Day1-2 单词扫除+背景补充
How to ask for what you want — and get it everytime
1️⃣原文:On various occasions she has persuaded me to do things for her, just as she has enlisted thousands of others.
翻译:她向无数人寻求帮助,也成功的说服了我在许多事情上给予她支持。
en∙list /ɪnˈlɪst/ verb
~ sth/ sb (in sth) | ~ sb (as sth) to persuade sb to help you or to join you in doing sth 争取,谋取(帮助、支持或参与)
They hoped to enlist the help of the public in solving the crime.
他们希望寻求公众协助破案。
We were enlisted as helpers.
我们应邀协助。
2️⃣原文:It then went on at length about the theme of the year and offered a link to a video of the previous year’s event. “Do let me know if that is feasible,” it ended.
翻译:接下来邮件详尽地介绍了今年的主题,还附上了一个去年会议视频的连接。邮件结尾写到:请告诉我您是否可以参加?
at length
1. in detail; fully
详细地,全面地
these aspects have been discussed at length.
这些方面都已详细讨论过了。
2. after a long time
很长时间之后
at length she laid down the pencil.
很长时间之后,她放下铅笔。
3. the length and breadth of
the whole extent of
整个,到处
women from the length and breadth of Russia.
来自全俄罗斯的妇女。
feas∙ible /ˈfi:zəbl/ adj.
that is possible and likely to be achieved 可行的;行得通的 SYNPRACTICABLE
a feasible plan/ suggestion/ idea
可行的计划╱建议╱想法
It's just not feasible to manage the business on a part-time basis.
兼职管理业务是搞不好的。
feasi∙bil∙ity /ˌfi:zəˈbɪləti/ noun [U]
a feasibility study on the proposed new airport
关于建议中新机场的可行性研究
I doubt the feasibility of the plan.
我怀疑这个计划的可行性。
3️⃣原文:Why would I give up a Saturday on the basis of watching a clip of a similar conference a year earlier?
译文:我为何要放弃周末为他效劳呢?难道就因为看了前一年的会议视频?
Would此处表示意愿(会,将会)
I wish you would be quiet for a minute.我希望你会安静一会儿。
on the basis of sth
because of a particular fact or situation 在某事的基础上;根据某事:
discrimination on the basis of sex 性别歧视
4️⃣原文:The length of the email made me feel restive and inclined to hit the delete button.
译文:冗长的邮件让我感到不耐烦,甚至想把它给删了。
res·tive
/ˈrɛstɪv; ˈrestɪv/ ADJ written
dissatisfied or bored with your situation, and impatient for it to change 【书面】不满的;焦躁不安的:
The southern regions were growing increasingly restive, threatening rebellion. 南方地区日益不满,即将发生叛乱。
5️⃣原文:What this does is cut to the chase — and the chase is flattery. The only truly effective way of saying please is to butter people up.
译文:这封邮件的有点就是开门见山,而且这个“门”开得十分讨好人。求别人办事唯一真正有效的方式就是恭维。
两个小短语,值得学习
the chase [sing.] hunting animals as a sport 打猎
[C] = STEEPLECHASE
—see also WILD GOOSE CHASE
IDM cut to the 'chase (informal) to stop wasting time and start talking about the most important thing 不绕圈子直截了当地说;开门见山
Right, let's cut to the chase. How much is it going to cost?
对啦,咱们开门见山吧。这要多少钱?
butter up
[PHRASAL VERB] If someone butters you up, they try to please you because they want you to help or support them.
6️⃣原文:There is no danger of ever laying it on too thick. There is no level at which flattery stops working, according to a study by Jennifer Chatmanof the University of California, Berkeley.
