《经济学人》这样看C919

经济学人 这样看 C919 跟 Simon 精读 我是 Simon 本公众号在每周都会推送一段外文期刊的精读 文章 学英语 懂文化 每周推送的内容够你一周内慢慢 消化 在周三会重复推送一次提醒你温习 摈弃浮躁 回 归本心 踏踏实实学习 昨天国产大飞机 C919 在上海首飞 成功 引发了全球关注 经济学人 也在昨天发表 The C919 ready for take off 报道 发表在 The Economist Espresso 上 这是由经济学人推出的新闻早报 定位是用最 短小的篇幅告诉读者最多的信息 这篇报道对 C919 持悲观 消极的态度 但确没有任何论证 实在是无法令人信服 文章主要从几点来否定 C919 的成绩 1 配件全都是国外进 口 2 商用化还有很长的路要走 会被空客和波音远远甩 在身后 3 只能靠着爱国主义勉强发展 现在 我们来学 习一下这篇短文报道 难度指数 通读先将以下精选内容进行通读 本文行文非常简单 阅 读的时候可以关注一下粗体部分 China s first home made large passenger jet took off in Shanghai today China s leaders will trumpet the test flight for the narrow body passenger plane made by state run Comac as a triumph of indigenous innovation challenging the global duopoly of America s Boeing and Europe s Airbus But the celebrations are premature For a start most of the complicated bits of kit ranging from the engines and electronics to the fuel systems and landing gear are made by foreign firms Even though the trial flight was successful many safety and regulatory challenges lie ahead If the C919 manages to overcome those and come to market it will still be years behind schedule Boeing and Airbus are meanwhile leapfrogging ahead to the next generation of big jets with safety efficiency and other advances Chinese airlines constrained by patriotism may buy the new aircraft Those able to choose freely probably won t 开始阅读 第一部分精读 China s first home made large passenger jet took off in Shanghai today China s leaders will trumpet the test flight for the narrow body passenger plane made by state run Comac as a triumph of indigenous innovation challenging the global duopoly of America s Boeing and Europe s Airbus 开篇用两句话 极其高效地介绍了 C919 的基本情况 以及 所被赋予的战略意义和目标 精选词 take off 看第一句话 China s first home made large passenger jet took off in Shanghai today took off 就是起飞的 意思 off 是介词 我在帖子为啥英语里的介词辣么难学 中讲过 介词本质上是表明对象在空间关系的一种词类 在空间上 off 是动态的 表明 离开 的状态 所以飞机 起飞叫做 take off 其中的 off 表明飞机离开地面的状态 削水果皮叫做 peel off 其中的 off 同样表明果皮离开果肉 的状态 再深一点 如果我们把一个苹果放到桌子上 会 说 put an apple on the table 其中的介词 on 表明的就是 在 表面上 的空间状态 如果我们要把苹果从桌上 拿走 就会说 take the apple off the table 其中的 off 就是离 开的状态了 继续引申 我们看上图的大洲岛 它离开海 南岛的海岸线一段距离 我们就可以说 Dazhou Island is off the east coast of Hainan Province 这里的 off 虽然用作形容词 但是它的本质依然是介词的空 间意义 万变不离其宗 以后你看到 off 无论出现在什么 场合 都可以想想它是如何和其介词意义联系在一起 精 选词 trumpet Comac indigenous innovation duopoly China s leaders will trumpet the test flight for the narrow body passenger plane made by state run Comac as a triumph of indigenous innovation challenging the global duopoly of America s Boeing and Europe s Airbus 这句话极其精炼高效 如果让有些中国学生来写 可能就 变成了 China s leaders will trumpet the test flight for the narrow body passenger plane which is made by state run Comac It is a triumph of indigenous innovation and challenges the global duopoly of America s Boeing and Europe s Airbus 首先 第一句里的定语从句完全没有必要 再者 将一句话变成了两句 两句主语不同 阅读起来不够流畅 不妨仔细体会一下 trumpet 就是上图的小号 大家应该 清楚它的音色 作动词的时候为吹嘘 大肆宣扬的意思 带有贬义 英文释义为 To tell everyone about something that you are proud of especially in an annoying way 所以这一个 用词就体现了作者对 C919 首秀的消极态度 They are proudly trumpeting the fact that they are creating more jobs 他 们自豪地吹嘘他们是在创造更多的工作岗位 Comac 是一 个缩写 全程是 Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China 即中国商用飞机有限责任公司 是 C919 的制造商 indigenous 是土生土长的 本地的 indigenous innovation 是自主创新 注意 这里作者刻意打了引号 暗含作者的 反讽 下文作者将要表达反对观点 indigenous 常常和介词 