第一篇??英語精讀2.1| 一個移民美國的英國作家眼中的意大利

第二篇??英語精讀2.2 | 美國式個人主義導致了破落不堪的公共設施

But if the car owner can ignore the lack of public transport, he can hardly ignore the decay of services in general. His car needs mechanics, and mechanics grow more expensive and less efficient. The gadgets in the home are cheaper to replace than repair.

1. gadget? n. 小玩意；小器具烘挫；小配件；詭計

2. 翻譯：但是如果汽車擁有者能無視公共交通缺乏的話，他也很難忽視一般服務性行業(yè)情況的惡化穷劈。他的汽車需要機修工人笼恰，而請機修工的費用變得越來越貴，其效率卻越來越低歇终。家用小裝置買新的要比修理便宜社证。

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The more efficiently self-contained the home seems to be, the more dependent it is on the great impersonal corporations, as well as a diminishing army of servitors. Skills at the lowest level have to be wooed slavishly and exorbitantly rewarded. Plumbers will not come. Nor, at the higher level, will doctors. And doctors and dentists know their scarcity value and behave accordingly.

1. self-contained? adj. 獨立的；設備齊全的

2. impersonal? adj. 不受個人情感影響的,冷淡的

3. diminish? vt. 使減少评凝；使變小? vi. 變凶菲稀；減少奕短，縮小

例句：Time will not diminish our friendship.? 時間的流逝將不會減弱我們的友誼宜肉。

同是表示“減少、縮小”的有decrease, lessen, reduce, dwindle

4. woo? vt. 追求翎碑；懇求谬返；向…求愛；

woo sb. to do sth.? 纏著某人要他做某事

例句：Politicians try to woo the voters before an election. 在選舉前政治家們都力爭選民的支持日杈。

5. slavish? adj. 奴隸的遣铝；奴性的；卑屈的莉擒；盲從的

slavishly? adv. 奴隸般地;盲目地

6.exorbitant? adj. （要價等）過高的酿炸；（性格等）過分的；

前綴ex-? +? orbit（軌道）

7. 注意scarce（adj. 缺乏的, 罕見的; 名詞scarcity) 與scare (vi. &vt. &n. vi. 受驚)的區(qū)別啰劲。

8. 翻譯：在家庭里越是顯得設備齊全梁沧，就越要依賴于冷漠的大公司和人數(shù)日益減少的服務人員。技術(shù)再低的工人也要卑躬屈膝地去懇求蝇裤，還要付給昂貴的報酬廷支。管子工叫不來，更高層次的栓辜，大夫更是難請恋拍。醫(yī)生和牙醫(yī)知道物以稀為貴，并以此指導自己的行為藕甩。

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Americans are at last realizing that the acquisition of goods is not the whole of life. Consumption, on one level, is turning insipid, especially as the quality of the goods seems to be deteriorating. Planned obsolescence is not conducive to pride in workmanship. On another level, consumption is turning sour .

9. insipid? adj. 枯燥的,無生氣的;乏味的

10. deteriorate? /d?'t??r??re?t/? vi. 惡化, 變壞

forest-deterioration? 森林退化

例句：It is probable that the economic situation will deteriorate further.經(jīng)濟形勢可能會進一步惡化施敢。

11. adsolescence? n. 過時；淘汰狭莱，廢棄

12. conducive? /k?n'dju?s?v/ adj. 有益的僵娃；有助于…的

conducive to 有益于…，有益于…

13. 翻譯：美國人終于開始明白占有商品并不是生活的全部內(nèi)容腋妙。在一個水準上的消費正變得缺乏吸引力默怨，特別是商品的質(zhì)量似乎一直在降低。特意制造出很快就會過時的商品不會引起工人對工藝質(zhì)量的自豪感骤素。在另一個水準上匙睹，消費正變得令人不快愚屁。

圖片來自網(wǎng)絡

There is a growing guilt about the masses of discarded junk -rusting automobiles and refrigerators and washing machines and dehumidifiers(除濕器) that it is uneconomical to recycle.? Indestructible plastic hasn't even the grace to undergo chemical change. America, the world's biggest consumer, is the world's biggest polluter.

14. discard? vt. 丟棄；拋棄痕檬；放棄 vi. 放棄

15. 翻譯：對于大量回收利用不劃算的廢棄物品——銹蝕著的汽車霎槐、冰箱、洗衣機梦谜、除濕機——人們越來越感到有負罪感丘跌。毀不掉的塑料制品甚至都不肯很快地進行化學變化。美國改淑，這個世界最大的消費者碍岔，也是世界最大的污染者。

Awareness of this is a kind of redemptive grace, but it has not led to repentance and a revolution in consumer habits. Citizens of Los Angeles are horrified by the daily pall of golden smog, but they don't noticeably clamor for a decrease in the number of owner-vehicles. There is no worse neurosis(n. 神經(jīng)癥) than that which derives from a consciousness of guilt and an inability to reform.

16. redemptive? adj. 贖回的,挽回的,用于補償?shù)?/p>

17. repentance? n. 悔悟;悔改;后悔;懺悔

18. clamor? vi. 大聲地要求或抗議

19.翻譯：意識到這一點是某種彌補朵夏，但并未導致悔改和消費習慣上的革命蔼啦。洛杉礬市民一想到每天籠罩著城市的金色煙霧就心驚膽顫，但他們也并未明顯地要求減少私人汽車的數(shù)目仰猖。認識到癥結(jié)所在捏肢，卻沒有能力改變，這種神經(jīng)質(zhì)最糟糕。