译文:用力夸奖永远错不了。加州伯克利大学Jennifer Chatman的一项研究显示,任何类型的美言都能起到效果。
Lay on:原来意思是涂抹(颜料等),其实是呼应前段butter it up: butter大家都知道是黄油的意思,用作动词是涂黄油,衍伸为甜言蜜语,讨好奉承。此处用lay on则是呼应黄油涂再厚也不嫌多。如果童鞋们一时之间体会不到,也不用着急,联系上下文总能推断出来,这不,下一句作者就进一步解释了:什么级别的好话都不会不奏效=黄油涂再厚也不为过。
7️⃣原文:And rather than ask if I had enjoyed it, it would have been better to attest how much they had enjoyed having me.
译文:比起询问我的感受,更佳的方式是证实我的到来令他们感到愉快。
would表示推测
will用于谈论现在,would可用于谈论过去,也可用于谈论现在(语气较委婉)。如: This car will hold six people. 这辆小汽车可以坐六个人。
Ask him. He will know. 问问他吧,他大概知道。
You wouldn’t know. 你不会知道。
Every family would have some sort of trouble. 家家都会有本难念的经。
The person you mentioned would be her father, is that right? 你提的那个人想必是她的父亲,对吗?
【注】有时可后接完成式,表示对过去可能已经发生的情况进行推测。
如: You will have heard of it. 你已经听到那事了吧。
I thought you would have finished it by now. 我想你现在可能已经做完了吧。
at∙test /əˈtest/ verb (formal)
1 ~ (to sth) to show or prove that sth is true 证实;是…的证据 SYNBEAR WITNESS TO
[V]Contemporary accounts attest to his courage and determination.
当时的报道证实了他的勇气和决心。
[also V that, VN]
2 to state that you believe that sth is true or genuine, for example in court 作证,证明(如在法庭上)
[VN]to attest a will
就遗嘱作见证
The signature was attested by two witnesses.
这个签名有两名见证人。
8️⃣原文:If only you would join our panel on xxx. We have a lot of clever but worthy people talking, and we need your genius to liven it up. Please say yes.
译文:如果您愿意加入xxx讨论小组就太好了。那里有许多充满智慧且值得尊敬的嘉宾,我们需要您的超群魅力来带动大家。请答应我们吧。
整个句子堪称经典。首先,If only you would语气相当礼貌客气。其次,用your genius夸奖对方能力。再次,突出we need即让对方感觉自己不可或缺,提升对方的自我存在感。
最后,Please say yes.真切恳请。简直无人能拒啊~
If only you would这样的表达方式相当值得一学,基本上属于客气的最高级别:如果您能…就太好了。很多时候会看到if打头的句子,如If you could please follow me. /If you could please open the box for me.用于比较正式的场合,是一种礼貌用语。比Please follow me要客气舒缓的许多。
would表示征求意见或提出请求
主要用于第二人称的疑问句中,will和would均可用,would此时并不表过去,而表示委婉语气。如:
Won’t you take off your coat? 你要不要把大衣脱掉?
Will [would] you please post the letter for me? 请帮我寄了这封信好吗?
Would Sunday night suit you? 星期天晚上适合你吗? (from www.nmet168.com) 【注】(1) 有时为使语气委婉,可用否定式。总的说来,用would比用will委婉,用won’t和wouldn’t比单独用will和would要委婉。
(2) would有时用于提出想法,通常与like, love, hate, prefer, be glad, be happy等连用,若用于第一人称有时也可将would换成should。如:
I’d like [love] to have a look at it. 我想看看它。 I would prefer not to go out today. 我今天不想出去。
9️⃣原文:Equally, to be thanked for your time is singularly ungratifying.
译文:同样的,仅仅感谢别人的参与是尤其无法让人感到欣慰的。
sin∙gu∙lar∙ly /ˈsɪŋgjələli; NAmE -lərli/ adv. (formal)
very; in an unusual way 非常;特别;异常地
singularly beautiful
特别漂亮
He chose a singularly inappropriate moment to make his request.
他选在一个极其不恰当的时刻提出要求。
grati∙fy∙ing /ˈgrætɪfaɪɪŋ/ adj. (formal)
pleasing and giving satisfaction 令人高兴的;使人满意的
It is gratifying to see such good results.
