庞晓杰

又一个WordPress站点

庞晓杰经济学人讣告:老布什总统独领风骚(下)-Interpreterdiary

庞晓杰经济学人讣告:老布什总统独领风骚(下)-Interpreterdiary

庞晓杰
今日精读英文外刊第18期依旧选自2018年最新一期讣告版块,前面17期内容在微信公号后台「精读」菜单中可查询阅读,后台回复关键词「第18天老布什」可查看完整版英文原文,建议先自行阅读,再看赏析,比较学习与阅读。
福利:2017年—2018年全年100期经济学人合集
导读
上期我们见证了老布什先生的独树一帜,这个爱写信的男人,闪闪发光的政坛人物,年轻时打败伊拉克、主张“建立世界新秩序”,年老到90岁时还去尝试跳伞运动,无惧年龄;从前在中国生活的一段时间也让他成为“中国的杰出之友”。不仅仅是政绩,他豁达谦逊的心性也非常值得赞扬。
君子欲讷于言而敏于行——大概本篇文章就是怀念他作为谦谦君子的一生。
原文下半部分:
精读英文外刊第18天
“Obituary
George H.W. Bush—Doing his darnedest”
讣告:乔治·赫伯特·沃克·布什—君子无所不用其极
来源:The Economist
译者:Tapminds
P1 With the label “preppy” came the tag “wimp”, which infuriated him far more. He had had a brave war, enlisting at 18 and completing one mission with his aircraft on fire. Later he did not hesitate to send 27,000 troops to dislodge Manuel Noriega from Panama, or to launch a ground war against Saddam Hussein in 1991—declaring victory and pulling out in 100 hours, which pushed his approval ratings to 89%. He was not above nasty attack ads in the 1988 campaign, excoriating Michael Dukakis for giving furlough to a black rapist. But Nixon, who hated Ivy Leaguers, seemed to think him soft; Reagan said he lacked spunk; and his talk of “Big Mo” and “kicking ass” on the campaign trail often ended in retreat. In 1990 a dust-up with Congress forced him to capitulate on his steely election pledge of “No new taxes”. This, as well as the brief recession of 1990-91, cost him the 1992 election, though even as voters went to the polls the figures for growth were ticking upwards, ushering in almost a decade of prosperity.
P2 What he lacked, as he more or less admitted, was “the vision thing”. Ideologically, he was flexible: moderate sometimes (indeed, in one Texas race, left of the Democrat), while at others he would traipse round pandering to conservatives, as George Will cruelly put it, with a thin tinny “arf”, like a lap-dog. On domestic policy, as president, he inclined to the hard right (prayer in schools, gun rights, anti-abortion), while also loosening immigration policy and expanding the rights of the disabled. Wearing his mild Episcopalian hat, he mentioned a thousand points of light, a kinder, gentler America, and a new breeze blowing away the leaves of an old tree. It was all as vague as it was all deeply hoped for.
P3 His forte, and first love, was foreign policy. He had been ambassador to theUNfor Nixon, an envoy to China for Gerald Ford (he and Barbara riding round delightedly on bicycles) and head of theCIA, besides, as vice-president, a follower-of-the-hearse at dozens of state funerals. Instinctively, he thought in terms of global power games; fortuitously, his time as president coincided with the end of the cold war, a heady and fascinating moment. With Mikhail Gorbachev he struck up an easy working friendship, and in 1991, in the wake of the Gulf war, he even had a moment of comprehensive vision: a new world order, based not on force but on the rule of law, which America would strongly lead.
P4 Such grandiloquence, like eloquence, was rare in him. He was schooled in modesty, fond of the small behind-the-scenes gesture rather than the large public show. He belonged to a generation that had no patience for today’s blowhards who, putting self before nation, always push themselves forward. But when the times and events demanded he could, perhaps to his own surprise, find the right words and walk confidently ahead.
