新东方：高口阅读五大热文精析

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        　　高颖老师简介
        　　新东方(上海)学校口译研究中心成员，阅读课题组组长，中级口译阅读、听说特训明星教师。资深企业培训师。上海外国语大学英汉翻译学硕士，高级同声翻译，曾为EQUATE、中国石化等大型知名企业担任特聘同传。参与编著新东方《中级口译全真模拟试卷》。
        　　1. 《高级口译真题汇编》125页文章
        　　Britain’s small and medium-sized businesses can be forgiven for feeling
rather underwhelmed by the chancellor’s budget. While Gordon Brown appeared to
talk a lot about cutting red tape for small firms, on closer inspection it
turned out that many of the measures he announced had been already mentioned in
previous budgets or were merely proposals for consultation. Easily the biggest
news for small businesses was the chancellor’s endorsement of the findings of
the Hampton review into red tape, which will reduce the number of bodies
carrying out inspections of small businesses from 35 to nine. Brown claimed that
this would reduce the number of business inspections carried out by a third,
equal to 1m fewer inspections. (第一段)
        　　本文不管是内容还是结构都极具代表性。首先，作为经济类文章，考生应该注意到此类话题是高级口译考试阅读部分常年出现的话题之一，不过无需害怕，因为经济类话题并不会考查专业高深的经济理论，一般以通俗类考查为主。其次，本文全篇结构以
parallel
structure(并列结构)写就，阐述了英国财政部发布的若干条政策以及中小企业及公众的反响。考生如果能够从逻辑框架来进行阅读，效率会大大提高。
        　　第一段第一句首先告诉读者这样一个事实，英国中小企业没有被the chancellor’s
budget(预算)underwhelm，很多考生看到underwhelm就有点紧张，其实没有必要，这个词长得是不是很像overwhelm，所以取反概念的话就能猜测underwhelm，应为“未引起兴趣”之意。而chancellor这个词，考生也应该知道，指的是英国财政大臣，课上曾整理过英美社会政治概念若干，复习笔记即可。第二句话其实就解释了为什么英国中小企业对预算不感兴趣，因为预算内容都是以前曾提及的东西，没什么新信息。第三句话则为主题句，通过句型the
news is that，以及the
biggest最高级强调词就能判断。当然，该句子里面也出现了endorsement这个非常高大上的词汇，指的是“同意”。而随后出现的red
tape也作为第一题进行了考查，这个词是个俗语表达，本来是指英国政府官员用红色带子系公文的习惯，后来引申开去指的是官僚作风、繁琐程序，同义词
bureaucracy也在课上提到。最后一句则是对主题句的进一步详细说明。
        　　2. 《高级口译真题汇编》7页文章
        　　Martin Mills, 25, keeps a low profile in order to stay safe in his tough
neighborhood. He cleans hotels for $250 a week and then goes straight home to a
three-bedroom house in a predominantly African-American area on the north side
of Wilmington, Del. He lives with five of his six children and his girlfriend.
His younger brother was robbed at gunpoint and shot in the head a few years ago.
"I don't bother anybody," he says. "I try to do fight, keep a cool head." He
needed one on Sept. 3, when seven or eight cops descended on him as he was
leaving the comer deli. They jumped out of an unmarked van and, according to
Mills, knocked over his 1-year-old son in their haste to collar Mills. They
frisked him, then shoved a camera in his face. He says he heard an officer say,
"We are taking your picture now for anything you might do in the future." They
then let him go without charging him with any crime.
        　　Wilmington police say they have "no record" of Mills' case. But their
chief, Michael Szczerba, makes no apologies for his department's latest effort
to crack down on drugs. This summer units of as many as 18 agents, known to
locals as "jump-out squads," began stopping individuals, usually African
Americans like Mills, at drug-infested street comers in search of guns, crack
and heroin. The police would then take a digital photo, even with no evidence of
malfeasance, to file in a database that Szczerba says can be accessed "if we see
a subsequent violation." The department plans to continue indefinitely what it
calls Operation Bold Eagle. (前两段)
            
            

