Paraphrase
1) We are elevated 23 feet. (Para 3)
We' re 23 feet above sea level.
2) The place has been there since 1915, and no hurricane has ever bothered it. (Para3)
The house has been safe since 1915, and no hurricane has ever caused any damage to it.
3) We can batten down and ride it out. (Para 4)
We can get ourselves ready and survive the hurricane.
4) The generator was doused, and the lights went out. (Para 9)
The generator was put it out by the water and the lights were extinguished.
5). Everybody out the back door to the cars! (Para 10)
Everybody go out through the back door and goes into the cars.
6). The electrical systems had been killed by water. (Para 11)
The electrical systems had been extinguished by water.
7). John watched the water lap at the steps, and felt a crushing guilt.(Para17)
John watched the water wash against the steps, as a result, he felt a strong sense of guilt.
8). Get us through this mess, will you?(Para 17)
Oh God, please help us survive the hurricane.
9). She carried on alone for a few bars; then her voice trailed away. (Para21) Grandmother sang a few words alone and then her singing faded away.
10). Ianis had just one delayed reaction. (para34)
Janis showed rather late the psychological damage from the hurricane.
Explain words
1. since the water mains might be damaged (Para 5) :
main pipes
2. sit out the storm with the Koshaks (Para 6):
wait until the storm is over
3. another neighbor came by on his way inland (Para 6):
(A English) pay a visit
4. the French doors in an upstairs room blew in (Para 8) :
burst open
5. the generator was doused (Para 9):
put out
6. The electrical systems had been killed by water (Para 11)：
doused, put out and extinguished
7. It devastated everything in it swath (Para 19)：
sweep / track
8. She carried on a few bars (Para21 )：
a measure in music
9. make it 1ean—to against the wind (Para 25): shed
10. and he pitched in with Seabees in the worst volunteer work of all (Para33)：
short for Construction Battalion
Lesson 2 Marrakech
Paraphrase
1. The burying--ground is merely a huge waste of hummocky earth, like a derelict building-lot. (para 2)
The burying-ground is just a huge piece of wasteland full of mounds of earth, looking like a deserted construction land.
2. All colonial empires are in reality founded upon that fact. (Para 3)
All colonial empires are built by exploiting the local people.
3. They rise out of the earth, they sweat and starve for a few years, and then they sink back into the nameless mounds of the graveyard. (Para 3)
They are born. Then they work hard without enough food for a few years. Finally they die and are buried in the hills graves without any mark to identify them.
4. A carpenter sits crosslegged at a prehistoric lathe, turning chair-legs at lighting speed. (Para 9)
A carpenter sits crossing his legs at an old-fashioned lathe, making round chair-legs very fast.
5. Instantly, from the dark holes all round, there was a frenzied rush of Jews. (Para 10)
Immediately, Jews rushed out of their dark hole-like rooms nearby in a frenzy madness.
6.every one of them looks on a cigarette as a more or less impossible luxury.(para 10)
Every one of these Jews considers the cigarette as a somewhat piece of luxury which they can not possibly afford.
7. Still, a white skin is always fairly conspicuous. (Para 16)
However, a white-skinned European is easy to notice in a fair way.
8. In a tropical landscape one’s eye takes in everything except the human being. (para 16)
Against the background of a tropical landscape, people could notice everything but they cannot see local people.
9. No one would think of running cheap trips to the Distressed Areas.(Para 17)
No one would propose the cheap trips to the slums．
10．...for nine-tenths of the people the reality of life is an endless, back-breaking struggle to wring a little food out of an eroded soil. (Para17)
The real life of nine-tenths of the people is that there is no end to their extremely hard work in order to get a little food from an eroded soil．
11. She accepted her status as an old woman, that is to say as a beast of burden. (Para 19)
She took it for granted that as an old woman she should work like an animal．
12. People with brown skins are next door to invisible. (Para 12 )
People who have brown skins are almost invisible．
13. Their splendid bodies were hidden in reach-me-down khaki uniforms... (Para23)
The soldiers wore second—hand khaki uniforms which covered their beautiful well—built bodies．
14. How long before they turn their guns in the other direction?(Para 25)
How long will it take for them to attack us?
15. Every white man there had this thought stowed somewhere or other in his mind. (Para 26)
It is certain that every white man realized this.