看到这么好的结果真令人欣慰。
🔟原文:She was a fiend with the thank-you letter.
译文:她是爱好写感谢信。
fiend /fi:nd/ noun
1 a very cruel or unpleasant person 恶魔般的人;残忍的人;令人憎恶的人
2 (informal) (used after another noun 用于另一名词后) a person who is very interested in the thing mentioned …迷;…狂;爱好者 SYNFANATIC
a crossword fiend
纵横填字游戏爱好者
3 an evil spirit 魔鬼;恶魔
1️⃣1️⃣原文:The only difference for me now is that I no longer have to rattle on for a page and a half. Indeed, the shorter the better.
译文:唯一的不同是,现在我不用再喋喋不休地写一页半了。事实也确实是这样,越短越好。
rattle on
[PHRASAL VERB (disapproval)] When you say that someone rattles on about something, you mean that they talk about it for a long time in a way that annoys you.
[V P about n]I heard my mother rattling on and on about the day I get married, what I must wear, how I must act, who I must invite...
[V P]He listened in silence as Niccolini rattled on, emphasizing his remarks with one hand and steering with the other.
1️⃣2️⃣原文:“Thank you for bringing the evening to life and for scorching wit and sense. You are our own Tina Fey.”
译文:您的才思敏捷让整晚活动熠熠生辉,衷心感谢!您就是我们的Tina Fey.
scorch∙ing /ˈskɔ:tʃɪŋ; NAmE ˈskɔ:rtʃ-/ adj. (informal)
1 very hot 酷热的 SYNBAKING
2 (especially BrE) used to emphasize how strong, powerful, etc. sth is 猛烈的;激烈的;有力的
a scorching critique of the government's economic policy
对政府经济政策的严厉批评
Day3-4 逻辑思维导图+补充阅读
EMMANUEL MACRON AND THE MODERN FAMILY
1️⃣The “lowest blow,” according to the French magazineMarianne, came somewhere around the twenty-minute mark of a psychologically violent debate that took place in Paris on Wednesday night between EmmanuelMacron and Marine Le Pen.
low blow:大选年中时常用到的习惯用语。多数参选的侯选人在选战刚拉开序幕时常常会作承诺。例如,他们会信誓旦旦地保证绝不向竞争对手进行人身攻击,也决不信口诋毁对手所鼓吹的方针政策。然而在选战进行到如火如荼的阶段,他们却往往会忘记自己的保证。
这时他们的所作所为就是我们今天要说的头两个习惯用语了。第一个是: low blow。 我们听个例子来体会low blow指什么样的手段。这是一名参议员在辩论中指责他的对手歪曲他对全国保健计划的支持。
例句-1:Sir, that is a real low blow. It's either a deliberate lie or shows you simply don't know much about the whole issue of national health care plan for all Americans.
这位参议员声称,对手的指控不是存心撒谎,就是对为所有美国人提供全国保健计划这问题缺乏全面的了解。
可见他说对手的批评是a real low blow,是信口雌黄的指控。 Low blow的出典是拳击比赛中打击对方腰部以下的部位。这是违反拳击赛规则的动作。其实还有一个说法意思雷同: hitting below the belt。 Hitting below the belt要是直译就是击打裤腰带以下的部位。换句话说就是low blow,所以刚才那位参议员还可以这样说,意思不变:
例句-2:Sir, this is hitting below the belt. It's either a deliberate lie or shows you simply don't know much about the whole issue of national health care plan for all Americans.
