[1010G]Economist 阅读帖---By Penny

pennycleverUID: 2777479

About this debate

New Labor’s 13-year stint

in power looks set to end at Britain's forthcoming 即将到来的 general election. Created by Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and their allies in the mid-1990s, New Labor, which supposedly combined old Labor’s regard for social justice with an appreciation of the virtues of market economics, was swept to power in the landslide election victory of 1997, winning again in 2001 and 2005. Mr. Blair oncecalled it "the political wing of the British people". Now thegovernment is dismally 阴暗沉闷的 unpopular, having presided over controversial wars, a deep recession 衰退期and arecord-breaking fiscal deficit 亏空. Was New Laboralways a naive approach to government, only sustained in office by benign economic conditions 环境状况，不是条件? Has it betrayedthe underprivileged 贫穷的people whom it promised to help (and who once formed v.形成，建立 Labor’s core support)? Has New Labor failed, both as a competent 有能力胜任的 government and according to its own original aspirations?

红宝词汇：

stint  

v 吝惜，节省；adj 节约的
【记】源于：stingy（adj 吝啬小气的）读：死盯他－死死的盯住他的钱包－吝惜，节省（自己的钱）
【反】lavish（v 浪费；adj 浪费的）

ally  

n 盟国，支持者
【例】Englandallied with France   英国和法国结成同盟。ally oneself with   与…联合
；与…结婚
【类】ally:war＝teammate:game盟军联合作战＝队友联合比赛
【反】adversary（n 对手）

combine  

v （为一个共同的目的政治上的）联合；结合＝merge＝mix＝coalesce
【例】The twoparties have combined to form a government 两个政党已经联合起来组成政府。
【记】com共同，一起，bine捆，绑－捆绑在一起－结合
【参】combination（n 结合，合并，化合物）

regard  

v 尊敬
【记】作为“看作”讲大家比较熟悉，例：I regard him as a fool 但是主考“尊敬”的意思。
【类】exemplary:imitation＝redoubtable:regard  ＝culpable:blame＝despicable:scorn  模范的应该仿效＝可敬的应该尊敬＝有罪的应该责备＝可鄙的应该鄙视redoubtable:regard  ＝creditable:belief  值得敬畏的值得尊敬＝可信的值得信任paragon  :imitate＝reverence:regard模范需要模仿＝尊重的人需要尊敬

regard for  

对 ... 的注意，尊重

virtue  

n 美德；优点
【记】源于：virtues（n 美德天使：九级天使中的第五级）
【类】doldrums:energy＝depravity:virtue消沉没有活力＝堕落没有美德

landslide  

n 崩塌的泥石；压倒性胜利
【记】land地，slide滑－地向下滑－山崩的大石头。
【类】deluge:droplet＝landslide:peddle大暴雨对小水滴＝山崩的大石头对小卵石（程度类比）

preside  

v 主持；负责；指挥（占据当权的地位）
【记】pre前，side坐－坐在前面－主持
【参】president（adj 总统，校长）

controversial  

adj 有争议的；好争辩的＝disputatious
【记】contro反，vers转－跟别人反着转－引起争论的
【参】controversy（adj 争论，辩论＝quarrel＝dispute＝argument）
【反】axiomatic（adj 不言自明的）

fiscal  

adj 国库的；财政的＝financial
【记】fisc国库，al－财政的
【参】confiscate（v 没收；充公）

naive  

adj 天真幼稚的（缺乏俗气的，不敏感的，没有经验的，易轻信的）＝artless＝ingenuous
【记】源自native（adj 自然的）
【类】fickle:constancy＝naive:sophistication易变的没有恒定＝纯真的没有世故guile:na?f＝tardy:prompt狡猾的缺乏天真的＝迟缓的缺乏迅速的
【反】worldly（adj 世间的）

approach  

v （在空间或时间上）接近，靠近；着手处理；n 方法（达到某些事的途径）＝method
【例】Springapproaches   春天近了approached the task  开始着手这项任务
【记】ap一再，proach接近－靠近
【参】approachable（adj 可接近的，随和的）；reproach（v 指责）