Explain words
1. wailing a short chant over and over again. (Para2)
words repeated in a monotonous tone of voice
2. an Arab navvy working on the path nearby (Para 6)
unskilled laborer
3. he stowed it gratefully (para 7)
stored
4. his left leg is warped out of shape ( para 9)
curved，or twisted, distored
5. as the Jews live in a self-contained community ( para 11)
self—sufficient
6. the plough is a wretched wooden thing(para 18)
poor in quality
7. all of them are mummified with age and the sun(para 19)
thin and withered like a mummy
8. Their splendid bodies were hidden in reach-me-down khaki uniforms.(para 23)
second—hand or ready—made
9. so had the officers on their sweating charger(para 26)：
a horse ridden in battle or on parade
Lesson Three Pub Talk and the King’s English
Paraphrase
1．And it is an activity only of humans. (para 1)
And it is a human unique activity．
2．Conversation is not for making a point.(Para 2)
Conversation is not to convince others．
3．In fact, the best conversationalists are those who are prepared to be lose.(para 2).
In fact, the best conversationalists are those who are willing to be lose.
4．Bar friends are not deeply involved in each other’s lives. (para 3)
Bar friends are not deeply concerned with each other’s private lives.
5． ...it could still go ignorantly on...(para 6)
The conversation could go on without anybody knowing who was right or wrong．
6. There are cattle in the field, but we sit down to beef.(para 9)
These animals are called cattle in English, when they are alive and feeding in the fields；but when we sit down at the table to eat, we call their meat beef in French．
7. The new ruling class had built a cultural barrier against him by building their French against his own language.(para 11)
The new ruling class had caused the cultural contradictions between the ruling class and native English by regarding French superior to English.
8．English had come royally into its own. (para 13)
English had gained recognition by the King．
9． The phrase has always been used a little pejoratively and even facetiously by the lower classes. (para 15)
The phrase, the king’s English has always been used disrespectfully and made fun by the lower classes.
10. The rebellion against a cultural dominance is still there. (para 15)
There is still opposition to cultural monopoly.
11. There is always a great danger that “words will harden into things for us”(para 16)
We tend to make the mistake that we regard the things as they represent.
12．Even with the most educated and the most literate, the King’s English slips and slides in conversation. (para 18)
Even the most educated and literated people will not always use the formal English in their conversation．
Explain Words
1. their marriage may be on the rocks (para 3) :
in a condition of ruin
2．they get out of bed on the wrong side (para 3) :
had a bad temper
3．the conversation was on wings(para 8) :
going on
4．the Norman lords of course turned up their nose at it (para 10)：
scorned
5. we ought to think ourselves back into the shoes of Saxon peasant (para 11) metaphor in the position of
6. English had come into its own (para 13)：
gain its recognition
7．We sit up at the vividness of the phrase (para18)：
(colloquial) show interest in
Lesson Four Inaugural Address
Paraphrase
1.And yet the same revolutionary belief for which our forebears fought is still at issue around the globe...(para 2)
And yet the same revolutionary belief which is the aim of our ancestors is still in dispute around the world.
2. This much we pledge--and more. (para 5)
This much we promise to do and we promise to do more.
3. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. (para 6)
If we are united, there is almost nothing we can not do through a lot of cooperation.
4. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. (para9)
But this peaceful revolution which can bring hope in a peaceful way can not fall victims to enemy country.
5. .... Our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of pace... (para 10)
The United Nations is our last and best hope in the era where means of launching war have far surpassed means of keeping peace.
6. ...to enlarge the area in which its writ may run...(para 10)
to increase the area where the UN’s written documents may be effective.
7....before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction...(para 11)
before the evil atom weapon made possible by science destroy all human beings in a planned way or by accident.
8...yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind’s final war... (para 13)
However both trying to change that unstable balance of weapons and this balance of weapons could prevent human beings from launching their final war.
9. So let us begin anew, remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness.... (para 14)
So let us begin once again to realize that politeness does not mean weakness.
10. Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. (para17 )
I suggest both sides try to use science to make wonders for human beings rather than terrors.
11. ...each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. (para 21)
There are Americans from every generation who answer the call of the country to prove their loyalty to the country.
12. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love... (para 27)
Our certain reward is our good conscience and history will judge our deeds, therefore, let us try to be pioneers in building our beloved country.
Explain words
1. the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three--quarter ago (para 1): laid down
2. for man holds in his mortal hands the power (para 2):
of man
3. is still at issue around the globe (para 2) :
in dispute
4. disciplined by a hard and bitter peace (para 3):
trained in self-control
5. to which we are committed today ( para 3):
devoted
6. to witness or permit the slow undoing of these human rights (para 3):
abolishing
7. we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder(para 6):
in dispute; apart from each other in position
8. to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny (para 7):
cruel
9. struggling to break the bounds of mass misery:
chains
10. to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective (para 10):
insulting
11. to enlarge the area in which its writ may run (para 10):
written documents; be effective
12．that stays the hand of mankind’s final war (para 13)：
restrains; prevents
13．tap the ocean depths (para 17)：
draw a supply from
14．not as a call to bear arms ... but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle (para 22)：
carry; shoulder, take on
Lesson Five Love Is a Fallacy
Explain words
1. that logic, far from being a dry, pedantic discipline. (para 3)
a branch of learning
2. my brain was as powerful as a dynamo.(para 4)
generator
3. pausing in my flight (para 8)
running away
4. when the Charleston came back (para 11)
a lovely dance
5. They shed. (para 16) lose hair
6. Don’t you want to be in the swim? (para 17) in fashion
7. I would be out in practice...(para 24) professional business
8. She was not yet of pin-up proportions(para25 ) something fasten to wall
9. She already had the makings(para 25) qualities
10. She had an erectness of carriage, an ease of bearing..... (para 26)
physical posture way of carrying head and body; way of carrying oneself
11. are you going steady... (para30 ) dating
12. I deposited her at the girl’s dormitory.... (para 97) put
13. lawyers have briefs to guild them (para 105)
a concise statement of the main points of a low case
14. hammering away without let-up (para 123) stopping
Lesson Six Disappearing Through the Skylight
Paraphrase
1. Science is committed to the universal.(para1)
Science is intended to be understood and accepted by scientists all.
2. The Fiesta appears to have sunk without a trace. (para 5)
The Fiesta seems to disappear completely.
3. It was the automotive equivalent of the International Style. (para 5)
It was the realization of international style in automobile.
4. As in architecture, so in auto making. (para 6)
What is happening in architecture is happening in auto making.
5. No longer quite an individual, no longer quite the product of a unique geography and culture(para7)
Individualism is disappearing and it is no longer unique to a certain region of culture.
6. The price he pays is that he no longer has a home in the traditional sense of the world. (para 7)
The cost for man is that man’s home no longer has a traditional meaning.
7. The benefit is that he begins to suspect home in the traditional sense is another name for limitations....(para 7)
The advantage is that man begins to know that home with traditional meaning limits his development.
8. The universalizing imperative of technology is irresistable.(para 8)
The generalizing peremptory of technology cannot be resisted.
9. ...when every artist thought he owed it to himself to turn his back on the Eiffel Tower, as a protest against the architectural blasphemy... (para9 )
When every artist thought it was his duty to show his contempt for and objection to the Eiffel Tower which they considered an irreverent architectural structure.
10. a mobile, extra human plasticity which was absolutely new... (para 9)
A versatile superior human capacity which was absolutely different from traditions.
11. It has thus undermined an article of faith: the thingliness of things. (para 11)
Science denies a basic belief that the world is composed of things that we can touch.
12.That, perhaps, establishes the logical limit of the modern aesthetic. (para 19)
That perhaps confirms what the modern aesthetic can do based on logical reasoning.
Explain words
1. makes the world look ever more homogeneous (para 2)
similar
2. experience it as a sameness rather than a diversity (para 2)
difference
3. but if it is important to the efficiency or economics of automobiles (para 3 )
things related to the economy or money savings
4. but universally regarded as an asset (para 3)
valuable things
5. He begins to suspect home in the traditional sense. (para 7)
suppose
6. Barring the catastrophe of nuclear war... (para 8 )
excepting
7. as a protest against the architectural blasphemy (para 9)
irreverence
8. machines soon generated propositions which evaded all tradition (para 9)
statement
9. a mobile, extra human plasticity which was absolutely new. (para 9) superior
10. it has produced images of orders of reality (para 10) laws; systems
11. produced images that are pure artifacts (para 10) products of artificial characters of human beings 12. the lacy weavings of circuits etched on silicon (para 14) silicon chip
13. the Tinkertory complications of truss and geodesic domes and lunar landers (para 14)
bracket for supporting; domes made of light straight structural elements
Lesson Seven Libido for the Ugly
Paraphrase
1. ...boy and man, I had been through it often before. (para 1)
As a boy and later as an adult, I often traveled through this place..