******
还有一个习惯用语也跟low blow有同样的意思: cheap shot。 Cheap shot来自另一种运动: 美式足球,或者美式橄榄球。这是动作相当粗放猛烈的运动,在秋天的橄榄球赛季,观看比赛的球迷们几乎每个周末都会听到球赛评论员在说某某球员如何挨了a cheap shot,可能造成腿骨骨折之类的严重伤势。
球员们大约在五十年前创造了cheap shot这个短语,来指比赛中暗算其他球员的粗野犯规行为。 Cheap shot随即被政界借用,来说阴险毒辣的诽谤。
其实cheap shot还被美国人应用到许多其它方面。例如商界的勾心斗角、人与人的纠纷、甚至夫妇间的争执。然而在政界,尤其在正当大选的政坛上, cheap shot往往是指把对手往日的丑闻秘史发掘出来,并有意向新闻界泄漏。
我们要听的例子说的就是一名正在竞选高级公职的侯选人,一天早上意外地看到报纸报道说: 查有实据他在大学里经常吸毒。于是他愤然向记者澄清事实。
例句-3:This is just another cheap shot from my opponent. In college I tried marijuana twice at parties. I didn't like the stuff and it happened 40 years ago.
他说:这只是我对手的又一次恶意中伤。我在大学里的聚会上确实有两次试抽过大麻,然而我并不好抽那玩意儿,而且这都是四十年前的事了。
这段话里的cheap shot意思是恶意诽谤。
******
刚学的两个习惯用语都是上不了台面的卑鄙手段,然而在选战中更常用的是在场面上取悦大众的做法。比方说侯选人在大庭广众间常会这样做: glad-hand。 Glad-hand是当动词用的,它的意思是跟人热情友好地握手。
我们举个例子。这是个老经验的记者在描述一位擅长取悦民众的政界人士。
例句-4:He's the best! He'll go into a crowd to glad-hand anyone he can reach. They all break into delighted smiles, glad that a famous man actually shook hands with them.
他说:他最行!他会走到人群中去热情友好地跟任何够得着的人握手。这一来人人脸上都展开了笑容。大家都为自己果真能跟这样一位名人握手而满心欢喜。
这里的glad-hand含义是热情友好地跟人握手。
2️⃣Macron began to explain in goat-gettingly didactic tones why that probably wasn’t a good idea, Le Pen attacked.
Get one's goat
“把某人的山羊偷走”,你是不是很纳闷:这到底是什么意思呢?如果我告诉你get one's goat 意思是“激怒某人,你是不是会更奇怪呢? 因为山羊在人们的心目中一直都是一种很温顺,很安静的动物。就让我们看看这个短语的由来吧。
有人说,这个短语最早从赛马中而来:将山羊和用于比赛、性情暴躁的纯种赛马饲养在一间房里,可以使马儿安静。而如果一个卑鄙的竞争者在比赛前一天将山羊偷偷牵走,马儿就会因为没有山羊的陪伴而异常急躁,最终就会输掉比赛。由此可见,这个短语最初应该是:gotten the horse's goat。不过,关于这种饲养理论属实与否很难考证,而且这个短语直到1908年才以书面形式出现,远远晚于其实际应用的时间。
于是又出现了一种说法:goat在监狱俚语中代表anger,因此就有了get one's goat一说,这种来源的考证似乎更可信一些。不过不管它从何而来,如果你get one's goat,就必定会发生相当惊人的后果,所以还是小心为好哦!
例如:
That sort of attitude really gets her goat.
那种态度真的使她非常恼火。
注意,我们通常会在这个表达前用 really 来加强语气。比如 Train delays really get my goat. 火车延误特别让我恼火。
3️⃣One can’t help but wonder what Trogneux’s ex-husband must make of the double freak occurrence of losing his wife to a teen-ager, only to have him turn out, decades later, to be the presumptive Président de la République.
make sth of sb/sth phr v
to have a particular opinion about or understanding of something or someone 了解;理解;看待:
I didn’t know what to make of her. 我不知道该如何看待她。
What do you make of the idea? 你对这个主意有什么看法?
pre∙sump∙tive /prɪˈzʌmptɪv/ adj. [usually before noun] (formal or technical 术语)
likely to be true, based on the facts that are available 很可能的;假设的;推断的
4️⃣Knowing that Macron went through certain kinds of hell to win his happiness makes it all the more interesting—moving, even—to see him emerging as a powerful champion of the modern family in its many forms.