赏析部分
标题分析
看到标题中的“Doing his darnedest”熟悉的句式“do one’s best”,尽其所能。这darned表示的含义与darn相同“used as a mild swear word, instead of saying damn , to mean ‘extremely’ or ‘very’”,极其,非常(较为委婉)。一开始只想翻译成“尽其所能”,但是用“君子无所不用其极”反而更能体现出darned的含义,“君子无所不用其极”原意是指尽一切努力,来达到至善的最高境界,而现代含义变成一个贬义词,这里采用原意。
P1With thelabel “preppy”came thetag “wimp”, which infuriated him far more. He had had a brave war, enlisting at 18 and completing one mission with his aircraft on fire. Later he did not hesitate to send 27,000 troops todislodgeManuel Noriega from Panama, or tolaunchaground waragainst Saddam Hussein in 1991—declaring victory andpulling outin 100 hours, which pushed his approval ratings to 89%. He was notabovenasty attack ads in the 1988 campaign,excoriatingMichael Dukakis for givingfurloughto a black rapist. But Nixon, who hated Ivy Leaguers, seemed to think him soft; Reagan said he lackedspunk; and his talk of“Big Mo” and “kicking ass”on the campaigntrailoften ended inretreat. In 1990 adust-upwith Congress forced him tocapitulateon his steely election pledge of “No new taxes”. This, as well as the brief recession of 1990-91, cost him the 1992 election, though even as voters went to the polls the figures for growth wereticking upwards,ushering inalmost a decade of prosperity.
参考翻译:布什的绰号不断出现,在“学院风”之后,又被称作“窝囊废”,这让他大为恼火。18岁参军的布什曾经有过一次勇敢的战役,并在完成任务的过程中因所驾驶的战斗机着火而差点丧命。(任总统后)没过多久他就毫不犹豫地派2.7万人的军队去巴拿马推翻曼努埃尔·诺列加(Manuel Noriega)的军事政权,或者说其目的是于1991年对萨达姆·侯赛因(Saddam Hussein)发动地面战争,经过历时100小时的陆战,美国方面宣布获胜并全身而退,这直接使布什的民意满意度高达89%。在1988年选举中,他甚至用非常严厉的攻击广告,指责迈克尔·杜卡基斯(Michael Dukakis)曾经准许一个黑人强奸犯的假释请求。但憎恨常春藤联校毕业生的尼克松认为布什太软弱;里根评价他说不够勇敢,在竞选过程中,他用“Big Mo”(big momentum重要动力)和“kicking ass”(excellent极好的)形容在艾奥瓦党团会议获得的胜利给竞选带去的重大利好,这样的言论最后都不了了之。1990年,一场与国会之间的争吵让他不得不做出退让,放弃了自己参选时钢铁般的誓言——不收新税。这件事加上1990-1991年之间的短暂经济衰退,使老布什付出了“1992年选举失利”的代价,尽管当时,在人们去投票的路上经济增长数据还在不停地爬升,这为美国带来了接近10年的繁荣昌盛。
背景知识
布什参军
珍珠港被袭击、美军遭受奇耻大辱时,布什正在读全美最好的高中——菲利普斯学院。他想尽快参军,第一时间想到海军航空兵。他在18岁生日那天,1942年6月12日,来到波士顿成为一名海军二等兵,随后转去北卡罗来纳州参加飞行预备训练。
战斗机着火
这是布什人生中最重要的一场战斗。1944年8月28日,修整完毕的圣哈辛托号(布什座机)启程前往小笠原群岛。分配给这艘轻型航母的进攻目标,是群岛之父岛列岛之父岛,这座火山岛是群岛中面积最大的岛屿。9月2日,中队派出布什在内的4架TBF,继续轰炸无线电发射塔及配套建筑。鱼雷机将获得自己航母上4架地狱猫战斗机,以及企业号航母上6架地狱猫战斗机的护航。这是一个多雾的早晨,能见度不佳,布什飞机的攻击顺序排在第3位,前2架TBF依次向目标俯冲轰炸,各自投下4枚炸弹。轮到布什驾机俯冲时,日军高射炮弹爆炸产生的黑烟已经染满天空,很不幸,布什的TBF在俯冲时被地面火力击中,冒出滚滚浓烟。机组人员只好跳伞求生,但是当时如果被日本军队俘虏,是很可能被啖吃了的,因日本军队素有吃人肉(美国军队俘虏)的行为。所幸布什最后被美国潜艇所救,同一飞机上三名机组成员,只有布什活了下来。
巴拿马之战
1989年12月20日,美国总统乔治·赫伯特·沃克·布什下令两万七千名美军展开对巴拿马代号“正义行动”的军事行动,推翻诺列加的军事政权,扶持恩达拉就任总统。诺列加于1990年1月3日向美军投降,结束巴国21年军人统治。在美军入侵期间造成两千人死亡,包括巴拿马军人及一般平民。
