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发表于 2016-7-10 10:57:45
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New Words
anguish
n. mental or physical suffering caused by extreme pain or worry 痛苦
e.g. The Foreign Office said that it understood the anguish of relatives of the hostages (人质).
applause
n. approval expressed especially by clapping one's hands together 喝彩，鼓掌
e.g. The conference greeted the speech with deafening applause.
beloved
adj. dearly loved 所钟爱的
e.g. The rich man left each of his beloved grandchildren a large inheritance.
boundless *
adj. having no limit or end 无限的，巨大的
e.g. The work demanded boundless and theatrical imagination.
canonize
v. (especially in the Roman Catholic Church) declare (a dead person) officially saint (尤指罗马天主教)把(死者)封为圣人
childlike
adj. having qualities that are typical of a child 天真的，孩子般的
e.g. The woman spoke in a childlike voice to her baby.
compassion
n. a strong feeling of sympathy for someone who is suffering, and a desire to help them 同情，怜悯
e.g. Whatever choice they make, they deserve our compassion and full support.
contrive
v. manage to do something in spite of difficulties 设法做到
e.g. One way or another, she contrived to make both ends meet.
destruction
n. the action or process of destroying something; the state or fact of being destroyed 破坏，毁灭，毁坏
e.g. We have witnessed in our lifetime both the establishment and destruction of the welfare state.
downtrodden
adj. badly treated and without respect by people who have power over them 受压迫的，被蹂躏的
eulogy
n. (formal) (a speech or piece of writing containing) high praise, usually of the qualities of a person [正式]颂词，颂扬
extinguish
v.
1) destroy an idea or feeling or make it stop existing 压制，压抑
e.g. Nothing could extinguish his love for her.
2) make a fire or light stop burning or shining 熄灭，扑灭(火等)
e.g. A fire on board a cargo ferry in the English Channel has been extinguished.
heritage
n. important qualities, customs, and traditions that have been in a society for a long time 遗产，继承物
e.g. The charity aims to preserve old churches which it sees as an invaluable part of our national heritage.
imaginable *
adj. capable of being imagined 可想像的
e.g. We tried every imaginable means/every means imaginable, but we couldn't wake her up.
immerse
v.
1) become completely involved in an activity 使沉浸在，使深陷于
e.g. That year I immersed myself totally in my work.
2) put someone or something deep into a liquid so that it is completely covered 使浸没在
e.g. Sally immersed the potatoes in boiling water.
innermost
adj. most personal and secret 内心深处的
e.g. This was the diary to which Gina committed all her innermost thoughts and secrets.
instinctive *
adj. based on an instinct (出于)天性的，(来自)直觉的
e.g. It was hard for me to control my instinctive jealousy.
intuition
n. the ability to understand or know something by using one's feelings rather than by carefully considering the facts 直觉，直觉力
e.g. He used his intuition, not a map, to find my house.
irony
n.
1) a state or affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result 具有讽刺意味的事
e.g. The irony is that many officials in Washington agree in private that their policy is inconsistent.
2) a subtle form of humor which involves saying what one does not mean 反语
e.g. Did you mean what you wrote, or were you using irony?
leper
n. someone who suffers from the disease of leprosy 麻风病患者
levelheadedness
n. the state of being calm and sensible in making judgments or decisions 头脑冷静，清醒
nobility *
n. the quality of being noble in character or appearance 高尚的性格
e.g. Because of his nobility, the diplomat was very much respected.
paparazzi
n. (pl.) newspaper writers or photographers who follow famous people 专门追逐名人偷拍照片的摄影者(或记者)
plight
n. a bad, serious, or sad condition or situation 困境，苦境
e.g. I cried when I heard of the refugees' plight.
radiant
adj.
1) full of happiness and love, in a way that shows in one's face, eyes, etc. (面容、目光)洋溢着幸福的
e.g. She was radiant with joy.
2) very bright 明亮照耀的，光辉灿烂的
e.g. Dozens of radiant candle flames lit the room.
random
adj. happening or chosen without any definite plan, aim, or pattern 任意的，随机的
e.g. The magician chose a random volunteer from the audience.
sanctify
v. make holy 使神圣
selfless *
adj. caring about other people more than about oneself 无私的，不考虑自己的
e.g. It was impossible to repay years of selfless devotion.
spiritually *
adv. in the state or quality of relating to people's thoughts rather than to their bodies and physical surroundings 精神上
e.g. Our whole program is spiritually oriented but not religious.
standard-bearer
n. prominent leader in a cause, especially a political one 领导人(尤指政治上的旗手)
tearful *
adj. causing tears; sad or emotional 令人伤心的，使人流泪的
e.g. After a tearful farewell at the station, we went our separate ways.
transcend
v. (formal) go above or beyond the limits of something 超出，超越
e.g. The underlying message of the film is that love transcends everything.
tribute
n. something that one says, does, or makes to show one's admiration and respect for someone (表示敬意的)颂词，称赞
e.g. He paid tribute to the organizing committee.
underpin
v. give strength or support 支持，巩固
unworthiness *
n. the quality or state of not deserving something 不值得，无价值
via
prep.