这里的in its many forms指的是后文的the “diversity of family configurations”—married couples, couples in civil unions, co-habitating couples, parents who are together, parents who are separated, single-parent families, blended families, and same-sex-parent families. 意思是说马克龙现象给了多样性家庭有力支持。不仅仅是他自己的这种特殊家庭,还有各种各样的。
5️⃣Back in February, Macron rather elegantly brushed off the whispers, saying, “If you’re told Ilead a double life with Mr. Gallet, it’s because my hologram has escaped.”
hol·o·gram/ˈholəˌgræm; ˈhɒləɡræm/ N[C]
a kind of photograph made with a LASER that looks as if it is not flat when you look at it from an angle〔用激光制作的〕(立体)全息图
立体全息图很逼真,但却是很虚幻的、模拟的。所以全息图流落坊间了,意思就是“与事实相距甚远“。
6️⃣Perhaps because he wasn’t carrying the burdens of an entire gender when accounting for his decisions, Macron seemed completely at ease.
马克龙的回应相当自信,一点没有因为孩子而感到遗憾羞愧自卑,作者推测可能是因为he wasn’t carrying the burdens of an entire gender:毕竟世界充满多样性,马克龙一人又不代表所有男性,他又不背负整个群体的责任。有人愿意结婚生子就结婚生子,有人愿意同居就同居,其他形式也可以,只要双方愿意不影响别人。he wasn’t carrying the burdens of an entire gender,谁说所有男性都要走同样的路子呢?
7️⃣As for same-sex marriage, which was instituted in France in 2013, Macron supports it, saying “it’s an enrichment of what the family is in France,” while Le Pen advocates a return to a civil-union system.
A civil union, also referred to by a variety of other names, is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage. These unions have been established in a number of countries since the late 1990s, often developing from less formal domestic partnership legislation. In Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, they have since been replaced, and in a number of other countries supplemented, by same-sex marriage. Civil unions are often seen by campaigners as a "first step" towards legalizing marriage for same-sex couples. While civil unions are predominantly established for both opposite-sex and same-sex couples, in a number of countries they are available to same-sex couples only.
The French law providing benefits to same-sex couples also applies to opposite-sex couples who choose this form of partnership over marriage. Known as the "Pacte civil de solidarité" (PACS), it is more easily dissolved than the divorce process applying to marriage. Tax benefits accrue immediately (only from 2007 on *Ref), while immigration benefits accrue only after the contract has been in effect for one year. The partners are required to have a common address, making it difficult for foreigners to use this law as a means to a residence permit, and difficult for French citizens to gain the right to live with a foreign partner – especially since the contract does not automatically give immigration rights, as does marriage.
民事结合(civil union,又称公民结合或民众结合),是用于表达类似婚姻这种民事状态的术语之一,通常它的目的是为同性恋伴侣提供与异性恋伴侣相同的权利。它也可以用来表示不希望进入法定婚姻,而更希望处于一种类似于普通法婚姻(common-law marriage)的结合的异性恋者结合。
法国民法典第515-1 条的定义为:“PACS是两个异性或同性的成年自然人为了组织其共同生活缔结的合同”[8].阿根廷的民事结合法的定义为:“两个人不论其性别或性取向的自由结合,在义务、权利和福利上与普通夫妇享受同等对待”.由此可见,民事结合不以同性恋婚姻为限,它包括异性间的同居或曰事实婚。因此,民事结合制度另一方面的意义上承认了事实婚的效力。这实际上是在传统的异性婚姻旁开辟了一种新的婚姻:一方面,这种异性配偶间享有传统配偶间的一切权利,承担一切义务;另一方面,这种结合很容易解除,与解除一般合同的程序差不多,没有解除婚姻那样的“离婚战争”问题———要记住,在法国,配偶要别居6年才能离婚。
8️⃣The exchange hinted at yet another kind of family that Macron will have to champion if he wants to be a truly paradigm-busting French leader: the one whose last name sounds nothing like Macron or Le Pen.
