46. A Return To The Past
Faced with rapid change and the fear and uncertainty1 that go with it, individuals as well as nations sometimes seek to return to the ways of the past as a solution. In the early 1980s the idea of returning to the ways of the past had a strong appeal2 to many Americans who increasingly viewed their past as being better than their future . Two famous experts have observed that until the 1970 s Americans generally believed that the present was a better time for their country than the past and that the future would be better than the present; by 1978, however, public opinion polls3 showed that many Americans had come to believe that just the opposite 4 was true: the past had been better for the country than the present, and the present was better than the future would be.
The popular appeal of returning to the ways of the past as a solution to the problems of the 1980s was demonstrated when Ronald Reagan5 was elected President of the United States in 1980 . Time magazine chose President Reagan as its man of the year and said of him, intellectually, emotionally, Reagan lives in the past.
One of President Reagan s basic beliefs is that the United States should return as much as possible to its pre-19307 ways. In those times business institutions were strong and government institutions were weak. Reagan believes that the American values of individual freedom and competition are strengthened by business and weakened by government. Therefore, his programs as President have been designed to greatly strengthen business and reduce the size and power of the national government. By moving in this way toward the practices of the past, President Reagan believed that the standard of living of Americans would begin to improve once more in the 1980s as it had done throughout most of the nation s history.
阅读自测
Ⅰ. Ad d the correct prefix to the following words:
plan
bearable
expected
pay
certain
war
known
common
decided
Ⅱ. Fill in the blanks with the words o r phrases in the p ass age :
1. Happiness doesn t necessarily ________ money.
2. Traveling has a strong ________ to many young people nowadays.
3. Bill Clinton has ever been chosen as ________ in the 1990s.
4. We all want to learn ________ to get a better future. 5. We are confident that the ________ of China has been greatly improved since the open-up.
参考答案
Ⅰ. preplan / unbearable / unexpected prepay / uncertain / prewar unknown / uncommon / undecided
Ⅱ. 1. go with 2 . appeal 3 . man of the year 4. as much as possible 5. standard of living
参考译文
回归
面 对社会的急速变化及随之而来的让人担忧而又难以预料的状况, 国家和个人时常试 图按老办法来解决问题。20 世纪80 年代初期, 那些老办法对许多美国人都有着强大的吸 引力。他们总是越看越觉得昔日的生活比未来要美好。两位著名的专家曾经说道, 直到 20 世纪70 年代, 美国人还普遍认为他们的国家是 现在比过去好, 将来会比现在好 。然 而, 到了1978 年, 民意测验则显示, 许多美国人已经清醒地认识到事实刚好相反: 过去的社 会状况比现在更有利于国家发展, 而未来可能还不如现在。
1980 年, 在罗纳德 里根当选为美国总统时, 这种用老办法来解决20 世纪80 年代出现 的问题的流行思潮得到了很好的展示。《时代》周刊评选里根总统为当年的 年度风云 人物 , 并评价道, 无论在思想上还是感情上, 里根都生活在过去。
里根总统的基本信条之一就是美国应尽量回到20 世纪30 年代前期的状态。在那个 年代, 商业机构十分强大而政府则没什么权威。里根相信, 商业的发展可以增强美国人的 个人自由和竞争的价值观, 而政府机构的干预则会削弱这种价值观。因此, 作为总统, 他提 出的计划旨在极大地强化商业发展的同时, 削弱国民政府的规模和权力。通过求助于老方 法, 里根总统当时相信: 正如美国历史上大多数时候出现的情况那样, 美国人民的生活水平 将在20 世纪80 年代再次得到改善。
阅读导评
列宁曾说过: 忘记过去就意味着背叛。 但是, 美国人这种用老办法来解决新问题的思想 到底是对过去黄金时代的怀念呢, 还是出于对现实的无奈? 上个世纪60、70 年代, 在经历了 越战失败和政府高层丑闻事件等一系列的打击之后, 美国人不再如以前那般自信, 他们的生 活中充满了挫败和失望。正是在这种时代背景下, 美国人才打算用旧药除新病, 而这才是美 国人回归思想的根源所在。然而, 这并不能根本解决问题, 毕竟, 新病还需新药医。
阅读导释
1. 不确定的事物, 让人难以预料的事物 。聪明的你一定发现了这个词语的独特构成了 吧。不难看出这个词是由un- 和certainty 构成, un- 是个很有用的否定前缀, 放在形容 词、名词和动词前构成该词的反义词。同样的用法如: unable ; unbearable ; uncover ; unknown 。
2. 这是个很有用的单词, 意思是 感染力, 吸引力 , 常用于have / lose an appeal to 中, 如:The movie has lost its box-office appeal. 5. 罗纳德 里根 , 美国第四十任总统, 共和党人。里根总统的一生颇具传奇 色彩。1981 年年已70 的里根入主白宫, 成为美国历史上年龄最大的一位总统。他还是 美国历史上第一位 影星 总统。因为有过这样一段经历, 他曾被民主党人讥笑为 亲切 的傻瓜 。但在1989 年, 当78 岁的里根离开白宫时, 他成了名望最高的总统。里根总统 在位期间带领美国人民重树信心, 为美国的发展做出了巨大贡献。
6. 句子中的Time 指的是美国《时代》周刊, 该杂志于1923 年由两名年轻的耶鲁大学毕业 生亨利 卢斯 与布里顿 哈登 共同创办。经 过多年的发展,《时代》周刊已成为西方发行量最大的资讯周刊, 国内410 万, 全球发行 600 余万, 发行面达一百多个国家, 传阅人数估计约有3 000 万。如今,《时代》杂志出版 公司已发展为时代华纳公司, 成了拥有出版社、电影制片厂、有线电视公司、节目制作中 心、商业信息服务中心和广播电台的传媒帝国。intellectually 是形容词intellectual 的副词 形式, 意思是 智力地, 理智地 , 平时我们说的智育可以用intellectual education 表示。 emotionally意思是 感情上地, 情绪上地 。 7. 这个复合词的意思是 20 世纪30 年代前 , pre- 是介词前缀, 表示 前, 在前 , 如: prewar ; prehistoric ; preagricultural 。pre- 还可以表示 预先, 先于 , 如: preview ; prevent ; prepay ; preplan