2. But somehow I had never quite sensed its appalling desolation. (para 1)
But for some reason, I didn’t realize/perceive this place was horribly wretched.
3. ...it reduced the whole aspiration of man to macabre and depressing joke. (para 1)
This place would make human beings’s aspiration like a ghastly and discouraging joke.
4. The country itself is not uncomely, despite the grime of the endless mills. (para 3)
This place is pleasant to look at, despite the soot from the numerous factories.
5. They have taken as their model a brick set on end. (para 3)
The model they adopted in building their houses was a brick setting on end.
6. This they have converted into a thing of dingy clapboards, with a narrow, low-pitched roof. (para 3) With this model, they set up their shabby houses with wooden boards on outside walls and the roof of the house is not steep..
7. When it has taken on the patina of the mills it is the color of an egg long past all hope or caring. (pare 3)
When the brick is covered with the soot of the mills, it is the color of a rotten egg.
8. Red brick, even in a steel town, ages with some dignity. (para 4)
Red brick is still pleasing to look at, when time goes on.
9. I award this championship only after laborious research and incessant prayer. (para 5)
I give the highest award for ugliness only after doing hard research and asking the help from god through constant praying.
10. They show grotesqueries of ugliness that, in retrospect, become almost diabolical. (para 5)
These houses show fantacy in making ugliness, in looking at past, it seems these houses are built by devils.
11. It is incredible that mere ignorance should have achieved such masterpieces of horror. (para 6)
It is unbelievable that the most horrible houses are built because people do not know what beauty is.
12. On certain levels of the American race, indeed, there seems to be a positive libido for the ugly.. (para 7)
In fact, it seems that certain Americans have positive strong desires to love things ugly.
13. They meet, in some unfathomable way, its obscure and unintelligible demands. (para 7)
These ugly desires meet their demands in a difficult way to understand, which is mysterious and difficult to understand.
14....they made it perfect in their own sight by putting a completely impossible penthouse, painted a staring yellow, on top of it. (para 8)
They put a penthouse on top of it, painted a bright, yellow color and thought it looked perfect but they only to make it more unacceptable.
15. Out of the melting pot emerges a race which hates beauty as it hates truth. (para 9)
From the muticulture nation, there appears race which hates beauty as strongly as they hates truth．
Explain words
1. coming out of Pittsburgh on one of the express：
a fast，direct train。Making few stops
2. I rolled eastward for an hour (para 1)
travel in a train
3. the sheer revolting monstrousness (para 2)
offensive
4.somewhere further down the line(para 2)
railway line
5. from the Pittsburgh suburbs to the Greensburg yards(para 2)
a railway center where trains are made up，serviced， switched from track to track。etc．
6. they are streak in grime (para 3)
mark with strips of
7. and it is still sightly (para 4)
pleasant to look at
8. Safe in a pullman, I have whired through the gloomy, Godforsaken villages (para 5)
a railroad car with private compartments or seats that can be made up into berths for sleeping．It is so—called after the U．S．inventor，George。M．Pullman(1831— 17)．
9. save perhaps in the more putrid parts of England (para 6)
except。but
10. it has been yielded to with an eagerness bordering upon passion (para 6)
surrender，give into border upon：be like，almost be
11. the pull is always toward ugliness (para 6)
drawing force．appeal
12. On certain 1evels of the American race (para 7)
position。elevation，or rank considered as one of the planes in a scale of values
13. It is impossible to put down the wallpaper ... to mere inadvertence (para 7)
attribute(to)
14. by putting a completely impossible penthouse (para 8)
not capable of being endured，used。agreed to，etc．，because of being disagreeable or unsuitable： hard to tolerate下载本文