1) using a particular person, machine, etc. to send something 通过，凭借
e.g. I) It was so kind of you to send message via Tony.
II) Reports are coming in via satellite.
2) traveling through a place on the way to another place 经由，经过
e.g. The flight goes via Los Angeles.
vulnerability *
n. the state of being weak and without protection 脆弱(性)
e.g. David accepts his own vulnerability.
whilst
prep. (BrE, formal) while 当......时候
Phrases and Expressions
above all
most important of all 尤其是，最重要的是
e.g. It's too far, too late, and above all, too dangerous.
at the hands of
from or because of 出自某人之手，由于某人
e.g. They suffered terribly at the hands of the invaders.
be transported back/into
imagine that one is in another place or time because of something one sees or hears 把......带入特定境地(或时间)
e.g. I) In a dream you can be transported back in time.
II) Dr Drummond felt that he had been transported into a world that rivaled the Arabian Nights (天方夜谭).
bring down
cause to lose power 打倒，击败
e.g. They were threatening to bring down the government by withdrawing from the ruling coalition (政治联盟).
come along
appear or arrive by chance 偶然出现
e.g. I got the job because I came along at the right time.
chew up
destroy or damage in some way 损害，伤害
e.g. Every spring the ozone (臭氧) is chewed up, and the hole appears.
miss out
1) fail to use an opportunity to enjoy or benefit from something 错过机会
e.g. Britain is missing out on the full benefits of the Channel Tunnel (英吉利海峡海底遂道) by failing to build a highspeed link to the rest of the country.
2) not include someone or something 遗漏，略去
e.g. You can miss out a surprising number of words and still be understood.
on behalf of
instead of someone, or as their representative 代表......一方，作为......的代言人
e.g. Wilkins spoke on behalf of the Labor Party.
on somebody's behalf
1) instead of someone, or as their representative 代表......一方，作为......的代言人
e.g. Unfortunately, George cannot be with us today so I am pleased to accept this award on his behalf.
2) because of someone 为了某人的利益，为了某人
e.g. Please don't leave me on my behalf.
PASSAGE III The Shame of Hunger
Elie Wiesel[1]
A survivor of the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald[2], Elie Wiesel has won a congressional medal and the 1986 Nobel Prize for Peace[3]. He delivered the following speech at Brown University on April 5, 1990, at the presentation of the Alan Feinstein Awards for the Prevention and Reduction of World Hunger. Wiesel, whose parents and sister died in the Holocaust[4], spoke passionately on this topic.
I have been obsessed with the idea of hunger for years and years because I have seen what hunger can do to human beings. It is the easiest way for a tormenter to dehumanize another human being. When I think of hunger, I see images: emaciated bodies, swollen bellies, long bony arms pleading for mercy, motionless skeletons. How can one look at these images without losing sleep?
And eyes, my God, eyes. Eyes that pierce your consciousness and tear your heart. How can one run away from those eyes? The eyes of a mother who carries her dead child in her arms, not knowing where to go, or where to stop. At one moment you think that she would keep on going, going, going — to the end of the world. Except she wouldn't go very far, for the end of the world, for her, is there. Or the eyes of the old grandfather who probably wonders where creation had gone wrong, and whether it was all worthwhile to create a family, to have faith in the future, to transmit misery from generation to generation, whether it was worth it to wager on humankind.[5]
And then the eyes of all eyes, the eyes of children, so dark, so immense, so deep, so focused and yet at the same time, so wide and so vague. What do they see? What do hungry children's eyes see? Death? Nothingness? God? And what if their eyes are the eyes of our judges?[6]
Hunger and death, death and starvation, starvation and shame. Poor men and women who yesterday were proud members of their tribes, bearers of ancient traditions and culture, and who are now wandering among corpses. What is so horrifying in hunger is that it makes the individual death an anonymous death[7]. In times of hunger, the individual death has lost its uniqueness. Scores of hungry people die daily, and those who mourn for them will die the next day, and the others will have no strength left to mourn.
