今天和大家分享两个高频地道表达:
1. 如何表达“观点不一、引发争议”?
2. 如何表达“引发关注”?

一、如何表达“褒贬不一”?
《纽约时报》曾有篇文章讲到了印度德里的“单双号限行”政策,我们一起来看一下:
Following the lead of Beijing and Mexico City, the Delhi government put into effect an "odd-even" policy for cars starting Jan. 1. ②Residents can only drive their cars on either odd or even days, based on the last digit of their license plate numbers — though everyone gets a pass before 8 a.m., after 8 p.m. and on weekends.
... 
The policy has drawn mixed reviews from Delhi residents, who are debating its merits on Twitter.
这段话首先讲到了德里政府实施了“汽车单双号限行”政策,然后介绍了什么是“单双号限行”政策,最后谈到了该政策的反响。我们逐句来看:
①Following the lead of Beijing and Mexico City, the Delhi government put into effect an "odd-even" policy for cars starting Jan. 1.
这句话的主干为:the Delhi government put into effect an "odd-even" policy for cars.
put/carry/bring into effect的意思是“实施,落实”,常出现在政治话题的材料中,比如,“实施二孩政策”,我们就可以说:put two-child policy into effect.
此外,carry out, fulfill, implement等词也可以表示“实施”,写作中需要提建议的时候就可以说:
The government must put into effect / carry out / implement / ...
an "odd-even" policy for cars就是我们常说的“单双号限行政策”。其中,odd在这里是“奇数的”意思,even指“偶数的”。此外,我们也可以说the odd-even car license plate rule,表示“单双号限行政策/规则”(car license plate是“车牌”的意思)。
所以主干部分是说:德里政府实施了汽车单双号限行的政策。
我们再来看句首的状语成分:
Following the lead of Beijing and Mexico City, ...
Follow the lead of是一个非常地道且常见的表达,它的英文解释是:if someone follows someone else's lead, they do the same as the other person has done. “效仿,以...为榜样”,所以,文中Following the lead of Beijing and Mexico City的意思是:(德里政府)效仿北京和墨西哥城。
如果表示“起到带头作用,给别人树立榜样”,我们可以说:take the lead (in doing),举个例子:
The U.S. took the lead in declaring war on terrorism.
美国带头向恐怖主义宣战。
我们最后把第一句话的意思整理一下:
①Following the lead of Beijing and Mexico City, the Delhi government put into effect an "odd-even" policy for cars starting Jan. 1.
德里政府效仿北京和墨西哥城,自1月1日其实行了汽车单双号限行政策。
***
②Residents can only drive their cars on either odd or even days, based on the last digit of their license plate numbers — though everyone gets a pass before 8 a.m., after 8 p.m. and on weekends.
the last digit of their license plate numbers
指的是“车牌号最后一位数字”。

digit是“数字、数位”的意思,比如我们常说的“两位数增长”,英文就是double-digit growth.
plate本指“金属牌子”,这里指车辆的“号码牌”,可以说number plate,也可以说license plate.
这句话的意思是:居民只能根据车牌号最后一位数在奇数日或偶数日开车——尽管在早上8点前、晚上8点后以及周末可以自由通行。
***
③The policy has drawn mixed reviews from Delhi residents, who are debating its merits on Twitter.
这句话终于出现了我们要讲的句式:X has drawn mixed reviews from Y, who are debating its merits (and demerits) on Twitter / social media.
Y对X的褒贬不一,X正在推特/社交媒体上讨论其优劣/利弊。
这句话重点关注mixed一词,其动词形式mix是“混合、掺杂”的意思,变成形容词mixed则表示“混杂的”,比如:
mixed feelings 五味杂陈
a mixed reception 毁誉参半(用法为:X was given a mixed reception,也可以用X is riding both high and low替换)
a mixed blessing有利有弊(高频写作句型)
还有文中的 mixed reviews 褒贬不一(review在这里是名词,表示“评价”)
我们举两个例子,最近电竞特别火,甚至有可能成为奥林匹克的官方项目,我们可以说:
The prospect that e-sports might be included in the next Olympics has drawn mixed reviews from parents and teachers, who are debating its merits and demerits on Sina Weibo, one of China's online media platforms.
再比如,昨天(11月26号)美联社突然爆出消息称,世界第一例基因编辑婴儿在中国诞生。该消息随即引发轩然大波。我们可以说:
Whether gene-editing technology should be applied to humans has drawn mixed reviews from all social circles, who are debating the benefits and potential dangers on social media platforms.
我们在“《经济学人》中有哪些精彩表达(25)”中也讲过一个类似的句式:When it comes to..., opinions vary. 可以与之替换。