伊拉克之战
1990年8月2日,伊拉克军队入侵科威特,推翻科威特政府并宣布吞并科威特。以美国为首的多国部队在取得联合国授权后,于1991年1月16日开始对科威特和伊拉克境内的伊拉克军队发动军事进攻,主要战斗包括历时42天的空袭、在伊拉克、科威特和沙特阿拉伯边境地带展开的历时100小时的陆战。多国部队以较小的代价取得决定性胜利,重创伊拉克军队。伊拉克最终接受联合国660号决议,并从科威特撤军。
词汇短语
preppy:本意是指“预备学校学生,预备学校毕业生(指有私立学校学生派头的人)”,在这里表示“美式学院风”当做老布什的一个label“标签”。老布什一生有很多绰号,preppy是其中一个,preppy look也是穿衣风格的一种。那么preppy look究竟指的是什么样子呢?直观得可以从下面这张图中看到↓

wimp
老布什tag绰号之二——“懦夫、窝囊废”,这个绰号源自于1987年,《新闻周刊》(Newsweek)发表了一张他的封面,标题是《克服‘懦弱因子’》,老布什平时待人彬彬有礼,但这一次他非常愤怒,并批评这篇文章为“最下三滥的攻击”。
讲到wimp它其实来源于whimper(小声哭泣),还有一个动词性的短语wimp out,相当于cop out,表示“to not do something that you intended to do, because you do not feel brave enough, strong enough etc.”因胆小而退出。另外wimpy和wimpish也可以表示同样的意思。

dislodge:表示to remove something or someone, especially by force, from a fixed position,(尤指在外力作用下)使免职,使移位,常常与介词from搭配。分解来看,lodge有“乡间小屋”的意思,而前缀dis表示“离开,不同的方向,相反的行为,不”等含义,共同来理解dislodge的含义。
前缀dis-, di-, dif-的讲解:
前缀dis-,di-或dif-的意义为“离开;不同的方向;相反的行为;不”。前级dis-的意义和前缀de-差不多,它们之间的区别在于前缀de-通常含有“下”的意义(它的“减少、次要”都与“下”有关系);而dis-最主要的意义便是表示否定的“不”。比如diffuse(散开),disable(使无能),decline(下降)。再列举一些词汇:disconnect,discontinue,dislocate,disloyal,divert,disarm等等。
launch:本文中launch表示“to start an activity, especially an organized one”开始从事,发起,发动(尤指有组织的活动),与war搭配,表示发动一场战争。launch表示同样的意思还可以与下面这些名词搭配:
launch an appeal /an inquiry /an investigation /a campaign开始进行上诉/质询/调查/一场运动
launch an attack / invasion发起攻击;发动侵略
launch的含义有很多,还可以表示“launch a rocket”发射火箭,“launch a novel”发行(上市)一本小说,“launch a new warship”新船下水,“launch oneself at…”猛扑向前,等等。
再总结一下launch比较好用的动词性短语:
launch into sth.或者launch yourself into sth. (热情地)开始做,投入
launch out开始从事,投身于(新的、尤指更令人兴奋的事业)
launch也是外刊中非常常用的词,比如下面这个来自卫报12.9的文章谈到警方对一宗谋杀案开展调查的用法:
The 26-year-old was taken into custody after police launched a homicide probe over the weekend.
在警方针对上周末发生的谋杀事件展开调查后,该名26岁的嫌疑人以被收押候审。
ground war:字面意思,地面战争。同样的可以想到air war空战,water war水战等搭配,war后面通常用against,后面的名词可以是国家、人或抽象事物,比如本文中的用法。如果后面是比较抽象的事物,则against可以改用on。例如war on terror反恐之战/ war on drugs缉毒之战/ war on poverty对贫穷之战/ the Republican war on science共和党的反科学之战。但是有时war on后面有时候也可以是国家。
pull out:pull out这里表示“to move away from sth. or stop being involved in it脱离;退出”,相当于withdraw,以及pull back也表示同样的含义.这种用法在外刊中非常常见,比如在12.7期纽约时报中,谈论了美国退出巴黎协议的相关信息,其中就用到pull out:
But then the Trump administration announced its intention topull out ofthe Paris pact altogether, rejecting the scientific consensus that greenhouse gas emissions are warming the planet.
