专栏名称: 独霸上海的妖怪
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经济学人:别错怪好人!|双语精读

独霸上海的妖怪  · 公众号  ·  · 2019-06-09 11:31

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刚刚考完高考就来写文章,我真是一个年轻又勤奋的18岁作者呢!哈哈(手动狗头)


本周要精讲的文章来自《经济学人》Leaders专栏,这篇文章也是考研英语一2010 Text 4 的阅读真题原文。原文标题叫做Banks and accounting standards: Messenger, shot. 这是什么意思呢?别着急,我们讲完整篇文章后再来揭晓答案😉我们今天先来看第一、二段。


新一期的 经济学人精读社 正在持续报名中,同学们可点击文末阅读原文了解详情与报名。



外刊原文


Banks and accounting standards

Messenger, shot


Bankers have been blaming themselves for their troubles in public. Behind the scenes, theyhave been taking aim at someone else the accounting standard-setters. Their rules, moan the banks,  have  forced  them  to  report  enormous  losses, and it’s just not fair. These rules say they must value some assets at the price a third party would pay, not the price managers and regulators would like them to fetch.


Unfortunately, banks’ lobbying now seems to be working. The details may be unknowable, but the independence of standard-setters, essential to the proper functioning of capital markets, is being compromised. And, unless banks carry toxic assets at prices that attract buyers, reviving the banking system will be difficult.



精读讲解


Banks and accounting standards

Messenger, shot



Bankers have been blaming themselves for their troubles in public. Behind the scenes , they have been taking aim at someone else the accountin g standard-setters. Their rules, moan the banks, have forced them to report enormous losses, and it’s just not fair. These rules say they must value some assets at the price a third party would pay, not the price managers and regulators would like them to fetch .



  • 📒 语篇分析:首段引入话题。 ①② 句对比银行家在公开场合(in public)和私底下(behindthe scene)的态度。 句说明银行家抱怨的具体原因。代词their指代上文的standard-setters,the banks与bankers同义替换,实现句间衔接。 句交代银行家抱怨的具体内容。these rules实现句间衔接。

  • blame sb / sth for sth 指“把 归咎于 ,责怪,怪罪”,比如 The police didn’t blame the fire of Notre Dame for deliberate arson. 警方并未将巴黎圣母院的起火原因归咎于是有人蓄意纵火。再补充一些相关搭配:

  • blame sth on sb 指“把 归咎于 ”,想起来一个朋友跟我说,她曾经是那种走在路上,被蚊子咬了,都会怪男朋友的人,用英文可以说

  • A is to blame (for B) 字面义是“ B 的发生要责怪 A ”,常引申为 A B 的原因,比如“人类行为造成了全球气候变暖”:

  • Human activities lead to global warming.

    👉 Human activities are to blame for global warming. [写作推荐]

  • in public 指“公开地”,反义表达是 in private ,指“私下地,单独地”。

  • behind the scenes 义为“幕后;台下” (secretly rather than publicly), 与①句的 in public 相对。

  • take aim at sb / sth 这个短语可能很多同学不认识,我们可以从上下文语境来推测语义。 ①②两句分别描述公众场合 (in public) 与私底下 (behind the scenes) 银行家的不同归因,两句话是对比关系、并列关系。因而我们可以大致推断出 take aim at sb / sth blame sb for sth 的含义相近。

  • 我们再来讲 take aim at sb / sth ,该短语义为“把批评的矛头指向 (to direct your criticism at sb / sth) ,相当于 criticize ,是《经济学人》的高频词汇。比如我们在精读社一篇关于中国经济的文章学过这样一句话: Financial regulators have taken aim at banks’ murky off-balance-sheet loans, and at heavily indebted borrowers such as property developers. 金融监管机构将矛头对准了银行可疑的表外贷款,以及房地产开发商等负债沉重的借贷方。

  • standard-setter 指“标准制定者”,来自于动词短语 set the standard 制定标准。

  • moan 义为“发牢骚,抱怨” (to moan means to complain or speak in a way which shows that you are very unhappy) ,相当于 complain ,比如 They moan on a lot about money. 他们对钱的事情抱怨不已。

  • Their rules, moan the banks, have forced them to report enormous losses, and it’s just not fair.

    这句话包含了一个重要的语法点:间接引语部分前置。将间接引语的一部分前置后,需要进行主谓倒装。

    这句话中的主语 the banks 和谓语动词 moan 便进行了主谓倒装,还原为正常语序是: The banks moan (that) their rules have forced them to report enormous losses, and it’s just not fair.

  • 这是很多同学都不熟悉的语法现象,我们再来看一个来自《经济学人》的例句:

    ◇The document’s name, noted the scholar who rediscovered it , Frank Li of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, became the “American War Proclamation of Independence”. 重新发现了这个版本的学者是中国社会科学院的李道揆,他注意到文章的标题变成了《美国独立檄文》。

    这句话将间接引语的一部分前置后,主语 the scholar 和谓语 note 进行了主谓倒装,这句话还原为正常语序是: The scholarwho rediscovered it, Frank Li of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences noted (that) the document’s name became the “American War Proclamation of Independence”.

  • 我们再来看一个来自《新概念英语4》Lesson 10 的例句:

    ◇Chickens slaughtered in the U.S, claim Officials in Brussels , are not fit to grace European tables. 布鲁塞尔的官员说,在美国屠宰的鸡不适于用来装点欧洲的餐桌。

    这句话可还原为: Officials in Brussels claim that chickens slaughtered in the United States are not fit to grace European tables.

  • force sb to do sth “迫使;使必须” (If a situation or event forces you to do something, it makes it necessary for you to do something that you would not otherwise have done.) A back injury forced her to withdraw from Wimbledon. 背部受伤使她不得不退出温布尔登赛事。

  • value sth at sth 义为“估值为 ,估价为 ”, at 后接表示价值的数字。我们在精读社学过一篇关于互联网寒潮的文章,文中是这样描述小红书的: It was valued at over $3bn in a funding round in June led by Alibaba. 在去年 6 月阿 里巴巴领投的一轮融资中,该公司估 值超过 30 亿美元。

  • third party 指“第三方” (a person who is involved in a situation in addition to the two main people involved) ,比如 You can instruct your bank to allow a third party to remove money from your account. 你可以通知银行,允许第三方从你的账户取款。

  • fetch 本义是“去取,去拿”,引申为“价格达到 ,卖得( 钱)” (If something fetches a particular sum of money, it is sold for that amount) ,比如 The painting is expected to fetch $10 000 at auction. 这幅画预计拍卖可得 10000 元。 [熟词僻义]


在公开场合,银行家们一直将他们的麻烦归咎于自己,私底下,他们将矛头对准他人:会计准则制定者。银行抱怨会计规则迫使他们报告巨大损失,而这不公平。规则要求他们必须以第三方愿意付的价格,而非按照管理者和监管机构期望该资产能够卖得的价格来评估资产。




Unfortunately, banks’ lobbying now seems to be working . The details may be unknowable, but the independence of standard-setters, essential to the proper functioning of capital markets, is being compromised . And, unless banks carry toxic assets at prices that attract buyers, reviving the banking system will be difficult.




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