- 注释版
- 纯净版
导读
初看文章题目后，辜鸿铭先生写的《The Spirit of the Chinese People》怕是会第一时间跳进你的脑海罢。精通9国语言的“晚清怪杰”辜鸿铭通过这个系列揭示中国人的精神生活，阐发 中国传统文化的永恒价值。那么，我们今天学习的这篇文章，根据题目来看，是来阐释美国文化的么？
当你阅读文章的时候，你才会发现，纽约时报的作者，不管是在语言用词还是文章思路上，都是有那么的晦涩。文章是在2012年美国总统大选结果快要揭晓前写的。作为移民，文章作者借用大选之中两位候选人的政治主张以及近年来美国社会文化现象，从侧面反映了美国的精神到底是什么。
第一步：解决高频单词
vengeful ['vɛndʒfəl]
adj 复仇的，报复的
crisp [krɪsp]
adj 清爽的（天气）
glimmer ['ɡlɪmɚ]
n 微弱；闪光；少许
tapering ['tepərɪŋ]
adj 逐渐减小的
allegiance [ə'lidʒəns]
n 效忠；忠诚
zeal [zil]
n 热情；热诚
vest [vest]
v 授予；赋予
introverted ['ɪntrəvɝtɪd]
adj 内向的
abyss [ə'bɪs]
n 深渊
exacerbate [ɪɡ'zæsɚbet]
v 使加剧；使恶化
第二步：精读重点段落
（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）
[1] NEW YORK — Four years ago, on the eve of the victory of Obama in the 2008 election, I attempted to define what America is.
[2] It is renewal, I suggested, the place where impossible stories get written.
[3] It is the overcoming of history, the leaving behind of war and barriers, in the name of a future freed from the vengeful clamp of memory.
[4] It is reinvention, the absorption of one identity in something larger — the notion that “out of many, we are truly one.” Americans are decent people. They’re not interested in where you came from. They’re interested in who you are.
[5] At the close of this endless campaign — on one of those crisp, clear New York days where the glimmer of possibility seems to lurk at the tapering edge of the city’s ruler-straight canyons — it is worth recalling that America, alone among nations, is an idea; and that idea dies when hope and possibility disappear.
[6] As a naturalized American who recalls the 1,000 faces in the room where I swore the oath of allegiance and how they mapped the world and yet shared some essential notion of humanity, I confess to the convert’s zeal. I had to take a dictation back then to become a citizen. It was supposed to prove my command of English. The second sentence was, “I plan to work very hard every day.” So here I am writing, loneliest of tasks.
[7] It has been a hard, uneven road from 2008. The idealism vested in America’s first black president was also vested in an introverted man whose talent for the deal-making that oils the wheels of politics proved limited. Barack Obama is the least “political” president since Jimmy Carter.
[8] The United States is as divided today as it was four years ago — over economic policy, of course, but more deeply over social policy: the whole regressive God-invoking push of the Republican right against a woman’s right to abortion, gay rights, marriage equality and so on. One nation sometimes feels like two.
- Vengeful 报仇的；复仇的
- Crisp 清爽的（天气）
- Glimmer 微弱；闪光；少许
- Tapering 逐渐减小的
- Allegiance 效忠；忠诚
- Zeal 热情；热诚
- Vest 授予；赋予
- Introverted 内向的
第三步：攻克必学语法
Whose引导的定语从句
1) whose为who的所有格，理解为“某(些)人的……”，它所指代的先行词必须是人，其引导的定语从句修饰它的先行词，同时它本身在从句中作定语。
例：
This is the little boy whose parents were killed in the devastating earthquake.
2) whose也可作which的所有格，可翻译成“某(些)物的……”，它所指代的先行词必须是物，语法功能上同（1）。
例：
They used to live in a house whose windows open to the south.
3) whose可修饰定语从句中的主语、宾语、介词宾语等不同成分。
例：
Mr. King，whose legs were badly hurt，was quickly taken to hospital. （修饰主语）
We shall have to make a decision about Ms. King，whose story I've just told you. （修饰宾语）
4) whose既可引导限制性定语从句，也可以引导非限制性定语从句。
例：
I’d like a room whose window looks out over the sea. （限定性定语从句）
Mrs. Gray, whose children are in college, is trying to get a job. （非限定性定语从句）
5) 由（1）（2）我们可知，whose具有who和 which的所有格的功能，所以在指人的时候，可以用of whom代替whose，指物的时候，可以用of which代替whose。
例：
This kind of book is for children whose native language is Chinese.
= This kind of books is for children, the native language of whom is Chinese.
Mr. Brown has written a novel whose name I've completely forgotten.
= Mr. Brown has written a novel, the name of which I've completely forgotten.
