内容正文:
2021届巴蜀中学新高考英语
《经济学人》外刊讲义第03篇始 [01]
(适合学有余力的学霸或英语爱好者、教师使用)
(含词汇讲解、长难句解析、翻译技巧、背景知识、写作积累:均由阿满编写)
原文(第03篇开始)
The missing middle class
缺失的中产阶级
There is a hole where India’s middle class should be. That should worry the government and companies
在印度,该出现中产阶级的地方却是一片空白。政府和企业应对此感到担忧
AFTER China, where next? Over the past two decades, the world's most populous country has become the market qua non of just about every global company seeking growth. As its economy slows, businesses are looking for the next set of consumers to keep the tills ringing.
继中国之后,下一片热土在哪里?过去20年来,几乎对所有寻求增长的全球企业来说,这个全球人口最多的国家都是一个不可或缺的市场。随着中国经济放缓,企业纷纷另觅消费者大军,好让自己继续有钱可赚。
表达积累
· ... become the market qua non of ...
句中的market qua non即表示“sine qua non of markets”,笔者应该是处于简洁的考虑直接将sine qua non改写成market qua non。
sine qua non借自拉丁语,字面义“without which not”,即表示“不可或缺的事物”或“必要条件”,常用搭配为sine qua non for/of。用法举例:
· “The perfect cake is the sine qua non of the carefully planned modern wedding”(J.M. Hilary) “一个完美的蛋糕在一个精心筹划的现代婚礼中是必不可少的”(J.M.希拉里)
· ... just about every global company seeking growth
just about等同于almost,用法举例:
· The work is just about done. 工作快做完了。
· businesses are looking for the next set of consumers to keep the tills ringing
句中set of表示“一群”、“一组”、“一套” (a group of similar things that belong together or are related in some way) 这类含义。用法举例:
· a set of tools 一组工具
· We face a new set of problems. 我们面临一系列新的问题 。
· The older generation have a different set of values. 老一辈有一套不同的价值观。
till可以表示“(店舖、银行等的)放钱的抽屉”,所以to keep the tills ringing字面义即指“让放钱的抽屉一直叮当作响”,喻指“继续有钱可赚”。
语法讲解
原句:The world's most populous country has become the market qua non of just about every global company seeking growth.
① 推测Qua non在句子中的成分或作用
Qua non这个词是理解这句话的一大障碍,但通过分析句子的成分,我们也可以大致理解它的意义。
首先,句子的主语和系动词很清楚,主语是The world's most populous country,也就指段首的China;系动词则是has become(表示从一种状态变成另一种状态的动词become, get, go, grow, turn都归为系动词)。
接下来就是找对应的表语。介词of后面的部分一般起修饰或限定范围的作用,也就示了表语的位置在其之前,所以the market qua non充当了标语,是一个整体,可以推测这个短语是具有名词性质的。
② about的含义
理解这句话的另一个障碍是about。如果理解为平时常用的含义,