗成，不容商榷。

3. 这句话对电子版副标题进行了paraphrase：

reduce the cost of supporting the elderly = trim spending on the elderly，标题里的trim something，作动词，意为“削减”。

第四句：重点debate和admit两个动词的用法。

debate: to discuss (a motion), esp in a formal assembly. 常用discuss, deliberate, 加上debate, 凑个3D。

admit: to allow to enter, let in.

例句：Security personnel refused to admit him. 安检不让他进。

常见for instance放在句首，这里放在句尾，可以学以致用，提高写作的格调。

背景介绍：

日本国会（the Diet）：Diet of Japan is the national bicameral legislature of Japan. It is made up of a the House of Representatives ( lower house ) and the House of Councillors ( upper house ).

The members of both houses of the Diet are directly elected. The Diet selects the Prime Minister .

段落大意：

人口骤减触目惊心。每年的死亡人口超出生人口40万。预期寿命全球最高，65岁以上人口超过28%。百岁老人近七万，比20年前增了六倍。

赏析：罗列数字说人口，以海量数据彰显学术范。本段学习如何表达数字、积累人口相关词汇。

段落分析：

第一句：头韵d很地道。词汇demographic decline搭配population decrease记忆，显然前者更有范。

第二句：死亡人数和出生人数的表达，注意death和birth的复数用法。

第三句：对照中国的预期寿命（2018最新数据），为 live long and prosper而努力！

第四句：

compare with: to consider the sameness or difference of sets of things or people.

compare to : to liken people or things to other people or things. 记忆法：听歌“Nothing Compares to You”，学学如何打动爱人。

第五句：centenarian，百岁老人。

倍数的复合词表达seven-fold，也可写作sevenfold，即使与increase连用，译为中文还是长了六倍。关于倍数，《中国翻译》曾有论文专门阐述。

段落大意：

福利国家制度入不敷出（公债是GDP的2.5倍），难以为继。劳动力人口缺口大，工作比找工作的人多，劳动力人口预计未来呈缩减态势。

赏析：承接上段人口老龄化，本段讲政府缺钱缺人，从抽象统计数字回到现实的困局。以第三句开头的And为分水岭，①②缺钱，③④缺人。重点：从句数上看，写作每段四五句是常态，不要长篇累牍。学习长短句搭配（本段①②③是短句④是长句），一句话讲一件事，主语变化但连词俭省。

段落分析：

第一句：词汇affordable（否定unaffordable）：that you have the financial means for，与low-cost, low-priced, cheap, inexpensive接近。这个词是联合国的心头好（soft spot）， 正式文件里的熟脸，常常译作“可负担”“经济适用”，例如affordable and clean energy, affordable housing。

背景介绍：

welfare state: a social system based on the assumption by a political state of primary responsibility for the individual and social welfare of its citizens

第二句：短句的力量，可以背下来。替换Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio is 250%.

背景介绍：

public debt(also known as government debt, national debt): the total amount of money that the government of a country owes to companies, countries, etc.

acute:of great importance or consequence; critical

例句：There is an acute shortage of funds. 严重缺钱

背景介绍：

In its narrowest definition, a labour shortage is an economic condition in which there are insufficient qualified candidates (employees) to fill the market-place demands for employment at any price. Such a condition is sometimes referred to by Economists as "an insufficiency in the labour force ."注意：labour shortage有复数形式，建议记成labour shortages, 同义替换worker shortages。

第四句：动词shrink常与数字搭配使用，shrink: to become reduced in amount or value; dwindle 例句：His earnings shrank. 收入减少。同义替换：shrink, decline, reduce。复合词job-seeker也可以写作jobseeker，可以与homeseeker搭配记忆。

段落大意：

从第4段，文章开始阐述老龄化的解决问题。①一个显而易见的方案是移民。②句表达在日本外籍劳工显然很少，只有2%的劳动力是移民，这个数据远低于美国的17%。③But转折，日本政府给大多数外籍劳工冠上学生和实习生的名头，这句隐含的意思是事实上日本的外籍劳工的人数比统计的2%多，这也跟第5段第②句相呼应，他们之所以这么做是认为外来者不会是永久的移民，只是一些客籍工人。④国会的计划旨在吸引更多蓝领工作者从事建筑业、造船业、和护理老人等14个行业。⑤⑥句日本对移民设置了很苛刻的条件：首次签证不超过5年，不允许带着家人，还要精通日语。

从这一段可以看出日本对以移民去填补国内劳动力空缺这个方法很不感冒,那么他们想以什么样的方式去填补劳动力缺口呢?