加分任务：精读全文
在之前的三步后，你已经完全具备了精读全文的能力。再多花半个小时，让你的学习效果达到120%！
下载音频
（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）
The Spirit of America
[1] NEW YORK — Four years ago, on the eve of the victory of Obama in the 2008 election, I attempted to define what America is.
[2] It is renewal, I suggested, the place where impossible stories get written.
[3] It is the overcoming of history, the leaving behind of war and barriers, in the name of a future freed from the vengeful clamp of memory.
[4] It is reinvention, the absorption of one identity in something larger — the notion that “out of many, we are truly one.” Americans are decent people. They’re not interested in where you came from. They’re interested in who you are.
[5] At the close of this endless campaign — on one of those crisp, clear New York days where the glimmer of possibility seems to lurk at the tapering edge of the city’s ruler-straight canyons — it is worth recalling that America, alone among nations, is an idea; and that idea dies when hope and possibility disappear.
[6] As a naturalized American who recalls the 1,000 faces in the room where I swore the oath of allegiance and how they mapped the world and yet shared some essential notion of humanity, I confess to the convert’s zeal. I had to take a dictation back then to become a citizen. It was supposed to prove my command of English. The second sentence was, “I plan to work very hard every day.” So here I am writing, loneliest of tasks.
[7] It has been a hard, uneven road from 2008. The idealism vested in America’s first black president was also vested in an introverted man whose talent for the deal-making that oils the wheels of politics proved limited. Barack Obama is the least “political” president since Jimmy Carter.
[8] The United States is as divided today as it was four years ago — over economic policy, of course, but more deeply over social policy: the whole regressive God-invoking push of the Republican right against a woman’s right to abortion, gay rights, marriage equality and so on. One nation sometimes feels like two.
- Vengeful 报仇的；复仇的
- Crisp 清爽的（天气）
- Glimmer 微弱；闪光；少许
- Tapering 逐渐减小的
- Allegiance 效忠；忠诚
- Zeal 热情；热诚
- Vest 授予；赋予
- Introverted 内向的
[9] But even with its debt and division and uneven recovery the United States has come a long way from the abyss of 2008. Obama is a man more likely than not to make smart decisions. He’s also lucky. Sandy blew in a week before the election and by the time it blew out Mittmentum was dented, Bloomberg on board and New Jersey’s Republican governor cooing. There have been big achievements: the winding down of the wars, health reform, getting Osama bin Laden, and restoring the battered American idea.
[10] Obama has fallen short of the pledge he made in 2009 when said we “cannot keep this country safe unless we enlist the power of our most fundamental values.” Drone killings have nothing to do with due process. But the country no longer inhabits the “dark side” of torture and rampant renditions.
[11] By allowing gays to serve openly in the military and by signing legislation to back equal pay for equal work for women, Obama has strived to make the United States more inclusive.
America turns its back on its core ideas when it discriminates against women or on the basis of people’s sexual orientation.
[12] Romney has led a campaign that has said everything and the contrary, embracing war then peace, changing positions on Obamacare, refusing to reveal how he will offset tax cuts. He wants to deny women the right to abortion. His America, it seems, would be more unequal and divided.
[13] Last week I wrote about the sharp divisions in the Jewish community of Cleveland, Ohio, where the Senate candidacy of a young right-wing Jewish ex-Marine named Josh Mandel has exacerbated the tensions of a close campaign where some Jews have tried hard to portray Obama as anti-Israel. Mandel, who has campaigned against the Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown, is related by marriage to the influential Ratner family.
[14] After the column a paid ad in the form of an open letter to Mandel from several members of the Ratner family appeared in the Cleveland Jewish News. It read in part:
- Abyss 深渊；无底洞
- Coo 轻声地说；咕咕地叫
- Battered 破旧的；磨损的；弄垮的
- Enlist （使）入伍；赢得
- rampant 猖獗的；泛滥的
- Rendition 演绎；表演
- Offset 抵消
- Exacerbate 使加剧；使恶化
- Incumbent 在职者
[15] Dear Josh, Your cousins, Ellen Ratner and Cholene Espinoza, are among the many wonderful couples whose rights you do not recognize. They were married almost eight years ago in Massachusetts, at a time when it was the only state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage. Their wedding, like yours, was a beautiful and happy occasion for all of us in our family. It hurts us that you would embrace discrimination against them.
[16] We are equally distressed by your belief that gay men and women should not be allowed to serve openly in the military. Like you, Cholene spent many years in the armed forces. A graduate of the Air Force Academy and an accomplished pilot, she became the second woman in history to fly the U-2 reconnaissance plane. And yet, you have argued that she, like many gay and lesbian soldiers, should be forced to live a life of secrecy and lies.
[17] The letter embodies the spirit that overcame slavery and Jim Crow and has made America an ever-reinvented land always pushing to the next frontier. It is cause for hope.