这里的the one 指的是前面提到的another kind of family,非法国籍的那些,自然姓氏既不像Macron 也不像Le Pen啦。
Day 5 输出
任务A.根据原文精神,写一封邮件,邀请你敬仰的老师或领导前来担任某活动嘉宾(具体内容可根据大家日常生活工作内容自行补充)。
Subject line: If only you would...(知道童鞋想借鉴原文主题,但原文里面邮件只有一句话,正文直接接下去就是:join our panel.....,可能两人之前有过联系,所以邮件就没那么正式了。纵观你写的这篇,和教授都一年没见了,还是要正式一点,建议主题具体化:Invitation to join xxx)
Dear Mr. Duncan,
I hope this email finds you well. It is(语法错误,is和been永远不可能同时出现,此处应为has) been a while since we last met in Beijing where you gave such a wonderful course of lectures to our students during the summer
vacation. (wonderful course of lectures用词上略显啰嗦,内容上又不够具体,建议改成:where you delivered a superb course of American literature to....)
I just (此处just显得太随意,建议删去)want to thank you again for the lectures on American literature (前面提到了American lecture此处就可省略啦)you gave last year; our students had enjoyed it a lot(a lot也是太口语化太随意,可以改成thoroughly) and they all felt so excited about the fresh and wider perspectives you had offered.(看得出来此处童鞋是想很具体的夸奖教授,技能已get,相当不错哦!~~但是语言上可以进一步提升:they all found the experience highly rewarding as the perspectives you offered were completely enlightening and thought-provoking.)
(可以把this year提前到开头,这样有一种承前启后的感觉)We are planning to set up another summer camp on American culture for our students. This year (提前)we are going to do a “retro+vintage” one. That is, we are going to focus more of our attentions (啰嗦,直接focus more on就可以)on American literature before the Millennium. If only you would join our team this year; it is going to be such an impressive journey for us being together. We have already got a number of clever and promising kids on board, and we need your genius to liven it up. Please say yes.(哈哈,最后这里借鉴的很不错哟!)
Yours,
Yue
整体点评:原文精华基本get。夸奖的很具体,经典句型掌握的也很不错。但是,语法还有语域还是要注意一下,毕竟给教授写邮件,语气句式还是要正式一点,显得尊敬。
Day 6 复盘+总结
根据笃师点评,修改邮件写作:
Subjectline: Invitation to join our summer camp
Dear Mr. Duncan,
I hope this email finds you well. It has been a while since we last met in Beijing where you delivered a superb course of American literature to our students during the summer vacation.
I want to thank you again for the lectures you gave last year; our students had enjoyed it thoroughly and they all found the experience highly rewarding as the perspectives you offered were completely enlightening and thought-provoking.
This year, we are planning to set up another summer camp on American culture for our students, and we are going to do a “retro+vintage” one. That is, we will focus more on American literature before the Millennium.
If only you would join our team this year; it is going to be such an impressive journey for us being together. We have already got a number of clever and promising kids on board, and we need your genius to liven it up. Please say yes.
Yours,
Yue
一周心得体会:
标化文章难度并不大,并且非常实用。但是我自己第一次制作出来的逻辑思维导图和老师的参考版本还是有挺大差别的,说明自己在阅读的时候并没有完全吃透文章的行文逻辑。重点还是放在了生词句,却忽略了大的骨架。“每个断落的开头和结尾是非常重要的,有助于把握文章的脉络“,这句话也没有很好地落实。
附加文章难度稍大,由于缺乏一定背景知识,再加上文章用词稍难,导致阅读存在一定障碍。但同时,阅读这样的文章也是一个了解文化、增长知识和词汇量的好机会。尤其是针对不明白的地方在群里和笃师、同学的讨论让我收获不少。