经济学人外刊精读Part 3 of How to allevia
一:正文第1段
Third, as many as two-thirds of all the refugees under the UNHCR’s mandate come from just five countries: Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia. Peace in any one of them would create the conditions for people to return home, and reduce the numbers of refugees worldwide by millions. In democracies we, as voters, should challenge our politicians to answer how their policies address the roots of the problem.
1、内容分解:
第一句:其三,2/3的联合国难民署下的难民只来自于五个国家:叙利亚,阿富汗,南苏丹,缅甸和索马里。(总结出绝大部分难民来自哪里。)
第二句:任意一个国家实现和平,都将让难民们重返家园,同时难民数量也会在全球范围内成百万计地减少。(通过假设以及数据,来说明和平能带来的好的转变。)
第三句:在民主国家,我们作为选民,应当敦促我们的政治家们给出如何根治这一难题的对策。(呼吁大众给所有当权者施压)
2、语言点学习:
1)、under the UNHCR’s mandate,译为:委托给联合国难民署管理,给联合国难民署托管。(标签:读报积累)
mandate,作为名词有授权,任期,以及委托书或授权令。
这里mandate更倾向于第三个含义, (formal)an official order given to sb to perform a particular task委托书,授权令
形象化理解:这里的mandate大可理解为获得官方的批准,授权,比如:我们看古装剧,古代朝廷命官迎接皇帝圣旨的时候,我们大多会听到八个大字“奉天承运,皇帝诏曰”: Under the Mandate of Heaven, the emperor decrees hereby...
奉天承运,皇帝诏曰维基百科是这样形容联合国难民署的:“本署受命领导和协调国际行动,以保护难民和解决全球难民问题。其主要目的是保障难民的权利和福祉,因此致力于保证难民的人权,让他们暂时到达另一个国家避难,并允许他们在安全得到保障后选择回到本国、定居于避难地或移民至另一个国家。”
under the mandate of 受命于...听命于...
《纽约时报》在形容前联合国秘书长安南召集了一个多国精兵的时候说道:“ Mr. Annan raised the possibility of a multinational force under the mandate of the United Nations, what was done in Afghanistan.”
2)、 create the conditions for 译为:为...创造条件; 原文中含义是为难民们创造回归故乡的条件。(标签:写作积累)
其实现实生活中,它作为一个中性词组,理解为:为...创造条件,为...提供适宜的土壤
课堂上的多样化有助于好的教学活动开展,我们可以说:In fact, greater variety in class has been found to create the conditions for great teaching.(来自英国《卫报》 )
杀掉这些无辜的人,我们就是在滋生下一个本拉登:If we kill innocents, we create the conditions for another Osama bin Laden.(来自《纽约时报》)
中国为初创公司提供了良好的土壤:China has created the conditions for startups.
3)、In democracies 译为:在民主国家 (标签:读报积累;写作积累)
democracy: a country that has a government which has been elected by the people of the country.
比如:The United Kingdom is a parliamentary democracy
4)、challenge our politicians to answer 译为:敦促我们的政治家们来回答(标签:读报积累;写作积累)
整体这句话语境像是在对西方的政治家们隔空喊话,在这个问题上不要再想搪塞过关啦,就说你们敢不敢现在就拿出具体的根治方案。
形象化理解:西游记里的银角大王手拿葫芦,喊话孙悟空:“行者孙,本王叫你一声,你敢答应吗?”
The Silver Horn King challenged Sun Wukong to respond...
经济学人外刊精读Part 3 of How to alleviate the refugee crisis我们平时学到的challenge的意思为挑战,质疑(权威)等,这里则指的是敦促,强烈建议(尤指在对方不情愿时)to suggest strongly that sb should do sth(especially when you think that they might be unwilling to do it)
同义词替换:inspire, spur on, etc.
比如:The opposition leader challenged the prime minister to call an election.
在敦促一家新公司证明自家系统的安全性时,我们可以说:
We challenged the company to prove that its system was safe.
二:正文第2段
We’ve managed to bring the numbers down before. When I first started working with the UNHCR in 2001, the number of refugees worldwide was falling. One of my first missions was to accompany returning Cambodian refugees. I met some of the many people who returned to their homes after the end of the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. Look further back in history, and after the second world war millions of refugees were resettled.
1、内容分解:
第一句:在2001年,我们就曾让难民总数在全球大幅下降。
第二句:我其中一项任务就是护送柬埔寨难民回归家园。
第三句:在前南斯拉夫冲突结束后,我也见到过很多人回归故土。
第四句:回看历史,在二战以后,数百万名难民也在新的地方得到安置。
这一段承接上一段,列出历史事实,说明我们要求西方政治家们给出根治的解决方案,其实并非强人所难。因为,回看历史,我们有很多次做到过类似的成就。
2、语言点学习:
1)bring the numbers down,the number of refugees worldwide was falling (标签:写作积累)
这两个词用在分析数据的时候,非常好用。但可能我们大多数人会想不到用,尤其是学术类雅思小作文写作,可能用得到。
bring down 这里一语双关,非常巧妙。往往在对付一些棘手的问题时,可以用到它。
其一,to make sb lose power or be defeated 是打垮,击败的意思。难民人口的总数字,它如同一个大boss一样,我们在和它较量,设法打倒它。
其二,to reduce sth. 是减少,使...下降的意思。
华盛顿邮报在说道,一个公司想要减少净负债的时候说道: the group wants to bring down net debt.
巴黎协议要减少温室气体排放时候说道:The 2015 Paris accord drew up the global system to bring down greenhouse gas emissions in only the broadest strokes.
falling用的也非常形象,画面感强,下降的厉害。
to go down to a lower level, amount, price etc, especially a much lower one.
同义词转换:decrease,descend ...
反义词:rise, ascend...
比如今天上海一股寒流来袭,气温下降明显,我们可以说:
The temperature in Shanghai has fallen below 10 degrees today.
2). accompany returning Cambodian refugees 护送柬埔寨难民回归家园(标签:读报积累)
accompany 陪同(formal),同义词替换:go along with, escort...
原文用的是,accompany 让人感觉有陪伴,照顾之意,体现出一丝人道主义的温暖。
比如在家里爸爸妈妈不在家,姐姐就会陪伴在弟弟左右:
She always accompanies her little brother whenever her parents are not at home.
3). millions of refugees were resettled. 数百万名难民也在新的地方得到安置(标签:读报积累)
resettle 意思是:to help people go and live in a new country or area; to go and live in a new country or area 帮助 … 定居他国(或别的地区);到他国(或别的地区)定居
比如:Many of the refugees were resettled in Britain and Canada. 许多难民被安置到英国和加拿大。