同学们好,我是朱伟。又到了每周一次精读外刊的时间,今天我们来关注脱口秀性别对立的话题。杨笠作为脱口秀舞台上的”话题制造者“,又因为代言京东掀起了轩然大波。
这次要精读的文章选自The Economist,标题为A female comedian has Chinese men up in arms(一位女喜剧演员让中国男性大为震怒),这里用到了一个非常有画面感的搭配,叫做up in arms(愤怒,发火;竭力反对), 这个短语源于中世纪欧洲,起初是指人们拿起武器反抗当时的统治者,后来 用于强调人们强烈的愤怒或激动情绪。
接下来,我会截取文章的部分内容进行精读分析。
Yang Li is no stranger to online uproars. Four years ago the stand-up comedian (pictured) riled many Chinese men with a mildly worded ribbing on a streamed show. Her line, “Why does he look so ordinary, but can still be so confident?” remains infamous among touchy male netizens. On October 18th one of China’s biggest e-commerce firms, JD.com, dropped Ms Yang as a promoter of its services after an outcry from still-offended men. Yet women are fighting back.
JD.com did not name Ms Yang, but the context of its announcement made it clear that she would no longer be helping to boost the company’s sales during the annual “Singles’ Day” shopping festival, which reaches a climax on November 11th. On Weibo, a social-media platform, access has been blocked to many of the comments that poured out in response. One can get a sense of the mood, though. Some men accused JD.com of failing to apologise enough for what the firm called the “unpleasant experience” caused by signing up Ms Yang. “How is this any different from Japan’s understanding of the second world war?” asked a user in Beijing. Outraged women saw things a little differently. “Just how ordinary and insecure are they?” said one, commenting on the male reaction.
外刊精读
Yang li is no stranger to online uproars. Four years ago the stand-up comedian (pictured) riledmany Chinese men with a mildly worded ribbingon a streamed show.
杨笠对于网络上的轩然大波并不陌生。四年前,这位单口喜剧演员(图中)在一场直播节目中用温和的言语调侃,激怒了许多中国男性。
uproar: 吵闹;骚动
uproar是一个考研词汇,英文释义为 a situation in which there is a lot of public criticism and angry argument about sth that sb has said or done,公众对某人所说或所做之事进行大量批评和愤怒争论的情况。
在《华尔街日报》一篇关于凯特王妃修图的文章标题中,也出现了这个词:Altered Photo of Princess of Wales Sparks Uproar(威尔士王妃 被篡改的照片引发众怒),除了spark以外,uproar还能与动词cause,词组throw into搭配,表示引发或造成骚动。
跟 uproar一样,可以表示“骚动” 的词汇有很多, 伟哥从使用层面来给大家辨析一下。
辨析:disturbance/chaos/outcry/uproar
disturbance: 强调引起某种混乱或不安的 事件、行为或情况;比如The loud noise from the construction site caused a disturbance in the neighborhood.(建筑工地的噪音给附近居民带来了干扰。)
chaos:指无法控制的状态,强调 极度的无序和混乱;比如The sudden power outage caused chaos in the office, with computers shutting down and work coming to a halt.(突然的停电导致办公室陷入混乱,电脑关机,工作中断。)
outcry:表示高声叫喊、尖叫,也可以指 对某种不公正、不合理或令人愤怒的事情发出的强烈反对声音;比如There was an outcry from parents over the proposed changes to the school curriculum.(家长们对拟议中的学校课程改革表示强烈反对。)
uproar: 强调骚动、喧嚣或喧闹的状态,通常是由人群的激动、愤怒或抗议等情绪引起的;比如The football fans caused an uproar in the stadium after their team lost.(足球迷们在球队失利后在体育场内引发了骚动。)
rile:激怒;搅浑
rile是一个GRE词汇,英文释义为to annoy sb or make them angry,惹恼某人或让他们生气,常见的搭配有 rile sb. up(使某人发怒), rile the waters(搅混水;制造混乱)等等, 相当于annoy,agitate,irritate和stir up。
rile这个词并不难,可以把重点放在它的近义词上。
annoy:非常重要的四六级/ 考研词汇,在历年真题中考察过上百次;最简单的用法是annoy sb./sth.(使某人/某事物烦恼或恼怒), 还有annoy sb. at/about sth.(因某事对某人生气)等等。
来看一个英剧Black Mirror 《黑镜》中的例子:
- I don't, I don't think...
- Ok, you know, this is starting to annoyme. Who do you think is poweringthat spotlight? Millions of people. That's who. All of them, out there, right now. Putting in an honest day onthe bike, while you stand in the light they're generating and dither.
在这个例句中,还有几个值得关注的语言点:
power:驱动,推动(机器或车辆);这里power是作为动词使用,可以理解为“为……提供能量”。所以词组power up有“启动;增加电力”的含义,相反,power down就可以表示“关闭;降低电力”。
put in an honest day on:在某事上投入辛勤的努力;词组put in通常表示“投入、花费时间或精力做某事“,an honest day则可能指的是“认认真真工作一天”或“踏踏实实工作一天”,要注意honest在这里不是”诚实的“,而是”勤劳的“,这个熟词僻义的知识点大家可以积累一下。
dither:犹豫不决,踌躇;这是一个GRE词汇,相当于我们熟悉的hesitate。
接着来看 rile的近义词:
agitate:六级/ 考研词汇,必须掌握;词根ag表示”做,代理,引导“,与”行动、活动“有关,而it有”行走,进行“的含义,再加上动词后缀-ate,所以可以理解为”引导走到目的地“,引申为”鼓动“,它常与介词for和against组成搭配。
irritate:六级/ 考研词汇,同样是必须掌握的词汇;它与agitate很像,都是-itate结尾,所以建议大家放在一起记。agitate强调内心焦虑不安的状态,通常与人的心理活动或社会行为相关;irritate强调因受到外部刺激而产生的恼怒、烦躁或失去耐性的状态。
ribbing:开玩笑;取笑
ribbing是rib的名词形式,当rib作名词使用时,意为”肋骨;排骨“,当它作动词使用时,指的是”嘲笑;开玩笑“。这种用法源于人们用言语“戳”或“碰”对方的“肋骨”(即开玩笑地调侃或嘲笑),从而引申出“开玩笑”的意味。
好了,今天的精读分析就到这里。剩下的内容,同学们可以尝试着自己翻译,并留言到评论区。
最后,我的课程推荐。我的泛英语学习的外刊课,在下面。立志于睁眼看世界、提高英文硬实力、打破知识茧房的朋友都可加入。像今天的这种外刊时效性文章,我都会带大家去学习。
强烈建议你,抽空读点外刊!
我的考研英语,最后这个阶段的押题保分班。
今年考研的同学注意了!
今年想考雅思的同学,可以跟我的雅思课。
今年雅思通过建议:不要没苦硬吃!