段落分析：

①.proficiency in ... 精通某种语言

我的目标是精通英语可以表达为: My aim is to acquire proficiency in English.

②.But the government has been surreptitiously admitting more foreign workers, mostly in the guise of students and trainees.

这句话描述的很形象，指出了日本政府不愿意光明正大承认外籍工人，而是以学生和实习生来掩盖他们的身份。

surreptitious：A surreptitious   action is done secretly. 可以代替secretly

in the guise of 假借，以...为幌子，以...的名义

联想国企：企业不能给员工光明正大的发放福利，而是以饭补和车补的名义发放，这个时候我们就可以说：

State-owned enterprises have been surreptitiously admitting more staff-welfare, mostly in the guise of food and commute allowances.

段落大意：

①-③表达安倍对采用移民方式解决日本老龄化问题的态度。他在淡化移民政策的影响，费尽心思强调外来者不是永久移民，而是外籍工人，并指出外籍工人是最后一个可行的填补劳动力缺口的解决办法。④-⑧阐述安倍在任期为了提高已育女性工作人数比率所做的努力。在他6年任期内，超过200万妇女进入职场，使女性工作者任职的比率超过了美国。增加托儿所的数量并要求大公司记录他们为提拔女性工作者所做的努力。明年起，所有的托儿所都将免费。相较于2010年的38%，已有超过50%的已育女性重返职场。日本将会营造一个让女性更活跃、更进步、享有更多权利的社会。

段落分析：

① play something down

definition: to try to make something seem less important or less likely than it really is  使....看起来不那么重要，贬低，对...轻描淡写

由于销售业绩不好，管理层一直在淡化降低员工薪水的可能性，这时候我们就可以说：

Because of the depressed sales, the management has been playing down the possibility of salary decrease.

② be at pains to do sth  苦心经营,费力的做某事

近义词:take pains to do sth

她费尽心思的强调她是无辜的。She is at pains to stress that she is innocent.

③ portray sb/sth as sth：

definition: to describe or show someone or something in a particular way, according to your opinion of them.把某人/某物描写成某种样子

近义词:depict

小说《再见，契普斯先生》是这样描绘契普斯先生的事业，体面的职业生涯，体面的结束。The fiction , Good bye, Mr. Chips,  portrays Chips'work as "a decent career, decently closed".

④ last/final resort：

definition: what you will do if everything else fails （其他办法都失败后采用的）最后的办法

这部分钱只有在没有其他办法时，才会动用。This part of money will be used only in the last resort.

⑤ lift

看到这个单词倍感亲切,想到了在 "I Have a Dream" 中背到的那句: Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

段落大意：

①句表明安倍的态度，希望人们在退休后也持续工作；②句表达政府的措施；③句表达企业的措施；④句表达退休人员继续工作的现状；⑤句表达了安倍政府鼓励这个措施实行的方式；⑥句表达了从长远来看，在技术上的发展可以改善劳动力短缺的问题；⑦句表达了安倍在技术可以补充劳动力这件事上的信心。

段落分析：

throughout：during the whole period of time of sth

throughout one's life  毕生, 整个一生中；相对于使用 in one's life，使用 throughout 更有时间上的纵向延伸感。

as it is: in the actual state of affairs and often contrary to expectations，表达了非公众所希望的，公司已经开始实行延迟退休和返聘了。

take to doing：开始比较规律的做某事

draw: 提取，支取，领取（存款）；领取（薪水等）。原句中 draw later 对应 currently entitled

当我们要表达，他就要领取养老金了，就可以这么说：

He is moving ever closer to drawing his pension. 

