经济学人：寒门难出贵子，只因输在起跑线？|外刊精读

本周份的更新。本期文章选自《经济学人》2019年1月5日的特别报道， 该报道刊登了一系列关于“童年”的长篇文章，包括The generation game, History, The family, Early years, Digital media, Parenting, An unfair world七篇文章，探讨 儿童、家庭、教育 的方方面面。 本文为第一篇引言。 这篇文章也是精读社的选文，在这里放上文章的前两段，供大家参考学习。

新一期精读社 经济学人精读社招新| 文末福利 正在报名中，同学们可点击文末阅读原文了解详情与报名。

建议大家先一边听音频，一边独立阅读原文，再学习后面的讲解与分析。

Childhood

The generation game

Childhood has changed out of all recognition, says Barbara Beck. What does that mean for children, parents and society at large?

“When i was a kid, we were out and about all the time, playing with our friends, in and out of each other’s houses, sandwic h in pocket, making our own entertainment. Our parents hardly saw us from morning to night. We didn’t have much stuff, but we came and went as we liked and had lots of adventures.” This is roughly what you will hear if you ask anyone over 30 about their childhood in a rich country. The adventures were usually of a homely kind, more Winnie the Pooh than Star Wars, but the freedom and the companionship were real.

Today such children will spend most of their time indoors, often with adults rather than with siblings or friends, be supervised more closely, be driven everywhere rather than walk or cycle, take part in many more organised activities and, probably for several hours every day, engage with a screen of some kind. All this is done with the best of intentions. Parents want to protect their offspring from traffic, crime and other hazards in what they see as a more dangerous world, and to give them every opportunity to flourish.

In just a few decades childhood has changed out of all recognition , says Barbara Beck. What does that mean for children, parents and society at large ?

芭芭拉贝克说，在短短几十年里，童年已经变化得面目全非。这对儿童、父母和整个社会意味着什么？

① “When I was a kid, we were out and about all the time, playing with our friends, in and out of each other’s houses, sandwich in pocket, making our own entertainment. ② Our parents hardly saw us from morning to night . ③ We didn’t have much stuff, but we came and went as we liked and had lots of adventures.” ④ This is roughly what you will hear if you ask anyone over 30 about their childhood in a rich country. ⑤ The adventures were usually of a homely kind, more Winnie the Pooh than Star Wars, bu t the freedom and the companionship were real.

• 📒语篇分析： 文章第一、二段论述两代人童年生活的变化。第一段描述上一代人的童年生活。 ①②③简单勾勒上一代人的童年。④句作者指出这是典型的童年生活，代词 this 实现句间衔接。⑤句为作者评价，突出上代人童年生活的特点，为下文的对比作铺垫，t he adventures 是③句 lots of  adventures 的同义复现。

• out and about 是一个副词短语，out义为“外出；不在家” (away from home) ，about指“到处；各处” (in various places, here and there) ，这里out and about就是指孩子们“在外面到处跑”。类似的表达还有我们在Autonomous cars里学过的get around。

• from morning to night 指“从早到晚”，比如我的生活总是从早忙到晚，我们可说 My life was busy from morning to night. 类似的表达还有 from dawn to dusk ，dawn指黎明，dusk指黄昏，连起来也可表示“从早到晚”，比如 I studied from dawn to dusk. 我从早到晚都在学习。

• make our own entertainment 指“自娱自乐；自己找乐子”，相当于entertain ourselves / amuse ourselves。

• do sth as sb likes 指“随心所欲地…”，比如 ◇The money is yours now. Spend it as you like. 钱是你的了，爱怎么花就怎么花。这里came and went as we liked指“随心所欲地来去”，说明过去的小孩子非常自由。类似的表达还有as we wish, as we want, the way we like, as we please等。

• homely 义为“简单普通的” (simple in a way that makes you feel comfortable) ，这里of a homely kind是说小孩子们的冒险游戏通常都很简单、普通。 homely 也可以形容某个地方“像家一样；和家一样舒适”，比如 ◇The hotel has a homely atmosphere to it. 那家旅馆给人一种宾至如归的感觉。

• more Winnie the Pooh than Star Wars指 The adventures（孩子们的冒险游戏）“更像是Winnie the Pooh 而不是Star Wars”。Winnie the Pooh即小熊维尼，是迪士尼于1966年推出的一个卡通形象，可爱天真，生活充满简单又平常的快乐，与紧张惊悚的科幻故事Stars Wars（《星球大战》）构成对比，说明在过去孩子们的游戏玩乐简单而普通，为下一段论述现在孩子们的复杂童年作铺垫。

• companionship 指“友谊”。companionship，friendship，fellowship和comradeship都可以表示“友谊”，但是意义上有细微的差别。 friendship 泛指“友谊；友情”，即两个朋友之间的情谊，他们不一定经常见面，不一定一起工作，也不一定志趣相同。 companionship 指两个经常在一起的伙伴之间的友谊（companion表示“伙伴；同伴”）； fellowship 指两个同事或者志趣相投的人之间的友谊（fellow指“同事；同类”）；而 comradeship 专指一起在艰苦环境下战斗或奋斗的人之间的情谊，即“同志情谊”，而comrade就表示一起奋斗或战斗过的“同志；战友”，比如 ◇He misses his comrades from his days in the Army. 他想念服役时结识的战友。

• company 指“陪伴”，为不可数名词，比如 ◇He usually lunched alone, preferring his own company to other people's. 他通常自己单独用午餐，宁可自己陪自己，也不要别人来陪。 [熟词僻义]

① Today such children will spend  most of their time indoors, often with adults rather than with siblings or friends, be supervised more closely, be driven everywhere rather than walk or cycle, take part in many more organised activities and, probably for several hours every day, engagewith a screen of some kind . ② All this is done with the best of intentions. ③ Parents want to protect their offspring from traffic, crime and other hazards in what they see as a more dangerous world, and to give them every opportunity to flourish .

• 📒 语篇分析：本段描述这一代人的童年生活。 ①句简要描绘现在孩子们的日常生活，与上一段的描述构成今昔对比， rather than, more closely 和 more organised activities 均是对比性词汇。②句紧承①句，指出以上种种皆是因为父母的好意， All this 实现句间衔接。③句举例支撑②句的观点， want to 和 intentions 实现上下句语义衔接。

• indoors 为副词，指“在室内”，其反义词为outdoors，注意词尾加上s。

• supervise 义为“监督；监管” (to be in charge of an activity or person, and make sure that things are done in the correct way)。 supervise sb / sth closely 指“密切监督…”。此处be supervised more closely与上一段第②句的Our parents hardly saw us构成对比，从父母对孩子的关注这一侧面展现两代人童年生活的巨大差异。