各位好，欢迎来到2016年的最后一期外刊好词好句，关于栏目的具体介绍可见栏目介绍。
1.写好一个长句
写长句是一个很重要的技巧，但长句并不简单等同于加个 which 或 that ，而在于根据逻辑联系将各个句子成分有机衔接与组合。下面的这个长句就是一个好的学习范例：
Over the past two months, as the weekly candlelit protests along Sejongno, Seoul’s main boulevard, swelled from a few thousand participants to 2m, the calls bouncing off the high-rises for Park Geun-hye to step down are said to have become audible even in the Blue House, the president’s official residence and office, a short distance to the north, where Ms Park had cloistered herself away.
上面这个长句的信息量非常大。新闻写作里面有“5W+1H”原则：What, Where, When, Who, Why, How，上面这个句子除了没有点明抗议的原因（因为读者对此都比较熟悉），其他几个点都有涉及：
What: the calls for Park Geun-hye to step down are said to have become audible even in the Blue House
Where: Sejongno, the Blue House
When: Over the past two months
Who: protesters, Ms Park
How: weekly protests swelled from a few thousand participants to 2m
句子将以上这些元素都糅合在一起，但读起来却并不感觉拖沓，其中一个很重要的原因是连词和从句的巧妙应用。假如我们把句子改成：
Over the past two months, the weekly candlelit protests swelled from a few thousand participants to 2m along Sejongno, which is Seoul’s main boulevard. The calls bouncing off the high-rises for Park Geun-hye to step down are said to have become audible even in the Blue House, which is the president’s official residence and office, and which is a short distance to the north, where Ms Park had cloistered herself away.
加上几个 which 之后读起来感觉就没那么清爽。在写长句的时候要学会简化定语从句，多使用同位语从句来替代。
2.jump through hoops
下面的段落来自于经济学人圣诞双周刊文章：The hypocrites' club
At present some of the world’s least appealing places have the toughest visa requirements and expect economic migrants to jump through the tiniest hoops. You would think their streets were paved with gold.
文章背景是当今世界的移民浪潮很大一部分发生在穷国和穷国之间，但部分贫穷国家却设置了门槛最高的移民政策，作者将这种做法形象地称为 jump through the tiniest hoops: 经济移民们需要像马戏团的动物一样跳过火圈，经历重重困难后才能达到移民要求。
这里 jump through hoops 是个很有意思的词，它本义是马戏团里面的钻火圈表演，后面常常引申为“（为达到目的而）作出很大努力，经受磨难”，这也是一个在写作中可以灵活使用的短语，例如：
(1) Before the advent of modern communication technology, people had to jump through hoops to keep in touch with their friends and families in faraway places.
(2) Some Chinese companies, notably Huawei, have realised that to enter the US market, they have to jump through a lot of hoops.
3.talk is in the air
我在之前的系列里面曾经提到过关于“很多人在谈论某事”的表达：XX has become the talk of the town
这里再分享一个类似的句型：
After this bleakest of years for Europe, glib talk of the 1930s is in the air.
在经历了欧洲历史上最惨淡的一年后，人们对于20世纪30年代的轻率谈论不绝于耳。
这里 After...talk of ... is in the air 是一个我们可以借鉴的句型。它的含义是“自从……之后，对……的谈论不绝于耳”，可以使用该句型来说明某现象引起了人们的广泛关注，例如：
(1) After the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, talk of strengthening nuclear security is in the air.
(2) After Donald Trump was elected president, talk of American populism is in the air.
4.shelter
下面的句子来自经济学人对谷歌的报道：Google’s hippocampus
That question has become a little more pressing. Before October 2015 Google’s gigantic advertising revenues had cast a comfortable shade in which ambitious, zero-revenue projects like DeepMind could shelter.
目前谷歌的绝大部分利润来自于广告业务，其他很多业务比如无人驾驶汽车，Google Glass，DeepMind等往往不产生利润，甚至处在烧钱状态，因此，它们需要广告业务的支持。作者在这里用了一个很精彩的比喻：cast a comfortable shade in which ambitious, zero-revenue projects like DeepMind could shelter 这里有种“大树底下乘凉”的意味：在广告业务利润的大树下，其他颇具野心的项目得到荫庇。
我们可以使用 cast a shade in which ...can shelter 来说明父母，学校，国家等对人的保护作用。例如：
(1) It is parents who cast a comfortable shade in which their children can shelter.
(2) A strong country casts a comfortable shade in which all its citizens can survive and thrive.
5.talent
下面句子同样来自于对谷歌的报道：
DeepMind’s most immediate benefit to Google and Alphabet is the advantage it gives in the strategic battle that technology companies are waging over AI (see chart). It hoovers up talent, keeping researchers away from competitors like Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon.
谷歌收购位于英国的DeepMind 之后，能够带来的好处之一是能够吸引到大量的人才，避免他们落入脸书，微软或者亚马逊这些巨头之手。这里 hoover up 这个词组用得很形象。 hoover up 的本义是用吸尘器把灰尘等吸进去，在这里的含义是“（就像用吸尘器吸东西一般）大量吸收人才”。在人才招募类的语境中可以使用该表达：
(1) Many tech startups in China are offering handsome pay packets to hoover up the best talent.
(2) Prestigious universities like Harvard and MIT are using generous scholarships to hoover up academic high-flyers.
以上是这一期赏析的内容，如果你也发现了精彩的句子，欢迎在评论区留言或者发到后台给我，我接下来会整理出来进行分享。
点击“阅读原文”查看经济学人赏析系列的往期文章。