to 连用 比如 the plant is indigenous to Canada feelings indigenous to human beings The many indigenous cultures which existed in Siberia 存在于西伯利亚的许多当地文化 duopoly of America s Boeing and Europe s Airbus duo 是一 个前缀 意思是两个 couple 陈奕迅曾以 DUO 为主题举 办演唱会 中文译为 双面 像这种和数字有关的前缀叫 做 numeric prefix 例如 mono 表示一个 monogamy 为一夫 一妻制 而 ploy 表示多个 polygamy 就是一夫多妻或者一 妻多夫制 同理 monopoly 指一家卖主的垄断市场 这里把 mono 换 成 duo 就是指波音和空客造成的双头垄断市场 参考译 文 China s first home made large passenger jet took off in Shanghai today China s leaders will trumpet the test flight for the narrow body passenger plane made by state run Comac as a triumph of indigenous innovation challenging the global duopoly of America s Boeing and Europe s Airbus 中国第一次架国产大型客机今天在上海试飞 中国领导人 高调庆祝这款由国企中国商飞制造的窄体客机的试飞 将 其视为自主创新的胜利 挑战美国波音和欧洲空客在商用 客机的双垄断局面 第二部分精读 But the celebrations are premature For a start most of the complicated bits of kit ranging from the engines and electronics to the fuel systems and landing gear are made by foreign firms Even though the trial flight was successful many safety and regulatory challenges lie ahead If the C919 manages to overcome those and come to market it will still be years behind schedule Boeing and Airbus are meanwhile leapfrogging ahead to the next generation of big jets with safety efficiency and other advances Chinese airlines constrained by patriotism may buy the new aircraft Those able to choose freely probably won t 第一部分简要介绍 C919 这部分画风一转 直接开始消极 否定 C919 的发展 作者主要从三个点来表达观点 But the celebrations are premature 这句话并无难度 但体现了英文句子注重逻辑的特性 第 一个词 but 很清晰地表明了转折 我们在输出英文的时候也 一定要注意 coherence For a start most of the complicated bits of kit ranging from the engines and electronics to the fuel systems and landing gear are made by foreign firms ranging from the engines and electronics to the fuel systems and landing gear 是短语 range from to 的用法 是对前面 complicated bits of kit 的解释 这里的 kit 其实就是指飞机的 核心部件 complicated bits of kits 是说复杂部件都是由外国 公司制造的 暗示这并不是真正的 indigenous innovation 这也是前文打引号的原因 Even though the trial flight was successful many safety and regulatory challenges lie ahead trial flight 是试飞 和前文的 test flight 是一个意思 也可以说 maiden flight 都是一个意思 这里的 safety and regulatory challenges 是指即便通过了首飞 C919 还面临着很多安全 和法规方面的挑战 If the C919 manages toovercome those and come to market it will still be years behind schedule Boeing and Airbus are meanwhile leapfrogging ahead to the next generation of big jets with safety efficiency and other advances manage to do 是一个使用频率非常高的短语 它和 try to do something 的含义不同 try to do 是指 试图做某事 但是不清楚这件事情是不是能够成功 manage to do 是指 付出做成某事 暗示成功的含义 We managed to stop him from doing that 成功了 We tried to stop him from doing that but we would do it again 尝试了 但是失败了 前面说了英语极其强调句子的逻辑性 这里的 meanwhile 就 是相对于前面的 years behind schedule 而言的 在 C919 解 决困难 努力进入市场的时候 波音和空客就已经大踏步 地跨入下一代飞机了 这一代飞机更加安全 高效和先进 leapfrog 字面意思是青蛙跳 引申意义就是超越 to suddenly become better more advanced that people or organizations that were previously better than you The company leapfrogged its rivals into a leading position 公司超越竞争对手 处于领先地位 Chinese airlines constrained by patriotism may buy the new aircraft Those able to choose freely probably won t 作者也真是不闲着 又开始吐槽中国的爱国主义 constraine 是说 C919 的发展会被爱国主义制约 即中国的 航空公司才会去买 而别的自由航空公司可能不去购买 参考译文 But the celebrations are premature For a start most of the complicated bits of kit ranging from the engines and electronics to the fuel sys