但不久特朗普政府就宣布美国退出巴黎协议的决定,对温室气体排放使地球升温这一科学共识拒不承认。
再来讲一下pull,这个词非常简单,但其实很多简单词有非常多样的用法,这里就总结几个有意思的表达如下:
pull an all-nighter:To stay up and work through the night without a break.通宵工作;开通宵夜车。
在生活中很常用,比如下面这个生活化的例句:
"Why are you so tired?" John asked his friend. "I had to pull an all-nighter, as we were shorthanded at work," Ted answered. “你为什么这么疲倦?”约翰问他的朋友。“因为我们工作上缺人手,我不得不开了个通宵夜车,”泰德回答说。
pull off:to succeed in doing sth. difficult做成,完成(困难的事情),相当于complete,finish等等。

pull oneself together:To become calm after being excited or disturbed; recover self-command; control yourself.恢复镇静;恢复自制;控制自己。
举个例子:
It had been a disturbing moment, but he was able to pull himself together.
那是个令人不安的计划,但他却能控制住自己。
above:一开始我以为above在这里很简单是“over,beyond”的意思,但翻译时怎么都不通顺,才发现这里above用作其他含义了,这里表示“too good or too honest to do sth. (因善良或诚实正直而)不至于,不屑于(做某事)”,本文中用在否定句中,表达相反的意思不是不做,而是“做了”。同样的用法,
下面再举一个例子:
She's not above lying when it suits her.
她在适当时机还是会说谎的。
excoriate:to criticize sb. / sth. severely严厉指责;痛斥,表达的意思与denounce相似,但excoriate是很正式、很严厉的用法,所以在平时使用中要慎用。但excoriate这个词还可以用在医药中,表示to irritate a person's skin so that it starts to come off擦破,擦伤,剥落(皮肤),相当于abrade。对应的名词是excoriation.
推荐一个记忆方法:ex出,cor=core(n果核;核心)-使核心出来-撕去皮;强烈公开谴责(就像撕去别人一层皮)。
furlough:permission for a prisoner to leave prison for a period of time (犯人的)准假。这个词还可以表示“(在国外服役士兵的)休假许可;(通常因发不出工资而给的)准假”。最开始这个词起始于军队中,表示士兵们都非常期待的休假,后来用在人们日常生活中,表达的意思虽然相近,但意义不太一样,如果有一天老板furlough了你,那么也就意味着你永远也不用再回来工作了——你被炒鱿鱼了。
spunk:courage; determination勇气;胆量;决心。又积累了一个表达基本意思的高级词汇!
spunk还可以表示“a sexually attractive person性感的人”,所以其对应的形容词spunky也可以表达两层意思:①勇敢坚定的;劲头十足的;②性感的。
retreat:本段中还有一个表达类似意思的短语pull out撤退,两个可以结合起来记忆。作为动词“撤退”时retreat可以和很多介词搭配使用,比如from,away,back;也可以表示“离去;畏缩;躲避(escape)”。当表示名词时,比较常用的意思有“改变决定(an act of changing a decision);僻静处,隐居处(a quiet, private place)”。比如“归园田居”,就可以用a countryside retreat(乡间幽静的住所)表示。
再比如下面这个例句描述的是一位临时改变决定的官员:
The Senator made an embarrassing retreat from his earlier position.
这位参议员很尴尬地改变了他早先的立场。
dust-up:an argument or fight吵架;争吵;打架。dust本身有表示“灰尘”的意思,可以想象一下吵架或者打架的时候肯定是鸡飞狗跳的,这时候房间里的灰尘都飞起来了~,所以叫dust-up.相反,dust作为动词时还有短语dust sb./sth. down,表示“除去…的灰尘”,对应起来记忆,同时再拓展一个dust sb./sth. off可以与dust down等同。
capitulate:to agree to do sth. that you have been refusing to do for a long time屈服;屈从,同义词有give in和yield。capitulate另外还有一层意思叫surrender投降,其名词时变形为capitulation.
举个例子:
Lord Luce's capitulation to pressure from the Duke of Edinburgh has stored up huge problems for the future.
卢斯勋爵迫于爱丁堡公爵的压力作了让步,为日后埋下了巨大隐患。
usher in:to be the beginning of sth. new or to make sth. new begin开创;开始;开启。
介绍一下usher这个词,作为动词时表示“to take or show sb where they should go把…引往;引导;引领”,名词意思是引座员,比如每次去电影院看到的给我们引座位的小哥。这个单词我介绍一个记忆方法:us+her,她领着我们进去——引导。
P2 What he lacked, as he more or less admitted, was “the vision thing”. Ideologically, he was flexible: moderate sometimes (indeed, in one Texas race,left of the Democrat), while at others he wouldtraipseroundpanderingto conservatives, as George Will cruelly put it, with a thin tinny “arf”, like a lap-dog. On domestic policy, as president, he inclined to the hard right (prayer in schools, gun rights, anti-abortion), while also loosening immigration policy and expanding the rights of the disabled. Wearing his mildEpiscopalian hat, he mentioneda thousand points of light, a kinder, gentler America, and a new breeze blowing away the leaves of an old tree. It was all asvagueas it was all deeply hoped for.