benign  

adj 慈样的，（气候，性格）温柔善良的＝good-natured＝kindly；（肿瘤）良性的
【例】A benigntumor will not cause you any fatal harm 良性肿瘤不会对你有致命的伤害。
【记】ben好，ign形容词后缀－好的－仁慈的；
【反】malign（adj 恶毒的）；benignant（adj 仁慈的）－vicious（adj 恶的）

betray  

v 背叛（be a traitor to）；暴露，泄露，显露＝revea1＝indicate＝divulge
【例】Confusionbetrays the guilty   神色慌张必有鬼。betray one's country to theenemy  做卖国贼
【参】traitor（n 叛逆者，叛国者）
【类】juggernaut:crash＝quisling:betray不可抗拒的力量摧毁＝卖国贼背叛

privilege  

n 特权；v 给予…特权
【记】pri＝private（adj 私人的），vilege＝village（n 乡村）：有私人的村庄－特权

aspiration  

n 抱负，热望（建立丰功伟绩的强烈愿望）
【记】a非，无，spir呼吸－屏住呼吸等待－渴，aspire
vi. 渴望，追求，有志于
【参】respiration（n 呼吸，呼吸作用）；conspire（v 同谋）
【类】audacious:trepidation＝apathetic:aspiration大胆的不会颤抖＝冷漠的不会热望

pennycleverUID: 2777479

哎 其实我觉得这样的学习效率好低啊

pennycleverUID: 2777479

感觉花了不少时间去做排版，实际上扪心自问 我到底记住了多少？收获了多少？

pennycleverUID: 2777479

Earthquake in China

Fault lines （断层线）

Earthquakes in China's Qinghai province kill hundreds of people

Apr 14th 2010 | BEIJING | From The Economist online

POWERFUL earthquakes on the Tibetan plateau(高原) have killed hundreds of people and injured many thousands of others. The disaster presents(送?反讽?) the Chinese authorities

with the challenge of another large-scale relief effort following an earthquake in neighboring Sichuan province in May 2008 that killed more than 80,000 people. The remoteness of the affected area will make it all the harder.

The earthquakes, the strongest of which been reported as magnitude(重要性/强度) 6.9 or 7.1, began to strike early in the morning of Wednesday April 14th. They were centered on(围绕) Yushu county in Qinghai province near the border of the Tibet Autonomous(独立的) Region

. Most of the buildings in the county seat, Jiegu, were damaged or destroyed. Yushu has a population of around 100,000, many of them Tibetan herders(?). A teacher in the adjacent county of Golog some 350 km (220m) to the north-east says he has been trying to console his weeping students since they learned that relatives in Yushu had been buried in rubble(瓦砾碎石). He says Tibetan monks in Golog have been praying for the dead.

“The biggest problem now is that we lack tents, we lack medical equipment, medicine and medical workers” a local spokesman was quoted as(引述)saying by China’s state-run news agency, Xinhua. Overnight temperatures in the area are below freezing. Xinhua said three military(军事的) transport aircraft had been deployed to ferry(渡船，渡运) supplies and relief workers. Hundreds of troops have been mobilized(动员调用).

In 2008 the authorities won praise from around the world for their quick response to
the Sichuan earthquake and their unusual decision to give journalists free rein to visit the affected area. Foreign assistance helped to defuse(缓和) tensions between China and Western countries caused by the government’s handling of widespread

unrest(不安动荡) in Tibetan areas in March that year.

The authorities are likely this time to pull out all the stops again, not least in order to show their concern for the welfare of Tibetans despite continuing harsh repression of Tibetan dissent(不同意＝disagree；不服从).

They will be somewhat relieved that the disaster did not happen in the Tibet Autonomous Region, given that this would have hugely complicated their handling of press coverage(n.新闻报道；覆盖范围). Unlike Qinghai (most of which is regarded as part of traditional Tibet by the Dalai Lama and his followers), the autonomous region is off-limits(?) to foreign journalists except for rare, supervised visits.


The government will be nervous of any news from Qinghai’s disaster that could give further ammunition to domestic critics of the shoddy construction of schools in Sichuan that was widely blamed for the deaths of thousands of children in the 2008 earthquake. Since late last year two activists who campaigned on (竞选) behalf of the children’s parents have been jailed for three and five years respectively(个子的). The sentences sent a clear message that the government, for all its openness in the immediate aftermath(事件的后果) of the Sichuan earthquake, still lashes out(抨击) at those who cause it embarrassment (困窘).