我是Simon，本公众号在每周都会推送一段外文期刊的精读文章。学英语，懂文化，
每周推送的内容够你一周内慢慢消化，在周三会重复推送一次提醒你温习
。摈弃浮躁，回归本心，踏踏实实学习。
昨天国产大飞机C919在上海首飞成功，引发了全球关注。《经济学人》也在昨天发表
The C919: ready for take off ?
报道，发表在
The Economist Espresso
上，这是由经济学人推出的新闻早报，定位是用最短小的篇幅告诉读者最多的信息。这篇报道对C919持悲观消极的态度，但确没有任何论证，实在是无法令人信服。文章主要从几点来否定C919的成绩：1. 配件全都是国外进口；2. 商用化还有很长的路要走，会被空客和波音远远甩在身后；3. 只能靠着爱国主义勉强发展。现在，我们来学习一下这篇短文报道。
难度指数
★
先将以下精选内容进行通读，本文行文非常简单，阅读的时候可以关注一下粗体部分。
China’s first home-made large passenger jet
took off
in Shanghai today. China’s leaders will
trumpet
the test flight for the narrow-body passenger plane, made by state-run
Comac
, as a triumph of “
indigenous innovation
”, challenging the global
duopoly of America’s Boeing and Europe’s Airbus
. But the celebrations are premature. For a start most of the
complicated bits of kit,
ranging from the engines and electronics to the fuel systems and landing gear, are made by foreign firms. Even though the trial flight was successful, many safety and regulatory challenges
lie ahead
. If the C919
manages to
overcome those and come to market, it will still be
years behind schedule
. Boeing and Airbus are, meanwhile, leapfrogging ahead to the next generation of big jets with safety, efficiency and other advances. Chinese airlines,
constrained by patriotism
, may buy the new aircraft. Those able to choose freely probably won’t.
China’s first home-made large passenger jet
took off
in Shanghai today. China’s leaders will
trumpet
the test flight for the narrow-body passenger plane, made by state-run
Comac
, as a triumph of “
indigenous innovation
”, challenging the global
duopoly of America’s Boeing and Europe’s Airbus
.
开篇用两句话，极其高效地介绍了C919的基本情况，以及所被赋予的战略意义和目标。
看第一句话：
China’s first home-made large passenger jet
took off
in Shanghai today.
took off
就是
起飞
的意思。
off
是介词，我在帖子
为啥英语里的介词辣么难学？
中讲过，介词本质上是表明对象在空间关系的一种词类。在空间上，
off
是动态的，
表明「离开」的状态
。所以飞机
起飞
叫做
take off
，其中的off表明飞机离开地面的状态。
削水果皮
叫做
peel off
，其中的off同样表明果皮离开果肉的状态。再深一点，如果我们把一个苹果放到桌子上，会说put an apple on the table，其中的介词on表明的就是「在……表面上」的空间状态，如果我们要把苹果从桌上拿走，就会说take the apple off the table，其中的off就是离开的状态了。
继续引申，我们看上图的大洲岛，它离开海南岛的海岸线一段距离，我们就可以说Dazhou Island is
off
the east coast of Hainan Province.
这里的
off
虽然用作形容词，但是它的本质依然是介词的空间意义。万变不离其宗，以后你看到off，无论出现在什么场合，都可以想想它是如何和其介词意义联系在一起。
精选词
trumpet；Comac；indigenous innovation；duopoly
China’s leaders will
trumpet
the test flight for the narrow-body passenger plane, made by state-run
Comac
, as a triumph of “
indigenous innovation
”, challenging the global
duopoly of America’s Boeing and Europe’s Airbus
.
这句话极其精炼高效，如果让有些中国学生来写，可能就变成了
China’s leaders will trumpet the test flight for the narrow-body passenger plane, which is made by state-run Comac
.
It is a triumph of “indigenous innovation” and challenges the global duopoly of America's Boeing and Europe's Airbus.
首先，第一句里的定语从句完全没有必要。再者，将一句话变成了两句，两句主语不同，阅读起来不够流畅。不妨仔细体会一下。
trumpet
就是上图的小号。大家应该清楚它的音色，作
动词的时候为吹嘘
，
大肆宣扬的意思
，带有
贬义
，英文释义为 To tell everyone about something that you are proud of, especially in an annoying way，所以这一个用词就体现了作者对C919首秀的消极态度。
They are proudly
trumpeting
the fact that they are creating more jobs.
他们自豪地
吹嘘
他们是在创造更多的工作岗位。
Comac
是一个缩写，全程是
Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China
，即中国商用飞机有限责任公司，是C919的制造商。
indigenous
是
土生土长的，本地的
。
indigenous
innovation是
自主
创新。注意，这里作者刻意打了引号，暗含作者的反讽，下文作者将要表达反对观点。
indigenous常常和介词to连用
，比如the plant is
indigenous to
Canada / feelings
indigenous to
human beings。
The many
indigenous
cultures which existed in Siberia
存在于西伯利亚的许多
当地
文化
duopoly
of America’s Boeing and Europe’s Airbus
duo
是一个前缀，意思是
两个，couple
。陈奕迅曾以
DUO
为主题举办演唱会，中文译为「
双面
」。像这种和数字有关的
前缀
叫做
numeric prefix
，例如
mono-
表示
一个
，monogamy为一夫一妻制，而
ploy-
表示
多个
，polygamy就是一夫多妻或者一妻多夫制。
同理，
monopoly
指
一家卖主的垄断市场
，这里把mono换成
duo
，就是指波音和空客造成的
双头
垄断市场。
China’s first home-made large passenger jet
took off
in Shanghai today. China’s leaders will
trumpet
the test flight for the narrow-body passenger plane, made by state-run
Comac
, as a triumph of “
indigenous innovation
”, challenging the global
duopoly of America’s Boeing and Europe’s Airbus
.
中国第一次架国产大型客机今天在上海
试飞
。中国领导人
高调庆祝
这款由国企
中国商飞
制造的窄体客机的试飞，将其视为
自主创新
的胜利，挑战
美国波音和欧洲空客在商用客机的双垄断局面
。
But the celebrations are premature. For a start most of the
complicated bits of kit
,
ranging from the engines and electronics to the fuel systems and landing gear, are made by foreign firms. Even though the trial flight was successful, many safety and regulatory challenges
lie ahead
. If the C919
manages to
overcome those and come to market, it will still be
years behind schedule
. Boeing and Airbus are, meanwhile, leapfrogging ahead to the next generation of big jets with safety, efficiency and other advances. Chinese airlines,
constrained by patriotism
, may buy the new aircraft. Those able to choose freely probably won’t.
第一部分简要介绍C919，这部分画风一转，直接开始消极否定C919的发展。作者主要从三个点来表达观点。
But
the celebrations are premature.
这句话并无难度，但体现了英文句子注重逻辑的特性，第一个词
but
很清晰地表明了转折，我们在输出英文的时候也一定要注意coherence。
For a start most of the
complicated bits of kit
,
ranging from the engines and electronics to the fuel systems and landing gear, are made by foreign firms.
ranging from the engines and electronics to the fuel systems and landing gear
是短语
range from …… to ……
的用法，是对前面complicated bits of kit的解释。这里的kit其实就是指飞机的核心部件，complicated bits of kits是说复杂部件都是由外国公司制造的，暗示这并不是真正的「indigenous innovation」，这也是前文打引号的原因。
Even though the trial flight was successful, many safety and regulatory challenges
lie ahead
.
trial flight
是
试飞
，和前文的
test flight
是一个意思，也可以说
maiden flight