参考翻译 正如他自己或多或少承认过的一样,他所缺少的正是“远见卓识”。从思想上来说他是灵活的:有时是中庸之道,有时又会不紧不慢地去迎合保守派,正如乔治·威尔(George Will)残酷的描述:再加上几声微弱的汪汪叫声,就和宠物狗没什么两样了。作为总统,老布什在对内政策方面倾向于极右派(尤其是针对校园祈祷、枪支持有权以及反堕胎等方面),同时也在放松移民政策并扩大残疾人士的权益。他戴着那顶主教帽,提出了“千点光芒”,以及一个更善良、更温和美国的愿景,他提出让新政策的风将老树的残叶都一吹而散。这样的愿景就跟人们深切希望的东西一样,还没有明显的轮廓。
词汇短语
traipse:to walk somewhere slowly when you are tired and unwilling疲惫地走;拖沓地行走;磨蹭;令人不快地走(或转悠);碍事地走(或转悠)。其近义词即walk.
pander:to do what sb wants, or try to please them, especially when this is not acceptable or reasonable迎合;奉迎;投其所好。比如看奇葩说最后一期,里面李诞说王菊“你向主流审美低头”,可以说“You pandered to the public love of beauty.”
a thousand points of light:千点光芒。这句话引用自老布什在1989年竞选成功后就职演讲中,其中原句是“I have spoken of a Thousand Points of Light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good.”我曾提起过千点光芒,提起过所有的社群组织就像星星一样遍布在全国各地,他们都在认真完成自己的工作。

vague:not clear in a person's mind (思想上)不清楚的,含糊的,不明确的,模糊的,相当于unclear, murky, indefinable, undefinable, indistinct, and hard to understand.
近义词辨析
vague:多指因语言不确切,太笼统或因构思含糊、不完善而造成模糊难解
dim:侧重指或因光线暗淡,或因年代久远、身体欠佳等因素而产生视觉或察觉方面的困难。
indefinite:指无明确定义或限定,重点或总体轮廓不明确。
obscure:语气最强,指晦涩难懂。
ambiguous:指文章或讲话中,意思可能有多种理解,令人捉摸不定。
faint:指对某事物印象不深,或指声音微弱或希望的渺茫等。
P3. Hisforte, and first love, was foreign policy. He had been ambassador to theUNfor Nixon, an envoy to China for Gerald Ford (he and Barbara riding round delightedly on bicycles) and head of theCIA, besides, as vice-president, a follower-of-the-hearse at dozens of state funerals. Instinctively, he thought in terms ofglobal power games;fortuitously, his time as president coincided with the end of the cold war, aheadyand fascinating moment. With Mikhail Gorbachev he struck up an easy working friendship, and in 1991, in the wake of the Gulf war, he even had a moment of comprehensive vision: a new world order, based not on force but on the rule of law, which America would strongly lead.
参考翻译 他的专长,或者说他的“初恋”,是外交对外政策。他曾被尼克松总统任命为欧盟大使,被杰拉尔德·鲁道夫·福特总统(Gerald Ford)任命为中国外交代表(在北京时他和妻子芭芭拉开心地骑着自行车游玩),以及美国中央情报局领头人物,另外,布什任副总统期间,曾作为追悼者参加过数十个国家葬礼。他本能地按照世界强权游戏规则思考问题。幸运的是,他当上总统时刚好冷战结束,那是一个令人陶醉又充满魅力的时刻。他与米哈伊尔·谢尔盖耶维奇·戈尔巴乔夫(Mikhail Gorbachev前苏联国家领导人)之间建立起了一种舒适的工作伙伴关系,1991年,在海湾战争前夕,他甚至在某一瞬间构思出综合性的愿景:新世界规则不应建立在武力上,而应是以由美国人领头的法律规则为基础。
词汇短语
forte:a thing that sb. does particularly well专长;特长。当用在音乐演奏中时,又表示loud; (to be) played loudly强音(的);用强音演奏(的)。与之相反,表达played or sung quietly
轻柔地;安静地;弱这个词是piano,对你没有看错,这是piano的副词含义。
fortuitous:happening by chance, especially a lucky chance that brings a good result偶然发生的;(尤指)巧合的。常常与discovery(偶然的发现), timing(幸运的时机)这些名词搭配使用,比如说你和你的朋友happen togo on vacation to the same place at the same time,那么这就可以说是一个fortuitous coincidence.