Hunger in ancient times represented the ultimate curse to society.[8] Rich and poor, young and old, kings and servants, lived in fear of drought. They joined the priests in prayer for rain. Rain meant harvest, harvest meant food, food meant life, just as lack of food meant death. It still does.[9]
Hunger and humiliation. A hungry person experiences an overwhelming feeling of shame. All desires, all aspirations, all dreams lose their lofty qualities and relate to food alone. Diminished by hunger, man's spirit is diminished as well. His fantasy wanders in quest of bread. His prayer rises toward a bowl of milk.
Thus the shame.
In Hebrew, the word hunger is linked to shame. Of all the diseases, of all the natural diseases and catastrophes, the only one that is linked to shame in Scripture is hunger — the shame of hunger. Shame is associated neither with sickness nor even with death, only with hunger. For man can live with pain, but no man ought to endure hunger.
Hunger means torture, the worst kind of torture. The hungry person is tortured by more than one sadist alone. He or she is tortured, every minute, by all men, by all women. And by all the elements surrounding him or her. The wind. The sun. The stars. By the rustling of trees and the silence of night. The minutes that pass so slowly, so slowly. Can you imagine time, can you imagine time[10], when you are hungry?
And to condone hunger means to accept torture, someone else's torture[11].
Hunger is isolating; it may not and cannot be experienced vicariously[12]. He who never felt hunger can never know its real effects, both tangible and intangible. Hunger defies imagination; it even defies memory. Hunger is felt only in the present.
There is a story about the great French-Jewish composer Daniel Halevy who met a poor poet: "Is it true," he asked, "that you endured hunger in your youth?" "Yes," said the poet. "I envy you," said the composer, "I never felt hunger."[13]
And Gaston Bachelard, the famous philosopher, voiced his view on the matter, saying, "My prayer to heaven is not, 'Oh God, give us our daily bread,' but give us our daily hunger."[14]
I don't find these anecdotes funny. These anecdotes were told about and by people who were not hungry. There is no romanticism in hunger, there is no beauty in hunger, no creativity in hunger. There is no aspiration in hunger. Only shame. And solitude. Hunger creates its own prison walls; it is impossible to demolish them, to avoid them, to ignore them.
Thus, if hunger inspires anything at all, it is, and must be, only the war against hunger.
Perhaps of all of the woes that threaten and plague the human condition, hunger alone can be reduced and ultimately conquered, not by destiny, nor by the heavens, but by human beings. We cannot fight earthquakes, but we can fight hunger. Hence our responsibility for its victims. Responsibility is the key word. Our tradition emphasizes the question, rather than the answer. For there is a "quest" in question, but there is "response" in responsibility.[15] And this responsibility is what makes us human, or the lack of it, inhuman.
Hunger differs from other disasters such as floods in that it can be prevented or stopped so easily. One gesture of generosity, one act of humanity, may put an end to it, at least for one person. A piece of bread, a bowl of rice or soup makes a difference[16]. And I wonder, what would happen, just imagine, what would happen, if every nation, every industrialized or non-industrialized nation, would simply decide to sell one aircraft, and for the money, feed the hungry. Why shouldn't they? Why shouldn't the next economic summit, which includes the wealthiest, most powerful, the richest nations of the world, why shouldn't they decide that since there are so many aircrafts, why shouldn't they say, "Let's sell just one, just one, to take care of the shame and the hunger and the suffering of millions of people."
So the expression, "the shame of hunger", must be understood differently. When we speak of our responsibility for the hungry, we must go to the next step and say that the expression "shame of hunger" does not apply to the hungry. It applies to those who refuse to help the hungry. Shame on those who could feed the hungry, but are too busy to do so.[17] (1202 words)
Proper Names
Alan Feinstein
(男子名)艾伦.范斯坦
Auschwitz
奥斯维辛(波兰南部一城市)
Buchenwald
布痕瓦尔德(德国一村庄名)
Daniel Halevy
(男子名)丹尼尔.阿莱维
Elie Wiesel
(男子名)倚利.威斯
Gaston Bachelard
(男子名)加斯顿.布切拉德
Hebrew
希伯来语
Jewish
adj. 犹太人的
Nobel
(男子名)诺贝尔
New Words
bearer *
n. (formal) someone who is particularly associated with a tradition, idea, etc. and passes it on to other people 传统的保持者或维护者
e.g. Generally, the lower classes are considered to be the bearers of tradition.
bony *
adj. very thin 瘦削的
e.g. Her long bony hands clasped the book.
catastrophe
n. a terrible event in which there is a lot of destruction or many people are injured or die 大灾难
e.g. The flood was a major catastrophe that killed thousands.
concentration
n.