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        　　本文从结构上说是高级口译考试经常出现考查的一种模式，即第一段话是一个故事，以此开篇吸引读者注意，但主题并不是这个故事，也就是说这个故事就是一个引子，真正主题出现在故事后面，这一类文章我们称之为feature(特写类)。而这也带给考生一个很好的提示，那就是，发现故事即可略过，因为我们的目标是找主题，而非沉浸在小故事中，所以考生应从第二段话切入文章。这一类文章模式很多，请考生务必关注。而且这篇文章是法律类话题，这一类话题考得非常专业，在课上我们也曾做过专题整理，建议考生加强复习。
        　　第二段作为主题段，考生应仔细研读。第一句说警方并没有Mills的前科记录，第二句But却告诉读者尽管如此，警方却并不认为自己近期的行动有错。词组crack
down意为打击、镇压。从第三句话开始，则是详细介绍警方的行动内容，他们会在犯罪高发区域拦截美籍非裔，然后拍照录入数据库，哪怕非裔完全没有
malfeasance(不法行为)，警方也要拦截拍照，以备之后的跟踪追查。而且警察们还很无耻地给自己的行动起名，代号Operation Bold
Eagle(雄鹰行动)。从这段话结束之后，文章内容就全是讲述公众的反响，有人赞同，有人反对，而作者也始终没有表态，这也是feature类文章的特点，作者态度一般中立。
        　　3. 《高级口译真题汇编》229页文章
        　　Advances in surveillance technology could seriously damage individual
privacy unless drastic measures are taken to protect personal data, scientists
have said. Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, gave warning last year
that Britain was “sleepwalking” into a surveillance society. Yesterday the
country's leading engineers developed the theme, fleshing out a dystopian vision
that not even George Orwell could have predicted. (第一段)
        　　本文是一篇科技类话题的新闻，科技类话题是高级口译阅读必考的话题，但请考生注意，这一类文章主题一定不是单纯讲科技发展，而是会将科技类和社会伦理进行结合。把握了这点，看文章就不会偏离。
        　　第一段第一句开篇点题，监视科技的发展可能会影响到个人隐私的保护，所以考生可以预判，文章内容应该是讲到个人隐私要保护的层面上。第二句里的
sleepwalking，文章后面第一题进行了考查，其实这个词不认识也没有关系，因为看字面表示“睡着走”，睡着走进监视型社会，明显可以想到梦游的概念。梦游指的是游了，但是在梦中，换句话说，就是走进去但不自知，题目相信可以迎刃而解。最后一句更进一步地阐述，如果任由此情况发展，可能最终会出现一个dystopian的画面，而这幅画面甚至有可能连George
Orwell都没能预测到。词缀dys-表示“反的、不良的”，结合utopian(乌托邦的)，dystopian表示“反乌托邦的”，而后面 George
Orwell(乔治•奥威尔，一位英国作家)正是写过负面乌托邦三部曲之一《1984》的作者。所以从此也能看出，考生知识面如果稍微狭窄了些，那么在阅读考试过程中会觉得阻力重重。相反，背景信息、文化知识了解多一些的考生则会倍感轻松了。
        　　4. 《高级口译真题汇编》83页文章
        　　“Two centuries ago, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left St.Louis to
explore the new lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase,” George Bush said,
announcing his desire for a program to send men and women to Mars. “They made
that journey in the spirit of discovery… America has ventured forth into space
for the same reasons.”
        　　Yet there are vital differences between Lewis and Clark’s expedition and a
Mars mission. First, … Second, … Third, …
        　　The thought of travel to Mars is exhilarating. Surely …
        　　But the fact that a destination is tantalizing does not mean the journey
makes sense, even considering the human calling to explore. And Mars as a
destination for people makes absolutely no sense with current technology.
(前四段)
        　　本文是一篇社会类editorial(社论、评论性新闻)，写得非常漂亮。这种文章的作者一定有着主观倾向，也就是说一定有自己的观点和评论，那么考生读出并读懂作者的观点就成功了。当然，一篇优秀的社论少不了驳论的使用，这篇文章也是如此。所谓不破不立，先破后立，驳论之后就是立论，本文值得考生仔细研读。
        　　首段就树靶子，提到小布什意图展开火星登陆的计划。第二段话开头的Yet就能看出，小布什的观点一定是作者批驳的对象，果然，第二段作者列举了若干条并列及数字，表示小布什的观点站不住脚。第三段作者语气有所缓和，称去火星玩一下呢也不错，但随后出现的Surely就暴露了作者的真实想法。Surely意为“当然”，课上我们曾多次提及，该词属于让步概念，作者明显是在以退为进，接下来考生就应该不看surely部分，直接去后面寻找but一类的转折词。第四段话果然就是考生预判的but信息，此处也成为了立论部分，也就是全文的主题段。从第五段至第七段就是分论点的阐述，最后一段则为结论段，总而言之，全文首尾呼应，对小布什的计划展开批驳，无非就是想表明自己的观点，火星计划现在不现实，因为花费昂贵，代价太大。
        　　5. 《高级口译真题汇编》55页文章
        　　A Black comedy by a first-time novelist with a past as colorful as his book
has defied the bookies to win the ￡50,000 Man Booker prize, the most important
honour in the British literary world. Vernon God Little by D B C Pierre, the nom
de plume of 42-year-old Mexican-Australian Peter Finlay, was the unanimous
choice of the Booker judges, chaired by John Carey, who took less than an hour
to decide. The novel tells the story of Vernon Gregory, a Texan teenager who is
put on trial accused of a massacre at his high school. (第一段)
        　　本文是一篇文学类话题的新闻，这种文章难度并不很大，题目也以考细节题为主，只不过文章里面会出现相关文学类背景的信息，所以考生应不断拓展知识面，这是高口考试一直以来的要求。如2003年9月section
2的文章里面出现Catch-22，文章后面曾以此出题。2009年3月section 5的文章里面出现David Thoreau，随后就出问题，Who is
David Thoreau?课上做过相应专题，也请考生巩固复习。
        　　这篇文章讲的是得了 Man Booker Prize的作者及相应作品。Man Booker
Prize是英国文学最高奖项布克奖，在高口阅读部分还曾考过laureate桂冠诗人，及美国的一个综合文化类奖项Pulitzer普利策奖。第一段第一句就开门见山，介绍一个初次写小说的作者作为大冷门夺下布克奖。第二句就详细介绍作者，其中出现法语词组nom
de plume(笔名)，课上曾总结过各类外来词，尤其是法语词最为重要。第三句当然就要介绍得奖的作品内容了。