所以fortuitous这个词其实和fortunate非常像,但他们俩的用法有小差别,下面来分析一下,以后不要用错咯:
两者都表示lucky,但是↓
fortuitous:强调天生幸运,运气好,或者天生就赢得的一些东西,比如现在的富二代,我们可以说他们fortunate;
fortuitous:强调一种偶然性、突然地,by chance or accident,fortuitous这个词本意表示“不分好坏的巧合”,后来渐渐地用混了,它开始偏向于“好的巧合”一方。比较起来,fortuitous更像serendipity一些。
举个例子:
Don't thank that rabbit foot for your being sofortunate; after all, it wasn't so lucky for the rabbit. But if you're superstitious, it'sfortuitousthat you found it right before you bought that lottery ticket.
不要因为拥有兔子脚(迷信者认为有护符作用,会带来好运的)就充满感激,就觉得自己是幸运儿;毕竟,这件事对兔子来说可不是那么幸运。但如果你比较迷信,并且在马上要买乐透卷的路上突然发现兔子脚就在你面前,那这可以说是非常幸运了。
这句话中用到了两个表示lucky的词,但分别用的情景不同,可以看出两者的区别。
P4 Suchgrandiloquence, likeeloquence, was rare in him. He wasschooledin modesty, fond of the small behind-the-scenes gesture rather than the large public show. He belonged to a generation that had no patience for today’sblowhardswho, putting self before nation, always push themselves forward. But when the times and events demanded he could, perhaps to his own surprise, find the right words and walk confidently ahead.
参考翻译 在他身上你很难看到这样夸夸其谈,或者说是极富口才的那一面。他被教导学会谦逊,比起公开展示来说,他更享受大幕之后的小动作。他所属的那个年代无法忍受现代很多人自吹自擂的行为,这些人总是把自己放在国家之前,推着自己站到最前方争着表现。布什不是这样的人,但在某些时机或事件之下,只要有所需求,他总是能做出正确的决策,并自信地领导着别人前行——或者这连他自己都没有意料到。
词汇短语
grandiloquence:a lofty, high-flown style of talking that has a lot of fluff but may lack substance大话,豪语,夸口类似的比如:Exaggerating and playing down; Praising and applauding.可以用来形容那些喜欢说废话的政治家,明明说的是无关紧要的事,却偏要让它听起来很重要,我们可以说这样的人就是master of grandiloquence.
再分解一下这个词来自拉丁语grandis指的是这个词汇中的“grand”,另外loqui表示说“speak.” Grandiloquence相似词根的单词比如loquacious (talkative话多的), soliloquy (a solo speech独白),以及一些其他的跟“说话”有关的词汇。
eloquence:跟前一个词结合起来记,都是词根loqui/luquen一类的,表示“speak”,这个词是个名词,表示“口才,雄辩”,它的形容词形式是eloquent“雄辩的,有口才的,有说服力的”。
schoolsb / yourself (in sth.):to train sb / yourself / an animal to do sth.训练;使学会(in加学会的某种品德、技能等),常用在正式场合,这里school用作动词噢,相当于train或者educate.
blowhards:a person who talks too proudly about sth. they own or sth. they have done吹牛大王;自吹自擂的人。这个非常好记——a person whoblowhis own horn veryhard.拼起来就对啦。最近外刊文章频繁用到这个词形容一个人,大家应该也可以猜到,就是特朗普。
比如下面这个例句:
In Mark K. Updegrove’s book “The Last Republicans,” published last year, the elder Bush called Trump a “blowhard.”
在马克·K·厄普德格罗夫(Mark K. Updegrove传记作家)去年出版的《最后的共和党人》这本书中,老布什称特朗普为一个“吹牛大王”。
但尽管布什一家和特朗普之间有很多恩怨,但这次葬礼布什还是邀请特朗普参加了,而特朗普也表现出了应有的敬意。

以上为本期内容,感谢阅读。
往期:
经济学人:预测2019?
纽约时报:为何秋天10度比春天10度冷?
经济学人:基因编辑,福祉还是魔鬼?
经济学人:致敬漫威“英雄”斯坦·李
周六福利:送送送!
ID:interpreterdiary
喜欢语言和翻译
关注我们总会有惊喜
周一至周五
日更热点外刊精析