第二段

② In one letter he happened to mention a childhood rebuke from his mother: “Now, George, don’t walk ahead.” He took her words to heart, staying, for most of his political career, loyally behind and modestly to one side. As chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1974, he stuck by Richard Nixon until it became more urgent to save the party; at which point, he publicly asked him to resign. He felt afterwards as though someone had died. In his eight years as Ronald Reagan’s vice-president, though they had sparred bitterly in the 1980 primaries over Reagan’s “voodoo economics” and his callow Hollywood sparkle, he never criticised or upstaged him. During the Irancontra affair of the 1980s, though present at many salient meetings, he declared himself out of the loop, and it was hard to prove otherwise.

段落

"In one letter"继续第一段的信上内容引出第二段内容。这段主要讲乔治一直坚守“不要当出头鸟”。前2句总的说明这句话。后面几句话都是来支持这个结论，除非不得已才会公开表态。就在那次他公开让尼克松下台的之后，他觉得好像有人死了，用短句“He felt afterwards as though someone had died.”来突出。其它地方用“though”“never”来补充他听妈妈的话：“don't walk ahead”。

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好词

• take something to heart
  英英释义：to think about something seriously, often so that you become upset by it
  表示“十分介意某人的话或行为；耿耿于怀”
  《经济学人》讲维多利亚的秘密业绩下滑，它的对手看到了客户的新需求，并认真对待，是这么说的：

A slew of competitors, promoting comfort and inclusivity, have taken that message to heart.

如果想安慰别人不要把什么事都放在心上，你可以这么说：

You can’t take everything people say to heart.

• rebuke
  表示“指责；谴责”，英英释义为： to speak in an angry and critical way to (someone)。
  这个词很常见，经常在新闻里听到“我们谴责……”。在《经济学人》最新的一期就出现了3次。

It was several years after the agency first became aware of problems that it finally took action, and even then its written rebuke was brief and mild.(有关洗钱）

如果想表示这个老师很严格，迟到一分钟都会被责骂，可以这么说：

Even one minute’s lateness would earn a stern rebuke. 哪怕迟到一分钟也将受到严厉的斥责。

• stick by
  在这里表示“ to continue to support or be loyal to (someone )” ，就是“继续帮助;继续支持”。同样的意思，stick by 后面还可以接something。

Alice不管什么情况下都帮助Bob，可以这么说：

Alice'd stuck by Bob through thick and thin.（through thick and thin是固定表达，表示“不顾艰难险阻的”)

我要坚守我的诺言，可以这样表达：

I stick by my promise.

• upstage
  这个词很形象，它当副词的意思是“在舞台后部”，当动词时就是“将……置于幕后”，引申为“抢…的风头”。

《经济学人》有篇讲很多法国人不知道法国总理的名字，有人这么风趣地解释道：

“The main job for a French prime minister is not to upstage the president,” says one observer wryly.

结婚时，谁都不希望被花童抢了风头，可以说：

We don't want the flower girl upstaging the bride.

好句

He took her words to heart, staying, for most of his political career, loyally behind and modestly to one side.

相关背景知识

• “voodoo economics”
  “巫术经济学”。老布什用这个词来嘲弄里根的供给面政策。

一小群经济学家劝说总统候选人罗纳德·里根，说全面削减所得税率将增加税收收入。他们认为如果人们能保留其收入的较高比例，就会工作更加努力，以赚取更多的收入。尽管税率较低，税收收入将增加。几乎所有职业经济学家，包括大多数支持里根提议的学者，都认为这一结果太过乐观了。较低的税率可能鼓励人们更努力地工作，这额外的努力将一定程度上抵消降低税率的直接影响，但没有可信的证据表明，工作努力会上升得足够大，以导致低税率下税收收入的增加。……那些尝试流行的节食计划的人损害自己的健康，却很少能实现他们所期望永久减轻体重。同样，当政客依靠骗子和怪人的建议，他们也很少能得到他们期待的良好效果。里根当选后，国会批准了里根倡导的削减税率，但减税没有导致税收收入上升。

• Irancontra affair
  这是指伊朗门事件，一个发生在美国80年代中期的政治丑闻。它具体是指美国里根政府向伊朗秘密出售武器一事被揭露后而造成严重政治危机的事件。
  具体细节可以参考Iran–Contra affair。
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第三段

The vision thing
③ People often supposed him out of the loop in other ways, too: a boy born to privilege, called “Poppy” by his parents, a product of Phillips Academy and Phi Beta Kappa at Yale, who was (falsely) rumoured in the 1992 campaign never to have passed a quart of milk through a supermarket scanner. He was a Yankee aristocrat who could have followed his Daddy on to Wall Street but instead became a Texas oil man (the only Texan, growled Speaker Jim Wright, who ate lobster with his chilli), and went on to represent the toniest bit of Houston in Congress. All this, as well as the tennis-playing summers in Kennebunkport, seemed to set him firmly apart from the average Joe, though he let it be known as president that his favourite food was pork rinds, and banned from the White House the broccoli his mother had made him eat.