段落大意:

①句表达了延迟退休和返聘对政府财政的积极作用；②句表达了安倍政府对此作出的努力；③句表达了虽然政府在努力，但是不足以解决劳动力缺乏和老龄化的问题；④句是对③句的数据支持。

段落分析：

since  conj.  因为，由于，既然。可以替换because; as; as long as 等表示原因的连词

tweak：  v./n. 稍稍改进，对。。。做微调

比如写文章的时候，最后需要修饰一下，就可以用tweak表示。

When you finish writing a paper, it's a good idea to go back through one last time, to tweak it and make sure it's absolutely perfect.

catch up: the act of trying to reach the same level or standard as somebody who is ahead of you

用play catch-up，表达出政府一直在补救劳动力不足及人口老龄化的问题，连接了下文对安倍政策面对的一些困难的描述。

段落大意：

安倍将对社会保障制度进行彻底改革。 ①承接上一段，表明安倍准备对福利制度进行彻底的改革。②承接上一句，表明改革涉及的内容，③句继续补充，陈述安倍想达成的目的：让国民过上健康有意义的生活。

段落分析：

ng: sweep做动词原意是扫地的意思，如果一个想法“扫过”了一个地方就是迅速流行起来，席卷，比如这两天因为D&G事件，爱国主义席卷了全国就可以表达为The wave of patriotism swept the country.

sweeping做形容词，是范围广的，彻底的，影响深远的改革。和后文出现的overall social-security reform是同样的意思

同义词：broad, comprehensive, extensive, wide

2. footing的本意是站稳，比如他竭力在打滑的地面上站稳就可以表达为：He struggled to keep his footing on the slippery floor。引申义则为根基，基础，在…基础上；比如男性和女性应该在平等的基础上竞争工作岗位。Men and women should be able to compete on an equal footing.

文中出现的 put sth on a …footing 也是固定搭配，

例：He wanted to put their relationship on a permanent footing.

同义 basis，condition基于牢固的基础

段落大意：

安倍的改革行动需要再大胆一些。①句转折上一段，安倍的实际行动非常谨慎。②③举例，比如退休年龄虽然提高了，但和其他发达国家比还是小很多；如果超过65岁还正式上班或打零工工资超过一定金额，发放的养老金就会减少。④句承上启下，不知道这种情形今后是否会改变。⑤⑥继续举例，政府修改了，但并没有废除对已婚女性那点工资征收税；老人年龄越大他需要自己付的医药费越少，给政府的压力更大。⑦政府减少医疗保障支出的方法。

段落分析：

1. discourage,反义是encourage，这里是阻挠，不允许的意思。注意不能说 discourage sb to do sth，固定的配搭是discourage sb from doing sth

比如我爸是律师，他不让我进入该行业 ,就可以表达为：My father is a lawyer, and he discouraged me from entering the field.

2. lowly 注意这是个形容词，意思是卑微的，低级的，无足轻重的。比如他在饭店的第一份工作是一个小门童His first job in the hotel was as a lowly porter.

3. by the same token 可替换in a similar way

4. 这一段用了很多例子来说明安倍在实际行动上是cautious的。我们在举多个例子的时候可以使用Moreover，by the same token进行连接。

段落大意：

①句表明安倍的态度：上一段提到的一些措施并不是非常紧迫。②③句是对安倍观点的引用：他们并没有打算立马实施医疗健康服务的共同支付方案，但是供款和福利之间的平衡是需要再认真审视的。④句表示，坚持锻炼者需要得到鼓励。⑤句又是引用：他们正在想新的刺激机制，那些坚持运动抵抗疾病的人的供款可以如何安排。

段落分析：

you hint at something,you suggest it in an indirect way.

hint除了做名词表示”暗示”，”好主意”以外，还可以做动词表达”暗示，示意”，通常和介词at搭配：

Criticism is hinted at, but never made explicit. 批评总是含沙射影，但从未明说。

最熟悉的用法是做名词，表示复习。在这里指的是审查，审核。

The White House quickly announced that the policy is under review.白宫很快宣布该项政策正在审核中。

bution和benefit。contribution这里指的不是贡献，付出，而是指的养老金制度里面的供款，比如养老金固定缴款计划就是”defined contribution plan”；benefit指的不是益处，好处，也是指的养老金制度里的福利和津贴。contribution意思弄懂，这段话的最后一句话才不会出现理解偏差：有的人坚持运动，同时也按时缴纳养老金，他们退休之后身体很好，不需要动用医疗补贴，所以对于他们支付的缴款，安倍提出，可以有一定的鼓励和奖赏机制。