二、如何表达“引发关注”?
1997年8月,戴安娜王妃遭遇车祸去世,当年9月6日的《经济学人》中就有篇文章进行了报道,里面有段话描述了戴安娜受人民群的众爱戴程度:
But she became more so as the years went on, despite the fact that her image soon saturated the world's screens and newsstands. You might expect that people would quickly tire of such an image, but they did not.
我们来看翻译:
尽管她的形象很快就充斥着全球各大电视荧屏和报摊,但随着时间的推移,她变得更加出名。你可能会认为,人们很快就会厌倦这一形象,但他们没有。
我们看一下saturate ['sætʃəreit] 这个词:
它的英文解释是:to fill a thing or place completely so that no more can be added“使充满,使饱和”,可以简单理解成fill.
我们举个例子:
Bicycle-sharing market has been saturated.
共享单车市场已经饱和。
再比如,寒冷的冬天,我们很想来一次说走就走的热带旅行,躺在沙滩上,沐浴在阳光里:
We dreamt of lying on the beach, saturated in sunshine.(be saturated in,过去分词作状语。)
文中说,her image soon saturated the world's screens and newsstands,意思是:她的形象已经充满了/充斥着全球电视荧屏和报摊。言外之意是,她引发了大量媒体关注。
我们可以从中提炼出一个写作句型:X soon saturated the world's screens / social media platforms.
X很快就充斥着世界电视荧屏/社交媒体。(X很快引发了全球关注。)
我们以世界首例基因编辑婴儿诞生为例,造一个句子:
The news of the world's first gene-edited babies has saturated all major social media platforms within hours.
几小时之内,世界首例基因编辑婴儿的新闻就充斥着各大社交媒体平台。(世界首例基因编辑婴儿的诞生引发大量关注。)
在某些语境下,我们还可以把saturate翻译成“刷屏”,比如:
X has saturated Wechat Moments.
X在微信朋友圈里刷屏了。
***
昨天,《经济学人》年终大餐The World in 2019正式发行,它从不同角度对2019年做了一系列预测,其中有段话谈到了Big Culture:
Big Culture makes a splash. America has the excite­ment of The Shed in New York (a giant new space for the arts). Germany experiences the shock of the controversial new Humboldt Forum in Berlin.
所谓Big Culture,就是指一些最明显、最可见的文化形式,比如一些兼具功能性和艺术性的建筑,文中就举了两个例子,一个是纽约的The Shed,如图:
既能承办多种多样的活动,也彰显浓郁的文化气质。
另一个是柏林的new Humboldt Forum:
一个酷酷的大型博物馆。
文中有个表达需要我们注意一下:make a splash.
splash的本义指“溅出的水花、溅水声”,make a splash 就是“溅起水花”的意思,引申为“引发大量关注,引起轰动”,非常形象。
2016年南海局势剑拔弩张,《经济学人》中就有篇文章进行了报道,题目是这么说的:

making a splash在这里巧用双关,一方面指各方在南海闹腾,溅起了水花,和“海”的环境相契合;另一方面指南海局势引发大量关注。
我们可以用X is making a splash表示“X引发大量关注”,还是以首例基因编辑婴儿的例子造句:
The world's first gene-edited babies are making a splash.
世界首例基因婴儿引发大量关注。

敲黑板
今天我们学了:
一、两个写作句型:
1. 如何表达“褒贬不一”:
X has drawn mixed reviews from Y, who are debating its merits (and demerits) on Twitter / social media.
2. 如何表达“引发关注”:
X soon saturated the world's screens / social media platforms.(“刷屏”怎么说?)
X is making a splash

二、有关mixed的表达:
mixed feelings 五味杂陈
a mixed reception 毁誉参半(=X is riding both high and low)
a mixed blessing 有利有弊
mixed reviews 褒贬不一
三、“单双号限行”怎么说:
an "odd-even" policy for cars
the odd-even car license plate rule.
今天就到这里,感谢阅读!
继续阅读
阅读原文