- Reconnaissance 侦察机
vengeful ['vɛndʒfəl]
adj 复仇的，报复的
crisp [krɪsp]
adj 清爽的（天气）
glimmer ['ɡlɪmɚ]
n 微弱；闪光；少许
tapering ['tepərɪŋ]
adj 逐渐减小的
allegiance [ə'lidʒəns]
n 效忠；忠诚
zeal [zil]
n 热情；热诚
vest [vest]
v 授予；赋予
introverted ['ɪntrəvɝtɪd]
adj 内向的
abyss [ə'bɪs]
n 深渊
exacerbate [ɪɡ'zæsɚbet]
v 使加剧；使恶化
不要一时兴起，就要天天在一起
明天见！
下载音频
The Spirit of America
[1] NEW YORK — Four years ago, on the eve of the victory of Obama in the 2008 election, I attempted to define what America is.
[2] It is renewal, I suggested, the place where impossible stories get written.
[3] It is the overcoming of history, the leaving behind of war and barriers, in the name of a future freed from the vengeful clamp of memory.
[4] It is reinvention, the absorption of one identity in something larger — the notion that “out of many, we are truly one.” Americans are decent people. They’re not interested in where you came from. They’re interested in who you are.
[5] At the close of this endless campaign — on one of those crisp, clear New York days where the glimmer of possibility seems to lurk at the tapering edge of the city’s ruler-straight canyons — it is worth recalling that America, alone among nations, is an idea; and that idea dies when hope and possibility disappear.
[6] As a naturalized American who recalls the 1,000 faces in the room where I swore the oath of allegiance and how they mapped the world and yet shared some essential notion of humanity, I confess to the convert’s zeal. I had to take a dictation back then to become a citizen. It was supposed to prove my command of English. The second sentence was, “I plan to work very hard every day.” So here I am writing, loneliest of tasks.
[7] It has been a hard, uneven road from 2008. The idealism vested in America’s first black president was also vested in an introverted man whose talent for the deal-making that oils the wheels of politics proved limited. Barack Obama is the least “political” president since Jimmy Carter.
[8] The United States is as divided today as it was four years ago — over economic policy, of course, but more deeply over social policy: the whole regressive God-invoking push of the Republican right against a woman’s right to abortion, gay rights, marriage equality and so on.
One nation sometimes feels like two.
[9] But even with its debt and division and uneven recovery the United States has come a long way from the abyss of 2008. Obama is a man more likely than not to make smart decisions. He’s also lucky. Sandy blew in a week before the election and by the time it blew out Mittmentum was dented, Bloomberg on board and New Jersey’s Republican governor cooing.
There have been big achievements: the winding down of the wars, health reform, getting Osama bin Laden, and restoring the battered American idea.
[10] Obama has fallen short of the pledge he made in 2009 when said we “cannot keep this country safe unless we enlist the power of our most fundamental values.” Drone killings have nothing to do with due process. But the country no longer inhabits the “dark side” of torture and rampant renditions.
[11] By allowing gays to serve openly in the military and by signing legislation to back equal pay for equal work for women, Obama has strived to make the United States more inclusive.
America turns its back on its core ideas when it discriminates against women or on the basis of people’s sexual orientation.
[12] Romney has led a campaign that has said everything and the contrary, embracing war then peace, changing positions on Obamacare, refusing to reveal how he will offset tax cuts. He wants to deny women the right to abortion. His America, it seems, would be more unequal and divided.
[13] Last week I wrote about the sharp divisions in the Jewish community of Cleveland, Ohio, where the Senate candidacy of a young right-wing Jewish ex-Marine named Josh Mandel has exacerbated the tensions of a close campaign where some Jews have tried hard to portray Obama as anti-Israel. Mandel, who has campaigned against the Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown, is related by marriage to the influential Ratner family.
[14] After the column a paid ad in the form of an open letter to Mandel from several members of the Ratner family appeared in the Cleveland Jewish News. It read in part:
[15] Dear Josh, Your cousins, Ellen Ratner and Cholene Espinoza, are among the many wonderful couples whose rights you do not recognize. They were married almost eight years ago in Massachusetts, at a time when it was the only state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage. Their wedding, like yours, was a beautiful and happy occasion for all of us in our family. It hurts us that you would embrace discrimination against them.
[16] We are equally distressed by your belief that gay men and women should not be allowed to serve openly in the military. Like you, Cholene spent many years in the armed forces. A graduate of the Air Force Academy and an accomplished pilot, she became the second woman in history to fly the U-2 reconnaissance plane. And yet, you have argued that she, like many gay and lesbian soldiers, should be forced to live a life of secrecy and lies.
[17] The letter embodies the spirit that overcame slavery and Jim Crow and has made America an ever-reinvented land always pushing to the next frontier. It is cause for hope.
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