段落大意：

①句里的this caution 指的是第九段提到过的“Abe is being cautious”，安倍的担心是有些多余的。②句解释在其他国家，提高退休年龄会引发争议，但是在日本就不一样了。③④句详细解释原因：17年的民意调查表明60岁及以上还在职场的民众里，42%都愿意继续工作；并且大多数日本国民都肯定安倍接收更多外籍工作人员的计划，尽管一些政客担心外来人员会带来犯罪和扰乱社会安定。

段落分析：

ive 过分的，过多的。This caution is excessive. 段首句简单清晰，并且和前文的cautious有所呼应。

2. 第二句里可以提炼句型doing sth is not as controversial in xxx as elsewhere，一件事情在其他地方有争议，但是在xxx地方是行得通的，可以体现地方特色。

比如当我们想说在中国子女照顾赡养父母的义务可能要被写入法律这一举措，在其他国家可能会引起争议，但是在中国不会，就可以说：

Enforcing the law that children are obliged to look after their parents economically and emotionally is not as controversial in China as elsewhere.

3. fret，不及物动词，担忧，和worry about，concern有一点不同的是，字典里表明fret通常是过分担忧，或者担忧没必要的事情。

可以和about，over一起使用：

She is always fretting about/over her newly-born child. 她总是在担心自己刚出生的婴儿。

还可以说fret that：

Men in their fifties always fret that they are no longer young. 人到中年，总是担心自己已经不够年轻。

口语中还有两个用fret表示不用担心的表达：

Don’t fret.

Fret not.

4. approve做“批准，通过”一项法案，决定的时候，是及物动词：

MPs approved the Bill by a majority of 97. 议员们以97票的多数票通过了该议案。

做“赞同”的时候，是不及物动词，和of搭配：

I don’t approve of cosmetic surgery. 我不赞成整形。

段落大意：

文章最后一段三句话：①句表明安倍的决心：想要日本成为其他老龄化国家的楷模，②句肯定安倍在解决日本老龄化问题上的成就，③句表明对现状的担忧：日本也有可能做的太少，做的太晚，不是成为一个楷模，而是要成为一个可以吸取失败教训的例子了。

段落分析：

1. 从这段话里可以学习paraphrase，同义词替换的表达，老龄化社会可以说aging society, 也可以说a smaller, older population，人口一方面在减少，另一方面老龄化人口增多，表达简单但是很准确。

2. 最后一句话可以学到这个表达：…is an example that has done too little, too late.。。。是做的太少，做的太晚的例子。

比如高考前一个月才认真开始复习，那就是做的太少，做的太晚：

Start studying merely one month before the College Entrance Examination is an example of a student that has done too little, too late.

同样的话题“日本老龄化问题”出现在了Leader和Asia部分，Leader部分篇幅小，表达简洁。Asia部分篇幅长，描述详细，所以两篇可以一起看，学习如何来paraphrase，用不同的单词表达相同的意思。

比如Leader部分下面这句话，是对日本老龄化现状简洁的描述。用的是一连串的动词age，shrink，soar，go bust，empty，表达简洁生动：

Leader部分爱用动词，比如表述日本的三个举措来提高劳动力数量，是这么写的：

安倍想让日本成为一个老龄化社会的治理模范，Leader和Asia部分分别是这么写的：

日本劳动力短缺，1.6个职位对应一个求职者，Leader和Asia部分分别是这么写的：

日本国内有人担心外籍劳工给社会带来不稳定，Leader和Asia部分分别是这么写的：

一个是fret about，一个是fret that；

一个是bring crime and disturbing social harmony, 一个是make less safe and harmonious

完全是paraphrase的优秀典范~