段落

The vision thing是个分界线，同时也概括了接下来几段的内容。在它之前，基本上跟他具体履历无关的东西，讲信讲他妈妈的话对他的影响；在它之后，文章要开始讲些他凡的一生，比如成长背景、政治生涯及兴趣爱好等等。

在第二段末尾提到老布什说不在伊朗门事件的决策圈里，但这很难证明。第三段开头人们觉得老布什在其它很多方面都很出格。两句话里都用了out of the loop，很巧妙地衔接。他出身显赫，爸妈都是高材生。没有跟随父亲进军华尔街，而成了一名Texas油商。接着成了政客。他夏天在Kennebunkport打网球。人们都很少这些事。不过为了吃，他一改内敛闹了西兰花风波。

好词

• out of the loop
  注意它属于非正式用语，我们用它来描述“不了解、不知道某圈子內的最新消息和状况。”

  
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《经济学人》里有关沟通的文章里，信息不对等产生了社会地位，是这么表达：

Not being up with the news, or being out of the loop with the activities of our acquaintances, seems to diminish our social status.

你看起来什么都不知道，可以说：

All right. It's just that I've been out of the loop for a while.

• set sb/sth apart (from)
  这个词组表示“使与众不同；使突出；使优于”。这跟out of the loop都表示跟人一不样。

《经济学人》讲法国家长跟讲英语的家长不同时，它就用了这个词：

With a dollop of research and a big helping of anecdotes gleaned from friends, Ms Druckerman identifies two elements to French parenting that set it apart from what she calls the “Anglophone” version.

自信使他有别于同班同学，可以说：

His confidence sets him apart from his classmates.

• let it/sth be known
  这个短语表示“使人们知道或清楚；明确表示；公开表示”。还有个相类似的表达叫“make it/sth be known”。
  《经济学人》在难民带来的挑战的文章里，提到德国官方的决定：

German officials have let it be known that countries that resist such efforts will meet a sceptical eye when they next try to win subsidies from the EU budget.

他公开表示他要参加市长竞选。我们可以说：

He let it be known [=he announced] that he intends to run for mayor.

背景

• Poppy
  （这部分经灿灿同学提醒开悟，想明白了为什么Poppy打引号。）
  这里的poppy是由“Pop”+后缀“y”构成，表示“小爸爸”的意思。
  Pop表示“爸爸”。

  
  image.png
  

  而-y有种表示“有什么属性的”，这里指“有爸爸特征的”，戏称"小爸爸“。

  
  image.png
  谁把自己的孩子叫成“小爸爸”？估计没有，但老布什的父母就这例外。这也足以说明他是圈外人。

为什么老布什被父母称作“爸爸”呢，从他自己写的叫All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings自传可以了解一二。

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老布什的名字是以他外祖父的名字，而外祖父是舅舅们的“pop”，所以自然他就被他们叫成“poppy”,也成了他的小名（nickname）。

• average Joe
  表示“普通人”，上世纪90年代末21世纪初用得比较多。
  类似的表达有

• for males
• average Joe
• ordinary Joe
• Joe Sixpack
• Joe Lunchbucket
• Joe Snuffy
• Joe Schmo
• for females
• ordinary Jane
• average Jane
• plain Jane

• Banned from the White House the broccoli his mother had made him eat.

  
  image.png

这个趣闻是指“西兰花风波”。大致情况是这样的：

老布什尤其讨厌西兰花，还闹过一次西兰花风波。话说有一天他忍无可忍，和“空军一号”的服务员说，以后再也不想在餐单中见到西兰花了，后来这个消息被泄漏给了记者，《U.S. News》刊出了以下煽情的标题：“经过8年的忍气吞声（布什当了里根8年的副手），布什终于为自己的饮食品味赢回一仗！”结果惹来一场不大不小的风波，被人批评：“总统实在是‘教坏’小朋友，你叫那些为人父母的，以后见到子女吃饭时吃剩西兰花和其他蔬菜，还能怎么办？”

稍后记者更对此穷追不舍，但布什仍选择强硬回应：“我小时候已经十分讨厌西兰花，但我的母亲却强迫我把它吃下，到了今天，我已经贵为美国总统，我是不会再吃它了。”一些种植西兰花的农夫感到气愤难平，把一整辆货车的西兰花送到白官，希望总统回心转意，但布什始终没有妥协，只委托太太到白宫草坪接收，并把这批蔬菜转赠给当地的露宿者之家。可怜第一夫人拿着一束束西兰花的模样，成了大家茶余饭后八卦的照片。幸好这位第一夫人的对答还算得体，她说：“总统当然可以决定怎么做，但美国的小朋友还是多吃西兰花比较好。”

这个由“空军一号”掀起的西兰花风波，成了接连几天当地政治新闻的主题，更令人尴尬的是，不少民意调查显示，很多美国人不知道布什的政策是什么，却十有八九知道这位总统不爱吃西兰花。