1) a large amount of something in one place or area 集中
e.g. The area has one of the world's greatest concentrations of wildlife.
2) the ability to think about something carefully or for a long time 专心，专注
e.g. I found that yoga (瑜珈功) improves my powers of concentration.
condone
v. accept or forgive behavior that most people think is morally wrong 宽恕
congressional
adj. related to the US Congress 美国国会的，议会的
e.g. The president explained his plans to congressional leaders.
corpse
n. the dead body of a person 尸体
e.g. Her corpse was found floating in the river.
defy
v.
1) make impossible or unsuccessful 使不可能
e.g. I ) The untidiness of the room defies description.
II) The disease has so far defied all attempts to find a cure.
2) refuse to obey a law or rule, or refuse to do what is told by someone in authority (公然)违抗，藐视
e.g. Dad will be really angry if you defy him again.
dehumanize *
v. deprive of human qualities, personality, spirit, etc. 使失去人性
e.g. He said that disabled people are often treated in a dehumanized way.
demolish
v. pull down (a building) 拆毁
e.g. The old prison was demolished in 1890.
destiny
n. fate 命运
e.g. He accepted his destiny without complaint.
emaciated
adj. extremely thin from lack of food or illness 消瘦的
holocaust
n. a situation in which there is great destruction, especially by fire, and a lot of people die 大屠杀
inhuman *
adj. very cruel without any normal feelings of pity 残酷的，无人性的
e.g. It's inhuman, the way these children are treated.
lofty
adj.
1) noble and morally admirable 崇高的，高尚的
e.g. Such lofty goals justify any means.
2) very high 高耸的，极高的
e.g. The plane flew among the lofty clouds.
obsess
v. think about something all the time and cannot think of something else 困扰
e.g. I ) He's always been obsessed with making money.
II) They are both obsessed with the fear of getting AIDS.
philosopher
n. a person who creates or studies theories about the nature of existence, knowledge, thought, etc., or about how people should live and behave 哲学家
e.g. Plato was a Greek philosopher.
pierce
v.
1) penetrate so as to move or touch the emotions of (忧伤等)强烈地影响，深深地打动
e.g. This sound, like all music, pierced my heart, like a dagger.
2) make a small hole in or through something in using an object with a sharp point 刺入，刺破
e.g. The spear pierced his leg and he fell.
romanticism *
n. thoughts and feelings which are idealistic rather than realistic 浪漫
e.g. His determined romanticism was worrying me.
rustle
v. (leaves, papers, etc.) make a noise as they rub against each other 沙沙作响
e.g. The fallen leaves rustled as they blew by my feet.
sadist
n. someone who enjoys being cruel to other people 虐待狂
skeleton
n.
1) (informal) an extremely thin person 骨瘦如柴的人
e.g. Her long illness reduced her to a skeleton.
2) a structure consisting of all the bones in a human or animal body 骸骨，骨骼
e.g. The police found a skeleton buried in the farmer's field.
starvation *
n. suffering or death caused by lack of food 饥饿，饿死
e.g. Hundreds of thousands of people face possible starvation.
suffering *
n. physical or mental pain and difficulty, or an experience of it 痛苦
e.g. She had to endure years of pain and suffering.
summit
n.
1) a set of meetings between the leaders of several governments 最高级会议
e.g. Western leaders are gathering for this week's Ottawa (渥太华) summit.
2) the top of a mountain 最高点，顶点
e.g. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest in 1953.
tormentor *
n. one who torments 折磨者
e.g. A day came when she couldn't tolerate his cruelty anymore-she took a knife and stabbed her tormenter.
torture
n. severe physical or mental suffering 折磨
e.g. Over half of the prisoners were murdered or died after torture or starvation.
v.
1) deliberately cause another person great pain over a period of time 折磨，使痛苦
e.g. Three members of the group had been tortured to death.
2) cause someone to suffer mental pain or anxiety 使苦恼，使为难
e.g. She was tortured by the thought that the accident was her fault.
tribe
n. a group of people of the same race, who share the same customs, religion, language, or land, especially when they are not considered to have reached a very advanced level of civilization 部落
e.g. The tribe held religious ceremonies next to the river.
wager
v. risk or venture on a final result 赌博，打赌
e.g. Golfers had wagered a good deal of money on Nick Faldo winning the champion.
woe
n. (literary) great unhappiness 悲哀，苦恼
Phrases and Expressions
in fear of
always be afraid of 为......提心吊担
e.g. I) The elderly lived in fear of assault and murder.
II) I'm living in fear of dismissal (解雇).
put an end to
stop 使终止
e.g. It's time that they put an end to these abuses. |
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